South Asian arts: Indian sculpture from the 1st to 4th centuries ce: Mathura: …recovered from a village called Mat in the environs of Mathura, gives an interesting glimpse of the foreign influences entering India at the time. One of them (unfortunately lacking the head) represents the emperor Kaniska wearing heavy boots, a tunic, and a coat, and leaning on a mace. The image…

pigweed: Prostrate pigweed, or mat amaranth (A. graecizans), grows along the ground surface with stems rising at the tips; spiny pigweed, or spiny amaranth (A. spinosus), has spines at the base of the leafstalks; and rough pigweed, or redroot (A. retroflexus), is a stout plant up…

bowerbird: …a thick pad of plant material, ringed or hung about with objects, made by Archbold’s bowerbird (Archboldia papuensis). The stagemaker, or tooth-billed catbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris), of forests of northeastern Australia, arranges leaves silvery-side up (withered ones are carried aside) to form a “circus ring.”

soil mechanics: …the load-bearing beams or walls), mat (consisting of slabs, usually of reinforced concrete, which underlie the entire area of a building), or floating types. A floating foundation consists of boxlike rigid structures set at such a depth below ground that the weight of the soil removed to place it equals…

projection screen: …types of screen are the mat white, the glass bead, and the lenticular. Mat white is a nonglossy white surface, which may be produced by a flat white paint coating, that provides uniform brightness of a projected image over a wide viewing angle. It is therefore well adapted for projection…

National Liberation Front (NLF), Vietnamese political organization formed on December 20, 1960, to effect the overthrow of the South Vietnamese government and the reunification of North and South Vietnam. An overtly communist party was established in 1962 as a central component of the NLF, but both

Viet Minh: …by a new organization, the Lien Viet, or Vietnamese National Popular Front. In 1951 the majority of the Viet Minh leadership was absorbed into the Lao Dong, or Vietnamese Workers’ Party (later Vietnamese Communist Party), which remained the dominant force in North Vietnam.

Ahmadabad: The contemporary city: …distinctive Dada Harir (1501) and Mata Bhavani wavs (stepwells), which are used for religious purposes.

Mata Hari was a Dutch dancer and courtesan whose name has become a synonym for the seductive female spy. She was shot by the French on charges of spying for Germany during World War I. The nature and extent of her espionage activities remain uncertain, and her guilt is widely contested. Margaretha

Greta Garbo: Her leading roles in Mata Hari (1932) and Queen Christina (1933) were among her most popular, and they were mildly scandalous for their frank-as-the-times-would-permit treatment of eroticism and bisexuality, respectively. Garbo portrayed contemporary protagonists in As You Desire Me (1932) and The Painted Veil (1934), the latter film being…

Easter Island: Traditional culture: The mataa, or obsidian spearpoint, which was mass-produced, is the characteristic artifact of this period. Wood carving and small crude stone figurines replaced monumental art. Written wooden tablets covered with incised signs (called rongo-rongo) placed in boustrophedon (a method of writing in which the lines run…

Samoa: Independence: …time in three decades, and Fiame Naomi Mataafa, daughter of Fiame Faumuina Mataafa, appeared set to become the country’s first woman prime minister. The ruling party, however, claimed that the composition of the newly elected legislature did not fulfill constitutional requirements, an argument rejected by the judiciary. On May 24,…

Ndebele, Bantu-speaking people of southwestern Zimbabwe who now live primarily around the city of Bulawayo. They originated early in the 19th century as an offshoot of the Nguni of Natal. Mzilikazi, an Nguni military commander under Shaka, king of the Zulu, came into conflict with Shaka and in 1823

Henry Brougham Loch, 1st Baron Loch: …Company became involved in the Matabele War in 1893, Loch, while in favour of war, reluctantly approved the use of British forces to support the company’s troops.

Matabeleland, traditional region in southwestern Zimbabwe, inhabited mainly by the Bantu-speaking Ndebele people. It includes the southwestern portion of Zimbabwe’s High and Middle velds, plateau country that ranges in elevation from 3,000 to 5,000 feet (900 to 1,500 m). The region slopes downward

Native American dance: Mexico and Mesoamerica: …serious, vowed-membership society of the matachini dancers ties in with the semi-Hispanic matachina dancers of the Rio Grande tribes and of the northern Mexican mountains. These dances are related to those further south such as the various types of moriscas. A fantastically hybrid Passion drama is also performed in some…

Wichí, South American Indians of the Gran Chaco, who speak an independent language and live mostly between the Bermejo and Pilcomayo rivers in northeastern Argentina. Some live in Bolivia. The Wichí are the largest and most economically important group of the Chaco Indians. They combine limited

Esteban Echeverría: …powerful story “El matadero” (“The Slaughterhouse”), a landmark in the history of Latin American literature. “The Slaughterhouse,” probably written in 1838, was not published until 30 years later. It is mostly significant because it displays the clash between “civilization and barbarism,” between European mores and more primitive and violent…

Matadi, port city, extreme western Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies along the Congo River opposite the town of Vivi. Matadi is situated 93 miles (150 km) upstream from the Atlantic port of Banana and is the farthest point up the river reached by oceangoing ships; cataracts prevent

bullfighting: Bullfighting and the arts: …Bulls (1949) and Barnaby Conrad’s Matador (1952), the former about a Mexican matador and the latter about a doomed Spaniard.

bullfighting: Bullfighting and the arts: …made films involving bullfighting, including Matador (1986), which was roundly criticized in Spain for its negative portrayal of the corrida, and Hable con ella (2002; Talk to Her), which deals with, among other things, the relationship between a female bullfighter and her lover. In art as in society, bullfighting’s “dance…

matador, in bullfighting, the principal performer who works the capes and usually dispatches the bull with a sword thrust between the shoulder blades. Though most bullfighters have been men, women bullfighters have participated in the spectacle for centuries. (For greater detail on bullfighters,

rocket and missile system: Matador and other programs: The third postwar U.S. cruise missile effort was the Matador, a ground-launched, subsonic missile designed to carry a 3,000-pound warhead to a range of more than 600 miles. In its early development, Matador’s radio-controlled guidance, which was limited essentially to the…

bullfighting: Performers: …distaff side; female bullfighters (called matadoras or toreras, though some of them resent being called by the feminine form of the noun and would prefer to be called, like male bullfighters, toreros or matadors) have been around since antiquity, though very few have performed with distinction for very long. Should…

American Samoa: Relief: Tutuila’s highest point is Matafao Peak (2,142 feet [653 metres]). The Manua island group (Tau, Olosega, and Ofu islands), situated about 60 miles (100 km) east of Tutuila, constitutes the second largest island area. Coral reefs are common at the extremities of the islands, particularly Tutuila; some of the…

Matagalpa, city, west-central Nicaragua, situated in a highland valley 2,237 feet (682 metres) above sea level. One of the older and more picturesque cities of the nation, it contains a colonial church. It is the leading commercial and manufacturing centre of the region. Except for the valleys of

René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle: Last expedition: …miscalculation brought the ships to Matagorda Bay in Texas, 500 miles west of their intended landfall. After several fruitless journeys in search of his lost Mississippi, La Salle met his death at the hands of mutineers near the Brazos River. His vision of a French empire died with him.

Ruvuma River: …perennial river rising in the Matagoro Mountains in southeastern Tanzania. Flowing eastward into the Indian Ocean at a point about 20 miles (32 km) north of Cape Delgado, the Ruvuma River forms the boundary between Tanzania and Mozambique for a length of 400 miles (650 km) from the coast and…

yellowwood: …elatus) of southeastern Australia; the black pine, or matai (P. spicatus), the kahikatea, or white pine (P. dacrydioides), the miro (P. ferrugineus), and the totara (P. totara), all native to New Zealand; kusamaki, or broad-leaved podocarpus (P. macrophyllus), of China and Japan; real yellowwood (P. latifolius),

Samoa: Local government: …lead and represent it; the matai, in turn, form village councils to administer local affairs.

Ike Taiga was a painter of the mid-Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867) who, together with Yosa Buson, established the bunjin-ga, or literati, style of painting, which survives to this day in Japan. (The style had originated in China and was first called Nan-ga, or the “Southern Painting” school, of

Cunene River: The Matala Dam raises the river 26 feet (8 metres), giving a head of about 68 feet (21 metres) for hydroelectric generation. At Olushandja the river turns sharply westward, flowing over a series of rapids, then falling 230 feet (70 metres) at Ruacana Falls, where it…

Matale, town, central Sri Lanka, 14 miles (23 km) north of Kandy. A Buddhist monastery and rock temple (Aluvihara) are near the town. Matale’s intermediate elevation and moderate rainfall abet the cultivation of spices. It is a cattle centre, and there are extensive tea, rubber, and cacao

Mary Matalin is an American political strategist and commentator who worked with various Republican politicians and who was an advocate for the party’s policies. After receiving a B.A. in political science from Western Illinois University in 1978, Matalin managed local and state campaigns for

turtle: Form and function: …developed in the South American matamata (Chelus fimbriatus or C. fimbriata). This turtle can quickly enlarge the cavity of its mouth and throat when striking at passing prey. As the turtle’s head nears its victim, the greatly enlarged cavity acts like a vacuum, sucking water and prey into the mouth.…

Matamba, historical African kingdom located on the Cuango River northeast of Luanda, Angola. Founded by Kimbundu-speaking people (see Mbundu) before the 16th century, it was loosely under the orbit of the Kongo kingdom until about 1550. The Matamba kingdom was noteworthy in that it was frequently

Matamoros, city, southwestern Puebla estado (state), south-central Mexico. Formerly known as Matamoros de Izúcar, the city is situated at 4,350 feet (1,326 metres) above sea level on the Nexapa River, which descends through the Sierra Nevada. Livestock raising and crop growing (mainly sugarcane,

Matamoros, city, northern Tamaulipas estado (state), northeastern Mexico. It is situated on the southern bank of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), 28 miles (45 km) from the Gulf of Mexico and across from Brownsville, Texas. Matamoros, founded in 1824, was the scene of bitter fighting in the

Matamoros, city, southwestern Puebla estado (state), south-central Mexico. Formerly known as Matamoros de Izúcar, the city is situated at 4,350 feet (1,326 metres) above sea level on the Nexapa River, which descends through the Sierra Nevada. Livestock raising and crop growing (mainly sugarcane,

Matane, city, Bas-Saint-Laurent region, eastern Quebec province, Canada. It lies on the south bank of the St. Lawrence River estuary, at the mouth of the Matane River. A transportation, commercial, and industrial centre, Matane is a pulp-shipping port and the eastern terminus of a spur line of the

M.I.A.: Matangi (2013) was more positively received and yielded the hit single “Bad Girls.” M.I.A. stated that AIM (2016) would be her final album. However, in 2020 she released a new song, “OHMNI 202091,” on a subscription-based Web platform.

Croatian literature: …Zoran Ferić, Ante Tomić, and Julijana Matanović.

El Salvador: Military dictatorships: …which is referred to as la matanza (“the slaughter”), were momentous events in the history of the country. The revolt demonstrated the value of the military dictatorship to the landed elite, which became convinced of the need for eternal vigilance against the menace of a communist revolution. It also eliminated…

Matanzas, city, west-central Cuba. It is located on Matanzas Bay (on the Straits of Florida), about 50 miles (80 km) east of Havana. It was founded in 1693, although its excellent bay had been known to the Spanish since 1508 and had been used by pirates. By 1860 Matanzas had become the second city

Matapa, a Southern African empire ruled by a line of kings known as the Mwene Matapa. Matapa encompassed the territory between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, in what is now Zimbabwe and Mozambique, from the 14th to the 17th century. It is associated with the historical site known as Great

Enrico Dandolo: …a silver coin called the grosso, or matapan. This began a wide-ranging economic policy intended to promote trade with the East. Dandolo’s image appears on the grosso coin; he is wearing a cloak and holding the “ducal promise” in his left hand while St. Mark presents him with the gonfalon…

Matapédia Valley, most important valley in the Gaspé Peninsula, lying in Bas-Saint-Laurent region, eastern Quebec province, Canada. Extending in a northwest-southeast direction for some 60 miles (100 km), it forms a direct lowland route through the Notre Dame Mountains from the St. Lawrence River

Fiji: Agriculture, forestry, and fishing: …is in the hands of mataqali, or clan groups, but may be administered through the Native Lands Trust Board.

Maule: …in the north by the Mataquito River, the tributaries of which (the Teno and Lontué rivers) rise in the Andes, and by the Maule River in the central part, which is said to have been the southern limit of the Inca empire.

Matara, town, southern Sri Lanka. It lies at the mouth of the Nilwala River on the island’s southern coast. Its name, meaning Great Ford, arose from its location at a river crossing. The Portuguese held the town in the 17th century, and the Dutch in the 18th. Under both countries it was an

Matura diamond, colourless variety of the gemstone zircon

Mataram, large kingdom in Java that lasted from the late 16th century to the 18th century, when the Dutch came to power in Indonesia. Mataram was originally a vassal of Pajang, but it became powerful under Senapati (later known as Adiwijoyo), who defeated Pajang and became the first king of

Mataram, city, capital of West Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Barat) propinsi (or provinsi; province), Lombok island, Indonesia. It is located on the western coast, east of Bali. Until the end of the 18th century, it was the chief city of the Muslim kingdom of Mataram on Lombok. Brought under

Henry Morton Stanley was a British American explorer of central Africa, famous for his rescue of the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone and for his discoveries in and development of the Congo region. He was knighted in 1899. Stanley’s parents, John Rowlands and Elizabeth Parry, gave

Mataró, port city, Barcelona provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, on the Mediterranean coast. The city originated as the Roman Iluro and is divided into an older, Moorish sector on a rise surrounded by walls and a modern sector.

J & M Studio: Making Musical Magic in New Orleans: …the watchful eye of owner-engineer Cosimo Matassa. Many of those recordings were supervised by Dave Bartholomew, Robert (“Bumps”) Blackwell, or Paul Gayten and released on out-of-town labels (Imperial and Specialty in Los Angeles, Chess in Chicago). Bartholomew, a multitalented composer-arranger who had played trumpet for Duke Ellington, put together an…

Mataura River, river, South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Eyre Mountains south of Wakatipu Lake and flows south past Gore and Mataura to enter the Pacific Ocean at Foveaux Strait, 20 miles (32 km) east of Bluff, after a course of 149 mi (240 km). Together with the Oreti and Aparima rivers,

match, splinter of wood, strip of cardboard, or other suitable flammable material tipped with a substance ignitable by friction. A match consists of three basic parts: a head, which initiates combustion; a tinder substance to pick up and transmit the flame; and a handle. There are two main types of

military technology: The first small arms: …these was the development of slow match—or match, as it was commonly called. This was cord or twine soaked in a solution of potassium nitrate and dried. When lit, match smoldered at the end in a slow, controlled manner. Slow match found immediate acceptance among artillerists and remained a standard…

Juventus: …club officials’ roles in a match-fixing scandal that involved a number of Italian clubs. Juventus was relegated to Serie B (the first relegation in club history) for the 2006–07 season as an additional punishment, but it earned promotion back to Serie A the following season.

Mark Goodson: (1958–73), Password (1961–75), and The Match Game (1962–69, 1973–90, 2016– ). He was honoured in 1990 with an Emmy Award for lifetime achievement, and in December 1992 he was selected for 1993 induction into the Hall of Fame of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Match Girls’ Strike, walkout in the summer of 1888 by women making and boxing matches for the Bryant & May matchstick company in London to protest the company’s low wages and poor working conditions. They secured several labor rights for themselves and inspired workers in other industries to

William Keighley: …Howard Bretherton) his first feature, The Match King. An effective fable for the Great Depression, it was based on the life of Swiss financier Ivar Kreuger. Another collaboration with Bretherton, Ladies They Talk About (1933), featured Barbara Stanwyck as a convicted bank robber sent to prison.

golf: Match and medal play: In match play the player and his opponent are playing together and competing only against each other, while in stroke play each competitor is competing against every other player in the tournament. In match play the game is played by holes, and each hole is won…

Woody Allen: 2000 and beyond: Match Point (2005) was a major departure and became Allen’s most celebrated film in years. A suspenseful Alfred Hitchcock-like meditation on the vagaries of desire and fate, by way of Theodore Dreiser, it starred Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as an upwardly mobile British tennis pro whose engagement…

horse racing: Match races: The earliest races were match races between two or at most three horses, the owners providing the purse, a simple wager. An owner who withdrew commonly forfeited half the purse, later the whole purse, and bets also came under the same “play or…

explosive: Ignition systems: Match-head ignition, very popular in Europe, is used less widely in the United States. The ignition device consists of a piece of cardboard with a thin sheet of metal glued to each side. A bridge wire is soldered to these sheets, around the end of…

copperleaf: Major species: …is also widely known as Jacob’s coat and as match-me-if-you-can. The copperleaf is native to Polynesia. It reaches about 3 metres (10 feet) in height, though one variety attains a height of about 6 metres (20 feet).

matcha, powdered green tea of Japanese origin by way of China, and popular among tea connoisseurs everywhere. Matcha was introduced to Japan in the 1100s by a Zen Buddhist monk who, returning from study in China, brought tea seeds with him and established a practice called “the way of tea,” by

Carl Perkins: …of his songs, including “Matchbox” (based on a blues standard) and “Honey Don’t,” raising Perkins’s profile and providing him with royalty earnings. From 1965 to 1976 he performed with Johnny Cash as part of Cash’s touring ensemble and on his television show. In their first year together the former…

radar: Receiver noise: …radar engineers call a “matched filter,” which is a filter that maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver output. The matched filter has a precise mathematical formulation that depends on the shape of the input signal and the character of the receiver noise. A suitable approximation to the matched…

hanafuda: The simplest game is matching flowers, in which a player takes tricks by matching a card in hand with any of the same suit on the board. When each month is tallied, bonus points are given for varying combinations of tanzaku and high-point cards. In the more-complicated and widely…

Christopher A. Pissarides: …to develop the concept of matching functions. Notably, he found that the more intensely job seekers looked for employment, the more jobs companies would offer because of the ease with which they could fill those positions.

gene-for-gene coevolution, a specific form of reciprocal evolutionary change based on the idea that, if one member of a coevolving relationship has a gene that affects the relationship, the other member has a gene to counter this effect. These genes evolve reciprocally and provide the genetic basis

animal learning: Generalized rule learning: …study of transfer is the “matching-to-sample” discrimination. A pigeon, for example, is required to choose between two disks, one illuminated with red light and the other with green light. The correct alternative on any one trial depends on the value of a sample stimulus, which is also part of each…

matchlock, in firearms, a device for igniting gunpowder developed in the 15th century, a major advance in the manufacture of small arms. The matchlock was the first mechanical firing device. It consisted of an S-shaped arm, called a serpentine, that held a match, and a trigger device that lowered

Shirley Booth: …of Thornton Wilder’s stage play The Matchmaker (1958), the play upon which the musical Hello, Dolly! was based. Though the film and Booth’s performance were well received, it was to be her final appearance on the big screen.

The Matchmaker, comedy in four acts by Thornton Wilder, produced in 1954 and published in 1955. The Matchmaker is more traditional than Wilder’s earlier plays, specifically Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, although it does employ one of the playwright’s favourite nontraditional devices of having

eHarmony: …company providing online personal-relationship and matchmaking services. Founded in 2000 by Neil Clark Warren, a clinical psychologist, eHarmony is based in Pasadena, Calif. The company aims to unite compatible individuals in long-term relationships via scientific methods.

Ridley Scott: …of his trademark visual flair—include Matchstick Men (2003), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), American Gangster (2007), and Body of Lies (2008). He later helmed the action adventure Robin Hood (2010), which starred Crowe and Cate Blanchett; Prometheus (2012), a

mate: The gourds, called mates or culhas, are often decorated and are sometimes silver mounted or covered with leather. Mate can also be prepared in similar vessels made out of wood or metal. The drink is often served plain and is sometimes flavoured with milk, sugar, herbs, coffee grounds,…

mate, tealike beverage, popular in many South American countries, brewed from the dried leaves of an evergreen shrub or tree (Ilex paraguariensis) related to holly. It is a stimulating drink, greenish in colour, containing caffeine and tannin, and is less astringent than tea. Mate is especially

mate, tealike beverage, popular in many South American countries, brewed from the dried leaves of an evergreen shrub or tree (Ilex paraguariensis) related to holly. It is a stimulating drink, greenish in colour, containing caffeine and tannin, and is less astringent than tea. Mate is especially

Rudolph Maté was a Polish-born filmmaker who was best known for his work as a cinematographer, though he later had some success as a director. Maté studied at the University of Budapest. His film career began in 1919, after Alexander Korda hired him as an assistant cameraman. He worked in Berlin

Rudolph Maté was a Polish-born filmmaker who was best known for his work as a cinematographer, though he later had some success as a director. Maté studied at the University of Budapest. His film career began in 1919, after Alexander Korda hired him as an assistant cameraman. He worked in Berlin

animal social behaviour: Social interactions involving sex: Although polygamy also involves mating with multiple partners, it often refers to cases in which individuals form relatively stable associations with two or more mates. Most such species exhibit polygyny, in which males have multiple partners. Some examples include the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) and house…

Orlando shooting of 2016: The shooter: The gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was a U.S. citizen born in Queens, New York, to Afghan parents. In May 2013 the Federal Bureau of Investigation declared Mateen to be “a person of interest” and launched a preliminary investigation of him after he told coworkers at a security firm…

Matehuala, city, northern San Luis Potosí estado (state), northeastern Mexico. It is situated in an interior plateau region of the Sierra Madre Oriental at 5,955 feet (1,815 metres) above sea level, in the Salado valley, east of the Catorce Mountains. Some corn (maize) is cultivated in the area,

Poland: Visual arts: Henryk Siemiradzki, Jan Matejko (the creator of monumental romantic historical canvases), and a number of landscape and genre painters achieved the widest fame. Great sensitivity was shown in portraits by Stanisław Wyspiański, a painter who was active in drama and design. With her woven sculptures, Magdalena Abakanowicz…

Lesotho: Challenges in the 21st century: …party formed by business mogul Sam Matekane earlier that year—had campaigned on the need for change and pledged to crack down on corruption as well as work to improve the economy, messages that resonated with young voters and others. The RFP won 56 of the elected seats, which was more…

Prosper Mérimée: …of his best known stories, “Mateo Falcone” (1833), a father kills a son for betraying the family honour. The collection Mosaïque (1833) was followed by his most famous novellas: Colomba (1840), the story of a young Corsican girl who forces her brother to commit murder for the sake of a…

astrolabe: …parts: a base plate (the mater) with a network of lines representing celestial coordinates; an open-pattern disk (the rete) with a “map” of the stars, including the aforementioned circles, that rotated on the mater around a centre pin corresponding to the north celestial pole; and a straight rule (the alidade),…

Great Mother of the Gods, ancient Oriental and Greco-Roman deity, known by a variety of local names; the name Cybele or Cybebe predominates in Greek and Roman literature from about the 5th century bc onward. Her full official Roman name was Mater Deum Magna Idaea (Great Idaean Mother of the Gods).

Roman Catholicism: The Second Vatican Council: Of special interest is Mater et magistra (“Mother and Teacher”), published on May 15, 1961, the 70th anniversary of Rerum novarum. It explicitly aligned itself with Rerum novarum’s call for justice and the common good as the norms of social conduct. Two years later, in Pacem in terris (April…

Mater Matuta, in Roman religion, goddess of the ripening of grain (although the Latin poet Lucretius made her a goddess of dawn). Her worship in Italy was widespread and of ancient origin. Her temple at Rome, located in the Forum Boarium, was discovered under the Church of St. Omobono in 1937. The

Dublin: Health: …hospitals, including four university hospitals—the Mater Misericordiae, Beaumont, St. Vincent’s, and St. James’s. All have departments of international repute ranging from children’s care to transplants and diagnostics. The Mater is associated with University College Dublin and is the national centre for cardiothoracic surgery. Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons is one…

Matera, city, Basilicata regione, southern Italy. It lies above a deep ravine northwest of Taranto. Of obscure origin, the town formed part of the duchy of Benevento and of the principality of Salerno and was occupied successively by the Normans, the Aragonese, and the Orsini. In the old part of

epistemology: St. Thomas Aquinas: …matter, which Aquinas called “common matter.” Common matter is contrasted with “individuated matter,” which is the stuff that constitutes the physical bulk of an object.

Spain: Science: …interest is merited by the Materia medica, a revision of the Eastern Arabic text of the 1st-century Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides ordered by al-Naṣir, on which Jews, Arabs, and Christians collaborated. Gradually the Andalusian Arabs kept adding new medicinal “simples”—which described the properties of various medicinal plants—to those described by…

materials science: …of the properties of solid materials and how those properties are determined by a material’s composition and structure. It grew out of an amalgam of solid-state physics, metallurgy, and chemistry, since the rich variety of materials properties cannot be understood within the context of any single classical discipline. With a…