MIM 



469 



MIN 



fora ted with numerous small pores; often, 

 however, so small as not to be visible to 

 the naked eye. The millepores do not 

 exhibit any. star-like radiations like the 

 madrepores, and their cells are more 

 minute. 



MIL'LEPORITES. Fossil millepores. 



MIL'LET, Fr. millet or mil; Sax. mil; 

 Lat. militim. The Panicum miliaeeum. an 

 annual plant of India, and also the seed 

 considered as grain, and sometimes em- 

 ployed to feed poultry, and as a substi- 

 tute for rice. 



MILLIGRAMME. A French measure of 

 weight, the thousandth part of a gramme: 

 niille, a thousand, and gramme (q.T.). 



Mi L'LI LITRE. A French measure of ca- 

 pacity, containing the thousandth part of 

 a litre : tuille, a thousand, and litre ,q. v.). 



MILLI'XETRE. A French measure of 

 length, equal to the thousandth part of a 

 metre: mille,a. thousand, and m?lre(<i.v.). 



MIL'LIXG. 1. The process otherwise 

 called fulling, performed by means of the 



fulling-mill. 2. A process in coining, 



which consists in stamping the coin by 

 the help of a machine called a mill, in 

 lieu of making the stamp by the blows of 

 a hammer, which was formerly the mode. 

 By aid of the coining apparatus of Messrs. 

 Koulton and Wat, about 20,000 pieces of 

 money can be struck in an hour; the 

 machine acting at the same time as a re- 

 gister, keeping an unerring account of 

 the number of pieces which have been 

 struck. The work is done by eight 

 presses. The term milling had originally 

 reference only to the dressing of the 

 edges of the coins ; but, as they are now 

 stamped and milled at the same instant, 

 the ter^p milling is taken to signify the 

 whole process. 



MILL'STOSK. A stone used for grinding 



grain (see MILL). 2. In mineralogy, 



burrhstone (q. v.), of great use for mak- 

 ing into millstones. Millstone grit is a 

 siliceous conglomerate, composed of the 

 detritus of primary rocks, and forming a 

 bed of considerable thickness (300 or 400 

 feet) in some situations. It is thus named 

 from some of the strata having been 

 worked for millstones. 



MILREE'. A coin of Portugal equal to 

 1000 rees (miUe, a thousand). The iniiree 

 valued in cold '= 5s. 7 id. sterling, and in 

 silver = 5*. 



MIME', from mimus, an actor. One who 

 .acted in the ancient comedy by mere ges- 

 ture, and hence denominated jNmtomtaM 



MIM'OSA. A genus of Lomentaceous 

 fits. Polygamin Mnnaecia. Name 

 r.its. an actor, in allusion to the 

 motions of the plant, which mimic the 

 sensibility of animal life. There arc about 

 30 species, but the sensitive plant (M. 

 tentitiva) of Brazil, and the Humble- 

 plant V 3/. pudica) of the West Indies, are 



p'u 

 fro: 



those best known. All the species inha- 

 bit hot climates. 



MI'NA, IMW A money of account in 

 ancient Greece, equal to 100 drachms, 

 about 11. 17s. There was also a lesser 

 mina, valued at seventy-five drachmas. 

 The Hebrew mina, mm, or maneh, which 

 is mentioned in the Old Testament, was 

 valued at sixty shekels, above 54 in 

 gold, and in silver nearly 7. In old Eng- 

 lish law, mina was a corn measure, the 

 quantity of which varied with the dif- 

 ferent things measured by it. The toll 

 or duty paid for selling corn by this mea- 

 sure was called minaye. 



MIS'ARET. A circular turret in Sara- 

 cenic architecture, rising by different 

 stages or divisions, each of which has a 

 balcony. Minarets are commonly erected 

 over the mosques in Mohammedan coun- 

 tries. The word is said to be Turkish. 



MIND, Lat. mens. from u,-*o;- A term 

 which, like lift, is used in two accepta- 

 tions. In the one it signifies the pheno- 

 mena arising from the exercise of the 

 power of thinking; in the other it sig- 

 nifies the thinking power or principle it- 

 self. See MATERIALISM. 



MiNE,Fr. mine, a mine or ore. A gene- 

 ral name for excavations, when made for 

 the purpose of obtaining metallic ores 

 and other minerals. There are lead- 

 mines, copper-mines, gold-mines, coal- 

 mines, &c. In fortification, a chamber for 

 containing materials for blowing up any 

 place. 



MIN'ERAL, from mine. A body destitute 

 of organization, and which naturally ex- 

 ists in the earth, and may be extracted 

 by mining: distinct from fossils, which 

 are mineralised organic matters, as shells, 

 wood, bones, &c. The study of minerals 

 constitutes mineralogy. The term mineral 

 is also used adjectively, as in (1.) Mineral 

 adipoctre, a fatty bituminous substance, 

 which occurs in the argillaceous iron ore 

 of Merthyr, in Wales. It fuses at 160 F. 

 (2.) Mineral caoutchouc, a variety of bitu- 

 men which much resembles Indian rubber 

 in softness and elasticity, and like that 

 removes pencil traces from paper. Found 

 near Castleton in Derbyshire. (3.) Mine- 

 ral charcoal, a fibrous variety of non-bitu- 

 minous mineral coal. (4.) Mineral waters, 

 waters impregnated with mineral sub- 

 stances. (5.) Mineral kingdom. That de- 

 partment of nature which includes mine- 

 rals or inorganic bodies, and of which 

 mineralogy is the science. (6.) Mineral 

 acids. The sulphuric, nitric, and hydro- 

 chloric acids have been so called, but the 

 name would be more appropriately ap- 

 plied to chromic, tungstic, molybdic, &c. 

 acids, which are really peculiar to the 

 mineral kingdom. (7.) Mineral salt* 

 Salts found native, being formed by th 



