Italian by Senator Girolamo Molin (Venice, 1782). Among his other works are: Le Imprese ed espeditioni di terra santa, &c. (Venice, 1627); De iis quae veneta respublica ad Istriae oras gessit, &c. (in the Corner-Duodo collection of MSS.; De forma reipublicae venetae in MS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. His life has been written by Luigi Lollin (1623), by Niccolo Crasso (1621), and by Antonio Palazzoli (1620).
Francesco Morosini (1618–1694) was one of the greatest captains of his time. As a young man he fought against the Turks and the pirates, and after signally distinguishing himself at the battle of Naxos in 1650 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Venetian navy. He then conducted a series of successful campaigns against the Turks, but was recalled in consequence of the intrigues of his rival the Provveditore Antonio Barbaro (1661). But when Candia was attacked by a large force, under the terrible vizir Keuprili, Morosini was sent to relieve the fortress in 1667; the siege lasted eighteen months, but Morosini, in spite of his prodigies of valour, was forced to surrender to save the surviving inhabitants. He was tried, but acquitted of all blame, and on the renewal of the war with the Turkish Empire in 1684 he was again appointed commander-in-chief, and after several brilliant victories he reconquered the Peloponnesus and Athens; on his return to Venice he was loaded with honours and given the title of “Peloponnesiaco.” In 1688 he was elected doge, and in 1693 he took command of the Venetian forces against the Turks for the fourth time; the enemy which had been cruising in the archipelago withdrew at his approach, so great was the terror inspired by his name. While wintering at Napoli di Romania (Nauplia) he died on the 6th of January 1694.
Bibliography.—Barbaro, Genealogia delle famiglie patrizie venete, MS., clas. vii., cod. 927, in the Marcian Library, Venice; Cappellari, Campidoglio veneto, MS., clas. vii., cod. 17, ibid.; Romanin, Storia documentata di Venezia, also other general Venetian histories; G. Dalla Santa, Due Lettere di umanisti veneziani a Paolo Morosini (in Nuovo archivio veneto, xix. 92); G. Graziani’s life of F. Morosini in Latin (Padua, 1698); A. Arrighi, Vita di F. M. (Padua, 1449). (See also Venice.)
MORPETH, a market town and municipal and parliamentary
borough of Northumberland, England, situated in a fine valley
on the Wansbeck, 1712 m. N. of Newcastle by the North Eastern
railway the junction of several branches with the main line. Pop.
(1901), 6158. The Wansbeck winds round the town on the west,
south and east, and a rivulet, the Cottingburn, bounds it on
the north. The parish church of St Mary, a plain building of
the 14th century, is situated on Kirk Hill, a short distance
from the town. It has a good example of a Jesse window.
Nothing remains of the old castle except the gateway. The
valley of the Wansbeck above Morpeth is well wooded and
very picturesque. By its side are fragments of Newminster
Abbey, a wealthy foundation of the 12th century, occupied by
monks from Fountains in Yorkshire; and Mitford, with its
Norman and Early English church, and ruins of a Norman
castle and a manor-house of the 17th century. To the north
of Morpeth a good specimen of the peel tower of the 15th century
is seen at Cockley Park. Industries of Morpeth include tanning,
brewing, malting, iron and brass founding, and the manufacture
of flannels, agricultural implements, and bricks and tiles. The
parliamentary borough, within the Wansbeck division of the
county, returns one member and extends 8 m. eastward to
the coast, including the town of Blyth. Morpeth is governed by
a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 328 acres.
The manor of Morpeth is said to have been granted to William de Merlay soon after the Conquest and passed with the borough from his family to those of Graystock, Dacre and Howard, earls of Carlisle, with whom it remains. The town is a borough by prescription and grew up round the castle attributed to the above William de Merlay. About the end of the 12th century Roger de Merlay the younger granted the burgesses right to hold of him and his heirs “as freely as the charter of the king purported which he held of the king by gift.” Charles II. incorporated the town in 1662 under the government of two bailiffs who were chosen every year in the following manner: the bailiffs for the time being chose two juries from whom the commonalty elected four burgesses, and from these four the steward of the lord of the manor appointed the bailiffs for the ensuing year. This was continued until the Municipal Reform Act of 1835. In 1200 a market on Wednesday and a fair on the Feast of St Mary Magdalene were granted to Roger de Merlay, and in 1285 the fair was extended for two days. The market rights still belong to the lord of the manor.
MORPHEUS, in Roman mythology, one of the sons of Somnus,
the god of sleep. He was a personification, apparently invented
by Ovid (Metam. xi. 635), of the power that calls up human
shapes (μορφαί) of all kinds to the dreamer. His brothers
Phobetor and Phantasus assumed the forms of all kinds of
animals and inanimate things.
MORPHINE, the chief alkaloid of opium (q.v.), to which the
medicinal action of the former is mainly due. It is not used itself
in medicine owing to its insolubility in water and ether. The
preparations of morphine are incompatible with salts of iron,
copper and mercury, also with lime water and alkaline earths
and substances containing tannin. With ferric chloride it forms
a deep red colour.
The preparations of morphine in the British Pharmacopoeia are as follow: from Morphinae Hydrochloridum are made five subpreparations: (1) Liquor Morphinae Hydrochloridi, strength 1% or about 412 grs. of the hydrochloride to the fl. oz.; (2) Suppositoria Morphinae, made with a basis of oil of theobroma, strength 14 gr. of morphine hydrochloride in each; (3) Tinctura Chloroformi et Morphinae, strength 111 gr. in 10 minims; (4) Trochiscus Morphinae, 136 gr. in each; (5) Trochiscus Morphinae et Ipecacuanhae, strength 136 gr. of morphine hydrochloride and 112 gr. ipecacuanha in each. From Morphinae Acetas, a white soluble amorphous powder, is made Liquor Morphinae Acetatis, strength 1% or 412 grs. of the acetate to 1 fl. oz. From Morphinae Tartras, a white crystalline powder, are prepared, Injectio Morphinae Hypodermica, containing 5% of morphine tartrate, and Liquor Morphinae Tartratis. Morphinae Sulphatis is not official in the British Pharmacopeia but is official in the United States, the U.S.P. Trochisci Morphinae et Ipecacuanhae and Pulvis Morphinae Compositus (Tully’s powder) being made from it. Hypodermic tabloids of morphine sulphate either alone or combined with atropine are much in use. Various non-official preparations of morphine are in use, such as dionin, heroin, glycaphorm and peronin.
Therapeutics.—Morphine is an analgesic and hypnotic, relieving pain and producing deep sleep. As contrasted with opium it differs in being less astringent and constipating. Morphine is the greatest anodyne we possess, and no drug yet discovered equals it in pain-relieving power. The most frequent mode of administration is the hypodermic method, on account of the extreme rapidity with which it is absorbed. In pain due to violent sciatica relief and even permanent cure has been obtained by the injection of morphine directly into the muscle of the affected part, and in the treatment of renal and hepatic colic morphine given subcutaneously will relieve the acute pain consequent on the passage of biliary and urinary calculi. A violent paroxysm of asthma may be arrested by the administration of morphine subcutaneously, but the practice should not be continued, as there is great danger in a chronic disease that the patient may become the victim of morphinism. Morphine is recognized as one of the most useful drugs in the treatment of eclampsia, early injection often arresting the fits. In the cough of phthisis minute doses are of service, but in this particular disease morphine is frequently better replaced by codeine or by heroin, which checks irritable coughs without the narcotism following upon the administration of morphine. In bronchitis with profuse expectoration the use of morphine is particularly dangerous, as it is likely to check the cough so necessary for getting rid of the secretion, but in the converse condition it usefully allays the harassing cough by diminishing the excitability of the respiratory centre. In the dyspnoea of advanced valvular disease of the heart morphine relieves the distress and restlessness, and induces sleep. It should however be withheld if the heart has undergone fatty degeneration. Morphine is a sheet anchor in the later stages of cancer and other painful diseases, rendering the life of the patient one of comparative comfort. If given in excess the drug is eliminated by way of the intestines and kidneys. It
