marsh marigold, perennial spring-blooming Old World and North American plant (Caltha palustris) of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), found in wet places. It has rounded glossy leaves and large buttercuplike flowers of bright and shining yellow. The tops are reputed to be toxic but with boiling become edible and are often eaten as greens while young; the flower buds have been pickled and used as capers, and the flowers have been used for beverages. In the United States it is sometimes called cowslip. Other species of Caltha are also called marsh marigold. Marsh marigolds are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Ranunculales, family Ranunculaceae.

marsh mallow and marshmallow: see mallow.

marsh gas: see methane.

marsh buck: see bushbuck.

marsh antelope, name for members of a group of deerlike African antelopes, usually found in reeds or tall grasses near water. The males of this group have horns that curve back, up, and forward; females are hornless. Most marsh antelopes travel in small herds. The waterbucks are large marsh antelopes with long, coarse, brown hair. The males stand up to 50 in. (125 cm) at the shoulder and weigh up to 500 lb (225 kg). They are found in reedy or grassy country but may wander several miles from water. Strong swimmers, they often take to water when pursued. The common waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) is found in S and E Africa, the Defassa waterbuck (K. defassa) in central Africa. The kob (K. kob) and the puku (K. vardoni), of equatorial Africa, are smaller, reddish antelopes, always found close to water or swamps. The lechwes are the most aquatic of the marsh antelopes; they often spend the day submerged up to the neck. The red lechwe (K. leche) is found in S Africa, and the Nile lechwe (K. megaceros) in Sudan. The reedbucks (genus Redunca), whose different species are distributed over most of Africa, are small, generally solitary antelopes about 30 in. (76 cm) high; the smallest, the mountain reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula), is found in the hills and mountains of E Africa. The rhebok (Pelea capreolus) resembles the reedbuck but has a woolly coat; it is found in hilly country in S Africa. Marsh antelopes are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Bovidae.

marsh: see swamp.

Romney Marsh, region, c.70 sq mi (180 sq km), Kent, SE England, extending c.9 mi (15 km) inland. A former coastal marsh, the region has been wholly reclaimed to provide fertile pastureland. Romney Marsh sheep are well known.

Pusey, Nathan Marsh, 1907-2001, American educator, b. Council Bluffs, Iowa, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1928; M.A., 1932; Ph.D., 1937). A classical scholar, Pusey taught at Lawrence College, Appleton, Wis. (1935-38); Scripps College, Claremont, Calif.; and Wesleyan Univ. (1940-43). Named president of Lawrence College in 1944, he doubled its endowment, raised faculty salaries, and erected new buildings. In 1953, Pusey succeeded James Bryant Conant as president of Harvard. During his tenure, the budget and endowment quadrupled, the number of faculty nearly tripled (and many more women were hired), salaries and benefits increased, and geographically and ethnically diverse students were recruited. During the McCarthy era Pusey defended the faculty against charges of communist influence. In 1969, when anti-Vietnam War student protesters occupied the main administration building, Pusey responded by calling in the police, who injured many. Students then called a protest strike, paralyzing Harvard. Although supported by the faculty, a beleaguered Pusey announced his retirement in 1970. After leaving Harvard (1971), he served as president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation until 1975 and was later active in New York City charitable organizations.

Marsh-Billings National Historical Park: see National Parks and Monuments (table).

Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954, American painter and illustrator, b. Paris. Both his parents were artists. After their return to the United States, he studied at Yale (B.A., 1920). He worked as an illustrator for Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar, and the New York Daily News, and later he was a scene designer. He then studied under John Sloan and K. H. Miller at the Art Students League. From 1925 to 1939 he made two trips to Europe and sketched for The New Yorker. His lively recordings of Manhattan street life in many media were popular. "Why Not Use the ‘L’?" (1930; Whitney Mus., New York City) is typical. Marsh painted two celebrated murals in the Post Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Marsh, Dame Ngaio, 1899-1982, New Zealand detective story writer. She was an art student, actress, and theatrical producer before her first novel, A Man Lay Dead, was published in 1934. Her many mystery novels, acute in characterization and literate in style, reflect her knowledge of the art studio and the theater. They include Artists in Crime (1938), Died in the Wool (1945), False Scent (1959), Killer Dolphin (1966), Last Ditch (1978), Photo Finish (1980), and her last book, Light Thickens, published posthumously (1982). She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1966.

Marsh, Adam, or Adam de Marisco, d. 1259?, English Franciscan scholar. He was a student of Robert Grosseteste. When Grosseteste became bishop, Marsh took his place in the Franciscan school at Oxford. Marsh's advice and his services as a peacemaker were constantly sought, and Grosseteste relied heavily on him. Actively supporting the reform party of Simon de Montfort (1208?-1265), Marsh was able nevertheless to retain the confidence of Henry III. Of his writings only his letters survive.

Marsh test, method for the detection of arsenic, so sensitive that it can be used to detect minute amounts of arsenic in foods (the residue of fruit spray) or in stomach contents. The sample is placed in a flask with arsenic-free zinc and sulfuric acid. Arsine gas (also hydrogen) forms and is led through a drying tube to a hard glass tube in which it is heated. The arsenic is deposited as a "mirror" just beyond the heated area and on any cold surface held in the burning gas emanating from the jet. Antimony gives a similar test, but the deposit is insoluble in sodium hypochlorite, whereas arsenic will dissolve. The test was named for its inventor, the English chemist James Marsh.

Liguasan Marsh, extensive swamp region, c.25 mi (40 km) long and 20 mi (30 km) wide, along the Pulangi River, S central Mindanao, the Philippines. There are fertile rice-growing areas and mangrove forests in the marsh. A game refuge and bird sanctuary (c.170 sq mi/440 sq km) was established there in 1941.

Perennial herbaceous plant (Caltha palustris) of the buttercup family, native to wetlands in Europe and North America. It is grown in boggy wild gardens. The plant has a hollow stem, heart-shaped or round leaves, and glossy pink, white, or yellow flowers composed solely of sepals (petals are absent). The stems, leaves, and roots are sometimes cooked and eaten as a vegetable, though the fresh plant is poisonous. Seealso cowslip.

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Perennial herbaceous plant (Althaea officinalis) of the mallow family, native to eastern Europe and northern Africa and naturalized in North America. Found usually in marshy areas near the sea, the marsh mallow has strongly veined, heart-shaped or oval leaves and pinkish flowers borne on stalks about 6 ft (1.8 m) tall. The root was formerly processed to make marshmallows.

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or marsh gas

Organic compound, chemical formula CH₄, colourless, odourless gas that occurs in natural gas (called firedamp in coal mines) and from bacterial decomposition of vegetation in the absence of oxygen (including in the rumens of cattle and other ruminants and in the gut of termites). The simplest member of the paraffin hydrocarbons, methane burns readily, forming carbon dioxide and water if supplied with enough oxygen for complete combustion or carbon monoxide if the oxygen is insufficient. Mixtures of 5–14percnt methane in air are explosive and have caused many mine disasters. The chief source of methane is natural gas, but it can also be produced from coal. Abundant, cheap, and clean, methane is used widely as a fuel in homes, commercial establishments, and factories; as a safety measure, it is mixed with trace amounts of an odorant to allow its detection. It is also a raw material for many industrial materials, including fertilizers, explosives, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and carbon black, and is the principal source of methanol.

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Freshwater or marine wetland ecosystem characterized by poorly drained mineral soils and by plant life dominated by grasses. Fewer plant species grow in marshes than on well-watered but not waterlogged land; grasses, sedges, and reeds or rushes are most common. Commercially, rice is by far the most important freshwater marsh plant: it supplies a major portion of the world's grain. Salt marshes are formed on intertidal land by seawater flooding and draining, and salt-marsh grasses will not grow on permanently flooded flats. Seealso swamp.

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(born March 14, 1898, Paris, France—died July 3, 1954, Bennington, Vt., U.S.) U.S. painter and printmaker. Born to American parents in Paris and educated at Yale University, from 1922 to 1925 he produced a daily column of drawings of vaudeville acts for the New York Daily News. In 1925 he became an original member of the staff of The New Yorker magazine, for which he drew humorous illustrations and metropolitan scenes. In 1929 he began painting scenes of city life, including Coney Island crowds and Bowery derelicts. He taught at the Art Students League from 1934 until his death.

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