544 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



Diocletian till its capture by Attila. it was tin- 

 usual residence of the emperors of the \\Y-t. 

 The modern city is about eight miles in circum- 

 ference, and is encompassed on three sides by 

 walls and low ramparts. It has a cathedral, 

 the "Duomo," which dates from the Fourteenth 

 Century, and which is the finest Gothic edifice 

 in Italy, being constructed entirely of white 

 marble. In the Duomo, in 1805, Napoleon I. 

 was crowned King of Italy. The city possesses 

 many other splendid buildings, and numerous 

 educational and other institutions. It is the 

 center of the silk trade of Lombardy, and is the 

 largest book-mart in Italy. In 1872 an Arts Ex- 

 position was held in the city, in 1881, a National 

 Exposition, and in 1907, an International Ex- 

 position of Industrial Arts. Population, 541,- 

 981. 



Minneapolis, a city of the United States, 

 county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota, 

 on both sides of the Mississippi, at the Falls of 

 St. Anthony, eight miles northwest of St. Paul. 

 It is regularly laid out with avenues eighty feet 

 wide, running east and west, having double 

 rows of trees on each side. The public build- 

 ings include the court house, the University of 

 Minnesota (chartered in 1851), the Augsburg 

 Theological Seminaiy, Lutheran (opened in 

 1869); a handsome Free Public Library, the 

 building alone costing $350,000, and containing 

 50,000 volumes. There are numerous fine 

 schools, churches, colleges, banks, theaters, etc. 

 The principal industries are the manufacture 

 of flour, engines, boilers, agricultural imple- 

 ments, carriages, wagons, bicycles, machinery, 

 foundries, and pork-packing. An immense 

 traffic is done in lumber, dressed timber, and 

 general merchandise, it being one of the greatest 

 marts of the northwestern States. The city pos- 

 sesses a territory of about sixty square miles, 

 and is built on a fine esplanade that commands 

 a very fine view of the justly-celebrated Falls 

 of Minnehaha, and several fine lakes. It is a 

 great railroad center, being on the Burling- 

 ton route; Chicago & Northwestern; Chicago 

 Great Western; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 

 Paul; Chicago, St. Paul, Minnesota & Omaha; 

 Great Northern; Minneapolis, St. Paul St. 

 Saulte Marie"; the North Pacific; St. Paul & 

 Duluth; and Wisconsin Central R. R's. The 

 City and County Building stands a monument 

 of the enterprise of the city ; it is a most beauti- 

 ful structure and was built at a cost of $4,000,000. 

 The Masonic Temple and other buildings add 

 to the architectural beauties. There are six 

 daily journals, and a large number of weekly, 

 monthly, and other periodicals. Population, 

 261,974. 



Mirage, a phenomenon extremely common 

 in certain localities, and as simple in its origin 

 as astonishing in its effects. Under it are classed 

 the appearance of distant objects as double, or 

 as if suspended in the air, erect or inverted, etc. 

 One cause of mirage is a diminution of the density 

 of the air near the surface of the earth, produced 

 by the transmission of heat from the earth, or 

 in some other way; the denser stratum being 

 thus placed above, instead of, as is usually the 

 case, below the rarer. Now, rays of light from a 

 distant object, situated in the denser medium 



(i. e., a little above the earth's level), coming in 

 a direction nearly parallel to the earth's surface, 

 meet the rarer medium at a very obtuse angle, 

 and instead of passing into it, are reflected back 

 to the dense medium; the common surface of 

 1 1 H- i \\-o media acting as a mirror. Suppose, then 

 a spectator to be situated on an eminence, and 

 looking at an object situated like himself in the 

 denser stratum of air, he will see the object by 

 means of directly transmitted rays; but besides 

 this, rays from the object will be reflected from 

 the upper surface of the rarer stratum of air be- 

 neath to his eye. The image produced by the 

 reflected rays will appear inverted, and below 

 the real object, just as an image reflected in 

 water appears when observed from a distance. 

 If the object is a cloud or portion of sky, it will 

 appear bv the reflected rays as lying on the sur- 

 face of the earth, and bearing a strong resem- 

 blance to a sheet of water ; also, as the reflecting 

 surface is irregular, and constantly varies its 

 position, owing to the constant communication 

 of heat to the upper stratum, the reflected image 

 will be constantly varying, and will present the 

 appearance of a water surface ruffled by the 

 wind. This form of mirage, which even experi- 

 enced travelers have found to be completely 

 deceptive, is of common occurrence in the arid 

 deserts of Lower Egypt, Persia, Tartary, etc. 

 In particular states of the atmosphere, reflection 

 of a portion only of the rays takes place at the 

 surface of the dense medium, and thus double 

 images are formed, one by reflection, and the 

 other by refraction the first inverted, and the 

 second erect. The phenomena of mirage are 

 frequently much more strange and compli- 

 cated, the images being often much distorted 

 and magnified. 



M iseiio, a promontory of the province of 

 Naples, nine miles southwest of the city of 

 Naples. On the outskirts of the promontory are 

 the extensive ruins of the ancient city of Mise- 

 num, including a vast church and theater. 

 Miseno is much visited on account of its won- 

 derful grotto Draconara, and a curious subter- 

 ranean building or labyrinth, called the Hundred 

 Chambers, supposed to have been anciently 

 employed as dungeons. 



Missolonghi, also Mesolonghi, a small 

 town of Greece, in the government of ^tolia, 

 on the northern shore of the Gulf of Patras, 

 twenty-four miles west of Lepanto. It is chiefly 

 memorable for the two sieges which it under- 

 went during the war of independence in the early 

 part of the present century. In 1822, it was 

 invested by land and sea by the Turks, who, 

 after a siege of two months, were compelled to 

 withdraw. In 1826, it was again besieged by 

 an overwhelming Ottoman force; and after 

 ten months of resistance and suffering, its gar- 

 rison, reduced from 5,000 to 3,000 fighting men, 

 cut their way through the ranks of the enemy, 

 carrying with them a great number of the 

 women and children. The Turks then entered 

 the town, which was all but totally destroyed. 

 Here Lord Byron died in 1824. Population 

 about 4,000. 



Missouri, a river of the United States; 

 formed in the Rocky Mountains, in Montana, 

 winds circuitously along the base of the moun- 



