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Diligence is either against the person, by imprisonment, or against the estate, by attachment and sale. The latter class is divided into two kinds that against the heritable or real estate [ADJUDICATION], and that against the moveable. This latter admits of a subdivision into an attachment of property in the debtor's possession, called in the ordinary case Poinding [POINDING], but where it is by a landlord for rent, sequestration; and an attachment, in the hands of a person who is owing money to the debtor or holds property belonging to the debtor in his custody. [ARRESTMENT.] Formerly diligence, in the greater number of cases, proceeded on the clumsy fiction that the debtor, being charged to pay in the name of the sovereign and refusing, was to be denounced a rebel by a messenger at arms, who certified that he performed the denunciation by three blasts of a trumpet, and it was nominally as a rebel that his person or estate was seized. A more simple and economical procedure has now been substituted.

DILITURIC ACID. An acid, the existence of which has not been fully proved, said to be produced by the action of boiling hydrochloric acid upon alloxantine.

DILUENTS comprise those liquids which are used to dilute the fluids of the human body, and thereby modify their nature. They are employed when the secretions are too viscid, or the contents of the stomach, of the intestines, or any of the glands are too acrid, and also when the heat of the body, as indicated by thirst, &c., is too great, and causes a feeling of uneasiness. They manifest their beneficial effects most quickly when the contents of the stomach or upper part of the intestines require to be diluted, as in the case of many poisons; but they also reach the kidneys or skin in a very short time after their introduction into the system, and render less acrimonious the secretions of these organs. Their utility in allaying the thirst of patients affected with fevers and other inflammatory complaints is well known, and from such patients they ought never to be withheld, as they were at one time, when erroneous notions on the subject prevailed, as they not only mitigate the sufferings of the invalid, but often determine to the skin, and cause a critical perspiration. It is equally cruel and injurious to withhold drinks of a mild kind from dropsical subjects, though they require to be used by such persons in greater moderation.

Water is the simplest, and often the best diluent, but it may be rendered more agreeable in some cases by being made into toast-water, or by having acid or other substances added to it. Whey or buttermilk are also agreeable diluents in many cases. The excessive use of fluids at meal-times seems to be hurtful to digestion; and diluents appear to be less proper for persons of a soft and lymphatic constitution than for the robust and sanguine. Children of a scrofulous constitution do not prosper so well on a fluid as on a dry diet; they should therefore be allowed liquids in a very moderate degree, especially towards evening. A dry diet is rigidly enforced on all persons training for athletic feats.

DIMENSION (algebra), a term which is used in the same sense as DEGREE. Thus ay is of three dimensions or of the third degree. In geometry, length is of one dimension, surface of two, and solidity of three. Thus geometry of three dimensions means solid geometry. DIMETHYLALLOXANTIN. [AMALIC ACID; CAFFEINE.] DI-METHYLAMINE. [ORGANIC BASES.]

DIMETHYLMUREXID. [CAFFEINE.]

DIMETHYLOXAMIDE. [OXAMIDE.]

DIMETHYLPARABANIC ACID. [CAFFEINE.]
DIMETHYL-UREA. [UREA.]
DIMORPHISM. [ISOMORPHISM.]

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DINAPHTYL-CARBAMIDE (CH,N,O,). A derivative of carbamide, prepared by the action of heat upon oxalate of naphtylamine. DINAPHTYL-SULPHOCARBAMIDE (CH, N,S,). An unimportant derivative of carbamide. It is dinaphtyl-carbamide in which the oxygen is replaced by sulphur. [DINAPHTYL-CARBAMIDE.] DINITRANILINE (Č‚„H«(NO) ̧Ñ). [ANILINE.] DINITROBENZOIC ACID. [BINITROBENZOIC ACID.] DINITROBENZOLE. [BENZOLE.]

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DINITROETHYLIC ACID (N,C,H,O,). An acid obtained in combination with oxide of zinc by the action of zincethyl upon binoxide of nitrogen. This acid may be regarded as a double equivalent of binoxide of nitrogen (N,O,), in which one atom of oxygen is replaced by one of ethyl, the reaction being quite analogous to that by which Wanklyn succeeded in producing propionic acid from sodium-ethyl and carbonic acid. Dinitroethylic acid is therefore an analogue of propionic acid. The acid itself is very unstable, and many of its salts deflagrate violently on exposure to heat.

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DINITROPHENYL-CITRACYNAMIC ACID (C10H(C12H2(NO),) NO). A derivative of citric acid.

DIOCESE (dioinnois, dioikésis, literally "administration "), in the time of Constantine and afterwards was used to designate one of the civil divisions of the empire; but it is now used only in reference to eeclesiastical affairs. A diocese is a district over which the authority of a bishop extends. It is equivalent to BISHOPRIC.

DIOCLES. [CISSOID.]

DIO NE, an occan-nymph, or female Titan, was, according to Homer and Hesiod, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys; but some later writers make her the daughter of Uranus and Ge. She was the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus; and Homer describes her as receiving Aphrodite

in Olympus, after that goddess had been wounded before Troy, and soothing her with the assurance that Diomedes should die early and childless. (Iliad,' b. v., 870-406.) Dione was worshipped in the temples of Zeus, and had a grove dedicated to her at Lepreon, in the Peloponnesus. She is often represented by Greek sculptors: usually with a certain resemblance to Aphrodite, but of a fuller and more matronly form. The beautiful statue in the second Græco-Roman saloon at the British Museum, commonly called the Townley Venus, is by several authorities considered to represent Dione, and it now bears the inscription Aphrodit or Dione.

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[Dione, or Aphrodite: from a marble statue in the British Museum.] DIONY'SIA (Alovúσia), festivals held in honour of the god Dionysus. The most important of such festivals, and those which alone deserve to be specially mentioned, were held at Athens and in Attica; and these are important by reason of their being the occasions on which all the dramatic exhibitions of the Athenians took place. Both the tragedy and comedy of the Athenians arose ultimately from parts of ceremonies, which prevailed in very early times among the Greeks, at the festivals of Dionysus (Aristot. Poet.' 4. 14); and it is alike a consequence and a proof of this origin, that the dramatic exhibitions and contests among the Athenians, from the earliest to the latest times at which we can trace them, always took place at some one of the Attic Dionysia.

These Attic Dionysia were four in number. Enumerated in the order of time, according to the Attic year, they were: 1, the Lesser or Rural Dionysia, held in the month Poseideon; 2, the Lenæa, held in the month Gamelion; 3, the Anthesteria, held in the month Anthesterion; and 4, the Great or City Dionysia, held in the month Elaphebolion. They were held in four consecutive months, the first of which, Poseideon, coincides with part of December and part of January, and the last, Elaphebolion, with part of March and part of April.

We proceed to speak of these festivals separately, and in the order in which they occurred in the Attic year.

1. The Rural or Lesser Dionysia, was a festival celebrated all over Attica, the other three being confined to Athens. This appears to have been the oldest of the Dionysia. It was a festival of the vintage, and though it may appear to have been held somewhat late in the year (in the latter part of December), it was not held later than the vintage now takes place, in a more rigorous climate, in some of the vineyards producing the Tokay wine. The Rural Dionysia were celebrated by means of sepa rate festivals in all the demes of Attica; the expenses of these separate festivals fell on the several demes and the performances, processions

and banquets, of which the festivals consisted, were under the superintendence of the several demarchs. It is inferred from the law of Evagoras, cited by Demosthenes (Mid. p. 517), and an inscription contained in Boeckh's Public Economy of Athens (App. viii.), that Athens joined, on the occasion of the Rural Dionysia, in the festival celebrated at Piræus. At the dramatic performances of these rural festivals, plays that had before been represented either at the Lenaa or the Great Dionysia, used to be repeated. Of the procession, in which was carried the phallus, and in which was sung the phallic hymn, there is a sketch in miniature in the Acharnians' of Aristophanes (v. 230, fol.). At all these festivals great licence of speech and conduct was allowed; but at this the licence was the most unbounded.

2. The Lenca, so called from a wine-press (Anvòs), whose erection, in an inclosure called for the same reason Lenaeum, lying originally a little out of the city and near a marsh (Aíuva), it was supposed to commemorate, may, like the Rural Dionysia, be considered a vintagefestival. Boeckh thinks that a festival that went by the name of Ambrosia was the same with the Lenaa. The Lenæa were celebrated also among the Ionian states in Asia Minor, they having carried over with them at their migration the custom of the mother-country; and the Attic month Gamelion, in which the Lenæa were held, received in the Ionian calendar the name Lenæon. In Athens, the Lenæa were under the superintendence of the king-archon, and were celebrated with a public banquet at the expense of the state, a procession, and with dramatic exhibitions. As regards these last, we find that they consisted chiefly of new comedies. There are, however, instances of tragedies represented at the Lena, as also of comedies at the Great Dionysia, in the performances at which festival tragedies greatly predominated. It will help to show the relation between the Lenæa and the Great Dionysia that at the former foreigners were not, as at the latter, excluded from choruses, and also that the resident aliens (μéTOIKO) might at the Lenea serve as choragi, which again was not permitted at the Great Dionysia.

3. The Anthesteria, deriving its name from the time of year at which it was held, the month of flowers, is a festival differing materially from the other three, inasmuch as it appears to have comprehended no public dramatic performances. It is inferred however by Hermann, from a law mentioned in the Lives of the Ten Orators (Pseud. Plut. vi. p. 253), and from other stray allusions to contests taking place at this festival, that plays were now rehearsed before small audiences, which were to be performed at the Great Dionysia in the succeeding month. Neither was there at the Anthesteria, as at the Lenæa and Great Dionysia, a public banquet provided by the state; but a certain sum, it is supposed, was given to each citizen, with which he was to provide his own repast. (Plut. Resp. Ger. Pr.' c. 25.) The festival lasted during three days, which respectively bore the names Pithoegia, Choes, and Chytri. On the first day, as is to be inferred from the name, the wine of the preceding vintage was broached and tasted, and on the second, we may suppose, the new wine was drunk. It was on this day that persons were initiated in the mysteries of Dionysus. On the second day there were various games; on the third, flowers, &c. were offered to the god. This was accounted a festival of great sanctity, and included many mysterious ceremonies for which none but the wife of the king-archon and a small number of priestesses (yépaipai) were qualified. One ceremony was a mock marriage between the king-archon's wife and Dionysus. (Demosth.' Near.' p. 1369.) The Anthesteria were, like the Lenæa, under the superintendence of the king-archon. As during the Roman Saturnalia, the slaves enjoyed a temporary freedom during this festival; it was a custom also to send presents, and, as at the Roman Quinquatria, to pay one's instructors on the occasion of the Anthesteria. (Athen. x. 437.)

4. The City or Great Dionysia, or Dionysia without any epithet, the most splendid of the four festivals, were under the superintendence of the chief archon (apxwv nuvvuos). This festival was held at a time when Athens was filled with foreigners, those bringing the tribute from her dependent states, and others. (Aristoph. Ach.' 474, &c.) It was celebrated with a public banquet at the expense of the state, with a magnificent procession, and with dramatic performances, which consisted chiefly, as has been said in describing the Lenaca, of tragedies. Plays which had once won a prize were not allowed to be repeated, though a special exemption from this rule was granted to the plays of Eschylus upon his death, and subsequently to those of Sophocles and Euripides.

The times and occasions of the institution of these several festivals are wrapped in obscurity. The Rural Dionysia, Lenæa, and Anthesteria, were connected with a rural worship of Dionysus [DIONYSUS], and were, it may be safely said, antecedent to the Great or City Dionysia; and it is, in comparison with this festival that Thucydides (ii. 15) calls the Anthesteria, more ancient. The Lenaa and Anthesteria were festivals held in the deme Lenæus before it was inclosed within the city. The institution of the great Dionysia seems to be referred to in a legend, which relates that Pegasus brought an image of Dionysus Eleuthereus from Eleuthera to Athens. Boeckh connects this with an historical tradition of the migration of the Eleutherians from their town to Athens, and conjectures that the migration, and, as he supposes, consequent institution of the Great Dionysia, preceded by a little the return of the Heraclides (1124 B.C.). Welcker, who assigns

to the epithet Eleuthereus and other epithets of Dionysus a political meaning, connects with the progress of his rites in the Athenian state the progress of political liberty.

The grand features of these festivals were the dramatic performances, the secret rites, and the public processions. Of the dramatic perform ances we have spoken above. Of the secret rites little is really known. The processions were what perhaps most distinguished them in the popular eye from the other public festivals of Attica. The Dionysia were a season when riotous merriment and drunkenness were universal. The bounty of the wine god was symbolised in the unlimited enjoy. ment of his worshippers. In the procession Dionysus himself was represented, attended by Nymphs, Lena, Bacchantes, Fauns, Satyrs, &c. The men, drunk with wine, were disguised with skins and masks, their bodies were painted, they were crowned with garlands of ivy, and carried thyrsi in their hands; while the female bacchantes, &c., danced along in a state of ecstatic phrensy. These Dionysian processions afforded favourable opportunities for the display of the freer forms of Greek art, and some of the most beautiful relievi, sculptured and painted vases, &c., have Dionysian processions or characters for their subjects. Many of these may be seen in the British Museum. The beautiful figure of a bacchante engraved below is supposed to be the

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[Bacchante, from the British Museum.]

work of Scopus. The cut of a Dionysian procession is from a large marble vase.

The bacchanalia, as the Roman festive rites in honour of Bacchus were called, must be distinguished from the Greek Dionysia. The bacchanalia were celebrated every third year, and were hence called trieterica. At them a mixed crowd of men and women, intoxicated with wine, clothed in deer-skins and Asiatic robes, and carrying thyrsi in their hands, ran up and down the country shouting, beating drums and cymbals, and crying, "Evoe! Io Bacche! Evan!" &c. They are said to have been introduced into Rome from Etruria. (Liv. xxxix. 8.) Such fearful excesses, however, were early brought into practice at the secret initiatory rites, that in the year 186, B.C., the consuls laid a report of the proceeding before the senate, and afterwards before an assembly of the people, and were, in consequence of the disclosures, invested with extraordinary powers for their suppression. They ac cordingly issued a proclamation for the suppression of the bacchanalian orgies throughout Italy; and directed all persons known to have participated in the private meetings to be summarily arrested. As many as 7000 persons are said to have been initiated; and the trials

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decidedly mystical tendency-admits of being traced in works of art First, the significant double-birth from Semele's dead body and the thigh of Zeus; then how Hermes carries the child, carefully wrapped up, to his nurses, the august form of the earth receives it, the nymphs and satyrs cherish it, and his divine and wondrous nature is unfolded amid joyous sports. Then how, surrounded by the noise and tumult of his thiasos, he finds the gracious bride Ariadne (a Cora of the Naxian worship), at the same time, however, without active particimeet her, or with her, in a bridal chariot (wherein the leading of Ariadne up to Olympus may suggest itself to the mind). The Naxian solemnisation of the nuptials becomes itself a representation of the gayest and happiest life, in all abundance of the gifts of nature. But Dionysus also appears, in a work of the best period of art, in a grace

DIONY'SUS (Aióvuσos), and later Bacchos (Bákxos) of the Greeks, Bacchus of the Romans, the god of wine, the representative among the male deities of the productive power of nature. In the common narrative he appears as the son of Zeus and Semele. Hera, being jealous of Semele, assumed the form of her old nurse Beroë, and thus persuaded Semele to request Zeus to visit her in his majesty as he was accustomed to visit Hera. Zeus having beforehand promised to grant her prayer, was obliged to comply, and the consequence was, as Hera foresaw, that Semele was destroyed by the lightning of the thunder-pation, and, as it were, wrapped in a pleasing dream, and then rides to god. But before she perished she gave premature birth to Dionysus, who was taken by Zeus and enclosed in his thigh till he arrived at maturity. During his infancy Dionysus was nourished by the nymphs in Naxos, and Hermes and the Muses assisted in his education on Mount Nysa. When he grew towards manhood Hera threw him into a fit of madness, as she had before done to some of the nymphs who had followed him. In this state he wandered long and far over the earth, bestowing rewards on those who treated him kindly, and punishing those who refused to welcome him or accept his gifts. In the course of his wanderings he visited Rhea, who instructed him in the mysteries which afterwards formed so important a part in his worship. He was accompanied wherever he went with a crowd of attendants, consisting of Bacchantes, the Lenæ, the Naiades and Nymphs, the Thyades, the Mimallones, the Tityri, Pan, Silenus, the Fauns, and the Satyrs, whose riotous and frenzied proceedings typified the influence of the fruit of the grape, the culture of which he disseminated throughout the earth. The various adventures of Dionysus whilst on the earth are told by the Greek and Roman writers at great length; but they are too well known, and would require too much space to recapitulate here. When he had completed his wanderings, he was received into Olympus, whither he carried also his mother, having brought her out of Hades, and changed her name to Thyone.

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The worship of Dionysus seems to have arisen from that "striving after objectivity" (Wachsmuth, Hellen Alterthum,' ii. 2, p. 113) which is the characteristic of a primitive people, and which leads man in his rude state to the worship of the active and productive powers of nature. It does not fall within the nature of this work to discuss the inferences drawn from the old traditions by modern mythologers. These deductions, and especially the description of the mystical character of Bacchus, as distinguished from his worship as the god of wine, may be seen fully developed by Creuzer (Symbolik,' theil. iii. pp. 83, 266; pp. 319-366), whose theory, however, of the Indian origin of the Bacchic rites, though ingenious, does not appear to be established by sufficient external evidence. The southern coast of Thrace seems to have been the original seat of this religion, and it was thence introduced into Greece shortly after the colonisation by the Eolians of the Asiatic coast of the Hellespont. The admission of the identity of Osiris and Dionysus by Plutarch and other mythological theorists, as well as Herodotus's simple statement of the assertions of the Egyptian priests to that effect, is no proof of the common origin of the worship of this divinity in Egypt and Greece; but there is no doubt that certain modifications of the Dionysian rites took place after the commencement of the intercourse of the Ionians with the Egyptians. These rites, the distinguishing feature of the worship of Dionysus, have been already described. [DIONYSIA.]

The worship of Bacchus is intimately connected with that of Demeter: under the name of Iacchus he was worshipped along with that goddess at Eleusis. [DEMETER; ELEUSINIA.] Virgil invokes them together (Georgics,' i. 5) as the lights of the universe. According to the Egyptians they were the joint rulers of the world below. (Herod. ii. 123.) Pindar calls Dionysus "the companion of Demeter " (χαλκοκρότου πάρεδρον Δαμάτερος), and in a cameo he is represented sitting by the goddess in a chariot drawn by male and female centaurs. (See Buonarotti, 'Osservazioni sopra alcuni Medaglioni Antichi,' p. 441; Mariette, Traité des Pierres Gravées,' t. ii. p. i.)

[The Bearded Dionysus and a Bacchante, from a bas-relief in the British Museum.]

fully tender relation to his mother, who is restored from the nether world. Lastly, we see him in the circle of frenzied Mænads, subduing and punishing Pentheus and Lycurgus, the insulters and foes of his worship, and also the piratical Tyrrhenians, by means of his bold

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Dionysus himself, his adventures, and his associates, were among the most favourite subjects of Greek and Græco-Roman art. Müller has very tersely and clearly indicated the range and character of the Dionysian life and cycle. "The whole of the wondrous life of Dionysus -at least, so far as it did not withdraw itself from representation by a satyrs, and in rich relievo representations (in which the victorious

[Bust of the Bearded Dionysus, from the British Museum.]

expeditions of later Macedonia were mythically typified) celebrating the triumphs of the conquest of India." (Ancient Art,' p. 492.) On the form and dress of Dionysus almost all the ancient testimonies have been collected by F. G. Schön in an ingenious dissertation on the costume of the characters in the Baccha of Euripides; and by Müller as above. The earliest forms of the god represented him as a man of mature age, with luxuriant curling hair, bound by the mitra, with a flowing beard, and open expression of face, and enveloped in ample drapery when this form occurs in late examples, it is usually termed the Indian Bacchus. Many busts of this kind occur, as also many examples in relievo. Later he was represented as a young man with an effeminate face (Onλúuoppos, Bacch. 353; Euseb. Chron.' p. 29), with long blond hair (Bacch. 455, Cycl.' 63), with a fillet on his head (Strabo, xv. p. 1038), or an ivy crown (Cycl.' 593), with a long purple 1obe and a nebris (deer-skin), and with a thyrsus in his hand.

[The Youthful Dionysus attended by a Faun, from a bas-relief in the British Museum.]

The Greek Dionysus seems to have been confounded by the Roman poets with Liber, an early Italian deity, who presided over the cultivation of corn and the wine, and who was associated with the worship of a female deity Libera and Ceres. Libera came, therefore, according to the Roman custom of uniting a female with a male divinity [BELLONA], to be regarded as the feminine counterpart of Bacchus; and instances occur where they are represented united in one figure.

[Bacchus and Libera, from the British Museum.]

Bacchus is also spoken of by Roman poets, and occasionally represented by sculptors, as androgynous, or partaking in himself of both sexes. But a clearer notion will be obtained of the artistic idea of Dionysus and his associates from a visit to the British Museum, than from any description within the narrow limits of a cyclopædia. In the Second Græco-Roman Saloon will be found a number of Bacchic representations, arranged together under the title of the Dionysiac Cycle, including statues, busts, and masks of Dionysus, both bearded and youthful; groups of the god and various personages; statues of Libera, Pan, Fauns, Satyrs, and Bacchantes, with relievi of Dionysian processions, &c., while in the magnificent collection of fictile vases in the Vase Rooms are numerous paintings of scenes from the Dionysia.

DIOPTRICS. [OPTICS; REFRACTION.]

DIORA'MA, from the Greek word dopov, to see through, a mode of painting and scenic exhibition invented by two French artists, Daguerre and Bouton, which, although it does not possess some of the advantages of the panorama, produces a far greater degree of optical illusion, and is therefore much better adapted for architectural and interior views,

The peculiar effect of the diorama arises, in a considerable measure, from the contrivance employed in exhibiting the painting, which is viewed through a large aperture or proscenium. Beyond this opening the picture is placed at such a distance that the light is thrown upon it, at a proper angle, from the roof, which is glazed with coloured glass, and cannot be seen by the spectator. Besides the light being thus concentrated upon the picture, the effect is materially increased by the spectator being in comparative darkness, receiving no other light than what is reflected from the surface of the painting itself, and sitting at some distance from the picture. The contrast occasioned by confining the light to the picture, and the exclusion of all other objects of vision, save those represented in the painting, so that the eye has no immediate standard of comparison between them and real ones, give to this species of exhibition so much force that a very moderate degree of light will suffice to show the painting. Hence the light may be diminished or increased at pleasure, and that either gradually or suddenly, so as to represent the change from ordinary daylight to sunshine, and from sunshine to cloudy weather, or to the obscurity of twilight; also the difference of atmospheric tone attending them. These transitions, in regard to light and atmospheric effects, are produced by means of different folds or shutters attached to the glazed ceiling, which are so contrived that they may be immediately opened or closed to any extent, thereby increasing or diminishing the light just as required, and otherwise modifying it. Further than this, some parts of the painting itself are transparent, and on them the light can occasionally be admitted from behind, thereby producing a brilliancy far exceeding that of the highest lights of a picture upon an opaque ground, which can be made to appear vivid and sparkling only by contrast, not by any positive increase of light on those parts of the surface. The combination of transparent, semi-transparent, and opaque colouring, still further assisted by the power of varying both the effects and the degree of light and shade, renders the diorama, in competent hands, perhaps the most perfect scenic representation of nature, and adapts it peculiarly for moonlight subjects, or for showing such accidents in the landscape as sudden gleams of sunshine and their disappearance, as well as for architectural interiors. The diorama was exhibited first at Paris in 1822, and then in London in 1823, where a spacious building was erected for the purpose in the Regent's Park: but here, though at first very successful, it after a time ceased to attract, and was discontinued, and the building was converted into a Baptist chapel.

DIOSMIN. A non-azotised bitter matter found in the leaves of the Diosma crenata. Its composition is not known. DIP; DIPPING NEEDLE. [MAGNETISM.] from benzole. DIPHENINE (CHN). A yellow crystalline alkaloid derived

the presence of two equivalents of phenyl in the body to which it is DI-PHENYL, a double prefix, used in organic chemistry to denote immediately attached: thus diphenyl-carbamide signifies carbamide containing two equivalents of phenyl. Any chemical substance the name of which begins with this prefix, and which is not found in its alphabetical position, will, if of any importance, be found described under the name without one or both of the prefixes: thus, diphenyl-oxamide will be found described either under PHENYL-OXAMIDE or OXAMIDE.

DIPHTHERITE or DIPHTHERITIS (from dipeépa, a skin or membrane), a term applied by M. Bretonneau and other French writers to a peculiar inflammation of the mucous membrane of the throat or pharynx, which is accompanied by the production of a false membrane. This disease first attracted attention at Tours in France, where it prevailed as an epidemic in 1818. It subsequently appeared in other towns in France, and alarmed the inhabitants of Boulogne in 1856. It has also been seen in India since its discovery and description by Bretonneau. No cases seem to have been accurately observed in this country till 1857; but since that time it has broken out in many parts of England, and presented its most characteristic symptoms. When this disease was first described, it was regarded by some writers in this country as a variety of croup, and by others as a form of scarlet fever. Now that it has appeared, few observers could be found who would not agree that it is a disease sui generis. The invasion of this disease has been looked on with greater anxiety, as there seems to be little doubt of its belonging to the contagious or communicable class. It is also very fatal, and already a large amount of mortality has been caused by it in this country.

The distinguishing feature of this disease is the formation of a false membrane upon the surface of the mucous membrane of the fauces. This membrane is of a whitish or ash-gray colour, and frequently extends forwards from the pharynx and tonsils to the soft palate and into the nostrils, and backwards into the oesophagus. It is seldom found in the larynx and the trachea, and in this respect it differs from croup, and may be easily distinguished from it. When the membrane is found in the larynx or trachea, it is always subsequent to its appearance in the fauces, and in these cases it is most fatal. At the commencement of the disease, the membrane is seen in the form of a white spot on the pharynx or tonsils, from which it gradually extends all around. As it goes on, the membrane comes away in spots or presents fissures, through which the mucous membrane may be seen of a deep red or even of a purplish and claret colour. During the progress of the disease the cervical and submaxillary glands become swollen,

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and there is a fetid discharge from the nose and mouth. As the sloughs separate from the fauces, hæmorrhage frequently occurs.

The general symptoms are those of low fever. The disease sets in with shivering and intense depression, there is dryness and tingling of the throat and ears, difficulty of swallowing, vomiting, and very frequently headache. The tongue is loaded, the pulse is frequent and feeble. In the early stages it might be taken for scarlet fever. But there is no active fever, no eruption of the skin, no redness of the papilla of the tongue, and when the patient recovers, no desquamation of the cuticle, as is constantly the case in that disease.

The prognosis in these cases is unfavourable. This disease generally terminates life by extending to the air passages and producing effusion in the glottis, which speedily terminates life.

This disease is from the beginning attended with a great depression of the vital powers, and its treatment demands that the vital processes should be sustained. A purgative may be given at the onset, but in most cases wine may be administered from the commencement of the attack. Many writers also speak highly of the chlorate of potash administered in the same way as in scarlet fever. To this may be added the preparations of ammonia. Quinine has also been highly commended, with the mineral acids. Many writers speak highly of the tincture of the sesquichloride of iron. The throat also requires local treatment. Two remedies have been generally employed, nitrate of silver and chlorine. The nitrate of silver is applied in the proportion of one drachm to an ounce of water on a sponge several times in the course of a day. Dr. Watson recommends injecting the nares with a solution of chlorine in water. This relieves the fetid smell which is very disagreeable to the patient and those around. The chlorate of potash may also be given in a linctus to lubricate the fauces, and when swallowed to act on the system.

Although this disease appears to arise where local causes predispose individuals to its occurrence, there can be no doubt that it is a communicable disease. It frequently goes through a whole family, attacking young and old. This is more especially the case in houses where the ventilation is bad, and where the drains and water-closets have been neglected. It seems especially active in houses with unemptied cess-pools and undrained privies. The disease is, however, communicated to those beyond these influences, and in many instances nurses and medical men have been attacked with the disease after attendance upon those who are afflicted with it. When the disease breaks out, the rest of the family should be removed from the house, and its sanitary condition attended to.

DIPHTHONG (Sipooyyos) is the sound of two vowels pronounced in rapid succession, as the German au in maus, pronounced precisely like the English word mouse, the vowel sound consisting of the broad a of father, followed quickly by the sound of u or oo. Again, the i in the English word mind, though represented by a single character, is virtually a diphthongal sound, consisting of the broad a of father, followed by the vowel sound which is heard in mean. The name diphthong however is commonly given to any vowel sound represented by the junction of two vowels, as in dream, though the sound produced is not compounded.

All diphthongs are said to be long syllables; and this would be true if they were only employed to mark the union of two vowel sounds. This probably was originally their sole office; for in many English words now written with diphthongs, but pronounced as if they had single vowels, an earlier pronunciation contained the double sound; and indeed this view is often supported by the provincial pronunciation of a word. For example, such words as meat, dream, boat, are pronounced in many parts of England as disyllables, meät, dreäm, boat. In practice however a diphthong is often used where the vowel sound is not only uncompounded but short, as in friend, breadth.

Again, diphthongs are occasionally used to represent simple sounds intermediate between the vowels, as in the English word cough, the French fait and au, and the German sounds represented by ae, oe, ue, commonly written ä, ö, ü, where the dots placed over the vowels are merely a corruption of the letter e.

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 anything 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 anciently to be made up in a folded form. The principles of diplomacy, of course, are to be found partly in that body of recognised 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 Foreign Affairs. 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 der.ving their appointments and instructions. For the rights and duties

of the several descriptions of functionaries employed in diplomacy, see the articles AMBASSADOR; CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES; CONSUL; ENVOY. DIPLOMATICS, from the same root, is the science of the knowledge of ancient 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.

Among the most important works upon the science of diplomatics are the following: Wicquefort's 'L'Ambassadeur et ses Fonctions,' 1764; Count Garden's ' Traité complet de Diplomatie, par un Ancien Ministre,' 1833; Winter's Système de Diplomatie,' 1830. Among the works relating to diplomacy is the collection of treatises by G. F. von Martens, continued by C. von Martens, Koch, Schöll, Klüber, and P. A. G. von Meyer. DIPPEL'S OIL. Synonymous with bone oil. [Bone Liquor.] DIPTERAL. [GRECIAN ARCHITECTURE.]

DIRECT and RETROGRADE, two astronomical terms, the former of which is applied to a body which moves in the same direction as all the heavenly bodies except comets; the second to one which moves in a contrary direction. The motions 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 17th 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, 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 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 continually varying direction. Here, as in other cases [VELOCITY; 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

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