dividing light from darkness; so that the days and nights here are always equal; while the parallels of latitude, not being great circles, are not equally divided by the circle separating light from darkness, except at the time of the equinox, when the sun is moving in the equator; and, of course, at this time only are the days and nights equal in those parallels. As you approach the poles, the inequality between the days and nights becomes continually greater, till, at the poles themselves, a day of six months alternates with a night of equal duration. The most distant parallel circles which the sun describes north and south from the equator are, as is well known, only 234 from it. The distance between the polar circles and the poles is the same. Therefore, as a little reflection will show, when the sun is in one of the tropics, all the polar circle in the same hemisphere will be within the illuminated region (because it will be within 90° of the sun) during the whole of a diurnal revolution, while the other polar circle will be in the region of darkness. These circles, therefore, have one day of 24 hours, and one night of the same length, in each year. From the polar circles to the poles, the time of the longest day increases fast, and, in the same measure, the length of the longest night. Notwithstanding the inequality of the periods of light and darkness in the different parts of the earth, each portion of the earth's surface has the sun above its horizon, every year, precisely six months, and below it the same length of time. (For information on the common way of computing time, see Solar Time; see also Sidereal Time.)

DAY, Thomas, an ingenious writer, of a benevolent, independent, but eccentric spirit, was born at London, in 1748. His father, who was a collector of the customs, died whilst he was an infant, leaving him a considerable fortune. He was educated at the charter-house and at Oxford. In 1765, he was called to the bar. With a view to study mankind, he resided in various parts of the continent, and, having been disappointed in an early affection, took under his protection two foundling girls, with a view of educating them on a principle of his own, in order to make one of them his wife. His plan, which was kindred in spirit to some of the reveries of Rousseau, utterly failed, although both of the females turned out deserving women. He gave them small portions, and eligibly united them to respectable tradesmen. In 1778, he mar

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ried miss Esther Milnes, a lady of a highly cultivated understanding. His principles led him to renounce most of the indulgences of a man of fortune, that he might bestow his superfluities upon those who wanted necessaries; and he also expressed a great contempt for forms and artificial restraint of all kinds. He wrote several pieces, in prose and verse, on the struggle with America, also other political pamphlets of temporary interest, but finally dedicated himself to the composition of books for youth, of which the well-known work entitled Sandford and Merton is an able specimen, although it partakes too much of the theoretical spirit of Rousseau for general application. Mr. Day at length became a victim to his enthusiastic benevolence, being killed by a fall from a young horse, which he would not allow to be trained in the usual manner, Sept. 28, 1789.

DAYS OF GRACE are days allowed for the payment of a promissory note or bill of exchange after it becomes due. The time varies in different countries. (See Bill of Exchange.)

DEACON (diaconus, from the Greek diaKovos); a person who belongs to the inferior order of ministers in the Christian church. Seven were first instituted by the apostles (Acts, chap. vi), which number was retained a long time in several churches. Their duty was to serve in the agape (q. v.), to distribute the bread and wine to the communicants, and to dispense alms. The office of the deacons, at first, merely concerned things temporal. Soon after the apostolic age, or perhaps sooner, the deacons were admitted to assist in the inferior parts of the church service.-Deacon, in the Roman Catholic church, is an inferior ecclesiastic, the second of the sacred orders. He serves at the altar, in the celebration of the holy mysteries. He is also allowed to baptize and to preach with the permission of the bishop. Formerly, deacons were allowed to marry, but this was prohibited to them very early; and at present the pope dispenses with this prohibition only for very important reasons. In such cases, they re-enter the condition of laymen. There are 18 cardinal-deacons, so called, in Rome, who have the charge of the temporal interests and the revenues of the church. A person, to be consecrated deacon, must be 23 years old.-In the English church, deacons are also ecclesiastics, who can perform all the offices of a priest, except the consecration of the elements of the Lord's supper, and the pronouncing of ab

solution. In this church, also, no person can be ordained deacon before he is 23 years old, except by dispensation from the archbishop of Canterbury.-The office of deacons, in Presbyterian and Independent churches, is to distribute the bread and wine to communicants. In the latter, they are elected by the members of the church. In Scotland, this name is given to overseers of the poor and masters of incorporated companies. In German Protestant churches, the assistant ministers are generally called deacons. If there are two assistant ministers, the first of them is called archdeacon.

DEACONESS. This name was given to women, in the early church, who consecrated themselves to the service of the church, and rendered those offices to females which could not be decently performed by men. They also had the care of the poor, the sick, &c.

DEAD-EYE, OF DEAD MAN'S EYE; a sort of round, flattish, wooden block, encircled with a rope, or with an iron band, and pierced with three holes through the flat part, in order to receive a rope called the laniard, which, corresponding with three holes in another dead-eye, creates a purchase, employed for various uses, but chiefly to extend the shrouds and stays, otherwise called the standing rigging.

DEAD RECKONING; the judgment or estimation which is made of the place where a ship is situated, without any observation of the heavenly bodies. It is obtained by keeping an account of the distance which the ship has run by the log, and of her course steered by the compass, and by rectifying these data by the usual allowances for drift, lee-way, &c., according to the ship's known trim. This reckoning is, however, always to be corrected as often as any good observation of the sun can be obtained.

DEAD ROPES are those which do not run in any block.

DEAD SEA, or ASPHALTITES, i. e. the lake of Bitumen; anciently called, also, the sea of Sodom, Salt sea, and lake Sirbon, and now, by the Arabs, Bahheret-Lut, i. e. the sea of Lot; a lake in Palestine, about 60 or 70 miles long from N. to S., and 10 or 15 wide; according to Mariti, 180 miles in circuit; but its dimensions are stated with considerable diversity. It is bordered on the E. by lofty hills, having rugged and frightful precipices; on the N. by the plain of Jericho, through which it receives the river Jordan. Other streams flow into it; but it has no visible outlet. Copious evaporation, caused by the sub

terraneous heat, supplies the place of one. The water is clear and limpid, uncommonly salt, and even bitter, and of greater specific gravity than any other hitherto discovered. The proportion of the weight of the salts held in solution to the whole weight of the water varies, according to different experiments by chemical analysis, from 25 to nearly 50 per cent. This very great portion of saline matter explains the difficulty of diving in this lake, and the sluggish motion of the waves, comparatively undisturbed by the wind. From the depths of the lake rises asphaltum or mineral pitch, or, as the Germans call it, Jew pitch, which is melted by the heat of the bottom of the lake, and again condensed by the water, and of which Seetzen tells us that there are pieces large enough for camel loads. According to the same traveller, it is porous, and is thrown out only in stormy weather. There is also another kind of pitch, dug on the shore, where it is found mixed with small pieces of salt, pebbles and earth. It is used, purified, for the antidote called theriaca. The whole northern shore of the lake appears to be covered with this substance, called anotanon. Asphaltum is used for theriaca, for embalming, calking, sculpture, and the coloring of wool, and therefore is an important article of commerce. The limestone impregnated with bitumen, and in which the inflammable substance is so concealed, that it can be brought out only by rubbing, can be heated so as to glow like a coal without being consumed, and has been used for amulets since ancient times. A great part of those found in the catacombs at Sakkarah are made of this substance; and large quantities of rosaries are yearly prepared from it in Jerusalem. According to the Scriptures, the beautiful valley of Siddim, with Sodom, Gomorrah, and other places, were buried here by a volcanic eruption. The immediate vicinity is destitute of vegetation, dull, cheerless, and inanimate; hence, probably, its name of Dead sea. Among the absurd fables formerly circulated respecting this sea, it was affirmed, that the pestiferous vapors hovering over it were fatal to birds attempting to fly across. But this is contradicted by various recent travellers. Clarke says, "the lake swarms with fishes, shells abound on its shores, and its exhalations are most insalubrious." Madden, however, who visited it in 1827, says, "the waters appeared to him to contain no fish." He also says, "the saline matter in the lake is 19.25 per cent."

DEAF AND DUMB. (See Dumb.)
DEAL. (See Pine.)

DEAN; a corruption from decanus, Latin, from decem, ten, because a decanus commanded ten men, as the centurio did a hundred. This word, however, has acquired a much more extended meaning. Dean is, in England, a dignitary in most cathedral and collegiate churches, being usually the president of the chapter. He is called so because supposed to preside over ten canons or prebendaries at least. Dean is also a title given in England to several heads of peculiar churches or chapters, as, the dean of the king's chapel. Deans of colleges are, in English universities, officers appointed to superintend the behavior of the members, and to enforce discipline.-Rural deans, or urban deans, were, in the early ages of the church, ecclesiastics who presided over ten churches or parishes, either in the country or city within which they exercised jurisdiction.-The French corruption of decanus is doyen, and has no ecclesiastical meaning. Doyen d'age is the eldest of a society. In the chamber of deputies, the doyen d'âge presides until the chamber is regularly organized. In the academy of sciences, there are doyens in the different divisions.-In Germany, the head of each of the faculties of law, theology, medicine and philosophy, in the universities, is called decanus, and is changed, like the rector of the university, annually. DEATH, in common language, is opposed to life, and considered as the cessation of it. It is only, however, the organic life of the individual which becomes extinct; for neither the mind nor the matter which constituted that individual can perish. That view of nature which considers the whole as pervaded throughout by the breath of life, admits only of changes from one mode of existence to another. This change, which is called death, does not take place so quickly as is generally believed. It is usually preceded and caused by disease or the natural decay of old age. The state called death takes place suddenly only when the heart or the brain is injured in certain parts. Probably the brain and the heart are the parts from which, properly speaking, death proceeds; but, as the cessation of their functions is not so obvious as the cessation of the breath, which depends on them, the latter event is generally considered as indicating the moment when death takes place. In the organs of sense and motion, the consequences of death first beapparent; the muscles become

come

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stiff; coldness and paleness spread over the whole body; the eye loses its brightness, the flesh its elasticity; yet it is not perfectly safe to conclude, from these circumstances, that death has taken place, in any given case, because experience shows that there may be a state of the body in which all these circumstances may concur, without the extinction of life. This state is called asphyxia. (q. v.) The commencement of putrefaction, in ordinary cases, affords the first certain evidence of death. This begins in the bowels and genitals, which swell, become soft and loose, and change color; the skin, also, begins to change, and becomes red in various places; blisters show themselves; the blood becomes more fluid, and discharges itself from the mouth, nose, eyes, ears and anus. By degrees, also, the other parts are decomposed, and, last of all, the teeth and bones. In the beginning of decomposition, azote and ammonia are produced: in the progress of it, hydrogen, compounded with carbon, sulphur and phosphorus, is the prevailing product, which causes an offensive smell, and the light which is sometimes observed about putrefying bodies. At last, only carbonic acid gas is produced, and the putrefying body then smells like earth newly dug. A fat, greasy earth remains, and a slimy, soap-like substance, which mixes with the ground, and contributes, with the preceding decompositions, to the fertility of it. Even in these remains of organized existence, organic life is not entirely extinct; and they contribute to produce new vegetable and animal structures. Putrefaction is much influenced by external circumstances, particularly air, heat, and water. When the body is protected from the action of such agents, it changes into adipocire (q. v.); but this process requires a much longer time than common putrefaction. In very dry situations, the body is converted into a mummy, in which state bodies are found in the arid deserts of Africa, and on the mountains in Peru. Some vaults are remarkable for preserving corpses from putrefaction. It is well known to every reader, that particular substances counteract putrefaction; for instance, those used in tanning, and in embalming mummies.

Death, Agony of, is the state which immediately precedes death, and in which life and death are considered as struggling with each other. This state differs according to the cause producing it. Sometimes it is a complete exhaustion; sometimes a violent struggle, and very ir