Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/112

 104: MUSSET thick, coarse, and rough, with the beaks sub- terminal; the color externally is chestnut or dark brown, pearly within. It inhabits deep water, attaching itself very firmly to rocks, from which it is torn in great numbers during violent storms; it is almost always more or less distorted, and has seaweed or some para- site attached to it ; though too tough for food, it makes excellent bait for cod and other deep- sea fishes, but is very difficult to obtain when wanted. Other species live in brackish wa- ter; some in Europe are said to burrow and make a nest of sand and fragments of ^ shells. The fresh-water mussel (anodon) and river mus- sel (unio) are dimyarians, with a large foot not byssiferous in the adult ; the hinge is toothed. The A. flumatilis (Gould) has a thin, inequi- lateral shell, grassy green externally and lilac- tinted white within, and attains a length of 4J- in. ; it is common in mill ponds and sluggish streams. Many other species of this genus, and of unio and allied genera in North Ameri- ca, have been specially described by Mr. Isaac Lea. Some of the unios, both in this country and in Europe, produce very fine pearls, and about 20 years ago there was a general pearl hunting in many parts of the United States, which resulted in the finding of a few valuable specimens after an immense amount of gen- erally unprofitable labor. The pearl mussel of Europe (U. margaritifera, Linn.) has long been famous for the ornamental excretions found in its shell, some of which are of rare beauty. MUSSET, Louis Charles Alfred de, popularly known as Alfred de Musset, a French poet, born in Paris, Nov. 11, 1810, died there, May 2, 1857. He was a son of VICTOR DONATIEN DE MUSSET (1768-1832), better known under the name of Musset-Pathay, a cousin of the mar- quis Musset de Cogners, and, like the latter, of literary distinction, especially for his writings about Rousseau. Alfred is said to have writ- ten a tragedy as early as 1826, and in 1828 he received a prize for a Latin dissertation. He alternated for some time between the studies of medicine, law, and art, and was for a short period attached to a banking house, but was encouraged in his predilection for literature by intercourse with Charles Nodier and Victor Hugo. His first work, Les contes d/Espagne et cPItalie (1830), revealed his poetic talent, and excited much attention and comment on account of the unbridled utterances of a fan- tastic and erotic imagination. His next im- portant production, Le spectacle dans un fau- teuil (1833), consisted of a tragical poem {La coupe et lea levres), a graceful comedy or im- broglio (A quoi revent les jeunes filles ?), and a kind of Byronic narrative in verse (Namouno), containing eloquent lines addressed to the Ty- rolese, which were regarded by his admirers as the most classical production of the romantic school. More perhaps than any of his con- temporaries he embodied in his effusions mor- bid and skeptical views of life, which mar to some extent the beauty of his exquisite poem MUSSEY Eolla (1835), and of his Confession tfun en- fant du sitcle (1836 ; new ed., 1859). In the latter work he describes under fictitious names his journey to Italy with George Sand, and his relations with that authoress, which led her to publish in 1859 Elle et lui, and to the appear- ance in the same year of Lui et elle by Al- fred's brother, PAUL EDME DE MUSSET (born in Paris, Nov. 7, 1804, and known as the author of Lesfemmes de la regence, 2 vols., 1841, and other works), and to George Sand's refutation of the latter 's allegation against her, in the preface to her novel Jean de la Roche, also in 1859. Alfred became in 1836 as devoted to Mme. Malibran as he had previously been to Mme. Dudevant. His Poesies nouvelles (latest ed., 1862) contain his Strophes a la Malibran, and his Nuit de mai, de decembre, d'octobre et d'aout; these Nuits are regarded as the most beautiful of his lyrics, and as most deeply re- flecting the conflicting emotions of his inner life. Among other fine effusions are his Let- tre a Lamartine and VEspoir en Dieu. Du- ring the political complications in 1840 he an- swered Becker's German war song in regard to the Rhine with a poem entitled Nous I 1 awns eu, votre JKhin allemand. The influence of the duke of Orleans, who had been his college classmate, had procured for him the office of librarian in the ministry of the interior ; and he commemorated the death of that prince in 1842 in one of his most eloquent poems. He was deprived of his office at the revolution of 1848, but was restored to it after the estab- lishment of the empire (1852), with the title of reader to the empress. His finest poetry was written before his 30th year, which made Heine say: (Test un jeune homme d^un beau 'passe. His Contes comprise Mimi Perison, His- toire d'un merle blanc, and La mouche (1854). Among his best novelettes are Emmeline and Margot. He was less successful as a dra- matist, though his Un caprice (3d ed., Paris, 1848), II ne faut jurer de rien (1848), and // faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou fermee (1851), were received with great favor. A complete edition of his Comedies et proverbes, revised by himself, was published in 2 vols. in 1856. His complete works, with illustrations, and a biographical notice by his brother, ap- peared in 10 vols. in 1865-'6. His (Euvres posthumes (1867) A include Faustine, an unfin- ished drama, DAne et le ruisseau, a graceful comedy, and poems and letters, one of the latter containing a picturesque account of Ra- chel's reading Phedre to him in her house. MUSSEY, Renben Dimond, an American sur- geon, born in New Hampshire in 1780, died in Boston, June 28, 1866. He practised his pro- fession during the earlier part of his life with great success in his native state, and from 1814 to 1838 was connected with various medical professorships in Dartmouth college. He af- terward removed to Cincinnati, where he ^*as professor of surgery in the Cincinnati college of medicine and surgery from 1838 to 1852,