Mediterranean Sea

Arm of the Atlantic, separating Europe from Africa. It is 2,200 m. long, 100 to 650 m. wide, and has an area of ab. 950,000 sq. m. The depth ranges from 200 to 2,000 fathoms. It is connected with the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar, but 12 m. wide and relatively shallow. The M. receives the waters from more than 2,000,000 sq. m. of land, yet evaporation from its surface more than offsets what it receives. There is a constant inward current through the straits, and the water is slightly more saline than that of the Atlantic. Medium. That through which any physical phenomenon takes pla place. Thus the the hypothetical æther is the medium gh which radiant energy is propagated. Sound waves are trans mitt ted through elastic bodies, the matter composing the bodies forming in each case the medium. purposes. See X-RAYS. Medici. Family brought to power in Florence by COSIMO, 1389-1461.-His grandson, LORENZO, 1448-1492, was a patron of letters, a dabbler in verse, and an astute politician. -Cosimo, 1519-1574, became Grand duke 1569. The house survived till 1743, and produced three popes and two queens of France. ease.