M I 
cluttering power lias been laid open to our view, till they 
come up to what may be called the ripening period of the 
•globular form, and total infulation 5 from which it is evi¬ 
dent that the milky way mull be finally broken up, and 
ceale to be a ftratum of fcattered liars. We may alfo draw 
a very important'additional conclufion from the gradual 
diffolution of the milky way ; for the Hate into which the 
incefiant aftion of the cluttering power has brought it at 
prefent, is a kind of chronometer that may be ufed to 
meafure the time of its paft and future exiftence ; and, al¬ 
though we do not know' the rate of going of this myfteri- 
ous chronometer, it is neverthelefs certain, that, fince the 
breaking-up of the parts of the milky way affords a proof 
that it cannot laft for ever, it equally bears witnefs that 
its paft duration cannot be.admitted to be infinite.” 
MILL, J'. [pvM, Gr. mola, Lat. melin, Welfh; myln, 
miln, Sax. movlin, Fr. mo/en, Dut. Johitfon. —Thus our 
word was formerly written milne or my hie, like the Saxon ; 
and, in fome parts of England, a miller is ftiil called 
milner. Chaucer, “■ thefe milnejiowcs," Tr. and Creff. ii. 
1385. Serenius calls mill “ vox antiquifiima, multifque 
linguis communis ; and lie deduces it from the Gothic 
inalan, toIgrfiid. Todd .] An engine or fabric in which 
corn is ground to meal., or any other body is comminuted. 
In general an engine in which any operation is performed 
with a circular motion, by means of wind or water, the 
hand, or by animal force.—A miller had his arm and fca- 
pula torn from his body by a rope twitted round liis wrift, 
and fuddenly drawn up by the mill. Sharp's Surgery .— 
The table, and”we about it, did all turn round by water 
which ran under, and carried it about.as a mill. Sidney. 
The firft and moll obvious method of reducing corn 
into flour for bread would be by the Ample expedient of 
pounding; and that was forages the only one which was 
praCliled by the various defeendants of Adam, and actu¬ 
ally continued in ufe among the Romans below the reign 
of Vefpafian. But the procefs was very early improved 
by the application of a grinding power, and the intro¬ 
duction of miil-Aones. This, like molt of the common 
refinements in domeftic life, was probably the invention 
of the antediluvian world, and certainly praCtifed in fome 
of the earliell ages after it; and, like moll of them, it 
was equally known in the eaft and weft. Hence the Gauls 
and Britons appear to have been familiarly acquainted 
with the ulb of hand-mills before the time of their fub- 
miflion to the Romans; tile Britons particularly dillin- 
guilhing them, as the Highlanders and we diltinguiih them 
at prefent, by the fimple appellation of querns, carnes, or 
fiones. To thele the Romans added the very ufeful in¬ 
vention of water-mills; (lee the article Mechanics, vol. 
xiv. p. 620.) a difeovery which they would neceffarily in¬ 
troduce with their many'"other refinements among us. 
And that they aClually did, the Britilh appellation of a 
water-mill fully luggefts of itfelf; the melin of the Welfh 
and Cornifh, the mull, meill, and melin, of the Armori- 
cans, and the Lrifh muilean and mnilind, being all evi¬ 
dently derived from the Roman niola and molendinum. 
The fubjeCl Britons univerfaily adopted the Roman name, 
but applied it, as we their luccefibrs do, only to the Ro¬ 
man mill-, and one of theft was probably ereCted at every 
ftationary city in the kingdom, One plainly was at Man- 
chefter, lerving equally the purpofes of the town and the 
accommodation of the garrilon; (Whitaker’s Hill, of 
Manchefter.). And one along would be l’ufficient, as the 
ufe of hand-mills remained very common in both, many 
having been found about the iite of that ftatioh particu¬ 
larly, and the general practice having defeended among 
us nearly to the prelent period. Such it would be pecu¬ 
liarly necelfary to have in the camp, that the garrifon 
.might be provided againft .a liege. And the water-mill 
at Manchefter was fixed immediately below the cattle - 
field and the town, and on the”channel of the Medlock. 
There, a little above the ancient ford, the ftuice of it was 
accidentally difeovered about thirty years ago. On the 
margin, of Dyer’s Croft, and oppofite to Ipme new ccn- 
ftructions, the current of the river, accidentally fwelied 
L L. 385 
with the rains, and obftruCled by a dam, broke down the 
northern bank, fwept away a large oak upon the edge of 
it, and difclofed a.long tunnel in the rock below. This 
has been fince laid open in part with a fpade. It appeared 
entirely uncovered at the top, was about a yard in width, 
and another in depth, but gradually narrowed to the bot¬ 
tom. The fides Ihowed every-where the marks of the 
tool on the rock; and the courfe of it was parallel with, 
the channel. It was bared by the flood about twenty- 
five yards only in length, but was evidently continued 
much further; having originally begun, as the nature of 
the ground evinces, juft above the large curve in the 
channel of the Medlock. 
For the firft five or fix centuries of the Roman ftate, 
there were no public bread-bakers in the city of Rome. 
They were firft introduced into it from the eaft, at the 
conclufion of the war with Perfeus, (not Pyrrhus, as er- 
roneoufiy ftated at vol. ii. p. 633.) and about the year 167 
before Chrift; and, towards the dole of the firft century, 
the Roman families were fupplied by them every morn¬ 
ing with frelh loaves.for breakfaft. But the fame cuftom, 
which prevailed originally among the Romans and many 
other nations, has continued nearly to the prefent time 
among the Mancunians, or people of Manchefter. The 
providing of bread for every family was left entirely to 
the attention of the women in it ; and it was baked upon 
ftones, which the Welfh denominate greidiols, and we 
gredles. It appears, however, from the kiln-burnt pot¬ 
tery whichhas been difeovered in the Britilh fepulchres, 
and from the Britilh appellation of an odyn, or oven, re¬ 
maining among us at prefent, that furnaces for baking 
were generally known among the original Britons-. An 
odyn would, therefore, be ereeled at the manlion of each 
Britilh baron, for the ufe of hivnfelf and his retainers. 
And, when he and they removed into the vicinity of a 
Roman ftation, the oven would be rebuilt with the man- 
lion, and the public, bakehonfes of our towns commence 
at the firft foundation of them. One bakehoufe would 
be cUnftru&ed, as we have previoufly mown one mill 
to have been let up, for the public fervice of all the 
Mancunian families. One oven and one' mill appear to 
have been equally eftablilhed in the town. And the in¬ 
habitants of it were immemorially accuftomed to bake 
at the one and grind at the other. Both, therefore, were 
in all probability conftrufted at the firft introduction of 
water-mills and ovens into the country. The great fimi- 
larity of the appointments refers the confideration direftly 
to one and the lame origin for them. And the general 
nature of all luch inftitutioas points immediately to the 
firft and adtual introduction of both. And, as the fame 
eftabliftiments prevailed equally in other parts of the 
north, and pretty certainly obtained over all the extent 
of Roman Britain, the fame ereCtions were as certainly 
made at every ftationary town in the kingdom. 
On the annexed Plate, fig. 1. is a hand-mill, fuch as is 
ftiil conftantly ufed in private houfes in the Eaft; fig. 2 
and 3 Ihow the parts feparately. As the form and office of 
this mill are alike throughout the greater part of Alia, 
travellers deferibe it in nearly the fame terms. The fol¬ 
lowing is from Tourneforr, vol. ii. p. 85. 
“ Thefe mills confift of two flat round Hones,about twen¬ 
ty inches or two feet diameter, which they rub one on the 
other by means of a Hick, which does the office of a handle. 
The corn fails down on the undennoit ftone, through a. 
hole in the middle of the uppermoft, which by its circu¬ 
lar motion fpreads it on the undennolt, where it is bruited 
and reduced to flour; which flour, working out at the 
iron of the mill-ftones, lights on a boafd let on purpose 
to receive it. The bread made thereof is faid ta be; bet¬ 
ter tailed than that of flour ground either by wind or wa¬ 
ter mills : thefe hand-mills coft not above a crown or..a 
crown and a half. Fig. 1. Ihows the mill complete, ready 
for working, with the cup in the upper ftone, for receiv¬ 
ing the corn; and the Hick or handle for- turning it. The 
upper ftone only moves, while the under Hone k at reft. 
Fig. 2. ihows the upper mill-ftong, feparaled from the 
