672 



MILI MONTGOMERYSHIRE. 



of these salts, in moderate quantity, is injurious to 

 the health ; indeed, acetate of potass exists natu- 

 rally in milk, and is the source of some embarass- 

 ment in the detection of the present fraud. The 

 mode of analysis adopted by M. Barruel is as fol- 

 lows : As the alkaline acetates are converted by 

 incineration into carbonates, he endeavoured, by 

 means of this property, to ascertain the quantity of 

 alkali naturally contained in whey. He therefore 

 evaporated a certain quantity of whey to dryncss, 

 incinerated the residue in a platinum crucible, 

 and procured an alkaline ley from the remainder, 

 which,. by the process recommended by Decroisil 

 for measuring the strength of alkaline fluids, in- 

 dicated from one and a half to two degrees 

 of alkalinity. Hence any increase of alkaline 

 strength above the last of these points, must be 

 considered as owing to the intentional addition of 

 carbonate of potass or soda. This is evidently 

 the most difficult of the processes recommended 

 for detecting the various adulterations specified in 

 M. Barruel s paper. Indeed, a chemist alone could 

 conduct it. The others may be easily executed by 

 any body. 



MILL, JAMES; author of the History of British 

 India, and other works, was born in the parish of 

 Logie Pert, Forfarshire, on the 6th April, 1773. He 

 received the early part of his education at the gram- 

 mar school of Montrose, and was afterwards, through 

 the patronage of Sir John Stuart, Bart, of Fetter- 

 cairn, on whose estate his father held a small farm, 

 sent to the university of Edinburgh, where he was 

 educated for the church. In 1800, he accompanied 

 Sir John Stuart to London, where he settled, and 

 supported himself entirely by his pen. For several 

 years, he was a contributor to the Edinburgh Re- 

 view, the British, the Eclectic, and Monthly Re- 

 views. He was also the editor for some time of the 

 Literary Journal, and contributed largely to the 

 Philanthropist, a Quaker periodical. His History of 

 British India was commenced about 1806, and 

 occupied a large portion of his time for a period 

 of ten years. It was published in the winter of 

 1817 18 in 5 vols. 8vo., and was the first history 

 calculated to convey complete and sound views of 

 India and Anglo-Indian affairs. The knowledge 

 of the subject which the author displayed induced 

 the East India Court of Directors (much to their 

 honour, for he had freely censured many of their 

 transactions) to intrust to him, in 1819, the chief 

 conduct of their correspondence with India in the 

 revenue branch of administration. He afterwards 

 rose to be head of the department in the India 

 House of correspondence with India, or, in other 

 words, chief minister for Indian affairs to the East 

 India company. His official duties, however, did 

 not prevent him from continuing to exercise his pen. 

 He contributed a number of valuable articles to the 

 Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, which 

 were afterwards collected and printed in a separate 

 form. The subjects of the principal of these were 

 on Government, Education, Jurisprudence, Law of 

 Nations, Liberty of the Press, Colonies, and Prison 

 Discipline. In 1821 22, he published his Elements 

 of Political Economy, which professed no higher 

 object than furnishing a clear summary of the lead- 

 ing doctrines of that science. In 1829 he published 

 his Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human 

 Mind, a work upon which he had bestowed extra- 

 ordinary labour, and at which he evinced great analy- 

 tical powers. His last work was published in 1835, 

 anonymously, entitled a Fragment on Mackintosh, 



In this work he criticises Sir James Mackintosh's 

 Dissertation on Uie History of Ethical Philosophy 

 with great and uncalled for severity. Mr Mill 

 belonged to the Radical party in politics, and wrote 

 many of the principal articles in the Westminster 

 Review. The celebrated articles on the Formation 

 of Opinions in No. XL, and on the Ballot in No. 

 XXV., were by him. He died of consumption on 

 the 23d of June, 1836, and was buried at Kensing- 

 ton, where he had spent the last five years of his 

 life. He left a widow and nine children. In 

 private, he was highly esteemed. His conversation 

 was eloquent and impressive. He was a stranger 

 to selfishness. Young men were particularly fond 

 of his society; and it was always to him a source 

 of great delight to have an opportunity of contri- 

 buting to form their minds and exalt their charac- 

 ter. 



MIOCENE PERIOD, in geology, means the 

 next to the oldest division of the tertiary strata. 

 It is so called from ptiuv, smaller, xatvvs, recent, be- 

 cause a small minority only of fossil-shells are 

 found imbedded in its formations. Of 1021 shells of 

 this division, only 176 were found to be of recent 

 species, or 18 per cent. The miocene strata are 

 found in Touraine, and in the south of France near 

 Bordeaux, in Piedmont, and in the basin of Vienna 

 and other localities. 



MONTGOMERYSHIRE; an inland county of 

 North Wales, of an irregular form, varying in 

 length from twenty-three to forty miles, and in 

 breadth from nineteen to thirty-three miles. Its 

 area is estimated at 839 square miles. It possesses 

 great variety of character both in surface and soil. 

 The course of the Severn, through the south eastern 

 angle of the county, is marked by a vein of fertile 

 and highly cultivated land. To the west and north, 

 the surface ascends until it reaches the borders of 

 Merioneth in the Berwyn range, which attain a 

 height of 2037 feet ; and to the south-west, on the 

 borders of Cardigan, in the mountain of Plinlim- 

 mon, an elevation of 2463 feet above the level of 

 the ocean. The Breddin hills form a striking 

 feature in the general view of the eastern district, 

 and the table-land, occupying so much of the cen- 

 tral regions, averages 1000 feet in height above the 

 sea. These hills and highlands are much less pic- 

 turesque than the Merioneth and Caernarvon moun- 

 tains, but infinitely more productive, being clad 

 with verdure to their summits. The range which 

 issues northward from Plinlimmon, is called the 

 Backbone of Montgomery, and here originate the 

 principal rivers of the county. The rivers which 

 run westerly from the mountain ridges are the 

 Traeth-back, the Maw, and the Dovey; those 

 which run eastward are the Wye, the Severn, the 

 Vyrnwy, and the Tanat, besides minor streams. 

 The Severn and the Dovey are the only navigable 

 rivers in the county. A navigable canal, com- 

 menced in 1794, connects the Severn at Newtown 

 with a branch of the Ellesmere canal in Shropshire. 

 Its length is twenty-seven miles. Montgomeryshire 

 is very scantily supplied with coal and limestone. 

 Its principal minerals are copper and lead ore. A 

 rich lead mine at Talessi formerly yielded large 

 profits to its owner, Sir Watkins Williams Wynne, 

 but the working has been discontinued owing to 

 the flooding of water. The agriculture of the 

 county is in a backward state : corn and hemp are 

 the principal articles grown. A considerable por- 

 tion of the land is devoted to pasturage. The 

 county is well wooded, and the oaks of Montgomery 



