DIES IRÆ-DIETSCH. poem in his Faust. As this hymn constitutes the chief part of the requiem, and is, at the same time, a fine example of a whole class of poetry, little known in this young and Protestant country, we have quoted it at length. Dies ira, dies illa Mors stupebit, et natura, Liber scriptus proferetur, Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Juste judex ultionis, Ingemisco tanquam reus, Inter oves locum præsta, Oro supplex, et acclinis, Judicandus homo reus, Pie Jesu, Domine, dona eis requiem. Amen. 235 DIET, GERMAN. (See Germany and German Confederacy.) DIET OF HUNGARY. (See Hungary.) DIET OF POLAND. (See Poland.) DIET (dieta). The dietetic part of medicine is an important branch, and seems to require a much greater share of attention than it commonly meets with. A great variety of diseases might be removed by the observance of a proper diet and regimen, without the assistance of medicine, were it not for the impatience of the sufferers. It may, however, on all occasions, come in as a proper assistant to the cure. That food is, in general, thought the best and most conducive to long life, which is most simple, pure, and free from irritating qualities, and is capable of being most easily converted into the substance of the body after it has been duly prepared by the art of cookery; but the nature, composition, virtues, and uses of particular aliments can never be learnt to satisfaction, without the assistance of practical chemistry. DIET DRINK; an alterative decoction employed daily in considerable quantities, at least from a pint to a quart. The decoction of sarsaparilla and mezereon, the Lisbon diet drink, is the most common and most useful. DIETALIA ACTA; the records of the Hungarian diet, written in Latin, in which language the discussions of the diet take place. The discussions are not public, and the records are only given to members of the diet, and a few other persons through them. DIETRICH, John William Ernst (who, from eccentricity, often wrote his name Dietericy); a famous German painter of the 18th century. He was born in 1712. His father, John George, was also a skilful painter, and instructed his son till he was 12 years old, when he sent him to Dresden, and placed him under the care of Alexander Thiele. The picture of a peasant drinking, in the Dutch style, executed by Dietrich while a boy, is in the royal cabinet of engravings at Dresden. He successfully imitated Raphael and Mieris, Correggio and Ostade. His paintings are scattered through almost all Europe. In the Dresden gallery there are 34 of them. Some of his designs are in the cabinet of engravings in that place, and some in private collections. He died in 1774. DIETSCH, Barbara Regina; a distinguished female painter of the celebrated family of artists of that name. She was born at Nuremburg in 1716, and died in 1783. Notwithstanding many invitations to different courts, which her talents pro cured her, she preferred to remain in the modest obscurity of private life. Her sister, Margaret Barbara, was born in 1726, and died in 1795. She painted flowers, birds, &c. DIEU ET MON DROIT (French; signifying, God and my right); the motto of the arms of England, first assumed by Richard I, to intimate that he did not hold his empire in vassalage of any mortal. It was afterwards taken by Edward III, and was continued without interruption to the time of William III, who used the motto Je maintiendray, though the former was still retained upon the great seal. After him, queen Anne used the motto Semper eadem, which had been before used by queen Elizabeth; but ever since the time of queen Anne, Dieu et mon droit has been the royal motto. DIEZ, Juan, or John Martin; a Spanish partisan officer, distinguished for his conduct during the French invasions of his native country. He was the son of a peasant, and born in the district of Valladolid, in Old Castile, in 1775. On the proclamation of war against France, after the revolution, he again entered the army, as a private, in the Spanish dragoons. He served till the restoration of peace, when he returned home, married, and resumed his agricultural employment. Patriotism and a love of enterprise drew him from his peaceful labors on the invasion of the territory of Spain by Napoleon. In 1808, he placed himself at the head of a party of four or five of his neighbors, and commenced hostilities against the enemy, killing their couriers, and thus obtaining a supply of horses, arms, and ammunition. After the atrocities committed by the French at Madrid May 2, a spirit of resentment was excited in the country, and Martin, procuring associates, prosecuted his system of annoyance and extermination against the French. At this period, he acquired the appellation of el Empecinado, from the darkness of his complexion. With the increase of his band, he extended his operations, and, besetting the roads, intercepted the couriers of the enemy, seized their convoys, and harassed their small parties. At first, he neither gave ror expected quarter; but at length, finding himself at the head of forty-eight wellarmed men, he no longer pursued that barbarous practice. In September, 1809, with 170 men, all mounted, he passed into the province of Guadalaxara to check the inroads of the enemy. He was afterwards employed under the orders of the commander-in-chief of the second army; and, the value of his services being appreciated, he was at length made a brigadiergeneral of cavalry. The French troops sent against him were almost uniformily defeated; but, on one occasion, he was overpowered, and only escaped falling into their hands, by leaping down a dangerous precipice. He attended the duke of Wellington in triumph to Madrid, after the expulsion of the French, and, some time after, received his commands to join the second army in the neighborhood of Tortosa, at the head of 4850 men, horse and foot. All the services of this brave officer, during the war which preceded the restoration of Ferdinand, could not atone for the crime of opposing the invasion of the liberties of Spain, after the return of that prince. The Empecinado had laid down his arms on the faith of a treaty; notwithstanding which, he was seized and executed at Rueda, August 19, 1825, with circumstances of insulting cruelty highly disgraceful to his persecutors. As the originator of that system of desultory warfare which contributed much to the expulsion of the invading army from Spain, Diez has strong claims to notice. His natural talents were not assisted by education, as he could write no more than his name; his manners were rude, and his temper violent; yet he was partial to the society of well-informed persons, and disposed to attend to their advice; while, with the greatness of mind which characterizes conscious worth, he never scrupled to acknowledge his humble origin, or the limited sphere of his information. DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS. (See Cal culus.) DIGAMMA, in the Greek language. In addition to the smooth and rough breathings, the ancient Greek language had another, which remained longest among the Eolians. This is most commonly called, from the appearance of the character used to denote it, a digamma, that is, double г. It was a true consonant, and appears to have had the force of ƒ or v. It was attached to several words, which, in the more familiar dialect, had the smooth or rough breathing. The whole doctrine, however, of the digamma, for want of literary monuments, remaining from the period when it was most in use, is exceedingly obscure. (See Buttmann's Greek Grammar, from the German, by Ed. Everett, 2d edit. Boston, 1826.) DIGBY, sir Kenelm, the eldest son of the unfortunate sir Everard Digby, was born at Gothurst, in Buckinghamshire, in 1603. He was educated in the Protestant DIGBY-DIGESTION. religion, and entered at Gloucester hall, Oxford. On his return from his travels, he brought back with him a recipe for making a sympathetic powder for the cure of wounds, being much addicted to the philosophy which employed itself in alchymy and occult qualities. On the accession of Charles I, he was created a gentleman of the bed-chamber, a commissioner of the navy, and a governor of the Trinity house. He soon after fitted out a small squadron at his own expense, to cruise against the Algerines and Venetians, and obtained some advantages over the shipping of both these powers. He returned with a great increase of reputation, and, having a good address and a graceful elocution, with a fine person and an imposing manner, he made a considerable figure. On a visit to France, he was converted to the Catholic religion. On the breaking out of the civil war, he was committed prisoner to Winchester house, where he amused himself by writing observations on the Religio Medici of sir Thomas Browne, and on the ninth canto of the Fairy Queen, in which Spenser has introduced some mysterious matter in regard to numbers. Being liberated, he passed into France, and visited Descartes. In 1646, he printed at Paris his own philosophical system, in two works, entitled a Treatise on the Nature of Bodies, and a Treatise on the Nature and Operation of the Soul. In 1651, he also published Institutionum Peripateticarum, cum Appendice theologica de Origine Mundi. All these treatises are written in the spirit of the corpuscular philosophy, which they support with more learning and ingenuity than solidity or force. After the ruin of the royal cause, he returned to England to compound for his estate, but was not allowed to remain. He resided in the south of France in 1656 and 1657, and produced at Montpellier, a Discourse on the Cure of Wounds by Sympathy. On the restoration, he returned to England, became a member of the royal society, and was much visited by men of science. He married a lady who was highly distinguished for beauty, and, in other respects, almost as singular as himself. Of this lady, Venetia Digby, a great many pictures and busts are extant; but she died while still young. Sir Kenelm died in 1665, at the age of 62. DIGBY, lord George, son of John, earl of Bristol, was born during his father's embassy to Madrid in 1612. He distinguished himself much while at Magdalen college, Oxford, and, in the beginning of the long parliament, opposed the court, but 237 seceded from the opposition, on the measures against the earl of Strafford. He then distinguished himself as warmly on the side of the king, and was made secretary of state in 1643. After the death of Charles, he was excepted from pardon by the parliament, and was obliged to live in exile until the restoration, when he was made knight of the garter. He wrote a comedy called Elvira, and also letters to his cousin, sir Kenelm Digby, against popery, although he ended by becoming a Catholic himself. DIGEST. (See Civil Law.) DIGESTER; an instrument invented by Mr. Papin. It consists of a strong vessel of copper or iron, with a cover adapted to screw on, with pieces of felt or pasteboard interposed. A valve with a small aperture is made in the cover, the stopper of which valve may be more or less loaded, either by actual weights, or by pressure from an apparatus on the principle of the steelyard. The purpose of this instrument is to prevent the loss of heat by evaporation. Water may be thus heated to 400° Fahr.; at which temperature its solvent power is greatly increased. DIGESTION is that process in the animal body, by which the aliments are dissolved, and the nutritive parts are separated from those which cannot afford nourishment to the body. The organs effecting this process are divided into the digestive organs, properly so called, and the auxiliary organs. The former are composed of the divisions of the intestinal canal, which includes the stomach, the great and small intestines, &c. To the latter belong the liver, the pancreas and the spleen. The first process of digestion is the solution of the aliments. When the aliments, after being properly prepared, and mixed with saliva by mastication, have reached the stomach, they are intimately united with a liquid substance called the gastric juice, by the motion of the stomach. By this motion, the aliments are mechanically separated into their smallest parts, penetrated by the gastric juice, and transformed into a uniform pulpy or fluid mass. At the same time, a solution of the aliments into their simple elements, and a mixture of them so as to form other products, tokes place, effected partly by the peculiar power of the stomach and the liquid generated in it, partly by the warmth of this organ. This pulpy mass, called chyme (q. v.), proceeds from the stomach, through the pylorus, into the part of the intestinal canal called the large intestines (q. v.), where it is mixed with the pancreatic juice and the bile. (See Bile, and Pancreas.) Both these liquids operate most powerfully on the chyme, yet in very different ways. The mild juice of the pancreas attracts the milklike liquid of the chyme, and forms with it the chyle,which is absorbed by the capillary vessels called lacteals. On the other hand, the bitter matter called bile, formed by the liver from the blood, attracts the coarser parts, which are not fitted to be absorbed into the fine animal organization, and excites the intestinal canal to the motion which carries it off. (For further information on the subject of digestion, particularly of diseased digestion, see the article Dyspepsia.) Digestion, with chemists and apothecaries; the maceration of any substance which is to be softened or dissolved, commonly pulverized, in a solvent liquid. It is enclosed in a tight vessel, and exposed to a gentle heat for a longer or shorter time. By this process essences, elixirs and tinctures are made. DIGGING, among miners; the operation of freeing ore from the stratum in which it lies, where every stroke of their tools turns to account; in contradistinction to the openings made in search of such ore, which are called hatches or essay-hatches, and the operation itself, tracing of mines, or hatching. DIGIT, in arithmetic, signifies any one of the ten numerals, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. The word comes from digitus, a finger; thus indicating the humble means originally employed in computations. Digit is also a measure equal to three fourths of an inch. Digit, in astronomy, is the measure by which we estimate the quantity of an eclipse. The diameter of the sun or moon's disc is conceived to be divided into 12 equal parts, called digits; and according to the number of those parts or digits which are obscured, so many digits are said to be eclipsed. When the luminary is wholly covered, the digits eclipsed are precisely 12; and when it is more than covered, as is frequently the case in lunar eclipses, then more than 12 digits are said to be eclipsed. DIGITALINE is the active principle of the digitalis purpurea, or foxglove, and is a very powerful poison, possessing all the properties of digitalis (q. v.) in a very concentrated state. To prepare it, the leaves are digested in ether, the solution filtered and evaporated, and the residue dissolved in water: this solution is heated with oxide of lead, filtered and evaporated, and the residuum digested in ether, which affords digitaline, on evaporation. It is a brown-colored substance, deliquescent, and extremely bitter. It restores the color of reddened litmus, and combines with acids. (See Digitalis.) DIGITALIS; a genus of plants, including, among other species, the purple foxglove (D. purpurea), a vegetable possessing important medicinal properties, inhabiting the temperate and southern parts of Europe, and frequently cultivated for ornament in the U. States. The stem is simple, herbaceous, glabrous, or slightly pubescent, and attains the height of two or three feet; the leaves oval lanceolate, soft to the touch, and dentate on the borders; the flowers are large, purple, spotted within, pendent, and disposed in a long, simple and terminal raceme. The plant, when fresh, possesses a bitter, nauseous taste, and is violently emetic and cathartic. When prepared, and administered medicinally, it has the remarkable property of diminishing the strength and frequency of the pulse, and is, at the same time, diuretic. DIGRAPH (from the Greek ds and yoapw, to write; double-written); a union of two vowels, of which one only is pronounced; as in head, breath. This is the meaning which Mr. Sheridan gives to the word. Mr. Webster, in his American Dictionary of the English Language, follows this meaning. Thus siege, deceive, mean, hear, esteem, deem, need, contain digraphs. It is well known how much the English idiom abounds in digraphs. They are essentially different from diphthongs, which consist of two vowels, also, but produce a sound which neither of the vowels have separately. In DIJON (Divio), the ancient capital of the duchy of Burgundy, at present the chief place of the department Côte-d'Or (see Department), 648 French feet above the level of the sea, at the confluence of the Ouche and Suzon, 100 miles N. Lyons, 175 S. E. Paris, lat. 47° 19′ 25′′ N., lon. 5°2′ 5′′ E., contains 22,000 inhabitants, and is the seat of a suffragan bishop, several courts and branches of government. 1725, the academy of sciences and belleslettres was erected here, and confirmed by the king in 1740. (See Academy.) There is also a school for the fine arts, two libraries (one of which contains 36,000 volumes), collections in natural history, an observatory, a botanical garden, &c. There are many old and interesting buildings here. There is now a canal building from this city to the Saone, near Saint-Jean-de-Lorne, which will be of DIJON-DIMINUTIVES. great advantage to the place. Many of the most celebrated Frenchmen have been born at Dijon, among whom are Bossuet, Crébillon, Piron, Saumaise. A fortified camp, constructed by Cæsar, gave origin to Dijon. Marcus Aurelius caused the place to be surrounded by walls. DIKE, or DYKE (in German, deich); a ditch or drain, and also a work of stone, timber or fascines, raised to oppose the passage of the waters of the sea, a lake, river, or the like. In no country has the art of building dikes and taking care of them been carried to so much perfection as in Holland and the north-west of Germany, where the construction and superintendence of them, the draining of land and guarding against inundations, and the distribution of taxes for the maintenance of the dikes, form an important branch of government. DILAPIDATION is where an incumbent of a church living suffers the parsonagehouse or out-houses to fall down, or be in decay for want of necessary repairs; or it is the pulling down or destroying any of the houses or buildings belong ing to a spiritual living, or destroying of the woods, trees, &c. appertaining to the same; it is said to extend to committing or suffering any wilful waste in or upon the inheritance of the church. DILEMMA (from dis, twice, and Xeppa, an assumption), in logic; an argument consisting of two or more propositions, so disposed that, grant which you will, you will be pressed by the conclusion. DILETTANTE; an Italian expression, signifying a lover of the arts and sciences, who devotes his leisure to them, as a means of amusement and gratification. DILLENIUS, John James; a botanist, born in 1687, at Darmstadt, and distinguished for his investigations into the propagation of plants, particularly cryptogamous plants. In compliance with the invitation of a rich botanist, William Sherard, in 1721, he went to England, where he spent part of his time in London, and part at his friend's country-seat, in Eltham. Here he published several works, and particularly that splendid production which appeared in 1732, Hortus Elthamensis, in which the drawings, prepared by himself, are distinguished by the greatest faithfulness. His last work, on the mosses (Historia Muscorum), added much to his reputation. Sherard founded a professorship of botany in the university of Oxford, for his friend, who died there, in 1747. DILL-SEED (anethum graveolens, Lin.) is of an oval form, convex on one side, 239 flat on the other, having three striæ on the outside, and surrounded with a small, membranous border. Its taste is slightly acrid, and its odor stronger, but less pleasant, than fennel-seed. DIME; the legal term for the tenth part of a dollar in the U. States. (See Coin.) DIMINUTIVE, in grammar (from the Latin diminutivum); an affix, which conveys the idea of littleness, and all other ideas connected with this, as tenderness, affection, contempt, &c. The opposite of diminutive is augmentative. Prefixes and affixes belong to those delicate beauties of language, which enable us to express fine shades of meaning with conciseness and liveliness, and which are almost always beyond the power of translation, if the language, into which we intend to translate, does not possess the corresponding prefixes and affixes.-In Latin, diminutives almost always ended in lus, la, or lum; as, Tulliola, meum corculum, little Tullia, my dear or little heart. This syllable was sometimes preceded by another one, not belonging to the original word; as, homunculus. A few words formed their diminutives in other ways.-No European language has so many and so expressive diminutives, augmentatives and affixes, as the Tuscan: ino, etto, ello, convey the idea of smallness, dearness, &c.; one, of largeness; uccio sometimes of smallness, with reproach, but often without it: accio signifies that the thing is disgusting, unpleasing, &c.; for exainple, casa is a house; casetta, casina, casella, a small house, nice little house; casone, a large house; casuccia, a small, insignificant house; casaccia, an ugly house. That expressive tongue can compound two or three of these endearing affixes; and the writer has frequently heard little Italian children form almost endless words, as if overflowing with tenderness; for instance, fratellinucciettinetto. Adjectives, also, can receive the diminutive termination; as, carino, carinuccio, from caro. must be remarked, that very many Italian words are the diminutives of the original Latin ones; as fratello, from frater, sorella, &c. The reason is, that the Italian was originally the corrupted Latin of the lower classes. These always have many points of resemblance to children, and among them this, that they make much more use of diminutives than the educated classes, who are more reserved in the expression of their feelings. Thus, in the south of Germany, they will say, wo das Bäumche vor der Thüre steht (where the little tree stands before the door), how It |