The gods permitting traitors to succeed, Become not parties in an impious deed; And, by the tyrant's murder, we may find, That Cato and the gods were of a mind. Granville. A wholesome law time out of mind, Had been confirmed by fate's decree. Swift. Whether this last sentiment be right or wrong, I am not accountable; it is an original component feature of my mind. Burns. Streams never flow in vain, where streams abound; How laughs the land with various plenty crowned! But time, that should enrich the nobler mind, Neglected, leaves a dreary waste behind. Cowper. Come, then, Philander! for thy lofty mind Looks down from far on all that charms the great, Beattie. MINDANAO. See MAGINDANAO. MINDEN, a government of Prussia, comprising the north-east part of what has been, since 1815, the province of Westphalia, and made up of the old principalities of Minden, Paderborn, Rittberg, and Corvey, the bailiwick of Reckeberg, and the lordship of Rheda. Its area is about 2000 square miles; its population 330,000. It is divided into thirteen districts, or circles, viz. Minden town, Minden district, Rahden, Bunde, Herford, Bielefeld, Halle, Wiedenbruck, Paderborn, Buren, Warburg, Hoxter, and Brakel. The soil is unequal, but the greatest part is fertile in corn, hemp, and flax. The manufactures are linen and thread. The pasturage is good, and the cattle numerous. The principal minerals are iron, lead, and salt. The chief river the Weser. MINDEN, a town of Prussia, and the capital of the above government, 'stands in a pleasant situation, partly on eminences, on the bank of the Weser. While the see of a bishop, it formed a petty republic under his protection, and is a very old town. Over the Weser is a bridge 600 feet in length, and an object of curiosity to architects, for the correct and excellent form of its arches. It has three Lutheran, one Calvinist, and two Catholic churches; a gymnasium, orphan-house, and four hospitals. It has also a Lutheran convent; but the Catholic convent and ancient episcopal chapter, are suppressed. Here are manufactures of woollen, linen, leather, &c. Brewing is also a main pursuit; and the river affords the means of exporting corn and timber. In the vicinity is a number of saw-mills; and the Porta Westphalica, an opening in the neighbouring mountains, through which the Weser passes, is considered an object of curiosity. In 1757 Minden was taken by the French, and retaken the following year by the Hanoverians. In 1759 the French entered once more; but a memorable action, highly honorable to the British troops, being fought in the neighbourhood on the 1st of August, they were obliged to quit it immediately. It was occupied in 1806 by the French, and finally ceded to Prussia in 1814. Inhabitants 6800. Thirty-four miles west from Hanover. MINDEN, a post town of Montgomery, county of New York, on the south side of the Mohawk; sixty-two W. N. W. Albany, west 448. MINDORO. See PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. MINE, pron poss. Sax. myn; Teut. Fr. mien; Lat. meus. Of or belonging to me. It was the ancient practice to use my before a consonant, and mine before a vowel, which euphony still requires. Mine is still used also ⚫ when the substantive precedes: as, this cat is mine. Jhesus answeride to hem, and seide, myn doctrine is not myn, but his that sente me. Wiclif. Jon. 7. A friend of mine is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. Luke. While fortune unfaithfull favoured me with light godes, that sorrowful houre, that is to saie, the deth, had almoste drent myne hedde; but now for fortune cloudie hath chaunged her decevable chere to mewarde, myne unpitous life draweth along ungreable dwellynges. Colvile. Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am bound Upon a wheel of fire; that mine own tears Do scald like molten lead. And may those pleasures gild thy reign, That ne'er wad blink on mine! Burns. MINE, n. s. v. n. & v. a., Belg. myn; MI'NER, n. s. Teut. Dan. and Fr. mine; Swed. and Span. mina; Wel. mum; Fr. mineral; Lat. MINERAL, n. s. & adj. MINERALIST, MINERALOGIST, MINERAL'OGY. mineralia. A mine is a place or cavern whence minerals are dug; hence a cavern or hollow place dug under a fortification: to mine is to dig or form mines or burrows; to sap; ruin by mining; hence to destroy by degrees or secretly: a miner is one who digs in or forms mines: a mineral is a fossile substance dug from mines; an inorganic body of the mass of the earth: as an adjective, consisting of fossile substances; a mineralist, is a person working or skilled in minerals: mineralogy, is the science or doctrine of these bodies, and particularly of their classification, see below: a mineralogist one who treats of, or is skilled in this science. Surely there is a mine for the silver. Job xxviii. 1. Marg. What mine hath erst thrown down so fair a tower? By what eclipse shall that sun be defaced? What sacrilege hath such a saint disgraced? Sidney. broken down, and fill up the mines that you have Build up the walls of Jerusalem, which you have digged. Whitgift. It will but skin and film the ulcerous place, Infects unseen. While rank corruption, mining all within, Shakspeare. Hamlet She did confess, she had Should by the minute feed on life, and lingering For you a mortal mineral; which, being took, By inches waste you. 1d. Cymbeline. The minerals of the kingdom, of lead, iron, copper, and tin, are of great value. Bacon. They mined the walls, laid the powder, and rammed the mouth; but the citizens made a countermine. Hayward. Tatler. A man whose great qualities want the ornament of superficial attractions, is like a naked mountain with mines of gold, which will be frequented only till the treasure is exhausted. Rambler. Can gold calm passion, or make reason shine? Can we dig peace, or wisdom, from the mine? Wisdom to gold prefer; for 'tis much less, To make our fortune, than our happiness. Young. MINE, in the military art, a subterraneous passage, dug under the wall or rampart of a fortification intended to be blown up by gunpowder. It is commonly about four feet square; at the end of this is the chamber of the mine, which is a cavity of about five feet in width and in length, and about six feet in height, and here the gunpowder is stowed. The saucisse of the mine is the train, for which there is always a little aperture left. Two ounces of powder are capable of raising two cubic feet of earth; consequently 200 oz., or 12 lbs. 8 oz., will raise 200 cubic feet, which is only sixteen feet short of a cubic toise, because 200 oz. together have proportionably a greater force than two ounces, as being a united force. All the turnings a miner uses to carry on his mines, and through which he conducts the saucisse, should be well filled with earth and dung; and the masonry in proportion to the earth to be blown up, as three to two. The entrance of the chamber of the mine ought to be firmly shut with thick planks, in the form of St. Andrew's cross, so that the enclosure be secure, and the void spaces shut up with dung or tempered earth. If a gallery be made below, or on the side of the chamber, it must absolutely be filled up with the strongest masonry, half as long again as the height of the earth; for this gallery will not only burst, but likewise obstruct the effect of the mine. The powder should always be kept in sacks, which are opened when the mine is charged, and some of the powder strewed about; the greater the quantity of earth to be raised is, the greater is the effect of the mine, supposing it to have the due proportion of powder. The branches which are carried into the solidity of walls do not exceed three feet in depth, and two feet six inches in width nearly; this sort of mine is fit to blow up the strongest walls. The weight of a cubic foot of powder should be 80 lbs.; one foot one inch cube will weigh 100 lbs.; and one foot two inches and eleven-twelfths, 150 lbs. ; and 200 lbs. of powder will be one foot five inches cube; however, there is a diversity in this, according to the quantity of saltpetre in the gunpowder. If, when the mines are made, water be found at the bottom of the chamber, dry planks are laid, on which the powder is placed either in sacks or barrels of 100 lbs. each. The saucisse must have a clear passage to the powder, and be laid in an auget or wooden trough, through all the branches. When the powder is placed in the chamber, the planks are laid to cover it, and others again across these; then one is placed over the top of the chamber, which is shaped for that purpose; between that and those which cover the powder props are placed, which shore to the inside of the wall, all the void spaces it up; some inclining towards the outside, others being filled with earth, dung, bricks, and rough stones. Afterwards planks are placed at the entrance of the chamber, with one across the top, whereon they buttress three strong props, whose other ends are likewise propped against another plank situated on the side of the earth in the branch; which props being well fixed between the planks, with wedges, the branch should then be filled up to its entrance with the forementioned materials. The saucisses which pass through the side branches must be exactly the same length with that in the middle, to which they join; the part which reaches beyond the entrance of the mine is that which conveys the fire to the other three; the saucisses, being of equal length, will spring together. See FORTIFICATION. The force of a mine is always towards the weakest side; so that the disposition of the chamber of a mine does not at all contribute to determine this effect. The quantity of powder must be greater or less in proportion to the greater or less weight of the bodies to be raised, and to their greater or less cohesion; so that we must allow for each cubic fathom of loose earth 9 lbs. or 10 lbs. Of firm earth and strong sand, 11 lbs. or 12 lbs.; of flat clayey earth 15 lbs. or 16 lbs. ; of new masonry, not strongly bound, 15 lbs. or 20 lbs.; and of old masonry, well bound, 25 lbs. or 30 lbs. The aperture, or entonnor of a mine, if rightly charged, is a cone, the diameter of whose base is double the height taken from the centre of the mine. When the mine has been overcharged, its entonnoir is nearly cylindrical, the diameter of the upper extreme not much exceeding that of the chamber. Besides the shock of the powder against the bodies it takes up, it likewise crushes all the earth that borders upon it, both underneath and sidewise. To charge a mine, so as to have the most advantageous effect, the weight of the matter to be carried must be known; that is, the solidity of a right cone, whose base is double the height of the earth over the centre of the mine; thus, having found the solidity of the cone in cubic fathoms, multiply the number of fathoms by the number of pounds of powder necessary for raising the matter it contains; and, if the cone contains matters of different weights, take a mean weight between them all, always having a regard to their degree of cohesion. As to the disposition of mines, there is but one general rule, viz. that the side towards which one would determine the effect be the weakest; but this varies according to circumstances. It has been found by experiments that the figure produced by the explosion is a paraboloid, and that the centre of the powder, or charge, occupies the focus. The place where the powder is lodged is called the chamber of the mine, or fourneau. The passage leading to the powder is called the gallery. The line drawn from the centre of the chamber, perpendicular to the nearest surface of the ground, is called the line of least resistance. The pit, or hole, made by springing the mine, is called the excavation. The fire is communicated to the mine by a pipe, or hose, made of coarse cloth, whose diameter is about one inch and a half, called a saucisson (for the filling of which near half a pound of powder is allowed to every foot), extending from the chamber to the entrance of the gallery, to the end of which is fixed a match, that the miner who sets fire to it may have time to retire before it reaches the chamber. To prevent the powder from contracting any dampness, the saucisson is laid in a small trough, called an auget, made of boards, three inches and a half broad, joined together lengthwise, with straw in it, and round the saucisson, with a wooden cover nailed upon it. Some authors call the end of the saucisson that comes within the work, and which is to be set fire to, the foyer, or focus; but, by most people, this is generally understood to be the centre of the chamber, though a different view is taken of the matter in Muller's Treatise. MINE S. MINES. To carry on all the processes of the mine requires the combination of very considerable skill in several difficult branches of engineering. Most countries in which metallic veins are found, have the strata under the upper soil, consisting of rock of various degrees of hardness, it is therefore an essential part of the miner's art, and what indeed particularly distinguishes him from a common laborer, to be able to break ground of this sort under all the disadvantages of being cramped for room, exposed to constant streams of water, and not unfrequently to unwholesome air. In Cornwall the workmen generally divide the ground, or rock, into two general classes, one of which they call working ground, and the other is distinguished by the name of shooting ground. The first class includes all such kinds of rock as may be separated or broken by the use only of the pick and wedge, which latter is technically called a gad. The latter denomination is applied to all rock that is so hard as to require the use of gunpowder, which is bored by tools of steel, and loosened and detached by the explosion of the charges rammed into the holes. The tools used by the miners of Cornwall and Devon are simple, and in their hands very effective; the form of the principal ones is delineated in MINING, plate I. The pick, fig. 2, is usually of the shape shown in the drawing, but it is varied a little for some purposes, or for different kinds of rock; the one side is used as a hammer, and is called the poll, it serves to drive the gads, or to detach and loosen projecting parts; the point is steel, carefully tempered, and drawn under the hammer to its proper form, in which considerable nicety is required, as one kind of point will not do for all kinds of ground. The weights of picks are likewise various, according to the situation and circumstances in which they are to be used, but are never very heavy, as experience has fully shown that a rapid succession of smart blows, which may be given by a light tool, produces more effect than a less number from a weighty instrument, which soon tires the workman. The gads, fig. 3, are wedges of steel, which are driven into crevices of the rock, or into small openings made with the point of the pick, and, in skilful hands, they serve to loosen ground of very dense texture. The miners' shovel, fig. 4, has a pointed form, which is necessary to make it possible to force it into or under the coarse and hard fragments of which the waste from a mine principally consists. It is furnished with a long handle somewhat bent, by which a man's power is applied in the most convenient form without stooping the body. The tools for blasting, or, as it is technically called, shooting, consist of the |