DEMIJOHN, a glass bottle or jar with a large round body and narrow neck,
encased in wicker-work and provided with handles. The word is also used
of an earthenware jar, similarly covered with wicker. The capacity of a
demijohn varies from two to twelve gallons, but the common size contains
five gallons. According to the _New English Dictionary_ the word is an
adaptation of a French _Dame Jeanne_, or Dame Jane, an application of a
personal name to an object which is not uncommon; cf. the use of "Toby"
for a particular form of jug and the many uses of the name "Jack."
DEMISE, an Anglo-French legal term (from the Fr. _démettre_, Lat.
_dimittere_, to send away) for a transfer of an estate, especially by
lease. The word has an operative effect in a lease implying a covenant
for "quiet enjoyment" (see LANDLORD AND TENANT). The phrase "demise of
the crown" is used in English law to signify the immediate transfer of
the sovereignty, with all its attributes and prerogatives, to the
successor without any interregnum in accordance with the maxim "the king
never dies." At common law the death of the sovereign _eo facto_
dissolved parliament, but this was abolished by the Representation of
the People Act 1867, § 51. Similarly the common law doctrine that all
offices held under the crown determined at its demise has been negatived
by the Demise of the Crown Act 1901. "Demise" is thus often used loosely
for death or decease.
DEMIURGE (Gr. [Greek: dêmiourgos], from [Greek: dêmios], of or for the
people, and [Greek: ergon], work), a handicraftsman or artisan. In Homer
the word has a wide application, including not only hand-workers but
even heralds and physicians. In Attica the demiurgi formed one of the
three classes (with the Eupatridae and the geomori, georgi or agroeci)
into which the early population was divided (cf. Arist. _Ath. Pol._
xiii. 2). They represented either a class of the whole population, or,
according to Busolt, a commercial nobility (see EUPATRIDAE). In the
sense of "worker for the people" the word was used throughout the
Peloponnese, with the exception of Sparta, and in many parts of Greece,
for a higher magistrate. The demiurgi among other officials represent
Elis and Mantineia at the treaty of peace between Athens, Argos, Elis
and Mantineia in 420 B.C. (Thuc. v. 47). In the Achaean League (q.v.)
the name is given to ten elective officers who presided over the
assembly, and Corinth sent "Epidemiurgi" every year to Potidaea,
officials who apparently answered to the Spartan harmosts. In Plato
[Greek: dêmiourgos] is the name given to the "creator of the world"
(_Timaeus_, 40) and the word was so adopted by the Gnostics (see
GNOSTICISM).
DEMMIN, a town of Germany, kingdom of Prussia, on the navigable river
Peene (which in the immediate neighbourhood receives the Trebel and the
Tollense), 72 m. W.N.W. of Stettin, on the Berlin-Stralsund railway.
Pop. (1905) 12,541. It has manufactures of textiles, besides breweries,
distilleries and tanneries, and an active trade in corn and timber.
The town is of Slavonian origin and of considerable antiquity, and was a
place of importance in the time of Charlemagne. It was besieged by a
German army in 1148, and captured by Henry the Lion in 1164. In the
Thirty Years' War Demmin was the object of frequent conflicts, and even
after the peace of Westphalia was taken and retaken in the contest
between the electoral prince and the Swedes. It passed to Prussia in
1720, and its fortifications were dismantled in 1759. In 1807 several
engagements took place in the vicinity between the French and Russians.
DEMOCHARES (c. 355-275 B.C.), nephew of Demosthenes, Athenian orator and
statesman, was one of the few distinguished Athenians in the period of
decline. He is first heard of in 322, when he spoke in vain against the
surrender of Demosthenes and the other anti-Macedonian orators demanded
by Antipater. During the next fifteen years he probably lived in exile.
On the restoration of the democracy by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 307 he
occupied a prominent position, but was banished in 303 for having
ridiculed the decree of Stratocles, which contained a fulsome eulogy of
Demetrius. He was recalled in 298, and during the next four years[1]
fortified and equipped the city with provisions and ammunition. In 296
(or 295) he was again banished for having concluded an alliance with the
Boeotians, and did not return until 287 (or 286). In 280 he induced the
Athenians to erect a public monument in honour of his uncle with a
suitable inscription. After his death (some five years later) the son of
Demochares proposed and obtained a decree (Plutarch, _Vitae decem
oratorum_, p. 851) that a statue should be erected in his honour,
containing a record of his public services, which seem to have consisted
in a reduction of public expenses, a more prudent management of the
state finances (after his return in 287) and successful begging missions
to the rulers of Egypt and Macedonia. Although a friend of the Stoic
Zeno, Demochares regarded all other philosophers as the enemies of
freedom, and in 306 supported the proposal of one Sophocles, advocating
their expulsion from Attica. According to Cicero (_Brutus_, 83)
Demochares was the author of a history of his own times, written in an
oratorical rather than a historical style. As a speaker he was noted for
his freedom of language (_Parrhesiastes_, Seneca, _De ira_, iii. 23). He
was violently attacked by Timaeus, but found a strenuous defender in
Polybius (xii. 13).
See also Plutarch, _Demosthenes_, 30, _Demetrius_, 24, _Vitae decem
oratorum_, p. 847; J. G. Droysen's essay on Demochares in
_Zeitschrift für die Altertumswissenschaft_ (1836), Nos. 20, 21.