one of the United States of North America, lying between N. Lat. 43° 5' and 47° 30', W. Long. 66° 50' and 71°, and bounded on the N. by the St John River, which separates it from Canada; on the E. by New Brunswick; on the S.E. and S. by the Atlantic; and on the W. by the state of New Hampshire and Canada. Length about 200 miles; average breadth 160; area 31,766 square miles. It is the largest of the states of New England, of which it comprises nearly one-half. The face of the country is covered with an undulating surface of hill and dale; and although it has no marked mountain ridge, a succession of isolated hills, which form the termination of the White Mountains in the neighbouring state, extends across the country towards the N.E., and forms the watershed between the basin of the St John on the N., and the rivers that flow to the Atlantic on the S. Of the mountain summits, the highest is Katahdin Mountain, which attains the elevation of 5385 feet above the sea. The sea-coast is bold and precipitous, frequently indented with bays and inlets, many of which form very good harbours. The coast is also skirted with islands, for the most part of small size, and said to amount to the number of 365. The fishing in these parts is very good. The most marked natural feature of the state, however, is its rivers and lakes, which are calculated to cover one-tenth of the entire area. The largest rivers are the Penobscot and the Kennebec, which flow from the elevations in the centre in a S.W. direction, and discharge their waters into the Atlantic. The former, which is the more easterly of the two, is the largest river in the state, and has a length of 350 miles. The rivers of Maine are remarkable for their abrupt windings and falls, which, however, do not prevent the conveyance of timber rafts from the thick forests with which the interior is covered, and which supply one of the principal articles of export. The rivers are also useful as affording water-power to the many mills on their banks. The Penobscot is navigable for the largest vessels as far as Bangor, 60 miles from the sea; but for several months in the winter it is blocked up with ice. The lakes are very numerous, and remarkable for their irregular shapes, and for the wild beauty of their scenery. The largest is Moosehead Lake, about 50 miles in length, and varying from 5 to 15 in breadth. When the country becomes better inhabited, these sheets of water are likely to prove most useful as means of communication.

Geologically, the state of Maine is chiefly composed of primary rocks, though towards the E., there is to be found a tract of land of the secondary formation. The rocky barrier which extends along the sea-coast is composed of igneous formations, and granite is found in great abundance throughout the state. Marble and limestone are also extensively quarried in the country; indeed, it is from Maine principally that the whole of the states are supplied with lime. Trap dykes occur frequently; and on many accounts this district is interesting to the geologist. Iron is found of an excellent quality, and in considerable abundance; some traces of coal have also been observed; and on some of the eastern tributaries of the Penobscot gold has been found, but not to any great amount. The soil is generally rich and fertile, though towards the coast and among the mountains it is sandy and barren. The best soil is found in the country lying between the Penobscot and the Kennebec; and the chief articles of agriculture are potatoes, oats, and Indian corn. Of the natural products, the most remarkable are the forests of white pine, which are so extensive as to give to one district the name of "White Pine Land." Oak, ash, and beech trees, also grow in great quantities; and this, along with other circumstances, has contributed to render Maine the state most remarkable for ship-building in the Union. During the year ending June 30th, 1855, 639 vessels of various kinds, including 6 steamers, and having an aggregate burden of 215,904 tons, were built in this state; while the total number of vessels built in all the other states of the Union during that period was only 1386, with an aggregate burden of 367,546 tons, or less than double the amount of tonnage built in this state alone. The climate in winter is very severe, the frost lasting from December to April, and so intense, that the largest rivers may be crossed on the ice; while in summer the heat is very great. The thermometer ranges between 100° in summer, and 25° below zero in winter; but the country is remarkably healthy; and towards the coast the severity of the cold is moderated by its proximity to the gulf stream. The inhabitants are principally the descendants of the ancient British colonists, though there are still about 500 of the original Indians, dwelling chiefly on the islands of the Penobscot, which belong to them, and drawing a considerable annuity from the government. There are also many emigrants from other countries, but by no means in such large proportions as in most of the other states. This state is not so extensively engaged in manufactures as some others in New England. The principal branches followed here are the iron, woollen, and cotton manufactures, besides ship-building and the tanning of leather. The products of the iron forges, &c., were, in 1850, 5175 tons, valued at L.62,837; of the cotton factories, 32,852,556 yards, valued at L.54,908; of the woollen manufactures, 1,023,020 yards, valued at L.157,139; and of the tanneries, leather to the value of L.340,633. Its commerce, however, is considerable, owing to the number and excellence of its harbours. The principal articles of export are timber and fish. The total value of exports during the year ending June 30, 1855, was L.937,868, comprising Maine L.529,794 of domestic, and L.408,074 of foreign produce. Of the imports at the same date, the total value was L.610,084, of which L.287,336 were conveyed in American, and L.331,748 in foreign vessels.

This state is divided into 13 counties. The capital is Augusta, on the Kennebec, though the largest and most commercial town is Portland, on Casco Bay. The extent of railways in the state in January 1856 was about 480 miles, the principal lines being the Androscoggin and Kennebec; the Atlantic and St Lawrence, the Kennebec and Portland, and the Penobscot and Kennebec; and there is also a canal of 50 miles in length, uniting Portland with Sebugo, Brandy, and Long Ponds. The government of Maine is in the hands of a governor, who is elected annually by popular vote, and he is aided by a council of 7, chosen by the legislature by ballot. The legislature consists of a Senate of 31, and of a House of Representatives of 151 members, both also elected annually. The right of suffrage is possessed by all males above twenty-one years of age, who have been resident in the district for three months immediately before the election. The constitution of the judiciary courts has been altered in 1852. The state is divided into three districts, and the courts are held annually at Portland for the western, at Augusta for the middle, and at Bangor for the eastern district. Among the public institutions are—the state prison at Thomastown, which is managed on the silent system, and where the prisoners are employed in stone-cutting and quarrying; the state reform school, opened in 1853 at Cape Elizabeth for juvenile delinquents, where they are employed in various labours; and the lunatic asylum at Augusta, opened in 1840. For the purposes of education the state has a separate fund, collected from the various sources, of which there was expended for the year ending April 1, 1855, L.102,304. According to the census of 1850, there were 4042 public schools in the state, besides 131 academies and other schools, 2 colleges, 1 theological seminary, and 1 medical school. The whole value of property in Maine in 1850 was L.20,159,556; and the public debt amounted in 1856 to L.145,000. The number of churches in the state in 1850 was 851, of which there belonged to the Baptists 283, to the Christians 9, to the Congregationalists 12, to the Episcopalians 8, to the Free Church 19, to the Friends 4, to the Methodists 171, to the Presbyterians 7, to the Roman Catholics 11, to the Union Church 83, to the Unitarians 15, and to the Universalists 53; giving, on an average, one church to every 685 persons. The total amount of church sittings was 321,167. The first settlement effected in Maine was at Phippsburg in 1607; but this was soon afterwards abandoned, and the country was colonized from the neighbouring districts. In the latter part of the seventeenth century this state was the occasion and the scene of many conflicts between the British and the French, till it was finally secured to the former by the peace of Utrecht in 1712, at which time it was attached to Massachusetts. The town of Portland was bombarded by the British in 1775, when much property was destroyed. In 1820 this state was separated from Massachusetts, and received as a distinct state into the Union; and in 1842, after much negotiation, the boundaries between it and Canada were finally settled between Great Britain and the United States. Pop. (1850) white, 581,763; coloured, 1325; total, 583,088.

old province in the W. of France, bounded on the N. by Normandy and Perche, on the E. by Orleanais, on the S. by Touraine and Anjou, and on the W. by Bretagne. It was divided into Upper and Lower Maine, and formed, along with Perche, the military government of Maine. It now forms, with the addition of some parts of Higher Anjou, the department of Sarthe and Mayenne.

Maine de Biran, Francois-Pierre-Gonthier, a distinguished philosopher of France, the son of a physician, was born at Bergerac on the 29th November 1763. After studying with distinction under the doctrinaires of Perigueux, he entered the Life-Guards of Louis XVI., and was present at Versailles on the notable 5th and 6th of October 1789. On the breaking up of the garde du corps, Maine de Biran retired to his patrimonial inheritance of Gratehoux, near Bergerac, where his sequestered residence and limited income preserved him from the horrors of the Revolution. It was at this period that, as he says himself, he "passed per saltum from frivolity to philosophy." The forced leisure of this fearful time decided the vocation of his life. He combined, in a more than ordinary degree, subtle sensitiveness to external influences with singular acuteness in surveying and analyzing internal phenomena. The modes of the mind and their organic causes or conditions were alike submitted to his scrutiny. He began his philosophical studies with psychology, and he made psychology the study of his life. When the Reign of Terror was succeeded by calmer days, Maine de Biran was called to take part in the administrative and political affairs of his country. After his exclusion from the Council of the Five Hundred, on being suspected of royalism, he took part with his friend Lainé in the commission of 1813, which gave expression for the first time to direct opposition to the will of the emperor. Under the Restoration, Maine de Biran held the office of treasurer to the Chamber of Deputies, and habitually retired during the autumn recess to his native district to pursue his favourite study. He died 16th July 1824.

Maine de Biran ranks among the earliest of the rational psychologists of France, who, in the beginning of the present century, raised a protest against the exclusive sensationalism of the school of Condillac. Maine de Biran was originally a disciple of Cabanis and De Tracy, but afterwards abandoned their system to adopt an absolute spiritualism closely resembling that of Leibnitz. He rejected, however, the pre-established harmony of the German philosopher, and endeavoured to explain the phenomena which that celebrated theory was meant to rationalize, by resolving mind and matter into forces identical in their nature, but differing in the modes of their activity. All objects, external and internal, are recognised by consciousness only as forces, more or less active, more or less passive. To explain the phenomena of external perception on those principles, is accordingly an easy matter with Maine de Biran. You can dispense with the mediate object of the representationalists; you have no need of the hypothesis of occasional causes or of pre-established harmony; you are saved the humiliation of taking refuge in your ignorance, and bowing down before a mystery; your dead matter and living mind are not two distinct substances,—the relations of body and soul are only relations of forces of action and reaction. The theory of causation of Maine de Biran is the portion of his philosophy which is most generally known in this country; and Sir W. Hamilton, in commenting on it, terms its author "one of the acutest metaphysicians of France." The casual judgment is regarded by Maine de Biran as an original a posteriori cognition, given through a self-consciousness of the efficiency of our own volitions. M. Cousin, who is constant in his laudation of the originality of his countryman, characterizes him as "the greatest metaphysician of France since Malebranche." A complete edition of the Oeuvres Philosophiques de Maine de Biran was published by M. V. Cousin, 4 vols., 8vo, Paris, 1841.

Maine-et-Loire, a department in the W. of France, including the most part of the province of Anjou and the W. part of Touraine, and lying between N. Lat. 46° 59' and 47° 45', and between 0° 15' E. and 1° 18' W. Long. Its greatest length is 77 miles, its greatest breadth 60, and its area 2756 square miles. It is bounded on the N. by the Maintenon—departments of Mayenne and Sarthe, on the E. by that of Indre-et-Loire, on the S. by those of the Vienne, the Deux-Sèvres, and La Vendée, and on the W. by that of the Loire-Inférieure. This department receives its name from the two rivers Maine and Loire, which unite here. There are no mountains of any importance in the department, but the ground consists of an undulating plain, diversified here and there by vine-covered hills. A small portion, however, at the N.W. extremity is occupied by the hills which separate the valleys of the Vilaine and the Loire, and the southern part is covered by a continuation of the hills of Gâtine. The most important river in the department is the Loire, which passes through it from E. to W., dividing it into two nearly equal parts. Besides this, it is watered by the Authion, the Maine, the Sarthe, the Mayenne with its tributary the Oudon, the Erdre, and the Thouet in the N.; while in the S. there may be noticed the Layon, the Erve, the Sevre-Nantaise, and the Maine, several of which are navigable rivers, while they all contribute to the fertility of the neighbouring country. The department is very productive, and the principal occupation of the inhabitants is agriculture. The corn produced is considerably more than sufficient to supply the wants of the inhabitants. The principal of the other productions are,—potatoes, hemp, flax, nuts, and fruits of various kinds. About 11,000,000 gallons of wine are made annually, besides a considerable amount of cider. The forests of this department are extensive, and consist principally of oak and beech. The pasturage is very good, and large quantities of live stock are annually reared, especially along the banks of the principal rivers. It has been calculated that there are in this department 210,000 head of large cattle, 200,000 sheep, 86,000 pigs, 4300 goats, 40,000 horses, and 3600 mules and asses. The forests abound in deer and wild boars, and there are also found numbers of foxes and weasels. The game and fish are very plentiful. Coal mining is carried on to a considerable extent, but the quantity produced, amounting to about 200,000 cwt. annually, is entirely consumed in the department. There are also considerable slate mines, situated chiefly round the town of Angers, where they give employment to 3000 workmen, and produce annually about 80,000,000 slates. Iron is also found, though in no great abundance; but it furnishes materials for several furnaces. There are also quarries of granite, marble, sandstone, limestone, &c. There is not much manufacturing industry in this department, but what there is has its chief seat about Cholet; and its principal products are linen, cotton, and woollen stuffs; Maine-et-Loire being especially famous for its handkerchiefs. There are also several breweries and distilleries, as well as tanneries and manufactorys of bricks, tiles, pottery, and other articles. The trade of the district consists chiefly in cattle, grain, wines, linen, and dried fruit.

This country was anciently occupied by the Andes, or Andecavi, from whom the name Anjou is derived; and many Gallic monuments are still to be seen in the department. It was afterwards in the hands of the Romans, who have also left traces of their occupation. During the time of the Revolution this neighbourhood is remarkable as having been the seat of the war of La Vendée. This department is divided into five arrondissements as follows:

| Arrondissement | Canton | Communes | Population | |----------------|--------|----------|------------| | Angers | 9 | 89 | 154,945 | | Baugé | 6 | 66 | 79,713 | | Segré | 5 | 61 | 62,080 | | Beaupréau | 7 | 76 | 121,375 | | Saumur | 7 | 83 | 97,339 | | Total | 31 | 375 | 516,452 |