mucusIne

[Eng. mucus; suff. -ine.] Physiol. The characteristic organic matter of animal mucus. mud, s . [O. L. Ger. mudde ; O. Sw. modd =mud; modder mother, lees; Dut. modder =mud; Dan. mudder=mud; Ger. mutter = mother, lees; Icel. módha =(1) a large river, (2) mud; modh refuse of hay; modhr =muddy snowbanks, heaps of snow and ice.] 1. Ord. Lang .: Moist, soft earth; mire, slime; clay or earthy matter mixed with water. "But between them and the enemy lay three broad Eng ., ch. v. rhines filled with water and soft mud ."- Macaulay : Hist . 2. Geol.: The finer particles left when rocks, stones, pebbles, ., are ground against each other or disintegrated by other agencies. Sometimes, where sand, gravel, and mud or silt are brought down a river to the sea, the gravel, sand and mud are separated, the mud remaining mechanically suspended in the water, after the coarser gravels and then the finer sands, have sunk to the bottom. According to the composition of the rocks from which it was derived will be its chemical composition. Shale is hardened and compre ed mud; slate is mud having undergone metamorphic action. [SHALE, SLATE.] Mud contains diatoms and other minute alge. When the surface of the fresh-water mud is red, that color arises from the presence of a small worm, Tubifex rivulorum . mud-bath, s. Therap .: A bath in which the body is immersed in mud, often with chemical ingredients. At Eger, in Bohemia, boggy earth is artificially converted into black mud, heated to 100° of temperature. It contains sulphate of soda, iron, lime, alumina, and ulmic acid. The body is immersed for fifteen minutes. after which the patient goes into water to remove the mud. Such a bath may be of use in chronic skin diseases, chronic rheumatism, gout, ., though fresh air, temperance, regularity of life, and relaxation from busine may have great influence in effecting the cure.