MORPHOLOGY MORRIS. 



65 



times its weight of cold alcohol. It dissolves in eight 

 times its weight of sulphuric ether. All these solu- 

 tions change the infusion of brazil wood to violet, and 

 Die tincture-of rhubarb to brown. According to M. 

 Bussy, morphia consists of 



Carbon, 

 Hydrogen, - 

 Aiote, 

 Oxygen, 



09.0 

 6-5 

 4.5 



20.0 



1CO.O 



With acids, it forms a class of salts in like manner as 

 tlo the other vegetable alkalis. Sulphate of morphia 

 crystallizes in prisms, which dissolve in twice their 

 weight of distilled water. They are composed of 



Acid, 

 Morphia, 



22 

 40 

 38 



100 



Nitrate of morphia yields needle-formed crystals in 

 stars, which are soluble in one and a half times their 

 weight of distilled water. Muriate of morphia is 

 soluble in ten and a half times its weight of distilled 

 water. The acetate crystallizes in needles, the tar- 

 trate in prisms, and the carbonate in short prisms. 

 Tincture of galls is said to be a good test of morphia, 

 free or combined. Subacetate of lead throws down 

 all the animal matters with which acetate of morphia 

 may come to be associated in the stomach, without 

 acting on that vegetable salt. The excess of lead 

 may be separated from the clear, liquor by a few bub- 

 bles of sulphureted hydrogen ; and the morphia may 

 then be recognised by crystallization in vacua, and 

 by the red colour which nitric acid imparts to it. No 

 morphia is found in the blood of animals killed with 

 it. Morphia acts with great energy on the animal 

 economy. A grain and a half, taken at three differ- 

 ent times, produced such violent symptoms upon three 

 young men of seventeen years of age, that Sertiirner 

 was alarmed lest the consequences should have proved 

 fatal. 



MORPHOLOGY (from potf*, form, and Xoyas, 

 doctrine); the science which treats of the formation 

 and constant change of organic bodies. Goethe, the 

 German poet, first formed the word, and treated the 

 subject as a separate branch of natural history. In 

 his Beitriige zur Naturwissenschaft llberhaupt und 

 zur Morphologic insbesondere (Tubingen, 1817, et 

 seq.). he directs attention to the uninterrupted change 

 of all bodies, particularly organic bodies, and the fact 

 of their consisting, even when they appear as single 

 individuals, of parts which contain the germs of in- 

 dividual life within them. He shows this to be the 

 case with plants from their propagation by eyes and 

 cuttings. The growth from seed appears to him quite 

 a similar phenomenon. Among animals, he adduces 

 the instance of the infusoria. The polypes and some 

 reptiles whose parts, on division, form entire animals, 

 might likewise be mentioned. 



MORRIS, ROBERT, the chief financier of the 

 American revolution, was born in Lancashire, Eng- 

 land, January, 1733 4. O. S., of respectable parent- 

 age. His father embarked for America, and caused 

 him to follow at the age of thirteen. He received 

 only an English education, and, before he reached his 

 fifteenth year, was placed in the counting-house of 

 Mr Charles Willing, at that time one of the first 

 merchants of Philadelphia. Fidelity, diligence, and 

 capacity gained him the full confidence and favour of 

 Mr Willing, after whose deatli he was taken into 

 partnership by his son, Thomas Willing, subsequently 

 president of the bank of the United States of America. 

 This partnership lasted from the year 1754 until 

 1793, the long period of thirty-nine years. At the 

 commencement of the American revolution, Mr 



Morris was more extensively engaged in commerce 

 than any other merchant of Philadelphia. No one 

 embraced the American cause with more zeal and 

 firmness, and few with more influence and risk. He 

 declared himself immediately against the stamp act, 

 signed, without hesitation, the non-importation agree- 

 ment of 1765, and, in so doing, the house of Willing 

 and Morris made a direct and serious sacrifice of 

 trade. In 1775, Mr Morris was appointed by the legis- 

 lature of Pennsylvania one of the delegates to the 

 second general congress. He was placed upon 

 every committee of ways and means, and connected 

 with all the deliberations and arrangements relative 

 to the navy, maritime affairs, and financial interests. 

 Besides aiding his country by his judgment and talents 

 for business, he borrowed money, to a very large 

 amount, on his personal responsibility, for the use of 

 the government. This personal credit, growing out 

 of his reputation for probity, ability, and resources, 

 was wonderful, and of incalculable advantage to the 

 American cause. It rarely failed, when the trea- 

 sury yielded nothing for the public exigencies. In 

 May, 1777, he was elected a third time to congress, 

 by the legislature of Pennsylvania, and continued to 

 be the soul of the financial concerns. Washington, 

 to whom he was deputed by congress, in the autumn 

 of 1777, conceived the utmost faith in his patriotism 

 and ability, which all the subsequent events of their 

 intimate intercourse and the connexion of Morris 

 with public affairs served to perpetuate. In the 

 year 1780, Mr Morris established a bank by sub- 

 scription, of which his share was 10,000, mainly 

 with the object of supplying the army with provisions, 

 3,000,000 of rations, and 300 hogsheads of rum. 

 It continued until the following year, when the bank 

 of North America was founded. His extensive com- 

 mercial and private correspondence with Great Bri- 

 tain and the continent, furnished him with early and 

 important political information. His constant mani- 

 festations of confidence in the issue of the revolution- 

 ary struggle inspired many others with the same sen- 

 timent. His whole example did incalculable service. 

 February 20, 1781, he was appointed superintend' nt 

 of finance, and, by subsequent resolutions of congress, 

 vested with powers which gave him, in fact, the con- 

 trol of all the public pecuniary interests. This ar- 

 duous office he admirably discharged until the end 

 of the war. "The whole business of finance," said 

 he, " may be comprised in two short but comprehen- 

 sive sentences, it is to raise the public revenue by 

 such modes as may be most easy, and most equal to 

 the people, and to expend it in the most frugal, fair, 

 and honest manner." The condition of the treasury. 

 when he undertook it, was nearly as .bad as possible. 

 Upon its improvement depended the preservation of 

 the military force. The establishment of the bank of 

 North America was one of his first and most bene- 

 ficial measures. The notes of the institution were 

 declared by congress receivable as gold and silver 

 for the payment of all duties and taxes in each of the 

 United States. Morris furnished the plan, and pub- 

 lished it, with a cogent appeal to the patriotism of 

 all American citizens. A contemporary writer has 

 remarked that " the sudden restoration of public and 

 private credit, which took place on the establishment 

 of the bank, was an event as extraordinary in itself 

 as any domestic occurrence during the progress of 

 the revolution." At this time, the private fortune of 

 Mr Morris was ample, but supposed to be much 

 larger than it really was ; and he rendered this per- 

 sonal credit subservient to the public good. He 

 pledged it whenever his official resources were inade- 

 quate. His advances at particular times, on accoi nt 

 of the confederacy or of individual states, were enor- 

 mous. His general situation, and the impossibility 



