MINT, a genus of plants, of the natural order labiatcr; with small, funnel shaped, 4-fid, generally red corolla, and four straight stamens. The species are perm Dial herbaceous plants, varying considerably in appearance, but all with creeping root stocks. The flowers are whorled, the whorls often grouped in spikes or heads. The species arc widely distributed over the world. Some of them are very common in Britain, as WATER MINT (M. aquatica), which grow in wet grounds and ditches, and COltN MINT arvensis), which abounds as a weed in cornfields and gardens. These and most of the other species have erect stems. All the species contain an aromatic essential oil, in virtue of which they are more or less medicinal. The most important species are SPEARMINT, PEPPERIMINT, and PENNY-ROYAL-SPEARMINT OT GREEN MINT (211: viridis), is a native of almost all the temperate parts of the globe: it has erect smooth stems, front 1 ft. to 2 ft. high, with the whorls of flowers in loose cylindrical or oblong spikes at the top; the leaves lanceolate, acute, smooth, serrated, destitute of stalk, or nearly so. It has a very agreeable odor.—PEPPERM INT (if. piperita), a plant of equally wide distribution in the temperate parts of the world, is very similar to spear mint, but has the leaves stalked, and the flowers in short spikes, the lower whorls some what distant from the rest. It is very readily recognized by the peculiar pungency of its odor and of its taste.—PENNY-ROYAL (M. pulegium), also very cosmopolitan, has a much-branched prostrate stern, which sends down new roots as it extends in length; the leaves ovate, stalked; the flowers in distant ,globose whorls. Its smell resembles that of the other mints.—All these species, in a wild state, grow in ditches or wet places. All of them are cultivated in gardens; and peppermint largely for medicinal use and for flavoring lozenges. JWint sauce is generally made of spearmint; which is also used for flavoring soups, etc. A kind of mint with lemon-scented leaves, called BERGAMOT HINT (if. citrata), is found in some parts of Europe, and is cultivated in gardens. Varieties of peppermint and horse-mint (M' sylvestris), with crisped or inflato-rugose leaves, are mach cultivated in Germany under the name of CURLED MINT (Krause-minze); the leaves being dried and used as a domestic medicine, and in poultices and baths. All 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, penny-royal, and spearmint are used in medicine. The pharmacopoeias contain an aqua, spiritus, and oleurn of each of them; the officinal part being the her!), which should be collected when in flower. Peppermint is a powerful diffusible stimu• hint, and, as such, is antispasmodic and stomachic, and is much einployed in the treat ment of gastrodynia and flatulent colic. It is also extensively used in mixtures, for cov ering the taste of drugs. Penny-royal and spearmint are similar in their action. but inferior for all purposes to peppermint. The ordinary doses are from 1 to 2 ounces of the aqua, a dram of the spiritus (in a wine-glassful of water), and front 3 to 5 drops of the ovum (on a lump of sugar).
MINT (Lat. moneta), an establishment for making coins or metallic money (see 3ToxEY). The early history of the art being traced under the head .NUMIS3IATTCS, the present article is mostly confine I to a sketch of the constitution of the British mint, and of the modern processes of coining as there followed.
The earliest regulations regarding the English mint belong to Anglo-Saxon times. An officer called a reeve is referred to in the laws of Canute as having some jurisdiction over it, and certain names which, in addition to that of the sovereign, appear on tire Anglo-Saxon coins, seem to have been those of the moneyers, or principal officers of the mint, till recently, an important class of functionaries, who were responsible for the integrity of the corn. Besides the sovereign, barons, bishops, and the greater monas teries had their respective mints, where they exercised tire right of coinage. a privilege enjoyed by the archbishops Canterbury as late as the reign of Henry VIII., and by IrVolsey as bishop of Durham and archbishop of York.
After the Norman conquest, the officers of the royal mint became to a certain extent subject to the authority of the exchequer. Both in Saxon and Norman times. there existed, under control of the principal mint in London, a number of provincial mints in different towns of England; there were no fewer than 38 in.the time of Ethelred, and the last of them were only done away with in the reign of William III. The officers of tire mint were formed into a corporation by a charter of Edward II.; they consisted of the warden, master, comptroller, assay-master, workers, coiners, and subordinates.
The seignorage for coining at one time formed no inconsiderable item in the rev. enues of the crown. It was a deduction made from the bullion coined, and compre• handed both a eltairgo for defrayinat.flic expense the sovereign's profit in virtue of his prerogative. In the reign of Henry VI., tire seignorage amounted to 6d. in the pound: in the reign of Edward I., ls. 2,td. By 18 Car. II. c. 5, the seignorage on gold was abolished, and has never since been exacted. The shere, or remedy, as it is now called, was an allowance for the unavoidable imperfection of the coin.
The function of the mint is in theory to receive gold in ingots from individuals and return an equal weight in sovereigns; but, in point of fact, gold is now exclusively coined for the bank of England, for, though any one has still the right to coin gold at the mint, the merchant or dealer has ceased to obtain any profit for so doing, as the bank is compelled to purchase all gold tendered to it at the fixed price of £3 174. 9d. RE ounce. The increment on the assay (q.v.), or on the fineness of the metal, which augments the standard weight, and therefore the value of the gold, is a more considerable source of profit to the importer of gold. The ordinary trade assay, on which the importer purchases the bullion, does not, by usage, come closer than of a carat grain, or 74 grains per lb. troy. Before being coined the gold is subjected to a second and more delicate assay at the mint, and the importer receives the benefit of the difference, amounting to about TAT of a carat grain — 31 troy grains, or nearly 8d. per lb. weight.