from the Ohio River northward. This magnificent fish, the largest of its family, and the most to be feared as a predatory force in American fresh waters, has the general form of a pike (q.v.), a length of from four to eight feet, and often a weight exceeding 100 pounds. It is swift, strong, and fierce, and a high prize for the angler. Its characteristics are its dark gray color, the sides in the typical form (confined to the Great Lakes) with blackish spots of varying size on a grayish silvery ground; the fins are spotted with black; and the opercle and lower parts of the cheeks are scaleless. See Colored Plate of AMERICAN GAME FISHES, accompanying article TROUT.

MASKWELL. In Congreve's Double-Dealer, the cunning and hypocritical scoundrel from whose character the play is named.

MASOLINO DA PANICALE, mä-so-le'no då pä'nê-kä'lâ, properly TOMMASO DI CRISTOFANDO DI FINI (1383-1447). A Florentine painter of the early Renaissance. He was born at Panicale di Valdese. As a youth he became an assistant to Lorenzo Ghiberti, who was at that time engaged in making the first set of bronze doors for the Baptistery of Florence. The actual rendering in relief of the pictorial composition of Ghiberti gave to Masolino a certain mastery of imagery and surety of technique that

determined the character of his art method.

Gherardo da Starnina, a Florentine painter of whom little is known, gave him his first instruction in painting. It is possible that Vasari, in his biography, may have confounded Masolino with Masaccio or Maso di Cristoforo Bracci-the names of all of these contemporaries being corruptions of Tommaso. The arguments are not sufficiently convincing to withdraw from Masolino the paintings hitherto assigned to him in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence, upon which his fame is chiefly founded. These frescoes were undertaken shortly after his admission into the guild of the Physicians and Apothecaries in 1423, and received his continued attention until his departure for Hungary in 1426, where he flourished under the patronage of Filippo Scolari. In 1428 he was at work in the Church of Castig lione di Olona representing incidents in the life of the Virgin, Saint Stephen, and Saint Lawrence. The Nativity of the series is especially interesting, bearing the inscription, "Masolinus de Florentia pinxit." In the baptistery of the church he frescoed scenes from the life of John the Baptist. In these Castiglione works there is exhibited the same naturalistic, almost humanistic tendency that characterized the Brancacci frescoes. Dr. Burckhardt has attributed to Masolino the frescoes in one of the chapels of the Church of San Clemente, Rome. Masolino died at Florence in October, 1447. His work at the best was that of an experimenter-one dissatisfied with existing methods and groping after a more advanced technique. In his extreme eagerness to hold the mirror to nature he emphasized the unit at the expense of the whole-his excessive study of detail overshadowed breadth and homogeneity, elements dependent upon rational composition.

MA'SON. A city and the county-seat of Ing. ham County, Mich., 12 miles south by east of Lansing; on the Michigan Central Railroad (Map: Michigan, J 6). It is in a region engaged principally in farming, dairying, and fruitgrowing, and has flour mills, fruit evaporators, a

foundry and machine shop, buggy factory, brick and tile works, a creamery, etc. The court house here ranks with the finest county buildings in the State. There are municipal water-works and electric-light plant. Mason was settled in 1838, incorporated as a village in 1865, and chartered as a city in 1875. Population, in 1890, 1875; in 1900, 1828.

MASON, CHARLES (1730-87). An English astronomer. He was long employed as an assistant at the Greenwich Observatory and was sent with Jeremiah Dixon to the Cape of Good Hope in 1761 to observe the transit of Venus. In 1763 the same gentlemen were employed by the proprietors of Maryland and Pennsylvania to survey the boundary line between their respective possessions, a task upon which they were engaged until December 26, 1767. The boundary fixed by

them has since been known as 'Mason and Dix

on's line' (q.v.). They also fixed the precise measure of a degree of latitude in America.' The particulars of this work are recorded in vol. lviii. Mason of the Royal Society's Transactions. and Dixon returned to England in the autumn of 1768. In the following year Mason went to Cavan, Ireland, to observe the transit of

Venus, his report of which appeared in the He was Philosophical Transactions for 1770. also employed by the Bureau of Longitudes to verify the lunar tables of Tobias Mayer; these were published after his death under the title of Mayer's Lunar Tables Improved by Charles Mason (London, 1787), and were long considered the best authority. At an unknown date he returned to America, and died in Philadelphia in 1787. His private journal, field notes, etc., were found among a pile of waste paper in the cellar of the Government house at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1860, and an account of their contents was published by Porter C. Bliss in the Historical Magazine for July, 1861.

MASON, EBENEZER PORTER (1819-40). An American astronomer, born in Washington, Conn. He graduated at Yale in 1839, and in 1840 published Observations on Nebula, a paper which was highly commended by Sir John Herschel. His health had been delicate and he died a few days after attaining the age of twenty-one. His Life and Writings were published by Prof. Denison Olmsted in 1842.

MASON, EDWARD GAY (1839-98). An American lawyer and historian, born in Bridgeport, Conn. He graduated at Yale in 1860, studied law in Chicago, and became a member of the firm of Mattocks and Mason, and later of that of Mason Brothers. He published a number of pamphlets dealing with local history, which were collected in two volumes, entitled Early Chicago and Illinois (1890), and Chapters from Illinois History (1901).

MASON, FRANCIS (1799-1874). An American missionary and Orientalist. He was born at York, England, came to the United States in 1818, entered Newton Theological Seminary in 1827, and in 1830 was sent as a missionary to Burma. His labors were chiefly among the Karens. Into two dialects of their language he translated the Bible and other religious books, and a seminary for the training of preachers and teachers was conducted by him. He published, in 1852, Tenasserim, or the Fauna, Flora, Minerals, and Nations of British Burma and Pegu,

and codifying the State laws. In 1832 he removed to Boston, where, until his age compelled him to retire, he maintained the high reputation which he had previously won.

MASON, JOHN (1586-1635). The founder of New Hampshire. He was born at Lynn Regis, Norfolk, England; served in 1610 in the navy; in 1616 went to Newfoundland as Governor of the colony, and in 1620 published a description of the country, to which he added a map in 1626. He explored the New England coasts in 1617; in 1622 obtained a grant of a region called Mariana, now the northeastern part of Massachusetts; in the same year, in connection with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, procured a patent for the Province of Maine; and in 1623 sent a colony to the Piscataqua River. In 1629 he obtained a patent for the New Hampshire colony, and with Gorges took one also for Laconia, a region including Lake Champlain. He held various honorable positions in England, in 1635 being a judge in Hampshire and receiving in the same year the appointment of vice-admiral of New England. His rights in New Hampshire were sold in 1691 to Governor Samuel Allen. He died in London in December, 1635, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Consult Tuttle, Memoir of Captain John Mason, the Founder of New Hampshire, in an illustrated edition of Mason's tract on Newfoundland, published for the Prince Society (Boston, 1887).

MASON, JOHN (1600-72). An American colonial commander. He was born in England; served under Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Netherlands; emigrated in 1630 to Dorchester, Mass.; in 1633 obtained a military command at Boston, and in 1635 aided in founding Windsor, Conn. In 1637 he was placed in command of a small force of English and Indians sent against the Pequots (q.v.). After the destruction of that tribe Mason removed to Saybrook, at the request of the inhabitants, for the defense of the colony, and in 1659 removed to Norwich. He was a major of the colonial forces for thirty years, Deputy Governor of Connecticut in 1660-70, and chief judge of the colonial court from 1642 to 1668. He prepared, at the request of the General Court of Connecticut, a Brief History of the Pequot War, which was incorporated by Increase Mather in his Relation of Trouble by the Indians (Boston, 1677, republished with introduction by the Rev. Thomas Price, Boston, 1736). Consult Ellis, "Life of John Mason of Connecticut," in Sparks, Library of American Biography, vol. xiii. (1864).

MASON, JOHN YOUNG (1799-1859). An American politician, born at Greensville, Sussex County, Va. He was educated at the University of North Carolina, and in 1819 was admitted to the bar. After presiding over Federal and State Courts and serving for a number of terms in the Virginia Assembly, he was a member of Congress from 1831 until 1837, and was judge of the United States District Court for Virginia from 1837 until 1844, when President Tyler made him Secretary of the Navy. He entered the Cabinet of President Polk as Attorney-General, but was soon returned to the Navy Department. In 1853 President Pierce made him Minister to France, where he remained until his death. On October 10, 1854, he met Buchanan and Soulé, the ministers of the United States to England and Spain,

respectively, in a conference at Ostend, and in conjunction with them issued the famous Ostend Manifesto (q.v.).

MASON, LOWELL (1792-1872). An American music teacher, born in Medfield, Mass. When only sixteen he directed a church choir at Medfield and upon his removal to Savannah continued his interest in musical affairs. In 1827 he returned to Boston, where he became president of the Handel and Haydn Society and strongly advocated the Pestalozzi system of teaching. He founded the Boston Academy of Music (1832), and in 1837 went to Germany to study musical pedagogic methods. The University of the City of New York gave him the degree of doctor of music (1855). He is remembered chiefly for his numerous hymn-tunes, which are still in general use throughout the country, and his collections of songs, Boston Handel and Haydn Collection of Church Music (1822); Juvenile Psalmist (1829); Lyra Sacra (1837); The Sabbath Hymnand Tune-Book (with E. A. Park and Austin Phelps, 1859); The Psaltery (1845); Carmina Sacra (1841); and New Carmina Sacra (1852).

MASON, OTIS TUFTON (1838-). An American ethnologist, born at Eastport, Me. He graduated in 1860 at the Columbian University, Washington, D. C.; was principal of the preparatory school of the university (1862-84); and in 1884 became curator of ethnology in the United States National Museum. Mason founded the Anthropological Society of Washington; was thropological editor of the American Naturalist and of the Standard Dictionary; and wrote, for the Smithsonian Institution, Summaries of Progress in Anthropology, and contributions to a history of primitive American industries.

an

MASON, WILLIAM (1724-97). An English divine and poet, born probably at Kingston-uponHull. He was educated at Cambridge, and in 1749 became a fellow of Pembroke College. He was appointed rector of Aston in Yorkshire, and chaplain to the Earl of Holderness in 1754. The next year he visited Germany, and in 1757 was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the King. Subsequently he was for more than thirty years preceptor and canon residentiary of the cathedral at York. Among his writings are Muscus (1747), a monody to the memory of Pope; Isis (1748), a monologue denouncing the Jacobitism of Oxford; and the dramatic poems Elfrida (1752) and Caractacus (1759). He also wrote a number of odes in imitation of his friend Gray, of whom he published a Life in 1774. The first book of The English Garden appeared in 1772, and in 1782 he published a Critical and Historical Essay on Cathedral Music. His collected works were issued in 1811. A tablet to his memory was erected in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Consult Chalmers, English Poets, xviii. (London, 1810).

MASON, WILLIAM (1829-). An American musician, born in Boston. After having studied music in Europe with Hauptmann, Moscheles, Richter, Dreyschock, and Liszt, he appeared as a pianist in Prague, Frankfort, Weimar, and London, and upon his return to the United States made several successful tours. In 1855 he settled in New York, and founded there the Mason and Thomas recitals of chamber music. which were continued until 1868. After 1855 he devoted himself almost entirely to teaching

Natural History, vol. ii. (Boston, 1884); Howard, The Insect Book (New York, 1901). See Plate of WILD BEES.

MASON CITY. A city and the county-seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, 90 miles northeast of Fort Dodge, on the Iowa Central, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, the Chicago Great Western, and the Chicago and Northwestern railroads (Map: Iowa, D 1). The city has a public library, a fine court-house, and a city park, and is the seat of the National Memorial University, and of an Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home. Its population is increasing rapidly, and it enjoys considerable industrial and commercial activity. There are important agricultural, grain, and live-stock interests, and a wholesale trade in groceries, fruits, etc.; also sandstone quarries, brick and tile works, flour mills, lime works, sash and door factories, and foundries. Mason City, settled about 1855, is governed under a charter of 1870, which provides for a mayor, elected every two years, and a unicameral council. The city owns and operates the water works. Population, in 1890, 4007; in 1900, 6746. MA'SONRY. The art of construction in stone. The earliest existing examples are among the most magnificent specimens of the art. No nation has excelled the ancient Egyptians in stonework, whether we consider the size of the materials, or the unequaled exactness with which they are fitted together. The Egyptians did not use mortar in their important structures, such as the Pyramids, the joints being all carefully polished and fitted. Cyclopean or polygonal masonry, of which remains exist in many parts of Greece and Italy, as well as Asia Minor, also exhibits stones of great size and with carefully adjusted joints. The walls of Mycena are among the earliest examples. These are built with huge irregular blocks, the spaces between being filled up with smaller stones. The Italian specimens are usually more carefully executed; the stones are not squared, but they are all carefully fitted together. In some cases, the beds or horizontal joints are made level, and the upright joints left unsquared. No mortar is used in cyclopean masonry.

The masonry of the Greeks and Romans very closely resembled that of the present day: Rubble-work (opus incertum), in which the stones are not regularly coursed; coursed work, where the joints are all level, and the stones of equal height; ashlar, resembling the latter, but built with larger stones all carefully dressed on the joints. Many of the Roman buildings in the East were constructed with blocks of enormous size, as at Baalbek (q.v.), where some of the stones are 60 feet in length.

Modern stone masonry is classified according to (1) the degree of finish of the face of the stones, into quarry faced, pitch faced, and dressed; according to (2) whether the horizontal courses or layers are of the same thickness at similar heights, into range, broken range, and random masonry; according to (3) the care exercised in dressing the beds, into ashlar, squared stone, and rubble masonry. (1) Quarry faced masonry is that in which the faces of the stones are left as they come from the quarry; it is used chiefly for massive structures such as bridge piers, retaining walls, dams, and arch bridges. Pitch faced masonry is that in which the face of

the stones is roughly dressed so as to make the front of the horizontal joint a straight line; it is used for work where a rugged appearance is desired without the extreme roughness of quarry faced masonry. Dressed masonry, as the name is dressed to a more or less smooth plane surface; indicates, is that in which the face of the stones it is employed chiefly in building construction and for the finishing courses of engineering works. Range masonry is that in which the horizontal joints are continuous throughout, or, stated in other words, in which each course is masonry is that in which the horizontal joints of the same thickness throughout. Broken range are not continuous throughout, but in which the masonry is not laid in courses at all. Ashlar masonry is cut stone masonry in which the joint faces are so truly cut that the distance between the general planes of the contiguous surface of the stones is 12 inch or less. Ashlar masonry may be subdivided into range ashlar, broken range ashlar, random ashlar, quarry faced ashlar, pitch faced ashlar or dressed ashlar, and also into combinations of these sub-classes, as, for example, quarry faced range ashlar. Squared stone masonry is that in which the stones are roughly dressed and roughly squared on their joint faces; when the distance between the general planes of the contiguous surfaces of the stones is 1⁄2 inch

or more, the masonry belongs to this class. In practice the distinction between ashlar masonry and squared stone masonry is not well defined. Rubble masonry is that composed of unsquared stone, and may be laid with or without an attempt to approximate regular courses. Several of the above types are illustrated in the article BUILDING.

Some of the other current definitions of stone masonry work are as follows: Face, the front surface of a wall; back, the inside surface; facing, the stones which form the face of a wall; backing, the stones which form the back of a wall; batter, the slope of the surface of a wall; course, a horizontal layer of stone in a wall; joints, the mortar lying between the stones (usually the horizontal joints are called beds or bed joints, while the vertical joints are called builds or simply joints); coping, a course of stone on the top of the wall to protect it; pointing, a better quality of mortar put in the face of the joints to help them to resist weathering; bond, the arrangement of stone in adjacent courses; stretcher, a stone whose greatest dimension lies parallel to the wall; header, a stone whose greatest dimension lies perpendicular to the wall; quoin, a corner stone: dowels, straight bars of iron which enter a hole in the upper side of one stone and also a hole in the lower side of the stone above; cramps, bars of iron having the ends