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coming year, the consequence will be a perpetually straitened and embarrased state. This was always the case with the British American colonies, and even of the states for many years after the establishment of the American independence. The liberal credits in England enabled them to anticipate their income, and they were, accordingly, always largely indebted to England, and thus constantly straitened and distressed, notwithstanding the country was, during the same time, rapidly growing in population and wealth. It is desirable that the commerce of a country should be so conducted as not to keep the country constantly indebted. If we were, therefore, to consider the balance of trade to be a constant standing balance of debt due to, or from, a country, in this sense it would be a subject of great importance. The consequence of large foreign credits, and of the desire to consume more of foreign products than the people have present produce of their labor sufficient to pay for, is occasionally to drive specie from the country; and the more extensive the credits, the more complete and exhausting will be this drain when it happens. This has been a subject of very frequent experience in the trade between the U. States and Europe. The only way of preventing its recurrence is to produce at home so great a proportion of the commodities wanted for consumption, that the exportable produce will be amply sufficient to pay, in the foreign markets, for the foreign products needed. But whether legislation shall be at all, and if at all, to what extent, directed to the advancement of commerce, or any other branch of industry, so as incidentally and consequentially to affect the kind and amount of exchanges with foreign nations, are much agitated questions. The practice of the whole civilized world is to legislate with a reference to national industry, and such it always has been. The real ground of doubt seems to relate to the proper objects and extent of this legislation.

MERCATOR, Gerard, a mathematician and geographer, born at Rupelmonde (not, as usually stated, at Ruremond), in the Low Countries, in 1512, studied at Louvain, applying himself with such intensity as to forget to take the necessary food and sleep. His progress in the mathematics was very rapid, although without a teacher, and he soon became a lecturer on geography and astronomy, making his instruments with his own hands. Granvella (q. v.), to whom he presented a terrestrial globe, recommended him to

Charles V. Mercator entered into the emperor's service, and executed for him a celestial globe of crystal, and a terrestrial globe of wood. In 1559, he retired to Duisburg, and received the title of cosmographer to the duke of Juliers. His last years were devoted to theological studies. He died in 1594. Mercator published a great number of maps and charts, which he engraved and colored himself. He is known as the inventor of a method of projection called by his name, in which the meridians and parallels of latitude cut each other at right angles, and are both represented by straight lines, which has the effect of enlarging the degrees of latitude, as they recede from the equator. His first maps on this projection were published in 1569; the principles were first explained by Edward Wright, in 1599, in his Corrections of Errors in Navigation, whence the discovery has sometimes been attributed to him. His Tabulæ Geographica (Cologne, 1578) is the best edition of the maps of Ptolemy, and has been merely copied by his successors. His Atlas has been often republished.

MERCER, Hugh, a brigadier-general in the American revolutionary army, was a native of Scotland. He was liberally educated, studied medicine, and acted as a surgeon's assistant in the memorable battle of Culloden. He emigrated from his country, not long after, to Pennsylvania, but removed to Virginia, where he settled and married. He was engaged with Washington in the Indian wars of 1755 &c.; and his children are in possession of a medal which was presented to him by the corporation of the city of Philadelphia, for his good conduct in the expedition against an Indian settlement, conducted by colonel Armstrong, in September, 1756. In one of the engagements with the Indians, general Mercer was wounded in the right wrist, and being separated from his party, he found that there was danger of his being surrounded by hostile Indians, whose warwhoop and yell indicated their near approach. Becoming faint from loss of blood, he took refuge in the hollow trunk of a large tree. The Indians came to the spot where he was concealed, seated themselves about for rest, and then disappeared. Mercer left his hiding-place, and pursued his course through a trackless wild of about one hundred miles, until he reached fort Cumberland. On the way he subsisted on the body of a rattlesnake, which he met and killed. When the war broke out between the colonies and the mother country, he immediately joined

the American standard, relinquishing an extensive medical practice. Under Washington, whose favor and confidence he enjoyed beyond most of his fellow-officers, he soon reached the rank of brigadier-general, and, in that command, distinguished himself, particularly in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, in the winter of 1776-7. In the affair of Princeton, general Mercer, who commanded the van of the American army, after exerting the utmost valor and activity, had his horse killed under him; and, being thus dismounted, he was surrounded by some British soldiers, with whom, when they refused him quarter, he fought desperately, until he was completely overpowered. They stabbed him with their bayonets, inflicted several blows on his head with the butt-end of their muskets, and left him for dead on the field of battle. He died in about a week after, from the wounds in his head, in the arms of major George Lewis, the nephew of general Washington, whom the uncle commissioned to watch over his expiring friend. The mangled corpse was removed from Princeton, under a military escort, to Philadelphia, and exposed a day in the coffee-house, with the design of exciting the indignation of the people. It was followed to the grave by at least 30,000 of the inhabitants.-General Mercer, though a lion in battle, was uncommonly placid, and almost diffident in private life. He was beloved and admired, as an accomplished, polished and benevolent gentleman. Some interesting anecdotes of him are related in the 3d chapter, 1st vol. of general Wilkinson's Memoirs. That writer observes" In general Mercer, we lost, at Princeton, a chief, who, for education, talents, disposition, integrity and patriotism, was second to no man but the commander-in-chief, and was qualified to fill the highest trusts of the country." General Mercer was about 56 years of age when he thus perished.

MERCIA, the largest kingdom of the Saxon heptarchy, comprehended all the middle counties of England, and, as its frontiers extended to those of the other six kingdoms, as well as to Wales, it derived its name from that circumstance (Anglo-Saxon Merk, marches, q. v.). It was reduced by Egbert (q. v.), king of Wessex. (See Turner's Hist. of the Anglo-Saxons.) MERCIER, Louis Sebastian, a French writer, remarkable for the eccentricity of his sentiments. He was born at Paris in 1740, and, at the age of 20, published a volume of heroic epistles, after which he renounced poetry for criticism. In his

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Essai sur l'Art dramatique, he attacked the reputation of Corneille, Racine and Voltaire, proposing to replace their works by his own productions; and, as the comedians paid no attention to his diatribe, he published a virulent manifesto against them. In 1771 appeared, under the title of L'An 2440, a declamatory tract, which was suppressed by authority. In 1781 was published, anonymously, the two first volumes of his Tableau de Paris; after which he removed to Switzerland, and at Neufchatel printed ten more volumes of that work, which was favorably received, both in France and in other countries. Returning home at the beginning of the revolution, he declared himself a friend to liberty, and, in concert with Carra, published Les Annales Politiques, and Chronique du Mois,-journals which displayed both moderation and spirit. He became a member of the convention, in which he voted for the detention, instead of the death, of Louis XVI. In 1795, he passed into the council of five hundred, and was subsequently professor of history at the central school, and a member of the institute at its formation. Mercier died at Paris in 1814. Among his numerous works are Mon Bonnet de Nuit (Neufchâtel, 1783, 4 vols., 8vo.); De l'Impossi bilité des Systèmes de Copernic et de Newton (1806,8vo.); and Satire contre Racine et Boileau (1808). (See Ersch's France Littéraire.)

MERCURE DE FRANCE; a journal, remarkable for its antiquity. It is a continuation of the Mercure Galant, and forms 1800 small volumes. The Mercure Galant was established in Paris by J. Donneau de Visé, in 1672, and continued until 1716 (forming 571 12mo. volumes). The periodical then took the title of Mercure de France, and appeared, uninterruptedly, from 1717 to 1778, in 603 volumes. Panckoucke edited it from 1778 to 1792 (174 volumes 12mo.). It then became a daily, and sometimes a weekly paper. A new series, until 1797, comprises 40 volumes, 8vo. It was continued, though once interrupted, to 1803. At a later period, the Minerve Française appeared, as a continuation. Another periodical adopted the title Mercure de France. So long a continuance must necessarily give value to the contents of a journal, although they may not have been of the most interesting character at the time of their publication. Mercury is, in France, as well as in Germany, a very common name for periodicals.

MERCURIALE; the first Wednesday after the great vacations of the French parlia

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ments. On this day, they held a full session, in order to discuss the deficiencies in the administration of justice, and particularly in the course of business, and to take measures for correcting them. The first president and the crown-advocate (q. v.) had alternately the duty of reporting to the meeting. From the day of assembly, their speeches were called mercurials. This name was also given to a reproof or rebuke, because the members, on this day, received their reprimands. (See CrownAdvocate, Parliaments, and France.)

MERCURY (called, by the Greeks, Hermes) was the son of Jupiter and Maia, the daughter of Atlas. According to tradition, Arcadia was his birth-place. Four hours after his birth, he left his cradle, and invented the lyre, which he made by killing a tortoise, and stringing the shell with seven strings. He then sang to it the loves of Jupiter and his mother Maia. Having concealed the lyre in his cradle, he began to seek for food; for which purpose, he went, in the evening, to Pieria, and stole fifty oxen of the sacred herd of the gods, which he drove backward and forward to confound their tracks; then, going backward himself, he drove them backward also; and, after having killed two of them near the river Alpheus, roasted them by a fire procured by rubbing two sticks together, and sacrificed a part to the gods. He concealed the remainder in a cavern. He also carefully destroyed all traces of them. The next morning Apollo missed his oxen, and went in search of them; but he could discover no traces of them until an old man of Pylos told him that he had seen a boy driving a herd of oxen in a very strange manner. Apollo now discovered, by his prophetic art, that Mercury was the thief. He hastened to Maia, and accused the infant, who pretended to be asleep, and, not terrified by the threat of the god, that he would hurl him into Tartarus, steadily maintained his innocence. Apollo, not deceived by the crafty child, carried his complaint to the god of gods. Mercury lied even to him. But Jupiter penetrated the artifice of the boy, and perceived him to be the offender; yet he was not angry with him, but, smiling good-naturedly at his cunning, ordered him to show the place where the oxen were concealed. To secure him, Apollo bound his hands; but his chains fell off, and the cattle appeared, bound together by twos. Mercury then began to play upon his newly-invented lyre, at which Apollo was so much enraptured, that he

begged the instrument of the inventor, learned of him how to play on it, and gave him a whip to drive the herds, thenceforth belonging to both in common. Apollo was still more astonished when the ingenious god also gave the flute its tones. They then concluded a contract with each other: Mercury promised never to steal Apollo's lyre or bow, and never to approach his dwelling: the latter gave him, in return, the golden wand of peace, the caduceus. (q. v.) The ancients represent Mercury as the herald and messenger of the gods. He conducts the souls of the departed to the lower world (whence he is called Psychopompos), and is therefore the herald of Pluto, and the executor of his commands. His magic wand had the power to close the eyes of mortals, to cause dreams, and wake the slumbering. The qualities, requisite for a herald he possessed in the highest perfection, and bestowed them on others,-grace, dignity, and insinuating manners. He was also the symbol of prudence, cunning and fraud, and even of perjury. We must remember that rude antiquity did not, as we do, associate any thing dishonorable or base with these ideas. Whoever was distinguished for artifice and deceit, as, for example, Ulysses, was a favorite of Mercury, and enjoyed his assistance. Mercury was also distinguished as the god of theft and robbery, especially when fraud and cunning were employed. The exploits of his childhood have this symbolical signification. Among the actions of his manhood, the following are examples of his cunning: He accompanied Hercules when he carried off Cerberus; delivered Jupiter from the cave into which Typhon had cast him; rescued Mars from the prison in which the Aloides, Otus and Ephialtes had confined him; killed Argus, the keeper of the unhappy Io; assisted Perseus, when he went to kill Medusa, and lent him the helmet of Pluto, which rendered him invisible, and his winged sandals; to Nephele, the mother of Phryxus and Helle, he gave the ram with the golden fleece, upon which she carried off her children, when they were about to be sacrificed to the gods, at the instigation of their step-mother Ino. In the wars of the giants, he wore the helmet of Pluto, which rendered him invisible, and slew Hippolytus. When Typhon compelled the gods to fly before him, and conceal themselves in Egypt, he metamorphosed himself into an ibis. He is also mentioned by Homer as the patron of eloquence, and still more particularly by Hesiod. Of his inven

tions Homer makes no mention. Later writers ascribe to him the invention of dice, music, geometry, the interpretation of dreams, measures and weights, the arts of the palestra letters, &c. He was also regarded as the patron of public treaties, as the guardian of roads, and as the protector of travellers. (See Hermes.) Fable relates many of his amours. His children were numerous: among them were Pan and Hermaphroditus. Mercury was worshipped in all the cities of Greece, but Arcadia was the chief place of his worship. His festivals were called Hermaa, and were solemnized in various ways. He had several temples in Rome, and his festival took place on the 15th of May (which month received its name from his mother Maia). At this festival, the merchants particularly offered him sacrifices, that he might prosper them in their trade, and render them successful in their enterprises. Art has variously represented Mercury; first, in the rude Hermes. (q. v.) In the monuments of the more ancient style, he appears with his beard just beginning to grow; at a later period, the prevailing representations of him were as an adroit herald and athlete, and he acquired the appearance of extreme youth. In this character, also, room was allowed to fancy. He was represented as a boy, in the prime of youth, and also in the full power of early manhood. Among the curled locks of the boy appear two projecting wings. His dress consisted of a short leather tunic. In his left hand, he bears a purse, and, holding his right forefinger against his chin, smiles archly at some device in his mind. As a youth, we find him represented in a variety of attitudes, sometimes with the purse in his hand, sometimes with the caduceus, and sometimes with his winged cap, standing, sitting, or walking. The artists of later times placed him among the youthful and beardless gods. The most prominent traits of his character are vigor and dexterity. His short hair lies curled over his head and forehead; his ears and mouth are small; his positions, whether standing or sitting, always simple and easy; his head inclined forwards, and his look thoughtful. In his beautiful and vigorous frame, we see the inventor of gymnastics; in his attitude, air and aspect, we see the prudence, cunning and good nature of one who can easily gain every body, and accomplish every thing. In the representation of Mercury, the relations of corporeal beauty and mental dexterity are wonderfully preserved. He is either entirely na

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ked, or clad only in the chlamys, which is not often put on with any regularity, but is merely thrown over his shoulders or wound round his arms. His head is sometimes bare; sometimes he has a pair of wings fastened on his temples, and sometimes the cap is placed on his head, to which are occasionally added wings (petasus). The hat, which particularly denotes a wanderer, has, in works of statuary, a flat top and narrow brim : upon vases, however, his hat is represented with wide, hanging flaps, and a pointed top. If the wings are not attached to a band about his head or hat, they are fastened either to his ankles or the soles of his feet, or to the caduceus alone. Artists made the cock his symbol, on account of its vigilance, or love of fighting (in allusion to gymnastics); the tortoise, on account of his invention of the lyre; the purse, because he was the god of traffic; a ram and a goblet, because he was the director of religious ceremonies and sacrifices; the trunk of a palm-tree, upon which his statues lean, because he was the inventor of arithmetic and writing (upon palm-leaves); the harpe, or sickle-shaped knife, because he was the slayer of Argus; and the hound (only upon Alexandrine coins), to indicate sagacity and vigilance.

MERCURY; a planet. (See the article Planets.)

MERCURY, or QUICKSILVER; the hydrargyrum of the Latins, from bdwp, water, and apyvptov, silver, in allusion to its fluidity and silvery appearance. The name quicksilver is derived from the alchemists, who regarded this metal as silver in a fluid state, quickened by some inherent principle, which they hoped either to fix or expel. It was known to the ancients, especially to the Greeks and Romans, who employed it in gilding and in the extraction of the precious metals. It is distinguished from all other metals by its extreme fusibility, which is such that it does not take the solid state until cooled to the 39th degree below 0 (Fahrenheit), and, of course, is always fluid in the temperate climates of the earth. Its color is white, and rather bluer than that of silver. In the solid state, it is imperfectly malleable; specific gravity, 13.6. It is volatile, and rises in small portions at the common temperature of the atmosphere. At the temperature of 656°, it boils rapidly, and rises copiously in fumes. When exposed to such a heat as may cause it to rise quickly in the vaporous form, it gradually becomes converted into a red oxide, provided oxygen be present. This was formerly

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known by the name of precipitate per se. A greater heat than 600°, however, revives this metallic oxide at the same time that this oxygen is again liberated. Mercury, if quite pure, is not tarnished in the cold by exposure to air and moisture; but if it contain other metals, the amalgam of those metals oxidizes readily, and collects as a film upon its surface. It is said to be oxidized by long agitation in a bottle half full of air, and the oxide so formed was called, by Boerhaave, Ethiops per se; but it is very probable that the oxidation of mercury, observed under these circumstances, was solely owing to the presence of other metals. The oxides of mercury are two. The protoxide, which is a black powder insoluble in water, is best prepared by mixing calomel briskly in a mortar with pure potassa in excess, so as to effect its decomposition as rapidly as possible. The protoxide is then to be washed with cold water, and dried spontaneously in a dark place. It consists of one equivalent, or 200 parts of metal, and one equivalent, or 8 parts of oxygen. The peroxide, which is commonly known under the name of red precipitate, is prepared, as already mentioned, from the combined agency of heat and air, or by dissolving mercury in nitric acid, and exposing the nitrate so formed to a temperature just sufficient to drive off the whole of the nitric acid. It contains double the quantity of oxygen found in the protoxide. It is acrid and poisonous, and carries these qualities into its saline combinations; whereas the protoxide is relatively bland, and is the basis of all the mild mercurial medicines. Of the combustibles, mercury unites only with phosphorus and sulphur. The phosphuret is formed by heating either of the oxides along with phosphorus in a retort filled with hydrogen gas, or under water, with frequent agitation: the oxide is reduced, and a phosphuret is the result. It is of a black color, is easily cut with a knife, and, in the air, exhales vapors of phosphorus. There are two sulphurets, the black and the red, or the proto-sulphuret, and the deuto-sulphuret. The first is formed by rubbing vigorously in a glass or porcelain mortar three parts of sulphur and one of mercury, or by adding mercury at intervals, and with agitation, to its own weight of melted sulphur. The second, which is commonly called cinnabar, or vermilion, is formed by subliming the proto-sulphuret. Large quantities of it are manufactured in Holland. The ordinary process consists in grinding together 150 pounds of sulphur and 1080 of quicksilver, and then heating

the mixture in a cast-iron pot, two and a half feet in diameter and one foot deep, precautions being taken that the mixture does not take fire. The calcined Ethiops is then ground to powder, and introduced into pots capable of holding twenty-four ounces of water each, to which are attached subliming vessels, or bolt heads of earthen ware. The sublimation usually takes thirty-six hours, when the sublimers are taken out of the furnace, cooled, and broken. The acids sustain an important relation to mercury. All of them either dissolve the metal or unite with its oxides. Sulphuric acid exerts little or no action upon it in the cold, but, if heat be applied, it is decomposed, the mercury is oxidated, sulphurous acid is disengaged, and the oxide combines with the remaining acid. This proto-sulphate of mercury crystallizes in slender prisms, forming a mass, soft, and partly liquid. It is very acrid, deliquescent, and soluble in water. If it is urged with a heat gradually raised until the mass becomes dry, the metal is more highly oxidated, and a portion of the acid is dissipated. On pouring boiling water on this dry mass, it acquires a lively yellow color, forming an insoluble pow der, known by the appellation of turbitk mineral, or yellow sulphate of mercury. The water, in this process, produces the usual effect which it has when it decomposes metallic salts. Exerting a stronger attraction to the acid than to the metallic oxide, it combines principally with the former, but, from the influence of quantity on chemical affinity, the acid carries with it a portion of the oxide, and conversely, from the operation of the same force, the oxide which is precipitated retains a portion of the acid combined with it. neutral sulphate is thus resolved into a super-sulphate, which the water dissolves, and a sub-sulphate, which remains undissolved. This sub-sulphate is chiefly used in preparing corrosive sublimate and calomel. Nitric acid acts on mercury with facility, oxidating it, and combining with the oxide, forming a perfect solution. The product of this action varies considerably, particularly with regard to the state of oxidation, according to the circumstances under which it is exerted. If the acid is diluted with rather more than an equal part of water, and if the action is not accelerated by heat, the protoxide only is formed, and the salt is the proto-nitrate of mercury. If the acid is less diluted, and if its action on the metal be promoted by heat, the peroxide is produced, and the compound is the per-nitrate of mercury.

The