MIR 
MIR 
beginning with tlie beating note. This is 
dancing the minuet ; but there are others 
of a time somewhat quicker, and which 
were formerly used as concluding move- 
ments of overtures, sonatas, &c. 
MINUTE, in geometry, the sixtieth part 
of a degree of a circle. Minutes are de- 
noted by one acute accent, thus ( ' ) ; as the 
second, or sixtieth part of a minute, is by 
two such accents, thus ( ; and the third 
by three ("' ), &c. 
Minute, in architecture, usually denotes 
the sixtieth, sometimes the thirtieth part of 
a module. 
Minute is also used for a short memoir 
or sketch of a thing taken in writing. 
MIRABILIS, in botany, marvel of Pe- 
ru, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia 
class and order. Natural order of Nyctagi- 
nes, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx 
inferior ; corolla funnel-form, supeiior ; nec- 
tary globular, inclosing the germ. There 
are four species, having tuberous roots and 
herbaceous stems, which are round and of- 
ten trichotomous ; leaves opposite ; flowers 
terminating in a sort of corymb ; outer ca- 
lyx bell-shaped, spreading ; inner large, pe- 
taloid, funnel-form, ventricose at the base, 
dilated above with a spreading border; 
germ half covered with an ambient gland ; 
stamens inserted into the gland, and glued 
to the calycine tube ; seed globular, cover- 
ed with the coriaceous base of the inner ca- 
lyx. This genus is allieil to the Amaranthi 
and Caryophyllei by its farinaceous seed; 
to the Dipsaceas in its habit and double ca- 
lyx ; it differs, however, in many marks, 
and it is difficult to assign it a place ; hence 
Linnaeus left it among the plants of doubt- 
ful rank, in his “ Ordines Naturales.” 
MIRACLE, is detined by Dr. Samuel 
Clark to be a work effected in a manner 
different from the common and regular me- 
thod of Providence, by the interposition ei- 
ther of God himself, or some intelligent 
agent superior to man. It has been much 
controverted, whether true miracles can be 
worked by any less power than the imme- 
diate .power of God ; and whether, to com- 
plete the evidence of a miracle, the nature 
of the doctrine pretended to be proved by 
it, is necessary to be taken into the consi- 
deration. The above learned author un- 
dertakes to set this matter in a clear light, 
as follows. 
In respect to the power of God, and the 
nature of the things themselves, all things 
that are possible at all, are equally easy to 
be done : it is at least as great an act of 
power to cause the sun to move at all, as to 
cause it at any time to stand still ; yet this lat- 
ter we call a miracle, the former not. What 
degrees of power God may reasonably be 
supposed to have communicated to created 
beings, or subordinate intelligences, is im- 
possible for us to determine : therefore a 
miracle is not rightly defined to be such an 
effect as could not have been produced by 
any less power than the divine omnipo- 
tence. There is no instance of any miracle 
in Scripture, which, to an ordinary specta- 
tor, would necessarily imply the immediate 
operation of original, absolute, and unde- 
rived power. All things that are done in 
the w'orld, are done either immediately by 
God himself, or by created intelligent be- 
ings, matter not being at all capable of any 
law's or pow'ers whatsoever; so that all 
those things which we say are the effects of 
the natural powers of matter and laws of 
motion, are properly the effects of God act- 
ing upon matter continually and every mo- 
ment, either immedia^,ely by himself, or me- 
diately by some created intelligent beings. 
Consequently it is no more against the 
course of nature for an angel to keep a man 
from sinking in the water, than for a man 
to hold a stone from falling in the air, by 
overpowering the law of gravitation ; and 
yet the one is a miracle, the other not so. 
Mr. Hugh Farmer, who has entered 
more fully and more successfully into 
this subject than any other writei', objects 
to all the defininitions of miracles which re- 
present them as effects unusual, above human 
power, and manifesting the interposition of 
superior power; because, he says, the term 
unusual does not distinguish real miracles 
from many things which are. not miraculous, 
such as the rare and uncommon appearances 
of nature ; nor does the calling a miracle an 
effect above human power, distinguish it 
from all other effects equally above human 
power, produced by superior beings, when 
acting within their usual sphere, which, for 
that reason, cannot be miraculous. Besides, 
as this definition comprehends many things 
which ate not miraculous, and to w'hich no 
persons apply the term, so it excludes many 
things which are allowed by all to be pro- 
per miracles. For there seems to be a dif- 
ference between effects above human 
power, or which argue a higher degree of 
power; and effects which argue a power 
barely different from human, and in nO 
manner superior to if. According to thi,s 
definition, beasts and birds may work mira- 
cles ; for they do many tilings that are 
