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Milk of Magnesia has long been one of the world’s most popular antacids. American John Callen and Englishman Charles Henry Phillips have been credited with its development but Irishman James Murray, who died 150 years ago on December 8th, probably deserves more of the credit than either of those two.
Other scientific areas to which he contributed significantly were the development of agricultural fertilisers and the treatment of respiratory illnesses; he was also greatly interested in electrotherapy and research into the causes of cholera and other epidemics, which he thought resulted from exposure to natural electricity.
He was born in 1788, most likely near Maghera, Co Derry, the eldest son of Edward Murray and Belinda Powell.
Raised as a Catholic, he studied medicine in Edinburgh and Dublin and worked as an apothecary to Belfast dispensary before establishing his own medical practice in the city. He married Margaret Sherlock (sometimes given as Sharrock) in 1809; they had several children, some of whom died prematurely.
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Chemistry and making pharmaceutical products greatly interested him. Magnesia (MgO) was then used as a purge or laxative and he invented a fluid form that made it easier to take; it was the earliest form of what came to be known as Milk of Magnesia, and it was seen as a major advance in therapeutic medicaments and proved popular.
Murray set up a factory in north Belfast to produce fluid of magnesia and got the idea of using byproducts of the production process as soil fertilisers, another of his scientific interests. He had already experimented with adding sulphuric acid to bones; finding that the substance that resulted, biphosphate of lime, benefitted soil fertility.
As well as his work with fluid of magnesia and soil fertilisers, he ran a busy medical practice and developed some properties on what is now Murray Street, Belfast. The degree of MD was awarded to him by Edinburgh University in 1829 and by Dublin University in 1832.
Murray was called to treat the Irish lord lieutenant, Henry Paget and the medicine he administered was so effective that he was appointed the lord lieutenant’s resident physician in Dublin, being subsequently reappointed by two succeeding lord lieutenants.
In Dublin he was again very successful in private practice and was knighted in 1833. Appointed first inspector of anatomy for Ireland under the 1832 Anatomy Act, the legislation he had introduced put an end to body-snatching for anatomy classes, a practice poorer people had dreaded for generations. He proved a diligent and conscientious inspector for his almost 40-year tenure.
Following a visit to Rome in 1844, he studied the causes of malaria. As resident physician to two hospitals, he was the first to recommend the breathing in of iodine in water vapour as a treatment for respiratory illnesses. He also published papers on the technique of tracheotomy operations and on the effects on the body of heat, moisture and air pressure. He was particularly interested in electrotherapy but wrongly attributed the causes of cholera and other epidemics to natural electricity.
His work on artificial fertilisers for agriculture was ongoing and he came to realise the importance of soluble biphosphate of lime because plant roots could more easily absorb it because of its solubility.
His Advice to Famers (1841) shows he was deeply involved in soluble biphosphate production. His son took out English and Scottish patents to try to protect his father’s production process and in 1843, Murray published the extensively researched Trials and Effects of Chemical Fertilisers.
His fertiliser-manufacture patent was bought three years later; the buyer went on to become a major industrialist and got the credit for the discovery of superphosphates, though Murray deserved it.
At the age of 82, he and his son Edward began the manufacture of fluid of magnesia near his house in Temple Street, Dublin.
As noted already, Murray and his first wife had several children, of whom Edward was one. Two sons had died young in Belfast and at least one other son and one daughter survived. Following his first wife’s death, Murray married Mary Allen in 1848 and they had one daughter.
At the time of his death in Dublin, James Murray was described by this newspaper as “truly liberal and benevolent”. He was buried in Glasnevin and must rank as one of the many great scientists Ireland has produced.