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river Potomac, between the mouth of the eastern branch and Conogocheague." The land was on both sides of the Potomac, and was ceded by the owning states with the condition that congress, or the United States, should have exclusive control forever. Maryland ceded 64 sq.m., or the whole of Washington co.; and Virginia ceded 36 sq.m., which was Alexandría co.; but in 1846, the Virginia portion was returned to that state, as no part of the government establishment had been erected s. of the river. It is said that the site of Washington, or near there, was a favorite meeting place for Indians. Among the earliest white settlers was an Englishman named Pope, who bought land and named the stream flowing through it the Tiber, and to the eminence on which the United States capitol now stands, he gave the name of Capitoline hill, calling his whole plantation Rome, and signing himself " Pope of Rome.' About 60 years before the revolution, one of the ancestors of Daniel Boone owned the land now occupied by the city of Georgetown, on which he laid out a town of the same name. The first movement towards selecting a permanent seat of government was in 1783, when, through acts of mob violence, congress was forced to adjourn from Philadelphia to Princeton, New Jersey. At that time Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts offered a resolution (adopted, but afterwards repealed) providing for the selection of a site on the Delaware, and one near the falls of the Potomac, his idea being to have a northern and southern capital. The authority to select a site was given, finally, in the federal constitution. The gov ernment title to the territory was perfected, and buildings suitable for the accommodation of congress and the executive departments were ready at the prescribed time, and on the first Monday of Dec., 1800, the capital was fixed in the federal city called Washington. For many years afterwards, Washington was but the skeleton of a town, and from its ambitious proportions was nicknamed "the city of magnificent distances," while even the poets flouted its pretension with the line, "And what was Goose Creek once is Tiber now." In 1814, the British took possession of the territory, and burned the capitol and other public buildings. Soon after that war, the District of Columbia began to improve in population and industries. When the civil war began, strong fortifications were erected for the defense of Washington, which was several times menaced or in danger, but never actually attacked.

The district of Columbia was governed directly by congress until 1871, when the people of the district were given the privileges of self-government as a regular territory; A governor and secretary were appointed, and a delegate to represent the territory in congress; also a legislature of 11 councilmen and 22 delegates, these last elected by the people annually. Two of the councilmen were required to be residents of and appointed from Georgetown, and 2 from that part of the district outside of Georgetown and Washington. In 1874 the government was placed under control of 3 commissioners appointed by the pres. and approved by the senate. The citizens have no voice in the appointments to office within the district, and have no vote in district or national affairs.

In 1896, there were in the district 5 daily and 30 weekly newspapers, 25 monthly, 2 semi-monthly, and 6 other periodicals, 68 in all. Children between 6 and 17 are within school age, and in 1895 there were 68, 670 in the district; 41,557 enrolled; average attendance, 33,844; school property valued at $3,260,027. The colleges are: Columbian university (Bap.); Gonzaga college (R. C.); National Deaf-Mute college (non-sect.); and Howard university (non-sect., though under Con. and Pres. patronage); all at Washington; Georgetown (R. C.) university. Both sexes are admitted to Howard university, and colored students are admitted to the theological department. The Baptists have also a school (Wayland seminary) in Washington; there are medical departments in nearly all the colleges, and also a National college of pharmacy. All except Gonzaga and the Deaf-Mute college have law departments. There are over 60 public libraries, with an aggregate of over 1,515,000 volumes, and more than 600,000 pamphlets. Thirtyfive libraries belong to the government. Pop. '90, 230,392.

In

DISTRICT COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES are tribunals subordinate to the circuit courts. Each of the nine judicial circuits (corresponding to the number of justices of the supreme court) is divided into a larger or smaller number of districts. some instances a district embraces the whole territory of a state; in others, states are divided into two or more districts. In one instance a single judge serves three, in others, two districts. With these exceptions, there is one judge for each district. When a circuit court is held within the limits of a judicial district, the district judge sits with the judge of the supreme court appointed for that circuit. See JUDICIARY IN THE UNITED STATES.

DISTRICT, SENATORIAL. A territory, the electors of which are entitled to choose a representative in the upper branch of a state legislature. The U. S. senators are chosen by the state legislatures, two for each state, without reference to population; hence the term district is in no way applicable to them.

DISTRICTS, MILITARY, are certain regions into which the United Kingdom is divided for military purposes, to facilitate command and organization. Before Mr. Cardwell's act of 1872, England was divided into four districts, and Ireland into five, while Scotland formed one. Now there are nine general districts in England-namely, the northern, with Manchester as its headquarters; the eastern, with Colchester; the southern, Portsmouth; the south-eastern, Dover; the home district, London; the Chatham: the

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Woolwich; the Aldershot. In Ireland there are four-Belfast, Dublin, Cork, and the Curragh. Scotland is still one district, with Edinburgh as head-quarters. Jersey is a military district, and Guernsey and Alderney form another. See DIVISION (military).

DISVELLOPED, or DEVELOPED, is applied to the colors of a regiment or army, which are said, heraldically, to be disvelloped when flying.

DITCH, in agriculture, is a trench usually made along the sides of fields, so that all the drains may be led into it. A hedge is often planted along the side, and the two form a better fence for cattle. In cold, undrained lands, the earth thrown out of the trench forms a mound of dry earth, which is particularly serviceable for the growth of thorn-hedges. Accordingly, this is the common mode adopted in planting hedges in such districts, where the subsoil is often close, tenacious, and not well suited for their growth. Various forms of ditches are made; sometimes a double D. is adopted, and the hedge planted between. In arable lands, however, since the general use of small and large pipes, ditches have been converted into underground drains, which has effected a great saving of land, as well as giving to the fields a tidy appearance.

DITCH is one of the most important of the defense-works of a fortified place. It is a broad and deep trench, that may either be kept dry or filled with water; in practice, it is generally dry.

In permanent works, such as the regular fortifications of a town, the rampart and the ditch are the most important; the former being inside the latter, and formed mainly of the earth excavated from it. The D. is often 120 ft. wide, 12 ft. deep below the natural level of the ground, and 24 ft. beneath the parapet of the rampart. See FORTI

FICATION.

DITHYRAM'BUS, originally a surname of Bacchus, of uncertain derivation and meaning, was subsequently applied to a species of lyric poetry cultivated more particularly at Athens, and characterized by loftiness and vehemence of style, which, however, at a later period, degenerated into bombast and extravagance. The D. was originally a passionate hymn, sung by one or more revelers to the music of a flute; but Arion (q.v.) invented for it a regular choral or antistrophic form. It is this form which is generally spoken of as the dithyramb. It subsequently received various alterations, but no specimens of it have survived.

DITMARSH, NORTH and SOUTH (Norder and Süder Dithmarschen), the name given to the western district of the German duchy of Holstein, lying between the Eider and the Elbe. The entire area is 500 sq. miles. In old German times, D. formed a part of Saxony beyond the Elbe, and is worthy of special notice, because the inhabitants have preserved to the present day the peculiarities of antiquity. It has its own collection of laws, known as the Ditmarsh Land-book, which originated in 1321 from 48 judges; was altered in 1447, first printed in 1497, amended in 1567, and finally enjoined anew in 1711. Whatever authentic notices, traditional and otherwise, we possess of D., we owe to Joh. Adolfi (b. 1559, d. 1629), whose Chronik des Landes D. (Ditmarsh Chronicle), written in the Lower Saxon dialect, was published in the original text, with 23 dissertations by Dahlmann (Kiel, 1827).

DITTANY, Dictamnus, a genus of plants of the natural order rutacea, having a short 5-partite calyx, 5 somewhat unequal petals, 10 stamens, and 51 to 3-seeded follicular capsules cohering at the base. The COMMON D., also called BASTARD D., or FRAXINELLA (D. albus), a native of sunny mountains and rocks and dry mountainforests of the s. of Europe, especially in calcareous soils, is very generally cultivated as a garden-flower. It is a perennial, with stem 1 to 3 ft. high, perfectly unbranched, bearing a few pinnated leaves, which have 3 to 5 pair of leaflets and an odd one, and terminating in a beautiful erect raceme of 10 to 20 flowers. The flowers are of a fine rose color, with darker veins, more rarely white. The plant diffuses a powerful fragrance from its numerous oil-glands when in flower, and during dry, hot weather exhales such a quantity of volatile oil that its sudden combustion makes a slight flash when a candle is brought near it on a warm summer evening. The root is thick, white, and very bitter, and was formerly in high repute in medicine as a tonic stimulant, but is now neglected.-D. of Crete, used as a febrifuge, is a very different plant (Origanum dictamnus), a kind of marjoram (q.v.).

DIT TAY, a technical term in the criminal law of Scotland, now little used, signifying the ground of indictment or substance of the charge. By taking up dittay was understood the collecting of information in order to trial, which is now effected by what is called a precognition.

DITTEE AH. See DUTTEEAH.

DITTON, HUMPHREY, 1675-1715; an eminent English mathematician, for some years a dissenting clergyman. The influence of Sir Isaac Newton secured for him a professorship in the new mathematical school at Christ's hospital, where he remained through life. He and Whiston published a new method for determining longitude at sea, but it was rejected by the board of admiralty. Ditton was the author of several mathematical works.

Divination.

DÏU, a seaport, situated at the eastern extremity of an island of the same name off the s. coast of Guzerat, in Hindustan; is well fortified, having a tolerably safe harbor, with a general depth of three or four fathoms. The anchorage, however, is said to be gradually becoming shallower. The place has been in possession of the Portuguese ever since 1515; but, from its detached and isolated position, its trade is of little consequence. The area of the island is about 62 sq. m.

DIURETICS, medicines having the property of increasing the secretion or excretion of urine, and on this account much employed in dropsies, as well as in a variety of other diseases. The principal diuretics are the salts of potash, especially the nitrate, acetate, and bitartrate (cream of tartar); squill in powder, vinegar, or sirup; digitalis or foxglove, in powder or infusion; the decoction or infusion of broom-tops (scoparium): the decoction of the American winter-green or pyrola; the alcohols and ethers, with most of the volatile oils, especially that of juniper, as in gin; the berries of the common elder; the tincture of cantharides or Spanish flies; turpentine, etc. The last named (from the alcohols onwards in the above enumeration) are more or less irritating in their effects on the urinary organs, and should not be used without due consideration as to the requirements of the particular case. Cream of tartar and the broom-decoction form one of the safest and best diuretic mixtures which can be employed for domestic purposes; or cream of tartar may be given alone, either dissolved in hot water, and allowed to cool, or in substance along with sirup.

DIURNAL MOTION is the apparent daily motion of a heavenly body caused by the rotation of the earth on its axis. See AXIS; EARTH; PLANETS.

DIVAN' is a Persian word, having various significations. It is used in the sense of a muster-roll, a register of payments or account; it is also applied to a collection of poems or songs by one and the same author. Goethe uses it in this sense in his Westöstliche Divan. Divan means next an administrative board; the highest council of state at Constantinople is called Diváni humäjûn, most illustrious divan. Finally, divan is the name for the state or reception room in palaces and the private houses of the richest citizens. Along the walls of the room are ranged low sofas, covered with rich carpets, and provided with cushions. Hence the name divan is used for a kind of sofa.

DIVEL ON THE NECK, an instrument of torture used against the Lollards. It is thus described by Fox, in his Acts and Monuments: "Certain strait irons called the divel on his neck being after an horrible sort devised, straitening and winching the neck of a man with his legs together, in such sort as the more he stirreth in it, the straiter it presseth him, so that within three or four hours, it breaketh and crusheth a man's back and body in pieces."-Cowel's Interpreter.

DIVER, or LOON, Colymbus, a genus of birds of the family colymbidæ (q.v.), having a strong, straight, rather compressed pointed bill, about as long as the head; a short and rounded tail; short wings, thin compressed legs placed very far back, ad the toes completely webbed. They fly well, but are particularly expert in diving. They prey upon fish, which they pursue under water, making as much use of their wings as of their legs and webbed feet in their subaqueous progression. They are scarcely capable, however, of walking on land, and the name loon is supposed to refer to this incapacity, and to be from the same root with lame. The GREAT NORTHERN D., or Loon, also called the IMMER or EMBER GOOSE (C. glacialis), is a bird about 2 ft. long, exhibiting no little beauty of plumage; the upper parts black, spotted with white; the head black, with tints of green and blue; the belly white. It is a winter visitant of the British coasts, even to the furthest s., and is occasionally seen in inland districts; is found in like manner in most parts of Europe, the n. of Asia, and North America, as far s. as Texas, but it breeds chiefly in the more northern regions, as Labr dor, Iceland, and Spitzbergen. It is not exclusively marine, being often seen on larg rivers, and making its nest on the shores of fresh-water lakes. Its cry is very peculiar and wild, has been likened to the howl of a wolf, and is in some countries superstitiously regarded as ominous of evil. It is easily tamed, and becomes very familiar. The BLACK-THROATED D. (C. Arcticus) is another northern bird, of similarly wide geographic distribution, but much smaller size, being only about 26 in. in length. It is found at intervals distributed round the coasts of Britain, and it occasionally breeds in the fresh-water lochs of the n. of Scotland. The RED-THROATED D. (C. septentrionalis) is also found in all the northern parts of the world, is more common in Britain than either of the other species, and is the bird generally called loon on the British coasts. Sec illus. DEER, vol. IV. DIVERGENT. See CONVERGING.

DIVERTIMENTO, or DIVERTISSEMENT, a species of musical composition consisting of different movements, arranged in an easy style for one or more instruments, but not so elaborately wrought out as the sonata, or other more regular compositions. The D. has generally no fixed character, being merely a musical picture without any attempt at artistic effect, or other aim than to please the ear, and may be said to take its place between the etude and the capriccioso. The D. was greatly in vogue during the last half of the 18th c.; until then, the word had never been used as a musical term.

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The misDIVES is a Latin word meaning rich or a rich man. It has been incorrectly supposed to be a proper name in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke xvi. take is thought to have occurred from an old picture upon the subject, having the title in Latin Dives et Lazarus, and some illiterate person supposed the first word to be a proper name the same as the last word.

DIVIDEND, the sum apportioned to creditors from the realized assets of a bankrupt estate, and which is at the rate of so much per dollar of the claims. The half-yearly interest on the public funds, and periodical profits on shares in joint-stock undertakings, are also called the dividends, the latter being usually declared half-yearly, by order of the directors. Occasionally the dividends do not exhaust the profits, and the surplus is allowed to accumulate, until it is paid to the shareholders as an extra D. called a bonus

DIVIDING ENGINE. See GRADUATION.

DIVIDIVI, or LIBIDIBI, the curved pods of cæsalpinia coriaria (see CÆSALPINIA), a tree which grows on the coasts of Curaçoa, Carthagena, and other parts of tropical America. They have been long used there for tanning, but have recently acquired importance as an article of commerce. D. is one of the most astringent substances known. DIVINATION (Lat. divinatio) is the act of discovering the hidden, but more particuMen have at all times set their imaginations larly the future, in a supernatural way. above the causes of nature, and by a curious subjective process, have endeavored to draw out of themselves what could in reality be only derived from a study of the laws of nature. Thus, there have been instituted systems of superstition among almost all nations of the world at one period of their history, which the march of scientific discovery and the beneficent influences of a rational religion have failed to wholly eradicate, so that, even among comparatively enlightened peoples, there lurks a deep substratum of this old-world feeling. A more special use of the term is to denote fortunetelling or sorcery (middle-age Latin sortiarius, one who reads the future by means of lots or sortes). It was a maxim with the nations of antiquity, that if there are gods, they care for men; and if they care for men, they will send them signs of their will. This, with some variations, has been a universal sentiment in all ages and countries. But it was the first step in this journey which presented the whole difficulty. How was man to know the will of the gods? The variety of answers which this question has drawn Thus, among the Greeks, the word for D. forth constitutes the history of divination. was mantike, which signified more than the Latin divinatio; inasmuch as it was applied With the to any means by which the Deity discloses himself to man, while the Latin word denoted more the power which man is supposed to possess of discovering the future. Greeks, the seer was passive; with the Romans, he was active See SEER and ORACLE. Astrology was a favorite method of D. among the ancient Chaldeans, as well as in the middle ages. Auguries and auspices-both words derived from avis, a bird-were systems brought to perfection by the Romans as means of knowing the will of the gods. See AUGURIES AND AUSPICES. The sacrifice of beasts, besides, the casting of the horoscope, and the observing of the constellations, were all favorite modes of guessing at the future practiced by the Romans. But the belief was not confined to the old world. The Araucanians, a warlike nation of South America, seem to have placed as implicit faith in the D. of birds as did the Romans, and they practiced this art in a way not very dissimilar. Even among ourselves, the merry-thought bone of fowls is thought to possess a curious virtue.

An extensive set of omens have been taken from observing what first happens to one, or what animal or person one meets first in the morning, or at the commencement of an undertaking-the first-foot, as it is called. To stumble, has been universally held to presage misfortune. Some semblance of a reason might be found for this belief, inasmuch as stumbling may be supposed to indicate that that self-possession and conscious courage, which are in themselves half a victory over circumstances, are lacking-the want of them, therefore, being half a defeat; but in most cases the interpretation seems altogether arbitrary. The dread of a hare crossing the path seems to be widely prevalent; while to see a wolf is a good omen. This feeling is probably a remnant of warlike times, when the timid hare suggested thoughts of cowardice and flight; while the bold wolf, sacred to Odin, was emblematic of victory. The character of the hare for being unlucky is also connected with the deep-rooted belief, that witches are in the habit of transforming themselves into hares. That to meet an old woman is unlucky, is another very general belief; arising, without doubt, from the same causes that lead to their being considered witches. In some places, women in general are unlucky as first-foot, with the singular exception of women of bad reputation. This belief prevailed as far Priests, too, are ominous of evil. If hunters of old back as the age of Chrysostom. met a priest or friar, they coupled up their hounds, and went home in despair of any further sport that day. This superstition seems to have died out, except in the case of kittle cargo," as a Scotch skipper expressed it, sailors, who still consider the clergy a and anticipate a storm or mischance when they have a black-coat on board. This seems as old as the days of the prophet Jonah.

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The observation of lucky and unlucky days was once an important matter, and was It is now confined to the one subject of maroften the turning-point of great events.

Diving-bell.

riage. In fixing the wedding-day, May among months, and Friday among days, are shunned by many people both in the higher and lower orders; for in this matter, which is the exclusive province of women, and in which sentiment and fancy are in every way so much more active than reason, the educated and uneducated are reduced to a level. Perhaps half the superstitious beliefs that yet survive among civilized and Christian communities, group themselves round the subject of love and marriage-of such intense interest to all, yet so mysterious in its origin, and problematical in its issue. The liking or passion for one individual rather than any other, is so unaccountable, that the god of love has been fabled blind; it is of the nature of fascination, magic, spell. And then, whether happiness or the reverse shall be the result, seems beyond the reach of ordinary calculation. All is apparently given over to mystery, chance, fortune, and any circumstances may, for what we know, influence or indicate what fortune's wheel shall bring round. Hence the innumerable ways of prognosticating which of two or more persons shall be first married, who or what manner of person shall be the future husband or wife, the number of children, etc.

Sneezing, likewise, has long been looked upon as supernatural, for this reason, that it is sudden, unaccountable, uncontrollable, and therefore ominous. The person is considered as possessed for the time, and a form of exorcism is used. A nurse would not think she had done her duty if, when her charge sneezes, she did not say: "Bless the child," just as the Greeks, more than two thousand years ago, said: "Zeus protect thee.'

An

One general remark, however, it is important to make in regard to omens. omen is not conceived to be a mere sign of what is destined to be; it is conceived as causing in some mysterious way the event it forebodes; and the consequence, it is thought, may be prevented by some counteracting charm. Thus the spilling of salt not only forebodes strife, but strife is conceived as the consequence of the spilling of the salt, and may be hindered by taking up the spilled salt and throwing it over the left shoulder.

An important exercise of the diviner's art is to determine the innocence or guilt of parties. This will be treated under ORDEAL. But it would be impossible to enumerate the endless modes of D. for which learned names have been found. Some of the principal are axinomancy (q.v.), belomancy, bibliomancy (q.v.), botanomancy, or D. by means of plants and flowers (it was practiced by the ancients, who were wont to ruise poppy-flowers betwixt their hands, under the conviction that they could thereby discover their loves. Hence Theocritus calls the poppy teliphilos, quasi deliphilos; i.e., a tell-love. Goethe has made a beautiful use of another form of this superstition, which existed among the Teutonic races no less than among the old Greeks. The child-like Marguerite, in Faust, seeks to discover whether or not Faust loves her by plucking the

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leaves from a star-flower, murmuring alternately, He loves me,' He loves me not,' and finds to her joy that the last leaf comes away while she is saying "He loves me"); capnomancy (q.v.), cheiromancy (q.v.), coscinomancy (q.v.), crystallomancy (q.v.), cup, divination by (q.v.); geomancy (this was anciently practiced by casting pebbles on the ground, from which conjectures were formed; but the Arabian geomancy was more recondite, being founded on the effects of motion under the crust of the earth, the chinks thus produced, and the noises or thundering heard); hydromancy, D. by water or by a mirror, in which the diviner shows the image of an absent person, what he is doing, etc. (this mode of D. plays an important part in the Arabian romances); lithomancy, a species of D. performed by stones, but in what manner it is difficult to ascertain; oneiromancy (see DREAMING); pyromancy, or D. by flame (it was common among the Greeks and Romans: if the flame of the sacrifice was vigorous and quickly consumed the victim, if it was clear of all smoke, and did not crackle, but burn silently in a pyramidal form, the omen was favorable; otherwise, it was not); rabdomancy (see DIVINNG-ROD); and teraphim (q.v.). See SUPERSTITION.

DIVINE COMEDY. See DANTE.

DIVINE RIGHT. A term applied to describe the source of the power claimed for the monarch, by the royalist party, in the great controversies between the monarchical and the parliamentary or commonwealth parties in England in the 17th century. The monarch was held to be the immediate representative of the Deity, to whom alone he was responsible for all his actions-a principle which, of course, relleved him from all human responsibility. The idea was little known in that country until the quiet transfer of the crown from the Tudor to the Stewart dynasty showed that the hereditary principle was firmly established. It was found by some ecclesiastics in the doctrine of the civil law, which, in imitation of the practice of oriental nations, flattered the Roman emperors by attributing to them a power founded on divine institutions. Throughout. a long and miserable contention, D. R. was on the one side maintained to be the source of political power, while on the other it was maintained that that power emanated from the will of the people, expressed in what was called "the social contract." The chief writers on the side of D. R. were Salmasius and sir Robert Filmer; on the other, Milton, Algernon Sydney, and Harrington. The controversy revived in the discussions which caused the French revolution, long after the settlement of the crown on William. and Mary and the Hanover dynasty had settled it in Britain.

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