Line of least resistance, is a line drawn from the centre of the space containing the powder, perpendicular to the nearest surface.
Gallery, the passage leading to the powder.
Saucisson, is a pipe or hose made of coarse cloth, whose diameter is about an inch, and filled with gunpowder; then laid in a trough or auget, which extends from the chamber to the entrance of the gallery, that the miner who sets fire to it, may have time to retire before it reaches to the chamber.
MINING, in military affairs, is the art of blowing up any part of a fortification, building, &c. by gunpowder. The art of mining requires a perfect knowlege both of fortification and geometry; and by these previous helps, the engineer may be qualified to ascertain correctly the nature of all manner of heights, depths, breadths, and thicknesses; to judge perfectly of slopes and perpendiculars, whether they be such as are parallel to the horizon, or such as are visual; together with the true levels of all kinds of earth. To which must be added, a consummate skill in the quality of rocks, earths, masonry, and sands; the whole accompanied with a thorough knowlege of the strength of all sorts of gunpowder
MINION, a piece of ordnance, of which there are two kinds, the large and ordinary: the large minion has its bore 3¹⁄₄ inches diameter, and is 1000 pounds weight; its load is 3¹⁄₄ pounds of powder; its shot three inches in diameter, and 3³⁄₄ pounds weight; its length is eight feet, and its level range 125 paces. The ordinary minion is three inches diameter in the bore, and weighs about 800 pounds weight: it is seven feet long, its load 2¹⁄₂ pounds of powder, its shot near three inches in diameter, and weighs three pounds four ounces, and shoots point blank 120 paces.
MINISTER, according to Johnson, is one who acts not by any inherent authority of his own, but under another. Thus in England all ministers act under a supreme authority, which is vested in the king, lords, and commons, to whom they are responsible. In military matters, there is not only a war minister, but a secretary at war, who likewise acts conjointly with the secretary of state. All dispatches and papers of consequence relating to the army must first pass through the secretary of state, and the war minister, before they are laid before parliament, or otherwise acted upon by the secretary at war. The common arrangements of corps, directions with respect to marching, &c. are transmitted to the secretary at war, and to the quarter-master general’s office, without previously passing through the secretary of state, or war minister.
Ministre de la guerre, Fr. Minister of the war department. The appointment of minister and secretary at war, among the French, first took place in the reign of Henry the II. in 1549. See [War].
MINUTE, a hasty sketch taken of any thing in writing. Hence minutes of a general or regimental court-martial.
Minutes of council in the military department. The notification of orders and regulations, which are directed to be observed by the British army in India, is so called. These minutes receive the sanction of the governor-general in council, and are the result of previous communications from the court of directors in Europe. They answer to the French word Résultat, which was prefixed to all orders and regulations that were occasionally issued by the military boards, or conseils de guerre, for the government of the army. The term, jugement d’un conseil de guerre, corresponded with our minutes of a general or regimental court-martial, and expressed not only the minutes but the sentence of the court.
MINUTE, the 60th part of each degree of a circle; and, in computation of time, the 60th part of an hour: it also denotes a short memoir or hasty sketch taken of any thing in writing. See [Measure].