MILLER'S THUMB 



5416 



MILLINERY 



critical circumstances, as, for 

 example, the German reparations 

 question, the future of Central 

 Europe, and the settlement of in- 

 ternal affairs in France. He was a 

 prominent figure of the Allied con- 

 ferences at Lympne in May and 

 Aug. of that year. Deschanel, who 

 had been elected president over the 

 head of Clemenceau, was compelled 

 to resign in Sept. The election for a 

 new president, held on Sept. 24, 

 resulted hi an overwhelming ma- 

 jority for Millerand, who received 

 695 votes as against 69 received by 

 M. Delory, the Socialist candidate. 

 He resigned the presidency in June 

 1924 following an adverse vote in 

 the Chamber. 



Miller's Thumb. Popular 

 name for the small fresh-water fish, 

 Cottus gobio. It is better known 

 under its name bullhead (q.v.). 



Millet. General term for a 

 number of grasses grown either for 

 fodder or for their seeds (grain), 

 which constitute important sources 

 of food. Among the latter are 

 kurrakan or ragi (Eleusine coro- 

 cana), extensively grown in India, 

 Ceylon, and Africa ; in India esti- 

 mated to yield about 25,000,000 

 cwt. of grain per year. The millets 

 proper are various species of 

 Panicum, cultivated in India and 

 S. Europe. 



The variety frumentaceum of 

 P. crusgalli is known in India 

 as shama or same. The common 

 millet is P. miliaceum ; the little 

 millet is P. miliare ; the Italian 

 millet, Setaria italica, has been in 

 general cultivation in Asia from 

 the most remote times. Indian 

 millet, Kaffir- or guinea-corn, is 

 Sorghum vulgare, whose grain is 

 known as durra. It is an important 

 cereal in S. Europe, Africa, and 

 Asia, the seeds yielding a fine 

 white flour suited for bread- 

 making. The stems of the var. sac- 

 charatum yield sugar. The fodder 

 millets are Guinea-grass (Panicum 

 maximum), Mauritius -grass (P. 

 molle), barnyard -grass (P. crus- 

 galli), etc. Guinea-grass grows very 

 rapidly, eight cuts having been ob- 

 tained in one year. See Indian Millet. 

 Millet, AIME( 1819-91). French 

 sculptor and painter. Born in 

 Paris, Sept. 27, 1819, he was a pupil 

 of David 

 d' Angers and 

 of Viollet-le- 

 Duc, and en- 

 tered the Ecole 

 des Beaux 

 Arts in 1836. 

 His chief 

 works are 

 J e u n e Patre 

 pleurant son 

 chevreau, 

 1849; Ariadne, 



1857 (Luxembourg Museum) ; the 

 ihuge statue of Vercingetorix for 

 the plateau of Alise, Cote-d'Or, 

 1865; the tomb of Henri Murger in 

 Montmartre cemetery; and a group 

 of figures on the Opera House in 

 Paris. He also painted copies of 

 Italian and Spanish old masters. 

 He died in Paris, Jan. 14, 1891. 



Millet, JEAN FRANCOIS (1814- 

 75). French painter. Born at 

 Gruchy, near Cherbourg, Oct. 4, 



Aime Millet, 

 French sculptor 



Self-forlrail in crayon, 1846-47 



1814, the son of Normandy peas- 

 ants, he received early instruction 

 from Mouchel, in Cherbourg, in 

 1832, and later from Langlois. He 

 went to Paris with a scholarship, 

 1836, and entered Delaroche's 

 studio, where Diaz and Rousseau 

 were also students. He commenced 

 by painting elegant pictures and 

 nudes, as L' Amour Vainqueur. 

 For a time he painted signs at 

 Cherbourg, returning to Paris in 

 1842. In 1849 he settled at Barbi- 

 zon as a painter of pictures of 

 peasant life, for the naturalistic, 

 but dignified and sympathetic 

 treatment of which he has few 

 equals. Some of his pictures have 

 become, through reproduction, 

 world-famous. The Sowers was 

 exhibited in 1851 ; The Gleaners, 

 1857 ; The Angelus, and Death and 

 the Woodcutter, 1859; The Man 

 with the Hoe, 1863. He was com- 

 missioned in 1873 to decorate the 

 Pantheon with the Four Seasons, 

 but only charcoal studies were pro- 

 duced. He died Jan. 20, 1875. See 

 Angelus ; consult Lives, A. Sensier, 

 Eng. trans. H. de Kay, 1881 ; J. C. 

 Ady, 1910. Pron. Meelay. 



Mill Hill. District of Greater 

 London. Between Edgware and 

 Totteridge, and once a hamlet of 

 Hendon, it is 8J m. from London 

 by the G.N.R., and 9 m. by the 

 M.R. The straggling, picturesque 

 old village, at an elevation of 400 



ft., commands some of the most 

 delightful views hi the *co. of 

 Middlesex. N Here are Mill Hill 

 School (g.t.) ; the parish church 

 of S. Paul, 1829-36 ; S. Joseph's 

 missionary college of the Sacred 

 Heart; two convents; the Linen and 

 Woollen Drapers' Cottage Homes ; 

 and the barracks. S. Vincent's 

 Convent was once known as Little- 

 berries House, said to have been 

 built by Charles II, and to have had 

 Nell Gwynn as occupant. On the 

 site of Mill Hill School were the 

 gardens of Peter Collinson (1694- 

 1768), naturalist and antiquary. 

 William Wilberforce and Sir Stam- 

 ford Raffles lived at Highwood. 

 Pop. 4,400. 



Mill Hill School. English 

 public school. Founded in 1807 

 as a school for the sons of Non- 

 conformists, its constitution was 

 remodelled in 1869. It has a fine 

 range of buildings, standing in 

 grounds of 70 acres, at Mill Hill, 

 London, N.W. There are five 

 houses, accessories in the shape of 

 laboratories, etc., accommodation 

 being provided for about 300 boys. 

 The school is divided into upper, 

 middle, and lower, and there are 

 classical and modern sides. Al- 

 though mainly supported by Non- 

 conformists, there are no sectarian 

 tests. There are scholarships, both 

 to the universities and to the 

 school itself. A Gate of Honour 

 commemorates the 200 old boys 

 who fell hi the Great War. 



Millibar. Thousandth part of 

 a bar, the meteorological unit of 

 atmospheric pressure. The older 

 practice of speaking of atmospheric 

 pressure as equal to so many niches, 

 or millimetres, is open to objection, 

 for these are units of length, not of 

 pressure. A bar is equal to the 

 pressure of a column of mercury 

 750 millimetres, or 29 '53 inches 

 high at C. in latitude 45. The 

 millibar has been used by the 

 British Meteorological Office since 

 May, 1914. See Meteorology. 



Millieme. Egyptian copper 

 coin. It is the tenth part of a 

 piastre, or the one-thousandth of 

 an Egyptian pound. The piastre 

 is called 5 milliemes. The millieme 

 is nominally worth about a farthing. 

 See Piastre. 



Millinery. Term applied to the 

 making and confection of women's 

 hats and other headwear. It comes 

 from Milaner, a dealer in Milan 

 goods, hence in the 16th century a 

 seller of needles, cutlery, haber- 

 dashery, fancy goods, and hats, a 

 considerable supply of which was 

 derived from N. Italy. The centre 

 of the millinery trade is now Paris, 

 where the best training is probably 

 to be obtained. See Costume ; 

 Dressmaking ; Fashion. 



