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jhe effects were evidently to be ascribed to heat; but plants keptin a hothouse, where the temperature, of the day and irght arealike, contract their leaves, and sleep in the same manner as ifthey were exposed to the open air; “ whence it appears (says he),that the sleep of plants is owing rather to a peculiar law, than to a(■pucker or slower motion of the juices.” lie suspects, therefore,that as the sleep of plants is not owing to the mere absence of heat,it may be occasioned by the want of light; and to ascertain thishe proposes an experiment of throwing upon them a strong arti-ficial light. On this, however, we must remark, that the throwingof artificial light upon plants cannot be attended with the sameeffects as that of the light of the sun unless the former were as strongSi the latter, and thrown on the plant in rays nearly parallel, whichis impossible. See Milne’s Botanical Dictionary.

MOTIVE, a term sometimes applied to that faculty of thehuman mind, by which we pursue good and avoid evil. ThusHobbes distinguishes the faculties of the mind into two sorts, thecognitive and motive.

MOTTA, a town of Italy , in Trevisano; at the conflux of theMottcgano and Livenza ; IS miles E.-N. E. of Treviso.

MOTTE, Anthony IIoudajrt de la, an ingenious French-man , greatly distinguished by his w ritings in prose nnd verse, andby his literary contests with many eminent persons, was born atParis in 1672. lie wrote with very various success, having beenmuch praised and much censured. Ilis literary paradoxes, hissingular systems, in all branches of polite learning, and above allhis judgement upon the ancients, raised him up formidable adver-saries. Racine, Boileau, Rousseau , Madam Dacier, &c. avengedonliquity on a man who, with more wit than learning, assumed adictatorial authority in the belles lettres. He became blind inthe latter years of his life, and died in 1731. He wrotemany poems, tragedies, comedies, pastorals, and fables ; besidesa vast variety of discourses, critical and academical, in prose.

A complete edition of all his works was published in 11 vols 8vo,in 1734.

MOTTO, in heraldry, a short sentence or phrase, earned in ascroll, generally under, but sometimes over, the arms; sometimesalluding to the bearing, sometimes to the name of the bearer, andsometimes containing whatever pleases the fancy of the deviser. SeeHeraldry.

MOVEABLE FEASTS are such as are not always held on thesame day of the year or month: though they be on the same dav°f the week. See Feasts. Thus, Easter is a moveable feast ,being always held on the Sunday which falls upon or next after thefirst full moon following the 21st of March. All the other move-able feasts are regulated by Easter , and keep their distance fromit; such are Seftuagesima, Sf.xagestma, Ash-Wednesday,&c. which see under their proper articles.

Moveable Subject, in law, any thing that moves itself, orcan be moved; in contradistinction to immoveable or heritablesubjects, as lands, houses, &c.

MOVEMENT is often used in the same sense with automaton.The most usual movements for keeping time are watches andclocks: the first are such as shew the parts of time, and are port-able in the pocket; the second such as publish it by sounds, andare fixed as furniture. See Clock , and \\ atch.

Movement, in its popular use among us, signifies gl! the inner j'vork of a watch, clock, or other engine, w hich move, and by that |■notion carry on the design of, the machine. The movement of aclock or watch is the inside, or that part which measures the time,strikes, Arc. exclusive of the frame, case, dial-plate, &c. J he*Parts common to both these movements are, the main-spring, w ithIts appurtenances; lying in the spring-box, and in the middlethereof lapping about the spring-arbor, to which one end ot it isfastened. A-top of the spring-arbor is the endless screw and its"heel; hut in spring-clocks, this is a ratchet-wheel with its click,that stops it. That which the main-spring draws, and round whichthe chain or string is wrapped, is called the fusee ; this is ordinarilytaper; in large works, going with weights, it is cylindrical, andcalled the barrel. The small teeth at the bottom of the fusee orbarrel, which stops it in winding up, is called the ratchet; and that"finch stops it when wound up, and is for that end driven up bythe spring, the garde-gut. The wheels are various: the parts ofa wheel are, the hoop or rim ; the teeth, the cross, and the colletor piece of brass soldered on the arbor or spindle whereon the

TOU III.—no. 150.

wheel is rivetted. The little wheels playing in the teeth of thelarger are called pinions; and their teeth, which are four, five,six,(eight, &c. are called leaves; the ends of the spindle are calledpivots; and the guttered wheel, with iron-spikes at bottom,w herein the line of ordinary clocks runs, the pulley. See Clock ,Fusee, Watch-Wheel, &c.

MOUFET, Thomas, M. D. a celebrated English physician,born at London , in the l6(h century, lie practised medicine withgreat reputation at Ipswich ; but spent the latter part of his life nearWilton ; and died about 1600. He published a work at London ,in 1634, folio, intituled “ Theatrum lnsectorum.” A translation ofit was published at London in 1638, folio. Martin Lister gives avery' unfavourable opinion of this book, and censures him forquoting Aldrovandus , without naming him; but Rav vindicatesMoufet; and maintains that he has rendered an essential service l»the republic of letters. Moufet was the first who introducedchemical medicines into England.

MOUG-DEN, or CI1EN-YANG, a city of Chinese Tartary,and capital of the country of the Mantchews, or Eastern Tartars.They have ornamented it with several public edifices, and pro-vided it with magazines of arms and storehouses. Lon. 123.43. E.Lat. 41. 55. N.

MOULA,,in Turkish polity, the judge of a province, in distinc-tion from the Cadis who are judges of towns. See Cadi.

MOULD, in agriculture a general name for the soft earthy sub-stance that serves as the upper stratum of land; and in which allkinds of vegetables strike root and thrive. Mould consists of thefollowing ingredients; viz. sand, clay, and talcum, or magnesianearth; carbon derived from decayed vegetable and animal sub-stances; the carbonic acid, and water. The good or bad qualitiesof the soil depend upon a proper mixture of these ingredients;though, if the carbon, the carbonic acid, and iron, be wanting,the fertility of land will depend on its capacity to retain the quan-tity of moisture, which is necessary for the nutriment of vegetables.The relative utility of mould, for the different purposes of thegardener, may be ascertained by the sight, smell, and touch. Thebest is of alight brown or hazle-colour ; it cuts easily, and doesnot adhere to the spade, being light, friable, and crumbling intosmall clods. The next in quality are the dark-grey and russet-coloured moulds; but the worst are those of a very light, or very-dark ash-colour, such as are generally found on barren heaths andcommons, where they seldom produce any thing except furze andfern. With respect to smell, Miller observes, that the best timeforjudging by that sense, is immediately after rain has moistenedthe soil; w hen the mould, if it be rich and good, will emit anagreeable odour. But the most accurate criterion is the touch, asit mav thus tie ascertained whether the mould be too sandy, orabound with too much clay; w hether it lie fatty and slip-pery ; or harsh, porous, or friable. The most fertile, by thistest, holds a medium between the two extremes ; being easily so-luble, consisting of equal parts of sand and clay ; and not adheringto the spade, after gentle showers.

Mould, or Mold, in the mechanic arts, &c. a cavity artfullycut with design to give its form or impression to some Softer mat-ter applied therein. Moulds are implements of great use in Sculp-ture, foundery, &c. The workmen employed in melting themineral or metallic glebe dim out of mines, have each their severalmoulds to receive the melted metal as it comes out of the furnace :but these are different according to the diversity of metals andworks. In gold-mines, they have moulds for ingots; in silver-mines, for bars; in copper or lead-mines, tor pigs or salmons; intin-mines, for pigs and ingots; and in iron-mines, for sows, chim-ney-backs, anvils, caldrons, pots, and other large utensils andmerchandizes of iron ; which are here cast, as it were at first hand.

Mould , among gold-beaters, a certain number of Leaves ofvellum or pieces of guts cut square, of a certain size, and laid overone another, between w hich they put the leaves of gold and silverwhich they beat on the marble with the hammer. See Gold-Lf.af. ( -

Mould, among masons, is a piece of hard wood or iron,hollowed within side, answerable to the contours of the mouldingsor cornices, &c. to be formed. This is otherwise called caliber.

Mould, in ship-building, a thin flexible piece of timber, used byshipwrights as a pattern whereby to form the different curves of thetimbers, and other compassing pieces in a ship’s frame.

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