ony. Its fairs were also of great importance. Near Merseburg the German King, Henry the Fowler, won a great victory over the Hungarians in 933. Population. in 1890, 17,669; in 1900, 19,119. chiefly Protestants.
MERSENNE, mar'sen', M.rin (15881048). A French theologian and scholar, born at La h>ouItiere (Maine). He studied at the College of La Kl&ohe, where he had as a fellow pupil Rene Descartes, with whom he always main- taineil a close fricndsliip. In 1011 he became a Minim Friar. Afterwards he taught philos- ophy at Xevers from 1014 to 1020, and sub- sequently lived principally in Paris. He was the Parisian representative of his friend Des- cartes while the latter was in Holland. After- wards liis studies grew more scientific, and he published a number of treatises on astronomy and mathematics. He also wrote flaniionie iini- rersclle, conteiuint la ihcorie et la pratique de la musiijue (1630), and a Latin epitome of it, naniioiiiconiiii Libri XII. (1030). From these we learn much of the condition of music in the seventeenth century, and his own dis- coveries in the phenomena of vibration. MER'SEY. A river of England, separating the coimties of Chester and Lancaster (Map: England, D 3). It enters the Irish Sea by a wide estuary forming the Liverpool Channel. This channel is deep and navigable for several miles above Liverpool. By means of a ship canal, which follows for some distance the course of the river, navigation can be continued to Man- chester and lieyond. See Liverpool. MERSINA, mer'sJ-na'. A seaport town in the Vilayet of Adana, Asia Minor, situate 1 on the southern coast, ill^ miles by rail west-south- west of Adana (Jlap: Turkey in Asia, F 4). It is well built and surrounded by fine gardens. The harbor, an open roadstead, is not very deep, and steamers usually anchor a long distance from the town. Its commerce amounted to over $5,000,000 in 1900. The United States is rep- resented by a consular agent. Mersina is of recent oriain : its population is estimated at over 12.000, about one-half Christian. MERSON, mar'soN', Lrc Oliier (1840—). A French painter, bom in Paris. He studied vmder Chassevcnt and Pils, and was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1869. He obtained a first-class medal at the Paris Exposition of ISSO. His works are on historical and religious subjects, painted with peculiar charm, and his drawings have the same delicate, almost tender, quality. Notable pictures are the two episodes from the life of Saint Louis, for the Palais de Justice in Paris. "Saint Isidore," and the "Repose in Eg>-pt" MERTHYR TYDFIL, mer'ther tid'vil. A manufacturing towii in Glamorganshire. South Wales, surrounded by lofty hills and built on the river TaflT, about .500 feet above sea-level. 24 miles from Cardiff CMap: England. C .5). Mer- thyr Tydfil is the seat of the iron trade of South Wales, and contains large collieries, celebrated for the excellence of steam coal, the exports of which are considerable. The town has greatly improved since 1850; it owns handsome public buildings, a good water supply, and two profit- able sewage farms, and maintains two infectious i1isea.se hospitals. Population, in 1801, 7700; in 1891, 59,000; in 1901, 69,200. MERTON, mCr'ton, Walter de (?-1277). An English prelate, founder of ilerton College, Ox- ford. He was educated in the priory at Merton, Surrey, and was ordained to the priesthood. Henrj' III. raised him in 1261 to the lord chan- cellorship, from which otfice he was depo.sed in 1263 by the barons under Simon de Montfort. He returned to that oHice in 1272, but in 1274 resigned to accept an ap])ointment to the See of Rochester. He founded at Basingstoke a hos- pital for superannuated clergymen and travelers in distress; but is best known as the founder of Merton College, Oxford, which was completed in 1274. This was originally designed, it would appear, to be for the education of the secular clergy, and offered courses in philosophy, the liberal arts, and theology — in arte, dialectica, et theologia, as the Rochester chronicles express it. It became the model of subsequent foundations at both Oxford and Cambridge, and was thus the basis of the collegiate system peculiar to these two English universities. MERTON COLLEGE. The oldest college of its type in Oxford, and the model of all later secular colleges, in both Oxford and Cam- bridge. It was first founded as the House of the Scholars of Merton, in 1263 or 1264, by Walter de Merton (q.v. ). The original endow- ment consisted of his manor house and estate at Maiden, Surrey, the income from which was to go to the support of scholars in Oxford, the estate being managed by a resident warden and lirethren.' By various changes between 1264 and 1274, the scholars were moved from a rented house to their own property, Merton Hall, ac- quired for them by the founder, and were put in charge first of a sub-warden, then of the war- den himself, who had come up from Surrey. The nuniljer of scholars, who had been originally con- fined to the members of the founder's family, was increased, and the collegiate idea of the founda- tion w-as crystallized in the statutes of 1274. The addition of a system of ecclesiastical patron- age, the arrangement of the buildings, and the plan, size, and beauty of the chapel, in addition to the scheme of the statutes, had great influence on later foundations. The college has suffered various changes since its establishment, the last of which was its absorption of Saint Alban Hall in 1882. There were, in 1902, a warden, twenty fellows, several honorary fellows, eighteen scholars, called post-masters, ten exhibitioners, four lecturers, two chaplains, college officers, and, in all, some one hundred and fifty undergrad- uates. The buildings are among the most inter- esting in Oxford, comprising, a.s they do. a con- siderable part dating from the thirteenth ccnturv. Here Henrietta Maria occupied the warden's apartments, while Charles I.'s Court was held at Oxford. Again, in 1065, the year of the plague, Charles II. moved his Court hither, and hi8 Queen occupied the lodgings formerly used by Henrietta Maria. The chapel, though not com- pleted, is of cathedral size, but has no transepts. Among the worthies of ISIerton may be mentioned Harve_v. the demonstrator of the circulation of the blood. Bishops Patteson and .Jewell . An- thony Wood, Sir Thomas Bodley. Sir Richard Steele, and Sir H. Savilc. Consult Henderson, "Merton College," in Universit)/ "f Oxford Col- lege Histories (Oxford, 1902). See Oxford Uni- VEESITT.
