Muspel(l) or MiispeliDheini is, in Norse my- thology, tlic world of lii;ht niul h(at, situated in the south part of the universe; Nitllicini. the habitation of mist and cold, being situated in the north. The inhab- itants of this world are called '"the sons of Muspell," among whom Sturt or Surtur is chief, and the ruler of MuspcUheim, who sits on its borders bearing a flaming falchion, and at the end of the world he shall issue forth to combat, and shall vanquish all the gods, and consume the universe with fire. See Gardner, Faiths of the World, p. 504.
Musserin is the name given to a sect of atheists in Turkey. The word signifies those who keep a se- cret, from the verb astrra, to conceal. Their secret is flatly to deny a deity. Many of the cadis and other educated classes in Turkey are believed to be Slusserin. But maiidy they are Christian renegades, who, having for pecuniary reasons abjured the faith of their fathers, seek refuge in blank atlieism, mider a public profession of Jlohammcdanism.
Musso, CoRXEi.irs, a famous Italian pulpit orator, was born at Placentia in 1511, and, after entering holy orders, rose rapidly to distinction in the Church. He was made hishoji of Bertinoro, then of Bitonto, towards the close of the IGth centurj-. He distinguished him- self at the Coinicil of Trent, and seems to have enjoyed popular favor to an iniusual degree, for medals were struck in his lionor, and other distinctions of like char- acter were paid him. He died at Pome Jan. 9, 1574. He is the author of Sermons on the ('rnd (Venice, 1590, 4to). See Bayle, I/isf. Diet. s. v. ; Gen. Riorj. Diet, xi, 154; Musso, Vittt di Conielio Musso (158(i) ; Blackwood, 18G9, i, 21 i ; Wessenberg, Die Grossm Kirchmrerscimm- lunijen d. 15 u. IG Jahrh. iii, IGO, IGl.
Mussulman or Mosleman (from Arab. Salama), the ]iroper term for a Mohammedan. The word is equivalent to Moslem {q. v.), of which it is, properly
IVILTSTAPHA
775
MUSTARD
speaking, the plural; used in Persian fashion for the singular. We need hardly add that this Arabic plural termination of " an" has nothing whatever to do with our word man, and that a further English plural in men is both barbarous and al)surd.
Mustapha (i. e. the chosen one) is the name by which :M(ihammedan tradition designates the greatest of their prt)phets. See Mohammed.
Mustard {aivairi, Matt, xiii, 31; xvii, 20; Mark iv, 31; Luke xiii, 19; xvii, 6; in Talmudic Chaldee imri, charddl, Mishna, Shuhb. xx, 2, from the Syriac charddl,), a well-known pod-bearing shrub-like plant (genus Sinapis, of thirteen species, five of which are in- digenous in Egypt, Descript. de VEgypte, xix, 9(j) that sometimes grows wild, and at other times is raised from the seed, which is employed as a condiment, being usu- ally of the two kinds, the black and the white (see Penny Cydopcedia, s. v. Sinapis). The Jews likewise cultivated mustard in their gardens (Mishna, Maaser. iv, 6). The round kernels (Matt, xiii, 31; xvii, 20), which were used also by the ancients as a spice (Pliny, xix, 54), passed in Jewish phrase as an emblem for a small, insignificant object (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 822) ; being the smallest seed commonly gathered in Pales- tine, although not literally the most diminutive known. " The Lord in his popular teaching," says Trench (N'oles on Parables, p. 108), " adhered to the popular language" (see also the Koran, Siir. 31). The statements in Matt, xiii, 32, that when fully grown it is the greatest of plants, and becomes a tree under which the fowls may find shelter, has been supposed to indicate a larger growth than ordinary in Western countries (see Mar- grave, Hist. nut. Brasil. p. 291 ; Bauhin, Hist. Plant, ii, 855) ; but is confirmed by the statements of the Tal- mudists, one of whom describes it as a tree of which the wood was sufficient to cover a potter's shed (Talm. Hi- eros. Peah, vii, 4), and another says that he was wont to climb into it, as men climb into a fig-tree (ib. Ketu- both, fol. iii, 2; comp. Rosenmiiller, Alterlh. iv, 105). Mr. Buckham (On the Mii.^tnrd-tne nf th,- Scriptures, 1829) cites the followin-- Inmi Aloii/.,, dV ( )rvall(i's Trav- els in Chili (as given in Awiishaw and riuin'hiU's Col- lection): "The mustard-plant thrives so rapidly that it is as big as one's arm, and so high and thick that it looks like a tree. I have travelled many leagues through mustard-groves which were taller than horse and man ; and the birds built their nests in them as the Gospel mentions." The statement of Irby and jMangles has
Oriental Mustard {Sinapis Xigra).
also been referred to (Lambert, in the Linncean Trans- actions, xvii, 450), that they found the mustard-plant (Sinapis nigra) growing wild between Beisan and Ajlun as high as their horses' heads. (See further in Celsii Hierobot. ii, 253 sq. ; Billerbeck, Flora class, p. 172.) Prof. Ilackett states that he was for a long time disap- pointed in his search for any specimens of the mustard answering to the requirements of the above texts of Scripture; but that while on his way across the plain of Akka, towards Carmel, he had the satisfaction of see- ing a little forest-like field of these plants, in full blos- som, from six to nine feet in height, with branches from each side of a trunk an inch or more thick; and that he actually witnessed the aiiirhting of birds upon the stems (llhisira. ,</ Srripi. ,,. I ■_' I i. Dr. Thomson also (The Land iiiid the 1!,)<>1\ ii. 1(1(1 ) says that he has seen the wilil nuistard on the rich plain of Akkar as tall as the horse and the rider.