MIGRATION OF ANIMALS 



3795 



MILAN 



it was carried to Europe and America. The 

 name was given it in France and means little 

 darling. From a low, bushy mass of smooth, 

 soft green leaves, the mignonette sends incon- 

 spicuous spikes of bloom. The tiny flowers of 

 green and white fringe, brightened only by 

 reddish anthers within, would attract no atten- 

 tion were it not for their delightful fragrance. 

 Through cultivation many improvements have 

 been made in the size and color of the flower 

 spikes. 



The mignonette thrives best in a cool tem- 

 perature and a rather light soil. It is hardy, 

 and a succession of seed plantings will furnish 

 a continuous supply of blooms. Seeds sown 

 in July will insure flowers in November, a fact 

 dwelt upon by Eliza O. Pierson in her poem, 

 Mignonette. 



MIGRA'TION OF ANIMALS. See ANIMAL, 

 subtitle Migration of Animals. 



MIGRATION OF BIRDS. See BIRD, subtitle 

 Migration of Birds. 



MIKADO, mikah'doh, a word meaning ex- 

 -alted gate, is the official title of the emperor of 

 Japan. It is heard more outside of Japan, 

 however, than in that country, where he is 

 preferably called Tenshi-Sama,"Son. of Heaven," 

 Mikado being reserved for poetry. The impe- 

 rial line dates back to 660 B.C. and descent is 

 claimed from the gods, that created all things. 

 The mikadoship is therefore the longest con- 

 tinued office in existence. The person of the 

 mikado is held in the most sacred veneration, 

 for he is regarded by the Japanese as the 

 foundation of all wisdom and the center of their 

 history and government. Each mikado has a 

 title by which he is known to history after 

 death. Yoshihito, who ascended the throne in 

 1912, is the 133rd of the line of mikados, seven 

 of whom were women. This unique title is 

 more familiarly known throughout the west 

 than almost any other title, through The Mi- 

 kado, the popular light opera of Gilbert and 

 Sullivan, which is a travesty on the office. 



MILAN, mil' an, or mil an', in Italian Mi- 

 LANO, melahn'o, set in the midst of fertile 

 Lombardy in one of the most picturesque parts 

 of Italy, is the second largest of Italian cities, 

 being surpassed in size only by Naples. For 

 centuries a great commercial center, it has be- 

 come the chief financial and banking city in 

 Northern Italy. Milan is surrounded on three 

 sides by walls, and is entered by fourteen gates, 

 some of them of great magnificence. It has 

 suffered too much from the ravages of war to 

 give the visitor an impression of its antiquity, 



for from the havoc wrought a busy, enterpris- 

 ing city has sprung up. Its royal and archiepis- 

 copal palaces are of regal splendor. On the 

 walls of the refectory of the church of. Santa 

 Maria delle Grazie, built in 1462, is Leonardo 

 da Vinci's Last Supper. Of still greater fame 

 is the magnificent Gothic cathedral, one of the 

 largest churches in the world (see below). 



The principal secular building is the Brera 

 Palace, formerly a Jesuit college, now the pal- 

 ace of fine arts and sciences, containing paint- 

 ings by Raphael, Luini, Bellini, Titian and 

 many other masters. The Ambrosian Library 

 contains 164,000 volumes and 8,100 manuscripts, 

 in addition to a fine collection of drawings and 

 pictures. Milan possesses a famous Conserva- 

 tory of Music, and its opera house is the second 

 largest in Italy. The city carries on a pros- 

 perous trade in grain, cheese, butter, eggs and 

 poultry, and has varied and important manu- 

 factures, including silk, machinery, automobiles, 

 furniture and glassware.- It is, in addition, the 

 center of the Italian book trade. 



Milan's authentic history began about 222 

 B. c., when it was wrested from the Gauls by the 

 Romans. In the twelfth century it was the 

 strongest of the city republics, and two cen- 

 turies later was made a duchy for the family of 

 Visconti, who gradually became supreme over 

 almost all of Lombardy. On the extinction of 

 the Sforza dynasty, Charles V united Milan 

 with Spain. In the early eighteenth century it 

 was ceded to Austria, and later was made the 

 capital of the Napoleonic kingdom of Italy. In 

 1815 it was restored to Austria and continued 

 to be the capital of the Austro-Italian kingdom 

 until the annexation of Lombardy to Piedmont 

 in 1859, when it became a part of United Italy 

 (see ITALY, subtitle History). Population of 

 city and suburbs, 1911, 599,200. 



Milan Cathedral, a world-famous Gothic mas- 

 terpiece, is situated in the chief open square in 

 the center of the life of the city, and ranks next 

 to Saint Peter's at Rome and the cathedral at 

 Seville, Spain, so is the third largest and finest 

 church in Europe. Its foundation was laid by 

 Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1386; and it was 

 completed by order of Napoleon I in 1805-1813. 

 A canal was built solely for the purpose of 

 conveying marble from the quarries of Ticina 

 for its construction. The Milanese were deter- 

 mined to make it their building of buildings, 

 and during the centuries some of the greatest 

 architects of Europe helped to perfect their 

 ideals. The cathedral is built of white Carrara 

 marble, in the form of a cross, with a length of 



