Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/59

 MURCHISON MURCIA 51 Novgorod, and he took an active part in the emancipation of the serfs. At the time of his death he was a lieutenant general and a mem- ber of the senate. A branch of the family has adopted the name of MUEAVIEFF-APOSTOL, from the marriage of one of them in the 18th century with a daughter of a Cossack hetman named Apostol. Noticeable among this branch is IVAN (born, in 1769, died in 1851), who trans- lated Sheridan's "School for Scandal," Hor- ace's " Satires," and Aristophanes's " Clouds " into Russian, and published in 1822 an ac- count of his archaeological explorations in Taurida. He officiated as ambassador at seve- ral European courts, and was eventually made a privy councillor and senator. His son SEB- GEI was a conspicuous leader of the con- spiracy of 1825, and after the unsuccessful attempt in St. Petersburg he proclaimed the grand duke Constantine as emperor and took possession of the town of Vasilkov. He was defeated and severely wounded near Ustinovka, Jan. 15, 1826, removed to St. Petersburg, and executed July 25. His brother Ippolit was killed, and another was banished to Siberia. Ml 1UIIISO>, Sir Roderick Impey, a British geologist, born at Tarradale, Ross-shire, Scot- land, Feb. 19, 1792, died in London, Oct. 22, 1871. He obtained a commission in the army in 1807, served during a portion of the penin- sular war, and was employed on the staff of his uncle Sir A. Mackenzie in Sicily. He retired with the rank of captain of dragoons in 1815, married a daughter of Gen. Hugonin, and through her influence and the advice of Hum- phry Davy devoted himself to natural science. In 1825 he read a paper before the geological society "On the Geological Formation of the Northwest Extremity of Sussex, and the adjoin- ing parts of Hampshire and Surrey." In 1827 he explored the highlands of Scotland, and in 1828 accompanied Lyell in a tour through France, studying the volcanic regions of Auvergne and the formation of valleys. He next undertook, with Prof. Adam Sedgwick, a systematic ex- amination of the lower fossiliferous rocks of England and Wales. He partially remodelled the classification of the palaeozoic strata, and in 1832 first applied the term Silurian to a series of rocks intermediate between the Cam- brian and Devonian formations. Murchison recognized two main divisions as constituting the Silurian system, an upper and a lower, the latter of which he believed to lie imposed upon the upper Cambrian of Sedgwick. Subsequent researches have shown that the geological sec- tions of Murchison, upon which his system was based, were in great part erroneous, and that his lower Silurian was identical with the upper Cambrian. This discovery gave rise to a long and acrimonious controversy between Sedgwick and Murchison and his partisans ; but later re- searches, by comparing the justice of Sedg- wick's views and the correctness of his deter- minations, are again bringing his nomencla- ture into use. (See GEOLOGY, and SEDGWICK, ADAM.) In 1839 appeared "The Silurian Sys- tem," a revised edition of which was published in 1854 under the name of " Siluria." By invita- tion of the emperor Nicholas, Murchison, accom- panied by De Verneuil and Keyserling, under- took a geological survey of Russia ; and between 1840 and 1844 he explored the southern prov- inces of the empire, and a large portion of the Ural mountains, besides sections of Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Norway. He now con- ceived the idea of uniting the upper series of the paleozoic rocks, consisting mainly of the lower new red sandstones and the subjacent magne- sian limestones, into a single group, for which he proposed the name Permian, from the preva- lence of this formation in the ancient district of Perm. The results of the Russian expedition were published in a treatise " On the Geologi- cal Structure of the Northern and Central Re- gions of Russia in Europe " (London, 1841), and in " Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains" (1845). In 1856 he published a geological map of Europe, and in 1861, conjoint- ly with Geikie, one of Scotland. He was cre- ated grand cross of the Russian order of St. Stanislas in 1845, knighted in 1846, and made a baronet in 1866. In 1846 he was president of the British association. On the death of Sir Henry T. De la Beche in 1855, he became director of the British geological survey, a post which he resigned shortly before his death. Murchison was one of the founders of the roy- al geographical society in 1830, was elected its president in 1843, was several times reflected, and held the office from 1862 until his death. It was chiefly through his influence that Dr. Livingstone was enabled to prosecute his re- searches in South Africa. He received the degrees of D. C. L. and LL. D. from the uni- versities of England, and was an associate of nearly all scientific institutions. He opposed the evolution theory of Darwin, stanchly ad- hering to the doctrine of immutability. See "Memoirs of Sir Roderick I. Murchison," by Archibald Geikie (2 vols., London, 1874). Ml'RCIA. L An ancient kingdom of Spain, bounded N. W. and N. by New Castile, N. E. and E. by the province of Valencia and the Mediterranean, S. E. and S. by the 'Mediterra- nean and Granada, and W. by Jaen ; area, 10,- 450 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 660,040. The coast from the confines of Granada to Cartagena is rocky and precipitous, but eastward from that port it is in general low and sandy. The sur- face is mostly mountainous. The principal ranges are the Sierra de Sagra, the Sierra de Alcaraz, and the Sierra de Segura. The chief rivers are the Segura, Mundo, and Sangonera. Where it can be irrigated the soil is often of exuberant fertility. The productions are wheat, barley, maize, rye, rice, flax, vegetables, and superior fruit, particularly pomegranates, mel- ons, oranges, and lemons. Lead, silver, sul- phur, and nitre are found. The climate is mild, and snow and ice are almost unknown. Murcia was conquered by the Moors in 712, and made