Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X, list of scientific terms with Scottish connections).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
MURCHISON. After Sir Roderick I. Murchison (1792–1871), geologist, of Tarradale, Rossshire. Astron. The name given to a ring or partial crater near the centre of the moon.
1. Geol. In deriv. murchisonite, a red felspar resembling Perthite, found in Devon (1827 W. Phillips in Philosoph. Mag. I. 448).
2. In deriv. Murchisonia. Zool. A genus of fossil gastropod shells, of the family Pleurotomaria, from the Ordovician period (1841 d'Archiac & de Vernenil Bullet. Soc. Geol. de France XII. 156). Also in forms murchisonii, specif. name of an American fossil shell, Corbula (1833 I. Lea Contrib. Geol. 46). Two fossils Ammonites and Ogygia have been called murchisoniae after his wife. A related form to Murchisonia has been called Murchisonid.
