*1 U F 
U U F 
To conceal; to involve ; to wrap up.—Our underftand- 
ings lie grovelling in this lower region, muffled up in 
milts and darknefs. Glanville's Scepfis. 
No muffling clouds, nor fflades infernal, can 
From Iris inquiry hide offending man. Sandys's Paraph. 
To MUF'FLE,or Maffle, v.n. \rnaffelen,moffelen , Dut.] 
•To fpeak inwardly ; to fpeak without clear and diltinft 
articulation.—The freedom or apertnefs and vigour of 
pronouncing, as in the Bocca Romana, and giving fome- 
what more ©f afpiration; and the clofenefs and muffling, 
and lazinefs of fpeaking, render the found of fpeech dif¬ 
ferent. Holder. —He fo ftammered, or muffled, in his talke, 
that he was not able to bring forth a readie word. Barret's 
Suetonius, 1580. 
MUF'FLE, f. in chemiftry, a veffel employed in fome 
metallurgic operations. In figure it reprelents an oblong- 
arch or vault, the hinder part of which is clofed byafemi- 
circular plane, and the lower part or floor of which is a 
rettangular plane. It is, in fhort, a little oven that is 
placed horizontally in the furnace, fo that its open fide 
correiponds with the door of the fire-place. Under this 
arched oven final! cupels or crucibles are placed; and the 
fubltances contained are thus expofed to intenfe heat 
without contact of fuel, lmoke, or allies. See Chemistry, 
Plate I. fig. 20, K. for the moll: ufual form of muffles, 
though they are occafionally made of other fflapes. 
As to the height, length, and depth, of muffles, thefe 
muff be proportioned to the fize and number of the vef- 
fels they are intended to cover; and care mull be taken 
in this, that all parts- of the inner furface of thole vef- 
fels be within the reach of the affayer’s eye. The moft 
frequent fize of the muffle, however, is four inches high, 
fix or eight inches long, and four or fix inches broad. 
The fegments cut off at the bafes, for the fmaller holes, 
muff be of fuch a proportioned height, that the leaf!: vef- 
fels put under it may not be in the way of coals or allies 
falling into them; for that always hinders the vitrification 
of lead, and the deftruftion of the other metals and femi- 
metals, and will fometimes entirely reduce them again 
when already deftroyed; and the fcorise, foftened by afhes, 
will often retard the operation. Wooden moulds of a 
proper fflape are employed for the making of thefe muf¬ 
fles, and the matter of which they are made is the fame 
with that of the German-clay tefts; this is, either a pure 
native clay, of a condition to bear the fire, which will be 
known upon the trial; or fuch clay hardened by a mixture 
of the powder of Hones. 
But Mr. Edward Turrell, of Gofwell-ftreet-road, pro- 
pofed, in the year 1807, a great improvement in the ma¬ 
nufacture of muffles, by forming them upon tin moulds, 
by which means coarfer and cheaper materials may be 
ufed than can be employed in the common mode; and 
which alfo gives them the valuable property of refilling 
a greater degree of heat. Much time will be Caved alfo 
by this improved method of manufacturing them; and 
the certainty of making them without cracks or flaws, 
and with coarfer materials, will appear obvious, when it 
is confidered, that, by this improved method, they are in¬ 
ternally moulded inftead of externally; by which means 
the ftrength of the operator may have its full effeCt, in 
firmly compreffing the compofition into the mould. With 
refpeCt to fimplicity, likewife, this new mode will be 
found to poffels a very great advantage, for a boy of 
twelve years x>r age may be taught to make them in a 
very fflort time. Another ad vantage in this improvement, 
and of equal confideration, is the cheapnefs of the article; 
the price of which has been reduced nearly one-third to 
the confumer ; and, when the fuperior quality of them is 
taken into confideration, it may fairly be faid to be full 
one-half; that is, when regard is had to their fuperior 
quality; and that the muffles may be ufed over again 
when broken and ground, with a much lefs proportion 
of cohefive clay than-in the old mode : and this is no in- 
confiderable advantage ; for it is well known, that, when 
the o'd muffles or broken crucibles can be ufed without 
Vol. XVI. No. j«oj. 
185 
much freih clay, they are far fuperior to new materials. 
Laftly, the muffles made in the old way are feldom of 
equal thicknefs ; whereas thofe made according to this 
method will be found to poffefs that neceffary quality in 
perfe&ion ; for, if an hundred are made from the fame 
mould, they will be ail of the fame thicknefs. 
The ufual compofition for making muffles is as follows : 
Two parts pipe-clay and one part land, fuch as is ufed by 
the bricklayers, lifted, and mixed together to a proper 
confidence ; this is very expenlive, on account of the high 
price of pipe-clay, which is about ten {hillings the hun¬ 
dred-weight; whereas I employ, in my improved mode 
of making them, (lays 'Mr. Turrell,) the coarfer kind of 
Stourbridge-clay, which can be had at the glafs-houfes, 
in the ground flate, for fix fliillirigs the hundred-weight; 
and this I lift alfo, to feparate the finer part, which 1 em¬ 
ploy for making other fmaller articles neceffary in my 
bufinefs; tiling only the groffer or coarfer part for muffles; 
to which I add one-eighth part only of pipe-clay, mixing 
them well together with water, fo as to form a mafs of a 
pretty thick confidence. The compofition of the fmaller 
implements, or muffle-bottoms for dial-plates, is made of 
the finer part of the Stourbridge-clay, with a fma.ll pro¬ 
portion of pipe-clay. The whole procefs of making muffles 
upon this improved plan, with figures of the implements 
invented and ufed by Mr. Turrell, may be been in the 
xxvth volume of the Tranf. of the Society of Arts ; and 
Mr. T. received ten guineas for the communication. 
MUF'FLER, f. A cover for the face.—-Fortune is painted 
with a muffler before her eyes, to ffgnify to you that for¬ 
tune is blind. Shahejpeare's Hen. V. —Mr. Hales has found 
out the heft expedients for preventing immediate fuffoca- 
tion from tainted air, by breathing through mufflers, which 
imbibe thefe vapours. Arhuthnot on Air. —A part of a wo¬ 
man’s drefs, by which the face was partially, or alrnoft 
wholly, covered; a kind ofmafk.—There is no woman’s' 
gown big enough for him ; otherwife he might put on a 
hat, a muffler, and a handkerchief, and fo efcape. Shake- 
fpeare's M. Wives of Wind for. —The goddefs Angerona was 
with a muffler upon her mouth placed upon the altar of 
Volupia, to reprefent, that thole perfons who bear their 
fickneffes and forrows without murmur, fhall certainly 
pafs from forrow to pleafure. Bp. Taylor's Holy Dying.— 
The Lord will take away your tinkling ornaments, chains, 
bracelets, and mufflers. I/d. iii. 19. 
MUF'TI, J\ [aTurkifh word.] The high pried: of the 
Mahometans.—The Indians have their brachmans, the 
Turks their muftis. Featley's Dippers Dipt. 
I tell thee, mufti. 
Good feafting is devout; and thou, our head, 
Haft a religious ruddy countenance. Dryden. 
The authority of the mufti is very great in the Otto¬ 
man empire; for even the fultan himfelf, if he would 
preferve any appearance of religion, cannot, without hear-v 
ing his opinion, put any perlon to death, or fo much as 
inflifit any corporal punifliment. Such outward honour 
is paid to the mufti, that the grand fignior himfelf rifea 
up to him, and advances feven lleps to meet him when he 
comes into his prefence. He alone has the honour of 
killing the fultan’s left fhoulder, whilfl the prime vizier 
kifles only the hem of his garment. When the grand fig¬ 
nior addrefies any writing to the mufti, he gives him the 
following titles: “ To the Esad, the Wifeft of the Wife, 
Inftrufted in all Knowledge, the Molt Excellent of Ex- 
ceilents, abftaining from things unlawful, the Spring of 
Virtue and of True Science, Heir of the Prophetic Doc¬ 
trines, Refolver of the Problems of Faith, Revealer of the 
Orthodox Articles, Key of the Treafures of Truth, the 
Light to the doubtful Allegories, ftrengthened with the 
Grace of the fupreme Legillator of Mankind. May the 
Moft High Qod perpetuate thy virtues!’' 
The mufti is the fovereign interpreter of the Alcoran, 
and decides v all qneftions of the law: his decifions jjre 
called fetfas. The fultan has recourfe to him in all diffi¬ 
cult and intricate cafes; and he promulgates no law, makes 
U u no 
