M U II 
ware, made in imitation of the porcelain or murrlia of 
India. There is fome difference in the accounts given by 
Pliny and Martial of the murrluna vafa. The firft author 
lays, that they would not bear hot liquors, but that only 
cold ones were drunk out of them. The latter, on the 
other hand, tells us, that they bore hot liquors very well. 
If we credit Pliny’s account, their porcelain was much 
inferior to ours in this particular. Some conjecture them 
to have been of agate, others of onyx, others of coral. 
Baronius, doubtlefs, was fartheft out of the way, when 
he took them to be made of myrrh, congealed and har¬ 
dened. Some have fuppofed thefe veffels to be made of 
cryftal, but this is contrary to the account of all the an¬ 
cients. The Greeks had the words for cryftal, 
and cr^v^vz for myrrh, very common among'them; and 
theref ore, if any of thefe veffels had been made of either 
of thefe fubftances, they would in feme places have called 
them Jmyrna, or cn/ftallina. On the contrary, the molt 
correct among them call them murrhina, or morrina. The 
cups made of cryftal, which were alfo in ufe at thofe 
times, were called cri/ftallitia; and thefe, murrhina or 
murrhcea, by way of keeping up the diitinCtion ; and Mar¬ 
tial tells us, that the (tone they were made of was fpotted 
or variegated, calling them pocula maculoj'oe niurree. And 
Statius mentions the cryftalline or murrhine cups in the 
fame fentence, but as different things, not the fame. Ar¬ 
rian mentions alfo the Ai9o; which his interpreters 
cenfure as an error of the copies, and would alter into 
myrrha , the name of the gum myrrh. 
Pompey is recorded as the firft who brought thefe mur¬ 
rhine veffels out of the eaft, which he exhibited in his 
triumph, and dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus. But pri¬ 
vate perfons were not long without them. So fond, in 
effeCl, did the Roman gentry grow of them, that a cup 
which held three fextaries was fold for feventy talents. 
T. Petronius, before his death, to fpite Nero (or as Pliny 
expreffes it, ut mevj'am ejns exheeredaret, to difinherit his 
table), broke a bafon, India murrhina, valued at three hun¬ 
dred talents, on which that emperor had fet his heart. 
MUR'RION, f. [often written morion. See Morion. 
Junius derives it from mums, a wall.] A helmet; a cafque; 
armour for the head: 
Their beef they often in their murrions ftew’d. 
And in their bafket-hilts their bev’rage brew’d. King. 
MUR'RO-BATHRA'RII, f. Among the Romans, a 
kind of perfumers. 
MUR'SANGE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Cote d’Or: four miles eaft of Beaune. 
MUR'SCHNITZ, a town of Germany, in the princi¬ 
pality of Coburg : nine miles north-eaft of Coburg. 
MUR'TEN. See Morat. 
MURTEZABAD', a town of Aliatic Turkey, in Na- 
tolia : twelve miles north of Angura. 
MURTH,/! Plenty, as of corn. An old word. A infworth. 
MUR'THER. See Murder, p. 214. 
MURTHLACH'. See Mortlach. 
MUR'TI, /.’ A word, among Hindoo metaphyficians, 
meaning a form, apparition, image, or idol. It denotes 
any fhape or appearance affumed by a celeftial being. Ac¬ 
cording to the Vedanta theory, our vital fouls are murti , 
or images merely, of the Supreme Spirit. Homer deferibes 
the idol of Hercules in Elyfium, with other deceafed he¬ 
roes, though the god himlelf was at the fame time enjoy¬ 
ing blifs in the heavenly manfions. The Hindoo theory, 
in like manner, would deferibe fuch a murti as not fuf- 
ceptible of affeCting with any fenlation, either pleating 
or painful, the being from which it emanated; though it 
may give pleafure or pain to collateral emanations from 
the lame fource. Hence they offer no lacrifices to the 
Supreme Effence, of which our fouls are images, or murtis ; 
but adore him with filent meditation. Oblations are made 
to fire; and acts of vvorfhip performed to the fun, the 
liars, the earth, and the powers of nature, which are con- 
fidered as murtis or images, the fame in kind as ourfclves, 
Vol. XVI. No. 1107. 
M U It 233 
but tranfcendently higher in degree. The Hindoo triad 
is called tri-murti; literally tri-form. This difficult fub- 
jeft is dilcuffed by Mr. Wilford, in vol. iii. of the Aftatic 
Refearches. 
MUR'TON, a village of Cumberland, in the pariffi of 
Lamplugh, near St. Bees. 
MUR'TON, a village of Weftmoreland, hear Appleby, 
having near it a remarkable hill, called Murton-Pike, re- 
fembling a pyramid. It is three miles diftant from the 
parifh-church of St, Michael. 
MURU', a feaport town of Japan, in the ifland of Ni- 
phon. The harbour is narrow, but fife, and fereened by 
a mountain. It is feventy-five miles fouth-weft of Meaco. 
MURU'A, a town of Kindooftan, in Oude: thirty- 
three miles north of Kairabad. 
MURU'MIA, /.’ in botany. See Passiflora. 
MURVIE'DRO. See Morviedro. 
MURVI'EL, a town of France, in the department of 
the Herault: fix miles north-north-weft of Beziers, and 
ten fouth of Bedarrieux. 
MURZINE'I, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 
Tobolfk, on the Irtifch; forty miles north-north-weft of 
Tara. 
MUS, f. in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds of the 
clals mammalia, and order glires. The generic characters 
are—Fore-teeth upper wedged; grinders three, rarely two, 
on each fide of the jaw; clavicles perfedl. 
This numerous tribe conftitutes a formidable phalanx, 
againft which mankind find it neceffary to employ various 
artifices of extirpation, in order to lelfen the ravages oc- 
cafionally fuffered by its depredations. In our own ifland, 
the black and grey rats, the field and domeftic mice, are 
the principal deftroyers ; but in other parts of Europe, as 
well as in the hotter regions of Afia, Africa, and Ame¬ 
rica, many other fpecies, ftill more formidable, are found. 
The different kinds vary confiderably in their manner of 
life, fome confining themfelves entirely to vegetable food, 
while others are poiyphagous, dellroying with indiferimi- 
nate avidity almoft any animal or vegetable fubftance to 
which they can gain accefs. Their pace is, in general, 
rather quick, and their moft ufual refidence is in obfeure 
fubterraneous retreats, from which they principally emerge 
by night. They are of a prolific nature, and the females 
are furniftied with numerous teats. Some fpecies are mi¬ 
gratory ; others local, or attached to'fhe fame refidence. 
Laftly, fome are of an uncouth form and difagreeable ap¬ 
pearance, while others are remarkable for the elegance of 
their afpedft and colours. In the 12th edition of the Syf- 
tema Naturae, Linnaeus included in this genus the jer¬ 
boas, the cavies, and feveral other animals which are now 
formed into diftinft genera. This mode of diftribution 
might perhaps be carried ftill farther; the habit or ap¬ 
pearance of fome fpecies differing very confidera'bly from 
that of the major part of the tribe. And hence it has 
been found neceffary to divide the fpecies (upwards of 
fifty in number) into fourdiftinft fedlions. 
I. Tail compreffed at the end. 
1. Mus caftorides, the beaver-rat. This was firft de- 
feribed by the Rev. J. E. Burrow, in the Linn. Tranf. 
vol. xi. It appears to be a new fpecies, and to bear a 
greater refemblance to the beaver than the following, 
which has generally been called the beaver-rat, and has 
commonly flood at the head of this genus, as a connect- 
ing link with the genus Caftor, which immediately pre¬ 
cedes it in the nomenclature of the Linnaean fyftem. And 
Mr. Burrow obferves, that it is placed fo nearly midway 
between them, that it may be difficult to determine which 
has the better claim. Its teeth are thole of the beaver, 
for there are four molares on each fide in either jaw, and 
the incifors are limply wedged ; but it is deficient in the 
broad flat tail, which feems to conftitute an eff’ential ge¬ 
neric character of the beaver, being fo clofely connected 
with the wonderful habits of life peculiar to that crea¬ 
ture. “ The occiput was broken, and a part of the muf- 
5 O cles 
