MIR 
place above the curve an E, than in that curve, a third 
ray may del'cribe the curve am E. The lame may be laid 
for the rays ii'E, bw E, diverging from b. The altera¬ 
tions of the refractive power may aril's, partly from the 
variations of its deulity, and partly from the variations of 
its moillure ; and the paftage of the rays through the 
boundary of the fog may there fuller a very conliderable 
refraction ; for, from the motion of the fog, and that of 
the images above-mentioned, I have no doubt that the 
fog was a very conliderable agent in producing the phe¬ 
nomena. When all the caules co-operate, I can eafily 
conceive that they may produce the effects which I have 
defcribed. If the caule lhould not operate in the traCt of 
air through which the curves an E, bi >E, pafs, but lhould 
operate in the trad through which am E, bw E, pals, an 
ereCl image would be vifible, but there would be no in¬ 
verted image ; and, lhould it operate in the latter cafe, 
but not in the former, there would be only an inverted 
image. 
“ As the phenomena are very curious, and extraordi¬ 
nary in.their nature, and have not, that I know of, been 
before obferved, I have thought proper to lay adefcription 
of them, with all the attending circumftances, before the 
Royal Society. They appear to be of confiderable im¬ 
portance ; as they lead us to a knowledge of thofe changes 
to which the lower parts of the atmofphere are fometimes 
fubject. If, when thefe phenomena appear, a veffel, fur- 
nilhed with a barometer, thermometer, and hygrometer, 
below, and alfo at the top of the mail, were lent out to 
pafs below the horizon and return again, and an obferver 
at land, having like inftruments, were to note, at certain 
intervals, the lituation and figure of the images, it might 
throw further light on this lubjeCr, and lead to ufeful dif- 
coveries refpecting the Hate of the atmofphere, from a con¬ 
junction of the caules which affect thefe inftruments.” 
Phil. Tranf. vol. lxxxix. p. 13. 
MIRAGOA'NE, a town of the illand of Hifpaniola, on 
the north-weft coaft : fifteen miles weft of Petit Goave. 
MIRAMA'CHI, or Mirachi, a port, bay, and river, 
on the north coaft of New Brunfwick. The port is at the 
entrance of the bay. In the river there is a falnion-filhery. 
MIRAMBEAU', a town of France, in the department 
of the Lower Charente : twelve miles fouth of Pons, and 
fifteen north-weft of Montlieu. 
MIRAMBEL', a town of Spain, in Arragon : thirty- 
two miles north-eaft of Teruel. 
MIRAMBER'CH, a town of Spain, in Catalonia: five 
miles fouth of Vique. 
MIRAMON'T, a town of France, in the department 
of the Lot and Garonne : feven miles weft-fouth-weft of 
Lauzun, and eleven north-eaft of Marmande. 
MIRA'NA, a fmall illand in the North Pacific Ocean. 
Lat. 6a. 35. N. Ion. 190. 34. E. 
MIRAN'DA, a town of Spain, in Navarre : thirteen 
miles fouth-eaft of Eftella. 
MIRAN'DA, a town of Naples, in the county of Mo- 
life : eleven miles weft of Mblife. 
MIRAN'DA. See Eo, vol. vi. p. 849. 
MIRAN'DA de COR'VO, a town of Portugal, in the 
province of Beira, containing about 2700 inhabitants : 
fifteen miles fouth-eaft of Coimbra, and thirty-three 
north of Thomar. 
MIRAN'DA de DUE'RO, a town of Portugal, in the 
province of Tras-os-Montes, fituated in a barren moun¬ 
tainous country, on the Duero, on the frontiers of Spain ; 
the fee of a bilhop. It was once a fortrefs; but in the 
-year 1762, when the Spaniards were befieging it, the 
powder-magazine blew up, and deftroyed the fortifica¬ 
tions ; fince which time it has remained a poor mean 
town. It is twenty-eight miles fouth-eaft of Braganga, 
and thirty-two north-weft of Salamanca, in Spain. Lat. 
41.24. N. Ion. 5.56. W. 
MIRAN'DA de E'BRO, a town of Spain, in Old Caf- 
tile, on the Ebro : thirty-two miles north-eaft of Burgos, 
Vol.. XV. No.. 1065. 
MIR 5tll 
and fifty north-weft of Calahorra. La*. 42. 30. N. Ion. 3. 
2. W. 
MIRAN'DE, a town of France, and principal place of 
a diftrict, in the department of the Gers*: two and a half 
polls Ionth-weft of Auch, and ninety-two • fouth-fouch- 
weft of Paris. Lat. 43. 31. N. Ion. o. 28. E. 
MIRANDE'LA, a town ol Portugal, in the province 
of Tras-os-Montes : thirty miles fouth-weft of Bragan^a, 
and twenty-eight narth-eaft of Lamevo. Lat. 41.2 c N 
Ion. 6.58. W. 
MIRANDOL', a town of France, in the department of 
the Tam : twelve miles north of Alby. 
MIRANDO'LA (Duchy of), a fmall principality of 
Italy, almoft furrounded by the duchy of Modena: raifed 
from a county to a duchy in the year 1619. The former 
dukes were of the houfe of Pico, and vaflals of the Roman 
empire. But the laft duke, Francis Maria,, fiding with 
Spain in the war for the Spanilh fuccelfion, and being upon 
this account put under the ban of the empire; the prin¬ 
cipality, a fief, was in 1711 transferred, for a million of 
guilders, to the duke of Modena, and afterwards con¬ 
firmed to him by the peace of Aix la Chapelle in 1748. 
In 1797 it lhared the fate of Modena, and became a part 
of the Cifalpine Republic, and afterwards of the Kingdom 
of Italy. See Modena. 
MIRANDO'LA, a city of Italy, the late capital of the 
duchy, and the fee of a bilhop. It is ftrong, and defended 
by a citadel; and, befides the cathedral, contains fifteen 
churches and convents. It is twenty-two miles fouth- 
fouth-eaft of Mantua, and fourteen north-north-eaft of 
Modena. Lat. 44. 50. N. Ion. 11.5. E. 
MIRANDO'LA (Giovanni). See Pico. 
MIRA'NO, a well-built market-town of Italy, in the 
Paduan, fituated in an ille in the river Mufon, which ha® 
been converted into a navigable canal, under the appella¬ 
tion of II Taglio di Mira no. The number of the inha¬ 
bitants of this town amounts to 3120, who find abundant 
means of lubliftence in the navigation of this canal, and 
the brifle trade it occasions. It is twelve miles north-eaft 
of Padua. 
MIRAPOR'VO, a rocky illet among the Bahamas, 
near the fouth-weft coaft of Crooked Illand. Lat. 21. 3 s. N. 
Ion. 74. 46. W. 
MIRAPOU'R, a town of Bengal: thirty miles eaft of 
Burdwan. 
MIRAPOU'R, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Sehaurunpour : fifteen miles north of Merat. 
MIRASO'LE, a town of Italy, in the department of 
the Mincio : nine miles Ibuth-fouth-eaft of Mantua. 
MIRAVAL'LES, a town of Spain, in the province of 
Bifcay: nine miles fouth of Bilboa. 
MIR'AVEL, a town of Spain, in New Caftile,- built on 
the fide of a hill, and defended by a caftle ltrongly forti¬ 
fied : twelve miles fouth-foutli-weft of Placentia. 
MIRAUMO'NT, a.town of France, in the department 
of the Somme: fourteen miles north-weft of Peronne. 
MIRAW', or Me row, a town of Moravia, in the cir¬ 
cle of Olmutz : twenty-two miles north-well of Olmutz. 
MIRAY' BAY, a bay on the coaft of the illand of 
Cape Breton. 
MIRBE'LIA, f. [named by Dr. Smith in honour of 
Monf. Mirbel, iuperintendant of the botanic garden at 
Malmaifon, member of various learned academies, and au¬ 
thor of feveral excellent works on the anatomy and phy- 
fiology of vegetables. His elucidations of their reticu¬ 
lated llructure having excited much attention, the prefent 
plant, remarkable for the reticulated afpect of its leaves, 
was judged more particularly fuited to perpetuate his 
name.] In botany,-a genus.of the clals decandria, order 
monogynia, natural order papilionacae, Linn, leguminolle, 
Jujf. Generic characters—Calyx : perianthium inferior, 
bell-lhaped, two-lipped, without appendages ; fomewhat 
angular at the bafe; upper lip of two abrupt oblique pa¬ 
rallel legments; lower of three lanceolate acute equal 
7 D ones. 
