M I D
the plate of glafs muft be held gently over the fire, till part of the liquor is evaporated.
The diffeaioti of minute animals, as lice, fleas, &c. requires patience and care ; but it may be done very accurately by means of a needle and a fine lancet* placing the creature in a drop of water, for then the parts will readily unfold themfelves, and the ftomacbj guts, &c. be very diitindUy
- " een ' ^ ■ r , • o
Thcfe feem the belt ways of preferving tranfparent objefcts 5 but the opake ones, fuch as feeds, woods, &c. require a very different treatment, and are belt, preferved and viewed in the following manner.
Cut cards into fmall flips about half an inch long, and a tenth of an inch broad ; wet thefe half-way of their length in gum- water, and with that faflen on feveral parcels ot the object, and as the fpots of cards are of different colours, fucii mould be chofen for every object as are the moft different from its own colours. Thefe are very convenient for viewing by the Microfcopc made for opake objects with the filvcred fpeculum ; but they are proper for any Micro/cope, that can view opake bodies.
A fmall box fhould be contrived for thefe flips, with little mallow holes for the reception of each; and this is conve- niently done, by cutting pieces of pafte-board, fuch as the covers of books are made of, to the fizc of the box, lo that they will juft go into it, and then cutting holes through them with a fmall chiflel, of the fhape of the flips of card, thefe palte-boards having then a paper patted over their bottom, ate cells very proper tor the reception of thefe flips, which may be taken out by means of a pair of plyers, and will be always ready for ufe.
Great caution is to be ufed in forming a judgment on what is feen by the Microfcopc, if the objects are extended, or con- tracted, by force or drinefs.
Nothing can be determined about them, without making the proper allowances; and different lights and poiitions will of- ten ihew the fame object as very different from itfelf. There is no advantage in any greater magnifier than fuch as is cap- able of {hewing the objedt in view dittinctly ; and the lefs the glafs magnifies, the more pleafantly the object is always ieen.
The colours of objects are very little to be depended on, as feen by the Micro/cope ; for their feveral component particles being by this means removed to great diftances from one an- other, may give reflexions very different from what they would, if feen by the naked eye.
The motions of living creatures alfo, or of the fluids contain- ed in their bodies, are by no means to be haitily judged of, from what we fee by the Microjcope, without due confidera- tion ; for as the moving body, and the (pace wherein it moves, are magnified, the motion muft be fo too ; and therefore that rapidity with which the blood feems to pafs through the veflels of fmall animals muft be judged of ac- cordingly : Suppofe, for inftance, that a horfe and a moufe move their limbs exactly at the lame time, if the horfe runs a mile while the moufe runs fifty yards ; too' the number of fteps are the fame in both, the motion of the horfe muft not- withftanding be allowed the fwifteft ; and the motion of a mite, as viewed by the naked eye, or through the Micro- scope, is perhaps not lefs different. Baker's, Microfcope, p. 62. MICTUS Cruentut See the article Bloody Urine. MID-Featbcr, uvthe" Engl ifh falt-woxks, the name given to a fort of partition placed in the middle of the furnace, over which the pan is (et for boiling the fea-water or brine into fait.
This partition divides the body of the furnace into two cham- bers. See the article Salt. MID-Sbip Beam. See the article Beam, Cycl MID A, in natural hiftory, the name of a worm or maggot, of which is produced the purple fly, found on bean-flowers, and thence called the bean-fly. MID AD Alhendi, in the materia medica of the Arabians, a name given to the common indigD blue.
The exprefs meaning of the words is Indian ink ; but this is an erroneous name, founded on Pliny's mifundej-ftanding the words of Diofcorides. The Greeks in general have called the common writing ink Melan ; but they have alfo ufed this word Melan as an adjective, expreffive not only of black, but of deep blue. Thus Theophraftus has called both the violet flowers and the fine deep blue fapphires, Melaneu Pliny, finding him call the indigo when of a very fine and deep colour, Melan In die an, thought it to be dif- ferent from the common indigo, and thence fuppofed it a fort of Indian ink. Thus Indian ink has become a fort of name for this blue. MlDDLING-TtfrfA, in the manege, are the four teeth of a horfe that come out at three years and a half, in the room •f other four foal-teeth, feated between the nippers and the corner-teeth ; from which- fituation they derive the title of Middling, There's one of them above, and one below, on each fide of the jaws. See the article Teeth. iyllDYON, a word ufed by Theophraftus, as the name of a lpeci.es of oak. It is prcicribed by fame of the old nhyficians, Sum. Vol. li. ' "
M I L
in their compofitions ; but is ufualiy fuppofed fo ftand tbefej SL™. error of the C0 P' CS i the word meant being mii'y.
MlbRES, a name by which fome writers have called alp'liakum. bee the article Asphalt 1 A.
MIGRATING-!?^.— Thefe foft maffes of earth have been fometimes known to move out of their place. An'inftanee of this there was in Ireland, in the year 1697, about Charlc- ville, in the county of Limerick. There was heard for fome time a nolle under ground like that of thunder at a great dif- tance, or almolt fpent ; and foon after this the earth of a large bog in the neighbourhood began to move, and a hill or tiling fituated in the middle of it ftood no longer above the level of the reft, but funk flat.
7 'he bog not only moved itfelf, but moved with the neigh- bouring palture-lands, tho' feparated by a large and deep ditch ; the motion continued a coniiderable time, and the fur- face of the moving earth rofe into a fort of waves, but with- out breaking up or burning any where. The pallure-land rofe very high, and was carried on in the fame motion till it refted upon a neighbouring meadow, the whole furface of which it covered, remaining lixtcen feet deep upon its fur- face. The whole quantity of the bog was torn from its for- mer feat, and left great gaps in the earth where it had joined, which threw up foul water, and very fiinking vapours. Phil, Tranf. N° 233.
AH the country came in to fee fo ftrange a fight as this, for it continued moving a long time ; but few guelled the true caufe of it, which was this : A more than ordinary wet I'pring occafioned the riling of the bog to a great height in one part, and thence propagated itfelf through the whole bog ; fo that the hill in the midlt was undermined, and naturally fink flat ; this and the greater than ordinary weight of this large bog prdfing upon the adjoining pafture-land, forced up its totmeja- tions, which were only a lool'e land. This was pulhed on iideways where there was a defcent from the bos, and at length having given the bog more room, all was- quiet and remained in that itate. The bog was more than forty acres of ground.
MiG&ATiNG-Birdi. Seethe article Birds of Passage.
MIHA, in the materia medica, a name ufed by fome authors- for ityrax. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
MILAX, a name by which fmilax is often meant by the Greek writers. The adding or taking away the letter s from words beginning with an m, was a thing common and indifferent among them. This name is however one of the fynonimous terms of the Greeks, fometimes being ufed as the name of the yew-tree, and fometimes as that of the creeping plant we call fmilax at this time. Diofcorides, and Galen, and moft of the later Greek authors, call the tree Milax, and the herb fmilax, as if there were a difference between the two names ; hut this is not regularly kept up by any of them, and in the antients is not regarded at all ; there being no more difference between the words Smileix and Milax, than between fmaragdus and maiagdus, as that word, the name of the emerald, is at times varioufly written.
MILDEW (Cycl.)— Some have fuppofed the blight and Mildew to be both the fame thing, but very crroneoufly. The Mil-' dew, properly fo called, fometimes refts upon the leaves of trees in form of a fatty juice, and fomefunes on the ears of corn ; it is tough and vifcous to the touch, and the fun's heat drying it up, it becomes yet more vifcous and hard, and fo daubs over the young grains in the ear, that they can never after expand themfelves properly, nor grow to their due fize or weight. Bearded wheat is lefs fubject to the Mildew, than the common fort ; and it is obferved, that newly dung'd lands arc more fubject to the Mildew, than others. The molt happy remedy for this is out of the farmer's power, but of- ten happens naturally ; this is a fmart Grower of rain, and immediately afterwards a brifk wind. This wholly difperfes it. If the Mildew is feen before the fun has any power, it has been recommended by many, to fend two men into the field with a long cord, each holding one end, and drawing this along through the ears, the dew will be diflodged from them before the fun's heat is able to dry it to that vifcous ftate in ■ which it does the mifchief. Some alfo fay, that lands which have for many years been fubjecf to Mildezvs, have been cured of it by fowing foot with the corn, or immediately after it. See the article Blight.
MILE (Cycl.) — In Scotland the Mile is equal to 1184. paces, every pace being five feet ; fo that the Scotch Mile contains 5920 feet. Tr. Praif. Geom. p. 4. See the article Measure.
MILIARIUM, the name of a tall and narrow veffel, ufed in the bathing of the antients, for heating water to any degree, to give warmth to the reft. See Mem. Acad. Infcript. Vol. I. p. 127.
MILIARY Fever. Seethe article Purpurea Febris.
MILIOLUM, a word ufed by fome medical writers, to ex- prefs a fmall tumor in the eye-lid, of the fize and fhape of a (zed of the common millet.
MILITARY Rewards. See the article Rewards.
MILIUM, Millet, in the Linnajan fyftem of botany, majces a
diftinc"! genus of plants ; the diftinguilhing characters of which
are, that the calyx is a glunte containing feveral flowers, and
campofed of three valves, which are of an oval figure and
O pointed ;
