Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/27

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M U L M U L 17 occasional extravagance and obscurity of his style, and by his in adequate appreciation of the tests of historic credibility ; but his learning, his generous sympathies, his grasp of great principles, and his power of vividly presenting some aspects of character secure for his writings an enduring place in German literature. An edition of his Sammtliche JVcrke, in 40 vols. (published origin ally in 27 vols. in 1810 to 1819) was issued in 1831 to 1835. Bio graphies of Muller were compiled by During and other writers. MULLER, JOHANNES (1801-1858), one of the most distinguished physiologists of Germany, was born at Coblentz on 14th July 1801. He became a privat-docent in the university of Bonn in 1824. In 1826 he was appointed extraordinary professor of physiology in the same university, and he became the ordinary professor in 1830. In 1833 he was removed to the university of Berlin, where he filled the chair of anatomy and physiology with great distinction until his death on 28th April 1858. Muller made numerous researches in various departments of physiology, and in particular he extended knowledge as to the mechanism of voice and speech and of hearing, and as to the chemical and physical properties of lymph, chyle, and blood. It was, however, less as an original investigator than as a deep and far-seeing thinker that Muller made his mark on physiological science. From about 1740, when Haller nourished, numerous contribu tions to physiological science had been made by Whytt, Cullen, John Hunter, Spallanzani, Prochaska, Bichat, Charles Bell, Berzelius, Magendie, and others, but in 1830, when Muller may be said to have begun his labours, it was necessary to reduce these facts to order, to educe general principles, and to direct physiologists into new lines of research indicated by the brilliant discoveries made in physics and in chemistry since the beginning of the century. This Muller did, and he may therefore be regarded as the founder of modern physiology. The appearance of his Elements of Physiology between 1837 and 1840 (translated into English by Dr William Baly, and published in London in 1842) was the beginning of a new period. In this work Muller shows remarkable power both in marshalling facts and in philosophical reasoning. As a rule he not merely states and criticizes the labours of others but also contributes the results of his own observations. Whilst he is cautious in the accept ance of theories, he always places them before the reader in an original and suggestive light. The most important portion of the work is that dealing with nervous action and with the mechanism of the senses. Here he states the fruitful principle, not before recognized, that the kind of sensation following irritation of a sensory nerve does not depend on the mode of irritation but upon the nature of the sense-organ. Thus light, pressure, or mechanical irritation acting on the retina and optic nerve invariably produce luminous impressions. This is sometimes termed the law of specific nervous energy. As a teacher Muller exercised a powerful influence, and the great majority of the distinguished physiologists, such as Helmholtz, Du Bois Reymond, Ludwig, Volkmann, and Vierordt, who have made Germany famous in physiological science during the past thirty years, owe much to the germinating ideas of their great teacher. Besides editing for many years a periodical entitled Archiv f. Anatomie, Physiologie, u. wisscnschaftl. Mcdicin, to which he also contributed papers, lie published the text -book on physiology above alluded to, and various important memoirs. For a list of these see Poggendorff, Biog. -Litter. Handivorterbuch, vol. ii. Two men of the same name, Johannes Muller, have been cele brated in science: (1) JOHN MULLER (1699-1784), a professor of artillery and fortification at Woolwich, who wrote a mathematical treatise published in 1737 ; (2) JOHANNES MULLER (born 1806), a writer on pharmacy and physiological chemistry, who published many memoirs from 1840 to 1850. MULLER, KARL OTFRIED (1797-1 840), an eminent writer oa ancient Greece, was born at Brieg in Silesia on 28th August 1797. His father was a chaplain in the Prussian army. Muller was educated partly in Breslau, partly in Berlin, where his enthusiasm in the study of Greek litera ture, art, and history was fostered by the influence of Boeckh. In 1817, after the publication of his first work, jEyineticorum Liber, he received an appointment at the Magdaleneum in Breslau ; and in 1819 he was made a pro fessor of the university of Gb ttingen, his subject being the archaeology of art. His aim was to form a vivid con ception of Greek life as a whole ; and for this object he carried on a series of profound researches, setting forth the results in his lectures, which produced a great impres sion on his students, and in numerous works, which marked an epoch in the development of Hellenic studies. Miiller s position at Gottingen being rendered unpleasant by the political troubles which followed the accession of Ernest Augustus to the throne of Hanover in 1837, he applied for permission to travel; and in 1839 he left Germany. In April of the following year he reached Greece, having spent the winter in Italy. He carefully investigated the remains of ancient Athens, visited many places of interest in the Peloponnesus, and finally went to Delphi, where he began with his usual zeal to conduct excavations. While engaged in this work he was attacked by intermittent fever, of which he died at Athens on 1st August 1840. Muller combined with astonishing industry a penetrating critical judgment and an almost unrivalled power of appreciating Greek modes of thought and feeling. Among his historical works the foremost place belongs to his Geschichtc hcllenischen Stamme und Staaten, which includes Orchomcnos und die Minyer (1820), and Die Doricr (1824). He wrote also Ubcr die Wohnsitze, Abstam- mung, und dltcre Geschichtc dcs maccdonischcn Volks (1825) ; and by his maps he introduced a new standard of accuracy in the treat ment of the geography of ancient Greece. In 1828 he published Die Etrusker. His Prolcgomcncn zu einer wisscnschaftliclicn My- thologic (1825) prepared the way for the scientific investigation of myths ; and the study of ancient art he promoted by his Handluch der Archdologie der Kunst (1830), and by Dcnkmdlcr dcr alien Kunst (1832), which he wrote in association with Osterley. In 1840 appeared in England his History of the Literature of Ancient Greece, and the original German work from which it had been translated Gcschichte dcr gricchischen Literatur lis auf das Zeit- alter Alexander s was issued in Germany by the author s brother in 1841. Amid the labours to which Muller especially devoted himself he found time to write an admirable translation of the Eumenidcs of ^Eschylus (1833), to prepare new editions of Varro (1833) and Fcstus (1839), and to contribute many articles to the Commcntationcs socictatis regies scicntiarum Gottingcnsis, the Gtit- tingcr gclehrtcn Anzcigcn, and other periodicals. In 1841 the facts of his life were recorded by Liicke in Erinncrungen an Otfricd Miiller. MULLER, WILLIAM JAMES (1812-1845), English land scape and figure painter, was born at Bristol on 28th June 1812, and was the son of a Prussian gentleman, a writer on scientific subjects and curator of the Bristol Museum. He re ceived a careful education, being especially trained in botany and natural history, and it was intended that he should become an engineer ; but his leanings towards art were too definite to be resisted, and he was placed under J. B. Pyne to receive his first instructions as a painter. His early subjects deal mainly with the scenery of Gloucestershire and Wales, and he learned much from his study of Claude, Ruysdael, and the other earlier landscape-painters. In 1833 he figured for the first time in the Royal Academy with his Destruction of Old London Bridge Morning, and next year he made a tour through France, Switzerland, and Italy. Four years later he visited Athens, extending his travels to Egypt, and in the sketches executed during this period and the paintings produced from them the power and individuality of the artist are first apparent. Shortly after his return he left Bristol and settled in London, where he exhibited regularly, and found purchasers, at moderate sums, for his pictures. In 1840 he again visited France, where he executed a series of sketches of Renais sance architecture, twenty-five of which were lithographed XVII. 3