[1] That is, the right of claiming military service, and the right of
bringing capital offenders to justice.
DITHYRAMBIC POETRY, the description of poetry in which the character of
the dithyramb is preserved. It remains quite uncertain what the
derivation or even the primitive meaning of the Greek word [Greek:
dithyrambos] is, although many conjectures have been attempted. It was,
however, connected from earliest times with the choral worship of
Dionysus. A dithyramb is defined by Grote as a round choric dance and
song in honour of the wine-god. The earliest dithyrambic poetry was
probably improvised by priests of Bacchus at solemn feasts, and
expressed, in disordered numbers, the excitement and frenzy felt by the
worshippers. This element of unrestrained and intoxicated vehemence is
prominent in all poetry of this class. The dithyramb was traditionally
first practised in Naxos; it spread to other islands, to Boeotia and
finally to Athens. Arion is said to have introduced it at Corinth, and
to have allied it to the worship of Pan. It was thus "merged," as
Professor G. G. Murray says, "into the Satyr-choir of wild
mountain-goats" out of which sprang the earliest form of tragedy. But
when tragic drama had so far developed as to be quite independent, the
dithyramb did not, on that account, disappear. It flourished in Athens
until after the age of Aristotle. So far as we can distinguish the form
of the ancient Greek dithyramb, it must have been a kind of irregular
wild poetry, not divided into strophes or constructed with any evolution
of the theme, but imitative of the enthusiasm created by the use of
wine, by what passed as the Dionysiac delirium. It was accompanied on
some occasions by flutes, on others by the lyre, but we do not know
enough to conjecture the reasons of the choice of instrument. Pindar, in
whose hands the ode took such magnificent completeness, is said to have
been trained in the elements of dithyrambic poetry by a certain Lasus of
Hermione. Ion, having carried off the prize in a dithyrambic contest,
distributed to every Athenian citizen a cup of Chian wine. In the
opinion of antiquity, pure dithyrambic poetry reached its climax in a
lost poem. _The Cyclops_, by Philoxenus of Cythera, a poet of the 4th
century B.C. After this time, the composition of dithyrambs, although
not abandoned, rapidly declined in merit. It was essentially a Greek
form, and was little cultivated, and always without success, by the
Latins. The dithyramb had a spectacular character, combining verse with
music. In modern literature, although the adjective "dithyrambic" is
often used to describe an enthusiastic movement in lyric language, and
particularly in the ode, pure dithyrambs have been extremely rare. There
are, however, some very notable examples. The _Baccho in Toscana_ of
Francesco Redi (1626-1698), which was translated from the Italian, with
admirable skill, by Leigh Hunt, is a piece of genuine dithyrambic
poetry. _Alexander's Feast_ (1698), by Dryden, is the best example in
English. But perhaps more remarkable, and more genuinely dithyrambic
than either, are the astonishing improvisations of Karl Mikael Bellman
(1740-1795), whose Bacchic songs were collected in 1791 and form one of
the most remarkable bodies of lyrical poetry in the literature of
Sweden. (E. G.)
DITTERSBACH, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, 3
m. by rail S.E. from Waldenburg and 50 m. S. W. from Breslau. It has
coal-mines, bleach-fields and match factories. Population (1905) 9371.
DITTERSDORF, KARL DITTERS VON (1739-1799), Austrian composer and
violinist, was born in Vienna on the 2nd of November 1739, his father's
name being Ditters. Having shown as a child marked talent for the
violin, he was allowed to play in the orchestras of St Stephen's and the
_Schottenkirche_, where he attracted the attention of a notable patron
of music, Prince Joseph Frederick of Hildburghausen (1702-1787), who is
also remembered as a soldier for his disastrous leading of the forces of
the Empire at Rossbach. The prince gave the boy, now eleven years old, a
place in his private orchestra--the first of the kind established in
Vienna,--and also saw to it that he received an excellent general
education. The Seven Years' War proved disastrous to both music and
morals; and young Ditters, who had fallen into evil ways, fled from
Hildburghausen, whither he had gone with the prince, to avoid the
payment of his gambling debts. His patron generously forgave and
recalled him, but soon afterwards gave up his orchestra at Vienna.
Ditters now obtained a place in the Vienna opera; but he was not
satisfied, and in 1761 eagerly accepted an invitation to accompany
Gluck, whose acquaintance, as well as that of Haydn, he had made while
in the service of the prince, on a professional journey to Italy. His
success as a violinist on this occasion was equal to that of Gluck as
composer; and on his return to Vienna he was recognized as the superior
of Antonio Lolli, who as virtuoso had hitherto held the palm. In 1764 he
was again associated with Gluck in the musical part of the ceremonies at
Frankfort, attending the coronation of the archduke Joseph as King of
the Romans. His next appointment was that of conductor of the orchestra
of the bishop of Grosswardein, a Hungarian magnate, at Pressburg. He set
up a private stage in the episcopal palace, and wrote for it his first
"opera buffa," _Amore in musica_. His first oratorio, _Isacco figura del
Redentore_, was also written during this time; but the scandal of
performances of light opera by the bishop's company, even on fast days
and during Advent, outweighed this pious effort; the empress Maria
Theresa sharply called the worldly prelate to order; and he, in a huff,
dismissed his orchestra (1769). After a short interlude, Ditters was
again in the service of an ecclesiastical patron, count von Schafgotsch,
prince bishop of Breslau, at his estate of Johannesberg in Silesia. Here
he displayed so much skill as a sportsman, that the bishop procured for
him the office of forester (_Forstmeister_) of the principality of
Neisse. He had already, by the same influence, been made knight of the
Golden Spur (1770). At Johannesberg Ditters also produced a comic opera,
_Il Viaggiatore americano_, and an oratorio, _Davide_. The title role of
the latter was taken by a pretty Italian singer, Signora Nicolini, whom
Ditters married. In 1773 he was ennobled as Karl von Dittersdorf, and at
the same time was appointed administrator (_Amtshauptmann_) of
Freyenwaldau, an office which he performed by deputy. In the same year
his oratorio _Ester_ was produced in Vienna. During the War of Bavarian
Succession the prince bishop's orchestra was dissolved, and Dittersdorf
employed himself in his office at Freyenwaldau; but after the peace of
Tetschen (1779) he again became conductor of the reconstituted
orchestra. From this time forward his output was enormous. In 1780 ten
months sufficed for the production of his _Giobbe_ (Job) and four
operas, three of which were successful; and besides these he wrote a
large number of "characterized symphonies," founded on the
_Metamorphoses_ of Ovid. He was now at the height of his fame, and spent
the fortune which it brought him in much luxury. But after a time his
patron fell on evil days, the famous orchestra had to be reduced, and
when the bishop died in 1795 his successor dismissed the composer with a
small money gift. Poor and broken in health, he accepted the asylum
offered to him by Ignaz Freiherr von Stillfried, on his estate near
Neuhaus in Bohemia, where he spent what strength was left him in a
feverish effort to make money by the composition of operas, symphonies
and pianoforte pieces. He died on the 1st of October 1799, praying
"God's reward" for whoever should save his family from starvation. On
his death-bed he dictated to his son his _Lebensbeschreibung_
(autobiography).
Dittersdorf's chief talent was for comic opera and instrumental music in
the sonata forms. In both of these branches his work still shows signs
of life, and it is of great historical interest, since he was not only
an excellent musician and a friend of Haydn but also a thoroughly
popular writer, with a lively enough musical wit and sense of effect to
embody in an amusing and fairly artistic form exactly what the best
popular intelligence of the times saw in the new artistic developments
of Haydn. Thus, while in the amiable monotony and diffuseness of
Boccherini we may trace Haydn as a force tending to disintegrate the
polyphonic suite-forms of instrumental music, in Dittersdorf on the
other hand we see the popular conception of the modern sonata and
dramatic style. Yet, with all his popularity, the reality of his
progressive outlook may be gauged from the fact that, though he was at
least as famous a violinist as Boccherini was a violoncellist, there is
in his string quartets no trace of that tendency to sacrifice the
ensemble to an exhibition of his own playing which in Boccherini's
chamber music puts the violoncello into the same position as the first
violin in the chamber music of Spohr. In Dittersdorf's quartets (at
least six of which are worthy of their survival at the present day) the
first violin leads indeed, but not more than is inevitable in such
unsophisticated music where the normal place for melody is at the top.
The appearance of greater vitality in the texture of Boccherini's
quintets is produced merely by the fact that, his special instrument
being the violoncello, his displays of brilliance inevitably occur in
the inner parts. Six of Dittersdorf's symphonies on the _Metamorphoses_
of Ovid were republished in 1899, the centenary of his death. In them we
have an amusing and sometimes charming illustration of the way in which
at transitional periods music, as at the present day, is ready to make
crutches of literature. The end of the representation of the conversion
of the Lycian peasants into frogs is prophetically and ridiculously
Wagnerian in its ingenious expansion of rhythm and eminently expert
orchestration. Every external feature of Dittersdorf's style seems
admirably apt for success in German comic opera on a small scale; and an
occasional experimental performance at the present day of his _Doktor
und Apotheker_ is not less his due than the survival of his best
quartets.
See his _Lebensbeschreibung_, published at Leipzig, 1801 (English
translation by A. D. Coleridge, 1896); an article in the _Rivista
musicale_, vi. 727; and the article "Dittersdorf" in Grove's
_Dictionary of Music and Musicians_.
DITTO (from the Lat. _dictum_, something said, Ital. _detto_,
aforesaid), that which has been said before, the same thing. The word is
frequently abbreviated into "do." In accounts, "ditto" is indicated by
two dots or a dash under the word or figure that would otherwise be
repeated. A "suit of dittos," a trade or slang phrase, is a suit in
which coat, trousers and waistcoat are all of the same material.
DITTON, HUMPHRY (1675-1715), English mathematician, was born at
Salisbury on the 29th of May 1675. He studied theology, and was for some
years a dissenting minister at Tonbridge, but on the death of his father
he devoted himself to the congenial study of mathematics. Through the
influence of Sir Isaac Newton he was elected mathematical master in
Christ's hospital. He was author of the following memoirs and
treatises:--"Of the Tangents of Curves, &c.," _Phil. Trans._ vol.
xxiii.; "A Treatise on Spherical Catoptrics," published in the _Phil.
Trans._ vol. xxiv., from which it was copied and reprinted in the _Acta
Eruditorum_ (1707), and also in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences
at Paris; _General Laws of Nature and Motion_ (1705), a work which is
commended by Wolfius as illustrating and rendering easy the writings of
Galileo and Huygens, and the _Principia_ of Newton; _An Institution of
Fluxions, containing the First Principles, Operations, and Applications
of that admirable Method, as invented by Sir Isaac Newton_ (1706). In
1709 he published the _Synopsis Algebraica_ of John Alexander, with many
additions and corrections. In his _Treatise on Perspective_ (1712) he
explained the mathematical principles of that art; and anticipated the
method afterwards elaborated by Brook Taylor. In 1714 Ditton published
his _Discourse on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ;_ and _The New Law of
Fluids, or a Discourse concerning the Ascent of Liquids in exact
Geometrical Figures, between two nearly contiguous Surfaces_. To this
was annexed a tract ("Matter not a Cogitative Substance") to demonstrate
the impossibility of thinking or perception being the result of any
combination of the parts of matter and motion. There was also added an
advertisement from him and William Whiston concerning a method for
discovering the longitude, which it seems they had published about half
a year before. Although the method had been approved by Sir Isaac Newton
before being presented to the Board of Longitude, and successfully
practised in finding the longitude between Paris and Vienna, the board
determined against it. This disappointment, aggravated as it was by
certain lines written by Dean Swift, affected Ditton's health to such a
degree that he died in the following year, on the 15th of October 1715.
DIU, an island and town of India, belonging to Portugal, and situated at
the southern extremity of the peninsula of Kathiawar. Area of district,
20 sq. m. Pop. (1900) 14,614. The anchorage is fairly protected from the
sea, but the depth of water is only 3 to 4 fathoms. The channel between
the island on Diu and the mainland is navigable only by fishing boats
and small craft. The town is well fortified on the old system, being
surrounded by a wall with towers at regular intervals. Many of the
inhabitants are the well-known Banyan merchants of the east coast of
Africa and Arabia. Native spirits are distilled from the palm, salt is
made and fish caught. The trade of the town, however, is decayed. There
are remains of several fine ancient buildings. The cathedral or Se
Matriz, dating from 1601, was formerly a Jesuit college. The mint, the
arsenal and several convents (now ruined or converted to other uses) are
also noteworthy. The Portuguese, under treaty with Bahadur Shah of
Gujarat, built a fort here in 1535, but soon quarrelled with the natives
and were besieged in 1538 and 1545. The second siege is one of the most
famous in Indo-Portuguese history, and is the subject of an epic by
Jeronymo Corte Real (q.v.).
See R. S. Whiteway, _Rise of the Portuguese Power in India_ (1898).
DIURETICS (from Gr. [Greek: dia], through, and [Greek: ourein], pass
urine), the name given to remedies which, under certain conditions,
stimulate an increased flow of urine. Their mode of action is various.
Some are absorbed into the blood, carried to the secretory organs (the
kidneys), and stimulate them directly, causing an increased flow of
blood; others act as stimulants through the nervous system. A second
class act in congested conditions of the kidneys by diminishing the
congestion. Another class, such as the saline diuretics, are effectual
by virtue of their osmotic action. A fourth class are diuretic by
increasing the blood pressure within the vessels in general, and the
Malpighian tufts in particular,--some, as digitalis, by increasing the
strength of the heart's contractions, and others, as water, by
increasing the amount of fluid circulating in the vessels. Some
remedies, as mercury, although not diuretic themselves, when prescribed
along with those which have this action, increase their effect. The same
remedy may act in more than one way, e.g. alcohol, besides stimulating
the secretory organs directly, is a stimulant to the circulation, and
thus increases the pressure within the vessels. Diuretics are prescribed
when the quantity of urine is much diminished, or when, although the
quantity may be normal, it is wished to relieve some other organ or set
of organs of part of their ordinary work, or to aid in carrying off some
morbid product circulating in the blood, or to hasten the removal of
inflammatory serous exudations, or of dropsical collections of fluid.
Caffeine, which is far the best true diuretic, acts in nearly every way
mentioned above. Together with digitalis it is the most efficient remedy
for cardiac dropsy. A famous diuretic pill, known as Guy's pill,
consists of a grain each of mercurial pill, digitalis leaves and squill,
made up with extract of henbane. Digitalis, producing its diuretic
effect by its combined action on heart, vessels and kidneys, is much
used in the oedema of mitral disease, but must be avoided in chronic
Bright's disease, as it increases the tension of the pulse, already
often dangerously high. Turpentine and cantharides are not now
recommended as diuretics, as they are too irritating to the kidneys.
DIURNAL MOTION, the relative motion of the earth and the heavens, which
results from the rotation of our globe on its axis in a direction from
west toward east. The actual motion consists in this rotation. But the
term is commonly applied to the resultant apparent revolution of the
heavens from east to west, the axis of which passes through the
celestial poles, and is coincident in direction with the axis of the
earth.
DIVAN (Arabic _d[=i]w[=a]n_), a Persian word, derived probably from
Aramaic, meaning a "counting-house, office, bureau, tribunal"; thence,
on one side, the "account-books and registers" of such an office, and,
on another, the "room where the office or tribunal sits"; thence, again,
from "account-book, register," a "book containing the poems of an
author," arranged in a definite order (alphabetical according to the
rhyme-words), perhaps because of the saying, "Poetry is the register
(_d[=i]w[=a]n_) of the Arabs," and from "bureau, tribunal," "a long
seat, formed of a mattress laid against the side of the room, upon the
floor or upon a raised structure or frame, with cushions to lean
against" (Lane, _Lexicon_, 930 f.). All these meanings existed and
exist, especially "bureau, tribunal," "book of poems" and "seat"[1]; but
the order of derivation may have been slightly different. The word first
appears under the caliphate of Omar (A.D. 634-644). Great wealth, gained
from the Moslem conquests, was pouring into Medina, and a system of
business management and administration became necessary. This was copied
from the Persians and given the Persian name, "divan." Later, as the
state became more complicated, the term was extended over all the
government bureaus. The divan of the Sublime Porte was for long the
council of the empire, presided over by the grand vizier.
See Von Kremer, _Culturgeschichte des Orients_, i. 64, 198.
(D. B. MA.)