of the world; and adding a little aloes, and two or three other cheap ingredients, send them to be baked in an oven, till the juices are exhaled, and the embalming matter has penetrated so thoroughly that the flesh will keep, and bear transporting into Europe. Mummy has been esteemed resolvent and balsamic; but whatever virtues have been attributed to it, seem to be such as depend more upon the ingredients used in preparing the flesh, than in the flesh itself; and it would surely be better to give those ingredients without so shocking an addition. Besides the mummy, the human body has been made to furnish many other substances for medicinal purposes. Thus, the skull has been celebrated for its imaginary virtues against the diseases of the head: the very moss growing on the skulls of human skeletons, has been supposed to possess anti-epileptic virtues: the fat of the human body has been recommended as good in rheumatisms; and the blood, and, in short, every other part or humour of the body have, at one time or other, been in repute for the cure of some disease; but at present we are grown wise enough to know, that the virtues ascribed to the parts of the human body are either imaginary, or such as may be found in other animal substances. The mummy and skull alone, of all these horrid medicines, retain their places in the shops; and it were to be wished that they too were rejected. MUNCHHAUSIA, in botany, so named from Baron Gerlach Adolphus de Munchhausen, a genus of the Polyadelphia Polyandria class and order. Natural order of Calycanthemæ. Salicaria, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx six-cleft, torulose; petals clawed; stamens in six bodies, four or five in each; pistil superior, with a filiform curved style. There is but one species, viz. M. speciosa, a native of Java and China. MUNICIPAL, in the Roman civil law, an epithet which signifies invested with the rights and privileges of Roman citizens. Thus the municipal cities were those whose inhabitants were capable of enjoying civil offices in the city of Rome: these cities, however, according to Mariana, had fewer privileges than the colonies: they had no suffrages or votes at Rome: but were left to be governed by their own laws and magistrates. Some few municipal cities, however, obtained the liberty of votes. Municipal, among us, is applied to the laws that obtain in any particular city or province. And those are called mu nicipal officers who are elected to defend the interest of cities, to maintain their rights and privileges, and to preserve order and harmony among the citizens. Such as mayors, sheriffs, consuls, &c. MUNTINGIA, in botany, so called from Abraham Munting, professor of botany at Groeningen, a genus of the Polyandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Columniferæ. Tiliacea, Jussien. Essential character: calyx five-parted; corolla five-petalled; berry five-celled; seeds many, nestling. There is but one species; viz. M. calabura, villose Muntingia, a native of Jamaica on the calcareous subalpine bills; and of St. Domingo, in the moist parts of woods. MURENA, the eel, in natural history, a genus of fishes of the order Apodes. Generic character; head smooth; nostrils tuhular; gill-membrane ten-rayed; eyes covered by the common skin; body round, smooth; and mucous spiracle behind the head or pectoral fins. There are five spe cies according to Shaw. Gmelin enume rates nine, of which the following are most deserving of notice. M. anguilla, or the common eel. This species is particularly distinguished by the steadiness or uniformity of its colours; an olive brown on the back, and silvery lustre on the sides and beneath; but more expressively still by the great elongation of its under jaw. Its general size is from two to three feet; it is slow in its growth, and considered as very long lived. Its usual food consists of insects, worms, and the eggs of other fishes. It is viviparous, producing great numbers at a birth; but of a very diminutive size. It continues generally during the day in its hole in the banks, which it furnishes with two avenues to facilitate its escape and security, By night it ranges for food. In winter it appears to be ingulphed in mud, and remains in this state of seclusion and tranquillity, if not torpor, till the return of spring invites it to a renewal of its excursions. In some places the fishery of eels is carried to very great extent, and in one of the rivers of France 60,000 are said to have been taken by the net in the course of a single day. They are wholesome food when taken in moderation. They are to be met with in almost all the rivers, lakes, and stagnant waters of the old world, abounding also frequently in its marshes. Their tenaciousness of vitality is so great, that they may be Fig. 1. Kurtus Indicus: Indian Kurtus Fig. 2.Labrus formosus: Blue finned Labrua Fig. Lophius piscatorius: Harlequin Angler Fig.4.Loricaria costata: ribbed loricaria. Fig.5 Muræna catenata: chain striped Mureena: London Published by Longman Hurst. Rees & Orme July.1.1808. preserved in a cool situation, without water, for hours and even days. It is stated by Linnæus, to quit the water frequently by night, and range the meadows in search of snails and worms; and, according to some writers, has been known to shelter itself in very severe weather in a hay rick; these circumstances, however, though not more extraordinary than many which are ascertained in natural history, appear to require further evidence. M. conger, or the conger eel, is generally darker above and more splendid beneath than the former species. It grows to its largest size in the Mediterranean, where it is sometimes found ten feet long, and of the weight of a hundred pounds. It is found in the North and American seas also: it occasionally, particularly in the spring, makes excursions into rivers, and is found in vast abundance in the Severn, constituting a cheap and luxurious food to the inhabitants in its vicinity. Congers are extremely voracious, devouring immense quantities of the smaller fishes, and of crabs before the shell of the latter is completely formed and hardened. They are in some places no trifling article of commerce, and in Cornwall, particularly, are taken with lines, having sixty or seventy hooks attached to each, baited with their favourite food. These lines are drawn to the land in the morning, having been sunk the preceding night, and generally exhibit a great number of victims. They are killed as fast as they are drawn to land, and if they wind about the legs of the man employed their compressive power is highly dangerous. They are then salted and dried, during which latter process two-thirds, or more, of the weight of the fish will not unfrequently drain off in oil. They are exported in large quantities to the coasts of Spain and Portugal. For the Muræna catenatus, chain-striped Muræna, see Pisces, Plate V. fig. 5. MUREX, in natural history, a genus of insects of the Vermes Testacea class and order. Animal a Limax: shell univalve, spiral, rough, with membranaceous sutures; aperture oval, ending in an entire straight or slightly ascending canal. There are between two and three hundred species, separated into sections. A. Spinous, with a produced beak. B. Sutures expanding into crisped foliations; beak abbreviated. C. With thick protuberant rounded sutures. D. More or less spinous, and without ma nifest beak. E. With a long, straight, snbulate closed beak, and unarmed with spines. F. Tapering; subulate, with a very short beak. M. Despectus, is about five inches in length: inhabits the deep sea. Dredged up in plenty with oysters. Eaten by the poor; but more frequently used as a bait for other fish. MURIATES, in chemistry, a genus of salts formed from the muriatic acid with certain bases. When heated they melt, and are volatilized, without undergoing decomposition: they are soluble in water; effervesce with sulphuric acid, and white acrid fumes of muriatic acid are disengaged; when mixed with nitric acid they exhale the odour of oxymuriatic acid. There are twelve alkaline and earthy muriates. Muriate of potash, formerly called febrifuge, or digestive salt of sylvius, may be obtained by dissolving potash in muriatic acid, and evaporating the solution till the salt crystallizes: it has a disagreeable taste, and will dissolve in about three parts of cold water. Specific gravity 1.8. The constituent parts are nearly as follow: Muriatic acid.......... 29 Muriate of soda, or common salt, has been known from the earliest ages. It exists abundantly in nature. Immense quantities of it are found in different countries, which require only to be dug out and reduced to powder. In this state it is called rock salt. It is also one of the constituents of sea-water, which, when evaporated yields the salt in crystals. This salt usually crystallizes in cubes: its specific gravity is about 2.12, and it is soluble in less than three times its weight of water. When pure it is not effected by exposure to the air; but the salt of commerce contains some muriate of magnesia which renders it deliquescent. When heated, it decrepitates, and in a red heat it melts and evaporates in a white smoke without decomposition. It is composed of Muriatic acid....... 44 50 6 100 See SALT Muriate of ammonia, formerly denominated sal-ammoniac, because it was found in great quantities near the temple of Jupiter Ammon, in Africa. It was till lately imported entirely from Egypt, but it is now made both in this country and on the continent. In its common form it is an Muriatic acid............. 48 Water... of muriatic acid gas, which are equivalent to 308 grains: hence water thus impreg nated contains more than half its weight of muriatic acid, in the same state of purity as when gaseous. During the absorption of the gas, the water becomes hot. Ice also absorbs this gas, and is at the same time liquified. The quantity of this gas absorbed by water diminishes as the heat of the water increases, and at a boiling heat water will not absorb any of it; of course the gas is easily expelled from the liquid acid by heat, and may readily be procured by heating the common muriatic acid of commerce. By this process Dr. Priestley first obtained it. The muriatic acid of the shops is always yellow, owing to a small quantity of iron which it holds in solution. Muriatic acid is capable of combining with oxygen, and forms with it compounds, which have a considerable analogy to the compounds of azote with the same principle. When this acid is poured upon black oxide of manganese, a gas comes over, that is sometimes called "dephlogisticated muria. tic acid," but more generally 66 oxy-mu. riatic acid." It is green, has a very bad odour, and is readily absorbed by water. The constituent parts of oxy-muriatic acid are Muriatic acid...................... 89 11 100 ੩॥ When a current of oxy-muriatic acid is passed through water holding potash in solution, a number of flat shining crystals are deposited: these are denominated hyperoxy-muriate of potash. They contain Muriatic acid................ 34 Oxygen........... 66 100 MURIATIC acid, in chemistry, may be procured in various ways: if a retort with a curved tube be half filled with well dried common salt, and some strong sulphuric acid be poured upon it, a copious efferves cence takes place, and the elastic fluid extricated appears in the form of a white vapour as soon as it comes in contact with the atmosphere. When all the common air has been driven out of the retort, the subsequent portions of gas may be collected in the usual manner in glass jars, filled with mercury, and inverted in a bath of the same fluid. This is muriatic acid gas: it is transparent, colourless, and possessed of the same mechanical properties as common air. It is almost twice as heavy as common air: 100 cubic inches of it weighs nearly 60 grains. Its smell is pungent, and its taste highly acid. It is instantaneously fatal to. It does not appear that either hydrogen animal life, and is incapable of supporting combustion; but if a burning taper be plunged into it, the flame, just before it goes out, may be observed to assume a green colour. If a little water be let into a jar filled with this gas, the whole gas disappears, and the liquid, which consists of a solution of muriatic gas in water, is usually denominated simply muriatic acid. Being obtained from salt, it was originally called "spirit of salt," then "marine acid," and now it is almost universally denominated "muriatic acid." A cubical inch of water, at the temperature of 60°, absorbs 515 inches or carbon combines with muriatic acid, but charcoal absorbs it abundantly. Phosphorus absorbs a little, and sulphur imbibes it slowly. When mixed with nitric acid, it forms what was formerly denominated "aqua regia;" but is now called "nitro-muriatic acid." Muriatic acid in a state of gas neutralizes putrid miasmata, and destroys their bad effects. By this the most contagious diseases are prevented from spreading: two parts of sulphuric acid, and six of common salt, heated over a spirit lamp, or in a hot sand bath, will give out the gas very plentifully. The use of maria |