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claws 5, 5, small, very retractile. No femoral pores. (Gray.)

toria Diplomatica,' da Scipione Maffei, 4to., Mant., 1727, This genus differs from Phyllodactylus of the same zoolo- Diplomatica Imperiali,' 4to., Nurem., 1745; Dom de Vaines, Io. Heumann von Teutschenbrunn Commentarii de Re gist in having the under sides of the tips of the toes fur-Dictionnaire Raisonné de Diplomatique,' 2 vols. 8vo., nished with two rather large oblong tubercles truncated at Paris, 1774; J. C. Gatterer Abriss der Diplomatik,' 8vo., the tip and forming two oval disks placed obliquely, one on Götting., 1798; and C. T. G. Schoenemann Versuch eines each side of the claw, instead of having, as in Phyllodacty- vollständigen Systems der allgemeinen besonders ältern lus, two membranaceous scales. The scales of Diplodac- Diplomatik,' 8vo., Götting., 1802. tylus are, moreover, uniform, whilst in Phyllodactylus there DIPPER. [MERULIDE.] is a row of larger scales extending along the back.

Example, Diplodactylus vittatus.

Description. Brown, with a broad longitudinal dorsal fillet; limbs and tail margined with rows of yellow spots. There are two rows of rather distant small spots on each side of the body. the spots become larger on the upper surface of the tail, and are scattered on the limbs. Length of head and body 2 inches, that of the tail 1 inch. Locality, New Holland, whence it was brought to England by Mr. Cunningham. (Zool. Proc. 1832.)

6

DIPPING-NEEDLE, an instrument, the essential part the DIP or inclination. [INCLINATION.] of which is the magnetised needle employed to ascertain DIPROSIA. [PECILOPODA.]

DIPSA'CEÆ, a small natural order of exogenous plants, with monopetalous flowers, nearly allied to Compositæ (otherwise called Asteraceae), from which it differs in the ovule being pendulous instead of erect, in the embryo being inverted, in the anthers being distinct, not syngenesious, and in the corolla having an imbricated, not valvate æstivation. In habit the species are similar to Compositæ, having their flowers constantly arranged in heads. None of the species are of any importance except the common teazle, Dipsacus Fullonum, whose prickly flower-heads are extensively employed in carding wool. Many of the species have handsome flowers, especially the Scabiouses, and are cultivated in the gardens of the curious. Purple and starry Scabions are common hardy annuals.

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[Diplodactylus vittatus ".]

DIPLODON, Spix's name for a genus of fresh-water conchifers, Naïades of Lea. [NATADES]

DIPLOMACY is a term used either to express the art of conducting negotiations and arranging treaties between nations, or the branch of knowledge which regards the principles of that art and the relations of independent states to one another. The word comes from the Greek diploma, which properly signifies any thing doubled or folded, and is more particularly used for a document or writing issued on any more solemn occasion, either by a state or other public body, because such writings, whether on waxen tablets or on any other material, used antiently to be made up in a folded form. The principles of diplomacy of course are to be found partly in that body of recognized customs and regulations called public or international law, partly in the treaties or special compacts which one state has made with another The superintendence of the diplomatic relations of a country has been commonly entrusted in modern times to a minister of state, called the Minister for Foreign Affairs, or, as in England, the Secretary for the Home Department. The different persons permanently stationed or occasionally employed abroad, to arrange particular points, to negotiate treaties commercial and general, or to watch over their execution and maintenance, may all be considered as the agents of this superintending authority, and as immediately accountable to it, as well as thence deriving their appointments and instructions. For the rights and duties of the several descriptions of functionaries employed in diplomacy, see the articles AMBASSADOR, CHARGE D'AFFAIRES, CONSUL, ENVOY.

DIPLOMATICS, from the same root, is the science of the knowledge of antient documents of a public or political character, and especially of the determination of their authenticity and their age. But the adjective, diplomatic, is usually applied to things or persons connected, not with diplomatics, but with diplomacy. Thus by diplomatic proceedings we mean proceedings of diplomacy; and the corps diplomatique, or diplomatic body, at any court or seat of government, means the body of foreign agents engaged in diplomacy that are resident there.

Some of the most important works upon the science of diplomaties are the following:- Ioannis Mabillon de Re Diplomatica,' lib. vii., fol., Paris, 1681-1709, with the 'Supplementum,' fol., Paris, 1704; to which should be added the three treatises of the jesuit, Barthol. Germon, addressed to Mabillon, De Veteribus Regum Francorum Diplomatibus,' 12mo., Paris, 1703, 1706, and 1707-Dan. Eber. Baringii Clavis Diplomatica,' 2 vols. 4to., Hanov., 1754; Ioan. Waltheri 'Lexicon Diplomaticum,' 2 vols. fol., Götting., 1745-7; Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique,' par les Bénédictins Tassin, &c., 6 vols. 4to., Paris, 1750-65; HisWe ase indebted to Mr, Gray for the figure of this animal.

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A portion of the upper part of Dipsacus Fulionum.

with two of the stamens, and the ovary containing a pendulous ovule rauch 1, a flower with the hard spiny bract from which it springs; 2, a coroi magnified; 3, a longitudinal section of a fruit, with the pendulous seed and the inverted embryo.

DIPSAS (Laurenti), Bungarus (Oppel), a genus of serpents placed by Cuvier under the great genus Coluber.

Description. Body compressed, much less than the head. Scales of the spinal row of the back larger than the others. Example, Dipsas Indica, Cuvier; Coluber Bucephalus Shaw.

Description. Black, annulated with white.

The subjoined cut, from Guerin (Iconog) will illustrate the form.

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The palpi are situated at the base of the proboscis. The antenna are placed on the fore part of the head, and approximate at their base; they are generally small and three-jointed; the last joint, however, is often furnished with an appendage, called the stylet, which is considerably diversified, not only in form but in its position.

In some of the insects of this order, the Tipulida for instance, the antennæ are long, and composed of numerous joints; and in the Culicide they resemble little plumes.

The eyes in dipterous insects are generally large, especially in the male sex, where they often occupy nearly the whole of the head.

The halteres or poisers are two small organs of a slender form, and furnished with a knob at their apex, situated at the base of the thorax on each side, and immediately behind the attachment of the wings. These organs have been considered by many as analogous to the under wings of four-winged insects. Latreille and others, however, have come to a different opinion, from the circumstance of their not being attached to the same part of the thorax. The use of these organs is not yet ascertained; it is however supposed by some that the little knob which we mentioned is capable of being inflated with air, and that they serve to balance the insect during flight, at which time these organs are observed to be in rapid motion.

As regards the thorax, it is only necessary here to observe that the chief part of that which is visible from above consists of the mesothorax; the prothorax and metathorax being comparatively small.

The scutellum varies considerably in form, and is sometimes armed with spines; we find it developed in an extraordinary manner in the genus Celyphus* (Dalman), where it is very convex and covers the whole abdomen.

The abdomen seldom presents more than seven distinct segments; its form is very variable.

Dipterous insects undergo what is termed a complete transformation: their larvæ are devoid of feet, and have a head of the same soft substance as the body and without determinate form. The parts of the mouth exhibit two scaly pointed plates. The stigmata are nearly all placed on the terminal segment of the body. When about to assume the pupa state, they do not cast their skin (as is the The term Dipsas is also used by Dr. Leach to distinguish case with the larvae of most insects), but this becomes graa genus of fresh-water conchifers; and he states that its dually hardened, and after a time the animal assumes the systematic situation is between Unio and Anodonta (Ano-pupa state within, so that the skin of the larva forms as it don); Unio of Sowerby; Naïades of Lea. [NAÏADES.] DIPSASTRÆA. [MADRE PHYLLICA.]

[Dipsas cyanodon (Iconog).]

DIPTERA, one of the orders into which insects are divided. This name was first applied by Aristotle, and has subsequently been adopted by almost all entomologists to designate those insects the most striking characteristic of which is the possession of two wings only.

The common house-fly and blue-bottle fly afford familiar examples of this order. Some dipterous insects, however, are destitute of wings (such as the species of the genera Melophagus, Nycterobia, &c.); hence it is necessary that we should here notice other peculiarities observable in these

insects.

The Diptera have six legs, furnished with five-jointed tarsi, a proboscis, two palpi, two antennæ, three ocelli, and two halteres or poisers.

The wings are generally horizontal in their position and transparent; their nervures are not very numerous, and are for the most part longitudinally disposed, a character in which the wings of dipterous insects differ from those of the orders Neuroptera and Hymenoptera.

The proboscis, situated on the under part of the head, is generally short and membranous, and consists of a sheath (or part analogous to the under lip or labium in mandibulate insects), which serves to keep in situ other parts of the mouth, which, when they are all present, represent the mandibles, maxillæ, tongue, and labium.

were a cocoon.

There are however exceptions to this rule, for many change their skin before they assume the pupa state, and some spin cocoons.

We may here observe, that in some of the species of the genus Sarcophaga the eggs are hatched within the body of the mother, whence the insect first makes its appearance in the larva state; and in the Pupipara, not only are the eggs hatched within the body of the parent but the larvæ continue to reside there until their transformation into pupa.

As regards the habits of dipterous insects, they will be found under the heads of the several families and genera; we shall therefore conclude by noticing the two great sections into which this order is divided by Macquart. These are the Nemocera and the Brachocera.

The species of these two sections are distinguished chiefly by the number of joints of the antennæ and palpi. Their characters are as follows:

Section 1. Nemocera. Antennæ filiform or setaceous, often as long as the head and thorax together, and composed. of at least six joints. Palpi composed of four or five joints; body generally slender and elongated; head small; proboscis sometimes long and slender, and inclosing six lancets; sometimes short and thick, and having but two lancets; thorax large and very convex; legs long; wings long, and. with elongated basal cells.

Section 2. Brachocera. Antennæ short, composed of There are however considerable modifications in the three joints; the third joint generally furnished with a structure of the proboscis: in some it is long, slender, and stylet; palpi composed of one or two joints; head usually corneous, and the number of enclosed pieces, which are hemispherical, and as broad as the thorax; proboscis either generally very slender and sharp, varies from two to six. It is evident that this structure of mouth is adapted only and retracted, and containing either six, four, or two lanes; long, slender, coriaceous, and protruded, or short, this, to the extraction and transmission of fluids; and when thorax moderately convex; legs usually of moderate length. these fluids are contained within any moderately tough wings with the basal cells rather short. substance, the parts enclosed by the sheath of the proboscis are used as lancets in wounding and penetrating so as to The principal works on dipterous insects are, Wiedeman, The great development of the scutellum in the insects of this genus has

allow the escape of the fluid, which by their pressure is its parallel in the order Hemiptera, for in the genus Te' yra the scutellum

forced to ascend and enter the esophagus.

also covers the abdomen.

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DIPUS. [JERBOA.]

Diptera Exotica, 1 vol. 8vo. 821, Meigen, Systematische | liciously fragrant. The pubescence is always stellate when Beschreibung der bekannten Europäischen zweiflügelingen present. The resinous juice of D. trinervis, a tree from 150 Insekten, 6 vols. 8vo. with figures; Macquart, in the Suites to 200 feet high, inhabiting the forests of Java, is made into à Buffon, Histoire des Insectes, Diptères,' 2 vols. 8vo. plaisters for ulcers and foul sores; and when dissolved in DIPTERA'CEE or DIPTEROCARPEÆ, an important spirit of wine, or formed into an emulsion with white of order of East Indian exogenous polypetalous trees, allied egg, acts upon the mucous membranes in the same way as to Malvacea. They have a tubular nequal permanent balsam of copaiva. Dryobalanops Camphora, the Camphor calyx, with five lobes, which after flowering become leafy tree of Sumatra, is usually referred to this genus; but, and very much enlarged, surmounting the fruit without according to Blume, is really a distinct genus. [DRYOBAadhering to it. There are five petals, with a contorted LANOPS.] æstivation, an indefinite number of awl-pointed narrow anthers, and a few-celled superior ovary, with two pendulous ovules in each cell; of these all are eventually abortive, except one, which forms the interior of a hard dry leathery pericarp. The seed is solitary, contains no albumen, and has an embryo with two large twisted and crumpled cotyledons, and a superior radicle. The leaves are long, broad, alternate, rolled inwards before they unfold, with strong straight veins running obliquely from the midrib to the margin, and oblong deciduous stipules rolled up like those of a Magnolia.

DIPYRE or leucolite, a silicate of alumina and lime, which occurs in small slender prisms, the primary form or which has not been determined; their colour is greyish or reddish white, and fasciculated into masses. Internally the lustre is shining; vitreous; opaque; hardness sufficient to scratch glass; specific gravity about 2.6. It is found in the Western Pyrenees. By analysis it yielded-silica 60, alumina 24, lime 10, and water 2. When heated by the blow-pipe it becomes milk white, and then fuses into a blebby colourless glass.

The different species produce a number of resinous, oily, DIRECT and RETROGRADE, two astronomical terms, and other substances; one a sort of camphor (Dryobala- the former of which is applied to a body which moves in the nops); another a fragrant resin used in temples; a third same direction as all the heavenly bodies except comets; the Gum Animi; while some of the commonest pitches and var-second to one which moves in a contrary direction. The monishes of India are procured from others.

[Dipterocarpus gracilis,

1, two of the stamens; 2, a ripe fruit surrounded by the calyx whose segments have become large and leafy, and very unequal.

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DIPTERAL. [CIVIL ARCHITECTURE.] DIPTERIX. [COUMAROUNA.] DIPTEROCARPUS, a genus of East Indian, and chiefly insular, trees, of which Blume gives the following as the essential character: Calyx irregularly five-lobed at the mouth: the two opposite segments very long and ligulate. Petals five, convolute when unexpanded. Stamens numerous; anthers long, linear, terminating in an awl-shaped point. Nut rather woody, and one-celled and one-seeded by abortion, inclosed in the enlarged calyx.' The species are described as enormous trees, abounding in resinous juice, with erect trunks, an ash-coloured bark, strong spreading limbs, and oval leathery entire leaves, with pinnated veins. The flowers are large, white or pink. and de

tions of the planets round the sun, of the satellites round their primaries, and of the bodies themselves round their axes, all take place in one direction, with the exception only of the comets, of which about one-half the whole number move in the contrary direction. The course of these celestial motions is always from west to east, which is the direct course. The retrograde is therefore from east to west. The real diurnal motion of the earth being direct, the apparent motion of the heavens is retrograde, so that the orbital motion of the sun and moon has, so far as it goes, the effect of lessening the whole apparent motion: or these bodies appear to move more slowly than the fixed stars. With regard to the planets, the effect of the earth's orbital motion combined with their own, makes them sometimes appear to retrograde more in the day than they would do from the earth's diurnal motion only. [PLANETARY MOTIONS.] In the Latin of the seventeenth century, the direct motion is said to be in consequentia, and the retrograde in antecedentia. The most simple way of remembering direct motion, is by recalling to mind the order of the signs of the zodiac. From Aries into Taurus, from Taurus into Gemini, &c., up to from Pisces into Aries, is direct motion; while from Taurus into Aries, from Aries into Pisces, &c., is retrograde motion.

DIRECTION, a relative term, not otherwise definable than by pointing out what constitutes sameness and difference of direction. Any two lines which make an angle point in different directions; a point moving along a straight line moves always in the same direction. Permanency of direction and straightness are equivalent notions. A body in motion not only changes its direction with respect to other bodies, but also the direction of other bodies with respect to it.

The most common measure of direction, for terrestrial purposes, refers to the north as a fixed direction, and uses the points of the compass. But any line whatever being drawn from the point of view, the directions of all other points may be estimated by measuring the angles which lines drawn from them to the point of view make with the standard line.

When a point describes a curve, it cannot at any one moment be said to be moving in any direction at all; for upon examining the basis of our notion of curvature, we find that it consists in supposing a line to be drawn, no three contiguous points of which, however near, are all in the same straight line. But this is a mathematical notion, which is contradicted in practice by any attempt at a curve which we can make on paper. For it is found that, as must be the case from the proposition mentioned in the article ARC (vol. ii., p. 256), when two points of a curve are taken very near to each other, and joined by a chord, the widest interval between the chord and the arc disappears or becomes imperceptible long before the chord and are disappear. Hence arises the notion that a curve may in fact be composed of very small straight lines, each of which has of course a definite direction. But though such notion must be abandoned in geometry, yet it leads to the stricter notion of a TANGENT (see also CONTACT], or of a straight line of which, as soon as the term is explained, we unhesitatingly

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admit: 1. That if a line moving on a curve be said to have
a direction at all at any point, the direction must be that of
a tangent at that point; 2. That it is highly convenient to
say that a point moving in a curve is moving in a con-
tinually varying direction. Here, as in other cases [VE-
LOCITY, CURVATURE, &c.], we obtain exactness by making
definitions drawn from the inexactness of our senses apply,
not to the notions which first gave them, but to the final
limit towards which we see that we should approach if our
senses were made more and more exact; but which, at the
same time, we see that we should never reach as long as
any inexactness whatsoever remained.

DIRECTOIRE EXECUTIF was the name given to the executive power of the French republic by the constitution of the year 3 (1795), which constitution was framed by the moderate party in the National Convention, or Supreme Legislature of France, after the overthrow of Robespierre and his associates. [COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY.] By this constitution the legislative power was entrusted to two councils, one of five hundred members, and the other called 'des anciens,' consisting of 250 members. The election was graduated: every primary or communal assembly chose an elector, and the electors thus chosen assembled in their respective departments to choose the members for the legislature. Certain property qualifications were requisite for an elector. One-third of the councils was to be renewed every two years. The Council of Elders, so called because the members were required to be at least forty years of age, had the power of refusing its assent to any bill that was sent to it by the other council. The executive power was entrusted to five directors chosen by the Council of Elders out of a list of candidates presented by the Council of Five Hundred. One of the five directors was to be changed every year. The directors had the ma-ployed in the purchase of national property, and which fell nagement of the military force, of the finances, and of the home and foreign departments; and they appointed their ministers of state and other public functionaries. They had large salaries, and a national palace, the Luxembourg, for their residence, and a guard.

parties, but to no effect. The Directory being alarmed, called troops to the neighbourhood of Paris, which was an unconstitutional measure. At length Augereau came with a violent message from Bonaparte and the victorious army of Italy, offering to march in support of the Directory, and threatening the disguised royalists in the councils, meaning the opposition. This was the first direct interference of the armies in the internal affairs of France. The majority of the Directory, consisting of Barras, Rewbell, and La Réveillère-Lépaux, appointed Augereau military commander of Paris, who surrounded the hall of the councils, arrested Pichégru, Willot, Ramel, and prevented by force the other opposition members from taking their seats. The remainder of the members being either favourable to the Directory, or intimidated, appointed a commission which made a report of some conspiracy, and a law of public safety was quickly passed, by which two directors, Barthelemy and Carnot, and fifty-three members of the councils, were exiled to French Guiana. Carnot escaped to Germany, but Barthelemy was transported. The Directory added to the list the editors of thirty-five journals, besides other persons. Two new directors, François de Neufchâteau and Merlin de Douai, were chosen in the room of the two proscribed. This was the coup d'état of Fructidor (September), 1797. There was now a partial return to a system of terror, with this difference, that imprisonment, transportation, and confiscation of property, were substituted for the guillotine. The laws against the priests and emigrants were enforced more strictly than ever. By a law of the 30th of September, 1797, the public debt was reduced to one-third, which was called consolidated, and was acknowledged by the state, the creditors receiving in lieu of the other two-thirds bons, or bills which could only be emimmediately to between 70 or 80 per cent. Forced loans, confiscations, and the plunder of Italy, were the chief finan cial resources of the government. The paper money had lost all value. [ASSIGNATS.] Government lotteries, which had been abolished by the Convention, were re-established The project of this constitution having been laid before by the Directory. A ministry of police was created, which the primary assemblies of the people was approved by them. interfered with the locomotion of individuals, by requiring But by a subsequent law the Convention decreed that two- passports and cartes de sureté, and made arrests and domi thirds of the new councils should be chosen out of its own ciliary visits under pretence of suspicion. The periodical members. This gave rise to much opposition, especially at press was arbitrarily interfered with. In the midst of all Paris, where the sections, or district municipalities, rose this the Directory was mainly supported by the influence of against the Convention, but were put down by force by Bonaparte's Italian victories, followed by the peace of CamBarras and Bonaparte on the 13th Vendemiaire (4th of poformio with Austria. But an act which threw the greatest October, 1795). After this the new councils were formed, obloquy upon the Directory was its unprovoked invasion of two-thirds being taken out of the members of the Conven- Switzerland in 1798. Carnot, from his exile in Germany, tion, and one-third by new elections from the departments. was loud in his denunciations of this political crime, which The councils then chose the five directors, who were he said 'verified the fable of the wolf and the lamb.' The Barras, La Réveillère-Lépaux, Rewbell, Letourneur, and republicans in the interior were also greatly dissatisfied Carnot; all of whom, having voted for the death of the with the directorial dictatorship, and as by the new elecking, were considered as bound to the republican cause. On tions of 1799 they mustered strong in the councils, they the 25th of October the Convention, after proclaiming the openly assailed the government, which was no longer beginning of the government of the laws, and the oblivion supported by the presence of Bonaparte, then in Egypt. of the past, and changing the name of the Place de la At the same time a new coalition was formed against Révolution into that of Place de la Concorde, closed its France, consisting of Austria, Russia, England, and Turkey, sittings, and the new government was installed. Its policy and the French armies met with great reverses both in was at first moderate and conciliatory, but it stood exposed Italy and on the Rhine. In one short campaign they to the attacks of two parties, the royalists, including those lost all Italy except Genoa. All this added to the unwho were attached to the constitutional monarchy of 1791, popularity of the Directory, which that year consisted of and the revolutionists, or jacobins, supported by the mob. Barras and La Réveillère-Lépaux, both of the first nominaIn September, 1796, a conspiracy of the latter, headed by tion, and Treilhard, Merlin de Douai, and Sieyes. The Babeuf, who proclaimed the reign of general happiness councils demanded the dismissal of Treilhard on the score and of absolute democracy,' proposing to make a new and of informality in his nomination, and of La Réveillère and equal distribution of property, made an attack on the Direc- Merlin de Douai on account of several charges which were tory, which was repulsed by the guard, and Babeuf and preferred against them. All the three gave in their reŝigother leaders were tried, condemned, and executed. By nation, and were replaced by Gohier, Roger Ducos, and the elections of May, 1797, for a new third of the members Moulins, three obscure men. This change took place in of the councils, the royalists of various shades obtained June, 1799. At the same time the councils circumscribed many seats in the legislature. The policy of the Directory, the authority of the Directory, re-established the supreboth domestic and foreign, was now strongly censured in macy of the legislature, and removed the restrictions on the councils, who asked for peace and economy, and for a the press. But soon after, July 1799, they passed a mearepeal of the laws against the emigrants and the priests. sure worthy of the worst times of the revolution. This was The conduct of Bonaparte towards Venice was animadverted the 'law of hostages,' by which the relatives of the emiupon. Camille Jordan, a deputy from Lyon, made a speech grants, the ex-nobles, priests, &c., were made answerable in favour of the re-establishment of public worship. The for any revolts or other offence against the republic, and club of Clichi was the place of meeting of the partisans of liable to imprisonment at the discretion of the local authori the opposition. Barthelemy, who had been meantime ap- ties, sequestration of their property, and even transportation. pointed director, inclined to the same side, as well as The authority of the Executive Directory had now become General Pichégru, Barbé Marbois, and others. Carnot, very weak and the councils then selves began to be divided another director, endeavoured to mediate between the two tetween the violent republicans or jacobins, who were for

London Published by Charlax Kat.nhat......

cata-stract—Printed by William Clowes and Sons. Stanaford-sirvet.

measures of terror, and the moderate republicans who wished to act legally according to the constitution of the year III. The policy of the government was consequently vacillating. Talleyrand, the minister for foreign affairs, gave in his resignation. All parties had exhausted themselves by ineffectual struggles, while the mass of the people stood passive, being weary of agitation: this general prostration prepared the way for Bonaparte's ascendency in the following Brumaire, when the constitution of the year 3 and the Directory were overthrown, after four years' existence. The principal charges against the Directory are stated under the head BARRAS. See also Histoire du Directoire Exécutif, 2 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1802. The law of the conscription was passed under the administration of the Directory.

young branches. It is a species of pruning which has for
its object not only training, but also economy with regard to
the resources of a tree, in order that there may be a greater
supply of nourishment for the development of those buds
which are allowed to remain.

If the roots are capable of absorbing a given quantity of
nutritive matter for the supply of all the buds upon a
stem, and if a number of those buds be removed, it must
be evident that those which remain will be able to draw a
greater supply of sap and grow more vigorously than they
otherwise would have done. This fact has furnished the
idea of disbudding.

This kind of pruning has been chiefly applied to peach and nectarine trees, but the same principle will hold good with all others of a similar description, and might be practised upon them if they would repay the labour so expended. The French gardeners about Montreuil and in the vicinity of Paris have carried this practice to a great extent, and with considerable success.

Several of their methods have been described by Dr. Neill, the secretary of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, in his horticultural tour. In one of them, termed à la Sieulle, and invented by Sieulle, gardener at Vaux Praslin, near Paris, the training is made to depend entirely upon the exactness of disbudding.

DIRECTRIX. (Linea directrix, a directing line.) This term is applied to any line (straight or curved) which is made a necessary part of the description of any curve, so that the position of the former must be given before that of the latter is known. Thus in the question, 'required the curve described by a point in a straight line the two ends of which must be on two fixed straight lines,' the two fixed lines are directrices. Custom has sanctioned the special application of this term to lines connected with a few curves, and particularly with the ellipse, hyperbola, and conchoid of Nicomedes. But in reality, with the exception of The peculiarity of Sieulle's method is as follows:-After the circle, there can be no curve which is without one or the stock has been budded, two branches are trained at more lines to which the name of directrix might be given. full length to a trellis or wall: late in autumn or in winter DIRGE, in music, a hymn for the dead, a funereal song. all the buds, with the exception of four on each shoot, are This word is a contraction of Dirige, the first word of the neatly cut out, or disbudded; these four in their turn antiphona, Dirige, Domine Deus,' chanted in the funeral form shoots in the succeeding summer, which are cut down service of the Catholic church. The abbreviation seems to to about one-third of their length in autumn, and also dishave crept into use about the middle of the sixteenth cen- budded in the same manner as the two principal branches tury. of the preceding year. This kind of pruning being always "DISABILITY (Law), an incapacity in a person to inhe-performed prevents a superfluous development of buds

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rit lands or enjoy the possession of them, or to take that benefit which otherwise he might have done, or to confer or grant an estate or benefit on or to another. All persons who are disabled from taking an estate of benefit are incapable of granting or conferring one by any act of their own, but many persons who are by law incapable of disposing of property may take it either by inheritance or gift.

Disability is ordinarily said to arise in four ways: By the act of the ancestor; by the act of the party himself; by the act of the law; or by the act of God.

By the act of the ancestor, as where he is attainted of treason or murder, for by attainder his blood is corrupted, and his children are made incapable of inheriting. But by the stat. 3 and 4 W.IV., c. 106, § 10, this disability is now confined to the inheriting of lands of which the ancestor is possessed at the time of attainder: in all other cases a descent may be traced through him.

and the consequent necessity of cutting them out as
branches in the following season. Du Petit Thouars, whose
opinions are entitled to much respect, passes a high eulo-
gium upon this system of Sieulle: he says, 'by this method
the young tree is more quickly brought to fill its place upon
the espalier; it is afterwards more easily kept in regular
order: many poorer flower-buds are allowed to develop
themselves, but the necessity of thinning the fruit is thus in
a great measure superseded, and the peaches produced are
larger and finer.'

Dumoutier's system of disbudding is somewhat different from Sieulle's. Instead of performing this operation late in autumn, he defers it until spring, when the buds are unfolded: all those upon the young shoot of the previous year, with the exception of the lowest and the one above the highest blossom, are then carefully removed; of the two which are left, the first is termed the bourgeon de remBy the act of the party himself, as where a person is him- placement for the next year, and the latter is allowed to self attainted, outlawed, &c., or where, by subsequent deal-remain to draw up the sap for the maturing of the fruit. ings with his estate, a person has disabled himself from per- This method of pruning, as far as disbudding is conforming a previous engagement, as where a man covenants cerned, is precisely the same as that practised by Seymour, to grant a lease of lands to one, and, before he has done so, of Carleton Hall, in England.

sells them to another.

By the act of law, as when a man, by the sole act of law without any default of his own, is disabled, as an alien born, &c. By the act of God, as in cases of idiotcy, lunacy, &c., but this last is properly a disability to grant only, and not to take an estate or benefit-for an idiot or lunatic may take a benefit either by deed or will.

There are also other disabilities known to our law, as infancy, and coverture; but these also are confined to the conferring of interests.

Married women, acting under and in conformity to POWERS, and formerly by fine, but, since the 3rd and 4th W. IV., c. 74, by deed executed under the provisions of that statute, may convey lands; and infants, lunatics, and idiots, being trustees, and not having any beneficial interest in the lands vested in them, are by various statutes enabled to dispose of them under the direction of the Court of ChanParticular disabilities also are created by some statutes; as, for instance, Roman Catholics, by the 10 Geo. IV., c. 7 (the Emancipation Act), are disabled from presenting to a benefice; and foreigners (although naturalized) cannot hold offices, or take grants of land under the crown. [DENIZEN.] (Cowel's Interp.; Termes de la Ley.)

cery.

DISBUDDING, in horticulture, consists in removing the buds of a tree before they have had time to grow into

It must not be thought however from this statement that the training of Dumoutier and Seymour is the same, or that their trees assume precisely the same appearance: for example, Dumoutier's branches proceed from two principal arms, Seymour's from one in the centre: in the system of the former, the fruit-bearing branches are on both sides of the old wood; while in that of the latter they are only allowed to grow from the upper sides.

Disbudding in spring is frequently and beneficially practised by many intelligent gardeners, both in England and Scotland, upon English fan-trained peach-trees, with a view to thinning the young wood, taking care to leave enough for the production of fruit in the following year.

When spurious buds can be removed from peach or nectarine trees before development, with the certainty of those succeeding which are allowed to remain, it must be of material consequence, as the latter will not only be better supported, but will also receive a greater quantity of light, so essential to mature and ripen the young wood. Unfortunately however Sieulle's plan cannot be practised with any degree of success in England: those buds which are left, and upon which so much dependence is placed, often do not grow; a vacancy is the consequence, and the tree is deformed. The climate of Montreuil is much more favourable to the growth of the peach-tree than that of Britain; and although the winters of Paris are severe, yet the mean

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