MIN 
purpose, viz. neither on a flat, nor on the 
tops of mountains, but on the sides. The 
best situation for a mine, is a mountainous, 
woody, wholesome spot ; of a safe easy 
ascent, and bordering on a navigable river. 
The places abounding with mines are gene- 
rally healthy, as standing high, and ^very 
where exposed to the air; yet some places, 
where mines are found, prove poisonous, 
and can, upon no account, be dug, though 
ever so rich : the way of examining a sus- 
pected place of this kind, is to make ex- 
periments upon brutes, by exposing them 
to the effluvia of exhalations to find the 
effects. 
Mine, in fortification, &c. is a subter- 
raneous canal or passage, dug under any- 
place or work intended to be blown up by 
gunpowder. The passage of a mine leading 
to the powder is called the gallery; and 
the extremity, or place where the powder 
is placed, is called the chamber. The line 
drawn from the centre of the chamber per- 
pendicular to the nearest surface, is called 
the line of least resistance ; and the pit or 
hole, made by the mine when sprung or 
blown up, is called the excavation. The 
mines made by the besiegers in the at- 
tack of a place, are called simply mines ; 
and those made by the besieged, counter- 
mines. The fire is conveyed to the mine 
by a pipe or hose, made of coarse cloth, of 
about an inch and half in diameter, called 
saucisson, extending from the powder in 
the chamber to the beginning or entrance 
of the gallery, to the end of vyhich is fixed 
a match, that the miner who sets fire to it 
may have time to retire before it reaches 
the chamber. It is found by experiments, 
that the figure of the excavation made by 
the explosion of the powder, is nearly a 
paraboloid, having its focus in the centre 
of the powder, and its axis the line of least 
resistance ; its diameter being more or less 
according to the quantity of the powder, 
to the same axis, or line of least resistance. 
MINERAL waters. See Waters, mine- 
ral. 
MINERALIZER, a name to any sub- 
stance found in natural combination with a 
metal ; thus lead is said to he mineralized 
by sulphur, when combined witli it in the 
native sulphuret. 
MINERALOGY, that science which 
teaches us the properties of mineral bodies, 
and by which we learn how to characterize, 
distinguish, and class them into a proper or- 
der. Mineralogy seems to have been in a 
manner coeval with the world. Precious 
MIN 
stones of various kinds appear to have been 
well known among the Jew-s and Egyptians 
in the time of Moses ; and even the most 
rude and barbarous niatons appear to have 
had some knowledge of the ores of different 
metals. As the science is nearly allied to 
chemistry, it is probable that the improve- 
ments, both in chemistry and mineralogy, 
have nearly kept pace wdth each other; and 
indeed it is but of late, since the principles 
of chemistry were well understood, that mi- 
neralogy has been advanced to any degree 
of perfection. The best way of studying 
mineralogy, therefore, is by applying che- 
mistry to it ; and not contenting ourselves 
merely with inspecting the outsides of bo- 
dies, but decomposing them, according to 
the rules of chemistry. This method has 
been brought to the greatest perfection by 
M. Pott of Berlin, and after him by Mr. 
Cronstedt of Sweden. To obtain this end, 
chemical experiments in the large way are, 
without doubt, nece.ssary; but as great 
tracts of the mineral kingdom have been ex- 
amined in this manner by diflferent writers, 
the curious mineralogist need not repeat 
those experiments in their whole extent. 
An easy way may be adopted, which even 
for the most part is sufficient, and the pro- 
cesses of which, though made in miniature, 
are as scientifical as the common manner of 
proceeding in the laboratories, since it imi- 
tates that, and is also founded upon the 
same principles. This method consists in 
making the experiments upon a piece of 
charcoal, with the concentrated flame of a 
candle directed through a blow pipe. The 
heat occasioned by this is very intense, 
more especially if a stream of oxygen gas 
be thrown upon the subject under exami- 
nation ; and the different mineral bodies 
may thus be burnt, calcined, melted, and 
scorified, as w'ell as in any great fur- 
nace. When earths or stones are to be 
tried, it is improper to begin immediately 
with the blow-pipe : some preliminary ex- 
periments ought to be made, by which those 
in the fire may afterwards be directed. For 
instance, a stone is not always homoge- 
neous, or of the same kind throughout, al- 
though it may appear to the eye to be so. 
A magnifying glass is therefore necessary to 
discover the heterogeneous particles, if 
there be any ; and these ought to be sepa- 
rated, and every part tried by itself, that 
the effects of two different things, examined 
together, may not be attributed to one 
alone. This might happen with some of 
the finer micae, which are now and then 
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