[1] A Hebrew fragment probably of the 2nd century A.D., in the
University Library, Cambridge, containing the Decalogue with several
variant readings; see S. A. Cook, _Proceed. Soc. Bibl. Archaeology_
(1903), pp. 34-56; F. C. Burkitt, _Jewish Quarterly Review_ (1903),
pp. 392-408; N. Peters, _D. alteste Abschrift d. zehn Gebote_ (1905).
[2] So, for example, Augustine, l.c., Thomas, _Summa_ (_Prima
Secundae_, qu. c. art. 4), and recently Sonntag and Kurtz. Purely
arbitrary is the idea of Lutheran writers (Gerhard, Loc. xiii. S 46)
that the ninth commandment forbids _concupiscentia actualis_, the
tenth _conc. originalis_.
[3] It is generally assumed that the addition in Exodus is from a
hand akin to Gen. ii. 2 sqq.; Ex. xxxi. 17 (P.).
[4] So Hitzig (_Ostern und Pfingsten im zweiten Dekalog_, Heidelberg,
1838), independently of a previous suggestion of Goethe in 1783, who
in turn appears to have been anticipated by an early Greek writer
(Nestle, _Zeit. fur alt-test. Wissenschaft_ (1904), pp. 134 sqq.).
[5] See also W. E. Barnes, _Journ. Theol. Stud._ (1905), pp. 557-563.
[6] The last three sentences of this paragraph are taken almost
bodily from Robertson Smith's later views (_Old Testament in the
Jewish Church^2_, pp. 335 seq.).
DE CAMP, JOSEPH (1858- ), American portrait and figure painter, was
born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1858. He was a pupil of Frank Duveneck and
of the Royal Academy of Munich; became a member of the society of Ten
American Painters, and a teacher in the schools of the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts;
and painted important mural decorations in the Philadelphia city hall.
DECAMPS, ALEXANDRE GABRIEL (1803-1860), French painter, was born in
Paris on the 3rd of March 1803. In his youth he travelled in the East,
and reproduced Oriental life and scenery with a bold fidelity to nature
that made his works the puzzle of conventional critics. His powers,
however, soon came to be recognized, and he was ranked along with
Delacroix and Vernet as one of the leaders of the French school. At the
Paris Exhibition of 1855 he received the grand or council medal. Most of
his life was passed in the neighbourhood of Paris. He was passionately
fond of animals, especially dogs, and indulged in all kinds of field
sports. He died on the 22nd of August 1860 in consequence of being
thrown from a vicious horse while hunting at Fontainebleau. The style of
Decamps was characteristically and intensely French. It was marked by
vivid dramatic conception, by a manipulation bold and rapid, sometimes
even to roughness, and especially by original and startling use of
decided contrasts of colour and of light and shade. His subjects
embraced an unusually wide range. He availed himself of his travels in
the East in dealing with scenes from Scripture history, which he was
probably the first of European painters to represent with their true and
natural local background. Of this class were his "Joseph sold by his
Brethren," "Moses taken from the Nile," and his scenes from the life of
Samson, nine vigorous sketches in charcoal and white. Perhaps the most
impressive of his historical pictures is his "Defeat of the Cimbri,"
representing with wonderful skill the conflict between a horde of
barbarians and a disciplined army. Decamps produced a number of genre
pictures, chiefly of scenes from French and Algerine domestic life, the
most marked feature of which is humour. The same characteristic attaches
to most of his numerous animal paintings. He painted dogs, horses, &c.,
with great fidelity and sympathy; but his favourite subject was monkeys,
which he depicted in various studies and sketches with a grotesque
humour that could scarcely be surpassed. Probably the best known of all
his works is "The Monkey Connoisseurs," a clever satire of the jury of
the French Academy of Painting, which had rejected several of his
earlier works on account of their divergence from any known standard.
The pictures and sketches of Decamps were first made familiar to the
English public through the lithographs of Eugene le Roux.
See Moreau's _Decamps et son oeuvre_ (Paris, 1869).
DECAPOLIS, a league of ten cities ([Greek: deka poleis]) with their
surrounding district, situated with one exception on the eastern side of
the upper Jordan and the Sea of Tiberias. Being essentially a
confederation of _cities_ it is impossible precisely to fix Decapolis as
a _region_ with definite boundaries. The names of the original ten
cities are given by Pliny; these are as follows: Damascus, Philadelphia,
Raphana, Scythopolis (= Beth-Shan, now _Beisan_, west of Jordan),
Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Pella, Gerasa and Kanatha. Of these Damascus alone
retains its importance. Scythopolis (as represented by the village of
Beisan) is still inhabited; the ruins of Pella, Gerasa and Kanatha
survive, but the other sites are unknown or disputed. Scythopolis, being
in command of the communications with the sea and the Greek cities on
the coast, was the most important member of the league. The league
subsequently received additions and some of the original ten dropped
out. In Ptolemy's enumeration Raphana has no place, and nine, such as
Kapitolias, Edrei, Bosra, &c., are added. The purpose of the league was
no doubt mutual defence against the marauding Bedouin tribes that
surrounded them. These were hardly if at all checked by the Semitic
kinglings to whom the Romans delegated the government of eastern
Palestine.
It was probably soon after Pompey's campaign in 64-63 B.C. that the
Decapolis league took shape. The cities comprising it were united by
the main roads on which they lay, their respective spheres of influence
touching, if not overlapping, one another. A constant communication was
maintained with the Mediterranean ports and with Greece, and there was a
vigorous municipal life which found expression in literature, in
athletic contests, and in a thriving commerce, thus carrying a truly
Hellenic influence into Perea and Galilee. From Josephus we learn that
the cities were severally subject to the governor of Syria and taxed for
imperial purposes; some of them afterwards came under Herod's
jurisdiction, but reserved the substantial rights granted them by
Pompey.
The best account is in G. A. Smith's _Historical Geography of the Holy
Land_, chap. xxviii. (R. A. S. M.)
DECASTYLE (Gr. [Greek: deka], ten, and [Greek: stylos], column), the
architectural term given to a temple where the front portico has ten
columns; as in the temple of Apollo Didymaeus at Miletus, and the
portico of University College, London. (See TEMPLE.)
DECATUR, STEPHEN (1779-1820), American naval commander, was born at
Sinnepuxent, Maryland, on the 5th of January 1779, and entered the
United States navy as a midshipman in 1798. He was promoted lieutenant a
year later, and in that rank saw some service in the short war with
France. In 1803 he was in command of the "Enterprise," which formed part
of Commodore Preble's squadron in the Mediterranean, and in February
1804 led a daring expedition into the harbour of Tripoli for the purpose
of burning the U.S. frigate "Philadelphia" which had fallen into
Tripolitan hands. He succeeded in his purpose and made his escape under
the fire of the batteries with a loss of only one man wounded. This
brilliant exploit earned him his captain's commission and a sword of
honour from Congress. Decatur was subsequently engaged in all the
attacks on Tripoli between 1804 and 1805. In the War of 1812 his ship
the "United States" captured H.M.S. "Macedonian" after a desperate
fight, and in 1813 he was appointed commodore to command a squadron in
New York harbour, which was soon blockaded by the British. In an attempt
to break out in February 1815 Decatur's flagship the "President" was cut
off and after a spirited fight forced to surrender to a superior force.
Subsequently he commanded in the Mediterranean against the corsairs of
Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli with great success. On his return he was made
a navy commissioner (November 1815), an office which he held until his
death, which took place in a duel with Commodore James Barron at
Bladensburg, Md., on the 22nd of March 1820.
See Mackenzie, _Life of Decatur_ (Boston, 1846).
DECATUR, a city and the county-seat of Macon county, Illinois, U.S.A.,
in the central part of the state, near the Sangamon river, about 39 m.
E. of Springfield. Pop. (1890) 16,841; (1900) 20,754, of whom 1939 were
foreign-born; (1910 census) 31,140. Decatur is served by the Cincinnati,
Hamilton & Dayton, the Illinois Central, the Wabash (which maintains car
shops here), and the Vandalia railways, and is connected with Danville,
Saint Louis, Springfield, Peoria, Bloomington and Champaign by the
Illinois Traction System (electric). Decatur has three large parks and a
public library; and S.E. of Fairview Park, with a campus of 35 acres, is
the James Millikin University (co-educational; Cumberland Presbyterian),
founded in 1901 by James Millikin, and opened in 1903. The university
comprises schools of liberal arts, engineering (mechanical, electrical,
and civil), domestic economy, fine and applied arts, commerce and
finance, library science, pedagogy, music, and a preparatory school; in
1907-1908 it had 936 students, 440 being in the school of music. Among
the city's manufactures are iron, brass castings, agricultural
implements, flour, Indian corn products, soda fountains, plumbers'
supplies, coffins and caskets, bar and store fixtures, gas and electric
light fixtures, street cars, and car trucks. The value of the city's
factory products increased from $5,133,677 in 1900 to $8,667,302 in
1905, or 68.8%. The city is also an important shipping point for
agricultural products (especially grain), and for coal taken from the
two mines in the city and from mines in the surrounding country. The
first settlement in Decatur was made in 1829, and the place was
incorporated in 1836. On the 22nd of February 1856 a convention of
Illinois editors met at Decatur to determine upon a policy of opposition
to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. They called a state convention, which met
at Bloomington, and which is considered to have taken the first step
toward founding the Republican party in Illinois.
DECAZES, ELIE, DUC (1780-1860), French statesman, was born at Saint
Martin de Laye in the Gironde. He studied law, became a judge in the
tribunal of the Seine in 1806, was attached to the cabinet of Louis
Bonaparte in 1807, and was counsel to the court of appeal at Paris in
1811. Immediately upon the fall of the empire he declared himself a
Royalist, and remained faithful to the Bourbons through the Hundred
Days. He made the personal acquaintance of Louis XVIII. during that
period through Baron Louis, and the king rewarded his energy and tact by
appointing him prefect of police at Paris on the 7th of July 1815. His
marked success in that difficult position won for him the ministry of
police, in succession to Fouche, on the 24th of September. In the
interval he had been elected deputy for the Seine (August 1815) and both
as deputy and as minister he led the moderate Royalists. His formula was
"to royalize France and to nationalize the monarchy." The Moderates were
in a minority in the chamber of 1815, but Decazes persuaded Louis XVIII.
to dissolve the house, and the elections of October 1816 gave them a
majority. During the next four years Decazes was called upon to play the
leading role in the government. At first, as minister of police he had
to suppress the insurrections provoked by the ultra-Royalists (the White
Terror); then, after the resignation of the duc de Richelieu, he took
the actual direction of the ministry, although the nominal president was
General J. J. P. A. Dessolle (1767-1828). He held at the same time the
portfolio of the interior. The cabinet, in which Baron Louis was
minister of finance, and Marshal Gouvion Saint Cyr remained minister of
war, was entirely Liberal; and its first act was to suppress the
ministry of police, as Decazes held that it was incompatible with the
regime of liberty. His reforms met with the strong hostility of the
Chamber of Peers, where the ultra-Royalists were in a majority, and to
overcome it he got the king to create sixty new Liberal peers. He then
passed the laws on the press, suppressing the censorship. By
reorganization of the finances, the protection of industry and the
carrying out of great public works, France regained its economic
prosperity, and the ministry became popular. But the powers of the Grand
Alliance had been watching the growth of Liberalism in France with
increasing anxiety. Metternich especially ascribed this mainly to the
"weakness" of the ministry, and when in 1819 the political elections
still further illustrated this trend, notably by the election of the
celebrated Abbe Gregoire, it began to be debated whether the time had
not come to put in force the terms of the secret treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle. It was this threat of foreign intervention, rather than
the clamour of the "Ultras," that forced Louis XVIII. to urge a change
in the electoral law that should render such a "scandal" as Gregoire's
election impossible for the future. Dessolle and Louis, refusing to
embark on this policy, now resigned; and Decazes became head of the new
ministry, as president of the council (November 1819). But the exclusion
of Gregoire from the chamber and the changes in the franchise embittered
the Radicals without conciliating the "Ultras." The news of the
revolution in Spain in January 1820 added fuel to their fury; it was the
foolish and criminal policy of the royal favourite that had once more
unchained the demon of revolution. Decazes was denounced as the new
Sejanus, the modern Catiline; and when, on the 13th of February, the
duke of Berry was murdered, clamorous tongues loudly accused him of
being an accomplice in the crime. Decazes, indeed, foreseeing the storm,
at once placed his resignation in the king's hands. Louis at first
refused. "They will attack," he exclaimed, "not your system, my dear
son, but mine." But in the end he was forced to yield to the importunity
of his family (February 17th); and Decazes, raised to the rank of duke,
passed into honourable exile as ambassador to Great Britain.
This ended Decazes's meteoric career of greatness. In December 1821 he
returned to sit in the House of Peers, when he continued to maintain
his Liberal opinions. After 1830 he adhered to the monarchy of July, but
after 1848 he remained in retirement. He had organized in 1826 a society
to develop the coal and iron of the Aveyron, and the name of Decazeville
was given in 1829 to the principal centre of the industry. He died on
the 24th of October 1860.
His son, LOUIS CHARLES ELIE DECAZES, duc de Glucksberg (1819-1886), was
born at Paris, and entered the diplomatic career. He became minister
plenipotentiary at Madrid and at Lisbon, but the revolution of 1848
caused him to withdraw into private life, from which he did not emerge
until in 1871 he was elected deputy to the National Assembly by the
Gironde. There he sat in the right centre among the Orleanists, and was
chosen by the duc de Broglie as minister of foreign affairs in November
1873. He voted with the Orleanists the "Constitutional Laws" of 1875,
and approved of MacMahon's parliamentary _coup d'etat_ on the 16th of
May 1877. He was re-elected deputy in October 1877 by the arrondissement
of Puget-Theniers, but his election was annulled by the chamber, and he
was not re-elected. He died on the 16th of September 1886.
On the Duc Decazes see E. Daudet, _Louis XVIII. et le duc Decazes_
(1899), and his "L'ambassade du duc Decazes" in the _Revue des deux
mondes_ for 1899.
DECAZEVILLE, a town of south-central France, in the department of
Aveyron, 34 m. N.W. of Rodez by the Orleans railway. Pop. (1906) 9749.
It possesses iron mines and is the centre of the coal-fields of the
Aveyron, which supply the ironworks established by the Duc Decazes,
minister of Louis XVIII. A statue commemorates the founder.
DECCAN (Sans. _Dakshina_, "the South"), a name applied, according to
Hindu geographers, to the whole of the territories in India situated to
the south of the river Nerbudda. In its more modern acceptation,
however, it is sometimes understood as comprising only the country lying
between that river and the Kistna, the latter having for a long period
formed the southern boundary of the Mahommedan empire of Delhi.
Assigning it the more extended of these limits, it comprehends the whole
of the Indian peninsula, and in this view the mountainous system,
consisting of the Eastern and Western Ghats, constitutes the most
striking feature of the Deccan. These two mountain ranges unite at their
northern extremities with the Vindhya chain of mountains, and thus is
formed a vast triangle supporting at a considerable elevation the
expanse of table-land which stretches from Cape Comorin to the valley of
the Nerbudda. The surface of this table-land slopes from west to east,
as indicated by the direction of the drainage of the country,--the great
rivers, the Cauvery, Godavari, Kistna and Pennar, though deriving their
sources from the base of the Western Ghats, all finding their way into
the Bay of Bengal through fissures in the Eastern Ghats.
_History._--The detailed and authentic history of the Deccan only begins
with the 13th century A.D. Of the early history the main facts
established are the Aryan invasion (c. 700 B.C.), the growth of the
Maurya empire (250 B.C.) and the invasion (A.D. 100) of the Scythic
tribes known as the Sakas, Pahlavas and Yavanas, which led to the
establishment of the power of the Kshaharata satraps in western India.
In addition to this, modern study of monuments and inscriptions has
recovered the names, and to a certain extent the records, of a
succession of dynasties ruling in the Deccan; of these the most
conspicuous are the Cholas, the Andhras or Satavahanas, the Chalukyas,
the Rashtrakutas and the Yadavas of Devagiri (Deogiri). (See INDIA:
_History_; BOMBAY; PRESIDENCY: _History_; INSCRIPTIONS: _Indian_.) In
1294 Ala-ud-Din Khilji, emperor of Delhi, invaded the Deccan, stormed
Devagiri, and reduced the Yadava rajas of Maharashtra to the position of
tributary princes (see DAULATABAD), then proceeding southward overran
Telingana and Carnata (1294-1300). With this event the continuous
history of the Deccan begins. In 1307, owing to non-payment of tribute,
a fresh series of Mussulman incursions began, under Malik Kafur, issuing
in the final ruin of the Yadava power; and in 1338 the reduction of the
Deccan was completed by Mahommed ben Tughlak. The imperial sway was,
however, of brief duration. Telingana and Carnata speedily reverted to
their former masters; and this defection on the part of the Hindu states
was followed by a general revolt of the Mussulman governors, resulting
in the establishment in 1347 of the independent Mahommedan dynasty of
Bahmani, and the consequent withdrawal of the power of Delhi from the
territory south of the Nerbudda. In the struggles which ensued, the
Hindu kingdom of Telingana fell bit by bit to the Bahmani dynasty, who
advanced their frontier to Golconda in 1373, to Warangal in 1421, and to
the Bay of Bengal in 1472. On the dissolution of the Bahmani empire
(1482), its dominions were distributed into the five Mahommedan states
of Golconda, Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Bidar and Berar. To the south of these
the great Hindu state of Carnata or Vijayanagar still survived; but
this, too, was destroyed, at the battle of Talikota (1565), by a league
of the Mahommedan powers. These latter in their turn soon disappeared.
Berar had already been annexed by Ahmednagar in 1572, and Bidar was
absorbed by Bijapur in 1609. The victories of the Delhi emperors, Akbar,
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, crushed the rest. Ahmednagar was incorporated
in the Mogul empire in 1598, Bijapur in 1686, and Golconda in 1688. The
rule of the Delhi emperors in the Deccan did not, however, long survive.
In 1706 the Mahrattas acquired the right of levying tribute in southern
India, and their principal chief, the Peshwa of Poona, became a
practically independent sovereign. A few years later the emperor's
viceroy in Ahmednagar, the nizam-al-mulk, threw off his allegiance and
established the seat of an independent government at Hyderabad (1724).
The remainder of the imperial possessions in the peninsula were held by
chieftains acknowledging the supremacy of one or other of these two
potentates. In the sequel, Mysore became the prize of the Mahommedan
usurper Hyder Ali. During the contests for power which ensued about the
middle of the 18th century between the native chiefs, the French and the
English took opposite sides. After a brief course of triumph, the
interests of France declined, and a new empire in India was established
by the British. Mysore formed one of their earliest conquests in the
Deccan. Tanjore and the Carnatic were shortly after annexed to their
dominions. In 1818 the forfeited possessions of the Peshwa added to
their extent; and these acquisitions, with others which have more
recently fallen to the paramount power by cession, conquest or failure
of heirs, form a continuous territory stretching from the Nerbudda to
Cape Comorin. Its length is upwards of 1000 m., and its extreme breadth
exceeds 800. This vast tract comprehends the chief provinces now
distributed between the presidencies of Madras and Bombay, together with
the native states of Hyderabad and Mysore, and those of Kolhapur,
Sawantwari, Travancore, Cochin and the petty possessions of France and
Portugal.
See J. D. B. Gribble, _History of the Deccan_ (1896); Prof.
Bhandarkar, "Early History of the Dekkan" (_Bombay Gazetteer_);
Vincent A. Smith, _Early History of India_ (2nd ed., Oxford, 1908),
chap. xv. "The Kingdoms of the Deccan."
DECELEA (Gr. [Greek: Dekeleia]), an Attic deme, on the pass which led
over the east end of Mt. Parnes towards Oropus and Chalcis. From its
position it has a commanding view over the Athenian plain. Its eponymous
hero, Decelus, was said to have indicated to the Tyndaridae, Castor and
Pollux, the place where Theseus had hidden their sister Helen at
Aphidnae; and hence there was a traditional friendship between the
Deceleans and the Spartans (Herodotus ix. 73). This tradition, together
with the advice of Alcibiades, led the Spartans to fortify Decelea as a
basis for permanent occupation in Attica during the later years of the
Peloponnesian War, from 413-404 B.C. Its position enabled them to harass
the Athenians constantly, and to form a centre for fugitive slaves and
other deserters. The royal palace of Tatoi has been built on the site.
See PELOPONNESIAN WAR; also Judeich in Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_.
DECEMBER (Lat. _decem_, ten), the last month of the year. In the Roman
calendar, traditionally ascribed to Romulus, the year was divided into
ten months, the last of which was called December, or the _tenth_ month,
and this name, though etymologically incorrect, was retained for the
last or twelfth month of the year as now divided. In the Romulian
calendar December had thirty days; Numa reduced the number to
twenty-nine; Julius Caesar added two days to this, giving the month its
present length. The _Saturnalia_ occurred in December, which is
therefore styled "acceptus geniis" by Ovid (_Fasti_, iii. 58); and this
also explains the phrase of Horace "libertate Decembri utere" (_Sat._
ii. 7). Martial applies to the month the epithet _canus_ (hoary), and
Ovid styles it _gelidus_ (frosty) and _fumosus_ (smoky). In the reign of
Commodus it was temporarily styled _Amazonius_, in honour of the
emperor's mistress, whom he had had painted as an Amazon. The Saxons
called it _winter-monath_, winter month, and _heligh-monath_, holy
month, from the fact that Christmas fell within it. Thus the modern
Germans call it _Christmonat_. The 22nd of December is the date of the
winter solstice, when the sun reaches the tropic of Capricorn.
DECEMVIRI ("the ten men"), the name applied by the Romans to any
official commission of ten. The title was often followed by a statement
of the purpose for which the commission was appointed, e.g. _Xviri
legibus scribundis, stlitibus judicandis, sacris faciundis_.
I. Apart from such qualification, it signified chiefly the temporary
commission which superseded all the ordinary magistrates of the Republic
from 451 to 449 B.C., for the purpose of drawing up a code of laws. In
462 B.C. a tribune proposed that the appointment of a commission to draw
up a code expressing the legal principles of the administration was
necessary to secure for the _plebs_ a hold over magisterial caprice.
Continued agitation to this effect resulted in an agreement in 452 B.C.
between patricians and plebeians that decemvirs should be appointed to
draw up a code, that during their tenure of office all other
magistracies should be in abeyance, that they should not be subject to
appeal, but that they should be bound to maintain the laws which
guaranteed by religious sanctions the rights of the plebs. The first
board of decemvirs (apparently consisting wholly of patricians) was
appointed to hold office during 451 B.C.; and the chief man among them
was Appius Claudius. Livy (iii. 32) says that only patricians were
eligible. Mommsen, however, held that plebeians were legally eligible,
though none were actually appointed for 451. The decemvirs ruled with
singular moderation, and submitted to the _Comitia Centuriata_ a code of
laws in ten headings, which was passed. So popular were the decemvirs
that another board of ten was appointed for the following year, some of
whom, if the extant list of names is correct, were certainly plebeians.
These added two more to the ten laws of their predecessors, thus
completing the Laws of the Twelve Tables (see ROMAN LAW). But their rule
then became violent and tyrannical, and they fell before the fury of the
_plebs_, though for some reason, not easily understood, they continued
to have the support of the patricians. They were forced to abdicate (449
B.C.), and the ordinary magistrates were restored.
II. The judicial board of decemvirs (_stlitibus judicandis_) formed a
civil court of ancient origin concerned mainly with questions bearing on
the status of individuals. They were originally a body of jurors which
gave a verdict under the presidency of the praetor (q.v.), but
eventually became annual minor magistrates of the Republic, elected by
the _Comitia Tributa_.
III. The priestly board of decemvirs (_sacris faciundis_) was an outcome
of the claim of the _plebs_ to a share in the administration of the
state religion. Five of the decemvirs were patricians, and five
plebeians. They were first appointed in 367 B.C. instead of the
patrician _duumviri_ who had hitherto performed these duties. The board
was increased to fifteen in the last century of the Republic. Its chief
function was the care of the Sibylline books, and the celebration of the
games of Apollo (Livy x. 8) and the Secular Games (Tac. _Ann._ xi. 11).
IV. Decemvirs were also appointed from time to time to control the
distribution of the public land (_agris dandis adsignandis_; see
AGRARIAN LAWS).
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--B. G. Niebuhr, _History of Rome_ (Eng. trans.), ii. 309
et seq. (Cambridge, 1832); Th. Mommsen, _History of Rome_, bk. ii. c.
2, vol. i. pp. 361 et seq. (Eng. trans., new ed., 1894); _Romisches
Staatsrecht_, ii. 605 et seq., 714 (Leipzig, 1887); A. H. J.
Greenidge, _Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time_, p. 40 et seq., 263
(Oxford, 1901); J. Muirhead, _Private Law of Rome_, p. 73 et seq.
(London, 1899); Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopadie_, iv. 2256 et seq.
(Kubler). (A. M. Cl.)
DECHEN, ERNST HEINRICH KARL VON (1800-1889), German geologist, was born
in Berlin on the 25th of March 1800, and was educated in the university
in that city. He subsequently studied mining in Bochum and Essen, and
was in 1820 placed in the mining department of the Prussian state,
serving on the staff until 1864, and becoming director in 1841 when he
was stationed at Bonn. In early years he made journeys to study the
mining systems of other countries, and with this object he visited
England and Scotland in company with Karl von Oeynhausen (1797-1865). In
the course of his work he paid special attention to the coal-formation
of Westphalia and northern Europe generally, and he greatly furthered
the progress made in mining and metallurgical works in Rhenish Prussia.
He made numerous contributions to geological literature; notably the
following:--_Geognostische Umrisse der Rheinlander zwischen Basel und
Mainz mit besonderer Rucksicht auf das Vorkommen des Steinsalzes_ (with
von Oeynhausen and La Roche), 2 vols. (Berlin, 1825); _Geognostische
Fuhrer in das Siebengebirge am Rhein_ (Bonn, 1861); _Die nutzbaren
Mineralien und Gebirgsarten im deutschen Reiche_ (1873). But his main
work was a geological map of Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia in 35 sheets
on the scale of 1 : 80,000, issued with two volumes of explanatory text
(1855-1882). He published also a small geological map of Germany (1869).
He died at Bonn on the 15th of February 1889. (H. B. W.)
DECIDUOUS (from Lat. _decidere_, to fall down), a botanical and
zoological term for "falling in season," as of petals after flowering,
leaves in autumn, the teeth or horns of animals, or the wings of
insects.
DECIMAL COINAGE.[1] Any currency in which the various denominations of
coin are arranged in multiples or submultiples of ten (Lat. _decem_),
with reference to a standard unit, is a decimal system. Thus if the
standard unit be 1 the higher coins will be 10, 100, 1000, &c., the
lower .1, .01, .001, &c. In a perfect system there would be no breaks or
interpolations, but the actual currencies described as "decimal" do not
show this rigid symmetry. In France the standard unit--the franc--has
the 10 franc and the 100 franc pieces above it; the 10 centime below it;
there are also, however, 50 franc, 20 franc, 5 franc, 2 franc pieces as
well as 50 and 20 centime ones. Similar irregularities occur in the
German and United States coinages, and indeed in all countries in which
a decimal system has been established. Popular convenience has compelled
this departure from the strict decimal form.
Subject to these practical modifications the leading countries of the
world (Great Britain and India are the chief exceptions) have adopted
decimal coinage. The United States led the way (1786 and 1792) with the
dollar as the unit, and France soon followed (1799 and 1803), her system
being extended to the countries of the Latin Union (1865). The German
empire (1873), the Scandinavian States (1875), Austria-Hungary (1870,
developed in 1892) and Russia (1839 and 1897) are further adherents to
the decimal system. The Latin-American countries and Japan (1871) have
also adopted it.
In England proposals for decimalizing the coinage have long been under
discussion at intervals. Besides the inconvenience of altering the
established currency, the difficulty of choosing between the different
schemes propounded has been a considerable obstacle. One plan took the
farthing as a base: then 10 farthings = 1 doit (2(1/2)d.), 10 doits = 1
florin (2s. 1d.), 10 florins = 1 pound (20s. 10d.). The advantages
claimed for this scheme were (1) the preservation of the smaller coins
(the penny = 4 farthings); and (2) the avoidance of interference with
the smaller retail prices. Its great disadvantage was the destruction of
the existing unit of value--the pound--and the consequent disturbance of
all accounts. A second proposal would retain the pound as unit and the
florin, but would subdivide the latter into 100 "units" (or farthings
reduced 4%) and introduce a new coin = 10 units (2.4d.). By it the unit
of account would remain as at present, and the shilling (as 50 units)
would continue in use. The alteration of the bronze and several silver
coins, and the need of readjusting all values and prices expressed in
pence, formed the principal difficulties. A third scheme, which was
connected with the assimilation of English to French and American money,
proposed the establishment of an 8s. gold coin as unit, with the
tenpenny or franc and the penny (reduced by 4%) as subdivisions. The new
coin would be equivalent to 10 francs or (by an anticipated reduction of
the dollar) 2 dollars. None of these plans has gained any great amount
of popular support.
For the general question of monetary scales see MONEY, and for the
decimal system in reference to weights and measures see METRIC SYSTEM
and WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. (C. F. B.)