Meskoutin

Meskoutin, or Hammam Meskoutin ('the Accursed Baths'), a place in Algeria, 48 miles (77 by rail) E. by N. of Constantine, with remarkable hot baths (203° F.), known to the Romans as Aquce Tibilitinœ. They and the adjoining ferruginous and sulphureous springs (170°) are still used medicinally.

Mesolonghi

Mesolonghi. See Missolonohi.

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (' between the rivers'), the district between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, extending from the foot of the Armenian mountains south-eastwards to near Bagdad. It has an area of about 55,000 sq. m. The soil of the great plain is sandy, but, when well watered or, as it was in ancient times, well irrigated, it develops extraordinary fertility. Yet since the Turks (Seljuks) made themselves masters of the region (1515) it has fallen more and more a prey to barrenness and neglect. Held successively by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks, it has been the battleground of these mighty empires; and amongst its historic cities may be mentioned Harran, Serug (Seruj), Apamea, Edessa, Nisibis, Nice-phorium (Rakka), Hit (Is), Mardin, Mosul (Nineveh), Amid (Diarbekr), and Thapsacus. In summer excessive heat (up to 122° F.) prevails ; in winter the thermometer may go down to 14o F.

Messenia

Messenia, the western of the three peninsulas that project southwards from the Peloponnesus, now a nomarchy of the kingdom of Greece.

Metaurus

Metaurus (modern Metauro or Metro), a river of central Italy, entering the Adriatic near Fano. On its banks the Romans defeated the Carthaginian Hasdrubal in 207 B.C.

Methil

Methil, a coal-shipping port with a good harbour, on the south coast of Fife, 1 mile SW. of Leven. Docks were constructed in 1875 and 1893-94.

Metkovich

Met'kovich, in Dalmatia, the port of Mostar, 111 miles by rail SSW. of Sarajevo. Pop. 1342.

Mettray

Mettray, a village of France, 5 miles N. of Tours by rail, noted for its great agricultural and industrial reformatory dating from 1839.

Meudon

Meudon (Meh-dong'), a village 5 miles W. of Paris. The chateau, rebuilt by Mansard for the Dauphin in 1695, and fitted up for Marie Louise by Napoleon in 1812, was reduced to ruin during the bombardment of Paris in 1871. The Forest is a favourite holiday-resort. A chapel, dedicated to Notre Dame des Flammes, commemorates the terrible railway accident of May 1842, in which over 100 persons were burned alive. Rabelais was cure of Meudon. Pop. 9950.

Meulebeke

Meulebeke (Meh'le-bay'kay), a Belgian town, 24 miles SW. of Ghent. Pop. 9063.

Meurthe-et-Moselle

Meurthe-et-Moselle (Murt-ay-mozell), a dep. of NE. France, formed, after 1871, out of what remained of the former deps. of Moselle and Meurthe. It has four arrondisseinents - Briey, Luneville, Nancy (the capital), and Toul. Area, 2020 sq. m. ; pop. (1872) 365,137 ; (1901) 484,722.

Mevagissey

Mevagissey (g hard), a Cornish fishing-town, 5 1/2 miles S. of St Austell. Pop. of parish, 2200.