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METAPLASM, [^r'raTrxa.^.o;,] in grammar, is a change madein a word, by adding, retrenching, or altering, a syllable, or letterthereof.
METAPTOSIS, [from against, and wruiTt;,. a fall,] thelapse of one disease into another.
ME TASTASIS, [fisyao-rnT-i;,] in medicine, is a transpositionor settlement of some humour or disease in some other part ; andsometimes it signifies such an alteration of a disease as is succeed-ed bv a solution.
METASYNCHRISIS, [from against, and s-vy-tym;, a
concretion,] a restoration ; the removal of a morbid concre-tion.
METATARSUS , [pum. and raj<n>f,] the middle of the foot,which is composed of five small bones connected to those of thefirst part of the foot. Sec Anatomy.
METATHESIS, [f-Mn-fhvi;,] in grammar, a species of the me-taplasm ; being a figure whereby the letters or syllables of a wordare transposed or shifted out of their usual situations, as pistris forpristis, Lybia for Libya , &c.
Metathesis, in medicine, is used with respect to morbidcauses, which, when they cannot be evacuated, are removed toplaces where they are less injurious.
METAURO, a river of Italy, in the marquisate of Ancona ,which runs into the Adriatic, near Ancona .
Metauro, a-river of Naples , in Calabria Ultra, which runs in-to the Adriatic, 6 miles S. of Nicotera .
METAURUS, in ancient geography, a town of Italy , in thecountry of the Brutii, now called Metro.
Metaurus, a river of Italy , now called Metauro.
METELIN, the modern name of the island of Lesbos . SeeLesbos, and Mitylene .
METEMPSYCHOSIS, [| uim t beyond, and s/.iLvx©', ani-mated,] Pythagoras and his followers held, that after death men’ssouls passed into other bodies, of this or that kind, according tothe manner of life they had led. If they had been vicious, theywere imprisoned in the bodies of miserable beasts, there to do pe-nance fer several ages ; at the expiration whereof, they returnedafresh to animate men. But if they lived virtuously, some hap-pier brute, or a human creature, was to be their lot. Some au-thors, however, maintain that the metempsychosis of Pythagoras implied nothing more than a similitude of manners, desires, andstudies, formerly existing in some person deceased, and now re-vived in another alive. Pythagoras is said to have borrowed thenotion of a metempsychosis from the Egyptians; others say, fromthe ancient Brachmans. It is still retained among the Banians andother idolaters of India and China ; and makes the principal foun-dation of their religion. So extremely are they bigoted to it, that
| they not only forbear eating any thing that has life, but many 0j them even refuse to defend themselves from wild beasts. Theyburn no wood, lest some little animalcule should be in it; and ar eso very charitable, that they will redeem from the hands of strang'ers anv animals that they find ready to be killed.
M IlTEMPTOSIS, [from jxitm, after, and onr™, I fall,] *term in chronology, expressing the solar equation, necessary 10prevent the new moon from happening a day loo late ; by wine 11it stands contradistinguished from Proemptosis, which signifies mlunar equation, necessary to prevent the new moon from happen 11 '®a day too soon. The new moons running a little backwards, th<*is, coming a day too soon at the end of 312 years and a half ’ 3 '1the proemptosis, a day is added every 300 years, and anoth eevery 2400 years : on the other hand, by the metemptosis, a f» s 'sextile is suppressed each 134 years: that is, three times in 4°years. ’These alterations are never made but at the end of ea clcentury ; that period rendering the practice of the calendar easTThere are three rules for making this addition or suppression of u’ ebissextile day, and for changing the index of the epacts. 1. Wh CI |there is a metemptosis, the next following, or lower index, niu*be taken. 2. When there is a proemptosis without a meleinplo sl1 ’'the next preceding or superior index is to be taken. 3. Win' 11there are both a metemptosis and a proemptosis, or when there > sneither the one nor the other, the same index is preserved. Th uS 'in lGOO, we had D : in 1700, by reason of the metemptosis, Ctaken: in 1800, there was both a proemptosis and metemptosi s >so the same index was retained. In 1900, there will be a n> e jtemptosis again, when B will be taken ; which will be preservein 2000, because there will then be neither the one nor the othC’This is as far as we need to compute for it: but Clavius has calc 0 'lated a cycle of 301,800 years; at the end of which period, t‘’ csame indices return in the same order.
| METEOR, [by the Greeks called [Ainw^a, q.d. high raise*; 1! and by the Latins, impressio, as making signs or impressions 1,1i the air,] is extended to the phenomena of hail, rain, snow, thu'T] der, &c. but is most commonly confined to those unusual a, ’°fiery appearances named falling stars, ignes fatui , aurora boreal eS '&c. whether they appear at a great distance from the earth or nobSee these articles, and Meteorology.
METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL, a table recording t' ,edaily state of the air, exhibited by the barometer, thermometerhygrometer, anemometer, and other meteorological instrument”We have many journals of this kind, kept at the house of t‘*Royal Society , and by different observers in other places, in tl ,( lPhilosophical Transactions , the Memoirs of the Academy 0Sciences, and similar publications. See the next article.
METEOROLOGY , [f*i7iu»« and xtyw,] a science which in-vestigates those phenomena of the atmosphere, commonly calledmeteors, giving an account of the circumstances attending each,and explaining the causes whence they arise.
Of the Objects of Meteorology.
The objects of this science are naturally divided into threeclasses: viz. 1. Luminous and Fiery Meteors, including the Halo,the Parhelion or mock-sun, the Rainbow, the Fata Morgana, theIgnis Fatuus , the Stella Cadens or falling star, the Draco Volans®r flying dragon, the Aurora Borealis or northern morn, Thunder,and Lightning. 2. Airy Meteors, including Hurricanes, Tor-nadoes , the Ilarmaltan, the Siroc, Whirlwinds, 'Trade-winds, &c.3. Aqueous Meteors, including Evaporation, Water-Spouts,Clouds, Mists, Rain, Dew, Snow, and Hail . See these articlesin their order. To treat of all these in a satisfactory manner, it isplain_ that we ought to have an intimate acquaintance with theconstitution of the atmosphere ; with the nature of those powerfulagents by which it appears to be principally influenced, viz. fire,light, and electric fluid ; and with their peculiar modes of opera-tion and action uppn one another and upon the atmosphere, and•his in every possible variety of circumstances. Nor is even all
this sufficient: the various phxnomena of rain, wind, snow,‘he at lcold, &c. are known to depend very much upon the situation °.different places on the surface of the earth ; and their occasion"variations are with great reason supposed to proceed, partly a ,least, from changes which take place in the bowels of the earth'whence a meteorologist ought not only to be perfectly well aCquainted with geology, but with mineralogy also ; ami that to a ^
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extent at which human knowledge will probably never arrive-,a science so very difficult, it is not to be supposed that any tli'°®
like a certain and established theory can be laid down: our
most knowledge in this respect goes no farther yet, than to *■'establishment of a few facts ; and in reasoning even from these, ^are involved every moment in questions which seem scarce^
it
within the compass of human wisdom to resolve. Most of
atmospherical phamomena are so various and uncertain, thatseems impossible to reduce them to any kind of rule. -j.
year, for instance, differs in a vast number of particulars fromwhich preceded it, even in such as are the most similar to one;other. Sometimes we find a number of years successively sim 1 ‘to one another, and another set quite different taking place ' nll " 0 j(diately after them. Some have supposed that this succession toplace e.very nineteen years, nearly the time of the revolution