sciples from court to court in the country to persuade, particularly
the ruling classes, to give heed to the words of wisdom, though in vain;
after which, on his death, his followers collected his teachings in a
book entitled the "Book of Meng-tze," which is full of practical
instruction (372-289 B.C.).

MENDICANT ORDER, a religious fraternity, the members of which denude
themselves of all private property and live on alms.

MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY, FELIX, celebrated German composer, grandson
of the succeeding, born in Hamburg; he began to compose early in life,
and his compositions consisted of symphonies, operas, oratorios, and
church music; his oratorios of "St. Paul" and "Elijah" are well known,
and are enduring monuments of his genius; he was a man universally loved
and esteemed, and had the good fortune to live amidst the happiest
surroundings (1809-1847).

MENDELSSOHN, MOSES, a German philosopher, born at Dessau, of Jewish
descent, a zealous monotheist, and wrote against Spinoza; was author of
the "Phaedon, a Discourse on the Immortality of the Soul," and did a great
deal in his day to do away with the prejudices of the Jews and the
prejudices against them; he was the friend of Lessing, and is the
prototype of his "Nathan" (1720-1786).

MENDOZA (137), province in the extreme W. of Argentina; has the
Andes in the W., Aconcagua (23,500 ft.), the highest peak in the New
World, otherwise is chiefly worthless pampa, fertile only where irrigated
from the small Mendoza River; there vines flourish; copper is plentiful,
coal and oil are found. MENDOZA (20), the capital, 640 m. W. of
Buenos Ayres by rail, is on the Trans-Andine route to Chili, with which
it trades largely; suffers frequently from earthquakes.

MENELAUS, king of Sparta, the brother of Agamemnon and the husband
of Helen, the carrying away of whom by Paris led to the Trojan War.

MENHIR, a kind of rude obelisk understood to be a sepulchral
monument.

MENINGES, the name of three membranes that invest the brain and
spinal cord, and the inflammation of which is called meningitis.

MENNONITES, a Protestant sect founded at Zurich with a creed that
combines the tenets of the Baptists with those of the Quakers; have an
episcopal form of government, and maintain a rigorous church discipline.

MENSCHIKOFF, ALEXANDER DANILOVITCH, Russian soldier and statesman,
born in humble life at Moscow; became servant to Lefort, on whose death
he succeeded