76 THE ANGLEB-NATUEALIST. 



that it has reference to the peculiar form of the head, 

 which, as will be seen by the engraving, is smooth, broad, 

 and rounded, like the thumb of a miller. "It is well 

 known," he observes, " that all the science and tact of a 

 miller are directed so to regulate the machinery of his 

 mill, that the meal produced shall be of the most valuable 

 description that the operation of grinding will permit 

 when performed under the most advantageous circum- 

 stances. His profit or his loss, even his fortune or his 

 ruin, depend upon the exact adjustment of all the various 

 parts of the machinery in operation. The miller's ear is 

 constantly directed to the note made by the running- stone 

 during its rotation over the bed-stone, the exact parallelism 

 of their two surfaces, indicated by a particular sound, being 

 a matter of the first consequence ; and his hand is as con- 

 stantly placed under the meal-spout, to ascertain by actual 

 contact the character and qualities of the meal produced. 

 The thumb by a peculiar movement spreads the sample 

 over the fingers ; the thumb, in fact, employed with tact, 

 is the gauge of the value of the produce ; and hence have 

 arisen the sayings of ' Worth a miller's thumb,' and ' An 

 honest miller hath a golden thumb*,' in reference to 

 the amount of profit that is the reward of his skill. By 

 incessant use in this way, the miller's thumb acquires a 

 form which is said to resemble exactly the shape of the 

 head of the fish so constantly found in the mill-stream, 

 and called the Miller's Thumb." This name also occurs 

 * Ray's Proverbs. 



