M I 
MITfDLESSLY, erfr. ltcedlefsly; Inattentively. _ 
MIN'DO, a town of South-America, in the audience 
of Quito: twenty miles north-weft of Quito. 
MINDO'RO, one of the Philippine iflands fituated 
about twenty-feven miles from the ifland of Lu$on ; of a 
triangular form, and about 150 miles in circumference. 
The ifland is high and mountainous, abounding in cocoa 
and other fruit trees, with fome rice. A part of the ad¬ 
joining lea is called the Sea of Mindoro. Lat. 12.21. to 
i j. 30. N. Ion. 100.24.. to 121. 24.. E. 
MINDOW'LY, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Singowla: ten miles north of Saipour. 
MINDYGUR', a town of Hindooftan, in Oude : five 
miles fouth of Canoge. 
MINE, pronoun pofleffive ; [myn, Sax. mein, Germ, mien, 
Fr. mens, Lat. It was anciently the practice to ufe my be¬ 
fore a confonant, and mine before a vowel, which euphony 
(till requires to be obferved.j Belonging to me.—When 
a wife man gives thee better counlel, give me mine again. 
Shake/peare K. Lear. 
Thou art a foul in blifs, but I am bound 
Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears 
Do fcald like molten lead. Shakejpeare K. Lear. 
MINE, f. [mwyn or mum, Welfh, from maen, a ftone.] 
A place or cavern in the earth, which contains metals or 
minerals; but the term is more particularly applied to 
thofe which yield metals. Where ftones only are pro¬ 
cured, the appellation of quarries is univerfally bellowed 
upon the places from which they are dug out. 
Though (freighter bounds your fortune did confine, 
111 your large heart was found a wealthy mine. Waller. 
A cavern dug under any fortification that it may fink for 
want of fupport ; or, in modern war, that powder may be 
lodged in it, which being fired at a proper time, whatever 
is over it may be blown up and deflroyed.—Build up the 
walls of Jerufalem, which you have broken down, and fill 
up the mines that you have digged. Whitgift. 
By what eclipfe (hall that fun be defac’d ? 
What mine hath erll thrown down fo fair a tower ? 
What facrilege hath fuch a faint difgrac’d ? Sidney. 
[Formerly fometimes ufed for] Magnet: 
The mine , 
Which doth attraft my fpirit to run this martial courfe, 
Is the fair guard of a diftrelled queen. 
Maehiris Dumb Knight. 
The internal parts of the earth, as far as they have been 
yet invelligated, do not confift of one uniform lubftance, 
but of various Jtrata or beds of l’ubftances, extremely dif¬ 
ferent in their appearances, fpecific gravities, and chemi¬ 
cal qualities, from one another. Neither are thefe ftrata 
fimilar to one another either in their nature or appear¬ 
ance in different countries 5 fo that, even in the Ihort ex¬ 
tent of half a mile, the ftrata will be found quite different 
from what they are in another place. As little are they 
the fame either in depth orfolidity. Innumerable cracks 
and fiffures, by the miners called lodes, are found in every 
one of them; but thefe are fo entirely different in fize 
and fhape, that it is impoflibie to form any inference from 
their fize in one place to that in another. In thefe lodes 
or fiffures the metallic ore is met with; and, cpnfidering 
the great uncertainty of the dimenfions of the lodes, it is 
evident that thebufmefs of mining, which depends on that 
fize, mult in like manner be quite uncertain and preca¬ 
rious. 
Mr. Pryce (in his Mineralogia Cornubienfis) informs 
us, that the fiffures or veins of the Cornifh mines extend 
from eall to weft ; or, more properly, one end of the filfure 
points weft and by fouth, or weft and by north ; while 
the other tends eall and by fouth, or eall and by north. 
Thus they frequently pafs through a conliderable tradl 
af country with very few variations in their direction, un- 
lefs they be interrupted by fome intervening caulev But, 
Vo L. XV. No. 1054.. 
n e . m 
befides this eaft and weft direftion, we arfe to confider 
what the miners call the underlying, or hade, of the vein 
or lode ; viz. the deflection or deviation of the fiflure from 
its perpendicular line, as it is followed in depth like the 
(lope of the roof of a houfe, or the defcent of the deep 
fide of a hill. This Hope is generally to the north or 
fouth; btit varies much in different veins, or fometimes 
even in the fame vein ; for it will frequently Hope or un¬ 
derlie a fimall lpace in different ways, as it may appear to 
be forced by hard ftrata on either fide. Some of the fif- 
fures do no: vary much from a perpendicular, while fome 
deviate more than a fathom; that is, for every fathom they 
delcend in perpendicular height, they deviate likewife as 
much to the fouth as north. Others differ fo much from 
the perpendicular, that they aflume a poiition almoft ho¬ 
rizontal ; whence they are alfo called horizontal, or flat, 
lodes, and fometimes lode-plots. Another kind of thefe 
has an irregular poiition with regard to the reft; widen¬ 
ing horizontally for a little way, and then defcending per¬ 
pendicularly almoft like flairs, with only a fmall firing or 
leader to follow after; and thus they alternately vary 
and yield ore in feveral flat or horizontal fiffures. This, 
by the Cornifh tinners, is called (but in Mr. Pryce’s opi¬ 
nion erroneoufly) a floor, orfqunt ; which, properly fpeak- 
ing, is a hole or chalm impregnated with metal, making 
no continued line of direction or regular walls. Neither 
does a floor of ore delcend to any conliderable depth; for 
underneath it there appears no fign of a vein or fiffhre, 
either leading direftly down or any other way. This 
kind of vein is very rare in Britain. The fiffures moft 
common in Britain are the perpendicular and inclined, 
whether their direction be north or fouth, eaft or weft. 
Mr. Pryce, in the courfe of his work, obferves, that, 
though the metallic veins generally run from eaft to weft, 
they are frequently interfecled by veins, or lodes, as he 
calls them, of other matters, which run from north to 
fouth. Some of thefe crofs-veins contain lead or anti¬ 
mony, but never tin or copper. Sometimes one of thefe 
unmetallic veins interfefils the true one at right angles, 
fometimes obliquely ; and fometimes the mixture of both 
is fo intimate, that the moft expert miners are at a lofs to 
difcover the leparated part of the true vein. When this 
lafl is intercepted at right angles, it is moved either north 
or fouth, a very little way, perhaps not more than one fa¬ 
thom ; in which cafe, the miners, having worked to a fmall 
diftance in one of thefe directions, if they find themfelves 
difappointed, turn to the other hand, and feldom fail of* 
meeting with what they expeCted. Sometimes they are 
directed in their fearch by the pointing of a rib or firing 
of the true vein ; but, when the interruption happens in 
an oblique direction, the difficulty of finding the vein 
again is much greater. When two metallic veins in the 
neighbourhood of each other run in an oblique direction, 
and of confequence meet together, they commonly pro¬ 
duce a body of ore at the place where they interfeCl; and, 
if both are rich, the quantity will be confiderable ; but, if 
one be poor and the other rich, then both are either en¬ 
riched or impoverifhed by the meeting. After fome time 
they leparate again, and each will continue its former di¬ 
rection near to the other; but fometimes, though rarely, 
they continue united. 
Veins of metal, as has been already obferved, are fre¬ 
quently, as it were, fo comprefled betwixt hard ftrata, 
that they are not an inch wide ; neverthelefs, if they have 
a firing of good ore, it will generally be worth while to 
purfue them ; and they frequently turn out well at lafl, 
after they have come into fofter ground. In like manner, 
it is an encouragement to go on if the branches or lead¬ 
ers of ore enlarge either in width or depth as they are 
worked ; but it is a bad fign if they continue horizontal 
without inclining downwards ; though it is not proper 
always to dilcontinue the working of a vein which has 
an unfavourable afpeCl at firlt. Veins of tin are worth 
working when only three inches wide, provided the ore 
be good j and copper ores, when fix inches wide, will pay 
% S Q very 
