MURRAY MUSCLE. 



95 



extraordinary to the French republic, for the pur 

 pose. Afterwards, judge Ellsworth and governor 

 J)avie were associated with him. The story of this 

 negotiation is one of the most remarkable portions 

 of the civil history of the United States. Mr Murray 

 assisted in making the convention, which was signed 

 at Paris, September 30, 1800, between this country 

 and France. He returned to his station as minister 

 resident at the Hague, and, in December, 1801, to 

 his country. His health being much impaired, he 

 retired to his seat in Cambridge, on the eastern 

 shore of Maryland. A rapid consumption of the 

 lungs was the cause of his death, in 1803, in the 

 forty-second year of his age. He was one of the 

 most accomplished and gifted of American gentle- 

 men. 



MURRAY, WILLIAM. See Mansfield, Earl of . 



MURR1NE, or MURRHINE VASES (vasa mur- 

 rliina); splendid antique vessels, which were equally 

 distinguished for the costliness of their material, and 

 the beauty of their execution. They were brought, 

 by Pompey, from Asia to Rome, after his victory 

 over Mithridates, and bore an immense price. Some 

 antiquarians have supposed them to have been made 

 of a mineral of the class of sardonyx or agate, or of 

 Chinese steatite ; others, of a kind of porcelain or 

 glass. It is most probable, that there were vessels 

 of this kind, of natural as well as artificial materials; 

 and that, being similar in their exterior, they were 

 easily confounded with one another, and acquired a 

 common appellation. Of the first kind is the famous 

 Mantuan vase, so called, in the museum at Bruns- 

 wick; the well known Barberini, now Portland vase 

 (q. v.), in the possession of the duke of Portland, is a 

 specimen of the latter kind. 



MURTEN. See Moral. 



MURVIEDRO. See Morviedro. 



MUS^EUS, a celebrated poet of mythological 

 antiquity, was born at Athens. Some call him the 

 son of Eumolpus and the Moon ; others, of Linus or 

 Orpheus. He was probably called the son of Or- 

 pheus because he was his follower and pupil. He 

 was not only a poet, but also a philosopher, and is said 

 to have introduced religious ceremonies, according 

 to the instructions of Orpheus, particularly into the 

 Eleusinian and other mysteries. The ancients attri- 

 bute to him many works, of which some verses only 

 have come down to us. 



A later Musaeus, who probably lived four or five 

 centuries after Christ, is the author of an erotic poem 

 of the loves of Hero and Leander (Heinrich's edition, 

 Hanover, 1793 ; Passow's, with a translation, Leipsic, 

 1810.) 



MUSAGETES (leader of the Muses); an appella- 

 tion of Apollo, which belongs to him as the patron 

 and instructor of the Muses. In later times, this 

 appellation is oftener given to Hercules, in inscrip- 

 tions on gems, &c., and also by authors. 



M US A US, JOHN CHARLES AUGUSTUS, was born at 

 Jena, studied theology there, and was to have 

 become a parish priest, near Eisenach, but was 

 objected to by the peasants, because he had once 

 danced. Richardson's Grandison was very popular 

 at that time, and Musaus published a satirical 

 parody, under the title of Grandison the Second, 

 which was well received. He was afterwards master 

 of the pages at tiie Weimar court, and, in 1770, 

 appointed professor in the gymnasium at Weimar. 

 His next production was a satire on the extrava- 

 gances of the physiognomists,' Physiognomical 

 Travels. His German Popular Tales (1782; since 

 edited anew by Wieland and Fred. Jacobs) ; his 

 Freund Hems Erscheinungen in Holbeins Manicr 

 (1785); and a new series of tales, under the title 

 Straussfedern (of which only the first volume was 



from his pen), are among his productions. He died 

 in 1787. 



MUSCADINE, MUSCADEL, MUSCATEL (from 

 the Italian, moscadello, on account of its flavour); a 

 kind of sweet wine. Of the Italian, the best sorts 

 are the Syracusan, the Moscato, Giro, and Canna- 

 nao of Cagliari ; the Muscat of Algheri, and Oliastra 

 in Sardinia. The best French muscadels, are those 

 of Rivesaltes and Lunel; after which, rank the Fron- 

 tinac and the Montbabin. Cyprus and Candia also 

 yield muscadel. 



MUSCLE, (musculus.) The parts that are 

 usually included under this name consist of distinct 

 portions of flesh, susceptible of contraction and 

 relaxation; the motions of which, in a natural and 

 healthy state, are subject to the will; and, for this 

 reason, they are called voluntary muscles. Besides 

 these, there are other parts of the body that owe 

 their power of contraction to their muscular fibres; 

 thus the heart is a muscular texture, forming what 

 is called a hollow muscle; and the stomach, intes- 

 tines, &c., are enabled to act upon their contents, 

 merely because they are provided with muscular 

 fibres; these are called involuntary muscles, because 

 their motions are not dependent on the will. The 

 muscles of respiration being, in some measure, influ- 

 enced by the will, are said to have a mixed motion. 

 The names by which the voluntary muscles are dis- 

 tinguished, are founded on their size, figure, situa- 

 tion, use, or arrangement of their fibres, or their 

 origin and insertion; but, besides these particular 

 distinctions, there are certain general ones that 

 require to be noticed. Thus, if the fibres of a 

 muscle are placed parallel to each other, in a 

 straight direction, they form what anatomists term 

 a rectilinear muscle ; if the fibres cross and intersect 

 each other, they constitute a compound muscle ; 

 when the fibres are disposed in the manner of rays, 

 a radiated muscle ; when they are placed obliquely 

 with respect to the tendon, like the plume of a pen, 

 a penniform muscle. Muscles that act in opposition 

 to each other are called antagonists ; thus every 

 extensor has a flexor for its antagonist, and vice 

 versa. Muscles that concur in the same action, are 

 termed congencres. The muscles being attached to 

 the bones, the latter may be considered as levers, 

 that are moved in different directions by the con- 

 traction of those organs. That end of the muscle 

 which adheres to the most fixed part is usually called 

 the origin; and that which adheres to the more 

 movable part, the insertion of the muscle. In almost 

 every muscle, two kinds of fibres are distinguished ; the 

 one soft, of a red colour, sensible and irritable, called 

 fleshy fibres ; the other, of a firmer texture, of a 

 white, glistening colour, insensible, without irritabi- 

 lity, or the power of contracting, and named tendin- 

 ous fibres. They are occasionally intermixed, but 

 the fleshy fibres generally prevail in the belly or 

 middle part of the muscle, and the tendinous ones in 

 the extremities. If these tendinous fibres are formed 

 into a round, slender cord, they form what is called 

 the tendon of the muscle ; on the other hand, if they 

 are spread into a broad, flat surface, it is termed an 

 aponeurosis. The fibres that compose the body of a 

 muscle are disposed in fasciculi, or bundles, which are 

 easily distinguishable by the naked eye ; but these 

 fasciculi are divided into still smaller ones ; and 

 these, again, are probably subdivisible ad infinitum. 

 The most minute fibre we are able to trace seems to 

 be somewhat plaited ; these plaits, disappearing 

 when the fibre is put upon the stretch, seem evidently 

 to be the effect of contraction, and have probably 

 induced some writers to assert, that the muscular 

 fibre is twisted or spiral. A fibre is essentially com- 

 posed offibrine and ozmazome receives a greal deal 



