Meissen hard-paste porcelain bird, c. 1750; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON; PHOTOGRAPH, EB INC.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Melanchthon ► Melies I 1231
southern Qinghai province, China, it flows south through eastern Tibet and across the highlands of Yunnan province. It then forms part of the border between Myanmar (Burma) and Laos, as well as between Laos and Thai¬ land. It runs through Laos and Cambodia before entering the South China Sea in a delta south of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam after a course of 2,700 mi (4,350 km). Vientiane, Laos, and Phnom Penh, Camb., stand on its banks. Since 1957 the Mekong Committee, an international effort, has initiated projects to harness the river for hydroelectricity and irrigation.
Melanchthon \mo-Taqk-th9n,\ German \ma-Tank-ton\, Philipp orig. Philipp Schwartzerd (b. Feb.
15, 1497, Bretten, Palatinate—d.
April 19, 1560, probably Wittenberg,
Saxony) German Protestant reformer. His education in Germany was greatly influenced by humanist learning, and he was named profes¬ sor of Greek at Wittenberg in 1518.
A friend and defender of Martin Luther, Melanchthon was the author of Loci communes (1521), the first systematic treatment of the prin¬ ciples of the Reformation, and of the Protestant creed known as the Augs¬ burg Confession (1530). He also reor¬ ganized the entire educational system of Germany, founding and reforming several of its universities.
His willingness to compromise with Catholics on theological issues in his later years became controversial.
Melanesia \ 1 me-b- , ne-zho\ Island group, South Pacific Ocean. A sub¬ division of Oceania, it lies northeast of Australia and south of the Equa¬ tor and includes New Guinea, the Admiralty Isands, the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagoes, the Solomon Isands, the Santa Cruz Islands, New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Norfolk Land, and numerous others. Two distinct populations and cultures exist in the region. The Papuans, who have inhabited the area for 40,000 years, devised one of the earliest agricultural systems and developed the Papuan anguages. Seafaring peoples with an Austronesian anguage and a Southeast Asian cultural tradition settled in the area about 3,500 years ago.
melanin Vme-ta-nonN Any of several organic compounds, dark biologi¬ cal pigments that give coloration (shades of yellow to brown) to skin, hair, feathers, scales, eyes, and some internal tissues, notably the substantia nigra in the brain. In humans, melanins help protect the skin against the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation, but meanoma may arise from cells that produce it. The amount in the skin depends on both genetic and environmental factors. Melanin is produced from the amino acid tyrosine; albinos lack the enzyme that catalyzes that reaction (see albinism).
melanism, industrial See industrial meanism
melanoma N.me-b-'no-moX Dark-coloured malignant tumour of skin cells that produce the protective skin-darkening pigment melanin. Mela¬ nomas are prone to metastasize (see cancer) and are associated with the highest death rate of any skin cancer. Removal, together with a collar of surrounding healthy skin, cures melanoma if done early. A common cause of melanoma is skin damage from sunlight. It is very rare in persons with dark skin.
melatonin \,me-b-to-nan\ Hormone secreted by the pineal gand of most vertebrates. It appears to be important in regulating sleeping cycles; more is produced at night, and test subjects injected with it become sleepy. Melatonin may be involved in seasonal affective disorder. In mammals other than humans, melatonin may act as a cue to breeding and mating in season.
Melba, Dame Nellie orig. Helen Porter Mitchell (b. May 19,
1861, Richmond, near Melbourne, Austl.—d. Feb. 23, 1931, Sydney) Australian soprano. After study with Mathilde Marchesi (1821-1913) in Paris, she debuted in Brussels in Rigoletto (1887), and in the next six years she sang in all the major opera houses of the world. One of the most cel¬ ebrated coloraturas in the years preceding World War I, she sang mostly at Covent Garden after 1902. Concentrating on a few Italian and French operas, she possessed abundant technique and vocal beauty. Two foods, Melba toast and peach Melba, were named for her.
Melbourne Vmel-bomX City (pop., 1999 est.: 3,417,200), capital of Victoria, southeastern Australia. Situated at the head of Port Phillip Bay and the mouth of the Yarra River, the area was discovered by Europeans in 1802 and incorporated into the colony of New South Wales. The first settlement was founded in 1835 by settlers from Tasmania, and in 1837 it was named for the British prime minister. Lord Melbourne. Made the capital of Victoria in 1851, it grew rapidly with the gold rush of the early 1850s. It served as the first capital of the Australian commonwealth (1901-27), until Canberra became the new capital. Second in size to Syd¬ ney, it is an industrial, commercial, and financial centre and the seat of several universities, including the University of Melbourne.
Melbourne, University of Public university in Melbourne, Austl. Founded as a liberal arts college in 1853, in subsequent decades it added schools or faculties of agriculture, architecture, commerce, dentistry, edu¬ cation, engineering, law, medicine, music, and veterinary medicine. It continued to expand during the 20th century, adding programs in nuclear science, applied economic research, and South and Southeast Asian stud¬ ies.
Melbourne (of Kilmore), William Lamb, 2nd Viscount (b.
March 15, 1779, London, Eng.—d. Nov. 24, 1848, Brocket, near Hatfield, Hertfordshire) British prime minister (1834, 1835-41). A lawyer, he entered the House of Commons in 1806 and the House of Lords in 1829. Although a Whig, he served in Tory governments as chief secretary for Ireland (1827-28) and advocated political rights for Roman Catholics. He served as home secretary (1830-34) in Earl Grey’s Whig government, reluctantly supporting the Reform Bill of 1 832. As prime minister (1834), he gained the support of Whigs and moderate Tories and opposed further parliamentary reform and efforts to repeal the Corn Laws. In his second administration (1835^11), he became the young Queen Victoria’s valued chief political adviser. His firm stand in foreign policy averted war with France over Syria (1840). His wife. Lady Caroline Lamb (1785-1828), was a minor novelist, famous for her affair with Lord Byron in 1812-13.
Melchior \'mel-ke-,6r\, Lauritz (Lebrecht Hommel) (b. March 20, 1890, Copenhagen, Den.—d. March 18, 1973, Santa Monica, Calif., U.S.) Danish-U.S. tenor. He debuted as a baritone in 1913 but further study extended his range upward, and he made his tenor debut as Tannhauser in 1918. Additional training readied him for Bayreuth, where he sang (1924- 31), and he remained the preeminent Wagnerian tenor of his time, regularly singing (often opposite Kirsten Fagstad) at Covent Garden (until 1939) and the Metropolitan Opera (1926-50) and making many recordings.
Melchizedek Xmel-'ki-zo-.dekX Canaanite king and priest revered by Abraham. In the Book of Genesis, Abraham rescues his kidnapped nephew, Lot, from the Mesopotamians, and on returning from battle he meets Melchizedek, king of Salem (probably another name for Jerusalem), who gives him bread and wine and blesses him in the name of “God Most High.” St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews treats Melchizedek as a fore¬ shadowing of Christ.
Melfi Vmel-fe\, Constitutions of or Liber Augustalis (1231) Legal code drawn up by Emperor Frederick II for the kingdom of Sicily. Based on Roman and canon law, the constitutions centralized royal admin¬ istration, established greater efficiency in the courts, and rationalized civil and criminal procedures in the inter¬ ests of justice.
Melies \mal-'yes\, Georges (b.
Dec. 8, 1861, Paris, France—d. Jan.
21, 1938, Paris) French filmmaker.
He was a professional magician and manager-director of the Theatre Robert-Houdin in Paris when he saw the first movies made by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in 1895. In his film experiments he exploited the basic camera tricks of slow motion, dis¬ solve, and fade-out. The first to film fiction narratives, from 1899 to 1912 he made more than 400 films, which combined illusion, comic burlesque, and pantomime in fantasy produc¬ tions, including A Trip to the Moon Melies (1902). He also filmed reconstructed RENE dazy-j.p. ziolo news events as an early form of