says: "The pod is a leaf which is folded up and grown together at its edges, and the capsule consists of several leaves grown together; and the compound fruit is composed of several leaves united round a common center, their sides being opened so as to form a communication between them, and their edges adhering together. The metamorphosis of organs has been investigated with great diligence and success, and beautifully elucidated by Miquel, Lindley, Schleiden, and other botanists. METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUE. See TISSUE. METAPHOR (Gr. metaphora, a transference), a figure of speech by means of which one thing is put for another which it only resembles. Thus, the Psalmist speaks of God's law as being "a light to his feet and a lamp to his path.' The metaphor is there. fore a kind of comparison in which the speaker or writer, casting aside the circumlocution of the ordinary similitude, seeks to attain his end at once by boldly identifying his illustration with the thing illustrated. It is thus of necessity, when well conceived and expressed, graphic and striking in the highest degree, and has been a favorite figure with poets and orators, and the makers of proverbs, in all ages. Even in ordinary language the meanings of words are in great part metaphors, as when we speak of an acute intellect, or a bold promontory. METAPHYSICS, a word of uncertain origin, but first applied to a certain group of the philosophical dissertations of Aristotle (see ARISTOTLE). As since employed, it has had various significations, and more especially two-a larger and a more confined. In the more confined sense it is allied to the problems of the Aristotelian treatise, and is concerned with the ultimate foundations of our knowledge of existing things. What is the nature of our knowledge of the external world, seeing that mind cannot properly know what is not in contact with itself? has been asked by philosophers, and answered in various ways; and this is the great question of metaphysics (see PERCEPTION, COMMON SENSE). The name "Ontology" has been applied to the same inquiries into our cog. nizance of existences out of ourselves. But as the solution of this difficult question was found to involve an investigation into the nature of the human mind, it became allied with the science whose object it is to describe fully and systematically the laws and properties of our mental constitution-a science called by the various names of psychology, mental philosophy, moral philosophy; and hence metaphysics came to be an additional name for this more comprehensive department. The word is employed at the present day by writers of repute in both meanings. Thus, Ferrier's Institutes of Metaphysic is occupied solely with the questions connected with knowledge, or the nature of our perception of an external world; his explanatory title is, The Theory of Knowing and Being. On the other hand, Mansel's metaphysics is divided into two parts-PSYCHOLOGY, or the science of the facts of consciousness, which expresses the science of mind generally; and ONTOLOGY, or the science of the same facts considered in their relation to realities existing without the mind-that is, the problem of perception, or metaphysics in the narrower sense. See PHILOSOPHY. METAPONTUM, or METAPONTIUM, an ancient city of Magna Græcia, Italy; 24 m. from Tarentum, and 14 from Heraclea. It was founded by an emigrating tribe of the Achæans as early as 700 B.C., and perhaps before that time. In 415 B.C. we find the inhabitants allies of the Athenians in their invasion of Sicily, and for some time previous the town had evidently been in a condition of constantly increasing prosperity. Here the philosopher Pythagoras spent his last days, and in classical times his tomb was still to be seen. In the wars waged against Rome by Pyrrhus and Hannibal, the Metapontines were hostile to the imperial city. At the end of the war of Pyrrhus they were subjugated completely by the Romans, and in 212 B.C. succeeded in throwing off the yoke by admitting the Carthaginians. When the latter retreated from Italy the Metapontines, fearing the vengeance of Rome, fled with Hannibal; and the city was deserted, and soon fell into ruins, some of which may still be seen. METASTASIO (originally TRAPASSI), PIETRO, one of Italy's most admired poets, was b. at Rome in 1698, of humble parents, and gave early evidence of his genius by his boyish improvisations. Metastasio having attracted the casual notice of Gravina, a famous jurisconsult of the day, the latter undertook the entire education and career of the youth, whose paternal name of Trapassi became thenceforward Grecized into Metastasio, both words being identical in signification. The young poet speedily advanced in classical and general knowledge; and to his patron's enthusiastic devotion to the Greek drama may doubtless be traced much of the after-bent of Metastasio's own poetical tastes. By the early death of Gravina, Metastasio was placed in possession of considerable property. In 1724 he published one of his most celebrated dramas, La Didone, which, with Il Catons and Il Siroe, conferred on the poet a European name. In 1730 Metastasio accepted the post of poet-laureate to the imperial court of Vienna. During his sojourn in Vienna, Metastasio composed his Giuseppe Riconoscinto, Il Demofonte, and the Olimpiade. He died at Vienna in 1782. Metastasio was distinguished for the generosity, integrity, and candor of his nature, the sincerity of his friendships, and the disinterested warmth of his sentiments. His works are innumerable, embracing 63 dramas, 48 cantatas, besides a vast number of elegies, canzonette, sonnets, and translations. They enjoy unexampled popularity among all grades of his countrymen; in their pure classical subjects and forms the educated student finds instruction and delight; while their facile musical grace and verbal simplicity adapt them to the popular appreciation of the artless beauties of poetry. The best editions of Metastasio are those of Turin (1757, 14 vols.); Paris (1755, 12 vols.); Paris (1780, 12 vols., large 8vo); Genoa (1802, 6 thick vols.); Mantua (1816-20, 20 vols.). METASTASIS, a change in the seat of a disease from one part of the body to another. Rheumatism and gout are examples. Muscular rheumatism is more or less movable, changing from one set of muscles to another. Arthritic rheumatism is more liable to change persistently from one joint to another, or it may pass to an analogous tissue in another kind of organ, as to the serous membranes of the heart, or pericardium, constituting cardiac rheumatism, a dangerous affection. Gout is well known for its flights from one point to another. Inflammation of the parotid gland, or mumps (q.v.) is also a metastatic affection. The causes of metastasis are rather obscure, but they are undoubtedly intimately connected with the nervous system, whose terminal fibers, ending as they do in the cellular elements of the tissues, influence, in a great measure, their pathological as well as physiological action. METAYER (Ital. metà, Fr. moitié, half), in French, is the cultivator of a metairie, or farm, the tenant of which gives the landlord a portion of the produce as his rent. In some of the older French dictionaries, such as that of Trevoux, the word is said to apply to any kind of farmer, but in the oldest dictionary of French and English, Cotgrave's, the word is thus interpreted: "Properly one that takes ground, to the halves, or binds himself by contract to answer unto him of whom he holds them half, or a great part of the profits thereof." The term has lately got a meaning in political economy on account of some eminent writers having raised the question whether this arrangement between landlord and tenant is not so much more advantageous than any other, both to the parties immediately concerned and to the public at large, that it ought to be specially encouraged. Sismondi appears to have been the first to open this wide view of the influence of the practice, and he has given a chapter to its consideration in his Political Economy (b. iii. chap. 5). He says what cannot be denied, that such an arrangement was a great improvement on mere serfdom, which gave the cultivator no interest in the produce of his industry. But in giving the reasons for his admiration of the system as one which provides in the general case for the wants of the peasant while relieving him of all anxiety about markets and prices, he admits that a metayer peasantry never advance beyond the humble, happy, and contented lot which immediately falls to them. It is a system, therefore, inconsistent with the application of large capital to cultivation, and consequently with the extraction of the highest value which the soil can yield. A tenant will hesitate to lay £50 worth of guano on his fields if half the additional crop it will bring goes to his landlord. To those who maintain that the moral effect of the system is beneficial, this will be no argument against it, but to the political economist it is an argument against the practicability of the system in a rich money-making agricultural country. Where there is an enterprising peasantry without capital it is a valuable resource; a great portion of the valuable agricultural districts of Scotland were thus brought into cultivation by improvers whose rent was a portion of the crop. But while these very districts in a great measure owe their present prosperity and the existence of a set of capitalist-farmers to such a system of cultivation pursued with more energy than M. Sismondi considers natural to it, there is no doubt that the substitution of such an arrangement for money-rent would now be a very serious waste. METCALFE, a co. in s. Kentucky, drained by the south fork of Green river, which rises within its limits; 370 sq.m.; pop. '80, 9,423-9,414 of American birth, 1036 colored. Its surface is varied, and largely covered with timber. Its soil is fertile, producing large quantities of tobacco, and suited to the production of wool, sweet-potatoes, the products of the dairy, flax, maple sugar, sorghum, honey, fruit, and every kind of grain. Stockraising receives much attention, and its grist-mills are run by steam. Seat of justice, Edmonton. METCALFE, FREDERICK, b. England, 1817; a distinguished scholar and educator, having pursued the regular course of study at the university of Cambridge, graduated in 1838, and was elected fellow of Lincoln college, Oxford. In 1848 he accepted the position of principal of the Brighton college, an institution founded in 1847 for the sons of noblemen. In 1844 he published a translation of prof. A. Becker's Gallus, or Roman Scenes of the Times of Augustus, with notes and exercises, considered of great historical value; 2d edition, 1853. In 1845 a translation of Becker's Charicles, a tale illustrative of private life among the ancient Greeks, with notes and exercises. He was the author of History of German Literature, based on the German work of Vilmar, 1858; other works are The Oxonian in Norway, or notes of excursions in that country, 1856, The Oxonian in Thelemarker, 1858, The Oxonian in Iceland, 1861, and an adaptation, for use in schools, of Whittaker's edition of Dr. Charles Anthon's Virgil, 1846. METELLUS, the name of a Roman family of the plebeian gens Cæcilia, which rose to be one of the first families of the Roman nobility.-One of the most distinguished members of the family was QUINTUS CECILIUS METELLUS MACEDONICUS, who received his surname from his victory over Andriscus, an aspirant to the throne of Macedonia (148 B.C.). His life was considered by ancient writers an example of the greatest felicity. Meteorology. He died 115 B. C.-Another was QUINTUS CECILIUS METELLUS NUMIDICUS, who twice defeated Jugurtha in Numidia (109 B.C.), and was celebrated for his integrity of character, but was superseded in his command by Marius. His son, QUINTUS CECILIUS METELLUS, surnamed Pius, joined Sulla in 83 B.C., but sought to moderate the severity of his proscriptions. He, too, bore a distinguished character for virtue.—QUINTUS CECILIUS METELLUS CRETICUS conquered Crete, and reduced it to a Roman province (67 B.C.).-QUINTUS CECILIUS METELLUS PIUS SCIPIO, sometimes called QUINTUS SCIPIO, and sometimes SCIPIO METELLUS, was a son of Publius Cornelius Scipio, who was adopted by one of the Metelli, and became the father-in-law of Pompey, and his zealous partisan. He commanded under him at Pharsalus, maintained war on his behalf for some time in Africa; and after the battle of Thapsus (46 B. C.), died by his own hand. METEMPSYCHO'SIS. See TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. METEOROLOGY (Gr. metéōra, meteors, or atmospheric phenomena) was originally applied to the consideration of all appearances in the sky, both astronomical and atmospherical; but the term is now confined to that department of natural philosophy which treats of the phenomena of the atmosphere as regards weather and climate. The leading points of this wide subject will be found under such heads as AËROLITES, ATMOSPHERE, BAROMETER, BOILING, CLOUDS, DEW, ELECTRICITY, EVAPORATION, FOG, HAILSTONES, HALOS, HOAR-FROST, LIGHTNING, MAGNETISM, RAIN, SNOW, STORMS, etc. We confine ourselves here to a historical sketch of the science. Owing to the complexity of the phenomena, meteorology is the most difficult and involved of the sciences, and seems, indeed, at first sight, almost incapable of being reduced to a science at all. On this account, the only procedure admissible in the first place is long and patient observation, and a faithful recording of facts. From the nature of the subjects which make up the science, it may be inferred that they occupied men's minds from a remote antiquity. The splendid and ever-varying panorama of the sky, and the changes of temperature through the days and the seasons, with all the other elements constituting the weather, and thus powerfully affecting the necessities and comfort of man, are of a nature well fitted to arrest his attention. From the time spent in the open air in the early ages, and from the imperfect protection afforded against the inclemency of the seasons, those appearances which experience proved to precede a change of weather would be eagerly recorded and handed down. In this way, many most valuable facts were ascertained and passed current from hand to hand; and, perhaps, there is no science of which more of the leading facts and inferences have been from so early a period incorporated into popular language. Aristotle was the first who collected, in his work On Meteors, the current prognostics of the weather. Some of these were derived from the Egyptians, who had studied the science as a branch of astronomy, while a considerable number were the result of his own observation, and bear the mark of his singularly acute and reflective mind. The next writer who took up the subject was Theophrastus, one of Aristotle's pupils, who classified the opinions commonly received regarding the weather under four heads, viz., the prognostics of rain, of wind, of storm, and of fine weather. The subject was discussed purely in its popular and practical bearings, and no attempt was made to explain phenomena whose occurrence appeared so irregular and capricious. Cicero, Virgil, and a few other writers also wrote on the subject without making any substantial accessions to our knowledge; indeed, the treatise of Theophrastus contains nearly all that was known down to comparatively recent times. Partial explanations were attempted by Aristotle and Lucretius, but as they wanted the elements necessary for such an inquiry, being all but totally ignorant of every department of physical science, their explanations were necessarily vague, and often ridiculous and absurd. In this dormant condition meteorology remained for ages, and no progress was made till proper instruments were invented for making real observations with regard to the temperature, the pressure, the humidity, and the electricity of the air. The discovery of the weight or pressure of the atmosphere made by Torricelli in 1643 was undoubtedly the first step in the progress of meteorology to the rank of a science. This memorable discovery disclosed what was passing in the more elevated regions of the atmosphere, and thus the elevations and depressions of the barometric column largely extended our knowledge of this subtle element. See BAROMETER. The invention and gradual perfecting of the thermometer (q.v.) in the same century, formed another capital step; as without it nothing could be known beyond vague impressions regarding temperature, the most important of all the elements of climate. This great invention soon bore excellent fruit. Fahrenheit constructed small and portable thermometers, which, being carried by medical men and travelers over every part of the world, furnished observations of the most valuable description-the comparative temperature of different countries became known, and the exaggerated accounts of travelers with regard to extreme heat and cold were reduced to their proper meaning. Scarcely less important was the introduction of the hygrometer (q.v.), first systematically used by De Saussure (died 1799), and afterwards improved by Dalton, Daniell, and August. From the period of the invention of these instruments, the number of meteorological observers greatly increased, and a large body of well-authenticated facts of the utmost value was collected. The climates of particular parts of the earth were determined, and |