of slender needles arranged in divergent groups or of delicate fibres loosely matted together. The colour is brass-yellow and the lustre metallic. Before the chemical composition of the mineral had been determined it had been known as “capillary pyrites” or “hair pyrites” (Ger. Haarkies), and was not distinguished from the capillary forms of pyrites and marcasite: the name millerite was given by W. Haidinger in 1845, in honour of W. H. Miller. The hardness is 3–312 and the specific gravity 5·65. There are perfect cleavages parallel to the faces of the rhombohedron (100); and gliding planes parallel to the faces of the rhombohedron (110), on which secondary twinning may be readily produced artificially by pressure.
Typical specimens of millerite are found in the coal measures in the neighbourhood of Merthyr Tydvil in South Wales, where the delicate needles and fibres occur with crystals of quartz and pearl-spar in the fissures of septarian nodules of clay-ironstone. Radiating groups of needles are found with ankerite in cavities in haematite in the Sterling mine at Antwerp in Jefferson county, New York. At the Gap mine in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, the mineral occurs as fibrous encrusting masses with a velvety lustre. The most perfect crystals are those formerly found with calcite, diopside and a bright green chrome-garnet in a nickel mine at Orford in Sherbrooke county, Quebec. (L. J. S.)
MILLER’S THUMB (Cottus gobio), a small fish, abundant in
all rivers and lakes of northern and central Europe with clear
water and gravelly bottom. The genus Cottus, to which the
miller’s thumb belongs, is easily recognized by its broad, flat
head, rounded and scaleless body, large pectoral and narrow
ventral fins, with two dorsal fins, the anterior shorter than
the posterior; the praeoperculum is armed with a simple or
branched spine. The species of the genus Cottus are rather
numerous, and are confined to the north temperate zone of the
globe, the majority being marine, and known by the name of
“bullheads.” The miller’s thumb is confined to fresh water;
and only one other freshwater species is found in Europe, C.
poecilopus, from rivers of Hungary, Galicia, and the Pyrenees;
some others occur in the fresh waters of northern Asia and North
America. The miller’s thumb is common in all suitable localities
in Great Britain, but is extremely rare in Ireland; in the Alps
it reaches to an altitude of 7000 ft. Its usual length
is from 3 to 5 in. Generally hidden under a stone or in a
hollow of the bank, it watches for its prey, which consists of
small aquatic animals, and darts when disturbed with extraordinary
rapidity to some other place of refuge. The female
deposits her ova in a cavity under a stone, whilst the male
watches and defends them until the young are hatched and able
to shift for themselves.
MILLET, FRANCIS DAVIS (1846–), American artist,
was born at Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, on the 3rd of November
1846. He was a drummer boy with the Union forces in the
Civil War; graduated from Harvard College in 1869; and in
1871 entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, where
he studied under Van Lerius and De Keyser. In 1873 he was
made secretary of the Massachusetts commission to the Vienna
Exposition. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 he was
correspondent of the London Daily News and Graphic, and of
the New York Herald. On his return he was made a member
from the United States of the International Art Jury at the Paris
Exposition of 1878. He was director of decorations at the
Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, and in 1898 he went to
Manila as war correspondent for The Times and for Harper’s
Weekly. In 1880 he became a member of the Society of
American Artists, and in 1885 was elected to full membership
in the National Academy of Design, New York, and was for
one term its vice-president; he became a member also of the
American Water Color Society and of the Institute of Painters
in Oil Colours, London. As a decorative artist his work may
be seen at Trinity Church, Boston; the Bank of Pittsburg; and
the Capitol at St Paul, Minnesota. His pictures are in many
public collections: among them are “A Cosy Corner,” in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; “At the Inn,” in the
Union League Club, New York; and “Between two Fires,”
in the Tate Gallery, London. He also wrote essays and short
stories, and an English version of Tolstoi’s Sebastopol (1887);
and among his publications are The Danube (1891), Capillary
Crime and other Stories (1892), and Expedition to the
Philippines (1899).
MILLET (or Milé), JEAN FRANÇOIS (c. 1642–1679),
commonly called Francisque, was born at Antwerp about 1642,
and is generally classed amongst the painters of Flanders on
account of the accident of his birth. But his father was a
Frenchman, a turner in ivory of Dijon, who took service with
the prince of Condé and probably returned after a time to his
native country. He remained long enough in Antwerp to
apprentice his son to an obscure member of a painter family
called Laurent, pupil of Gabriel Franck. With Laurent, Francisque
left Antwerp for Paris, and there settled in 1660 after marrying
his master’s daughter. He was received a member of the
Academy of Painting at Paris in 1673, and after gaining consideration
as an imitator of the Poussins he died in 1679, bequeathing
his art and some of his talents to one of his sons. Francisque
probably knew, as well as imitated, Nicolas Poussin, Gaspar
Dughet and Sebastian Bourdon; and it is doubtless because
of his acquaintance with these travelled artists that, being
himself without familiarity with the classic lands of Italy and
Greece, he was able to imagine and reproduce Italian and
Arcadian scenery with considerable grace and effectiveness.
It is indeed surprising to observe, even at this day how skilfully
he executed these imaginary subjects, enlivened them with
appropriate figures, and shed over them the glow of a warm
yet fresh and sparkling tone. Twelve of his most important
landscapes, which remained in the palace of the Tuileries, were
destroyed by fire; and though many of his pieces may still be
found catalogued in Continental and English collections, others
in great number remain unknown and unacknowledged.
His son Jean François Millet, the younger (1666–1723), also called Francisque, was born in Paris, and was made a member of the Academy of Painting in 1709. He is not quite so independent in his art as his father; but he had clever friends, and when he wanted figures to his landscapes, he consulted Watteau, and other followers of the “court shepherdess” school. In the museum of Grenoble is a “Paysage” by him which is prettily adorned with Watteau’s figures.
MILLET, JEAN FRANÇOIS (1814–1875), French painter, who came of a peasant family, was born on the 4th of October 1814 in the hamlet of Gruchy, near Greville (La Manche), in the wild and picturesque district called La Hague. His boyhood was passed working in his father’s fields, but the sight of the engravings in an old illustrated Bible set him drawing, and thenceforth, whilst the others slept, the daily hour of rest was spent by Millet in trying to render the familiar scenes around him. From the village priest the lad learnt to read the Bible and Virgil in Latin, and acquired an interest in one or two other works of a high class which accompanied him through life; he did not, however, attract attention so much by his acquirements as by the stamp of his mind. The whole family seems, indeed, to have worn a character of austerity and dignity, and when Millet’s father finally decided to test the vocation of his son as an artist, it was with a gravity and authority which recalls the patriarchal households of Calvinist France. Two drawings were prepared and placed before a painter at Cherbourg named Mouchel, who at once recognized the boy’s gifts, and accepted him as a pupil; but shortly after (1835) Millet’s father died, and the eldest son, with heroic devotion, took his place at home, nor did he return to his work until the pressing calls from without were solemnly enforced by the wishes of his own family. He accordingly went back to Cherbourg, but after a short time spent there with another master (Langlois) started with many misgivings for Paris. The council-general of the department had granted him a sum of 600 francs, and the town council promised an annual pension of 400, but in spite of friendly help and introductions Millet went through great difficulties. The system of the École des Beaux Arts
