[1] J. L. Motley, _Hist. of the United Netherlands_ (vol. ii. p. 216,
ed. 1867).
DORSETSHIRE (DORSET), a south-western county of England, bounded N.E. by
Wiltshire, E. by Hampshire, S. by the English Channel, W. by Devonshire
and N.W. by Somersetshire. The area is 987.9 sq. m. The surface is for
the most part broken. A line of hills or downs, forming part of the
system to which the general name of the Western Downs is applied, enters
the county in the north-east near Shaftesbury, and strikes across it in
a direction generally W. by S., leaving it towards Axminster and
Crewkerne in Devonshire. East of Beaminster in the south-west another
line, the Purbeck Downs, branches S.E. to the coast, which it follows as
far as the district called the Isle of Purbeck in the south-east of the
county. Both these ranges occasionally exceed a height of 900 ft. Of the
principal rivers and streams, the Stour rises just outside the county in
Wiltshire, and flows with a general south-easterly course to join the
Hampshire Avon close to its mouth. It receives the Cale, Lidden and
other streams in its upper course, and breaches the central hills in its
middle course between Sturminster Newton and Blandford. The Lidden and
Cale are the chief streams of the well-watered and fertile district
known as the Vale of Blackmore. The small river Piddle or Trent and the
larger Frome, rising in the central hills, traverse a plain tract of
open country between the central and southern ranges, and almost unite
their mouths in Poole Harbour. In the north-west the Yeo, collecting
many feeders, flows northward to join the Parret and so sends its waters
to the Bristol Channel. The Char, the Brit and the Bride, with their
feeders, water many picturesque short valleys in the south-west. The
coast is always beautiful, and in some parts magnificent. In the east it
is broken by the irregular, lake-like inlet of Poole Harbour, pleasantly
diversified with low islands, shallow, and at low tide largely drained.
South of this a bold foreland, the termination of the southern hills
(here called Ballard Down) divides Studland Bay from Swanage Bay, after
which the coast line turns abruptly westward round Durlston Head. The
peninsula thus formed with Poole Harbour on the north is known as the
Isle of Purbeck, an oblong projection measuring 10 m. by 7. St Albans or
Aldhelms Head is the next salient feature, after which the fine cliffs
are indented with many little bays, of which the most noteworthy is the
almost landlocked Lulworth Cove. The coast then turns southward to
embrace Weymouth Bay and Portland Roads, where a harbour of refuge with
massive breakwaters is protected to the south by the Isle of Portland.
The isle is connected with the mainland by Chesil Bank, a remarkable
beach of shingle. After this the coast is less broken than before and
continues highly picturesque as far as the confines of the county near
Lyme Regis. This small town, with Charmouth, Bridport, Weymouth,
Lulworth Cove and Swanage, are in considerable favour as
watering-places.
_Geology._--Occupying as it does the central and most elevated part of
the county, the Chalk is the most prominent geological formation in
Dorsetshire. It sweeps in a south-westerly direction, as a belt of
high ground about 12 m. in width, from Cranborne Chase, through
Blandford, Milton Abbas and Frampton to Dorchester; westward it
reaches a point just north of Beaminster. From about Dorchester the
Chalk outcrop narrows and turns south-eastward by Portisham, Bincombe,
to West Lulworth, thence the crop proceeds eastward as the ridge of
the Purbeck Hills, and finally runs out to sea as the headland between
Studland and Swanage Bays.
Upon the Chalk in the eastern part of the county are the Eocene beds
of the Hampshire Basin. These are fringed by the Reading Beds and
London Clay, which occur as a narrow belt from Cranborne through
Wimborne Minster, near Bere Regis and Piddletown; here the crop swings
round south-eastward through West Knighton, Winfrith and Lulworth, and
thence along the northern side of the Purbeck Hills to Studland. Most
of the remaining Eocene area is occupied by the sands, gravel and clay
of the Bagshot series. The Agglestone Rock near Studland is a hard
mass of the Bagshot formation; certain clays in the same series in the
Wareham district have a world-wide reputation for pottery purposes;
since they are exported from Poole Harbour they are often known as
"Poole Clay." From beneath the Chalk the Selbornian or Gault and Upper
Greensand crops out as a narrow, irregular band. The Gault clay is
only distinguishable in the northern and southern districts. Here and
there the Greensand forms prominent hills, as that on which the town
of Shaftesbury stands. The Upper Greensand appears again as outliers
farther west, forming the high ground above Lyme Regis, Golden Cap,
and Pillesden and Lewesden Pens. The Lower Greensand crops out on the
south side of the Purbeck Hills and may be seen at Punfield Cove and
Worbarrow Bay, but this formation thins out towards the west. By the
action of the agencies of denudation upon the faulted anticline of the
Isle of Purbeck, the Wealden beds are brought to light in the vale
between Lulworth and Swanage; a similar cause has accounted for their
appearance at East Chaldon. South of the strip of Weald Clay is an
elevated plateau consisting of Purbeck Beds which rest upon Portland
Stone and Portland Sand. Cropping out from beneath the Portland beds
is the Kimmeridge Clay with so-called "Coal" bands, which forms the
lower platform near the village of that name.
The Middle Purbeck building stone and Upper Purbeck _Paludina_ marble
have been extensively quarried in the Isle of Purbeck. An interesting
feature in the Lower Purbeck is the "Dirt bed," the remains of a
Jurassic forest, which may be seen near Mupe Bay and on the Isle of
Portland, where both the Purbeck and Portland formations are well
exposed, the latter yielding the well-known freestones. In the
north-west of the county the Kimmeridge Clay crops in a N.-S.
direction from the neighbourhood of Gillingham by Woolland to near
Buckland Newton; in the south, a strip runs E. and W. between
Abbotsbury, Upway and Osmington Mill. Next in order come the Corallian
Beds and Oxford Clay which follow the line of the Kimmeridge Clay,
that is, they run from the north to the south-west except in the
neighbourhood of Abbotsbury and Weymouth, where these beds are
striking east and west.
Below the Oxford Clay is the Cornbrash, which may be seen near
Redipole, Stalbridge and Stourton; then follows the Forest Marble,
which usually forms a strong escarpment over the Fuller's Earth
beneath--at Thornford the Fuller's Earth rock is quarried. Next comes
the Inferior Oolite, quarried near Sherborne and Beaminster; the
outcrop runs on to the coast at Bridport. Beneath the Oolites are the
Midford sands, which are well exposed in the cliff between Bridport
and Burton Brandstock. Except where the Greensand outliers occur, the
south-western part of the county is occupied by Lower and Middle Lias
beds. These are clays and marls in the upper portions and limestones
below. Rhaetic beds, the so-called "White Lias," are exposed in Pinhay
Bay.
Many of the formations in Dorsetshire are highly fossiliferous,
notably the Lias of Lyme Regis, whence _Ichthyosaurus_ and other large
reptiles have been obtained; remains of the _Iguanodon_ have been
taken from the Wealden beds of the Isle of Purbeck; the Kimmeridge
Clay, Inferior Oolite, Forest Marble and Fuller's Earth are all
fossil-bearing rocks. The coast exhibits geological sections of
extreme interest and variety; the vertical and highly inclined strata
of the Purbeck anticline are well exhibited at Gad Cliff or near
Ballard Point; at the latter place the fractured fold is seen to pass
into an "overthrust fault."
_Climate and Agriculture._--The air of Dorsetshire is remarkably mild,
and in some of the more sheltered spots on the coast semi-tropical
plants are found to flourish. The district of the clays obtains for the
county the somewhat exaggerated title of the "garden of England," though
the rich Vale of Blackmore and the luxuriant pastures and orchards in
the west may support the name. Yet Dorsetshire is not generally a
well-wooded county, though much fine timber appears in the richer soils,
in some of the sheltered valleys of the chalk district, and more
especially upon the Greensand. About three-fourths of the total area is
under cultivation, and of this nearly five-eighths is in permanent
pasture, while there are in addition about 26,000 acres of hill
pasturage; the chalk downs being celebrated of old as sheep-walks.
Wheat, barley and oats are grown about equally. Turnips occupy nearly
three-fourths of the average under green crops. Sheep are largely kept,
though in decreasing numbers. The old horned breed of Dorsetshire were
well known, but Southdowns or Hampshires are now frequently preferred.
Devons, shorthorns and Herefords are the most common breeds of cattle.
Dairy farming is an important industry.
_Other Industries._--The quarries of Isles of Portland and Purbeck are
important. The first supplies a white freestone employed for many of the
finest buildings in London and elsewhere. Purbeck marble is famous
through its frequent use by the architects of many of the most famous
Gothic churches in England. A valuable product of Purbeck is a white
pipeclay, largely applied to the manufacture of china, for which purpose
it is exported to the Potteries of Staffordshire. Industries, beyond
those of agriculture and quarrying, are slight, though some
shipbuilding is carried on at Poole, and paper is made at several
towns. Other small manufactures are those of flax and hemp in the
neighbourhood of Bridport and Beaminster, of bricks, tiles and pottery
in the Poole district, and of nets (braiding, as the industry is called)
in some of the villages. There are silk-mills at Sherborne and
elsewhere. There are numerous fishing stations along the coast, the
fishing being mostly coastal. There are oyster beds in Poole Harbour.
The chief ports are Poole, Weymouth, Swanage, Bridport, and Lyme Regis.
The harbour of refuge at Portland, under the Admiralty, is an important
naval station, and is fortified.
_Communications._--The main line of the London & South Western railway
serves Gillingham and Sherborne in the north of the county. Branches of
this system serve Wimborne, Poole, Swanage, Dorchester, Weymouth and
Portland. The two last towns, with Bridport, are served by the Great
Western railway; the Somerset & Dorset line (Midland and South Western
joint) follows the Stour valley by Blandford and Wimborne; and Lyme
Regis is the terminus of a light railway from Axminster on the South
Western line.
_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
632,270 acres, with a population in 1891 of 194,517, and in 1901 of
202,936. The area of the administrative county is 625,578 acres. The
county contains 35 hundreds. It is divided into northern, eastern,
southern and western parliamentary divisions, each returning one member.
It contains the following municipal boroughs--Blandford Forum (pop. 3649),
Bridport (5710), Dorchester, the county town (9458), Lyme Regis (2095),
Poole (19,463), Shaftesbury (2027), Wareham (2003), Weymouth and Melcombe
Regis (19,831). The following are other urban districts--Portland
(15,199), Sherborne (5760), Swanage (3408), Wimborne Minster (3696).
Dorsetshire is in the western circuit, and assizes are held at Dorchester.
It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into nine petty
sessional divisions. The boroughs of Bridport, Dorchester, Lyme Regis,
Poole, and Weymouth and Melcombe Regis have separate commissions of the
peace, and the borough of Poole has in addition a separate court of
quarter sessions. There are 289 civil parishes. The ancient county, which
is almost entirely in the diocese of Salisbury, contains 256
ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part.
_History._--The kingdom of Wessex originated with the settlement of
Cerdic and his followers in Hampshire in 495, and at some time before
the beginning of the 8th century the tide of conquest and colonization
spread beyond the Frome and Kennet valleys and swept over the district
which is now Dorsetshire. In 705 the West Saxon see was transferred to
Sherborne, and the numerous foundations of religious houses which
followed did much to further the social and industrial development of
the county; though the wild and uncivilized state in which the county
yet lay may be conjectured from the names of the hundreds and of their
meeting-places, at barrows, boulders and vales. In 787 the Danes landed
at Portland, and in 833 they arrived at Charmouth with thirty-five ships
and fought with Ecgbert. The shire is first mentioned by name in the
Saxon Chronicle in 845, when the Danes were completely routed at the
mouth of the Parret by the men of Dorsetshire under Osric the ealdorman.
In 876 the invaders captured Wareham, but were driven out next year by
Alfred, and 120 of their ships were wrecked at Swanage. During the two
following centuries Dorset was constantly ravaged by the Danes, and in
1015 Canute came on a plundering expedition to the mouth of the Frome.
Several of the West Saxon kings resided in Dorsetshire, and AEthelbald
and AEthelbert were buried at Sherborne, and AEthelred at Wimborne. In the
reign of Canute Wareham was the shire town; it was a thriving seaport,
with a house for the king when he came there on his hunting expeditions,
a dwelling for the shire-reeve and accommodation for the leading thegns
of the shire. At the time of the Conquest Dorset formed part of Harold's
earldom, and the resistance which it opposed to the Conqueror was
punished by a merciless harrying, in which Dorchester, Wareham and
Shaftesbury were much devastated, and Bridport utterly ruined.
No Englishman retained estates of any importance after the Conquest, and
at the time of the Survey the bulk of the land, with the exception of
the forty-six manors held by the king, was in the hands of religious
houses, the abbeys of Cerne, Milton and Shaftesbury being the most
wealthy. There were 272 mills in the county at the time of the Survey,
and nearly eighty men were employed in working salt along the coast.
Mints existed at Shaftesbury, Wareham, Dorchester and Bridport, the
three former having been founded by AEthelstan. The forests of
Dorsetshire were favourite hunting-grounds of the Norman kings, and King
John in particular paid frequent visits to the county.
No precise date can be assigned for the establishment of the shire
system in Wessex, but in the time of Ecgbert the kingdom was divided
into definite _pagi_, each under an ealdorman, which no doubt
represented the later shires. The _Inquisitio Geldi_, drawn up two years
before the Domesday Survey, gives the names of the 39 pre-Conquest
hundreds of Dorset. The 33 hundreds and 21 liberties of the present day
retain some of the original names, but the boundaries have suffered much
alteration. The 8000 acres of Stockland and Dalwood reckoned in the
Dorset Domesday are now annexed to Devon, and the manor of Holwell now
included in Dorset was reckoned with Somerset until the 19th century.
Until the reign of Elizabeth Dorset and Somerset were united under one
sheriff.
After the transference of the West Saxon see from Sherborne to Sarum in
1075, Dorset remained part of that diocese until 1542, when it was
included in the newly formed diocese of Bristol. The archdeaconry was
coextensive with the shire, and was divided into five rural deaneries at
least as early as 1291.
The vast power and wealth monopolized by the Church in Dorsetshire
tended to check the rise of any great county families. The
representatives of the families of Mohun, Brewer and Arundel held large
estates after the Conquest, and William Mohun was created earl of Dorset
by the empress Maud. The families of Clavel, Lovell, Maundeville,
Mautravers, Peverel and St Lo also came over with the Conqueror and
figure prominently in the early annals of the county.
Dorsetshire took no active part in the struggles of the Norman and
Plantagenet period. In 1627 the county refused to send men to La
Rochelle, and was reproved for its lack of zeal in the service of the
state. On the outbreak of the Civil War of the 17th century the general
feeling was in favour of the king, and after a series of royalist
successes in 1643 Lyme Regis and Poole were the only garrisons in the
county left to the parliament. By the next year however, the parliament
had gained the whole county with the exception of Sherborne and the Isle
of Portland. The general aversion of the Dorsetshire people to warlike
pursuits is demonstrated at this period by the rise of the "clubmen," so
called from their appearance without pikes or fire-arms at the county
musters, whose object was peace at all costs, and who punished members
of either party discovered in the act of plundering.
In the 14th century Dorsetshire produced large quantities of wheat and
wool, and had a prosperous clothing trade. In 1626 the county was
severely visited by the plague, and from this date the clothing industry
began to decline. The hundred of Pimperne produced large quantities of
saltpeter in the 17th century, and the serge manufacture was introduced
about this time. Portland freestone was first brought into use in the
reign of James I., when it was employed for the new banqueting house at
Whitehall, and after the Great Fire it was extensively used by Sir
Christopher Wren. In the 18th century Blandford, Sherborne and Lyme
Regis were famous for their lace, but the industry has now declined.
The county returned two members to parliament in 1290, and as the chief
towns acquired representation the number was increased, until in 1572
the county and nine boroughs returned a total of twenty members. Under
the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned three members, and Corfe
Castle was disfranchised. By the Representation of the People Act of
1868 Lyme Regis was disfranchised, and by the Redistribution Act of 1885
the remaining boroughs were disfranchised.
_Antiquities._--Remains of medieval castles are inconsiderable, with the
notable exception of Corfe Castle and the picturesque ruins of Sherborne
Castle, both destroyed after the Civil War of the 17th century. The
three finest churches in the county are the abbey church of Sherborne,
Wimborne Minster and Milton Abbey church, a Decorated and Perpendicular
structure erected on the site of a Norman church which was burnt. It has
transepts, chancel and central tower, but the nave was not built. This
was a Benedictine foundation of the 10th century, and the refectory of
the 15th century is incorporated in the mansion built in 1772. At Ford
Abbey part of the buildings of a Cistercian house are similarly
incorporated. There are lesser monastic remains at Abbotsbury, Cerne and
Bindon. The parish churches of Dorsetshire are not especially noteworthy
as a whole, but those at Cerne Abbas and Beaminster are fine examples of
the Perpendicular style, which is the most common in the county. A
little good Norman work remains, as in the churches of Bere Regis and
Piddletrenthide, but both these were reconstructed in the Perpendicular
period; Bere Regis church having a superb timber roof of that period.
The dialect of the county, perfectly distinguishable from those of
Wiltshire and Somersetshire, yet bearing many common marks of Saxon
origin, is admirably illustrated in some of the poems of William Barnes
(q.v.). Many towns, villages and localities are readily to be recognized
from their descriptions in the "Wessex" novels of Thomas Hardy (q.v.).
A curious ancient _Survey of Dorsetshire_ was written by the Rev. Mr
Coker, about the middle of the 17th century, and published from his
MS. (London, 1732). See also J. Hutchins, _History and Antiquities of
the County of Dorset_ (London, 1774); 2nd ed. by R. Gough and E. B.
Nichols (1796-1815); 3rd ed. by W. Shipp and J. W. Hodson (1861-1873);
C. Warne, _Ancient Dorset_ (London, 1865); R. W. Eyton, _A Key to
Domesday, exemplified by an analysis and digest of the Dorset Survey_
(London, 1878); C. H. Mayo, _Bibliotheca Dorsetiensis_ (London, 1885);
W. Barnes, _Glossary of Dorset Dialect_ (Dorchester, 1886); H. J.
Moule, _Old Dorset_ (London, 1893); _Victoria County History,
Dorsetshire_.
DORSIVENTRAL (Lat. _dorsum_, the back, _venter_, the belly), a term used
to describe an organ which has two surfaces differing from each other in
appearance and structure, as an ordinary leaf.
DORT, SYNOD OF. An assembly of the Reformed Dutch Church, with deputies
from Switzerland, the Palatinate, Nassau, Hesse, East Friesland, Bremen,
Scotland and England, called to decide the theological differences
existing between the Arminians (or Remonstrants) and the Calvinists (or
Counter-Remonstrants), was held at Dort or Dordrecht (q.v.) in the years
1618 and 1619. The government of Louis XIII. prohibited the attendance
of French delegates. During the life of Arminius a bitter controversy
had sprung up between his followers and the strict Calvinists, led by
Francis Gomar, his fellow-professor at Leiden; and, in order to decide
their disputes, a synodical conference was proposed, but Arminius died
before it could be held. At the conference held at the Hague in 1610 the
Arminians addressed a remonstrance to the states-general in the form of
five articles, which henceforth came to be known as the five points of
Arminianism. In these they reacted against both the supralapsarian and
the infralapsarian developments of the doctrine of predestination and
combated the irresistibility of grace; they held that Christ died for
all men and not only for the elect, and were not sure that the elect
might not fall from grace. This conference had no influence in
reconciling the opposing parties, and another, held at Delft in the year
1613, was equally unsuccessful. In 1614, at the instance of the Arminian
party, an edict was passed by the states-general, in which toleration of
the opinions of both parties was declared and further controversy
forbidden; but this act only served, by rousing the jealousy of the
Calvinists, to fan the controversial flame into greater fury. Gradually
the dispute pervaded all classes of society, and the religious questions
became entangled with political issues; the partisans of the house of
Orange espoused the cause of the stricter Calvinism, whereas the
bourgeois oligarchy of republican tendencies, led by Oldenbarnevelt and
Hugo Grotius, stood for Arminianism. In 1617 Prince Maurice of Orange
committed himself definitely to the Calvinistic party, found an occasion
for throwing Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius into prison, and in November of
that year called a synod intended to crush the Arminians. This synod,
which assembled at Dort in November 1618, was strictly national--called
by the national authority to decide a national dispute, and not intended
to have more than a national influence. The foreign deputies were
invited to attend, only to assist by their advice in the settlement of a
controversy which concerned the Netherland church alone, and which the
Netherland church alone could decide. At the fourth sitting it was
decided to cite Simon Episcopius and several other Remonstrants to
appear within fourteen days before the synod, to state and justify their
doctrines. It was also agreed to allow the Arminian deputies to take
part in the deliberations, only on condition that they forbore to
consult with, or in any way assist, their cited brethren, but this they
refused. During the interval between the citation and the appearance of
the accused, the professorial members of the synod were instructed to
prepare themselves to be able to confute the Arminian errors, and the
synod occupied itself with deliberations as to a new translation of the
Bible, for which a commission was named, made arrangements for teaching
the Heidelberg catechism, and granted permission to the missionaries of
the East Indies to baptize such children of heathen parents as were
admitted into their families. At the 25th sitting Episcopius and the
others cited appeared, when Episcopius surprised the deputies by a bold
and outspoken defence of his views, and even went so far as to say that
the synod, by excluding the Arminian deputies, could now only be
regarded as a schismatic assembly. The Remonstrants were asked to file
copious explanations of the five points in dispute (_Sententia
Remonstrantium_), but objecting to the manner in which they were
catechized, they were, at the 57th sitting, dismissed from the synod as
convicted "liars and deceivers." The synod then proceeded in their
absence to judge them from their published writings, and came to the
conclusion that as ecclesiastical rebels and trespassers they should be
deprived of all their offices. The synodical decision in regard to the
five points is contained in the canons adopted at the 136th session held
on the 23rd of April 1619; the points were: unconditional election,
limited atonement, total depravity, irresistibility of grace, final
perseverance of the saints. The issue of _supralapsarianism_ v.
_infralapsarianism_ was avoided. These doctrinal decisions and the
sentence against the Remonstrants were, at the 144th sitting, read in
Latin before a large audience in the great church. The Remonstrants were
required to subscribe the condemnation, and many of them refused and
were banished. The synod was concluded on the 9th of May 1619, by a
magnificent banquet given by the chief magistrate of Dort. The Dutch
deputies remained a fortnight longer to attend to ecclesiastical
business. Though the canons of Dort were adopted by but two churches
outside of Holland, the synod ranks as the most impressive assemblage of
the Reformed Church.
AUTHORITIES.--_Acta synodi nationalis ... Dordrechti habitae_ (Lugd.
Bat. 1620, official edition); _Acta der Nationale Synode te Dordrecht_
1618 (Leiden, 1887), French translation (Leiden, 1622 and 1624, 2
vols.), for the Canons, and the _Sententia Remonstrantium_, E. F. Karl
Muller, _Die Bekenntnisschriften der reformierten Kirche_ (Leipzig,
1903), p. lix. ff., 843 ff.; for canons and abridged translation used
by the Reformed Church in America, P. Schaff, _The Creeds of
Christendom_ (3rd ed., New York, 1877), 550 ff. See also H. Heppe, in
_Niedner's Zeitschrift fur die historische Theologie_, Bd. 23
(Hamburg, 1853), 226-327 (letters of Hessian deputies); _Acta et
scripta synodalia Dordracena ministrorum Remonstrantium_, Hardervici,
1620 (valuable side-lights); A. Schweizer, _Die protestantischen
Centraldogmen in ihrer Entwicklung innerhalb der reformierten Kirche_,
zweite Halfte (Zurich, 1856), 25-224; H. C. Rogge in Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopadie_, Bd. 4 (Leipzig, 1898), 798-802; H. H. Kuyper, _De
Post-Acta of Nahandelingen van de Nationale Synode van Dordrecht, een
historische Studie_ (Amsterdam, 1899, new material); J. Reitsma,
_Geschiednis van de Hervorming en de Hervormde Kerk der Nederlanden_
(2nd ed. Groningen, 1899); F. Loofs, _Dogmengeschichte_ (4th ed.,
Halle, 1906), 935 ff.; T. Van Oppenraij, _La Predestination dans
l'Eglise reformee des Pays-Bas depuis l'origine jusqu'au synode
national de Dordrecht_ (Louvain, 1906). (W. W. R.*)
DORTMUND, a town of Germany, the chief commercial centre of the Prussian
province of Westphalia, on the Emscher, in a fertile plain, 50 m. E.
from Dusseldorf by rail. Pop. (1875) 57,742; (1895) 111,232; (1905)
175,292. Since the abolition of the old walls in 1863 and the conversion
of their site into promenades, the town has rapidly assumed a modern
appearance. The central part, however, with its winding narrow streets,
is redolent of its historical past, when, as one of the leading cities
of the Hanseatic League, it enjoyed commercial supremacy over all the
towns of Westphalia. Among its ancient buildings must be mentioned the
Reinoldikirche, with fine stained-glass windows, the Marienkirche, the
nave of which dates from the 11th century, the Petrikirche, with a
curious altar, and the Dominican church, with beautiful cloisters. The
13th-century town hall was restored in 1899 and now contains the
municipal antiquarian museum, having been superseded by a more
commodious building. Among the chief modern structures may be mentioned
the magnificent post office, erected in 1895, the provincial law courts,
the municipal infirmary and the large railway station. To the W. of the
last there existed down to 1906 (when it was removed) one of the ancient
lime trees of the Konigshof, where the meetings of the _Vehmgericht_
were held (see FEHMIC COURTS). But the real interest of Dortmund centres
in its vast industries, which owe their development to the situation of
the town in the centre of the great Westphalian coal basin. In the
immediate vicinity are also extensive beds of iron ore, and this
combination of mineral wealth has enabled the town to become a
competitor with Essen, Oberhausen, Duisburg and Hagen in the products of
the iron industry. These in Dortmund more particularly embrace steel
railway rails, mining plant, wire ropes, machinery, safes and sewing
machines. Dortmund has also extensive breweries, and, in addition to the
manufactured goods already enumerated, does a considerable trade in corn
and wood. Besides being well furnished with a convenient railway system,
linking it with the innumerable manufacturing towns and villages of the
iron district, it is also connected with the river Ems by the
Dortmund-Ems Canal, 170 m. in length.
Dortmund, the Throtmannia of early history, was already a town of some
importance in the 9th century. In 1005 the emperor Henry II. held here
an ecclesiastical council, and in 1016 an imperial diet. The town was
walled in the 12th century, and in 1387-1388 successfully withstood the
troops of the archbishop of Cologne, who besieged it for twenty-one
months. About the middle of the 13th century it joined the Hanseatic
League. At the close of the Thirty Years' War the population had become
reduced to 3000. In 1803 Dortmund lost its rights as a free town, and
was annexed to Nassau. The French occupied it in 1806, and in 1808 it
was made over by Napoleon to the grand-duke of Berg, and became the
chief town of the department of Ruhr. Through the cession of Westphalia
by the king of the Netherlands, on the 31st of May 1815, it became a
Prussian town.
See Thiersch, _Geschichte der Freireichsstadt Dortmund_ (Dort, 1854),
and Ludoff, _Bau- und Kunstdenkmaler in Dortmund_ (Paderborn, 1895);
also A. Shadwell, _Industrial Efficiency_ (London, 1906).
DORY, or JOHN DORY (_Zeus faber_), an Acanthopterygian fish, the type of
the family _Zeidae_, held in such esteem by the ancient Greeks that they
called it _Zeus_ after their principal divinity. Its English name is
probably a corruption of the French _jaune doree_, and has reference to
the prevailing golden-yellow colour of the living fish. The body in the
dory is much compressed, and is nearly oval in form, while the mouth is
large and capable of extensive protrusion. It possesses two dorsal fins,
of which the anterior is armed with long slender spines, and the
connecting membrane is produced into long tendril-like filaments; while
a row of short spines extends along the belly and the roots of the anal
and dorsal fins. The colour of the upper surface is olive-brown; the
sides are yellowish, and are marked with a prominent dark spot, on
account of which the dory divides with the haddock the reputation of
being the fish from which Peter took the tribute money. It is an
inhabitant of the Atlantic coasts of Europe, the Mediterranean and the
Australian seas. It is occasionally abundant on the coasts of Devon and
Cornwall, and is also found, though more sparingly, throughout the
British seas. It is exceedingly voracious, feeding on molluscs, shrimps
and the young of other fish; and Jonathan Couch (1789-1870), author of a
_History of British Fishes_, states that from the stomach of a single
dory he has taken 25 flounders, some 2-1/2 in. long, 3 fatherlashers half
grown and 5 stones from the beach, one 1-1/2 in. in length. They are often
taken in the fishermen's nets off the Cornwall and Devon coast, having
entered these in pursuit of pilchards. They are seldom found in deep
water, preferring sandy bays, among the weeds growing on the bottom of
which they lie in wait for their prey, and in securing this they are
greatly assisted by their great width of gape, by their power of
protruding the mouth, and by the slender filaments of the first dorsal
fins, which float like worms in the water, while the greater part of the
body is buried in the sand, and thus they entice the smaller fishes to
come within easy reach of the capacious jaws. The dory often attains a
weight of 12 lb., although those usually brought into the market do not
average more than 6 or 7 lb. It is highly valued as an article of food.
The family _Zeidae_ has assumed special interest of late, O. Thilo[1]
and G. A. Boulenger[2] having shown that they have much in common with
the flat-fishes or _Pleuronectidae_ and must be nearly related to the
original stock from which this asymmetrical type has been evolved,
especially if the Upper Eocene genus _Amphistium_ be taken into
consideration. This affinity is further supported by the observations
made by L. W. Byrne[3] on the asymmetry in the number and arrangement of
the bony plates at the base of the dorsal and anal fins in the young of
the John Dory. (G. A. B.)