Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/449

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MURPHY. 445 intrigue.” In 1690, the Earl of Inchiquin took him with him to Jamaica, he being desirous of visiting that island, to make some discoveries relative to the mines there. But this laudable spirit of inquiry was frustrated; for, putting in at Barbadoes, he fell in with some friends, who (as Ware emphatically expresses i t ) “made him drink hard,” which threw him into a calenture, o f which h e died, and, we suppose, was buried there. He wrote the following curious professional tracts:– “An Anatomical Account o f the Elephant, accidentally burnt i n Dublin, o n June 17th, 1681, together with a Relation o f New Anatomical Observations o n the Eyes of Animals.” Also, i n the Philosophical Transactions, h e published, 1 . “A Discourse on the Dissection of a monstrous Double Cat;”—2. “A Conjecture a t the Quantity o f Blood i n Men, with a n Estimate o f the Celerity o f i t s Circula tion;”—3 . “Anatomical Observations on the Heads o f several Fowls.” ARTHUR MURPHY, A dramatic and miscellaneous writer o f some celebrity, was born December 27th, 1727, a t Clooniquin, i n the county o f Roscommon. His father, Richard Murphy, who was a merchant, perished i n 1729, i n one o f his own trad ing vessels, bound for Philadelphia, probably i n a violent storm; but n o intelligence o f the ship o r any o f i t s pas sengers o r crew ever transpired. From this time the care o f the subject o f this present article, devolved upon his mother, who, i n 1735, removed with her children t o Lon don; but Arthur was sent, a t the age o f ten, t o the English college a t St. Omer's, where h e remained six years, and made very extraordinary proficiency i n Greek and Latin, a love for which h e retained a l l his life, and particularly improved his acquaintance with the Latin classics. After his return t o England, i n 1744, h e resided with his mother t i l l August 1747, when h e was sent t o Cork t o a n uncle,