DESCRIPTION.-Willan's definition of macula is a permanent discoloration of some portion of the skin;' and that author adopted the term as the title of his eighth order of cutaneous affections, including sunburn, nævus, and spilus. The term macula is likewise applied to a hyperæmic state of the skin, which may be simply chronic without being permanent, such as those which have received the name of maculæ syphiliticæ. Maculæ, therefore, may be merely pigmentary, and-located in the rete mucosum alone; or they may be hæmostatic or hæmorrhagic, and be

seated in the derma and subcutaneous tissues. Sunburn, freckles, liver-spot, bronzed and melasmic spots, and the stains left on the skin after the dispersion of certain cutaneous eruptions, such as lepra vulgaris, acne, lichen planus, syphilis, and elephantiasis, are examples of pig; mentary maculæ, whilst leucosmic spots and blotches represent an absence of pigment. The maculæ resulting from a permanent hyperemia of the blood-vessels of the skin, such as flat vascalar Læri and the claret-stain nævus, are hæmostatic and disappear under pressure; whilst the bæmorrhagic maculæ are represented by the escape of the red corpuscles of the blood from the vessels, and their diffusion in the connective tissues, such as occurs in purpura and in bruises. TREATMENT.-The therapeutics of macula will be found treated of under the heads of pigmentary affections of the skin, and of the respective diseases with which they are associated.

ERASMUS WILSON. MADEIRA; North Atlantic Ocean.Moist, mild, equable, relaxing climate. Mean temperature in winter, 60-6° Fahr. Prevailing wind N.E. See CLIMATE, Treatment of Disease by. MADNESS. See INSANITY.

MADURA-FOOT.—A synonym for fungusfoot of India. See FUNGUS-DISEASE OF INDIA. MAGGOTS.-A popular term for the parasitic larvæ of various insects, including bots. See ESTRUS.

MAGNETISM, ANIMAL.-This name was formerly applied to the imaginary new force or principle, supposed to be akin to magnetism, and to be in operation when individuals were mesmerised. This hypothetical new force was thought to be called into play by the mesmeriser; and it was deemed to be by virtue of its influence that the will, thoughts, and actions of the medium,' or person mesmerised, are capable of being influenced in the so-called mesmeric trance or sleep. This view as to the nature of the causal conditions is now regarded as altogether erroneous, although certain remarkable effects appear to have been produced on many persons by so-called mesmeric passes,' or other

under physiological conditions, of some at present imperfectly understood state or modification of cerebral activity (see MESMERISM). This state is now generally spoken of as the 'hypnotic condition,' hypnotic sleep,' or 'hypnotism'; or more rarely as induced somnambulism.' On the other hand, when such a state is induced, as a therapeutic means or agency, it has been spoken of as Braidism.' See BRAIDISM. H. CHARLTON BASTIAN.

MALACOSIS (μaλands, soft).-A term for the morbid softening of structures. See SOFTENING. MALACOSTEΟΝ (μαλακός, soft, and ὀστέον, a bone).-A peculiar disease of bone, characterised by softening. See MOLLITIES OSSIUM.

bracing, equable climate. Mean temperature MALAGA, in South of Spain.-Dry, mild, in winter, 55° Fahr. Winds: N.W. (Terral), dry and dusty; E. (Levante), cold and damp. Drawbacks: bad drainage and cookery. See CLIMATE, Treatment of Disease by.

MALAISE (Fr.)-SYNON.: Indisposition; Ger. Missbefinden.—In cases of simple digestive derangement, in ague, and in the stage of invasion of many acute diseases, the patient very commonly first becomes aware that his health is disturbed by a feeling of general illness, which is known as malaise.

DESCRIPTION.-Under the circumstances just mentioned, the ordinarily unconscious feeling of being well, or bien-être, which accompanies perfect health, is replaced by a painful and depressing feeling, which the patient probably cannot describe otherwise than as a sense of being weak, languid, listless, and disinclined to bodily or mental exertion. Malaise is commonly associated with bodily debility, chilliness or actual rigors, moderate pyrexia, general pains or aches, giddiness, headache, and anorexia. In the course of the more serious diseases in which it occurs, malaise either passes off or soon gives place to more urgent symptoms-such as depression, apathy, delirium, or stupor; but in other instances it persists, and constitutes the chief subjective phenomenon of the disease, as in some cases of typhoid fever.

TREATMENT.-The treatment of malaise will

depend upon the nature of the cause of the feelings just described, and should be directed to its removal or remedy. J. MITCHELL BRUCE.

MALARIA (Ital.).—SYNON.: Marsh Miasm.; Fr. Mauvais Air; Intoxication des Marais; Intoxication Tellurique; Ger. Malaria.

DEFINITION.-An earthborn poison, generated in soils the energies of which are not expended in the growth and sustenance of healthy vegetation. By almost universal consent this poison is the cause of all the types of intermittent and