Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/872

854 MORTON a license to take or alien in mortmain, of whomsoever the estates might be holden. The act 9 George II. is now the leading English statute of mortmain. It forbids the gift of money or lands to charitable uses, except by deed operating immediately, and without pow- er of revocation, formally executed and en- rolled in chancery at least six months before the donor's death. In favor of churches, col- leges, and hospitals, some modifications of the statute have been admitted. In the United States the English mortmain laws have not in general been adopted or recognized, except in Pennsylvania; and in that state, by an act passed in 1855, bequests, devises, or convey- ances for religious or charitable uses may be valid if made by deed or will at least one cal- endar month before the death of the testator or alienor. In New York, by a statute enacted in 1848, gifts to charitable corporations by will must be made two months before the testator's death ; and by another enacted in 1860 any person having a husband, wife, child, or parent is precluded from bequeathing more than one half his clear estate to any society, association, or corporation. In Georgia in like manner a gift to charitable uses by will is made void, if the testator has a wife or issue living, unless made 90 days before his death. In other states the checks to the acquisition of real estate by corporate bodies are such as are imposed by their charters, or by the general laws under which they have become incorporated. MORTON, a central county of Dakota, bound- ed E. by the Missouri river, recently formed, and not included in the census of 1870 ; area, about 1,100 sq. in. It is intersected by the Heart and Cannon Ball rivers. The Northern Pacific railroad is to pass through it. The surface consists chiefly of undulating prairies. MORTON, James Douglas, earl of, regent of Scotland, born in Dalkeith in 1530, executed in Edinburgh, June 3, 1581. He was a younger son of the great family of Angus, but in 1553 succeeded to the estates and title of his father- in-law, the third earl of Morton. In 1561 he became privy councillor, and in the beginning of 1563 was appointed lord high chancellor. He participated in the murder of Rizzio, and fled to England, but was pardoned. Although cognizant of the plot to destroy Darnley, he seems to have had no hand in its execution. After the forced abdication of Mary which fol- lowed the death of Darnley, and the corona- tion of her infant son, Morton was reinstated in his office of lord chancellor. He supported the interests of the earl of Murray, the regent, against those of the queen ; and to him is es- pecially due the result of the battle of Lang- side, in consequence of which Mary determined to fly to England. In the violent contentions which divided Scotland after the assassination of Murray, Morton became the real head of the Protestant party, and was a leader of that por- tion of the people who espoused the king's cause as opposed to the queen's. The earl of Mar, who had succeeded the earl of Lennox as regent, having died in October, 1572, Morton was elected regent in his stead on Nov. 24. Thenceforth he ruled Scotland with great rigor, thereby rendering himself odious. He resigned Sept. 12, 1577, but soon regained his authority. Through the agency of the new favorite of the king, Capt. Stewart, he was brought to trial for participation in the murder of Darnley, found guilty of high treason, and decapitated by an instrument called the maiden, which he is said to have introduced into Scotland. MORTON, John, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, born in Ridley, Chester (now Delaware) co., Pa., in 1724, died in April, 1777. He was for many years a sur- veyor. In 1756 and for many sessions subse- quently he was a member of the general as- sembly of Pennsylvania, serving for several sessions as speaker. He was a member of the stamp act congress, which met in New York in 1765. From 1766 to 1770 he was high sheriff of his county, and afterward became judge of the court of common pleas, and a judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. In 1774-'6 he was a member of the continental congress, and gave the casting vote of Pennsylvania in favor of the Declaration of Independence. He was chairman of the committee of the whole on the adoption of the system of confederation. MORTON, Nathaniel, secretary of Plymouth colony, Mass., born in England in 1612, died in Plymouth, June 29, 1685. He came to America with his father in July, 1623, and in 1645 was appointed secretary of the colony, which office he held until his death. He was the author of " New England's Memoriall, or a Brief Relation of the most Memorable and Remarkable Passages of the Providence of God manifested to the Planters of New England," &c., compiled chiefly from the manuscripts of his uncle William Bradford and the journals of Edward Winslow, and including the period from 1620 to 1646 (4to, Cambridge, 1669; 2d ed., 12mo, Boston, 1721 ; 3d ed., Newport, 1772 ; 5th ed., with notes by Judge Davis, 1826 ; 6th ed., with notes by the Congregational board, 1855). In 1680 he wrote a brief ecclesiastical history of the Plymouth church in its records. MORTON, Samuel George, an American physi- cian, born in Philadelphia, Jan. 26, 1799, died there, May 15, 1851. He studied medicine, and graduated at the university of Pennsyl- vania in 1820. In the same year he entered the university of Edinburgh, where he grad- uated in 1823. In 1824 he settled in Phila- delphia as a physician. He was recording sec- retary of the Philadelphia academy of natural sciences in 1825, and president in 1840. In 1834 he went to the West Indies, where he studied the diversity of races and the relations resulting from their contact. In September, 1839, he was elected professor of anatomy in the Pennsylvania medical college, which post he resigned in 1843. His collection of skulls, which was the largest museum of comparative