MINTO 



cylinders, driven by an 

 eccentric, punch out from the fillet 

 disks known as " blanks " and 

 force them into two holes in the 

 bed of the machine, the fillet being 

 pushed along automatically until 

 all the blanks are cut out. The 

 metal left over, known as " scissel," 

 is re-melted. The blanks are then 

 " marked," i.e. the edges are 

 thickened so as to form a rim, and 

 the diameter reduced by being 

 placed between a revolving steel 

 plate and a fixed block. Formerly 

 the edges were " marked " with an 

 inscription. After being annealed, 

 the blanks are washed in water and 

 dried in sawdust, the oxide of 

 copper deposited on the silver 

 blanks being removed with hot 

 dilute sulphuric acid. 



The blanks then go through the 

 coining press, a modified form of 

 the original Uhlhorn lever press. 

 Each blank is placed on a fixed 

 engraved die and subjected to 

 pressure from another engraved 

 die, being held, meanwhile, in a 

 collar which produces the crenated 

 ("milled") or engraved edge a 

 precaution against clipping or 

 filing. The blanks, having received 

 the necessary impressions from the 

 dies and collar, are now coins. 

 After being " rung " the finished 

 corns are weighed on the automatic 

 balance, a modification of that 

 designed in 1843 by William 

 Cotton, deputy governor of the 

 Bank of England. Those that are 

 too light or too heavy are re- 

 melted. Sample coins are collected 

 in a ," pyx " or box, and annually 

 weighed and assayed by the Gold- 

 smiths' Company the test being 

 known as the " trial of the pyx." 

 The crown alone has, through 

 Parliament, the prerogative of coin- 

 age. See Coinage; Numismatics. 

 Min to, GILBERT ELLIOT, IST 

 EARL OF (1751-1814). British 

 administrator. The eldest son of 

 Sir Gilbert 

 Elliot, third 

 baronet, of 

 Min to, Rox- 

 burghshire, he 

 was born at 

 Edinburgh 

 April 23, 1751, 

 and educated 

 at the Pension 

 Militaire, Fon- 

 tainebleau, and 

 later at Edinburgh and Oxford. 

 He was called to the bar at Lincoln's 

 Inn, 1774, and in 1776 was returned 

 to Parliament for Morpeth. From 

 1777-84 he represented Roxburgh- 

 shire. At first a Whig, he joined 

 the opposition in 1782. He helped 

 Edmund Burke (q.v.) in framing 

 the case against Warren Hastings 

 and Sir Elijah Impey. In 1790 he 



1st Earl of Min to, 

 British administrator 



was returned M.P. for Helston, Corn- 

 wall, and was viceroy of Corsica, 

 1794-96, and governor of India, 

 1807-13. Created earl of Minto 

 and Viscount Melgund in 1813, he 

 died at Stevenage, June 21, 1814, 

 and was buried in Westminster 

 Abbey. See Life and Letters, 

 3 vols., 1874; Lord Minto in India, 

 3 vols., 1880, edited by his great- 

 niece, the countess of Minto. 



Minto, GILBERT JOHN ELLIOT- 

 MURRAY- KYNYN MOUND, 4TH EARL 

 OF (1847-1914). British adminis- 

 trator. Born 

 July 9, 1847, 

 son of the third 

 earl, whom he 

 succeeded in 

 1891, he was 

 educated at 

 Eton and Cam- 

 bridge, and 

 joined the Scots 

 Guards in 1867, 4tb'Earl of Minto, 

 retiring in 1870. British administrator 

 He served with the Turkish army, 

 1877, and with the British in the 

 Afghan War, 1879, was private 

 secretary to Lord Roberts, at Cape 

 Colony, in 1881, and was a volun- 

 teer in the Egyptian campaign, 

 1882. Military secretary to Lord 

 Lansdowne, when governor- 

 general of Canada, 1883-85, he 

 was chief of the staff to the 

 government forces in the N.W. 

 Canadian rebellion of 1885. He 

 unsuccessfully contested Hexham 

 in 1886. Lord Minto was governor- 

 general of Canada, 1898-1904, and 

 viceroy of India, 1905-10. He 

 died March 4, 1914, and was suc- 

 ceeded by his son, Victor Gilbert, 

 Viscount Melgund (b. 1891). 



Minton Ware. Soft and hard 

 paste porcelain ware made at 

 Stoke-upon-Trent. The Mintons 

 were making semi - transparent 

 china in 1790. In 1825 they re- 

 verted to a white-bodied earthen- 

 ware, with printed design and a new 

 borax glaze. After further experi- 

 ments they produced both soft and 

 hard paste porcelain, artistic in de- 

 sign and decoration. Parian ware 

 was also made. The Mintons also in- 

 troduced encaustic tiles in various 

 styles, majolica, Palissy ware, and 



Minton Ware. Vases of later Minton earthenware, 

 about 1360. From specimens in the Herbert Allen Col- 

 lection, Victoria and Albert Museum 



By eourlety of B.M. Slationfry Office 



admirable della Robbia plaques 

 and panels, all remarkable for the 

 excellence of body, design, colour- 

 ing, and the permanence of the 

 non-poisonous glazes. See Pottery. 

 Minucius Felix, MARCUS. 

 Latin writer and Christian apolo- 

 gist. A lawyer by profession, he 

 practised in the Roman courts. 

 His only known work is the 

 Octavius, a dialogue between a 

 Christian and a pagan, at the end 

 of which the pagan announces 

 himself converted. The Christian- 

 ity expounded by Minuoius is of a 

 very broad type ; apparently he 

 wrote to influence the educated 

 of his time, to whom he presents 

 Christianity rather as a system of 

 philosophy than as a religion. The 

 author's nationality and the date 

 of the Octavius between 160- 

 250, or even 300 are uncertain. 



Minuet (Fr. menuet). Dance 

 for two persons in three-four time. 

 It originated in Poitou, and was 

 developed from the courante (q.v.), 

 being more ceremonious and 

 stately than that dance. It was 

 introduced into Paris in 1650, 

 shortly became the most important 

 dance of the court, and has ever 

 since been regarded as the highest 

 form of dancing. There were four 

 variations upon the original dance, 

 the one most used being Le 

 Menuet de la Cour. As a musical 

 composition the minuet occurs in 

 many of the suites of Bach and 

 Handel, and in the symphonies of 

 Haydn. See Dancing. 



Minuscule. Term applied to 

 the letters of the small cursive 

 writing which the monks of the 

 7th to the 9th centuries developed 

 out of the previous uncial char- 

 acters, which are larger and re- 

 semble modern capitals. From the 

 minuscule script were evolved the 

 modern small or lower case letters, 

 also called minuscules. 



Minusinsk. Town of Siberia. 

 In the government of Yeniseisk, 

 165 m. S.W. of Krasnoyarsk, it is 

 on the Yenesei river, and the ter- 

 minus of a branch rly. from the 

 Trans-Siberian main line. There 

 are tallow boileries and tanneries, 

 and considerable trade in corn, 

 cattle, and gold 

 washings. Pop. 

 10,000. 



Minute. In the 

 measurement of 

 time, the sixtieth 

 part of an hour. 

 Minute is also the 

 term applied to 

 the sixtieth part 

 of a degree of a 

 circle, i.e. a min- 

 ute of an arc, and 

 in architecture it 

 is the sixtieth 



