to consider the Roman catholic church as a breastwork against despotism, and when at Vienna his conversion might have paved the way to the most influential position he firmly withstood the temptation; he had written in favour of hierarchy from political, and not from religious motives. The same dread of imperial absolutism, very natural in the freeborn Swiss citizen, dictated his project of an alliance of the German princes in defence of the constitution of the empire (Darstellung des Fürstenbundes, Leipsic, 1787). We may imagine how deeply he must have lamented the downfall of that venerable political fabric, and his own fate on being pressed into the service of French despotism. Respecting Müller's greatness as an author there is no dissension whatever, except that some critics have compared him to Tacitus, while others have designated him the Thucydides of Switzerland. The extent and accuracy of his research stand unrivalled; the elevation and grasp of his thought, and his mastery of both the German and French languages command no less admiration. His "History of Switzerland," which has been continued by Hottinger and others, is generally allowed to be his masterpiece. In his "Twenty-four Books of Universal History" is embodied the substance of those lectures which in the beginning of his career he delivered at Geneva, Cassel, and Berne. His complete works (new ed., 1831-35, 40 vols.) were edited by his brother. His life has been written by Heeren, Wachler, Woltmann, Roth, and Döring. In 1851 a monument was erected to his memory in his native town.—K. E.
MÜLLER, Johann, one of the most distinguished physiologists, anatomists, and zoologists of his age, was born at Koblenz on the 14th July, 1801. It would appear that although his parents were not in affluent circumstances, they used every means in their power to afford him a liberal education. He spent eight years at the gymnasium of his native town; then, in accordance with the Prussian law, he served for one year as a common soldier in the army; and at the close of his military service he entered as a student of the university of Bonn. Whilst at Bonn he attended, besides the courses of medical science delivered in the university, lectures on poetry, rhetoric, the German language and literature, on Shakspeare and Dante. During his student life he wrote a prize essay, "De Respiratione Fœtus," which exhibited considerable learning, and at the age of twenty-one completed his inaugural thesis, "De Phoronomia Animalium," treating of the mechanism of locomotion in all classes of animals, which not less displayed a large amount of diligent research and study. He took his doctor's degree at Bonn in 1822. The next year and a half were passed at Berlin, where he had the benefit of the countenance and instruction of Rudolphi. During his residence there he was occupied in zootomy and experimental physiology, and was specially engaged in investigating the functions of the spinal nerves. In 1824 he settled at Bonn as a private teacher; during the few ensuing years his application to his studies was so intense as to lay the foundation of a serious illness, which very nearly cut short his life and labours. The results of these exertions were two treatises on the sense of sight, both of which appeared in 1826. These works, remarkable not only for their anatomical research, but for the novelty and profundity of the physiological reasoning they displayed, drew on him the attention of the scientific world. In the same year he was appointed extraordinary, and in 1830 ordinary professor of medicine, at Bonn. Whilst he held this chair numerous treatises, chiefly on anatomical subjects, appeared from his pen. Amongst the more important of these was one on the structure of the secreting glands, and another on the blood. During this period of his life, also, the great work which consolidated and extended his fame as a physiologist, his "Lehrbuch der Physiologie," was commenced. The appearance of this book, which did not take place till some years later, forms an epoch in the history of physiology. It soon took the place of all pre-existing text-books in Germany; it was translated into almost every European language; and will ever hold a high position among the archives of the science. It is valuable not merely from the fact that it is a complete resumé of the physiological science of the period, but almost every section of it contains some results of the author's personal labour and original observation, and throughout the whole book no work is quoted he had not himself perused. In 1833 Müller was offered and accepted the chair left vacant by the death of Rudolphi at Berlin. In the following year he laid before the Academy an admirable contribution to the comparative anatomy of the Myxinoids, and this was succeeded by a series of anatomical and physiological treatises upon different organs and structures in the human body, several of which are of high value as contributions to the science of medicine. The year 1838 was marked by the publication of a work on the minute anatomy and forms of tumours, which may be said to have laid the first stone of the edifice of pathological histology. Müller's assistant, Theodore Schwann, had already immortalized his name by the discovery of the cell structure of the healthy animal textures; the idea of growth and nutrition had consequently undergone an entire change; but the demonstration of the analogy that subsists between the structure and nutrition of diseased and healthy tissues was first pointed out by Müller. His last contribution to physiology was a treatise on the compensation of physical powers in the organs of the human voice, in which he treats of the mechanical production of the voice. This appeared in 1839. From that time he appears to have confined his scientific labours to the subjects of comparative anatomy and zoology. The extensive museums at Berlin, of which he was director, afforded him a vast field for the special cultivation of those studies; whilst the large amount of labour and time he felt compelled by a high sense of duty to devote to their arrangement and extension, precluded the probability of giving up any portion of his attention to physiological experiment. However, the latter years of his life bore ample fruit in the splendid contributions he made to structural life-science. His attention was first directed to the anatomy of the vertebrates, and amongst a series of brilliant anatomical treatises may be specially mentioned—one on the Plagiostomi, brought out in conjunction with Henle in 1841; and another on the structure and limits of the ganoid fishes, which appeared in 1846. This latter contains his ichthyological system—the result of many years study of the subject. After bringing his ichthyological labours to a close, he turned his attention more especially to the Invertebrata. His holidays were thenceforward spent on the coast, devoted to the study of the structure, functions, and habits of the marine invertebrates; and when the duties of his professorship called him to Berlin, he employed all his leisure hours in working up the materials he had collected. The results of these investigations he embodied in his treatise on the metamorphoses of the Echinodermata. Müller's professional career lasted over a space of thirty-five years, during which time he was constantly employed in investigating and teaching. His extraordinary mental power and love for science were only equalled by his marvellous industry. His reputation attracted to his class-room students from all parts of Europe, and his influence over them was so great, so imbued did they become by his scientific ardour, that even during vacation many accompanied him to distant coasts to join and assist in his investigations. This brilliant career was suddenly cut short. He died at Berlin on the 28th of April, 1858. For the few days preceding his death he had complained of feeling wearied, but no apprehension was entertained as to his state of health. At five o'clock on the morning of his death he told his wife that he had slept well. On returning to his room at seven o'clock, she discovered that he had ceased to breathe.—F. C. W.
MÜLLER, Johann. See Regiomontanus.
MÜLLER, Johann Gotthard von, an eminent German engraver, was born May 4, 1747, at Bernhausen, near Stuttgart. In 1761 he entered the Stuttgart art-academy; in 1764, by desire of the Duke Karl, became pupil of the court-painter, Guibal; and in 1770, having resolved to adopt engraving as his profession, went to Paris where he studied for six years under J. G. Wille, at whose recommendation he was in 1776 elected a member of the French Academy, his position having been secured by an admirable portrait executed by him of his master, Wille. He was, however, recalled to Stuttgart by the Duke Karl; was appointed director of the school of design, and in 1802 professor of engraving in the Stuttgart academy. In this capacity he trained several of the best of the succeeding generation of German engravers, the chief among them being his son Friedrich.—(See Müller, Christian Friedrich von.) Johann Müller engraved only thirty-three plates, but they are very carefully executed, and several are large and important works. Among the best are Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola, in the Musée Français, 1804; St. Catharine, after L. da Vinci; Lot and his Daughters, after G. Honthorst; and the Battle of Bunker's Hill, after Trumbull; also Louis XVI., after Duplessis, and several other portraits. J. G. von Müller was considered one of the ablest engravers of his time; was a member of the principal
