principal plaza and is visited by many thousands of pilgrims during the year, whose pious contributions have so enriched the church that
its sacred vessels, altar-rails, candelabra and other accessories are
estimated to contain fifty tons of silver. The treaty of peace
between Mexico and the United States was signed here on the 2nd
of February 1848. Tacubaya (pop. 18,342 in 1900), on the lower
slopes of the Montes de las Cruces, about 5 m. west-south-west of the
city, with which it is connected by rail, is noted for its fine old
residences and beautiful gardens. The National Astronomical
Observatory occupies a fine modern edifice. At Popotla is an aged
tree under which, according to tradition, Cortes sat and wept after
his terrible retreat from the Aztec capital on the noche triste.
Farther south on the lowest slopes of the mountain range are San
Angel and Tlalpam, the latter (pop. 4732 in 1900) standing partly
on the plain 12 m. south by west of the capital. In both much
attention is given to floriculture, and both are favourite country
residences of the richer citizens. Xochimilco (field of flowers),
(pop. 10,712 in 1900) on the west shore of the lake of that name
and 10 m. south by east of the city, is an Indian town dating long
before the discovery of America. It lies in the midst of a fertile
plain devoted to the production of fruit, vegetables and flowers for
the city markets. Its gardens are carried out on the shallow lake
by floating masses of water-plants covered with soil and secured by
poplar stakes, which, taking root, soon surround them with living
boundaries. These remarkable and productive gardens, called
chinampas, have so increased in number and extent that the lake
is practically covered by them, with the exception of the waterways,
which are kept open by scooping up mud from the bottom. From
the lake a broad canal runs northward to the eastern suburbs of
the city. It is known as the Viga, and is believed to have been
opened by the Aztecs for the transportation of garden produce to
their island capital.
MEXICO, GULF OF, a mediterranean gulf almost surrounded by the coasts of the United States and Mexico, and forming the northern division of the extension westward of the west Atlantic trench (see Atlantic Ocean). Its southern boundary is defined by the partly submerged ridge which extends eastwards from the peninsula of Yucatán, and on which the island of Cuba is situated: to the east it communicates directly with the Atlantic by the Strait of Florida. On the western side of Yucatán a southerly embayment is formed by the Gulf of Campeachy. The United States coast closely follows the parallel of 30° N., while the parallel of 20° N. cuts across the Gulf of Campeachy: the greatest length—Vera Cruz to Florida—is 1120 m., and greatest width—Galveston to Campeachy—680 m. The total area is approximately 716,000 sq. m.
The deepest part of the Gulf of Mexico, the so-called “Sigsbee” deep, lies below the line of 2000 fathoms, between 23° and 2512° N., and 8412° to 95° W. It is widest to the west, where the breadth is about 120 m., and narrows to 25 m. at its greatest depth (2119 fathoms) between 86° and 88° W., widening again to some 80 m. farther eastward. The continental shelf is for the most part narrow: its breadth is 6 m. at Cape Florida, 120 m. along the west coast of Florida, 10 m. at the south pass of the Mississippi, 130 m. near the boundary of Texas and Louisiana, and 15 m. off Vera Cruz. The shores are low, sandy and marshy, the coast-line being frequently doubled by lagoons. There are no islands except the “Keys” of Florida and Yucatán, and Cuba. The tides in the Gulf of Mexico are of comparatively small range (springs rarely exceed 4 ft. and neaps 212 ft.), but a remarkable feature is the exaggeration of the diurnal inequality to such an extent as almost to extinguish the semi-diurnal tide in the inner parts of the gulf, giving high and low water only once daily. The mean level of the water in the Gulf of Mexico was formerly given as about 40 in. above that of mean sea-level at New York, but later reports on precise levellings from New York to Biloxi through St Louis describe it vaguely as “somewhat higher.” The current movement in the Gulf of Mexico consists of a rotational movement in the direction of the hands of a watch, the branch of the equatorial current which enters the Caribbean Sea passing into the Gulf by the Strait of Yucatán and issuing from it by the Strait of Florida as the Gulf Stream, which unites with the remainder of the northward moving water, forming the Antilles current.
From March to September the prevailing winds are the north-east trades; these undergo considerable modification on account of the configuration of the surrounding land, and the rains which accompany them are interrupted by spells of calm thick weather, and rarely by northerly winds known as Nortes del hueso Colorado and Chocolateros. In the colder dry season, from October to April, the climatic situation is dominated by the relatively high temperature of the surface of the gulf, causing a cyclonic inflow of air which is associated with the strong northerly winds or “northers” prevailing on the western side, more particularly along the Mexican coast. The northers sometimes blow with terrific force and are at times accompanied by rain. The form and position of the Gulf of Mexico exercise a profound influence on the climate of the whole of the southern and south-eastern states of the Union, and indeed of the greater part of North America. (H. N. D.)
MEYER, CHRISTIAN ERICH HERMANN VON (1801–1869),
German palaeontologist, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, on the 3rd of September 1801. In 1832 he issued a work entitled Palaeologica, and in course of time he published a series of memoirs on various fossil organic remains: mollusca, crustacea, fishes and higher vertebrata. His more elaborate researches were those on the Carboniferous amphibia, the Permian reptiles, the Triassic amphibia and reptiles, and the reptiles of the Lithographic slates; and the results were embodied in his great work Zur Fauna der Vorwelt (1845–1860), profusely illustrated with plates drawn on stone by the author. He was associated with W. Dunker and K. A. Zittel in the publication of the Palaeontographica, which began in 1851. He was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London in 1858. He died on the 2nd of April 1869.
MEYER, HEINRICH AUGUST WILHELM (1800–1873),
German Protestant divine, was born at Gotha on the 10th of January 1800. He studied theology at Jena, and eventually became (1841) pastor, member of the consistory, and superintendent at Hanover. He died on the 21st of June 1873. He is chiefly noted for his valuable Kritischexegetischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament (16 vols.), which began to appear in 1832, was completed in 1859 with the assistance of J. E. Huther, Friedrich Düsterdieck and G. K. G. Lünemann, and has been translated into English. New editions have been undertaken by such scholars as A. B. Ritschl, B. Weiss, H. Wendt, K. F. G. Heinrici, W. Beyschlag and F. A. E. Sieffert.
Meyer also published an edition of the New Testament, with a translation (1829) and a Latin version of the symbolical books of the Lutheran Church (1830).
He is not to be confounded with Johann Friedrich von Meyer (1772–1849), the senator of Frankfort, who published a translation of the Bible in 1819 (Die heilige Schrift in berichtigter Übersetzung mit kurzen Anmerkungen; 2nd ed., 1823; 3rd ed., 1855).
MEYER, JULIUS LOTHAR (1830–1895), German chemist, was born on the 19th of August 1830, at Varel in Oldenburg. He was the son of a physician, and went to study medicine first at Zürich University in 1851, and then, two years later, at Würzburg, where he had R. Virchow as his teacher in pathology. The influence of C. F. W. Ludwig, under whom he studied at Zürich, decided him to devote his attention to physiological chemistry, and therefore he went, after his graduation (1854), to Heidelberg, where R. Bunsen held the chair of chemistry. There he was so influenced by G. R. Kirchhoff’s mathematical teaching that he took up the study of mathematical physics at Königsberg under F. E. Neumann. In 1859 he became privat-docent in physics and chemistry at Breslau, where in the preceding year he had graduated as Ph. D. with a thesis on the action of carbon monoxide on the blood. In 1866 he accepted a post in the School of Forestry at Neustadt-Eberswalde, but soon moved to Carlsruhe Polytechnic. During the Franco-German campaign the Polytechnic was used as a hospital, and he took an active part in the care of the wounded. Finally, in 1876, he became professor of chemistry at Tübingen, where he died on the 11th of April 1895. His name is best known for the share he had in the periodic classification of the elements. He noted, as did J. A. R. Newlands in England, that if they are arranged in the order of their atomic weights they fall into groups in which similar chemical and physical properties are repeated at periodic intervals; and in particular he showed that if the atomic weights are plotted
