to the word _anatomy_, derived from Greek. Its literal meaning is 'cutting
up', and it is used to define the technical procedures for acquiring a
practical knowledge of the anatomy or structure of the body. Dissection of
the human body is an essential part of the education of a medical
practitioner, for it is the only means whereby he can acquire a thorough
and practical familiarity with the geography of the territories in which
all his professional activities lie. Therefore the medical student is
required thoroughly to explore every part of the human body, to examine all
its constituent parts, to learn to recognize their properties, positions,
and relationships, and to train his eyes and fingers to appreciate their
distinctive qualities. This process of exploration usually occupies about
eighteen months or more of the student's time; but it represents the
foundation upon which all his professional knowledge and experience are
built up. For this purpose it is of the utmost importance that he be
provided with ample facilities for acquiring the training which is
essential to the medical practitioner. But the supply of subjects for
dissection is difficult to acquire. Until a century ago teachers in medical
schools, being unable to get an adequate supply of bodies for dissection by
legal means, were forced to deal with 'body snatchers' who plundered
cemeteries. Eventually the terrible scandals associated with the names of
Burke and Hare forced the Government to pass an Anatomy Act to make better
provision for this necessary part of medical education. Within recent years
the action of Boards of Guardians has so hampered the administration of the
Act that teachers in medical schools are threatened with the same dilemma
as their colleagues a century ago had to face. The Guardians of the Poor in
some localities prefer to bury the unclaimed bodies of the dead at the
ratepayers' expense rather than allow them to be used for the necessary
instruction of surgeons and physicians. Offers are repeatedly made by men
and women, often well-known and distinguished people like the late Miss
Florence Nightingale, to place their bodies at the service of medical
education; but in accordance with the law of the land such bequests are
invalid, because once a person is dead the corpse is not his property but
belongs to his relatives. Hence it is only the unclaimed bodies that are
legally available for dissection.
DISSEI'ZIN, or DISSEISIN, in law, is the dispossessing one of a freehold
estate, or interrupting his _seisin_. Of freeholds only can a seizin be
had, or a disseizin done. Whether an entry upon lands is or is not a
disseizin, will depend partly upon the circumstances of the entry, and
partly upon the intention of the party as made known by his words or acts.
DISSENT'ERS, the common name by which in Britain all Christian
denominations, excepting those of the Established Churches, are usually
designated, though in Acts of Parliament it generally includes only
Protestant dissenters, Roman Catholics being referred to under their
specific name. The most important bodies of English dissenters are the
different bodies of Methodists, the Congregationalists, and the Baptists;
and of Scottish dissenters, the United Free Church and the Free Church. The
Nonconformists were dissenters from the English Church, and the name is
sometimes used as meaning simply dissenters, though it has properly a wider
meaning.
DISSENTIS', a Swiss town, canton of Grisons, 3800 feet above the sea, at
the junction of the Middle and Vorder Rhine, with a Benedictine abbey
established so long ago as A.D. 614. Pop. 1420.
DISSOCIATION. Certain substances tend to break down into simpler substances
with change of temperature; thus ammonium chloride on heating gives a
mixture of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and ammonia (NH_3), and on cooling these
substances recombine to give ammonium chloride (NH_4Cl) again. Dissociation
is therefore a particular case of decomposition, where the products of
decomposition recombine on obtaining the original conditions.
DIS'SONANCE, in music, that effect which, results from the union of two
sounds not in accord with each other. The ancients considered thirds and
sixths as dissonances; and, in fact, every chord except the perfect concord
is a dissonant chord. The old theories include an infinity of dissonances,
but the present received system reduces them to a comparatively small
number. The most common are those of the tonic against the second, the
fifth against the sixth, or (the most frequent of all) the fourth against
the fifth.
[Illustration: A, Distaff. It is shown held by the waist-belt of the
spinner. The spindle is revolving and twisting the wool.]
DIS'TAFF, the first instrument employed in spinning. It consisted of a
staff, on one end of which the wool or flax was rolled. The spinner held it
in the left hand, and drew out the fibres with the right, at the same time
twisting them. A small piece of wood called a spindle was attached to the
thread, the weight of which carried it down as it was formed. When the
spindle reached the ground, the thread which had been spun was wound round
it, and it was then again fastened near the beginning of the new thread. In
ancient and modern art the Fates are usually represented with the distaff,
engaged in spinning the thread of life.
DISTEMP'ER, a disease of the dog commonly considered as of a catarrhal
nature. In most cases a running from the nose and eyes is one of the first
and chief symptoms, the defluxion becoming after some time mucous and
purulent. The animal is subject to violent fits of coughing combined with
vomiting, loses its appetite, its flesh begins to waste, and if the disease
be virulent, symptoms of affection of the brain manifest themselves,
accompanied by fits, paralysis, or convulsive twitchings. In the first
stage of the disease laxatives, emetics, and occasional bleeding are the
principal remedies; diarrhoea should be checked by astringents, and to
reduce the violence of the fits warm bathing and antispasmodics should be
resorted to. The distemper is generally contagious, and occurs but once in
a lifetime.
DISTEMPER (It. _tempera_), in painting, a preparation of colour mixed with
size, yolk of egg or white of egg. Prepared with size, it is used chiefly
in scene painting and household decorations, but in other forms it is much
used for easel and mural paintings. Before the introduction of oil as a
medium in the fifteenth century, fresco and distemper were the principal
methods of painting. Distemper is usually but not necessarily applied to a
dry ground, fresco always to a wet.
DISTICH (dis'tik), a couplet of verses, especially one consisting of a
Latin or Greek hexameter and pentameter, making complete sense. Distichs
have been frequently made use of by the modern German poets.
[Illustration: Distillation of Alcohol
A, Emptying pipe. B, Wash inlet. C, Vacuum safety valve. D, Worm. E,
Cooling water inlet.]
DISTILLATION, the volatilization and subsequent condensation of a liquid in
an apparatus known as a _still_ and heated by a fire or flame. The
operation is performed by heating the crude liquid or mixture in a retort
or vessel known as the _body of the still_. This is made of various shapes
and materials, and is closed, with the exception of a slender neck which
opens into the condenser, a long tube through which the hot vapour from the
still is passed. The tube is kept at a sufficiently low temperature to
cause the vapour to condense, the common method of securing this being to
surround the tube with a constantly renewed stream of cold water. In some
cases ice or a freezing mixture may be required to effect condensation. In
a large-scale apparatus the condensing tube is coiled round and round in a
tub or box, and is known as a _worm_. From the end of it the vapour
condensed into a liquid drops into a receiver. The simplest case of
distillation is that of water containing solid matter in solution, the
solid matter remaining behind in the still or retort while the water
trickles pure into the receiver, through a worm made of block-tin, as most
other metals are attacked by distilled water. When the mixture to be
distilled consists of two or more liquids of different boiling-points, such
as alcohol and water, the more volatile comes off first, accompanied by a
certain proportion of the vapour of the other, so that it is hardly
possible completely to separate bodies by one distillation. This is
effected by repeated successive distillations of the liquid with or without
the addition of substances to retain the impurities. When the production of
one of the ingredients only is aimed at by this process, it is called
_rectification_, but when it is desired to separate and collect all the
liquids present, or to divide a mixture into portions which volatilize
within certain ranges of temperature, the process is called _fractional
distillation_. In the laboratory, distillation is employed for purifying
water, for recovering alcohol and ether, and for the preparation,
purification, and separation of a great number of bodies. Substances which
decompose at their boiling-points can be distilled under reduced pressure.
On the large scale distillation is employed in the preparation of
potassium, sodium, zinc, mercury; of sulphuric acid, ether, chloroform,
carbon bisulphide, essential oils and perfumes; in the purification of coal
and wood tar, and the products obtained from them; and on an extensive
scale in the manufacture of whisky, brandy, or other spirit. The
distillation of whisky has long been familiar in Britain, especially in
Scotland and Ireland, and, when performed by means of the old _pot-still_,
is a simple operation indeed, and one that even yet is practised
surreptitiously in out-of-the-way localities. On the large scale a more
elaborate apparatus is employed, and for alcohol of a cheap class Coffey's
or other patent still is much used. Copper is the metal that suits best as
the material for the stills used in distilling whisky. Sea-water is
distilled in many cases for drinking or cooking purposes. This water is, of
course, very pure, but its taste is far from agreeable. _Destructive
distillation_, or _dry distillation_, differs from the preceding in this
respect, that the original substance is not merely broken up into bodies by
the mixture of which it is formed, but is so treated that it is further
decomposed, and products are obtained which were not present uncombined in
the original material. (See _Coal-tar_.) The term is restricted to the
action of heat upon complex organic substances out of contact with the air.
The products of destructive distillation are numerous and varied. On the
manufacturing scale the process is conducted sometimes for the sake of one
part of the products, sometimes for the sake of another. Coal, for example,
may be distilled not solely for the gas, but also for ammoniacal water,
benzene, anthracene, as well as for the sake of the fixed carbon or coke,
the volatile portions being too often neglected and practically wasted. But
much more economical methods of making coke are now practised than
formerly. Wood is distilled partly for the sake of the pyroligneous acid
and the tar, partly for the charcoal. Bones are distilled for the sake of
the charcoal, though the oil is also collected. Shale is distilled both for
the oil and for the paraffin wax, ammonia, &c., obtained.
[Illustration: Distinguished Conduct Medal]
DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL, a medal instituted in 1854 under the name of
the Meritorious Service Medal as "a mark of the Sovereign's sense of the
distinguished service and gallant conduct in the field of the army then
serving in the Crimea". The regulations concerning this medal were revised
in 1862, when it received its present name. It is given to
warrant-officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates. As from the 1st
Aug., 1918, the medal is awarded for services in action only. The medal is
silver, 1.4 inches in diameter; on the obverse is the Sovereign's head, and
on the reverse the inscription "For Distinguished Conduct in the Field". It
is suspended from a ribbon 1-1/4 inches wide, crimson, blue, and crimson,
the colours being of equal width. Bars may be awarded for additional deeds
of gallantry; in service uniform the possession of a bar is indicated by a
silver rosette worn on the ribbon. The letters D.C.M. are placed after the
name of the recipient, who receives either a gratuity of L20 on discharge,
or an increase in pay of 6d. a day.
[Illustration: On Left, Distinguished Flying Cross (obverse) On Right,
Distinguished Flying Medal (obverse)]
DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, a decoration instituted during the European
War, and awarded to officers and warrant-officers of the Air Force for acts
of gallantry when flying in active operations against the enemy. The ribbon
is 1-1/4 inches wide, and has narrow purple and white alternate diagonal
stripes. The letters D.F.C. are placed after the name of the recipient. A
corresponding medal, the Distinguished Flying Medal, is awarded to
non-commissioned officers and men.
[Illustration: Distinguished Service Cross (obverse)]
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS, a naval decoration formerly known as the
Conspicuous Service Cross, and instituted in 1901. It is awarded to naval
officers below the rank of lieutenant-commander, and to warrant-officers,
for services before the enemy. The ribbon is dark-blue, white, and
dark-blue, in stripes of equal width. The letters D.S.C. are placed after
the name of the recipient.
[Illustration: Distinguished Service Order (obverse)]
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ORDER, THE, was instituted by Royal Warrant on 6th
Sept., 1886. All commissioned officers of the Navy, Army, or Air Force are
eligible to be appointed Companions of this Order. It is conferred upon
officers who have been specially mentioned in dispatches for meritorious or
distinguished services. Towards the end of the European War (1st Aug.,
1918) it was decided that this decoration was only to be given for services
in action, i.e. (1) for service under fire, or (2) distinguished individual
service in connection with air-raids, bombardments, or other enemy action.
Bars may be awarded for additional deeds of gallantry; in undress uniform
the possession of a bar is indicated by a silver rosette worn on the
ribbon. The ribbon is red, edged with blue, and is 1 inch wide. It is the
same as the ribbon of the Waterloo and Peninsular medals, only narrower.
The badge of the order is a gold cross _pat['e]e_ enamelled white, edged
gold, having on one side thereof, in the centre, within a wreath of laurels
enamelled green, the Imperial Crown in gold, upon a red enamelled ground,
and on the reverse, within a similar wreath and on a similar red ground,
the Imperial and Royal cipher (G.R.I.) The letters D.S.O. are placed after
the name of the recipient, who ranks between Commanders of the Order of the
British Empire and Members of the Royal Victorian Order (4th class).
DIS'TOMUM, a genus of trematode or suctorial parasitic worms or flukes,
infesting various parts in different animals. _D. hepaticum_, the common
liver fluke, when adult inhabits the gall-bladder or ducts of the liver in
sheep, and is the cause of the disease known as the rot. It may also occur
in ox and man. In form it is ovate, flattened, and presents two suckers
(whence the name), of which the anterior is perforated by the aperture of
the mouth. The digestive tube divides into two branching halves, the
excretory organs consist of delicate branching tubes, and there is a
complex set of hermaphrodite reproductive organs. The minute larvae live in
a small water-snail (_Limnaea truncatula_), from which they ultimately
escape to encyst on grass, &c., by which sheep may become infested. The
adults of other species of Distomum live within the bodies of various
fishes, amphibia, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
DISTRESS' (Lat. _distringere_, pull asunder), in law, is the taking of a
personal chattel of a wrong-doer or a tenant, in order to obtain
satisfaction for the wrong done, or for rent or service due. If the party
whose goods are seized disputes the injury, service, duty, or rent, on
account of which the distress is taken, he may replevy the things taken,
giving bonds to return them or pay damage in case the party making the
distress shows that the wrong has been done, or the service or rent is due.
Wrongful distress is actionable. Another kind of distress is that of
_attachment_, to compel a party to appear before a court when summoned. The
distresses most frequently made are on account of rent and taxes and
_damage-feasance_.--Cf. Blackstone, _Commentaries on the Laws of England_.
DISTRIBUTION is that part of the subject-matter of economics which deals
with the division, among the individuals composing a community, of the
product of their labour and of land and capital at their command. It is the
most contentious part of economics, as well as that which has most social
interest and importance, for in it there is a sharper conflict than
anywhere else between economic considerations and ideals of social justice,
and the problem is to secure such a distribution as will satisfy social
justice, without abandoning the incentive to effort provided by the
possibility of a greater reward.
The present position is one of unresolved discord between the economic and
the equalitarian schools. The economic analysis in based upon a division of
the factors of production into three, viz. Labour, Capital, and Land. These
are represented as competing among themselves for employment, which is
given to each in accordance with the return which will be secured as a
result of an addition to the amount already employed; the rewards of each
fall roughly under the headings of Wages and Salaries, Interest and Rent,
respectively. The demarcation cannot be exact, as much that in common life
is regarded as interest on capital partakes really of the nature of wages,
as being earnings of management or reward for risk-taking, while certain
forms of capital, whose quantity is temporarily fixed, may receive a return
which is more of the nature of rent.
The fundamental assumption of the economists is that competitive
distribution is indispensable, both in order to secure a fruitful
distribution of the resources and efforts of society between the three
factors of production, and also owing to the need of an incentive to keep
individuals working hard enough to ensure a supply of goods sufficient to
maintain and improve the standard of life of the community. Economists do
not assume that men would not work at all if they were guaranteed a living
wage whether they did or not, but that men would not work enough, and would
be guided in the direction of their efforts by personal idiosyncrasy rather
than by the needs of the community. The only alternatives to a great
falling off in national wealth are, in their view, either competitive
distribution or enforcement of work by a rigid discipline, which would be
as hard as the present system, while being less adaptable.
Against this analysis idealist thinkers rebel, on the ground that it fails
to justify the great inequality in the distribution of wealth between
different individuals and classes of society. Their protest dates from the
harsh dogmatism of the economists who propounded the now discredited 'Iron
Law of Wages' and 'Wages Fund Theory', which both consigned wage-earners to
lives of unremitting toil for a reward inevitably limited to a very small
amount. Against these views appeal is made to justice and equality, and the
result is summed up in the phrase 'to each according to his needs, from
each according to his ability', i.e. the community should be so organized
that each member receives that which he needs, while giving in return work
according to the best of his ability. An alternative and cruder theory is
that which demands absolute equality in the distribution of wealth. The
economic basis for these theories is the claim that all production is the
result of labour, and that the workers are entitled to the 'whole produce
of their labour', interest and rent being 'surpluses' appropriated by the
capitalist owing to the exploited workers being kept at the level of
subsistence. The economic statement of the case is generally associated
with the name of Marx, who was, however, greatly influenced by English
writers; but the driving force of the movement is moral and emotional.
DISTRICT COURTS, an important series of courts in the United States, each
under a single judge, and having original jurisdiction in civil, criminal,
and admiralty causes. Generally there is one for each state. By the
Judiciary Code, enacted by Congress in 1911, the circuit courts, which had
hitherto shared original jurisdiction with the district courts, became only
appellate tribunals.
DISTRINGAS (Lat., that you distrain), a notice proceeding upon an affidavit
filed in the High Court by a party not the registered holder of shares or
stock but beneficially interested therein, and served upon the particular
company or public body, whereby it is precluded from registering any
transfer of the shares or stock or any mandate for payment of the dividends
without previous intimation to such party. The latter has thus the
opportunity, if desired, to apply for an interim injunction, and, should he
not do so within eight days from the date upon which the transfer or
mandate was lodged, the restraint flies off.
DITHYRAM'BUS, or DITH'YRAMB, in Greek literature, a poem sung in honour of
the god Bacchus or Dionysus, at his festivals. The choral portion of Greek
tragedy arose out of the dithyramb. It was composed in a lofty and often
inflated style: hence the term is applied to any poem of an impetuous and
irregular character.
DITMARSHES (Ger. _Dithmarschen_), a district of Holstein, in Germany,
consisting of a monotonous flat stretching along the North Sea, between the
mouths of the Elbe and the Eider, and so little raised above the sea as to
require the protection of strong embankments. Ditmarshes was incorporated
in Prussia in 1866. The area is 500 sq. miles, and the total pop. 96,373.
DIT'TANY, the popular name of the plants of the genus Dictamnus, an herb of
the rue family (Rutaceae), found in the Mediterranean region. The leaves
are pinnate, the large white or rose-coloured flowers are in terminal
racemes. The whole plant is covered with oily glands, and the secreted oil
is so volatile that in hot weather the air round the plant becomes
inflammable. _D. Fraxinella_ and _D. albus_ are found in gardens.
DITTAY, in Scots law, a technical term signifying the matter of charge or
ground of indictment against a person accused of a crime; also, the charge
itself.
DIURET'ICS are agents used to increase the flow of urine. Many drugs are
used for this purpose: caffeine and theobromine, digitalis and squills,
potassium salts, carbonates, calomel and blue pill.
DIVAN', a Persian word having several significations. It is used in Turkey
for the highest Council of State, the Turkish ministry; and for a large
hall for the reception of visitors. Low couches, covered with rich carpets
and cushions, are ranged along the walls of the room. Hence in Western
Europe the term is applied to a caf['e], and to a kind of cushioned seat.
In India the term is applied to the Prime Minister of a native State. Among
several Oriental nations this name is given to certain collections of lyric
poems by one author. The _divans_ of Hafiz and Saadi, the Persian poets,
are among the most important.
DIVERGENT, in algebra, opposed to convergent, a term applied to an infinite
series which cannot be said to have a sum because there is no definite
limit towards which the sum of its terms tends as the number of terms is
increased indefinitely.
[Illustration: Red-throated Diver (_Colymbus septentrionalis_)]
DIVERS, birds remarkable for the habit of diving. The divers (Colymbidae)
are a family of swimming birds, characterized by a strong, straight, rather
compressed pointed bill about as long as the head; a short and rounded
tail; short wings; thin, compressed legs, placed very far back, and the
toes completely webbed. They prey upon fish, which they pursue under water,
making use partly of their wings, but chiefly of their legs and webbed feet
in their subaqueous progression. The leading species are the great northern
diver (_Colymbus glaci[=a]lis_), the red-throated diver (_C.
septentrion[=a]lis_), and the black-throated diver (_C. arcticus_). These
birds inhabit the Arctic seas of the New and Old Worlds; they are abundant
in the Hebrides, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. The great northern diver,
loon, or ember goose is about 2-3/4 feet long, and is of handsome plumage.
DIV'IDEND, literally what is to be divided, a term used in arithmetic and
in reference to stocks. In the latter sense it is the interest or profit of
stocks divided among, and paid to, the proprietors. No dividend must be
paid except out of profit (Companies Act of 1862). The term also signifies
the payment made to creditors out of the estate of a bankrupt.
DIVIDING ENGINE, a machine for marking the divisions on the scales of
scientific, mathematical, or other instruments. Some of these perform work
of extraordinary fineness and accuracy. It may also be employed to measure
lengths accurately, or to divide a given length into any number of equal or
unequal parts. See _Graduation_.--Cf. Stewart and Gee, _Practical Physics_
(vol. i).