(London, 1818), also "An Essay on Dew," edited by Casella (London,
1866), Longmans', with additions by Strachan; Melloni, _Pogg. Ann._
lxxi. pp. 416, 424 and lxxiii. p. 467; Jamin, "Compléments à la
théorie de la rosée," _Journal de physique_, viii. p. 41; J. Aitken,
on "Dew," _Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh_, xxxiii., part i. 2, and
"Nature," vol. xxxiii. p. 256; C. Tomlinson, "Remarks on a new Theory
of Dew," _Phil. Mag._ (1886), 5th series, vol. 21, p. 483 and vol. 22,
p. 270; Russell, _Nature_, vol 47, p. 210; also _Met. Zeit._ (1893),
p. 390; Homén, _Bodenphysikalische und meteorologische Beobachtungen_
(Berlin, 1894), iii.; _Taubildung_, p. 88, &c.; Rubenson, "Die
Temperatur-und Feuchtigkeitsverhältnisse in den unteren Luftschichten
bei der Taubildung," _Met. Zeit._ xi. (1876), p. 65; H. E. Hamberg,
"Température et humidité de l'air à différentes hauteurs à Upsal,"
_Soc. R. des sciences d'Upsal_ (1876); review in _Met. Zeit._ xii.
(1877), p. 105.
For _Dew Ponds_, see Stephen Hales, _Statical Essays_, vol. i.,
experiment xix., pp. 52-57 (2nd ed., London, 1731); Gilbert White,
_Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne_, letter xxix. (London,
1789); Dr C. Wells, _An Essay on Dew_ (London, 1818, 1821 and 1866);
Rev. J. C. Clutterbuck, "Prize Essay on Water Supply," _Journ. Roy.
Agric. Soc._, 2nd series, vol. i. pp. 271-287 (1865); Field and
Symons, "Evaporation from the Surface of Water," _Brit. Assoc. Rep._
(1869), sect., pp. 25, 26; J. Lucas, "Hydrogeology: One of the
Developments of Modern Practical Geology," _Trans. Inst. Surveyors_,
vol. ix. pp. 153-232 (1877); H. P. Slade, "A Short Practical Treatise
on Dew Ponds" (London, 1877); Clement Reid, "The Natural History of
Isolated Ponds," _Trans. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society_,
vol. v. pp. 272-286 (1892); Professor G. S. Brady, _On the Nature and
Origin of Freshwater Faunas_ (1899); Professor L. C. Miall, "Dew
Ponds," _Reports of the British Association_ (Bradford Meeting, 1900),
pp. 579-585; A. J. and G. Hubbard, "Neolithic Dewponds and
Cattle-Ways" (London, 1904, 1907). (W. N. S.)
DEWAN or DIWAN, an Oriental term for finance minister. The word is
derived from the Arabian _diwan_, and is commonly used in India to
denote a minister of the Mogul government, or in modern days the prime
minister of a native state. It was in the former sense that the grant of
the _dewanny_ to the East India Company in 1765 became the foundation of
the British empire in India.
DEWAR, SIR JAMES (1842- ), British chemist and physicist, was born at
Kincardine-on-Forth, Scotland, on the 20th of September 1842. He was
educated at Dollar Academy and Edinburgh University, being at the latter
first a pupil, and afterwards the assistant, of Lord Playfair, then
professor of chemistry; he also studied under Kekulé at Ghent. In 1875
he was elected Jacksonian professor of natural experimental philosophy
at Cambridge, becoming a fellow of Peterhouse, and in 1877 he succeeded
Dr J. H. Gladstone as Fullerian professor of chemistry in the Royal
Institution, London. He was president of the Chemical Society in 1897,
and of the British Association in 1902, served on the Balfour Commission
on London Water Supply (1893-1894), and as a member of the Committee on
Explosives (1888-1891) invented cordite jointly with Sir Frederick Abel.
His scientific work covers a wide field. Of his earlier papers, some
deal with questions of organic chemistry, others with Graham's
hydrogenium and its physical constants, others with high temperatures,
e.g. the temperature of the sun and of the electric spark, others again
with electro-photometry and the chemistry of the electric arc. With
Professor J. G. M'Kendrick, of Glasgow, he investigated the
physiological action of light, and examined the changes which take place
in the electrical condition of the retina under its influence. With
Professor G. D. Liveing, one of his colleagues at Cambridge, he began in
1878 a long series of spectroscopic observations, the later of which
were devoted to the spectroscopic examination of various gaseous
constituents separated from atmospheric air by the aid of low
temperatures; and he was joined by Professor J. A. Fleming, of
University College, London, in the investigation of the electrical
behaviour of substances cooled to very low temperatures. His name is
most widely known in connexion with his work on the liquefaction of the
so-called permanent gases and his researches at temperatures approaching
the zero of absolute temperature. His interest in this branch of inquiry
dates back at least as far as 1874, when he discussed the "Latent Heat
of Liquid Gases" before the British Association. In 1878 he devoted a
Friday evening lecture at the Royal Institution to the then recent work
of L. P. Cailletet and R. P. Pictet, and exhibited for the first time in
Great Britain the working of the Cailletet apparatus. Six years later,
in the same place, he described the researches of Z. F. Wroblewski and
K. S. Olszewski, and illustrated for the first time in public the
liquefaction of oxygen and air, by means of apparatus specially designed
for optical projection so that the actions taking place might be visible
to the audience. Soon afterwards he constructed a machine from which the
liquefied gas could be drawn off through a valve for use as a cooling
agent, and he showed its employment for this purpose in connexion with
some researches on meteorites; about the same time he also obtained
oxygen in the solid state. By 1891 he had designed and erected at the
Royal Institution an apparatus which yielded liquid oxygen by the pint,
and towards the end of that year he showed that both liquid oxygen and
liquid ozone are strongly attracted by a magnet. About 1892 the idea
occurred to him of using vacuum-jacketed vessels for the storage of
liquid gases, and so efficient did this device prove in preventing the
influx of external heat that it is found possible not only to preserve
the liquids for comparatively long periods, but also to keep them so
free from ebullition that examination of their optical properties
becomes possible. He next experimented with a high-pressure hydrogen jet
by which low temperatures were realized through the Thomson-Joule
effect, and the successful results thus obtained led him to build at the
Royal Institution the large refrigerating machine by which in 1898
hydrogen was for the first time collected in the liquid state, its
solidification following in 1899. Later he investigated the
gas-absorbing powers of charcoal when cooled to low temperatures, and
applied them to the production of high vacua and to gas analysis (see
LIQUID GASES). The Royal Society in 1894 bestowed the Rumford medal upon
him for his work in the production of low temperatures, and in 1899 he
became the first recipient of the Hodgkins gold medal of the Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, for his contributions to our knowledge of the
nature and properties of atmospheric air. In 1904 he was the first
British subject to receive the Lavoisier medal of the French Academy of
Sciences, and in 1906 he was the first to be awarded the Matteucci medal
of the Italian Society of Sciences. He was knighted in 1904, and in 1908
he was awarded the Albert medal of the Society of Arts.
DEWAS, two native states of India, in the Malwa Political Charge of
Central India, founded in the first half of the 18th century by two
brothers, Punwar Mahrattas, who came into Malwa with the peshwa, Baji
Rao, in 1728. Their descendants are known as the senior and junior
branches of the family, and since 1841 each has ruled his own portion as
a separate state, though the lands belonging to each are so intimately
entangled, that even in Dewas, the capital town, the two sides of the
main street are under different administrations and have different
arrangements for water supply and lighting. The senior branch has an
area of 446 sq. m. and a population of 62,312, while the area of the
junior branch is 440 sq. m. and its population 54,904.
DEWBERRY, _Rubus caesius_, a trailing plant, allied to the bramble, of
the natural order Rosaceae. It is common in woods, hedges and the
borders of fields in England and other countries of Europe. The leaves
have three leaflets, are hairy beneath, and of a dusky green; the
flowers which appear in June and July are white, or pale rose-coloured.
The fruit is large, and closely embraced by the calyx, and consists of a
few drupules, which are black, with a glaucous bloom; it has an
agreeable acid taste.
DEW-CLAW, the rudimentary toes, two in number, or the "false hoof" of
the deer, sometimes also called the "nails." In dogs the dew-claw is the
rudimentary toe or hallux (corresponding to the big toe in man) hanging
loosely attached to the skin, low down on the hinder part of the leg.
The origin of the word is unknown, but it has been fancifully suggested
that, while the other toes touch the ground in walking, the dew-claw
merely brushes the dew from the grass.
D'EWES, SIR SIMONDS, Bart. (1602-1650), English antiquarian, eldest son
of Paul D'Ewes of Milden, Suffolk, and of Cecilia, daughter and heir of
Richard Simonds, of Coaxdon or Coxden, Dorsetshire, was born on the 18th
of December 1602, and educated at the grammar school of Bury St Edmunds,
and at St John's College, Cambridge. He had been admitted to the Middle
Temple in 1611, and was called to the bar in 1623, when he immediately
began his collections of material and his studies in history and
antiquities. In 1626 he married Anne, daughter and heir of Sir William
Clopton, of Luton's Hall in Suffolk, through whom he obtained a large
addition to his already considerable fortune. On the 6th of December he
was knighted. He took an active part as a strong Puritan and member of
the moderate party in the opposition to the king's arbitrary government
in the Long Parliament of 1640, in which he sat as member for Sudbury.
On the 15th of July he was created a baronet by the king, but
nevertheless adhered to the parliamentary party when war broke out, and
in 1643 took the Covenant. He was one of the members expelled by Pride's
Purge in 1648, and died on the 18th of April 1650. He had married
secondly Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, Bart., of Risley
in Derbyshire, by whom he had a son, who succeeded to his estates and
title, the latter becoming extinct on the failure of male issue in 1731.
D'Ewes appears to have projected a work of very ambitious scope, no less
than the whole history of England based on original documents. But
though excelling as a collector of materials, and as a laborious,
conscientious and accurate transcriber, he had little power of
generalization or construction, and died without publishing anything
except an uninteresting tract, _The Primitive Practice for Preserving
Truth_ (1645), and some speeches. His _Journals of all the Parliaments
during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth_, however, a valuable work, was
published in 1682. His large collections, including transcripts from
ancient records, many of the originals of which are now dispersed or
destroyed, are in the Harleian collection in the British Museum. His
unprinted Diaries from 1621-1624 and from 1643-1647, the latter valuable
for the notes of proceedings in parliament, are often the only authority
for incidents and speeches during that period, and are amusing from the
glimpses the diarist affords of his own character, his good estimation
of himself and his little jealousies; some are in a cipher and some in
Latin.
Extracts from his _Autobiography and Correspondence_ from the MSS. in
the British Museum were published by J. O. Halliwell-Phillips in 1845,
by Hearne in the appendix to his _Historia vitae et regni Ricardi II._
(1729), and in the _Bibliotheca topographica Britannica_, No. xv. vol.
vi. (1783); and from a Diary of later date, _College Life in the Time
of James I._ (1851). His Diaries have been extensively drawn upon by
Forster, Gardiner, and by Sanford in his _Studies of the Great
Rebellion_. Some of his speeches have been reprinted in the Harleian
Miscellany and in the Somers Tracts.
DE WET, CHRISTIAN (1854- ), Boer general and politician, was born on the
7th of October 1854 at Leeuwkop, Smithfield district (Orange Free
State), and later resided at Dewetsdorp. He served in the first
Anglo-Boer War of 1880-81 as a field cornet, and from 1881 to 1896 he
lived on his farm, becoming in 1897 member of the Volksraad. He took
part in the earlier battles of the Boer War of 1899 in Natal as a
commandant and later, as a general, he went to serve under Cronje in the
west. His first successful action was the surprise of Sanna's Post near
Bloemfontein, which was followed by the victory of Reddersburg a little
later. Thenceforward he came to be regarded more and more as the most
formidable leader of the Boers in their guerrilla warfare. Sometimes
severely handled by the British, sometimes escaping only by the
narrowest margin of safety from the columns which attempted to surround
him, and falling upon and annihilating isolated British posts, De Wet
continued to the end of the war his successful career, striking heavily
where he could do so and skilfully evading every attempt to bring him to
bay. He took an active part in the peace negotiations of 1902, and at
the conclusion of the war he visited Europe with the other Boer
generals. While in England the generals sought, unavailingly, a
modification of the terms of peace concluded at Pretoria. De Wet wrote
an account of his campaigns, an English version of which appeared in
November 1902 under the title _Three Years' War_. In November, 1907 he
was elected a member of the first parliament of the Orange River Colony
and was appointed minister of agriculture. In 1908-9 he was a delegate
to the Closer Union Convention.
DE WETTE, WILHELM MARTIN LEBERECHT (1780-1849), German theologian, was
born on the 12th of January 1780, at Ulla, near Weimar, where his father
was pastor. He was sent to the gymnasium at Weimar, then at the height
of its literary glory. Here he was much influenced by intercourse with
Johann Gottfried Herder, who frequently examined at the school. In 1799
he entered on his theological studies at Jena, his principal teachers
being J. J. Griesbach and H. E. G. Paulus, from the latter of whom he
derived his tendency to free critical inquiry. Both in methods and in
results, however, he occupied an almost solitary position among German
theologians. Having taken his doctor's degree, he became _privat-docent_
at Jena; in 1807 professor of theology at Heidelberg, where he came
under the influence of J. F. Fries (1773-1843); and in 1810 was
transferred to a similar chair in the newly founded university of
Berlin, where he enjoyed the friendship of Schleiermacher. He was,
however, dismissed from Berlin in 1819 on account of his having written
a letter of consolation to the mother of Karl Ludwig Sand, the murderer
of Kotzebue. A petition in his favour presented by the senate of the
university was unsuccessful, and a decree was issued not only depriving
him of the chair, but banishing him from the Prussian kingdom. He
retired for a time to Weimar, where he occupied his leisure in the
preparation of his edition of Luther, and in writing the romance
_Theodor oder die Weihe des Zweiflers_ (Berlin, 1822), in which he
describes the education of an evangelical pastor. During this period he
made his first essay in preaching, and proved himself to be possessed of
very popular gifts. But in 1822 he accepted the chair of theology in the
university of Basel, which had been reorganized four years before.
Though his appointment had been strongly opposed by the orthodox party,
De Wette soon won for himself great influence both in the university and
among the people generally. He was admitted a citizen, and became rector
of the university, which owed to him much of its recovered strength,
particularly in the theological faculty. He died on the 16th of June
1849.
De Wette has been described by Julius Wellhausen as "the epoch-making
opener of the historical criticism of the Pentateuch." He prepared the
way for the Supplement-theory. But he also made valuable contributions
to other branches of theology. He had, moreover, considerable poetic
faculty, and wrote a drama in three acts, entitled _Die Entsagung_
(Berlin, 1823). He had an intelligent interest in art, and studied
ecclesiastical music and architecture. As a Biblical critic he is
sometimes classed with the destructive school, but, as Otto Pfleiderer
says (_Development of Theology_, p. 102), he "occupied as free a
position as the Rationalists with regard to the literal authority of the
creeds of the church, but that he sought to give their due value to the
religious feelings, which the Rationalists had not done, and, with a
more unfettered mind towards history, to maintain the connexion of the
present life of the church with the past." His works are marked by
exegetical skill, unusual power of condensation and uniform fairness.
Accordingly they possess value which is little affected by the progress
of criticism.
The most important of his works are:--_Beiträge zur Einleitung in das
Alte Testament_ (2 vols., 1806-1807); _Kommentar über die Psalmen_
(1811), which has passed through several editions, and is still
regarded as of high authority; _Lehrbuch der hebräisch-jüdischen
Archäologie_ (1814); _Über Religion und Theologie_ (1815); a work of
great importance as showing its author's general theological position;
_Lehrbuch der christlichen Dogmatik_ (1813-1816); _Lehrbuch der
historisch-kritischen Einleitung in die Bibel_ (1817); _Christliche
Sittenlehre_ (1819-1821); _Einleitung in das Neue Testament_ (1826);
_Religion, ihr Wesen, ihre Erscheinungsform, und ihr Einfluss auf das
Leben_ (1827); _Das Wesen des christlichen Glaubens_ (1846); and
_Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch zum Neuen Testament_ (1836-1848).
De Wette also edited Luther's works (5 vols., 1825-1828).
See K. R. Hagenbach in _Herzog's Realencyklopädie_; G. C. F. Lücke's
_W. M. L. De Wette, zur freundschaftlicher Erinnerung_ (1850); and D.
Schenkel's _W. M. L. De Wette und die Bedeutung seiner Theologie für
unsere Zeit_ (1849). Rudolf Stähelin, _De Wette nach seiner theol.
Wirksamkeit und Bedeutung_ (1880); F. Lichtenberger, _History of
German Theology in the Nineteenth Century_ (1889); Otto Pfleiderer,
_Development of Theology_ (1890), pp. 97 ff.; T. K. Cheyne, _Founders
of the Old Testament Criticism_, pp. 31 ff.
DEWEY, DAVIS RICH (1858- ), American economist and statistician, was
born at Burlington, Vermont, U.S.A., on the 7th of April 1858. He was
educated at the university of Vermont and at Johns Hopkins University,
and afterwards became professor of economics and statistics at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was chairman of the state
board on the question of the unemployed (1895), member of the
Massachusetts commission on public, charitable and reformatory interests
(1897), special expert agent on wages for the 12th census, and member of
a state commission (1904) on industrial relations. He wrote an excellent
_Syllabus on Political History since 1815_ (1887), a _Financial History
of the U.S._ (1902), and _National Problems_ (1907).
DEWEY, GEORGE (1837- ), American naval officer, was born at Montpelier,
Vermont, on the 26th of December 1837. He studied at Norwich University,
then at Norwich, Vermont, and graduated at the United States Naval
Academy in 1858. He was commissioned lieutenant in April 1861, and in
the Civil War served on the steamsloop "Mississippi" (1861-1863) during
Farragut's passage of the forts below New Orleans in April 1862, and at
Port Hudson in March 1863; took part in the fighting below
Donaldsonville, Louisiana, in July 1863; and in 1864-1865 served on the
steam-gunboat "Agawam" with the North Atlantic blockading squadron and
took part in the attacks on Fort Fisher in December 1864 and January
1865. In March 1865 he became a lieutenant-commander. He was with the
European squadron in 1866-1867; was an instructor in the United States
Naval Academy in 1868-1869; was in command of the "Narragansett" in
1870-1871 and 1872-1875, being commissioned commander in 1872; was
light-house inspector in 1876-1877; and was secretary of the light-house
board in 1877-1882. In 1884 he became a captain; in 1889-1893 was chief
of the bureau of equipment and recruiting; in 1893-1895 was a member of
the light-house board; and in 1895-1897 was president of the board of
inspection and survey, being promoted to the rank of commodore in
February 1896. In November 1897 he was assigned, at his own request, to
sea service, and sent to Asiatic waters. In April 1898, while with his
fleet at Hong Kong, he was notified by cable that war had begun between
the United States and Spain, and was ordered to "capture or destroy the
Spanish fleet" then in Philippine waters. On the 1st of May he
overwhelmingly defeated the Spanish fleet under Admiral Montojo in
Manila Bay, a victory won without the loss of a man on the American
ships (see SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR). Congress, in a joint resolution,
tendered its thanks to Commodore Dewey, and to the officers and men
under his command, and authorized "the secretary of the navy to present
a sword of honor to Commodore George Dewey, and cause to be struck
bronze medals commemorating the battle of Manila Bay, and to distribute
such medals to the officers and men of the ships of the Asiatic squadron
of the United States." He was promoted rear-admiral on the 10th of May
1898. On the 18th of August his squadron assisted in the capture of the
city of Manila. After remaining in the Philippines under orders from his
government to maintain control, Dewey received the rank of admiral
(March 3, 1899)--that title, formerly borne only by Farragut and Porter,
having been revived by act of Congress (March 2, 1899),--and returned
home, arriving in New York City, where, on the 3rd of October 1899, he
received a great ovation. He was a member (1899) of the Schurman
Philippine Commission, and in 1899 and 1900 was spoken of as a possible
Democratic candidate for the presidency. He acted as president of the
Schley court of inquiry in 1901, and submitted a minority report on a
few details.
DEWEY, MELVIL (1851- ), American librarian, was born at Adams Center,
New York, on the 10th of December 1851. He graduated in 1874 at Amherst
College, where he was assistant librarian from 1874 to 1877. In 1877 he
removed to Boston, where he founded and became editor of _The Library
Journal_, which became an influential factor in the development of
libraries in America, and in the reform of their administration. He was
also one of the founders of the American Library Association, of which
he was secretary from 1876 to 1891, and president in 1891 and 1893. In
1883 he became librarian of Columbia College, and in the following year
founded there the School of Library Economy, the first institution for
the instruction of librarians ever organized. This school, which was
very successful, was removed to Albany in 1890, where it was
re-established as the State Library School under his direction; from
1888 to 1906 he was director of the New York State Library and from 1888
to 1900 was secretary of the University of the State of New York,
completely reorganizing the state library, which he made one of the most
efficient in America, and establishing the system of state travelling
libraries and picture collections. His "Decimal System of
Classification" for library cataloguing, first proposed in 1876, is
extensively used.
DEWING, THOMAS WILMER (1851- ), American figure painter, was born in
Boston, Massachusetts, on the 4th of May 1851. He was a pupil of Jules
Lefebvre in Paris from 1876 to 1879; was elected a full member of the
National Academy of Design in 1888; was a member of the society of Ten
American Painters, New York; and received medals at the Paris Exhibition
(1889), at Chicago (1893), at Buffalo (1901) and at St Louis (1904). His
decorative genre pictures are notable for delicacy and finish. Among his
portraits are those of Mrs Stanford White and of his own wife. Mrs
Dewing (b, 1855), _née_ Maria Oakey, a figure and flower painter, was a
pupil of John La Farge in New York, and of Couture in Paris.
DE WINT, PETER (1784-1849), English landscape painter, of Dutch
extraction, son of an English physician, was born at Stone,
Staffordshire, on the 21st of January 1784. He studied art in London,
and in 1809 entered the Academy schools. In 1812 he became a member of
the Society of Painters in Watercolours, where he exhibited largely for
many years, as well as at the Academy. He married in 1810 the sister of
William Hilton, R.A. He died in London on the 30th of January 1849. De
Wint's life was devoted to art; he painted admirably in oils, and he
ranks as one of the chief English water-colourists. A number of his
pictures are in the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
DE WINTER, JAN WILLEM (1750-1812), Dutch admiral, was born at Kampen,
and in 1761 entered the naval service at the age of twelve years. He
distinguished himself by his zeal and courage, and at the revolution of
1787 he had reached the rank of lieutenant. The overthrow of the
"patriot" party forced him to fly for his safety to France. Here he
threw himself heart and soul into the cause of the Revolution, and took
part under Dumouriez and Pichegru in the campaigns of 1792 and 1793, and
was soon promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. When Pichegru in
1795 overran Holland, De Winter returned with the French army to his
native country. The states-general now utilized the experience he had
gained as a naval officer by giving him the post of adjunct-general for
the reorganization of the Dutch navy. In 1796 he was appointed
vice-admiral and commander-in-chief of the fleet. He spared no efforts
to strengthen it and improve its condition, and on the 11th of October
1797 he ventured upon an encounter off Camperdown with the British fleet
under Admiral Duncan. After an obstinate struggle the Dutch were
defeated, and De Winter himself was taken prisoner. He remained in
England until December, when he was liberated by exchange. His conduct
in the battle of Camperdown was declared by a court-martial to have
nobly maintained the honour of the Dutch flag.
From 1798 to 1802 De Winter filled the post of ambassador to the French
republic, and was then once more appointed commander of the fleet. He
was sent with a strong squadron to the Mediterranean to repress the
Tripoli piracies, and negotiated a treaty of peace with the Tripolitan
government. He enjoyed the confidence of Louis Bonaparte, when king of
Holland, and, after the incorporation of the Netherlands in the French
empire, in an equal degree of the emperor Napoleon. By the former he was
created marshal and count of Huessen, and given the command of the armed
forces both by sea and land. Napoleon gave him the grand cross of the
Legion of Honour and appointed him inspector-general of the northern
coasts, and in 1811 he placed him at the head of the fleet he had
collected at the Texel. Soon afterwards De Winter was seized with
illness and compelled to betake himself to Paris, where he died on the
2nd of June 1812. He had a splendid public funeral and was buried in the
Pantheon. His heart was enclosed in an urn and placed in the Nicolaas
Kerk at Kampen.
DE WITT, CORNELIUS (1623-1672), brother of JOHN DE WITT (q.v.), was born
at Dort in 1623. In 1650 he became burgomaster of Dort and member of the
states of Holland and West Friesland. He was afterwards appointed to the
important post of _ruwaard_ or governor of the land of Putten and
bailiff of Beierland. He associated himself closely with his greater
brother, the grand pensionary, and supported him throughout his career
with great ability and vigour. In 1667 he was the deputy chosen by the
states of Holland to accompany Admiral de Ruyter in his famous
expedition to Chatham. Cornelius de Witt on this occasion distinguished
himself greatly by his coolness and intrepidity. He again accompanied De
Ruyter in 1672 and took an honourable part in the great naval fight at
Sole Bay against the united English and French fleets. Compelled by
illness to leave the fleet, he found on his return to Dort that the
Orange party were in the ascendant, and he and his brother were the
objects of popular suspicion and hatred. An account of his imprisonment,
trial and death, is given below.
DE WITT, JOHN (1625-1672), Dutch statesman, was born at Dort, on the
24th of September 1625. He was a member of one of the old burgher-regent
families of his native town. His father, Jacob de Witt, was six times
burgomaster of Dort, and for many years sat as a representative of the
town in the states of Holland. He was a strenuous adherent of the
republican or oligarchical states-right party in opposition to the
princes of the house of Orange, who represented the federal principle
and had the support of the masses of the people. John was educated at
Leiden, and early displayed remarkable talents, more especially in
mathematics and jurisprudence. In 1645 he and his elder brother
Cornelius visited France, Italy, Switzerland and England, and on his
return he took up his residence at the Hague, as an advocate. In 1650 he
was appointed pensionary of Dort, an office which made him the leader
and spokesman of the town's deputation in the state of Holland. In this
same year the states of Holland found themselves engaged in a struggle
for provincial supremacy, on the question of the disbanding of troops,
with the youthful prince of Orange, William II. William, with the
support of the states-general and the army, seized five of the leaders
of the states-right party and imprisoned them in Loevestein castle;
among these was Jacob de Witt. The sudden death of William, at the
moment when he had crushed opposition, led to a reaction. He left only a
posthumous child, afterwards William III. of Orange, and the principles
advocated by Jacob de Witt triumphed, and the authority of the states of
Holland became predominant in the republic.
At this time of constitutional crisis such were the eloquence, sagacity
and business talents exhibited by the youthful pensionary of Dort that
on the 23rd of July 1653 he was appointed to the office of grand
pensionary (_Raadpensionaris_) of Holland at the age of twenty-eight. He
was re-elected in 1658, 1663 and 1668, and held office until his death
in 1672. During this period of nineteen years the general conduct of
public affairs and administration, and especially of foreign affairs,
such was the confidence inspired by his talents and industry, was
largely placed in his hands. He found in 1653 his country brought to the
brink of ruin through the war with England, which had been caused by the
keen commercial rivalry of the two maritime states. The Dutch were
unprepared, and suffered severely through the loss of their carrying
trade, and De Witt resolved to bring about peace as soon as possible.
The first demands of Cromwell were impossible, for they aimed at the
absorption of the two republics into a single state, but at last in the
autumn of 1654 peace was concluded, by which the Dutch made large
concessions and agreed to the striking of the flag to English ships in
the narrow seas. The treaty included a secret article, which the
states-general refused to entertain, but which De Witt succeeded in
inducing the states of Holland to accept, by which the provinces of
Holland pledged themselves not to elect a stadtholder or a
captain-general of the union. This Act of Seclusion, as it was called,
was aimed at the young prince of Orange, whose close relationship to the
Stuarts made him an object of suspicion to the Protector. De Witt was
personally favourable to this exclusion of William III. from his
ancestral dignities, but there is no truth in the suggestion that he
prompted the action of Cromwell in this matter.
The policy of De Witt after the peace of 1654 was eminently successful.
He restored the finances of the state, and extended its commercial
supremacy in the East Indies. In 1658-59 he sustained Denmark against
Sweden, and in 1662 concluded an advantageous peace with Portugal. The
accession of Charles II. to the English throne led to the rescinding of
the Act of Seclusion; nevertheless De Witt steadily refused to allow the
prince of Orange to be appointed stadtholder or captain-general. This
led to ill-will between the English and Dutch governments, and to a
renewal of the old grievances about maritime and commercial rights, and
war broke out in 1665. The zeal, industry and courage displayed by the
grand pensionary during the course of this fiercely contested naval
struggle could scarcely have been surpassed. He himself on more than one
occasion went to sea with the fleet, and inspired all with whom he came
in contact by the example he set of calmness in danger, energy in action
and inflexible strength of will. It was due to his exertions as an
organizer and a diplomatist quite as much as to the brilliant seamanship
of Admiral de Ruyter, that the terms of the treaty of peace signed at
Breda (July 31, 1667), on the principle of _uti possidetis_, were so
honourable to the United Provinces. A still greater triumph of
diplomatic skill was the conclusion of the Triple Alliance (January 17,
1668) between the Dutch Republic, England and Sweden, which checked the
attempt of Louis XIV. to take possession of the Spanish Netherlands in
the name of his wife, the infanta Maria Theresa. The check, however, was
but temporary, and the French king only bided his time to take vengeance
for the rebuff he had suffered. Meanwhile William III. was growing to
manhood, and his numerous adherents throughout the country spared no
efforts to undermine the authority of De Witt, and secure for the young
prince of Orange the dignities and authority of his ancestors.
In 1672 Louis XIV. suddenly declared war, and invaded the United
Provinces at the head of a splendid army. Practically no resistance was
possible. The unanimous voice of the people called William III. to the
head of affairs, and there were violent demonstrations against John de
Witt. His brother Cornelius was (July 24) arrested on a charge of
conspiring against the prince. On the 4th of August John de Witt
resigned the post of grand pensionary that he had held so long and with
such distinction. Cornelius was put to the torture, and on the 19th of
August he was sentenced to deprivation of his offices and banishment. He
was confined in the Gevangenpoort, and his brother came to visit him in
the prison. A vast crowd on hearing this collected outside, and finally
burst into the prison, seized the two brothers and literally tore them
to pieces. Their mangled remains were hung up by the feet to a
lamp-post. Thus perished, by the savage act of an infuriated mob, one of
the greatest statesmen of his age.
John de Witt married Wendela Bicker, daughter of an influential
burgomaster of Amsterdam, in 1655, by whom he had two sons and three
daughters.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--J. Geddes, _History of the Administration of John de
Witt_, (vol. i. only, London, 1879); A. Lefèvre-Pontalis, _Jean de
Witt, grand pensionnaire de Hollande_ (2 vols., Paris, 1884); P.
Simons, _Johan de Witt en zijn tijd_ (3 vols., Amsterdam, 1832-1842);
W. C. Knottenbelt, _Geschiedenis der Staatkunde van J. de Witt_
(Amsterdam, 1862); _J. de Witt, Brieven ... gewisselt tusschen den
Heer Johan de Witt ... ende de gevolgmaghtigden v. d. staedt d.
Vereen. Nederlanden so in Vranckryck, Engelandt, Sweden, Denemarken,
Poolen, enz. 1652-69_ (6 vols., The Hague, 1723-1725); _Brieven ...
1650-1657 (1658) eerste deel bewerkt den R. Fruin uitgegeven d., C. W.
Kernkamp_ (Amsterdam, 1906).
DEWLAP (from the O.E. _læppa_, a lappet, or hanging fold; the first
syllable is of doubtful origin and the popular explanation that the word
means "the fold which brushes the dew" is not borne out, according to
the _New English Dictionary_, by the equivalent words such as the
Danish _doglaeb_, in Scandinavian languages), the loose fold of skin
hanging from the neck of cattle, also applied to similar folds in the
necks of other animals and fowls, as the dog, turkey, &c. The American
practice of branding cattle by making a cut in the neck is known as a
"dewlap brand." The skin of the neck in human beings often becomes
pendulous with age, and is sometimes referred to humorously by the same
name.
DEWSBURY, a market town and municipal and parliamentary borough in the
West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on the river Calder, 8 m. S.S.W. of
Leeds, on the Great Northern, London & North-Western, and Lancashire &
Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1901) 28,060. The parish church of All Saints
was for the most part rebuilt in the latter half of the 18th century;
the portions still preserved of the original structure are mainly Early
English. The chief industries are the making of blankets, carpets,
druggets and worsted yarn; and there are iron foundries and machinery
works. Coal is worked in the neighbourhood. The parliamentary borough
includes the adjacent municipal borough of Batley, and returns one
member. The municipal borough, incorporated in 1862, is under a mayor, 6
aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 1471 acres. Paulinus, first
archbishop of York, about the year 627 preached in the district of
Dewsbury, where Edwin, king of Northumbria, whom he converted to
Christianity, had a royal mansion. At Kirklees, in the parish, are
remains of a Cistercian convent of the 12th century, in an extensive
park, where tradition relates that Robin Hood died and was buried.
DEXIPPUS, PUBLIUS HERENNIUS (c. A.D. 210-273), Greek historian,
statesman and general, was an hereditary priest of the Eleusinian family
of the Kerykes, and held the offices of archon basileus and eponymus in
Athens. When the Heruli overran Greece and captured Athens (269),
Dexippus showed great personal courage and revived the spirit of
patriotism among his degenerate fellow-countrymen. A statue was set up
in his honour, the base of which, with an inscription recording his
services, has been preserved (_Corpus Inscrr. Atticarum_, iii. No. 716).
It is remarkable that the inscription is silent as to his military
achievements. Photius (_cod._ 82) mentions three historical works by
Dexippus, of which considerable fragments remain: (1) [Greek: Ta met'
Alexandron], an epitome of a similarly named work by Arrian; (2) [Greek:
Skuthika], a history of the wars of Rome with the Goths (or Scythians)
in the 3rd century; (3) [Greek: Chronikê historia], a chronological
history from the earliest times to the emperor Claudius Gothicus (270),
frequently referred to by the writers of the Augustan history. The work
was continued by Eunapius of Sardis down to 404. Photius speaks very
highly of the style of Dexippus, whom he places on a level with
Thucydides, an opinion by no means confirmed by the fragments (C. W.
Müller, _F.H.G._ iii. 666-687).
DEXTER, HENRY MARTYN (1821-1890), American clergyman and author, was
born in Plympton, Massachusetts, on the 13th of August 1821. He
graduated at Yale in 1840 and at the Andover Theological Seminary in
1844; was pastor of a Congregational church in Manchester, New
Hampshire, in 1844-1849, and of the Berkeley Street Congregational
church, Boston, in 1849-1867; was an editor of the _Congregationalist_
in 1851-1866, of the _Congregational Quarterly_ in 1859-1866, and of the
_Congregationalist_, with which the _Recorder_ was merged, from 1867
until his death in New Bedford, Mass., on the 13th of November 1890. He
was an authority on the history of Congregationalism and was lecturer on
that subject at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1877-1879; he left
his fine library on the Puritans in America to Yale University. Among
his works are: _Congregationalism, What it is, Whence it is, How it
works, Why it is better than any other Form of Church Government, and
its consequent Demands_ (1865), _The Church Polity of the Puritans the
Polity of the New Testament_ (1870), _As to Roger Williams and His
"Banishment" from the Massachusetts Colony_ (1876), _Congregationalism
of the Last Three Hundred Years, as seen in its Literature_ (1880), his
most important work, _A Handbook of Congregationalism_ (1880), _The True
Story of John Smyth, the "Se-Baptist"_ (1881), _Common Sense as to
Woman Suffrage_ (1885), and many reprints of pamphlets bearing on early
church history in New England, especially Baptist controversies. His
_The England and Holland of the Pilgrims_ was completed by his son,
Morton Dexter (b. 1846), and published in 1905.
DEXTER, TIMOTHY (1747-1806), American merchant, remarkable for his
eccentricities, was born at Malden, Massachusetts, on the 22nd of
February 1747. He acquired considerable wealth by buying up quantities
of the depreciated continental currency, which was ultimately redeemed
by the Federal government at par. He assumed the title of Lord Dexter
and built extraordinary houses at Newburyport, Mass., and Chester, New
Hampshire. He maintained a poet laureate and collected inferior
pictures, besides erecting in one of his gardens some forty colossal
statues carved in wood to represent famous men. A statue of himself was
included in the collection, and had for an inscription "I am the first
in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the
Western World." He wrote a book entitled _Pickle for the Knowing Ones_.
It was wholly without punctuation marks, and as this aroused comment, he
published a second edition, at the end of which was a page displaying
nothing but commas and stops, from which the readers were invited to
"peper and solt it as they plese." He beat his wife for not weeping
enough at the rehearsal of his funeral, which he himself carried out in
a very elaborate manner. He died at Newburyport on the 26th of October
1806.
DEXTRINE (BRITISH GUM, STARCH GUM, LEIOCOME), (C_{6}H_{10}O_{5})_{x}, a
substance produced from starch by the action of dilute acids, or by
roasting it at a temperature between 170° and 240° C. It is manufactured
by spraying starch with 2% nitric acid, drying in air, and then heating
to about 110°. Different modifications are known, e.g. amylodextrine,
erythrodextrine and achroodextrine. Its name has reference to its
powerful dextrorotatory action on polarized light. Pure dextrine is an
insipid, odourless, white substance; commercial dextrine is sometimes
yellowish, and contains burnt or unchanged starch. It dissolves in water
and dilute alcohol; by strong alcohol it is precipitated from its
solutions as the hydrated compound, C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}.H_{2}O. Diastase
converts it eventually into maltose, C_{12}H_{22}O_{11}; and by boiling
with dilute acids (sulphuric, hydrochloric, acetic) it is transformed
into dextrose, or ordinary glucose, C_{6}H_{12}O_{6}. It does not
ferment in contact with yeast, and does not reduce Fehling's solution.
If heated with strong nitric acid it gives oxalic, and not mucic acid.
Dextrine much resembles gum arabic, for which it is generally
substituted. It is employed for sizing paper, for stiffening cotton
goods, and for thickening colours in calico printing, also in the making
of lozenges, adhesive stamps and labels, and surgical bandages.
See Otto Lueger, _Lexikon der gesamten Technik_.
DEY (an adaptation of the Turk, d[=a]î, a maternal uncle), an
honorary title formerly bestowed by the Turks on elderly men,
and appropriated by the janissaries as the designation of their
commanding officers. In Algeria the deys of the janissaries
became in the 17th century rulers of that country (see ALGERIA:
HISTORY). From the middle of the 16th century to the end of the
17th century the ruler of Tunisia was also called dey, a title
frequently used during the same period by the sovereigns of
Tripoli.
DHAMMAP[=A]LA, the name of one of the early disciples of the Buddha, and
therefore constantly chosen as their name in religion by Buddhist
novices on their entering the brotherhood. The most famous of the
Bhikshus so named was the great commentator who lived in the latter half
of the 5th century A.D. at the Badara Tittha Vih[=a]ra, near the east
coast of India, just a little south of where Madras now stands. It is to
him we owe the commentaries on seven of the shorter canonical books,
consisting almost entirely of verses, and also the commentary on the
Netti, perhaps the oldest P[=a]li work outside the canon. Extracts from
the latter work, and the whole of three out of the seven others, have
been published by the P[=a]li Text Society. These works show great
learning, exegetical skill and sound judgment. But as Dhammap[=a]la
confines himself rigidly either to questions of the meaning of words,
or to discussions of the ethical import of his texts, very little can be
gathered from his writings of value for the social history of his time.
For the right interpretation of the difficult texts on which he
comments, they are indispensable. Though in all probability a Tamil by
birth, he declares, in the opening lines of those of his works that have
been edited, that he followed the tradition of the Great Minster at
Anur[=a]dhapura in Ceylon, and the works themselves confirm this in
every respect. Hsüan Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim, tells a quaint
story of a Dhammap[=a]la of K[=a]nchipura (the modern Konjevaram). He
was a son of a high official, and betrothed to a daughter of the king,
but escaped on the eve of the wedding feast, entered the order, and
attained to reverence and distinction. It is most likely that this
story, whether legendary or not (and Hsüan Tsang heard the story at
K[=a]nchipura nearly two centuries after the date of Dhammap[=a]la),
referred to this author. But it may also refer, as Hsüan Tsang refers
it, to another author of the same name. Other unpublished works, besides
those mentioned above, have been ascribed to Dhammap[=a]la, but it is
very doubtful whether they are really by him.
AUTHORITIES.--T. Watters, _On Yuan Chwang_ (ed. Rhys Davids and
Bushell, London, 1905), ii. 169, 228; Edmund Hardy in _Zeitschrift der
deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft_ (1898), pp. 97 foll.; _Netti_
(ed. E. Hardy, London, P[=a]li Text Society, 1902), especially the
Introduction, passim; _Therî G[=a]th[=a] Commentary_, _Peta Vatthu
Commentary_, and _Vim[=a]na Vatthu Commentary_, all three published by
the P[=a]li Text Society. (T. W. R. D.)
DHANIS, FRANCIS, BARON (1861-1909), Belgian administrator, was born in
London in 1861 and passed the first fourteen years of his life at
Greenock, where he received his early education. He was the son of a
Belgian merchant and of an Irish lady named Maher. The name Dhanis is
supposed to be a variation of D'Anvers. Having completed his education
at the École Militaire he entered the Belgian army, joining the regiment
of grenadiers, in which he rose to the rank of major. As soon as he
reached the rank of lieutenant he volunteered for service on the Congo,
and in 1887 he went out for a first term. He did so well in founding new
stations north of the Congo that, when the government decided to put an
end to the Arab domination on the Upper Congo, he was selected to
command the chief expedition sent against the slave dealers. The
campaign began in April 1892, and it was not brought to a successful
conclusion till January 1894. The story of this war has been told in
detail by Dr Sydney Hinde, who took part in it, in his book _The Fall of
the Congo Arabs_. The principal achievements of the campaign were the
captures in succession of the three Arab strongholds at Nyangwe,
Kassongo and Kabambari. For his services Dhanis was raised to the rank
of baron, and in 1895 was made vice-governor of the Congo State. In 1896
he took command of an expedition to the Upper Nile. His troops, largely
composed of the Batetela tribes who had only been recently enlisted, and
who had been irritated by the execution of some of their chiefs for
indulging their cannibal proclivities, mutinied and murdered many of
their white officers. Dhanis found himself confronted with a more
formidable adversary than even the Arabs in these well-armed and
half-disciplined mercenaries. During two years (1897-1898) he was
constantly engaged in a life-and-death struggle with them. Eventually he
succeeded in breaking up the several bands formed out of his mutinous
soldiers. Although the incidents of the Batetela operations were less
striking than those of the Arab war, many students of both think that
the Belgian leader displayed the greater ability and fortitude in
bringing them to a successful issue. In 1899 Baron Dhanis returned to
Belgium with the honorary rank of vice governor-general. He died on the
14th of November 1909.
DHAR, a native state of India, in the Bhopawar agency, Central India. It
includes many Rajput and Bhil feudatories, and has an area of 1775 sq.
m. The raja is a Punwar Mahratta. The founder of the present ruling
family was Anand Rao Punwar, a descendant of the great Paramara clan of
Rajputs who from the 9th to the 13th century, when they were driven out
by the Mahommedans, had ruled over Malwa from their capital at Dhar. In
1742 Anand Rao received Dhar as a fief from Baji Rao, the peshwa, the
victory of the Mahrattas thus restoring the sovereign power to the
family which seven centuries before had been expelled from this very
city and country. Towards the close of the 18th and in the early part of
the 19th century, the state was subject to a series of spoliations by
Sindia and Holkar, and was only preserved from destruction by the
talents and courage of the adoptive mother of the fifth raja. By a
treaty of 1819 Dhar passed under British protection, and bound itself to
act in subordinate co-operation. The state was confiscated for rebellion
in 1857, but in 1860 was restored to Raja Anand Rao Punwar, then a
minor, with the exception of the detached district of Bairusia, which
was granted to the begum of Bhopal. Anand Rao, who received the personal
title Maharaja and the K.C.S.I. in 1877, died in 1898, and was succeeded
by Udaji Rao Punwar. In 1901 the population was 142,115. The state
includes the ruins of Mandu, or Mandogarh, the Mahommedan capital of
Malwa.
THE TOWN OF DHAR is 33 m. W. of Mhow, 908 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1901)
17,792. It is picturesquely situated among lakes and trees surrounded by
barren hills, and possesses, besides its old walls, many interesting
buildings, Hindu and Mahommedan, some of them containing records of a
great historical importance. The Lat Masjid, or Pillar Mosque, was built
by Dilawar Khan in 1405 out of the remains of Jain temples. It derives
its name from an iron pillar, supposed to have been originally set up at
the beginning of the 13th century in commemoration of a victory, and
bearing a later inscription recording the seven days' visit to the town
of the emperor Akbar in 1598. The pillar, which was 43 ft. high, is now
overthrown and broken. The Kamal Maula is an enclosure containing four
tombs, the most notable being that of Shaikh Kamal Maulvi
(Kamal-ud-din), a follower of the famous 13th-century Mussulman saint
Nizam-ud-din Auliya.[1] The mosque known as Raja Bhoj's school was built
out of Hindu remains in the 14th or 15th century: its name is derived
from the slabs, covered with inscriptions giving rules of Sanskrit
grammar, with which it is paved. On a small hill to the north of the
town stands the fort, a conspicuous pile of red sandstone, said to have
been built by Mahommed ben Tughlak of Delhi in the 14th century. It
contains the palace of the raja. Of modern institutions may be mentioned
the high school, public library, hospital, and the chapel, school and
hospital of the Canadian Presbyterian mission. There is also a
government opium depot for the payment of duty, the town being a
considerable centre for the trade in opium as well as in grain.
The town, the name of which is usually derived from Dhara Nagari (the
city of sword blades), is of great antiquity, and was made the capital
of the Paramara chiefs of Malwa by Vairisinha II., who transferred his
headquarters hither from Ujjain at the close of the 9th century.
During the rule of the Paramara dynasty Dhar was famous throughout
India as a centre of culture and learning; but, after suffering
various vicissitudes, it was finally conquered by the Mussulmans at
the beginning of the 14th century. At the close of the century Dilawar
Khan, the builder of the Lat Masjid, who had been appointed governor
in 1399, practically established his independence, his son Hoshang
Shah being the first Mahommedan king of Malwa. Under this dynasty Dhar
was second in importance to the capital Mandu. Subsequently, in the
time of Akbar, Dhar fell under the dominion of the Moguls, in whose
hands it remained till 1730, when it was conquered by the Mahrattas.
See _Imperial Gazetteer of India_ (Oxford, 1908).
[1] Nizam-ud-din, whose beautiful marble tomb is at Indarpat near Delhi,
was, according to some authorities, an assassin of the secret society of
Khorasan. By some modern authorities he is supposed to have been the
founder of Thuggism, the Thugs having a special reverence for his
memory.
DHARAMPUR, a native state of India, in the Surat political agency
division of Bombay, with an area of 704 sq. m. The population in 1901
was 100,430, being a decrease of 17% during the decade; the estimated
gross revenue is £25,412; and the tribute £600. Its chief is a Sesodia
Rajput. The state has been surveyed for land revenue on the Bombay
system. It contains one town, Dharampur (pop. in 1901, 63,449), and 272
villages. Only a small part of the state, the climate of which is very
unhealthy, is capable of cultivation; the rest is covered with rocky
hills, forest and brushwood.
DHARMSALA, a hill-station and sanatorium of the Punjab, India, situated
on a spur of the Dhaola Dhar, 16 m. N.E. of Kangra town, at an elevation
of some 6000 ft. Pop. (1901) 6971. The scenery of Dharmsala is of
peculiar grandeur. The spur on which it stands is thickly wooded with
oak and other trees; behind it the pine-clad slopes of the mountain
tower towards the jagged peaks of the higher range, snow-clad for half
the year; while below stretches the luxuriant cultivation of the Kangra
valley. In 1855 Dharmsala was made the headquarters of the Kangra
district of the Punjab in place of Kangra, and became the centre of a
European settlement and cantonment, largely occupied by Gurkha
regiments. The station was destroyed by the earthquake of April 1905, in
which 1625 persons, including 25 Europeans and 112 of the Gurkha
garrison, perished (_Imperial Gazetteer of India_, 1908).
DHARWAR, a town and district of British India, in the southern division
of Bombay. The town has a station on the Southern Mahratta railway. The
population in 1901 was 31,279. It has several ginning factories and a
cotton-mill; two high schools, one maintained by the Government and the
other by the Basel German Mission.
The DISTRICT OF DHARWAR has an area of 4602 sq. m. In the north and
north-east are great plains of black soil, favourable to cotton-growing;
in the south and west are successive ranges of low hills, with flat
fertile valleys between them. The whole district lies high and has no
large rivers.
In 1901 the population was 1,113,298, showing an increase of 6% in the
decade. The most influential classes of the community are Brahmans and
Lingayats. The Lingayats number 436,968, or 46% of the Hindu population;
they worship the symbol of Siva, and males and females both carry this
emblem about their person in a silver case. The principal crops are
millets, pulse and cotton. The centres of the cotton trade are Hubli and
Gadag, junctions on the Southern Mahratta railway, which traverses the
district in several directions.
The early history of the territory comprised within the district of
Dharwar has been to a certain extent reconstructed from the inscription
slabs and memorial stones which abound there. From these it is clear
that the country fell in turn under the sway of the various dynasties
that ruled in the Deccan, memorials of the Chalukyan dynasty, whether
temples or inscriptions, being especially abundant. In the 14th century
the district was first overrun by the Mahommedans, after which it was
annexed to the newly established Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar, an
official of which named Dhar Rao, according to local tradition, built
the fort at Dharwar town in 1403. After the defeat of the king of
Vijayanagar at Talikot (1565), Dharwar was for a few years practically
independent under its Hindu governor; but in 1573 the fort was captured
by the sultan of Bijapur, and Dharwar was annexed to his dominions. In
1685 the fort was taken by the emperor Aurangzeb, and Dharwar, on the
break-up of the Mogul empire, fell under the sway of the peshwa of
Poona. In 1764 the province was overrun by Hyder Ali of Mysore, who in
1778 captured the fort of Dharwar. This was retaken in 1791 by the
Mahrattas. On the final overthrow of the peshwa in 1817, Dharwar was
incorporated with the territory of the East India Company.
DHOLPUR, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency, with an area
of 1155 sq. m. It is a crop-producing country, without any special
manufactures. All along the bank of the river Chambal the country is
deeply intersected by ravines; low ranges of hills in the western
portion of the state supply inexhaustible quarries of fine-grained and
easily-worked red sandstone. In 1901 the population of Dholpur was
270,973, showing a decrease of 3% in the decade. The estimated revenue
is £83,000. The state is crossed by the Indian Midland railway from
Jhansi to Agra. In recent years it has suffered severely from drought.
In 1896-1897 the expenditure on famine relief amounted to £8190.
The town of Dholpur is 34 m. S. of Agra by rail. Pop. (1901) 19,310. The
present town, which dates from the 16th century, stands somewhat to the
north of the site of the older Hindu town built, it is supposed, in the
11th century by the Tonwar Rajput Raja Dholan (or Dhawal) Deo, and named
after him Dholdera or Dhawalpuri. Among the objects of interest in the
town may be mentioned the fortified _sarai_ built in the reign of Akbar,
within which is the fine tomb of Sadik Mahommed Khan (d. 1595), one of
his generals. The town, from its position on the railway, is growing in
importance as a centre of trade.
Little is known of the early history of the country forming the state of
Dholpur. Local tradition affirms that it was ruled by the Tonwar
Rajputs, who had their seat at Delhi from the 8th to the 12th century.
In 1450 it had a raja of its own; but in 1501 the fort of Dholpur was
taken by the Mahommedans under Sikandar Lodi and in 1504 was transferred
to a Mussulman governor. In 1527, after a strenuous resistance, the fort
was captured by Baber and with the surrounding country passed under the
sway of the Moguls, being included by Akbar in the province of Agra.
During the dissensions which followed the death of Aurangzeb in 1707,
Raja Kalyan Singh Bhadauria obtained possession of Dholpur, and his
family retained it till 1761, after which it was taken successively by
the Jat raja, Suraj Mal of Bharatpur, by Mirza Najaf Khan in 1775, by
Sindhia in 1782, and in 1803 by the British. It was restored to Sindhia
by the treaty of Sarji Anjangaon, but in consequence of new arrangements
was again occupied by the British. Finally, in 1806, the territories of
Dholpur, Bari and Rajakhera were handed over to the maharaj rana Kirat
Singh, ancestor of the present chiefs of Dholpur, in exchange for his
state of Gohad, which was ceded to Sindhia.
The maharaj rana of Dholpur belongs to the clan of Bamraolia Jats, who
are believed to have formed a portion of the Indo-Scythian wave of
invasion which swept over northern India about A.D. 100. An ancestor of
the family appears to have held certain territories at Bamraoli near
Agra c. 1195. His descendant in 1505, Singhan Deo, having distinguished
himself in an expedition against the freebooters of the Deccan, was
rewarded by the sovereignty of the small territory of Gohad, with the
title of _rana_. In 1779 the rana of Gohad joined the British forces
against Sindhia, under a treaty which stipulated that, at the conclusion
of peace between the English and Mahrattas, all the territories then in
his possession should be guaranteed to him, and protected from invasion
by Sindhia. This protection was subsequently withdrawn, the rana having
been guilty of treachery, and in 1783 Sindhia succeeded in recapturing
the fortress of Gwalior, and crushed his Jat opponent by seizing the
whole of Gohad. In 1804, however, the family were restored to Gohad by
the British government; but, owing to the opposition of Sindhia, the
rana agreed in 1805 to exchange Gohad for his present territory of
Dholpur, which was taken under British protection, the chief binding
himself to act in subordinate co-operation with the paramount power, and
to refer all disputes with neighbouring princes to the British
government. Kirat Singh, the first maharaj rana of Dholpur, was
succeeded in 1836 by his son Bhagwant Singh, who showed great loyalty
during the Mutiny of 1857, was created a K.C.S.I., and G.C.S.I. in 1869.
He was succeeded in 1873 by his grandson Nihal Singh, who received the
C.B. and frontier medal for services in the Tirah campaign. He died in
1901, and was succeeded by his eldest son Ram Singh (b. 1883).
See _Imperial Gazetteer of India_ (Oxford, 1908) and authorities there
given.
DHOW, the name given to a type of vessel used throughout the Arabian
Sea. The language to which the word belongs is unknown. According to the
_New English Dictionary_ the place of origin may be the Persian Gulf,
assuming that the word is identical with the tava mentioned by
Athanasius Nikitin (_India in the 15th Century_, Hakluyt Society, 1858).
Though the word is used generally of any craft along the East African
coast, it is usually applied to the vessel of about 150 to 200 tons
burden with a stem rising with a long slope from the water; dhows
generally have one mast with a lateen sail, the yard being of enormous
length. Much of the coasting trade of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf is
carried on by these vessels. They were the regular vessels employed in
the slave trade from the east coast of Africa.
DHRANGADRA, a native state of India, in the Gujarat division of Bombay,
situated in the north of the peninsula of Kathiawar. Its area is 1156
sq. m. Pop. (1901) 70,880. The estimated gross revenue is £38,000 and
the tribute £3000. A state railway on the metre gauge from Wadhwan to
the town of Dhrangadra, a distance of 21 m., was opened for traffic in
1898. Some cotton is grown, although the soil is as a whole poor; the
manufactures include salt, metal vessels and stone hand-mills. The chief
town, Dhrangadra, has a population (1901) of 14,770.
The chief of Dhrangadra, who bears the title of Raj Sahib, with the
predicate of His Highness, is head of the ancient clan of Jhala Rajputs,
who are said to have entered Kathiawar from Sind in the 8th century. Raj
Sahib Sir Mansinghji Ranmalsinghji (b. 1837), who succeeded his father
in 1869, was distinguished for the enlightened character of his
administration, especially in the matter of establishing schools and
internal communications. He was created a K.C.S.I in 1877. He died in
1900, and was succeeded by his grandson Ajitsinghji Jaswatsinghji (b.
1872).
DHULEEP SINGH (1837-1893), maharaja of Lahore, was born in February
1837, and was proclaimed maharaja on the 18th of September 1843, under
the regency of his mother the rani Jindan, a woman of great capacity and
strong will, but extremely inimical to the British. He was acknowledged
by Ranjit Singh and recognized by the British government. After six
years of peace the Sikhs invaded British territory in 1845, but were
defeated in four battles, and terms were imposed upon them at Lahore,
the capital of the Punjab. Dhuleep Singh retained his territory, but it
was administered to a great extent by the British government in his
name. This arrangement increased the regent's dislike of the British,
and a fresh outbreak occurred in 1848-49. In spite of the valour of the
Sikhs, they were utterly routed at Gujarat, and in March 1849 Dhuleep
Singh was deposed, a pension of £40,000 a year being granted to him and
his dependants. He became a Christian and elected to live in England. On
coming of age he made an arrangement with the British government by
which his income was reduced to £25,000 in consideration of advances for
the purchase of an estate, and he finally settled at Elvedon in Suffolk.
While passing through Alexandria in 1864 he met Miss Bamba Müller, the
daughter of a German merchant who had married an Abyssinian. The
maharaja had been interested in mission work by Sir John Login, and he
met Miss Müller at one of the missionary schools where she was teaching.
She became his wife on the 7th of June 1864, and six children were the
issue of the marriage. In the year after her death in 1890 the maharaja
married at Paris, as his second wife, an English lady, Miss Ada Douglas
Wetherill, who survived him. The maharaja was passionately fond of
sport, and his shooting parties were celebrated, while he himself became
a _persona grata_ in English society. The result, however, was financial
difficulty, and in 1882 he appealed to the government for assistance,
making various claims based upon the alleged possession of private
estates in the Punjab, and upon the surrender of the Koh-i-nor diamond
to the British Crown. His demand was rejected, whereupon he started for
India, after drawing up a proclamation to his former subjects. But as it
was deemed inadvisable to allow him to visit the Punjab, he remained for
some time as a guest at the residency at Aden, and was allowed to
receive some of his relatives to witness his abjuration of Christianity,
which actually took place within the residency itself. As the climate
began to affect his health, the maharaja at length left Aden and
returned to Europe. He stayed for some time in Russia, hoping that his
claim against England would be taken up by the Russians; but when that
expectation proved futile he proceeded to Paris, where he lived for the
rest of his life on the pension allowed him by the Indian government.
His death from an attack of apoplexy took place at Paris on the 22nd of
October 1893. The maharaja's eldest son, Prince Victor Albert Jay
Dhuleep Singh (b. 1866), was educated at Trinity and Downing Colleges,
Cambridge. In 1888 he obtained a commission in the 1st Royal Dragoon
Guards. In 1898 he married Lady Anne Coventry, youngest daughter of the
earl of Coventry. (G.F.B.)
DHULIA, a town of British India, administrative headquarters of West
Khandesh district in Bombay, on the right bank of the Panjhra river.
Pop. (1901) 24,726. Considerable trade is done in cotton and oil-seeds,
and weaving of cotton. A railway connects Dhulia with Chalisgaon, on the
main line of the Great Indian Peninsula railway.
DIABASE, in petrology, a rock which is a weathered form of dolerite. It
was long widely accepted that the pre-Tertiary rocks of this group
differed from their Tertiary and Recent representatives in certain
essential respects, but this is now admitted to be untenable, and the
differences are known to be merely the result of the longer exposure to
decomposition, pressure and shearing, which the older rocks have
experienced. Their olivine tends to become serpentinized; their augite
changes to chlorite and uralite; their felspars are clouded by formation
of zeolites, calcite, sericite and epidote. The rocks acquire a green
colour (from the development of chlorite, uralite and epidote); hence
the older name of "greenstones," which is now little used. Many of them
become somewhat schistose from pressure ("greenstone-schists,"
meta-diabase, &c.). Although the original definition of the group can no
longer be justified, the name is so well established in current usage
that it can hardly be discarded. The terms diabase and dolerite are
employed really to designate distinct facies of the same set of rocks.
The minerals of diabase are the same as those of dolerite, viz.
olivine, augite, and plagioclase felspar, with subordinate quantities
of hornblende, biotite, iron oxides and apatite.
There are olivine-diabases and diabases without olivine;
quartz-diabases, analcite-diabases (or teschenites) and hornblende
diabases (or proterobases). Hypersthene (or bronzite) is
characteristic of another group. Many of them are ophitic, especially
those which contain olivine, but others are intersertal, like the
intersertal dolerites. The last include most quartz-diabases,
hypersthene-diabases and the rocks which have been described as
tholeites. Porphyritic structure appears in the diabase-porphyrites,
some of which are highly vesicular and contain remains of an abundant
fine-grained or partly glassy ground-mass (_diabas-mandelstein_,
amygdaloidal diabase). The somewhat ill-defined spilites are regarded
by many as modifications of diabase-porphyrite. In the intersertal and
porphyrite diabases, fresh or devitrified glassy base is not
infrequent. It is especially conspicuous in some tholeites
(hyalo-tholeites) and in weisselbergites. These rocks consist of
augite and plagioclase, with little or no olivine, on a brown,
vitreous, interstitial matrix. Devitrified forms of tachylyte
(sordawilite, &c.) occur at the rapidly chilled margins of dolerite
sills and dikes, and fine-grained spotted rocks with large spherulites
of grey or greenish felspar, and branching growths of brownish-green
augite (variolites).
To nearly every variety in composition and structure presented by the
diabases, a counterpart can be found among the Tertiary dolerites. In
the older rocks, however, certain minerals are more common than in the
newer. Hornblende, mostly of pale green colours and somewhat fibrous
habit, is very frequent in diabase; it is in most cases secondary
after pyroxene, and is then known as uralite; often it forms
pseudomorphs which retain the shape of the original augite. Where
diabases have been crushed or sheared, hornblende readily develops at
the expense of pyroxene, sometimes replacing it completely. In the
later stages of alteration the amphibole becomes compact and well
crystallized; the rocks consist of green hornblende and plagioclase
felspar, and are then generally known as epidiorites or amphibolites.
At the same time a schistose structure is produced. But transition
forms are very common, having more or less of the augite remaining,
surrounded by newly formed hornblende which at first is rather fibrous
and tends to spread outwards through the surrounding felspar. Chlorite
also is abundant both in sheared and unsheared diabases, and with it
calcite may make its appearance, or the lime set free from the augite
may combine with the titanium of the iron oxide and with silica to
form incrustations or borders of sphene around the original crystals
of ilmenite. Epidote is another secondary lime-bearing mineral which
results from the decomposition of the soda lime felspars and the
pyroxenes. Many diabases, especially those of the teschenite
sub-group, are filled with zeolites.
Diabases are exceedingly abundant among the older rocks of all parts
of the globe. Popular names for them are "whinstone," "greenstone,"
"toadstone" and "trap." They form excellent road-mending stones and
are much quarried for this purpose, being tough, durable and resistant
to wear, so long as they are not extremely decomposed. Many of them
are to be preferred to the fresher dolerites as being less brittle.
The quality of the Cornish greenstones appears to have been distinctly
improved by a smaller amount of recrystallization where they have been
heated by contact with intrusive masses of granite. (J. S. F.)
DIABETES (from Gr. [Greek: dia], through, and [Greek: bainein], to
pass), a constitutional disease characterized by a habitually excessive
discharge of urine. Two forms of this complaint are described, viz.
Diabetes Mellitus, or Glycosuria, where the urine is not only increased
in quantity, but persistently contains a greater or less amount of
sugar, and Diabetes Insipidus, or Polyuria, where the urine is simply
increased in quantity, and contains no abnormal ingredient. This latter,
however, must be distinguished from the polyuria due to chronic granular
kidney, lardaceous disease of the kidney, and also occurring in certain
cases of hysteria.
_Diabetes mellitus_ is the disease to which the term is most commonly
applied, and is by far the more serious and important ailment. It is one
of the diseases due to altered metabolism (see METABOLIC DISEASES). It
is markedly hereditary, much more prevalent in towns and especially
modern city life than in more primitive rustic communities, and most
common among the Jews. The excessive use of sugar as a food is usually
considered one cause of the disease, and obesity is supposed to favour
its occurrence, but many observers consider that the obesity so often
met with among diabetics is due to the same cause as the disease itself.
No age is exempt, but it occurs most commonly in the fifth decade of
life. It attacks males twice as frequently as females, and fair more
frequently than dark people.
The symptoms are usually gradual in their onset, and the patient may
suffer for a length of time before he thinks it necessary to apply for
medical aid. The first symptoms which attract attention are failure of
strength, and emaciation, along with great thirst and an increased
amount and frequent passage of urine. From the normal quantity of from 2
to 3 pints in the 24 hours it may be increased to 10, 20 or 30 pints, or
even more. It is usually of pale colour, and of thicker consistence than
normal urine, possesses a decidedly sweet taste, and is of high specific
gravity (1030 to 1050). It frequently gives rise to considerable
irritation of the urinary passages.
By simple evaporation crystals of sugar may be obtained from diabetic
urine, which also yields the characteristic chemical tests of sugar,
while the amount of this substance can be accurately estimated by
certain analytical processes. The quantity of sugar passed may vary from
a few ounces to two or more pounds per diem, and it is found to be
markedly increased after saccharine or starchy food has been taken.
Sugar may also be found in the blood, saliva, tears, and in almost all
the excretions of persons suffering from this disease. One of the most
distressing symptoms is intense thirst, which the patient is constantly
seeking to allay, the quantity of liquid consumed being in general
enormous, and there is usually, but not invariably, a voracious
appetite. The mouth is always parched, and a faint, sweetish odour may
be evolved from the breath. The effect of the disease upon the general
health is very marked, and the patient becomes more and more emaciated.
He suffers from increasing muscular weakness, the temperature of his
body is lowered, and the skin is dry and harsh. There is often a
peculiar flush on the face, not limited to the malar eminences, but
extending up to the roots of the hair. The teeth are loosened or decay,
there is a tendency to bleeding from the gums, while dyspeptic symptoms,
constipation and loss of sexual power are common accompaniments. There
is in general great mental depression or irritability.
Diabetes as a rule advances comparatively slowly except in the case of
young persons, in whom its progress is apt to be rapid. The
complications of the disease are many and serious. It may cause impaired
vision by weakening the muscles of accommodation, or by lessening the
sensitiveness of the retina to light. Also cataract is very common. Skin
affections of all kinds may occur and prove very intractable. Boils,
carbuncles, cellulitis and gangrene are all apt to occur as life
advances, though gangrene is much more frequent in men than in women.
Diabetics are especially liable to phthisis and pneumonia, and gangrene
of the lungs may set in if the patient survives the crisis in the latter
disease. Digestive troubles of all kinds, kidney diseases and heart
failure due to fatty heart are all of common occurrence. Also patients
seem curiously susceptible to the poison of enteric fever, though the
attack usually runs a mild course. The sugar temporarily disappears
during the fever. But the most serious complication of all is known as
diabetic coma, which is very commonly the final cause of death. The
onset is often insidious, but may be indicated by loss of appetite, a
rapid fall in the quantity of both urine and sugar, and by either
constipation or diarrhoea. More rarely there is most acute abdominal
pain. At first the condition is rather that of collapse than true coma,
though later the patient is absolutely comatose. The patient suffers
from a peculiar kind of dyspnoea, and the breath and skin have a sweet
ethereal odour. The condition may last from twenty-four hours to three
days, but is almost invariably the precursor of death.
Diabetes is a very fatal form of disease, recovery being exceedingly
rare. Over 50% die of coma, another 25% of phthisis or pneumonia, and
the remainder of Bright's disease, cerebral haemorrhage, gangrene, &c.
The most favourable cases are those in which the patient is advanced in
years, those in which it is associated with obesity or gout, and where
the social conditions are favourable. A few cures have been recorded in
which the disease supervened after some acute illness. The unfavourable
cases are those in which there is a family history of the disease and in
which the patient is young. Nevertheless much may be done by appropriate
treatment to mitigate the severity of the symptoms and to prolong life.
There are two distinct lines of treatment, that of diet and that of
drugs, but each must be modified and determined entirely by the
idiosyncrasy of the patient, which varies in this condition between very
wide limits. That of diet is of primary importance inasmuch as it has
been proved beyond question that certain kinds of food have a powerful
influence in aggravating the disease, more particularly those consisting
largely of saccharine and starchy matter; and it may be stated generally
that the various methods of treatment proposed aim at the elimination as
far as possible of these constituents from the diet. Hence it is
recommended that such articles as bread, potatoes and all farinaceous
foods, turnips, carrots, parsnips and most fruits should be avoided;
while animal food and soups, green vegetables, cream, cheese, eggs,
butter, and tea and coffee without sugar, may be taken with advantage.
As a substitute for ordinary bread, which most persons find it difficult
to do without for any length of time, bran bread, gluten bread and
almond biscuits. A patient must never pass suddenly from an ordinary to
a carbohydrate-free diet. Any such sudden transition is extremely liable
to bring on diabetic coma, and the change must be made quite gradually,
one form of carbohydrate after another being taken out of the diet,
whilst the effect on the quantity of sugar passed is being carefully
noted meanwhile. The treatment may be begun by excluding potatoes, sugar
and fruit, and only after several days is the bread to be replaced by
some diabetic substitute. When the sugar excretion has been reduced to
its lowest point, and maintained there for some time, a certain amount
of carbohydrate may be cautiously allowed, the consequent effect on the
glycosuria being estimated. The best diet can only be worked out
experimentally for each individual patient. But in every case, if
drowsiness or any symptom suggesting coma supervene, all restrictions
must be withdrawn, and carbohydrate freely allowed. The question of
alcohol is one which must be largely determined by the previous history
of the patient, but a small quantity will help to make up the
deficiencies of a diet poor in carbohydrate. Scotch and Irish whisky,
and Hollands gin, are usually free from sugar, and some of the light
Bordeaux wines contain very little. Fat is beneficial, and can be given
as cream, fat of meat and cod-liver oil. Green vegetables are harmless,
but the white stalks of cabbages and lettuces and also celery and endive
yield sugar. Laevulose can be assimilated up to 1½ ozs. daily without
increasing the glycosuria, and hence apples, cooked or raw, are
allowable, as the sugar they contain is in this form. The question of
milk is somewhat disputed; but it is usual to exclude it from the rigid
diet, allowing a certain quantity when the diet is being extended.
Thirst is relieved by anything that relieves the polyuria. But
hypodermic injections of pilocarpine stimulate the flow of saliva, and
thus relieve the dryness of the mouth. Constipation appears to increase
the thirst, and must always be carefully guarded against. The best
remedies are the aperient mineral waters.
Numerous medicinal substances have been employed in diabetes, but few of
them are worthy of mention as possessed of any efficacy. Opium is often
found of great service, its administration being followed by marked
amelioration in all the symptoms. Morphia and codeia have a similar
action. In the severest cases, however, these drugs appear to be of
little or no use, and they certainly increase the constipation. Heroin
hydrochloride has been tried in their place, but this seems to have more
power over slight than over severe cases. Salicylate of sodium and
aspirin are both very beneficial, causing a diminution in the sugar
excretion without counterbalancing bad effects.
In _diabetes insipidus_ there is constant thirst and an excessive flow
of urine, which, however, is not found to contain any abnormal
constituent. Its effects upon the system are often similar to those of
diabetes mellitus, except that they are much less marked, the disease
being in general very slow in its progress. In some cases the health
appears to suffer very slightly. It is rarely a direct cause of death,
but from its debilitating effects may predispose to serious and fatal
complications. It is best treated by tonics and generous diet. Valerian
has been found beneficial, the powdered root being given in 5-grain
doses.
DIABOLO, a game played with a sort of top in the shape of two cones
joined at their apices, which is spun, thrown, and caught by means of a
cord strung to two sticks. The idea of the game appears originally to
have come from China, where a top (_Kouengen_), made of two hollow
pierced cylinders of metal or wood, joined by a rod--and often of
immense size,--was made by rotation to hum with a loud noise, and was
used by pedlars to attract customers. From China it was introduced by
missionaries to Europe; and a form of the game, known as "the devil on
two sticks," appears to have been known in England towards the end of
the 18th century, and Lord Macartney is credited with improvements in
it. But its principal vogue was in France in 1812, where the top was
called "le diable." Amusing old prints exist (see _Fry's Magazine_,
March and December 1907), depicting examples of the popular craze in
France at the time. The _diable_ of those days resembled a globular
wooden dumb-bell with a short waist, and the sonorous hum when
spinning--the _bruit du diable_--was a pronounced feature. At intervals
during the century occasional attempts to revive the game of spinning a
top of this sort on a string were made, but it was not till 1906 that
the sensation of 1812 began to be repeated. A French engineer, Gustave
Phillipart, discovering some old implements of the game, had
experimented for some time with new forms of top with a view to bringing
it again into popularity; and having devised the double-cone shape, and
added a miniature bicycle tire of rubber round the rims of the two ends
of the double-cone, with other improvements, he named it "diabolo." The
use of celluloid in preference to metal or wood as its material appears
to have been due to a suggestion of Mr C. B. Fry, who was consulted by
the inventor on the subject. The game of spinning, throwing and catching
the diabolo was rapidly elaborated in various directions, both as an
exercise of skill in doing tricks, and in "diabolo tennis" and other
ways as an athletic pastime. From Paris, Ostend and the chief French
seaside resorts, where it became popular in 1906, its vogue spread in
1907 so that in France and England it became the fashionable "rage"
among both children and adults.
The mechanics of the diabolo were worked out by Professor C. V. Boys in
the _Proc. Phys. Soc._ (London), Nov. 1907.
DIACONICON, in the Greek Church, the name given to a chamber on the
south side of the central apse, where the sacred utensils, vessels, &c.,
of the church were kept. In the reign of Justin II. (565-574), owing to
a change in the liturgy, the diaconicon and protheses were located in
apses at the east end of the aisles. Before that time there was only one
apse. In the churches in central Syria of slightly earlier date, the
diaconicon is rectangular, the side apses at Kalat-Seman having been
added at a later date.
DIADOCHI (Gr. [Greek: diadechesthai], to receive from another), i.e.
"Successors," the name given to the Macedonian generals who fought for
the empire of Alexander after his death in 323 B.C. The name includes
Antigonus and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, Antipater and his son
Cassander, Seleucus, Ptolemy, Eumenes and Lysimachus. The kingdoms into
which the Macedonian empire was divided under these rulers are known as
Hellenistic. The chief were Asia Minor and Syria under the SELEUCID
DYNASTY (q.v.), Egypt under the PTOLEMIES (q.v.), Macedonia under the
successors of Antigonus Gonatas, PERGAMUM (q.v.) under the Attalid
dynasty. Gradually these kingdoms were merged in the Roman empire. (See
MACEDONIAN EMPIRE.)
DIAGONAL (Gr. [Greek: dia], through, [Greek: gônia], a corner), in
geometry, a line joining the intersections of two pairs of sides of a
rectilinear figure.
DIAGORAS, of Melos, surnamed the Atheist, poet and sophist, flourished
in the second half of the 5th century B.C. Religious in his youth and a
writer of hymns and dithyrambs, he became an atheist because a great
wrong done to him was left unpunished by the gods. In consequence of his
blasphemous speeches, and especially his criticism of the Mysteries, he
was condemned to death at Athens, and a price set upon his head
(Aristoph. _Clouds_, 830; _Birds_, 1073 and Schol.). He fled to Corinth,
where he is said to have died. His work on the Mysteries was called
[Greek Phrygioi logoi] or [Greek: Apopyrgizontes], in which he probably
attacked the Phrygian divinities.
DIAGRAM (Gr. [Greek: diagramma], from [Greek: diagraphein], to mark out
by lines), a figure drawn in such a manner that the geometrical relations
between the parts of the figure illustrate relations between other
objects. They may be classed according to the manner in which they are
intended to be used, and also according to the kind of analogy which we
recognize between the diagram and the thing represented. The diagrams in
mathematical treatises are intended to help the reader to follow the
mathematical reasoning. The construction of the figure is defined in
words so that even if no figure were drawn the reader could draw one for
himself. The diagram is a good one if those features which form the
subject of the proposition are clearly represented.
Diagrams are also employed in an entirely different way--namely, for
purposes of measurement. The plans and designs drawn by architects and
engineers are used to determine the value of certain real magnitudes by
measuring certain distances on the diagram. For such purposes it is
essential that the drawing be as accurate as possible. We therefore
class diagrams as diagrams of illustration, which merely suggest certain
relations to the mind of the spectator, and diagrams drawn to scale,
from which measurements are intended to be made. There are some diagrams
or schemes, however, in which the form of the parts is of no importance,
provided their connexions are properly shown. Of this kind are the
diagrams of electrical connexions, and those belonging to that
department of geometry which treats of the degrees of cyclosis,
periphraxy, linkedness and knottedness.
_Diagrams purely Graphic and mixed Symbolic and Graphic._--Diagrams may
also be classed either as purely graphical diagrams, in which no symbols
are employed except letters or other marks to distinguish particular
points of the diagrams, and mixed diagrams, in which certain magnitudes
are represented, not by the magnitudes of parts of the diagram, but by
symbols, such as numbers written on the diagram. Thus in a map the
height of places above the level of the sea is often indicated by
marking the number of feet above the sea at the corresponding places on
the map. There is another method in which a line called a contour line
is drawn through all the places in the map whose height above the sea is
a certain number of feet, and the number of feet is written at some
point or points of this line. By the use of a series of contour lines,
the height of a great number of places can be indicated on a map by
means of a small number of written symbols. Still this method is not a
purely graphical method, but a partly symbolical method of expressing
the third dimension of objects on a diagram in two dimensions.
In order to express completely by a purely graphical method the
relations of magnitudes involving more than two variables, we must use
more than one diagram. Thus in the arts of construction we use plans and
elevations and sections through different planes, to specify the form of
objects having three dimensions. In such systems of diagrams we have to
indicate that a point in one diagram corresponds to a point in another
diagram. This is generally done by marking the corresponding points in
the different diagrams with the same letter. If the diagrams are drawn
on the same piece of paper we may indicate corresponding points by
drawing a line from one to the other, taking care that this line of
correspondence is so drawn that it cannot be mistaken for a real line in
either diagram. (See GEOMETRY: _Descriptive_.)
In the stereoscope the two diagrams, by the combined use of which the
form of bodies in three dimensions is recognized, are projections of the
bodies taken from two points so near each other that, by viewing the two
diagrams simultaneously, one with each eye, we identify the
corresponding points intuitively. The method in which we simultaneously
contemplate two figures, and recognize a correspondence between certain
points in the one figure and certain points in the other, is one of the
most powerful and fertile methods hitherto known in science. Thus in
pure geometry the theories of similar, reciprocal and inverse figures
have led to many extensions of the science. It is sometimes spoken of as
the method or principle of Duality. GEOMETRY: _Projective_.)