Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/440

 the means for condensing the hydrochloric acid produced in the Leblanc process were quite inadequate, and the Liverpool corporation and the landowners near Newton, on account of the damage done to vegetation by the acid fumes, began litigation against Muspratt, which lasted from 1832 to 1850. Finally Muspratt closed his works and opened new and successful ones in Widnes and Flint, which he left in 1857 to his sons on retiring from business. Muspratt was the first to build a Leblanc soda-works in England on a large scale, and it is as the chief founder of the alkali manufacture in this country that he will be remembered. In the towns of St. Helens and Widnes thousands of workmen are now employed in the manufacture.

Muspratt took in his later years a keen interest in educational matters, and helped to found the Liverpool Institute. He passed much of his time in foreign travel, and paid long visits to the chemist Liebig at Giessen and Munich. He died on 4 May 1886 at Seaforth Hall, near Liverpool, and was buried in the parish churchyard of Walton.

Muspratt married Julia Connor, in Dublin, on 6 Oct. 1819. He had ten children, four of whom, James Sheridan [q. v.], Richard, Frederick (of whom see obituary in the Journ. Chem. Soc. xx. vi. 780), and Edmund Knowles, became chemists, and succeeded him in his business.

A woodcut engraving of Muspratt is prefixed to the memoir quoted below.

 MUSPRATT, JAMES SHERIDAN (1821–1871), chemist, son of James Muspratt [q. v.], was born at Dublin on 8 March 1821. He first studied chemistry under T. Graham [q. v.] at the Andersonian University, Glasgow, and at University College, London. Before the age of seventeen he was entrusted with the chemical department at Peel Thompson's manufactory in Manchester. A little later he went to America, and entered into a business partnership which proved a failure. He returned to Europe, and in 1843 entered the laboratory of Liebig at Giessen, where he did his best work. He published in 1845 an important research on the sulphites, which served as his inaugural thesis for the degree of Ph.D., and also investigations on toluidine and nitraniline, which were first prepared by himself and A. W. Hofmann. After travelling for some years in Germany, he returned to England, and in 1848 founded the Liverpool College of Chemistry, a private institution for the training of chemists. In 1857 Muspratt succeeded to a share in his father's business. From 1854 to 1860 he was engaged in editing a large and readable dictionary of 'Chemistry ... as applied to the Arts and Manufactures,' of which several editions have been published in English, and in German and Russian translations. He also translated Plattner's classical treatise on the 'Blowpipe' (London, 8vo, 1845), and published 'Outlines of Analysis' (1849), and works on 'The Chemistry of Vegetation' and the 'Influence of Chemistry in the Animal, Vegetal, and Mineral Kingdoms.' The 'Royal Society's Catalogue' contains a list of thirty-five papers published independently, three in collaboration with Hofmann, and one with Danson.

In 1848 Muspratt married the American actress Susan Cushman, who died in 1859. Muspratt died on 3 April 1871 at West Derby, Liverpool.

A steel engraving from a photograph is prefixed to the first volume of Muspratt's 'Chemistry.'

 MUSS, CHARLES (1779–1824), enamel and glass-painter, born in 1779, was son of Boniface Muss (or Musso), an Italian artist, who exhibited a drawing at the Society of Artists' exhibition in 1790, and is stated to have practised at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Muss was principally employed on glass-painting, and as such became one of the principal artists in Collins's glass-works near Temple Bar. He obtained some eminence in this art, and executed among others a copy of Rubens's 'Descent from the Cross' on glass for St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street. He devoted much time to the art of painting in enamel, and after some vicissitudes of fortune brought it to great perfection. He copied in this manner a number of important works by the old masters, some in an unusually large size, such as the 'Holy Family,' after Parmegiano. He was appointed enamel-painter to the king, and received many commissions from him. He had, however, barely secured success and a recognised position in his arts when his career was cut short by his death, which happened about August 1824. He had been an occasional exhibitor of enamels at the Royal Academy from 1800 to 1823. Muss