534 M I N 
there being destroyed; but, as to the foil'd trees of the 
bogs of Ireland, we are exprefsiy told, that Henry II. 
when he conquered that country, ordered all the woods 
to be cut down that grew in the low parts of it, to fe- 
cure his conquefts by cutting away the places of refort 
of the rebels. 
4. Phytolithus lithophyllum ; the leaves of plants. Im- 
prellions of the leaves of various herbs and trees very fre¬ 
quent in marble, drift, marl, clay, and fandftone ; fome- 
times in flint or indurated oxyd of iron. 
5. Phytolithus antholithus; the flowers of plants. 
a. The fpikes of grades, as thePhalarisbulbofa, andSpica 
frumenti, are found in Silefia, Franconia, and Germany, 
in copper ores, with often a fmall admixture of filver. 
| 3 . The flowers of herbs; as the galium, heliotropium, 
alfines, ranunculus, myagrurn, after, centauria, and va¬ 
rious ferns, are met with in England, Silefia, Germany, 
Swifferland, Sec. impreffions found between various flaty 
ftones. 
6. Phytolithus carpoiithus ; the naked feeds, feed-vef- 
fels, cones, nuts, drupes, and legumes, of plants. Thefe 
arc found in ajfofiil ftate in the coal-mines of England, 
in landftone ill Piedmont, in Bohemia in marl, in Swifler- 
lapd in turf, in Hungary, Auftria, &c. 
f To conclude.—As to the time which muft have elapfed 
to bring fome of the above-deferibed foflils into their pre¬ 
lent ftate, and into the fituations in which we find them, 
the moft contradictory opinions have been entertained ; 
fo contradictory indeed, fo widely differing, as to make 
all approximation hopelefs. It would fcarcely be polfible 
to adduce a ftronger evidence of the glorious uncertainty 
to which the fcience of geology has attained in the pre- 
fent enlightened and philofophical age, than the follow¬ 
ing refults of the lucubrations of two modern profeffors. 
While the Rev. Mr. Cormouls, a correfpondent in the 
New Monthly Magazine, is labouring to prove that the 
age of the globe cannot exceed 6000 years, a Mr. John 
Middleton, in a paper in the Monthly Magazine, affirms 
that the production of the lea-formation muft have oc¬ 
cupied 1,056,000 years! The one eftimates the general 
thicknefs of thole ftrata at 800 yards, accumulated at the 
rate of 15 inches every year; the other at 10,560 feet, 
formed at the rate of about 12 inches in a hundred years ! 
Each of thefe gentlemen brings proofs, which he con¬ 
cludes to be unanfwerable, in fupport of his theory ; and 
between J'uch “ doCfors” our readers, w ; e hope, will not 
expeCt us to “ decide.” 
MINER A'TOR, f. in old records, a miner. 
MINER'VA, in mythology, the goddefs of wifdom, 
war, and all the liberal arts, was produced from Jupiter’s 
brain without a mother. The god, as it is reported, mar¬ 
ried Metis, whole fuperior prudence and fagacity above 
the reft of the gods, made him apprehend that the chil¬ 
dren of fuch an union would be of a more exalted nature, 
and more intelligent, than their father. To prevent this, 
Jupiter devoured Metis in her pregnancy; and, fome time 
after, to relieve the pains which he luffered in his head, 
he ordered Vulcan to cleave it open. Minerva came all 
armed and grown-up from her father’s brain; and imme¬ 
diately was admitted into the affembly of the gods, and 
made one of the moft faithful counfellors of her father. 
The power of Minerva was great in heaven; Ihe could 
hurl the thunders of Jupiter, prolong the life of men, 
bellow the gift of prophecy; and, indeed, flie was the only 
one of all the divinities whole authority and confequence 
were equal to thofe of Jupiter. 
^ The aCiions of Minerva are numerous, as well as the 
kindneffes by which Ihe endeared herfelf to mankind. 
Her quarrel with Neptune concerning the right of giving 
a name to the capital of Cecropia, deferves attention. 
The affembly of the gods fettled the dilpute by promiffng 
the preference to which-ever of the two gave the moft 
ufeful and neceffary prefent to the inhabitants of the 
earth. Neptune, upon this, ftruck the ground with his 
trident, and immediately a horfe iffued from the earth. 
M I N 
Minerva produced the olive, and'obtained the victory by 
the unanimous voice of the gods; who obferved, that the 
olive, as the emblem of peace, is far preferable to the 
horfe, the fymbol of war and bloodfhed. The victorious 
deity called the capital Athenev, Athens, and became the 
tutelar goddels of the place. 
Minerva was always very jealous of her power; and the 
manner in which Ihe punifhed the prefumption of Arachne 
is well known. See Arachne. The attempts of Vulcaij. 
to offer her violence, are ftrong marks of her virtue. 
Jupiter had fworn by the Styx to give to Vulcan, who 
made him a complete luit of armour, whatever he defired. 
Vulcan demanded Minerva; and the father of the god.:, 
who had permitted Minerva to live in perpetual celibacy, 
confented, but privately advifed his daughter to make all 
the refiftance fhe could to frustrate the attempts of her 
lover. The prayers and the force of Vulcan proved in¬ 
effectual, and her chaltity was not violated, though the 
god left on her body the marks of his paffion; and, from 
the impurity wdiich proceeded from this fcuffle, and which 
Minerva threw down upon the earth wrapped up in wool, 
wns born Erichthon, an uncommon monfter. See Erich- 
thonius. Minerva was the firft who built a lhip ; and it 
was her zeal for navigation, and her care for the Argo¬ 
nauts, which placed the prophetic tree of Dodona behind 
the lhip Argo, when going to Colchis. 
She was known among the ancients by many names. 
She was called Athena, for the reafon given above ; Pallas, 
either becaufe fhe killed a giant of that name, or perhaps 
from the fpear which fhe feems to brandijh in her hand, 
(Trahan.) Parthenos, from her remaining in perpetual 
celibacy ; Tritonia, becaufe worfhipped near the lake Tri- 
tonis; Glaucopis, from the bluenefs of her eyes; Agorea, 
from her prefiding over markets ; Hippia, becaufe fhe firft: 
taught mankind how to manage the horfe; Stratea and 
Area, from her martial character; Coryphagenes, becaufe 
born from Jupiter’s brain; Sais, becaufe worfhipped at 
Sais, &c. Some attributed to her the invention of the 
flute, whence fhe was furnamed Andon, Lufcinia, Mu- 
fica, Salpiga, &c. She, as it is reported, once amufed her¬ 
felf in playing upon her favourite flute before Juno and 
Venus ; but the goddeffes ridiculed the diflortion of her 
face in blowing the inftrument. Minerva, convinced of 
the juftnefs of their remarks by looking at herfelf in a 
fountain near Mount Ida, threw away the mufical inftru¬ 
ment, and denounced a melancholy death to him who 
found it. Mariyas was the miferable proof of the vera¬ 
city of her expreffions. 
The worfhip of Minerva was univerfally eftablifhed; 
flie had magnificent temples in Egypt, Phoenicia, all parts 
of Greece, Italy, Gaul, and Sicily. Sais, Rhodes, and 
Athens, particularly claimed her attention; and it is 
even laid, that Jupiter rained a fliower of gold upon the 
ifland of Rhodes, which had paid fo much veneration and 
fuch an early reverence to the divinity of his daughter.. 
The feftivals celebrated in her honour were folemn and 
magnificent. She was invoked by every artift, and par¬ 
ticularly fuch as w r orked in wool, embroidery, painting, 
and fculpture. It was the duty of almoft every member 
of fociety to implore the afliftance and patronage of a 
deity who prefided over fenfe, tafte, and reafon. Hence 
the poets have had occafion to fay, Tu nihil invito, dices, 
faciejve Minerva; and, Qui bene placard Pallada, do&us 
erit. 
Minerva was reprefented in different ways, according 
to the different charafters in which fire appeared. She is 
generally depidled with a countenance more full of maf- 
culine flfinnefs and compofure than of foftnefs and grace. 
Moft ufually fhe was reprefented with a helmet on her 
head, with a large plume nodding in the air. In one 
hand lire held a fpear, and in the other a Afield with the 
dying head of Medufa upon it. Sometimes this Gorgon’s 
head was on her breafl-plate, with living lerpents writhing 
round it, as well as round her llfield and helmet. In moft 
of her ftatues flie is reprefented as fitting; and fometimes 
fhe 
