224 M U R 
For farther particulars of the above, and an account of 
fome other muriats, fee Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 164, 243- 
50,283,303,312. 
MURIAL'TO, a town of France, m the department 
of the Stura, on the Bormida : five miles eaft of Ceva. 
MU'RIAT. See Muria. 
MU'RIATED, adj. [from muria, Lat.] Put in brine. 
—Early fruits of fome plants, when muriated or pickled, 
are juftly efteemed. Evelyn's Aeet. § 12. 
MURIAT'IC, adj. Partaking of the tafte or nature of 
brine ; from muria, brine or pickle. Quincy. —It the feurvy 
be entirely muriatich, proceeding from a diet of fait flefh 
or fifli, antifcorbutick vegetables may be given with fuc- 
cefs, but tempered with acids. Arbutlmot. 
Muriatic Acid. See the article Chemistry, vol. iv. 
217, 246. 
MURJAT'TAH, a river of Bengal, which runs into 
the bay of Bengal in lat. 21. 43. E. Ion. 89. 38. E. , 
MU'RIC, a town of Japan, in the ifland of Niphon : 
feventy-five miles fouth-weft of Meaco. 
MU'RICATE, or Muricated, adj. { muricatus , Lat.] 
Prickly ; full of fliarp rigid points. 
MU'RICHOM, a town of Bootan : forty-eight miles 
north of Bey liar. 
MURIC'IA, f. [fo denominated by Loureiro, from 
mures , the celebrated purple-dying fhell-fifh of the an¬ 
cients, in allufion to the purple colour and muricated 
figure of the fruit.] In botany, a genus of the clafs mo- 
noecia, order fyngenefia, or rather polyadelphia, natural 
order cucurbitaceae. Generic characters—Male, calyx : 
the outermoft a large, inflated, obtufe, fingle-flowered, 
lheath. Perianthium in five deep, awl-lhaped, ftriated, 
coloured, fpreading, equal, fegments. Corolla: bell- 
fiiaped, of five ovate-lanceolate, ribbed, fpreading, petals. 
Stamina : filaments three, fliort, thick, triangular, dilated 
and connected at the bafe ; antherse three, or rather five, 
thofe on two of the filaments being double, with two di¬ 
varicated lobes, auricled at the bafe, the third Ample, all 
diftinCt, with a pollen-bearing line at the outfide. Fe¬ 
male, on the fame plant, fcattered. Calyx and corolla : 
as in the male. Piftillum : germen between the fheath 
and perianthium, oblong-ovate, villous; ftyle round, 
thick, as long as the ftamens, llightly three-cleft at the 
top; ftigmas three, horizontal, arrow-lhaped. Pericar- 
pium : berry large, ovate, muricated, of one cell. Seeds : 
numerous, large, orbicular, reticulated, tuberculated at 
the edge.— Ejj'ential Character. Male : Calyx in five deep 
fegments ; petals five ; filaments three. Female : Calyx in 
five deep fegments ; petals five ; ftyle nearly Ample; berry 
muricated, of one cell; feeds orbicular, tuberculated. 
Muricia Cochinchinenfis, a Angle fpecies : native of 
China and Cochinchina. It is a large climbing Ihrub, 
with a thick, woody, branched, ftem ; leaves ftalked, al¬ 
ternate, five-lobed, fmooth, veiny, finely toothed; the 
three upper lobes pointed, two lower (or lateral) ones 
bluntilh and fliort. Flowers lateral, folitary, pale yellow, 
on long ftalks. Berries of a reddifli purple both within 
and without, rather flefliy, with brown feeds, imbedded 
in the pulp. The fruit hat an infipid tafte, and no fmell. 
It is ufed to colour wafers, cakes, or other eatables, of a 
fine purple. The feeds and leaves are reported by Lou¬ 
reiro to have an opening and cleanfing quality, removing 
obftruCtions in the liver and fpleen, See. Loureiro's Co¬ 
chinch. 590. 
MU'RICIDE,^! [from the Lat. mvs, a moufe, and cado, 
to kill.] A deftroyer of mice. 
MURIGU'TI, f. in botany. See Hedyotis. 
MURIL'LO, a town of Spain, in the province of Ar- 
ragon : fixteen miles fouth of Jaca. 
MURIL'LO (Bartholomew-Stephen), a celebrated 
Spanifh painter, was born in 1613, at Pilas, near Seville. 
He received his firft inltruCtions in painting from his 
maternal uncle Caftillo, an artift of repute at Seville. 
From him Murillo caught his firft manner; and fo many 
of his early works, reprefenting fairs and markets, were 
MUR 
purchafed for the Weft Indies, that it has been falfely 
reported that he vifited that part of the world. The 
great fame of Velafquez imprefled the young artift with 
an eager defire of obtaining improvement under him; 
and, going to Madrid for that purpofe, he was admitted 
into his academy. There he diligently copied feveral 
of the works of Titian, Rubens, and Vandyke, by which 
he greatly improved his ftyle of colouring, while at the 
fame time he perfected himfelf in drawing from antique 
models. This was all the further inftruCtion he received 
in his art; for he never vifited Italy, as fome have aflerted. 
On his return to Seville he began to exercife himfelf in 
great works, of which the firft was the hiftory of St. 
Francis in frefco, at the convent of that order. In this 
and his other pieces the figures are fuppofed to be por¬ 
traits ; for he was always a molt faithful imitator of 
nature, and it is obferved that all his heads have a call of 
the national Andalufian character. He indeed delighted 
in reprefenting common and low life, fuch as beggars 
and ruftics; and molt of his pictures that have been ex¬ 
ported from Spain are of that kind. He was, however, 
capable of great beauty and fublimity ; but his ideas are 
all natural, and his works are marked with a certain fim- 
plicity of conception, joined with perfect truth. After 
a very fine piece of his had been publicly exhibited at 
Madrid in a prqcelfion, the king, Charles II. invited him 
to come and refide in the capital, with the appointment 
of one of the royal artifts ; but Murillo, who had neither 
avarice nor ambition in his temper, and had formed long 
attachments at Seville, fent his excufes. He continued 
to furnifti that city and other Spanilh towns with altar- 
pieces and church-hiftories, while for his amufement he 
drew groupes of beggar-boys as he faw them in the ftreets. 
It is agreed that he painted with wonderful force, that 
his colouring is clear and mellow, and his tints contrafted 
fo as to produce the moft ftriking efteCts; and, if he is 
defective in tafte and knowledge of the antique, they 
were probably incompatible with his charaCteriltic excel¬ 
lences. The latter have ftamped a high value on his 
works throughout Europe. He was fond of his art, 
which he continued to praCtife to his feventy-third year; 
when a fall from a fcaffold in a convent at Cadiz occafioned 
an injury, which brought on a mortification that proved 
fatal to him in 1685. 
The principal works of Murillo are at Seville; they 
are alfo found at Madrid, Cordova, Cadiz, and Granada. 
His fmaller pieces are difperfed in cabinets through¬ 
out Europe. The following defeription of one of this 
painter’s fineft pieces is given by Mr. Jacob: “ Mofes 
Striking the Rock is a moft wonderful production; the 
anxious countenances of the Ifraelites, all eagerly crowd¬ 
ing to the water, are exaCt reprefentations of what might 
be fuppofed the exprefiions of people in fuch a ftate. The 
figure of the mother with an infant, eagerly ftretching 
out her hand to catch a few drops for her child, another 
lamenting the delay in obtaining a fupply, and a boy 
mounted on a horle, ftretching forward to the ftream, 
are efteemed the belt figures ; while the countenances of 
all difeover gratitude to God for this unexpected fupply. 
I never felt fo much pleafure from the contemplation of 
any work of art as from this picture; but, notwithftand- 
iug the admirable exprefiions of the countenances, I could 
not help admiring the ftiadow of the rock from which the 
water gullies out. A paflage in the facred writings men¬ 
tions as a luxury the Jhadow of a great rock in a dej'ert 
wilderncjs; it is here dilplayed moft admirably; the rock 
is high and large ; within its (hade the people appear 
protected from the rays of the fun, which feein to diffufe 
a burning heat overevery other part of the feene.” Travels 
in Spain, 1810. 
MURI'NA, or Mu'rines, f. [Greek.] In antiquity, a 
delicious l'weet wine, medicated with lpices. It was a 
kind of hippocras, and the ufual drink of the ladies. 
MU'RING, _/.’ [mnrus, Lat.] The aCt of railing walls, 
of walling-up, or of incloiing with walls. 
MU'RIS 
