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Meridian, First, is that from which the rest areaccounted, reckoning from west to east. The first meridianis the beginning of longitude.
The fixing of the first meridian is merely arbitrary ;and hence different persons, nations, and ages, have fixed itdifferently ; whence some confusion has arisen in geography.The rule among the ancients was, to make it pass throughthe place farthest to the west that was known. But themoderns, knowing that there is no such place in the earth ascan be esteemed the most westerly, the way of computingthe longitudes of places from one fixed point is much laidaside.
But, without much regard to any of these rules, our geo-graphers and map-makers frequently assume the meridian ofthe place where they live, or the capital of their country, fora first meridian ; and thence reckon the longitudes of theirplaces.
The astronomers, in their calculations, usually choose themeridian of the place where their observations are made, fortheir first meridian; as Ptolemy, at Alexandria; TychoBrahe, at Uranibourg ; Riccioli, at Bologna ; Mr. Flamsteed,at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich; and the French , atthe Observatory at Paris .
Meridian Line, an arc , or part of the meridian of theplace, terminated each way by the horizon. Or, a meridianline is the intersection of the plane of the meridian of theplace with the plane of the horizon, vulgarly called a northand south line, because its direction is from one pole towardsthe other.
The use of a meridian line in astronomy, geography, dial-ing, &c., is very great, and on its exactness all depends ;whence infinite pains have been taken by divers astronomersto fix it with the utmost precision. M. Cassini has distin-guished himself by a meridian line drawn on the pavementof the church of S. Petronio, at Bologna , the largest andmost accurate in the world; being 120 feet in length. Inthe roof of this church, 1,000 inches above the pavement, isa little hole, through which the sun’s rays, when in the meri-dian, falling upon the line, mark his progress all the year.When finished, M. Cassini, by a public writing, informed themathematicians of Europe of a new oracle of Apollo, or theSun, established in a temple, which might be consulted, withentire confidence, as to all difficulties in astronomy.
To draw a meridian line.
On the horizontal plane, from the same centre, c, drawseveral arcs of circles, ba, b a, &c., and on the same centre,C, erect a style, or gnomon, perpendicular to the plane acb,a foot, or half a foot long. About the 21st of June, betweenthe hours of nine and eleven in the morning, and betweenone and three in the afternoon, observe the points b, b, &c.,a, a, wherein the shadow of the style terminates. Bisectthe arcs A b , ab, See,, in d, d, &c. If then the same rightline, de, bisect all the arcs, ab, a b, &c., it will be the meri-dian line sought.
As it is difficult to determine the extremity of the shadowexactly, it is best to have the style flat at top, and to drill alittle hole, noting the lucid spot projected by it on the arcsA b and a b, instead of the extremity of the shadow. Other-wise the circles may be made with yellow, instead ofblack, &c.
If the meridian line be bisected by a right line, o V, drawnperpendicularly through the point c, O v will be the intersec-tion of the meridian, and first vertical ; and, consequently, oWill show the east point, and V the west.
Lastly,—If a style be erected perpendicularly in any otherhorizontal plane, and a signal be given when the shadow ofthe style covers the meridian line drawn in another plane,
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noting the apex, or extremity, of the shadow proj eC * e re iuthe style, a line drawn from that point through that wdthe style is raised, will be a meridian line.
Meridian Line, on a dial, is a right line arising fro 111 0 fintersection of the meridian of the place with the P‘ a . ethe dial. This is the line of twelve o’clock, and from h ethe division of the hour-line begins. eP t
MERLON, the elevated or solid portion of a battlewhich alternates with the embrasures. rrfre
MEROS, (Greek,) the middle part of the triglyph,breadth of the triglyph is divided into six parts; of w ^five are placed in the middle, two and a half being on el .^j,side. The middle one makes the regula, or femur, ’*the Greeks call meros. On either side of this are the cnels, sunk as if imprinted with the elbow of a square.the right and left of these another femur is formed, athe extremities semi-channels are slanted. ,
ME SAUL A3, in Grecian architecture, passages ^ e j. 8 jthe peristylium and hospitalium ; the same as the aumof the Romans. See House.
META, the goal in the Roman circus to wliioh theriots ran.
METAGENAS, a Grecian architect, who wr0 ;l j S odescription of the temple of Diana at Ephesus ; he te j,jointly conducted this edifice with his father Ctesiph 0the Gnossian.
METATOME, the interval between two dentils.
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METEZAU, CLEMENT, a celebrated French arc_
who flourished in the former part of the seventeent etury, was a native of Dreux, but settled at Paris , hearchitect to Louis XIII. , and acquired much fame by cfting into execution, with Tiriot, a Parisian mason, 1 M
Roche» e ■
suggested by Cardinal Richelieu , for reducing Roche*»“ #( jmeans of an immense dyke, in imitation of what C® sdone at Durazzo, and Alexander the Great at Tyi' e> £ *40scheme was to run a solid wall across a gulf upwards ofathoms, or more than three-quarters of a mile broawhich the sea rolled with great force, and, when th ^ j e fi-was high, with an impetuosity which seemed to set ^ o8 j.ance the art of man. Those who had undertaken tn. ^ness were not to be turned aside by any obstacle 9 .'began by throwing in huge rocks, to lay a kind 0 , py
dation ; upon these were placed vast stones, cem e , b/the mud thrown up by the sea. These were supp° r jjblflimmense beams, driven into the bottom with > n potlabour. It was raised so high, that the soldiers ^ plat*incommoded by the water, even at spring-tides. *form was nearly 30 feet wide, and 90 feet at theAt each extremity there was as a strong fort, in the ^ s9 <;lSthere was an open passage of 150 paces, severs
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being sunk immediately before it, together
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in a double row, and before these thirty-five vesitogether, so as to form a kind of floating palisaamazing dyke was completed in somewhat l ess . n j n g ^months, and proved the principal means of occast ^ g pS ^surrender of the city. So honourable were the eX j rC ul a , te £fM. Metezau in this business, that his portrait was ^jovvi” 0widely through France , to which were attached thelines:
“ Dicitur Archimedes Terram potuisse movers.
/Kquora qui potuit sistere, non minor est.
METOCHE, (from the Greek, jusroxO, in ancie ”pacetecture, a term used by Vitruvius , to signify. - of *interval between the dentils of the Ionic , or trig 1 )!
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