MINT. 573 MINUCIUS FELIX. the excess of exports over imports and the amount consumed in the arts. (See Circular A'ci. IIJ, issued by the United States Treasury De])artnient, July 2, I'JOO. ) The amount of sil- ver coinage for the same period is given in the accompanying tahle. The coinage for 1900 in the mints of the United States was the largest on record, amount- ing to 184,37.3,793 pieces, of the value of .$141,- 351,9(;o.3U. A significant feature was that the chief increase was in subsidiary coins, due prob- ably to the unusual activity of retail trade throughout the country. The seigniorage on the coinage of silver dollars, subsidiary and minor coins during the year amounted to $10,280,302.50. (See Skig^'IORAOE.) Consult the annual reports of tlic Director of the Mint, and also the various pamphlets on coinage issued by the Treasury De- partment at Washington. MINT (AS. minte, Icel. mintii, OHG. ininsa, viiin:<i. (Jer. Minze, Miinze, from Lat. menta, meiitha, from Gk. idvBa, mintha, nivB-q, minthe, mint). Mentha. A genus of plants of the natural order Labiatsp; with small, funnel-shaped, 4-liil corolla, and four straight stamens. The s])i'cies are perennial herbs, vai'ying considerably in ap])earance. but all with creeping rootstocks. The flowers are whorled, the whorls often grouped in spikes or heads. The species are widely dis- tributed over the world ; some of them are very connnon. A'atcr mint (Mentha aquatica) grows in wet grounds and ditches, and corn mint (Mentha arvensis) , which abounds as a weed, in European fields and gardens. The.se and most of the other species have erect stems. All the species contain an aromatic essential oil, in vir- tue of which they are more or less medicinal. The most important species are spearmint, pep- permint, and pennyroyal; spearmint or green mint (Mentha viridis or spicata), a native of almost all the temperate parts of the globe, has erect, smooth stems, from one foot to two feet high, with the whorls of flowers in loose cylindrical or oblong spikes at the top; lanceolate, acute, smooth, serrated leaves, desti- tute of stalk, or nearly so. It has a very agree- able odor. Peppermint {Mentha piperita), a plant of equally wide distribution in the temper- ate parts of the world, is very similar to spear- mint, but has stalked leaves and flowers in short spikes, the lower whorls somewhat distant from the rest. It is very readily recognized by the pe- culiar pungency of its odor and of its taste. Pen- nyroyal (Mentha PnJeriinm) . also very cosmopol- ' itan. has ovate, stalked leaves, a mnch-branched
- prostrate stem. whi<'h somds down new roots as it
' extends in length, and the flowers in distant j globose whorls. Its smell resembles that of the • other mints. All these species, in a wild state, ! grow in ditches or wet places. All are cultivated tin gardens. lIint sance is generally made of ! spearmint, which is also used for flavoring soups, jctc. A kind of mint with lemon-scented leaves, jcalled bergamot mint (Mentha eitrala). is fomd ■ in some parts of Europe, and is cultivated in igardens. Varieties nf peppermint and horse-mint (^tentha si/tresti'ifi) , with eri<]ied nr inflated ru- igose leaves, are much cultivated in Germany under jthe name of cni'led mint ( Kranse-nrinze) : the leaves are dried and used as a domestic medicine, .and in poultices and baths. .Ml kinds of mint are .easily propagated by parting the roots or by cuttings. It is said that mice have a great aversion to mint, and that a few leaves of it will keep them at a distance. Peppermint, pennyroyal, and spearmint are used in medicine. The pharmacopceias contain an ut/ua, S'piritus, and oteuin of each of them, theoHicinal part being the leaves and stems, which should be colh'Ctcd when in flower. Peppermint is extensively used to flavor candy and mixtures to cover the taste of drugs. Nearly one-half of the oil of peppermint and spearmint now used in the world is produced and distilled in Michigan, the great seat of this industry being in Saint Josepli County. MINT FAMILY. An order of plants. See Laeiat.e. MIN'TO, GiLiiERT Elliot, first Earl of (1751- 1814). A British diplomatist and administrator. He was educated at Edinburgh and O.xford, and was called to the bar in 1774. In 177(5 he entered Parliament as a Whig. From 1794 to 1790 he was Viceroy of Corsica. In 1797 he was created Baron Minto, and two years later became Am- bassador to Vienna. On his reappearance in the House of Lords he became an advocate of the union of Ireland with England, and afterwards strenuously opposed Roman Catholic emancipa- tion. He was Governor-General of India from 1807 to 1813, and did much to suppress internal disorder in the regions under his government. Consult The Life and Letters of Lord Minto, edited by the Countess of Minto, his great-niece (1874).' MINTO, William (1845-93). An English literary critic. He was born at Alford, Scotland, and graduated at Aberdeen in 1805. He edited the London Examiner from 1874 to 1S78, and in 1880 became professor of logic and English litera- ture at Aberdeen. He wrote three stories. The Crack of Doom (1886), The Mediation of Ralph Hardelot (1888), and Was She Good or Bad? (1889), but is chiefly known as a critic. In this latter field he published many well-known works, including: Manual of Enfflish Prose Literature, liioijraphical and Critical (1872); Characteris- tics of English Poets from Chaucer to Shirley (1874) ; and Daniel Defoe (for the "English Men of Letters Series," 1879). There appeare<l po.st- humously Unirersiti/ Extension Manual on Lof/ic (1893) ; Plain Principles of Prone Compo- sition (1893) ; and Eiifilish Literature Under the Georges (1894). Original in method, he ably de- fended many novel hypotheses. MIN'TON, TIIOMA.S (176.5-1.836). An English manufacturer of porcelain. He was born in Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury; studied engraving under ■John Turner, who is said to have invented blue printing on china; and between 1788 and 1793, after working for Spode in London, settled at Stoke and built a pottery. .loseph Ponlson and William Pownall were for a lime members of the firm; and afterwards (1817) IlEnnEnT JIixton (1703-1858). a son of Thomas, wlui succeeded him in 1836. In 1883 the firm became Mintons, Ltd. Herbert Jlinton devised methods of making hard potterv (1849) and encaustic tiles, and produced a marble-like porcelain called 'Parian.' He was for a long time the only English mani- facturer of majolica. MINUCITIS (minTTo'shl-iis) FETLIX, Mar- cus. The. first Latin apologist of Cliristianity.
