Cable for_>^>^Jf ,. % w 



Haul ing Kibe Sweeping Wire attached to MINE 



Sweeping Wire 



Mines caught 

 up by wire 



Mine-Sweeping. Pictorial diagram showing how the sweeping wire, drawn by two vessels, catches the mines without 

 exploding them. When a number have been thus collected they are exploded by a heavy charge 



officers had inspected the areas 

 they were to command. At the close 

 of hostilities the British navy pos- 

 sessed 31 paddle mine-sweepers, 57 

 twin-screw mine-sweepers, and 9 

 " tunnel " mine-sweepers. But the 

 major part of the work was con- 

 ducted by a great force of trawlers, 

 drifters, yachts, motor-boats, and 

 other vessels, officered and manned 

 by crews drawn from the entire sea- 

 faring community. They were con- 

 stantly employed in all the waters 

 surrounding the British Isles, at 

 the Straits of Gibraltar, at the 

 Otranto barrage, and for a long 

 time at the Dardanelles, often 

 under fire and the menace of 

 bomb-dropping aeroplanes. 



The general system is based on 

 that of trawling for fish, but the 

 mine-trawlers work in pairs, steam- 

 ing abreast at the required distance 

 and dragging between them a 

 weighted steel wire sweeping 

 hawser. When the hawser en- 

 counters the mooring of a mine it 

 cuts or breaks it, and the sub- 

 merged case rises to the surface, 

 where it may be exploded by gun- 

 fire. Other systems have been 

 tried, including an explosive sweep, 

 but most of the mine-sweeping in 

 the war was achieved, with several 

 varieties of equipment, by this 

 simple and direct system. The 

 operations of the mine-trawlers 

 in the war were directed to the 

 sweeping of the sea avenues, thus 

 made safe for shipping ; and prac- 

 tical immunity was fully secured for 

 those ships which obeyed the navi- 

 gational instructions they received 

 before sailing. . : . 



Mine-sweeping by trawlers did 

 not end with the hostilities. In 

 March, 1919, infinitely more mines 

 required to be swept up than had 

 been removed during the war. A 

 Mine Clearance Service was organ- 

 ized numbering over 13,000, and to 

 its members the king's badge was 

 issued. It was disbanded in Nov., 

 1919. But mine-sweeping con- 

 tinued, and not until the middle 

 of 1921 was the North Sea fully 

 cleared of mines. For many years 

 after the Russo-Japanese War dis- 



asters from drifting mines were 

 not infrequent in the waters of 

 the Far East. See Paravane. 



Minette. In geology, name given 

 to an igneous rock composed chiefly 

 of orthoclase felspar and biotite. 

 Minette is rich in ferro-magnesian 

 minerals. It forms one of the chief 

 ores of the German and Belgian 

 smelting industries and belongs 

 to the Jurassic system of rocks. 

 Minette is the German word for 

 iron ore. See Iron. 



Minghetti, MARCO (1818-86). 

 Italian statesman. Born at Bo- 

 logna, Sept. 8, 1818, he was edu- 

 cated at the university there, 

 travelled in Europe, and made a 

 study of political economy, taking 

 especial interest in the free trade 

 movement in England. In 1846 he 

 started a newspaper, II Felsineo, 

 which brought him such reputa- 

 tion that in 1848 Pius IX made 

 him minister of public works. Very 

 soon, however, he espoused the 

 cause of Ital- 

 ian unity and 

 joined the 

 army of 

 Charles Albert, 

 distinguishing 

 himself at the 

 battle of Cus- 

 tozza, 1848. A 

 friend of 

 Cavour, he be- 

 came secre- 

 tary-general to 

 the ministry of foreign affairs in 

 1859, and in 1860 minister of the 

 interior. From 1863-64 he was 

 prime minister. In 1868 he was ap- 

 pointed ambassador to London, and 

 held a similar appointment in Vi- 

 enna, 1870-73, when he returned to 

 Italy and again became prime minis- 

 ter, retaining office until 1876. Min- 

 ghetti died at Rome, Dec. 10, 1886. 

 Mingrelia. Region of Georgia. 

 It is in the dist. of Kutais in Trans- 

 caucasia, and is a vast, extremely 

 fertile plain, also producing iron, 

 gold, and manganese. The inhabit- 

 ants belong to the Georgian stock, 

 though speaking a distinct lan- 

 guage. Mingrelia, the ancient 

 Colchis, was for some time tribu- 



Marco Minghetti, 

 Italian statesman 



tary to Georgia, but regained its 

 independence in 1414. It was an- 

 nexed by Russia in 1867. Area, 

 2,400 sq. m. Pop. 230,000. 



Minho OR MINO (anc. Minius). 

 River of N.W. Spain and N. Por- 

 tugal. Rising in the N. highlands of 

 the prov. of Lugo, it flows through 

 it and S. W. through Orense. It then 

 divides Pontevedra from Vianna 

 do Castello in Portugal, falling into 

 the Atlantic Ocean, S. of Guardia 

 and N. of Caminha, after a course of 

 173 m. The area of its drainage 

 basin is est. at 157,000 sq. m. It is 

 navigable by small vessels only for 

 some 25 m., up to Salvatierra in 

 Galicia. Its estuary is wide, but is 

 impeded by a sand bar. The Sil is 

 its chief tributary. 



Miniature. Although the word 

 miniature has come to connote size, 

 i.e. portraits small enough to be 

 held in the hand, it was derived 

 from minium, the Latin word for 

 the red lead used in illuminated 

 MSS. for the delineation of illustra- 

 tions in small size. These were 

 doubtless at times cut out and 

 framed separately. 



Probably the French miniatures 

 attributed to Clouet were actually 

 cut out from MSS. Certainly at 

 first miniatures were painted on 

 vellum, parchment, or chicken 

 skin, stretched upon cardboard, 

 usually on a portion of a playing 

 card. Thence the idea was adopted 

 of painting actually upon card- 

 board and, in the 17th century, on 

 ivory. Miniatures have also been 

 painted on copper or silver, slate, 

 lapis lazuli, and marble. 



The greatest exponents of the 

 art have been Englishmen, but it 

 received ready acceptance on the 

 Continent, and some of the best 

 painters in the 18th century were 

 Frenchmen or Swedes. Some of 

 the finest miniatures were executed 

 by Holbein (1497-1543). Following 

 him came Nicholas Hilliard (1537- 

 1619) and his followers and the two 

 Olivers, Isaac (d. 1617) and Peter 

 (d. 1647). Their works are marked 

 by extreme attention to detail, 

 simple technique, a striking ab- 

 sence of shadows, the presence, as a 



