Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/72

MOSUL. 38 MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN. MOSUL, m.Vsool'. The capital of the Vilayet of -Mcisul, Asiatic Turkey, on the Tigris, opposite the ruius of ancient Nineveh (q.v.), and 220 miles by river northwest of Bagdad (Map: Tur- kej' in Asia, K 4). It is surrounded liy walls now almost in ruins. Of the ancient buildings only the Great Jlosque remains. Mosul is the seat of a Roman Catholic mission, Dominican schools, and French and Russian consuls. Its trade, formerly much fireater, is now confined to cotton, hides, wax, nuts, gum, and wool, all car- ried chii'Uy b caravans. The principal causes of its diminished importance were the rise of Abushehr (q.v.) as an emporium of trade, and the diveision of tratlic by the Suez Canal. Popu- lation, about 55,000, chiefly Arabs, but compris- ing also Kurds. Turks. Armenians, Christians, and .Jews. Mo.sul was an old Arabic town, taken by the Moslems in G3G. It was besieged by Saladin in 1182. and was successively under Mon- gol. IVrsian. and Turkish sway. In the twelfth century it was very important, and for a time supplied Europe with its manufactures, especially muslins, which probably got their name from this town. MOSZKOWSKI, mosh-ki">f'skc-, :MoniTZ (1854 — ). A Polish composer and pianist, born at Breslau. lie studied at the Dresden Conserva- torv and in Berlin. At nineteen years of age he made his debut as a piano virtuoso, and after suc- cessful tours throughout the principal European countries settled in Berlin, in which city he sub- sequently made his headquarters, although after 18!>7 he Ijecame almost entirely identilied with the musical life of Paris. The best known of his works is Spanish Dmtccs, which nowhere met with greater success than in America, and which may be said to have introduced him to the world at large; he also wrote many pieces for piano- forte, chamber music. concert studies. and waltzes. Among the larger works are: lioahrlil drr Mauri ttknnip (1802) : incidental music to Grabbc"s Don Juan und I'liiist (1890); a sym- phonic poem, Jeanne d'Arc; overtures, and con- cert suites. MOTAZILITES, mA-til'zilits. Pee Mittazt- LiTKs : Mou.MMrn.s Sects. MOTET' (from It. motetto, diminutive of motio, word, from AFL. inultum, word, grunt, from Lat. tnutlirc, miitirr, to mutter). . sacred vocal composition without instrumental accom- paniment, in polyphonic style. As a rule the text of motets is Latin; but there are also motets with tJerman. Italian, and Enudisli words. .M- though the a capclla style is the ride, it was not always followed. Es|)ecially during the first half of the seventeenth centun,'. which witnessed the beginnings of instnimental music, it was not unusual to add a basso rontinuo. or even a number of violin parts. Tn some instances we find even motets for a solo voice with instrn- mentnl accninpaniment. The motet must not be confounded with the nnthrm (q.v.), in which lat- ter form homophoiiii (q.v,) is always employed. The form of the motet is very old and has under- gone many changes with the various styles of music. The oldest motets were constructed on a cantus firmus (q,v,). From the Ars rantti.i mrn- tarabilis of Franko of Cologne we learn that a motet had tiro diffrrrni texts in the alto and tenor parts, .T. S, Bach, in his motets, substi- tutes the Protestant chorale for the cantus /irnius. MOTH (AS. mo],e Ger. Motte, moth; per- haps connected with Goth, mapa, OHG. mado, Ger. Made, AS. mappu, maTpu, Eiig. mud, made, maggot, grub). An insect of an indefinable sec- tion of the Lepidoptera (q.v.), separated from butterllies by superficial features and habits. Xo scientilic distinction exists between these two, and the terms Rhopalocera for the former and Heteroccra for the moths have been abandoned in taxonomy. Moths as a rule are nocturnal, while butterllies, a.s a rule, lly by day. Jlotlis rest in most cases with the wing horizontally disposed, while butterllies hold them erect, dis- playing the under surface. The autenmc of moths aie likely to be feathery in shajK?, while those of butterflies are thread-like, swollen to- ward the end into a 'club-head,' The nearest to a structural division is made by the fact that all so-called moths have a jugum, or 'hook and eye,' upon the fore wing by which these wings arc held together in (light, while such a structure is ab- sent from the butterthes. (See Butterfi.ies . d • Moths.) All but four families of Lepidoptera. and by far the greater number of species and in- dividu;ils, are moths. They are, however, less conspicuous than their relatives, on account of their generally smaller size and inconspicuous hues, but mainly because of their nocturnal habits. They are of more importance, too. in their relations with mankind than the orna- mental butterllies, which do comparatively little either of harm or good beyond the delight their beauty atTords. The moths, on the contrary, sup- ply the useful proiluct silk, cm the one hand, and on the other furnish a great variety of species, which, especially in the larval stage, do enor- mous damage to growing crops and fruit, as well as to stored grain and food-stufTs, and to a long list of materials, in both their raw and manufac- tured states. The accompanying colored plate represents moths of various families, and e.K- hibits the form and style of coloration assumed. The species figured are described elsewhere. See BrTTKKFLIIr:S AND MoTHS. MOTH, BROwx-TArLED. A name given in Eng- land and New England to the European moth. liuproctis chrysorrliwa. The moth is white in color with a brown tip to the abdomen. Its larva feeds on a great variety of trees, and is gradually spreading in New England, The best remedy i> to burn thelarvivcasesduringthe winter, MOTHER ANN. . name given to Ann Lee (q.v.). the fuundcr of the Shakers. MOTHER BUNCH. A nickname given by Tuccft to Mistress Miniver, the ale-wife, in Dckker's f<nt!roniastix (1002). The name was applie<l later to makers of jokes, as in Pasquil's Jests. Mixed irith Mother Hunch's Merriments (lOnt); and in Mather Hunch's Closet yetcly liriiUe (),»n (1700). MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN (possibly corrupted from L.nt. nuiler cnra. dear motlu'r, in allusion to the Virgin Mary). name familiar- ly given by sailors to the stormy petrel and other small black and white species of petrel. The name 'Mother Carey's goose.' or hen. is in like manner given to the great black petrel or 'bone- brejiker' iOssifrnfin riifjnntea) of the Pacific Ctcean, which is a ravenous feeder on dead whales