[1] In the Indian Contracts Code (Act xii. of 1872), the rule is thus
summarized:--
"When a contract has been broken, the party who suffers by such
breach is entitled to receive from the party who has broken the
contract, compensation for any loss or damage caused to him thereby,
which naturally arose in the usual course of things from such breach,
or which the parties knew when they made the contract to be likely to
result from the breach of it. Such compensation is not to be given
for any remote or indirect loss or damage sustained by reason of the
breach.... In estimating the loss or damage arising from a breach of
contract, the means of remedying the inconvenience caused by the
non-performance must be taken into account" (S 73).
[2] _Quolibet alio die lunae_, which was translated by some _every
Monday_, and by others _every other Monday_. The amount in the latter
case would have been 125 quarters, in the former 524,288,000
quarters.
DAMANHUR, a town of Lower Egypt, 38 m. E.S.E. of Alexandria by rail,
capital of the richly-cultivated province of Behera. It is the ancient
Timenhor, "town of Horus," which in Ptolemaic times was capital of a
nome and lay on the Canopic branch of the Nile. Its name and other
circumstances imply that Horus (= Apollo) was worshipped there in the
same form as at Edfu (Brugsch, _Dictionnaire geographique_, p. 521), but
its Greek name, Hermopolis Parva, should indicate Thoth as the local
god. This apparent contradiction is perhaps due to some early
misunderstanding that held its ground after the Greeks knew Egypt
better. A much frequented fair is held at Damanhur three times a year,
and there are several cotton manufactories. Population (1907) 38,752.
DAMARALAND, a region of south-western Africa, bounded W. by the
Atlantic, E. by the Kalahari, N. by Ovampoland, and S. by Great
Namaqualand. It forms the central portion of German South-West Africa.
Damaraland is alternatively known as Hereroland, both names being
derived from the tribes inhabiting the region. The so-called Damara
consist of two probably distinct peoples. They are known respectively as
"the Hill Damara" and "the Cattle Damara," i.e. those who breed cattle
in the plains. The Hill Damara are Negroes with much Hottentot blood,
and have adopted the Hottentot tongue, while the Cattle Damara are of
distinct Bantu-Negro descent and speak a Bantu language. The term Damara
("Two Dama Women") is of Hottentot origin, and is not used by the
people, who call themselves Ova-herero, "the Merry People" (see
HOTTENTOTS and HERERO).
DAMASCENING, or DAMASKEENING, a term sometimes applied to the production
of damask steel, but properly the art of in-crusting wire of gold (and
sometimes of silver or copper) on the surface of iron, steel or bronze.
The surface upon which the pattern is to be traced is finely undercut
with a sharp instrument, and the gold thread by hammering is forced into
and securely held by the minute furrows of the cut surface. This system
of ornamentation is peculiarly Oriental, having been much practised by
the early goldsmiths of Damascus, and it is still eminently
characteristic of Persian metal work.
DAMASCIUS, the last of the Neoplatonists, was born in Damascus about
A.D. 480. In his early youth he went to Alexandria, where he spent
twelve years partly as a pupil of Theon, a rhetorician, and partly as a
professor of rhetoric. He then turned to philosophy and science, and
studied under Hermeias and his sons, Ammonius and Heliodorus. Later on
in life he migrated to Athens and continued his studies under Marinus,
the mathematician, Zenodotus, and Isidore, the dialectician. He became a
close friend of Isidore, succeeded him as head of the school in Athens,
and wrote his biography, part of which is preserved in the _Bibliotheca_
of Photius (see appendix to the Didot edition of Diogenes Laertius). In
529 Justinian closed the school, and Damascius with six of his
colleagues sought an asylum, probably in 532, at the court of Chosroes
I., king of Persia. They found the conditions intolerable, and in 533,
in a treaty between Justinian and Chosroes, it was provided that they
should be allowed to return. It is believed that Damascius settled in
Alexandria and there devoted himself to the writing of his works. The
date of his death is not known.
His chief treatise is entitled _Difficulties and Solutions of First
Principles_ ([Greek: 'Aporiai kai chuseis peri ton proton apxon]). It
examines into the nature and attributes of God and the human soul. This
examination is, in two respects, in striking contrast to that of certain
other Neoplatonist writers. It is conspicuously free from that Oriental
mysticism which stultifies so much of the later pagan philosophy of
Europe. Secondly, it contains no polemic against Christianity, to the
doctrines of which, in fact, there is no allusion. Hence the charge of
impiety which Photius brings against him. His main result is that God is
infinite, and as such, incomprehensible; that his attributes of
goodness, knowledge and power are credited to him only by inference from
their effects; that this inference is logically valid and sufficient for
human thought. He insists throughout on the unity and the indivisibility
of God, whereas Plotinus and Porphyry had admitted not only a Trinity,
but even an Ennead (nine-fold personality).
Interesting as Damascius is in himself, he is still more interesting as
the last in the long succession of Greek philosophers. (See
NEOPLATONISM.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The [Greek: Aporiai] was partly edited by J. Kopp
(1826), and in full by C. E. Ruelle (Paris, 1889). French trans. by
Chaignet (1898). See T. Whittaker, _The Neo-platonists_ (Cambridge,
1901); E. Zeller, _History of Greek Philosophy_; C. E. Ruelle, _Le
Philosophe Damascius_ (1861); Ch. Leveque, "Damascius" (_Journal des
savants_, February 1891). See also works quoted under NEOPLATONISM and
ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL.
DAMASCUS, the chief town of Syria, and the capital of a government
province of the same name, 57 m. from Beirut, situated in 33 deg. 30'
N., and 36 deg. 18' E.
_History._--The origin of the city is unknown, and the popular belief
that it is the oldest city in the world still inhabited has much to
recommend it. It has been suggested that the ideogram by which it is
indicated in Babylonian monuments literally means "fortress of the
Amorites"; could this be proved it would be valuable testimony to its
antiquity if not its origin. The city is mentioned in the document that
describes the battle of the four kings against five, inserted in the
book of Genesis (ch. xiv.): Abram (Abraham) is reported to have pursued
the routed kings to Hobah _north of Damascus_ (v. 15). The name of the
steward of Abram's establishment is given in Genesis xv. 2, as _Dammesek
Eliezer_, which is explained in the Aramaic and Syriac versions as
"Eliezer of Damascus." This reading is adopted by the authorized
version, but the Hebrew, as it stands, will not support it. There is
probably here some textual corruption.
In the period of the Egyptian suzerainty over Palestine in the
eighteenth dynasty Damascus (whose name frequently appears in the Tell
el-Amarna tablets) was capital of the small province of Ubi. The name of
the city in the Tell el-Amarna correspondence is Dimashka. Towards the
end of that period the overrunning of Palestine and Syria by the Khabiri
and Suti, the forerunners of the Aramaean immigration, changed the
conditions, language and government of the country. One of the first
indications of this change that has been traced is the appearance of the
Aramaean Darmesek for Damascus in an inscription of Rameses III.
The growth of an independent kingdom with Damascus as centre must date
from very early in the Aramaean occupation. It had reached such strength
that though Tiglath-Pileser I. reduced the whole of northern Syria, and
by the fame of his victories induced the king of Egypt to send him
presents, yet he did not venture to attack Kadesh and Damascus, so that
this kingdom acted as a "buffer" between the king of Assyria and the
rising kingdom of Saul.
David, however, after his accession made an expedition against Damascus
as a reprisal for the assistance the city had given his enemy Hadadezer,
king of Zobah. The expedition was successful; David smote of the Syrians
22,000 men, and took and garrisoned the city; "and the Syrians became
servants to David, and brought gifts" (2 Sam. viii. 5, 6; 1 Chron.
xviii. 5). This statement, it should be noticed, has been questioned by
some modern historical and textual critics, who believe that "Syria"
(Hebrew _Aram_) is here a corruption for "Edom." There is no other
evidence--save the corrupt passage, 2 Sam. xxiv. 6, where
"Tahtim-hodshi" is explained as meaning "the land of the Hittites to
Kadesh"--that David's kingdom was so far extended northward. However
this may be, it is evident that the Israelite possession of Syria did
not last long. A subordinate of Hadadezer named Rezon (Rasun) succeeded
in establishing himself in Damascus and in founding there a royal
dynasty. Throughout the reign of Solomon (1 Kings xi. 23, 24) this Rezon
seems to have been a constant enemy to the kingdom of Israel.
It is inferred from 1 Kings xv. 19 that Abijah, son of Rehoboam, king of
Judah, made a league with Tab-Rimmon of Damascus to assist him in his
wars against Israel, and that afterwards Tab-Rimmon's son Ben-Hadad came
to terms with the second successor of Jeroboam, Baasha. Asa, son of
Abijah, followed his father's policy, and bought the aid of Syria,
whereby he was enabled to destroy the border fort that Baasha had
erected (1 Kings xv. 22).
Hostilities between Israel and Syria lasted to the days of Ahab. From
Omri the king of Syria took cities and the right to establish a quarter
for his merchants in Samaria (1 Kings xx. 34). His son Ben-Hadad made an
unsuccessful attack on Israel at Aphek, and was allowed by Ahab to
depart on a reversal of these terms (loc. cit.). This was the cause of a
prophetic denunciation (1 Kings xx. 42). According to the Assyrian
records Ahab fought as Ben-Hadad's ally at the battle of Karkar against
Shalmaneser in 854. This seems to indicate an intermediate defeat and
vassalage of Ahab, of which no direct record remains; and it was
probably in the attempt to throw off this vassalage in 853, the year
after the battle of Karkar, that Ahab met his death in battle with the
Syrians (1 Kings xxii. 34-40). In the reign of Jehoram, Naaman, the
Syrian general, came and was cleansed by the prophet Elisha of leprosy
(2 Kings v.).
In 843 Hazael assassinated Ben-Hadad and made himself king of Damascus.
The states which Ben-Hadad had brought together into a coalition against
the advancing power of Assyria all revolted; and Shalmaneser, king of
Assyria, took advantage of this in 842 and attacked Syria. He wasted the
country, but could not take the capital. Jehu, king of Israel, paid
tribute to Assyria, for which Hazael afterwards revenged himself, during
the time when Shalmaneser was distracted by his Armenian wars, by
attacking the borders of Israel (2 Kings x. 32).
Adad-nirari IV. invaded Syria and besieged Damascus in 806. Taking
advantage of this and similar succeeding events, Jehoash, king of
Israel, recovered the cities that his father had lost to Hazael.
In 734 Ahaz became king of Judah, and Rezon (Rasun, Rezin), the king of
Damascus at the time, came up against him; at the same time the Edomites
and the Philistines revolted. Ahaz appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III.,
king of Assyria, sent him gifts, and besought his protection.
Tiglath-Pileser invaded Syria, and in 732 succeeded in reducing Damascus
(see also BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA, _Chronology_, S 5, and JEWS, SS 10
sqq.).
Except for the abortive rising under Sargon in 720, we hear nothing more
of Damascus for a long period. In 333 B.C., after the battle of Issus,
it was delivered over by treachery to Parmenio, the general of Alexander
the Great; the harem and treasures of Darius had here been lodged. It
had a chequered history during the wars of the successors of Alexander,
being occasionally in Egyptian hands. In 112 B.C. the empire of Syria
was divided by Antiochus Grypus and Antiochus Cyzicenus; the city of
Damascus fell to the share of the latter. Hyrcanus took advantage of the
disputes of these rulers to advance his own kingdom. Demetrius Eucaerus,
successor of Cyzicenus, invaded Palestine in 88 B.C., and defeated
Alexander Jannaeus at Shechem. On his dethronement and captivity by the
Parthians, Antiochus Dionysus, his brother, succeeded him, but was slain
in battle by Haritha (Aretas) the Arab--the first instance of Arab
interference with Damascene politics. Haritha yielded to Tigranes, king
of Armenia, who in his turn was driven out by Q. Caecilius Metellus (son
of Scipio Nasica), the Roman general. In 63 Syria was made a Roman
province.
In the New Testament Damascus appears only in connexion with the
miraculous conversion of St Paul (Acts ix., xxii., xxvi.), his escape
from Aretas the governor by being lowered in a basket over the wall
(Acts ix. 25; 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33), and his return thither after his
retirement in Arabia (Gal. i. 17).
In 150, under Trajan, Damascus became a Roman provincial city.
On the establishment of Christianity Damascus became the seat of a
bishop who ranked next to the patriarch of Antioch. The great temple of
Damascus was turned by Arcadius into a Christian church.
In 635 Damascus was captured for Islam by Khalid ibn Walid, the great
general of the new religion, being the first city to yield after the
battle of the Yarmuk (Hieromax). After the murder of Ali, the fourth
caliph, his successor Moawiya transferred the seat of the Caliphate
(q.v.) from Mecca to Damascus and thus commenced the great dynasty of
the Omayyads, whose rule extended from the Atlantic to India. This
dynasty lasted about ninety years; it was supplanted by that of the
Abbasids, who removed the seat of empire to Mesopotamia; and Damascus
passed through a period of unrest in which it was captured and ravaged
by Egyptians, Carmathians and Seljuks in turn. The crusaders attacked
Damascus in 1126, but never succeeded in keeping a firm hold of it, even
during their brief domination of the country. It was the headquarters of
Saladin in the wars with the Franks. Of its later history we need only
mention the Mongolian capture in 1260; its Egyptian recapture by the
Mameluke Kotuz; the ferocious raid of Timur (Tamerlane) in 1399; and the
conquest by the Turkish sultan Selim, whereby it became a city of the
Ottoman empire (1516). In its more recent history the only incidents
that need be mentioned are its capture by Ibrahim Pasha, the Egyptian
general, in 1832, when the city was first opened to the representatives
of foreign powers; its revolt against Ibrahim's tyranny in 1834, which
he crushed with the aid of the Druses; the return of the city to Turkish
domination, when the Egyptians were driven out of Syria in 1840 by the
allied powers; and the massacre of July 1860, when the Moslem population
rose against the Christians, burnt their quarter, and slaughtered about
3000 adult males.
_Modern City._--Damascus is a city with a population estimated at from
154,000 (35,000 Christians and Jews) to 225,000 (55,000 Christians and
Jews), situated near the northern edge of a plain called the Ghutah, at
the foot of Anti-Lebanon, 2250 ft. above the sea. The river Barada (the
_Abanah_ of 2 Kings v. 12) rises in the Anti-Lebanon, runs for about 10
m. in a narrow channel, and then spreads itself fan-wise over the plain.
About 18 m. east of the city it loses itself in the marshlands known as
the Meadow Lakes. A second river, the 'Awaj (possibly the _Pharpar_ of 2
Kings), pursues a similar course. The plain is thus exceptionally well
irrigated, and its consequent fertility is proverbial over the East.
Damascus is situated on both banks of the Barada, about 2 m. from the
exit of the river from the gorge. On the right bank is all the older
part of the city, and a long suburb called El-Meidan extending about a
mile along the Hajj Road. On the left bank are the suburbs El 'Amaara
and El-Salihia. The waters of the river are carried by channels and
conduits to all the houses of the city. The orchards, gardens, vineyards
and fields of Damascus are said to extend over a circuit of at least 60
m. In the surrounding plain are one hundred and forty villages, occupied
in all by about 50,000 persons (1000 Christians, 2000 Druses).
The rough mud walls in the private houses give poor promise of splendour
within. The entrance is usually by a low door, and through a narrow
winding passage which leads to the outer court, where the master has his
reception room. From this another winding passage leads to the harem,
which is the principal part of the house. The plan of all is the
same--an open court, with a tesselated pavement, and one or two marble
fountains; orange and lemon trees, flowering shrubs, and climbing plants
give freshness and fragrance. All the apartments open into the court;
and on the south side is an open alcove, with a marble floor, and raised
dais round three sides, covered with cushions; the front wall is
supported by an ornamented Saracenic arch. The decoration of some of the
rooms is gorgeous, the walls being covered in part with mosaics and in
part with carved work, while the ceilings are rich in arabesque
ornaments, elaborately gilt. A few of the modern Jewish houses have been
embellished at an enormous cost, but they are wanting in taste.
_Antiquities._--Considering the great age of Damascus, its comparative
poverty in antiquities is remarkable. The walls of the city seem to be
Seleucid in origin; some of the Roman gateways being still in good
order. The _Derb el-Mistakiim_, or "Straight Street," still runs through
the city from the eastern to the western gate. At the north-west corner
is a large castle built in A.D. 1219, by El-Malik el-Ashraf, on the site
of an earlier palace. It is quadrangular, surrounded by a moat filled by
the Barada. The outer walls are in good preservation, but the interior
is ruined.
The church of St John the Baptist constructed by Arcadius on the site of
the temple was turned by Caliph Walid I. (705-717) to a mosque which was
the most important building of Damascus. It was a structure 431 ft. by
125 ft. interior dimensions, extending along the south side of a
quadrangle 163 yds. by 108 yds. Except the famous inscription over the
door--"Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and thy
dominion endureth throughout all generations"--every trace of
Christianity was effaced from the church at its conversion. It was
destroyed by fire on the 14th of October 1893, and though it was
subsequently rebuilt, much that was of archaeological and historical
interest perished. It is estimated that there are over two hundred
mosques in Damascus.
_Products, Manufactures, &c._--Damascus occupies an important commercial
position, being the market for the whole of the desert; it also is of
great importance religiously, as being the starting-point for the Hajj
pilgrimage from Syria to Mecca, which leaves on the 15th of the lunar
month of Shawwal each year. This of course brings much trade to the
city. Its chief manufactures are silk work, cloths and cloaks, gold and
silver ornaments, &c., brass and copper work, furniture and ornamental
woodwork. The bazaars of Damascus are among the most famous of their
kind. It is connected with Beirut and Mezerib by railway, and at the end
of the past century the great undertaking of running a line to Mecca was
commenced. In the surrounding gardens and fields walnuts, apricots,
wheat, barley, maize, &c. are grown. Its commercial importance is
referred to by Ezekiel (xxvii. 18), who mentions its trade in wines and
wool. The climate is good; in winter there is often hard frost and much
snow, and even in summer, with a day temperature of 100 deg. F., the
nights are always cool. Fever, dysentery and ophthalmia, chiefly due to
exposure to heavy dews and cold nights, are prevalent. Though still the
market of the nomads, the surer and cheaper sea route has almost
destroyed the transit trade to which it once owed its wealth, and has
even diminished the importance of the annual pilgrim caravan to Mecca.
The Damascene, however, still retains his skill as a craftsman and
tiller of the soil. The chief imports are cloths, prints, muslins, raw
silk, sugar, rice, &c.
The value of exports and imports in certain specified years is shown in
the following table:--
+---------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | 1890. | 1894. | 1898. | 1905. |
+---------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Exports | L325,660 | L400,830 | L302,050 | L386,000 |
| Imports | 525,710 | 614,490 | 675,080 | 872,400 |
+---------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
Most of the Christians belong to the Orthodox and Roman Catholic
(United) Greek Churches; and there are also communities of Melchites,
Jacobites, Maronites, Nestorians, Armenians and Protestants. There are
Protestant missions, founded 1843, and a British hospital.
AUTHORITIES.--Lortet, _La Syrie d'aujourd'hui_, p. 567 f. (Paris,
1884); Von Oppenheim, _Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf_, i. 49 f.
(Berlin, 1899); G. A. Smith, _Historical Geography of the Holy Land_;
_Encyclopaedia Biblica_, art. "Damascus"; Consular Reports;
Baedeker-Socin, _Handbook to Syria and Palestine_. For the Great
Mosque see Dickie, Phene Spiers, and Sir C. W. Wilson in _Palestine
Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement_, Oct. 1897. (R. A. S. M.)
DAMASK, the technical term applied to certain distinct types of fabric.
The term owes its origin to the ornamental silk fabrics of Damascus,
fabrics which were elaborately woven in colours, sometimes with the
addition of gold and other metallic threads. At the present day it
denotes a linen texture richly figured in the weaving with flowers,
fruit, forms of animal life, and other types of ornament. "China, no
doubt," says Dr Rock (_Catalogue of Textile Fabrics_, Victoria and
Albert Museum), "was the first country to ornament its silken webs with
a pattern. India, Persia, and Syria, then Byzantine Greece followed, but
at long intervals between, in China's footsteps. Stuffs so figured
brought with them to the West the name 'diaspron' or diaper, bestowed
upon them at Constantinople. But about the 12th century the city of
Damascus, even then long celebrated for its looms, so far outstripped
all other places for beauty of design, that her silken textiles were in
demand everywhere; and thus, as often happens, traders fastened the name
of damascen or damask upon every silken fabric richly wrought and
curiously designed, no matter whether it came or not from Damascus." The
term is perhaps now best known in reference to damask table-cloths, a
species of figured cloth usually of flax or tow yarns, but sometimes
made partly of cotton. The finer qualities are made of the best linen
yarn, and, although the latter is of a brownish colour during the
weaving processes, the ultimate fabric is pure white. The high lights in
these cloths are obtained by long floats of warp and weft, and, as these
are set at right angles, they reflect the light differently according to
the angle of the rays of light; the effect changes also with the
position of the observer. Subdued effects are produced by shorter floats
of yarn, and sometimes by special weaves. Any subject, however
intricate, can be copied by this method of weaving, provided that
expense is no object. The finest results are obtained when the so-called
double damask weaves are used. These weaves are shown under DIE, and it
will be seen that each weave gives a maximum float of seven threads. (In
some special cases a weave is used which gives a float of nine.) The
small figure here shown to illustrate a small section of a damask design
is composed of the two single damask weaves; these give a maximum float
of four threads or picks. No shading is shown in the design, and this
for two reasons--(1) the single damask weaves do not permit of elaborate
shading, although some very good effects are obtainable; (2) the
available space is not sufficiently large to show the method to
advantage. The different single damask weaves used in the shading of
these cloths appear, however, at the bottom of the figure, while between
these and the design proper there is an illustration of the thirty-first
pick interweaving with all the forty-eight threads.
[Illustration]
The principal British centres for fine damasks are Belfast and
Dunfermline, while the medium qualities are made in several places in
Ireland, in a few places in England, and in the counties of Fife, Forfar
and Perth in Scotland. Cotton damasks, which are made in Paisley,
Glasgow, and several places in Lancashire, are used for toilet covers,
table-cloths, and similar purposes. They are often ornamented with
colours and sent to the Indian and West Indian markets. Silk damasks for
curtains and upholstery decoration are made in the silk-weaving centres.
DAMASK STEEL, or DAMASCUS STEEL, a steel with a peculiar watered or
streaked appearance, as seen in the blades of fine swords and other
weapons of Oriental manufacture. One way of producing this appearance is
to twist together strips of iron and steel of different quality and then
weld them into a solid mass. A similar but inferior result may be
obtained by etching with acid the surface of a metal; parts of which are
protected by some greasy substance in such a way as to give the watered
pattern desired. The art of producing damask steel has been generally
practised in Oriental countries from a remote period, the most famous
blades having come from Isfahan, Khorasan, and Shiraz in Persia.
DAMASUS, the name of two popes.
DAMASUS I. was pope from 366 to 384. At the time of the banishment of
Pope Liberius (355), the deacon Damasus, like all the Roman clergy, made
energetic protest. When, however, the emperor Constantius sent to Rome
an anti-pope in the person of Felix II., Damasus, with the other clergy,
rallied to his cause. When Liberius returned from exile and Felix was
expelled from Rome, Damasus again took his place among the adherents of
Liberius. On the death of Liberius (366) a considerable party nominated
Damasus successor; but the irreconcilables of the party of Liberius
refused to pardon his trimming, and set up against him another deacon,
Ursinus. A serious conflict ensued between the rival factions, which
quickly led to rioting and hand-to-hand fighting. In one of these
encounters the then new basilica, called the Liberian Basilica (S. Maria
Maggiore), was partially destroyed, and 137 dead bodies were left in the
building. On several occasions the secular arm had to intervene,
although the government of the emperor Valentinian was averse from
involving itself in ecclesiastical affairs. From the outset the prefect
of Rome recognized the claims of Damasus, and exerted himself to support
him. Ursinus and the leading men of his faction were expelled from Rome,
and afterwards from central Italy, or even interned in Gaul. They,
however, persisted obstinately in their opposition to Damasus, combating
him at first by riots, and then by calumnious law-suits, such as that
instituted by one Isaac, a converted and relapsed Jew.
To the official support, which never failed him, Damasus endeavoured to
join the popular sympathy. From before his election he had been in high
favour with the Roman aristocracy, and especially with the great ladies.
At that period the urban masses, but recently converted to Christianity,
sought in the worship of the martyrs a sort of substitute for
polytheism. Damasus showed great zeal in discovering the tombs of
martyrs, adorning them with precious marbles and monumental
inscriptions. The inscriptions he composed himself, in mediocre verse,
full of Virgilian reminiscences. Several have come down to us on the
original marbles, entire or in fragments; others are known from old
copies. In the interior of Rome he erected or embellished the church
which still bears his name (S. Lorenzo in Damaso), near which his
father's house appears to have stood.
The West was recovering gradually from the troubles caused by the Arian
crisis. Damasus took part, more or less effectually, in the efforts to
eliminate from Italy and Illyria the last champions of the council of
Rimini. In spite of his declaration at the council convened by him in
372, he did not succeed in evicting Auxentius from Milan. But Auxentius
died soon afterwards, and his successor, Ambrose, undertook to bring
these hitherto abortive efforts to a successful conclusion, and to
complete the return of Illyria to the confessions of Nicaea. The bishops
of the East, however, under the direction of St Basil, were involved in
a struggle with the emperor Valens, whose policy was favourable to the
council of Rimini. Damasus, to whom they appealed for help, was unable
to be of much service to them, the more so because that episcopal group,
viewed askance by St Athanasius and his successor Peter, was incessantly
combated at the papal court by the inveterate hatred of Alexandria. The
Eastern bishops triumphed in the end under Theodosius, at the council of
Constantinople (381), in which the pope and the Western church took no
part. They were invited to a council of wider convocation, held at Rome
in 382, but very few attended.
This council had brought to Rome the learned monk Jerome, for whom
Damasus showed great esteem. To him Damasus entrusted the revision of
the Latin text of the Bible and other works of religious erudition. A
short time before, the pope had received a visit from the
Priscillianists after their condemnation in Spain, and had dismissed
them. Damasus died in 384, on the 11th of December, the day on which his
memory is still celebrated.
DAMASUS II., pope from the 17th of July to the 9th of August 1048, was
the ephemeral successor of Clement II. His original name was Poppo, and
he was bishop of Brixen when the emperor Henry III. raised him to the
papacy. (L. D.*)
DAMAUN or DAMAN, a town of Portuguese India, capital of the settlement
of Damaun, situated on the east side of the entrance of the Gulf of
Cambay within the Bombay Presidency. The area of the settlement is 82
sq. m. Pop. (1900) 41,671. The settlement is divided into two parts,
Damaun proper, and the larger _pargana_ of Nagar Havili, the two being
separated by a narrow strip of British territory. The soil is fertile,
and rice, wheat and tobacco are the chief crops. The teak forests are
valuable. Weaving is an industry less important than formerly; mats and
baskets are manufactured, and deep-sea fishing is an important
industry. The shipbuilding business at the town of Damaun is important.
Early in the 19th century a large transit trade in opium between Karachi
and China was carried on at Damaun, but it ceased in 1837, when the
British prohibited it after their conquest of Sind. The settlement is
administered as a unit, and has a municipal chamber.
Damaun town was sacked and burnt by the Portuguese in 1531. It was
subsequently rebuilt, and in 1558 was again taken by the Portuguese, who
made a permanent settlement and converted the mosque into a Christian
church. From that time it has remained in their hands. The territory of
Damaun proper was conquered by the Portuguese in 1559; that of Nagar
Havili was ceded to them by the Mahrattas in 1780 in indemnification for
piracy.
DAME (through the Fr. from Lat. _domina_, mistress, lady, the feminine
of _dominus_, master, lord), properly a name of respect or a title
equivalent to "lady," now surviving in English as the legal designation
of the wife or widow of a baronet or knight and prefixed to the
Christian name and surname. It has also been used in modern times by
certain societies or orders, e.g. the Primrose League, as the name of a
certain rank among the lady members, answering to the male rank of
knight. The ordinary use of the word by itself is for an old woman. As
meaning "mistress," i.e. teacher, "dame" was used of the female keepers
of schools for young children, which have become obsolete since the
advance of public elementary education. At Eton College boarding-houses
kept by persons other than members of the teaching staff of the school
were known as "Dames' Houses," though the head might not necessarily be
a lady. As a term of address to ladies of all ranks, from the sovereign
down, "madam," shortened to "ma'am," represents the French _madame_, my
lady.
"Damsel," a young girl or maiden, now only used as a literary word, is
taken from the Old French _dameisele_, formed from _dame_, and parallel
with the popular _dansele_ or _doncele_ from the medieval Latin
_domicella_ or _dominicella_, diminutive of _domina_. The French
_damoiselle_ and _demoiselle_ are later formations. The English literary
form "damosel" was another importation from France in the 15th century.
In the early middle ages _damoiseau_, medieval Latin _domicellus_,
_dameicele_, _damoiselle_, _domicella_, were used as titles of honour
for the unmarried sons and daughters of royal persons and lords
(_seigneurs_). Later the _damoiseau_ (in the south _donzel_, in Bearn
_domengar_) was specifically a young man of gentle birth who aspired to
knighthood, equivalent to _ecuyer_, esquire, or valet (q.v.). The
_damoiseau_ performed certain functions and received training in
knightly accomplishments in the domestic service of his lord. Later
again the name was also used of nobles who had not been knighted. In
certain _seigneuries_ in France, notably in that of Commercy, in
Lorraine, _damoiseau_ became the permanent title of the holder. In
England the title, when used by the French-speaking nobility and members
of the court, was only applied to the son or grandson of the king; thus
in the _Laws of Edward the Confessor_, quoted in Du Cange (_Glossarium,
s.v. Domicellus_), we find "Rex vero Edgarum ... pro filio nutrivit et
quia cogitavit ipsum heredem facere, nominavit _Ethelinge_, quod nos
Domicellum, id, _Damisell_; sed nos indiscrete de pluribus dicimus, quia
Baronum filios vocamus domicellos, Angli vero nullos nisi natos regum."
Froissart calls Richard II. during the lifetime of his father the Black
Prince, _le jeune Demoisel_. The use of _damoiselle_ followed much the
same development; it was first applied to the unmarried daughters of
royal persons and _seigneurs_, then to the wife of a _damoiseau_, and
also to the young ladies of gentle birth who performed for the wives of
the _seigneurs_ the same domestic services as the _damoiseaus_ for their
husbands. Hence the later form _demoiselle_ became merely the title of
address of a young unmarried lady, the _mademoiselle_ of modern usage,
the English "miss." At the court of France, after the 17th century,
_Mademoiselle_, without the name of the lady, was a courtesy title given
to the eldest daughter of the eldest brother of the king, who was known
as _Monsieur_. To distinguish the daughter of Gaston d'Orleans, brother
of Louis XIII., from the daughter of Philippe d'Orleans, brother of
Louis XIV., the former, Anne Marie Louise, duchesse de Montpensier, was
called _La Grande Mademoiselle_, by which title she is known to history
(see MONTPENSIER, A. M. L., DUCHESSE DE).
DAME'S VIOLET, the English name for _Hesperis matronalis_, a herbaceous
plant belonging to the natural order Cruciferae, and closely allied to
the wallflower and stock. It has an erect stout leafy stem 2 to 3 ft.
high, with irregularly toothed short-stalked leaves and white or lilac
flowers, 3/4 in. across, which are scented in the evening (hence the name
of the genus, from the Gr. [Greek: hesperos], evening). The slender pods
are constricted between the seeds. The plant is a native of Europe and
temperate Asia, and is found in Britain as an escape from gardens, in
meadows and plantations.
DAMGHAN, a town of Persia in the province of Semnan va Damghan, 216 m.
from Teheran on the high-road thence to Khorasan, at an elevation of
3770 ft. and in 36 deg. 10' N., 54 deg. 20' E. Pop. about 10,000. There
are post and telegraph offices, and a great export trade is done in
pistachios and almonds, the latter being of the kind called _Kaghazi_
("of paper") with very thin shells, famous throughout the country.
Damghan was an important city in the middle ages, but only a ruined
mosque with a number of massive columns and some fine wood carvings and
two minarets of the 11th century remain of that period. Near the city, a
few miles south and south-west, are the remains of Hecatompylos,
extending from Frat, 16 m. south of Damghan, to near Gusheh, 20 m. west.
Damghan was destroyed by the Afghans in 1723. On an eminence in the
western part of the city are the ruins of a large square citadel with a
small white-washed building, called _Molud Khaneh_ (the house of birth),
in which Fath Ali Shah was born (1772).
DAMIANI, PIETRO (c. 1007-1072), one of the most celebrated ecclesiastics
of the 11th century, was born at Ravenna, and after a youth spent in
hardship and privation, gained some renown as a teacher. About 1035,
however, he deserted his secular calling and entered the hermitage of
Fonte Avellana, near Gubbio; and winning sound reputation through his
piety and his preaching, he became the head of this establishment about
1043. A zealot for monastic and clerical reform, he introduced a more
severe discipline, including the practice of flagellation, into the
house, which, under his rule, quickly attained celebrity, and became a
model for other foundations. Extending the area of his activities, he
entered into communication with the emperor Henry III., addressed to
Pope Leo IX. in 1049 a writing denouncing the vices of the clergy and
entitled _Liber Gomorrhianus_; and soon became associated with
Hildebrand in the work of reform. As a trusted counsellor of a
succession of popes he was made cardinal bishop of Ostia, a position
which he accepted with some reluctance; and presiding over a council at
Milan in 1059, he courageously asserted the authority of Rome over this
province, and won a signal victory for the principles which he
advocated. He rendered valuable assistance to Pope Alexander II. in his
struggle with the anti-pope, Honorius II.; and having served the papacy
as legate to France and to Florence, he was allowed to resign his
bishopric in 1067. After a period of retirement at Fonte Avellana, he
proceeded in 1069 as papal legate to Germany, and persuaded the emperor
Henry IV. to give up his intention of divorcing his wife Bertha. During
his concluding years he was not altogether in accord with the political
ideas of Hildebrand. He died at Faenza on the 22nd of February 1072.
Damiani was a determined foe of simony, but his fiercest wrath was
directed against the married clergy. He was an extremely vigorous
controversialist, and his Latin abounds in denunciatory epithets. He was
specially devoted to the Virgin Mary, and wrote an _Officium Beatae
Virginis_, in addition to many letters, sermons, and other writings.
His works were collected by Cardinal Cajetan, and were published in
four volumes at Rome (1606-1615), and then at Paris in 1642, at Venice
in 1743, and there are other editions. See A. Vogel, _Peter Damiani_
(Jena, 1856); A. Capecelatro, _Storia di S. Pier Damiani e del suo
tempo_ (Florence, 1862); F. Neukirch, _Das Leben des Peter Damiani_
(Gottingen, 1875); L. Guerrier, _De Petro Damiano_ (Orleans, 1881); W.
von Giesebrecht, _Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit_ (Leipzig,
1885-1890); and Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_, Band iv. (Leipzig,
1898).
DAMIEN, FATHER, the name in religion of JOSEPH DE VEUSTER (1840-1889),
Belgian missionary, was born at Tremeloo, near Louvain, on the 3rd of
January 1840. He was educated for a business career, but in his
eighteenth year entered the Church, joining the Society of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and Mary (also known as the Picpus Congregation), and
taking Damien as his name in religion. In October 1863, while he was
still in minor orders, he went out as a missionary to the Pacific
Islands, taking the place of his brother, who had been prevented by an
illness. He reached Honolulu in March 1864, and was ordained priest in
Whitsuntide of that year. Struck with the sad condition of the lepers,
whom it was the practice of the Hawaian government to deport to the
island of Molokai, he conceived an earnest desire to mitigate their lot,
and in 1873 volunteered to take spiritual charge of the settlement at
Molokai. Here he remained for the rest of his life, with occasional
visits to Honolulu, until he became stricken with leprosy in 1885.
Besides attending to the spiritual needs of the lepers, he managed, by
the labour of his own hands and by appeals to the Hawaian government, to
improve materially the water-supply, the dwellings, and the victualling
of the settlement. For five years he worked alone; subsequently other
resident priests from time to time assisted him. He succumbed to leprosy
on the 15th of April 1889. Some ill-considered imputations upon Father
Damien by a Presbyterian minister produced a memorable tract by Robert
Louis Stevenson (_An Open Letter to the Rev. Dr Hyde_, 1890).
See also lives by E. Clifford (1889) and Fr. Pamphile (1889).
(J. M'F.)
DAMIENS, ROBERT FRANCOIS (1715-1757), a Frenchman who attained notoriety
by his attack on Louis XV. of France in 1757, was born in a village near
Arras in 1715, and early enlisted in the army. After his discharge, he
became a menial in the college of the Jesuits in Paris, and was
dismissed from this as well as from other employments for misconduct,
his conduct earning for him the name of Robert le Diable. During the
disputes of Clement XI. with the parlement of Paris the mind of Damiens
seems to have been excited by the ecclesiastical disorganization which
followed the refusal of the clergy to grant the sacraments to the
Jansenists and Convulsionnaires; and he appears to have thought that
peace would be restored by the death of the king. He, however, asserted,
perhaps with truth, that he only intended to frighten the king without
wounding him severely. On the 5th of January 1757, as the king was
entering his carriage, he rushed forward and stabbed him with a knife,
inflicting only a slight wound. He made no attempt to escape, and was at
once seized. He was condemned as a regicide, and sentenced to be torn in
pieces by horses in the Place de Greve. Before being put to death he was
barbarously tortured with red-hot pincers, and molten wax, lead, and
boiling oil were poured into his wounds. After his death his house was
razed to the ground, his brothers and sisters were ordered to change
their names, and his father, wife, and daughter were banished from
France.
See _Pieces originales et procedures du proces fait a Robert Francois
Damiens_ (Paris, 1757).
DAMIETTA, a town of Lower Egypt, on the eastern (Damietta or Phatnitic)
branch of the Nile, about 12 m. above its mouth, and 125 m. N.N.E. of
Cairo by rail. Pop. (1907) 29,354. The town is built on the east bank of
the river between it and Lake Menzala. Though in general ill-built and
partly ruinous, the town possesses some fine mosques, with lofty
minarets, public baths and busy bazaars. Along the river-front are many
substantial houses furnished with terraces, and with steps leading to
the water. Their wooden lattices of saw-work are very graceful. After
Cairo and Alexandria, Damietta was for centuries the largest town in
Egypt, but the silting up of the entrance to the harbour, the rise of
Port Said, and the remarkable development of Alexandria have robbed
Damietta of its value as a port. It has still, however, a coasting trade
with Syria and the Levant. Ships over 6 ft. draught cannot enter the
river, but must anchor in the offing. Lake Menzala yields large
supplies of fish, which are dried and salted, and these, with rice,
furnish the chief articles of trade.
Damietta is a Levantine corruption of the Coptic name _Tamiati_, Arabic
_Dimyat_. The original town was 4 m. nearer the sea than the modern
city, and first rose into importance on the decay of Pelusium. When it
passed into the hands of the Saracens it became a place of great wealth
and commerce, and, as the eastern bulwark of Egypt, was frequently
attacked by the crusaders. The most remarkable of these sieges lasted
eighteen months, from June 1218 to November 1219, and ended in the
capture of the town, which was, however, held but for a brief period. In
June 1249 Louis IX. of France occupied Damietta without opposition, but
being defeated near Mansura in the February following, and compelled
(6th April) to surrender himself prisoner, Damietta was restored to the
Moslems as part of the ransom exacted. To prevent further attacks from
the sea the Mameluke sultan Bibars blocked up the Phatnitic mouth of the
Nile (about 1260), razed old Damietta to the ground, and transferred the
inhabitants to the site of the modern town. It continued to be a place
of commercial importance for a considerable period, until in fact Port
Said gave the eastern part of the Delta a better port. Damietta gives
its name to dimity, a kind of striped cloth, for which the place was at
one time famous. Cotton and silk goods are still manufactured here.
DAMIRI, the common name of KAMAL UD-DIN MUHAMMAD IBN MUSA UD-DAMIRI
(1344-1405), Arabian writer on canon law and natural history, belonged
to one of the two towns called Damira near Damietta and spent his life
in Egypt. Of the Shafi'ite school of law, he became professor of
tradition in the _Rukniyya_ at Cairo, and also at the mosque el-Azhar;
in connexion with this work he wrote a commentary on the _Minhaj
ut-Talibin_ of Nawawi (q.v.). He is, however, better known in the
history of literature for his _Life of Animals_ (_Hayat ul-Hayawan_),
which treats in alphabetic order of 931 animals mentioned in the Koran,
the traditions and the poetical and proverbial literature of the Arabs.
The work is a compilation from over 500 prose writers and nearly 200
poets. The correct spelling of the names of the animals is given with an
explanation of their meanings. The use of the animals in medicine, their
lawfulness or unlawfulness as food, their position in folk-lore are the
main subjects treated, while occasionally long irrelevant sections on
political history are introduced.
The work exists in three forms. The fullest has been published several
times in Egypt; a mediate and a short recension exist in manuscript.
Several editions have been made at various times of extracts, among
them the poetical one by Suyuti (q.v.), which was translated into
Latin by A. Ecchelensis (Paris, 1667). Bochartus in his _Hierozoicon_
(1663) used Damiri's work. There is a translation of the whole into
English by Lieutenant-Colonel Jayakar (Bombay, 1906-1908).
(G. W. T.)
DAMIRON, JEAN PHILIBERT (1794-1862), French philosopher, was born at
Belleville. At nineteen he entered the normal school, where he studied
under Burnouf, Villemain, and Cousin. After teaching for several years
in provincial towns, he came to Paris, where he lectured on philosophy
in various institutions, and finally became professor in the normal
school, and titular professor at the Sorbonne. In 1824 he took part with
P. F. Dubois and Th. S. Jouffroy in the establishment of the _Globe_;
and he was also a member of the committee of the society which took for
its motto _Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera_. In 1833 he was appointed
chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and in 1836 member of the Academy of
Moral Sciences. Damiron died at Paris on the 11th of January 1862.
The chief works of Damiron, of which the best are his accounts of French
philosophers, are the following:--An edition of the _Nouveaux melanges
philosophiques de Jouffroy_ (1842), with a notice of the author, in
which Damiron softened and omitted several expressions used by Jouffroy,
which were opposed to the system of education adopted by the Sorbonne,
an article which gave rise to a bitter controversy, and to a book by
Pierre Leroux, _De la mutilation des manuscrits de M. Jouffroy_ (1843);
_Essai sur l'histoire de la philosophie en France au XIX^e siecle_
(1828, 3rd ed. 1834); _Essai sur l'histoire de la philosophie en France
au XVII. siecle_ (1846); _Memoires a servir pour l'histoire de la
philosophie en France au XVIII. siecle_ (1858-1864); _Cours de la
philosophie_; _De la Providence_ (1849, 1850).
See A. Franck, _Moralistes et philosophes_ (1872).
DAMJANICH, JANOS (1804-1849), Hungarian soldier, was born at Stasa in
the Banat. He entered the army as an officer in the 61st regiment of
foot, and on the outbreak of the Hungarian war of independence was
promoted to be a major in the third Honved regiment at Szeged. Although
an orthodox Serb, he was from the first a devoted adherent of the Magyar
liberals. He won his colonelcy by his ability and valour at the battles
of Alibunar and Lagerdorf in 1848. At the beginning of 1849 he was
appointed commander of the 3rd army corps in the middle Theiss, and
quickly gained the reputation of being the bravest man in the Magyar
army, winning engagement after engagement by sheer dash and daring. At
the beginning of March 1849 he annihilated a brigade at Szolnok, perhaps
his greatest exploit. He was elected deputy for Szolnok to the Hungarian
diet, but declined the honour. Damjanich played a leading part in the
general advance upon the Hungarian capital under Gorgei. He was present
at the engagements of Hort and Hatvan, converted the doubtful fight of
Tapio-Bicsk into a victory, and fought with irresistible _elan_ at the
bloody battle of Isaszeg. At the ensuing review at Godollo, Kossuth
expressed the sentiments of the whole nation when he doffed his hat as
Damjanich's battalions passed by. Always a fiery democrat, Damjanich
uncompromisingly supported the extremist views of Kossuth, and was
appointed commander of one of the three divisions which, under Gorgei,
entered Vacz in April 1849. His fame reached its culmination when, on
the 19th of April, he won the battle of Nagysarlo, which led to the
relief of the hardly-pressed fortress of Komarom. At this juncture
Damjanich broke his leg, an accident which prevented him from taking
part in field operations at the most critical period of the war, when
the Magyars had to abandon the capital for the second time. He recovered
sufficiently, however, to accept the post of commandant of the fortress
of Arad. After the Vilagos catastrophe, Damjanich, on being summoned to
surrender, declared he would give up the fortress to a single company of
Cossacks, but would defend it to the last drop of his blood against the
whole Austrian army. He accordingly surrendered to the Russian general
Demitrius Buturlin (1790-1849), by whom he was handed over to the
Austrians, who shot him in the market-place of Arad a few days later.
See Odon Hamvay, _Life of Janos Damjanich_ (Hung.), (Budapest, 1904).
(R. N. B.)
DAMMAR, or DAMMER (Hind, _damar_ = resin, pitch), a resin, or rather
series of resins, obtained from various coniferous trees of the genus
_Dammara_ (_Agathis_). East Indian dammar or cat's eye resin is the
produce of _Dammara orientalis_, which grows in Java, Sumatra, Borneo
and other eastern islands and sometimes attains a height of 80-100 ft.
It oozes in large quantities from the tree in a soft viscous state, with
a highly aromatic odour, which, however, it loses as it hardens by
exposure. The resin is much esteemed in oriental communities for
incense-burning. Dammar is imported into England by way of Singapore;
and as found in British markets it is a hard, transparent, brittle,
straw-coloured resin, destitute of odour. It is readily soluble in
ether, benzol and chloroform, and with oil of turpentine it forms a fine
transparent varnish which dries clear, smooth and hard. The allied kauri
gum, or dammar of New Zealand (Australian dammar), is produced by
_Dammara australis_, or kauri-pine, the wood of which is used for wood
paving. Much of the New Zealand resin is found fossil in circumstances
analogous to the conditions under which the fossil copal of Zanzibar is
obtained. Dammar is besides a generic Indian name for various other
resins, which, however, are little known in western commerce. Of these
the principal are black dammar (the Hindustani _kala-damar_), yielded by
_Canarium strictum_, and white dammar, Indian copal, or piney varnish
(_sufed-damar_), the produce of _Vateria indica_. Sal dammar (_damar_)
is obtained from _Shorea robusta_; _Hopea micrantha_ is the source of
rock dammar (the Malay _dammer-batu_); and other species yield resins
which are similarly named and differ little in physical properties.
DAMMARTIN, a small town of France, in the department of Seine et Marne,
22 m. N.E. of Paris. It is well situated on a hill forming part of the
plateau of la Goele, and is known as Dammartin-en-Goele to distinguish
it from Dammartin-sous-Tigeaux, a small commune in the same department.
Dammartin is historically important as the seat of a countship of which
the holders played a considerable part in French history. The earliest
recorded count of Dammartin was a certain Hugh, who made himself master
of the town in the 10th century; but his dynasty was replaced by another
family in the 11th century. Reynald I. (Renaud), count of Dammartin (d.
1227), who was one of the coalition crushed by King Philip Augustus at
the battle of Bouvines (1214), left two co-heiresses, of whom the elder,
Maud (Matilda or Mahaut), married Philip Hurepel, son of Philip
Augustus, and the second, Alix, married Jean de Trie, in whose line the
countship was reunited after the death of Philip Hurepel's son Alberic.
The countship passed, through heiresses, to the houses of Fayel and
Nanteuil, and in the 15th century was acquired by Antoine de Chabannes
(d. 1488), one of the favourites of King Charles VII., by his marriage
with Marguerite, heiress of Reynald V. of Nanteuil-Aci and Marie of
Dammartin. This Antoine de Chabannes, count of Dammartin in right of his
wife, fought under the standard of Joan of Arc, became a leader of the
_Ecorcheurs_, took part in the war of the public weal against Louis XI.,
and then fought for him against the Burgundians. The collegiate church
at Dammartin was founded by him in 1480, and his tomb and effigy are in
the chancel. His son, Jean de Chabannes, left three heiresses, of whom
the second left a daughter who brought the countship to Philippe de
Boulainvilliers, by whose heirs it was sold in 1554 to the dukes of
Montmorency. In 1632 the countship was confiscated by Louis XIII. and
bestowed on the princes of Conde.
DAMME, a decayed city of Belgium, 5 m. N.E. of Bruges, once among the
most important commercial ports of Europe. It is situated on the canal
from Bruges to Sluys (Ecluse), but in the middle ages a navigable
channel or river called the Zwyn gave ships access to it from the North
Sea. The great naval battle of Sluys, in which Edward III. destroyed the
French fleet and secured the command of the channel, was fought in the
year 1340 at the mouth of the Zwyn. About 1395 this channel began to
show signs of silting up, and during the next hundred years the process
proved rapid. In 1490 a treaty was signed at Damme between the people of
Bruges and the archduke Maximilian, and very soon after this event the
channel became completely closed up, and the foreign merchant gilds or
"nations" left the place for Antwerp. This signified the death of the
port and was indirectly fatal to Bruges as well. The marriage of Charles
the Bold and Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV., was celebrated at
Damme on the 2nd of July 1468. It will give some idea of the importance
of the town to mention that it had its own maritime law, known as _Droit
maritime de Damme_. The new ship canal from Zeebrugge will not revive
the ancient port, as it follows a different route, leaving Damme and
Ecluse quite untouched. Damme, although long neglected, preserves some
remains of its former prosperity, thanks to its remoteness from the area
of international strife in the Low Countries. The tower of Notre Dame,
dating from 1180, is a landmark across the dunes, and the church behind
it, although a shell, merits inspection. Out of a portion of the ancient
markets a hotel-de-ville of modest dimensions has been constructed, and
in the hospital of St Jean are a few pictures. Camille Lemonnier has
given in one of his _Causeries_ a striking picture of this faded scene
of former greatness, now a solitude in which the few residents seem
spectres rather than living figures.
DAMOCLES, one of the courtiers of the elder Dionysius of Syracuse. When
he spoke in extravagant terms of the happiness of his sovereign,
Dionysius is said to have invited him to a sumptuous banquet, at which
he found himself seated under a naked sword suspended by a single hair
(Cicero, _Tusc._ v. 21; Horace, _Odes_, iii. 1, 17; Persius iii. 40).
DAMOH, a town and district of British India, in the Jubbulpore division
of the Central Provinces. The town has a railway station, 48 m. E. of
Saugor. Pop. (1901) 13,355. It has a considerable cattle-market, and a
number of small industries, such as weaving, dyeing and pottery-making.
The DISTRICT OF DAMOH has an area of 2816 sq. m. Except on the south and
east, where the offshoots from the surrounding hills and patches of
jungle break up the country, the district consists of open plains of
varying degrees of fertility, interspersed with low ranges and isolated
heights. The richest tracts lie in the centre. The gentle declivity of
the surface and the porous character of the prevailing sandstone
formation render the drainage excellent. All the streams flow from south
to north. The Sunar and the Bairma, the two principal rivers, traverse
the entire length of the district. Little use has been made of any of
the rivers for irrigation, though in many places they offer great
facilities for the purpose. Damoh was first formed into a separate
district in 1861. In 1901 the population was 285,326, showing a decrease
of 12% in one decade due to famine. Damoh suffered severely from the
famine of 1896-1897. Fortunately the famine of 1900 was little felt. A
branch of the Indian Midland railway was opened throughout from Saugor
to Katni in January 1899.
DAMON, of Syracuse, a Pythagorean, celebrated for his disinterested
affection for Phintias (not, as commonly given, Pythias), a member of
the same sect. Condemned to death by Dionysius the Elder (or Younger) of
Syracuse, Phintias begged to be set at liberty for a short time that he
might arrange his affairs. Damon pledged his life for the return of his
friend; and Phintias faithfully returned before the appointed day of
execution. The tyrant, to express his admiration of their fidelity,
released both the friends and begged to be admitted to their friendship
(Diod. Sic. x. 4; Cicero, _De Off._ iii. 10). Hyginus (_Fab._ 257, who
is followed by Schiller in his ballad, _Die Burgschaft_) tells a similar
story, in which the two friends are named Moerus and Selinuntius.
DAMOPHON, a Greek sculptor of Messene, who executed many statues for the
people of Messene, Megalopolis, Aegium and other cities of Peloponnesus.
Considerable fragments, including three colossal heads from a group by
him representing Demeter, Persephone, Artemis and the giant Anytus, have
been discovered on the site of Lycosura in Arcadia, where was a temple
of the goddess called "The Mistress." They are preserved in part in the
museum at Athens and partly on the spot. Hence there has arisen a great
controversy as to the date of the artist, who has been assigned to
various periods, from the 4th century B.C. to the 2nd A.D. A good
account of the whole matter will be found in Frazer's _Pausanias_, iv.
372-379. Frazer wisely inclines to an early date; it is in fact
difficult to find any period, when the cities mentioned were in a
position to found temples, later than the time of Alexander.
DAMP, a common Teutonic word, meaning vapour or mist (cf. Ger. _Dampf_,
steam), and hence moisture. In its primitive sense the word persists in
the vocabulary of coal-miners. Their "firedamp" (formerly fulminating
damp) is marsh gas, which, when mixed with air and exploded, produced
"choke damp," "after damp," or "suffocating damp" (carbon dioxide).
"Black damp" consists of accumulations of irrespirable gases, mostly
nitrogen, which cause the lights to burn dimly, and the term "white
damp" is sometimes applied to carbon monoxide. As a verb, the word means
to stifle or check; hence damped vibrations or oscillations are those
which have been reduced or stopped, instead of being allowed to die out
naturally; the "dampers" of the piano are small pieces of felt-covered
wood which fall upon the strings and stop their vibrations as the keys
are allowed to rise; and the "damper" of a chimney or flue, by
restricting the draught, lessens the rate of combustion.
DAMPIER, WILLIAM (1652-1715), English buccaneer, navigator and
hydrographer, was born at East Coker, Somersetshire, in 1652 (baptized
8th of June). Having early become an orphan, he was placed with the
master of a ship at Weymouth, in which he made a voyage to Newfoundland.
On his return he sailed to Bantam in the East Indies. He served in 1673
in the Dutch War under Sir Edward Sprague, and was present at two
engagements (28th of May; 4th of June); but then fell sick and was put
ashore. In 1674 he became an under-manager of a Jamaica estate, but
continued only a short time in this situation. He afterwards engaged in
the coasting trade, and thus acquired an accurate knowledge of all the
ports and bays of the island. He made two voyages to the Bay of
Campeachy (1675-1676), and remained for some time with the
logwood-cutters, varying this occupation with buccaneering. In 1678 he
returned to England, again visiting Jamaica in 1679 and joining a party
of buccaneers, with whom he crossed the Isthmus of Darien, spent the
year 1680 on the Peruvian coast, and sacking, plundering and burning,
made his way down to Juan Fernandez Island. After serving with another
privateering expedition in the Spanish Main, he went to Virginia and
engaged with a captain named Cook for a privateering voyage against the
Spaniards in the South Seas. They sailed in August 1683, touched at the
Guinea coast, and then proceeded round Cape Horn into the Pacific.
Having touched at Juan Fernandez, they made the coast of South America,
cruising along Chile and Peru. They took some prizes, and with these
they proceeded to the Galapagos Islands and to Mexico, which last they
fell in with near Cape Blanco. While they lay here Captain Cook died,
and the command devolved on Captain Davis, who, with several other
pirate vessels, English and French, raided the west American shores for
the next year, attacking Guayaquil, Puebla Nova, &c. At last Dampier,
leaving Davis, went on board Swan's ship, and proceeded with him along
the northern parts of Mexico as far as southern California. Swan then
proposed, as the expedition met with "bad success" on the Mexican coast,
to run across the Pacific and return by the East Indies. They started
from Cape Corrientes on the 31st of March 1686, and reached Guam in the
Ladrones on the 20th of May; the men, having almost come to an end of
their rations, had decided to kill and eat their leaders next, beginning
with the "lusty and fleshy" Swan. After six months' drunkenness and
debauchery in the Philippines, the majority of the crew, including
Dampier, left Swan and thirty-six others behind in Mindanao, cruised
(1687-1688) from Manila to Pulo Condore, from the latter to China, and
from China to the Spice Islands and New Holland (the Australian
mainland). In March 1688 they were off Sumatra, and in May off the
Nicobars, where Dampier was marooned (at his own request, as he
declares, for the purpose of establishing a trade in ambergris) with two
other Englishmen, a Portuguese and some Malays. He and his companions
contrived to navigate a canoe to Achin in Sumatra; but the fatigues and
distress of the voyage proved fatal to several and nearly carried off
Dampier himself. After making several voyages to different places of the
East Indies (Tongking, Madras, &c.), he acted for some time, and
apparently somewhat unwillingly, as gunner to the English fort of
Benkulen. Thence he ultimately contrived to return to England in 1691.
In 1699 he was sent out by the English admiralty in command of the
"Roebuck," especially designed for discovery in and around Australia. He
sailed from the Downs, the 14th of January, with twenty months'
provisions, touched at the Canaries, Cape Verdes and Bahia, and ran from
Brazil round the Cape of Good Hope direct to Australia, whose west coast
he reached on the 26th of July, in about 26 deg. S. lat. Anchoring in
Shark's Bay, he began a careful exploration of the neighbouring
shore-lands, but found no good harbour or estuary, no fresh water or
provisions. In September, accordingly, he left Australia, recruited and
refitted at Timor, and thence made for New Guinea, where he arrived on
the 3rd of December. By sailing along to its easternmost extremity, he
discovered that it was terminated by an island, which he named New
Britain (now Neu Pommern), whose north, south and east coasts he
surveyed. That St George's Bay was really St George's Channel, dividing
the island into two, was not perceived by Dampier; it was the discovery
of his successor, Philip Carteret. Nor did Dampier visit the west coast
of New Britain or realize its small extent on that side. He was
prevented from prosecuting his discoveries by the discontent of his men
and the state of his ship. In May 1700 he was again at Timor, and thence
he proceeded homeward by Batavia (4th July-17th October) and the Cape of
Good Hope. In February 1701 he arrived off Ascension Island, when the
vessel foundered (21st-24th February), the crew reaching land and
staying in the island till the 3rd of April, when they were conveyed to
England by some East Indiamen and warships bound for home. In 1703-1707
Dampier commanded two government privateers on an expedition to the
South Seas with grievous unsuccess; better fortune attended him on his
last voyage, as pilot to Woodes Rogers in the circumnavigation of
1708-1711. On the former venture Alexander Selkirk, the master of one of
the vessels, was marooned at Juan Fernandez; on the latter Selkirk was
rescued and a profit of nearly L200,000 was made. But four years before
the prize-money was paid Dampier died (March 1715) in St Stephen's
parish, Coleman Street, London. Dampier's accounts of his voyages are
famous. He had a genius for observation, especially of the scientific
phenomena affecting a seaman's life; his style is usually
admirable--easy, clear and manly. His knowledge of natural history,
though not scientific, appears surprisingly accurate and trustworthy.
See Dampier's _New Voyage Round the World_ (1697); his _Voyages and
Descriptions_ (1699), a work supplementary to the _New Voyage_; his
_Voyage to New Holland in ... 1699_ (1703, 1709); also Funnell's
Narrative of the Voyage of 1703-1707; Dampier's _Vindication of his
Voyage_ (1707); Welbe's _Answer to Captain Dampier's Vindication_;
Woodes Rogers, _Cruising Voyage Round the World_ (1712).
(C. R. B.)
DAN (from a Hebrew word meaning "judge"), a tribe of Israel, named after
a son of Jacob and Bilhah, the maid of Rachel. The meaning of the name
(referred to in Gen. xxx. 5 seq., xlix. 16) connects Dan with Dinah
("judgment"), the daughter of Leah, whose story in Gen. xxxiv. (cf.
xlix. 5 seq.) seems to point to an Israelite occupation of Shechem, a
treacherous massacre of its Canaanite inhabitants by Simeon and Levi,
and the subsequent scattering of the latter. But, historically, the
occupation of Shechem, whether by conquest (Gen. xlviii. 22) or purchase
(xxxiii. 19), is as obscure as the conquest of central Palestine itself
(see JOSHUA), and the true relation between Dan and Dinah is uncertain.
The earliest seats of Dan lay at Zorah, Eshtaol and Kirjath-jearim, west
of Jerusalem, whence they were forced to seek a new home, and a valuable
narrative detailing some of the events of the move is preserved in the
story of the sanctuary of the Ephraimite Micah (q.v.). Laish (Leshem)
was taken with the sword and re-named Dan (see below). Here a sanctuary
was founded under the guardianship of Jonathan, the grandson of Moses,
which survived until the "captivity of the land" (by Tiglath-Pileser IV.
in 733-732), or, according to another notice, until the fall of Shiloh
(Judg. xviii. 30 seq.). Dan formed the northern limit of the land,[1]
and with Abel (-beth-Maacah) was an old place renowned for Israelite
lore (2 Sam. xx. 18; on the text see the commentaries). Little can be
made of Dan's history. The reference to it as a seafaring folk (Judg. v.
17) is difficult, and it is uncertain whether its character as
represented in Gen. xlix. 17, Deut. xxxiii. 22, refers to its earlier or
later seat. The post-exilic accounts of its southern border would make
it part of Judah, and both of them are in tradition the greatest of the
tribes in the wanderings in the wilderness. Dan was subsequently either
regarded as the embodiment of wickedness or entirely ignored; late
speculation that the Antichrist should spring from it appears to be
based upon an interpretation of Gen. xlix. 17 (see further R. H.
Charles, _Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs_, pp. 128 seq.).
A brief record of the Danite migration is found in some old detached
fragments which K. Budde (_Richter und Samuel_) ingeniously arranges
thus:--Judg. i. 34 (Amorite pressure); Josh. xix. 47a (see the
Septuagint), 47_b_; Judg. i. 35. The position of Judg. xvii. seq.
(after the stories of Samson) may imply that the Philistines, not the
Amorites, caused the migration (cf. 1 Sam. vii. 14, where the two
ethnical terms interchange). The Mosaic priesthood and the reference to
Shiloh suggest that the story of Eli may have belonged to this cycle of
narratives; and the spoliation of the unknown sanctuary of the
Ephraimite Micah and the character of the fierce Puritan tribesmen
connect Dan with the problems of the tribes of Simeon and Levi. Dan's
northern home lay near Beth-rehob, which appears to have been Aramean in
David's time (2 Sam. x. 6), and it is possible that the migration has
been antedated (cf. similarly the case of Jair, Num. xxxii. 41, Judg. x.
3-5). The Tyrian artificer sent to Solomon by Hiram was partly of Danite
descent (2 Chron. ii. 13 seq.; but of Naphtali, so 1 Kings vii. 14); and
of the two workers in brass who took part in the building of the
tabernacle in the desert, one was Danite (Oholiab, Ex. xxxi. 6), while
the other appears to have been Calebite (Bezalel, ib., v. 2; 1 Chron.
ii. 20). The Kenites, too, have been regarded as a race of metal-workers
(see CAIN, KENITES), and there is evidence which would show that
Danites, Calebites and Kenites were once closely associated in
tradition.
See S. A. Cook, _Critical Notes_, Index, _s.v._: E. Meyer,
_Israeliten_, pp. 525 seq. (S. A. C.)