168 
M E R 
m e r 
green. Damp ground, under the high canopy of lofty 
trees, and upon the proftrated branches of broken hazel, 
birch, or alder, trees, offer a genial hed to this fpecies. 
14. Merulius clavatus: -club-fhaped, abrupt, folid, 
with lateral plaits. Found in graffy places in Germany, 
generally growing in tufts. The colour is violet, dull 
purple, or brownifh. The fhape is that of a Clavaria, 
either limple or branched ; the top abmpt and flat, evi¬ 
dently, though narrow, analogous to the ufual upper 
furface of the-cap of a Merulius ; the fides of the club- 
•fhaped body below being plaited or veiny, like the fruc- 
{ifyipg'part of the other fpecies. 
15. Merulius retirugus: feffile, vertical, roundilh, 
-thin and membranous; fmooth and pale grey above; 
afh-coloured, with radiating reticulated plaits, beneath. 
This pretty fpecies was found in France by Richard, 
.growing parafitically upon moffesand other plants, affixed 
-by its fmooth upper fide. The margin is entire when 
young, but fubfequently torn or lobed. The ftalk is 
wanting in this, and two or three others of the firft fec- 
tionj 'and Perfoon feems doubtful whether they ought 
not to range in the next. Their membranous nature, 
.and determinate form, with the prefence of a proper 
upper furface, lurely jullify their remaining where he 
has placed them. 
16. Merulius tremellofus. This approaches frill nearer 
to the next feftion, being fometimes abfolutely reverfed, 
and almoft fhapelefs. The cap is of a dirty white, with 
Rome propenfity to redden ; the margin more or lefs 
ciliated. Moift barks of trunks feem to afford it a con- 
,genial abode, in autumn. 
II. Serpulee. Shape indeterminate, the whole fungus 
being reverfed, or laid on its back, without any ftalk, 
and almoft without any upper furface. 
17. Merulius deftruens, or dry-rot: widely fpreading, 
indeterminate, yellowifh-red, with a white downy edge; 
plaits widely reticulated. The nature of this formidable 
fungus has not been known till within,a few years, though 
its eftefts have been but too notorious in countries where 
much fir-w'ood is u-fed for building. The plant infmuates 
-itfelf in the form of a fine web, like a fort of mouldinefs, 
amongfl the timbers or wooden walls of a houfe, which 
it fpeedily and eftedhially deftroys ; lo that in Sweden, 
where houfes of fir are common, their unexpected down¬ 
fall is by no means unfrequent. Mr. Sowerby informs 
.us of this peft having lately attacked fome fhips in the 
JBritifh navy, concerning which he has been confulted by 
the navy commiffioners'. The cure for this evil is the 
.admiflion of air into all fuch ftrtiftures, which is fatal to 
the growth of the plant. Where this vegetable thrives, 
but meets with a check to its increafe by walls or other- 
wile, it thickens-greatly, and produces ^ fort of orange- 
coloured honey-comb ftruCture, containing the feeds, and 
difcharging large drops of fluid here and there, as ex- 
preffed in Mr. Sowerby’s plate, juffly commended by 
Perfoon. 
18. Merulius vaftator. A moft beautiful golden co¬ 
lour, brilliant and exceedingly vivid, charaCterifes this 
little fungus, which fometimes is ftudded with tubercles. 
Jt is fetid when fprinkled with w r ater, otherwife has no 
fort of fmell. It is found in fummer and autumn. 
19. Merulius ferpens: cap white inclining to red, 
fomewhat like the M. tremellofus. The fubftance is 
tough and membranaceous. It is found onthe branches 
of fir and hazel trees, in the fpring and autumn._ 
20. Merulius alneus : rather convex,. femicircular, 
.white-downy, repand ; veins brown buff, in pairs. 
21. Merulius betulinus, brown-buff, downy, zoned, 
irregularly circular ; veins reddilh-brown ; branched. 
22. Merulius querneus: brown, foft, leathery, zoned, 
irregularly circular; veins brown, undulate, anaftomofing. 
23. Merulius ftjuamolus: membranous, rufty-red, fcaly ; 
^ejns buff. 
24. Merulius membranaceus: membranous, fmooth, 
lobed, buff; veins darker, much branched, anaftomoling. 
25. Merulius alutaceus: coriaceous, grey, ereft, vil¬ 
lous. 
ME'RUS, in ancient geography, a mountain of the 
Kither India, hanging over the city Nyfia, and fituated 
between the rivers Cophen and Indus. The name, de¬ 
noting the thigh, gave rife to the fable of Bacchus being 
inferted into Jupiter’s thigh, and being born twice; be- 
caufe in this mountain he and his army are faid to have 
been preferved, when difeafe and peftilence raged in the 
plains below. 
MER'WE, or Meru'we, the north branch of the 
river Meule, fo called. 
ME'RY (John), a French furgeon and anatomift of 
great eminence, was born in 1645, at Vatan in Berry. 
His father was a furgeon, and brought him up to his own 
profeflion, to which, from his childhood, he fhowed an 
exciuftve attachment. At the age of eighteen he came 
to Paris to attend the Hotel Dieu, and to ftudy anatomy. 
In 1681 he obtained the poll; of queen’s furgeon, and in 
1683 he was made furgeon-major to the invalids. He 
was received into the Academy of Sciences in 1684. He 
w r as chofen in the fucceeding year to attend upon a 
journey the duke of Burgundy, then a child; but 
court-attendance was fo irkfome to him, that he re¬ 
turned as foon as poffible to the hofpital and the dif- 
fefling-room. By order of the court he vilited England 
in 1692, but on what account was never made public. 
On his return, he married and fettled at Paris, where 
he lived in retirement from ail fociety, as far as it was 
■poflible, ffiutting himfelf in his clofet as foon as he had 
performed the ordinary duties of his office, which he 
•tranfafted very methodically : he was not feen even by 
his family, except at his hours of repaft; and declined 
all folicitations to engage in private practice, except for 
the fervice of a few friends. In 1700 he was appointed 
firft furgeon to the Hotel Dieu, which gratified his ut- 
moft ambition, and afforded him abundant opportunities 
of gratifying his zeal in the purfuit of knowledge, for 
which he voluntarily facrificed all confiderations of rank 
and emolument. His high reputation for anatomical 
knowledge brought many requefts from foreigners to 
give features upon that fubjeCt ; which, however, he de¬ 
clined ; but he procured for the ftudents of the Hotel 
Dieu the ereftioivof a theatre, in which they might obtain 
a regular courfe of anatomy, inftead of the cafual inftruc- 
tions which they had hitherto received ; and he expefted 
mo additional recornpenfe for his increafed trouble. It 
was a great part of the labour of his life to form an ana¬ 
tomical mufeum, which at length he rendered extremely 
curious and complete. For this purpofe, he fecluded 
himfelf in the moft minute and patient diffedtions ; and 
no man furpafted him in the accuracy with which he in- 
veftigated faCts relative to the conftrudtion of the human 
body. Neverthelefs, he juftly entertained a very humble 
opinion of the extent of information which the knife 
of the anatomift can bring before the mind, in regard 
to the minute operations of the animal economy ; and 
wns accuftomed to fay ingenuoufly, “ We anatomifts arc 
like the porters of Paris, who are well acquainted with 
all its ftreets, as well as its lanes and alleys, but know 
nothing of what pafies within the houfes.” From the 
fteady occupation of the inveftigation of facts, he was 
not in the habit of inventing theories, and did not readily 
.admit the reafonings of others ; at the fame time, he 
did not eafily renounce his own, when lie thought them 
well founded on obfervation. In his moral habits he 
was extremely regular, and always had a high fenfe of 
religion. About the age of feventy-five, he fuddenl.y 
loft the ufe of his legs, without any other indilpofition^ 
but from that time his health and ftrcngth began to be 
impaired, and lie died in 1722, in his feventy-feventh 
year. 2 
U 
