MINUTE MEN. 575 MIR. War, pledged thcmoclves to take the tield at a uiinutf's iiolke. lu ilassacliusetts tluy were enrolled in pursuance of an act of the Provincial Congress passed Xovember 23, 1774. MINUTOLI, me-noo'to-lt-, Hkixricii, Baron ilK.NL uN ( 1772-1S41)) . A Prussian ollicor and arih:rolugist. He wa.s burn in tioneva of an old Italian family, early entered the Prussian army, and distinguished himself in 17'J3 in the Rhenish eanipuign against France, being severely wounded at Bitseh. Frederick William 111. pro- moted him to be major-general, and in 1820 made him head of the Prussian arelueological expedi- tion to Egj'pt. His valuable Egyptian collection was bought for the Berlin Jluseum. Jlinutoli's last years were spent in retirement at Lausanne. He wrote: Veber aniike Glasmosuik (with Klaproth, 1S14) ; the important Reise zuin Tempel ilcs Jupi- ter Amnion tiiid iiach. Ohc>'ii(ii/ptcii (1824-27); and L'ehcr die Anfcrtiyuntj und yutzaiiwendung der farhigen Gliiser .bei den Allen (1837); as well as a biography of Frederick William III. 1 1838-44), and an account of the campaign of 1792 (1847). MIN'YAS {Gk. Miviai, iliityas). A legend- ary hero connected with the Bcuolian city Orcho- nienos. He is called son of Poseidon in the ear- lier writers, but in Pausanias his father is Cliryses, and he is famed for his riches, and as builder of the first great treasury — really the domed tomb of Orchomenos. His fame in legend is connected with the fate of his three daughters, Leucippe (or Leuconoe), Arsippe (or Arsinoe), and .lcathoe, who, refusing to take part with the Micnads in the orgies of Dionysus, w'ere visit- ed by the god with Bacchic madness, in which they tore to pieces the young son of Leucippe. Their story was acted at the festival of the Agrionia, where the priest of Dionysus, with a drawn sword, pursued women of the family of the MinyadtE. The Argonauts from lolcos in Thessaly were also called Minyie. but the origi- nal connection with ilinyas is ver>' doubtful, and the statements of the ancients arc obviously mere attempts to explain the identity of name. MIOCENE EPOCH (from Gk. imIwv, meiOn, li^s -(- KruvSs, kninos. new). A division of geo- Ingic time following the Oligoccne and preceding the Pliocene epochs of the Tertiary period. The Miocene is represented in the Atlantic and Gulf States by a series of miconsolidated sands and gravels (rarely conglomerates and limestones), which attain a thickness of from 400 to l.'iOO feet. In the interior region it includes the Loup Fork formation of fresh-water strata, occurring in Montana, South Dakota, and the States south- ward to Mexico, and the John Day 1)eds of east- ern Oregon, which are largely composed of vol- canic tuffs and ashes. In Europe the 'Miocene strata are extensively developed. Great geo- graphical changes were accomplished during this epoch, one of the most important being the up- heaval of Central America, by which the conti- nents of North and South America were joined. See Terti.vry System. MIOGA. A kind of ginger (q.v.). MIOHIP'PXJS (from Eng. mio-ccne + Gk. firiros, hijipos, horsp). A name sometiniPs used to designate the Upper Pliocene stage of evo- lution of the horse, represented by the genus Anchitherium. MIOLAN, myo'lii.x', Feux. A name some- times used by the French singer ilarie Caroline Felix Carvallio (q.v.). MIONNET, myo'na', TafiODOKE Eume (1770- 1842). A French numismatist, horn in Paris, where he studied in the College du Cardinal le iloine, and in the Ecole de Droit. After four years of legal practice and a short term in the army, from which he retired because of illness, he became assistant in 1800 in the numismatic cabinet in the Biblioth^ue Nationale, and there began to catalogue the collections. He traveled in Italy, made many valuable numismatic finds, and in 1830 was elected to the -Vcadeniy of In- scriptions. His great works, which still have a distinct scientific value, are Description dcs mvdiiiUes antiques, grecques et romaincs (1806- 30, in 17 vols.) and Dc la ruretc et du prix des iiicdaiUes romaines (1815; 3d ed. 1847). Consult Walckenaer, Xolice historique sur la vie et les ourriKjcH de M. Mionnet (Paris, 184G). MIQUEL, me-keP, .Joii-xxES voN (1829- 1901). A German statesman, born in Xeuenhaus, Hanover, of a family of French emigres, and edu- cated for the bar at Heidelberg and Gijttiugen. In his student days he was a rabid revolutionist and something of a Socialist, but when the period of reaction set in lie soon forsook his earlier sentiments. His practice in Gottingen was very successful, and in 18C4 he was elected a member of the Hanoverian Diet, and in 180.5 Burgomaster of Osnabriick. Removing to Berlin in 1870. he was a director of the Diskontogesellschaft until 1873, and then president of its advisory board uutil 1S7G. Then he was again made Chief Burgo- master of Osnabriick. and in 1880 of Frankfort- on-the-JIain. But his greater field of usefulness was in the Prussian House of Deputies and in the Imperial Diet. There, as in the Prussian House of Lords, of which he was ex-oUicio a mem- ber as Burgomaster of Frankfort, he was a leader of the National Liberal Party and one of Bis- marck's, most able and forceful lieutenants. In 1890 he l^ecame Prussian Minister of Finance, and was hailed as the 'Emperor's man,' no doubt to reassure the country in face of its fear that the new Imperial policy was to be merely reac- tionary. In this office, which Mi(]uel held up to a few months before his death, he showed himself an able financier, and a bold reformer in his attempt to liberate the Im])erial Treasury from depending on the contributions of the various States. As a politician he was an opportunist driven to intrigue with any party and. above all, to any sacrifice of conviction to the policy of the Kaiser, in the hope that he might be made Chan- cellor. But if he was unsuccessful in his pro- gramme of Imperial finance, in his more proper sphere of Prussian finance, by playing somewhat into the hands of the Agrarian Party, he .secured the adoption of a new tax system, which greatly benefited the working classes and at the same time tremendously increased the revenue. On his Prussian policy, consult: Zedlitz und Neukirch, ■'Miquel als Finanz- und Staatsminister," In Preussische Jahrbiichcr (1901). MIQUELON, mo'k'-lox'. An island near Xewfoundhind. See Saint Pierbe a.d Miquelon. MIR, mer (Buss., OChurch Slav, tnirii. union, peace, world, Litb, nirr.i. .Mb. mir, peace). The name of the civil communities of the Russian peasants. All land is held in common and is
