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MURRAY, WILLIAM. 



MtfSA, IBN-NOSSEYR 



again, Mrf conducted their proo~lingt on a more extensive scale. 

 On the SSth of Norember 1060, wo find Sir Robert present at what 

 wae i-ruUbljr lb fir-t inrvtinR. when it was proposed ' that some 

 course mlitbt be thought of to improre thU meeting to a more regular 

 way of debating things; and that, according to the manner in other 

 eoantrm, when there were voluntary associations of men into 

 anadsiniss for the advancement of various parts of learning, they 

 might do something answerable here for the promoting of experi- 



lt was Sir Robert Murray who undertook to communicate the 

 views of the Society to the court, and at the next meeting ha returned 

 an answer indicative of encouragement from that quarter ; and after 

 rule* for the government of the Society were established, Sir Robert 

 was chosen Brst president. He wu a member of almost all com- 

 mittees and councils, contributed several pa pen, and prepared and 

 exhibited various experiments. The authors of the ' The Historical 

 Account of the Senators of the College of Justice' say he was re- 

 appointed justice-clerk in 1667, and sent down to Scotland, which he 

 continued to rule with a gentleness quite unknown to the counsels 

 of hit predecessors. But this is scarcely correct. Sir John Home of 

 Beaton, who was a great cealot in the cause of episcopacy, which 

 Charles wished to introduce into Scotland, was appointed justice- 

 clerk in 1663, in the room of Sir Robert Murray ; and on his death, in 

 1671, he was succeeded by Sir Jamea Lockhart of Lee. Sir Kobert 

 Murray died suddenly, in the month of June 1673. 1 

 MURRAY. WILLIAM. (MANSFIELD, EABL or.] 

 MUSA, ABU-ABDALLAH-MOHAMMED-BEN, of Khowarezm, the 

 earliest Arabic writer on algebra, whose treatise on that science, ' Al 

 Jebr e al Mokabalah' ( Restoration and lied uction '), was composed 

 for popular use at the command of the kalif Al Mamun. It contains 

 rules and illustrations (rather than demonstrations) for the solution of 

 simple and quadratic equations, with their application to various 

 questions, mostly of a mercantile character. From internal evidence 

 it appears to be drawn from Hindu writings, with which the author is 

 known to have been acquainted ; and the works of Diophantus were 

 not translated into Arabic till after the time of Mohammed-Ben Musa. 



This work was (partially at least) translated into Latin at an early 

 period ; and M. Libri (' Hist des Set Math, en Italie,' vol. L, note 12) 

 has printed all the part of Ben Muaa's treatise which the Latin manu- 

 scripts in the Bibliotbcque du Roi at Paris contain. The complete 

 work, in Arabic, with an English translation and notes by the late Dr. 

 Kosen, was published by the Oriental Translation Society, in 1831, 

 from a manuscript in the Bodleian Library. 



It is from this work that (so far as Europe is concerned) algebra 

 derives both its name and introduction ; and the writings of Leonard 

 Bonacci, Lucas di Burgo, and the earlier Italians, bear strong marks 

 not only of their Arabic maulers, but even of the particular work before 

 us. Accordingly Mohammed-Ben Musa was frequently called the 

 inventor of al^r bra, a title to which he has no claim. 



MUSA, AXTuXlUS, was a physician of some celebrity at Rome. 

 He was at one time the medical attendant of the Emperor Augustus, 

 whose slave he hail formerly been ; and he gained considerable repu- 

 tation by the benefit which the emperor obtained when, having been 

 long under the care of vKuiilius for arthritic pains, which- had been 

 unsuoeeeafully treated with warm applications, Musa ordered him 

 odd affusions, and some other means equally contrary to his previous 

 prescriptions. Ue prescribed a similar remedy also for Horace. 

 lEpi.t; i. 15.) 



MUSA, IBN-NOSSEYR, Governor of Mauritania. Tba origin and 

 genealogy of this conqueror are differently stated by the Arabian 

 writers. Some make him the sou of No&aeyr, son of Abd-el-rahman, 

 son of Zeyd, of the tribe of Bekr; others assert that he belonged to 

 the illustrious tribe of Lakhrn ; while there ar not wanting genealo- 

 gist* who deny his ever having had any connection with either of the 

 above-mentioned tribes, and suppose him to bo the sou of a liberated 

 slave of Muawiyah-Ibn-Abi Sufydn, the first kalif of the race of 

 Umeyyah in the East. All however agree that his father Nossey r was 

 mauli,' or adherent of Muawiyah ; that he served under his banners 

 against Ali, and, as a reward for his services, was rained to the poet of 

 commander of the kalifa body-guard. 



According to all account*, Muss's birth 1s placed in the year 10 of 

 the Bight (AD. 610). He seems to have made his first campaigns 

 under his father, and to have bern present at almost all the battles 

 then fought by the Moslems. His bravery, and the military t dents 

 which he displayed on several occasions, made him a favourite with 

 'Abd-el-'axix Ibn Merwan, a prince of the royal family, then governor 

 of Egypt, who attached him to his person, raised him in command, 

 and, having previously obtained leave from his brother the kalif, 

 appointed him general of the armies destined to achieve the conquest 

 of Africa, in the year 7 of the Flight (A.D. 698 9). What the first 

 expeditions of Mu>a were, to not satisfactorily explained. The Arabian 

 writers >ay, in vague terms, that be pushed his conquest* far into the 

 West, and penetrated into the interior of Africa, returning with a rich 

 spoil and thousand* of captives. Bat be seems to have achieved nothing 

 t.rilliant until the year 88 (A..II. 707), when the kalif Al walid named 

 him governor of Mauritania, with instructions to complete the conquest 

 of the country. 

 Musa took his departure from Egypt at the head of a numerous 



army, and partly by persuasion, partly by force, (succeeded in reduc-ini,' 

 to obedience the motley triben that inhabited the northern shores of 

 Africa. He seems to have experienced no difficulty in uniting midi-r 

 his standard men whose habits were not di-simiiar bom those of the 

 Arabs, and who, relying on ancient traditions current among th -m, 

 believed themselves to be sprung from the same stock as their invaders. 

 Under such a belief, which Musa dexterously tried to strengthen, 

 whole tribes flocked to his banners, embraced the religion of the 

 Prophet, and, led by his lieutenants, marched to now conquests. 

 Tangier*, Arsilla, and Ceuta, three insulated fortresses which still held 

 out for the Goths, were speedily reduced; a fleet commanded by 

 Abdullah, M lisa's eldest son, scoured the Mediterranean, and ravaged 

 the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Mallorca; and in the year 'Jl of 

 the Flight (A.D. 709) the whole of northern Africa, from the Pillars of 

 Hercules to the delta of Egypt, acknowledged the laws of the 

 conqueror. 



At this critical moment, when the restless ambition of the African 

 governor had been stimulated by so much success, a favourable 

 occasion presented itself to satisfy bis appetite for conquest Gothic 

 Spam was a prey to the most horrible anarchy. After the death ot 

 King Wittiza, Roderic, the son of a provincial governor, had usurped 

 the throne to the prejudice of Eba and Siaebnto, the two i-ous of that 

 monarch, who had taken up arms in support of their right*. Unable 

 however to keep the field against Roderic, the sons of Wittiza and the 

 noblemen who followed their party (among whom was a certain Julian 

 or Ilyan) despatched a messenger to Musa, inviting him to invade 

 Spain, and promising to aid him in his enterprise. No sooner was 

 Musa made acquainted with the divisions among the Goths, than ho 

 eagerly seized on the opportunity of interfering in them. By hU 

 orders, Tarif Ibn Malik, one of his servants, made a slight incursion 

 in the mouth of Ramadhan, AH. 91 (July, A.D. 710), and returned to 

 Africa loaded with spoil. A second expedition, commanded by T.irik 

 Ibn X-yiid, landed on the coast of Spain in April 711, and two months 

 afterwards Roderic wsg defeated and killed in the battle of Guadalctc. 



On the news of this signal victory reaching Africa, Musa, who was 

 far from expecting so complete success, felt a desire to share in the 

 laurels reaped by his lieutenant; and while he hastily made the 

 necessary preparations to cross over into Spain, he sent orders to Tdrik 

 not to move from his position, and to wait for further instructions. 

 But the Arabian general bad gono too far .to bo stopped by a mere 

 message from his master. Eager for plunder, and bent on the subju- 

 gation of the whole country, he penetrated into the heart of Spain, 

 and, before his master Musa had set his foot on the peninsula, the 

 opulent city of Toledo, the capital of the Gothic monarchy, together 

 with an immense booty, had fallen into his hands. 



At this period Musa arrived in Spain, breathing vengeance against 

 the man who, by disobeying his command!', had deprived him of so 

 rich a harvest of glory and wealth. He landed at Algesiras, in June 

 712, at the head of 18,000 men. He took with him three of his sons, 

 Abdulaziz, Mcrwrln, aud Abdulola, leaving his eldest son Abdullah to 

 govern Africa in bis stead. His first step was to subdue such pro- 

 vinces as, by Tank's precipitate march upon Toledo, had remained 

 untouched. He laid siege to Seville, which he reduced iu a mouth 

 (July 712). Carmona and other neighbouring cities shared the same 

 fate. Thence he passed into Lusitauia, and, almost without halting 

 in his rapid march, seized on Niobla, Beja, aud other considerable 

 cities (August 712). His victorious career was stopped for a time 

 before the walla of Merida, which he reduced, after an obstinate 

 defence on tho part of the garrison, towards the end of November 

 712. From Merida, Musa marched to Toledo, where, having had an 

 interview with Tdrik, he publicly reproached him with his disobe- 

 dience, caused him to be beaten with rods, confiscated his property, 

 and hod him cost into a dungeon, where ho remained until orders 

 came from the kalif to release him, and give him, as before, the com- 

 mand of one of the divisions of the army. 



The remainder of Spain was speedily subdued. Tdrik, at the head 

 of his troop*, marched eastward, aud, after reducing the intermediate; 

 provinces, laid siege to .Saragossa. Musa took a northern direction, 

 reduced Salamanca, advanced as far as Astorga, and thence, returning 

 to the Douro, followed tho course of that river to Seria, passed the 

 mountains, and arrived iu sight of Saragossa, which Tdrik was then 

 investing, and which surrendered in July 713. Thence Tdrik pro- 

 ceeded to Valencia, which, together with Murviodro, Xativa, aud 

 other considerable cities of those districts, were reduced with amazing 

 rapidity ; while Musa himx-lf, after detaching some forces under the 

 command of bis son Abdulaziz to subdue and plunder the plains of 

 Murcia, marched towards the Pyrenees, reduced ou his passage the 

 | cities of Calahorra, Lerido, Barcelona, and, crossing that mountains 

 barrier, penetrated into France. How far Musa advanced into that 

 country is not satisfactorily ascertained. According to Al makkari, an 

 Arabian writer, who compiled a history of Spain from the best sources 

 (Arab, manuscripts, iu tho Brit Mus., 7334), Musa subdued not only 

 Narbonne, but the greatest part of the province known by the name 

 of Qallia Gothica ; but, as other Arabian historians are silent on the 

 subject, aud as the Christian chroniclers of France have not made the 

 slightest mention of this invasion, we are authorised in thinking that 

 if Musa did really cross the Pyrenees, his invasion was unattended 

 with any important results. On his return from this expedition to 



