Malta

(maul'tah,) [anc. Melita,] an island in the Mediterranean, belonging to England. situate 62 m. S.W. of Cape Pa aro, in N. Lat. 35° 54' 6", E. Lon. 14° 31' 10". Area, including the adjacent island of Gozo, 115 sq. m. M. po e es one of the finest harbors in the world, with such an even depth that the largest ve els may anchor alongside the very shore, forming an admirable station for a fleet. The surface of the island is generally flat, and the soil fertile and highly cultivated, producing the cereals, cotton, . C. Valetta. Of this island we find mention at a very early date, the Phœnicians being said to have colonized it in the 16th cent. B. C. It was next po e ed alternately by the Greeks, Cart hag in i a us, and Romans. It is mentioned by St. Paul as the scene of his shipwreck. After being occnpied by the Saracens and the Sicilians, the emperor Charles V. granted M., with Gozo and Tripoli, in perpetual sovereignty to the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, lately expelled by the Turks from their stronghold at Rhodes, 1530. M. has sustained many sieges; that of 1565, when 50,000 Turks perished, being the most memorable. It remained in the po e ion of the Knights until 1798, when the Grand-Master surrendered it to the French. Two years later, after a long siege, it was taken by the English, who have since kept it. M. is one of the strongest places in Europe, has an extensive arsenal and dockyard, and is the chief station of the Brit. Mediterranean fleet. Pop. 143,003. Malte-Brun, CONRAD, (maul-ta-bro on',) an eminent geographer, B. in Jütland, 1775, became in 1800 a naturalized French citizen, and in 1800 published the first vol. ofhis great work, A System of Universal Geography, the sixth vol. of which appeared in 1825. He D. in the following year. Malthus, THOMAS ROBERT, (mal'thüs,) an English political economist and social theorist, B. in co. Surrey, 1766, became, in 1805, profe or of modern history and political economy at Haileybury College. As the author of an E ay on the Principle of Population as it affects the Future Improvement of Society, M. has laid it down as a fundamental principle that population tends to increase in geometrical progre ion, and that the supply of food and other nece aries of life can only be increased in an arithmetical progre ion; whence, if population were permitted to increase at its natural rate, it would soon overtake the means of subsistence. D. 1834. Malvaceæ, (mal-va'se-e.) [From L. malva, the mallow. ]) (Bot.) The Mallow-worts, an O. of plants, all. Malvales, consisting of herbs, shrubs, or trees, with alternate entire or lobed leaves; the flowers showy, generally on axillary stalks; the petals generally five, hypogynous, twisted in bud; the fruit dry or fleshy. About 1,000 species are known. Malva moschata, the Musk Mallow, derives its name from the peculiar musky odor given off by all parts of the plant when kept in a confined situation, particularly in warm dry weather, but it is seldom powerful enough to be smelt in the open air. The plant is a perennial, and has large rose-colored flowers clustered together at the ends of the erect slightly branched stems. Malva sylvestris, the Common Mallow, or Mauve of the French, is employed medicinally on account of its highly mucilaginous properties, a decoction of it being used as an outward applicaMalvales, tion for bruises, (mal'va-lecz.) and internally (Bot.) in An dysentery. all. of plants, subcla Hypogynous Exogens, characterized by mono dichlamydeous flowers, ax ile pla centæ, valvate calyx, an imbricated or twisted corolla, definite or indefinite stamens, and an embryo with little or no albumen. Malvern Hills, (maul'vŭrn,) a chain of hills in the cos. Worcester and Here ford, Eng., extending abt. 9 m., and attaining a height of 1,444ft. above sea-level. [s. 572]