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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:martyn:43020400ba34",
    "title": "MARTYN",
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    "verified_text": "martyn, john (1699-1768), english botanist, was born in london on the 12th of september 1699. originally intended for a business career, he abandoned it in favour of medical and botanical studies. he was one of the founders (with j. j. dillen and others) and the secretary of a botanical society which met for a few years in the rainbow coffee-house, watling street; he also started the _grub street journal_, a weekly satirical review, which lasted from 1730 to 1737. in 1732 he was appointed professor of botany in cambridge university, but, finding little encouragement and hampered by lack of appliances, he soon discontinued lecturing. he retained his professorship, however, till 1762, when he resigned in favour of his son thomas (1735-1825), author of _flora rustica_ (1792-1794). although he had not taken a medical degree, he long practised as a physician at chelsea, where he died on the 29th of january 1768. his reputation chiefly rests upon his _historia plantarum rariorum_ (1728-1737), and his translation, with valuable agricultural and botanical notes, of the _eclogues_ (1749) and _georgics_ (1741) of virgil. on resigning the botanical chair at cambridge he presented the university with a number of his botanical specimens and books. see memoir by thomas martyn in _memoirs of john martyn and thomas martyn_, by g. c. gorham (1830). martyr (gr. [greek: martyr] or [greek: martys]), a word meaning literally \"witness\" and often used in that sense in the new testament e.g. matt, xviii. 16; mark xiv. 63. during the conflict between paganism and christianity when many christians \"testified\" to the truth of their convictions by sacrificing their lives, the word assumed its modern technical sense. the beginnings of this use are to be seen in such passages as acts xxii. 20; rev. ii. 13, xiii. 6. during the first three centuries the fortitude of these \"witnesses\" won the admiration of their brethren. ardent spirits craved the martyr's crown, and to confess christ in persecution was to attain a glory inferior only to that won by those who actually died. confessors were visited in prison, martyrs' graves were scenes of pilgrimage, and the day on which they suffered was celebrated as the birthday of their glory. martyrology was the most popular literature in the early church. while the honour paid to martyrdom was a great support to early champions of the faith, it was attended by serious evils. it was thought that martyrdom would atone for sin, and imprisoned confessors not only issued to the churches commands which were regarded almost as inspired utterances, but granted pardons in rash profusion to those who had been excommunicated by the regular clergy, a practice which caused cyprian and his fellow bishops much difficulty. the zeal of ignatius (c. 115), who begs the roman church to do nothing to avert from him the martyr's death, was natural enough in a spiritual knight-errant, but with others in later days, especially in phrygia and north africa, the passion became artificial. fanatics sought death by insulting the magistrates or by breaking idols, and in their enthusiasm for martyrdom became self-centred and forgetful of their normal duty. none the less it is true that these men and women endured torments, often unthinkable in their cruelty, and death rather than abandon their faith. the same phenomena have been witnessed, not only in the conflicts within the church that marked the 13th to the 16th centuries, but in the different mission fields, and particularly in madagascar and china. see a. j. mason, _the historic martyrs of the primitive church_ (london, 1905); h. b. workman, _persecution in the early church_ (london, 1906); paul allard, _ten lectures on the martyrs_ (london, 1907); john foxe, _the book of martyrs_; mary i. bryson, _cross and crown_ (london, 1904).",
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