MILAZZO 



MILETUS 



189 



are an academy, a higher technical institute, 

 several scientific societies, a museum of natural 

 history, schools of veterinary practice, music, and 

 a military geographical institute. The charitable 

 institutions are numerous and splendidly endowed, 

 having an aggregate property of 7,000,000 sterling; 

 the Great Hospital (founded in 1448) can accommo- 

 date 2500 patients. Owing to its central situa- 

 tion in the upper valley of the Po, to the fact 

 that it is the principal meeting-place of the north 

 Italian railways and canals, anil owing to its 

 proximity to the Alpine passes, Milan has always 

 been a place of much commerce. It now carries 

 on a vast trade, much increased since the opening 

 of the (iothard railway, in raw silk, cotton, grain, 

 rice, and cheese, and manufactures silks, velvets, 

 gold, silver, and iron wares, railway carriages, 

 tobacco, porcelain, electric-light apparatus, and is 

 an active centre of the printing-trade. Milan 

 is the chief financial and tanking city of North 

 Italy. Pop. (1876) 283,225; (1881) 295,543. This 

 is the pop. of the city (214,084 in 1881) and the 

 suburbs ; the commune had ( 1881 ) 321,839 inhabit- 

 ants : (1890) 360,000. 



Milan (Lat. Mediolanum) was originally a town 

 of the Insubrian Gauls. It was conquered by the 

 Romans, 222 B.C., and under them became a con- 

 spicuous centre of wealth and civic influence ; its 

 citizens were noted for their refined manners and 

 literary tastes, and the public buildings for their 

 beauty and elegance. In the beginning of the 4th 

 century it was selected as the residence of the 

 imperial court by Maximian. It was sacked by the 

 Huns (under Attila) in 452, by the Goths in 539, 

 and passed to the Longobards (509), and to the 

 Franks previous to its subjection by the German 

 empire. Here several of the German emperors 

 were crowned with the Iron Crown. The city was 

 in the llth century the head of the Lombard 

 League of towns that opposed Frederick I., who 

 twice besieged it, and once razed it to the ground. 

 Nevertheless it continued to prosper, notwithstand- 

 ing that it was distracted by the intestine feuds of 

 the Guelphs and Ghihellines. Supreme power 

 became eventually (from 1277) vested in the 

 Ghibellinc Visconti, who extended the ascendency 

 of Milan over the whole of Lombardy, ami in 1395 

 Imiight from the emperor the title of duke. The 

 successors of the Visconti in the lordship of Milan 

 were the Sforzas (1450-1535). From 1555 to 1713 

 Milan submitted to the predominance of Spain, and 

 from Spain passed to Austria. I'nder Bonaparte it 

 was declared the capital of the Cisalpine Republic, 

 of the Italian Republic, ami, linally, of the 

 Kingdom of Italy. In 1815 Milan was restored 

 to Austria, and continued the capital of the Austro- 

 Italian kingdom until the annexation of Lombardy 

 to Piedmont in 1H59 by the j>eace of Villafranca. 

 The 1848 troubles in Italy originated in a revolt of 

 the Milanese against the tyranny of the Austrians. 

 The province has an area of 1213 sq. in. and a 

 pop. (1881) of 1,114,991; and (1889) 1,228,218. 

 See Histories by Rosmini (4 vols. 1820), Cantii 

 (2 vols. 1844), and Cusani (7 vols. 1862-67). 



Mila/7,0 (anc. Mylte), a fortified seaport of 

 Sicily, on a promontory 21 miles W. of Messina. 

 Off Myhe in 260 B.C. the Romans won a great sea- 

 fight over the Carthaginians ; and here on 20th 

 July 1860 Garibaldi, with 2500 men, defeated "000 

 Neapolitans, and compelled the garrison to evacuate 

 the fortress. Pop. 7971. 



MHlew( A.S. Melededw, ' honey-dew '),ageneral 

 name applied to numerous diseases of plants caused 

 by or associated with the parasitism of certain 

 fungi. Tin' name is obviously most appropriate in 

 reference to those fungi which form white mealy 

 patches on the plants. Some of the most important 



are species of Erysiphe, and are common both on 

 leaves and green stems of many Dicotyledons and 

 a few Monocotyledons. The filaments of the 

 fungus branch and spread over the epidermis of 

 the plant, sending suckers every here and there 

 into the cells. They multiply by the asexual 

 formation of spores, and in most cases also from 

 sexually produced fructifications. Among the 

 common forms may l>e noted : Erysiphe lampro- 

 carpa on Composite, Plantago, Verbaseum, 

 Labiates ; E. gruminis on grasses ; E. martii on 

 Umbelliferoj and Leguminosie ; E, commimis on 

 Polygonum, Rumex, Convolvulus, Teasel, Ranun- 

 culus, &c. ; E. (or Outturn) tuckeri on the vine; 

 Pm/osp/icei-a kmizei on Prunns ; P. castagnei on 

 hops. These are all nearly related, but the mildew 

 or rust of corn (Piuxinia graminis or jEcidinm 

 berberidis), whose life is divided between barberry 

 and cereal, lielongs to a distinct series. See FUNGI. 

 Mile, a terrestrial measure of length, is derived 

 from the Roman milliarc, which contained 1000 

 paces (mille passtnim) of 5 Roman feet each, the 

 pace being tne length of the step made by one 

 foot. The Roman foot being between 11 '65 and 

 11 '62 English inches, the Roman mile was thus 

 less than the present English mile by from 142 

 to 144 yards. The length of the modern mile in 

 different countries exhibits a remarkable diversity 

 not satisfactorily accounted for. Before the time of 

 Elizalieth, scientific writers made use of a mile of 

 5000 English feet, from the notion that this was 

 the Roman mile, forgetting the difference in value 

 l>etween the English and Roman foot. The present 

 statute mile was incidentally defined by an act 

 passed in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Eli/a- 

 beth to l>e ' 8 furlongs of 40 perches of 164 ^ ee ^ each ' 

 i.e. 1760 yards of 3 feet eiich ; and it has since 

 retained this value. The geographical or nautical 

 mile or knot is the sixtieth part of a degree of the 

 equator (= 1-151 English statute mile), and is 

 employed by the mariners of all nations ; but in 

 Germany the geographical mile denotes iVth part 

 of a degree in the equator, or 4 nautical miles. 



Miles, NELSON A., a distinguished American 

 soldier, was liorn in Westminster, Mass., August 8, 

 1839, entered the army as captain when the civil 

 war brokeout in 1861, rose gradually, and was mus- 

 tered out of the volunteer service, a major-general, 

 in 1866. In the same year he became colonel in the 

 regular army, and in 1867 he was brevetted briga- 

 dier-general and major-general. He conducted suc- 

 cessfully campaigns ( 1874-90) against the Indians. 

 He was promoted brigadier-general in 1880, major- 

 general in 1890, and was put in command of the 

 army in 1895. In 1900 he received the newly-revived 

 rank of lieutenant-general. 



Milesians, another name for the Scots, the 

 last of the prehistoric invaders of Ireland (q.v., 

 Vol. VI. p. 203); from an assumed eponymous 

 ancestor Mi/esius, whose name is a modification of 

 Miles, a Latin translation of the Celtic Gitlam. 



Mild us. anciently the most flourishing city of 

 Ionia, in Asia Minor, situated near the mouth of 

 the M;cander, was famous for its woollen cloth and 

 carpets, and its furniture, and for its extensive 

 trade. Before being forcibly colonised by the 

 lonians (q.v.) under Neleus, it appears to have 

 been inhabited by Carians or by Leleges. Its 

 people early founded nearly fourscore colonies on 

 the Black Sea and in the Crimea Abydos, Lanip- 

 sacus, Cyzicus, Sinope, Amisus, Olbia, Pantica- 

 pii-uin, &c. sent merchant fleets to every part of 

 the Mediterranean, and even into the Atlantic, 

 and maintained an obstinate war with the early 

 Lydian kings, until Croesus was at length acknow- 

 ledged as their master. They were believed to be 

 the purest representatives of the lonians in Asia. 



