agriculture is largely dependent on irrigation, which, where practicable, has been carried on since the time of the Moors. Wheat, barley, maize, hemp, oil, and wine (the latter somewhat rough in quality) are produced; fruit, especially the orange, is abundant along the course of the Segura; mulberries for sericulture are extensively grown around the capital; and the number of bees kept is exceptionally large. Esparto grass is gathered on the sandy tracts. The live stock consists chiefly of asses, mules, goats and pigs; horses, cattle and sheep being relatively few. Apart from agriculture, the principal industry is mining, which has its centre near Cartagena. Large quantities of lead and esparto, as well as of zinc, iron and copper ores, and sulphur, are exported. The province is traversed by a railway which connects Murcia with Albacete and Valencia; from Alcantarilla there is a branch to Lorca and Baza. Near the capital and other large towns there are good roads, but the means of communication are defective in the remoter districts. This deficiency has somewhat retarded the development of mining, and, although it has been partly overcome by the construction of light railways, many rich deposits of ore remain unworked. The chief towns are Murcia, the capital, Cartagena, Lorca, La Unión, Mazarrén, Yecla, Jumilla, Águilas, Caravaca, Totana, Cieza, Mula, Moratalla, and Cehegín. Other towns with more than 7000 inhabitants are Alliama, Bullas, Fuente Álamo, Molina and Torre Pacheco.
The province of Murcia was the first Spanish possession of the Carthaginians, by whom Nova Carthago was founded. The Romans included it in Hispania Tarraconensis. Under the Moors the province was known as Todmír, which included, according to Edrisi, the cities Murcia, Orihuela, Cartagena, Lorca, Mula and Chinchilla. The kingdom of Murcia, which came into independent existence after the fall of Omayyads (see Caliphate) included the present Albacete as Well as Murcia. It became subject to the crown of Castile in the 13th century. Until 1833 the province of Murcia also included Albacete.
MURCIA, the capital of the Spanish province of Murcia;
on the river Segura, 25 m. W. of the Mediterranean Sea. Pop.
(1900), 111,539. Murcia is connected by rail with all parts
of Spain, and is an important industrial centre, sixth in respect
of population among the cities of the kingdom. It has been an
episcopal see since 1291. It is built nearly in the centre of a
low-lying fertile plain, known as the huerta or garden of Murcia,
which includes the valleys of the Segura and its right-hand tributary
the Sangonera, and is surrounded by mountains. Despite
the proximity of the sea, the climate is subject to great variations,
the summer heat being severe, while frosts are common in
winter. The city is built mainly on the left bank of the Segura,
which curves north-eastward after receiving the Sangonera below
Murcia, and falls into the Mediterranean about 30 m. N.E. A
fine stone bridge of two arches gives access to the suburb of San
Benito, which contains the bull-ring. As a rule the streets are
broad, straight and planted with avenues of trees, but the
Calle de Platería and Calle de la Trapería, which contain many
of the principal shops, are more characteristically Spanish, being
lined with old-fashioned balconied houses, and so narrow that
wheeled traffic is in most parts impossible. In summer these
thoroughfares are shaded by awnings. The Malecon, or embankment,
is a fine promenade skirting the left bank of the Segura;
the river is here crossed by a weir and supplies power, to several
silk-mills. The principal square is the Arenál or Plaza de la
Constitución, planted with orange trees and adjoining the
Glorieta Park The cathedral, dating from 1388–1467, is the
work of many architects; in the main it is late Gothic, but a
Renaissance dome and a tower 480 ft. high were added in 1521,
while a Corinthian façade was erected in the 18th century.
There are some good paintings and fine wood-carving in the
interior. Other noteworthy buildings are the colleges of San
Fulgencio and San Isidro, the bishops’ palace, the hospital of
San Juan de Dios, the Moorish Alhondiga, or grain warehouse,
the buildings of the municipal and provincial councils and
the Contraste. which is adorned with sculptured coats-of-arms,
and was originally designed to contain standard weights and
measures; it has become a picture-gallery. There are two
training schools for teachers, a provincial institute and a museum.
Since 1875 the industrial importance of Murcia has steadily
increased. Mulberries (for silkworms), oranges and other fruits
are largely cultivated in the huerta, and the silk industry, which
dates from the period of Moorish rule, is still carried on. Manufactures
of woollen, linen and cotton goods, of saltpetre, flour,
leather and hats, have been established in more modern times,
and Murcia is the chief market for the agricultural produce of
a large district. A numerous colony of gipsies has settled in the
west of the city.
Murcia was an Iberian town before the Punic Wars, but its name then, and under Roman rule, is not known, though some have tried to identify it with the Roman Vergilia. To the Moors, who took possession early in the 8th century, it was known as Medinat Mursiya. Edrisi described it in the 12th century as populous and strongly fortified. After the fall of the caliphate of Cordova it passed successively under the rule of Almería, Toledo and Seville. In 1172 it was taken by the Almohades, and from 1223 to 1243 it became the capital of an independent kingdom. The Castilians took it at the end of this period, when large numbers of immigrants from north-eastern Spain and Provence settled in the town; French and Catalan names are still not uncommon. Moorish princes continued to rule in name over this mixed population, but in 1269 a rising against the suzerain, Alphonso the Wise, led to the final incorporation of Murcia (which then included the present province of Albacete) into the kingdom of Castile. During the War of the Spanish Succession Bishop Luis de Belluga defended the city against the archducal army by flooding the huerta. In 1810 and 1812 it was attacked by the French under Marshal Soult. It suffered much from floods in 1651, 1879 and 1907, though the construction of the Malecon has done much to keep the Segura within its own channel. In 1829 many buildings, including the cathedral, were damaged by an earthquake.
MURDER, in law, the unlawful killing of a person with malice
aforethought (see Homicide). The O. Eng. morðor comes ultimately
from the Indo-European root mar–, to die, which has
also given Lat. mors, death, and all its derivatives in English,
French and other Rom. languages; cf. Gr. βροτός, for μορτός,
mortal. The O. Eng. form, Latinized as murdrum, murtrum,
whence Fr. meurtre, is represented in other Teutonic languages
by a cognate form, e.g. Ger. Mord, Du. moord.
MURDOCK, WILLIAM (1754–1839), British inventor, , was
born near the village of Auchinleck in Ayrshire on the 21st. of
August 1754. His father, John Murdoch (as the name is spelt
in Scotland), was a millwright and miller, and William was
brought up in the same occupation. In 1777 he entered the
employment of Boulton & Watt in the Soho works at Birmingham,
and about two years afterwards he was sent to Cornwall to
superintend the fitting of Watt’s engines. It is said that While
staying at Redruth he carried a series of experiments in the
distillation of coal so far that in 1792 he was able to light his
cottage and offices with gas, but the evidence is not conclusive.
However, after his return to Birmingham about 1799, he made
such progress in the discovery of practical methods for making,
storing and purifying gas that in 1802 a portion of the exterior
of the Soho factory was lighted with it in celebration of the peace
of Amiens, and in the following year it was brought into use
for the interior. Murdock was also the inventor of important
improvements in the steam-engine. He was the first to devise
an oscillating engine, of which he made a model about 1784; in
1786 he was busy—somewhat to the annoyance of both Boulton
and Watt—with a steam carriage or road locomotive; and in
1799 he invented the long D slide valve. He is also believed to
have been the real deviser of the sun and planet motion patented
by Watt in 1781. In addition his ingenuity was directed to
the utilization of compressed air, and in 1803 he constructed
a steam gun. He retired from business in 1830, and died at Soho
on the 15th of November 1839.
