[1] Probably from "cuck," to void excrement; but variously connected
with Fr. _coquin_, rascal.
DUCKWEED, the common botanical name for species of _Lemna_ which form a
green coating on fresh-water ponds and ditches. The plants are of
extremely simple structure and are the smallest and least differentiated
of flowering plants. They consist of a so-called "frond"--a flattened
green more or less oval structure which emits branches similar to itself
from lateral pockets at or near the base. From the under surface a root
with a well-developed sheath grows downwards into the water. The
flowers, which are rarely found in Britain, are developed in one of the
lateral pockets. The inflorescence is a very simple one, consisting of
one or two male flowers each comprising a single stamen, and a female
flower comprising a flask-shaped pistil. The order Lemnaceae to which
they belong is regarded as representing a very reduced type nearly
allied to the Aroids. It is represented in Britain by four species of
_Lemna_, and a still smaller and simpler plant, _Wolffia_, in which the
fronds are only one-twentieth of an inch long and have no roots.
[Illustration:
1, _Lemna minor_ (Lesser Duckweed) nat. size.
2, Plant in flower.
3, Inflorescence containing two male flowers each of one stamen, and a
female flower, the whole enclosed in a sheath.
4, _Wolffia arrhiza._
(2, 3, 4 enlarged.)]
DUCKWORTH, SIR JOHN THOMAS (1748-1817), British admiral, was born at
Leatherhead, in Surrey, on the 28th of February 1748. He entered the
navy in 1759, and obtained his commission as lieutenant in June 1770,
when he was appointed to the "Princess Royal," the flagship of Admiral
Byron, in which he sailed to the West Indies. While serving on board
this vessel he took part in the engagement with the French fleet under
Count D'Estaing. In July 1779 he became commander, and was appointed to
the "Rover" sloop; in June of the following year he attained the rank of
post-captain. Soon afterwards he returned to England in charge of a
convoy. The outbreak of the war with France gave him his first
opportunity of obtaining marked distinction. Appointed first to the
"Orion" and then to the "Queen" in the Channel Fleet, under the command
of Lord Howe, he took part in the three days' naval engagement with the
Brest fleet, which terminated in a glorious victory on the 1st of June
1794. For his conduct on this occasion he received a gold medal and the
thanks of parliament. He next proceeded to the West Indies, where he was
stationed for some time at St Domingo. In 1798 he commanded the
"Leviathan" in the Mediterranean, and had charge of the naval detachment
which, in conjunction with a military force, captured Minorca. Early in
1799 he was raised to the rank of rear-admiral, and sent to the West
Indies to succeed Lord Hugh Seymour. During the voyage out he captured a
valuable Spanish convoy of eleven merchantmen. In March 1801 he was the
naval commander of the combined force which reduced the islands of St
Bartholomew and St Martin, a service for which he was rewarded with the
order of the Bath and a pension of L1000 a year. Promoted to be
vice-admiral of the blue, he was appointed in 1804 to the Jamaica
station. Two years later, while cruising off Cadiz with Lord
Collingwood, he was detached with his squadron to pursue a French fleet
that had been sent to the relief of St Domingo. He came up with the
enemy on the 6th February 1806, and, after two hours' fighting,
inflicted a signal defeat upon them, capturing three of their five
vessels and stranding the other two. For this, the most distinguished
service of his life, he received the thanks of the Jamaica assembly,
with a sword of the value of a thousand guineas, the thanks of the
English parliament, and the freedom of the city of London. In 1807 he
was again sent to the Mediterranean to watch the movements of the Turks.
In command of the "Royal George" he forced the passage of the
Dardanelles, but sustained considerable loss in effecting his return,
the Turks having strengthened their position while he was being kept in
play by their diplomatists and Napoleon's ambassador General
Sebastiani. He held the command of the Newfoundland fleet for four years
from 1810, and at the close of that period he was made a baronet. In
1815 he was appointed to the chief command at Plymouth, which he held
until his death on the 14th of April 1817. Sir John Duckworth sat in
parliament for some time as member for New Romney.
See _Naval Chronicle_, xviii.; Ralfe's _Naval Biography_, ii.
DUCLAUX, AGNES MARY F. (1856- ), English poet and critic, who first
became known in England under her maiden name of Mary F. Robinson, was
born at Leamington on the 27th of February 1856. She was educated at
University College, London, devoting herself chiefly to the study of
Greek literature. Her first volume of poetry, _A Handful of
Honeysuckle_, was published in 1879. Her next work was a translation
from Euripides, _The Crowned Hippolytus_ (1881). Monographs on Emily
Bronte (1883) and on Marguerite of Angouleme (1886) followed; and _The
New Arcadia and other Poems_ (1884) and _An Italian Garden_ (1886)
contain some of her best verses. Her poems attracted the attention of
the orientalist, James Darmesteter (q.v.), then in Peshawur, and he made
an admirable translation of them in French. The acquaintance led to
their marriage in 1888, and from that time a large part of her work was
done in French. Madame Darmesteter translated her husband's _Etudes
anglaises_ into English (1896). Her most considerable prose work is the
_Life of Ernest Renan_ (1897). She also wrote the _End of the Middle
Ages_ (1888); the volume on _Froissart_ (1894) in the _Grands ecrivains
francais_; essays on the Brontes, the Brownings and others, entitled
_Grands ecrivains d'Outre-Manche_ (1901). After Darmesteter's death, she
married in 1901 Emile Duclaux, the associate of Pasteur, and director of
the Pasteur institute. He died in 1904. She published _Retrospect and
other Poems_ in 1893, and in 1904 appeared The _Return to Nature, Songs
and Symbols_. The qualities of Mary Robinson's work, its conciseness and
purity of expression, were only gradually recognized. Her _Collected
Poems, Lyrical and Narrative_ were published in 1902.
DUCLOS, CHARLES PINOT (1704-1772), French author, was born at Dinan, in
Brittany, in 1704. At an early age he was sent to study at Paris. After
some time spent in dissipation he began to cultivate the society of the
wits of the time, and became a member of the club or association of
young men who published their joint efforts in light literature under
the titles of _Recueil de ces messieurs_, _Etrennes de la St-Jean_,
_Oeufs de Paques_, &c. His romance of _Acajou and Zirphile_, composed to
suit a series of plates which had been engraved for another work, was
one of the fruits of this association, and was produced in consequence
of a sort of wager amongst its members. Duclos had previously written
two other romances, which were more favourably received--_The Baroness
de Luz_ (1741), and the _Confessions of the Count de***_ (1747). His
first serious publication was the _History of Louis XI._, which is dry
and epigrammatical in style, but displays considerable powers of
research and impartiality. The reputation of Duclos as an author was
confirmed by the publication of his _Considerations sur les moeurs de ce
siecle_ (1751), a work justly praised by Laharpe, as containing a great
deal of sound and ingenious reflection. It was translated into English
and German. The _Memoires pour servir a l'histoire du dix-huitieme
siecle_, intended by the author as a sort of sequel to the preceding
work, are much inferior in style and matter, and are, in reality, little
better than a kind of romance. In consequence of his _History of Louis
XI._, he was appointed historiographer of France, when that place became
vacant on Voltaire's retirement to Prussia. His _Secret Memoirs of the
Reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV._ (for which he was able to utilize
the _Memoires_ of Saint Simon, suppressed in 1755), were not published
until after the Revolution.
Duclos became a member of the Academy of Inscriptions in 1739, and of
the French Academy in 1747, being appointed perpetual secretary in 1747.
Both academies were indebted to him not only for many valuable
contributions, but also for several useful regulations and improvements.
As a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, he composed several memoirs
on trial by combat, on the origin and revolutions of the Celtic and
French languages, and on scenic representations and the ancient drama.
As a member of the French Academy, he assisted in compiling the new
edition of the _Dictionary_, which was published in 1762; and he made
some just and philosophical remarks on the _Port Royal Grammar_. On
several occasions he distinguished himself by vindicating the honour and
prerogatives of the societies to which he belonged, and the dignity of
the literary character in general. He used to say of himself, "I shall
leave behind me a name dear to literary men." The citizens of Dinan,
whose interests he always supported with zeal, appointed him mayor of
their town in 1744, though he was resident at Paris, and in this
capacity he took part in the assembly of the estates of Brittany. Upon
the requisition of this body the king granted him letters of nobility.
In 1763 he was advised to retire from France for some time, having
rendered himself obnoxious to the government by the opinions he had
expressed on the dispute between the duc d'Aiguillon and M. de la
Chalotais, the friend and countryman of Duclos. Accordingly he set out
first for England (1763), then for Italy (1766); and on his return he
wrote his _Considerations on Italy_. He died at Paris on the 26th of
March 1772. The character of Duclos was singular in its union of
impulsiveness and prudence. Rousseau described him very laconically as a
man _droit et adroit_. In his manners he displayed a sort of bluntness
in society, which frequently rendered him disagreeable; and his caustic
wit on many occasions created enemies. To those who knew him, however,
he was a pleasant companion. A considerable number of his _bons mots_
have been preserved by his biographers.
A complete edition of the works of Duclos, including an unfinished
autobiography, was published by Auger (1821). See also Saint-Beuve,
_Causeries du lundi_, t. ix.; Rene Kerviler, _La Bretagne et
l'Academie francaise du XVIII^e siecle_ (1889); L. Mandon, _De la
valeur historique des memoires secrets de Duclos_ (1872).
DUCOS, PIERRE ROGER (1754-1816), French politician and director, was
born at Dax. He was an advocate when elected deputy to the Convention by
the department of the Landes. He sat in the "Plain," i.e. in the party
which had no opinion of its own, which always leaned to the stronger
side. He voted for the death of Louis XVI., without appeal or delay, but
played no noticeable part in the Convention. He was a member of the
Council of the Five Hundred, over which he presided on the 18th of
Fructidor in the year V. (see FRENCH REVOLUTION). At the end of his term
he became a judge of the peace, but after the parliamentary _coup
d'etat_ of the 30th of Prairial of the year VIII. he was named a member
of the executive Directory, thanks to the influence of Barras, who
counted on using him as a passive instrument. Ducos accepted the _coup
d'etat_ of Bonaparte on the 18th of Brumaire, and was one of the three
provisional consuls. He became vice-president of the senate. The Empire
heaped favours upon him, but in 1814 he abandoned Napoleon, and voted
for his deposition. He sought to gain the favour of the government of
the Restoration, but in 1816 was exiled in virtue of the law against the
regicides. He died in March 1816 at Ulm, from a carriage accident. In
spite of his absolute lack of talent, he attained the highest of
positions--an exceptional fact in the history of the French Revolution.
DUCTLESS GLANDS, in anatomy. A certain number of glands in the body,
often of great physiological importance, have no _ducts_ (Lat. _ductus_,
from _ducere_, to lead, i.e. vessels, tubes or canals for conveying away
fluid or other substance); and their products, known as internal
secretions, are at once carried away by the veins or lymphatics which
drain them. Among these structures are the _spleen_, the _adrenals_, the
_thyroid gland_, the _parathyroids_, the _thymus_ and the _carotid_ and
_coccygeal_ bodies. In addition to these the lymphatic glands are
described in the article on the lymphatic system (q.v.), and the pineal
and pituitary bodies in the article on the brain (q.v.).
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--The Spleen--Visceral Aspect.