228 



MIRAJ 



MISIiKMKANOfH 



when the ship is almve the horizon, only one 

 image, and that inverted, is found ; Imt \\ ln-n it is 

 wholly or in great P* rt Iwlow tin- hori/on, d<mlile 

 images, one erect and the other inverted. are fre- 

 quently seen. The faithfulness and distinctness 

 of the-e images at time.- may IK- imagined from the 

 fact that Captain Scoresby, while cruising nil the 

 coast of Greenland in 1822, discovered the propin- 

 quity of his father's ship from its inverted image 

 in tin' sky. Another remarkahle instance of mir- 

 age occurred in May 1854, when from the deck of 

 H.M. screw-steamer Archer, then cruising off 

 Oesel, in the Baltic, the whole English licet of 

 nineteen sail, then nearly 30 miles distant, was 

 seen as if suspended in the air upside down. Be- 

 side such phenomena as these, the celebrated 

 Fata Morgana (q.v.) of the Straits of Messina 

 sinks into insignificance. The Spectre of the 

 Bracken is a magnified shadow of persons, iVc.. 

 on the summit of the mountain, seen at sun- 

 down and sunrise thrown on mist hanks on the side 

 of the mountain opposite to the sun, with or without 

 rainbow colours. This is rather a ylory than a 

 mirage proper ( see H ALOS ). Its varieties are indeed 

 numberless, and we refer those who wish for further 

 information to Brewster's Optics, to Biot's '1 

 de Physique, and for the mathematical theory of the 

 mirage to Tail on Mirage, Truiu. Roy. Soc. Eili/>., 

 1881. See also REFLECTION and REFRACTION. 



Mi raj. a native state of India in the southern 

 Mahratta country ; pop. 69,732. The capital, 

 Miraj, near the Kistna River, lias a pop. of 20,010. 



Minimal*, a palace standing on the rocky shore 

 of the Adriatic near Grigimno, (J miles N'\V. of 

 Trieste, the home of the Archduke Maximilian, 

 afterwards Emperor of Mexico. See also MAJOI:< A. 



Miramirlli, the second river (220 miles) of 

 New Brunswick, entering the Gulf of St Lawrence 

 through Mirnmiclii Hay. It is navigable to 2 

 miles above Newcastle, the principal town <m its 

 hank-. Salmon and trout abound lioth in the river 

 uinl its tributaries, in one of which there is a govern- 

 ment lish-breeding establishment. 



Miranda, or SA DE MIRANDA, FRANCISCO DE 

 (1495-1558), a Portuguese poet, founder of the 

 school of which Cainoens is the most brilliant 

 representative. His earlier efforts were written in 

 Spanish ; his sonnets were the first written in 

 Portuguese ; his most characteristic works, his 

 epistles in verse, are all in Portuguese but one. 

 His works appeared at Lislton in 1595 : a better 

 edition in 1614 ; the most scholarly one, by 

 VasancelloB, at Halle in 1885. 



Miran <lola. a town of Northern Italy, 10 

 miles by rail NNE. of Modena. It has a fine 

 cathedral and an old castle. Pop. 3059. Sec Pico. 



MlrTOlirt. atown iii the department of Vosges, 

 236 miles by rail ESE. of Paris, with manufactures 

 of lace and musical instruments. Pop. .".nil. 



Mirlicld. a manufacturing town in the West 

 Riding nf Yorkshire, .'I miles \V. by S. of Dews- 

 hurv, and 4$ NK. of Hudderslield. It lias a town 

 hall (1868), a parish church (restored in 1871 by 

 Sir G. G. Seott ), and manufactures of woollen 

 cloths, carpets, blanket*, \-c. Pop. of parish 15,872; 

 of town (iHMi 1 1. .ViS; (1891) 11,707. 



Mirror, a reflecting surface, usually made of 

 glass lined at the Lack with a brilliant metal, so 

 an strongly to reflect the image of any object placed 

 liefore it. When mirrors were invented is not 

 known, but the use of a reflecting surface would 

 become apparent to the first person who saw his 

 own image i elleete.l from water ; and probably for 

 Ages after the civilisation of man commenced^ the 

 still waters of ponds and lakes were the only 

 mirrors ; but we read in the Pentateuch ot mirrors 



of brass licing used by the Hebrews. Mirrors of 

 hron/c were in very ronimnn use amongst the 

 ancient Egyptians. Ciecks, ami limiians. and many 

 specimens are preserved in museums. 1'iaxiteles 

 taught the use of silver in the manufacture of 

 mirrors in the year .'ii'S it.c. Mirrors of glass were 

 first made at Venice in 1300: and judging from 

 those still in existence of which one may lie seen 

 at I Inly i ouil Palace, in the apartments of (Jneen 

 Mary they were very rude contrivances, in com- 

 parison with modem ones. It was not until Ii73 

 that the making of minors was introduced into 

 England. It is now a very important manufacture : 

 and mirrors can l>e produced of any si/e to which 

 plate-glass can be cast. After the plate of glass 

 is polished on both sides, it is laid on a perfectly 

 level table of great strength and solidity, usually 

 of smooth stone, made like a billiard table with 

 raised edges; a sheet or sheets of tinfoil sulli- 

 cient to cover the upper surface of the glass are 

 then put on, and mbbed down smooth, after which 

 the whole is covered with quicksilver, which im- 

 mediately forms an amalgam with the tin. The 

 superlbious mercury is then run oil', and a woollen 

 cloth is spread over the whole surface, and square 

 iron weigh is are applied. After this pressure has 

 been continued a day and night, the weights and 

 the cloth are removed, and the glass is removed to 

 another table of wood, with a movable top, which 

 admits of gradually increasing inclination until the 

 unamalgamated quicksilver has perfectly drained 

 away, ami only the film of amalgam remains 

 coating the glass, and ]>erfectly adherent to it. 

 Mirrors are also made by silvering glass with an 

 ammoniacal solution of a silver salt to which 

 tartaric acid and sugar-candy have Iteen added. 



lle.it is reflected like light; so that a concave 

 mirror may be used to bring ra\ s of heat lo a focus. 

 In this way combustible substances may IK- set on 

 fire at a distance from the reflector whence t hey 

 receive their heat Thus used, a mirror is called a 

 Jin ni in;/ Mirror. 



The mirror is one of the most characteristic 

 features of .Japanese life and legend. It is 

 usually of bronze, convex, polished by mercurial 

 amalgam, and engraved on the back. In a few 

 specimens the mirror may lie used as a mirror in 

 ttie ordinary way, but bright light rellected from 

 ils polished surface on to a screen gives bright- 

 lined images corres|>onding to the figures on the 

 Imck. This property of the so called .]/(//< Min-nr 

 of JtijMin is (according to ProlVssoi-s Ayrton and 

 Pel ry | due to inequalities of ciirratuie a>-ociated 

 with inequalities of thickness, the thicker |Kirtions 

 being the flatter. 



Mir7.a(a contraction of Emir Zatiah, 'son of 

 the prince'), a Persian title, equivalent to ' Prince ' 

 when it _/<///!/.< the surname, and merely the 

 common title of honour (like our 'Mr') when it is 

 IK-I ti.ced to it. 



Mir/aiMir. a town and district in the North- 

 we-tein Piovinces of British India. The town 

 stands on the right bank of the Ganges, 45 miles 

 by rail S\V. of Benares. It has maniifactui> 

 shellac, cai|>ct, and brass-wares. Pop. (1891) 

 si l. 'til. The district has an niea of JVJ23 so. m., 

 and a pop. i IS'.II), almost all Hindus, of 1,161,808. 



Ilisrarrlago. See AIK>HTH>N. 



Misdemeanour, in the law of England and 

 Ireland, means a crime not involving forfeiture 

 of property on conviction. Every crime is either 

 treason, felony, or misdemeanour ; and in creating 

 new olleiices the legislature determines how they 

 are to be classed. The distinction lietwecn felony 

 and misdemeanour is not logically drawn, and it 

 would disappear if the criminal law were codified on 

 a rational plan. Sec Stephen's Iliit. ofCrim. Law. 



