m MUR \VIKV, MIKHAKt. NIKITIT 



dtbto sopra U Citta >li Oom -chio.' 1712; ' Ragioni della tereniuima 

 CM* d K.U aopra Ferrara.' 1714. 



Aesecg Moratoris olbrr works we tnut mention -1, 'Governo 

 politico, medico, ed eoaseoiastioo della Pesto,' 1720, written on the 

 occasion of UM plague of Mwteitlo, and (bowing the methods required 

 to counters I it. .', Difetli dell* Giuriaprtidenza,' 1742, in wl.ioh he 

 how* the defects of judicial form* in moat countries 3, ' Morale 

 FOoMoa,' 1735. 4 , Institution! di pubblioa fclicitV 1749. 6, ' Delia 

 Mgoltta divoriooe dei Fedeli.' In this last treatise, Muratori, who, 

 though unosrely pious, was too enlightened to be superstitious, com- 

 bated several popular devotional practice* which were merely external, 

 and recommended In preference internal habits of self-examination 

 and prayer. Hit eaemiee accueed him of here-y. Muratori wrote to 

 UM pope Benedict XIV., to explain hit meaning and oak for hi judg- 

 ment on the mtt-r of contention. That enlightened pontiff wrote 

 him a kind letter in answer, telling him that " those passages in h in 

 work* which were not found acceptable to Rome did not touch either 

 the dogma or the dUcipluv of the church ; but that had they bean 

 written by any other penon the lioman congregation of the Index 

 would have forbidden them ; which however had not been done in 

 UM caee of Muratori'i worka, because it was well known that he, 

 UM pope, shared in the universal esteem in which his merit was 



The character of Muratori U clearly seen in his works. Modest 

 though learned, indefatigable, int ut upon the improvement of man- 

 kind, charitable and tolerant, sincerely religious and strictly moral, he 

 was one of the meet distinguished and yet most unobtrusive among 

 UM learned of Italy. He was rector of the parish of Pomposa at 

 Modena, but bis litersry occupations did not make him neglect hia 

 flock : he assisted hi* parishioner* with his advice and his money ; he 

 founded several charitable institutions, and rebuilt the parish church. 

 lie died at Modena, in 1760. His minor works were collected and 

 published at Arezio. in 1787, iu 19 Tola. 4to. His tomb is in the 

 church of & Agostino at Modena, near that of his illustrious country - 

 :.. .:. - I :. .... 



MUKAVIEV, MIKHAEL NIKITITCH, a Russian author of some 

 distinction, was born at Smolensk, October 15-27, 1757. His literary 

 acquirements and talents obtained for him the notice of Catherine the 

 Great, by whom he was appointed, in 1785, preceptor to the young 

 grand-dukrs Alexander (afterwards Alexander 1.) and Constantino ; 

 and it was for the instruction of his imperial pupils that he wrote the 

 Tator portion of his proee works, consisting of historical and moral 

 r 1 ' 18 ". among which are his Epochs of the Russian Empire,' and 

 Geographical Sketches of North and South Russia.' His ' Dialogues 

 of the Dead ' are also intended to characterise the more remarkable 

 personage* of Russian history, and are therefore altogether in a dif- 

 ferent spirit from those of Lucian, Fontenelle, und their imitators, 

 who employed that form of composition chiefly as the vehicle of 

 satire. One of bis most admired productions is hia ' Oakold,' which 

 (escribes the march of the northern nations against Constantinople, 

 and which, though in itself a mere fragment, proves its author to 

 have possessed talents capable of giving bis countrymen a prose epic. 

 To tbrae productions, all of which are distinguished by great correct- 

 ness and energy of style, and no less by the moral feeling which per- 

 vades them, may be added his Letters of Emilius,' and a series of 

 reflection, or sketches, entitled 'The Solitary of the Suburb.' Hia 

 poetical compositions are of leas importance; for though adiuir.-d in 

 their day, they now possess little interest Muraviev died June 29 

 th July), 1807, and his historical pieces were collected and edited 

 by Kwarorin in 1810. The first complete edition of his works 

 appeared in three large volumes 8vo, 1829, to which is prefixed a 

 biographical and critical sketch, written by his nephew and pupil, 

 CoiwtentiiMi Batiiubkov, the di.tingui.hed poet 



MUUCBISON, SIR RODERICK IMI'EY, M.A., D.C.L., F.RS., 

 Director General of the Geological Survey of the United King- 

 dom, and Director of the Metropolitan School of Science applied to 

 lining and the ArU ; eldest son of Kenneth Murchison, Esq.. of Tara- 

 dab, in ftos*hire, by the sister of General Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 

 Bart., of rairbom, in the same county. He was born on the 19th of 

 rsbrnary 172, and in 17M was placed in the Grammar school of 

 Durham, whence be proceeded, in 1805, to the Military College at 

 Mariow. when he remained till 1807, when he received a commission 

 4th regiment of infantry. For some time he was permitted 

 to pursue his .tudiee in the University of Edinburgh, but joined his 

 regioMOt at Cork in the winter of 1 03, and shortly after embarked 

 wiih th. army under Sir Arthur Welltvloy for Portugal. He carried 

 the MOM of bis rrgiu.rot at the battle of Vimiera; afterwards 

 accompanied the army in iu advance to Madrid, it* junction with the 

 force under Hir John Moore, and retreat-sharing in all the dangers of 

 the battle of Corunoa. He was subsequently removed to the staff of 

 his uncle. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in Sicily; served also at the 

 siege of Cadi*, and afterwards in Ireland, a* a captain in the lonis- 



MURCHISOy, SIR RODERICK, M.A., D.C.L. 



- 



kiUen, or 0th dragoons. In 1815 be married the daughter of Ueneral 

 Hogooin and left the army, seeking for amusement and instruction 

 in foniirn travel, or, when at boose, U the occupation, of the sports- 

 .nan. fits wife first attracted him to scientific pursuits, and when, 

 in company with Hir H. Davy, engaged witb him in field sport* at 

 UM mamriaq of the Ute Mr, Morritt at R'.keby, h was encouraged 



1-y Sir Humphry to devote himself to science. By his advice, 

 on attended the lectures at the Royal Institution, between 

 1822 and 1824; and he afterwards received private inntructious in 

 practical chemistry from the late Richard Phillips, F.RS. j 1'im.urs, 

 Ku IIAHD.J In 1825 he was elected a Fellow of th Geological, and in 

 1826 of the Royal Society. Having selected geology, for the effective 

 prosecution of which, in the field and on the large scale, his previous 

 military and other active habits had peculiarly fitted him, he appli. i 

 himself with great energy to his new pursuit His first contribution 

 to the science, we believe, was read before the Geological Society on 

 tha lOth of December in the former year, under the title of 'Geolo- 

 gical Sketch of the North- Western extremity of Sussex, and the 

 adjoining parts of Hants and Surrey.' It was published in the 

 Society's ' Transactions,' second series, vol. ii. 



After examining the coal of Brora, in Sutherlandshire, and showing, 

 in 1827, that it was a member of the Oolitic series, being the equivalent 

 of the impure coal in the oolite of Scarborough and Whit by, Mr. 

 Murchison visited the Highlands in the following year with Professor 

 Sedgwick, when they succeeded in showing that the primary *and*tone 

 of Macculloch was nothing more than the true old red-sandstone, now 

 also called ' Devonian.' The result) of all these researches were read 

 .before the Geological Society, and published iu its 'Transactions,' 

 second *erieg, vols. it and iii. 



Prepared by hia geological investigations at home, he set out in 

 1828, accompanied by Mrs, Marchiaon and Mr. (now Sir C.) Lyell 

 [LTELL, SIR CHARLES], to study the extinct volcanoes of Auvergue, 

 and the geology of the north of Italy, visiting Paris, Auvergne, the 

 eouth of France, Nice, and Turin. A portion of the results of thia 

 journey was made public in three memoir*, the joint production of the 

 two geologists in part read before the Geological Society in 

 and in part inserted in the ' New Edinburgh Philosophical Journal ' 

 for 1829. The subjects of these memoirs are the excavation of valleys, 

 as illustrated by the volcanic rocks of Central France, the tertiary 

 strata of the Cantal, and the tertiary fresh water strata of Aix, in 

 Provence. 



Mr. Lyell continuing his own journey southwards, Mr. Murchison 

 crossed the Alps from Venice by Baaaano, and succeeded in discovering 

 a key to the order of sequence of the Jurassic or Oolitic, and incum- 

 bent cretaceous rock", and of the tertiary strata which overlap them. 

 In 1829 he explored the same mountain-chain with Professor Sodg- 

 wick, and again by himself iu the following year ; and they published 

 jointly a memoir on the Eastern Alps, accompanied by a geological 

 map of the chain. 



After these explorations of the Alps, Mr. Murchison redirected hia 

 attention to the geology of Great Britain. He wax induced by his 

 friend and instructor, the late Dr. Buckland [BGCKLAND, WILLIAM], 

 to explore the banks of the Wye between Hay and Builth, in the 

 hope of discovering evidences of order among those masses of rock 

 to which the unmeaning term of ' grauwacke' hod so long been, and 

 still continued to be, applied. He wai thus led to study those vat 

 and regular deposits of a remote age, which are most clearly displayed 

 in that part of Wales and England which was occupied by the tribe 

 of Britons called by the Romans the ' Silurea,' and to which he after- 

 wards gave the appellation of the 'Silurian System.' He finally dis- 

 covered the entire succession of the upper and lower Silurian rocka in 

 the sea-cliffs to the west of Milford Haven, " The only place iu the 

 British Isles where the whole series, down to an unfossiliferous base, 

 i seen to be regularly surmounted by the old red-sandstone " belong- 

 ing to the superincumbent ' Devonian ' system. The views conse- 

 quent upon these researches were announced in 1831 at the first 

 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 and they were first published in the ' Proceedings of the Geological 

 Society, and in the 'Philosophical Magazine,' from 1832 to 1835, both 

 years inclusive, the term ' Silurian ' having been applied to the series 

 in the last-mentioned year. 



In 1839 Mr. Murchison made public the assemblage of results thus 

 obtained on the palaeozoic geology of England and Wales in a large 

 volume of 800 pages, of which we now cite the entire title, as indi- 

 cating the extent of the researches on which it was founded ' The 

 Silurian System, founded on Geological Researches in the counties of 

 Salop, Hereford, Radnor, Montgomery, Caermarthen, Brecon, Pem- 

 broke, Monmouth, Gloucester, Worcester, and Stafford ; with Descrip- 

 tions of the Coal-field* and overlying Formations.' 



Prepared by the previous researches of Mr. Austen (now Mr. Godwiu- 

 Auaten) communicated to the Geological Society, and in some degree 

 by still earlier indications of Sir H. F. de la Beche, Mr. Murchixon 

 and Professor Sedgwick definitively ascertained that the stratified 

 rocks of Devonshire and Cornwall were the equivalents of the old 

 red-sandstone, and gave them the name of Devonian ; an objection 

 founded on the difference between the characteristic organic remains 

 of the old red-sandstone in Scotland and those of the strata in 

 Devonshire, being subs -qucntly removed by the discovery of both 

 1 in the Devonian strata of Russia, by Mr. Murchison and hia associate 

 geologists in the exploration of that country, to which we shall pro- 

 seutly advert. 



In 1835 and 1839 two journeys wore performed by Mr. Murchiwn 

 and Protestor Sedgwick, for the verification of propositions previously 

 advanced by the former, into the Rhenish provinces, including the 



