New volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica > Volume 30, K-MOR

585
MATLOCK — M
But this integral becomes the coefficient am in the cosine
expansion if we make
n n n 7T
-d=m or 6=711-.
tv n
The ordinates of the curve at the values 6 = -, 2- . . . give therefore
n n °
all coefficients up to ?n = 80.
The curve shows at a glance which and how many of the co¬
efficients are of importance.
The instrument is described in Phil. Mag. vol. xlv., 1898. A
number of curves drawn by it are given, and also examples of the
analysis of curves for which the coefficients am are known. These
indicate that a remarkable accuracy is obtained. (o. H.)
Melt lock, a town in the western parliamentary
division of Derbyshire, England, 17 miles north by west
of Derby, on the river Derwent and the Midland Railway
(Matlock Bridge station). The newer portion, Matlock
Bank, famous for its hydropathics, has been connected with
the older by a tramway worked by a single cable, with a
gradient said to be the steepest in the world. Population
of urban district (1891), 5285; (1901), 5980; of the
separate urban district of Matlock Bath (1901), 1816.
Matsugata, Count (1835 ), Japanese
statesman, was born at Kagoshima in 1835, being a son
of a samurai of the Satsuma clan. On the completion of
the feudal revolution of 1868 he was appointed governor
of the province of Tosa, and having served six years in
this office, was transferred to Tokyo as assistant minister of
finance. As representative of Japan at the Paris Exhibi¬
tion of 1878, he took the opportunity afforded by his
mission to study the financial systems of the great European
Powers. On his return home, he held for a short time in
1880 the portfolio of home affairs, and was in 1881
appointed minister of finance. The condition of the
currency of Japan was at that time deplorable, and
national bankruptcy threatened. The coinage had not
only been seriously debased during the closing years of the
Tokugawa regime, but large quantities of paper currency
had been issued and circulated, both by many of the feudal
lords and by the central government itself, as a temporary
expedient for filling an impoverished exchequer. In 1878
depreciation had set in, and the inconvertible paper had
by the close of 1881 grown to such an extent that it was
then at a discount of 80 per cent, as compared with silver.
Count Matsugata showed the Government the danger of
the situation, and urged that the issue of further paper
currency should be stopped at once, the expenses of
administration curtailed,' and the resulting surplus of
revenue used in the redemption of the paper currency
and in the creation of a specie reserve. These proposals
were acted upon : the Bank of Japan was estab¬
lished, and the right of issuing convertible notes given
to it; and within three years of the initiation of these
financial reforms, the paper currency, largely reduced in
quantity, was restored to its full par value with silver,
and the currency as a whole placed on a solvent basis.
From this time forward Japan’s commercial and military
advancement continued to make uninterrupted progress.
But pari passu with the extraordinary impetus given to its
trade by the successful conclusion of the war with China,
the national expenditure enormously increased, rising
within a few years from 80 to 250 million yen. The task
of providing for this expenditure fell entirely on Count
Matsugata, who had to face strong opposition on the
part of the Diet. But he distributed the increased
taxation so equally, and chose its subjects so wisely, that
the ordinary administrative expenditure and the interest
on the national debt were fully provided for, while the
extraordinary expenditure for military purposes was met
from the Chinese indemnity. As far back as 1878 Count
AUPASSANT
Matsugata perceived the advantages of a gold standard,
but it was not until 1897 that his scheme could be realized.
In this year the Bill authorizing it was under his auspices
submitted to the Diet and passed; and with this financial
achievement Count Matsugata saw the fulfilment of his
ideas of financial reform, which were conceived during his
first visit to Europe. Count Matsugata twice held the
office of prime minister (1891-92, 1896-97), and during
both his administrations he combined the portfolio of
finance with the premiership; in 1899 and 1900 he was
minister of finance only. His name in Japanese history
is indissolubly connected with the financial progress of
his country at the end of the 19th century.
Ma.ttea.wa.ll, a village of Dutchess county, Hew
York, U.S.A., near the eastern bank of the Hudson river,
opposite Newburg, in the south-eastern part of the state, on
the Hew York, Hew Haven, and Hartford (Hew England),
and the Hewburg, Dutchess, and Connecticut Railways.
Population (1890), 4278; (1900), 5807, of whom 1044
were foreign-born.
Matto Grosso, a state of Brazil, extending be¬
tween 7° 30' and 24° 10' S. and 50° 35' and 65° 10' W.,
having on the H. the states of Amazonas and Para, on
the W. Bolivia, on the S. Paraguay, and on the E. Goyaz,
Minas Geraes, Sao Paulo, and Parana. Its area covers
532,708 square miles. It is drained in the north by the
Tocantins-Araguaya, and in the south by the Parana-
Parahyba. Its mineral wealth is considerable, though
many of the mines are of little importance. Gold, iron,
diamonds, and rock-salt are amongst the minerals that
occur in greater or smaller quantities. The rearing of
cattle is the chief agricultural pursuit. Population
(1870), 60,417; (1890), 92,827. The capital, CuyabA
(8000), is in telegraphic connexion with Rio de
Janeiro.
Mattoon, a city of Coles county, Illinois, U.S.A.,
south-east of the centre of the state, at the intersection
of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis, the
Illinois Central, and the Peoria, Decatur and Evansville
Railways, at an altitude of 726 feet. It is in a rich
farming country, for which it serves as a collecting and
distributing point. Population (1890), 6833; (1900),
9622, of whom 430 were foreign-born and 227 were
negroes.
Maubeuge, a town in the arrondissement of
Avesnes, department of Hord, France, 48 miles south-east
of Lille, on the railway from Paris. Large glass-works are
now important industrial features. The town forms the
nucleus of an entrenched camp, of which the perimeter is
about 18 miles. Population(1891), 11,953; (1901), 20,826.
Maupassant, Henri Ren6 Albert Guy
de (1850-1893), French novelist and poet, was born at
the Chateau of Miromesnil in the department of Seine-
Inf erieure on 5th August 1850. His grandfather, a landed
proprietor of a good Lorraine family, owned an estate at
Heuville-Champ-d’Oisel near Rouen, and bequeathed a
moderate fortune to his son, a Paris stockbroker, who
married Mademoiselle Laure Lepoitevin. Maupassant was
educated at Yvetot and at the Rouen lycee. A copy of
verses entitled Le Dieu Createur, written during his year
of philosophy, has been preserved and printed. He
entered the ministry of marine, and was promoted by
M. Bardoux to the Cabinet de ITnstruction Publique. A
pleasant legend says that, in a report by his official chief,
Maupassant is mentioned as not reaching the standard of
the department in the matter of style. He may very well
have been an unsatisfactory clerk, as he divided his time
S. YI. — 74