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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2
       "Demijohn" to "Destructor"

Author: Various

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                       ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA

  A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION

                          ELEVENTH EDITION

                        VOLUME VIII slice II

                       Demijohn to Destructor




DEMIJOHN, a glass bottle or jar with a large round body and narrow neck,
encased in wicker-work and provided with handles. The word is also used
of an earthenware jar, similarly covered with wicker. The capacity of a
demijohn varies from two to twelve gallons, but the common size contains
five gallons. According to the _New English Dictionary_ the word is an
adaptation of a French _Dame Jeanne_, or Dame Jane, an application of a
personal name to an object which is not uncommon; cf. the use of "Toby"
for a particular form of jug and the many uses of the name "Jack."




DEMISE, an Anglo-French legal term (from the Fr. _démettre_, Lat.
_dimittere_, to send away) for a transfer of an estate, especially by
lease. The word has an operative effect in a lease implying a covenant
for "quiet enjoyment" (see LANDLORD AND TENANT). The phrase "demise of
the crown" is used in English law to signify the immediate transfer of
the sovereignty, with all its attributes and prerogatives, to the
successor without any interregnum in accordance with the maxim "the king
never dies." At common law the death of the sovereign _eo facto_
dissolved parliament, but this was abolished by the Representation of
the People Act 1867, § 51. Similarly the common law doctrine that all
offices held under the crown determined at its demise has been negatived
by the Demise of the Crown Act 1901. "Demise" is thus often used loosely
for death or decease.




DEMIURGE (Gr. [Greek: dêmiourgos], from [Greek: dêmios], of or for the
people, and [Greek: ergon], work), a handicraftsman or artisan. In Homer
the word has a wide application, including not only hand-workers but
even heralds and physicians. In Attica the demiurgi formed one of the
three classes (with the Eupatridae and the geomori, georgi or agroeci)
into which the early population was divided (cf. Arist. _Ath. Pol._
xiii. 2). They represented either a class of the whole population, or,
according to Busolt, a commercial nobility (see EUPATRIDAE). In the
sense of "worker for the people" the word was used throughout the
Peloponnese, with the exception of Sparta, and in many parts of Greece,
for a higher magistrate. The demiurgi among other officials represent
Elis and Mantineia at the treaty of peace between Athens, Argos, Elis
and Mantineia in 420 B.C. (Thuc. v. 47). In the Achaean League (q.v.)
the name is given to ten elective officers who presided over the
assembly, and Corinth sent "Epidemiurgi" every year to Potidaea,
officials who apparently answered to the Spartan harmosts. In Plato
[Greek: dêmiourgos] is the name given to the "creator of the world"
(_Timaeus_, 40) and the word was so adopted by the Gnostics (see
GNOSTICISM).




DEMMIN, a town of Germany, kingdom of Prussia, on the navigable river
Peene (which in the immediate neighbourhood receives the Trebel and the
Tollense), 72 m. W.N.W. of Stettin, on the Berlin-Stralsund railway.
Pop. (1905) 12,541. It has manufactures of textiles, besides breweries,
distilleries and tanneries, and an active trade in corn and timber.

The town is of Slavonian origin and of considerable antiquity, and was a
place of importance in the time of Charlemagne. It was besieged by a
German army in 1148, and captured by Henry the Lion in 1164. In the
Thirty Years' War Demmin was the object of frequent conflicts, and even
after the peace of Westphalia was taken and retaken in the contest
between the electoral prince and the Swedes. It passed to Prussia in
1720, and its fortifications were dismantled in 1759. In 1807 several
engagements took place in the vicinity between the French and Russians.




DEMOCHARES (c. 355-275 B.C.), nephew of Demosthenes, Athenian orator and
statesman, was one of the few distinguished Athenians in the period of
decline. He is first heard of in 322, when he spoke in vain against the
surrender of Demosthenes and the other anti-Macedonian orators demanded
by Antipater. During the next fifteen years he probably lived in exile.
On the restoration of the democracy by Demetrius Poliorcetes in 307 he
occupied a prominent position, but was banished in 303 for having
ridiculed the decree of Stratocles, which contained a fulsome eulogy of
Demetrius. He was recalled in 298, and during the next four years[1]
fortified and equipped the city with provisions and ammunition. In 296
(or 295) he was again banished for having concluded an alliance with the
Boeotians, and did not return until 287 (or 286). In 280 he induced the
Athenians to erect a public monument in honour of his uncle with a
suitable inscription. After his death (some five years later) the son of
Demochares proposed and obtained a decree (Plutarch, _Vitae decem
oratorum_, p. 851) that a statue should be erected in his honour,
containing a record of his public services, which seem to have consisted
in a reduction of public expenses, a more prudent management of the
state finances (after his return in 287) and successful begging missions
to the rulers of Egypt and Macedonia. Although a friend of the Stoic
Zeno, Demochares regarded all other philosophers as the enemies of
freedom, and in 306 supported the proposal of one Sophocles, advocating
their expulsion from Attica. According to Cicero (_Brutus_, 83)
Demochares was the author of a history of his own times, written in an
oratorical rather than a historical style. As a speaker he was noted for
his freedom of language (_Parrhesiastes_, Seneca, _De ira_, iii. 23). He
was violently attacked by Timaeus, but found a strenuous defender in
Polybius (xii. 13).

   See also Plutarch, _Demosthenes_, 30, _Demetrius_, 24, _Vitae decem
   oratorum_, p. 847; J. G. Droysen's essay on Demochares in
   _Zeitschrift für die Altertumswissenschaft_ (1836), Nos. 20, 21.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] For the "four years' war" and the chronological questions involved,
    see C. W. Müller, _Frag. Hist. Graec._ ii. 445.




DEMOCRACY (Gr. [Greek: dêmokratia], from [Greek: dêmos], the people,
i.e. the commons, and [Greek: kratos], rule), in political science, that
form of government in which the people rules itself, either directly, as
in the small city-states of Greece, or through representatives.
According to Aristotle, democracy is the perverted form of the third
form of government, which he called [Greek: politeia], "polity" or
"constitutional government," the rule of the majority of the free and
equal citizens, as opposed to monarchy and aristocracy, the rule
respectively of an individual and of a minority consisting of the best
citizens (see GOVERNMENT and ARISTOCRACY). Aristotle's restriction of
"democracy" to _bad_ popular government, i.e. mob-rule, or, as it has
sometimes been called, "ochlocracy" ([Greek: ochlos], mob), was due to
the fact that the Athenian democracy had in his day degenerated far
below the ideals of the 5th century, when it reached its zenith under
Pericles. Since Aristotle's day the word has resumed its natural
meaning, but democracy in modern times is a very different thing from
what it was in its best days in Greece and Rome. The Greek states were
what are known as "city-states," the characteristic of which was that
all the citizens could assemble together in the city at regular
intervals for legislative and other purposes. This sovereign assembly of
the people was known at Athens as the Ecclesia (q.v.), at Sparta as the
Apella (q.v.), at Rome variously as the Comitia Centuriata or the
Concilium Plebis (see COMITIA). Of representative government in the
modern sense there is practically no trace in Athenian history, though
certain of the magistrates (see STRATEGUS) had a quasi-representative
character. Direct democracy is impossible except in small states. In the
second place the qualification for citizenship was rigorous; thus
Pericles restricted citizenship to those who were the sons of an
Athenian father, himself a citizen, and an Athenian mother ([Greek: ex
amphoin astoin]). This system excluded not only all the slaves, who were
more numerous than the free population, but also resident aliens,
subject allies, and those Athenians whose descent did not satisfy this
criterion ([Greek: tô genei mê katharoi]). The Athenian democracy, which
was typical in ancient Greece, was a highly exclusive form of
government.

With the growth of empire and nation states this narrow parochial type
of democracy became impossible. The population became too large and the
distance too great for regular assemblies of qualified citizens. The
rigid distinction of citizens and non-citizens was progressively more
difficult to maintain, and new criteria of citizenship came into force.
The first difficulty has been met by various forms of representative
government. The second problem has been solved in various ways in
different countries; moderate democracies have adopted a low property
qualification, while extreme democracy is based on the extension of
citizenship to all adult persons with or without distinction of sex. The
essence of modern representative government is that the people does not
govern itself, but periodically elects those who shall govern on its
behalf (see GOVERNMENT; REPRESENTATION).




DEMOCRATIC PARTY, originally DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY, the oldest of
existing political parties in the United States. Its origin lay in the
principles of local self-government and repugnance to social and
political aristocracy established as cardinal tenets of American
colonial democracy, which by the War of Independence, which was
essentially a democratic movement, became the basis of the political
institutions of the nation. The evils of lax government, both central
and state, under the Confederation caused, however, a marked
anti-democratic reaction, and this united with the temperamental
conservatism of the framers of the constitution of 1787 in the shaping
of that conservative instrument. The influences and interests for and
against its adoption took form in the groupings of Federalists and
Anti-Federalists, and these, after the creation of the new government,
became respectively, in underlying principles, and, to a large extent,
in personnel, the Federalist party (q.v.) and the Democratic-Republican
party.[1] The latter, organized by Thomas Jefferson in opposition to the
Federalists dominated by Alexander Hamilton, was a real party by 1792.
The great service of attaching to the constitution a democratic bill of
rights belongs to the Anti-Federalists or Democratic-Republican party,
although this was then amorphous. The Democratic-Republican party gained
full control of the government, save the judiciary, in 1801, and
controlled it continuously thereafter until 1825. No political
"platforms" were then known, but the writings of Jefferson, who
dominated his party throughout this period, take the place of such. His
inaugural address of 1801 is a famous statement of democratic
principles, which to-day are taken for granted only because, through the
party organized by him to secure their success, they became universally
accepted as the ideal of American institutions. In all the colonies,
says John Adams, "a court and a country party had always contended";
Jefferson's followers believed sincerely that the Federalists were a new
court party, and monarchist. Hence they called themselves "Republicans"
as against monarchists,--standing also, incidentally, for states' rights
against the centralization that monarchy (or any approach to it)
implied; and "Democrats" as against aristocrats,--standing for the
"common rights of Englishmen," the "rights of man," the levelling of
social ranks and the widening of political privileges. In the early
years of its history--and during the period of the French Revolution and
afterwards--the Republicans sympathized with the French as against the
British, the Federalists with the British as against the French.

Devotion to abstract principles of democracy and liberty, and in
practical politics a strict construction of the constitution, in order
to prevent an aggrandizement of national power at the expense of the
states (which were nearer popular control) or the citizens, have been
permanent characteristics of the Democratic party as contrasted with its
principal opponents; but neither these nor any other distinctions have
been continuously or consistently true throughout its long course.[2]
After 1801 the commercial and manufacturing nationalistic[3] elements of
the Federalist party, being now dependent on Jefferson for protection,
gradually went over to the Republicans, especially after the War of
1812; moreover, administration of government naturally developed in
Republican ranks a group of broad-constructionists. These groups fused,
and became an independent party.[4] They called themselves _National_
Republicans, while the Jacksonian Republicans soon came to be known
simply as Democrats.[5] Immediately afterward followed the tremendous
victory of the Jacksonians in 1828,--a great advance in radical
democracy over the victory of 1800. In the interval the Federalist party
had disappeared, and practically the entire country, embracing
Jeffersonian democracy, had passed through the school of the Republican
party. It had established the power of the "people" in the sense of that
word in present-day American politics. Bills of rights in every state
constitution protected the citizen; some state judges were already
elective; very soon the people came to nominate their presidential
candidates in national conventions, and draft their party platforms
through their convention representatives.[6] After the National
Republican scission the Democratic party, weakened thereby in its
nationalistic tendencies, and deprived of the leadership of Jackson,
fell quickly under the control of its Southern adherents and became
virtually sectional in its objects. Its states' rights doctrine was
turned to the defence of slavery. In thus opposing anti-slavery
sentiment--inconsistently, alike as regarded the "rights of man" and
constitutional construction, with its original and permanent
principles--it lost morale and power. As a result of the contest over
Kansas it became fatally divided, and in 1860 put forward two
presidential tickets: one representing the doctrine of Jefferson Davis
that the constitution recognized slave-property, and therefore the
national government must protect slavery in the territories; the other
representing Douglas's doctrine that the inhabitants of a territory
might virtually exclude slavery by "unfriendly legislation." The
combined popular votes for the two tickets exceeded that cast by the
new, anti-slavery Republican party (the second of the name) for Lincoln;
but the election was lost. During the ensuing Civil War such members of
the party as did not become War Democrats antagonized the Lincoln
administration, and in 1864 made the great blunder of pronouncing the
war "a failure." Owing to Republican errors in reconstruction and the
scandals of President Grant's administration, the party gradually
regained its strength and morale, until, having largely subordinated
Southern questions to economic issues, it cast for Tilden for president
in 1876 a popular vote greater than that obtained by the Republican
candidate, Hayes, and gained control of the House of Representatives.
The Electoral Commission, however, made Hayes president, and the quiet
acceptance of this decision by the Democratic party did it considerable
credit.

Since 1877 the Southern states have been almost solidly Democratic; but,
except on the negro question, such unanimity among Southern whites has
been, naturally, factitious; and by no means an unmixed good for the
party. Apart from the "Solid South," the period after 1875 is
characterized by two other party difficulties. The first was the attempt
from 1878 to 1896 to "straddle" the silver issue;[7] the second, an
attempt after 1896 to harmonize general elements of conservatism and
radicalism within the party. In 1896 the South and West gained control
of the organization, and the national campaigns of 1896 and 1900 were
fought and lost mainly on the issue of "free silver," which, however,
was abandoned before 1904. After 1898 "imperialism," to which the
Democrats were hostile, became another issue. Finally, after 1896, there
became very apparent in the party a tendency to attract the radical
elements of society in the general re-alignment of parties taking place
on industrial-social issues; the Democratic party apparently attracting,
in this readjustment, the "radicals" and the "masses" as in the time of
Jefferson and Jackson. In this process, in the years 1896-1900, it took
over many of the principles and absorbed, in large part, the members of
the radical third-party of the "Populists," only to be confronted
thereupon by the growing strength of Socialism, challenging it to a
farther radical widening of its programme. From 1860 to 1908 it elected
but a single president (Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897).[8]
All American parties accepted long ago in theory "Jeffersonian
democracy"; but the Democratic party has been "the political champion of
those elements of the [American] democracy which are most democratic. It
stands nearest the people."[9] It may be noted that the Jeffersonian
Republicans did not attempt to democratize the constitution itself. The
choice of a president was soon popularized, however, in effect; and the
popular election of United States senators is to-day a definite
Democratic tenet.[10]

   BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For an exposition of the party's principles see Thomas
   Jefferson, _Writings_, ed. by P. L. Ford (10 vols., New York,
   1892-1899); J. P. Foley (ed.), _The Jeffersonian Cyclopaedia_ (New
   York, 1900); and especially the _Campaign Text-Books_ of more recent
   times, usually issued by the national Democratic committee in
   alternate years, and M. Carey, _The Democratic Speaker's Handbook_
   (Cincinnati, 1868). For a hostile criticism of the party, see W. D.
   Jones, _Mirror of Modern Democracy_; _History of the Democratic Party
   from 1825 to 1861_ (New York, 1864); Jonathan Norcross, _History of
   Democracy Considered as a Party-Name and a Political Organization_
   (New York, 1883); J. H. Patton, _The Democratic Party: Its Political
   History and Influence_ (New York, 1884). Favourable treatises are R.
   H. Gillet, _Democracy in the United States_ (New York, 1868); and
   George Fitch, _Political Facts: an Historical Text-Book of the
   Democratic and Other Parties_ (Baltimore, 1884). See also, for
   general political history, Thomas H. Benton, _Thirty Years' View_ (2
   vols., New York, 1854-1856, and later editions); James G. Blaine,
   _Twenty Years of Congress_ (2 vols., Norwich, Conn., 1884-1893); S.
   S. Cox, _Three Decades of Federal Legislation_ (Providence, 1885); S.
   P. Orth, _Five American Politicians: a Study in the Evolution of
   American Politics_ (Cleveland, 1906), containing sketches of four
   Democratic leaders--Burr, De Witt Clinton, Van Buren and Douglas; J.
   Macy, _Party Organization and Machinery_ (New York, 1904); J. H.
   Hopkins, _History of Political Parties in the United States_ (New
   York, 1900); E. S. Stanwood, _History of the Presidency_ (last ed.,
   Boston, 1904); J. P. Gordy, _History of Political Parties_, i. (New
   York, 1900); H. J. Ford, _Rise and Growth of American Politics_ (New
   York, 1898); Alexander Johnston, _History of American Politics_ (New
   York, 1900, and later editions); C. E. Merriam, _A History of
   American Political Theories_ (New York, 1903), containing chapters on
   the Jeffersonian and the Jacksonian Democracy; and James A. Woodburn,
   _Political Parties and Party Problems in the United States_ (New
   York, 1903).


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] The prefix "Democratic" was not used by Jefferson; it became
    established, however, and official.

  [2] Under the rubric of "strict construction" fall the greatest
    struggles in the party's history: those over the United States Bank,
    over tariffs--for protection or for "revenue" only--over "internal
    improvements," over issues of administrative economy in providing for
    the "general welfare," &c. The course of the party has frequently
    been inconsistent, and its doctrines have shown, absolutely
    considered, progressive latitudinarianism.

  [3] "Nationalistic" is used here and below, not in the sense of a
    general nationalistic spirit, such as that of Jackson, but to
    indicate the centralizing tendency of a broad construction of
    constitutional powers in behalf of commerce and manufactures.

  [4] Standing for protective tariffs, internal improvements, &c.

  [5] It should be borne in mind, however, that the Democratic party of
    Jackson was not strictly _identical_ with the Democratic-Republican
    party of Jefferson,--and some writers date back the origin of the
    present Democratic party only to 1828-1829.

  [6] The Democratic national convention of 1832 was preceded by an
    Anti-Masonic convention of 1830 and by the National-Republican
    convention of 1831; but the Democratic platform of 1840 was the first
    of its kind.

  [7] The attitude of the Republican party was no less inconsistent and
    evasive.

  [8] It controlled the House of Representatives from 1874 to 1894
    except in 1880-1882 and 1888-1890; but except for a time in
    Cleveland's second term, there were never simultaneously a Democratic
    president and a Democratic majority in Congress.

  [9] Professor A. D. Morse in _International Monthly_, October 1900.
    He adds, "It has done more to Americanize the foreigner than all
    other parties." (It is predominant in the great cities of the
    country.)

  [10] In connexion with the prevalent popular tendency to regard the
    president as a people's tribune, it may be noted that a strong
    presidential veto is, historically, peculiarly a Democratic
    contribution, owing to the history of Jackson's (compare Cleveland's)
    administration.




DEMOCRITUS, probably the greatest of the Greek physical philosophers,
was a native of Abdera in Thrace, or as some say--probably wrongly--of
Miletus (Diog. Laërt. ix. 34). Our knowledge of his life is based almost
entirely on tradition of an untrustworthy kind. He seems to have been
born about 470 or 460 B.C., and was, therefore, an older contemporary of
Socrates. He inherited a considerable property, which enabled him to
travel widely in the East in search of information. In Egypt he settled
for seven years, during which he studied the mathematical and physical
systems of the ancient schools. The extent to which he was influenced by
the Magi and the Eastern astrologists is a matter of pure conjecture. He
returned from his travels impoverished; one tradition says that he
received 500 talents from his fellow-citizens, and that a public funeral
was decreed him. Another tradition states that he was regarded as insane
by the Abderitans, and that Hippocrates was summoned to cure him.
Diodorus Siculus tells us that he died at the age of ninety; others make
him as much as twenty years older. His works, according to Diogenes
Laërtius, numbered seventy-two, and were characterized by a purity of
style which compares favourably with that of Plato. The absurd epithet,
the "laughing philosopher," applied to him by some unknown and very
superficial thinker, may possibly have contributed in some measure to
the fact that his importance was for centuries overlooked. It is
interesting, however, to notice that Bacon (_De Principiis_) assigns to
him his true place in the history of thought, and points out that both
in his own day and later "in the times of Roman learning" he was spoken
of in terms of the highest praise. In the variety of his knowledge, and
in the importance of his influence on both Greek and modern speculation
he was the Aristotle of the 5th century, while the sanity of his
metaphysical theory has led many to regard him as the equal, if not the
superior, of Plato.

His views may be treated under the following heads:--

1. _The Atoms and Cosmology_ (adopted in part at least from the
doctrines of Leucippus, though the relations between the two are
hopelessly obscure). While agreeing with the Eleatics as to the eternal
sameness of Being (nothing can arise out of nothing; nothing can be
reduced to nothing), Democritus followed the physicists in denying its
oneness and immobility. Movement and plurality being necessary to
explain the phenomena of the universe and impossible without space
(not-Being), he asserted that the latter had an equal right with Being
to be considered existent. Being is the Full ([Greek: plêres], plenum);
not-Being is the Void ([Greek: kenon], _vacuum_), the infinite space in
which moved the infinite number of atoms into which the single Being of
the Eleatics was broken up. These atoms are eternal and invisible;
absolutely small, so small that their size cannot be diminished (hence
the name [Greek: atomos], "indivisible"); absolutely full and
incompressible, they are without pores and entirely fill the space they
occupy; homogeneous, differing only in figure (as A from N), arrangement
(as AN from NA), position (as N is Z on its side), magnitude (and
consequently in weight, although some authorities dispute this). But
while the atoms thus differ in quantity, their differences of quality
are only apparent, due to the impressions caused on our senses by
different configurations and combinations of atoms. A thing is only hot
or cold, sweet or bitter, hard or soft by convention ([Greek: nomô]);
the only things that exist in reality ([Greek: eteê]) are the atoms and
the void. Locke's distinction between primary and secondary qualities is
here anticipated. Thus, the atoms of water and iron are the same, but
those of the former, being smooth and round, and therefore unable to
hook on to one another, roll over and over like small globes, whereas
the atoms of iron, being rough, jagged and uneven, cling together and
form a solid body. Since all phenomena are composed of the same eternal
atoms (just as a tragedy and a comedy contain the same letters) it may
be said that nothing comes into being or perishes in the absolute sense
of the words (cf. the modern "indestructibility of matter" and
"conservation of energy"), although the compounds of the atoms are
liable to increase and decrease, appearance and disappearance--in other
words, to birth and death. As the atoms are eternal and uncaused, so is
motion; it has its origin in a preceding motion, and so on _ad
infinitum_. For the Love and Hate of Empedocles and the _Nous_
(Intelligence) of Anaxagoras, Democritus substituted fixed and necessary
laws (not chance; that is a misrepresentation due chiefly to Cicero).
Everything can be explained by a purely mechanical (but not fortuitous)
system, in which there is no room for the idea of a providence or an
intelligent cause working with a view to an end. The origin of the
universe was explained as follows. An infinite number of atoms was
carried downwards through infinite space. The larger (and heavier),
falling with greater velocity, overtook and collided with the smaller
(and lighter), which were thereby forced upwards. This caused various
lateral and contrary movements, resulting in a whirling movement
([Greek: dinê]) resembling the rotation of Anaxagoras, whereby similar
atoms were brought together (as in the winnowing of grain) and united to
form larger bodies and worlds. Atoms and void being infinite in number
and extent, and motion having always existed, there must always have
been an infinite number of worlds, all consisting of similar atoms, in
various stages of growth and decay.

2. _The Soul._--Democritus devoted considerable attention to the
structure of the human body, the noblest portion of which he considered
to be the soul, which everywhere pervades it, a psychic atom being
intercalated between two corporeal atoms. Although, in accordance with
his principles, Democritus was bound to regard the soul as material
(composed of round, smooth, specially mobile atoms, identified with the
fire-atoms floating in the air), he admitted a distinction between it
and the body, and is even said to have looked upon it as something
divine. These all-pervading soul atoms exercise different functions in
different organs; the head is the seat of reason, the heart of anger,
the liver of desire. Life is maintained by the inhalation of fresh atoms
to replace those lost by exhalation, and when respiration, and
consequently the supply of atoms, ceases, the result is death. It
follows that the soul perishes with, and in the same sense as, the body.

3. _Perception._--Sensations are the changes produced in the soul by
external impressions, and are the result of contact, since every action
of one body (and all representations are corporeal phenomena) upon
another is of the nature of a shock. Certain emanations ([Greek:
aporrhoai, aporrhoiai]) or images ([Greek: eidôla]), consisting of
subtle atoms, thrown off from the surface of an object, penetrate the
body through the pores. On the principle that like acts upon like, the
particular senses are only affected by that which resembles them. We see
by means of the eye alone, and hear by means of the ear alone, these
organs being best adapted to receive the images or sound currents. The
organs are thus merely conduits or passages through which the atoms pour
into the soul. The eye, for example, is damp and porous, and the act of
seeing consists in the reflection of the image ([Greek: deikelon])
mirrored on the smooth moist surface of the pupil. To the interposition
of air is due the fact that all visual images are to some extent
blurred. At the same time Democritus distinguished between obscure
([Greek: skotiê]) cognition, resting on sensation alone, and genuine
([Greek: gnêsiê]), which is the result of inquiry by reason, and is
concerned with atoms and void, the only real existences. This knowledge,
however, he confessed was exceedingly difficult to attain.

It is in Democritus first that we find a real attempt to explain colour.
He regards black, red, white and green as primary. White is
characteristically smooth, i.e. casting no shadow, even, flat; black is
uneven, rough, shadowy and so on. The other colours result from various
mixtures of these four, and are infinite in number. Colour itself is not
objective; it is found not in the ultimate _plenum_ and _vacuum_, but
only in derived objects according to their physical qualities and
relations.

4. _Theology._--The system of Democritus was altogether anti-theistic.
But, although he rejected the notion of a deity taking part in the
creation or government of the universe, he yielded to popular prejudice
so far as to admit the existence of a class of beings, of the same form
as men, grander, composed of very subtle atoms, less liable to
dissolution, but still mortal, dwelling in the upper regions of air.
These beings also manifested themselves to man by means of images in
dreams, communicated with him, and sometimes gave him an insight into
the future. Some of them were benevolent, others malignant. According to
Plutarch, Democritus recognized one god under the form of a fiery
sphere, the soul of the world, but this idea is probably of later
origin. The popular belief in gods was attributed by Democritus to the
desire to explain extraordinary phenomena (thunder, lightning,
earthquakes) by reference to superhuman agency.

5. _Ethics._--Democritus's moral system--the first collection of ethical
precepts which deserves the name--strongly resembles the negative side
of the system of Epicurus. The _summum bonum_ is the maximum of pleasure
with the minimum of pain. But true pleasure is not sensual enjoyment; it
has its principle in the soul. It consists not in the possession of
wealth or flocks and herds, but in good humour, in the just disposition
and constant tranquillity of the soul. Hence the necessity of avoiding
extremes; too much and too little are alike evils. True happiness
consists in taking advantage of what one has and being content with it
(see ETHICS).

   BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Fragments edited by F. Mullach (1843) with commentary
   and in his _Fragmenta philosophorum Graecorum_, i. (1860). See also
   H. Ritter and L. Preller, _Historia philosophiae_ (chap. i. ad fin.);
   P. Lafaist (Lafaye), _Dissertation sur la philosophie atomistique_
   (1833); L. Liard, _De Democrito philosopho_ (Paris, 1873); H. C.
   Liepmann, _Die Leucipp-Democritischen Atome_ (Leipzig, 1886); F. A.
   Lange, _Geschichte des Materialismus_ (Eng. trans. by E. C. Thomas,
   1877); G. Hart, _Zur Seelen- und Erkenntnislehre des Democritus_
   (Leipzig, 1886); P. Natorp, _Die Ethika des Demokritos_ (Marburg,
   1893); A. Dyroff, _Demokritstudien_ (Leipzig, 1899); among general
   works C. A. Brandis, _Gesch. d. Entwickelungen d. griech.
   Philosophie_ (Bonn, 1862-1864); Ed. Zeller, _Pre-Socratic Philosophy_
   (Eng. trans., London, 1881); for his theory of sense-perception see
   especially J. I. Beare, _Greek Theories of Elementary Cognition_
   (Oxford, 1906).




DEMOGEOT, JACQUES CLAUDE (1808-1804), French man of letters, was born in
Paris on the 5th of July 1808. He was professor of rhetoric at the lycée
Saint Louis, and subsequently assistant professor at the Sorbonne. He
wrote many detached papers on various literary subjects, and two reports
on secondary education in England and Scotland in collaboration with H.
Montucci. His reputation rests on his excellent _Histoire de la
littérature française depuis ses origines jusqu'à nos jours_ (1851),
which has passed through many subsequent editions. He was also the
author of a _Tableau de la littérature française au XVII^e siècle_
(1859), and of a work (3 vols., 1880-1883) on the influence of foreign
literatures on the development of French literature. He died in Paris in
1894.




DEMOGRAPHY (from Gr. [Greek: dêmos], people, and [Greek: graphein], to
write), the science which deals with the statistics of health and
disease, of the physical, intellectual, physiological and economical
aspects of births, marriages and mortality. The first to employ the word
was Achille Guillard in his _Éléments de statistique humaine ou
démographie comparée_ (1855), but the meaning which he attached to it
was merely that of the science which treats of the condition, general
movement and progress of population in civilized countries, i.e. little
more than what is comprised in the ordinary vital statistics, gleaned
from census and registration reports. The word has come to have a much
wider meaning and may now be defined as that branch of statistics which
deals with the life-conditions of peoples.




DEMOIVRE, ABRAHAM (1667-1754), English mathematician of French
extraction, was born at Vitry, in Champagne, on the 26th of May 1667. He
belonged to a French Protestant family, and was compelled to take refuge
in England at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685. Having
laid the foundation of his mathematical studies in France, he prosecuted
them further in London, where he read public lectures on natural
philosophy for his support. The _Principia mathematica_ of Sir Isaac
Newton, which chance threw in his way, caused him to prosecute his
studies with vigour, and he soon became distinguished among first-rate
mathematicians. He was among the intimate personal friends of Newton,
and his eminence and abilities secured his admission into the Royal
Society of London in 1697, and afterwards into the Academies of Berlin
and Paris. His merit was so well known and acknowledged by the Royal
Society that they judged him a fit person to decide the famous contest
between Newton and G. W. Leibnitz (see INFINITESIMAL CALCULUS). The life
of Demoivre was quiet and uneventful. His old age was spent in obscure
poverty, his friends and associates having nearly all passed away before
him. He died at London, on the 27th of November 1754.

   The _Philosophical Transactions_ contain several of his papers. He
   also published some excellent works, such as _Miscellanea analytica
   de seriebus et quadraturis_ (1730), in 4to. This contained some
   elegant and valuable improvements on then existing methods, which
   have themselves, however, long been superseded. But he has been more
   generally known by his _Doctrine of Chances, or Method of Calculating
   the Probabilities of Events at Play_. This work was first printed in
   1618, in 4to, and dedicated to Sir Isaac Newton. It was reprinted in
   1738, with great alterations and improvements; and a third edition
   was afterwards published with additions in 1756. He also published a
   _Treatise on Annuities_ (1725), which has passed through several
   revised and corrected editions.

   See C. Hutton, _Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary_ (1815).
   For _Demoivre's Theorem_ see TRIGONOMETRY: Analytical.




DEMONETIZATION, a term employed in monetary science in two different
senses. (a) The depriving or divesting of a metal of its standard
monetary value. From 1663 to 1717 silver was the standard of value in
England and gold coins passed at their market value. The debasement and
underrating of the silver coinage insensibly brought about the
demonetization of silver in England as a standard of value and the
substitution of gold. During the latter half of the 19th century, the
tremendous depreciation of silver, owing to its continually increasing
production, and consequently the impossibility of preserving any ratio
of stability between it and gold, led to the abandonment or
demonetization of the metal as a standard and to its use merely as token
money. (b) The withdrawal of coin from circulation, as, for example, in
England that of all pre-Victorian gold coins under the provisions of the
Coinage Act 1889, and the royal proclamation of the 22nd of November
1890.




DEMONOLOGY ([Greek: Daimôn], demon, genius, spirit), the branch of the
science of religions which relates to superhuman beings which are not
gods. It deals both with benevolent beings which have no circle of
worshippers or so limited a circle as to be below the rank of gods, and
with malevolent beings of all kinds. It may be noted that the original
sense of "demon" was a benevolent being; but in English the name now
connotes malevolence; in German it has a neutral sense, e.g.
_Korndämonen_. Demons, when they are regarded as spirits, may belong to
either of the classes of spirits recognized by primitive animism (q.v.);
that is to say, they may be human, or non-human, separable souls, or
discarnate spirits which have never inhabited a body; a sharp
distinction is often drawn between these two classes, notably by the
Melanesians, the West Africans and others; the Arab _jinn_, for example,
are not reducible to modified human souls; at the same time these
classes are frequently conceived as producing identical results, e.g.
diseases.

Under the head of demons are classified only such spirits as are
believed to enter into relations with the human race; the term therefore
includes (1) human souls regarded as genii or familiars, (2) such as
receive a cult (for which see ANCESTOR WORSHIP), and (3) ghosts or other
malevolent revenants; excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another
world. But just as gods are not necessarily spiritual, demons may also
be regarded as corporeal; vampires for example are sometimes described
as human heads with appended entrails, which issue from the tomb to
attack the living during the night watches. The so-called Spectre
Huntsman of the Malay Peninsula is said to be a man who scours the
firmament with his dogs, vainly seeking for what he could not find on
earth--a buck mouse-deer pregnant with male offspring; but he seems to
be a living man; there is no statement that he ever died, nor yet that
he is a spirit. The incubus and succubus of the middle ages are
sometimes regarded as spiritual beings; but they were held to give very
real proof of their bodily existence. It should, however, be remembered
that primitive peoples do not distinguish clearly between material and
immaterial beings.

_Prevalence of Demons._--According to a conception of the world
frequently found among peoples of the lower cultures, all the affairs of
life are supposed to be under the control of spirits, each ruling a
certain element or even object, and themselves in subjection to a
greater spirit. Thus, the Eskimo are said to believe in spirits of the
sea, earth and sky, the winds, the clouds and everything in nature.
Every cove of the seashore, every point, every island and prominent rock
has its guardian spirit. All are of the malignant type, to be
propitiated only by acceptable offerings from persons who desire to
visit the locality where it is supposed to reside. A rise in culture
often results in an increase in the number of spiritual beings with whom
man surrounds himself. Thus, the Koreans go far beyond the Eskimo and
number their demons by thousands of billions; they fill the chimney, the
shed, the living-room, the kitchen, they are on every shelf and jar; in
thousands they waylay the traveller as he leaves his home, beside him,
behind him, dancing in front of him, whirring over his head, crying out
upon him from air, earth and water.

Especially complicated was the ancient Babylonian demonology; all the
petty annoyances of life--a sudden fall, a headache, a quarrel--were set
down to the agency of fiends; all the stronger emotions--love, hate,
jealousy and so on--were regarded as the work of demons; in fact so
numerous were they, that there were special fiends for various parts of
the human body--one for the head, another for the neck, and so on.
Similarly in Egypt at the present day the _jinn_ are believed to swarm
so thickly that it is necessary to ask their permission before pouring
water on the ground, lest one should accidentally be soused and vent his
anger on the offending human being. But these beliefs are far from being
confined to the uncivilized; Greek philosophers like Porphyry, no less
than the fathers of the Church, held that the world was pervaded with
spirits; side by side with the belief in witchcraft, we can trace
through the middle ages the survival of primitive animistic views; and
in our own day even these beliefs subsist in unsuspected vigour among
the peasantry of the more uneducated European countries. In fact the
ready acceptance of spiritualism testifies to the force with which the
primitive animistic way of looking at things appealed to the white races
in the middle of the last century.

_Character of Spiritual World._--The ascription of malevolence to the
world of spirits is by no means universal. In West Africa the Mpongwe
believe in local spirits, just as do the Eskimo; but they are regarded
as inoffensive in the main; true, the passer-by must make some trifling
offering as he nears their place of abode; but it is only occasionally
that mischievous acts, such as the throwing down of a tree on a
passer-by, are, in the view of the natives, perpetuated by the Ombuiri.
So too, many of the spirits especially concerned with the operations of
nature are conceived as neutral or even benevolent; the European peasant
fears the corn-spirit only when he irritates him by trenching on his
domain and taking his property by cutting the corn; similarly, there is
no reason why the more insignificant personages of the pantheon should
be conceived as malevolent, and we find that the _Petara_ of the Dyaks
are far from indiscriminating and malignant, though disease and death
are laid at their door.

_Classification._--Besides the distinctions of human and non-human,
hostile and friendly, the demons in which the lower races believe are
classified by them according to function, each class with a distinctive
name, with extraordinary minuteness, the list in the case of the Malays
running to several score. They have, for example, a demon of the
waterfall, a demon of wild-beast tracks, a demon which interferes with
snares for wild-fowl, a baboon demon, which takes possession of dancers
and causes them to perform wonderful feats of climbing, &c. But it is
impossible to do more than deal with a few types, which will illustrate
the main features of the demonology of savage, barbarous and
semi-civilized peoples.

(a) Natural causes, either of death or of disease, are hardly, if at
all, recognized by the uncivilized; everything is attributed to spirits
or magical influence of some sort. The spirits which cause disease may
be human or non-human and their influence is shown in more than one way;
they may enter the body of the victim (see POSSESSION), and either
dominate his mind as well as his body, inflict specific diseases, or
cause pains of various sorts. Thus the Mintra of the Malay Peninsula
have a demon corresponding to every kind of disease known to them; the
Tasmanian ascribed a gnawing pain to the presence within him of the soul
of a dead man, whom he had unwittingly summoned by mentioning his name
and who was devouring his liver; the Samoan held that the violation of a
food tabu would result in the animal being formed within the body of the
offender and cause his death. The demon theory of disease is still
attested by some of our medical terms; epilepsy (Gr. [Greek: epilêpsis],
seizure) points to the belief that the patient is possessed. As a
logical consequence of this view of disease the mode of treatment among
peoples in the lower stages of culture is mainly magical; they endeavour
to propitiate the evil spirits by sacrifice, to expel them by spells,
&c. (see EXORCISM), to drive them away by blowing, &c.; conversely we
find the Khonds attempt to keep away smallpox by placing thorns and
brushwood in the paths leading to places decimated by that disease, in
the hope of making the disease demon retrace his steps. This theory of
disease disappeared sooner than did the belief in possession; the
energumens ([Greek: energoumenoi]) of the early Christian church, who
were under the care of a special clerical order of exorcists, testify to
a belief in possession; but the demon theory of disease receives no
recognition; the energumens find their analogues in the converts of
missionaries in China, Africa and elsewhere. Another way in which a
demon is held to cause disease is by introducing itself into the
patient's body and sucking his blood; the Malays believe that a woman
who dies in childbirth becomes a _langsuir_ and sucks the blood of
children; victims of the lycanthrope are sometimes said to be done to
death in the same way; and it is commonly believed in Africa that the
wizard has the power of killing people in this way, probably with the
aid of a familiar.

(b) One of the primary meanings of [Greek: daimôn] is that of genius or
familiar, tutelary spirit; according to Hesiod the men of the golden
race became after death guardians or watchers over mortals. The idea is
found among the Romans also; they attributed to every man a genius who
accompanied him through life. A Norse belief found in Iceland is that
the _fylgia_, a genius in animal form, attends human beings; and these
animal guardians may sometimes be seen fighting; in the same way the
Siberian shamans send their animal familiars to do battle instead of
deciding their quarrels in person. The animal guardian reappears in the
_nagual_ of Central America (see article TOTEMISM), the _yunbeai_ of
some Australian tribes, the _manitou_ of the Red Indian and the bush
soul of some West African tribes; among the latter the link between
animal and human being is said to be established by the ceremony of the
blood bond. Corresponding to the animal guardian of the ordinary man, we
have the familiar of the witch or wizard. All the world over it is held
that such people can assume the form of animals; sometimes the power of
the shaman is held to depend on his being able to summon his familiar;
among the Ostiaks the shaman's coat was covered with representations of
birds and beasts; two bear's claws were on his hands; his wand was
covered with mouse-skin; when he wished to divine he beat his drum till
a black bird appeared and perched on his hut; then the shaman swooned,
the bird vanished, and the divination could begin. Similarly the
Greenland _angekok_ is said to summon his _torngak_ (which may be an
ancestral ghost or an animal) by drumming; he is heard by the bystanders
to carry on a conversation and obtain advice as to how to treat
diseases, the prospects of good weather and other matters of importance.
The familiar, who is sometimes replaced by the devil, commonly figured
in witchcraft trials; and a statute of James I. enacted that all persons
invoking an evil spirit or consulting, covenanting with, entertaining,
employing, feeding or rewarding any evil spirit should be guilty of
felony and suffer death. In modern spiritualism the familiar is
represented by the "guide," corresponding to which we have the
theosophical "guru."

(c) The familiar is sometimes an ancestral spirit, and here we touch the
fringe of the cult of the dead (see also ANCESTOR WORSHIP). Especially
among the lower races the dead are regarded as hostile; the Australian
avoids the grave even of a kinsman and elaborate ceremonies of mourning
are found amongst most primitive peoples, whose object seems to be to
rid the living of the danger they run by association with the ghost of
the dead. Among the Zulu the spirits of the dead are held to be friendly
or hostile, just as they were in life; on the Congo a man after death
joins the good or bad spirits according as his life has been good or
bad. Especially feared among many peoples are the souls of those who
have committed suicide or died a violent death; the woman who dies in
childbed is held to become a demon of the most dangerous kind; even the
unburied, as restless, dissatisfied spirits, are more feared than
ordinary ghosts. Naturally spirits of these latter kinds are more
valuable as familiars than ordinary dead men's souls. We find many
recipes for securing their aid. In the Malay Peninsula the blood of a
murdered man must be put in a bottle and prayers said over; after seven
days of this worship a sound is heard and the operator puts his finger
into the bottle for the polong, as the demon is called, to suck; it will
fly through the air in the shape of an exceedingly diminutive female
figure, and is always preceded by its pet, the pelesit, in the shape of
a grasshopper. In Europe a similar demon is said to be obtainable from a
cock's egg. In South Africa and India, on the other hand, the magician
digs up a dead body, especially of a child, to secure a familiar. The
evocation of spirits, especially in the form of necromancy, is an
important branch of the demonology of many peoples; and the
peculiarities of trance mediumship, which seem sufficiently established
by modern research, go far to explain the vogue of this art. It seems to
have been common among the Jews, and the case of the witch of Endor is
narrated in a way to suggest something beyond fraud; in the book of
magic which bears the name of Dr Faustus may be found many of the
formulae for raising demons; in England may be mentioned especially Dr
Dee as one of the most famous of those who claimed before the days of
modern spiritualism (q.v.) to have intercourse with the unseen world and
to summon demons at his will. Sometimes the spirits were summoned to
appear as did the phantoms of the Greek heroes to Odysseus; sometimes
they were called to enter a crystal (see CRYSTAL-GAZING); sometimes they
are merely asked to declare the future or communicate by moving external
objects without taking a visible form; thus among the Karens at the
close of the burial ceremonies the ghost of the dead man, which is said
to hover round till the rites are completed, is believed to make a ring
swing round and snap the string from which it hangs.

(d) The vampire is a particular form of demon which calls for some
notice. In the Malay Peninsula, parts of Polynesia, &c., it is conceived
as a head with attached entrails, which issues, it may be from the
grave, to suck the blood of living human beings. According to the Malays
a _penanggalan_ (vampire) is a living witch, and can be killed if she
can be caught; she is especially feared in houses where a birth has
taken place and it is the custom to hang up a bunch of thistle in order
to catch her; she is said to keep vinegar at home to aid her in
re-entering her own body. In Europe the Slavonic area is the principal
seat of vampire beliefs, and here too we find, as a natural development,
that means of preventing the dead from injuring the living have been
evolved by the popular mind. The corpse of the vampire, which may often
be recognized by its unnaturally ruddy and fresh appearance, should be
staked down in the grave or its head should be cut off; it is
interesting to note that the cutting off of heads of the dead was a
neolithic burial rite.

(e) The vampire is frequently blended in popular idea with the
Poltergeist (q.v.) or knocking spirit, and also with the werwolf (see
LYCANTHROPY).

(f) As might be expected, dream demons are very common; in fact the word
"nightmare" (A. S. _mær_, spirit, elf) preserves for us a record of this
form of belief, which is found right down to the lowest planes of
culture. The Australian, when he suffers from an oppression in his
sleep, says that Koin is trying to throttle him; the Caribs say that
Maboya beats them in their sleep; and the belief persists to this day in
some parts of Europe; horses too are said to be subject to the
persecutions of demons, which ride them at night. Another class of
nocturnal demons are the incubi and succubi, who are said to consort
with human beings in their sleep; in the Antilles these were the ghosts
of the dead; in New Zealand likewise ancestral deities formed liaisons
with females; in the Samoan Islands the inferior gods were regarded as
the fathers of children otherwise unaccounted for; the Hindus have rites
prescribed by which a companion nymph may be secured. The question of
the real existence of incubi and succubi, whom the Romans identified
with the fauns, was gravely discussed by the fathers of the church; and
in 1418 Innocent VIII. set forth the doctrine of lecherous demons as an
indisputable fact; and in the history of the Inquisition and of trials
for witchcraft may be found the confessions of many who bore witness to
their reality. In the _Anatomy of Melancholy_ Burton assures us that
they were never more numerous than in A.D. 1600.

(g) Corresponding to the personal tutelary spirit (supra, b) we have the
genii of buildings and places. The Romans celebrated the birthday of a
town and of its genius, just as they celebrated that of a man; and a
snake was a frequent form for this kind of demon; when we compare with
this the South African belief that the snakes which are in the
neighbourhood of the kraal are the incarnations of the ancestors of the
residents, it seems probable that some similar idea lay at the bottom of
the Roman belief; to this day in European folklore the house snake or
toad, which lives in the cellar, is regarded as the "life index" or
other self of the father of the house; the death of one involves the
death of the other, according to popular belief. The assignment of genii
to buildings and gates is connected with an important class of
sacrifices; in order to provide a tutelary spirit, or to appease
chthonic deities, it was often the custom to sacrifice a human being or
an animal at the foundation of a building; sometimes we find a similar
guardian provided for the frontier of a country or of a tribe. The house
spirit is, however, not necessarily connected with this idea. In Russia
the _domovoi_ (house spirit) is an important personage in folk-belief;
he may object to certain kinds of animals, or to certain colours in
cattle; and must, generally speaking, be propitiated and cared for.
Corresponding to him we have the drudging goblin of English folklore.

(h) It has been shown above how the animistic creed postulates the
existence of all kinds of local spirits, which are sometimes tied to
their habitats, sometimes free to wander. Especially prominent in
Europe, classical, medieval and modern, and in East Asia, is the spirit
of the lake, river, spring, or well, often conceived as human, but also
in the form of a bull or horse; the term Old Nick may refer to the
water-horse Nök. Less specialized in their functions are many of the
figures of modern folklore, some of whom have perhaps replaced some
ancient goddess, e.g. Frau Holda; others, like the Welsh Pwck, the
Lancashire boggarts or the more widely found Jack-o'-Lantern (Will o'
the Wisp), are sprites who do no more harm than leading the wanderer
astray. The banshee is perhaps connected with ancestral or house
spirits; the Wild Huntsman, the Gabriel hounds, the Seven Whistlers,
&c., are traceable to some actual phenomenon; but the great mass of
British goblindom cannot now be traced back to savage or barbarous
analogues. Among other local sprites may be mentioned the kobolds or
spirits of the mines. The fairies (see FAIRY), located in the fairy
knolls by the inhabitants of the Shetlands, may also be put under this
head.

(i) The subject of plant souls is referred to in connexion with animism
(q.v.); but certain aspects of this phase of belief demand more detailed
treatment. Outside the European area vegetation spirits of all kinds
seem to be conceived, as a rule, as anthropomorphic; in classical
Europe, and parts of the Slavonic area at the present day, the tree
spirit was believed to have the form of a goat, or to have goats' feet.

Of special importance in Europe is the conception of the so-called "corn
spirit"; W. Mannhardt collected a mass of information proving that the
life of the corn is supposed to exist apart from the corn itself and to
take the form, sometimes of an animal, sometimes of a man or woman,
sometimes of a child. There is, however, no proof that the belief is
animistic in the proper sense. The animal which popular belief
identified with the corn demon is sometimes killed in the spring in
order to mingle its blood or bones with the seed; at harvest-time it is
supposed to sit in the last corn and the animals driven out from it are
sometimes killed; at others the reaper who cuts the last ear is said to
have killed the "wolf" or the "dog," and sometimes receives the name of
"wolf" or "dog" and retains it till the next harvest. The corn spirit is
also said to be hiding in the barn till the corn is threshed, or it may
be said to reappear at midwinter, when the farmer begins to think of his
new year of labour and harvest. Side by side with the conception of the
corn spirit as an animal is the anthropomorphic view of it; and this
element must have predominated in the evolution of the cereal deities
like Demeter; at the same time traces of the association of gods and
goddesses of corn with animal embodiments of the corn spirit are found.

(j) In many parts of the world, and especially in Africa, is found the
conception termed the "otiose creator"; that is to say, the belief in a
great deity, who is the author of all that exists but is too remote from
the world and too high above terrestrial things to concern himself with
the details of the universe. As a natural result of this belief we find
the view that the operations of nature are conducted by a multitude of
more or less obedient subordinate deities; thus, in Portuguese West
Africa the Kimbunda believe in Suku-Vakange, but hold that he has
committed the government of the universe to innumerable _kilulu_ good
and bad; the latter kind are held to be far more numerous, but
Suku-Vakange is said to keep them in order by occasionally smiting them
with his thunderbolts; were it not for this, man's lot would be
insupportable.

Sometimes the gods of an older religion degenerate into the demons of
the belief which supersedes it. A conspicuous example of this is found
in the attitude of the Hebrew prophets to the gods of the nations, whose
power they recognize without admitting their claim to reverence and
sacrifice. The same tendency is seen in many early missionary works and
is far from being without influence even at the present day. In the
folklore of European countries goblindom is peopled by gods and
nature-spirits of an earlier heathendom. We may also compare the Persian
_devs_ with the Indian _devas_.

_Expulsion of Demons._--In connexion with demonology mention must be
made of the custom of expelling ghosts, spirits or evils generally.
Primitive peoples from the Australians upwards celebrate, usually at
fixed intervals, a driving out of hurtful influences. Sometimes, as
among the Australians, it is merely the ghosts of those who have died in
the year which are thus driven out; from this custom must be
distinguished another, which consists in dismissing the souls of the
dead at the close of the year and sending them on their journey to the
other world; this latter custom seems to have an entirely different
origin and to be due to love and not fear of the dead. In other cases it
is believed that evil spirits generally or even non-personal evils such
as sins are believed to be expelled. In these customs originated perhaps
the scapegoat, some forms of sacrifice (q.v.) and other cathartic
ceremonies.

   BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Tylor, _Primitive Culture_; Frazer, _Golden Bough_;
   Skeat, _Malay Magic_; Bastian, _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_;
   Callaway, _Religion of the Amazulu_; Hild, _Étude sur les démons_;
   Welcker, _Griechische Götterlehre_, i. 731; _Trans. Am. Phil. Soc._
   xxvi. 79; Calmet, _Dissertation sur les esprits_; Maury, _La Magie_;
   L. W. King, _Babylonian Magic_; Lenormant, _La Magie chez les
   Chaldéens_; R. C. Thompson, _Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia_;
   Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_; Roskoff, _Geschichte des Teufels_;
   Sibly, _Illustration of the Occult Sciences_; Scott, _Demonology_;
   Pitcairn, _Scottish Criminal Trials_; _Jewish Quarterly Rev._ viii.
   576, &c.; Horst, _Zauberbibliothek_; _Jewish Encyclopedia_, s.v.
   "Demonology." See also bibliography to POSSESSION, ANIMISM and other
   articles.                                               (N. W. T.)




DE MORGAN, AUGUSTUS (1806-1871), English mathematician and logician, was
born in June 1806, at Madura, in the Madras presidency. His father,
Colonel John De Morgan, was employed in the East India Company's
service, and his grandfather and great-grandfather had served under
Warren Hastings. On the mother's side he was descended from James
Dodson, F.R.S., author of the _Anti-logarithmic Canon_ and other
mathematical works of merit, and a friend of Abraham Demoivre. Seven
months after the birth of Augustus, Colonel De Morgan brought his wife,
daughter and infant son to England, where he left them during a
subsequent period of service in India, dying in 1816 on his way home.

Augustus De Morgan received his early education in several private
schools, and before the age of fourteen years had learned Latin, Greek
and some Hebrew, in addition to acquiring much general knowledge. At the
age of sixteen years and a half he entered Trinity College, Cambridge,
and studied mathematics, partly under the tuition of Sir G. B. Airy. In
1825 he gained a Trinity scholarship. De Morgan's love of wide reading
somewhat interfered with his success in the mathematical tripos, in
which he took the fourth place in 1827. He was prevented from taking his
M.A. degree, or from obtaining a fellowship, by his conscientious
objection to signing the theological tests then required from masters of
arts and fellows at Cambridge.

A career in his own university being closed against him, he entered
Lincoln's Inn; but had hardly done so when the establishment, in 1828,
of the university of London, in Gower Street, afterwards known as
University College, gave him an opportunity of continuing his
mathematical pursuits. At the early age of twenty-two he gave his first
lecture as professor of mathematics in the college which he served with
the utmost zeal and success for a third of a century. His connexion with
the college, indeed, was interrupted in 1831, when a disagreement with
the governing body caused De Morgan and some other professors to resign
their chairs simultaneously. When, in 1836, his successor was
accidentally drowned, De Morgan was requested to resume the
professorship.

In 1837 he married Sophia Elizabeth, daughter of William Frend, a
Unitarian in faith, a mathematician and actuary in occupation, a notice
of whose life, written by his son-in-law, will be found in the _Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_ (vol. v.). They settled in
Chelsea (30 Cheyne Row), where in later years Mrs De Morgan had a large
circle of intellectual and artistic friends.

As a teacher of mathematics De Morgan was unrivalled. He gave
instruction in the form of continuous lectures delivered extempore from
brief notes. The most prolonged mathematical reasoning, and the most
intricate formulae, were given with almost infallible accuracy from the
resources of his extraordinary memory. De Morgan's writings, however
excellent, give little idea of the perspicuity and elegance of his viva
voce expositions, which never failed to fix the attention of all who
were worthy of hearing him. Many of his pupils have distinguished
themselves, and, through Isaac Todhunter and E. J. Routh, he had an
important influence on the later Cambridge school. For thirty years he
took an active part in the business of the Royal Astronomical Society,
editing its publications, supplying obituary notices of members, and for
eighteen years acting as one of the honorary secretaries. He was also
frequently employed as consulting actuary, a business in which his
mathematical powers, combined with sound judgment and business-like
habits, fitted him to take the highest place.

De Morgan's mathematical writings contributed powerfully towards the
progress of the science. His memoirs on the "Foundation of Algebra," in
the 7th and 8th volumes of the _Cambridge Philosophical Transactions_,
contain some of the most important contributions which have been made to
the philosophy of mathematical method; and Sir W. Rowan Hamilton, in the
preface to his _Lectures on Quaternions_, refers more than once to those
papers as having led and encouraged him in the working out of the new
system of quaternions. The work on _Trigonometry and Double Algebra_
(1849) contains in the latter part a most luminous and philosophical
view of existing and possible systems of symbolic calculus. But De
Morgan's influence on mathematical science in England can only be
estimated by a review of his long series of publications, which
commence, in 1828, with a translation of part of Bourdon's _Elements of
Algebra_, prepared for his students. In 1830 appeared the first edition
of his well-known _Elements of Arithmetic_, which did much to raise the
character of elementary training. It is distinguished by a simple yet
thoroughly philosophical treatment of the ideas of number and magnitude,
as well as by the introduction of new abbreviated processes of
computation, to which De Morgan always attributed much practical
importance. Second and third editions were called for in 1832 and 1835;
a sixth edition was issued in 1876. De Morgan's other principal
mathematical works were _The Elements of Algebra_ (1835), a valuable but
somewhat dry elementary treatise; the _Essay on Probabilities_ (1838),
forming the 107th volume of _Lardner's Cyclopaedia_, which forms a
valuable introduction to the subject; and _The Elements of Trigonometry
and Trigonometrical Analysis, preliminary to the Differential Calculus_
(1837). Several of his mathematical works were published by the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, of which De Morgan was at one
time an active member. Among these may be mentioned the _Treatise on the
Differential and Integral Calculus_ (1842); the _Elementary
Illustrations of the Differential and Integral Calculus_, first
published in 1832, but often bound up with the larger treatise; the
essay, _On the Study and Difficulties of Mathematics_ (1831); and a
brief treatise on _Spherical Trigonometry_ (1834). By some accident the
work on probability in the same series, written by Sir J. W. Lubbock and
J. Drinkwater-Bethune, was attributed to De Morgan, an error which
seriously annoyed his nice sense of bibliographical accuracy. For
fifteen years he did all in his power to correct the mistake, and
finally wrote to _The Times_ to disclaim the authorship. (See _Monthly
Notices_ of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. xxvi. p. 118.) Two of
his most elaborate treatises are to be found in the _Encyclopaedia
metropolitana_, namely the articles on the Calculus of Functions, and the
Theory of Probabilities. De Morgan's minor mathematical writings were
scattered over various periodicals. A list of these and other papers
will be found in the _Royal Society's Catalogue_, which contains
forty-two entries under the name of De Morgan.

In spite, however, of the excellence and extent of his mathematical
writings, it is probably as a logical reformer that De Morgan will be
best remembered. In this respect he stands alongside of his great
contemporaries Sir W. R. Hamilton and George Boole, as one of several
independent discoverers of the all-important principle of the
quantification of the predicate. Unlike most mathematicians, De Morgan
always laid much stress upon the importance of logical training. In his
admirable papers upon the modes of teaching arithmetic and geometry,
originally published in the _Quarterly Journal of Education_ (reprinted
in _The Schoolmaster_, vol ii.), he remonstrated against the neglect of
logical doctrine. In 1839 he produced a small work called _First
Notions of Logic_, giving what he had found by experience to be much
wanted by students commencing with _Euclid_. In October 1846 he
completed the first of his investigations, in the form of a paper
printed in the _Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society_
(vol. viii. No. 29). In this paper the principle of the quantified
predicate was referred to, and there immediately ensued a memorable
controversy with Sir W. R. Hamilton regarding the independence of De
Morgan's discovery, some communications having passed between them in
the autumn of 1846. The details of this dispute will be found in the
original pamphlets, in the _Athenaeum_ and in the appendix to De
Morgan's _Formal Logic_. Suffice it to say that the independence of De
Morgan's discovery was subsequently recognized by Hamilton. The eight
forms of proposition adopted by De Morgan as the basis of his system
partially differ from those which Hamilton derived from the quantified
predicate. The general character of De Morgan's development of logical
forms was wholly peculiar and original on his part.

Late in 1847 De Morgan published his principal logical treatise, called
_Formal Logic, or the Calculus of Inference, Necessary and Probable_.
This contains a reprint of the _First Notions_, an elaborate development
of his doctrine of the syllogism, and of the numerical definite
syllogism, together with chapters of great interest on probability,
induction, old logical terms and fallacies. The severity of the treatise
is relieved by characteristic touches of humour, and by quaint anecdotes
and allusions furnished from his wide reading and perfect memory. There
followed at intervals, in the years 1850, 1858, 1860 and 1863, a series
of four elaborate memoirs on the "Syllogism," printed in volumes ix. and
x. of the _Cambridge Philosophical Transactions_. These papers taken
together constitute a great treatise on logic, in which he substituted
improved systems of notation, and developed a new logic of relations,
and a new onymatic system of logical expression. In 1860 De Morgan
endeavoured to render their contents better known by publishing a
_Syllabus of a Proposed System of Logic_, from which may be obtained a
good idea of his symbolic system, but the more readable and interesting
discussions contained in the memoirs are of necessity omitted. The
article "Logic" in the _English Cyclopaedia_ (1860) completes the list
of his logical publications.

Throughout his logical writings De Morgan was led by the idea that the
followers of the two great branches of exact science, logic and
mathematics, had made blunders,--the logicians in neglecting
mathematics, and the mathematicians in neglecting logic. He endeavoured
to reconcile them, and in the attempt showed how many errors an acute
mathematician could detect in logical writings, and how large a field
there was for discovery. But it may be doubted whether De Morgan's own
system, "horrent with mysterious spiculae," as Hamilton aptly described
it, is fitted to exhibit the real analogy between quantitative and
qualitative reasoning, which is rather to be sought in the logical works
of Boole.

   Perhaps the largest part, in volume, of De Morgan's writings remains
   still to be briefly mentioned; it consists of detached articles
   contributed to various periodical or composite works. During the
   years 1833-1843 he contributed very largely to the first edition of
   the _Penny Cyclopaedia_, writing chiefly on mathematics, astronomy,
   physics and biography. His articles of various length cannot be less
   in number than 850, and they have been estimated to constitute a
   sixth part of the whole _Cyclopaedia_, of which they formed perhaps
   the most valuable portion. He also wrote biographies of Sir Isaac
   Newton and Edmund Halley for Knight's _British Worthies_, various
   notices of scientific men for the _Gallery of Portraits_, and for the
   uncompleted _Biographical Dictionary_ of the Useful Knowledge
   Society, and at least seven articles in Smith's _Dictionary of Greek
   and Roman Biography_. Some of De Morgan's most interesting and useful
   minor writings are to be found in the _Companions to the British
   Almanack_, to which he contributed without fail one article each year
   from 1831 up to 1857 inclusive. In these carefully written papers he
   treats a great variety of topics relating to astronomy, chronology,
   decimal coinage, life assurance, bibliography and the history of
   science. Most of them are as valuable now as when written.

   Among De Morgan's miscellaneous writings may be mentioned his
   _Explanation of the Gnomonic Projection of the Sphere_, 1836,
   including a description of the maps of the stars, published by the
   Useful Knowledge Society; his _Treatise on the Globes, Celestial and
   Terrestrial_, 1845, and his remarkable _Book of Almanacks_ (2nd
   edition, 1871), which contains a series of thirty-five almanacs, so
   arranged with indices of reference, that the almanac for any year,
   whether in old style or new, from any epoch, ancient or modern, up to
   A. D. 2000, may be found without difficulty, means being added for
   verifying the almanac and also for discovering the days of new and
   full moon from 2000 B. C. up to A. D. 2000. De Morgan expressly draws
   attention to the fact that the plan of this book was that of L. B.
   Francoeur and J. Ferguson, but the plan was developed by one who was
   an unrivalled master of all the intricacies of chronology. The two
   best tables of logarithms, the small five-figure tables of the Useful
   Knowledge Society (1839 and 1857), and Shroen's Seven Figure-Table
   (5th ed., 1865), were printed under De Morgan's superintendence.
   Several works edited by him will be found mentioned in the _British
   Museum Catalogue_. He made numerous anonymous contributions through a
   long series of years to the _Athenaeum_, and to _Notes and Queries_,
   and occasionally to _The North British Review_, _Macmillan's
   Magazine_, &c.

   Considerable labour was spent by De Morgan upon the subject of
   decimal coinage. He was a great advocate of the pound and mil scheme.
   His evidence on this subject was sought by the Royal Commission, and,
   besides constantly supporting the Decimal Association in periodical
   publications, he published several separate pamphlets on the subject.

   One marked characteristic of De Morgan was his intense and yet
   reasonable love of books. He was a true bibliophile and loved to
   surround himself, as far as his means allowed, with curious and rare
   books. He revelled in all the mysteries of watermarks, title-pages,
   colophons, catch-words and the like; yet he treated bibliography as
   an important science. As he himself wrote, "the most worthless book
   of a bygone day is a record worthy of preservation; like a telescopic
   star, its obscurity may render it unavailable for most purposes; but
   it serves, in hands which know how to use it, to determine the places
   of more important bodies." His evidence before the Royal Commission
   on the British Museum in 1850 (Questions 5704*-5815,* 6481-6513, and
   8966-8967), should be studied by all who would comprehend the
   principles of bibliography or the art of constructing a catalogue,
   his views on the latter subject corresponding with those carried out
   by Panizzi in the _British Museum Catalogue_. A sample of De Morgan's
   bibliographical learning is to be found in his account of
   _Arithmetical Books, from the Invention of Printing_ (1847), and
   finally in his _Budget of Paradoxes_. This latter work consists of
   articles most of which were originally published in the Athenaeum,
   describing the various attempts which have been made to invent a
   perpetual motion, to square the circle, or to trisect the angle; but
   De Morgan took the opportunity to include many curious bits gathered
   from his extensive reading, so that the _Budget_, as reprinted by his
   widow (1872), with much additional matter prepared by himself, forms
   a remarkable collection of scientific _ana_. De Morgan's
   correspondence with contemporary scientific men was very extensive
   and full of interest. It remains unpublished, as does also a large
   mass of mathematical tracts which he prepared for the use of his
   students, treating all parts of mathematical science, and embodying
   some of the matter of his lectures. De Morgan's library was purchased
   by Lord Overstone, and presented to the university of London.

In 1866 his life became clouded by the circumstances which led him to
abandon the institution so long the scene of his labours. The refusal of
the council to accept the recommendation of the senate, that they should
appoint an eminent Unitarian minister to the professorship of logic and
mental philosophy, revived all De Morgan's sensitiveness on the subject
of sectarian freedom; and, though his feelings were doubtless excessive,
there is no doubt that gloom was thrown over his life, intensified in
1867 by the loss of his son George Campbell De Morgan, a young man of
the highest scientific promise, whose name, as De Morgan expressly
wished, will long be connected with the London Mathematical Society, of
which he was one of the founders. From this time De Morgan rapidly fell
into ill-health, previously almost unknown to him, dying on the 18th of
March 1871. An interesting and truthful sketch of his life will be found
in the _Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society_ for the 9th
of February 1872, vol. xxii. p. 112, written by A. C. Ranyard, who says,
"He was the kindliest, as well as the most learned of men--benignant to
every one who approached him, never forgetting the claims which weakness
has on strength."

De Morgan left no published indications of his opinions on religious
questions, in regard to which he was extremely reticent. He seldom or
never entered a place of worship, and declared that he could not listen
to a sermon, a circumstance perhaps due to the extremely strict
religious discipline under which he was brought up. Nevertheless there
is reason to believe that he was of a deeply religious disposition.
Like M. Faraday and Sir I. Newton he entertained a confident belief in
Providence, founded not on any tenuous inference, but on personal
feeling. His hope of a future life also was vivid to the last.

It is impossible to omit a reference to his witty sayings, some
specimens of which are preserved in Dr Sadler's most interesting _Diary
of Henry Crabb Robinson_ (1869), which also contains a humorous account
of H. C. R. by De Morgan. It may be added that De Morgan was a great
reader and admirer of Dickens; he was also fond of music, and a fair
performer on the flute. (W. S. J.)

His son, WILLIAM FREND DE MORGAN (b. 1839), first became known in
artistic circles as a potter, the "De Morgan" tiles being remarkable for
his rediscovery of the secret of some beautiful colours and glazes. But
later in life he became even better known to the literary world by his
novels, _Joseph Vance_ (1906), _Alice for Short_ (1907), _Somehow Good_
(1908) and _It Never Can Happen Again_ (1909), in which the influence of
Dickens and of his own earlier family life were conspicuous.




DEMOSTHENES, the great Attic orator and statesman, was born in 384 (or
383) B.C. His father, who bore the same name, was an Athenian citizen
belonging to the deme of Paeania. His mother, Cleobule, was the daughter
of Gylon, a citizen who had been active in procuring the protection of
the kings of Bosporus for the Athenian colony of Nymphaeon in the
Crimea, and whose wife was a native of that region. On these grounds the
adversaries of Demosthenes, in after-days, used absurdly to taunt him
with a traitorous or barbarian ancestry. The boy had a bitter foretaste
of life. He was seven years old when his father died, leaving property
(in a manufactory of swords, and another of upholstery) worth about
£3500, which, invested as it seems to have been (20% was not thought
exorbitant), would have yielded rather more than £600 a year, £300 a
year was a very comfortable income at Athens, and it was possible to
live decently on a tenth of it. Nicias, a very rich man, had property
equivalent, probably, to not more than £4000 a year. Demosthenes was
born then, to a handsome, though not a great fortune. But his
guardians--two nephews of his father, Aphobus and Demophon, and one
Therippides--abused their trust, and handed over to Demosthenes, when he
came of age, rather less than one-seventh of his patrimony, perhaps
between £50 and £60 a year. Demosthenes, after studying with Isaeus
(q.v.)--then the great master of forensic eloquence and of Attic law,
especially in will cases[1]--brought an action against Aphobus, and
gained a verdict for about £2400. But it does not appear that he got the
money; and, after some more fruitless proceedings against Onetor, the
brother-in-law of Aphobus, the matter was dropped,--not, however, before
his relatives had managed to throw a public burden (the equipment of a
ship of war) on their late ward, whereby his resources were yet further
straitened. He now became a professional writer of speeches or pleas
([Greek: logographos]) for the law courts, sometimes speaking himself.
Biographers have delighted to relate how painfully Demosthenes made
himself a tolerable speaker,--how, with pebbles in his mouth, he tried
his lungs against the waves, how he declaimed as he ran up hill, how he
shut himself up in a cell, having first guarded himself against a
longing for the haunts of men by shaving one side of his head, how he
wrote out Thucydides eight times, how he was derided by the Assembly and
encouraged by a judicious actor who met him moping about the Peiraeus.
He certainly seems to have been the reverse of athletic (the stalwart
Aeschines upbraids him with never having been a sportsman), and he
probably had some sort of defect or impediment in his speech as a boy.
Perhaps the most interesting fact about his work for the law courts is
that he seems to have continued it, in some measure, through the most
exciting parts of his great political career. The speech for Phormio
belongs to the same year as the plea for Megalopolis. The speech against
Boeotus "Concerning the Name" comes between the First Philippic and the
First Olynthiac. The speech against Pantaenetus comes between the speech
"On the Peace" and the Second Philippic.


Political career and creed.

The political career of Demosthenes, from his first direct contact with
public affairs in 355 B.C. to his death in 322, has an essential unity.
It is the assertion, in successive forms adapted to successive moments,
of unchanging principles. Externally, it is divided into the chapter
which precedes and the chapter which follows Chaeronea. But its inner
meaning, the secret of its indomitable vigour, the law which harmonizes
its apparent contrasts, cannot be understood unless it is regarded as a
whole. Still less can it be appreciated in all its large wisdom and
sustained self-mastery if it is viewed merely as a duel between the
ablest champion and the craftiest enemy of Greek freedom. The time
indeed came when Demosthenes and Philip stood face to face as
representative antagonists in a mortal conflict. But, for Demosthenes,
the special peril represented by Philip, the peril of subjugation to
Macedon, was merely a disastrous accident. Philip happened to become the
most prominent and most formidable type of a danger which was already
threatening Greece before his baleful star arose. As Demosthenes said to
the Athenians, if the Macedonian had not existed, they would have made
another Philip for themselves. Until Athens recovered something of its
old spirit, there must ever be a great standing danger, not for Athens
only, but for Greece,--the danger that sooner or later, in some shape,
from some quarter--no man could foretell the hour, the manner or the
source--barbarian violence would break up the gracious and undefiled
tradition of separate Hellenic life.

What was the true relation of Athens to Greece? The answer which he gave
to this question is the key to the life of Demosthenes. Athens, so
Demosthenes held, was the natural head of Greece. Not, however, as an
empress holding subject or subordinate cities in a dependence more or
less compulsory. Rather as that city which most nobly expressed the
noblest attributes of Greek political existence, and which, by her
preeminent gifts both of intellect and of moral insight, was primarily
responsible, everywhere and always, for the maintenance of those
attributes in their integrity. Wherever the cry of the oppressed goes up
from Greek against Greek, it was the voice of Athens which should first
remind the oppressor that Hellene differed from barbarian in postponing
the use of force to the persuasions of equal law. Wherever a barbarian
hand offered wrong to any city of the Hellenic sisterhood, it was the
arm of Athens which should first be stretched forth in the holy strength
of Apollo the Averter. Wherever among her own children the ancient
loyalty was yielding to love of pleasure or of base gain, there, above
all, it was the duty of Athens to see that the central hearth of Hellas
was kept pure. Athens must never again seek "empire" in the sense which
became odious under the influence of Cleon and Hyperbolus,--when, to use
the image of Aristophanes, the allies were as Babylonian slaves grinding
in the Athenian mill. Athens must never permit, if she could help it,
the re-establishment of such a domination as Sparta exercised in Greece
from the battle of Aegospotami to the battle of Leuctra. Athens must aim
at leading a free confederacy, of which the members should be bound to
her by their own truest interests. Athens must seek to deserve the
confidence of all Greeks alike.


Theoric fund.

Such, in the belief of Demosthenes, was the part which Athens must
perform if Greece was to be safe. But reforms must be effected before
Athens could be capable of such a part. The evils to be cured were
different phases of one malady. Athens had long been suffering from the
profound decay of public spirit. Since the early years of the
Peloponnesian War, the separation of Athenian society from the state had
been growing more and more marked. The old type of the eminent citizen,
who was at once statesman and general, had become almost extinct.
Politics were now managed by a small circle of politicians. Wars were
conducted by professional soldiers whose troops were chiefly
mercenaries, and who were usually regarded by the politicians either as
instruments or as enemies. The mass of the citizens took no active
interest in public affairs. But, though indifferent to principles, they
had quickly sensitive partialities for men, and it was necessary to keep
them in good humour. Pericles had introduced the practice of giving a
small bounty from the treasury to the poorer citizens, for the purpose
of enabling them to attend the theatre at the great festivals,--in other
words, for the purpose of bringing them under the concentrated influence
of the best Attic culture. A provision eminently wise for the age of
Pericles easily became a mischief when the once honourable name of
"demagogue" began to mean a flatterer of the mob. Before the end of the
Peloponnesian War the festival-money (_theoricon_) was abolished. A few
years after the restoration of the democracy it was again introduced.
But until 354 B.C. it had never been more than a gratuity, of which the
payment depended on the treasury having a surplus. In 354 B.C. Eubulus
became steward of the treasury. He was an able man, with a special
talent for finance, free from all taint of personal corruption, and
sincerely solicitous for the honour of Athens, but enslaved to
popularity, and without principles of policy. His first measure was to
make the festival-money a permanent item in the budget. Thenceforth this
bounty was in reality very much what Demades afterwards called it,--the
cement ([Greek: kolla]) of the democracy.


Forensic speeches in Public causes.

Years before the danger from Macedon was urgent, Demosthenes had begun
the work of his life,--the effort to lift the spirit of Athens, to
revive the old civic loyalty, to rouse the city into taking that place
and performing that part which her own welfare as well as the safety of
Greece prescribed. His formally political speeches must never be
considered apart from his forensic speeches in public causes. The
Athenian procedure against the proposer of an unconstitutional law--i.e.
of a law incompatible with existing laws--had a direct tendency to make
the law court, in such cases, a political arena. The same tendency was
indirectly exerted by the tolerance of Athenian juries (in the absence
of a presiding expert like a judge) for irrelevant matter, since it was
usually easy for a speaker to make capital out of the adversary's
political antecedents. But the forensic speeches of Demosthenes for
public causes are not only political in this general sense. They are
documents, as indispensable as the Olynthiacs or Philippics, for his own
political career. Only by taking them along with the formally political
speeches, and regarding the whole as one unbroken series, can we see
clearly the full scope of the task which he set before him,--a task in
which his long resistance to Philip was only the most dramatic incident,
and in which his real achievement is not to be measured by the event of
Chaeronea.

A forensic speech, composed for a public cause, opens the political
career of Demosthenes with a protest against a signal abuse. In 355
B.C., at the age of twenty-nine, he wrote the speech "Against
Androtion." This combats on legal grounds a proposal that the out-going
senate should receive the honour of a golden crown. In its larger
aspect, it is a denunciation of the corrupt system which that senate
represented, and especially of the manner in which the treasury had been
administered by Aristophon. In 354 B.C. Demosthenes composed and spoke
the oration "Against Leptines," who had effected a slender saving for
the state by the expedient of revoking those hereditary exemptions from
taxation which had at various times been conferred in recognition of
distinguished merit. The descendants of Harmodius and Aristogeiton alone
had been excepted from the operation of the law. This was the first time
that the voice of Demosthenes himself had been heard on the public
concerns of Athens, and the utterance was a worthy prelude to the career
of a statesman. He answers the advocates of the retrenchment by pointing
out that the public interest will not ultimately be served by a
wholesale violation of the public faith. In the same year he delivered
his first strictly political speech, "On the Navy Boards" (Symmories).
The Athenians, irritated by the support which Artaxerxes had lately
given to the revolt of their allies, and excited by rumours of his
hostile preparations, were feverishly eager for a war with Persia.
Demosthenes urges that such an enterprise would at present be useless;
that it would fail to unite Greece; that the energies of the city should
be reserved for a real emergency; but that, before the city can
successfully cope with any war, there must be a better organization of
resources, and, first of all, a reform of the navy, which he outlines
with characteristic lucidity and precision.

Two years later (352 B.C.) he is found dealing with a more definite
question of foreign policy. Sparta, favoured by the depression of Thebes
in the Phocian War, was threatening Megalopolis. Both Sparta and
Megalopolis sent embassies to Athens. Demosthenes supported Megalopolis.
The ruin of Megalopolis would mean, he argued, the return of Spartan
domination in the Peloponnesus. Athenians must not favour the tyranny of
any one city. They must respect the rights of all the cities, and thus
promote unity based on mutual confidence. In the same year Demosthenes
wrote the speech "Against Timocrates," to be spoken by the same Diodorus
who had before prosecuted Androtion, and who now combated an attempt to
screen Androtion and others from the penalties of embezzlement. The
speech "Against Aristocrates," also of 352 B.C., reproves that foreign
policy of feeble makeshifts which was now popular at Athens. The
Athenian tenure of the Thracian Chersonese partly depended for its
security on the good-will of the Thracian prince Cersobleptes.
Charidemus, a soldier of fortune who had already played Athens false,
was now the brother-in-law and the favourite of Cersobleptes.
Aristocrates proposed that the person of Charidemus should be invested
with a special sanctity, by the enactment that whoever attempted his
life should be an outlaw from all dominions of Athens. Demosthenes
points out that such adulation is as futile as it is fulsome. Athens can
secure the permanence of her foreign possessions only in one way--by
being strong enough to hold them.


Principles of policy.

Thus, between 355 and 352, Demosthenes had laid down the main lines of
his policy. Domestic administration must be purified. Statesmen must be
made to feel that they are responsible to the state. They must not be
allowed to anticipate judgment on their deserts by voting each other
golden crowns. They must not think to screen misappropriation of public
money by getting partisans to pass new laws about state-debtors. Foreign
policy must be guided by a larger and more provident conception of
Athenian interests. When public excitement demands a foreign war, Athens
must not rush into it without asking whether it is necessary, whether it
will have Greek support, and whether she herself is ready for it. When a
strong Greek city threatens a weak one, and seeks to purchase Athenian
connivance with the bribe of a border-town, Athens must remember that
duty and prudence alike command her to respect the independence of all
Greeks. When it is proposed, by way of insurance on Athenian possessions
abroad, to flatter the favourite of a doubtful ally, Athens must
remember that such devices will not avail a power which has no army
except on paper, and no ships fit to leave their moorings.


Athens and Philip.

But the time had gone by when Athenians could have tranquil leisure for
domestic reform. A danger, calling for prompt action, had at last come
very near. For six years Athens had been at war with Philip on account
of his seizure of Amphipolis. Meanwhile he had destroyed Potidaea and
founded Philippi. On the Thracian coasts he had become master of Abdera
and Maronea. On the Thessalian coast he had acquired Methone. In a
second invasion of Thessaly, he had overthrown the Phocians under
Onomarchus, and had advanced to Thermopylae, to find the gates of Greece
closed against him by an Athenian force. He had then marched to Heraeon
on the Propontis, and had dictated a peace to Cersobleptes. He had
formed an alliance with Cardia, Perinthus and Byzantium. Lastly, he had
begun to show designs on the great Confederacy of Olynthus, the more
warlike Miletus of the North. The First Philippic of Demosthenes was
spoken in 351 B.C. The Third Philippic--the latest of the extant
political speeches--was spoken in 341 B.C. Between these he delivered
eight political orations, of which seven are directly concerned with
Philip. The whole series falls into two great divisions. The first
division comprises those speeches which were spoken against Philip while
he was still a foreign power threatening Greece from without. Such are
the First Philippic and the three orations for Olynthus. The second
division comprises the speeches spoken against Philip when, by
admission to the Amphictyonic Council, he had now won his way within the
circle of the Greek states, and when the issue was no longer between
Greece and Macedonia, but between the Greek and Macedonian parties in
Greece. Such are the speech "On the Peace," the speech "On the Embassy,"
the speech "On the Chersonese," the Second and Third Philippics.


First Philippic.

The First Philippic, spoken early in 351 B.C., was no sudden note of
alarm drawing attention to an unnoticed peril. On the contrary, the
Assembly was weary of the subject. For six years the war with Philip had
been a theme of barren talk. Demosthenes urges that it is time to do
something, and to do it with a plan. Athens fighting Philip has fared,
he says, like an amateur boxer opposed to a skilled pugilist. The
helpless hands have only followed blows which a trained eye should have
taught them to parry. An Athenian force must be stationed in the north,
at Lemnos or Thasos. Of 2000 infantry and 200 cavalry at least one
quarter must be Athenian citizens capable of directing the mercenaries.

Later in the same year Demosthenes did another service to the cause of
national freedom. Rhodes, severed by its own act from the Athenian
Confederacy, had since 355 been virtually subject to Mausolus, prince
([Greek: dynastês]) of Caria, himself a tributary of Persia. Mausolus
died in 351, and was succeeded by his widow Artemisia. The democratic
party in Rhodes now appealed to Athens for help in throwing off the
Carian yoke. Demosthenes supported their application in his speech "For
the Rhodians." No act of his life was a truer proof of statesmanship. He
failed. But at least he had once more warned Athens that the cause of
political freedom was everywhere her own, and that, wherever that cause
was forsaken, there a new danger was created both for Athens and for
Greece.


Euboean War.

Next year (350) an Athenian force under Phocion was sent to Euboea, in
support of Plutarchus, tyrant of Eretria, against the faction of
Cleitarchus. Demosthenes protested against spending strength, needed for
greater objects, on the local quarrels of a despot. Phocion won a
victory at Tamynae. But the "inglorious and costly war" entailed an
outlay of more than £12,000 on the ransom of captives alone, and ended
in the total destruction of Athenian influence throughout Euboea. That
island was now left an open field for the intrigues of Philip. Worst of
all, the party of Eubulus not only defeated a proposal, arising from
this campaign, for applying the festival-money to the war-fund, but
actually carried a law making it high treason to renew the proposal. The
degree to which political enmity was exasperated by the Euboean War may
be judged from the incident of Midias, an adherent of Eubulus, and a
type of opulent rowdyism. Demosthenes was choragus of his tribe, and was
wearing the robe of that sacred office at the great festival in the
theatre of Dionysus, when Midias struck him on the face. The affair was
eventually compromised. The speech "Against Midias" written by
Demosthenes for the trial (in 349) was neither spoken nor completed, and
remains, as few will regret, a sketch.


Olynthiacs.

It was now three years since, in 352, the Olynthians had sent an embassy
to Athens, and had made peace with their only sure ally. In 350 a second
Olynthian embassy had sought and obtained Athenian help. The hour of
Olynthus had indeed come. In 349 Philip opened war against the Chalcidic
towns of the Olynthian League. The First and Second Olynthiacs of
Demosthenes were spoken in that year in support of sending one force to
defend Olynthus and another to attack Philip. "Better now than later,"
is the thought of the First Olynthiac. The Second argues that Philip's
strength is overrated. The Third--spoken in 348--carries us into the
midst of action.[2] It deals with practical details. The festival-fund
must be used for the war. The citizens must serve in person. A few
months later, Olynthus and the thirty-two towns of the confederacy were
swept from the earth. Men could walk over their sites, Demosthenes said
seven years afterwards, without knowing that such cities had existed. It
was now certain that Philip could not be stopped outside of Greece. The
question was, What point within Greece shall he be allowed to reach?


Peace between Philip and Athens.

End of Phocian War.

Eubulus and his party, with that versatility which is the privilege of
political vagueness, now began to call for a congress of the allies to
consider the common danger. They found a brilliant interpreter in
Aeschines, who, after having been a tragic actor and a clerk to the
assembly, had entered political life with the advantages of a splendid
gift for eloquence, a fine presence, a happy address, a ready wit and a
facile conscience. While his opponents had thus suddenly become warlike,
Demosthenes had become pacific. He saw that Athens must have time to
collect strength. Nothing could be gained, meanwhile, by going on with
the war. Macedonian sympathizers at Athens, of whom Philocrates was the
chief, also favoured peace. Eleven envoys, including Philocrates,
Aeschines, and Demosthenes, were sent to Philip in February 346 B.C.
After a debate at Athens, peace was concluded with Philip in April.
Philip on the one hand, Athens and her allies on the other, were to keep
what they respectively held at the time when the peace was ratified. But
here the Athenians made a fatal error. Philip was bent on keeping the
door of Greece open. Demosthenes was bent on shutting it against him.
Philip was now at war with the people of Halus in Thessaly. Thebes had
for ten years been at war with Phocis. Here were two distinct chances
for Philip's armed intervention in Greece. But if the Halians and the
Phocians were included in the peace, Philip could not bear arms against
them without violating the peace. Accordingly Philip insisted that they
should not be included. Demosthenes insisted they should be included.
They were not included. The result followed speedily. The same envoys
were sent a second time to Philip at the end of April 346 for the
purpose of receiving his oaths in ratification of the peace. It was late
in June before he returned from Thrace to Pella--thus gaining, under the
terms, all the towns that he had taken meanwhile. He next took the
envoys with him through Thessaly to Thermopylae. There--at the
invitation of Thessalians and Thebans--he intervened in the Phocian War.
Phalaecus surrendered. Phocis was crushed. Philip took its place in the
Amphictyonic Council, and was thus established as a Greek power in the
very centre, at the sacred hearth, of Greece. The right of precedence in
consultation of the oracle ([Greek: promanteia]) was transferred from
Athens to Philip. While indignant Athenians were clamouring for the
revocation of the peace, Demosthenes upheld it in his speech "On the
Peace" in September. It ought never to have been made on such terms, he
said. But, having been made, it had better be kept. "If we went to war
now, where should we find allies? And after losing Oropus, Amphipolis,
Cardia, Chios, Cos, Rhodes, Byzantium, shall we fight about the shadow
of Delphi?"


Second Philippic.

Third Philippic.

During the eight years between the peace of Philocrates and the battle
of Chaeronea, the authority of Demosthenes steadily grew, until it
became first predominant and then paramount. He had, indeed, a
melancholy advantage. Each year his argument was more and more cogently
enforced by the logic of facts. In 344 he visited the Peloponnesus for
the purpose of counteracting Macedonian intrigue. Mistrust, he told the
Peloponnesian cities, is the safeguard of free communities against
tyrants. Philip lodged a formal complaint at Athens. Here, as elsewhere,
the future master of Greece reminds us of Napoleon on the eve of the
first empire. He has the same imperturbable and persuasive effrontery in
protesting that he is doing one thing at the moment when his energies
are concentrated on doing the opposite. Demosthenes replied in the
Second Philippic. "If," he said, "Philip is the friend of Greece, we are
doing wrong. If he is the enemy of Greece, we are doing right. Which is
he? I hold him to be our enemy, because everything that he has hitherto
done has benefited himself and hurt us." The prosecution of Aeschines
for malversation on the embassy (commonly known as _De falsa
legatione_), which was brought to an issue in the following year, marks
the moral strength of the position now held by Demosthenes. When the
gravity of the charge and the complexity of the evidence are considered,
the acquittal of Aeschines by a narrow majority must be deemed his
condemnation. The speech "On the Affairs of the Chersonese" and the
Third Philippic were the crowning efforts of Demosthenes. Spoken in the
same year, 341 B.C., and within a short space of each other, they must
be taken together. The speech "On the Affairs of the Chersonese" regards
the situation chiefly from an Athenian point of view. "If the peace
means," argues Demosthenes, "that Philip can seize with impunity one
Athenian possession after another, but that Athenians shall not on their
peril touch aught that belongs to Philip, where is the line to be drawn?
We shall go to war, I am told, when it is necessary. If the necessity
has not come yet, when will it come?" The Third Philippic surveys a
wider horizon. It ascends from the Athenian to the Hellenic view. Philip
has annihilated Olynthus and the Chalcidic towns. He has ruined Phocis.
He has frightened Thebes. He has divided Thessaly. Euboea and the
Peloponnesus are his. His power stretches from the Adriatic to the
Hellespont. Where shall be the end? Athens is the last hope of Greece.
And, in this final crisis, Demosthenes was the embodied energy of
Athens. It was Demosthenes who went to Byzantium, brought the estranged
city back to the Athenian alliance, and snatched it from the hands of
Philip. It was Demosthenes who, when Philip had already seized Elatea,
hurried to Thebes, who by his passionate appeal gained one last chance,
the only possible chance, for Greek freedom, who broke down the barrier
of an inveterate jealousy, who brought Thebans to fight beside
Athenians, and who thus won at the eleventh hour a victory for the
spirit of loyal union which took away at least one bitterness from the
unspeakable calamity of Chaeronea.


Municipal activity.

But the work of Demosthenes was not closed by the ruin of his cause.
During the last sixteen years of his life (338-322) he rendered services
to Athens not less important, and perhaps more difficult, than those
which he had rendered before. He was now, as a matter of course,
foremost in the public affairs of Athens. In January 337, at the annual
winter Festival of the Dead in the Outer Ceramicus, he spoke the funeral
oration over those who had fallen at Chaeronea. He was member of a
commission for strengthening the fortifications of the city ([Greek:
teichopoios]). He administered the festival-fund. During a dearth which
visited Athens between 330 and 326 he was charged with the organization
of public relief. In 324 he was chief ([Greek: architheoros]) of the
sacred embassy to Olympia. Already, in 336, Ctesiphon had proposed that
Demosthenes should receive a golden crown from the state, and that his
extraordinary merits should be proclaimed in the theatre at the Great
Dionysia. The proposal was adopted by the senate as a bill ([Greek:
probouleuma]); but it must be passed by the Assembly before it could
become an act ([Greek: psêphisma]). To prevent this, Aeschines gave
notice, in 336, that he intended to proceed against Ctesiphon for having
proposed an unconstitutional measure. For six years Aeschines avoided
action on this notice. At last, in 330, the patriotic party felt strong
enough to force him to an issue. Aeschines spoke the speech "Against
Ctesiphon," an attack on the whole public life of Demosthenes.
Demosthenes gained an overwhelming victory for himself and for the
honour of Athens in the most finished, the most splendid and the most
pathetic work of ancient eloquence--the immortal oration "On the Crown."


Affair of Harpalus.

In the winter of 325-324 Harpalus, the receiver-general of Alexander in
Asia, fled to Greece, taking with him 8000 mercenaries, and treasure
equivalent to about a million and a quarter sterling. On the motion of
Demosthenes he was warned from the harbours of Attica. Having left his
troops and part of his treasure at Taenarum, he again presented himself
at the Peiraeus, and was now admitted. He spoke fervently of the
opportunity which offered itself to those who loved the freedom of
Greece. All Asia would rise with Athens to throw off the hated yoke.
Fiery patriots like Hypereides were in raptures. For zeal which could be
bought Harpalus had other persuasions. But Demosthenes stood firm. War
with Alexander would, he saw, be madness. It could have but one
result,--some indefinitely worse doom for Athens. Antipater and Olympias
presently demanded the surrender of Harpalus. Demosthenes opposed this.
But he reconciled the dignity with the loyalty of Athens by carrying a
decree that Harpalus should be arrested, and that his treasure should be
deposited in the Parthenon, to be held in trust for Alexander. Harpalus
escaped from prison. The amount of the treasure, which Harpalus had
stated as 700 talents, proved to be no more than 350. Demosthenes
proposed that the Areopagus should inquire what had become of the other
350. Six months, spent in party intrigues, passed before the Areopagus
gave in their report ([Greek: apophasis]). The report inculpated nine
persons. Demosthenes headed the list of the accused. Hypereides was
among the ten public prosecutors. Demosthenes was condemned, fined fifty
talents, and, in default of payment, imprisoned. After a few days he
escaped from prison to Aegina, and thence to Troezen. Two things in this
obscure affair are beyond reasonable doubt. First, that Demosthenes was
not bribed by Harpalus. The hatred of the Macedonian party towards
Demosthenes, and the fury of those vehement patriots who cried out that
he had betrayed their best opportunity, combined to procure his
condemnation, with the help, probably, of some appearances which were
against him. Secondly, it can hardly be questioned that, by withstanding
the hot-headed patriots at this juncture, Demosthenes did heroic service
to Athens.


End of Lamian War.

Demosthenes condemned.

Next year (323 B.C.) Alexander died. Then the voice of Demosthenes,
calling Greece to arms, rang out like a trumpet. Early in August 322 the
battle of Crannon decided the Lamian War against Greece. Antipater
demanded, as the condition on which he would refrain from besieging
Athens, the surrender of the leading patriots. Demades moved the decree
of the Assembly by which Demosthenes, Hypereides, and some others were
condemned to death as traitors. On the 20th of Boedromion (September 16)
322, a Macedonian garrison occupied Munychia. It was a day of solemn and
happy memories, a day devoted, in the celebration of the Great
Mysteries, to sacred joy,--the day on which the glad procession of the
Initiated returned from Eleusis to Athens. It happened, however, to have
another association, more significant than any ironical contrast for the
present purpose of Antipater. It was the day on which, thirteen years
before, Alexander had punished the rebellion of Thebes with
annihilation.


Flight to Calauria.

Death.

The condemned men had fled to Aegina. Parting there from Hypereides and
the rest, Demosthenes went on to Calauria, a small island off the coast
of Argolis. In Calauria there was an ancient temple of Poseidon, once a
centre of Minyan and Ionian worship, and surrounded with a peculiar
sanctity as having been, from time immemorial, an inviolable refuge for
the pursued. Here Demosthenes sought asylum. Archias of Thurii, a man
who, like Aeschines, had begun life as a tragic actor, and who was now
in the pay of Antipater, soon traced the fugitive, landed in Calauria,
and appeared before the temple of Poseidon with a body of Thracian
spearmen. Plutarch's picturesque narrative bears the marks of artistic
elaboration. Demosthenes had dreamed the night before that he and
Archias were competing for a prize as tragic actors; the house applauded
Demosthenes; but his chorus was shabbily equipped, and Archias gained
the prize. Archias was not the man to stick at sacrilege. In Aegina,
Hypereides and the others had been taken from the shrine of Aeacus. But
he hesitated to violate an asylum so peculiarly sacred as the Calaurian
temple. Standing before its open door, with his Thracian soldiers around
him, he endeavoured to prevail on Demosthenes to quit the holy precinct.
Antipater would be certain to pardon him. Demosthenes sat silent, with
his eyes fixed on the ground. At last, as the emissary persisted in his
bland persuasions, he looked up and said,--"Archias, you never moved me
by your acting, and you will not move me now by your promises." Archias
lost his temper, and began to threaten. "Now," rejoined Demosthenes,
"you speak like a real Macedonian oracle; before you were acting. Wait a
moment, then, till I write to my friends." With these words, Demosthenes
withdrew into the inner part of the temple,--still visible, however,
from the entrance. He took out a roll of paper, as if he were going to
write, put the pen to his mouth, and bit it, as was his habit in
composing. Then he threw his head back, and drew his cloak over it. The
Thracian spearmen, who were watching him from the door, began to gibe at
his cowardice. Archias went in to him, encouraged him to rise, repeated
his old arguments, talked to him of reconciliation with Antipater. By
this time Demosthenes felt that the poison which he had sucked from the
pen was beginning to work. He drew the cloak from his face, and looked
steadily at Archias. "Now you can play the part of Creon in the tragedy
as soon as you like," he said, "and cast forth my body unburied. But I,
O gracious Poseidon, quit thy temple while I yet live; Antipater and his
Macedonians have done what they could to pollute it." He moved towards
the door, calling to them to support his tottering steps. He had just
passed the altar of the god, when he fell, and with a groan gave up the
ghost (October 322 B.C.).


Political character.

As a statesman, Demosthenes needs no epitaph but his own words in the
speech "On the Crown,"--_I say that, if the event had been manifest to
the whole world beforehand, not even then ought Athens to have forsaken
this course, if Athens had any regard for her glory, or for her past, or
for the ages to come._ The Persian soldier in Herodotus, following
Xerxes to foreseen ruin, confides to his fellow-guest at the banquet
that the bitterest pain which man can know is [Greek: polla phroneonta
mêdenoss krateein],--complete, but helpless, prescience. In the grasp of
a more inexorable necessity, the champion of Greek freedom was borne
onward to a more tremendous catastrophe than that which strewed the
waters of Salamis with Persian wrecks and the field of Plataea with
Persian dead; but to him, at least, it was given to proclaim aloud the
clear and sure foreboding that filled his soul, to do all that true
heart and free hand could do for his cause, and, though not to save, yet
to encourage, to console and to ennoble. As the inspiration of his life
was larger and higher than the mere courage of resistance, so his merit
must be regarded as standing altogether outside and above the struggle
with Macedon. The great purpose which he set before him was to revive
the public spirit, to restore the political vigour, and to re-establish
the Panhellenic influence of Athens,--never for her own advantage
merely, but always in the interest of Greece. His glory is, that while
he lived he helped Athens to live a higher life. Wherever the noblest
expressions of her mind are honoured, wherever the large conceptions of
Pericles command the admiration of statesmen, wherever the architect and
the sculptor love to dwell on the masterpieces of Ictinus and Pheidias,
wherever the spell of ideal beauty or of lofty contemplation is
exercised by the creations of Sophocles or of Plato, there it will be
remembered that the spirit which wrought in all these would have passed
sooner from among men, if it had not been recalled from a trance, which
others were content to mistake for the last sleep, by the passionate
breath of Demosthenes.


Oratory.

The orator in whom artistic genius was united, more perfectly than in
any other man, with moral enthusiasm and with intellectual grasp, has
held in the modern world the same rank which was accorded to him in the
old; but he cannot enjoy the same appreciation. Macaulay's ridicule has
rescued from oblivion the criticism which pronounced the eloquence of
Chatham to be more ornate than that of Demosthenes, and less diffuse
than that of Cicero. Did the critic, asks Macaulay, ever hear any
speaking that was less ornamented than that of Demosthenes, or more
diffuse than that of Cicero? Yet the critic's remark was not so
pointless as Macaulay thought it. Sincerity and intensity are, indeed,
to the modern reader, the most obvious characteristics of Demosthenes.
His style is, on the whole, singularly free from what we are accustomed
to regard as rhetorical embellishment. Where the modern orator would
employ a wealth of imagery, or elaborate a picture in exquisite detail,
Demosthenes is content with a phrase or a word. Burke uses, in reference
to Hyder Ali, the same image which Demosthenes uses in reference to
Philip. "Compounding all the materials of fury, havoc, desolation, into
one black cloud, he hung for a while on the declivity of the mountains.
Whilst the authors of all these evils were idly and stupidly gazing on
this menacing meteor, which darkened all their horizon, it suddenly
burst, and poured down the whole of its contents upon the plains of the
Carnatic." Demosthenes forbears to amplify. "The people gave their
voice, and the danger which hung upon our borders went by like a cloud."
To our modern feeling, the eloquence of Demosthenes exhibits everywhere
a general stamp of earnest and simple strength. But it is well to
remember the charge made against the style of Demosthenes by a
contemporary Greek orator, and the defence offered by the best Greek
critic of oratory. Aeschines reproached the diction of Demosthenes with
excess of elaboration and adornment ([Greek: periergia]). Dionysius, in
reply, admits that Demosthenes does at times depart from
simplicity,--that his style is sometimes elaborately ornate and remote
from the ordinary usage. But, he adds, Demosthenes adopts this manner
where it is justified by the elevation of his theme. The remark may
serve to remind us of our modern disadvantage for a full appreciation of
Demosthenes. The old world felt, as we do, his moral and mental
greatness, his fire, his self-devotion, his insight. But it felt also,
as we can never feel, the versatile perfection of his skill. This it was
that made Demosthenes unique to the ancients. The ardent patriot, the
far-seeing statesman, were united in his person with the consummate and
unapproachable artist. Dionysius devoted two special treatises to
Demosthenes,--one on his language and style ([Greek: lektikos topos]),
the other on his treatment of subject-matter ([Greek: pragmatikos
topos]). The latter is lost. The former is one of the best essays in
literary criticism which antiquity has bequeathed to us. The idea which
it works out is that Demosthenes has perfected Greek prose by fusing in
a glorious harmony the elements which had hitherto belonged to separate
types. The austere dignity of Antiphon, the plain elegance of Lysias,
the smooth and balanced finish of that middle or normal character which
is represented by Isocrates, have come together in Demosthenes. Nor is
this all. In each species he excels the specialists. He surpasses the
school of Antiphon in perspicuity, the school of Lysias in verve, the
school of Isocrates in variety, in felicity, in symmetry, in pathos, in
power. Demosthenes has at command all the discursive brilliancy which
fascinates a festal audience. He has that power of concise and lucid
narration, of terse reasoning, of persuasive appeal, which is required
by the forensic speaker. His political eloquence can worthily image the
majesty of the state, and enforce weighty counsels with lofty and
impassioned fervour. A true artist, he grudged no labour which could
make the least part of his work more perfect. Isocrates spent ten years
on the _Panegyricus_. After Plato's death, a manuscript was found among
his papers with the first eight words of the _Republic_ arranged in
several different orders. What wonder, then, asks the Greek critic, if
the diligence of Demosthenes was no less incessant and minute? "To me,"
he says, "it seems far more natural that a man engaged in composing
political discourses, imperishable memorials of his power, should
neglect not even the smallest details, than that the veneration of
painters and sculptors, who are darkly showing forth their manual tact
and toil in a corruptible material, should exhaust the refinements of
their art on the veins, on the feathers, on the down of the lip, and the
like niceties."


Works.

More than half of the sixty-one speeches extant under the name of
Demosthenes are certainly or probably spurious. The results to which the
preponderance of opinion leans are given in the following table. Those
marked a were already rejected or doubted in antiquity; those marked m,
first in modern times:[3]


  I. DELIBERATIVE SPEECHES.

   GENUINE.

        Or. 14. On the Navy Boards                         354  B.C.
        Or. 16. For the People of Megalopolis              352   "
        Or.  4. First Philippic                            351   "
        Or. 15. For the Rhodians                           351   "
        Or.  1. First Olynthiac                            349   "
        Or.  2. Second Olynthiac                           349   "
        Or.  3. Third Olynthiac                            348   "
        Or.  5. On the Peace                               346   "
        Or.  6. Second Philippic                           344   "
        Or.  8. On the Affairs of the Chersonese           341   "
        Or.  9. Third Philippic                            341   "

   SPURIOUS.

    (a) Or.  7. On Halonnesus (by Hegesippus)              342  B.C.

                         _Rhetorical Forgeries_.

    (a) Or. 17. On the Treaty with Alexander.
    (a) Or. 10. Fourth Philippic.
    (m) Or. 11. Answer to Philip's Letter.[4]
    (m) Or. 12. Philip's Letter.
    (m) Or. 13. On the Assessment ([Greek: syntxis]).


  II. FORENSIC SPEECHES.

  A. IN PUBLIC CAUSES.

   GENUINE.

        Or. 22. In ([Greek: kata]) Androtionem             355   B.C.
        Or. 20. Contra ([Greek: pros]) Leptinem            354    "
        Or. 24. In Timocratem                              352    "
        Or. 23. In Aristocratem                            352    "
        Or. 21. In Midiam                                  349    "
        Or. 19. On the Embassy                             343    "
        Or. 18. On the Crown                               330    "

   SPURIOUS.

    (a) Or. 58. In Theocrinem                              339   B.C.
    (a) Or. 25, 26. In Aristogitona I. and II. (Rhetorical forgeries).

  B. IN PRIVATE CAUSES.

   GENUINE.

        Or. 27, 28. In Aphobum I. et II.                   364   B.C.
    (m) Or. 30, 31. Contra Onetora I. et II.               362    "
        Or. 41. Contra Spudiam                              ?     "
    (m) Or. 55. Contra Calliclem                            ?
        Or. 54. In Cononem                                 356    "
        Or. 36. Pro Phormione                              352    "
    (m) Or. 39. Contra Boeotum de Nomine                   350    "
        Or. 37. Contra Pantaenetum                         346-5  "
    (m) Or. 38. Contra Nausimachum et Diopithem             ?

   SPURIOUS.

    (_The first eight of the following are given by Schäfer to
        Apollodorus._)

    (m) Or. 52. Contra Callippum.                          369-8 B.C.
    (a) Or. 53. Contra Nicostratum                   after 368    "
    (a) Or. 49. Contra Timotheum                           362    "
    (m) Or. 50. Contra Polyclem                            357    "
    (a) Or. 47. In Evergum et Mnesibulum                   356    "
    (m) Or. 45, 46. In Stephanum I. et II.                 351    "
    (a) Or. 59. In Neaeram                    349[343-0, Blass]   "
    (m) Or. 51. On the Trierarchic Crown (by           360-359    "
                  Cephisodotus?)
    (m) Or. 43. Contra Macartatum                           ?
    (m) Or. 48. In Olympiodorum.                     after 343    "
    (m) Or. 44. Contra Leocharem                            ?
    (a) Or. 35. Contra Lacritum                            341    "
    (a) Or. 42. Contra Phaenippum                           ?
    (m) Or. 32. Contra Zenothemin                           ?
    (m) Or. 34. Contra Phormionem                           ?
    (m) Or. 29. Contra Aphobum pro Phano
    (a) Or. 40. Contra Boeotum de Dote                     347   "
    (m) Or. 57. Contra Eubulidem                           346-5 "
    (m) Or. 33. Contra Apaturium                            ?
    (a) Or. 56. In Dionysodorum                 not before 322-1 "

   Or. 60 ([Greek: epitaphios]) and Or. 61 (Greek: erôtikos) are works
   of rhetoricians. The six epistles are also forgeries; they were used
   by the composer of the twelve epistles which bear the name of
   Aeschines. The 56 [Greek: prooimia], exordia or sketches for
   political speeches, are by various hands and of various dates.[5]
   They are valuable as being compiled from Demosthenes himself, or from
   other classical models.


Literary history of Demosthenes.

The ancient fame of Demosthenes as an orator can be compared only with
the fame of Homer as a poet. Cicero, with generous appreciation,
recognizes Demosthenes as the standard of perfection. Dionysius, the
closest and most penetrating of his ancient critics, exhausts the
language of admiration in showing how Demosthenes united and elevated
whatever had been best in earlier masters of the Greek idiom.
Hermogenes, in his works on rhetoric, refers to Demosthenes as [Greek:
ho rhêtôr], _the_ orator. The writer of the treatise On Sublimity knows
no heights loftier than those to which Demosthenes has risen. From his
own younger contemporaries, Aristotle and Theophrastus, who founded
their theory of rhetoric in large part on his practice, down to the
latest Byzantines, the consent of theorists, orators, antiquarians,
anthologists, lexicographers, offered the same unvarying homage to
Demosthenes. His work busied commentators such as Xenon, Minucian,
Basilicus, Aelius, Theon, Zosimus of Gaza. Arguments to his speeches
were drawn up by rhetoricians so distinguished as Numenius and Libanius.
Accomplished men of letters, such as Julius Vestinus and Aelius
Dionysius, selected from his writings choice passages for declamation or
perusal, of which fragments are incorporated in the miscellany of
Photius and the lexicons of Harpocration, Pollux and Suidas. It might
have been anticipated that the purity of a text so widely read and so
renowned would, from the earliest times, have been guarded with jealous
care. The works of the three great dramatists had been thus protected,
about 340 B.C., by a standard Attic recension. But no such good fortune
befell the works of Demosthenes. Alexandrian criticism was chiefly
occupied with poetry. The titular works of Demosthenes were, indeed,
registered, with those of the other orators, in the catalogues ([Greek:
rhêtorikoi pinakes]) of Alexandria and Pergamum. But no thorough attempt
was made to separate the authentic works from those spurious works which
had even then become mingled with them. Philosophical schools which,
like the Stoic, felt the ethical interest of Demosthenes, cared little
for his language. The rhetoricians who imitated or analysed his style
cared little for the criticism of his text. Their treatment of it had,
indeed, a direct tendency to falsify it. It was customary to indicate by
marks those passages which were especially useful for study or
imitation. It then became a rhetorical exercise to recast, adapt or
interweave such passages. Sopater, the commentator on Hermogenes, wrote
on [Greek: metabolai kai metapoiêseis tôn Dêmosthenous chôriôn],
"adaptations or transcripts of passages in Demosthenes." Such
manipulation could not but lead to interpolations or confusions in the
original text. Great, too, as was the attention bestowed on the thought,
sentiment and style of Demosthenes, comparatively little care was
bestowed on his subject-matter. He was studied more on the moral and the
formal side than on the real side. An incorrect substitution of one name
for another, a reading which gave an impossible date, insertions of
spurious laws or decrees, were points which few readers would stop to
notice. Hence it resulted that, while Plato, Thucydides and Demosthenes
were the most universally popular of the classical prose-writers, the
text of Demosthenes, the most widely used perhaps of all, was also the
least pure. His more careful students at length made an effort to arrest
the process of corruption. Editions of Demosthenes based on a critical
recension, and called [Greek: Attikiana (antigrapha)], came to be
distinguished from the vulgates, or [Greek: dêmôdeis ekdoseis].


Manuscripts.

Among the extant manuscripts of Demosthenes--upwards of 170 in
number--one is far superior, as a whole, to the rest. This is
_Parisinus_ [Sigma] 2934, of the 10th century. A comparison of this MS.
with the extracts of Aelius, Aristeides and Harpocration from the Third
Philippic favours the view that it is derived from an [Greek:
Attikianon], whereas the [Greek: dêmôdeis ekdoseis], used by Hermogenes
and by the rhetoricians generally, have been the chief sources of our
other manuscripts. The collation of this manuscript by Immanuel Bekker
first placed the textual criticism of Demosthenes on a sound footing.
Not only is this manuscript nearly free from interpolations, but it is
the sole voucher for many excellent readings. Among the other MSS., some
of the most important are--_Marcianus_ 416 F, of the 10th (or 11th)
century, the basis of the Aldine edition; _Augustanus_ I. (N 85),
derived from the last, and containing scholia to the speeches on the
Crown and the Embassy, by Ulpian, with some by a younger writer, who was
perhaps Moschopulus; _Parisinus_ [Upsilon]; _Antverpiensis_
[Omega]--the last two comparatively free from additions. The fullest
authority on the MSS. is J. T. Vömel, _Notitia codicum Demosth_., and
Prolegomena Critica to his edition published at Halle (1856-1857), pp.
175-178.[6]


Scholia.

The extant scholia on Demosthenes are for the most part poor. Their
staple consists of Byzantine erudition; and their value depends chiefly
on what they have preserved of older criticism. They are better than
usual for the [Greek: Peri stephanou, Kata Timokratous]; best for the
[Greek: Peri parapresbeias]. The Greek commentaries ascribed to Ulpian
are especially defective on the historical side, and give little
essential aid. Editions:--C. W. Müller, in _Orat. Att._ ii. (1847-1858);
_Scholia Graeca in Demosth. ex cod. aucta et emendata_ (Oxon., 1851; in
W. Dindorf's ed.).

   BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Editio princeps_ (Aldus, Venice, 1504); J. J. Reiske
   (with notes of J. Wolf, J. Taylor, J. Markland, &c., 1770-1775);
   revised edition of Reiske by G. H. Schäfer (1823-1826); I. Bekker, in
   _Oratores Attici_ (1823-1824), the first edition based on codex
   [Sigma] (see above); W. S. Dobson (1828); J. G. Baiter and H. Sauppe
   (1850); W. Dindorf (in Teubner series, 1867, 4th ed. by F. Blass,
   1885-1889); H. Omont, facsimile edition of codex [Sigma] (1892-1893);
   S. H. Butcher in Oxford _Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca_ (1903
   foll.); W. Dindorf (9 vols., Oxford, 1846-1851), with notes of
   previous commentators and Greek scholia; R. Whiston (political
   speeches) with introductions and notes (1859-1868). For a select list
   of the numerous English and foreign editions and translations of
   separate speeches see J. B. Mayor, _Guide to the Choice of Classical
   Books_ (1885, suppt. 1896). Mention may here be made of _De corona_
   by W. W. Goodwin (1901, ed. min., 1904); W. H. Simcox (1873, with
   Aeschines _In Ctesiphontem_); and P. E. Matheson (1899); _Leptines_
   by J. E. Sandys (1890); _De falsa legatione_ by R. Shilleto (4th ed.,
   1874); _Select Private Orations_ by J. E. Sandys and F. A. Paley (3rd
   ed., 1898, 1896); _Midias_ by W. W. Goodwin (1906). C. R. Kennedy's
   complete translation is a model of scholarly finish, and the
   appendices on Attic law, &c., are of great value. There are indices
   to Demosthenes by J. Reiske (ed. G. H. Schäfer, 1823); S. Preuss
   (1892). Among recent papyrus finds are fragments of a special lexicon
   to the _Aristocratea_ and a commentary by Didymus (ed. H. Diels and
   W. Schubart, 1904). Illustrative literature: A. D. Schäfer,
   _Demosthenes und seine Zeit_ (2nd ed., 1885-1887), a masterly and
   exhaustive historical work; F. Blass, _Die attische Beredsamkeit_
   (1887-1898); W. J. Brodribb, "Demosthenes" in _Ancient Classics for
   English Readers_ (1877); S. H. Butcher, _Introduction to the Study of
   Demosthenes_ (1881); C. G. Böhnecke, _Demosthenes, Lykurgos,
   Hyperides, und ihr Zeitalter_ (1864); A. Bouillé, _Histoire de
   Démosthène_ (2nd ed., 1868); J. Girard, _Études sur l'éloquence
   attique_ (1874); M. Croiset, _Des idées morales dans l'Éloquence
   politique de Démosthène_ (1874); A. Hug, _Demosthenes als politischer
   Denker_ (1881); L. Brédit, _L'Éloquence politique en Grèce_ (2nd ed.,
   1886); A. Bougot, _Rivalité d'Eschine et Démosthène_ (1891). For
   fuller bibliographical information consult R. Nicolai, _Griechische
   Literaturgeschichte_ (1881); W. Engelmann, _Scriptores Graeci_
   (1881); G. Hüttner in C. Bursian's _Jahresbericht_, li. (1889).
                                                           (R. C. J.)


FOOTNOTES:


  [1] See Jebb's _Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeos_, vol. ii. p.
    267 f.

  [2] It is generally agreed that the Third Olynthiac is the latest;
    but the question of the order of the First and Second has been much
    discussed. See Grote (_History of Greece_, chap. 88, appendix), who
    prefers the arrangement ii. i. iii., and Blass, _Die attische
    Beredsamkeit_, iii. p. 319.

  [3] The dates agree in the main with those given by A. D. Schäfer in
    _Demosthenes und seine Zeit_ (2nd ed., 1885-1887), and by F. Blass
    in _Die attische Beredsamkeit_ (1887-1898), who regards thirty-three
    (or possibly thirty-five) of the speeches as genuine.

  [4] Or. 11 and 12 are probably both by Anaximenes of Lampsacus.

  [5] According to Blass, the second and third epistles and the
    _exordia_ are genuine.

  [6] See also H. Usener in _Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellschaft
    der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen_, p. 188 (1892); J. H. Lipsius, "Zur
    Textcritik des Demosthenes" in _Berichte ... der Königl. Sächsischen
    Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_ (1893) with special reference to
    the papyrus finds at the end of the 19th century; E. Bethe,
    _Demosthenis scriptorum corpus_ (1893).




DEMOTIC (Gr. [Greek: dêmotikos], of or belonging to the people), a term,
meaning popular, specially applied to that cursive script of the ancient
Egyptian language used for business and literary purposes,--for the
people. It is opposed to "hieratic" (Gr. [Greek: hieratikos], of or
belonging to the priests), the script, an abridged form of the
hieroglyphic, used in transcribing the religious texts. (See WRITING,
and EGYPT: II., _ANCIENT_, D. _LANGUAGE AND WRITING._)




DEMOTICA, or DIMOTICA, a town of European Turkey, in the vilayet of
Adrianople; on the Maritza valley branch of the Constantinople-Salonica
railway, about 35 m. S. of Adrianople. Pop. (1905) about 10,000.
Demotica is built at the foot of a conical hill on the left bank of the
river Kizildeli, near its junction with the Maritza. It was formerly the
seat of a Greek archbishop, and besides the ancient citadel and palace
on the summit of the hill contains several Greek churches, mosques and
public baths. In the middle ages, when it was named Didymotichos, it was
one of the principal marts of Thrace; in modern times it has regained
something of its commercial importance, and exports pottery, linen, silk
and grain. These goods are sent to Dédéagatch for shipment. Demotica was
the birthplace of the Turkish sultan Bayezid I. (1347); after the
battle of Poltava, Charles XII. of Sweden resided here from February
1713 to October 1714.




DEMPSTER, THOMAS (1579-1625), Scottish scholar and historian, was born
at Cliftbog, Aberdeenshire, the son of Thomas Dempster of Muresk,
Auchterless and Killesmont, sheriff of Banff and Buchan. According to
his own account, he was the twenty-fourth of twenty-nine children, and
was early remarkable for precocious talent. He obtained his early
education in Aberdeenshire, and at ten entered Pembroke Hall, Cambridge;
after a short while he went to Paris, and, driven thence by the plague,
to Louvain, whence by order of the pope he was transferred with several
other Scottish students to the papal seminary at Rome. Being soon forced
by ill health to leave, he went to the English college at Douai, where
he remained three years and took his M.A. degree. While at Douai he
wrote a scurrilous attack on Queen Elizabeth, which caused a riot among
the English students. But, if his truculent character was thus early
displayed, his abilities were no less conspicuous; and, though still in
his teens, he became lecturer on the Humanities at Tournai, whence,
after but a short stay, he returned to Paris, to take his degree of
doctor of canon law, and become regent of the college of Navarre. He
soon left Paris for Toulouse, which in turn he was forced to leave owing
to the hostility of the city authorities, aroused by his violent
assertion of university rights. He was now elected professor of
eloquence at the university or academy of Nîmes, but not without a
murderous attack upon him by one of the defeated candidates and his
supporters, followed by a suit for libel, which, though he ultimately
won his case, forced him to leave the town. A short engagement in Spain,
as tutor to the son of Marshal de Saint Luc, was terminated by another
quarrel; and Dempster now returned to Scotland with the intention of
asserting a claim to his father's estates. Finding his relatives
unsympathetic, and falling into heated controversy with the Presbyterian
clergy, he made no long stay, but returned to Paris, where he remained
for seven years, becoming professor in several colleges successively. At
last, however, his temporary connexion with the collège de Beauvais was
ended by a feat of arms which proved him as stout a fighter with his
sword as with his pen; and, since his victory was won over officers of
the king's guard, it again became expedient for him to change his place
of residence. The dedication of his edition of Rosinus' _Antiquitatum
Romanorum corpus absolutissimum_ to King James I. had won him an
invitation to the English court; and in 1615 he went to London. His
reception by the king was flattering enough; but his hopes of preferment
were dashed by the opposition of the Anglican clergy to the promotion of
a papist. He left for Rome, where, after a short imprisonment on
suspicion of being a spy, he gained the favour of Pope Paul V., through
whose influence with Cosimo II., grand duke of Tuscany, he was appointed
to the professorship of the Pandects at Pisa. He had married while in
London, but ere long had reason to suspect his wife's relations with a
certain Englishman. Violent accusations followed, indignantly
repudiated; a diplomatic correspondence ensued, and a demand was made,
and supported by the grand duke, for an apology, which the professor
refused to make, preferring rather to lose his chair. He now set out
once more for Scotland, but was intercepted by the Florentine cardinal
Luigi Capponi, who induced him to remain at Bologna as professor of
Humanity. This was the most distinguished post in the most famous of
continental universities, and Dempster was now at the height of his
fame. Though his _Roman Antiquities_ and _Scotia illustrior_ had been
placed on the Index pending correction, Pope Urban VIII. made him a
knight and gave him a pension. He was not, however, to enjoy his honours
long. His wife eloped with a student, and Dempster, pursuing the
fugitives in the heat of summer, caught a fever, and died at Bologna on
the 6th of September 1625.

Dempster owed his great position in the history of scholarship to his
extraordinary memory, and to the versatility which made him equally at
home in philology, criticism, law, biography and history. His style is,
however, often barbarous; and the obvious defects of his works are due
to his restlessness and impetuosity, and to a patriotic and personal
vanity which led him in Scottish questions into absurd exaggerations,
and in matters affecting his own life into an incurable habit of
romancing. The best known of his works is the _Historia ecclesiastica
gentis Scotorum_ (Bologna, 1627). In this book he tries to prove that
Bernard (Sapiens), Alcuin, Boniface and Joannes Scotus Erigena were all
Scots, and even Boadicea becomes a Scottish author. This criticism is
not applicable to his works on antiquarian subjects, and his edition of
Benedetto Accolti's _De bello a Christianis contra barbaros_ (1623) has
great merits.

   A portion of his Latin verse is printed in the first volume (pp.
   306-354) of _Delitiae poëtarum Scotorum_ (Amsterdam, 1637).




DEMURRAGE (from "demur," Fr. _demeurer_, to delay, derived from Lat.
_mora_), in the law of merchant shipping, the sum payable by the
freighter to the shipowner for detention of the vessel in port beyond
the number of days allowed for the purpose of loading or unloading (see
AFFREIGHTMENT: UNDER _CHARTER-PARTIES_). The word is also used in
railway law for the charge on detention of trucks; and in banking for
the charge per ounce made by the Bank of England in exchanging coin or
notes for bullion.




DEMURRER (from Fr. _demeurer_, to delay, Lat. _morari_), in English law,
an objection taken to the sufficiency, in point of law, of the pleading
or written statement of the other side. In equity pleading a demurrer
lay only against the bill, and not against the answer; at common law any
part of the pleading could be demurred to. On the passing of the
Judicature Act of 1875 the procedure with respect to demurrers in civil
cases was amended, and, subsequently, by the Rules of the Supreme Court,
Order XXV. demurrers were abolished and a more summary process for
getting rid of pleadings which showed no reasonable cause of action or
defence was adopted, called proceedings in lieu of demurrer. Demurrer in
criminal cases still exists, but is now seldom resorted to. Demurrers
are still in constant use in the United States. See ANSWER; PLEADING.




DENAIN, a town of northern France in the department of Nord, 8 m. S.W.
of Valenciennes by steam tramway. A mere village in the beginning of the
19th century, it rapidly increased from 1850 onwards, and, according to
the census of 1906, possessed 22,845 inhabitants, mainly engaged in the
coal mines and iron-smelting works, to which it owes its development.
There are also breweries, manufactories of machinery, sugar and glass. A
school of commerce and industry is among the institutions. Denain has a
port on the left bank of the Scheldt canal. Its vicinity was the scene
of the decisive victory gained in 1712 by Marshal Villars over the
allies commanded by Prince Eugène; and the battlefield is marked by a
monolithic monument inscribed with the verses of Voltaire:--

  "Regardez dans Denain l'audacieux Villars
   Disputant le tonnerre à l'aigle des Césars."




DENBIGH, WILLIAM FEILDING, 1ST EARL OF (d. 1643), son of Basil
Feilding[1] of Newnham Paddox in Warwickshire, and of Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir Walter Aston, was educated at Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, and knighted in 1603. He married Susan, daughter of Sir
George Villiers, sister of the future duke of Buckingham, and on the
rise of the favourite received various offices and dignities. He was
appointed _custos rotulorum_ of Warwickshire, and master of the great
wardrobe in 1622, and created baron and viscount Feilding in 1620, and
earl of Denbigh on the 14th of September 1622. He attended Prince
Charles on the Spanish adventure, served as admiral in the unsuccessful
expedition to Cadiz in 1625, and commanded the disastrous attempt upon
Rochelle in 1628, becoming the same year a member of the council of war,
and in 1633 a member of the council of Wales. In 1631 Lord Denbigh
visited the East. On the outbreak of the Civil War he served under
Prince Rupert and was present at Edgehill. On the 3rd of April 1643
during Rupert's attack on Birmingham he was wounded and died from the
effects on the 8th, being buried at Monks Kirby in Warwickshire. His
courage, unselfishness and devotion to duty are much praised by
Clarendon.

   See E. Lodge, _Portraits_ (1850), iv. 113; J. Nichols, _Hist. of
   Leicestershire_ (1807), iv. pt. 1, 273; Hist. MSS. _Comm Ser._ 4th
   Rep. app. 254; _Cal. of State Papers, Dom.; Studies in Peerage and
   Family History_, by J. H. Round (1901), 216.

His eldest son, BASIL FEILDING, 2nd earl of Denbigh (c. 1608-1675), was
educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was summoned to the House of
Lords as Baron Feilding in March 1629. After seeing military service in
the Netherlands he was sent in 1634 by Charles I. as ambassador to
Venice, where he remained for five years. When the Civil War broke out
Feilding, unlike the other members of his family, ranged himself among
the Parliamentarians, led a regiment of horse at Edgehill, and, having
become earl of Denbigh in April 1643, was made commander-in-chief of the
Parliamentary army in Warwickshire and the neighbouring counties, and
lord-lieutenant of Warwickshire. During the year 1644 he was fairly
active in the field, but in some quarters he was distrusted and he
resigned his command after the passing of the self-denying ordinance in
April 1645. At Uxbridge in 1645 Denbigh was one of the commissioners
appointed to treat with the king, and he undertook a similar duty at
Carisbrooke in 1647. Clarendon relates how at Uxbridge Denbigh declared
privately that he regretted the position in which he found himself, and
expressed his willingness to serve Charles I. He supported the army in
its dispute with the parliament, but he would take no part in the trial
of Charles I. Under the government of the commonwealth Denbigh was a
member of the council of state, but his loyalty to his former associates
grew lukewarm, and gradually he came to be regarded as a royalist. In
1664 the earl was created Baron St Liz. Although four times married he
left no issue when he died on the 28th of November 1675.

His titles devolved on his nephew WILLIAM FEILDING (1640-1685), son and
heir of his brother George (created Baron Feilding of Lecaghe, Viscount
Callan and earl of Desmond), and the earldom of Desmond has been held by
his descendants to the present day in conjunction with the earldom of
Denbigh.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] The descent of the Feildings from the house of Habsburg, through
    the counts of Laufenburg and Rheinfelden, long considered authentic,
    and immortalized by Gibbon, has been proved to have been based on
    forged documents. See J. H. Round, _Peerage and Family History_
    (1901).




DENBIGH (_Dinbych_), a municipal and (with Holt, Ruthin and Wrexham)
contributory parliamentary borough, market town and county town of
Denbighshire, N. Wales, on branches of the London & North Western and
the Great Western railways. Pop. (1901) 6438. Denbigh Castle,
surrounding the hill with a double wall, was built, in Edward I.'s
reign, by Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, from whom the town received
its first charter. The outer wall is nearly a mile round; over its main
gateway is a niche with a figure representing, possibly, Edward I., but
more probably, de Lacy. Here, in 1645, after the defeat of Rowton Moor,
Charles I. found shelter, the castle long resisting the
Parliamentarians, and being reduced to ruins by his successor. The chief
buildings are the Carmelite Priory (ruins dating perhaps from the 13th
century); a Bluecoat school (1514); a free grammar school (1527); an
orphan girl school (funds left by Thomas Howel to the Drapers' Co., in
Henry VII.'s reign); the town hall (built in 1572 by Robert Dudley, earl
of Leicester, enlarged and restored in 1780); an unfinished church
(begun by Leicester); a market hall (with arcades or "rows," such as
those of Chester or Yarmouth); and the old parish church of St Marcella.
The streams near Denbigh are the Clwyd and Elwy. The inhabitants of
Denbigh are chiefly occupied in the timber trade, butter-making,
poultry-farming, bootmaking, tanning and quarrying (lime, slate and
paving-stones). The borough of Denbigh has a separate commission of the
peace, but no separate court of quarter sessions. The town has long been
known as a Welsh publishing centre, the vernacular newspaper, _Baner_,
being edited and printed here. Near Denbigh, at Bodelwyddan, &c., coal
is worked.

The old British tower and castle were called _Castell caled fryn yn
Rhôs_, the "castle of the hard hill in Rhôs." _Din_ in _Dinbych_ means
a fort. There is a goblin well at the castle. Historically, David
(_Dafydd_), brother of the last Llewelyn, was here (_aet._ Edward I.)
perhaps on a foray; also Henry Lacy, who built the castle (_aet._ Edward
I.), given to the Mortimers and to Leicester (under Edward III. and
Elizabeth, respectively).




DENBIGHSHIRE (_Dinbych_), a county of N. Wales, bounded N. by the Irish
Sea, N.E. by Flint and Cheshire, S.E. by Flint and Shropshire, S. by
Montgomery and Merioneth, and W. by Carnarvon. Area, 662 sq. m. On the
N. coast, within the Denbighshire borders and between Old Colwyn and
Llandulas, is a wedge of land included in Carnarvonshire, owing to a
change in the course of the Conwy stream. (Thus, also, Llandudno is
partly in the Bangor, and partly in the St Asaph, diocese.) The surface
of Denbighshire is irregular, and physically diversified. In the N.W.
are the bleak Hiraethog ("longing") hills, sloping W. to the Conwy and
E. to the Clwyd. In the N. are Colwyn and Abergele bays, on the S. the
Yspytty (Lat. _Hospitium_) and Llangwm range, between Denbigh and
Merioneth. From this watershed flow the Elwy, Aled, Clywedog, Merddwr
and Alwen, tributaries of the Clwyd, Conwy and Dee (_Dyfrdwy_). Some of
the valleys contrast agreeably with the bleak hills, e.g. those of the
Clwyd and Elwy. The portion lying between Ruabon (_Rhiwabon_) hills and
the Dee is agricultural and rich in minerals; the Berwyn to Offa's Dyke
(_Wâl Offa_) is wild and barren, except the Tanat valley, Llansilin and
Ceiriog. One feeder of the Tanat forms the Pistyll Rhaiadr (waterspout
fall), another rises in Llyncaws (cheese pool) under Moel Sych (dry
bare-hill), the highest point in the county. Aled and Alwen are both
lakes and streams.

   _Geology._-The geology of the county is full of interest, as it
   develops all the principal strata that intervenes between the
   Ordovician and the Triassic series. In the Ordovician district, which
   extends from the southern boundary to the Ceiriog, the Llandeilo
   formation of the eastern slopes of the Berwyn and the Bala beds of
   shelly sandstone are traversed east and west by bands of intrusive
   felspathic porphyry and ashes. The same formation occurs just within
   the county border at Cerrig-y-Druidion, Langum, Bettys-y-coed and in
   the Fairy Glen. Northwards from the Ceiriog to the limestone fringe
   at Llandrillo the Wenlock shale of the Silurian covers the entire
   mass of the Hiraethog and Clwydian hills, but verging on its western
   slopes into the Denbighshire grit, which may be traced southward in a
   continuous line from the mouth of the Conway as far as Llanddewi
   Ystrad Enni in Radnorshire, near Pentre-Voelas and Conway they are
   abundantly fossiliferous. On its eastern slope a narrow broken band
   of the Old Red, or what may be a conglomeratic basement bed of the
   Carboniferous Limestone series, crops up along the Vale of Clwyd and
   in Eglwyseg. Resting upon this the Carboniferous Limestone extends
   from Llanymynach, its extreme southern point, to the Cyrnybrain
   fault, and there forks into two divisions that terminate respectively
   in the Great Orme's Head and in Talargoch, and are separated from
   each other by the denuded shales of the Moel Famma range. In the Vale
   of Clwyd the limestone underlies the New Red Sandstone, and in the
   eastern division it is itself overlaid by the Millstone Grit of
   Ruabon and Minera, and by a long reach of the Coal Measures which
   near Wrexham are 4½ m. in breadth. Eastward of these a broad strip of
   the red marly beds succeeds, formerly considered to be Permian but
   now regarded as belonging to the Coal Measures, and yet again between
   this and the Dee the ground is occupied--as in the Vale of Clwyd--by
   the New Red rocks. As in the other northern counties of Wales, the
   whole of the lower ground is covered more or less thickly with
   glacial drift. On the western side of the Vale of Clwyd, at Cefn and
   Plâs Heaton, the caves, which are a common feature in such limestone
   districts, have yielded the remains of the rhinoceros, mammoth,
   hippopotamus and other extinct mammals.

   Coal is mined from the Coal Measures, and from the limestone below,
   lead with silver and zinc ores have been obtained. Valuable fireclays
   and terra-cotta marls are also taken from the Coal Measures about
   Wrexham.

The uplands being uncongenial for corn, ponies, sheep and black cattle
are reared, for fattening in the Midlands of England and sale in London.
Oats and turnips, rather than wheat, barley and potatoes, occupy the
tilled land. The county is fairly wooded. There are several important
farmers' clubs (the Denbighshire and Flintshire, the vale of Conway, the
Cerrig y druidion, &c.). The London & North-Western railway (Holyhead
line), with the Conway and Clwyd valleys branches, together with the
lines connecting Denbigh with Ruabon (Rhiwabon), via Ruthin and Corwen,
Wrexham with Connah's Quay (Great Central) and Rhosllanerchrhugog with
Glyn Ceiriog (for the Great Western and Great Central railways) have
opened up the county. Down the valley of Llangollen also runs the
Holyhead road from London, well built and passing through fine scenery.
At Nantglyn paving flags are raised, at Rhiwfelen (near Llangollen)
slabs and slates, and good slates are also obtained at Glyn Ceiriog.
There is plenty of limestone, with china stone at Brymbo. Cefn Rhiwabon
yields sandstone (for hones) and millstone grit. Chirk, Ruabon and
Brymbo have coal mines. The great Minera is the principal lead mine.
There is much brick and pottery clay. The Ceiriog valley has a dynamite
factory. Llangollen and Llansantffraid (St Bridgit's) have woollen
manufactures.

The area of the ancient county is 423,499 acres, with a population in
1901 of 129,942. The area of the administrative county is 426,084 acres.
The chief towns are: Wrexham, a mining centre and N. Wales military
centre, with a fine church; Denbigh; Ruthin, where assizes are held
(here are a grammar school, a warden and a 13th-century castle rebuilt);
Llangollen and Llanrwst; and Holt, with an old ruined castle. The
Denbigh district of parliamentary boroughs is formed of: Denbigh (pop.
6483), Holt (1059), Ruthin (2643), and Wrexham (14,966). The county has
two parliamentary divisions. The urban districts are: Abergele and
Pensarn (2083), Colwyn Bay and Colwyn (8689), Llangollen (3303), and
Llanrwst (2645). Denbighshire is in the N. Wales circuit, assizes being
held at Ruthin. Denbigh and Wrexham boroughs have separate commissions
of the peace, but no separate quarter-session courts. The ancient
county, which is in the diocese of St Asaph, contains seventy-five
ecclesiastical parishes and districts and part of a parish.

The county was formed, by an act of Henry VIII., out of the lordships of
Denbigh, Ruthin (Rhuthyn), Rhos and Rhyfoniog, which are roughly the
Perfeddwlad (midland) between Conway and Clwyd, and the lordships of
Bromfield, Yale (_Iâl_, open land) and Chirkland, the old possessions of
Gruffydd ap Madoc, _arglwydd_ (lord) of Dinas Brân. Cefn (Elwy Valley)
limestone caves hold the prehistoric hippopotamus, elephant, rhinoceros,
lion, hyena, bear, reindeer, &c.; Plâs Heaton cave, the glutton; Pont
Newydd, felstone tools and a polished stone axe (like that of
Rhosdigre); Carnedd Tyddyn Bleiddian, "platycnemic (skeleton) men of
Denbighshire" (like those of Perthi Chwareu). Clawdd Coch has traces of
the Romans; so also Penygaer and Penbarras. Roman roads ran from Deva
(Chester) to Segontium (Carnarvon) and from Deva to Mons Heriri (_Tomen
y mur_). To their period belong the inscribed Gwytherin and Pentrefoelas
(near Bettws-y-coed) stones. The Valle Crucis "Eliseg's pillar" tells of
Brochmael and the Cairlegion (Chester) struggle against Æthelfrith's
invading Northumbrians, A.D. 613, while Offa's dike goes back to the
Mercian advance. Near and parallel to Offa's is the shorter and
mysterious Watt's dike. Chirk is the only Denbighshire castle
comparatively untouched by time and still occupied. Ruthin has
cloisters; Wrexham, the Brynffynnon "nunnery"; and at both are
collegiate churches. Llanrwst, Gresford and Derwen boast rood lofts and
screens; Whitchurch and Llanrwst, portrait brasses and monuments;
Derwen, a churchyard cross; Gresford and Llanrhaiadr (Dyffryn Clwyd),
stained glass. Near Abergele, known for its sea baths, is the _ogof_ (or
cave), traditionally the refuge of Richard II. and the scene of his
capture by Bolingbroke in 1399.

   See J. Williams, _Denbigh_ (1856), and T. F. Tout, _Welsh Shires_.




DENDERA, a village in Upper Egypt, situated in the angle of the great
westward bend of the Nile opposite Kena. Here was the ancient city of
Tentyra, capital of the Tentyrite nome, the sixth of Upper Egypt, and
the principal seat of the worship of Hathor [Aphrodite] the cow-goddess
of love and joy. The old Egyptian name of Tentyra was written 'In·t
(Ant), but the pronunciation of it is unknown: in later days it was
'In·t-t-ntr·t, "ant of the goddess," pronounced Ni-tentôri, whence
[Greek: Tentyra, Tentyris]. The temple of Hathor was built in the 1st
century B.C., being begun under the later Ptolemies (Ptol. XIII.) and
finished by Augustus, but much of the decoration is later. A great
rectangular enclosure of crude bricks, measuring about 900 X 850 ft.,
contains the sacred buildings: it was entered by two stone gateways, in
the north and the east sides, built by Domitian. Another smaller
enclosure lies to the east with a gateway also of the Roman period.

The plan of the temple may be supposed to have included a colonnaded
court in front of the present façade, and pylon towers at the entrance;
but these were never built, probably for lack of funds. The building,
which is of sandstone, measures about 300 ft. from front to back, and
consists of two oblong rectangles; the foremost, placed transversely to
the other, is the great hypostyle hall or pronaos, the broadest and
loftiest part of the temple, measuring 135 ft. in width, and comprising
about one-third of the whole structure; the façade has six columns with
heads of Hathor, and the ceiling is supported by eighteen great columns.
The second rectangle contains a small hypostyle hall with six columns,
and the sanctuary, with their subsidiary chambers. The sanctuary is
surrounded by a corridor into which the chambers open: on the west side
is an apartment forming a court and kiosk for the celebration of the
feast of the New Year, the principal festival of Dendera. On the roof of
the temple, reached by two staircases, are a pavilion and several
chambers dedicated to the worship of Osiris. Inside and out, the whole
of the temple is covered with scenes and inscriptions in crowded
characters, of ceremonial and religious import; the decoration is even
carried into a remarkable series of hidden passages and chambers or
crypts made in the solid walls for the reception of its most valuable
treasures. The architectural style is dignified and pleasing in design
and proportions. The interior of the building has been completely
cleared: from the outside, however, its imposing effect is quite lost,
owing to the mounds of rubbish amongst which it is sunk. North-east of
the entrance is a "Birth House" for the cult of the child Harsemteu, and
behind the temple a small temple of Isis, dating from the reign of
Augustus. The original foundation of the temple must date back to a
remote time: the work of some of the early builders is in fact referred
to in the inscriptions on the present structure. Petrie's excavation of
the cemetery behind the temple enclosures revealed burials dating from
the fourth dynasty onwards, the most important being mastables of the
period from the sixth to the eleventh dynasties; many of these exhibited
a peculiar degradation of the contemporary style of sculpture.

The zodiacs of the temple of Dendera gave rise to a considerable
literature before their late origin was established by Champollion in
1822: one of them, from a chamber on the roof, was removed in 1820 to
the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Figures of the celebrated Cleopatra
VI. occur amongst the sculptures on the exterior of the temple, but they
are purely conventional, without a trace of portraiture. Horus of Edfu,
the enemy of the crocodiles and hippopotami of Set, appears sometimes as
the consort of Hathor of Dendera. The skill displayed by the Tentyrites
in capturing the crocodile is referred to by Strabo and other Greek
writers. Juvenal, in his seventeenth satire, takes as his text a
religious riot between the Tentyrites and the neighbouring Ombites, in
the course of which an unlucky Ombite was torn to pieces and devoured by
the opposite party. The Ombos in question is not the distant Ombos south
of Edfu, where the crocodile was worshipped; Petrie has shown that
opposite Coptos, only about 15 m. from Tentyra, there was another Ombos,
venerating the hippopotamus sacred to Set.

   See A. Mariette, _Dendérah_ (5 vols. atlas and text, 1869-1880); W.
   M. F. Petrie, _Denderah_ (1900); _Nagada_ and _Ballas_ (1896).
                                                         (F. LL. G.)




DENDROCOMETES (so named by F. Stein), a genus of suctorian Infusoria,
characterized by the repeatedly branched attached body; each of the
lobes of the body gives off a few retractile tentacles. It is parasitic
on the gills of the so-called freshwater shrimp _Gammarus pulex_.

   For its conjugation see Sydney H. Hickson, in _Quarterly Journ. of
   Microsc. Science_, vol xlv. (1902), p. 325.




DENE-HOLES, the name given to certain caves or excavations in England,
which have been popularly supposed to be due to the Danes or some other
of the early northern invaders of the country. The common spelling "Dane
hole" is adduced as evidence of this, and individual names, such as
Vortigern's Caves at Margate, and Canute's Gold Mine near Bexley,
naturally follow the same theory. The word, however, is probably derived
from the Anglo-Saxon _den_, a hole or valley. There are many underground
excavations in the south of the country, also found to some extent in
the midlands and the north, but true dene-holes are found chiefly in
those parts of Kent and Essex along the lower banks of the Thames. With
one exception there are no recorded specimens farther east than those of
the Grays Thurrock district, situated in Hangman's Wood, on the north,
and one near Rochester on the south side of the river.

The general outline of the formation of these caves is invariably the
same. The entrance is a vertical shaft some 3 ft. in diameter falling,
on an average, to a depth of 60 ft. The depth is regulated, obviously,
by the depth of the chalk from the surface, but, although chalk could
have been obtained close at hand within a few feet, or even inches, from
the surface, a depth of from 45 to 80 ft., or more, is a characteristic
feature. It is believed that dene-holes were also excavated in sand, but
as these would be of a perishable nature there are no available data of
any value. The shaft, when the chalk is reached, widens out into a domed
chamber with a roof of chalk some 3 ft. thick. The walls frequently
contract somewhat as they near the floor. As a rule there is only one
chamber, from 16 to 18 ft. in height, beneath each shaft. From this
excessive height it has been inferred that the caves were not primarily
intended for habitations or even hiding-places. In some cases the
chamber is extended, the roof being supported by pillars of chalk left
standing. A rare specimen of a twin-chamber was discovered at Gravesend.
In this case the one entrance served for both caves, although a separate
aperture connected them on the floor level. Where galleries are found
connecting the chambers, forming a bewildering labyrinth, a careful
scrutiny of the walls usually reveals evidence that they are the work of
a people of a much later period than that of the chambers, or, as they
become in these cases, the halls of the galleries.

Isolated specimens have been discovered in various parts of Kent and
Essex, but the most important groups have been found at Grays Thurrock,
in the districts of Woolwich, Abbey Wood and Bexley, and at Gravesend.
Those at Bexley and Grays Thurrock are the most valuable still existing.

It is generally found that the tool work on the roof or ceiling is
rougher than that on the walls, where an upright position could be
maintained. Casts taken of some of the pick-holes near the roof show
that, in all probability, they were made by bone or horn picks. And
numerous bone picks have been discovered in Essex and Kent. These
pick-holes are amongst the most valuable data for the study of
dene-holes, and have assisted in fixing the date of their formation to
pre-Roman times. Very few relics of antiquarian value have been
discovered in any of the known dene-holes which have assisted in fixing
the date or determining the uses of these prehistoric excavations. Pliny
mentions pits sunk to a depth of a hundred feet, "where they branched
out like the veins of mines." This has been used in support of the
theory that dene-holes were wells sunk for the extraction of chalk; but
no known dene-hole branches out in this way. Chrétien de Troyes has a
passage on underground caves in Britain which may have reference to
dene-holes, and tradition of the 14th century treated the dene-holes of
Grays as the fabled gold mines of Cunobeline (or Cymbeline) of the 1st
century.

Vortigern's Caves at Margate are possibly dene-holes which have been
adapted by later peoples to other purposes; and excellent examples of
various pick-holes may be seen on different parts of the walls.

Local tradition in some cases traces the use of these caves to the
smugglers, and, when it is remembered that illicit traffic was common
not only on the coast but in the Thames as far up the river as Barking
Creek, the theory is at least tenable that these ready-made
hiding-places, difficult of approach and dangerous to descend, were so
utilized.

There are three purposes for which dene-holes may have been originally
excavated: (a) as hiding-places or dwellings, (b) draw-wells for the
extraction of chalk for agricultural uses, and (c) storehouses for
grain. For several reasons it is unlikely that they were used as
habitations, although they may have been used occasionally as
hiding-places. Other evidence has shown that it is equally improbable
that they were used for the extraction of chalk. The chief reasons
against this theory are that chalk could have been obtained outcropping
close by, and that every trace of loose chalk has been removed from the
vicinity of the holes, while known examples of chalk draw-wells do not
descend to so great a depth. The discovery of a shallow dene-hole, about
14 ft. below the surface, at Stone negatives this theory still further.
The last of the three possible uses for which these prehistoric
excavations were designed is usually accepted as the most probable.
Silos, or underground storehouses, are well known in the south of Europe
and Morocco. It is supposed that the grain was stored in the ear and
carefully protected from damp by straw. A curious smoothness of the roof
of one of the chambers of the Gravesend twin-chamber dene-hole has been
put forward as additional evidence in support of this theory. One other
theory has been advanced, viz. that the excavations were made in order
to get flints for implements, but this is quite impossible, as a careful
examination of a few examples will show.

   Further reference may be made to _Essex Dene-holes_ by T. V. Holmes
   and W. Cole; to _The Archaeological Journal_ (1882); the
   _Transactions_ of the Essex Field Club; _Archaeologia Cantiana_, &c.;
   _Dene-holes_ by F. W. Reader, in _Old Essex_, ed. A. C. Kelway
   (1908).
                                                           (A. J. P.)




DENGUE (pronounced deng-ga), an infectious fever occurring in warm
climates. The symptoms are a sudden attack of fever, accompanied by
rheumatic pains in the joints and muscles with severe headache and
erythema. After a few days a crisis is reached and an interval of two or
three days is followed by a slighter return of fever and pain and an
eruption resembling measles, the most marked characteristic of the
disease. The disease is rarely fatal, death occurring only in cases of
extreme weakness caused by old age, infancy or other illness. Little is
known of the aetiology of "dengue." The virus is probably similar to
that of other exanthematous fevers and communicated by an intermediary
culex. The disease is nearly always epidemic, though at intervals it
appears to be pandemic and in certain districts almost endemic. The area
over which the disease ranges may be stated generally to be between 32°
47' N. and 23° 23' S. Throughout this area "dengue" is constantly
epidemic. The earliest epidemic of which anything is known occurred in
1779-1780 in Egypt and the East Indies. The chief epidemics have been
those of 1824-1826 in India, and in the West Indies and the southern
states of North America, of 1870-1875, extending practically over the
whole of the tropical portions of the East and reaching as far as China.
In 1888 and 1889 a great outbreak spread along the shores of the Aegean
and over nearly the whole of Asia Minor. Perhaps "dengue" is most nearly
endemic in equatorial East Africa and in the West Indies. The word has
usually been identified with the Spanish _dengue_, meaning stiff or prim
behaviour, and adopted in the West Indies as a name suitable to the
curious cramped movements of a sufferer from the disease, similar to the
name "dandy-fever" which was given to it by the negroes. According to
the _New English Dictionary_ (quoting Dr Christie in _The Glasgow
Medical Journal_, September 1881), both "dengue" and "dandy" are
corruptions of the Swahili word _dinga_ or _denga_, meaning a sudden
attack of cramp, the Swahili name for the disease being _ka-dinga pepo_.

   See Sir Patrick Manson, _Tropical Diseases; a Manual of Diseases of
   Warm Climates_ (1903).




DENHAM, DIXON (1786-1828), English traveller in West Central Africa, was
born in London on the 1st of January 1786. He was educated at Merchant
Taylors' School, and was articled to a solicitor, but joined the army in
1811. First in the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and afterwards in the
54th foot, he served in the campaigns in Portugal, Spain, France and
Belgium, and received the Waterloo medal. In 1821 he volunteered to join
Dr Oudney and Hugh Clapperton (q.v.), who had been sent by the British
government via Tripoli to the central Sudan. He joined the expedition at
Murzuk in Fezzan. Finding the promised escort not forthcoming, Denham,
whose energy was boundless, started for England to complain of the
"duplicity" of the pasha of Tripoli. The pasha, alarmed, sent messengers
after him with promises to meet his demands. Denham, who had reached
Marseilles, consented to return, the escort was forthcoming, and Murzuk
was regained in November 1822. Thence the expedition made its way across
the Sahara to Bornu, reached in February 1823. Here Denham, against the
wish of Oudney and Clapperton, accompanied a slave-raiding expedition
into the Mandara highlands south of Bornu. The raiders were defeated,
and Denham barely escaped with his life. When Oudney and Clapperton set
out, December 1823, for the Hausa states, Denham remained behind. He
explored the western, south and south-eastern shores of Lake Chad, and
the lower courses of the rivers Waube, Logone and Shari. In August 1824,
Clapperton having returned and Oudney being dead, Bornu was left on the
return journey to Tripoli and England. In December 1826 Denham, promoted
lieutenant-colonel, sailed for Sierra Leone as superintendent of
liberated Africans. In 1828 he was appointed governor of Sierra Leone,
but after administering the colony for five weeks died of fever at
Freetown on the 8th of May 1828.

   See _Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central
   Africa in the years 1822-1824_ (London, 1826), the greater part of
   which is written by Denham; _The Story of Africa_, vol. i. chap.
   xiii. (London, 1892), by Dr Robert Brown.




DENHAM, SIR JOHN (1615-1669), English poet, only son of Sir John Denham
(1559-1639), lord chief baron of the exchequer in Ireland, was born in
Dublin in 1615. In 1617 his father became baron of the exchequer in
England, and removed to London with his family. In Michaelmas term 1631
the future poet was entered as a gentleman commoner at Trinity College,
Oxford. He removed in 1634 to Lincoln's Inn, where he was, says John
Aubrey, a good student, but not suspected of being a wit. The reputation
he had gained at Oxford of being the "dreamingest young fellow" gave way
to a scandalous reputation for gambling. In 1634 he married Ann Cotton,
and seems to have lived with his father at Egham, Surrey. In 1636 he
wrote his paraphrase of the second book of the Aeneid (published in 1656
as _The Destruction of Troy_, with an excellent verse essay on the art
of translation). About the same time he wrote a prose tract against
gambling, _The Anatomy of Play_ (printed 1651), designed to assure his
father of his repentance, but as soon as he came into his fortune he
squandered it at play. It was a surprise to everyone when in 1642 he
suddenly, as Edmund Waller said, "broke out like the Irish rebellion,
three score thousand strong, when no one was aware, nor in the least
expected it," by publishing _The Sophy_, a tragedy in five acts, the
subject of which was drawn from Sir Thomas Herbert's travels. At the
beginning of the Civil War Denham was high sheriff for Surrey, and was
appointed governor of Farnham Castle. He showed no military ability, and
speedily surrendered the castle to the parliament. He was sent as a
prisoner to London, but was soon permitted to join the king at Oxford.

In 1642 appeared _Cooper's Hill_, a poem describing the Thames scenery
round his home at Egham. The first edition was anonymous: subsequent
editions show numerous alterations, and the poem did not assume its
final form until 1655. This famous piece, which was Pope's model for his
_Windsor Forest_, was not new in theme or manner, but the praise which
it received was well merited by its ease and grace. Moreover Denham
expressed his commonplaces with great dignity and skill. He followed the
taste of the time in his frequent use of antithesis and metaphor, but
these devices seem to arise out of the matter, and are not of the nature
of mere external ornament. At Oxford he wrote many squibs against the
roundheads. One of the few serious pieces belonging to this period is
the short poem "On the Earl of Strafford's Trial and Death."

From this time Denham was much in Charles I.'s confidence. He was
entrusted with the charge of forwarding letters to and from the king
when he was in the custody of the parliament, a duty which he
discharged successfully with Abraham Cowley, but in 1648 he was
suspected by the Parliamentary authorities, and thought it wiser to
cross the Channel. He helped in the removal of the young duke of York to
Holland, and for some time he served Queen Henrietta Maria in Paris,
being entrusted by her with despatches for Holland. In 1650 he was sent
to Poland in company with Lord Crofts to obtain money for Charles II.
They succeeded in raising £10,000. After two years spent at the exiled
court in Holland, Denham returned to London and being quite without
resources, he was for some time the guest of the earl of Pembroke at
Wilton. In 1655 an order was given that Denham should restrict himself
to some place of residence to be selected by himself at a distance of
not less than 20 m. from London; subsequently he obtained from the
Protector a licence to live at Bury St Edmunds, and in 1658 a passport
to travel abroad with the earl of Pembroke. At the Restoration Denham's
services were rewarded by the office of surveyor-general of works. His
qualifications as an architect were probably slight, but it is safe to
regard as grossly exaggerated the accusations of incompetence and
peculation made by Samuel Butler in his brutal "Panegyric upon Sir John
Denham's Recovery from his Madness." He eventually secured the services
of Christopher Wren as deputy-surveyor. In 1660 he was also made a
knight of the Bath.

In 1665 he married for the second time. His wife, Margaret, daughter of
Sir William Brooke, was, according to the comte de Gramont, a beautiful
girl of eighteen. She soon became known as the mistress of the duke of
York, and the scandal, according to common report, shattered the poet's
reason. While Denham was recovering, his wife died, poisoned, it was
said, by a cup of chocolate. Some suspected the duchess of York of the
crime, but the Comte de Gramont says that the general opinion was that
Denham himself was guilty. No sign of poison, however, was found in the
examination after Lady Denham's death. Denham survived her for two
years, dying at his house near Whitehall in March 1669. He was buried on
the 23rd in Westminster Abbey. In the last years of his life he wrote
the bitter political satires on the shameful conduct of the Dutch War
entitled "Directions to a Painter," and "Fresh Directions," continuing
Edmund Waller's "Instructions to a Painter." The printer of these poems,
with which were printed one by Andrew Marvell, was sentenced to stand in
the pillory. In 1667 Denham wrote his beautiful elegy on Abraham Cowley.

   Denham's poems include, beside those already given, a verse
   paraphrase of Cicero's _Cato major_, and a metrical version of the
   Psalms. As a writer of didactic verse, he was perhaps too highly
   praised by his immediate successors. Dryden called _Cooper's Hill_
   "the exact standard of good writing," and Pope in his _Windsor
   Forest_ called him "majestic Denham." His collected poems with a
   dedicatory epistle to Charles II. appeared in 1668. Other editions
   followed, and they are reprinted in Chalmers' (1810) and other
   collections of the English poets. His political satires were printed
   with some of Rochester's and Marvell's in _Bibliotheca curiosa_, vol.
   i. (Edinburgh, 1885).




DÉNIA, a seaport of eastern Spain, in the province of Alicante; on the
Mediterranean Sea, at the head of a railway from Carcagente. Pop. (1900)
12,431. Dénia occupies the seaward slopes of a hill surmounted by a
ruined castle, and divided by a narrow valley on the south from the
limestone ridge of Mongó (2500 ft.), which commands a magnificent view
of the Balearic Islands and the Valencian coast. The older houses of
Dénia are characterized by their flat Moorish roofs (_azoteas_) and
view-turrets (_miradores_), while fragments of the Moorish ramparts are
also visible near the harbour; owing, however, to the rapid extension of
local commerce, many of the older quarters were modernized at the
beginning of the 20th century. Nails, and woollen, linen and esparto
grass fabrics are manufactured here; and there is a brisk export trade
in grapes, raisins and onions, mostly consigned to Great Britain or the
United States. Baltic timber and British coal are largely imported. The
harbour bay, which is well lighted and sheltered by a breakwater,
contains only a small space of deep water, shut in by deposits of sand
on three sides. In 1904 it accommodated 402 vessels of 175,000 tons;
about half of which were small fishing craft, and coasters carrying
agricultural produce to Spanish and African ports.

Dénia was colonized by Greek merchants from Emporiae (Ampurias in
Catalonia), or Massilia (Marseilles), at a very early date; but its
Greek name of _Hemeroskopeion_ was soon superseded by the Roman
_Dianium_. In the 1st century B.C., Sertorius made it the naval
headquarters of his resistance to Rome; and, as its name implies, it was
already famous for its temple of Diana, built in imitation of that at
Ephesus. The site of this temple can be traced at the foot of the castle
hill. Dénia was captured by the Moors in 713, and from 1031 to 1253
belonged successively to the Moorish kingdoms of Murcia and Valencia.
According to an ancient but questionable tradition, its population rose
at this period to 50,000, and its commerce proportionately increased.
After the city was retaken by the Christians in 1253, its prosperity
dwindled away, and only began to revive in the 19th century. During the
War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), Dénia was thrice besieged; and
in 1813 the citadel was held for five months by the French against the
allied British and Spanish forces, until the garrison was reduced to 100
men, and compelled to surrender, on honourable terms.




DENIKER, JOSEPH (1852-    ) French naturalist and anthropologist, was
born of French parents at Astrakhan, Russia, on the 6th of March 1852.
After receiving his education at the university and technical institute
of St Petersburg, he adopted engineering as a profession, and in this
capacity travelled extensively in the petroleum districts of the
Caucasus, in Central Europe, Italy and Dalmatia. Settling at Paris in
1876, he studied at the Sorbonne, where he took his degree in natural
science. In 1888 he was appointed chief librarian of the Natural History
Museum, Paris. Among his many valuable ethnological works mention may be
made of _Recherches anatomiques et embryologiques sur les singes
anthropoides_ (1886); _Étude sur les Kalmouks_ (1883); _Les Ghiliaks_
(1883); and _Races et peuples de la terre_ (1900). He became one of the
chief editors of the _Dictionnaire de géographie universelle_, and
published many papers in the anthropological and zoological journals of
France.




DENILIQUIN, a municipal town of Townsend county, New South Wales,
Australia, 534 m. direct S.W. of Sydney, and 195 m. by rail N. of
Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 2644. The business of the town is chiefly
connected with the interests of the sheep and cattle farmers of the
Riverina district, a plain country, in the main pastoral, but suited in
some parts for cultivation. Deniliquin has a well-known public school.




DENIM (an abbreviation of _serge de Nîmes_), the name originally given
to a kind of serge. It is now applied to a stout twilled cloth made in
various colours, usually of cotton, and used for overalls, &c.




DENINA, CARLO GIOVANNI MARIA (1731-1813), Italian historian, was born at
Revello, Piedmont, in 1731, and was educated at Saluzzo and Turin. In
1753 he was appointed to the chair of humanity at Pignerol, but he was
soon compelled by the influence of the Jesuits to retire from it. In
1756 he graduated as doctor in theology, and began authorship with a
theological treatise. Promoted to the professorship of humanity and
rhetoric in the college of Turin, he published (1769-1772) his _Delle
revoluzioni d'Italia_, the work on which his reputation is mainly
founded. Collegiate honours accompanied the issue of its successive
volumes, which, however, at the same time multiplied his foes and
stimulated their hatred. In 1782, at Frederick the Great's invitation,
he went to Berlin, where he remained for many years, in the course of
which he published his _Vie et règne de Frédéric II_ (Berlin, 1788) and
_La Prusse littéraire sous Frédéric II_ (3 vols., Berlin, 1790-1791).
His _Delle revoluzioni della Germania_ was published at Florence in
1804, in which year he went to Paris as the imperial librarian, on the
invitation of Napoleon. At Paris he published in 1805 his _Tableau de la
Haute Italie, et des Alpes qui l'entourent_. He died there on the 5th of
December 1813.




DENIS (DIONYSIUS), SAINT, first bishop of Paris, patron saint of France.
According to Gregory of Tours (_Hist. Franc._ i. 30), he was sent into
Gaul at the time of the emperor Decius. He suffered martyrdom at the
village of Catulliacus, the modern St Denis. His tomb was situated by the
side of the Roman road, where rose the priory of St-Denis-de-l'Estrée,
which existed until the 18th century. In the 5th century the clergy of
the diocese of Paris built a basilica over the tomb. About 625 Dagobert,
son of Lothair II., founded in honour of St Denis, at some distance from
the basilica, the monastery where the greater number of the kings of
France have been buried. The festival of St Denis is celebrated on the
9th of October. With his name are already associated in the
_Martyrologium Hieronymianum_ the priest Rusticus and the deacon
Eleutherius. Other traditions--of no value--are connected with the name
of St Denis. A false interpretation of Gregory of Tours, apparently
dating from 724, represented St Denis as having received his mission from
Pope Clement, and as having suffered martyrdom under Domitian (81-96).
Hilduin, abbot of St-Denis in the first half of the 9th century,
identified Denis of Paris with Denis (Dionysius) the Areopagite
(mentioned in Acts xviii. 34), bishop of Athens (Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._
iii. 4. 10, iv. 23. 3), and naturally attributed to him the celebrated
writings of the pseudo-Areopagite. St Denis is generally represented
carrying his head in his hands.

   See _Acta Sanctorum_, Octobris, iv. 696-987; _Bibliotheca
   hagiographica graeca_, p. 37 (Brussels, 1895); _Bibliotheca
   hagiographica latina_, No. 2171-2203 (Brussels, 1899); J. Havet, _Les
   Origines de Saint-Denis_, in his collected works, i. 191-246 (Paris,
   1896); Cahier, _Caractéristiques des saints_, p. 761 (Paris, 1867).
                                                             (H. DE.)




DENIS, JOHANN NEPOMUK COSMAS MICHAEL (1729-1800), Austrian poet, was
born at Schärding on the Inn, on the 27th of September 1729. He was
brought up by the Jesuits, entered their order, and in 1759 was
appointed professor in the Theresianum in Vienna, a Jesuit college. In
1784, after the suppression of the college, he was made second custodian
of the court library, and seven years later became chief librarian. He
died on the 29th of September 1800. A warm admirer of Klopstock, he was
one of the leading members of the group of so-called "bards"; and his
original poetry, published under the title _Die Lieder Sineds des
Barden_ (1772), shows all the extravagances of the "bardic" movement. He
is best remembered as the translator of _Ossian_ (1768-1769; also
published together with his own poems in 5 vols. as _Ossians und Sineds
Lieder_, 1784). More important than either his original poetry or his
translations were his efforts to familiarize the Austrians with the
literature of North Germany; his _Sammlung kürzerer Gedichte aus den
neuern Dichtern Deutschlands_, 3 vols. (1762-1766), was in this respect
invaluable. He has also left a number of bibliographical compilations,
_Grundriss der Bibliographie und Bücherkunde_ (1774), _Grundriss der
Literaturgeschichte_ (1776), _Einleitung in die Bücherkunde_ (1777) and
_Wiens Buchdruckergeschichte bis 1560_ (1782).

   _Ossians und Sineds_ Lieder have not been reprinted since 1791; but a
   selection of his poetry edited by R. Hamel will be found in vol. 48
   (1884) of Kürschner's _Deutsche Nationalliteratur_. His
   _Literarischer Nachlass_ was published by J. F. von Retzer in 1802 (2
   vols.). See P. von Hofmann-Wellenhof, _Michael Denis_ (1881).




DENISON, GEORGE ANTHONY (1805-1896), English churchman, brother of John
Evelyn Denison (1800-1873; speaker of the House of Commons 1857-1872;
Viscount Ossington), was born at Ossington, Notts, on the 11th of
December 1805, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1828
he was elected fellow of Oriel; and after a few years there as a tutor,
during which he was ordained and acted as curate at Cuddesdon, he became
rector of Broadwindsor, Dorset (1838). He became a prebendary of Sarum
in 1841 and of Wells in 1849. In 1851 he was preferred to the valuable
living of East Brent, Somerset, and in the same year was made archdeacon
of Taunton. For many years Archdeacon Denison represented the extreme
High Tory party not only in politics but in the Church, regarding all
"progressive" movements in education or theology as abomination, and
vehemently repudiating the "higher criticism" from the days of _Essays
and Reviews_ (1860) to those of _Lux Mundi_ (1890). In 1853 he resigned
his position as examining chaplain to the bishop of Bath and Wells owing
to his pronounced eucharistic views. A suit on the complaint of a
neighbouring clergyman ensued and after various complications Denison
was condemned by the archbishops' court at Bath (1856); but on appeal
the court of Arches and the privy council quashed this judgment on a
technical plea. The result was to make Denison a keen champion of the
ritualistic school. He edited _The Church and State Review_ (1862-1865).
Secular state education and the "conscience clause" were anathema to
him. Until the end of his life he remained a protagonist in theological
controversy and a keen fighter against latitudinarianism and liberalism;
but the sharpest religious or political differences never broke his
personal friendships and his Christian charity. Among other things for
which he will be remembered was his origination of harvest festivals. He
died on the 21st of March 1896.




DENISON, GEORGE TAYLOR (1839- ), Canadian soldier and publicist, was
born in Toronto on the 31st of August 1839. In 1861 he was called to the
bar, and was from 1865-1867 a member of the city council. From the first
he took a prominent part in the organization of the military forces of
Canada, becoming a lieutenant-colonel in the active militia in 1866. He
saw active service during the Fenian raid of 1866, and during the
rebellion of 1885. Owing to his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the
Conservative ministry during the Red River Rebellion in 1869-70, he
abandoned that party, and in 1872 unsuccessfully contested Algoma in the
Liberal interest. Thereafter he remained free from party ties. In 1877
he was appointed police magistrate of Toronto. Colonel Denison was one
of the founders of the "Canada First" party, which did much to shape the
national aspirations from 1870 to 1878, and was a consistent supporter
of imperial federation and of preferential trade between Great Britain
and her colonies. He became a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and
was president of the section dealing with English history and
literature. The best known of his military works is his _History of
Modern Cavalry_ (London, 1877), which was awarded first prize by the
Russian government in an open competition and has been translated into
German, Russian and Japanese. In 1900 he published his reminiscences
under the title of _Soldiering in Canada_.




DENISON, a city of Grayson county, Texas, U.S.A., about 2½ m. from the
S. bank of the Red river, about 70 m. N. of Dallas. Pop. (1890) 10,958;
(1900) 11,807, of whom 2251 were negroes; (1910 census) 13,632. It is
served by the Houston & Texas Central, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, the
Texas & Pacific, and the St Louis & San Francisco ('Frisco System)
railways, and is connected with Sherman, Texas, by an electric line.
Denison is the seat of the Gate City business college (generally known
as Harshaw Academy), and of St Xavier's academy (Roman Catholic). It is
chiefly important as a railway centre, as a collecting and distributing
point for the fruit, vegetables, hogs and poultry, and general farming
products of the surrounding region, and as a wholesale and jobbing
market for the upper Red river valley. It has railway repair shops, and
among its manufactures are cotton-seed oil, cotton, machinery and
foundry products, flour, wooden-ware, and dairy products. In 1905 its
factory products were valued at $1,234,956, 47.0% more than in 1900.
Denison was settled by Northerners at the time of the construction of
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway to this point in 1872, and was
named in honour of George Denison (1822-1876), a director of the
railway; it became a city in 1891, and in 1907 adopted the commission
form of government.




DENIZEN (derived through the Fr. from Lat. _de intus_, "from within,"
i.e. as opposed to "foreign"), an alien who obtains by letters patent
(_ex donatione regis_) certain of the privileges of a British subject.
He cannot be a member of the privy council or of parliament, or hold any
civil or military office of trust, or take a grant of land from the
crown. The Naturalization Act 1870 provides that nothing therein
contained shall affect the grant of any letters of denization by the
sovereign.




DENIZLI (anc. _Laodicea (q.v.) ad Lycum_), chief town of a sanjak of the
Aidin vilayet of Asia Minor, altitude 1167 ft. Pop. about 17,000. It is
beautifully situated at the foot of Baba Dagh (Mt. Salbacus), on a
tributary of the Churuk Su (Lycus), and is connected by a branch line
with the station of Gonjeli on the Smyrna-Dineir railway. It took the
place of Laodicea when that town was deserted during the wars between
the Byzantines and Seljuk Turks, probably between 1158 and 1174. It had
become a fine Moslem city in the 14th century, and was then called
Ladik, being famous for the woven and embroidered products of its Greek
inhabitants. The delightful gardens of Denizli have obtained for it the
name of the "Damascus of Anatolia."




DENMAN, THOMAS, 1ST BARON (1779-1854), English judge, was born in
London, the son of a well-known physician, on the 23rd of July 1779. He
was educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge, where he
graduated in 1800. Soon after leaving Cambridge he married; and in 1806
he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, and at once entered upon
practice. His success was rapid, and in a few years he attained a
position at the bar second only to that of Brougham and Scarlett (Lord
Abinger). He distinguished himself by his eloquent defence of the
Luddites; but his most brilliant appearance was as one of the counsel
for Queen Caroline. His speech before the Lords was very powerful, and
some competent judges even considered it not inferior to Brougham's. It
contained one or two daring passages, which made the king his bitter
enemy, and retarded his legal promotion. At the general election of 1818
he was returned M.P. for Wareham, and at once took his seat with the
Whig opposition. In the following year he was returned for Nottingham,
for which place he continued to sit till his elevation to the bench in
1832. His liberal principles had caused his exclusion from office till
in 1822 he was appointed common serjeant by the corporation of London.
In 1830 he was made attorney-general under Lord Grey's administration.
Two years later he was made lord chief justice of the King's Bench, and
in 1834 he was raised to the peerage. As a judge he is most celebrated
for his decision in the important privilege case of _Stockdale_ v.
_Hansard_ (9 Ad. & El. I.; 11 Ad. & El. 253), but he was never ranked as
a profound lawyer. In 1850 he resigned his chief justiceship and retired
into private life. He died on the 26th of September 1854, his title
continuing in the direct line.

The HON. GEORGE DENMAN (1819-1896), his fourth son, was also a
distinguished lawyer, and a judge of the Queen's Bench from 1872 till
his death in 1896.

   See Memoir of _Thomas, first Lord Denman_, by Sir Joseph Arnould (2
   vols., 1873); E. Manson, _Builders of our Law_ (1904).




DENMARK (_Danmark_), a small kingdom of Europe, occupying part of a
peninsula and a group of islands dividing the Baltic and North Seas, in
the middle latitudes of the eastern coast. The kingdom lies between 54°
33' and 57° 45' N. and between 8° 4' 54" and 12° 47' 25" E., exclusive
of the island of Bornholm, which, as will be seen, is not to be included
in the Danish archipelago. The peninsula is divided between Denmark and
Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). The Danish portion is the northern and the
greater, and is called Jutland (Dan. _Jylland_). Its northern part is
actually insular, divided from the mainland by the Limfjord or
Liimfjord, which communicates with the North Sea to the west and the
Cattegat to the east, but this strait, though broad and possessing
lacustrine characteristics to the west, has only very narrow entrances.
The connexion with the North Sea dates from 1825. The Skagerrack bounds
Jutland to the north and north-west. The Cattegat is divided from the
Baltic by the Danish islands, between the east coast of the Cimbric
peninsula in the neighbourhood of the German frontier and south-western
Sweden.

There is little variety in the surface of Denmark. It is uniformly low,
the highest elevation in the whole country, the Himmelbjerg near Aarhus
in eastern Jutland, being little more than 500 ft. above the sea.
Denmark, however, is nowhere low in the sense in which Holland is; the
country is pleasantly diversified, and rises a little at the coast even
though it remains flat inland. The landscape of the islands and the
south-eastern part of Jutland is rich in beech-woods, corn fields and
meadows, and even the minute islets are green and fertile. In the
western and northern districts of Jutland this condition gives place to
a wide expanse of moorland, covered with heather, and ending towards the
sea in low whitish-grey cliffs. There is a certain charm even about
these monotonous tracts, and it cannot be said that Denmark is wanting
in natural beauty of a quiet order. Lakes, though small, are numerous;
the largest are the Arresö and the Esromsö in Zealand, and the chain of
lakes in the Himmelbjerg region, which are drained by the largest river
in Denmark, the Gudenaa, which, however, has a course not exceeding 80
m. Many of the meres, overhung with thick beech-woods, are extremely
beautiful. The coasts are generally low and sandy; the whole western
shore of Jutland is a succession of sand ridges and shallow lagoons,
very dangerous to shipping. In many places the sea has encroached; even
in the 19th century entire villages were destroyed, but during the last
twenty years of the century systematic efforts were made to secure the
coast by groynes and embankments. A belt of sand dunes, from 500 yds. to
7 m. wide, stretches along the whole of this coast for about 200 m.
Skagen, or the Skaw, a long, low, sandy point, stretches far into the
northern sea, dividing the Skagerrack from the Cattegat. On the western
side the coast is bolder and less inhospitable; there are several
excellent havens, especially on the islands. The coast is nowhere,
however, very high, except at one or two points in Jutland, and at the
eastern extremity of Möen, where limestone cliffs occur.

Continental Denmark is confined wholly to Jutland, the geographical
description of which is given under that heading. Out of the total area
of the kingdom, 14,829 sq. m., Jutland, including the small islands
adjacent to it, covers 9753 sq. m., and the insular part of the kingdom
(including Bornholm), 5076 sq. m. The islands may be divided into two
groups, consisting of the two principal islands Fünen and Zealand, and
the lesser islands attendant on each. Fünen (Dan. _Fyen_), in form
roughly an oval with an axis from S.E. to N.W. of 53 m., is separated
from Jutland by a channel not half a mile wide in the north, but
averaging 10 m. between the island and the Schleswig coast, and known as
the Little Belt. Fünen, geologically a part of southern Jutland, has
similar characteristics, a smiling landscape of fertile meadows, the
typical beech-forests clothing the low hills and the presence of
numerous erratic blocks, are the superficial signs of likeness. Several
islands, none of great extent, lie off the west coast of Fünen in the
Little Belt; off the south, however, an archipelago is enclosed by the
long narrow islands of Aerö (16 m. in length) and Langeland (32 m.),
including in a triangular area of shallow sea the islands of Taasinge,
Avernakö, Dreiö, Turö and others. These are generally fertile and well
cultivated. Aeröskjöbing and Rudkjöbing, on Aerö and Langeland
respectively, are considerable ports. On Langeland is the great castle
of Tranekjaer, whose record dates from the 13th century. The chief towns
of Fünen itself are all coastal. Odense is the principal town, lying
close to a great inlet behind the peninsula of Hindsholm on the
north-east, known as Odense Fjord. Nyborg on the east is the port for
the steam-ferry to Korsör in Zealand; Svendborg picturesquely overlooks
the southern archipelago; Faaborg on the south-west lies on a fjord of
the same name; Assens, on the west, a port for the crossing of the
Little Belt into Schleswig, still shows traces of the fortifications
which were stormed by John of Ranzau in 1535; Middelfart is a seaside
resort near the narrowest reach of the Little Belt; Bogense is a small
port on the north coast. All these towns are served by railways
radiating from Odense. The strait crossed by the Nyborg-Korsör ferry is
the Great Belt which divides the Fünen from the Zealand group, and is
continued south by the Langelands Belt, which washes the straight
eastern shore of that island, and north by the Samso Belt, named from an
island 15 m. in length, with several large villages, which lies somewhat
apart from the main archipelago.

Zealand, or Sealand (Dan. _Sjaelland_), measuring 82 m. N. to S. by 68
E. to W. (extremes), with its fantastic coast-line indented by fjords
and projecting into long spits or promontories, may be considered as the
nucleus of the kingdom, inasmuch as it contains the capital, Copenhagen,
and such important towns as Roskilde, Slagelse, Korsör, Naestved and
Elsinore (Helsingör). Its topography is described in detail under
ZEALAND. Its attendant islands lie mainly to the south and are parts of
itself, only separated by geologically recent troughs. The eastern
coast of Möen is rocky and bold. It is recorded that this island formed
three separate isles in 1100, and the village of Borre, now 2 m. inland,
was the object of an attack by a fleet from Lübeck in 1510. On Falster
is the port of Nykjöbing, and from Gjedser, the extreme southern point
of Denmark, communication is maintained with Warnemünde in Germany (29
m.). From Nykjöbing a bridge nearly one-third of a mile long crosses to
Laaland, at the west of which is the port of Nakskov; the other towns
are the county town of Maribo with its fine church of the 14th century,
Saxkjöbing and Rödby. The island of Bornholm lies 86 m. E. of the
nearest point of the archipelago, and as it belongs geologically to
Sweden (from which it is distant only 22 m.) must be considered to be
physically an appendage rather than an internal part of the kingdom of
Denmark.

_Geology._--The surface in Denmark is almost everywhere formed by the
so-called Boulder Clay and what the Danish geologists call the Boulder
Sand. The former, as is well known, owes its origin to the action of ice
on the mountains of Norway in the Glacial period. It is unstratified;
but by the action of water on it, stratified deposits have been formed,
some of clay, containing remains of arctic animals, some, and very
extensive ones, of sand and gravel. This boulder sand forms almost
everywhere the highest hills, and besides, in the central part of
Jutland, a wide expanse of heath and moorland apparently level, but
really sloping gently towards the west. The deposits of the boulder
formation rest generally on limestone of the Cretaceous period, which in
many places comes near the surface and forms cliffs on the sea-coast.
Much of the Danish chalk, including the well-known limestone of Faxe,
belongs to the highest or "Danian" subdivision of the Cretaceous period.
In the south-western parts a succession of strata, described as the
Brown Coal or Lignite formations, intervenes between the chalk and the
boulder clay; its name is derived from the deposits of lignite which
occur in it. It is only on the island of Bornholm that older formations
come to light. This island agrees in geological structure with the
southern part of Sweden, and forms, in fact, the southernmost portion of
the Scandinavian system. There the boulder clay lies immediately on the
primitive rock, except in the south-western corner of the island, where
a series of strata appear belonging to the Cambrian, Silurian, Jurassic
and Cretaceous formations, the true Coal formation, &c., being absent.
Some parts of Denmark are supposed to have been finally raised out of
the sea towards the close of the Cretaceous period; but as a whole the
country did not appear above the water till about the close of the
Glacial period. The upheaval of the country, a movement common to a
large part of the Scandinavian peninsula, still continues, though
slowly, north-east of a line drawn in a south-easterly direction from
Nissumfjord on the west coast of Jutland, across the island of Fyen, a
little south of the town of Nyborg. Ancient sea-beaches, marked by
accumulations of seaweed, rolled stones, &c., have been noticed as much
as 20 ft. above the present level. But the upheaval does not seem to
affect all parts equally. Even in historic times it has vastly changed
the aspect and configuration of the country.

_Climate, Flora, Fauna._--The climate of Denmark does not differ
materially from that of Great Britain in the same latitude; but whilst
the summer is a little warmer, the winter is colder, so that most of the
evergreens which adorn an English garden in the winter cannot be grown
in the open in Denmark. During thirty years the annual mean temperature
varied from 43.88° F. to 46.22° in different years and different
localities, the mean average for the whole country being 45.14°. The
islands have, upon the whole, a somewhat warmer climate than Jutland.
The mean temperatures of the four coldest months, December to March, are
33.26°, 31.64°, 31.82°, and 33.98° respectively, or for the whole winter
32.7°; that of the summer, June to August, 59.2°, but considerable
irregularities occur. Frost occurs on an average on twenty days in each
of the four winter months, but only on two days in either October or
May. A fringe of ice generally lines the greater part of the Danish
coasts on the eastern side for some time during the winter, and both the
Sound and the Great Belt are at times impassable on account of ice. In
some winters the latter is sufficiently firm and level to admit of
sledges passing between Copenhagen and Malmö. The annual rainfall varies
between 21.58 in. and 27.87 in. in different years and different
localities. It is highest on the west coast of Jutland; while the small
island of Anholt in the Cattegat has an annual rainfall of only 15.78
in. More than half the rainfall occurs from July to November, the
wettest month being September, with an average of 2.95 in.; the driest
month is April, with an average of 1.14 in. Thunderstorms are frequent
in the summer. South-westerly winds prevail from January to March, and
from September to the end of the year. In April the east wind, which is
particularly searching, is predominant, while westerly winds prevail
from May to August. In the district of Aalborg, in the north of Jutland,
a cold and dry N.W. wind called _skai_ prevails in May and June, and is
exceedingly destructive to vegetation; while along the west coast of the
peninsula similar effects are produced by a salt mist, which carries its
influence from 15 to 30 m. inland.

The flora of Denmark presents greater variety than might be anticipated
in a country of such simple physical structure. The ordinary forms of
the north of Europe grow freely in the mild air and protected soil of
the islands and the eastern coast; while on the heaths and along the
sandhills on the Atlantic side there flourish a number of distinctive
species. The Danish forest is almost exclusively made up of beech, a
tree which thrives better in Denmark than in any other country of
Europe. The oak and ash are now rare, though in ancient times both were
abundant in the Danish islands. The elm is also scarce. The almost
universal predominance of the beech is by no means of ancient origin,
for in the first half of the 17th century the oak was still the
characteristic Danish tree. No conifer grows in Denmark except under
careful cultivation, which, however, is largely practised in Jutland
(q.v.). But again, abundant traces of ancient extensive forests of fir
and pine are found in the numerous peat bogs which supply a large
proportion of the fuel locally used. In Bornholm, it should be
mentioned, the flora is more like that of Sweden; not the beech, but the
pine, birch and ash are the most abundant trees.

The wild animals and birds of Denmark are those of the rest of central
Europe. The larger quadrupeds are all extinct; even the red deer,
formerly so abundant that in a single hunt in Jutland in 1593 no less
than 1600 head of deer were killed, is now only to be met with in
preserves. In the prehistoric "kitchen-middens" (_kjökkenmödding_) and
elsewhere, however, vestiges are found which prove that the urochs, the
wild boar, the beaver, the bear and the wolf all existed subsequently to
the arrival of man. The usual domestic animals are abundantly found in
Denmark, with the exception of the goat, which is uncommon. The sea
fisheries are of importance. Oysters are found in some places, but have
disappeared from many localities, where their abundance in ancient times
is proved by their shell moulds on the coast. The Gudenaa is the only
salmon river in Denmark.

[Illustration: DENMARK]

_Population._--The population of Denmark in 1901 was 2,449,540. It was
929,001 in 1801, showing an increase during the century in the
proportion of 1 to 2.63. In 1901 the average density of the population
of Denmark was 165.2 to the square mile, but varied much in the
different parts. Jutland showed an average of only 109 inhabitants per
square mile, whilst on the islands, which had a total population of
1,385,537, the average stood at 272.95, owing, on the one hand, to the
fact that large tracts in the interior of Jutland are almost
uninhabited, and on the other to the fact that the capital of the
country, with its proportionately large population, is situated on the
island of Zealand. The percentages of urban and rural population are
respectively about 38 and 62. A notable movement of the population to
the towns began about the middle of the 19th century, and increased
until very near its end. It was stronger on the islands, where the rural
population increased by 5.3% only in eleven years, whereas in Jutland
the increase of the rural population between 1890 and 1901 amounted to
12.0%. Here, however, peculiar circumstances contributed to the
increase, as successful efforts have been made to render the land
fruitful by artificial means. The Danes are a yellow-haired and
blue-eyed Teutonic race of middle stature, bearing traces of their
kinship with the northern Scandinavian peoples. Their habits of life
resemble those of the North Germans even more than those of the Swedes.
The independent tenure of the land by a vast number of small farmers,
who are their own masters, gives an air of carelessness, almost of
truculence, to the well-to-do Danish peasants. They are generally slow
of speech and manner, and somewhat irresolute, but take an eager
interest in current politics, and are generally fairly educated men of
extreme democratic principles. The result of a fairly equal distribution
of wealth is a marked tendency towards equality in social intercourse.
The townspeople show a bias in favour of French habits and fashions. The
separation from the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which were more
than half German, intensified the national character; the Danes are
intensely patriotic; and there is no portion of the Danish dominions
except perhaps in the West Indian islands, where a Scandinavian language
is not spoken. The preponderance of the female population over the male
is approximately as 1052 to 1000. The male sex remains in excess until
about the twentieth year, from which age the female sex preponderates in
increasing ratio with advancing age. The percentage of illegitimacy is
high as a whole, although in some of the rural districts it is very low.
But in Copenhagen 20% of the births are illegitimate. Between the middle
and the end of the 19th century the rate of mortality decreased most
markedly for all ages. During the last decade of the century it ranged
between 19.5 per thousand in 1891 and 15.1 in 1898 (17.4 in 1900).
Emigration for some time in the 19th century at different periods, both
in its early part and towards its close, seriously affected the
population of Denmark. But in the last decade it greatly diminished.
Thus in 1892 the number of emigrants to Transatlantic places rose to
10,422 but in 1900 it was only 3570. The great bulk of them go to the
United States; next in favour is Canada.

_Communications._--The roads of Denmark form an extensive and
well-maintained system. The railway system is also fairly complete, the
state owning about three-fifths of the total mileage, which amounts to
some 2000. Two lines enter Denmark from Schleswig across the frontier.
The main Danish lines are as follows. From the frontier a line runs east
by Fredericia, across the island of Fünen by Odense and Nyborg, to
Korsör on Zealand, and thence by Roskilde to Copenhagen. The straits
between Fredericia and Middelfart and between Nyborg and Korsör are
crossed by powerful steam-ferries which are generally capable of
conveying a limited number of railway wagons. This system is also in use
on the line which runs south from Roskilde to the island of Falster,
from the southernmost point of which, Gjedser, ferry-steamers taking
railway cars serve Warnemünde in Germany. The main lines in Jutland run
(a) along the eastern side north from Fredericia by Horsens, Aarhus,
Randers, Aalborg and Hjörring, to Frederikshavn, and (b) along the
western side from Esbjerg by Skjerne and Vemb, and thence across the
peninsula by Viborg to Langaa on the eastern line. The lines are
generally of standard gauge (4 ft. 8½ in.), but there is also a
considerable mileage of light narrow-gauge railways. Besides the
numerous steam-ferries which connect island and island, and Jutland with
the islands, and the Gjedser-Warnemünde route, a favourite passenger
line from Germany is that between Kiel and Korsör, while most of the
German Baltic ports have direct connexion with Copenhagen. With Sweden
communications are established by ferries across the Sound between
Copenhagen and Malmö and Landskrona, and between Elsinore (Helsingör)
and Helsingborg. The postal department maintains a telegraph and
telephone service.

_Industries._--The main source of wealth in Denmark is agriculture,
which employs about two-fifths of the entire population. Most of the
land is freehold and cultivated by the owner himself, and comparatively
little land is let on lease except very large holdings and glebe farms.
The independent small farmer (_bönder_) maintains a hereditary
attachment to his ancestral holding. There is also a class of cottar
freeholders (_junster_). Fully 74% of the total area of the country is
agricultural land. Of this only about one-twelfth is meadow land. The
land under grain crops is not far short of one-half the remainder, the
principal crops being oats, followed by barley and rye in about equal
quantities, with wheat about one-sixth that of barley and hardly
one-tenth that of oats. Beet is extensively grown. During the last forty
years of the 19th century dairy-farming was greatly developed in
Denmark, and brought to a high degree of perfection by the application
of scientific methods and the best machinery, as well as by the
establishment of joint dairies. The Danish government has assisted this
development by granting money for experiments and by a rigorous system
of inspection for the prevention of adulteration. The co-operative
system plays an important part in the industries of butter-making,
poultry-farming and the rearing of swine.

Rabbits, which are not found wild in Denmark, are bred for export. Woods
cover fully 7% of the area, and their preservation is considered of so
much importance that private owners are under strict control as regards
cutting of timber. The woods consist mostly of beech, which is
principally used for fuel, but pines were extensively planted during the
19th century. Allusion has been made already to the efforts to plant the
extensive heaths in Jutland (q.v.) with pine-trees.

_Agriculture._--Rates and taxes on land are mostly levied according to a
uniform system of assessment, the unit of which is called a _Tonde
Hartkorn_. The Td. Htk., as it is usually abbreviated, has further
subdivision, and is intended to correspond to the same value of land
throughout the country. The Danish measure for land is a _Tonde Land_
(Td. L.), which is equal to 1.363 statute acres. Of the best ploughing
land a little over 6 Td. L., or about 8 acres, go to a Td. Htk., but of
unprofitable land a Td. Htk. may represent 300 acres or more. On the
islands and in the more fertile part of Jutland the average is about 10
Td. L., or 13½ acres. Woodland, tithes, &c., are also assessed to Td.
Htk. for fiscal purposes. In the island of Bornholm, the assessment is
somewhat different, though the general state of agricultural holdings is
the same as in other parts. The selling value of land has shown a
decrease in modern times on account of the agricultural depression. A
homestead with land assessed less than 1 Td. Htk. is legally called a
_Huus_ or _Sted_, i.e. cottage, whilst a farm assessed at 1 Td. Htk. or
more is called _Gaard_, i.e. farm. Farms of between 1 and 12 Td. Htk.
are called _Bondergaarde_, or peasant farms, and are subject to the
restriction that such a holding cannot lawfully be joined to or entirely
merged into another. They may be subdivided, and portions may be added
to another holding, but the homestead, with a certain amount of land,
must be preserved as a separate holding for ever. The seats of the
nobility and landed gentry are called _Herregaarde_. The peasants hold
about 73% of all the land according to its value. As regards their size
about 30% are assessed from 1 to 4 Td. Htk.; about 33% from 4 to 8 Td.
Htk.; the remainder at about 8 Td. Htk. An annual sum is voted by
parliament out of which loans are granted to cottagers who desire to
purchase small freehold plots.

The fishery along the coasts of Denmark is of some importance both on
account of the supply of food obtained thereby for the population of the
country, and on account of the export; but the good fishing grounds, not
far from the Danish coast, particularly in the North Sea, are mostly
worked by the fishing vessels of other nations, which are so numerous
that the Danish government is obliged to keep gun-boats stationed there
in order to prevent encroachments on territorial waters.

_Other Industries._--The mineral products of Denmark are unimportant. It
is one of the poorest countries of Europe in this particular. It is
rich, however, in clays, while in the island of Bornholm there are
quarries of freestone and marble. The factories of Denmark supply mainly
local needs. The largest are those engaged in the construction of
engines and iron ships. The manufacture of woollens and cotton, the
domestic manufacture of linen in Zealand, sugar refineries, paper mills,
breweries, and distilleries may also be mentioned. The most notable
manufacture is that of porcelain. The nucleus of this industry was a
factory started in 1772, by F. H. Müller, for the making of china out of
Bornholm clay. In 1779 it passed into the hands of the state, and has
remained there ever since, though there are also private factories.
Originally the Copenhagen potters imitated the Dresden china made at
Meissen, but they later produced graceful original designs. The
creations of Thorvaldsen have been largely repeated and imitated in this
ware. Trade-unionism flourishes in Denmark, and strikes are of frequent
occurrence.

_Commerce._--Formerly the commercial legislation of Denmark was to such
a degree restrictive that imported manufactures had to be delivered to
the customs, where they were sold by public auction, the proceeds of
which the importer received from the custom-houses after a deduction was
made for the duty. To this restriction, as regards foreign intercourse,
was added a no less injurious system of inland duties impeding the
commerce of the different provinces with each other. The want of roads
also, and many other disadvantages, tended to keep down the development
of both commerce and industry. During the 19th century, however, several
commercial treaties were concluded between Denmark and the other powers
of Europe, which made the Danish tariff more regular and liberal.

The vexed question, of many centuries' standing, concerning the claim of
Denmark to levy dues on vessels passing through the Sound (q.v.), was
settled by the abolition of the dues in 1857. The commerce of Denmark is
mainly based on home production and home consumption, but a certain
quantity of goods is imported with a view to re-exportation, for which
the free port and bonded warehouses at Copenhagen give facilities. In
modern times the value of Danish commerce greatly increased, being
doubled in the last twenty years of the 19th century, and exceeding a
total of fifty millions sterling. The value of export is exceeded as a
whole by that of import in the proportion, roughly, of 1 to 1.35. By far
the most important articles of export may be classified as articles of
food of animal origin, a group which covers the vast export trade in the
dairy produce, especially butter, for which Denmark is famous. The value
of the butter for export reaches nearly 40% of the total value of Danish
exports. A small proportion of the whole is imported chiefly from Russia
(also Siberia) and Sweden and re-exported as of foreign origin. The
production of margarine is large, but not much is exported, margarine
being largely consumed in Denmark instead of butter, which is exported.
Next to butter the most important article of Danish export is bacon, and
huge quantities of eggs are also exported. Exports of less value, but
worthy of special notice, are vegetables and wool, bones and tallow,
also dairy machinery, and finally cement, the production of which is a
growing industry. The classes of articles of food of animal origin, and
living animals, are the only ones of which the exportation exceeds the
importation; with regard to all other goods, the reverse is the case. In
the second of these classes the most important export is home-bred
horned cattle. The trade in live sheep and swine, which was formerly
important, has mostly been converted into a dead-meat trade. A
proportionally large importation of timber is caused by the scarcity of
native timber suitable for building purposes, the plantations of firs
and pines being insufficient to produce the quantity required, and the
quality of the wood being inferior beyond the age of about forty years.
The large importation of coal, minerals and metals, and goods made from
them is likewise caused by the natural poverty of the country in these
respects.

Denmark carries on its principal import trade with Germany, Great
Britain and the United States of America, in this order, the proportions
being about 30, 20 and 16% respectively of the total. Its principal
export trade is with Great Britain, Germany and Sweden, the percentage
of the whole being 60, 18 and 10. With Russia, Norway and France (in
this order) general trade is less important, but still large. A
considerable proportion of Denmark's large commercial fleet is engaged
in the carrying trade between foreign, especially British, ports.

Under a law of the 4th of May 1907 it was enacted that the metric system
of weights and measures should come into official use in three years
from that date, and into general use in five years.

_Money and Banking._--The unit of the Danish monetary system, as of the
Swedish and Norwegian, is the _krone_ (crown), equal to 1s. 1{1/3}d.,
which is divided into 100 _öre_; consequently 7½ öre are equal to one
penny. Since 1873 gold has been the standard, and gold pieces of 20 and
10 kroner are coined, but not often met with, as the public prefers
bank-notes. The principal bank is the National Bank at Copenhagen, which
is the only one authorized to issue notes. These are of the value of 10,
50, 100 and 500 kr. Next in importance are the Danske Landmands Bank,
the Handels Bank and the Private Bank, all at Copenhagen. The provincial
banks are very numerous; many of them are at the same time savings
banks. Their rate of interest, with few exceptions, is 3½ to 4%. There
exist, besides, in Denmark several mutual loan associations
(_Kreditforeninger_), whose business is the granting of loans on
mortgage. Registration of mortgages is compulsory in Denmark, and the
system is extremely simple, a fact which has been of the greatest
importance for the improvement of the country. There are comparatively
large institutions for insurance of all kinds in Denmark. The largest
office for life insurance is a state institution. By law of the 9th of
April 1891 a system of old-age pensions was established for the benefit
of persons over sixty years of age.

_Government._--Denmark is a limited monarchy, according to the law of
1849, revised in 1866. The king shares his power with the parliament
(_Rigsdag_), which consists of two chambers, the _Landsthing_ and the
_Folkething_, but the constitution contains no indication of any
difference in their attributes. The Landsthing, or upper house, however,
is evidently intended to form the conservative element in the
constitutional machinery. While the 114 members of the Folkething (House
of Commons) are elected for three years in the usual way by universal
suffrage, 12 out of the 66 members of the Landsthing are life members
nominated by the crown. The remaining 54 members of the Landsthing are
returned for eight years according to a method of proportionate
representation by a body of deputy electors. Of these deputies one-half
are elected in the same way as members of the Folkething, without any
property qualification for the voters; the other half of the deputy
electors are chosen in the towns by those who during the last preceding
year were assessed on a certain minimum of income, or paid at least a
certain amount in rates and taxes. In the rural districts the deputy
electors returned by election are supplemented by an equal number of
those who have paid the highest amounts in taxes and county rates
together. In this manner a representation is secured for fairly large
minorities, and what is considered a fair share of influence on public
affairs given to those who contribute the most to the needs of the
state. The franchise is held by every male who has reached his thirtieth
year, subject to independence of public charity and certain other
circumstances. A candidate for either house of the Rigsdag must have
passed the age of twenty-five. Members are paid ten kroner each day of
the session and are allowed travelling expenses. The houses meet each
year on the first Monday in October. The constitutional theory of the
Folkething is that of one member for every 16,000 inhabitants. The
Faeröe islands, which form an integral part of the kingdom of Denmark in
the wider sense, are represented in the Danish parliament, but not the
other dependencies of the Danish crown, namely Iceland, Greenland and
the West Indian islands of St Thomas, St John and St Croix. The budget
is considered by the Folkething at the beginning of each session. The
revenue and expenditure average annually about £4,700,000. The principal
items of revenue are customs and excise, land and house tax, stamps,
railways, legal fees, the state lottery and death duties. A considerable
reserve fund is maintained to meet emergencies. The public debt is about
£13,500,000 and is divided into an internal debt, bearing interest
generally at 3½%, and a foreign debt (the larger), with interest
generally at 3%. The revenue and expenditure of the Faeröes are included
in the budget for Denmark proper, but Iceland and the West Indies have
their separate budgets. The Danish treasury receives nothing from these
possessions; on the contrary, Iceland receives an annual grant, and the
West Indian islands have been heavily subsidized by the Danish finances
to assist the sugar industry. The administration of Greenland (q.v.)
entails an annual loss which is posted on the budget of the ministry of
finances. The state council (_Statsraad_) includes the presidency of the
council and ministries of war, and marine, foreign affairs, the
interior, justice, finance, public institution and ecclesiastical,
agriculture and public works.

_Local Government._--For administrative purposes the country is divided
into eighteen counties (_Amter_, singular _Amt_), as follows. (1)
Covering the islands of Zealand and lesser adjacent islands, Copenhagen,
Frederiksborg, Holbaek, Sorö, Praestö. (2) Covering the islands of
Laaland and Falster, Maribo. (3) Covering Fünen, Langeland and adjacent
islets, Svendborg, Odense. (4) On the mainland, Hjörring, Aalborg,
Thisted, Ringkjöbing, Viborg, Randers, Aarhus, Vejle, Ribe. (5)
Bornholm. The principal civil officer in each of these is the _Amtmand_.
Local affairs are managed by the _Amstraad_ and _Sogneraad_,
corresponding to the English county council and parish council. These
institutions date from 1841, but they have undergone several
modifications since. The members of these councils are elected on a
system similar to that applied to the elections for the Landsthing. The
same is the case with the provincial town councils. That of Copenhagen
is elected by those who are rated on an income of at least 400 kroner
(£22). The burgomasters are appointed by the crown, except at
Copenhagen, where they are elected by the town council, subject to royal
approbation. The financial position of the municipalities in Denmark is
generally good. The ordinary budget of Copenhagen amounts to about
£1,100,000 a year.

_Justice._--For the administration of justice Denmark is divided into
_herreds_ or hundreds; as, however, they are mostly of small extent,
several are generally served by one judge (_herredsfoged_); the
townships are likewise separate jurisdictions, each with a _byfoged_.
There are 126 such local judges, each of whom deals with all kinds of
cases arising in his district, and is also at the head of the police.
There are two intermediary Courts of Appeal (_Overret_), one in
Copenhagen, another in Viborg; the Supreme Court of Appeal
(_Höjesteret_) sits at Copenhagen. In the capital the different
functions are more divided. There is also a Court of Commerce and
Navigation, on which leading members of the trading community serve as
assessors. In the country, Land Commissions similarly constituted deal
with many questions affecting agricultural holdings. A peculiarity of
the Danish system is that, with few exceptions, no civil cause can be
brought before a court until an attempt has been made at effecting an
amicable settlement. This is mostly done by so-called Committees of
Conciliation, but in some cases by the court itself before commencing
formal judicial proceedings. In this manner three-fifths of all the
causes are settled, and many which remain unsettled are abandoned by the
plaintiffs. Sanitary matters are under the control of a Board of Health.
The whole country is divided into districts, in each of which a medical
man is appointed with a salary, who is under the obligation to attend to
poor sick and assist the authorities in medical matters, inquests, &c.
The relief of the poor is well organized, mostly on the system of
out-door relief. Many workhouses have been established for indigent
persons capable of work. There are also many almshouses and similar
institutions.

_Army and Navy._--The active army consists of a life guard battalion and
10 infantry regiments of 3 battalions each, infantry, 5 cavalry
regiments of 3 squadrons each, 12 field batteries (now re-armed with a
Krupp Q.F. equipment), 3 battalions of fortress artillery and 6
companies of engineers, with in addition various local troops and
details. The peace strength of permanent troops, without the annual
contingent of recruits, is about 13,500 officers and men, the annual
contingent of men trained two or three years with the colours about
22,500, and the annual contingent of special reservists (men trained for
brief periods) about 17,000. Thus the number of men maintained under
arms (without calling up the reserves) is as high as 75,000 during
certain periods of the year and averages nearly 60,000. Reservists who
have definitively left the colours are recalled for short refresher
trainings, the number of men so trained in 1907 being about 80,000. The
field army on a war footing, without depot troops, garrison troops and
reservists, would be about 50,000 strong, but by constituting new cadres
at the outbreak of war and calling up the reserves it could be more than
doubled, and as a matter of fact nearly 120,000 men were with the
colours in the manoeuvre season in 1907. The term of service is eight
years in the active army and its reserves and eight years in the second
line. The armament of the infantry is the Krag-jorgensen of .314 in.
calibre, model 1889, that of the field artillery a 7.5 cm. Krupp Q.F.
equipment, model 1902. The navy consists of 6 small battleships, 3 coast
defence armour-clads, 5 protected cruisers, 5 gun-boats, and 24 torpedo
craft.

_Religion._--The national or state church of Denmark is officially
styled "Evangelically Reformed," but is popularly described as Lutheran.
The king must belong to it. There is complete religious toleration, but
though most of the important Christian communities are represented their
numbers are very small. The Mormon apostles for a considerable time made
a special raid upon the Danish peasantry and a few hundreds profess this
faith. There are seven dioceses, Fünen, Laaland and Falster, Aarhus,
Aalborg, Viborg and Ribe, while the primate is the bishop of Zealand,
and resides at Copenhagen, but his cathedral is at Roskilde. The bishops
have no political function by reason of their office, although they may,
and often do, take a prominent part in politics. The greater part of the
pastorates comprise more than one parish. The benefices are almost
without exception provided with good residences and glebes, and the
tithes, &c., generally afford a comfortable income. The bishops have
fixed salaries in lieu of tithes appropriated by the state.

_Education and Arts._--The educational system of Denmark is maintained
at a high standard. The instruction in primary schools is gratuitous.
Every child is bound to attend the parish school at least from the
seventh to the thirteenth year, unless the parents can prove that it
receives suitable instruction in other ways. The schools are under the
immediate control of school boards appointed by the parish councils, but
of which the incumbent of the parish is _ex-officio_ member; superior
control is exercised by the Amtmand, the rural dean, and the bishop,
under the Minister for church and education. Secondary public schools
are provided in towns, in which moderate school fees are paid. There are
also public grammar-schools. Nearly all schools are day-schools. There
are only two public schools, which, though on a much smaller scale,
resemble the great English schools, namely, those of Sorö and
Herlufsholm, both founded by private munificence. Private schools are
generally under a varying measure of public control. The university is
at Copenhagen (q.v.). Amongst numerous other institutions for the
furtherance of science and training of various kinds may be mentioned
the large polytechnic schools; the high school for agriculture and
veterinary art; the royal library; the royal society of sciences; the
museum of northern antiquities; the society of northern antiquaries, &c.
The art museums of Denmark are not considerable, except the museum of
Thorvaldsen, at Copenhagen, but much is done to provide first-rate
training in the fine arts and their application to industry through the
Royal Academy of Arts, and its schools. Finally, it may be mentioned
that a sum proportionately large is available from public funds and
regular parliamentary grants for furthering science and arts by
temporary subventions to students, authors, artists and others of
insufficient means, in order to enable them to carry out particular
works, to profit by foreign travel, &c. The principal scientific
societies and institutions are detailed under Copenhagen. During the
earlier part of the 19th century not a few men could be mentioned who
enjoyed an exceptional reputation in various departments of science, and
Danish scientists continue to contribute their full share to the
advancement of knowledge. The society of sciences, that of northern
antiquaries, the natural history and the botanical societies, &c.,
publish their transactions and proceedings, but the _Naturhistorisk
Tidsskrift_, of which 14 volumes with 259 plates were published
(1861-1884), and which was in the foremost rank in its department,
ceased with the death in 1884 of the editor, the distinguished
zoologist, I. C. Schiödte. Another extremely valuable publication of
wide general interest, the _Meddelelser om Grönland_, is published by
the commission for the exploration of Greenland. What may be called the
modern "art" current, with its virtues and vices, is as strong in
Denmark as in England. Danish sculpture will be always famous, if only
through the name of Thorvaldsen. In architecture the prevailing fashion
is a return to the style of the first half of the 17th century, called
the Christian IV. style; but in this branch of art no marked excellence
has been obtained.

   AUTHORITIES.--J. P. Trap, _Statistisk Topographisk Beskrivelse af
   Kongeriget Danmark_ (Copenhagen, 1859-1860, 3 vols., 2nd ed.,
   1872-1879); V. Falbe-Hansen and W. Scharling, _Danmarks Statistik_
   (Copenhagen, 1878-1891, 6 vols.). (Various writers) _Vort Folk i det
   nittende Aarhundrede_ (Copenhagen, 1899 et seq.), illustrated; J.
   Carlsen, H. Olrik and C. N. Starcke, _Le Danemark_ (Copenhagen,
   1900), 700 pp.; illustrated, published in connexion with the Paris
   Exhibition. _Statistisk Aarbog_ (1896, &c.). Annual publication, and
   other publications of Statens Statistiske Bureau, Copenhagen;
   _Annuaire météorologique_, Danish Meteorological Institution,
   Copenhagen; E. Löffler, _Dänemarks Natur and Volk_ (Copenhagen,
   1905); Margaret Thomas, _Denmark Past and Present_ (London, 1902).
                                            (C. A. G.; O. J. R. H.)


HISTORY

_Ancient._--Our earliest knowledge of Denmark is derived from Pliny, who
speaks of three islands named "Skandiai," a name which is also applied
to Sweden. He says nothing about the inhabitants of these islands, but
tells us more about the Jutish peninsula, or Cimbric Chersonese as he
calls it. He places the Saxons on the neck, above them the Sigoulones,
Sabaliggoi and Kobandoi, then the Chaloi, then above them the
Phoundousioi, then the Charondes and finally the Kimbroi. He also
mentions the three islands called Alokiai, at the northern end of the
peninsula. This would point to the fact that the Limfjord was then open
at both ends, and agree with Adam of Bremen (iv. 16), who also speaks of
three islands called Wendila, Morse and Thud. The Cimbri and Charydes
are mentioned in the _Monumentum Ancyranum_ as sending embassies to
Augustus in A.D. 5. The Promontorium Cimbrorum is spoken of in Pliny,
who says that the Sinus Codanus lies between it and Mons Saevo. The
latter place is probably to be found in the high-lying land on the N.E.
coast of Germany, and the Sinus Codanus must be the S.W. corner of the
Baltic, and not the whole sea. Pomponius Mela says that the Cimbri and
Teutones dwelt on the Sinus Codanus, the latter also in Scandinavia (or
Sweden). The Romans believed that these Cimbri and Teutones were the
same as those who invaded Gaul and Italy at the end of the 2nd century
B.C. The Cimbri may probably be traced in the province of Aalborg,
formerly known as Himmerland; the Teutones, with less certainty, may be
placed in Thyth or Thyland, north of the Limfjord. No further reference
to these districts is found till towards the close of the migration
period, about the beginning of the 6th century, when the Heruli (q.v.),
a nation dwelling in or near the basin of the Elbe, were overthrown by
the Langobardi. According to Procopius (_Bellum Gothicum_, ii. 15), a
part of them made their way across the "desert of the Slavs," through
the lands of the Warni and the Danes to Thoule (i.e. Sweden). This is
the first recorded use of the name "Danes." It occurs again in Gregory
of Tours (_Historiae Francorum_, iii. 3) in connexion with an irruption
of a Götish (loosely called Danish) fleet into the Netherlands (c. 520).
From this time the use of the name is fairly common. The heroic poetry
of the Anglo-Saxons may carry the name further back, though probably it
is not very ancient, at all events on the mainland.

According to late Danish tradition Denmark now consisted of Vitheslaeth
(i.e. Zealand, Möen, Falster and Laaland), Jutland (with Fyen) and
Skaane. Jutland was acquired by Dan, the eponymous ancestor of the
Danes. He also won Skaane, including the modern provinces of Halland,
Kristianstad, Malmöhus and Blekinge, and these remained part of Denmark
until the middle of the 17th century. These three divisions always
remained more or less distinct, and the Danish kings had to be
recognized at Lund, Ringsted and Viborg, but Zealand was from time
immemorial the centre of government, and Lejre was the royal seat and
national sanctuary. According to tradition this dates from the time of
Skiöldr, the eponymous ancestor of the Danish royal family of
Skiöldungar. He was a son of Othin and husband of the goddess Gefjon,
who created Zealand. Anglo-Saxon tradition also speaks of Scyld (i.e.
Skiöldr), who was regarded as the ancestor of both the Danish and
English royal families, and it represented him as coming as a child of
unknown origin in a rudderless boat. There can be little doubt that from
a remote antiquity Zealand had been a religious sanctuary, and very
probably the god Nerthus was worshipped here by the Angli and other
tribes as described in Tacitus (_Germania_, c. 40). The Lejre sanctuary
was still in existence in the time of Thietmar of Merseburg (i. 9), at
the beginning of the 11th century.

In Scandinavian tradition the next great figure is Fróðe the peace-king,
but it is not before the 5th century that we meet with the names of any
kings which can be regarded as definitely historical. In _Beowulf_ we
hear of a Danish king Healfdene, who had three sons, Heorogar, Hrothgar
and Halga. The hero Beowulf comes to the court of Hrothgar from the land
of the Götar, where Hygelac is king. This Hygelac is undoubtedly to be
identified with the Chochilaicus, king of the Danes (really Götar) who,
as mentioned above, made a raid against the Franks c. 520. Beowulf
himself won fame in this campaign, and by the aid of this definite
chronological datum we can place the reign of Healfdene in the last half
of the 5th century, and that of Hrothgar's nephew Hrothwulf, son of
Halga, about the middle of the 6th century. Hrothgar and Halga
correspond to Saxo's Hroar and Helgi, while Hrothwulf is the famous
Rolvo or Hrólfr Kraki of Danish and Norse saga. There is probably some
historical truth in the story that Heoroweard or Hiörvarðr was
responsible for the death of Hrólfr Kraki. Possibly a still earlier king
of Denmark was Sigarr or Sigehere, who has won lasting fame from the
story of his daughter Signy and her lover Hagbarðr.

From the middle of the 6th to the beginning of the 8th century we know
practically nothing of Danish history. There are numerous kings
mentioned in Saxo, but it is impossible to identify them historically.
We have mention at the beginning of the 8th century of a Danish king
Ongendus (cf. O. E. Ongenþeow) who received a mission led by St
Willibrord, and it was probably about this time that there flourished a
family of whom tradition records a good deal. The founder of this line
was Ivarr Viðfaðmi of Skaane, who became king of Sweden. His daughter
Auðr married one Hroerekr and became the mother of Haraldr Hilditönn.
The genealogy of Haraldr is given differently in Saxo, but there can be
no doubt of his historical existence. In his time it is said that the
land was divided into four kingdoms--Skaane, Zealand, Fyen and Jutland.
After a reign of great splendour Haraldr met his death in the great
battle of Bråvalla (Bravík in Östergötland), where he was opposed by his
nephew Ring, king of Sweden.

The battle probably took place about the year 750. Fifty years later the
Danes begin to be mentioned with comparative frequency in continental
annals. From 777-798 we have mention of a certain Sigifridus as king of
the Danes, and then in 804 his name is replaced by that of one
Godefridus, This Godefridus is the Godefridus-Guthredus of Saxo, and is
to be identified also with Guðröðr the Yngling, king in Vestfold in
Norway. He came into conflict with Charlemagne, and was preparing a
great expedition against him when he was killed by one of his own
followers (c. 810). He was succeeded by his brother Hemmingus, but the
latter died in 812 and there was a disputed succession. The two
claimants were "Sigefridus nepos Godefridi regis" and "Anulo nepos
Herioldi quondam regis" (i.e. probably Haraldr Hilditönn). A great
battle took place in which both claimants were slain, but the party of
Anulo (O.N. Áli) were victorious and appointed as kings Anulo's brothers
Herioldus and Reginfridus. They soon paid a visit to Vestfold, "the
extreme district of their realm, whose peoples and chief men were
refusing to be made subject to them," and on their return had trouble
with the sons of Godefridus. The latter expelled them from their
kingdom, and in 814 Reginfridus fell in a vain attempt to regain it.
Herioldus now received the support of the emperor, and after several
unsuccessful attempts a compromise was effected in 819 when the parties
agreed to share the realm. In 820 Herioldus was baptized at Mainz and
received from the emperor a grant of Riustringen in N.E. Friesland. In
827 he was expelled from his kingdom, but St Anskar, who had been sent
with Herioldus to preach Christianity, remained at his post. In 836 we
find one Horic as king of the Danes; he was probably a son of
Godefridus. During his reign there was trouble with the emperor as to
the overlordship of Frisia. In the meantime Herioldus remained on
friendly terms with Lothair and received a further grant of Walcheren
and the neighbouring districts. In 850 Horic was attacked by his own
nephews and compelled to share the kingdom with them, while in 852
Herioldus was charged with treachery and slain by the Franks. In 854 a
revolution took place in Denmark itself. Horic's nephew Godwin,
returning from exile with a large following of Northmen, overthrew his
uncle in a three days' battle in which all members of the royal house
except one boy are said to have perished. This boy now became king as
"Horicus junior." Of his reign we know practically nothing. The next
kings mentioned are Sigafrid and Halfdane, who were sons of the great
Viking leader Ragnarr Loðbrok. There is also mention of a third king
named Godefridus. The exact chronology and relationship of these kings
it is impossible to determine, but we know that Healfdene died in
Scotland in 877, while Godefridus was treacherously slain by Henry of
Saxony in 885. During these and the next few years there is mention of
more than one king of the names Sigefridus and Godefridus: the most
important event associated with their names is that two kings Sigefridus
and Godefridus fell in the great battle on the Dyle in 891.

We now have the names of several kings, Heiligo, Olaph (of Swedish
origin), and his sons Chnob and Gurth. Then come a Danish ruler Sigeric,
followed by Hardegon, son of Swein, coming from Norway. At some date
after 916 we find mention of one "Hardecnuth Urm" ruling among the
Danes. Adam of Bremen, from whom these details come, was himself
uncertain whether "so many kings or rather tyrants of the Danes ruled
together or succeeded one another at short intervals." Hardecnuth Urm is
to be identified with the famous Gorm the old, who married Thyra
Danmarkarbót: their son was Harold Bluetooth. (A. MW.)

_Medieval and Modern._--Danish history first becomes authentic at the
beginning of the 9th century. The Danes, the southernmost branch of the
Scandinavian family, referred to by Alfred (c. 890) as occupying
Jutland, the islands and Scania, were, in 777, strong enough to defy the
Frank empire by harbouring its fugitives. Five years later we find a
Danish king, Sigfrid, among the princes who assembled at Lippe in 782 to
make their submission to Charles the Great. About the same time
Willibrord, from his see at Utrecht, made an unsuccessful attempt to
convert the "wild Danes." These three salient facts are practically the
sum of our knowledge of early Danish history previous to the Viking
period. That mysterious upheaval, most generally attributed to a love of
adventure, stimulated by the pressure of over-population, began with the
ravaging of Lindisfarne in 793, and virtually terminated with the
establishment of Rollo in Normandy (911). There can be little doubt that
the earlier of these expeditions were from Denmark, though the term
Northmen was originally applied indiscriminately to all these terrible
visitants from the unknown north. The rovers who first chastened and
finally colonized southern England and Normandy were certainly Danes.


Conversion of the Danes.

The Viking raids were one of the determining causes of the establishment
of the feudal monarchies of western Europe, but the untameable
freebooters were themselves finally subdued by the Church. At first
sight it seems curious that Christianity should have been so slow to
reach Denmark. But we must bear in mind that one very important
consequence of the Viking raids was to annihilate the geographical
remoteness which had hitherto separated Denmark from the Christian
world. Previously to 793 there lay between Jutland and England a sea
which no keel had traversed within the memory of man. The few and
peaceful traders who explored those northern waters were careful never
to lose sight of the Saxon, Frisian and Frankish shores during their
passage. Nor was communication with the west by land any easier. For
generations the obstinately heathen Saxons had lain, a compact and
impenetrable mass, between Scandinavia and the Frank empire, nor were
the measures adopted by Charles the Great for the conversion of the
Saxons to the true faith very much to the liking of their warlike Danish
neighbours on the other side. But by the time that Charles had succeeded
in "converting" the Saxons, the Viking raids were already at their
height, and though generally triumphant, necessity occasionally taught
the Northmen the value of concessions. Thus it was the desire to secure
his Jutish kingdom which induced Harold Klak, in 826, to sail up the
Rhine to Ingelheim, and there accept baptism, with his wife, his son
Godfred and 400 of his suite, acknowledging the emperor as his overlord,
and taking back with him to Denmark the missionary monk Ansgar. Ansgar
preached in Denmark from 826 to 861, but it was not till after the
subsidence of the Viking raids that Adaldag, archbishop of Hamburg,
could open a new and successful mission, which resulted in the erection
of the bishoprics of Schleswig, Ribe and Aarhus (c. 948), though the
real conversion of Denmark must be dated from the baptism of King Harold
Bluetooth (960).


Danish expansion.

Meanwhile the Danish monarchy was attempting to aggrandize itself at the
expense of the Germans, the Wends who then occupied the Baltic littoral
as far as the Vistula, and the other Scandinavian kingdoms. Harold
Bluetooth (940-986) subdued German territory south of the Eider,
extended the _Danevirke_, Denmark's great line of defensive
fortifications, to the south of Schleswig and planted the military
colony of Julin or Jomsborg, at the mouth of the Oder. Part of Norway
was first seized after the united Danes and Swedes had defeated and
slain King Olaf Trygvessön at the battle of Svolde (1000); and between
1028 and 1035 Canute the Great added the whole kingdom to his own; but
the union did not long survive him. Equally short-lived was the Danish
dominion in England, which originated in a great Viking expedition of
King Sweyn I.

Consolidation of the kingdom under the Valdemars, 1157-1251.

The period between the death of Canute the Great and the accession of
Valdemar I. was a troublous time for Denmark. The kingdom was harassed
almost incessantly, and more than once partitioned, by pretenders to the
throne, who did not scruple to invoke the interference of the
neighbouring monarchs, and even of the heathen Wends, who established
themselves for a time on the southern islands. Yet, throughout this
chaos, one thing made for future stability, and that was the growth and
consolidation of a national church, which culminated in the erection of
the archbishopric of Lund (c. 1104) and the consequent ecclesiastical
independence of Denmark. The third archbishop of Lund was Absalon
(1128-1201), Denmark's first great statesman, who so materially assisted
Valdemar I. (1157-1182) and Canute VI. (1182-1202) to establish the
dominion of Denmark over the Baltic, mainly at the expense of the Wends.
The policy of Absalon was continued on a still vaster scale by Valdemar
II. (1202-1241), at a time when the German kingdom was too weak and
distracted to intervene to save its seaboard; but the treachery of a
vassal and the loss of one great battle sufficed to plunge this
unwieldy, unsubstantial empire in the dust. (See VALDEMAR I., II., and
ABSALON.)

Yet the age of the Valdemars was one of the most glorious in Danish
history, and it is of political importance as marking a turning-point.
Favourable circumstances had, from the first, given the Danes the lead
in Scandinavia. They held the richest and therefore the most populous
lands, and geographically they were nearer than their neighbours to
western civilization. Under the Valdemars, however, the ancient
patriarchal system was merging into a more complicated development, of
separate estates. The monarchy, now dominant, and far wealthier than
before, rested upon the support of the great nobles, many of whom held
their lands by feudal tenure, and constituted the royal _Raad_, or
council. The clergy, fortified by royal privileges, had also risen to
influence; but celibacy and independence of the civil courts tended to
make them more and more of a separate caste. Education was spreading.
Numerous Danes, lay as well as clerical, regularly frequented the
university of Paris. There were signs too of the rise of a vigorous
middle class, due to the extraordinary development of the national
resources (chiefly the herring fisheries, horse-breeding and
cattle-rearing) and the foundation of gilds, the oldest of which, the
_Edslag_ of Schleswig, dates from the early 12th century. The _bonder_,
or yeomen, were prosperous and independent, with well-defined rights.
Danish territory extended over 60,000 sq. kilometres, or nearly double
its present area; the population was about 700,000; and 160,000 men and
1400 ships were available for national defence.


Period of disintegration.

On the death of Valdemar II. a period of disintegration ensued.
Valdemar's son, Eric Plovpenning, succeeded him as king; but his near
kinsfolk also received huge appanages, and family discords led to civil
wars. Throughout the 13th and part of the 14th century, the struggle
raged between the Danish kings and the Schleswig dukes; and of six
monarchs no fewer than three died violent deaths. Superadded to these
troubles was a prolonged struggle for supremacy between the popes and
the crown, and, still more serious, the beginning of a breach between
the kings and nobles, which had important constitutional consequences.
The prevalent disorder had led to general lawlessness, in consequence of
which the royal authority had been widely extended; and a strong
opposition gradually arose which protested against the abuses of this
authority. In 1282 the nobles extorted from King Eric Glipping the first
_Haandfaestning_, or charter, which recognized the _Danehof_, or
national assembly, as a regular branch of the administration and gave
guarantees against further usurpations. Christopher II. (1319-1331) was
constrained to grant another charter considerably reducing the
prerogative, increasing the privileges of the upper classes, and at the
same time reducing the burden of taxation. But aristocratic licence
proved as mischievous as royal incompetence; and on the death of
Christopher II. the whole kingdom was on the verge of dissolution.
Eastern Denmark was in the hands of one magnate; another magnate held
Jutland and Fünen in pawn; the dukes of Schleswig were practically
independent of the Danish crown; the Scandian provinces had (1332)
surrendered themselves to Sweden.


Valdemar IV., 1340-1375.

It was reserved for another Valdemar (Valdemar IV., q.v.) to reunite and
weld together the scattered members of his heritage. His long reign
(1340-1375) resulted in the re-establishment of Denmark as the great
Baltic power. It is also a very interesting period of her social and
constitutional development. This great ruler, who had to fight, year
after year, against foreign and domestic foes, could, nevertheless,
always find time to promote the internal prosperity of his much
afflicted country. For the dissolution of Denmark, during the long
anarchy, had been internal as well as external. The whole social fabric
had been convulsed and transformed. The monarchy had been undermined.
The privileged orders had aggrandized themselves at the expense of the
community. The yeoman class had sunk into semi-serfdom. In a word, the
natural cohesion of the Danish nation had been loosened and there was no
security for law and justice. To make an end of this universal
lawlessness Valdemar IV. was obliged, in the first place, to
re-establish the royal authority by providing the crown with a regular
and certain income. This he did by recovering the alienated royal
demesnes in every direction, and from henceforth the annual _landgilde_,
or rent, paid by the royal tenants, became the monarch's principal
source of revenue. Throughout his reign Valdemar laboured incessantly to
acquire as much land as possible. Moreover, the old distinction between
the king's private estate and crown property henceforth ceases; all such
property was henceforth regarded as the hereditary possession of the
Danish crown.

The national army was also re-established on its ancient footing. Not
only were the magnates sharply reminded that they held their lands on
military tenure, but the towns were also made to contribute both men and
ships, and peasant levies, especially archers, were recruited from every
parish. Everywhere indeed Valdemar intervened personally. The smallest
detail was not beneath his notice. Thus he invented nets for catching
wolves and built innumerable water-mills, "for he would not let the
waters run into the sea before they had been of use to the community."
Under such a ruler law and order were speedily re-established. The
popular tribunals regained their authority, and a supreme court of
justice, _Det Kongelige Retterting_, presided over by Valdemar himself,
not only punished the unruly and guarded the prerogatives of the crown,
but also protected the weak and defenceless from the tyranny of the
strong. Nor did Valdemar hesitate to meet his people in public and
periodically render an account of his stewardship. He voluntarily
resorted to the old practice of summoning national assemblies, the
so-called _Danehof_. At the first of these assemblies held at Nyborg,
Midsummer Day 1314, the bishops and councillors solemnly promised that
the commonalty should enjoy all the ancient rights and privileges
conceded to them by Valdemar II., and the wise provision that the
_Danehof_ should meet annually considerably strengthened its authority.
The keystone to the whole constitutional system was "King Valdemar's
Charter" issued in May 1360 at the _Rigsmöde_, or parliament, held at
Kalundborg in May 1360. This charter was practically an act of national
pacification, the provisions of which king and people together undertook
to enforce for the benefit of the commonweal.


The Union of Kalmar, 1397.

The work of Valdemar was completed and consolidated by his illustrious
daughter Margaret (1375-1412), whose crowning achievement was the Union
of Kalmar (1397), whereby she sought to combine the three northern
kingdoms into a single state dominated by Denmark. In any case Denmark
was bound to be the only gainer by the Union. Her population was double
that of the two other kingdoms combined, and neither Margaret nor her
successors observed the stipulations that each country should retain its
own laws and customs and be ruled by natives only. In both Norway and
Sweden, therefore, the Union was highly unpopular. The Norwegian
aristocracy was too weak, however, seriously to endanger the Union at
any time, but Sweden was, from the first, decidedly hostile to
Margaret's whole policy. Nevertheless during her lifetime the system
worked fairly well; but her pupil and successor, Eric of Pomerania, was
unequal to the burden of empire and embroiled himself both with his
neighbours and his subjects. The Hanseatic League, whose political
ascendancy had been shaken by the Union, enraged by Eric's efforts to
bring in the Dutch as commercial rivals, as well as by the establishment
of the Sound tolls, materially assisted the Holsteiners in their
twenty-five years' war with Denmark (1410-35), and Eric VII. himself was
finally deposed (1439) in favour of his nephew, Christopher of Bavaria.


Growth of the power of the nobles.

The deposition of Eric marks another turning-point in Danish history. It
was the act not of the people but of the _Rigsraad_ (Senate), which had
inherited the authority of the ancient _Danehof_ and, after the death of
Margaret, grew steadily in power at the expense of the crown. As the
government grew more and more aristocratic, the position of the
peasantry steadily deteriorated. It is under Christopher that we first
hear, for instance, of the _Vornedskab_, or patriarchal control of the
landlords over their tenants, a system which degenerated into rank
slavery. In Jutland, too, after the repression, in 1441, of a peasant
rising, something very like serfdom was introduced.


Break-up of the Union.

On the death of Christopher III. without heirs, in 1448, the Rigsraad
elected his distant cousin, Count Christian of Oldenburg, king; but
Sweden preferred Karl Knutsson (Charles "VIII."), while Norway finally
combined with Denmark, at the conference of Halmstad, in a double
election which practically terminated the Union, though an agreement was
come to that the survivor of the two kings should reign over all three
kingdoms. Norway, subsequently, threw in her lot definitively with
Denmark. Dissensions resulting in interminable civil wars had, even
before the Union, exhausted the resources of the poorest of the three
northern realms; and her ruin was completed by the ravages of the Black
Death, which wiped out two-thirds of her population. Unfortunately,
too, for Norway's independence, the native gentry had gradually died
out, and were succeeded by immigrant Danish fortune-hunters; native
burgesses there were none, and the peasantry were mostly thralls; so
that, excepting the clergy, there was no patriotic class to stand up for
the national liberties.

Far otherwise was it in the wealthier kingdom of Sweden. Here the clergy
and part of the nobility were favourable to the Union; but the vast
majority of the people hated it as a foreign usurpation. Matters were
still further complicated by the continual interference of the Hanseatic
League; and Christian I. (1448-1481) and Hans (1481-1513), whose chief
merit it is to have founded the Danish fleet, were, during the greater
part of their reigns, only nominally kings of Sweden. Hans also received
in fief the territory of Dietmarsch from the emperor, but, in attempting
to subdue the hardy Dietmarschers, suffered a crushing defeat in which
the national banner called "Danebrog" fell into the enemy's hands
(1500). Moreover, this defeat led to a successful rebellion in Sweden,
and a long and ruinous war with Lübeck, terminated by the peace of
Malmö, 1512. It was during this war that a strong Danish fleet dominated
the Baltic for the first time since the age of the Valdemars.


Christian II., 1513-1523.

Frederick I., 1523-1533. The Reformation.

The Count's War, 1533-36.

On the succession of Hans's son, Christian II. (1513-1523), Margaret's
splendid dream of a Scandinavian empire seemed, finally, about to be
realized. The young king, a man of character and genius, had wide views
and original ideas. Elected king of Denmark and Norway, he succeeded in
subduing Sweden by force of arms; but he spoiled everything at the
culmination of his triumph by the hideous crime and blunder known as the
Stockholm massacre, which converted the politically divergent Swedish
nation into the irreconcilable foe of the unional government (see
CHRISTIAN II.). Christian's contempt of nationality in Sweden is the
more remarkable as in Denmark proper he sided with the people against
the aristocracy, to his own undoing in that age of privilege and
prejudice. His intentions, as exhibited to his famous _Landelove_
(National Code), were progressive and enlightened to an eminent degree;
so much so, indeed, that they mystified the people as much as they
alienated the patricians; but his actions were often of revolting
brutality, and his whole career was vitiated by an incurable
double-mindedness which provoked general distrust. Yet there is no doubt
that Christian II. was a true patriot, whose ideal it was to weld the
three northern kingdoms into a powerful state, independent of all
foreign influences, especially of German influence as manifested in the
commercial tyranny of the Hansa League. His utter failure was due,
partly to the vices of an undisciplined temperament, and partly to the
extraordinary difficulties of the most inscrutable period of European
history, when the shrewdest heads were at fault and irreparable blunders
belonged to the order of the day. That period was the period of the
Reformation, which profoundly affected the politics of Scandinavia.
Christian II. had always subordinated religion to politics, and was
Papist or Lutheran according to circumstances. But, though he treated
the Church more like a foe than a friend and was constantly at war with
the Curia, he retained the Catholic form of church worship and never
seems to have questioned the papal supremacy. On the flight of Christian
II. and the election of his uncle, Frederick I. (1523-1533), the Church
resumed her jurisdiction and everything was placed on the old footing.
The newly elected and still insecure German king at first remained
neutral; but in the autumn of 1525 the current of Lutheranism began to
run so strongly in Denmark as to threaten to whirl away every opposing
obstacle. This novel and disturbing phenomenon was mainly due to the
zeal and eloquence of the ex-monk Hans Tausen and his associates, or
disciples, Peder Plad and Sadolin; and, in the autumn of 1526, Tausen
was appointed one of the royal chaplains. The three ensuing years were
especially favourable for the Reformation, as during that time the king
had unlooked-for opportunities for filling the vacant episcopal sees
with men after his own heart, and at heart he was a Lutheran. The
reformation movement in Denmark was further promoted by
Schleswig-Holstein influence. Frederick's eldest son Duke Christian had,
since 1527, resided at Haderslev, where he collected round him Lutheran
teachers from Germany, and made his court the centre of the propaganda
of the new doctrine. On the other hand, the Odense Recess of the 20th of
August 1527, which put both confessions on a footing of equality,
remained unrepealed; and so long as it remained in force, the spiritual
jurisdiction of the bishops, and, consequently, their authority over the
"free preachers" (whose ambition convulsed all the important towns of
Denmark and aimed at forcibly expelling the Catholic priests from their
churches) remained valid, to the great vexation of the reformers. The
inevitable ecclesiastical crisis was still further postponed by the
superior stress of two urgent political events--Christian II.'s invasion
of Norway (1531) and the outbreak, in 1533, of "_Grevens fejde_," or
"The Count's War" (1534-36), the count in question being Christopher of
Oldenburg, great-nephew of King Christian I., whom Lübeck and her
allies, on the death of Frederick I., raised up against Frederick's son
Christian III. The Catholic party and the lower orders generally took
the part of Count Christopher, who acted throughout as the nominee of
the captive Christian II., while the Protestant party, aided by the
Holstein dukes and Gustavus Vasa of Sweden, sided with Christian III.
The war ended with the capture of Copenhagen by the forces of Christian
III., on the 29th of July 1536, and the triumph of so devoted a Lutheran
sealed the fate of the Roman Catholic Church in Denmark, though even now
it was necessary for the victorious king to proceed against the bishops
and their friends by a _coup d'état_, engineered by his German generals
the Rantzaus. The Recess of 1536 enacted that the bishops should forfeit
their temporal and spiritual authority, and that all their property
should be transferred to the crown for the good of the commonwealth. In
the following year a Church ordinance, based upon the canons of Luther,
Melanchthon and Bugenhagen, was drawn up, submitted to Luther for his
approval, and promulgated on the 2nd of September 1537. On the same day
seven "superintendents," including Tausen and Sadolin, all of whom had
worked zealously for the cause of the Reformation, were consecrated in
place of the dethroned bishops. The position of the superintendents and
of the reformed church generally was consolidated by the Articles of
Ribe in 1542, and the constitution of the Danish church has practically
continued the same to the present day. But Catholicism could not wholly
or immediately be dislodged by the teaching of Luther. It had struck
deep roots into the habits and feelings of the people, and traces of its
survival were distinguishable a whole century after the triumph of the
Reformation. Catholicism lingered longest in the cathedral chapters.
Here were to be found men of ability proof against the eloquence of Hans
Tausen or Peder Plad and quite capable of controverting their
theories--men like Povl Helgesen, for instance, indisputably the
greatest Danish theologian of his day, a scholar whose voice was drowned
amidst the clash of conflicting creeds.


Effects of the Reformation.

European influence of Denmark, 1544-1626.

Though the Reformation at first did comparatively little for
education,[1] and the whole spiritual life of Denmark was poor and
feeble in consequence for at least a generation afterwards, the change
of religion was of undeniable, if temporary, benefit to the state from
the political point of view. The enormous increase of the royal revenue
consequent upon the confiscation of the property of the Church could not
fail to increase the financial stability of the monarchy. In particular
the suppression of the monasteries benefited the crown in two ways. The
old church had, indeed, frequently rendered the state considerable
financial aid, but such voluntary assistance was, from the nature of the
case, casual and arbitrary. Now, however, the state derived a fixed and
certain revenue from the confiscated lands; and the possession of
immense landed property at the same time enabled the crown
advantageously to conduct the administration. The gross revenue of the
state is estimated to have risen threefold. Before the Reformation the
annual revenue from land averaged 400,000 bushels of corn; after the
confiscations of Church property it averaged 1,200,000 bushels. The
possession of a full purse materially assisted the Danish government in
its domestic administration, which was indeed epoch-making. It enabled
Christian III. to pay off his German mercenaries immediately after the
religious _coup d'état_ of 1536. It enabled him to prosecute
shipbuilding with such energy that, by 1550, the royal fleet numbered at
least thirty vessels, which were largely employed as a maritime police
in the pirate-haunted Baltic and North Seas. It enabled him to create
and remunerate adequately a capable official class, which proved its
efficiency under the strictest supervision, and ultimately produced a
whole series of great statesmen and admirals like Johan Friis, Peder
Oxe, Herluf Trolle and Peder Skram. It is not too much to say that the
increased revenue derived from the appropriation of Church property,
intelligently applied, gave Denmark the hegemony of the North during the
latter part of Christian III.'s reign, the whole reign of Frederick II.
and the first twenty-five years of the reign of Christian IV., a period
embracing, roughly speaking, eighty years (1544-1626). Within this
period Denmark was indisputably the leading Scandinavian power. While
Sweden, even after the advent of Gustavus Vasa, was still of but small
account in Europe, Denmark easily held her own in Germany and elsewhere,
even against Charles V., and was important enough, in 1553, to mediate a
peace between the emperor and Saxony. Twice during this period Denmark
and Sweden measured their strength in the open field, on the first
occasion in the "Scandinavian Seven Years' War" (1562-70), on the second
in the "Kalmar War" (1611-13), and on both occasions Denmark prevailed,
though the temporary advantage she gained was more than neutralized by
the intense feeling of hostility which the unnatural wars, between the
two kindred peoples of Scandinavia, left behind them. Still, the fact
remains that, for a time, Denmark was one of the great powers of Europe.
Frederick II., in his later years (1571-1588), aspired to the dominion
of all the seas which washed the Scandinavian coasts, and before he died
he was able to enforce the rule that all foreign ships should strike
their topsails to Danish men-of-war as a token of his right to rule the
northern seas. Favourable political circumstances also contributed to
this general acknowledgment of Denmark's maritime greatness. The power
of the Hansa had gone; the Dutch were enfeebled by their contest with
Spain; England's sea-power was yet in the making; Spain, still the
greatest of the maritime nations, was exhausting her resources in the
vain effort to conquer the Dutch. Yet more even than to felicitous
circumstances, Denmark owed her short-lived greatness to the great
statesmen and administrators whom Frederick II. succeeded in gathering
about him. Never before, since the age of Margaret, had Denmark been so
well governed, never before had she possessed so many political
celebrities nobly emulous for the common good.


Denmark at the accession of Christian IV., 1588.

Frederick II. was succeeded by his son Christian IV. (April 4, 1588),
who attained his majority on the 17th of August 1596, at the age of
nineteen. The realm which Christian IV. was to govern had undergone
great changes within the last two generations. Towards the south the
boundaries of the Danish state remained unchanged. Levensaa and the
Eider still separated Denmark from the Empire. Schleswig was recognized
as a Danish fief, in contradistinction to Holstein, which owed vassalage
to the Empire. The "kingdom" stretched as far as Kolding and Skedborg,
where the "duchy" began; and this duchy since its amalgamation with
Holstein by means of a common _Landtag_, and especially since the union
of the dual duchy with the kingdom on almost equal terms in 1533, was,
in most respects, a semi-independent state, Denmark, moreover, like
Europe in general, was, politically, on the threshold of a transitional
period. During the whole course of the 16th century the monarchical
form of government was in every large country, with the single exception
of Poland, rising on the ruins of feudalism. The great powers of the
late 16th and early 17th centuries were to be the strong, highly
centralized, hereditary monarchies, like France, Spain and Sweden. There
seemed to be no reason why Denmark also should not become a powerful
state under the guidance of a powerful monarchy, especially as the
sister state of Sweden was developing into a great power under
apparently identical conditions. Yet, while Sweden was surely ripening
into the dominating power of northern Europe, Denmark had as surely
entered upon a period of uninterrupted and apparently incurable decline.
What was the cause of this anomaly? Something of course must be allowed
for the superior and altogether extraordinary genius of the great
princes of the house of Vasa; yet the causes of the decline of Denmark
lay far deeper than this. They may roughly be summed up under two heads:
the inherent weakness of an elective monarchy, and the absence of that
public spirit which is based on the intimate alliance of ruler and
ruled. Whilst Gustavus Vasa had leaned upon the Swedish peasantry, in
other words upon the bulk of the Swedish nation, which was and continued
to be an integral part of the Swedish body-politic, Christian III. on
his accession had crushed the middle and lower classes in Denmark and
reduced them to political insignificance. Yet it was not the king who
benefited by this blunder. The Danish monarchy since the days of
Margaret had continued to be purely elective; and a purely elective
monarchy at that stage of the political development of Europe was a
mischievous anomaly. It signified in the first place that the crown was
not the highest power in the state, but was subject to the aristocratic
_Rigsraad_, or council of state. The _Rigsraad_ was the permanent owner
of the realm and the crown-lands; the king was only their temporary
administrator. If the king died before the election of his successor,
the _Rigsraad_ stepped into the king's place. Moreover, an elective
monarchy implied that, at every fresh succession, the king was liable to
be bound by a new _Haandfaestning_, or charter. The election itself
might, and did, become a mere formality; but the condition precedent of
election, the acceptance of the charter, invariably limiting the royal
authority, remained a reality. This period of aristocratic rule, which
dates practically from the accession of Frederick I. (1523), and lasted
for nearly a century and a half, is known in Danish history as
_Adelsvaelde_, or rule of the nobles.

Again, the king was the ruler of the realm, but over a very large
portion of it he had but a slight control. The crown-lands and most of
the towns were under his immediate jurisdiction, but by the side of the
crown-lands lay the estates of the nobility, which already comprised
about one-half of the superficial area of Denmark, and were in many
respects independent of the central government both as regards taxation
and administration. In a word, the monarchy had to share its dominion
with the nobility; and the Danish nobility in the 16th century was one
of the most exclusive and selfish aristocracies in Europe, and already
far advanced in decadence. Hermetically sealing itself from any
intrusion from below, it deteriorated by close and constant
intermarriage; and it was already, both morally and intellectually,
below the level of the rest of the nation. Yet this very aristocracy,
whose claim to consideration was based not upon its own achievements but
upon the length of its pedigrees, insisted upon an amplification of its
privileges which endangered the economical and political interests of
the state and the nation. The time was close at hand when a Danish
magnate was to demonstrate that he preferred the utter ruin of his
country to any abatement of his own personal dignity.

All below the king and the nobility were generally classified together
as "subjects." Of these lower orders the clergy stood first in the
social scale. As a spiritual estate, indeed, it had ceased to exist at
the Reformation, though still represented in the _Rigsdag_ or diet.
Since then too it had become quite detached from the nobility, which
ostentatiously despised the teaching profession. The clergy recruited
themselves therefore from the class next below them, and looked more and
more to the crown for help and protection as they drew apart from the
gentry, who, moreover, as dispensers of patronage, lost no opportunity
of appropriating church lands and cutting down tithes.

The burgesses had not yet recovered from the disaster of "Grevens
fejde"; but while the towns had become more dependent on the central
power, they had at the same time been released from their former
vexatious subjection to the local magnates, and could make their voices
heard in the _Rigsdag_, where they were still, though inadequately,
represented. Within the Estate of Burgesses itself, too, a levelling
process had begun. The old municipal patriciate, which used to form the
connecting link between the _bourgeoisie_ and the nobility, had
disappeared, and a feeling of common civic fellowship had taken its
place. All this tended to enlarge the political views of the burgesses,
and was not without its influence on the future. Yet, after all, the
prospects of the burgesses depended mainly on economic conditions; and
in this respect there was a decided improvement, due to the increasing
importance of money and commerce all over Europe, especially as the
steady decline of the Hanse towns immediately benefited the trade of
Denmark-Norway; Norway by this time being completely merged in the
Danish state, and ruled from Copenhagen. There can, indeed, be no doubt
that the Danish and Norwegian merchants at the end of the 16th century
flourished exceedingly, despite the intrusion and competition of the
Dutch and the dangers to neutral shipping arising from the frequent wars
between England, Spain and the Netherlands.

At the bottom of the social ladder lay the peasants, whose condition had
decidedly deteriorated. Only in one respect had they benefited by the
peculiar conditions of the 16th century: the rise in the price of corn
without any corresponding rise in the land-tax must have largely increased
their material prosperity. Yet the number of peasant-proprietors had
diminished, while the obligations of the peasantry generally had
increased; and, still worse, their obligations were vexatiously
indefinite, varying from year to year and even from month to month. They
weighed especially heavily on the so-called _Ugedasmaend_, who were forced
to work two or three days a week in the demesne lands. This increase of
villenage morally depressed the peasantry, and widened still further the
breach between the yeomanry and the gentry. Politically its consequences
were disastrous. While in Sweden the free and energetic peasant was a
salutary power in the state, which he served with both mind and plough,
the Danish peasant was sinking to the level of a bondman. While the
Swedish peasants were well represented in the Swedish _Riksdag_, whose
proceedings they sometimes dominated, the Danish peasantry had no
political rights or privileges whatever.


Christian IV., 1588-1648.

First losses of territory.

Such then, briefly, was the condition of things in Denmark when, in
1588, Christian IV. ascended the throne. Where so much was necessarily
uncertain and fluctuating, there was room for an almost infinite variety
of development. Much depended on the character and personality of the
young prince who had now taken into his hands the reins of government,
and for half a century was to guide the destinies of the nation. In the
beginning of his reign the hand of the young monarch, who was nothing if
not energetic, made itself felt in every direction. The harbours of
Copenhagen, Elsinore and other towns were enlarged; many decaying towns
were abolished and many new ones built under more promising conditions,
including Christiania, which was founded in August 1624, on the ruins of
the ancient city of Oslo. Various attempts were also made to improve
trade and industry by abolishing the still remaining privileges of the
Hanseatic towns, by promoting a wholesale immigration of skilful and
well-to-do Dutch traders and handicraftsmen into Denmark under most
favourable conditions, by opening up the rich fisheries of the Arctic
seas, and by establishing joint-stock chartered companies both in the
East and the West Indies. Copenhagen especially benefited by Christian
IV.'s commercial policy. He enlarged and embellished it, and provided it
with new harbours and fortifications; in short, did his best to make it
the worthy capital of a great empire. But it was in the foreign policy
of the government that the royal influence was most perceptible. Unlike
Sweden, Denmark had remained outside the great religious-political
movements which were the outcome of the Catholic reaction; and the
peculiarity of her position made her rather hostile than friendly to the
other Protestant states. The possession of the Sound enabled her to
close the Baltic against the Western powers; the possession of Norway
carried along with it the control of the rich fisheries which were
Danish monopolies, and therefore a source of irritation to England and
Holland. Denmark, moreover, was above all things a Scandinavian power.
While the territorial expansion of Sweden in the near future was a
matter of necessity, Denmark had not only attained, but even exceeded,
her natural limits. Aggrandizement southwards, at the expense of the
German empire, was becoming every year more difficult; and in every
other direction she had nothing more to gain. Nay, more, Denmark's
possession of the Scanian provinces deprived Sweden of her proper
geographical frontiers. Clearly it was Denmark's wisest policy to seek a
close alliance with Sweden in their common interests, and after the
conclusion of the "Kalmar War" the two countries did remain at peace for
the next thirty-one years. But the antagonistic interests of the two
countries in Germany during the Thirty Years' War precipitated a fourth
contest between them (1643-45), in which Denmark would have been utterly
ruined but for the heroism of King Christian IV. and his command of the
sea during the crisis of the struggle. Even so, by the peace of
Brömsebro (February 8, 1645) Denmark surrendered the islands of Oesel
and Gotland and the provinces of Jemteland and Herjedal (in Norway)
definitively, and Halland for thirty years. The freedom from the Sound
tolls was by the same treaty also extended to Sweden's Baltic provinces.


Frederick III., 1648-1670.

Peace of Roskilde, 1658.

Treaty of Copenhagen, 1660.

The peace of Brömsebro was the first of the long series of treaties,
extending down to our own days, which mark the progressive shrinkage of
Danish territory into an irreducible minimum. Sweden's appropriation of
Danish soil had begun, and at the same time Denmark's power of resisting
the encroachments of Sweden was correspondingly reduced. The Danish
national debt, too, had risen enormously, while the sources of future
income and consequent recuperation had diminished or disappeared. The
Sound tolls, for instance, in consequence of the treaties of Brömsebro
and Kristianopel (by the latter treaty very considerable concessions
were made to the Dutch) had sunk from 400,000 to 140,000 rix-dollars.
The political influence of the crown, moreover, had inevitably been
weakened, and the conduct of foreign affairs passed from the hands of
the king into the hands of the _Rigsraad_. On the accession of Frederick
III. (1648-1670) moreover, the already diminished royal prerogative was
still further curtailed by the _Haandfaestning_, or charter, which he
was compelled to sign. Fear and hatred of Sweden, and the never
abandoned hope of recovering the lost provinces, animated king and
people alike; but it was Denmark's crowning misfortune that she
possessed at this difficult crisis no statesman of the first rank, no
one even approximately comparable with such competitors as Charles X. of
Sweden or the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg. From the
very beginning of his reign Frederick III. was resolved upon a rupture
at the first convenient opportunity, while the nation was, if possible,
even more bellicose than the king. The apparently insuperable
difficulties of Sweden in Poland was the feather that turned the scale;
on the 1st of June 1657, Frederick III. signed the manifesto justifying
a war which was never formally declared and brought Denmark to the very
verge of ruin. The extraordinary details of this dramatic struggle will
be found elsewhere (see FREDERICK III., king of Denmark, and CHARLES X.,
king of Sweden); suffice it to say that by the peace of Roskilde
(February 26, 1658), Denmark consented to cede the three Scanian
provinces, the island of Bornholm and the Norwegian provinces of Baahus
and Trondhjem; to renounce all anti-Swedish alliances and to exempt all
Swedish vessels, even when carrying foreign goods, from all tolls.
These terrible losses were somewhat retrieved by the subsequent treaty
of Copenhagen (May 27, 1660) concluded by the Swedish regency with
Frederick III. after the failure of Charles X.'s second war against
Denmark, a failure chiefly owing to the heroic defence of the Danish
capital (1658-60). By this treaty Sweden gave back the province of
Trondhjem and the isle of Bornholm and released Denmark from the most
onerous of the obligations of the treaty of Roskilde. In fact the peace
of Copenhagen came as a welcome break in an interminable series of
disasters and humiliations. Anyhow, it confirmed the independence of the
Danish state. On the other hand, if Denmark had emerged from the war
with her honour and dignity unimpaired, she had at the same time tacitly
surrendered the dominion of the North to her Scandinavian rival.


Hereditary monarchy established, 1660.

But the war just terminated had important political consequences, which
were to culminate in one of the most curious and interesting revolutions
of modern history. In the first place, it marks the termination of the
_Adelsvaelde_, or rule of the nobility. By their cowardice, incapacity,
egotism and treachery during the crisis of the struggle, the Danish
aristocracy had justly forfeited the respect of every other class of the
community, and emerged from the war hopelessly discredited. On the other
hand, Copenhagen, proudly conscious of her intrinsic importance and of
her inestimable services to the country, whom she had saved from
annihilation by her constancy, now openly claimed to have a voice in
public affairs. Still higher had risen the influence of the crown. The
courage and resource displayed by Frederick III. in the extremity of the
national danger had won for "the least expansive of monarchs" an
extraordinary popularity.

On the 10th of September 1660, the _Rigsdag_, which was to repair the
ravages of the war and provide for the future, was opened with great
ceremony in the _Riddersaal_ of the castle of Copenhagen. The first bill
laid before the Estates by the government was to impose an excise tax on
the principal articles of consumption, together with subsidiary taxes on
cattle, poultry, &c., in return for which the abolition of all the old
direct taxes was promised. The nobility at first claimed exemption from
taxation altogether, while the clergy and burgesses insisted upon an
absolute equality of taxation. There were sharp encounters between the
presidents of the contending orders, but the position of the Lower
Estates was considerably prejudiced by the dissensions of its various
sections. Thus the privileges of the bishops and of Copenhagen
profoundly irritated the lower clergy and the unprivileged towns, and
made a cordial understanding impossible, till Hans Svane, bishop of
Copenhagen, and Hans Nansen the burgomaster, who now openly came forward
as the leader of the reform movement, proposed that the privileges which
divided the non-noble Estates should be abolished. In accordance with
this proposal, the two Lower Estates, on the 16th of September,
subscribed a memorandum addressed to the _Rigsraad_, declaring their
willingness to renounce their privileges, provided the nobility did the
same; which was tantamount to a declaration that the whole of the clergy
and burgesses had made common cause against the nobility. The opposition
so formed took the name of the "Conjoined Estates." The presentation of
the memorial provoked an outburst of indignation. But the nobility soon
perceived the necessity of complete surrender. On the 30th of September
the First Estate abandoned its former standpoint and renounced its
privileges, with one unimportant reservation.

The struggle now seemed to be ended, and the financial question having
also been settled, the king, had he been so minded, might have dismissed
the Estates. But the still more important question of reform was now
raised. On the 17th of September the burgesses introduced a bill
proposing a new constitution, which was to include local self-government
in the towns, the abolition of serfdom, and the formation of a national
army. It fell to the ground for want of adequate support; but another
proposition, the fruit of secret discussion between the king and his
confederates, which placed all fiefs under the control of the crown as
regards taxation, and provided for selling and letting them to the
highest bidder, was accepted by the Estate of burgesses. The
significance of this ordinance lay in the fact that it shattered the
privileged position of the nobility, by abolishing the exclusive right
to the possession of fiefs. What happened next is not quite clear. Our
sources fail us, and we are at the mercy of doubtful rumours and more or
less unreliable anecdotes. We have a vision of intrigues, mysterious
conferences, threats and bribery, dimly discernible through a shifting
mirage of tradition.

The first glint of light is a letter, dated the 23rd of September, from
Frederick III. to Svane and Nansen, authorizing them to communicate the
arrangements already made to reliable men, and act quickly, as "if the
others gain time they may possibly gain more." The first step was to
make sure of the city train-bands: of the garrison of Copenhagen the
king had no doubt. The headquarters of the conspirators was the bishop's
palace near _Vor Frue_ church, between which and the court messages were
passing continually, and where the document to be adopted by the
Conjoined Estates took its final shape. On the 8th of October the two
burgomasters, Hans Nansen and Kristoffer Hansen, proposed that the realm
of Denmark should be made over to the king as a hereditary kingdom,
without prejudice to the privileges of the Estates; whereupon they
proceeded to Brewer's Hall, and informed the Estate of burgesses there
assembled of what had been done. A fiery oration from Nansen dissolved
some feeble opposition; and simultaneously Bishop Svane carried the
clergy along with him. The so-called "Instrument," now signed by the
Lower Estates, offered the realm to the king and his house as a
hereditary monarchy, by way of thank-offering mainly for his courageous
deliverance of the kingdom during the war; and the _Rigsraad_ and the
nobility were urged to notify the resolution to the king, and desire him
to maintain each Estate in its due privileges, and to give a written
counter-assurance that the revolution now to be effected was for the
sole benefit of the state. Events now moved forward rapidly. On the 10th
of October a deputation from the clergy and burgesses proceeded to the
Council House where the _Rigsraad_ were deliberating, to demand an
answer to their propositions. After a tumultuous scene, the aristocratic
_Raad_ rejected the "Instrument" altogether, whereupon the deputies of
the commons proceeded to the palace and were graciously received by the
king, who promised them an answer next day. The same afternoon the
guards in the streets and on the ramparts were doubled; on the following
morning the gates of the city were closed, powder and bullets were
distributed among the city train-bands, who were bidden to be in
readiness when the alarm bell called them, and cavalry was massed on the
environs of the city. The same afternoon the king sent a message to the
_Rigsraad_ urging them to declare their views quickly, as he could no
longer hold himself responsible for what might happen. After a feeble
attempt at a compromise the _Raad_ gave way. On the 13th of October it
signed a declaration to the effect that it associated itself still with
the Lower Estates in the making over of the kingdom, as a hereditary
monarchy, to his majesty and his heirs male and female. The same day the
king received the official communication of this declaration and the
congratulation of the burgomasters. Thus the ancient constitution was
transformed; and Denmark became a monarchy hereditary in Frederick III.
and his posterity.

But although hereditary sovereignty had been introduced, the laws of the
land had not been abolished. The monarch was specifically now a
sovereign overlord, but he had not been absolved from his obligations
towards his subjects. Hereditary sovereignty _per se_ was not held to
signify unlimited dominion, still less absolutism. On the contrary, the
magnificent gift of the Danish nation to Frederick III. was made under
express conditions. The "Instrument" drawn up by the Lower Estates
implied the retention of all their rights; and the king, in accepting
the gift of a hereditary crown, did not repudiate the implied
inviolability of the privileges of the donors. Unfortunately everything
had been left so vague, that it was an easy matter for ultra-royalists
like Svane and Nansen to ignore the privileges of the Estates, and even
the Estates themselves.

On the 14th of October a committee was summoned to the palace to
organize the new government. The discussion turned mainly upon two
points, (1) whether a new oath of homage should be taken to the king,
and (2) what was to be done with the _Haandfaestning_ or royal charter.
The first point was speedily decided in the affirmative, and, as to the
second, it was ultimately decided that the king should be released from
his oath and the charter returned to him; but a rider was added
suggesting that he should, at the same time, promulgate a Recess
providing for his own and his people's welfare. Thus Frederick III. was
not left absolutely his own master; for the provision regarding a
Recess, or new constitution, showed plainly enough that such a
constitution was expected, and, once granted, would of course have
limited the royal power.

It now only remained to execute the resolutions of the committee. On the
17th of October the charter, which the king had sworn to observe twelve
years before, was solemnly handed back to him at the palace, Frederick
III. thereupon promising to rule as a Christian king to the satisfaction
of all the Estates of the realm. On the following day the king, seated
on the topmost step of a lofty tribune surmounted by a baldaquin,
erected in the midst of the principal square of Copenhagen, received the
public homage of his subjects of all ranks, in the presence of an
immense concourse, on which occasion he again promised to rule "as a
Christian hereditary king and gracious master," and, "as soon as
possible, to prepare and set up" such a constitution as should secure to
his subjects a Christian and indulgent sway. The ceremony concluded with
a grand banquet at the palace. After dinner the queen and the clergy
withdrew; but the king remained. An incident now occurred which made a
strong impression on all present. With a brimming beaker in his hand,
Frederick III. went up to Hans Nansen, drank with him and drew him
aside. They communed together in a low voice for some time, till the
burgomaster, succumbing to the influence of his potations, fumbled his
way to his carriage with the assistance of some of his civic colleagues.
Whether Nansen, intoxicated by wine and the royal favour, consented on
this occasion to sacrifice the privileges of his order and his city, it
is impossible to say; but it is significant that, from henceforth, we
hear no more of the Recess which the more liberal of the leaders of the
lower orders had hoped for when they released Frederick III. from the
obligations of the charter.


Establishment of absolute rule.

We can follow pretty plainly the stages of the progress from a limited
to an absolute monarchy. By an act dated the 10th of January 1661,
entitled "Instrument, or pragmatic sanction," of the king's hereditary
right to the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, it was declared that all
the prerogatives of majesty, and "all regalia as an absolute sovereign
lord," had been made over to the king. Yet, even after the issue of the
"Instrument," there was nothing, strictly speaking, to prevent Frederick
III. from voluntarily conceding to his subjects some share in the
administration. Unfortunately the king was bent upon still further
emphasizing the plenitude of his power. At Copenhagen his advisers were
busy framing drafts of a _Lex Regia Perpetua_; and the one which finally
won the royal favour was the famous _Kongelov_, or "King's Law."

This document was in every way unique. In the first place it is
remarkable for its literary excellence. Compared with the barbarous
macaronic jargon of the contemporary official language it shines forth
as a masterpiece of pure, pithy and original Danish. Still more
remarkable are the tone and tenor of this royal law. The _Kongelov_ has
the highly dubious honour of being the one written law in the civilized
world which fearlessly carries out absolutism to the last consequences.
The monarchy is declared to owe its origin to the surrender of the
supreme authority by the Estates to the king. The maintenance of the
indivisibility of the realm and of the Christian faith according to the
Augsburg Confession, and the observance of the _Kongelov_ itself, are
now the sole obligations binding upon the king. The supreme spiritual
authority also is now claimed; and it is expressly stated that it
becomes none to crown him; the moment he ascends the throne, crown and
sceptre belong to him of right. Moreover, par. 26 declares guilty of
_lèse-majesté_ whomsoever shall in any way usurp or infringe the king's
absolute authority. In the following reign the ultra-royalists went
further still. In their eyes the king was not merely autocratic, but
sacrosanct. Thus before the anointing of Christian V. on the 7th of June
1671, a ceremony by way of symbolizing the new autocrat's humble
submission to the Almighty, the officiating bishop of Zealand delivered
an oration in which he declared that the king was God's immediate
creation, His vicegerent on earth, and that it was the bounden duty of
all good subjects to serve and honour the celestial majesty as
represented by the king's terrestrial majesty. The _Kongelov_ is dated
and subscribed the 14th of November 1665, but was kept a profound
secret, only two initiated persons knowing of its existence until after
the death of Frederick III., one of them being Kristoffer Gabel, the
king's chief intermediary during the revolution, and the other the
author and custodian of the _Kongelov_, Secretary Peder Schumacher,
better known as Griffenfeldt. It is significant that both these
confidential agents were plebeians.


Effects of the revolution of 1660.

The revolution of 1660 was certainly beneficial to Norway. With the
disappearance of the _Rigsraad_, which, as representing the Danish
crown, had hitherto exercised sovereignty over both kingdoms, Norway
ceased to be a subject principality. The sovereign hereditary king stood
in exactly the same relations to both kingdoms; and thus,
constitutionally, Norway was placed on an equality with Denmark, united
with but not subordinate to it. It is clear that the majority of the
Norwegian people hoped that the revolution would give them an
administration independent of the Danish government; but these
expectations were not realised. Till the cessation of the Union in 1814,
Copenhagen continued to be the headquarters of the Norwegian
administration; both kingdoms had common departments of state; and the
common chancery continued to be called the Danish chancery. On the other
hand the condition of Norway was now greatly improved. In January 1661 a
land commission was appointed to investigate the financial and
economical conditions of the kingdoms; the fiefs were transformed into
counties; the nobles were deprived of their immunity from taxation; and
in July 1662 the Norwegian towns received special privileges, including
the monopoly of the lucrative timber trade.


Christian V., 1670-1699.

The _Enevaelde_, or absolute monarchy, also distinctly benefited the
whole Danish state by materially increasing its reserve of native
talent. Its immediate consequence was to throw open every state
appointment to the middle classes; and the middle classes of that
period, with very few exceptions, monopolized the intellect and the
energy of the nation. New blood of the best quality nourished and
stimulated the whole body politic. Expansion and progress were the
watchwords at home, and abroad it seemed as if Denmark were about to
regain her former position as a great power. This was especially the
case during the brief but brilliant administration of Chancellor
Griffenfeldt. Then, if ever, Denmark had the chance of playing once more
a leading part in international politics. But Griffenfeldt's
difficulties, always serious, were increased by the instability of the
European situation, depending as it did on the ambition of Louis XIV.
Resolved to conquer the Netherlands, the French king proceeded, first of
all, to isolate her by dissolving the Triple Alliance. (See SWEDEN and
GRIFFENFELDT.) In April 1672 a treaty was concluded between France and
Sweden, on condition that France should not include Denmark in her
system of alliances without the consent of Sweden. This treaty showed
that Sweden weighed more in the French balances than Denmark. In June
1672 a French army invaded the Netherlands; whereupon the elector of
Brandenburg contracted an alliance with the emperor Leopold, to which
Denmark was invited to accede; almost simultaneously the States-General
began to negotiate for a renewal of the recently expired Dano-Dutch
alliance.


Denmark in the Great Northern War.

In these circumstances it was as difficult for Denmark to remain neutral
as it was dangerous for her to make a choice. An alliance with France
would subordinate her to Sweden; an alliance with the Netherlands would
expose her to an attack from Sweden. The Franco-Swedish alliance left
Griffenfeldt no choice but to accede to the opposite league, for he saw
at once that the ruin of the Netherlands would disturb the balance of
power in the north by giving an undue preponderance to England and
Sweden. But Denmark's experience of Dutch promises in the past was not
reassuring; so, while negotiating at the Hague for a renewal of the
Dutch alliance, he at the same time felt his way at Stockholm towards a
commercial treaty with Sweden. His Swedish mission proved abortive, but,
as he had anticipated, it effectually accelerated the negotiations at
the Hague, and frightened the Dutch into unwonted liberality. In May
1673 a treaty of alliance was signed by the ambassador of the
States-General at Copenhagen, whereby the Netherlands pledged themselves
to pay Denmark large subsidies in return for the services of 10,000 men
and twenty warships, which were to be held in readiness in case the
United Provinces were attacked by another enemy besides France. Thus,
very dexterously, Griffenfeldt had succeeded in gaining his subsidies
without sacrificing his neutrality.

His next move was to attempt to detach Sweden from France; but, Sweden
showing not the slightest inclination for a _rapprochement_, Denmark was
compelled to accede to the anti-French league, which she did by the
treaty of Copenhagen, of January 1674, thereby engaging to place an army
of 20,000 in the field when required; but here again Griffenfeldt
safeguarded himself to some extent by stipulating that this provision
was not to be operative till the allies were attacked by a fresh enemy.
When, in December 1674, a Swedish army invaded Prussian Pomerania,
Denmark was bound to intervene as a belligerent, but Griffenfeldt
endeavoured to postpone this intervention as long as possible; and
Sweden's anxiety to avoid hostilities with her southern neighbour
materially assisted him to postpone the evil day. He only wanted to gain
time, and he gained it. To the last he endeavoured to avoid a rupture
with France even if he broke with Sweden; but he could not restrain for
ever the foolish impetuosity of his own sovereign, Christian V., and his
fall in the beginning of 1676 not only, as he had foreseen, involved
Denmark in an unprofitable war, but, as his friend and disciple, Jens
Juel, well observed, relegated her henceforth to the humiliating
position of an international catspaw. Thus at the peace of Fontainebleau
(September 2, 1679) Denmark, which had borne the brunt of the struggle
in the Baltic, was compelled by the inexorable French king to make full
restitution to Sweden, the treaty between the two northern powers being
signed at Lund on the 26th of September. Freely had she spent her blood
and her treasure, only to emerge from the five years' contest exhausted
and empty-handed.

By the peace of Fontainebleau Denmark had been sacrificed to the
interests of France and Sweden; forty-one years later she was sacrificed
to the interests of Hanover and Prussia by the peace of Copenhagen
(1720), which ended the Northern War so far as the German powers were
concerned. But it would not have terminated advantageously for them at
all, had not the powerful and highly efficient Danish fleet effectually
prevented the Swedish government from succouring its distressed German
provinces, and finally swept the Swedish fleets out of the northern
waters. Yet all the compensation Denmark received for her inestimable
services during a whole decade was 600,000 rix-dollars! The bishoprics
of Bremen and Verden, the province of Farther Pomerania and the isle of
Rügen which her armies had actually conquered, and which had been
guaranteed to her by a whole catena of treaties, went partly to the
upstart electorate of Hanover and partly to the upstart kingdom of
Prussia, both of which states had been of no political importance
whatever at the beginning of the war of spoliation by which they were,
ultimately, to profit so largely and so cheaply.


Frederick IV., 1699-1730.

The last ten years of the reign of Christian V.'s successor, Frederick
IV. (1699-1730), were devoted to the nursing and development of the
resources of the country, which had suffered only less severely than
Sweden from the effects of the Great Northern War. The court, seriously
pious, did much for education. A wise economy also contributed to reduce
the national debt within manageable limits, and in the welfare of the
peasantry Frederick IV. took a deep interest. In 1722 serfdom was
abolished in the case of all peasants in the royal estates born after
his accession.


Christian VI., 1730-1746.

The first act of Frederick's successor, Christian VI. (1730-1746), was
to abolish the national militia, which had been an intolerable burden
upon the peasantry; yet the more pressing agrarian difficulties were not
thereby surmounted, as had been hoped. The price of corn continued to
fall; the migration of the peasantry assumed alarming proportions; and
at last, "to preserve the land" as well as to increase the defensive
capacity of the country, the national militia was re-established by the
decree of the 4th of February 1733, which at the same time bound to the
soil all peasants between the age of nine and forty. Reactionary as the
measure was it enabled the agricultural interest, on which the
prosperity of Denmark mainly depended, to tide over one of the most
dangerous crises in its history; but certainly the position of the
Danish peasantry was never worse than during the reign of the religious
and benevolent Christian VI.


Frederick V., 1746-1766.

Under the peaceful reign of Christian's son and successor, Frederick V.
(1746-1766), still more was done for commerce, industry and agriculture.
To promote Denmark's carrying trade, treaties were made with the Barbary
States, Genoa and Naples; and the East Indian Trading Company flourished
exceedingly. On the other hand the condition of the peasantry was even
worse under Frederick V. than it had been under Christian VI., the
_Stavnsbaand_, or regulation which bound all males to the soil, being
made operative from the age of four. Yet signs of a coming amelioration
were not wanting. The theory of the physiocrats now found powerful
advocates in Denmark; and after 1755, when the press censorship was
abolished so far as regarded political economy and agriculture, a
thorough discussion of the whole agrarian question became possible. A
commission appointed in 1757 worked zealously for the repeal of many
agricultural abuses; and several great landed proprietors introduced
hereditary leaseholds, and abolished the servile tenure.


Christian VII., 1766-1808.

Foreign affairs during the reigns of Frederick V. and Christian VI. were
left in the capable hands of J. H. E. Bernstorff, who aimed at steering
clear of all foreign complications and preserving inviolable the
neutrality of Denmark. This he succeeded in doing, in spite of the Seven
Years' War and of the difficulties attending the thorny Gottorp question
in which Sweden and Russia were equally interested. The same policy was
victoriously pursued by his nephew and pupil Andreas Bernstorff, an even
greater man than the elder Bernstorff, who controlled the foreign policy
of Denmark from 1773 to 1778, and again from 1784 till his death in
1797. The period of the younger Bernstorff synchronizes with the greater
part of the long reign of Christian VII. (1766-1808), one of the most
eventful periods of modern Danish history. The king himself was indeed a
semi-idiot, scarce responsible for his actions, yet his was the era of
such striking personalities as the brilliant charlatan Struensee, the
great philanthropist and reformer C. D. F. Reventlow, the
ultra-conservative Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, whose mission it was to repair
the damage done by Struensee, and that generation of alert and
progressive spirits which surrounded the young crown prince Frederick,
whose first act, on taking his seat in the council of state, at the age
of sixteen, on the 4th of April 1784, was to dismiss Guldberg.

A fresh and fruitful period of reform now began, lasting till nearly the
end of the century, and interrupted only by the brief but costly war
with Sweden in 1788. The emancipation of the peasantry was now the
burning question of the day, and the whole matter was thoroughly
ventilated. Bernstorff and the crown prince were the most zealous
advocates of the peasantry in the council of state; but the honour of
bringing the whole peasant question within the range of practical
politics undoubtedly belongs to C. D. F. Reventlow (q.v.). Nor was the
reforming principle limited to the abolition of serfdom. In 1788 the
corn trade was declared free; the Jews received civil rights; and the
negro slave trade was forbidden. In 1796 a special ordinance reformed
the whole system of judicial procedure, making it cheaper and more
expeditious; while the toll ordinance of the 1st of February 1797 still
further extended the principle of free trade. Moreover, until two years
after Bernstorff's death in 1797, the Danish press enjoyed a larger
freedom of speech than the press of any other absolute monarchy in
Europe, so much so that at last Denmark became suspected of favouring
Jacobin views. But in September 1799 under strong pressure from the
Russian emperor Paul, the Danish government forbade anonymity, and
introduced a limited censorship.


Denmark and Great Britain in the Napoleonic Wars.

It was Denmark's obsequiousness to Russia which led to the first of her
unfortunate collisions with Great Britain. In 1800 the Danish government
was persuaded by the tsar to accede to the second Armed Neutrality
League, which Russia had just concluded with Prussia and Sweden. Great
Britain retaliated by laying an embargo on the vessels of the three
neutral powers, and by sending a considerable fleet to the Baltic under
the command of Parker and Nelson. Surprised and unprepared though they
were, the Danes, nevertheless, on the 2nd of April 1801, offered a
gallant resistance; but their fleet was destroyed, their capital
bombarded, and, abandoned by Russia, they were compelled to submit to a
disadvantageous peace.

The same vain endeavour of Denmark to preserve her neutrality led to the
second breach with England. After the peace of Tilsit there could be no
further question of neutrality. Napoleon had determined that if Great
Britain refused to accept Russia's mediation, Denmark, Sweden and
Portugal were to be forced to close their harbours to her ships and
declare war against her. It was the intention of the Danish government
to preserve its neutrality to the last, although, on the whole, it
preferred an alliance with Great Britain to a league with Napoleon, and
was even prepared for a breach with the French emperor if he pressed her
too hardly. The army had therefore been assembled in Holstein, and the
crown prince regent was with it. But the British government did not
consider Denmark strong enough to resist France, and Canning had private
trustworthy information of the designs of Napoleon, upon which he was
bound to act. He sent accordingly a fleet, with 30,000 men on board, to
the Sound to compel Denmark, by way of security for her future conduct,
to unite her fleet with the British fleet. Denmark was offered an
alliance, the complete restitution of her fleet after the war, a
guarantee of all her possessions, compensation for all expenses, and
even territorial aggrandizement.


Loss of Norway. Treaty of Kiel, 1814.

Dictatorially presented as they were, these terms were liberal and even
generous; and if a great statesman like Bernstorff had been at the head
of affairs in Copenhagen, he would, no doubt, have accepted them, even
if with a wry face. But the prince regent, if a good patriot, was a poor
politician, and invincibly obstinate. When, therefore, in August 1807,
Gambier arrived in the Sound, and the English plenipotentiary Francis
James Jackson, not perhaps the most tactful person that could have been
chosen, hastened to Kiel to place the British demands before the crown
prince, Frederick not only refused to negotiate, but ordered the
Copenhagen authorities to put the city in the best state of defence
possible. Taking this to be tantamount to a declaration of war, on the
16th of August the British army landed at Vedbäck; and shortly
afterwards the Danish capital was invested. Anything like an adequate
defence was hopeless; a bombardment began which lasted from the 2nd of
September till the 5th of September, and ended with the capitulation of
the city and the surrender of the fleet intact, the prince regent having
neglected to give orders for its destruction. After this Denmark,
unwisely, but not unnaturally, threw herself into the arms of Napoleon
and continued to be his faithful ally till the end of the war. She was
punished for her obstinacy by being deprived of Norway, which she was
compelled to surrender to Sweden by the terms of the treaty of Kiel
(1814), on the 14th of January, receiving by way of compensation a sum
of money and Swedish Pomerania, with Rügen, which were subsequently
transferred to Prussia in exchange for the duchy of Lauenburg and
2,000,000 rix-dollars.

On the establishment of the German Confederation in 1815, Frederick VI.
acceded thereto as duke of Holstein, but refused to allow Schleswig to
enter it, on the ground that Schleswig was an integral part of the
Danish realm.


Denmark after 1815.

Constitutional agitation. Beginnings of the Schleswig-Holstein Question.

Unionist Constitution of 1848, and war with Prussia.

The position of Denmark from 1815 to 1830 was one of great difficulty
and distress. The loss of Norway necessitated considerable reductions of
expenditure, but the economies actually practised fell far short of the
requirements of the diminished kingdom and its depleted exchequer; while
the agricultural depression induced by the enormous fall in the price of
corn all over Europe caused fresh demands upon the state, and added
10,000,000 rix-dollars to the national debt before 1835. The last two
years of the reign of Frederick VI. (1838-1839) were also remarkable for
the revival of political life, provincial consultative assemblies being
established for Jutland, the Islands, Schleswig and Holstein, by the
ordinance of the 28th of May 1831. But these consultative assemblies
were regarded as insufficient by the Danish Liberals, and during the
last years of Frederick VI. and the whole reign of his successor,
Christian VIII. (1839-1848), the agitation for a free constitution, both
in Denmark and the duchies, continued to grow in strength, in spite of
press prosecutions and other repressive measures. The rising national
feeling in Germany also stimulated the separatist tendencies of the
duchies; and "Schleswig-Holsteinism," as it now began to be called,
evoked in Denmark the counter-movement known as _Eiderdansk-politik_,
i.e. the policy of extending Denmark to the Eider and obliterating
German Schleswig, in order to save Schleswig from being absorbed by
Germany. This division of national sentiment within the monarchy,
complicated by the approaching extinction of the Oldenburg line of the
house of Denmark, by which, in the normal course under the Salic law,
the succession to Holstein would have passed away from the Danish crown,
opened up the whole complicated Schleswig-Holstein Question with all its
momentous consequences. (See SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION.) Within the
monarchy itself, during the following years, "Schleswig-Holsteinism" and
"Eiderdanism" faced each other as rival, mutually exacerbating forces;
and the efforts of succeeding governments to solve the insoluble problem
broke down ever on the rock of nationalist passion and the interests of
the German powers. The unionist constitution, devised by Christian
VIII., and promulgated by his successor, Frederick VII. (1848-1863), on
the 28th of January 1848, led to the armed intervention of Prussia, at
the instance of the new German parliament at Frankfort; and, though with
the help of Russian and British diplomacy, the Danes were ultimately
successful, they had to submit, in 1851, to the government of Holstein
by an international commission consisting of three members, Prussian,
Austrian and Danish respectively.

Denmark, meanwhile, had been engaged in providing herself with a
parliament on modern lines. The constitutional rescript of the 28th of
January 1848 had been withdrawn in favour of an electoral law for a
national assembly, of whose 152 members 38 were to be nominated by the
king and to form an Upper House (_Landsting_), while the remainder were
to be elected by the people and to form a popular chamber (_Folketing_).
The _Bondevenlige_, or philo-peasant party, which objected to the king's
right of nomination and preferred a one-chamber system, now separated
from the National Liberals on this point. But the National Liberals
triumphed at the general election; fear of reactionary tendencies
finally induced the Radicals to accede to the wishes of the majority;
and on the 5th of June 1849 the new constitution received the royal
sanction.


Germany and the Danish duchies.

Convention of 1852.

At this stage Denmark's foreign relations prejudicially affected her
domestic politics. The Liberal Eiderdansk party was for dividing Schleswig
into three distinct administrative belts, according as the various
nationalities predominated (language rescripts of 1851), but German
sentiment was opposed to any such settlement and, still worse, the great
continental powers looked askance on the new Danish constitution as far
too democratic. The substance of the notes embodying the exchange of
views, in 1851 and 1852, between the German great powers and Denmark, was
promulgated, on the 28th of January 1852, in the new constitutional decree
which, together with the documents on which it was founded, was known as
the Conventions of 1851 and 1852. Under this arrangement each part of the
monarchy was to have local autonomy, with a common constitution for common
affairs. Holstein was now restored to Denmark, and Prussia and Austria
consented to take part in the conference of London, by which the integrity
of Denmark was upheld, and the succession to the whole monarchy
settled on Prince Christian, youngest son of Duke William of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and husband of Louise of Hesse,
the niece of King Christian VIII. The "legitimate" heir to the duchies,
under the Salic law, Duke Christian of Sonderburg-Augustenburg, accepted
the decision of the London conference in consideration of the purchase by
the Danish government of his estates in Schleswig.


Constitution of 1855.

Constitution of 1863 and accession of Christian IX.

Prusso-Danish War of 1864, and cession of the duchies.

On the 2nd of October 1855 was promulgated the new common constitution,
which for two years had been the occasion of a fierce contention between
the Conservatives and the Radicals. It proved no more final than its
predecessors. The representatives of the duchies in the new common
_Rigsraad_ protested against it, as subversive of the Conventions of
1851 and 1852; and their attitude had the support of the German powers.
In 1857, Carl Christian Hall (q.v.) became prime minister. After putting
off the German powers by seven years of astute diplomacy, he realized
the impossibility of carrying out the idea of a common constitution and,
on the 30th of March 1862, a royal proclamation was issued detaching
Holstein as far as possible from the common monarchy. Later in the year
he introduced into the _Rigsraad_ a common constitution for Denmark and
Schleswig, which was carried through and confirmed by the council of
state on the 13th of November 1863. It had not, however, received the
royal assent when the death of Frederick VII. brought the "Protocol
King" Christian IX. to the throne. Placed between the necessity of
offending his new subjects or embroiling himself with the German powers,
Christian chose the remoter evil and, on the 18th of November, the new
constitution became law. This once more opened up the whole question in
an acute form. Frederick, son of Christian of Augustenburg, refusing to
be bound by his father's engagements, entered Holstein and, supported by
the Estates and the German diet, proclaimed himself duke. The events
that followed: the occupation of the duchies by Austria and Prussia, the
war of 1864, gallantly fought by the Danes against overwhelming odds,
and the astute diplomacy by which Bismarck succeeded in ultimately
gaining for Prussia the seaboard so essential for her maritime power,
are dealt with elsewhere (see SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION). For Denmark
the question was settled when, by the peace of Vienna (October 30,
1864), the duchies were irretrievably lost to her. At the peace of
Prague, which terminated the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Napoleon III.
procured the insertion in the treaty of paragraph v., by which the
northern districts of Schleswig were to be reunited to Denmark when the
majority of the population by a free vote should so desire; but when
Prussia at last thought fit to negotiate with Denmark on the subject,
she laid down conditions which the Danish government could not accept.
Finally, in 1878, by a separate agreement between Austria and Prussia,
paragraph v. was rescinded.


Constitutional struggles in Denmark since 1866.

The salient feature of Danish politics during subsequent years was the
struggle between the two _Tings_, the _Folketing_ or Lower House, and
the _Landsting_, or Upper House of the _Rigsdag_. This contest began in
1872, when a combination of all the Radical parties, known as the
"United Left," passed a vote of want of confidence against the
government and rejected the budget. Nevertheless, the ministry,
supported by the _Landsting_, refused to resign; and the crisis became
acute when, in 1875, J. B. Estrup became prime minister. Perceiving that
the coming struggle would be essentially a financial one, he retained
the ministry of finance in his own hands; and, strong in the support of
the king, the _Landsting_, and a considerable minority in the country
itself, he devoted himself to the double task of establishing the
political parity of the _Landsting_ with the _Folketing_ and
strengthening the national armaments, so that, in the event of a war
between the European great powers, Denmark might be able to defend her
neutrality.

The Left was willing to vote 30,000,000 crowns for extraordinary
military expenses, exclusive of the fortifications of Copenhagen, on
condition that the amount should be raised by a property and income tax;
and, as the elections of 1875 had given them a majority of three-fourths
in the popular chamber, they spoke with no uncertain voice. But the
Upper House steadily supported Estrup, who was disinclined to accept any
such compromise. As an agreement between the two houses on the budget
proved impossible, a provisional financial decree was issued on the 12th
of April 1877, which the Left stigmatized as a breach of the
constitution. But the difficulties of the ministry were somewhat
relieved by a split in the Radical party, still further accentuated by
the elections of 1879, which enabled Estrup to carry through the army
and navy defence bill and the new military penal code by leaning
alternately upon one or the other of the divided Radical groups.

After the elections of 1881, which brought about the reamalgamation of
the various Radical sections, the opposition presented a united front to
the government, so that, from 1882 onwards, legislation was almost at a
standstill. The elections of 1884 showed clearly that the nation was
also now on the side of the Radicals, 83 out of the 102 members of the
_Folketing_ belonging to the opposition. Still Estrup remained at his
post. He had underestimated the force of public opinion, but he was
conscientiously convinced that a Conservative ministry was necessary to
Denmark at this crisis. When therefore the _Rigsdag_ rejected the
budget, he advised the king to issue another provisional financial
decree. Henceforth, so long as the _Folketing_ refused to vote supplies,
the ministry regularly adopted these makeshifts. In 1886 the Left,
having no constitutional means of dismissing the Estrup ministry,
resorted for the first time to negotiations; but it was not till the 1st
of April 1894 that the majority of the _Folketing_ could arrive at an
agreement with the government and the _Landsting_ as to a budget which
should be retrospective and sanction the employment of the funds so
irregularly obtained for military expenditure. The whole question of the
provisional financial decrees was ultimately regularized by a special
resolution of the _Rigsdag_; and the retirement of the Estrup ministry
in August 1894 was the immediate result of the compromise.

In spite of the composition of 1894, the animosity between _Folketing_
and _Landsting_ continues to characterize Danish politics, and the
situation has been complicated by the division of both Right and Left
into widely divergent groups. The elections of 1895 resulted in an
undeniable victory of the extreme Radicals; and the budget of 1895-1896
was passed only at the last moment by a compromise. The session of
1896-1897 was remarkable for a _rapprochement_ between the ministry and
the "Left Reform Party," caused by the secessions of the "Young Right,"
which led to an unprecedented event in Danish politics--the voting of
the budget by the Radical _Folketing_ and its rejection by the
Conservative _Landsting_ in May 1897; whereupon the ministry resigned in
favour of the moderate Conservative Hörring cabinet, which induced the
Upper House to pass the budget. The elections of 1898 were a fresh
defeat for the Conservatives, and in the autumn session of the same
year, the _Folketing_, by a crushing majority of 85 to 12, rejected the
military budget. The ministry was saved by a mere accident--the
expulsion of Danish agitators from North Schleswig by the German
government, which evoked a passion of patriotic protest throughout
Denmark, and united all parties, the war minister declaring in the
_Folketing_, during the debate on the military budget (January 1899),
that the armaments of Denmark were so far advanced that any great power
must think twice before venturing to attack her. The chief event of the
year 1899 was the great strike of 40,000 artisans, which cost Denmark
50,000,000 crowns, and brought about a reconstruction of the cabinet in
order to bring in, as minister of the interior, Ludwig Ernest Bramsen,
the great specialist in industrial matters, who succeeded (September
2-4) in bringing about an understanding between workmen and employers.
The session 1900-1901 was remarkable for the further disintegration of
the Conservative party still in office (the Sehested cabinet superseded
the Hörring cabinet on the 27th of April 1900) and the almost total
paralysis of parliament, caused by the interminable debates on the
question of taxation reform. The crisis came in 1901. Deprived of nearly
all its supporters in the _Folketing_, the Conservative ministry
resigned, and King Christian was obliged to assent to the formation of a
"cabinet of the Left" under Professor Deuntzer. Various reforms were
carried, but the proposal to sell the Danish islands in the West Indies
to the United States fell through. During these years the relations
between Denmark and the German empire improved, and in the country
itself the cause of social democracy made great progress. In January
1906 King Christian ended his long reign, and was succeeded by his son
Frederick VIII. At the elections of 1906 the government lost its small
absolute majority, but remained in power with support from the Moderates
and Conservatives. It was severely shaken, however, when Herr A.
Alberti, who had been minister of justice since 1901, and was admitted
to be the strongest member of the cabinet, was openly accused of
nepotism and abuse of the power of his position. These charges gathered
weight until the minister was forced to resign in July 1908, and in
September he was arrested on a charge of forgery in his capacity as
director of the Zealand Peasants' Savings Bank. The ministry, of which
Herr Jens Christian Christensen was head, was compelled to resign in
October. The effect of these revelations was profound not only
politically, but also economically; the important export trade in Danish
butter, especially, was adversely affected, as Herr Alberti had been
interested in numerous dairy companies.

   BIBLIOGRAPHY.--I. GENERAL HISTORY. _Danmarks Riges Historie_
   (Copenhagen, 1897-1905); R. Nisbet Bain, _Scandinavia_ (Cambridge,
   1905); H. Weitemeyer, _Denmark_ (London, 1901); Adolf Ditley
   Jörgensen, _Historiske Afhandlinger_ (Copenhagen, 1898); _ib.
   Fortaellinger af Nordens Historie_ (Copenhagen, 1892). II. EARLY AND
   MEDIEVAL HISTORY. Saxo, _Gesta Danorum_ (Strassburg, 1886);
   _Repertorium diplomaticum regni Danici mediaevalis_ (Copenhagen,
   1894); Ludvig Holberg, _Konge og Danehof_ (Copenhagen, 1895); Poul
   Frederik Barford, _Danmarks Historie 1319-1536_ (Copenhagen, 1885);
   _ib. 1536-1670_ (Copenhagen, 1891). III. 16TH TO 19TH CENTURY. Philip
   P. Munch, _Kobstadstyrelsen i Danmark_ (Copenhagen, 1900); Peter
   Edvard Holm, _Danmark Norges indre Historie, 1660-1720_ (Copenhagen,
   1885-1886); _ib. Danmark Norges Historie, 1720-1814_ (Copenhagen,
   1891-1894); Sören Bloch Thrige, _Danmarks Historie i vort
   Aarhundrede_ (Copenhagen, 1888); Marcus Rubin, _Frederick VI.'s Tid
   fra Kielerfreden_ (Copenhagen, 1895); Christian Frederick von Holten,
   _Erinnerungen; Der deutsch-dänische Krieg_ (Stuttgart, 1900); Niels
   Peter Jensen, _Den anden slesvigske Krig_ (Copenhagen, 1900); S. N.
   Mouritsen, _Vor Forfatnings Historie_ (Copenhagen, 1894); Carl
   Frederik Vilhelm Mathildus Rosenberg, _Danmark i Aaret 1848_
   (Copenhagen, 1891). See also the special bibliographies appended to
   the biographies of the Danish kings and statesmen.      (R. N. B.)


LITERATURE

The present language of Denmark is derived directly from the same source
as that of Sweden, and the parent of both is the old Scandinavian (see
SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES). In Iceland this tongue, with some
modifications, has remained in use, and until about 1100 it was the
literary language of the whole of Scandinavia. The influence of Low
German first, and High German afterwards, has had the effect of drawing
modern Danish constantly farther from this early type. The difference
began to show itself in the 12th century. R. K. Rask, and after him N.
M. Petersen, have distinguished four periods in the development of the
language, The first, which has been called Oldest Danish, dating from
about 1100 and 1250, shows a slightly changed character, mainly
depending on the system of inflections. In the second period, that of
Old Danish, bringing us down to 1400, the change of the system of vowels
begins to be settled, and masculine and feminine are mingled in a common
gender. An indefinite article has been formed, and in the conjugation of
the verb a great simplicity sets in. In the third period, 1400-1530, the
influence of German upon the language is supreme, and culminates in the
Reformation. The fourth period, from 1530 to about 1680, completes the
work of development, and leaves the language as we at present find it.

The earliest work known to have been written in Denmark was a Latin
biography of Knud the Saint, written by an English monk Ælnoth, who was
attached to the church of St Alban in Odense where King Knud was
murdered. Denmark produced several Latin writers of merit. Anders
Sunesen (d. 1228) wrote a long poem in hexameters, _Hexaëmeron_,
describing the creation. Under the auspices of Archbishop Absalon the
monks of Sorö began to compile the annals of Denmark, and at the end of
the 12th century Svend Aagesen, a cleric of Lund, compiled from
Icelandic sources and oral tradition his _Compendiosa historia regum
Daniae_. The great Saxo Grammaticus (q.v.) wrote his _Historia Danica_
under the same patronage.

It was not till the 16th century that literature began to be generally
practised in the vernacular in Denmark. The oldest laws which are still
preserved date from the beginning of the 13th century, and many
different collections are in existence.[2] A single work detains us in
the 13th century, a treatise on medicine[3] by Henrik Harpestreng, who
died in 1244. The first royal edict written in Danish is dated 1386; and
the Act of Union at Kalmar, written in 1397, is the most important piece
of the vernacular of the 14th century. Between 1300 and 1500, however,
it is supposed that the _Kjaempeviser_, or Danish ballads, a large
collection of about 500 epical and lyrical poems, were originally
composed, and these form the most precious legacy of the Denmark of the
middle ages, whether judged historically or poetically. We know nothing
of the authors of these poems, which treat of the heroic adventures of
the great warriors and lovely ladies of the chivalric age in strains of
artless but often exquisite beauty. Some of the subjects are borrowed in
altered form from the old mythology, while a few derive from Christian
legend, and many deal with national history. The language in which we
receive these ballads, however, is as late as the 16th or even the 17th
century, but it is believed that they have become gradually modernized
in the course of oral tradition. The first attempt to collect the
ballads was made in 1591 by Anders Sörensen Vedel (1542-1616), who
published 100 of them. Peder Syv printed 100 more in 1695. In 1812-1814
an elaborate collection in five volumes appeared at Christiania, edited
by W. H. F. Abrahamson, R. Nyerup and K. M. Rahbek. Finally, Svend
Grundtvig produced an exhaustive edition, _Danmarks gamle Folkeviser_
(Copenhagen, 1853-1883, 5 vols.), which was supplemented (1891) by A.
Olrik.

In 1490, the first printing press was set up at Copenhagen, by Gottfried
of Gemen, who had brought it from Westphalia; and five years later the
first Danish book was printed. This was the famous _Rimkrönike_[4]; a
history of Denmark in rhymed Danish verse, attributed by its first
editor to Niels (d. 1481); a monk of the monastery of Sorö. It extends
to the death of Christian I., in 1481, which may be supposed to be
approximately the date of the poem. In 1479 the university of Copenhagen
had been founded. In 1506 the same Gottfried of Gemen published a famous
collection of proverbs, attributed to Peder Laale. Mikkel, priest of St
Alban's Church in Odense, wrote three sacred poems, _The Rose-Garland of
Maiden Mary_, _The Creation_ and _Human Life_, which came out together
in 1514, shortly before his death. The popular _Lucidarius_ also
appeared in the vulgar tongue.

These few productions appeared along with innumerable works in Latin,
and dimly heralded a Danish literature. It was the Reformation that
first awoke the living spirit in the popular tongue. Christiern Pedersen
(q.v.; 1480-1554) was the first man of letters produced in Denmark. He
edited and published, at Paris in 1514, the Latin text of the old
chronicler, Saxo Grammaticus; he worked up in their present form the
beautiful half-mythical stories of _Karl Magnus_ (Charlemagne) and
_Holger Danske_ (Ogier the Dane). He further translated the Psalms of
David and the New Testament, printed in 1529, and finally--in
conjunction with Bishop Peder Palladius--the Bible, which appeared in
1550. Hans Tausen, the bishop of Ribe (1494-1561), continued Pedersen's
work, but with far less literary talent. He may, however, be considered
as the greatest orator and teacher of the Reformation movement. He wrote
a number of popular hymns, partly original, partly translations;
translated the Pentateuch from the Hebrew; and published (1536) a
collection of sermons embodying the reformed doctrine and destined for
the use of clergy and laity.

The Catholic party produced one controversialist of striking ability,
Povel Helgesen[5] (b. c. 1480), also known as Paulus Eliae. He had at
first been inclined to the party of reform, but when Luther broke
definitely with the papal authority he became a bitter opponent. His
most important polemical work is an answer (1528) to twelve questions on
the religious question propounded by Gustavus I. of Sweden. He is also
supposed to be the author of the _Skiby Chronicle_,[6] in which he does
not confine himself to the duties of a mere annalist, but records his
personal opinion of people and events. Vedel, by the edition of the
_Kjaempeviser_ which is mentioned above, gave an immense stimulus to the
progress of literature. He published an excellent translation of Saxo
Grammaticus in 1575. The first edition of a Danish _Reineke Fuchs_, by
Herman Weigere, appeared at Lübeck in 1555, and the first authorized
Psalter in 1559. Arild Huitfeld wrote _Chronicle of the Kingdom of
Denmark_, printed in ten volumes, between 1595 and 1604.

There are few traces of dramatic effort in Denmark before the
Reformation; and many of the plays of that period may be referred to the
class of school comedies. Hans Sthen, a lyrical poet, wrote a morality
entitled _Kortvending_ ("Change of Fortune"), which is really a
collection of monologues to be delivered by students. The anonymous
_Ludus de Sancto Kanuto_[7] (c. 1530) which in spite of its title, is
written in Danish, is the earliest Danish national drama. The burlesque
drama assigned to Christian Hansen, _The Faithless Wife_, is the only
one of its kind that has survived. But the best of these old dramatic
authors was a priest of Viborg, Justesen Ranch (1539-1607), who wrote
_Kong Salomons Hylding_ ("The Crowning of King Solomon") (1585),
_Samsons Faengsel_ ("The Imprisonment of Samson"), which includes
lyrical passages which have given it claims to be considered the first
Danish opera, and a farce, _Karrig Niding_ ("The Miserly Miscreant").
Beside these works Ranch wrote a famous moralizing poem, entitled "A new
song, of the nature and song of certain birds, in which many vices are
punished, and many virtues praised." Peder Clausen[8] (1545-1614), a
Norwegian by birth and education, wrote a _Description of Norway_, as
well as an admirable translation of Snorri Sturlason's _Heimskringla_,
published ten years after Clausen's death. The father of Danish poetry,
Anders Kristensen Arrebo (1587-1637), was bishop of Trondhjem, but was
deprived of his see for immorality. He was a poet of considerable
genius, which is most brilliantly shown in an imitation of Du Bartas's
_Divine Semaine_, the _Hexaëmeron_, a poem on the creation, in six
books, which did not appear till 1661. He also made a translation of the
Psalms.

He was followed by Anders Bording (1619-1677), a cheerful occasional
versifier, and by Thöger Reenberg (1656-1742), a poet of somewhat higher
gifts, who lived on into a later age. Among prose writers should be
mentioned the grammarian Peder Syv,[9] (1631-1702); Bishop Erik
Pontoppidan (1616-1678), whose _Grammatica Danica_, published in 1668,
is the first systematic analysis of the language; Birgitta Thott
(1610-1662), a lady who translated Seneca (1658); and Leonora Christina
Ulfeld, daughter of Christian IV., who has left a touching account of
her long imprisonment in her _Jammersminde_. Ole Worm (1588-1654), a
learned pedagogue and antiquarian, preserved in his _Danicorum
monumentorum libri sex_ (Copenhagen, 1643) the descriptions of many
antiquities which have since perished or been lost.

In two spiritual poets the advancement of the literature of Denmark took
a further step. Thomas Kingo[10] (1634-1703) was the first who wrote
Danish with perfect ease and grace. He was a Scot by descent, and
retained the vital energy of his ancestors as a birthright. In 1677 he
became bishop in Fünen, where he died in 1703. His _Winter Psalter_
(1689), and the so-called _Kingo's Psalter_ (1699), contained brilliant
examples of lyrical writing, and an employment of language at once
original and national. Kingo had a charming fancy, a clear sense of form
and great rapidity and variety of utterance. Some of his very best hymns
are in the little volume he published in 1681, and hence the old period
of semi-articulate Danish may be said to close with this eventful
decade, which also witnessed the birth of Holberg. The other great
hymn-writer was Hans Adolf Brorson (1694-1764), who published in 1740 a
great psalm-book at the king's command, in which he added his own to the
best of Kingo's. Both these men held high posts in the church, one being
bishop of Fünen and the other of Ribe; but Brorson was much inferior to
Kingo in genius. With these names the introductory period of Danish
literature ends. The language was now formed, and was being employed for
almost all the uses of science and philosophy.

Ludvig Holberg (q.v.; 1684-1754) may be called the founder of modern
Danish literature. His various works still retain their freshness and
vital attraction. As an historian his style was terse and brilliant, his
spirit philosophical, and his data singularly accurate. He united two
unusual gifts, being at the same time the most cultured man of his day,
and also in the highest degree a practical person, who clearly perceived
what would most rapidly educate and interest the uncultivated. In his
thirty-three dramas, sparkling comedies in prose, more or less in
imitation of Molière, he has left his most important positive legacy to
literature. Nor in any series of comedies in existence is decency so
rarely sacrificed to a desire for popularity or a false sense of wit.

Holberg founded no school of immediate imitators, but his stimulating
influence was rapid and general. The university of Copenhagen, which had
been destroyed by fire in 1728, was reopened in 1742, and under the
auspices of the historian Hans Gram (1685-1748), who founded the Danish
Royal Academy of Sciences, it inspired an active intellectual life. Gram
laid the foundation of critical history in Denmark. He brought to bear
on the subject a full knowledge of documents and sources. His best work
lies in his annotated editions of the older chroniclers. In 1744 Jakob
Langebek (1710-1775) founded the Society for the Improvement of the
Danish Language, which opened the field of philology. He began the great
collection of _Scriptores rerum Danicarum medii aevi_ (9 vols.,
Copenhagen, 1772-1878). In jurisprudence Andreas Höier (1690-1739)
represented the new impulse, and in zoology Erik Pontoppidan (q.v.), the
younger. This last name represents a lifelong activity in many branches
of literature. From Holberg's college of Sorö, two learned professors,
Jens Schelderup Sneedorff (1724-1764) and Jens Kraft (1720-1765),
disseminated the seeds of a wider culture. All these men were aided by
the generous and enlightened patronage of Frederick V. A little later
on, the German poet Klopstock settled in Copenhagen, bringing with him
the prestige of his great reputation, and he had a strong influence in
Germanizing Denmark. He founded, however, the Society for the Fine Arts,
and had it richly endowed. The first prize offered was won by Christian
Braumann Tullin (1728-1765) for his beautiful poem of _May-day_. Tullin,
a Norwegian by birth, represents the first accession of a study of
external nature in Danish poetry; he was an ardent disciple of the
English poet Thomson. Christian Falster (1690-1752) wrote satires of
some merit, but most of his work is in Latin. The _New Heroic Poems_ of
Jörgen Sorterup are notable as imitations of the old folk-literature.
Ambrosius Stub[11] (1705-1758) was a lyrist of great sweetness, born
before his due time, whose poems, not published till 1771, belong to a
later age than their author.

_The Lyrical Revival._--Between 1742 and 1749, that is to say, at the
very climax of the personal activity of Holberg, several poets were
born, who were destined to enrich the language with its first group of
lyrical blossoms. Of these the two eldest, Wessel and Ewald, were men of
extraordinary genius, and destined to fascinate the attention of
posterity, not only by the brilliance of their productions, but by the
suffering and brevity of their lives. Johannes Ewald (q.v.; 1743-1781)
was not only the greatest Danish lyrist of the 18th century, but he had
few rivals in the whole of Europe. As a dramatist, pure and simple, his
bird-like instinct of song carried him too often into a sphere too
exalted for the stage; but he has written nothing that is not stamped
with the exquisite quality of distinction. Johan Herman Wessel[12]
(1742-1785) excited even greater hopes in his contemporaries, but left
less that is immortal behind him. After the death of Holberg, the
affectation of Gallicism had reappeared in Denmark; and the tragedies of
Voltaire, with their stilted rhetoric, were the most popular dramas of
the day. Johan Nordahl Brun (1745-1816), a young writer who did better
things later on, gave the finishing touch to the exotic absurdity by
bringing out a wretched piece called _Zarina_, which was hailed by the
press as the first original Danish tragedy, although Ewald's exquisite
_Rolf Krage_, which truly merited that title, had appeared two years
before. Wessel, who up to that time had only been known as the president
of a club of wits, immediately wrote _Love without Stockings_ (1772), in
which a plot of the most abject triviality is worked out in strict
accordance with the rules of French tragedy, and in most pompous and
pathetic Alexandrines. The effect of this piece was magical; the Royal
Theatre ejected its cuckoo-brood of French plays, and even the Italian
opera. It was now essential that every performance should be national,
and in the Danish language. To supply the place of the opera, native
musicians, and especially J. P. E. Hartmann, set the dramas of Ewald and
others, and thus the Danish school of music originated. Johan Nordahl
Brun's best work is to be found in his patriotic songs and his hymns. He
became bishop of Bergen in 1803.

Of the other poets of the revival the most important were born in
Norway. Nordahl Brun, Claus Frimann (1746-1829), Claus Fasting
(1746-1791), who edited a brilliant aesthetic journal, _The Critical
Observer_, Christian H. Pram[13] (1756-1821), author of _Staerkodder_, a
romantic epic, based on Scandinavian legend, and Edvard Storm
(1749-1794), were associates and mainly fellow-students at Copenhagen,
where they introduced a style peculiar to themselves, and distinct from
that of the true Danes. Their lyrics celebrated the mountains and rivers
of the magnificent country they had left; and, while introducing images
and scenery unfamiliar to the inhabitants of monotonous Denmark, they
enriched the language with new words and phrases. This group of writers
is now claimed by the Norwegians as the founders of a Norwegian
literature; but their true place is certainly among the Danes, to whom
they primarily appealed. They added nothing to the development of the
drama, except in the person of N. K. Bredal (1733-1778), who became
director of the Royal Danish Theatre, and the writer of some mediocre
plays.

To the same period belong a few prose writers of eminence. Werner
Abrahamson (1744-1812) was the first aesthetic critic Denmark produced.
Johan Clemens Tode (1736-1806) was eminent in many branches of science,
but especially as a medical writer. Ove Mailing (1746-1829) was an
untiring collector of historical data, which he annotated in a lively
style. Two historians of more definite claim on our attention are Peter
Frederik Suhm (1728-1798), whose _History of Denmark_ (11 vols.,
Copenhagen, 1782-1812) contains a mass of original material, and Ove
Guldberg (1731-1808). In theology Christian Bastholm (1740-1819) and
Nicolai Edinger Balle (1744-1816), bishop of Zealand, a Norwegian by
birth, demand a reference. But the only really great prose-writer of the
period was the Norwegian, Niels Treschow (1751-1833), whose
philosophical works are composed in an admirably lucid style, and are
distinguished for their depth and originality.

The poetical revival sank in the next generation to a more mechanical
level. The number of writers of some talent was very great, but genius
was wanting. Two intimate friends, Jonas Rein (1760-1821) and Jens
Zetlitz (1761-1821), attempted, with indifferent success, to continue
the tradition of the Norwegian group. Thomas Thaarup (1749-1821) was a
fluent and eloquent writer of occasional poems, and of homely dramatic
idylls. The early death of Ole Samsöe (1759-1796) prevented the
development of a dramatic talent that gave rare promise. But while
poetry languished, prose, for the first time, began to flourish in
Denmark. Knud Lyne Rahbek (1760-1830) was a pleasing novelist, a
dramatist of some merit, a pathetic elegist, and a witty song-writer; he
was also a man full of the literary instinct, and through a long life he
never ceased to busy himself with editing the works of the older poets,
and spreading among the people a knowledge of Danish literature through
his magazine, _Minerva_, edited in conjunction with C. H. Pram. Peter
Andreas Heiberg (1758-1841) was a political and aesthetic critic of
note. He was exiled from Denmark in company with another sympathizer
with the principles of the French Revolution, Malte Conrad Brunn
(1775-1826), who settled in Paris, and attained a world-wide reputation
as a geographer. O. C. Olufsen (1764-1827) was a writer on geography,
zoology and political economy. Rasmus Nyerup (1759-1829) expended an
immense energy in the compilation of admirable works on the history of
language and literature. From 1778 to his death he exercised a great
power in the statistical and critical departments of letters. The best
historian of this period, however, was Engelstoft (1774-1850), and the
most brilliant theologian Bishop Mynster (1775-1854). In the annals of
modern science Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851) is a name universally
honoured. He explained his inventions and described his discoveries in
language so lucid and so characteristic that he claims an honoured place
in the literature of the country of whose culture, in other branches, he
is one of the most distinguished ornaments.

On the threshold of the romantic movement occurs the name of Jens
Baggesen (q.v.; 1764-1826), a man of great genius, whose work was
entirely independent of the influences around him. Jens Baggesen is the
greatest comic poet that Denmark has produced; and as a satirist and
witty lyrist he has no rival among the Danes. In his hands the
difficulties of the language disappear; he performs with the utmost ease
extraordinary _tours de force_ of style. His astonishing talents were
wasted on trifling themes and in a fruitless resistance to the modern
spirit in literature.

_Romanticism._--With the beginning of the 19th century the new light in
philosophy and poetry, which radiated from Germany through all parts of
Europe, found its way into Denmark also. In scarcely any country was the
result so rapid or so brilliant. There arose in Denmark a school of
poets who created for themselves a reputation in all parts of Europe,
and would have done honour to any nation or any age. The splendid
cultivation of metrical art threw other branches into the shade; and the
epoch of which we are about to speak is eminent above all for mastery
over verse. The swallow who heralded the summer was a German by birth,
Adolph Wilhelm Schack von Staffeldt[14] (1769-1826), who came over to
Copenhagen from Pomerania, and prepared the way for the new movement.
Since Ewald no one had written Danish lyrical verse so exquisitely as
Schack von Staffeldt, and the depth and scientific precision of his
thought won him a title which he has preserved, of being the first
philosophic poet of Denmark. The writings of this man are the deepest
and most serious which Denmark had produced, and at his best he yields
to no one in choice and skilful use of expression. This sweet song of
Schack von Staffeldt's, however, was early silenced by the louder choir
that one by one broke into music around him. It was Adam Gottlob
Öhlenschläger (q.v.; 1779-1850), the greatest poet of Denmark, who was
to bring about the new romantic movement. In 1802 he happened to meet
the young Norwegian Henrik Steffens (1773-1845), who had just returned
from a scientific tour in Germany, full of the doctrines of Schelling.
Under the immediate direction of Steffens, Öhlenschläger began an
entirely new poetic style, and destroyed all his earlier verses. A new
epoch in the language began, and the rapidity and matchless facility of
the new poetry was the wonder of Steffens himself. The old Scandinavian
mythology lived in the hands of Öhlenschläger exactly as the classical
Greek religion was born again in Keats. He aroused in his people the
slumbering sense of their Scandinavian nationality.

The retirement of Öhlenschläger comparatively early in life, left the
way open for the development of his younger contemporaries, among whom
several had genius little inferior to his own. Steen Steensen Blicher
(1782-1848) was a Jutlander, and preserved all through life the
characteristics of his sterile and sombre fatherland. After a struggling
youth of great poverty, he published, in 1807-1809, a translation of
Ossian; in 1814 a volume of lyrical poems; and in 1817 he attracted
considerable attention by his descriptive poem of _The Tour in Jutland_.
His real genius, however, did not lie in the direction of verse; and his
first signal success was with a story, _A Village Sexton's Diary_, in
1824, which was rapidly followed by other tales, descriptive of village
life in Jutland, for the next twelve years. These were collected in five
volumes (1833-1836). His masterpiece is a collection of short stories,
called _The Spinning Room_. He also produced many national lyrics of
great beauty. But it was Blicher's use of _patois_ which delighted his
countrymen with a sense of freshness and strength. They felt as though
they heard Danish for the first time spoken in its fulness. The poet
Aarestrup (in 1848) declared that Blicher had raised the Danish language
to the dignity of Icelandic. Blicher is a stern realist, in many points
akin to Crabbe, and takes a singular position among the romantic
idealists of the period, being like them, however, in the love of
precise and choice language, and hatred of the mere commonplaces of
imaginative writing.[15]

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (q.v.; 1783-1872), like
Öhlenschläger, learned the principles of the German romanticism from the
lips of Steffens. He adopted the idea of introducing the Old
Scandinavian element into art, and even into life, still more earnestly
than the older poet. Bernhard Severin Ingemann (q.v.; 1789-1862)
contributed to Danish literature historical romances in the style of Sir
Walter Scott. Johannes Carsten Hauch (q.v.; 1790-1872) first
distinguished himself as a disciple of Öhlenschläger, and fought under
him in the strife against the old school and Baggesen. But the master
misunderstood the disciple; and the harsh repulse of Öhlenschläger
silenced Hauch for many years. He possessed, however, a strong and
fluent genius, which eventually made itself heard in a multitude of
volumes, poems, dramas and novels. All that Hauch wrote is marked by
great qualities, and by distinction; he had a native bias towards the
mystical, which, however, he learned to keep in abeyance.

Johan Ludvig Heiberg (q.v.; 1791-1860) was a critic who ruled the world
of Danish taste for many years. His mother, the Baroness
Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd (q.v.; 1773-1856), wrote a large number of
anonymous novels. Her knowledge of life, her sparkling wit and her
almost faultless style, make these short stories masterpieces of their
kind.

Christian Hviid Bredahl (1784-1860) produced six volumes of _Dramatic
Scenes_[16] (1819-1833) which, in spite of their many brilliant
qualities, were little appreciated at the time. Bredahl gave up
literature in despair to become a peasant farmer, and died in poverty.

Ludvig Adolf Bödtcher (1793-1874) wrote a single volume of lyrical
poems, which he gradually enlarged in succeeding editions. He was a
consummate artist in verse, and his impressions are given with the most
delicate exactitude of phrase, and in a very fine strain of imagination.
He was a quietist and an epicurean, and the closest parallel to Horner
in the literature of the North. Most of Bödtcher's poems deal with
Italian life, which he learned to know thoroughly during a long
residence in Rome. He was secretary to Thorwaldsen for a considerable
time.

Christian Winther (q.v.; 1796-1876) made the island of Zealand his
loving study, and that province of Denmark belongs to him no less
thoroughly than the Cumberland lakes belong to Wordsworth. Between the
latter poet and Winther there was much resemblance. He was, without
compeer, the greatest pastoral lyrist of Denmark. His exquisite strains,
in which pure imagination is blended with most accurate and realistic
descriptions of scenery and rural life, have an extraordinary charm not
easily described.

The youngest of the great poets born during the last twenty years of the
18th century was Henrik Hertz (q.v.; 1797-1870). As a satirist and comic
poet he followed Baggesen, and in all branches of the poetic art stood a
little aside out of the main current of romanticism. He introduced into
the Danish literature of his time inestimable elements of lucidity and
purity. In his best pieces Hertz is the most modern and most
cosmopolitan of the Danish writers of his time.

It is noticeable that all the great poets of the romantic period lived
to an advanced age. Their prolonged literary activity--for some of them,
like Grundtvig, were busy to the last--had a slightly damping influence
on their younger contemporaries, but certain names in the next
generation have special prominence. Hans Christian Andersen (q.v.;
1805-1875) was the greatest of modern fabulists. In 1835 there appeared
the first collection of his _Fairy Tales_, and won him a world-wide
reputation. Almost every year from this time forward until near his
death he published about Christmas time one or two of these unique
stories, so delicate in their humour and pathos, and so masterly in
their simplicity. Carl Christian Bagger (1807-1846) published volumes in
1834 and 1836 which gave promise of a great future,--a promise broken by
his early death. Frederik Paludan-Müller (q.v.; 1809-1876) developed, as
a poet, a magnificent career, which contrasted in its abundance with his
solitary and silent life as a man. His mythological or pastoral dramas,
his great satiric epos of _Adam Homo_ (1841-1848), his comedies, his
lyrics, and above all his noble philosophic tragedy of _Kalanus_, prove
the immense breadth of his compass, and the inexhaustible riches of his
imagination. C. L. Emil Aarestrup (1800-1856) published in 1838 a volume
of vivid erotic poetry, but its quality was only appreciated after his
death. Edvard Lembcke (1815-1897) made himself famous as the admirable
translator of Shakespeare, but the incidents of 1864 produced from him
some volumes of direct and manly patriotic verse.

The poets completely ruled the literature of Denmark during this period.
There were, however, eminent men in other departments of letters, and
especially in philology. Rasmus Christian Rask (1787-1832) was one of
the most original and gifted linguists of his age. His grammars of Old
Frisian, Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon were unapproached in his own time,
and are still admirable. Niels Matthias Petersen (1791-1862), a disciple
of Rask, was the author of an admirable _History of Denmark in the
Heathen_ _Antiquity_, and the translator of many of the sagas. Martin
Frederik Arendt (1773-1823), the botanist and archaeologist, did much
for the study of old Scandinavian records. Christian Molbech (1783-1857)
was a laborious lexicographer, author of the first good Danish
dictionary, published in 1833. In Joachim Frederik Schouw (1789-1852),
Denmark produced a very eminent botanist, author of an exhaustive
_Geography of Plants_. In later years he threw himself with zeal into
politics. His botanical researches were carried on by Frederik Liebmann
(1813-1856). The most famous zoologist contemporary with these men was
Salomon Dreier (1813-1842).

The romanticists found their philosopher in a most remarkable man, Sören
Aaby Kierkegaard (1813-1855), one of the most subtle thinkers of
Scandinavia, and the author of some brilliant philosophical and
polemical works. A learned philosophical writer, not to be compared,
however, for genius or originality to Kierkegaard, was Frederik
Christian Sibbern (1785-1872). He wrote a dissertation _On Poetry and
Art_ (3 vols., 1853-1869) and _The Contents of a MS. from the Year 2135_
(3 vols., 1858-1872).

Among novelists who were not also poets was Andreas Nikolai de
Saint-Aubain (1798-1865), who, under the pseudonym of Carl Bernhard,
wrote a series of charming romances. Mention must also be made of two
dramatists, Peter Thun Feorsom (1777-1817), who produced an excellent
translation of Shakespeare (1807-1816), and Thomas Overskou (1798-1873),
author of a long series of successful comedies, and of a history of the
Danish theatre (5 vols., Copenhagen, 1854-1864).

Other writers whose names connect the age of romanticism with a later
period were Meyer Aron Goldschmidt (1819-1887), author of novels and
tales; Herman Frederik Ewald (1821-1908), who wrote a long series of
historical novels; Jens Christian Hostrup (1818-1892), a writer of
exquisite comedies; and the miscellaneous writer Erik Bögh (1822-1899).
In zoology, J. J. S. Steenstrup (1813-1898); in philology, J. N. Madvig
(1804-1886) and his disciple V. Thomsen (b. 1842); in antiquarianism, C.
J. Thomsen (1788-1865) and J. J. Asmussen Worsaae (1821-1885); and in
philosophy, Rasmus Nielsen (1809-1884) and Hans Bröchner (1820-1875),
deserve mention.

The development of imaginative literature in Denmark became very closely
defined during the latter half of the 19th century. The romantic
movement culminated in several poets of great eminence, whose deaths
prepared the way for a new school. In 1874 Bödtcher passed away, in 1875
Hans Christian Andersen, in the last week of 1876 Winther, and the
greatest of all, Frederik Paludan-Müller. The field was therefore left
open to the successors of those idealists, and in 1877 the reaction
began to be felt. The eminent critic, Dr Georg Brandes (q.v.), had long
foreseen the decline of pure romanticism, and had advocated a more
objective and more exact treatment of literary phenomena. Accordingly,
as soon as all the great planets had disappeared, a new constellation
was perceived to have risen, and all the stars in it had been lighted by
the enthusiasm of Brandes. The new writers were what he called
Naturalists, and their sympathies were with the latest forms of exotic,
but particularly of French literature. Among these fresh forces three
immediately took place as leaders--Jacobsen, Drachmann and Schandorph.
In J. P. Jacobsen (q.v.; 1847-1885) Denmark was now taught to welcome
the greatest artist in prose which she has ever possessed; his romance
of _Marie Grubbe_ led off the new school with a production of unexampled
beauty. But Jacobsen died young, and the work was really carried out by
his two companions. Holger Drachmann (q.v.; 1846-1908) began life as a
marine painter; and a first little volume of poems, which he published
in 1872, attracted slight attention. In 1877 he came forward again with
one volume of verse, another of fiction, a third of travel; in each he
displayed great vigour and freshness of touch, and he rose at one leap
to the highest position among men of promise. Drachmann retained his
place, without rival, as the leading imaginative writer in Denmark. For
many years he made the aspects of life at sea his particular theme, and
he contrived to rouse the patriotic enthusiasm of the Danish public as
it had never been roused before. His various and unceasing
productiveness, his freshness and vigour, and the inexhaustible
richness of his lyric versatility, early brought Drachmann to the front
and kept him there. Meanwhile prose imaginative literature was ably
supported by Sophus Schandorph (1836-1901), who had been entirely out of
sympathy with the idealists, and had taken no step while that school was
in the ascendant. In 1876, in his fortieth year, he was encouraged by
the change in taste to publish a volume of realistic stories, _Country
Life_, and in 1878 a novel, _Without a Centre_. He has some relation
with Guy de Maupassant as a close analyst of modern types of character,
but he has more humour. He has been compared with such Dutch painters of
low life as Teniers. His talent reached its height in the novel called
_Little Folk_ (1880), a most admirable study of lower middle-class life
in Copenhagen. He was for a while, without doubt, the leading living
novelist, and he went on producing works of great force, in which,
however, a certain monotony is apparent. The three leaders had meanwhile
been joined by certain younger men who took a prominent position. Among
these Karl Gjellerup and Erik Skram were the earliest. Gjellerup (b.
1857), whose first works of importance date from 1878, was long
uncertain as to the direction of his powers; he was poet, novelist,
moralist and biologist in one; at length he settled down into line with
the new realistic school, and produced in 1882 a satirical novel of
manners which had a great success, _The Disciple of the Teutons_. Erik
Skram (b. 1847) had in 1879 written a solitary novel, _Gertrude
Coldbjörnsen_, which created a sensation, and was hailed by Brandes as
exactly representing the "naturalism" which he desired to see
encouraged; but Skram has written little else of importance. Other
writers of reputation in the naturalistic school were Edvard Brandes (b.
1847), and Herman Bang (b. 1858). Peter Nansen (b. 1861) has come into
wide notoriety as the author, in particularly beautiful Danish, of a
series of stories of a pronouncedly sexual type, among which _Maria_
(1894) has been the most successful. Meanwhile, several of the elder
generation, unaffected by the movement of realism, continued to please
the public. Three lyrical poets, H. V. Kaalund (1818-1885), Carl Ploug
(1813-1894) and Christian Richardt (1831-1892), of very great talent,
were not yet silent, and among the veteran novelists were still active
H. F. Ewald and Thomas Lange (1829-1887). Ewald's son Carl (1856-1908)
achieved a great name as a novelist, but did his most characteristic
work in a series of books for children, in which he used the fairy tale,
in the manner of Hans Andersen, as a vehicle for satire and a theory of
morals. During the whole of this period the most popular writer of
Denmark was J. C. C. Brosböll (1816-1900), who wrote, under the
pseudonym Carit Etlar, a vast number of tales. Another popular novelist
was Vilhelm Bergsöe (b. 1835), author of _In the Sabine Mountains_
(1871), and other romances. Sophus Bauditz (b. 1850) persevered in
composing novels which attain a wide general popularity. Mention must be
made also of the dramatist Christian Molbech (1821-1888).

Between 1885 and 1892 there was a transitional period in Danish
literature. Up to that time all the leaders had been united in accepting
the naturalistic formula, which was combined with an individualist and a
radical tendency. In 1885, however, Drachmann, already the recognized
first poet of the country, threw off his allegiance to Brandes,
denounced the exotic tradition, declared himself a Conservative, and
took up a national and patriotic attitude. He was joined a little later
by Gjellerup, while Schandorph remained stanchly by the side of Brandes.
The camp was thus divided. New writers began to make their appearance,
and, while some of these were stanch to Brandes, others were inclined to
hold rather with Drachmann. Of the authors who came forward during this
period of transition, the strongest novelist proved to be Hendrik
Pontoppidan (b. 1857). In some of his books he reminds the reader of
Turgeniev. Pontoppidan published in 1898 the first volume of a great
novel entitled _Lykke-Per_, the biography of a typical Jutlander named
Per Sidenius, a work to be completed in eight volumes. From 1893 to 1909
no great features of a fresh kind revealed themselves. The Danish
public, grown tired of realism, and satiated with pathological
phenomena, returned to a fresh study of their own national
characteristics. The cultivation of verse, which was greatly
discouraged in the eighties, returned. Drachmann was supported by
excellent younger poets of his school. J. J. Jörgensen (b. 1866), a
Catholic decadent, was very prolific. Otto C. Fönss (b. 1853) published
seven little volumes of graceful lyrical poems in praise of gardens and
of farm-life. Andreas Dolleris (b. 1850), of Vejle, showed himself an
occasional poet of merit. Alfred Ipsen (b. 1852) must also be mentioned
as a poet and critic. Valdemar Rördam, whose _The Danish Tongue_ was the
lyrical success of 1901, may also be named. Some attempts were made to
transplant the theories of the symbolists to Denmark, but without signal
success. On the other hand, something of a revival of naturalism is to
be observed in the powerful studies of low life admirably written by
Karl Larsen (b. 1860).

The drama has long flourished in Denmark. The principal theatres are
liberally open to fresh dramatic talent of every kind, and the great
fondness of the Danes for this form of entertainment gives unusual scope
for experiments in halls or private theatres; nothing is too eccentric
to hope to obtain somewhere a fair hearing. Drachmann produced with very
great success several romantic dramas founded on the national legends.
Most of the novelists and poets already mentioned also essayed the
stage, and to those names should be added these of Einar Christiansen
(b. 1861), Ernst von der Recke (b. 1848), Oskar Benzon (b. 1856) and
Gustav Wied (b. 1858).

In theology no names were as eminent as in the preceding generation, in
which such writers as H. N. Clausen (1793-1877), and still more Hans
Lassen Martensen (1808-1884), lifted the prestige of Danish divinity to
a high point. But in history the Danes have been very active. Karl
Ferdinand Allen (1811-1871) began a comprehensive history of the
Scandinavian kingdoms (5 vols., 1864-1872). Jens Peter Trap (1810-1885)
concluded his great statistical account of Denmark in 1879. The 16th
century was made the subject of the investigations of Troels Lund
(q.v.). About 1880 several of the younger historians formed the plan of
combining to investigate and publish the sources of Danish history; in
this the indefatigable Johannes Steenstrup (b. 1844) was prominent. The
domestic history of the country began, about 1885, to occupy the
attention of Edvard Holm (b. 1833), O. Nielsen and the veteran P.
Frederik Barfod (1811-1896). The naval histories of G. Lütken attracted
much notice. Besides the names already mentioned, A. D. Jörgensen
(1840-1897), J. Fredericia (b. 1849), Christian Erslev (b. 1852) and
Vilhelm Mollerup have all distinguished themselves in the excellent
school of Danish historians. In 1896 an elaborate composite history of
Denmark was undertaken by some leading historians (pub. 1897-1905). In
philosophy nothing has recently been published of the highest value.
Martensen's _Jakob Böhme_ (1881) belongs to an earlier period. H.
Höffding (b. 1843) has been the most prominent contributor to
psychology. His _Problems of Philosophy_ and his _Philosophy of
Religion_ were translated into English in 1906. Alfred Lehmann (b. 1858)
has, since 1896, attracted a great deal of attention by his sceptical
investigation of psychical phenomena. F. Rönning has written on the
history of thought in Denmark. In the criticism of art, Julius Lange
(1838-1896), and later Karl Madsen, have done excellent service. In
literary criticism Dr Georg Brandes is notable for the long period
during which he remained predominant. His was a steady and stimulating
presence, ever pointing to the best in art and thought, and his
influence on his age was greater than that of any other Dane.

   AUTHORITIES.--R. Nyerup, _Den danske Digtekunsts Historie_
   (1800-1808), and _Almindeligt Literaturlexikon_ (1818-1820); N. M.
   Petersen, _Literaturhistorie_ (2nd ed., 1867-1871, 5 vols.);
   Overskou, _Den danske Skueplads_ (1854-1866, 5 vols.), with a
   continuation (2 vols., 1873-1876) by E Collin; Chr. Bruun,
   _Bibliotheca Danica_ (3 vols., 1872-1896); Bricka, _Dansk biografisk
   Lexikon_ (1887-1901); J. Paludan, _Danmarks Literatur i
   Middelalderen_ (Copenhagen, 1896); P. Hansen, _Illustreret Dansk
   Literaturhistorie_ (3 vols., 1901-1902); F. W. Horn, _History of the
   Scandinavian North from the most ancient times to the present_
   (English translation by Rasmus B. Anderson (Chicago, 1884), with
   bibliographical appendix by Thorwald Solberg); Ph. Schweitzer,
   _Geschichte der Skandinavischen Litteratur_ (3 pts., Leipzig,
   1886-1889), forming vol. viii. of the _Geschichte der
   Weltlitteratur_. See also Brandes, _Kritiker og Portraiter_ (1870);
   Brandes, _Danske Ditgere_ (1877); Marie Herzfeld, _Die Skandinavische
   Litteratur und ihre Tendenzen_ (Berlin and Leipzig, 1898); Hjalmar
   Hjorth Boyesen, _Essays on Scandinavian Literature_ (London, 1895);
   Edmund Gosse, _Studies in the Literature of Northern Europe_ (new
   ed., London, 1883); Vilhelm Andersen, _Litteraturbilleder_
   (Copenhagen, 1903); A. P. J. Schener, _Kortfattet Indledning til
   Romantikkus Periode i Danmarks Litteratur_ (Copenhagen, 1894).
                                                            (E. G.)


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] It is true the university was established on the 9th of September
    1537, but its influence was of very gradual growth and small at
    first.

  [2] Collected as _Samling af gamle danske Love_ (5 vols., Copenhagen,
    1821-1827).

  [3] _Henrik Harpestraengs Laegebog_ (ed. C. Molbech, Copenhagen, 1826).

  [4] Ed. C. Molbech (Copenhagen, 1825).

  [5] See _Povel Eliesens danske Skrifter_ (Copenhagen, 1855, &c.),
    edited by C. E. Secher.

  [6] See _Monumenta historiae Danicae_ (ed. H. Rördam, vol. i., 1873).

  [7] Ed. Sophus Birket Smith (Copenhagen, 1868), who also edited the
    comedies ascribed to Chr. Hansen as _De tre aeldste danske Skuespil_
    (1874), and the works of Ranch (1876).

  [8] His works were edited by Gustav Storm (Christiania, 1877-1879).

  [9] See Fr. W. Horn, _Peder Syv_ (Copenhagen, 1878).

  [10] See A. C. L. Heiberg, _Thomas Kingo_ (Odense, 1852).

  [11] His collected works were edited by Fr. Barford (Copenhagen, 5th
    ed., 1879).

  [12] Wessel's _Digte_ (3rd ed., 1895) are edited by J. Levin, with a
    biographical introduction.

  [13] A biography by his friend, K. L. Rahbek, is prefixed to a
    selection of his poetry (6 vols., 1824-1829).

  [14] See F. L. Liebenberg, _Schack Staffeldts samlede Digte_ (2 vols.,
    Copenhagen, 1843), and _Samlinger til Schack Staffeldts Levnet_ (4
    vols., 1846-1851).

  [15] Blicher's _Tales_ were edited by P. Hansen (3 vols., Copenhagen,
    1871), and his _Poems_ in 1870.

  [16] Edited (3 vols., 2nd ed., 1855, Copenhagen) by F. L. Liebenberg.




DENNERY, or D'ENNERY, ADOLPHE (1811-1899), French dramatist and
novelist, whose real surname was PHILIPPE, was born in Paris on the 17th
of June 1811. He obtained his first success in collaboration with
Charles Desnoyer in _Émile, ou le fils d'un pair de France_ (1831), a
drama which was the first of a series of some two hundred pieces written
alone or in collaboration with other dramatists. Among the best of them
may be mentioned _Gaspard Hauser_ (1838) with Anicet Bourgeois; _Les
Bohémiens de Paris_ (1842) with Eugène Grangé; with Mallian,
_Marie-Jeanne, ou la femme du peuple_ (1845), in which Madame Dorval
obtained a great success; _La Case d'Oncle Tom_ (1853); _Les Deux
Orphelines_ (1875), perhaps his best piece, with Eugène Cormon. He wrote
the libretto for Gounod's _Tribut de Zamora_ (1881); with Louis Gallet
and Édouard Blan he composed the book of Massenet's _Cid_ (1885); and,
again in collaboration with Eugène Cormon, the books of Auber's operas,
_Le Premier Jour de bonheur_ (1868) and _Rêve d'amour_ (1869). He
prepared for the stage Balzac's posthumous comedy _Mercadet ou le
faiseur_, presented at the Gymnase theatre in 1851. Reversing the usual
order of procedure, Dennery adapted some of his plays to the form of
novels. He died in Paris in 1899.




DENNEWITZ, a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Brandenburg, near Jüterbog, 40 m. S.W. from Berlin. It is memorable as
the scene of a decisive battle on the 6th of September 1813, in which
Marshal Ney, with an army of 58,000 French, Saxons and Poles, was
defeated with great loss by 50,000 Prussians under Generals Bülow
(afterwards Count Bülow of Dennewitz) and Tauentzien. The site of the
battle is marked by an iron obelisk.




DENNIS, JOHN (1657-1734), English critic and dramatist, the son of a
saddler, was born in London in 1657. He was educated at Harrow School
and Caius College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1679. In
the next year he was fined and dismissed from his college for having
wounded a fellow-student with a sword. He was, however, received at
Trinity Hall, where he took his M.A. degree in 1683. After travelling in
France and Italy, he settled in London, where he became acquainted with
Dryden, Wycherley and others; and being made temporarily independent by
inheriting a small fortune, he devoted himself to literature. The duke
of Marlborough procured him a place as one of the queen's waiters in the
customs with a salary of £120 a year. This he afterwards disposed of for
a small sum, retaining, at the suggestion of Lord Halifax, a yearly
charge upon it for a long term of years. Neither the poems nor the plays
of Dennis are of any account, although one of his tragedies, a violent
attack on the French in harmony with popular prejudice, entitled
_Liberty Asserted_, was produced with great success at Lincoln's Inn
Fields in 1704. His sense of his own importance approached mania, and he
is said to have desired the duke of Marlborough to have a special clause
inserted in the treaty of Utrecht to secure him from French vengeance.
Marlborough pointed out that although he had been a still greater enemy
of the French nation, he had no fear for his own security. This tale and
others of a similar nature may well be exaggerations prompted by his
enemies, but the infirmities of character and temper indicated in them
were real. Dennis is best remembered as a critic, and Isaac D'Israeli,
who took a by no means favourable view of Dennis, said that some of his
criticisms attain classical rank. The earlier ones, which have nothing
of the rancour that afterwards gained him the nickname of "Furius," are
the best. They are _Remarks ..._ (1696), on Blackmore's epic of Prince
Arthur; _Letters upon Several Occasions written by and between Mr
Dryden, Mr Wycherley, Mr Moyle, Mr Congreve and Mr Dennis, published by
Mr Dennis_ (1696): two pamphlets in reply to Jeremy Collier's _Short
View; The Advancement and Reformation of_ _Modern Poetry_ (1701),
perhaps his most important work; _The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry_
(1704), in which he argued that the ancients owed their superiority over
the moderns in poetry to their religious attitude; an _Essay upon
Publick Spirit ..._ (1711), in which he inveighs against luxury, and
servile imitation of foreign fashions and customs; and _Essay on the
Genius and Writings of Shakespeare in three Letters_ (1712).

Dennis had been offended by a humorous quotation made from his works by
Addison, and published in 1713 _Remarks upon Cato_. Much of this
criticism was acute and sensible, and it is quoted at considerable
length by Johnson in his _Life of Addison_, but there is no doubt that
Dennis was actuated by personal jealousy of Addison's success. Pope
replied in _The Narrative of Dr Robert Norris, concerning the strange
and deplorable frenzy of John Dennis ..._ (1713). This pamphlet was full
of personal abuse, exposing Dennis's foibles, but offering no defence of
_Cato_. Addison repudiated any connivance in this attack, and indirectly
notified Dennis that when he did answer his objections, it would be
without personalities. Pope had already assailed Dennis in 1711 in the
_Essay on Criticism_, as Appius. Dennis retorted by _Reflections,
Critical and Satirical ..._, a scurrilous production in which he taunted
Pope with his deformity, saying among other things that he was "as
stupid and as venomous as a hunch-backed toad." He also wrote in 1717
_Remarks upon Mr Pope's Translation of Homer ..._ and _A True Character
of Mr Pope_. He accordingly figures in the _Dunciad_, and in a scathing
note in the edition of 1729 (bk. i. 1. 106) Pope quotes his more
outrageous attacks, and adds an insulting epigram attributed to Richard
Savage, but now generally ascribed to Pope. More pamphlets followed, but
Dennis's day was over. He outlived his annuity from the customs, and his
last years were spent in great poverty. Bishop Atterbury sent him money,
and he received a small sum annually from Sir Robert Walpole. A benefit
performance was organized at the Haymarket (December 18, 1733) on his
behalf. Pope wrote for the occasion an ill-natured prologue which Cibber
recited. Dennis died within three weeks of this performance, on the 6th
of January 1734.

   His other works include several plays, for one of which, _Appius and
   Virginia_ (1709), he invented a new kind of thunder. He wrote a
   curious _Essay on the Operas after the Italian Manner_ (1706),
   maintaining that opera was the outgrowth of effeminate manners, and
   should, as such, be suppressed. His _Works_ were published in 1702,
   _Select Works ..._ (2 vols.) in 1718, and _Miscellaneous Tracts_, the
   first volume only of which appeared, in 1727. For accounts of Dennis
   see Cibber's _Lives of the Poets_, vol. iv.; Isaac D'Israeli's essays
   on Pope and Addison in the _Quarrels of Authors_, and "On the
   Influence of a Bad Temper in Criticism" in _Calamities of Authors_;
   and numerous references in Pope's _Works_.




DENOMINATION (Lat. _denominare_, to give a specific name to), the giving
of a specific name to anything, hence the name or designation of a
person or thing, and more particularly of a class of persons or things;
thus, in arithmetic, it is applied to a unit in a system of weights and
measures, currency or numbers. The most general use of "denomination" is
for a body of persons holding specific opinions and having a common
name, especially with reference to the religious opinions of such a
body. More particularly the word is used of the various "sects" into
which members of a common religious faith may be divided. The term
"denominationalism" is thus given to the principle of emphasizing the
distinctions, rather than the common ground, in the faith held by
different bodies professing one sort of religious belief. This use is
particularly applied to that system of religious education which lays
stress on the principle that children belonging to a particular
religious sect should be publicly taught in the tenets of their belief
by members belonging to it and under the general control of the
ministers of the denomination.




DENON, DOMINIQUE VIVANT, BARON DE (1747-1825), French artist and
archaeologist, was born at Chalon-sur-Saône on the 4th of January 1747.
He was sent to Paris to study law, but he showed a decided preference
for art and literature, and soon gave up his profession. In his
twenty-third year he produced a comedy, _Le Bon Père_, which obtained a
_succès d'estime_, as he had already won a position in society by his
agreeable manners and exceptional conversational powers. He became a
favourite of Louis XV., who entrusted him with the collection and
arrangement of a cabinet of medals and antique gems for Madame de
Pompadour, and subsequently appointed him attaché to the French embassy
at St Petersburg. On the accession of Louis XVI. Denon was transferred
to Sweden; but he returned, after a brief interval, to Paris with the
ambassador M. de Vergennes, who had been appointed foreign minister. In
1775 Denon was sent on a special mission to Switzerland, and took the
opportunity of visiting Voltaire at Ferney. He made a portrait of the
philosopher, which was engraved and published on his return to Paris.
His next diplomatic appointment was to Naples, where he spent seven
years, first as secretary to the embassy and afterwards as _chargé
d'affaires_. He devoted this period to a careful study of the monuments
of ancient art, collecting many specimens and making drawings of others.
He also perfected himself in etching and mezzotinto engraving. The death
of his patron, M. de Vergennes, in 1787, led to his recall, and the rest
of his life was given mainly to artistic pursuits. On his return to
Paris he was admitted a member of the Academy of Painting. After a brief
interval he returned to Italy, living chiefly at Venice. He also visited
Florence and Bologna, and afterwards went to Switzerland. While there he
heard that his property had been confiscated, and his name placed on the
list of the proscribed, and with characteristic courage he resolved at
once to return to Paris. His situation was critical, but he was spared,
thanks to the friendship of the painter David, who obtained for him a
commission to furnish designs for republican costumes. When the
Revolution was over, Denon was one of the band of eminent men who
frequented the house of Madame de Beauharnais. Here he met Bonaparte, to
whose fortunes he wisely attached himself. At Bonaparte's invitation he
joined the expedition to Egypt, and thus found the opportunity of
gathering the materials for his most important literary and artistic
work. He accompanied General Desaix to Upper Egypt, and made numerous
sketches of the monuments of ancient art, sometimes under the very fire
of the enemy. The results were published in his _Voyage dans la basse et
la haute Égypte_ (2 vols, fol., with 141 plates, Paris, 1802), a work
which crowned his reputation both as an archaeologist and as an artist.
In 1804 he was appointed by Napoleon to the important office of
director-general of museums, which he filled until the restoration in
1815, when he had to retire. He was a devoted friend of Napoleon, whom
he accompanied in his expeditions to Austria, Spain and Poland, taking
sketches with his wonted fearlessness on the various battlefields, and
advising the conqueror in his choice of spoils of art from the various
cities pillaged. After his retirement he began an illustrated history of
ancient and modern art, in which he had the co-operation of several
skilful engravers. He died at Paris on the 27th of April 1825, leaving
the work unfinished. It was published posthumously, with an explanatory
text by Amaury Duval, under the title _Monuments des arts du dessin chez
les peuples tant anciens que modernes, recueillis par Vivant Denon_ (4
vols, fol., Paris, 1829). Denon was the author of a novel, _Point de
lendemain_ (1777), of which further editions were printed in 1812, 1876
and 1879.

   See J. Renouvier, _Histoire de l'art pendant la Révolution_; A. de la
   Fizelière, _L'OEuvre originale de Vivant-Denon_ (2 vols., Paris,
   1872-1873); Roger Portallis, _Les Dessinateurs d'illustrations au
   XVIII^e siècle_; D. H. Beraldi, _Les Graveurs d'illustrations au
   XVIII^e siècle_.




DENOTATION (from Lat. _denotare_, to mark out, specify), in logic, a
technical term used strictly as the correlative of Connotation, to
describe one of the two functions of a concrete term. The concrete term
"connotes" attributes and "denotes" all the individuals which, as
possessing these attributes, constitute the genus or species described
by the term. Thus "cricketer" denotes the individuals who play cricket,
and connotes the qualities or characteristics by which these individuals
are marked. In this sense, in which it was first used by J. S. Mill,
Denotation is equivalent to Extension, and Connotation to Intension. It
is clear that when the given term is qualified by a limiting adjective
the Denotation or Extension diminishes, while the Connotation or
Intension increases; e.g. a generic term like "flower" has a larger
Extension, and a smaller Intension than "rose": "rose" than
"moss-rose." In more general language Denotation is used loosely for
that which is meant or indicated by a word, phrase, sentence or even an
action. Thus a proper name or even an abstract term is said to have
Denotation. (See CONNOTATION.)




DENS, PETER (1690-1775), Belgian Roman Catholic theologian, was born at
Boom near Antwerp. Most of his life was spent in the archiepiscopal
college of Malines, where he was for twelve years reader in theology and
for forty president. His great work was the _Theologia moralis et
dogmatica_, a compendium in catechetical form of Roman Catholic doctrine
and ethics which has been much used as a students' text-book. Dens died
on the 15th of February 1775.




DENSITY (Lat. _densus_, thick), in physics, the mass or quantity of
matter contained in unit volume of any substance: this is the _absolute
density_; the term _relative density_ or _specific gravity_ denotes the
ratio of the mass of a certain volume of a substance to the mass of the
same volume of some standard substance. Since the weights used in
conjunction with a balance are really standard masses, the word "weight"
may be substituted for the word "mass" in the preceding definitions; and
we may symbolically express the relations thus:--If M be the weight of
substance occupying a volume V, then the absolute density [Delta] = M/V;
and if m, m_1 be the weights of the substance and of the standard
substance which occupy the same volume, the relative density or specific
gravity S = m/m_1; or more generally if m_1 be the weight of a
volume v of the substance, and m_1 the weight of a volume v_1 of the
standard, then S = mv_{1}/m_{1}v. In the numerical expression of
absolute densities it is necessary to specify the units of mass and
volume employed; while in the case of relative densities, it is only
necessary to specify the standard substance, since the result is a mere
number. Absolute densities are generally stated in the C.G.S. system,
i.e. as grammes per cubic centimetre. In commerce, however, other
expressions are met with, as, for example, "pounds per cubic foot" (used
for woods, metals, &c.), "pounds per gallon," &c. The standard
substances employed to determine relative densities are: water for
liquids and solids, and hydrogen or atmospheric air for gases; oxygen
(as 16) is sometimes used in this last case. Other standards of
reference may be used in special connexions; for example, the Earth is
the usual unit for expressing the relative density of the other members
of the solar system. Reference should be made to the article GRAVITATION
for an account of the methods employed to determine the "mean density of
the earth."

In expressing the absolute or relative density of any substance, it is
necessary to specify the conditions for which the relation holds: in the
case of gases, the temperature and pressure of the experimental gas (and
of the standard, in the case of relative density); and in the case of
solids and liquids, the temperature. The reason for this is readily
seen; if a mass M of any gas occupies a volume V at a temperature T (on
the absolute scale) and a pressure P, then its absolute density under
these conditions is [Delta] = M/V; if now the temperature and pressure
be changed to T_1 and P_1, the volume V_1 under these conditions is
VPT/P_{1}T_1, and the absolute density is MP_{1}T/VPT_1. It is customary
to reduce gases to the so-called "normal temperature and pressure,"
abbreviated to N.T.P., which is 0°C. and 760 mm.

The relative densities of gases are usually expressed in terms of the
standard gas under the same conditions. The density gives very important
information as to the molecular weight, since by the law of Avogadro it
is seen that the relative density is the ratio of the molecular weights
of the experimental and standard gases. In the case of liquids and
solids, comparison with water at 4°C, the temperature of the maximum
density of water; at 0°C, the zero of the Centigrade scale and the
freezing-point of water; at 15° and 18°, ordinary room-temperatures; and
at 25°, the temperature at which a thermostat may be conveniently
maintained, are common in laboratory practice. The temperature of the
experimental substance may or may not be the temperature of the
standard. In such cases a bracketed fraction is appended to the specific
gravity, of which the numerator and denominator are respectively the
temperatures of the substance and of the standard; thus 1.093 (0°/4°)
means that the ratio of the weight of a definite volume of a substance
at 0° to the weight of the same volume of water 4° is 1.093. It may be
noted that if comparison be made with water at 4°, the relative density
is the same as the absolute density, since the unit of mass in the
C.G.S. system is the weight of a cubic centimetre of water at this
temperature. In British units, especially in connexion with the
statement of relative densities of alcoholic liquors for Inland Revenue
purposes, comparison is made with water at 62°F. (16.6°C); a reason for
this is that the gallon of water is defined by statute as weighing 10
lb. at 62°F., and hence the densities so expressed admit of the ready
conversion of volumes to weights. Thus if d be the relative density,
then 10d represents the weight of a gallon in lb.. The brewer has gone
a step further in simplifying his expressions by multiplying the density
by 1000, and speaking of the difference between the density so expressed
and 1000 as "degrees of gravity" (see BEER).


PRACTICAL DETERMINATION OF DENSITIES

   The methods for determining densities may be divided into two groups
   according as hydrostatic principles are employed or not. In the group
   where the principles of hydrostatics are not employed the method
   consists in determining the weight and volume of a certain quantity
   of the substance, or the weights of equal volumes of the substance
   and of the standard. In the case of solids we may determine the
   volume in some cases by direct measurement--this gives at the best a
   very rough and ready value; a better method is to immerse the body in
   a fluid (in which it must sink and be insoluble) contained in a
   graduated glass, and to deduce its volume from the height to which
   the liquid rises. The weight may be directly determined by the
   balance. The ratio "weight to volume" is the absolute density. The
   separate determination of the volume and mass of such substances as
   gunpowder, cotton-wool, soluble substances, &c., supplies the only
   means of determining their densities. The stereometer of Say, which
   was greatly improved by Regnault and further modified by Kopp,
   permits an accurate determination of the volume of a given mass of
   any such substance. In its simplest form the instrument consists of a
   glass tube PC (fig. 1), of uniform bore, terminating in a cup PE, the
   mouth of which can be rendered air-tight by the plate of glass E. The
   substance whose volume is to be determined is placed in the cup PE,
   and the tube PC is immersed in the vessel of mercury D, until the
   mercury reaches the mark P. The plate E is then placed on the cup,
   and the tube PC raised until the surface of the mercury in the tube
   stands at M, that in the vessel D being at C, and the height MC is
   measured. Let k denote this height, and let PM be denoted by l. Let u
   represent the volume of air in the cup before the body was inserted,
   v the volume of the body, a the area of the horizontal section of the
   tube PC, and h the height of the mercurial barometer. Then, by
   Boyle's law (u - v + al)(h - k) = (u - v)h, and therefore
   v = u - al(h - k)/k.

   [Illustration: FIG. 1.--Say's Stereometer.]

   The volume u may be determined by repeating the experiment when only
   air is in the cup. In this case v = 0, and the equation becomes (u +
   al¹)(h - k¹) = uh, whence u = al¹(h - k¹)/k¹. Substituting this value
   in the expression for v, the volume of the body inserted in the cup
   becomes known. The chief errors to which the stereometer is liable
   are (1) variation of temperature and atmospheric pressure during the
   experiment, and (2) the presence of moisture which disturbs Boyle's
   law.

   The method of weighing equal volumes is particularly applicable to
   the determination of the relative densities of liquids. It consists
   in weighing a glass vessel (1) empty, (2) filled with the liquid, (3)
   filled with the standard substance. Calling the weight of the empty
   vessel w, when filled with the liquid W, and when filled with the
   standard substance W_1, it is obvious that W - w, and W_1 - w,
   are the weights of equal volumes of the liquid and standard, and
   hence the relative density is (W - w)/(W_1 - w).

   [Illustration: FIG. 2.]

   Many forms of vessels have been devised. The commoner type of
   "specific gravity bottle" consists of a thin glass bottle (fig. 2) of
   a capacity varying from 10 to 100 cc., fitted with an accurately
   ground stopper, which is vertically perforated by a fine hole. The
   bottle is carefully cleansed by washing with soda, hydrochloric acid
   and distilled water, and then dried by heating in an air bath or by
   blowing in warm air. It is allowed to cool and then weighed. The
   bottle is then filled with distilled water, and brought to a definite
   temperature by immersion in a thermostat, and the stopper inserted.
   It is removed from the thermostat, and carefully wiped. After
   cooling it is weighed. The bottle is again cleaned and dried, and the
   operations repeated with the liquid under examination instead of
   water. Numerous modifications of this bottle are in use. For volatile
   liquids, a flask provided with a long neck which carries a graduation
   and is fitted with a well-ground stopper is recommended. The bringing
   of the liquid to the mark is effected by removing the excess by means
   of a capillary. In many forms a thermometer forms part of the
   apparatus.

   Another type of vessel, named the Sprengel tube or pycnometer (Gr.
   [Greek: pyknos], dense), is shown in fig. 3. It consists of a
   cylindrical tube of a capacity ranging from 10 to 50 cc., provided at
   the upper end with a thick-walled capillary bent as shown on the left
   of the figure. From the bottom there leads another fine tube, bent
   upwards, and then at right angles so as to be at the same level as
   the capillary branch. This tube bears a graduation. A loop of
   platinum wire passed under these tubes serves to suspend the vessel
   from the balance arm. The manner of cleansing, &c., is the same as in
   the ordinary form. The vessel is filled by placing the capillary in a
   vessel containing the liquid and gently aspirating. Care must be
   taken that no air bubbles are enclosed. The liquid is adjusted to the
   mark by withdrawing any excess from the capillary end by a strip of
   bibulous paper or by a capillary tube. Many variations of this
   apparatus are in use; in one of the commonest there are two
   cylindrical chambers, joined at the bottom, and each provided at the
   top with fine tubes bent at right angles; sometimes the inlet and
   outlet tubes are provided with caps.

   [Illustration: FIG. 3.]

   The specific gravity bottle may be used to determine the relative
   density of a solid which is available in small fragments, and is
   insoluble in the standard liquid. The method involves three
   operations:--(1) weighing the solid in air (W), (2) weighing the
   specific gravity bottle full of liquid (W_1), (3) weighing the bottle
   containing the solid and filled up with liquid (W_2). It is readily
   seen that W + W_1 - W_2 is the weight of the liquid displaced by the
   solid, and therefore is the weight of an equal volume of liquid;
   hence the relative density is W/(W + W_1 - W_2).

   The determination of the absolute densities of gases can only be
   effected with any high degree of accuracy by a development of this
   method. As originated by Regnault, it consisted in filling a large
   glass globe with the gas by alternately exhausting with an air-pump
   and admitting the pure and dry gas. The flask was then brought to 0°
   by immersion in melting ice, the pressure of the gas taken, and the
   stop-cock closed. The flask is removed from the ice, allowed to
   attain the temperature of the room, and then weighed. The flask is
   now partially exhausted, transferred to the cooling bath, and after
   standing the pressure of the residual gas is taken by a manometer.
   The flask is again brought to room-temperature, and re-weighed. The
   difference in the weights corresponds to the volume of gas at a
   pressure equal to the difference of the recorded pressures. The
   volume of the flask is determined by weighing empty and filled with
   water. This method has been refined by many experimenters, among whom
   we may notice Morley and Lord Rayleigh. Morley determined the
   densities of hydrogen and oxygen in the course of his classical
   investigation of the composition of water. The method differed from
   Regnault's inasmuch as the flask was exhausted to an almost complete
   vacuum, a performance rendered possible by the high efficiency of the
   modern air-pump. The actual experiment necessitates the most
   elaborate precautions, for which reference must be made to Morley's
   original papers in the _Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge_
   (1895), or to M. Travers, _The Study of Gases_. Lord Rayleigh has
   made many investigations of the absolute densities of gases, one of
   which, namely on atmospheric and artificial nitrogen, undertaken in
   conjunction with Sir William Ramsay, culminated in the discovery of
   argon (q.v.). He pointed out in 1888 (_Proc. Roy. Soc._ 43, p. 361)
   an important correction which had been overlooked by previous
   experimenters with Regnault's method, viz. the change in volume of
   the experimental globe due to shrinkage under diminished pressure;
   this may be experimentally determined and amounts to between 0.04 and
   0.16% of the volume of the globe.

   Related to the determination of the density of a gas is the
   determination of the density of a vapour, i.e. matter which at
   ordinary temperatures exists as a solid or liquid. This subject owes
   its importance in modern chemistry to the fact that the vapour
   density, when hydrogen is taken as the standard, gives perfectly
   definite information as to the molecular condition of the compound,
   since twice the vapour density equals the molecular weight of the
   compound. Many methods have been devised. In historical order we may
   briefly enumerate the following:--in 1811, Gay-Lussac volatilized a
   weighed quantity of liquid, which must be readily volatile, by
   letting it rise up a short tube containing mercury and standing
   inverted in a vessel holding the same metal. This method was
   developed by Hofmann in 1868, who replaced the short tube of
   Gay-Lussac by an ordinary barometer tube, thus effecting the
   volatilization in a Torricellian vacuum. In 1826 Dumas devised a
   method suitable for substances of high boiling-point; this consisted
   in its essential point in vaporizing the substance in a flask made
   of suitable material, sealing it when full of vapour, and weighing.
   This method is very tedious in detail. H. Sainte-Claire Deville and
   L. Troost made it available for specially high temperatures by
   employing porcelain vessels, sealing them with the oxyhydrogen
   blow-pipe, and maintaining a constant temperature by a vapour bath of
   mercury (350°), sulphur (440°), cadmium (860°) and zinc (1040°). In
   1878 Victor Meyer devised his air-expulsion method.

   Before discussing the methods now used in detail, a summary of the
   conclusions reached by Victor Meyer in his classical investigations
   in this field as to the applicability of the different methods will
   be given:

   (1) For substances which do not boil higher than 260° and have
   vapours stable for 30° above the boiling-point and which do not react
   on mercury, use Victor Meyer's "mercury expulsion method."

   (2) For substances boiling between 260° and 420°, and which do not
   react on metals, use Meyer's "Wood's alloy expulsion method."

   (3) For substances boiling at higher temperatures, or for any
   substance which reacts on mercury, Meyer's "air expulsion method"
   must be used. It is to be noted, however, that this method is
   applicable to substances of any boiling-point (see below).

   (4) For substances which can be vaporized only under diminished
   pressure, several methods may be used. (a) Hofmann's is the best if
   the substance volatilizes at below 310°, and does not react on
   mercury; otherwise (b) Demuth and Meyer's, Eykman's, Schall's, or
   other methods may be used.

   1. _Meyer's "Mercury Expulsion" Method._--A small quantity of the
   substance is weighed into a tube, of the form shown in fig. 4, which
   has a capacity of about 35 cc., provided with a capillary tube at the
   top, and a bent tube about 6 mm. in diameter at the bottom. The
   vessel is completely filled with mercury, the capillary sealed, and
   the vessel weighed. The vessel is then lowered into a jacket
   containing vapour at a known temperature which is sufficient to
   volatilize the substance. Mercury is expelled, and when this
   expulsion ceases, the vessel is removed, allowed to cool, and
   weighed. It is necessary to determine the pressure exerted on the
   vapour by the mercury in the narrow limb; this is effected by opening
   the capillary and inclining the tube until the mercury just reaches
   the top of the narrow tube; the difference between the height of the
   mercury in the wide tube and the top of the narrow tube represents
   the pressure due to the mercury column, and this must be added to the
   barometric pressure in order to deduce the total pressure on the
   vapour.

   [Illustration: FIG. 4.]

   The result is calculated by means of the formula:

                             W(1 + [alpha]t) × 7,980,000
D = -------------------------------------------------------------------------------,
    (p + p_1 - s)[m{1 + [beta](t - t_0)} - m_1{1 + [gamma](t - t_0)}](1 + [gamma]t)

   in which W = weight of substance taken; t = temperature of vapour
   bath; [alpha] = 0.00366 = temperature coefficient of gases; p =
   barometric pressure; p_1 = height of mercury column in vessel; s =
   vapour tension of mercury at t°; m = weight of mercury contained in
   the vessel; m_1 = weight of mercury left in vessel after heating;
   [beta] = coefficient of expansion of glass = .0000303; [gamma] =
   coefficient of expansion of mercury = 0.00018 (0.00019 above 240°)
   (see _Ber._ 1877, 10, p. 2068; 1886, 19, p. 1862).

   2. _Meyer's Wood's Alloy Expulsion Method._--This method is a
   modification of the one just described. The alloy used is composed of
   15 parts of bismuth, 8 of lead, 4 of tin and 3 of cadmium; it melts
   at 70°, and can be experimented with as readily as mercury. The
   cylindrical vessel is replaced by a globular one, and the pressure on
   the vapour due to the column of alloy in the side tube is readily
   reduced to millimetres of mercury since the specific gravity of the
   alloy at the temperature of boiling sulphur, 444° (at which the
   apparatus is most frequently used), is two-thirds of that of mercury
   (see _Ber._ 1876, 9, p. 1220).

   [Illustration: FIG. 5.]

   3. _Meyer's Air Expulsion Method._--The simplicity, moderate
   accuracy, and adaptability of this method to every class of substance
   which can be vaporized entitles it to rank as one of the most potent
   methods in analytical chemistry; its invention is indissolubly
   connected with the name of Victor Meyer, being termed "Meyer's
   method" to the exclusion of his other original methods. It consists
   in determining the air expelled from a vessel by the vapour of a
   given quantity of the substance. The apparatus is shown in fig. 5. A
   long tube (a) terminates at the bottom in a cylindrical chamber of
   about 100-150 cc. capacity. The top is fitted with a rubber stopper,
   or in some forms with a stop-cock, while a little way down there is a
   bent delivery tube (b). To use the apparatus, the long tube is placed
   in a vapour bath (c) of the requisite temperature, and after the air
   within the tube is in equilibrium, the delivery tube is placed
   beneath the surface of the water in a pneumatic trough, the rubber
   stopper pushed home, and observation made as to whether any more air
   is being expelled. If this be not so, a graduated tube (d) is filled
   with water, and inverted over the delivery tube. The rubber stopper
   is removed and the experimental substance introduced, and the stopper
   quickly replaced to the same extent as before. Bubbles are quickly
   disengaged and collect in the graduated tube. Solids may be directly
   admitted to the tube from a weighing bottle, while liquids are
   conveniently introduced by means of small stoppered bottles, or, in
   the case of exceptionally volatile liquids, by means of a bulb blown
   on a piece of thin capillary tube, the tube being sealed during the
   weighing operation, and the capillary broken just before transference
   to the apparatus. To prevent the bottom of the apparatus being
   knocked out by the impact of the substance, a layer of sand, asbestos
   or sometimes mercury is placed in the tube. To complete the
   experiment, the graduated tube containing the expelled air is brought
   to a constant and determinate temperature and pressure, and this
   volume is the volume which the given weight of the substance would
   occupy if it were a gas under the same temperature and pressure. The
   vapour density is calculated by the following formula:

       W(1 + [alpha]t) x 587,780
   D = -------------------------,
               (p - s)V

   in which W = weight of substance taken, V = volume of air expelled,
   [alpha] = 1/273 = .003665, t and p = temperature and pressure at
   which expelled air is measured, and s = vapour pressure of water at
   t°.

   By varying the material of the bulb, this apparatus is rendered
   available for exceptionally high temperatures. Vapour baths of iron
   are used in connexion with boiling anthracene (335°), anthraquinone
   (368°), sulphur (444°), phosphoruspentasulphide (518°); molten lead
   may also be used. For higher temperatures the bulb of the vapour
   density tube is made of porcelain or platinum, and is heated in a gas
   furnace.

   [Illustration: FIG. 6.]

   (4a) _Hofmann's Method._--Both the _modus operandi_ and apparatus
   employed in this method particularly recommend its use for substances
   which do not react on mercury and which boil in a vacuum at below
   310°. The apparatus (fig. 6) consists of a barometer tube, containing
   mercury and standing in a bath of the same metal, surrounded by a
   vapour jacket. The vapour is circulated through the jacket, and the
   height of the mercury read by a cathetometer or otherwise. The
   substance is weighed into a small stoppered bottle, which is then
   placed beneath the mouth of the barometer tube. It ascends the tube,
   the substance is rapidly volatilized, and the mercury column is
   depressed; this depression is read off. It is necessary to know the
   volume of the tube above the second level; this may most efficiently
   be determined by calibrating the tube prior to its use. Sir T. E.
   Thorpe employed a barometer tube 96 cm. long, and determined the
   volume from the closed end for a distance of about 35 mm. by weighing
   in mercury; below this mark it was calibrated in the ordinary way so
   that a scale reading gave the volume at once. The calculation is
   effected by the following formulae:--

       760w(1 + 0.003665t)
   D = -------------------;
        0.0012934 × V × B

              h          /      h_1             h_2       \
   B = -------------- - ( -------------- - ------------ + s),
       1 + 0.00018t_1    \1 + 0.00018t_2   1 + 0.00018t   /

   in which w = weight of substance taken; t = temperature of vapour
   jacket; V = volume of vapour at t; h = height of barometer reduced to
   0°; t_1 = temperature of air; h_1 = height of mercury column below
   vapour jacket; t_2 = temperature of mercury column not heated by
   vapour; h_2 = height of mercury column within vapour jacket; s =
   vapour tension of mercury at t°. The vapour tension of mercury need
   not be taken into account when water is used in the jacket.

   (4b) _Demuth and Meyer's Method._--The principle of this method is as
   follows:--In the ordinary air expulsion method, the vapour always
   mixes to some extent with the air in the tube, and this involves a
   reduction of the pressure of the vapour. It is obvious that this
   reduction may be increased by accelerating the diffusion of the
   vapour. This may be accomplished by using a vessel with a somewhat
   wide bottom, and inserting the substance so that it may be
   volatilized very rapidly, as, for example, in tubes of Wood's alloy,
   and by filling the tube with hydrogen. (For further details see
   _Ber._ 23, p. 311.)

   [Illustration: FIG. 7.]

   We may here notice a modification of Meyer's process in which the
   increase of pressure due to the volatilization of the substance, and
   not the volume of the expelled air, is measured. This method has been
   developed by J. S. Lumsden (_Journ. Chem. Soc._ 1903, 83, p. 342),
   whose apparatus is shown diagrammatically in fig. 7. The vaporizing
   bulb A has fused about it a jacket B, provided with a condenser c.
   Two side tubes are fused on to the neck of A: the lower one leads to
   a mercury manometer M, and to the air by means of a cock C; the upper
   tube is provided with a rubber stopper through which a glass rod
   passes--this rod serves to support the tube containing the substance
   to be experimented upon, and so avoids the objection to the practice
   of withdrawing the stopper of the tube, dropping the substance in,
   and reinserting the stopper. To use the apparatus, a liquid of
   suitable boiling-point is placed in the jacket and brought to the
   boiling-point. All parts of the apparatus are open to the air, and
   the mercury in the manometer is adjusted so as to come to a fixed
   mark a. The substance is now placed on the support already mentioned,
   and the apparatus closed to the air by inserting the cork at D and
   turning the cock C. By turning or withdrawing the support the
   substance enters the bulb; and during its vaporization the free limb
   of the manometer is raised so as to maintain the mercury at a. When
   the volatilization is quite complete, the level is accurately
   adjusted, and the difference of the levels of the mercury gives the
   pressure exerted by the vapour. To calculate the result it is
   necessary to know the capacity of the apparatus to the mark a, and
   the temperature of the jacket.

   _Methods depending on the Principles of Hydrostatics._--Hydrostatical
   principles can be applied to density determinations in four typical
   ways: (1) depending upon the fact that the heights of liquid columns
   supported by the same pressure vary inversely as the densities of the
   liquids; (2) depending upon the fact that a body which sinks in a
   liquid loses a weight equal to the weight of liquid which it
   displaces; (3) depending on the fact that a body remains suspended,
   neither floating nor sinking, in a liquid of exactly the same
   density; (4) depending on the fact that a floating body is immersed
   to such an extent that the weight of the fluid displaced equals the
   weight of the body.

   1. The method of balancing columns is of limited use. Two forms are
   recognized. In one, applicable only to liquids which do not mix, the
   two liquids are poured into the limbs of a U tube. The heights of the
   columns above the surface of junction of the liquids are inversely
   proportional to the densities of the liquids. In the second form,
   named after Robert Hare (1781-1858), professor of chemistry at the
   university of Pennsylvania, the liquids are drawn or aspirated up
   vertical tubes which have their lower ends placed in reservoirs
   containing the different liquids, and their upper ends connected to a
   common tube which is in communication with an aspirator for
   decreasing the pressure within the vertical tubes. The heights to
   which the liquids rise, measured in each case by the distance between
   the surfaces in the reservoirs and in the tubes, are inversely
   proportional to the densities.

   2. The method of "hydrostatic weighing" is one of the most important.
   The principle may be thus stated: the solid is weighed in air, and
   then in water. If W be the weight in air, and W_1 the weight in
   water, then W_1 is always less than W, the difference W - W_1
   representing the weight of the water displaced, i.e. the weight of a
   volume of water equal to that of the solid. Hence W/(W - W_1) is the
   relative density or specific gravity of the body. The principle is
   readily adapted to the determination of the relative densities of two
   liquids, for it is obvious that if W be the weight of a solid body in
   air, W_1 and W_2 its weights when immersed in the liquids, then W - W_1
   and W - W_2 are the weights of equal volumes of the liquids, and
   therefore the relative density is the quotient (W - W_1)/(W - W_2).
   The determination in the case of solids lighter than water is
   effected by the introduction of a sinker, i.e. a body which when
   affixed to the light solid causes it to sink. If W be the weight of
   the experimental solid in air, w the weight of the sinker in water,
   and W_1 the weight of the solid plus sinker in water, then the
   relative density is given by W/(W + w - W_1). In practice the solid
   or plummet is suspended from the balance arm by a fibre--silk,
   platinum, &c.--and carefully weighed. A small stool is then placed
   over the balance pan, and on this is placed a beaker of distilled
   water so that the solid is totally immersed. Some balances are
   provided with a "specific gravity pan," i.e. a pan with short
   suspending arms, provided with a hook at the bottom to which the
   fibre may be attached; when this is so, the stool is unnecessary. Any
   air bubbles are removed from the surface of the body by brushing with
   a camel-hair brush; if the solid be of a porous nature it is
   desirable to boil it for some time in water, thus expelling the air
   from its interstices. The weighing is conducted in the usual way by
   vibrations, except when the weight be small; it is then advisable to
   bring the pointer to zero, an operation rendered necessary by the
   damping due to the adhesion of water to the fibre. The temperature
   and pressure of the air and water must also be taken.

   There are several corrections of the formula [Delta] = W/(W - W_1)
   necessary to the accurate expression of the density. Here we can only
   summarize the points of the investigation. It may be assumed that the
   weighing is made with brass weights in air at t° and p mm. pressure.
   To determine the true weight _in vacuo_ at 0°, account must be taken
   of the different buoyancies, or losses of true weight, due to the
   different volumes of the solids and weights. Similarly in the case of
   the weighing in water, account must be taken of the buoyancy of the
   weights, and also, if absolute densities be required, of the density
   of water at the temperature of the experiment. In a form of great
   accuracy the absolute density [Delta](0°/4°) is given by

   [Delta](0°/4°) = ([rho][alpha]W - [delta]W_1)/(W - W_1),

   in which W is the weight of the body in air at t° and p mm. pressure,
   W_1 the weight in water, atmospheric conditions remaining very nearly
   the same; [rho] is the density of the water in which the body is
   weighed, [alpha] is (1 + [alpha]t°) in which a is the coefficient of
   cubical expansion of the body, and [delta] is the density of the air at
   t°, p mm. Less accurate formulae are [Delta] = [rho] W/(W - W_1), the
   factor involving the density of the air, and the coefficient of the
   expansion of the solid being disregarded, and [Delta] = W/(W - W_1), in
   which the density of water is taken as unity. Reference may be made to
   J. Wade and R. W. Merriman, _Journ. Chem. Soc._ 1909, 95, p. 2174.

   The determination of the density of a liquid by weighing a plummet in
   air, and in the standard and experimental liquids, has been put into
   a very convenient laboratory form by means of the apparatus known as
   a Westphal balance (fig. 8). It consists of a steelyard mounted on a
   fulcrum; one arm carries at its extremity a heavy bob and pointer,
   the latter moving along a scale affixed to the stand and serving to
   indicate when the beam is in its standard position. The other arm is
   graduated in ten divisions and carries riders--bent pieces of wire of
   determined weights--and at its extremity a hook from which the glass
   plummet is suspended. To complete the apparatus there is a glass jar
   which serves to hold the liquid experimented with. The apparatus is
   so designed that when the plummet is suspended in air, the index of
   the beam is at the zero of the scale; if this be not so, then it is
   adjusted by a levelling screw. The plummet is now placed in distilled
   water at 15°, and the beam brought to equilibrium by means of a
   rider, which we shall call 1, hung on a hook; other riders are
   provided, {1/10}th and {1/100}th respectively of 1. To determine the
   density of any liquid it is only necessary to suspend the plummet in
   the liquid, and to bring the beam to its normal position by means of
   the riders; the relative density is read off directly from the
   riders.

   [Illustration: FIG. 8.]

   3. Methods depending on the free suspension of the solid in a liquid
   of the same density have been especially studied by Retgers and
   Gossner in view of their applicability to density determinations of
   crystals. Two typical forms are in use; in one a liquid is prepared
   in which the crystal freely swims, the density of the liquid being
   ascertained by the pycnometer or other methods; in the other a liquid
   of variable density, the so-called "diffusion column," is prepared,
   and observation is made of the level at which the particle comes to
   rest. The first type is in commonest use; since both necessitate the
   use of dense liquids, a summary of the media of most value, with
   their essential properties, will be given.

   _Acetylene tetrabromide_, C_{2}H_{2}Br_4, which is very
   conveniently prepared by passing acetylene into cooled bromine, has a
   density of 3.001 at 6° C. It is highly convenient, since it is
   colourless, odourless, very stable and easily mobile. It may be
   diluted with benzene or toluene.

   _Methylene iodide_, CH_{2}I_2, has a density of 3.33, and may be
   diluted with benzene. Introduced by Brauns in 1886, it was
   recommended by Retgers. Its advantages rest on its high density and
   mobility; its main disadvantages are its liability to decomposition,
   the originally colourless liquid becoming dark owing to the
   separation of iodine, and its high coefficient of expansion. Its
   density may be raised to 3.65 by dissolving iodoform and iodine in
   it.

   _Thoulet's solution_, an aqueous solution of potassium and mercuric
   iodides (potassium iodo-mercurate), introduced by Thoulet and
   subsequently investigated by V. Goldschmidt, has a density of 3.196
   at 22.9°. It is almost colourless and has a small coefficient of
   expansion; its hygroscopic properties, its viscous character, and its
   action on the skin, however, militate against its use. A. Duboin
   (_Compt. rend._, 1905, p. 141) has investigated the solutions of
   mercuric iodide in other alkaline iodides; sodium iodo-mercurate
   solution has a density of 3.46 at 26°, and gives with an excess of
   water a dense precipitate of mercuric iodide, which dissolves without
   decomposition in alcohol; lithium iodo-mercurate solution has a
   density of 3.28 at 25.6°; and ammonium iodo-mercurate solution a
   density of 2.98 at 26°.

   _Rohrbach's solution_, an aqueous solution of barium and mercuric
   iodides, introduced by Carl Rohrbach, has a density of 3.588.

   _Klein's solution_, an aqueous solution of cadmium borotungstate,
   2Cd(OH)_{2}·B_{2}O_{3}·9WO_{3}·16H_{2}O, introduced by D. Klein, has
   a density up to 3.28. The salt melts in its water of crystallization
   at 75°, and the liquid thus obtained goes up to a density of 3.6.

   _Silver-thallium nitrate_, TIAg(NO_3)_2, introduced by Retgers,
   melts at 75° to form a clear liquid of density 4.8; it may be diluted
   with water.

   The method of using these liquids is in all cases the same; a
   particle is dropped in; if it floats a diluent is added and the
   mixture well stirred. This is continued until the particle freely
   swims, and then the density of the mixture is determined by the
   ordinary methods (see MINERALOGY).

   In the "diffusion column" method, a liquid column uniformly varying
   in density from about 3.3 to 1 is prepared by pouring a little
   methylene iodide into a long test tube and adding five times as much
   benzene. The tube is tightly corked to prevent evaporation, and
   allowed to stand for some hours. The density of the column at any
   level is determined by means of the areometrical beads proposed by
   Alexander Wilson (1714-1786), professor of astronomy at Glasgow
   University. These are hollow glass beads of variable density; they
   may be prepared by melting off pieces of very thin capillary tubing,
   and determining the density in each case by the method just
   previously described. To use the column, the experimental fragment is
   introduced, when it takes up a definite position. By successive
   trials two beads, of known density, say d_1, d_2, are obtained, one
   of which floats above, and the other below, the test crystal; the
   distances separating the beads from the crystal are determined by
   means of a scale placed behind the tube. If the bead of density d_1
   be at the distance l_1 above the crystal, and that of d_2 at l_2
   below, it is obvious that if the density of the column varies
   uniformly, then the density of the test crystal is (d_{1}l_2 +
   d_{2}l_1)/(l_1 + l_2).

   Acting on a principle quite different from any previously discussed
   is the capillary hydrometer or staktometer of Brewster, which is
   based upon the difference in the surface tension and density of pure
   water, and of mixtures of alcohol and water in varying proportions.

   If a drop of water be allowed to form at the extremity of a fine
   tube, it will go on increasing until its weight overcomes the surface
   tension by which it clings to the tube, and then it will fall. Hence
   any impurity which diminishes the surface tension of the water will
   diminish the size of the drop (unless the density is proportionately
   diminished). According to Quincke, the surface tension of pure water
   in contact with air at 20° C. is 81 dynes per linear centimetre,
   while that of alcohol is only 25.5 dynes; and a small percentage of
   alcohol produces much more than a proportional decrease in the
   surface tension when added to pure water. The capillary hydrometer
   consists simply of a small pipette with a bulb in the middle of the
   stem, the pipette terminating in a very fine capillary point. The
   instrument being filled with distilled water, the number of drops
   required to empty the bulb and portions of the stem between two marks
   m and n (fig. 9) on the latter is carefully counted, and the
   experiments repeated at different temperatures. The pipette having
   been carefully dried, the process is repeated with pure alcohol or
   with proof spirits, and the strength of any admixture of water and
   spirits is determined from the corresponding number of drops, but the
   formula generally given is not based upon sound data. Sir David
   Brewster found with one of these instruments that the number of drops
   of pure water was 734, while of proof spirit, sp. gr. 920, the number
   was 2117.

   [Illustration: FIG. 9. Brewster's Staktometer]

   REFERENCES.--Density and density determinations are discussed in all
   works on practical physics; reference may be made to B. Stewart and
   W. W. Haldane Gee, _Practical Physics_, vol. i. (1901); Kohlrausch,
   _Practical Physics_; Ostwald, _Physico-Chemical Measurements_. The
   density of gases is treated in M. W. Travers, _The Experimental Study
   of Gases_ (1901); and vapour density determinations in Lassar-Cohn's
   _Arbeitsmethoden für organisch-chemische Laboratorien_ (1901), and
   _Manual of Organic Chemistry_ (1896), and in H. Biltz, _Practical
   Methods for determining Molecular Weights_ (1899).         (C. E.*)




DENTATUS, MANIUS CURIUS, Roman general, conqueror of the Samnites and
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was born of humble parents, and was possibly of
Sabine origin. He is said to have been called Dentatus because he was
born with his teeth already grown (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ vii. 15). Except
that he was tribune of the people, nothing certain is known of him until
his first consulship in 290 B.C. when, in conjunction with his colleague
P. Cornelius Rufinus, he gained a decisive victory over the Samnites,
which put an end to a war that had lasted fifty years. He also reduced
the revolted Sabines to submission; a large portion of their territory
was distributed among the Roman citizens, and the most important towns
received the citizenship without the right of voting for magistrates
(_civitas sine suffragio_). With the proceeds of the spoils of the war
Dentatus cut an artificial channel to carry off the waters of Lake
Velinus, so as to drain the valley of Reate. In 275, after Pyrrhus had
returned from Sicily to Italy, Dentatus (again consul) took the field
against him. The decisive engagement took place near Beneventum in the
Campi Arusini, and resulted in the total defeat of Pyrrhus. Dentatus
celebrated a magnificent triumph, in which for the first time a number
of captured elephants were exhibited. Dentatus was consul for the third
time in 274, when he finally crushed the Lucanians and Samnites, and
censor in 272. In the latter capacity he began to build an aqueduct to
carry the waters of the Anio into the city, but died (270) before its
completion. Dentatus was looked upon as a model of old Roman simplicity
and frugality. According to the well-known anecdote, when the Samnites
sent ambassadors with costly presents to induce him to exercise his
influence on their behalf in the senate, they found him sitting on the
hearth and preparing his simple meal of roasted turnips. He refused
their gifts, saying that earthen dishes were good enough for him, adding
that he preferred ruling those who possessed gold to possessing it
himself. It is also said that he died so poor that the state was obliged
to provide dowries for his daughters. But these and similar anecdotes
must be received with caution, and it should be remembered that what was
a competence in his day would have been considered poverty by the Romans
of later times.

   Livy, epitome, 11-14; Polybius ii. 19; Eutropius ii. 9, 14; Florus i.
   18; Val. Max. iv. 3, 5, vi. 3, 4; Cicero, _De senectute_, 16; Juvenal
   xi. 78; Plutarch, _Pyrrhus_, 25.




DENTIL (from Lat. _dens_, a tooth), in architecture, a small
tooth-shaped block used as a repeating ornament in the bed-mould of a
cornice. Vitruvius (iv. 2) states that the dentil represents the end of
a rafter (_asser_); and since it occurs in its most pronounced form in
the Ionic temples of Asia Minor, the Lycian tombs and the porticoes and
tombs of Persia, where it represents distinctly the reproduction in
stone of timber construction, there is but little doubt as to its
origin. The earliest example is that found on the tomb of Darius, c. 500
B.C., cut in the rock in which the portico of his palace is reproduced.
Its first employment in Athens is in the cornice of the caryatid portico
or tribune of the Erechtheum (480 B.C.). When subsequently introduced
into the bed-mould of the cornice of the choragic monument of Lysicrates
it is much smaller in its dimensions. In the later temples of Ionia, as
in the temple of Priene, the larger scale of the dentil is still
retained. As a general rule the projection of the dentil is equal to its
width, and the intervals between to half the width. In some cases the
projecting band has never had the sinkings cut into it to divide up the
dentils, as in the Pantheon at Rome, and it is then called a
dentil-band. The dentil was the chief decorative feature employed in the
bed-mould by the Romans and the Italian Revivalists. In the porch of the
church of St John Studius at Constantinople, the dentil and the interval
between are equal in width, and the interval is splayed back from top to
bottom; this is the form it takes in what is known as the "Venetian
dentil," which was copied from the Byzantine dentil in Santa Sophia,
Constantinople. There, however, it no longer formed part of a bed-mould:
its use at Santa Sophia was to decorate the projecting moulding
enclosing the encrusted marbles, and the dentils were cut alternately on
both sides of the moulding. The Venetian dentil was also introduced as a
label round arches and as a string course.




DENTISTRY


Historical sketch.

(from Lat. _dens_, a tooth), a special department of medical
science, embracing the structure, function and therapeutics of the mouth
and its contained organs, specifically the teeth, together with their
surgical and prosthetic treatment. (For the anatomy of the teeth see
TEETH.) As a distinct vocation it is first alluded to by Herodotus (500
B.C.). There are evidences that at an earlier date the Egyptians and
Hindus attempted to replace lost teeth by attaching wood or ivory
substitutes to adjacent sound teeth by means of threads or wires, but
the gold fillings reputed to have been found in the teeth of Egyptian
mummies have upon investigation been shown to be superficial
applications of gold leaf for ornamental purposes. The impetus given to
medical study in the Grecian schools by the followers of Aesculapius and
especially Hippocrates (500 to 400 B.C.) developed among the
practitioners of medicine and surgery considerable knowledge of
dentistry. Galen (A.D. 131) taught that the teeth were true bones
existing before birth, and to him is credited the belief that the upper
canine teeth receive branches from the nerve which supplies the eye, and
hence should be called "eye-teeth." Abulcasis (10th cent. A.D.)
describes the operation by which artificial crowns are attached to
adjacent sound teeth. Vesalius (1514), Ambroise Paré, J. J. Scaliger, T.
Kerckring, M. Malpighi, and lesser anatomists of the same period
contributed dissertations which threw some small amount of light upon
the structure and functions of the teeth. The operation of transplanting
teeth is usually attributed to John Hunter (1728-1793), who practised it
extensively, and gave to it additional prominence by transplanting a
human tooth to the comb of a cock, but the operation was alluded to by
Ambroise Paré (1509-1590), and there is evidence to show that it was
practised even earlier. A. von Leeuwenhoek in 1678 described with much
accuracy the tubular structure of the dentine, thus making the most
important contribution to the subject which had appeared up to that
time. Until the latter part of the 18th century extraction was
practically the only operation for the cure of toothache.

The early contributions of France exerted a controlling influence upon
the development of dental practice. Urbain Hémard, surgeon to the
cardinal Georges of Armagnac, whom Dr Blake (1801) calls an ingenious
surgeon and a great man, published in 1582 his _Researches upon the
Anatomy of the Teeth, their Nature and Properties_. Of Hémard, M.
Fauchard says: "This surgeon had read Greek and Latin authors, whose
writings he has judiciously incorporated in his own works." In 1728
Fauchard, who has been called the father of modern dentistry, published
his celebrated work, entitled _Le Chirurgien Dentiste ou traité des
dents_. The preface contains the following statement as to the existing
status of dental art and science in France, which might have been
applied with equal truth to any other European country:--" The most
celebrated surgeons having abandoned this branch of surgery, or having
but little cultivated it, their negligence gave rise to a class of
persons who, without theoretic knowledge or experience, and without
being qualified, practised it at hazard, having neither principles nor
system. It was only since the year 1700 that the intelligent in Paris
opened their eyes to these abuses, when it was provided that those who
intended practising dental surgery should submit to an examination by
men learned in all the branches of medical science, who should decide
upon their merits." After the publication of Fauchard's work the
practice of dentistry became more specialized and distinctly separated
from medical practice, the best exponents of the art being trained as
apprentices by practitioners of ability, who had acquired their training
in the same way from their predecessors. Fauchard suggested porcelain as
an improvement upon bone and ivory for the manufacture of artificial
teeth, a suggestion which he obtained from R. A. F. de Réaumur, the
French savant and physicist, who was a contributor to the royal
porcelain manufactory at Sévres. Later, Duchateau, an apothecary of St
Germain, made porcelain teeth, and communicated his discovery to the
Academy of Surgery in 1776, but kept the process secret. Du Bois Chémant
carried the art to England, and the process was finally made public by
M. Du Bois Foucou. M. Fonzi improved the art to such an extent that the
Athenaeum of Arts in Paris awarded him a medal and crown (March 14,
1808).

In Great Britain the 19th century brought the dawning of dental science.
The work of Dr Blake in 1801 on the anatomy of the teeth was distinctly
in advance of anything previously written on the subject. Joseph Fox was
one of the first members of the medical profession to devote himself
exclusively to dentistry, and his work is a repository of the best
practice of his time. The processes described, though comparatively
crude, involve principles in use at the present time. Thomas Bell, the
successor of Fox as lecturer on the structure and disease of the teeth
at Guy's Hospital, published his well-known work in 1829. About this
period numerous publications on dentistry made their appearance, notably
those of Koecker, Johnson and Waite, followed somewhat later by the
admirable work of Alexander Nasmyth (1839). By this time Cuvier, Serres,
Rousseau, Bertin, Herissant and others in France had added to the
knowledge of human and comparative dental anatomy, while M. G. Retzius,
of Sweden, and E. H. Weber, J. C. Rosenmüller, Schreger, J. E. von
Purkinje, B. Fraenkel and J. Müller in Germany were carrying forward the
same lines of research. The sympathetic nervous relationships of the
teeth with other parts of the body, and the interaction of diseases of
the teeth with general pathological conditions, were clearly
established. Thus a scientific foundation was laid, and dentistry came
to be practised as a specialty of medicine. Certain minor operations,
however, such as the extraction of teeth and the stopping of caries in
an imperfect way, were still practised by barbers, and the empirical
practice of dentistry, especially of those operations which were almost
wholly mechanical, had developed a considerable body of dental artisans
who, though without medical education in many cases, possessed a high
degree of manipulative skill. Thus there came to be two classes of
practitioners, the first regarding dentistry as a specialty of medicine,
the latter as a distinct and separate calling.

In America representatives of both classes of dentists began to arrive
from England and France about the time of the Revolution. Among these
were John Wooffendale (1766), a student of Robert Berdmore of Liverpool,
surgeon-dentist to George III.; James Gardette (1778), a French
physician and surgeon; and Joseph Lemaire (1781), a French dentist who
went out with the army of Count Rochambeau. During the winter of
1781-1782, while the Continental army was in winter quarters at
Providence, Rhode Island, Lemaire found time and opportunity to practise
his calling, and also to instruct one or two persons, notably Josiah
Flagg, probably the first American dentist. Dental practice was thus
established upon American soil, where it has produced such fertile
results.


Course of training.

Until well into the 19th century apprenticeship afforded the only means
of acquiring a knowledge of dentistry. The profits derived from the
apprenticeship system fostered secrecy and quackery among many of the
early practitioners; but the more liberal minded and better educated of
the craft developed an increasing opposition to these narrow methods. In
1837 a local association of dentists was formed in New York, and in 1840
a national association, The American Society of Dental Surgeons, the
object of which was "to advance the science by free communication and
interchange of sentiments." The first dental periodical in the world,
_The American Journal of Dental Science_, was issued in June 1839, and
in November 1840 was established the Baltimore College of Dental
Surgery, the first college in the world for the systematic education of
dentists. Thus the year 1839-1840 marks the birth of the three factors
essential to professional growth in dentistry. All this, combined with
the refusal of the medical schools to furnish the desired facilities for
dental instruction, placed dentistry for the time being upon a footing
entirely separate from general medicine. Since then the curriculum of
study preparatory to dental practice has been systematically increased
both as to its content and length, until in all fundamental principles
it is practically equal to that required for the training of medical
specialists, and in addition includes the technical subjects peculiar to
dentistry. In England, and to some extent upon the continent, the old
apprenticeship system is retained as an adjunct to the college course,
but it is rapidly dying out, as it has already done in America. Owing to
the regulation by law of the educational requirements, the increase of
institutions devoted to the professional training of dentists has been
rapid in all civilized countries, and during the past twenty years
especially so in the United States. Great Britain possesses upwards of
twelve institutions for dental instruction, France two, Germany and
Switzerland six, all being based upon the conception that dentistry is a
department of general medicine. In the United States there were in 1878
twelve dental schools, with about 700 students; in 1907 there were
fifty-seven schools, with 6919 students. Of these fifty-seven schools,
thirty-seven are departments of universities or of medical institutions,
and there is a growing tendency to regard dentistry from its educational
aspect as a special department of the general medical and surgical
practice.


Research.

Recent studies have shown that besides being an important part of the
digestive system, the mouth sustains intimate relationship with the
general nervous system, and is important as the portal of entrance for
the majority of the bacteria that cause specific diseases. This fact has
rendered more intimate the relations between dentistry and the general
practice of medicine, and has given a powerful impetus to scientific
studies in dentistry. Through the researches of Sir J. Tomes, Mummery,
Hopewell Smith, Williams and others in England, O. Hertwig, Weil and
Röse in Germany, Andrews, Sudduth and Black in America, the minute
anatomy and embryology of the dental tissues have been worked out with
great fulness and precision. In particular, it has been demonstrated
that certain general systemic diseases have a distinct oral expression.
Through their extensive nervous connexions with the largest of the
cranial nerves and with the sympathetic nervous system, the teeth
frequently cause irritation resulting in profound reflex nervous
phenomena, which are curable only by removal of the local tooth
disorder. Gout, lithaemia, scurvy, rickets, lead and mercurial
poisoning, and certain forms of chronic nephritis, produce dental and
oral lesions which are either pathognomonic or strongly indicative of
their several constitutional causes, and are thus of great importance in
diagnosis. The most important dental research of modern times is that
which was carried out by Professor W. D. Miller of Berlin (1884) upon
the cause of caries of the teeth, a disease said to affect the human
race more extensively than any other. Miller demonstrated that, as
previous observers had suspected, caries is of bacterial origin, and
that acids play an important rôle in the process. The disease is brought
about by a group of bacteria which develop in the mouth, growing
naturally upon the débris of starchy or carbohydrate food, producing
fermentation of the mass, with lactic acid as the end product. The
lactic acid dissolves the mineral constituent of the tooth structure,
calcium phosphate, leaving the organic matrix of the tooth exposed.
Another class of germs, the peptonising and putrefactive bacteria, then
convert the organic matter into liquid or gaseous end products. The
accuracy of the conclusions obtained from his analytic research was
synthetically proved, after the manner of Koch, by producing the disease
artificially. Caries of the teeth has been shown to bear highly
important relation to more remote or systemic diseases. Exposure and
death of the dental pulp furnishes an avenue of entrance for
disease-producing bacteria, by which invasion of the deeper tissues may
readily take place, causing necrosis, tuberculosis, actinomycosis,
phlegmon and other destructive inflammations, certain of which,
affecting the various sinuses of the head, have been found to cause
meningitis, chronic empyema, metastatic abscesses in remote parts of the
body, paralysis, epilepsy and insanity.


Filling or stopping.

_Operative Dentistry._--The art of dentistry is usually divided
arbitrarily into _operative dentistry_, the purpose of which is to
preserve as far as possible the teeth and associated tissues, and
_prosthetic dentistry_, the purpose of which is to supply the loss of
teeth by artificial substitutes. The filling of carious cavities was
probably first performed with lead, suggested apparently by an operation
recorded by Celsus (100 B.C.), who recommended that frail or decayed
teeth be stuffed with lead previous to extraction, in order that they
might not break under the forceps. The use of lead as a filling was
sufficiently prevalent in France during the 17th century to bring into
use the word _plombage_, which is still occasionally applied in that
country to the operation of filling. Gold as a filling material came
into general use about the beginning of the 19th century.[1] The earlier
preparations of gold were so impure as to be virtually without cohesion,
so that they were of use only in cavities which had sound walls for its
retention. In the form of rolls or tape it was forced into the
previously cleaned and prepared cavity, condensed with instruments under
heavy hand pressure, smoothed with files, and finally burnished. Tin
foil was also used to a limited extent and by the same method.
Improvements in the refining of gold for dental use brought the product
to a fair degree of purity, and, about 1855, led to the invention by Dr
Robert Arthur of Baltimore of a method by which it could be welded
firmly within the cavity. The cohesive properties of the foil were
developed by passing it through an alcohol flame, which dispelled its
surface contaminations. The gold was then welded piece by piece into a
homogeneous mass by plugging instruments with serrated points. In this
process of cold-welding, the mallet, hitherto in only limited use, was
found more efficient than hand pressure, and was rapidly developed. The
primitive mallet of wood, ivory, lead or steel, was supplanted by a
mallet in which a hammer was released automatically by a spring
condensed by pressure of the operator's hand. Then followed mallets
operated by pneumatic pressure, by the dental engine, and finally by the
electro-magnet, as utilized in 1867 by Bonwill. These devices greatly
facilitated the operation, and made possible a partial or entire
restoration of the tooth-crown in conformity with anatomical lines.

The dental engine in its several forms is the outgrowth of the simple
drill worked by the hand of the operator. It is used in removing decayed
structure and for shaping the cavity for inserting the filling. From
time to time its usefulness has been extended, so that it is now used
for finishing fillings and polishing them, for polishing the teeth,
removing deposits from them and changing their shapes. Its latest
development, the _dento-surgical engine_, is of heavier construction and
is adapted to operations upon all of the bones, a recent addition to its
equipment being the spiral osteotome of Cryer, by which, with a minimum
shock to the patient, fenestrae of any size or shape in the brain-case
may be made, from a simple trepanning operation to the more extensive
openings required in intra-cranial operations. The rotary power may be
supplied by the foot of the operator, or by hydraulic or electric
motors. The rubber dam invented by S. C. Barnum of New York (1864)
provided a means for protecting the field of operations from the oral
fluids, and extended the scope of operations even to the entire
restoration of tooth-crowns with cohesive gold foil. Its value has been
found to be even greater than was at first anticipated. In all
operations involving the exposed dental pulp or the pulp-chamber and
root-canals, it is the only efficient method of mechanically protecting
the field of operation from invasion by disease-producing bacteria.

The difficulty and annoyance attending the insertion of gold, its high
thermal conductivity, and its objectionable colour have led to an
increasing use of amalgam, guttapercha, and cements of zinc oxide mixed
with zinc chloride or phosphoric acid. Recently much attention has been
devoted to restorations with porcelain. A piece of platinum foil of .001
inch thickness is burnished and pressed into the cavity, so that a
matrix is produced exactly fitting the cavity. Into this matrix is
placed a mixture of powdered porcelain and water or alcohol, of the
colour to match the tooth. The mass is carefully dried and then fused
until homogeneous. Shrinkage is counteracted by additions of porcelain
powder, which are repeatedly fused until the whole exactly fills the
matrix. After cooling, the matrix is stripped away and the porcelain is
cemented into the cavity. When the cement has hardened, the surface of
the porcelain is ground and polished to proper contour. If successfully
made, porcelain fillings are scarcely noticeable. Their durability
remains to be tested.


Dental therapeutics.

Until recent times the exposure of the dental pulp inevitably led to its
death and disintegration, and, by invasion of bacteria via the pulp
canal, set up an inflammatory process which eventually caused the loss
of the entire tooth. A rational system of therapeutics, in conjunction
with proper antiseptic measures, has made possible both the conservative
treatment of the dental pulp when exposed, and the successful treatment
of pulp-canals when the pulp has been devitalized either by design or
disease. The conservation of the exposed pulp is affected by the
operation of capping. In capping a pulp, irritation is allayed by
antiseptic and sedative treatment, and a metallic cap, lined with a
non-irritant sedative paste, is applied under aseptic conditions
immediately over the point of pulp exposure. A filling of cement is
superimposed, and this, after it has hardened, is covered with a
metallic or other suitable filling. The utility of arsenious acid for
devitalizing the dental pulp was discovered by J. R. Spooner of
Montreal, and first published in 1836 by his brother Shearjashub in his
_Guide to Sound Teeth_. The painful action of arsenic upon the pulp was
avoided by the addition of various sedative drugs,--morphia, atropia,
iodoform, &c.,--and its use soon became universal. Of late years it is
being gradually supplanted by immediate surgical extirpation under the
benumbing effect of cocaine salts. By the use of cocaine also the pain
incident to excavating and shaping of cavities in tooth structure may
be controlled, especially when the cocaine is driven into the dentine by
means of an electric current. To fill the pulp-chamber and canals of
teeth after loss of the pulp, all organic remains of pulp tissue should
be removed by sterilization, and then, in order to prevent the entrance
of bacteria, and consequent infection, the canals should be perfectly
filled. Upon the exclusion of infection depends the future integrity and
comfort of the tooth. Numberless methods have been invented for the
operation. Pulpless teeth are thus preserved through long periods of
usefulness, and even those remains of teeth in which the crowns have
been lost are rendered comfortable and useful as supports for artificial
crowns, and as abutments for assemblages of crowns, known as
bridge-work.

The discoloration of the pulpless tooth through putrefactive changes in
its organic matter were first overcome by bleaching it with chlorine.
Small quantities of calcium hypochlorite are packed into the
pulp-chamber and moistened with dilute acetic acid; the decomposition of
the calcium salt liberates chlorine _in situ_, which restores the tooth
to normal colour in a short time. The cavity is afterwards washed out,
carefully dried, lined with a light-coloured cement and filled. More
efficient bleaching agents of recent introduction are hydrogen dioxide
in a 25% solution or a saturated solution of sodium peroxide; they are
less irritating and much more convenient in application. Unlike
chlorine, these do not form soluble metallic salts which may
subsequently discolour the tooth. Hydrogen dioxide may be carried into
the tooth structure by the electric current. In which case a current of
not less than forty volts controlled by a suitable graduated resistance
is applied with the patient in circuit, the anode being a
platinum-pointed electrode in contact with the dioxide solution in the
tooth cavity, and the cathode a sponge or plate electrode in contact
with the hand or arm of the patient. The current is gradually turned on
until two or three milliamperes are indicated by a suitable ammeter. The
operation requires usually twenty to thirty minutes.

Malposed teeth are not only unsightly but prone to disease, and may be
the cause of disease in other teeth, or of the associated tissues. The
impairment of function which their abnormal position causes has been
found to be the primary cause of disturbances of the general bodily
health; for example, enlarged tonsils, chronic pharyngitis and nasal
catarrh, indigestion and malnutrition. By the use of springs, screws,
vulcanized caoutchouc bands, elastic ligatures, &c., as the case may
require, practically all forms of dental irregularity may be corrected,
even such protrusions and retrusions of the front teeth as cause great
disfigurement of the facial contour.


Extraction.

The extraction of teeth, an operation which until quite recent times was
one of the crudest procedures in minor surgery, has been reduced to
exactitude by improved instruments, designed with reference to the
anatomical relations of the teeth and their alveoli, and therefore
adapted to the several classes of teeth. The operation has been rendered
painless by the use of anaesthetics. The anaesthetic generally employed
is nitrous oxide, or laughing-gas, the use of which was discovered in
1844 by Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, Conn., U.S.A. Chloroform
and ether, as well as other general anaesthetics, have been employed in
extensive operations because of their more prolonged effect; but
chloroform, especially, is dangerous, owing to its effect upon the
heart, which in many instances has suddenly failed during the operation.
Ether, while less manageable than nitrous oxide, has been found to be
practically devoid of danger. The local injection of solutions of
cocaine and allied anaesthetics into the gum-tissue is extensively
practised; but is attended with danger, from the toxic effects of an
overdose upon the heart, and the local poisonous effect upon the
tissues, which lead in numerous cases to necrosis and extensive
sloughing.


Artificial teeth.

_Dental Prosthesis._--The fastening of natural teeth or carved
substitutes to adjoining sound teeth by means of thread or wire preceded
their attachment to base-plates of carved wood, bone or ivory, which
latter method was practised until the introduction of swaged metallic
plates. Where the crown only of a tooth or those of several teeth were
lost, the restoration was effected by engrafting upon the prepared root
a suitable crown by means of a wooden or metallic pivot. When possible,
the new crown was that of a corresponding sound tooth taken from the
mouth of another individual; otherwise an artificial crown carved from
bone or ivory, or sometimes from the tooth of an ox, was used. To
replace entire dentures a base-plate of carved hippopotamus ivory was
constructed, upon which were mounted the crowns of natural teeth, or
later those of porcelain. The manufacture of a denture of this character
was tedious and uncertain, and required much skill. The denture was kept
in place by spiral springs attached to the buccal sides of the appliance
above and below, which caused pressure upon both jaws, necessitating a
constant effort upon the part of the unfortunate wearer to keep it in
place. Metallic swaged plates were introduced in the latter part of the
18th century. An impression of the gums was taken in wax, from which a
cast was made in plaster of Paris. With this as a model, a metallic die
of brass or zinc was prepared, upon which the plate of gold or silver
was formed, and then swaged into contact with the die by means of a
female die or counter-die of lead. The process is essentially the same
to-day, with the addition of numerous improvements in detail, which have
brought it to a high degree of perfection. The discovery, by Gardette of
Philadelphia in 1800, of the utility of atmospheric pressure in keeping
artificial dentures in place led to the abandonment of spiral springs. A
later device for enhancing the stability is the vacuum chamber, a
central depression in the upper surface of the plate, which, when
exhausted of air by the wearer, materially increases the adhesion. The
metallic base-plate is used also for supporting one or more artificial
teeth, being kept in place by metallic clasps fitting to, and partially
surrounding, adjacent sound natural teeth, the plate merely covering the
edentulous portion of the alveolar ridge. It may also be kept in place
by atmospheric adhesion, in which case the palatal vault is included,
and the vacuum chamber is utilized in the palatal portion to increase
the adhesion.

In the construction usually practised, porcelain teeth are attached to a
gold base-plate by means of stay-pieces of gold, perforated to receive
the platinum pins baked in the body of the tooth. The stay-pieces or
backings are then soldered to the pins and to the plate by means of
high-fusing gold solder. The teeth used may be single or in sections,
and may be with or without an extension designed in form and colour to
imitate the gum of the alveolar border. Even when skillfully executed,
the process is imperfect in that the jointing of the teeth to each
other, and their adaptation to the base-plate, leaves crevices and
recesses, in which food débris and oral secretions accumulate. To
obviate these defects the enamelled platinum denture was devised.
Porcelain teeth are first attached to a swaged base-plate of pure
platinum by a stay-piece of the same metal soldered with pure gold,
after which the interstices between the teeth are filled, and the entire
surface of the plate, excepting that in contact with the palate and
alveolar border, is covered with a porcelain paste called the body,
which is modelled to the normal contour of the gums, and baked in a
muffle furnace until vitrified. It is then enamelled with a vitreous
enamel coloured in imitation of the colour of the natural gum, which is
applied and fired as before, the result being the most artistic and
hygienic denture known. This is commonly known as the continuous gum
method. Originating in France in the early part of the 19th century, and
variously improved by several experimenters, it was brought to its
present perfection by Dr John Allen of New York about 1846-1847.
Dentures supported upon cast bases of metallic alloys and of aluminium
have been employed as substitutes for the more expensive dentures of
gold and platinum, but have had only a limited use, and are less
satisfactory.

Metallic bases were used exclusively as supports for artificial dentures
until in 1855-1856 Charles Goodyear, jun., patented in England a process
for constructing a denture upon vulcanized caoutchouc as a base. Several
modifications followed, each the subject of patented improvements.
Though the cheapness and simplicity of the vulcanite base has led to its
abuse in incompetent hands, it has on the whole been productive of much
benefit. It has been used with great success as a means of attaching
porcelain teeth to metallic bases of gold, silver and aluminium. It is
extensively used also in correcting irregular positions of the teeth,
and for making interdental splints in the treatment of fractures of the
jaws. For the mechanical correction of palatal defects causing
imperfection of deglutition and speech, which comes distinctly within
the province of the prosthetic dentist, the vulcanite base produces the
best-known apparatus. Two classes of palatal mechanism are
recognized--the obturator, a palatal plate, the function of which is to
close perforations or clefts in the hard palate, and the artificial
velum, a movable attachment to the obturator or palatal plate, which
closes the opening in the divided natural velum and, moving with it,
enables the wearer to close off the nasopharynx from the oral cavity in
the production of the guttural sounds. Vulcanite is also used for
extensive restorations of the jaws after surgical operations or loss by
disease, and in the majority of instances wholly corrects the deformity.


Modern methods.

For a time vulcanite almost supplanted gold and silver as a base for
artificial denture, and developed a generation of practitioners
deficient in that high degree of skill necessary to the construction of
dentures upon metallic bases. The recent development of crown-and-bridge
work has brought about a renaissance, so that a thorough training is
more than ever necessary to successful practice in mechanical dentistry.
The simplest crown is of porcelain, and is engrafted upon a sound
natural tooth-root by means of a metallic pin of gold or platinum,
extending into the previously enlarged root-canal and cemented in place.
In another type of crown the point between the root-end and the abutting
crown-surface is encircled with a metallic collar or band, which gives
additional security to the attachment and protects the joints from
fluids or bacteria. Crowns of this character are constructed with a
porcelain facing attached by a stay-piece or backing of gold to a plate
and collar, which has been previously fitted to the root-end like a
ferrule, and soldered to a pin which projects through the ferrule into
the root-canal. The contour of the lingual surface of the crown is made
of gold, which is shaped to conform to the anatomical lines of the
tooth. The shell-crown consists of a reproduction of the crown entirely
of gold plate, filled with cement, and driven over the root-end, which
it closely encircles. The two latter kinds of crowns may be used as
abutments for the support of intervening crowns in constructing
bridge-work. When artificial crowns are supported not by natural
tooth-roots but by soldering them to abutments, they are termed dummies.
The number of dummies which may be supported upon a given number of
roots depends upon the position and character of the abutments, the
character of the alveolar tissues, the age, sex and health of the
patient, the character of the occlusion or bite, and the force exerted
in mastication. In some cases a root will not properly support more than
one additional crown; in others an entire bridge denture has been
successfully supported upon four well-placed roots. Two general classes
of bridge-work are recognized, namely, the fixed and the removable.
Removable bridge-work, though more difficult to construct, is
preferable, as it can be more thoroughly and easily cleansed. When
properly made and applied to judiciously selected cases, the bridge
denture is the most artistic and functionally perfect restoration of
prosthetic dentistry.

The entire development of modern dentistry dates from the 19th century,
and mainly from its latter half. Beginning with a few practitioners and
no organized professional basis, educational system or literature, its
practitioners are to be found in all civilized communities, those in
Great Britain numbering about 5000; in the United States, 27,000;
France, 1600, of whom 376 are graduates; German Empire, qualified
practitioners (_Zahnärzte_), 1400; practitioners without official
qualification, 4100. Its educational institutions are numerous and well
equipped. It possesses a large periodical and standard literature in all
languages. Its practice is regulated by legislative enactment in all
countries the same as is medical practice. The business of manufacturing
and selling dentists' supplies represents an enormous industry, in
which millions of capital are invested.

   AUTHORITIES.--W. F. Litch, _American System of Dentistry_; Julius
   Scheff, jun., _Handbuch der Zahnheilkunde_; Charles J. Essig,
   _American Text-Book of Prosthetic Dentistry_; Tomes, _Dental Anatomy_
   and _Dental Surgery_; W. D. Miller, _Microörganisms of the Human
   Mouth_; Hopewell Smith, _Dental Microscopy_; H. H. Burchard, _Dental
   Pathology, Therapeutics and Pharmacology_; F. J. S. Gorgas, _Dental
   Medicine_; E. H. Angle, _Treatment of Malocclusion of the Teeth and
   Fractures of the Maxillae_; G. Evans, _A Practical Treatise on
   Artificial Crown-and-Bridge Work and Porcelain Dental Art_; C. N.
   Johnson, _Principles and Practice of Filling Teeth, American
   Text-Book of Operative Dentistry_ (3rd ed., 1905); Edward C. Kirk,
   _Principles and Practice of Operative Dentistry_ (2nd ed., 1905); J.
   S. Marshall, _American Text-Book of Prosthetic Dentistry_ (edited by
   C. R. Turner; 3rd ed., 1907).                            (E. C. K.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] The filling of teeth with gold foil is recorded in the oldest
    known book on dentistry, _Artzney Buchlein_, published anonymously
    in 1530, in which the operation is quoted from Mesue (A.D. 857),
    physician to the caliph Haroun al-Raschid.




DENTON, an urban district in the Gorton parliamentary division of
Lancashire, England, 4½ m. N.E. from Stockport, on the London &
North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 14,934. In the township are
reservoirs for the water supply of Manchester, with a capacity of
1,860,000,000 gallons. The manufacture of felt hats is the leading
industry. Coal is extensively mined in the district.




DENVER, the capital of Colorado, U.S.A., the county-seat of Denver
county, and the largest city between Kansas City, Missouri, and the
Pacific coast, sometimes called the "Queen City of the Plains." Pop.
(1870) 4759; (1880) 35,629; (1890) 106,713; (1900), 133,859, of whom
25,301 were foreign-born and 3923 were negroes; (1910 census) 213,381.
Of the 25,301 foreign-born in 1900, 5114 were Germans; 3485, Irish;
3376, Swedes; 3344, English; 2623, English-Canadian; 1338, Russians; and
1033, Scots. Denver is an important railway centre, being served by nine
railways, of which the chief are the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé; the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; the
Denver & Rio Grande; the Union Pacific; and the Denver, North-Western &
Pacific.

Denver lies on the South Platte river, at an altitude exactly 1 m. above
the sea, about 15 m. from the E. base of the Rocky mountains, which
stretch along the W. horizon from N. to S. in an unbroken chain of some
175 m. Excursions may be made in all directions into the mountains,
affording beautiful scenery and interesting views of the mining camps.
Various peaks are readily accessible from Denver: Long's Peak (14,271
ft.), Gray's Peak (14,341 ft.), Torrey Peak (14,336 ft.), Mt. Evans
(14,330 ft.), Pike's Peak (14,108 ft.), and many others of only slightly
less altitudes. The streets are excellent, broad and regular. The parks
are a fine feature of the city; by its charter a fixed percentage of all
expenditures for public improvements must be used to purchase park land.
Architectural variety and solidity are favoured in the buildings of the
city by a wealth of beautiful building stones of varied colours
(limestones, sandstones, lavas, granites and marbles), in addition to
which bricks and Roman tiles are employed. The State Capitol, built of
native granite and marble (1887-1895, cost $2,500,000), is an imposing
building. Noteworthy also are the Denver county court house; the
handsome East Denver high school; the Federal building, containing the
United States custom house and post office; the United States mint; the
large Auditorium, in which the Democratic National convention met in
1908; a Carnegie library (1908) and the Mining Exchange; and there are
various excellent business blocks, theatres, clubs and churches. Denver
has an art museum and a zoological museum. The libraries of the city
contain an aggregate of some 300,000 volumes. Denver is the seat of the
Jesuit college of the Sacred Heart (1888; in the suburbs); and the
university of Denver (Methodist, 1889), a co-educational institution,
succeeding the Colorado Seminary (founded in 1864 by John Evans), and
consisting of a college of liberal arts, a graduate school, Chamberlin
astronomical observatory and a preparatory school--these have buildings
in University Park--and (near the centre of the city) the Denver and
Gross College of Medicine, the Denver law school, a college of music in
the building of the old Colorado Seminary, and a Saturday college (with
classes specially for professional men).

The prosperity of the city depends on that of the rich mining country
about it, on a very extensive wholesale trade, for which its situation
and railway facilities admirably fit it, and on its large manufacturing
and farming interests. The value of manufactures produced in 1900 was
$41,368,698 (increase 1890-1900, 41.5%). The value of the factory
product for 1905, however, was 3.3% less than that for 1900, though it
represented 36.6% of the product of the state as a whole. The principal
industry is the smelting and refining of lead, and the smelting works
are among the most interesting sights of the city. The value of the ore
reduced annually is about $10,000,000. Denver has also large foundries
and machine shops, flour and grist mills, and slaughtering and
meat-packing establishments. Denver is the central live-stock market of
the Rocky Mountain states. The beet sugar, fruit and other agricultural
products of the surrounding and tributary section were valued in 1906 at
about $20,000,000. The assessed valuation of property in the city in
1905 was $115,338,920 (about the true value), and the bonded debt
$1,079,595.

At Denver the South Platte is joined by Cherry Creek, and here in
October 1858 were established on opposite sides of the creek two
bitterly rival settlements, St Charles and Auraria; the former was
renamed almost immediately Denver, after General J. W. Denver
(1818-1892), ex-governor of Kansas (which then included Colorado), and
Auraria was absorbed. Denver had already been incorporated by a
provisional local (extra legal) "legislature," and the Kansas
legislature gave a charter to a rival company which the Denver people
bought out. A city government was organized in December 1859; and
continued under a reincorporation effected by the first territorial
legislature of 1861. This body adjourned from Colorado City, nominally
the capital, to Denver, and in 1862 Golden was made the seat of
government. In 1868 Denver became the capital, but feeling in the
southern counties was then so strong against Denver that provision was
made for a popular vote on the situation of the capital five years after
Colorado should become a state. This popular vote confirmed Denver in
1881. Until 1870, when it secured a branch railway from the Union
Pacific line at Cheyenne (Wyoming), the city was on one side of the
transcontinental travel-routes. The first road was quickly followed by
the Kansas Pacific from Kansas City (1870, now also part of the Union
Pacific), the Denver & Rio Grande (1871), the Burlington system (1882),
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé (1887), and other roads which have made
Denver's fortune. In April 1859 appeared the first number of _The Rocky
Mountain News_. The same year a postal express to Leavenworth, Kansas
(10 days, letters 25 cents an ounce) was established; and telegraph
connexion with Boston and New York ($9 for 10 words) in 1863. A private
mint was established in 1860. In the 'seventies all the facilities of a
modern city--gas, street-cars, water-works, telephones--were introduced.
Much the same might be said of a score of cities in the new West, but
none is a more striking example than Denver of marvellous growth. The
city throve on the freighting trade of the mines. In 1864 a tremendous
flood almost ruined it, and another flood in 1878, and a famous strike
in Denver and Leadville in 1879-1880 were further, but only momentary,
checks to its prosperity. As in every western city, particularly those
in mining regions whose sites attained speculative values, Denver had
grave problems with "squatters" or "land-jumpers" in her early years;
and there was the usual gambling and outlawry, sometimes extra-legally
repressed by vigilantes. Settled social conditions, however, soon
established themselves. In 1880 there was a memorable election riot
under the guise of an anti-Chinese demonstration. In the decade
1870-1880 the population increased 648.7%. The 'eighties were notable
for great real estate activity, and the population of the city increased
199.5% from 1880 to 1890. In 1882-1884 three successive annual exhibits
of a National Mining and Industrial Exposition were held. After 1890
growth was slower but continuous. In 1902 a city-and-county of Denver
was created with extensive powers of framing its own charter, and in
1904 a charter was adopted. The constitution of the state was framed by
a convention that sat at Denver from December 1875 to March 1876;
various territorial conventions met here; and here W. J. Bryan was
nominated in 1908 for the presidency.




DEODAND (Lat. _Deo dandum_, that which is to be given to God), in
English law, was a personal chattel (any animal or thing) which, on
account of its having caused the death of a human being, was forfeited
to the king for pious uses. Blackstone, while tracing in the custom an
expiatory design, alludes to analogous Jewish and Greek laws,[1] which
required that what occasions a man's death should be destroyed. In such
usages the notion of the punishment of an animal or thing, or of its
being morally affected from having caused the death of a man, seems to
be implied. The forfeiture of the offending instrument in no way depends
on the guilt of the owner. This imputation of guilt to inanimate objects
or to the lower animals is not inconsistent with what we know of the
ideas of uncivilized races. In English law, deodands came to be regarded
as mere forfeitures to the king, and the rules on which they depended
were not easily explained by any key in the possession of the old
commentators. The law distinguished, for instance, between a thing in
motion and a thing standing still. If a horse or other animal in motion
killed a person, whether infant or adult, or if a cart ran over him, it
was forfeited as a deodand. On the other hand, if death were caused by
falling from a cart or a horse at rest, the law made the chattel a
deodand if the person killed were an adult, but not if he were below the
years of discretion. Blackstone accounts for the greater severity
against things in motion by saying that in such cases the owner is more
usually at fault, an explanation which is doubtful in point of fact, and
would certainly not account for other instances of the same tendency.
Thus, where a man's death is caused by a thing not in motion, that part
only which is the immediate cause is forfeited, as "if a man be climbing
up the wheel of a cart, and is killed by falling from it, the wheel
alone is a deodand"; whereas, if the cart were in motion, not only the
wheel but all that moves along with it (as the cart and the loading) are
forfeited. A similar distinction is to be found in Britton. Where a man
is killed by a vessel at rest the cargo is not deodand; where the vessel
is under sail, hull and cargo are both deodand. For the distinction
between the death of a child and the death of an adult Blackstone
accounts by suggesting that the child "was presumed incapable of actual
sin, and therefore needed no deodand to purchase propitiatory masses;
but every adult who died in actual sin stood in need of such atonement,
according to the humane superstition of the founders of the English
law." Sir Matthew Hale's explanation was that the child could not take
care of himself, whereon Blackstone asks why the owner should save his
forfeiture on account of the imbecility of the child, which ought to
have been an additional reason for caution. The finding of a jury was
necessary to constitute a deodand, and the investigation of the value of
the instrument by which death was caused occupied an important place
among the provisions of early English criminal law. It became a
necessary part of an indictment to state the nature and value of the
weapon employed--as, that the stroke was given by a certain penknife, of
the value of sixpence--so that the king might have his deodand.
Accidents on the high seas did not cause forfeiture, being beyond the
domain of the common law; but it would appear that in the case of ships
in fresh water the law held good. The king might grant his right to
deodands to another. In later times these forfeitures became extremely
unpopular; and juries, with the connivance of judges, found deodands of
trifling value, so as to defeat the inequitable claim. At last, by an
act of 1846 they were abolished, the date noticeably coinciding with the
introduction of railways and modern steam-engines.


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] Compare also the rule of the Twelve Tables, by which an animal
    which had inflicted mischief might be surrendered in lieu of
    compensation.




DEOGARH, the name of several towns of British India. (1) A town in the
Santal Parganas district of Bengal. Pop. (1901) 8838. It is famous for a
group of twenty-two temples dedicated to Siva, the resort of numerous
pilgrims. It is connected with the East Indian railway by a steam
tramway, 5 m. in length. (2) The headquarters of the Bamra feudatory
state in Bengal; 58 m. by road from the Bamra Road station on the
Bengal-Nagpur railway. Pop. (1901) 5702. The town, which is well laid
out, with parks and gardens, and pleasantly situated in a hollow among
hills, rapidly increased in population under the enlightened
administration of the raja, Sir Sudhal Rao, K.C.I.E. (b. 1860). It has a
state-supported high school affiliated to Calcutta University, with a
chemical and physical laboratory. (3) The chief town of the Deogarh
estate in the state of Udaipur, Rajputana, about 68 m. N.N.E. of the
city of Udaipur. It is walled, and contains a fine palace. Pop. (1901)
5384. The holder of the estate is styled _rawat_, and is one of the
first-class nobles of Mewar. (4) Deogarh Fort, the ancient Devagiri or
Deogiri (see DAULATABAD).




DÉOLS, a suburb of the French town of Châteauroux, in the department of
Indre. Pop. (1906) 2337. Déols lies to the north of Châteauroux, from
which it is separated by the Indre. It preserves a fine Romanesque tower
and other remains of the church of a famous Benedictine abbey, the most
important in Berry, founded in 917 by Ebbes the Noble, lord of Déols. A
gateway flanked by towers survives from the old ramparts of the town.
The parish church of St Stephen (15th and 16th centuries) has a
Romanesque façade and a crypt containing the ancient Christian tomb of
St Ludre and his father St Leocade, who according to tradition were
lords of the town in the 4th century. There are also interesting old
paintings of the 10th century representing the ancient abbey. The
pilgrimage to the tomb of St Ludre gave importance to Déols, which under
the name of _Vicus Dolensis_ was in existence in the Roman period. In
468 the Visigoths defeated the Gauls there, the victory carrying with it
the supremacy over the district of Berry. In the middle ages the head of
the family of Déols enjoyed the title of prince and held sway over
nearly all Lower Berry, of which the town itself was the capital. In the
10th century Raoul of Déols gave his castle to the monks of the abbey
and transferred his residence to Châteauroux. For centuries this change
did not affect the prosperity of the place, which was maintained by the
prestige of its abbey. But the burning of the abbey church by the
Protestants during the religious wars and in 1622 the suppression of the
abbey by the agency of Henry II., prince of Condé and of Déols, owing to
the corruption of the monks, led to its decadence.




DEPARTMENT (Fr. _département_, from _départir_, to separate into parts),
a division. The word is used of the branches of the administration in a
state or municipality; in Great Britain it is applied to the subordinate
divisions only of the great offices and boards of state, such as the
bankruptcy department of the Board of Trade, but in the United States
these subordinate divisions are known as "bureaus," while "department"
is used of the eight chief branches of the executive.

A particular use of the word is that for a territorial division of
France, corresponding loosely to an English county. Previous to the
French Revolution, the local unit in France was the province, but this
division was too closely bound up with the administrative mismanagement
of the old régime. Accordingly, at the suggestion of Mirabeau, France
was redivided on entirely new lines, the thirty-four provinces being
broken up into eighty-three departments (see FRENCH REVOLUTION). The
idea was to render them as nearly as possible equal to a certain average
of size and population, though this was not always adhered to. They
derived their names principally from rivers, mountains or other
prominent geographical features. Under Napoleon the number was increased
to one hundred and thirty, but in 1815 it was reduced to eighty-six. In
1860 three new departments were created out of the newly annexed
territory of Savoy and Nice. In 1871 three departments (Bas-Rhin,
Haut-Rhin and Moselle) were lost after the German war. Of the remains of
the Haut-Rhin was formed the territory of Belfort, and the fragments of
the Moselle were incorporated in the department of Meurthe, which was
renamed Meurthe-et-Moselle, making the number at present eighty-seven.
For a complete list of the departments see FRANCE. Each department is
presided over by an officer called a prefect, appointed by the
government, and assisted by a prefectorial council (_conseil de
préfecture_). The departments are subdivided into arrondissements, each
in charge of a sub-prefect. Arrondissements are again subdivided into
cantons, and these into communes, somewhat equivalent to the English
parish (see FRANCE: _LOCAL GOVERNMENT_).




DE PERE, a city of Brown county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., on both sides of the
Fox river, 6 m. above its mouth, and 109 m. N. of Milwaukee. Pop. (1890)
3625; (1900) 4038, of whom 1025 were foreign-born; (1905, state census)
4523. It is served by the Chicago & North-Western and Chicago, Milwaukee
& St Paul railways, by interurban electric lines and by lake and river
steamboat lines, it being the head of lake navigation on the Fox river.
Two bridges here span the Fox, which is from {1/3}m. to ½m. in
width. It is a shipping and transfer point and has paper mills, machine
shops, flour mills, sash, door and blind factories, a launch and
pleasure-boat factory, and knitting works, cheese factories and dairies,
brick yards and grain elevators. There is an excellent water-power. De
Pere is the seat of St Norbert's college (Roman Catholic, 1902) and has
a public library. North of the city is located the state reformatory. On
the coming of the first European, Jean Nicolet, who visited the place in
1634-1635, De Pere was the site of a polyglot Indian settlement of
several thousand attracted by the fishing at the first rapids of the Fox
river. Here in 1670 Father Claude Allouez established the mission of St
Francis Xavier, the second in what is now Wisconsin. From the name
_Rapides des Peres_, which the French applied to the place, was derived
the name De Pere. Here Nicolas Perrot, the first French commandant in
the North-West, established his headquarters, and Father Jacques
Marquette wrote the journal of his journey to the Mississippi. A few
miles south of the city lived for many years Eleazer Williams (c.
1787-1857), the alleged "lost dauphin" Louis XVII. of France and an
authority on Indians, especially Iroquois. De Pere was incorporated as a
village in 1857, and was chartered as a city in 1883.




DEPEW, CHAUNCEY MITCHELL (1834-    ), American lawyer and politician, was
born in Peekskill, New York, on the 23rd of April 1834, of a Huguenot
family (originally Du Puis or De Puy). He graduated at Yale in 1856,
entered politics as a Whig--his father had been a Democrat--was admitted
to the bar in 1858, was a member of the New York Assembly in 1861-1862,
and was secretary of state of New York state in 1864-1865. He refused a
nomination to be United States minister to Japan, and through his
friendship with Cornelius and William H. Vanderbilt in 1866 became
attorney for the New York & Harlem railway, in 1869 was appointed
attorney of the newly consolidated New York Central & Hudson river
railway, of which he soon became a director, and in 1875 was made
general counsel for the entire Vanderbilt system of railways. He became
second vice-president of the New York Central & Hudson river in 1869 and
was its president in 1885-1898, and in 1898 was made chairman of the
board of directors of the Vanderbilt system. In 1872 he joined the
Liberal-Republican movement, and was nominated and defeated for the
office of lieutenant-governor of New York. In 1888 in the National
Republican convention he was a candidate for the presidential
nomination, but withdrew his name in favour of Benjamin Harrison, whose
offer to him in 1889 of the portfolio of state he refused. In 1899 he
was elected United States senator from New York state, and in 1904 was
re-elected for the term ending in 1911. His great personal popularity,
augmented by his ability as an orator, suffered considerably after 1905,
the inquiry into life insurance company methods by a committee of the
state legislature resulting in acute criticism of his actions as a
director of the Equitable Life Assurance Society and as counsel to Henry
B. Hyde and his son. Among his best-known orations are that delivered at
the unveiling of the Bartholdi statue of Liberty enlightening the World
(1886), an address at the Washington Centennial in New York (1889), and
the Columbian oration at the dedication ceremonies of the Chicago
World's Fair (1892).




DEPILATORY (from Lat. _depilare_, to pull out the _pilus_ or hair), any
substance, preparation or process which will remove superfluous hair.
For this purpose caustic alkalis, alkaline earths and also orpiment
(trisulphide of arsenic) are used, the last being somewhat dangerous. No
application is permanent in its effect, as the hair always grows again.
The only permanent method, which is, however, painful, slow in operation
and likely to leave small scars, is by the use of an electric current
for the destruction of the follicles by electrolysis.




DEPORTATION, or TRANSPORTATION, a system of punishment for crime, of
which the essential factor is the removal of the criminal to a penal
settlement outside his own country. It is to be distinguished from mere
expulsion (q.v.) from a country, though the term "deportation" is now
used in that sense in English law under the Aliens Act 1905 (see ALIEN).
Strictly, the deportation or transportation system has ceased to exist
in England, though the removal or exclusion of undesirable persons from
British territory, under various Orders in Council, is possible in
places subject to the Foreign Jurisdiction Acts, and in the case of
criminals under the Extradition Acts.


American plantations.

_Earlier British Transportation System._--At a time when the British
statute-book bristled with capital felonies, when the pick-pocket or
sheep-stealer was hanged out of hand, when Sir Samuel Romilly, to whose
strenuous exertions the amelioration of the penal code is in a great
measure due, declared that the laws of England were written in blood,
another and less sanguinary penalty came into great favour. The
deportation of criminals beyond the seas grew naturally out of the laws
which prescribed banishment for certain offences. The Vagrancy Act of
Elizabeth's reign contained in it the germ of transportation, by
empowering justices in quarter sessions to banish offenders and order
them to be conveyed into such parts beyond the seas as should be
assigned by the privy council. Full effect was given to this statute in
the next reign, as is proved by a letter of James I. dated 1619, in
which the king directs "a hundred dissolute persons" to be sent to
Virginia. Another act of similar tenor was passed in the reign of
Charles II., in which the term "transportation" appears to have been
first used. A further and more systematic development of the system of
transportation took place in 1617, when an act was passed by which
offenders who had escaped the death penalty were handed over to
contractors, who engaged to transport them to the American colonies.
These contractors were vested with a property in the labour of the
convicts for a certain term, generally from seven to fourteen years, and
this right they frequently sold. Labour in those early days was scarce
in the new settlements; and before the general adoption of negro slavery
there was a keen competition for felon hands. An organized system of
kidnapping prevailed along the British coasts; young lads were seized
and sold into what was practically white slavery in the American
plantations. These malpractices were checked, but the legitimate traffic
in convict labour continued, until it was ended peremptorily by the
revolt of the American colonies and the achievement of their
independence in 1776.[1]

The British legislature, making a virtue of necessity, discovered that
transportation to the colonies was bound to be attended by various
inconveniences, particularly by depriving the kingdom of many subjects
whose labour might be useful to the community; and an act was
accordingly passed which provides that convicts sentenced to
transportation might be employed at hard labour at home. At the same
time the consideration of some scheme for their disposal was entrusted
to three eminent public men--Sir William Blackstone, Mr Eden (afterwards
Lord Auckland) and John Howard. The result of their labours was an act
for the establishment of penitentiary houses, dated 1778. This act is of
peculiar importance. It contains the first public enunciation of a
general principle of prison treatment, and shows that even at that early
date the system since nearly universally adopted was fully understood.
The object in view was thus stated. It was hoped "by sobriety,
cleanliness and medical assistance, by a regular series of labour, by
solitary confinement during the intervals of work and by due religious
instruction to preserve and amend the health of the unhappy offenders,
to inure them to habits of industry, to guard them from pernicious
company, to accustom them to serious reflection and to teach them both
the principles and practice of every Christian and moral duty." The
experience of succeeding years has added little to these the true
principles of penal discipline; they form the basis of every species of
prison system carried out since the passing of an act of 1779.


Australian penal settlements.

No immediate action was taken by the committee appointed. Its members
were not in accord as to the choice of site. One was for Islington,
another for Limehouse; Howard only stipulated for some healthy place
well supplied with water and conveniently situated for supervision. He
was strongly of opinion that the penitentiary should be built by convict
labour. Howard withdrew from the commission, and new members were
appointed, who were on the eve of beginning the first penitentiary when
the discoveries of Captain Cook in the South Seas turned the attention
of the government towards these new lands. The vast territories of
Australasia promised an unlimited field for convict colonization, and
for the moment the scheme for penitentiary houses fell to the ground.
Public opinion generally preferred the idea of establishing penal
settlements at a distance from home. "There was general confidence,"
says Merivale in his work on colonization, "in the favourite theory that
the best mode of punishing offenders was that which removed them from
the scene of offence and temptation, cut them off by a great gulf of
space from all their former connexions, and gave them the opportunity of
redeeming past crimes by becoming useful members of society." These
views so far prevailed that an expedition consisting of nine transports
and two men-of-war, the "first fleet" of Australian annals, sailed in
March 1787 for New South Wales. This first fleet reached Botany Bay in
January 1788, but passed on and landed at Port Jackson, where it entered
and occupied Sydney harbour. From that time forward convicts were sent
in constantly increasing numbers from England to the Antipodes. Yet the
early settlement at Sydney had not greatly prospered. The infant colony
had had a bitter struggle for existence. It had been hoped that the
community would raise its own produce and speedily become
self-supporting. But the soil was unfruitful; the convicts knew nothing
of farming. All lived upon rations sent out from home; and when convoys
with relief lingered by the way famine stared all in the face. The
colony was long a penal settlement and nothing more, peopled only by two
classes, convicts and their masters; criminal bondsmen on the one hand
who had forfeited their independence and were bound to labour without
wages for the state, on the other officials to guard and exact the due
performance of tasks. A few free families were encouraged to emigrate,
but they were lost in the mass they were intended to leaven, swamped and
outnumbered by the convicts, shiploads of whom continued to pour in year
after year. When the influx increased, difficulties as to their
employment arose. Free settlers were too few to give work to more than a
small proportion. Moreover, a new policy was in the ascendant, initiated
by Governor Macquarie, who considered the convicts and their
rehabilitation his chief care, and steadily discouraged the immigration
of any but those who "came out for their country's good." The great bulk
of the convict labour thus remained in government hands.

This period marked the first phase in the history of transportation. The
penal colony, having triumphed over early dangers and difficulties, was
crowded with convicts in a state of semi-freedom, maintained at the
public expense and utilized in the development of the latent resources
of the country. The methods employed by Governor Macquarie were not,
perhaps, invariably the best; the time was hardly ripe as yet for the
erection of palatial buildings in Sydney, while the congregation of the
workmen in large bodies tended greatly to their demoralization. But some
of the works undertaken and carried out were of incalculable service to
the young colony; and its early advance in wealth and prosperity was
greatly due to the magnificent roads, bridges and other facilities of
inter-communication for which it was indebted to Governor Macquarie. As
time passed the criminal sewage flowing from the Old World to the New
greatly increased in volume under milder and more humane laws. Many now
escaped the gallows, and much of the overcrowding of the gaols at home
was caused by the gangs of convicts awaiting transhipment to the
Antipodes. They were packed off, however, with all convenient despatch,
and the numbers on government hands in the colonies multiplied
exceedingly, causing increasing embarrassment as to their disposal.
Moreover, the expense of the Australian convict establishments was
enormous.


Assignment system.

Some change in system was inevitable, and the plan of "assignment" was
introduced; in other words, that of freely lending the convicts to any
who would relieve the authorities of the burdensome charge. By this time
free settlers were arriving in greater number, invited by a different
and more liberal policy than that of Governor Macquarie. Inducements
were especially offered to persons possessed of capital to assist in the
development of the country. Assignment developed rapidly; soon eager
competition arose for the convict hands that had been at first so
reluctantly taken. Great facilities existed for utilizing them on the
wide areas of grazing land and on the new stations in the interior. A
pastoral life, without temptations and contaminating influences, was
well suited for convicts. As the colony grew richer and more populous,
other than agricultural employers became assignees, and numerous
enterprises were set on foot. The trades and callings which minister to
the needs of all civilized communities were more and more largely
pursued. There was plenty of work for skilled convicts in the towns, and
the services of the more intelligent were highly prized. It was a great
boon to secure gratis the assistance of men specially trained as clerks,
book-keepers or handicraftsmen. Hence all manner of intrigues and
manoeuvres were afoot on the arrival of drafts and there was a
scramble for the best hands. Here at once was a palpable flaw in the
system of assignment. The lot of the convict was altogether unequal.
Some, the dull, unlettered and unskilled, were drafted up country to
heavy manual labour at which they remained, while clever expert rogues
found pleasant, congenial and often profitable employment in the towns.
The contrast was very marked from the first, but it became the more
apparent when in due course it was seen that some were still engaged in
irksome toil, while others who had come out by the same ship had already
attained to affluence and ease. For the latter transportation was no
punishment, but often the reverse. It meant too often transfer to a new
world under conditions more favourable to success, removed from the
keener competition of the old. By adroit management, too, convicts often
obtained the command of funds, the product of nefarious transactions at
home, which wives or near relatives or unconvicted accomplices presently
brought out to them. It was easy for the free new-comers to secure the
assignment of their convict friends; and the latter, although still
nominally servants and in the background, at once assumed the real
control. Another system productive of much evil was the employment of
convict clerks in positions of trust in various government offices;
convicts did much of the legal work of the colony; a convict was clerk
to the attorney general; others were schoolmasters and were entrusted
with the education of youth.


Evils of convict system.

Under a system so anomalous and uncertain the main object of
transportation as a method of penal discipline and repression was in
danger of being quite overlooked. Yet the state could not entirely
abdicate its functions, although it surrendered to a great extent the
care of criminals to private persons. It had established a code of
penalties for the coercion of the ill-conducted, while it kept the worst
perforce in its own hands. The master was always at liberty to appeal to
the strong arm of the law. A message carried to a neighbouring
magistrate, often by the culprit himself, brought down the prompt
retribution of the lash. Convicts might be flogged for petty offences,
for idleness, drunkenness, turbulence, absconding and so forth. At the
out-stations some show of decorum and regularity was observed, although
the work done was generally scanty and the convicts were secretly given
to all manner of evil courses. The town convicts were worse, because
they were far less controlled. They were nominally under the
surveillance and supervision of the police, which amounted to nothing
at all. They came and went, and amused themselves after working hours,
so that Sydney and all the large towns were hotbeds of vice and
immorality. The masters as a rule made no attempt to watch over their
charges; many of them were absolutely unfitted to do so, being
themselves of low character, "emancipists" frequently, old convicts
conditionally pardoned or who had finished their terms. No effort was
made to prevent the assignment of convicts to improper persons; every
applicant got what he wanted, even though his own character would not
bear inspection. All whom the masters could not manage--the incorrigible
upon whom the lash and bread and water had been tried in vain--were
returned to government charge. These, in short, comprised the whole of
the refuse of colonial convictdom. Every man who could not agree with
his master, or who was to undergo a penalty greater than flogging or
less than capital punishment, came back to government and was disposed
of in one of three ways, (1) the road parties, (2) the chain gang, or
(3) the penal settlements. (1) In the first case, the convicts might be
kept in the vicinity of the towns or marched about the country according
to the work in hand; the labour was severe, but, owing to inefficient
supervision, never intolerable; the diet was ample and there was no
great restraint upon independence within certain wide limits. To the
slackness of control over the road parties was directly traceable the
frequent escape of desperadoes, who, defying recapture, recruited the
gangs of bushrangers which were a constant terror to the whole country.
In (2) the chain or iron gangs, as they were sometimes styled,
discipline was far more rigorous. It was maintained by the constant
presence of a military guard, and when most efficiently organized the
gang was governed by a military officer who was also a magistrate. The
work was really hard, the custody close--in hulk, stockaded barrack or
caravan; the first was at Sydney, the second in the interior, the last
when the undertaking required constant change of place. All were locked
up from sunset to sunrise; all wore heavy leg irons; and all were liable
to immediate flagellation. The convict "scourger" was one of the regular
officials attached to every chain gang. (3) The third and ultimate
receptacle was the penal settlement, to which no offenders were
transferred till all other methods of treatment had failed. These were
terrible cesspools of iniquity, so bad that it seemed, to use the words
of one who knew them well, that "the heart of a man who went to them was
taken from him and he was given that of a beast." The horrors
accumulated at Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, Port Arthur and Tasman's
Peninsula are almost beyond description. The convicts herded together in
them were soon utterly degraded and brutalized; no wonder that reckless
despair took possession of them, that death on the gallows for murder
purposely committed, or the slow terror from starvation following escape
into surrounding wilds was often welcomed as a relief.

The stage which transportation was now reaching and the actual condition
of affairs in the Australian colonies about this period do not appear to
have been much understood in England. Earnest and thoughtful men might
busy themselves with prison discipline at home, and the legislature
might watch with peculiar interest the results obtained from the special
treatment of a limited number of selected offenders in Millbank
penitentiary. But for the great mass of criminality deported to a
distant shore no very active concern was shown. The country for a long
time seemed satisfied with transportation. Portions of the system might
be open to criticism. Thus the Commons committee of 1832 freely
condemned the hulks at Woolwich and other arsenals in which a large
number of convicts were kept while waiting embarkation. It was reported
that the indiscriminate association of prisoners in them produced more
vice, profaneness and demoralization than in the ordinary prisons. After
dark the wildest orgies went on unchecked--dancing, fighting, gambling,
singing and so forth; it was easy to get drink and tobacco and to see
friends from outside. The labour hours were short and the tasks light;
"altogether the situation of the convict in the hulks," says the report,
"cannot be considered penal; it is a state of restriction, but hardly of
punishment."


Australian objections.

But no objection was raised to transportation. It was considered by this
same committee "a most valuable expedient in the system of secondary
punishment." They only thought it necessary to suggest that exile should
be preceded by a period of severe probationary punishment in England, a
proposal which was reiterated later on and actually adopted. It was in
the country most closely affected that dissatisfaction first began to
find voice. Already in 1832 the most reputable sections of Australian
society were beginning to murmur grievously. Transportation had fostered
the growth of a strong party--that representing convict views--and these
were advocated boldly in unprincipled prints. This party, constantly
recruited from the emancipists and ticket-of-leave holders, gradually
grew very numerous, and threatened soon to swamp the honest and
untainted parts of the community. As years passed the prevalence of
crime, and the universally low tone of morality due to the convict
element, became more and more in the ascendant. At length in 1835 Judge
Burton made a loud protest, and in a charge to the grand jury of Sydney
plainly intimated that transportation must cease. While it existed, he
said, the colonies could never rise to their proper position; they could
not claim free institutions. This bold but forcible language commanded
attention. It was speedily echoed in England, and particularly by
Archbishop Whately, who argued that transportation failed in all the
leading requisites of any system of secondary punishment. Transportation
exercised no salutary terror in offenders; it was no longer exile to an
unknown inhospitable region, but to one flowing with milk and honey,
whither innumerable friends and associates had gone already. The most
glowing descriptions came back of the wealth which any clever fellow
might easily amass; stories were told and names mentioned of those who
had made ample fortunes in Australia in a few years. As a matter of fact
the convicts, or at least large numbers of them, had prospered
exceedingly. Some had incomes of twenty, thirty, even forty thousand
pounds a year. The deteriorating effects of the system were plainly
manifest on the surface from the condition of the colony,--the
profligacy of the towns, the scant reprobation of crimes and those who
had committed them. Down below, in the openly sanctioned slavery called
assignment, in the demoralizing chain gangs and in the inexpressibly
horrible penal settlements, were more abundant and more awful proofs of
the general wickedness and corruption. Moreover these appalling results
were accompanied by colossal expenditure. The cost of the colonial
convict establishments, with the passages out, amounted annually to
upwards of £300,000; another £100,000 was expended on the military
garrisons; and various items brought the whole outlay to about half a
million per annum. It may be argued that this was not a heavy price to
pay for peopling a continent and laying the foundations of a vast
Australasian empire. But that empire could never have expanded to its
present dimensions if it had depended on convict immigration alone.
There was a point, too, at which all development, all progress, would
have come to a full stop had it not been relieved of its stigma as a
penal colony.


Reform movement.

That point was reached between 1835 and 1840, when a powerful party came
into existence in New South Wales, pledged to bring about the
abandonment of transportation. A strongly hostile feeling was also
gaining ground in England. In 1837 a new committee of the House of
Commons had made a patient and searching investigation into the merits
and demerits of the system and freely condemned it. The government had
no choice but to give way; it could not ignore the protests of the
colonists, backed up by such an authoritative expression of opinion. In
1840 orders were issued to suspend the deportation of criminals to New
South Wales. But what was to become of the convicts? It was impossible
to keep them at home. The hulks which might have served had also failed;
the faultiness of their internal management had been fully proved. The
committee had recommended the erection of more penitentiaries. But the
costly experiment of Millbank had been barren of results. The model
prison at Pentonville, in process of construction under the pressure of
a movement towards prison reform, could offer but limited
accommodation. A proposal was put forward to construct convict barracks
in the vicinity of the great arsenals; but this, which contained really
the germ of the present British penal system, was premature. The
government in this dilemma steered a middle course and resolved to
adhere to transportation, but under a greatly modified and it was hoped
much improved form. The colony of Van Diemen's Land, younger and less
self-reliant than its neighbour, had also endured convict immigration
but had made no protest. It was resolved to direct the whole stream of
deportation upon Van Diemen's Land, which was thus constituted one vast
colonial prison. The main principle of the new system was one of
probation; hence its name. All convicts were to pass through various
stages and degrees of punishment according to their conduct and
character. Some general depot was needed where the necessary observation
could be made, and it was found at Millbank penitentiary. Thence boys
were sent to the prison for juveniles at Parkhurst; the most promising
subjects among the adults were selected to undergo the experimental
discipline of solitude and separation at Pentonville; less hopeful cases
went to the hulks; and all adults alike passed on to the Antipodes.
Fresh stages awaited the convict on his arrival at Van Diemen's Land.
The first was limited to "lifers" and colonial convicts sentenced a
second time. It consisted in detention at one of the penal stations,
either Norfolk Island or Tasman's Peninsula, where the disgraceful
conditions already described continued unchanged to the very last. The
second stage received the largest number, who were subjected in it to
gang labour, working under restraint in various parts of the colony.
These probation stations, as they were called, were intended to
inculcate habits of industry and subordination; they were provided with
supervisors and religious instructors; and had they not been tainted by
the vicious virus brought to them by others arriving from the penal
stations, they might have answered their purpose for a time. But they
became as bad as the worst of the penal settlements and contributed
greatly to the breakdown of the whole system. The third stage and the
first step towards freedom was the concession of a pass which permitted
the convict to be at large under certain conditions to seek work for
himself; the fourth was a ticket-of-leave, the possession of which
allowed him to come and go much as he pleased; the fifth and last was
absolute pardon, with the prospects of rehabilitation.


Gradual abandonment.

This scheme seemed admirable on paper; yet it failed completely when put
into practice. Colonial resources were quite unable to bear the
pressure. Within two or three years Van Diemen's Land was inundated with
convicts. Sixteen thousand were sent out in four years; the average
annual number in the colony was about 30,000, and this when there were
only 37,000 free settlers. Half the whole number of convicts remained in
government hands and were kept in the probation gangs, engaged upon
public works of great utility; but the other half, pass-holders and
ticket-of-leave men in a state of semi-freedom, could get little or no
employment. The supply greatly exceeded the demand; there were no hirers
of labour. Had the colony been as large and as prosperous as its
neighbour it could scarcely have absorbed the glut of workmen; but it
was really on the verge of bankruptcy--its finances were embarrassed,
its trades and industries at a standstill. But not only were the
convicts idle; they were utterly depraved. It was soon found that the
system which kept large bodies always together had a most pernicious
effect upon their moral condition. "The congregation of criminals in
large batches without adequate supervision meant simply wholesale,
widespread pollution," as was said at the time. These ever-present and
constantly increasing evils forced the government to reconsider its
position; and in 1846 transportation to Van Diemen's Land was
temporarily suspended for a couple of years, during which it was hoped
some relief might be afforded. The formation of a new convict colony in
North Australia had been contemplated; but the project, warmly espoused
by Mr Gladstone, then under-secretary of state for the colonies, was
presently abandoned; and it now became clear that no resumption of
transportation was possible. The measures taken to substitute other
methods of secondary punishment are set forth in the article Prison
(q.v.).


French practice.

_France._--France adopted deportation for criminals as far back as 1763,
when a penal colony was founded in French Guiana and failed
disastrously. An expedition was sent there, composed of the most evil
elements of the Paris population and numbering 14,000, all of whom died.
The attempt was repeated in 1766 and with the same miserable result.
Other failures are recorded, the worst being the scheme of the
philanthropist Baron Milius, who in 1823 planned to form a community on
the banks of the Mana (French Guiana) by the marriage of exiled convicts
and degraded women, which resulted in the most ghastly horrors. The
principle of deportation was then formally condemned by publicists and
government until suddenly in 1854 it was reintroduced into the French
penal code with many high-sounding phrases. Splendid results were to be
achieved in the creation of rich colonies afar, and the regeneration of
the criminal by new openings in a new land. The only outlet available at
the moment beyond the sea was French Guiana, and it was again to be
utilized despite its pestilential climate. Thousands were exiled, more
than half to find certain death; none of the penal settlements
prospered. No return was made by agricultural development, farms and
plantations proved a dead loss under the unfavourable conditions of
labour enforced in a malarious climate and unkindly soil, and it was
acknowledged by French officials that the attempt to establish a penal
colony on the equator was utterly futile. Deportation to Guiana was not
abandoned, but instead of native-born French exiles, convicts of subject
races, Arabs, Anamites and Asiatic blacks, were sent exclusively, with
no better success as regards colonization.

In 1864, however, it was possible to divert the stream elsewhere. New
Caledonia in the Australian Pacific was annexed to France in 1853. Ten
years later it became a new settlement for convict emigrants. A first
shipload was disembarked in 1864 at Noumea, and the foundations of the
city laid. Prison buildings were the first erected and were planted upon
the island of Nou, a small breakwater to the Bay of Noumea. Outwardly
all went well under the fostering care of the authorities. The
population steadily increased; an average total of 600 in 1867 rose in
the following year to 1554. In 1874 the convict population exceeded
5000; in 1880 it had risen to 8000; the total reached 9608 at the end of
December 1883. But from that time forward the numbers transported
annually fell, for it was found that this South Pacific island, with its
fertile soil and fairly temperate climate, by no means intimidated the
dangerous classes; and the French administration therefore resumed
deportation of French-born whites to Guiana, which was known as
notoriously unhealthy and was likely to act as a more positive
deterrent. The authorities divided their exiles between the two outlets,
choosing New Caledonia for the convicts who gave some promise of
regeneration, and sending criminals with the worst antecedents and
presumably incorrigible to the settlements on the equator. This was in
effect to hand over a fertile colony entirely to criminals. Free
immigration to New Caledonia was checked, and the colony became almost
exclusively penal. The natural growth of a prosperous colonial community
made no advance, and convict labour did little to stimulate it, the
public works, essential for development, and construction of roads were
neglected; there was no extensive clearance of lands, no steady
development of agriculture. From 1898 simple deportation practically
ceased, but the islands were full of convicts already sent, and they
still received the product of the latest invention in the criminal code
known as "relegation," a punishment directed against the recidivist or
incorrigible criminal whom no penal retribution had hitherto touched and
whom the French law felt justified in banishing for ever to the "back of
beyond." A certain period of time spent in a hard labour prison preceded
relegation, but the convicts on arrival were generally unfitted to
assist in colonization. They were for the most part decadent, morally
and physically; their labour was of no substantial value to colonists
or themselves, and there was small hope of profitable result when they
gained conditional liberation, with a concession of colonial land and a
possibility of rehabilitation by their own efforts abroad, for by their
sentence they were forbidden to hope for return to France. The
punishment of relegation was not long in favour, the number of sentences
to it fell year after year, and it has now been practically abandoned.

_Other Countries._--Penal exile has been practised by some other
countries as a method of secondary punishment. Russia since 1823 has
directed a stream of offenders, mainly political, upon Siberia, and at
one time the yearly average sent was 18,000. The Siberian exile system,
the horrors of which cannot be exaggerated, belongs only in part to
penitentiary science, but it was very distinctly punitive and aimed at
regeneration of the individual and the development of the soil by new
settlements. Although the journey was made mostly on foot and not by sea
transport, the principle of deportation (or more exactly of removal) was
the essence of the system. The later practice, however, has been exactly
similar to transportation as originated by England and afterwards
followed by France. The penal colonization of the island of Sakhalin
reproduced the preceding methods, and the Russian convicts were conveyed
by ships through the Suez Canal to the Far East. Sakhalin was hopefully
intended as an outlet for released convicts and their rehabilitation by
their own efforts, precisely in the manner tried in Australia and New
Caledonia. The result repeated previous experiences. There was land to
reclaim, forests to cut down, marshes to drain, everything but a
temperate climate and a good will of the felon labourers to create a
prosperous colony. But the convicts would not work; a few sought to win
the right to occupy a concession of soil, but the bulk were pure
vagabonds, wandering to and fro in search of food. The agricultural
enterprise was a complete failure. The wrong sites for cultivation were
chosen, the labourers were unskilled and they handled very indifferent
tools. Want amounting to constant starvation was a constant rule; the
rations were insufficient and unwholesome, very little meat eked out
with salt fish and with entire absence of vegetables. The general tone
of morals was inconceivably low, and a universal passion for alcohol and
card-playing prevailed. According to one authority the life of the
convicts at Sakhalin was a frightful nightmare, "a mixture of debauchery
and innocence mixed with real sufferings and almost inconceivable
privations, corrupt in every one of its phases." The prisons hopelessly
ruined all who entered them, all classes were indiscriminately herded
together. It is now generally allowed that deportation, as practised,
had utterly failed, the chief reasons being the unmanageable numbers
sent and the absence of outlets for their employment, even at great
cost.

The prisons on Sakhalin have been described as hotbeds of vice; the only
classification of prisoners is one based on the length of sentence. Some
imperfect attempt is made to separate those waiting trial from the
recidivist or hardened offender, but too often the association is
indiscriminate. Prison discipline is generally slack and ineffective,
the staff of warders, from ill-judged economy, too weak to supervise or
control. The officers themselves are of inferior stamp, drunken,
untrustworthy, overbearing, much given to "trafficking" with the
prisoners, accepting bribes to assist escape, quick to misuse and
oppress their charges. Crime of the worst description is common.

Italy has practised deportation in planting various agricultural
colonies upon the islands to be found on her coast. They were meant to
imitate the intermediate prisons of the Irish system, where prisoners
might work out their redemption, when provisionally released. Two were
established on the islands of Pianoso and Gorgona, and there were
settlements made on Monte Christo and Capraia. They were used also to
give effect to the system of enforced residence or _domicilio coatto_.

Portugal also has tried deportation to the African colony of Angola on a
small scale with some success, and combined it with free emigration. The
settlers have been represented as well disposed towards the convicts,
gladly obtaining their services or helping them in the matter of
security. The convict element is orderly, and, although their treatment
is "_peu repressive et relativement debonnaire_," few commit offences.

The Andaman Islands have been utilized by the Indian government since
the mutiny (1857) for the deportation of heinous criminals (see ANDAMAN
ISLANDS).

   AUTHORITIES.--Captain A. Phillip, R.N., _The Voyage of Governor
   Phillip to New South Wales_ (1790); David Collins, _Account of the
   English Colony of New South Wales_ (1798); Archbishop Whately,
   _Remarks on Transportation_ (1834); Herman Merivale, _Colonization
   and Colonies_ (1841); d'Haussonville, _Établissements pénitentiaires
   en France et aux colonies_ (1875); George Griffith, _In a Prison
   Land_; Cuche, _Science et legislation pénitentiaire_ (1905); Hawes,
   _The Uttermost East_ (1906).                              (A. G.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] See J. C. Ballagh, _White Servitude in Virginia_ (Baltimore, 1895.)




DEPOSIT (Lat. _depositum_, from _deponere_, to lay down, to put in the
care of), anything laid down or separated; as in geology, any mass of
material accumulated by a natural agency (see BED), and in chemistry, a
precipitate or matter settling from a solution or suspension. In
banking, a deposit may mean, generally, a sum of money lodged in a bank
without regard to the conditions under which it is held, but more
specially money lodged with a bank on "deposit account" and acknowledged
by the banker by a "deposit receipt" given to the depositor. It is then
not drawn upon by cheque, usually bears interest at a rate varying from
time to time, and can only be withdrawn after fixed notice. Deposit is
also used in the sense of earnest or security for the performance of a
contract. In the law of mortgage the deposit of title-deeds is usual as
a security for the repayment of money advanced. Such a deposit operates
as an equitable mortgage. In the law of contract, deposit or simple
bailment is delivery or bailment of goods in trust to be kept without
recompense, and redelivered on demand (see BAILMENT).




DEPOT (from the Fr. _dépôt_, Lat. _depositum_, laid down; the French
accent marks are usually dispensed with in English), a place where
things may be stored or deposited, such as a furniture or forage depot,
the accumulation of military stores, especially in the theatre of
operations. In America the word is used of a railway station, whether
for passengers or goods; in Great Britain on railways the word, when in
use, is applied to goods stations. A particular military application is
to a depot, situated as a rule in the centre of the recruiting district
of the regiment or other unit, where recruits are received and undergo
the necessary preliminary training before joining the active troops.
Such depots are maintained in peace time by all armies which have to
supply distant or oversea garrisons; in an army raised by compulsory
service and quartered in its own country, the regiments are usually
stationed in their own districts, and on their taking the field for war
leave behind a small nucleus for the formation and training of drafts to
be sent out later. These nucleus troops are generally called depot
troops.




DEPRETIS, AGOSTINO (1813-1887), Italian statesman, was born at Mezzana
Corte, in the province of Stradella on the 31st of January 1813. From
early manhood a disciple of Mazzini and affiliated to the _Giovane
Italia_, he took an active part in the Mazzinian conspiracies and was
nearly captured by the Austrians while smuggling arms into Milan.
Elected deputy in 1848, he joined the Left and founded the journal _Il
Diritto_, but held no official position until appointed governor of
Brescia in 1859. In 1860 he went to Sicily on a mission to reconcile the
policy of Cavour (who desired the immediate incorporation of the island
in the kingdom of Italy) with that of Garibaldi, who wished to postpone
the Sicilian _plébiscite_ until after the liberation of Naples and Rome.
Though appointed pro-dictator of Sicily by Garibaldi, he failed in his
attempt. Accepting the portfolio of public works in the Rattazzi cabinet
in 1862, he served as intermediary in arranging with Garibaldi the
expedition which ended disastrously at Aspromonte. Four years later, on
the outbreak of war against Austria, he entered the Ricasoli cabinet as
minister of marine, and, by maintaining Admiral Persano in command of
the fleet, contributed to the defeat of Lissa. His apologists contend,
however, that, as an inexperienced civilian, he could not have made
sudden changes in naval arrangements without disorganizing the fleet,
and that in view of the impending hostilities he was obliged to accept
the dispositions of his predecessors. Upon the death of Rattazzi in
1873, Depretis became leader of the Left, prepared the advent of his
party to power, and was called upon to form the first cabinet of the
Left in 1876. Overthrown by Cairoli in March 1878 on the grist-tax
question, he succeeded, in the following December, in defeating Cairoli,
became again premier, but on the 3rd of July 1879 was once more
overturned by Cairoli. In November 1879 he, however, entered the Cairoli
cabinet as minister of the interior, and in May 1881 succeeded to the
premiership, retaining that office until his death on the 29th of July
1887. During the long interval he recomposed his cabinet four times,
first throwing out Zanardelli and Baccarini in order to please the
Right, and subsequently bestowing portfolios upon Ricotti, Robilant and
other Conservatives, so as to complete the political process known as
"trasformismo." A few weeks before his death he repented of his
transformist policy, and again included Crispi and Zanardelli in his
cabinet. During his long term of office he abolished the grist tax,
extended the suffrage, completed the railway system, aided Mancini in
forming the Triple Alliance, and initiated colonial policy by the
occupation of Massawa; but, at the same time, he vastly increased
indirect taxation, corrupted and destroyed the fibre of parliamentary
parties, and, by extravagance in public works, impaired the stability of
Italian finance.




DEPTFORD, a south-eastern metropolitan borough of London, England,
bounded N. by Bermondsey, E. by the river Thames and Greenwich, S. by
Lewisham and W. by Camberwell. Pop. (1901) 110,398. The name is
connected with a ford over the Ravensbourne, a stream entering the
Thames through Deptford Creek. The borough comprises only the parish of
Deptford St Paul, that of Deptford St Nicholas being included in the
borough of Greenwich. Deptford is a district of poor streets, inhabited
by a large industrial population, employed in engineering and other
riverside works. On the river front, extending into the borough of
Greenwich, are the royal victualling yard and the site of the old
Deptford dockyard. The first supplies the navy with provisions,
medicines, furniture, &c., manufactured or stored in the large
warehouses here. The dockyard ceased to be used in 1869, and was filled
up and converted into a foreign cattle market by the City Corporation.
Of public buildings the most noteworthy are St Paul's church (1730), of
classic design; the municipal buildings; and the hospital for master
mariners, maintained by the corporation of the Trinity House, which was
founded at Deptford, the old hall being pulled down in 1787. Other
institutions are the Goldsmiths' Polytechnic Institute, New Cross; and
the South-eastern fever hospital. A mansion known as Sayes Court, taken
down in 1729, was the residence of the duke of Sussex in the reign of
Elizabeth; it was occupied in the following century by John Evelyn,
author of _Sylva_, and by Peter the Great during his residence in
England in 1698. The site of its gardens is occupied by Deptford Park of
11 acres. Another open space is Telegraph Hill (9½ acres). The
parliamentary borough of Deptford returns one member. The borough
council consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 36 councillors. Area,
1562.7 acres.




DEPUTY (through the Fr. from a Late Lat. use of _deputare_, to cut off,
allot; _putare_ having the original sense of to trim, prune), one
appointed to act or govern instead of another; one who exercises an
office in another man's right, a substitute; in representative
government a member of an elected chamber. In general, the powers and
duties of a deputy are those of his principal (see also REPRESENTATION),
but the extent to which he may exercise them is dependent upon the power
delegated to him. He may be authorized to exercise the whole of his
principal's office, in which case he is a general deputy, or to act only
in some particular matter or service, when he is termed a special
deputy. In the United Kingdom various officials are specifically
empowered by statute to appoint deputies to act for them under certain
circumstances. Thus a clerk of the peace, in case of illness, incapacity
or absence, may appoint a fit person to act as his deputy. While judges
of the supreme court cannot act by deputy, county court judges and
recorders can, in cases of illness or unavoidable absence, appoint
deputies. So can registrars of county courts and returning officers at
elections.




DE QUINCEY, THOMAS (1785-1859), English author, was born at Greenheys,
Manchester, on the 15th of August 1785. He was the fifth child in a
family of eight (four sons and four daughters). His father, descended
from a Norman family, was a merchant, who left his wife and six children
a clear income of £1600 a year. Thomas was from infancy a shy, sensitive
child, with a constitutional tendency to dreaming by night and by day;
and, under the influence of an elder brother, a lad "whose genius for
mischief amounted to inspiration," who died in his sixteenth year, he
spent much of his boyhood in imaginary worlds of their own creating. The
amusements and occupations of the whole family, indeed, seem to have
been mainly intellectual; and in De Quincey's case, emphatically, "the
child was father to the man." "My life has been," he affirms in the
_Confessions_, "on the whole the life of a philosopher; from my birth I
was made an intellectual creature, and intellectual in the highest sense
my pursuits and pleasures have been." From boyhood he was more or less
in contact with a polished circle; his education, easy to one of such
native aptitude, was sedulously attended to. When he was in his twelfth
year the family removed to Bath, where he was sent to the grammar
school, at which he remained for about two years; and for a year more he
attended another public school at Winkfield, Wiltshire. At thirteen he
wrote Greek with ease; at fifteen he not only composed Greek verses in
lyric measures, but could converse in Greek fluently and without
embarrassment; one of his masters said of him, "that boy could harangue
an Athenian mob better than you or I could address an English one."
Towards the close of his fifteenth year he visited Ireland, with a
companion of his own age, Lord Westport, the son of Lord Altamont, an
Irish peer, and spent there in residence and travel some months of the
summer and autumn of the year 1800,--being a spectator at Dublin of "the
final ratification of the bill which united Ireland to Great Britain."
On his return to England, his mother having now settled at St John's
Priory, a residence near Chester, De Quincey was sent to the Manchester
grammar school, mainly in the hope of securing one of the school
exhibitions to help his expenses at Oxford.

Discontented with the mode in which his guardians conducted his
education, and with some view apparently of forcing them to send him
earlier to college, he left this school after less than a year's
residence--ran away, in short, to his mother's house. There his mother's
brother, Colonel Thomas Penson, made an arrangement for him to have a
weekly allowance, on which he might reside at some country place in
Wales, and pursue his studies, presumably till he could go to college.
From Wales, however, after brief trial, "suffering grievously from want
of books," he went off as he had done from school, and hid himself from
guardians and friends in the world of London. And now, as he says,
commenced "that episode, or impassioned parenthesis of my life, which is
comprehended in _The Confessions of an English Opium Eater_." This
London episode extended over a year or more; his money soon vanished,
and he was in the utmost poverty; he obtained shelter for the night in
Greek Street, Soho, from a moneylender's agent, and spent his days
wandering in the streets and parks; finally the lad was reconciled to
his guardians, and in 1803 was sent to Worcester College, Oxford, being
by this time about nineteen. It was in the course of his second year at
Oxford that he first tasted opium,--having taken it to allay neuralgic
pains. De Quincey's mother had settled at Weston Lea, near Bath, and on
one of his visits to Bath, De Quincey made the acquaintance of
Coleridge; he took Mrs Coleridge to Grasmere, where he became personally
acquainted with Wordsworth.

After finishing his career of five years at college in 1808 he kept
terms at the Middle Temple; but in 1809 visited the Wordsworths at
Grasmere, and in the autumn returned to Dove Cottage, which he had taken
on a lease. His choice was of course influenced partly by neighbourhood
to Wordsworth, whom he early appreciated;--having been, he says, the
only man in all Europe who quoted Wordsworth so early as 1802. His
friendship with Wordsworth decreased within a few years, and when in
1834 De Quincey published in _Tait's Magazine_ his reminiscences of the
Grasmere circle, the indiscreet references to the Wordsworths contained
in the article led to a complete cessation of intercourse. Here also he
enjoyed the society and friendship of Coleridge, Southey and especially
of Professor Wilson, as in London he had of Charles Lamb and his circle.
He continued his classical and other studies, especially exploring the
at that time almost unknown region of German literature, and indicating
its riches to English readers. Here also, in 1816, he married Margaret
Simpson, the "dear M----" of whom a charming glimpse is accorded to the
reader of the _Confessions_; his family came to be five sons and three
daughters.

For about a year and a half he edited the _Westmoreland Gazette_. He
left Grasmere for London in the early part of 1820. The Lambs received
him with great kindness and introduced him to the proprietors of the
_London Magazine_. It was in this journal in 1821 that the _Confessions_
appeared. De Quincey also contributed to _Blackwood_, to _Knight's
Quarterly Magazine_, and later to _Tait's Magazine_. His connexion with
_Blackwood_ took him to Edinburgh in 1828, and he lived there for twelve
years, contributing from time to time to the _Edinburgh Literary
Gazette_. His wife died in 1837, and the family eventually settled at
Lasswade, but from this time De Quincey spent his time in lodgings in
various places, staying at one place until the accumulation of papers
filled the rooms, when he left them in charge of the landlady and
wandered elsewhere. After his wife's death he gave way for the fourth
time in his life to the opium habit, but in 1844 he reduced his daily
quantity by a tremendous effort to six grains, and never again yielded.
He died in Edinburgh on the 8th of December 1859, and is buried in the
West Churchyard.

During nearly fifty years De Quincey lived mainly by his pen. His
patrimony seems never to have been entirely exhausted, and his habits
and tastes were simple and inexpensive; but he was reckless in the use
of money, and had debts and pecuniary difficulties of all sorts. There
was, indeed, his associates affirm, an element of romance even in his
impecuniosity, as there was in everything about him; and the diplomatic
and other devices by which he contrived to keep clear of clamant
creditors, while scrupulously fulfilling many obligations, often
disarmed animosity, and converted annoyance into amusement. The famous
_Confessions of an English Opium Eater_ was published in a small volume
in 1822, and attracted a very remarkable degree of attention, not simply
by its personal disclosures, but by the extraordinary power of its
dream-painting. No other literary man of his time, it has been remarked,
achieved so high and universal a reputation from such merely fugitive
efforts. The only works published separately (not in periodicals) were a
novel, _Klosterheim_ (1832), and _The Logic of Political Economy_
(1844). After his works were brought together, De Quincey's reputation
was not merely maintained, but extended. For range of thought and topic,
within the limits of pure literature, no like amount of material of such
equality of merit proceeded from any eminent writer of the day. However
profuse and discursive, De Quincey is always polished, and generally
exact--a scholar, a wit, a man of the world and a philosopher, as well
as a genius. He looked upon letters as a noble and responsible calling;
in his essay on Oliver Goldsmith he claims for literature the rank not
only of a fine art, but of the highest and most potent of fine arts; and
as such he himself regarded and practised it. He drew a broad
distinction between "the literature of _knowledge_ and the literature of
_power_," asserting that the function of the first is to _teach_, the
function of the second to _move_,--maintaining that the meanest of
authors who moves has pre-eminence over all who merely teach, that the
literature of knowledge must perish by supersession, while the
literature of power is "triumphant for ever as long as the language
exists in which it speaks." It is to this class of motive literature
that De Quincey's own works essentially belong; it is by virtue of that
vital element of power that they have emerged from the rapid oblivion of
periodicalism, and live in the minds of later generations. But their
power is weakened by their volume.

De Quincey fully defined his own position and claim to distinction in
the preface to his collected works. These he divides into three
classes:--"_first_, that class which proposes primarily to amuse the
reader," such as the _Narratives, Autobiographic Sketches_, &c.;
"_second_, papers which address themselves purely to the understanding
as an insulated faculty, or do so primarily," such as the essays on
Essenism, the Caesars, Cicero, &c.; and finally, as a _third_ class,
"and, in virtue of their aim, as a far higher class of compositions," he
ranks those "modes of impassioned prose ranging under no precedents that
I am aware of in any literature," such as the _Confessions_ and
_Suspiria de Profundis_. The high claim here asserted has been
questioned; and short and isolated examples of eloquent apostrophe, and
highly wrought imaginative description, have been cited from Rousseau
and other masters of style; but De Quincey's power of sustaining a
fascinating and elevated strain of "impassioned prose" is allowed to be
entirely his own. Nor, in regard to his writings as a whole, will a
minor general claim which he makes be disallowed, namely, that he "does
not write without a thoughtful consideration of his subject," and also
with novelty and freshness of view. "Generally," he says, "I claim (not
arrogantly, but with firmness) the merit of rectification applied to
absolute errors, or to injurious limitations of the truth." Another
obvious quality of all his genius is its overflowing fulness of allusion
and illustration, recalling his own description of a great philosopher
or scholar--"Not one who depends simply on an infinite memory, but also
on an infinite and electrical power of combination, bringing together
from the four winds, like the angel of the resurrection, what else were
dust from dead men's bones into the unity of breathing life." It is
useless to complain of his having lavished and diffused his talents and
acquirements over so vast a variety of often comparatively trivial and
passing topics. The world must accept gifts from men of genius as they
offer them; circumstance and the hour often rule their form. Those
influences, no less than the idiosyncrasy of the man, determined De
Quincey to the illumination of such matter for speculation as seemed to
lie before him; he was not careful to search out recondite or occult
themes, though these he did not neglect,--a student, a scholar and a
recluse, he was yet at the same time a man of the world, keenly
interested in the movements of men and in the page of history that
unrolled itself before him day by day. To the discussion of things new,
as readily as of things old, aided by a capacious, retentive and ready
memory, which dispensed with reference to printed pages, he brought also
the exquisite keenness and subtlety of his highly analytic and
imaginative intellect, the illustrative stores of his vast and varied
erudition, and that large infusion of common sense which preserved him
from becoming at any time a mere _doctrinaire_, or visionary. If he did
not throw himself into any of the great popular controversies or
agitations of the day, it was not from any want of sympathy with the
struggles of humanity or the progress of the race, but rather because
his vocation was to apply to such incidents of his own time, as to like
incidents of all history, great philosophical principles and tests of
truth and power. In politics, in the party sense of that term, he would
probably have been classed as a Liberal Conservative or Conservative
Liberal--at one period of his life perhaps the former, and at a later
the latter. Originally, as we have seen, his surroundings were
aristocratic, in his middle life his associates, notably Wordsworth,
Southey and Wilson, were all Tories; but he seems never to have held the
extreme and narrow views of that circle. Though a flavour of high
breeding runs through his writings, he has no vulgar sneers at the
vulgar. As he advanced in years his views became more and more decidedly
liberal, but he was always as far removed from Radicalism as from
Toryism, and may be described as a philosophical politician, capable of
classification under no definite party name or colour. Of political
economy he had been an early and earnest student, and projected, if he
did not so far proceed with, an elaborate and systematic treatise on the
science, of which all that appears, however, are his fragmentary
_Dialogues_ on the system of Ricardo, published in the _London Magazine_
in 1824, and _The Logic of Political Economy_ (1844). But political and
economic problems largely exercised his thoughts, and his historical
sketches show that he is constantly alive to their interpenetrating
influence. The same may be said of his biographies, notably of his
remarkable sketch of Dr Parr. Neither politics nor economics, however,
exercised an absorbing influence on his mind,--they were simply
provinces in the vast domain of universal speculation through which he
ranged "with unconfined wings." How wide and varied was the region he
traversed a glance at the titles of the papers which make up his
collected--or more properly, selected--works (for there was much matter
of evanescent interest not reprinted) sufficiently shows. Some things in
his own line he has done perfectly; he has written many pages of
magnificently mixed argument, irony, humour and eloquence, which, for
sustained brilliancy, richness, subtle force and purity of style and
effect, have simply no parallels; and he is without peer the prince of
dreamers. The use of opium no doubt stimulated this remarkable faculty
of reproducing in skilfully selected phrase the grotesque and shifting
forms of that "cloudland, gorgeous land," which opens to the
sleep-closed eye.

To the appreciation of De Quincey the reader must bring an imaginative
faculty somewhat akin to his own--a certain general culture, and large
knowledge of books, and men and things. Otherwise much of that slight
and delicate allusion that gives point and colour and charm to his
writings will be missed; and on this account the full enjoyment and
comprehension of De Quincey must always remain a luxury of the literary
and intellectual. But his skill in narration, his rare pathos, his wide
sympathies, the pomp of his dream-descriptions, the exquisite
playfulness of his lighter dissertations, and his abounding though
delicate and subtle humour, commend him to a larger class. Though far
from being a professed humorist--a character he would have shrunk
from--there is no more expert worker in a sort of half-veiled and
elaborate humour and irony than De Quincey; but he employs those
resources for the most part secondarily. Only in one instance has he
given himself up to them unreservedly and of set purpose, namely, in the
famous "Essay on Murder considered as one of the Fine Arts," published
in _Blackwood_,--an effort which, admired and admirable though it be, is
also, it must be allowed, somewhat strained. His style, full and
flexible, pure and polished, is peculiarly his own; yet it is not the
style of a mannerist,--its charm is, so to speak, latent; the form never
obtrudes; the secret is only discoverable by analysis and study. It
consists simply in the reader's assurance of the writer's complete
mastery over all the infinite applicability and resources of the English
language. Hence involutions and parentheses, "cycle on epicycle," evolve
themselves into a stately clearness and harmony; and sentences and
paragraphs, loaded with suggestion, roll on smoothly and musically,
without either fatiguing or cloying--rather, indeed, to the surprise as
well as delight of the reader; for De Quincey is always ready to indulge
in feats of style, witching the world with that sort of noble
horsemanship which is as graceful as it is daring.

It has been complained that, in spite of the apparently full confidences
of the _Confessions_ and _Autobiographic Sketches_, readers are left in
comparative ignorance, biographically speaking, of the man De Quincey.
Two passages in his _Confessions_ afford sufficient clues to this
mystery. In one he describes himself "as framed for love and all gentle
affections," and in another confesses to the "besetting infirmity" of
being "too much of an eudaemonist." "I hanker," he says, "too much after
a state of happiness, both for myself and others; I cannot face misery,
whether my own or not, with an eye of sufficient firmness, and am little
capable of surmounting present pain for the sake of any recessionary
benefit." His sensitive disposition dictated the ignoring in his
writings of traits merely personal to himself, as well as his
ever-recurrent resort to opium as a doorway of escape from present ill;
and prompted those habits of seclusion, and that apparently capricious
abstraction of himself from the society not only of his friends, but of
his own family, in which he from time to time persisted. He confessed to
occasional accesses of an almost irresistible impulse to flee to the
labyrinthine shelter of some great city like London or Paris,--there to
dwell solitary amid a multitude, buried by day in the cloister-like
recesses of mighty libraries, and stealing away by night to some obscure
lodging. Long indulgence in seclusion, and in habits of study the most
lawless possible in respect of regular hours or any considerations of
health or comfort,--the habit of working as pleased himself without
regard to the divisions of night or day, of times of sleeping or waking,
even of the slow procession of the seasons, had latterly so disinclined
him to the restraints, however slight, of ordinary social intercourse,
that he very seldom submitted to them. On such rare occasions, however,
as he did appear, perhaps at some simple meal with a favoured friend, or
in later years in his own small but refined domestic circle, he was the
most charming of guests, hosts or companions. A short and fragile, but
well-proportioned frame; a shapely and compact head; a face beaming with
intellectual light, with rare, almost feminine beauty of feature and
complexion; a fascinating courtesy of manner; and a fulness, swiftness
and elegance of silvery speech,--such was the irresistible "mortal
mixture of earth's mould" that men named De Quincey. He possessed in a
high degree what James Russell Lowell called "the grace of perfect
breeding, everywhere persuasive, and nowhere emphatic"; and his whole
aspect and manner exercised an undefinable attraction over every one,
gentle or simple, who came within its influence; for shy as he was, he
was never rudely shy, making good his boast that he had always made it
his "pride to converse familiarly _more socratico_ with all human
beings--man, woman and child"--looking on himself as a catholic creature
standing in an equal relation to high and low, to educated and
uneducated. He would converse with a peasant lad or a servant girl in
phrase as choice, and sentences as sweetly turned, as if his
interlocutor were his equal both in position and intelligence; yet
without a suspicion of pedantry, and with such complete adaptation of
style and topic that his talk charmed the humblest as it did the highest
that listened to it. His conversation was not a monologue; if he had the
larger share, it was simply because his hearers were only too glad that
it should be so; he would listen with something like deference to very
ordinary talk, as if the mere fact of the speaker being one of the same
company entitled him to all consideration and respect. The natural bent
of his mind and disposition, and his lifelong devotion to letters, to
say nothing of his opium eating, rendered him, it must be allowed,
regardless of ordinary obligations in life--domestic and pecuniary--to a
degree that would have been culpable in any less singularly constituted
mind. It was impossible to deal with or judge De Quincey by ordinary
standards--not even his publishers did so. Much no doubt was forgiven
him, but all that needed forgiveness is covered by the kindly veil of
time, while his merits as a master in English literature are still
gratefully acknowledged.[1]

   [BIBLIOGRAPHY.--In 1853 De Quincey began to prepare an edition of his
   works, _Selections Grave and Gay_. _Writings Published and
   Unpublished_ (14 vols., Edinburgh, 1853-1860), followed by a second
   edition (1863-1871) with notes by James Hogg and two additional
   volumes; a further supplementary volume appeared in 1878. The first
   comprehensive edition, however, was printed in America (Boston, 20
   vols., 1850-1855); and the "Riverside" edition (Boston and New York,
   12 vols., 1877) is still fuller. The standard English edition is _The
   Collected Writings of Thomas De Quincey_ (14 vols., Edinburgh,
   1889-1890), edited by David Masson, who also wrote his biography
   (1881) for the "English Men of Letters" series. The _Uncollected
   Writings of Thomas De Quincey_ (London, 2 vols., 1890) contains a
   preface and annotations by James Hogg; _The Posthumous Writings of
   Thomas De Quincey_ (2 vols., 1891-1893) were edited by A. H. Japp
   ("H. A. Page"), who wrote the standard biography, _Thomas De Quincey:
   his Life and Writings_ (London, 2 vols., 2nd ed., 1879), and _De
   Quincey Memorials_ (2 vols., 1891). See also Arvède Barine,
   _Neurosés_ (Paris, 1898); Sir L. Stephen, _Hours in a Library_; H. S.
   Salt, _De Quincey_ (1904); and _De Quincey and his Friends_ (1895), a
   collection edited by James Hogg, which includes essays by Dr Hill
   Burton and Shadworth Hodgson.]                           (J. R. F.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] The above account has been corrected and amplified in some
    statements of fact for this edition. Its original author, John
    Ritchie Findlay (1824-1898), proprietor of _The Scotsman_ newspaper,
    and the donor of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in
    Edinburgh, had been intimate with De Quincey, and in 1886 published
    his _Personal Recollections_ of him.




DERA GHAZI KHAN, a town and district of British India, in the Punjab. In
1901 the town had a population of 21,700. There are several handsome
mosques in the native quarter. It commands the direct approaches to the
Baluch highlands by Sakki Sarwar and Fort Monro. For many years past
both the town and cantonment have been threatened by the erosion of the
river Indus. The town was founded at the close of the 15th century and
named after Ghazi Khan, son of Haji Khan, a Baluch chieftain, who after
holding the country for the Langah sultans of Multan had made himself
independent. Together with the two other _deras_ (settlements), Dera
Ismail Khan and Dera Fateh Khan, it gave its name to the territorial
area locally and historically known as Derajat, which after many
vicissitudes came into the possession of the British after the Sikh War,
in 1849, and was divided into the two districts of Dera Ghazi Khan and
Dera Ismail Khan.

The DISTRICT OF DERA GHAZI KHAN contains an area of 5306 sq. m. The
district is a long narrow strip of country, 198 m. in length, sloping
gradually from the hills which form its western boundary to the river
Indus on the east. Below the hills the country is high and arid,
generally level, but sometimes rolling in sandy undulations, and much
intersected by hill torrents, 201 in number. With the exceptions of two,
these streams dry up after the rains, and their influence is only felt
for a few miles below the hills. The eastern portion of the district is
at a level sufficiently low to benefit by the floods of the Indus. A
barren tract intervenes between these zones, and is beyond the reach of
the hill streams on the one hand and of the Indus on the other. Although
liable to great extremes of temperature, and to a very scanty rainfall,
the district is not unhealthy. The population in 1901 was 471,149, the
great majority being Baluch Mahommedans. The principal exports are wheat
and indigo. The only manufactures are for domestic use. There is no
railway in the district, and only 29 m. of metalled road. The Indus,
which is nowhere bridged within the district, is navigable by native
boats. The geographical boundary between the Pathan and Baluch races in
the hills nearly corresponds with the northern limit of the district.
The frontier tribes on the Dera Ghazi Khan border include the Kasranis,
Bozdars, Khosas, Lagharis, Khetvans, Gurchanis, Mazaris, Mariris and
Bugtis. The chief of these are described under their separate names.




DERA ISMAIL KHAN, a town and district in the Derajat division of the
North-West Frontier Province of India. The town is situated near the
right bank of the Indus, which is here crossed by a bridge of boats
during half the year. In 1901 it had a population of 31,737. It takes
its name from Ismail Khan, a Baluch chief who settled here towards the
end of the 15th century, and whose descendants ruled for 300 years. The
old town was swept away by a flood in 1823, and the present town stands
4 m. back from the permanent channel of the river. The native quarters
are well laid out, with a large bazaar for Afghan traders. It is the
residence of many Mahommedan gentry. The cantonment accommodates about a
brigade of troops. There is considerable through trade with Afghanistan
by the Gomal Pass, and there are local manufactures of cotton cloth
scarves and inlaid wood-work.

The DISTRICT OF DERA ISMAIL KHAN contains an area of 3403 sq. m. It was
formerly divided into two almost equal portions by the Indus, which
intersected it from north to south. To the west of the Indus the
characteristics of the country resemble those of Dera Ghazi Khan. To the
east of the present bed of the river there is a wide tract known as the
_Kachi_, exposed to river action. Beyond this, the country rises
abruptly, and a barren, almost desert plain stretches eastwards,
sparsely cultivated, and inhabited only by nomadic tribes of herdsmen.
In 1901 the trans-Indus tract was allotted to the newly formed
North-West Frontier Province, the cis-Indus tract remaining in the
Punjab jurisdiction. The cis-Indus portions of the Dera Ismail Khan and
Bannu districts now comprise the new Punjab district of Mianiwali. In
1901 the population was 252,379, chiefly Pathan and Baluch Mahommedans.
Wheat and wool are exported.

The Indus is navigable by native boats throughout its course of 120 m.
within the district, which is the borderland of Pathan and Baluch
tribes, the Pathan element predominating. The chief frontier tribes are
the Sheranis and Ustaranas.




DERBENT, or DERBEND, a town of Russia, Caucasia, in the province of
Daghestan, on the western shore of the Caspian, 153 m. by rail N.W. of
Baku, in 42° 4' N. and 48° 15' E. Pop. (1873) 15,739; (1897) 14,821. It
occupies a narrow strip of land beside the sea, from which it climbs up
the steep heights inland to the citadel of Naryn-kaleh, and is on all
sides except towards the east surrounded by walls built of porous
limestone. Its general aspect is Oriental, owing to the flat roofs of
its two-storeyed houses and its numerous mosques. The environs are
occupied by vineyards, gardens and orchards, in which madder, saffron
and tobacco, as well as figs, peaches, pears and other fruits, are
cultivated. Earthenware, weapons and silk and cotton fabrics are the
principal products of the manufacturing industry. To the north of the
town is the monument of the _Kirk-lar_, or "forty heroes," who fell
defending Daghestan against the Arabs in 728; and to the south lies the
seaward extremity of the Caucasian wall (50 m. long), otherwise known as
Alexander's wall, blocking the narrow pass of the Iron Gate or Caspian
Gates (_Portae Albanae_ or _Portae Caspiae_). This, when entire, had a
height of 29 ft. and a thickness of about 10 ft., and with its iron
gates and numerous watch-towers formed a valuable defence of the Persian
frontier. Derbent is usually identified with Albana, the capital of the
ancient Albania. The modern name, a Persian word meaning "iron gates,"
came into use in the end of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century,
when the city was refounded by Kavadh of the Sassanian dynasty of
Persia. The walls and the citadel are believed to belong to the time of
Kavadh's son, Khosrau (Chosroes) Anosharvan. In 728 the Arabs entered
into possession, and established a principality in the city, which they
called Bab-el-Abwab ("the principal gate"), Bab-el-Khadid ("the iron
gate"), and Seraill-el-Dagab ("the golden throne"). The celebrated
caliph, Harun-al-Rashid, lived in Derbent at different times, and
brought it into great repute as a seat of the arts and commerce. In 1220
it was captured by the Mongols, and in the course of the succeeding
centuries it frequently changed masters. In 1722 Peter the Great of
Russia wrested the town from the Persians, but in 1736 the supremacy of
Nadir Shah was again recognized. In 1796 Derbent was besieged by the
Russians, and in 1813 incorporated with the Russian empire.




DERBY, EARLS OF. The 1st earl of Derby was probably Robert de Ferrers
(d. 1139), who is said by John of Hexham to have been made an earl by
King Stephen after the battle of the Standard in 1138. Robert and his
descendants retained the earldom until 1266, when Robert (c. 1240-c.
1279), probably the 6th earl, having taken a prominent part in the
baronial rising against Henry III., was deprived of his lands and
practically of his title. These earlier earls of Derby were also known
as Earls Ferrers, or de Ferrers, from their surname; as earls of Tutbury
from their residence; and as earls of Nottingham because this county was
a lordship under their rule. The large estates which were taken from
Earl Robert in 1266 were given by Henry III. in the same year to his
son, Edmund, earl of Lancaster; and Edmund's son, Thomas, earl of
Lancaster, called himself Earl Ferrers. In 1337 Edmund's grandson, Henry
(c. 1299-1361), afterwards duke of Lancaster, was created earl of Derby,
and this title was taken by Edward III.'s son, John of Gaunt, who had
married Henry's daughter, Blanche. John of Gaunt's son and successor was
Henry, earl of Derby, who became king as Henry IV. in 1399.

In October 1485 Thomas, Lord Stanley, was created earl of Derby, and the
title has since been retained by the Stanleys, who, however, have little
or no connexion with the county of Derby. Thomas also inherited the
sovereign lordship of the Isle of Man, which had been granted by the
crown in 1406 to his great-grandfather, Sir John Stanley; and this
sovereignty remained in possession of the earls of Derby till 1736, when
it passed to the duke of Atholl.

The earl of Derby is one of the three "catskin earls," the others being
the earls of Shrewsbury and Huntingdon. The term "catskin" is possibly a
corruption of _quatre-skin_, derived from the fact that in ancient
times the robes of an earl (as depicted in some early representations)
were decorated with four rows of ermine, as in the robes of a modern
duke, instead of the three rows to which they were restricted in later
centuries. The three "catskin" earldoms are the only earldoms now in
existence which date from creations prior to the 17th century.
                                                          (A. W. H.*)

THOMAS STANLEY, 1st earl of Derby (c. 1435-1504), was the son of Thomas
Stanley, who was created Baron Stanley in 1456 and died in 1459. His
grandfather, Sir John Stanley (d. 1414), had founded the fortunes of his
family by marrying Isabel Lathom, the heiress of a great estate in the
hundred of West Derby in Lancashire; he was lieutenant of Ireland in
1389-1391, and again in 1399-1401, and in 1405 received a grant of the
lordship of Man from Henry IV. The future earl of Derby was a squire to
Henry VI. in 1454, but not long afterwards married Eleanor, daughter of
the Yorkist leader, Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury. At the battle of
Blore Heath in August 1459 Stanley, though close at hand with a large
force, did not join the royal army, whilst his brother William fought
openly for York. In 1461 Stanley was made chief justice of Cheshire by
Edward IV., but ten years later he sided with his brother-in-law Warwick
in the Lancastrian restoration. Nevertheless, after Warwick's fall,
Edward made Stanley steward of his household. Stanley served with the
king in the French expedition of 1475, and with Richard of Gloucester in
Scotland in 1482. About the latter date he married, as his second wife,
Margaret Beaufort, mother of the exiled Henry Tudor. Stanley was one of
the executors of Edward IV., and was at first loyal to the young king
Edward V. But he acquiesced in Richard's usurpation, and retaining his
office as steward avoided any entanglement through his wife's share in
Buckingham's rebellion. He was made constable of England in succession
to Buckingham, and granted possession of his wife's estates with a
charge to keep her in some secret place at home. Richard could not well
afford to quarrel with so powerful a noble, but early in 1485 Stanley
asked leave to retire to his estates in Lancashire. In the summer
Richard, suspicious of his continued absence, required him to send his
eldest son, Lord Strange, to court as a hostage. After Henry of Richmond
had landed, Stanley made excuses for not joining the king; for his son's
sake he was obliged to temporize, even when his brother William had been
publicly proclaimed a traitor. Both the Stanleys took the field; but
whilst William was in treaty with Richmond, Thomas professedly supported
Richard. On the morning of Bosworth (August 22), Richard summoned
Stanley to join him, and when he received an evasive reply ordered
Strange to be executed. In the battle it was William Stanley who turned
the scale in Henry's favour, but Thomas, who had taken no part in the
fighting, was the first to salute the new king. Henry VII. confirmed
Stanley in all his offices, and on the 27th of October created him earl
of Derby. As husband of the king's mother Derby held a great position,
which was not affected by the treason of his brother William in February
1495. In the following July the earl entertained the king and queen with
much state at Knowsley. Derby died on the 29th of July 1504. Strange had
escaped execution in 1485, through neglect to obey Richard's orders; but
he died before his father in 1497, and his son Thomas succeeded as
second earl. An old poem called _The Song of the Lady Bessy_, which was
written by a retainer of the Stanleys, gives a romantic story of how
Derby was enlisted by Elizabeth of York in the cause of his wife's son.

   For fuller narratives see J. Gairdner's _Richard III._ and J. H.
   Ramsay's _Lancaster and York_; also Seacome's _Memoirs of the House
   of Stanley_ (1741).                                      (C. L. K.)

EDWARD STANLEY, 3rd earl of Derby (1508-1572), was a son of Thomas
Stanley, 2nd earl and grandson of the 1st earl, and succeeded to the
earldom on his father's death in May 1521. During his minority Cardinal
Wolsey was his guardian, and as soon as he came of age he began to take
part in public life, being often in the company of Henry VIII. He helped
to quell the rising in the north of England known as the Pilgrimage of
Grace in 1536; but remaining true to the Roman Catholic faith he
disliked and opposed the religious changes made under Edward VI. During
Mary's reign the earl was more at ease, but under Elizabeth his younger
sons, Sir Thomas (d. 1576) and Sir Edward Stanley (d. 1609), were
concerned in a plot to free Mary, queen of Scots, and he himself was
suspected of disloyalty. However, he kept his numerous dignities until
his death at Lathom House, near Ormskirk, on the 24th of October 1572.

Derby's first wife was Katherine, daughter of Thomas Howard, duke of
Norfolk, by whom he had, with other issue, a son Henry, the 4th earl (c.
1531-1593), who was a member of the council of the North, and like his
father was lord-lieutenant of Lancashire. Henry was one of the
commissioners who tried Mary, queen of Scots, and was employed by
Elizabeth on other high undertakings both at home and abroad. He died on
the 25th of September 1593. His wife Margaret (d. 1596), daughter of
Henry Clifford, 2nd earl of Cumberland, was descended through the
Brandons from King Henry VII. Two of his sons, Ferdinando (c.
1559-1594), and William (c. 1561-1642), became in turn the 5th and 6th
earls of Derby. Ferdinando, the 5th earl (d. 1594), wrote verses, and is
eulogized by the poet Spenser under the name of Amyntas.    (A. W. H.*)

JAMES STANLEY, 7th earl of Derby (1607-1651), sometimes styled the Great
Earl of Derby, eldest son of William, 6th earl, and Elizabeth de Vere,
daughter of Edward, 17th earl of Oxford, was born at Knowsley on the
31st of January 1607. During his father's life he was known as Lord
Strange. After travelling abroad he was chosen member of parliament for
Liverpool in 1625, was created knight of the Bath on the occasion of
Charles's coronation in 1626, and was joined with his father the same
year as lieutenant of Lancashire and Cheshire and chamberlain of
Chester, and in the administration of the Isle of Man, being appointed
subsequently lord-lieutenant of North Wales. On the 7th of March 1628 he
was called up to the House of Lords as Baron Strange. He took no part in
the political disputes between king and parliament and preferred country
pursuits and the care of his estates to court or public life.
Nevertheless when the Civil War broke out in 1642, Lord Strange devoted
himself to the king's cause. His plan of securing Lancashire at the
beginning and raising troops there, which promised success, was however
discouraged by Charles, who was said to be jealous of his power and
royal lineage and who commanded his presence at Nottingham. His
subsequent attempts to recover the county were unsuccessful. He was
unable to get possession of Manchester, was defeated at Chowbent and
Lowton Moor, and in 1643 after gaining Preston failed to take Bolton and
Lancaster castles. Finally, after successfully beating off Sir William
Brereton's attack on Warrington, he was defeated at Whalley and withdrew
to York, Warrington in consequence surrendering to the enemy's forces.
In June he left for the Isle of Man to attend to affairs there, and in
the summer of 1644 he took part in Prince Rupert's successful campaign
in the north, when Lathom House, where Lady Derby had heroically
resisted the attacks of the besiegers, was relieved, and Bolton Castle
taken. He followed Rupert to Marston Moor, and after the complete defeat
of Charles's cause in the north withdrew to the Isle of Man, where he
held out for the king and offered an asylum to royalist fugitives. His
administration of the island imitated that of Strafford in Ireland. It
was strong rather than just. He maintained order, encouraged trade,
remedied some abuses, and defended the people from the exactions of the
church; but he crushed opposition by imprisoning his antagonists, and
aroused a prolonged agitation by abolishing the tenant-right and
introducing leaseholds. In July 1649 he refused scornfully terms offered
to him by Ireton. By the death of his father on the 29th of September
1642 he had succeeded to the earldom, and on the 12th of January 1650 he
obtained the Garter. He was chosen by Charles II. to command the troops
of Lancashire and Cheshire, and on the 15th of August 1651 he landed at
Wyre Water in Lancashire in support of Charles's invasion, and met the
king on the 17th. Proceeding to Warrington he failed to obtain the
support of the Presbyterians through his refusal to take the Covenant,
and on the 25th was totally defeated at Wigan, being severely wounded
and escaping with difficulty. He joined Charles at Worcester; after the
battle on the 3rd of September he accompanied him to Boscobel, and while
on his way north alone was captured near Nantwich and given quarter. He
was tried by court-martial at Chester on the 29th of September, and on
the ground that he was a traitor and not a prisoner of war under the act
of parliament passed in the preceding month, which declared those who
corresponded with Charles guilty of treason, his quarter was disallowed
and he was condemned to death. When his appeal for pardon to parliament
was rejected, though supported by Cromwell, he endeavoured to escape;
but was recaptured and executed at Bolton on the 15th of October 1651.
He was buried in Ormskirk church. Lord Derby was a man of deep religious
feeling and of great nobility of character, who though unsuccessful in
the field served the king's cause with single-minded purpose and without
expectation of reward. His political usefulness was handicapped in the
later stages of the struggle by his dislike of the Scots, whom he
regarded as guilty of the king's death and as unfit instruments of the
restoration. According to Clarendon he was "a man of great honour and
clear courage," and his defects the result of too little knowledge of
the world. Lord Derby left in MS. "A Discourse concerning the Government
of the Isle of Man" (printed in the _Stanley Papers_ and in F. Peck's
_Desiderata Curiosa_, vol. ii.) and several volumes of historical
collections, observations, devotions (_Stanley Papers_) and a
commonplace book. He married on the 26th of June 1626 Charlotte de la
Tremoille (1599-1664), daughter of Claude, duc de Thouars, and
grand-daughter of William the Silent, prince of Orange, by whom besides
four daughters he had five sons, of whom the eldest, Charles
(1628-1672), succeeded him as 8th earl.

Charles's two sons, William, the 9th earl (c. 1655-1702), and James, the
10th earl (1664-1736), both died without sons, and consequently, when
James died in February 1736, his titles and estates passed to Sir Edward
Stanley (1689-1776), a descendant of the 1st earl. From him the later
earls were descended, the 12th earl (d. 1834) being his grandson.

   BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Article in _Dict. of Nat. Biog._ with authorities and
   article in same work on Charlotte Stanley, countess of Derby; the
   _Stanley Papers_, with the too laudatory memoir by F. R. Haines
   (Chetham Soc. publications, vols. 62, 66, 67, 70); _Memoires_, by De
   Lloyd (1668), 572; _State Trials_, v. 293-324; _Notes & Queries_,
   viii. Ser. iii. 246; Seacombe's _House of Stanley_; Clarendon's
   _Hist. of the Rebellion_; Gardiner's _Hist. of the Civil War and
   Protectorate_; _The Land of Home Rule_, by Spencer Walpole (1893);
   _Hist. of the Isle of Man_, by A. W. Moore (1900); Manx Soc.
   publications, vols. 3, 25, 27.                           (P. C. Y.)

EDWARD GEOFFREY SMITH STANLEY, 14th earl of Derby (1799-1869), the
"Rupert of Debate," born at Knowsley in Lancashire on the 29th of March
1799, grandson of the 12th earl and eldest son of Lord Stanley,
subsequently (1834) 13th earl of Derby (1775-1851). He was educated at
Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he distinguished himself as a
classical scholar, though he took no degree. In 1819 he obtained the
Chancellor's prize for Latin verse, the subject being "Syracuse." He
gave early promise of his future eminence as an orator, and in his youth
he used to practise elocution under the instruction of Lady Derby, his
grandfather's second wife, the actress, Elizabeth Farren. In 1820 he was
returned for Stockbridge in Hampshire, one of the nomination boroughs
whose electoral rights were swept away by the Reform Bill of 1832,
Stanley being a warm advocate of their destruction.

His maiden speech was delivered early in the session of 1824 in the
debate on a private bill for lighting Manchester with gas. On the 6th of
May 1824 he delivered a vehement and eloquent speech against Joseph
Hume's motion for a reduction of the Irish Church establishment,
maintaining in its most conservative form the doctrine that church
property is as sacred as private property. From this time his
appearances became frequent; and he soon asserted his place as one of
the most powerful speakers in the House. Specially noticeable almost
from the first was the skill he displayed in reply. Macaulay, in an
essay published in 1834, remarked that he seemed to possess intuitively
the faculty which in most men is developed only by long and laborious
practice. In the autumn of 1824 Stanley went on an extended tour through
Canada and the United States in company with Mr Labouchere, afterwards
Lord Taunton, and Mr Evelyn Denison, afterwards Lord Ossington. In May
of the following year he married the second daughter of Edward
Bootle-Wilbraham, created Baron Skelmersdale in 1828, by whom he had a
family of two sons and one daughter who survived.

At the general election of 1826 Stanley renounced his connection with
Stockbridge, and became the representative of the borough of Preston,
where the Derby influence was paramount. The change of seats had this
advantage, that it left him free to speak against the system of rotten
boroughs, which he did with great force during the Reform Bill debates,
without laying himself open to the charge of personal inconsistency as
the representative of a place where, according to Gay, cobblers used to
"feast three years upon one vote." In 1827 he and several other
distinguished Whigs made a coalition with Canning on the defection of
the more unyielding Tories, and he commenced his official life as
under-secretary for the colonies, but the coalition was broken up by
Canning's death in August. Lord Goderich succeeded to the premiership,
but he never was really in power, and he resigned his place after the
lapse of a few months. During the succeeding administration of the duke
of Wellington (1828-1830), Stanley and those with whom he acted were in
opposition. His robust and assertive Liberalism about this period seemed
curious afterwards to a younger generation who knew him only as the very
embodiment of Conservatism.

By the advent of Lord Grey to power in November 1830, Stanley obtained
his first opportunity of showing his capacity for a responsible office.
He was appointed to the chief secretaryship of Ireland, a position in
which he found ample scope for both administrative and debating skill.
On accepting office he had to vacate his seat for Preston and seek
re-election; and he had the mortification of being defeated by the
Radical "orator" Hunt. The contest was a peculiarly keen one, and turned
upon the question of the ballot, which Stanley refused to support. He
re-entered the House as one of the members for Windsor, Sir Hussey
Vivian having resigned in his favour. In 1832 he again changed his seat,
being returned for North Lancashire.

Stanley was one of the most ardent supporters of Lord Grey's Reform
Bill. Of this no other proof is needed than his frequent parliamentary
utterances, which were fully in sympathy with the popular cry "The bill,
the whole bill, and nothing but the bill." Reference may be made
especially to the speech he delivered on the 4th of March 1831 on the
adjourned debate on the second reading of the bill, which was marked by
all the higher qualities of his oratory. Apart from his connexion with
the general policy of the government, Stanley had more than enough to
have employed all his energies in the management of his own department.
The secretary of Ireland has seldom an easy task; Stanley found it one
of peculiar difficulty. The country was in a very unsettled state. The
just concession that had been somewhat tardily yielded a short time
before in Catholic emancipation had excited the people to make all sorts
of demands, reasonable and unreasonable. Undaunted by the fierce
denunciations of O'Connell, who styled him Scorpion Stanley, he
discharged with determination the ungrateful task of carrying a coercion
bill through the House. It was generally felt that O'Connell, powerful
though he was, had fairly met his match in Stanley, who, with invective
scarcely inferior to his own, evaded no challenge, ignored no argument,
and left no taunt unanswered. The title "Rupert of Debate" is peculiarly
applicable to him in connexion with the fearless if also often reckless
method of attack he showed in his parliamentary war with O'Connell. It
was first applied to him, however, thirteen years later by Sir Edward
Bulwer Lytton in _The New Timon_:--

  "One after one the lords of time advance;
   Here Stanley meets--here Stanley scorns the glance!
   The brilliant chief, irregularly great,
   Frank, haughty, rash,--the Rupert of debate."

The best answer, however, which he made to the attacks of the great
agitator was not the retorts of debate, effective though these were, but
the beneficial legislation he was instrumental in passing. He
introduced and carried the first national education act for Ireland, one
result of which was the remarkable and to many almost incredible
phenomenon of a board composed of Catholics, Episcopalians and
Presbyterians harmoniously administering an efficient education scheme.
He was also chiefly responsible for the Irish Church Temporalities Act,
though the bill was not introduced into parliament until after he had
quitted the Irish secretaryship for another office. By this measure two
archbishoprics and eight bishoprics were abolished, and a remedy was
provided for various abuses connected with the revenues of the church.
As originally introduced, the bill contained a clause authorizing the
appropriation of surplus revenues to non-ecclesiastical purposes. This
had, however, been strongly opposed from the first by Stanley and
several other members of the cabinet, and it was withdrawn by the
government before the measure reached the Lords.

In 1833, just before the introduction of the Irish Church Temporalities
Bill, Stanley had been promoted to be secretary for the colonies with a
seat in the cabinet. In this position it fell to his lot to carry the
emancipation of the slaves to a successful practical issue. The speech
which he delivered on introducing the bill for freeing the slaves in the
West Indies, on the 14th of May 1833, was one of the finest specimens of
his eloquence.

The Irish Church question determined more than one turning-point in his
political career. The most important occasion on which it did so was in
1834, when the proposal of the government to appropriate the surplus
revenues of the church to educational purposes led to his secession from
the cabinet, and, as it proved, his complete and final separation from
the Whig party. In the former of these steps he had as his companions
Sir James Graham, the earl of Ripon and the duke of Richmond. Soon after
it occurred, O'Connell, amid the laughter of the House, described the
secession in a couplet from Canning's _Loves of the Triangles_:--

  "Still down thy steep, romantic Ashbourne, glides
   The Derby dilly carrying six insides."

Stanley was not content with marking his disapproval by the simple act
of withdrawing from the cabinet. He spoke against the bill to which he
objected with a vehemence that showed the strength of his feeling in the
matter, and against its authors with a bitterness that he himself is
understood to have afterwards admitted to have been unseemly towards
those who had so recently been his colleagues. The course followed by
the government was "marked with all that timidity, that want of
dexterity, which led to the failure of the unpractised shoplifter." His
late colleagues were compared to "thimble-riggers at a country fair,"
and their plan was "petty larceny, for it had not the redeeming
qualities of bold and open robbery."

In the end of 1834, Lord Stanley, as he was now styled by courtesy, his
father having succeeded to the earldom in October, was invited by Sir
Robert Peel to join the short-lived Conservative ministry which he
formed after the resignation of Lord Melbourne. Though he declined the
offer for reasons stated in a letter published in the Peel memoirs, he
acted from that date with the Conservative party, and on its next
accession to power, in 1841, he accepted the office of colonial
secretary, which he had held under Lord Grey. His position and his
temperament alike, however, made him a thoroughly independent supporter
of any party to which he attached himself. When, therefore, the injury
to health arising from the late hours in the Commons led him in 1844 to
seek elevation to the Upper House in the right of his father's barony,
Sir Robert Peel, in acceding to his request, had the satisfaction of at
once freeing himself from the possible effects of his "candid
friendship" in the House, and at the same time greatly strengthening the
debating power on the Conservative side in the other. If the premier in
taking this step had any presentiment of an approaching difference on a
vital question, it was not long in being realized. When Sir Robert Peel
accepted the policy of free trade in 1846, the breach between him and
Lord Stanley was, as might have been anticipated from the antecedents of
the latter, instant and irreparable. Lord Stanley at once asserted
himself as the uncompromising opponent of that policy, and he became the
recognized leader of the Protectionist party, having Lord George
Bentinck and Disraeli for his lieutenants in the Commons. They did all
that could be done in a case in which the logic of events was against
them, though Protection was never to become more than their watchword.

It is one of the peculiarities of English politics, however, that a
party may come into power because it is the only available one at the
time, though it may have no chance of carrying the very principle to
which it owes its organized existence. Such was the case when Lord
Derby, who had succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father in
June 1851, was called upon to form his first administration in February
1852. He was in a minority, but the circumstances were such that no
other than a minority government was possible, and he resolved to take
the only available means of strengthening his position by dissolving
parliament and appealing to the country at the earliest opportunity. The
appeal was made in autumn, but its result did not materially alter the
position of parties. Parliament met in November, and by the middle of
the following month the ministry had resigned in consequence of their
defeat on Disraeli's budget. For the six following years, during Lord
Aberdeen's "ministry of all the talents" and Lord Palmerston's
premiership, Lord Derby remained at the head of the opposition, whose
policy gradually became more generally Conservative and less
distinctively Protectionist as the hopelessness of reversing the
measures adopted in 1846 made itself apparent. In 1855 he was asked to
form an administration after the resignation of Lord Aberdeen, but
failing to obtain sufficient support, he declined the task. It was in
somewhat more hopeful circumstances that, after the defeat of Lord
Palmerston on the Conspiracy Bill in February 1858, he assumed for the
second time the reins of government. Though he still could not count
upon a working majority, there was a possibility of carrying on affairs
without sustaining defeat, which was realized for a full session, owing
chiefly to the dexterous management of Mr Disraeli in the Commons. The
one rock ahead was the question of reform, on which the wishes of the
country were being emphatically expressed, but it was not so pressing as
to require to be immediately dealt with. During the session of 1858 the
government contrived to pass two measures of very considerable
importance, one a bill to remove Jewish disabilities, and the other a
bill to transfer the government of India from the East India Company to
the crown. Next year the question of parliamentary reform had to be
faced, and, recognizing the necessity, the government introduced a bill
at the opening of the session, which, in spite of, or rather in
consequence of, its "fancy franchises," was rejected by the House, and,
on a dissolution, rejected also by the country. A vote of no confidence
having been passed in the new parliament on the 10th of June, Lord Derby
at once resigned.

After resuming the leadership of the Opposition Lord Derby devoted much
of the leisure the position afforded him to the classical studies that
had always been congenial to him. It was his reputation for scholarship
as well as his social position that had led in 1852 to his appointment
to the chancellorship of the university of Oxford, in succession to the
duke of Wellington; and perhaps a desire to justify the possession of
the honour on the former ground had something to do with his essays in
the field of authorship. His first venture was a poetical version of the
ninth ode of the third book of Horace, which appeared in Lord
Ravensworth's collection of translations of the _Odes_. In 1862 he
printed and circulated in influential quarters a volume entitled
_Translations of Poems Ancient and Modern_, with a very modest
dedicatory letter to Lord Stanhope, and the words "Not published" on the
title-page. It contained, besides versions of Latin, Italian, French and
German poems, a translation of the first book of the _Iliad_. The
reception of this volume was such as to encourage him to proceed with
the task he had chosen as his _magnum opus_, the translation of the
whole of the _Iliad_, which accordingly appeared in 1864.

During the seven years that elapsed between Lord Derby's second and
third administrations an industrial crisis occurred in his native
county, which brought out very conspicuously his public spirit and his
philanthropy. The destitution in Lancashire caused by the stoppage of
the cotton-supply in consequence of the American Civil War, was so great
as to threaten to overtax the benevolence of the country. That it did
not do so was probably due to Lord Derby more than to any other single
man. From the first he was the very life and soul of the movement for
relief. His personal subscription, munificent though it was, represented
the least part of his service. His noble speech at the meeting in
Manchester in December 1862, where the movement was initiated, and his
advice at the subsequent meetings of the committee, which he attended
very regularly, were of the very highest value in stimulating and
directing public sympathy. His relations with Lancashire had always been
of the most cordial description, notwithstanding his early rejection by
Preston; but it is not surprising that after the cotton famine period
the cordiality passed into a warmer and deeper feeling, and that the
name of Lord Derby was long cherished in most grateful remembrance by
the factory operatives.

On the rejection of Earl Russell's Reform Bill in 1866, Lord Derby was
for the third time entrusted with the formation of a cabinet. Like those
he had previously formed it was destined to be short-lived, but it lived
long enough to settle on a permanent basis the question that had proved
fatal to its predecessor. The "education" of the party that had so long
opposed all reform to the point of granting household suffrage was the
work of another; but Lord Derby fully concurred in, if he was not the
first to suggest, the statesmanlike policy by which the question was
disposed of in such a way as to take it once for all out of the region
of controversy and agitation. The passing of the Reform Bill was the
main business of the session 1867. The chief debates were, of course, in
the Commons, and Lord Derby's failing powers prevented him from taking
any large share in those which took place in the Lords. His description
of the measure as a "leap in the dark" was eagerly caught up, because it
exactly represented the common opinion at the time,--the most
experienced statesmen, while they admitted the granting of household
suffrage to be a political necessity, being utterly unable to foresee
what its effect might be on the constitution and government of the
country.

Finding himself unable, from declining health, to encounter the fatigues
of another session, Lord Derby resigned office early in 1868. The step
he had taken was announced in both Houses on the evening of the 25th of
February, and warm tributes of admiration and esteem were paid by the
leaders of the two great parties. He yielded the entire leadership of
the party as well as the premiership to Disraeli. His subsequent
appearances in public were few and unimportant. It was noted as a
consistent close to his political life that his last speech in the House
of Lords should have been a denunciation of Gladstone's Irish Church
Bill marked by much of his early fire and vehemence. A few months later,
on the 23rd of October 1869, he died at Knowsley.

Sir Archibald Alison, writing of him when he was in the zenith of his
powers, styles him "by the admission of all parties the most perfect
orator of his day." Even higher was the opinion of Lord Aberdeen, who is
reported by _The Times_ to have said that no one of the giants he had
listened to in his youth, Pitt, Fox, Burke or Sheridan, "as a speaker,
is to be compared with our own Lord Derby, when Lord Derby is at his
best."                                                      (W. B. S.)

EDWARD HENRY STANLEY, 15th earl of Derby (1826-1893), eldest son of the
14th earl, was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, where
he took a high degree and became a member of the society known as the
Apostles. In March 1848 he unsuccessfully contested the borough of
Lancaster, and then made a long tour in the West Indies, Canada and the
United States. During his absence he was elected member for King's Lynn,
which he represented till October 1869, when he succeeded to the
peerage. He took his place, as a matter of course, among the
Conservatives, and delivered his maiden speech in May 1850 on the sugar
duties. Just before, he had made a very brief tour in Jamaica and South
America. In 1852 he went to India, and while travelling in that country
he was appointed under-secretary for foreign affairs in his father's
first administration. From the outset of his career he was known to be a
most Liberal Conservative, and in 1855 Lord Palmerston offered him the
post of colonial secretary. He was much tempted by the proposal, and
hurried down to Knowsley to consult his father, who called out when he
entered the room, "Hallo, Stanley! what brings you here?--Has Dizzy cut
his throat, or are you going to be married?" When the object of his
sudden appearance had been explained, the Conservative chief received
the courteous suggestion of the prime minister with anything but favour,
and the offer was declined. In his father's second administration Lord
Stanley held, at first, the office of secretary for the colonies, but
became president of the Board of Control on the resignation of Lord
Ellenborough. He had the charge of the India Bill of 1858 in the House
of Commons, became the first secretary of state for India, and left
behind him in the India Office an excellent reputation as a man of
business. After the revolution in Greece and the disappearance of King
Otho, the people most earnestly desired to have Queen Victoria's second
son, Prince Alfred, for their king. He declined the honour, and they
then took up the idea that the next best thing they could do would be to
elect some great and wealthy English noble, not concealing the hope that
although they might have to offer him a Civil List he would decline to
receive it. Lord Stanley was the prime favourite as an occupant of this
bed of thorns, and it has been said that he was actually offered the
crown. That, however, is not true; the offer was never formally made.
After the fall of the Russell government in 1866 he became foreign
secretary in his father's third administration. He compared his conduct
in that great post to that of a man floating down a river and fending
off from his vessel, as well as he could, the various obstacles it
encountered. He thought that that should be the normal attitude of an
English foreign minister, and probably under the circumstances of the
years 1866-1868 it was the right one. He arranged the collective
guarantee of the neutrality of Luxemburg in 1867, negotiated a
convention about the "Alabama," which, however, was not ratified, and
most wisely refused to take any part in the Cretan troubles. In 1874 he
again became foreign secretary in Disraeli's government. He acquiesced
in the purchase of the Suez Canal shares, a measure then considered
dangerous by many people, but ultimately most successful; he accepted
the Andrassy Note, but declined to accede to the Berlin Memorandum. His
part in the later phases of the Russo-Turkish struggle has never been
fully explained, for with equal wisdom and generosity he declined to
gratify public curiosity at the cost of some of his colleagues. A later
generation will know better than his contemporaries what were the
precise developments of policy which obliged him to resign. He kept
himself ready to explain in the House of Lords the course he had taken
if those whom he had left challenged him to do so, but from that course
they consistently refrained. Already in October 1879 it was clear enough
that he had thrown in his lot with the Liberal party, but it was not
till March 1880 that he publicly announced this change of allegiance. He
did not at first take office in the second Gladstone government, but
became secretary for the colonies in December 1882, holding this
position till the fall of that government in the summer of 1885. In 1886
the old Liberal party was run on the rocks and went to pieces. Lord
Derby became a Liberal Unionist, and took an active part in the general
management of that party, leading it in the House of Lords till 1891,
when Lord Hartington became duke of Devonshire. In 1892 he presided over
the Labour Commission, but his health never recovered an attack of
influenza which he had in 1891, and he died at Knowsley on the 21st of
April 1893.

During a great part of Lord Derby's life he was deflected from his
natural course by the accident of his position as the son of the leading
Conservative statesman of the day. From first to last he was at heart a
moderate Liberal. After making allowance, however, for this deflecting
agency, it must be admitted that in the highest quality of the
statesman, "aptness to be right," he was surpassed by none of his
contemporaries, or--if by anybody--by Sir George Cornewall Lewis alone.
He would have been more at home in a state of things which did not
demand from its leading statesman great popular power; he had none of
those "isms" and "prisms of fancy" which stood in such good stead some
of his rivals. He had another defect besides the want of popular power.
He was so anxious to arrive at right conclusions that he sometimes
turned and turned and turned a subject over till the time for action had
passed. One of his best lieutenants said of him in a moment of
impatience: "Lord Derby is like the God of Hegel: 'Er setzt sich, er
verneint sich, er verneint seine Negation.'" His knowledge, acquired
both from books and by the ear, was immense, and he took every
opportunity of increasing it. He retained his old university habit of
taking long walks with a congenial companion, even in London, and
although he cared but little for what is commonly known as society--the
society of crowded rooms and fragments of sentences--he very much liked
conversation. During the many years in which he was a member of "The
Club" he was one of its most assiduous frequenters, and his loss was
acknowledged by a formal resolution. His talk was generally grave, but
every now and then was lit up by dry humour. The late Lord Arthur
Russell once said to him, after he had been buying some property in
southern England: "So you still believe in land, Lord Derby." "Hang it,"
he replied, "a fellow must believe in something!" He did an immense deal
of work outside politics. He was lord rector of the University of
Glasgow from 1868 to 1871, and later held the same office in that of
Edinburgh. From 1875 to 1893 he was president of the Royal Literary
Fund, and attended most closely to his duties then. He succeeded Lord
Granville as chancellor of the University of London in 1891, and
remained in that position till his death. He lived much in Lancashire,
managed his enormous estates with great skill, and did a great amount of
work as a local magnate. He married in 1870 Maria Catharine, daughter of
the 5th earl de la Warr, and widow of the 2nd marquess of Salisbury.

The earl left no children and he was succeeded as 16th earl by his
brother Frederick Arthur Stanley (1841-1908), who had been made a peer
as Baron Stanley of Preston in 1886. He was secretary of state for war
and for the colonies and president of the board of trade; and was
governor-general of Canada from 1888 to 1893. He died on the 14th of
June 1908, when his eldest son, Edward George Villiers Stanley, became
earl of Derby. As Lord Stanley the latter had been member of parliament
for the West Houghton division of Lancashire from 1892 to 1906; he was
financial secretary to the War Office from 1900 to 1903, and
postmaster-general from 1903 to 1905.

   The best account of the 15th Lord Derby is that which was prefixed by
   W. E. H. Lecky, who knew him very intimately, to the edition of his
   speeches outside parliament, published in 1894.          (M. G. D.)




DERBY, a city of New Haven county, Connecticut, U.S.A., coextensive with
the township of Derby, about 10 m. W. of New Haven, at the junction of
the Housatonic and Naugatuck rivers. Pop. (1900) 7930 (2635
foreign-born); (1910) 8991. It is served by the New York, New Haven &
Hartford railway, and by interurban electric railways. In Derby there
are an opera house, owned by the city, and a public library. Across the
Housatonic is the borough of Shelton (pop. 1910, 4807), which is closely
related, socially and industrially, to Derby, the two having a joint
board of trade. Adjoining Derby on the N. along the Naugatuck is
Ansonia. Derby, Ansonia and Shelton form one of the most important
manufacturing communities in the state; although their total population
in 1900 (23,448) was only 2.9% of the state's population, the product of
their manufactories was 7.4% of the total manufactured product of
Connecticut. Among the manufactures of Derby are pianos and organs,
woollen goods, pins, keys, dress stays, combs, typewriters, corsets,
hosiery, guns and ammunition, and foundry and machine-shop products.
Derby was settled in 1642 as an Indian trading post under the name
Paugasset, and received its present name in 1675. The date of
organization of the township is unknown. Ansonia was formed from a part
of Derby in 1889. In 1893 the borough of Birmingham, on the opposite
side of the Naugatuck, was annexed to Derby, and Derby was chartered as
a city. In the 18th century Derby was the centre of a thriving commerce
with the West Indies. Derby is the birthplace of David Humphreys
(1752-1818), a soldier, diplomatist and writer, General Washington's
aide and military secretary from 1780 until the end of the War of
Independence, the first minister of the United States to Portugal
(1790-1797) and minister to Spain in 1797-1802, and one of the "Hartford
Wits."

   See Samuel Orcutt and Ambrose Beardsley, _History of the Old Town of
   Derby_ (Springfield, 1880); and the _Town Records of Derby from 1655
   to 1710_ (Derby, 1901).




DERBY, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough, and the county
town of Derbyshire, England, 128¾ m. N.N.W. of London by the Midland
railway; it is also served by the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1891)
94,146; (1901) 114,848. Occupying a position almost in the centre of
England, the town is situated chiefly on the western bank of the river
Derwent, on an undulating site encircled with gentle eminences, from
which flow the Markeaton and other brooks. In the second half of the
19th century the prosperity of the town was enhanced by the
establishment of the head offices and principal workshops of the Midland
Railway Company. Derby possesses several handsome public buildings,
including the town hall, a spacious range of buildings erected for the
postal and inland revenue offices, the county hall, corn exchange and
market hall. Among churches may be mentioned St Peter's a fine building
principally of Perpendicular date but with earlier portions; St
Alkmund's with its lofty spire, Decorated in style; St Andrew's, in the
same style, by Sir G. G. Scott; and All Saints', which contains a
beautiful choir-screen, good stained glass and monuments by L. F.
Roubiliac, Sir Francis Chantrey and others. The body of this church is
in classic style (1725), but the tower was built 1509-1527, and is one
of the finest in the midland counties, built in three tiers, and crowned
with battlements and pinnacles, which give it a total height of 210 ft.
The Roman Catholic church of St Mary is one of the best examples of the
work of A. W. Pugin. The Derby grammar school, one of the most ancient
in England, was placed in 1160 under the administration of the chapter
of Darley Abbey, which lay a little north of Derby. It occupies St
Helen's House, once the town residence of the Strutt family, and has
been enlarged in modern times, accommodating about 160 boys. The Derby
municipal technical college is administered by the corporation. Other
institutions include schools of science and art, public library, museum
and art gallery, the Devonshire almshouses, a remodelled foundation
inaugurated by Elizabeth, countess of Shrewsbury, in the 16th century,
and the town and county infirmary. The free library and museum
buildings, together with a recreation ground, were gifts to the town
from M. T. Bass, M.P. (d. 1884), while an arboretum of seventeen acres
was presented to the town by Joseph Strutt in 1840.

Derby has been long celebrated for its porcelain, which rivalled that of
Saxony and France. This manufacture was introduced about 1750, and
although for a time partially abandoned, it has been revived. There are
also spar works where the fluor-spar, or Blue John, is wrought into a
variety of useful and ornamental articles. The manufacture of silk,
hosiery, lace and cotton formerly employed a large portion of the
population, and there are still numerous silk mills and elastic web
works. Silk "throwing" or spinning was introduced into England in 1717
by John Lombe, who found out the secrets of the craft when visiting
Piedmont, and set up machinery in Derby. Other industries include the
manufacture of paint, shot, white and red lead and varnish; and there
are sawmills and tanneries. The manufacture of hosiery profited greatly
by the inventions of Jedediah Strutt about 1750. In the northern suburb
of Littlechester, there are chemical and steam boiler works. The Midland
railway works employ a large number of hands. Derby is a suffragan
bishopric in the diocese of Southwell. The parliamentary borough returns
two members. The town is governed by a mayor, sixteen aldermen and
forty-two councillors. Area, 3449 acres.

Littlechester, as its name indicates, was the site of a Roman fort or
village; the site is in great part built over and the remains
practically effaced. Derby was known in the time of the heptarchy as
Northworthig, and did not receive the name of Deoraby or Derby until
after it was given up to the Danes by the treaty of Wedmore and had
become one of their five boroughs, probably ruled in the ordinary way by
an earl with twelve "lawmen" under him. Being won back among the
sweeping conquests of Æthelflæd, lady of the Mercians, in 917, it
prospered during the 10th century, and by the reign of Edward the
Confessor there were 243 burgesses in Derby. However, by 1086 this
number had decreased to 100, while 103 "manses" which used to be
assessed were waste. In spite of this the amount rendered by the town to
the lord had increased from £24 to £30. The first extant charter granted
to Derby is dated 1206 and is a grant of all those privileges which the
burgesses of Nottingham had in the time of Henry I. and Henry II., which
included freedom from toll, a gild merchant, power to elect a provost at
their will, and the privilege of holding the town at the ancient farm
with an increase of £10 yearly. The charter also provides that no one
shall dye cloth within ten leagues of Derby except in the borough. A
second charter, granted by Henry III. in 1229, limits the power of
electing a provost by requiring that he shall be removed if he be
displeasing to the king. Henry III. also granted the burgesses two other
charters, one in 1225 confirming their privileges and granting that the
_comitatus_ of Derby should in future be held on Thursdays in the
borough, the other in 1260 granting that no Jew should be allowed to
live in the town. In 1337 Edward III. on the petition of the burgesses
granted that they might have two bailiffs instead of one. Derby was
incorporated by James I. in 1611 under the name of the bailiffs and
burgesses of Derby, but Charles I. in 1637 appointed a mayor, nine
aldermen, fourteen brethren and fourteen capital burgesses. In 1680 the
burgesses were obliged to resign their charters, and received a new one,
which did not, however, alter the government of the town. Derby has been
represented in parliament by two members since 1295. In the rebellion of
1745 the young Pretender marched with his army as far south as Derby,
where the council was held which decided that he should return to
Scotland instead of going on to London.

   Among early works on Derby are W. Hutton, _History of Derby_ (London,
   1791); R. Simpson, _History and Antiquities of Derby_ (Derby, 1826).




DERBYSHIRE, a north midland county of England, bounded N. and N.E. by
Yorkshire, E. by Nottinghamshire, S.E. and S. by Leicestershire, S. and
S.W. by Staffordshire, and W. and N.W. by Cheshire. The area is 1029.5
sq. m. The physical aspect is much diversified. The extreme south of the
county is lacking in picturesqueness, being for the most part level,
with occasional slight undulations. The Peak District of the north, on
the other hand, though inferior in grandeur to the mountainous Lake
District, presents some of the finest hill scenery in England, deriving
a special beauty from the richly wooded glens and valleys, such as those
of Castleton, Glossop, Dovedale and Millersdale. The character of the
landscape ranges from the wild moorland of the Cheshire borders or the
grey rocks of the Peak, to the park lands and woods of the Chatsworth
district. Some of the woods are noted for their fine oaks, those at
Kedleston, 3 m. from Derby, ranking among the largest and oldest in the
kingdom. From the northern hills the streams of the county radiate.
Those of the north-west belong to the Mersey, and those of the
north-east to the Don, but all the others to the Trent, which, like the
Don, falls into the Humber. The principal river is the Trent, which,
rising in the Staffordshire moorlands, intersects the southern part of
Derbyshire, and forms part of its boundary with Leicestershire. After
the Trent the most important river is the Derwent, one of its
tributaries, which, taking its rise in the lofty ridges of the High
Peak, flows southward through a beautiful valley, receiving a number of
minor streams in its course, including the Wye, which, rising near
Buxton, traverses the fine Millersdale and Monsal Dale. The other
principal rivers are the following: The Dane rises at the junction of
the three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire. The Goyt has
its source a little farther north, at the base of the same hill, and,
taking a N.N.E. direction, divides Derbyshire from Cheshire, and falls
into the Mersey. The Dove rises on the southern slope, and flows as the
boundary stream between Derbyshire and Staffordshire for nearly its
entire course. It receives several feeders, and falls into the Trent
near Repton. The Erewash is the boundary stream between Nottinghamshire
and Derbyshire. The Rother rises about Baslow, and flows into Yorkshire,
with a northerly course, joining the Don. Besides the attractions of its
scenery Derbyshire possesses, in Buxton, Matlock and Bakewell, three
health resorts in much favour on account of their medicinal springs.

The whole northward extension of the county is occupied by the plateau
of the Peak and other plateau-like summits, the highest of which are of
almost exactly similar elevation. Thus in the extreme north Bleaklow
Hill reaches 2060 ft., while southward from this point along the axis of
main elevation are found Shelf Moss (2046 ft.), and Kinder Scout and
other summits of the Peak itself, ranging up to 2088 ft. This
plateau-mass is demarcated on the north and west by the vales of the
Etherow and Goyt, by the valley of the Derwent on the east, and in part
by that of its tributary the Noe on the south. The flanks of the plateau
are deeply scored by abrupt ravines, often known as "cloughs" (an
Anglo-Saxon word, _cloh_) watered by streams which sometimes descend
over precipitous ledges in picturesque falls, such as the Kinder
Downfall, formed by the brook of that name which rises on Kinder Scout.
The most picturesque cloughs are found on the south, descending to
Edale, and on the west. Edale is the upper part of the Noe valley, and
the narrow gorge at its head is exceedingly beautiful, as is the more
gentle scenery of the Vale of Hope, the lower part of the valley. In a
branch vale is situated Castleton (q.v.), with the ruined Peak Castle,
or Castle of the Peak, and the Peak Cavern, Blue John Mine and other
caves. The upper Derwent valley, or Derwent Dale, is narrow and well
wooded. In it, near the village of Derwent Chapel, is Derwent Hall, a
fine old mansion formerly a seat of the Newdigate family. On Derwent
Edge, above the village, are various peculiar rock formations, known by
such names as the Salt-cellar. Ashopton, another village lower down the
dale, is a favourite centre, and here the main valley is joined by Ashop
Dale, a bold defile in its upper part, penetrating the heart of the
Peak.

The well-known high road crossing the plateau from east to west, between
the lower Derwent valley, Bakewell, Buxton and Macclesfield, shows the
various types of scenery characteristic of the limestone hill-country of
Derbyshire south of the Peak itself. The lower Derwent valley, about
Chatsworth, Rowsley, Darley and Matlock, is open, fertile and well
wooded. The road leads up the tributary valley of the Wye, which after
Bakewell quickly narrows, and in successive portions is known as Monsal
Dale, Millersdale (which the main road does not touch), Chee Dale and
Wye Dale. On the flanks of these beautiful dales bold cliffs and
bastions of limestone stand out among rich woods. Near the mouth of the
valley, about Stanton, the fantastic effects of weathering on the
limestone are especially well seen, as in Rowtor Rocks and Robin Hood's
Stride, and in the same locality are a remarkable number of tumuli and
other early remains, and the Hermitage, a cave containing sacred
carvings. From Buxton the road ascends over the high moors, here open
and grassy in contrast to the heather of the Peak, and shortly after
crossing the county boundary, reaches the head of the pass well known by
the name of an inn, the Cat and Fiddle, at its highest point, 1690 ft.

South of Buxton the elevations along the main axis decrease, thus Axe
Edge reaches 1600 ft., and this height is nowhere exceeded as the hills
sink to the plain valley of the Trent. The dales and ravines which
ramify among the limestone heights are characteristic and beautiful, and
the valley of the Dove (q.v.) or Dovedale, on the border with
Staffordshire, is as famous as any of the northern dales. Swallow-holes
or waterworn caverns are common in many parts of the limestone region.
The hills east of the Derwent are nowhere so high as those to the
west--Margley Hill reaches 1793 ft., Howden Edge 1787 ft. and Derwent
Moors 1505 ft. The plateau type is maintained. The valley of the Derwent
provides the most attractive scenery in the southern part of the
county, from Matlock southward by Heage, Belper and Duffield to Derby.

   _Geology._--Five well-contrasted types of scenery in Derbyshire are
   clearly traceable to as many varieties of rock; the bleak dry uplands
   of the north and east, with deep-cut ravines and swift clear streams,
   are due to the great mass of Mountain Limestone; round the limestone
   boundary are the valleys with soft outlines in the Pendleside Shales;
   these are succeeded by the rugged moorlands, covered with heather and
   peat, which are due to the Millstone Grit series; eastward lies the
   Derbyshire Coalfield with its gently moulded grass-covered hills;
   southward is the more level tract of red Triassic rocks. The
   principal structural feature is the broad anticline, its axis running
   north and south, which has brought up the Carboniferous Limestone;
   this uplifted region is the southern extremity of the Pennine Range.
   The Carboniferous or "Mountain" Limestone is the oldest formation in
   the county; its thickness is not known, but it is certainly over 2000
   ft.; it is well exposed in the numerous narrow gorges cut by the
   Derwent and its tributaries and by the Dove on the Staffordshire
   border. Ashwood Dale, Chee Dale, Millersdale, Monsal Dale and the
   valley at Matlock are all flanked by abrupt sides of this rock. It is
   usually a pale, thick-bedded rock, sometimes blue and occasionally,
   as at Ashford, black. In some places, e.g. Thorpe Cloud, it is highly
   fossiliferous, but it is usually somewhat barren except for abundant
   crinoids and smaller organisms. It is polished in large slabs at
   Ashford, where crinoidal, black and "rosewood" marbles are produced.
   Volcanic rocks, locally called "Toadstone," are represented in the
   limestones by intrusive sills and flows of dolerite and by necks of
   agglomerate, notably near Tideswell, Millersdale and Matlock. Beds
   and nodules of chert are abundant in the upper parts of the
   limestone; at Bakewell it is quarried for use in the Potteries. At
   some points the limestone has been dolomitized; near Bonsall it has
   been converted into a granular silicified rock. A series of black
   shales with nodular limestones, the Pendleside series, rests upon the
   Mountain Limestone on the east, south and north-west; much of the
   upper course of the Derwent has been cut through these soft beds. Mam
   Tor, or the Shivering Mountain, is made of these shales. Next in
   upward sequence is a thick mass of sandstones, grits and shales--the
   Millstone Grit series. On the west side these extend from Blacklow
   Hill to Axe Edge; on the east, from Derwent Edge to near Derby;
   outlying masses form the rough moorland on Kinder Scout and the
   picturesque tors near Stanton-by-Youlgreave. A small patch of
   Millstone Grit and Limestone occurs in the south of the county about
   Melbourne and Ticknall. The Coal Measures repose upon the Millstone
   Grit; the largest area of these rocks lies on the east, where they
   are conterminous with the coalfields of Yorkshire and Nottingham. A
   small tract, part of the Leicestershire coalfield, lies in the
   south-east corner, and in the north-west corner a portion of the
   Lancashire coalfield appears about New Mills and Whaley Bridge. They
   yield valuable coals, clays, marls and ganister. East of Bolsover,
   the Coal Measures are covered unconformably by the Permian breccias
   and magnesian limestone. Flanking the hills between Ashbourne and
   Quarndon are red beds of Bunter marl, sandstone and conglomerate;
   they also appear at Morley, east of the Derwent, and again round the
   small southern coalfield. Most of the southern part of the county is
   occupied by Keuper marls and sandstones, the latter yield good
   building stone; and at Chellaston the gypsum beds in the former are
   excavated on a large scale. Much of the Triassic area is covered
   superficially by glacial drift and alluvium of the Trent. Local
   boulders as well as northern erratics are found in the valley of the
   Derwent. The bones of Pleistocene mammals, the rhinoceros, mammoth,
   bison, hyaena, &c., have been found at numerous places, often in
   caves and fissures in the limestones, e.g. at Castleton, Wirksworth
   and Creswell. At Doveholes the Pleiocene _Mastodon_ has been
   reported. Galena and other lead ores are abundant in veins in the
   limestone, but they are now only worked on a large scale at Mill
   Close, near Winster; calamine, zinc, blende, barytes, calcite and
   fluor-spar are common. A peculiar variety of the last named, called
   "Blue John," is found only near Castleton; at the same place occurs
   the remarkable elastic bitumen, "elaterite." Limestone is quarried at
   Buxton, Millersdale and Matlock for lime, fluxing and chemical
   purposes. Good sandstone is obtained from the Millstone Grit at
   Stancliffe, Tansley and Whatstandwell. Calcareous tufa or travertine
   occurs in the valley of Matlock and elsewhere, and in some places is
   still being deposited by springs. Large pits containing deposits of
   white sand, clay and pebbles are found in the limestone at Longcliff,
   Newhaven and Carsington.

_Climate._--From the elevation which it attains in its northern division
the county is colder and is rainier than other midland counties. Even in
summer cold and thick fogs are often seen hanging over the rivers, and
clinging to the lower parts of the hills, and hoar-frosts are by no
means unknown even in June and July. The winters in the uplands are
generally severe, and the rainfall heavy. At Buxton, at an elevation of
about 1000 ft., the mean temperature in January is 34.9° F., and in July
57.5°, the mean annual being 45.4°. These conditions contrast with those
at Derby, in the southern lowland, where the figures are respectively
37.5°, 61.2° and 48.8°, while intermediate conditions are found at
Belper, 9 m. higher up the Derwent valley, where the figures are 36.3°,
59.9° and 47.3°. The contrasts shown by the mean annual rainfall are
similarly marked. Thus at Woodhead, lying high in the extreme north, it
is 52.03 in., at Buxton 49.33 in., at Matlock, in the middle part of the
Derwent valley, 35.2 in., and at Derby 24.35 in.

_Agriculture._--A little over seven-tenths of the total area of the
county is under cultivation. Among the higher altitudes of north
Derbyshire, where the soil is poor and the climate harsh, grain is
unable to flourish, while even in the more sheltered parts of this
region the harvest is usually belated. In such districts sheep farming
is chiefly practised, and there is a considerable area of heath pasture.
Farther south, heavy crops of wheat, turnips and other cereals and green
crops are not uncommon, while barley is cultivated about Repton and
Gresley, and also in the east of the county, in order to supply the
Burton breweries. A large part of the Trent valley is under permanent
pasture, being devoted to cattle-feeding and dairy-farming. This
industry has prospered greatly, and the area of permanent pasture
encroaches continually upon that of arable land. Derbyshire cheeses are
exported or sent to London in considerable quantities; and cheese fairs
are held in various parts of the county, as at Ashbourne and Derby. A
feature of the upland districts is the total absence of hedges, and the
substitution of limestone walls, put together without any mortar or
cement.

_Other Industries._--The manufactures of Derbyshire are both numerous
and important, embracing silks, cotton hosiery, iron, woollen
manufactures, lace, elastic web and brewing. For many of these this
county has long been famous, especially for that of silk, which is
carried on to a large extent in Derby, as well as in Belper and
Duffield. Derby is also celebrated for its china, and silk-throwing is
the principal industry of the town. Elastic web weaving by power looms
is carried on to a great extent, and the manufacture of lace and net
curtains, gimp trimmings, braids and cords. In the county town and
neighbourhood are several important chemical and colour works; and in
various parts of the county, as at Belper, Cromford, Matlock, Tutbury,
are cotton-spinning mills, as well as hosiery and tape manufactories.
The principal works of the Midland Railway Company are at Derby. The
principal mineral is coal. Ironstone is not extensively wrought, but, on
account of the abundant supply of coal, large quantities are imported
for smelting purposes. There are smelting furnaces in several districts,
as at Alfreton, Chesterfield, Derby, Ilkeston. Besides lead, gypsum and
zinc are raised, to a small extent; and for the quarrying of limestone
Derbyshire is one of the principal English counties. The east and the
extreme south-west parts are the principal industrial districts.

_Communications._--The chief railway serving the county is the Midland,
the south, east and north being served by its main line and branches. In
the north-east and north the Great Central system touches the county; in
the west the North Staffordshire and a branch of the London &
North-Western; while a branch of the Great Northern serves Derby and
other places in the south. The Trent & Mersey canal crosses the southern
part of the county, and there is a branch canal (the Derby) connecting
Derby with this and with the Erewash canal, which runs north from the
Trent up the Erewash valley. From it there is a little-used branch (the
Cromford canal) to Matlock.

_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
658,885 acres, with a population in 1891 of 528,033, and 1901 of
620,322. The area of the administrative county is 652,272 acres. The
county contains six hundreds. The municipal boroughs are Chesterfield
(pop. 27,185), Derby, a county borough and the county town (114,848),
Glossop (21,526), Ilkeston (25,384). The other urban districts are
Alfreton (17,505), Alvaston and Boulton (1279), Ashbourne (4039),
Bakewell (2850), Baslow and Bubnell (797), Belper (10,934), Bolsover
(6844) Bonsall (1360), Brampton and Walton (2698), Buxton (10,181), Clay
Cross (8358), Dronfield (3809), Fairfield (2969), Heage (2889), Heanor
(16,249), Long Eaton (13,045), Matlock (5979), Matlock Bath and Scarthin
Nick (1810), Newbold and Dunston (5986), New Mills (7773), North Darley
(2756), Ripley (10,111), South Darley (788), Swadlincote (18,014),
Whittington (9416), Wirksworth (3807). Among other towns may be
mentioned Ashover (2426), Barlborough (2056), Chapel-en-le-Frith (4626),
Clowne (3896), Crich (3063), Killamarsh (3644), Staveley (11,420),
Whitwell (3380). The county is in the Midland circuit, and assizes are
held at Derby. It has one court of quarter sessions and is divided into
fifteen petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Derby, Chesterfield
and Glossop have separate commissions of the peace, and that of Derby
has also a separate court of quarter sessions. The total number of civil
parishes is 314. The county is mainly in the diocese of Southwell, with
small portions in the dioceses of Peterborough and Lichfield, and
contains 255 ecclesiastical parishes or districts. The parliamentary
divisions of the county are High Peak, North-Eastern, Chesterfield, Mid,
Ilkeston, Southern and Western, each returning one member, while the
parliamentary borough of Derby returns two members.

_History._--The earliest English settlements in the district which is
now Derbyshire were those of the West Angles, who in the course of their
northern conquests in the 6th century pushed their way up the valleys of
the Derwent and the Dove, where they became known as the Pecsaetan.
Later the district formed the northern division of Mercia, and in 848
the Mercian witenagemot assembled at Repton. In the 9th century the
district suffered frequently from the ravages of the Danes, who in 874
wintered at Repton and destroyed its famous monastery, the burial-place
of the kings of Mercia. Derby under Guthrum was one of the five Danish
burghs, but in 917 was recovered by Æthelflæd. In 924 Edward the Elder
fortified Bakewell, and in 942 Edmund regained Derby, which had fallen
under the Danish yoke. Barrows of the Saxon period are numerous in
Wirksworth hundred and the Bakewell district, among the most remarkable
being White-low near Winster and Bower's-low near Tissington. There are
Saxon cemeteries at Stapenhill and Foremark Hall.

Derbyshire probably originated as a shire in the time of Æthelstan, but
for long it maintained a very close connexion with Nottinghamshire, and
the Domesday Survey gives a list of local customs affecting the two
counties alike. The two shire-courts sat together for the Domesday
Inquest, and the counties were united under one sheriff until the time
of Elizabeth. The villages of Appleby, Oakthorpe, Donisthorpe,
Stretton-en-le-Field, Willesley, Chilcote and Measham were reckoned as
part of Derbyshire in 1086, although separated from it by the
Leicestershire parishes of Over and Nether Seat.

The early divisions of the county were known as wapentakes, five being
mentioned in Domesday, while 13th-century documents mention seven
wapentakes, corresponding with the six present hundreds, except that
Repton and Gresley were then reckoned as separate divisions. In the 14th
century the divisions were more frequently described as hundreds, and
Wirksworth alone retained the designation wapentake until modern times.
Ecclesiastically the county constituted an archdeaconry in the diocese
of Lichfield, comprising the six deaneries of Derby, Ashbourne, High
Peak, Castillar, Chesterfield and Repington. In 1884 it was transferred
to the newly formed diocese of Southwell. The assizes for
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire were held at Nottingham until the reign
of Henry III., when they were held alternately at Nottingham and Derby
until 1569, after which the Derbyshire assizes were held at Derby. The
court of the Honour of Peverel, held at Basford in Nottinghamshire,
which formerly exercised jurisdiction in the hundreds of Scarsdale, the
Peak and Wirksworth, was abolished in 1849. The miners of Derbyshire
formed an independent community under the jurisdiction of a steward and
barmasters, who held two Barmote courts (q.v.) every year. The forests
of Peak and Duffield had their separate courts and officers, the justice
seat of the former being in an extra-parochial part at equal distances
from Castleton, Tideswell and Bowden, while the pleas of Duffield Forest
were held at Tutbury. Both were disafforested in the 17th century.

The greatest landholder in Derbyshire at the time of the Domesday Survey
was Henry de Ferrers, who owned almost the whole of the modern hundred
of Appletree. The Ferrers estates were forfeited by Robert, earl of
Derby, in the reign of Henry III. Another great Domesday landholder was
William Peverel, the historic founder of Peak Castle, whose vast
possessions were known as the Honour of Peverel. In 1155 the younger
Peverel was disinherited for poisoning the earl of Chester, and his
estates forfeited to the crown. Few Englishmen retained estates of any
importance after the Conquest, but one, Elfin, an under-tenant of Henry
de Ferrers, not only held a considerable property but was the ancestor
of the Derbyshire family of Brailsford. The families of Shirley and
Gresley can also boast an unbroken descent from Domesday tenants.

During the rebellion of Prince Henry against Henry II. the castles of
Tutbury and Duffield were held against the king, and in the civil wars
of John's reign Bolsover and Peak Castles were garrisoned by the
rebellious barons. In the Barons' War of the reign of Henry III. the
earl of Derby was active in stirring up feeling in the county against
the king, and in 1266 assembled a considerable force, which was defeated
by the king's party at Chesterfield. At the time of the Wars of the
Roses discontent was rife in Derbyshire, and riots broke out in 1443,
but the county did not lend active support to either party. On the
outbreak of the Civil War of the 17th century, the county at first
inclined to support the king, who received an enthusiastic reception
when he visited Derby in 1642, but by the close of 1643 Sir John Gell of
Hopton had secured almost the whole county for the parliament. Derby,
however, was always royalist in sympathy, and did not finally surrender
till 1646; in 1659 it rebelled against Richard Cromwell, and in 1745
entertained the young Pretender.

Derbyshire has always been mainly a mining and manufacturing county,
though the rich land in the south formerly produced large quantities of
corn. The lead mines were worked by the Romans, and the Domesday Survey
mentions lead mines at Wirksworth, Matlock, Bakewell, Ashford and Crich.
Iron has also been produced in Derbyshire from an early date, and coal
mines were worked at Norton and Alfreton in the beginning of the 14th
century. The woollen industry flourished in the county before the reign
of John, when an exclusive privilege of dyeing cloth was conceded to the
burgesses of Derby. Thomas Fuller writing in 1662 mentions lead, malt
and ale as the chief products of the county, and the Buxton waters were
already famous in his day. The 18th century saw the rise of numerous
manufactures. In 1718 Sir Thomas and John Lombe set up an improved
silk-throwing machine at Derby, and in 1758 Jedediah Strutt introduced a
machine for making ribbed stockings, which became famous as the "Derby
rib." In 1771 Sir Richard Arkwright set up one of his first cotton mills
in Cromford, and in 1787 there were twenty-two cotton mills in the
county. The Derby porcelain or china manufactory was started about 1750.

From 1295 until the Reform Act of 1832 the county and town of Derby each
returned two members to parliament. From this latter date the county
returned four members in two divisions until the act of 1868, under
which it returned six members for three divisions.

_Antiquities._--Monastic remains are scanty, but there are interesting
portions of a priory incorporated with the school buildings at Repton.
The village church of Beauchief Abbey, near Dronfield, is a remnant of
an abbey founded c. 1175 by Robert Fitzranulf. It has a stately
transitional Norman tower, and three fine Norman arches. Dale Abbey,
near Derby, was founded early in the 13th century for the
Premonstratensian order. The ruins are scanty, but the east window is
preserved, and the present church incorporates remains of the ancient
rest-house for pilgrims. The church has a peculiar music gallery,
entered from without. The abbey church contained famous stained glass,
and some of this is preserved in the neighbouring church at Morley.
Derbyshire is rich in ecclesiastical architecture as a whole. The
churches are generally of various styles. The chancel of the church at
Repton is assigned to the second half of the 10th century, though
subsequently altered, and the crypt beneath is supposed to be earlier
still; its roof is supported by four round pillars, and it is
approached by two stairways. Other remains of pre-Conquest date are the
chancel arches in the churches of Marston Montgomery and of Sawley; and
the curiously carved font in Wilne church is attributed to the same
period. Examples of Norman work are frequent in doorways, as in the
churches of Allestree and Willington near Repton, while a fine tympanum
is preserved in the modern church of Findern. There is a triple-recessed
doorway, with arcade above, in the west end of Bakewell church, and
there is another fine west doorway in Melbourne church, a building
principally of the late Norman period, with central and small western
towers. In restoring this church curious mural paintings were
discovered. At Steetley, near Worksop, is a small Norman chapel, with
apse, restored from a ruinous condition; Youlgrave church, a building of
much general interest, has Norman nave pillars and a fine font of the
same period, and Normanton church has a peculiar Norman corbel table.
The Early English style is on the whole less well exemplified in the
county, but Ashbourne church, with its central tower and lofty spire,
contains beautiful details of this period, notably the lancet windows in
the Cockayne chapel.

The parish churches of Dronfield, Hathersage (with some notable stained
glass), Sandiacre and Tideswell exemplify the Decorated period; the last
is a particularly stately and beautiful building, with a lofty and
ornate western tower and some good early brasses. The churches of
Dethic, Wirksworth and Chesterfield are typical of the Perpendicular
period; that of Wirksworth contains noteworthy memorial chapels,
monuments and brasses, and that of Chesterfield is celebrated for its
crooked spire.

The remains of castles are few; the ancient Bolsover Castle is replaced
by a castellated mansion of the 17th century; of the Norman Peak Castle
near Castleton little is left; of Codnor Castle in the Erewash valley
there are picturesque ruins of the 13th century. Among ancient mansions
Derbyshire possesses one of the most famous in England in Haddon Hall,
of the 15th century. Wingfield manor house is a ruin dating from the
same century. Hardwick Hall is a very perfect example of Elizabethan
building; ruins of the old Tudor hall stand near by. Other Elizabethan
examples are Barlborough and Tissington Halls.

The village of Tissington is noted for the maintenance of an old custom,
that of "well-dressing." On the Thursday before Easter a special church
service is celebrated, and the wells are beautifully ornamented with
flowers, prayers being offered at each. The ceremony has been revived
also in several other Derbyshire villages.

   See Davies, _New Historical and Descriptive View of Derbyshire_
   (Belper, 1811); D. Lysons, _Magna Britannia_, vol. v. (London, 1817);
   Maunder, _Derbyshire Miners' Glossary_ (Bakewell, 1824); R. Simpson,
   _Collection of Fragments illustrative of the History of Derbyshire_
   (1826); S. Glover, _History and Gazetteer of the County of Derby_,
   ed. T. Noble, part 1 of vols. i. and ii. (Derby, 1831-1833); T.
   Bateman, _Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire_ (London, 1848);
   L. Jewitt, _Ballads and Songs of Derbyshire_ (London, 1867); J. C.
   Cox, _Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire_ (Chester, 1875), and
   _Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals_ (2 vols., London, 1890); R. N.
   Worth, _Derby_, in "Popular County Histories" (London, 1886); J. P.
   Yeatman, _Feudal History of the County of Derby_ (3 vols., London,
   1886-1895); _Victoria County History, Derbyshire_. See also _Notts
   and Derbyshire Notes and Queries_.




DEREHAM (properly EAST DEREHAM), a market town in the Mid parliamentary
division of Norfolk, England, 122 m. N.N.E. from London by the Great
Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5545. The church of St
Nicholas is a cruciform Perpendicular structure with a beautiful central
tower, and some portions of earlier date. It contains a monument to
William Cowper, who came to live here in 1796, and the Congregational
chapel stands on the site of the house where the poet spent his last
days. Dereham is an important agricultural centre with works for the
manufacture of agricultural implements, iron foundries and a malting
industry.




DERELICT (from Lat. _derelinquere_, to forsake), in law, property thrown
away or abandoned by the owner in such a manner as to indicate that he
intends to make no further claim to it. The word is used more
particularly with respect to property abandoned at sea (see WRECK), but
it is also applied in other senses; for example, land gained from the
sea by receding of the water is termed _dereliction_. Land gained
gradually and slowly by dereliction belongs to the owner of the
adjoining land, but in the case of sudden or considerable dereliction
the land belongs to the Crown. This technical use of the term
"dereliction" is to be distinguished from the more general modern sense,
dereliction or abandonment of duty, which implies a culpable failure or
neglect in moral or legal obligation.




DERENBOURG, JOSEPH (1811-1895), Franco-German orientalist. He was a
considerable force in the educational revival of Jewish education in
France. He made great contributions to the knowledge of Saadia, and
planned a complete edition of Saadia's works in Arabic and French. A
large part of this work appeared during his lifetime. He also wrote an
_Essai sur l'histoire et la géographie de la Palestine_ (Paris, 1867).
This was an original contribution to the history of the Jews and Judaism
in the time of Christ, and has been much used by later writers on the
subject (e.g. by Schürer). He also published in collaboration with his
son Hartwig, _Opuscules et traités d'Abou-'l-Walîd_ (with translation,
1880); _Deux Versions hébraïques du livre de Kalilâh et Dimnah_ (1881),
and a Latin translation of the same story under the title _Joannis de
Capua directorium vitae humanae_ (1889); _Commentaire de Maimonide sur
la Mischnah Seder Tohorot_ (Berlin, 1886-1891); and a second edition of
S. de Sacy's _Séances de Hariri_. He died on the 29th of July 1895, at
Ems.

His son, HARTWIG DERENBOURG (1844-1908), was born in Paris on the 17th
of June 1844. He was educated at Göttingen and Leipzig. Subsequently he
studied Arabic at the École des Langues Orientales. In 1879 he was
appointed professor of Arabic, and in 1886 professor of Mahommedan
Religion, at the École des Hautes Études in Paris. He collaborated with
his father in the great edition of Saadia and the edition of
Abu-'l-Walîd, and also produced a number of important editions of other
Arabic writers. Among these are _Le Dîwân de Nâbiqa Dhoby[=a]n[=i]_; _Le
Livre de Sîbawaihi_ (2 vols., Paris, 1881-1889); _Chrestomathie
élémentaire de l'arabe littéral_ (in collaboration with Spiro, 1885; 2nd
ed., 1892); _Ousâma ibn Mounkidh, un émir syrien_ (1889); _Ousâma ibn
Mounkidh, préface du livre du bâton_ (with trans., 1887); _Al-Fákhrî_
(1895); _Oumâra du Gémen_ (1897), a catalogue of Arabic MSS. in the
Escorial (vol. i., 1884).




DERG, LOUGH, a lake of Ireland, on the boundary of the counties Galway,
Clare and Tipperary. It is an expansion of the Shannon, being the lowest
lake on that river, and is 23 m. long and generally from 1 to 3 m.
broad. It lies where the Shannon leaves the central plain of Ireland and
flows between the hills which border the plain. While the northerly
shores of the lake, therefore, are flat, the southern are steep and
picturesque, being backed by the Slieve Aughty, Slieve Bernagh and Arra
Mountains. Ruined churches and fortresses are numerous on the eastern
shore, and on Iniscaltra Island are a round tower and remains of five
churches.

Another LOUGH DERG, near Pettigo in Donegal, though small, is famous as
the traditional scene of St Patrick's purgatory. In the middle ages its
pilgrimages had a European reputation, and they are still observed
annually by many of the Irish from June 1 to August 15. The hospice,
chapels, &c., are on Station Island, and there is a ruined monastery on
Saints' Island.




DERHAM, WILLIAM (1657-1735), English divine, was born at Stoulton, near
Worcester, on the 26th of November 1657. He was educated at Blockley, in
his native county, and at Trinity College, Oxford. In 1682 he became
vicar of Wargrave, in Berkshire; and in 1689 he was preferred to the
living of Upminster, in Essex. In 1696 he published his _Artificial
Clockmaker_, which went through several editions. The best known of his
subsequent works are _Physico-Theology_, published in 1713;
_Astro-Theology_, 1714; and _Christo-Theology_, 1730. The first two of
these books were teleological arguments for the being and attributes of
God, and were used by Paley nearly a century later. In 1702 Derham was
elected fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1716 was made a canon of
Windsor. He was Boyle lecturer in 1711-1712. His last work, entitled A
_Defence of the Church's Right in Leasehold Estates_, appeared in 1731.
He died on the 5th of April 1735. Besides the works published in his own
name, Derham, who was keenly interested in natural history, contributed
a variety of papers to the _Transactions of the Royal Society, revised
the Miscellanea Curiosa_, edited the correspondence of John Ray and
Eleazar Albin's _Natural History_, and published some of the MSS. of
Robert Hooke, the natural philosopher.




D'ERLON, JEAN BAPTISTE DROUET, COUNT (1765-1844), marshal of France, was
born at Reims on the 29th of July 1765. He entered the army as a private
soldier in 1782, was discharged after five years' service, re-entered it
in 1792, and rose rapidly to the rank of an officer. From 1794 to 1796
he was aide-de-camp to General Lefebvre. He did good service in the
campaigns of the revolutionary wars and in 1799 attained the rank of
general of brigade. In the campaign of that year he was engaged in the
Swiss operations under Masséna. In 1800 he fought under Moreau at
Hohenlinden. As a general of division he took part in Napoleon's
campaigns of 1805 and 1806, and rendered excellent service at Jena. He
was next engaged under Lefebvre in the siege of Danzig and negotiated
the terms of surrender; after this he rejoined the field army and fought
at Friedland (1807), receiving a severe wound. After this battle he was
made grand officer of the Legion of Honour, was created Count d'Erlon
and received a pension. For the next six years d'Erlon was almost
continuously engaged as commander of an army corps in the Peninsular
War, in which he added greatly to his reputation as a capable general.
At the pass of Maya in the Pyrenees he inflicted a defeat upon Lord
Hill's troops, and in the subsequent battles of the 1814 campaign he
distinguished himself further. After the first Restoration he was named
commander of the 16th military division, but he was soon arrested for
conspiring with the Orléans party, to which he was secretly devoted. He
escaped, however, and gave in his adhesion to Napoleon, who had returned
from Elba. The emperor made him a peer of France, and gave him command
of the I. army corps, which formed part of the Army of the North. In the
Waterloo campaign d'Erlon's corps formed part of Ney's command on the
16th of June, but, in consequence of an extraordinary series of
misunderstandings, took part neither at Ligny nor at Quatre Bras (see
WATERLOO CAMPAIGN). He was not, however, held to account by Napoleon,
and as the latter's practice in such matters was severe to the verge of
injustice, it may be presumed that the failure was not due to d'Erlon.

He was in command of the right wing of the French army throughout the
great battle of the 18th of June, and fought in the closing operations
around Paris. At the second Restoration d'Erlon fled into Germany, only
returning to France after the amnesty of 1825. He was not restored to
the service until the accession of Louis Philippe, in whose interests he
had engaged in several plots and intrigues. As commander of the 12th
military division (Nantes), he suppressed the legitimist agitation in
his district and caused the arrest of the duchess of Berry (1832). His
last active service was in Algeria, of which country he was made
governor-general in 1834 at the age of seventy. He returned to France
after two years, and was made marshal of France shortly before his death
at Paris on the 25th of January 1844.




DERMOT MAC MURROUGH (d. 1171), Irish king of Leinster, succeeded his
father in the principality of the Hui Cinsellaigh (1115) and eventually
in the kingship of Leinster. The early events of his life are obscure;
but about 1152 we find him engaged in a feud with O Ruairc, the lord of
Breifne (Leitrim and Cavan). Dermot abducted the wife of O Ruairc more
with the object of injuring his rival than from any love of the lady.
The injured husband called to his aid Roderic, the high king (aird-righ)
of Connaught; and in 1166 Dermot fled before this powerful coalition to
invoke the aid of England. Obtaining from Henry II. a licence to enlist
allies among the Welsh marchers, Dermot secured the aid of the Clares
and Geraldines. To Richard Strongbow, earl of Pembroke and head of the
house of Clare, Dermot gave his daughter Eva in marriage; and on his
death was succeeded by the earl in Leinster. The historical importance
of Dermot lies in the fact that he was the means of introducing the
English into Ireland. Through his aid the towns of Waterford, Wexford
and Dublin had already become English colonies before the arrival of
Henry II. in the island.

   See _The Song of Dermot and the Earl, an old French Poem_ (by M.
   Regan?), ed. with trans. by G. H. Orpen, 1892; Kate Norgate, _England
   under the Angevin Kings_, vol. ii.                    (H. W. C. D.)




DERNA (anc. _Darnis-Zarine_), a town on the north coast of Africa and
capital of the eastern half of the Ottoman province of Bengazi or Barca.
Situated below the eastern butt of Jebel Akhdar on a small but rich
deltaic plain, watered by fine perennial springs, it has a growing
population and trade, the latter being mainly in fruits grown in its
extensive palm gardens, and in hides and wool brought down by the nomads
from the interior. If the port were better there would be more rapid
expansion. The bay is open from N.W. round to S.E. and often
inaccessible in winter and spring, and the steamers of the _Nav. Gen.
Italiana_ sometimes have to pass without calling. The population has
recovered from the great plague epidemic of 1821 and reached its former
figure of about 7000. A proportion of it is of Moorish stock, of
Andalusian origin, which emigrated in 1493; the descendants preserve a
fine facial type. The sheikhs of the local Bedouin tribes have houses in
the place, and a Turkish garrison of about 250 men is stationed in
barracks. There is a lighthouse W. of the bay. A British consular agent
is resident and the Italians maintain a vice-consul. The names Darnis
and Zarine are philologically identical and probably refer to the same
place. No traces are left of the ancient town except some rock tombs.
Darnis continued to be of some importance in early Moslem times as a
station on the Alexandria-Kairawan road, and has served on more than one
occasion as a base for Egyptian attacks on Cyrenaica and Tripolitana. In
1805 the government of the United States, having a quarrel with the dey
of Tripoli on account of piracies committed on American shipping, landed
a force to co-operate in the attack on Derna then being made by Sidi
Ahmet, an elder brother of the dey. This force, commanded by William
Eaton (q.v.), built a fort, whose ruins and rusty guns are still to be
seen, and began to improve the harbour; but its work quickly came to an
end with the conclusion of peace. After 1835 Derna passed under direct
Ottoman control, and subsequently served as the point whence the sultan
exerted a precarious but increasing control over eastern Cyrenaica and
Marmarica. It is now in communication by wireless telegraphy with Rhodes
and western Cyrenaica. It is the only town, or even large village,
between Bengazi and Alexandria (600 m.)                     (D. G. H.)




DÉROULÈDE, PAUL (1846-    ), French author and politician, was born in
Paris on the 2nd of September 1846. He made his first appearance as a
poet in the pages of the _Revue nationale_, under the pseudonym of Jean
Rebel, and in 1869 produced at the Théâtre Français a one-act drama in
verse entitled _Juan Strenner_. On the outbreak of the Franco-German War
he enlisted as a private, was wounded and taken prisoner at Sedan, and
sent to Breslau, but effected his escape. He then served under Chanzy
and Bourbaki, took part in the latter's disastrous retreat to
Switzerland, and fought against the Commune in Paris. After attaining
the rank of lieutenant, he was forced by an accident to retire from the
army. He published in 1872 a number of patriotic poems (_Chants du
soldat_), which enjoyed unbounded popularity. This was followed in 1875
by another collection, _Nouveaux Chants du soldat_. In 1877 he produced
a drama in verse called _L'Hetman_, which derived a passing success from
the patriotic fervour of its sentiments. For the exhibition of 1878 he
wrote a hymn, _Vive la France_, which was set to music by Gounod. In
1880 his drama in verse, _La Moäbite_, which had been accepted by the
Théâtre Français, was forbidden by the censor on religious grounds. In
1882 M. Déroulède founded the _Ligue des patriotes_, with the object of
furthering France's "revanche" against Germany. He was one of the first
advocates of a Franco-Russian alliance, and as early as 1883 undertook a
journey to Russia for the furtherance of that object. On the rise of
General Boulanger, M. Déroulède attempted to use the _Ligue des
patriotes_, hitherto a non-political organization, to assist his cause,
but was deserted by a great part of the league and forced to resign his
presidency. Nevertheless he used the section that remained faithful to
him with such effect that the government found it necessary in 1889 to
decree its suppression. In the same year he was elected to the chamber
as member for Angoulême. He was expelled from the chamber in 1890 for
his disorderly interruptions during debate. He did not stand at the
elections of 1893, but was re-elected in 1898, and distinguished himself
by his violence as a nationalist and anti-Dreyfusard. After the funeral
of President Faure, on the 23rd of February 1899, he endeavoured to
persuade General Roget to lead his troops upon the Élysée. For this he
was arrested, but on being tried for treason was acquitted (May 31). On
the 12th of August he was again arrested and accused, together with
André Buffet, Jules Guérin and others, of conspiracy against the
republic. After a long trial before the high court, he was sentenced, on
the 4th of January 1900, to ten years' banishment from France, and
retired to San Sebastian. In 1901, he was again brought prominently
before the public by a quarrel with his Royalist allies, which resulted
in an abortive attempt to arrange a duel with M. Buffet in Switzerland.
In November 1905, however, the law of amnesty enabled him to return to
France.

Besides the works already mentioned, he published _Le Sergent_, in the
_Théâtre de campagne_ (1880); _De l'éducation nationale_ (1882);
_Monsieur le Uhlan et les trois couleurs_ (1884); _Le Premier grenadier
de France; La Tour d'Auvergne_ (1886); _Le Livre de la ligue des
patriotes_ (1887); _Refrains militaires_ (1888); _Histoire d'amour_
(1890); a pamphlet entitled _Désarmement?_ (1891); _Chants du paysan_
(1894); _Poésies Militaires_ (1896) and _Messire du Guesclin, drame en
vers_ (1895); _La mort de Hoche. Cinq actes en prose_ (1897); _La Plus
belle fille du monde, conte dialogué en vers libres_ (1898).




DERRICK, a sort of crane (q.v.); the name is derived from that of a
famous early 17th-century Tyburn hangman, and was originally applied as
a synonym.




DERRING-DO, valour, chivalrous conduct, or "desperate courage," as it is
defined by Sir Walter Scott. The word in its present accepted
substantival form is a misconstruction of the verbal substantive
_dorryng_ or _durring_, daring, and _do_ or _don_, the present
infinitive of "do," the phrase _dorryng do_ thus meaning "daring to do."
It is used by Chaucer in _Troylus_, and by Lydgate in the _Chronicles of
Troy_. Spenser in the _Shepherd's Calendar_ first adapted _derring-do_
as a substantive meaning "manhood and chevalrie," and this use was
revived by Scott, through whom it came into vogue with writers of
romance.




DE RUYTER, MICHAEL ADRIANZOON (1607-1676), Dutch naval officer, was born
at Flushing on the 24th of March 1607. He began his seafaring life at
the age of eleven as a cabin boy, and in 1636 was entrusted by the
merchants of Flushing with the command of a cruiser against the French
pirates. In 1640 he entered the service of the States, and, being
appointed rear-admiral of a fleet fitted out to assist Portugal against
Spain, specially distinguished himself at Cape St Vincent, on the 3rd of
November 1641. In the following year he left the service of the States,
and, until the outbreak of war with England in 1652, held command of a
merchant vessel. In 1653 a squadron of seventy vessels was despatched
against the English, under the command of Admiral Tromp. Ruyter, who
accompanied the admiral in this expedition, seconded him with great
skill and bravery in the three battles which were fought with the
English. He was afterwards stationed in the Mediterranean, where he
captured several Turkish vessels. In 1659 he received a commission to
join the king of Denmark in his war with the Swedes. As a reward of his
services, the king of Denmark ennobled him and gave him a pension. In
1661 he grounded a vessel belonging to Tunis, released forty Christian
slaves, made a treaty with the Tunisians, and reduced the Algerine
corsairs to submission. From his achievements on the west coast of
Africa he was recalled in 1665 to take command of a large fleet which
had been organized against England, and in May of the following year,
after a long contest off the North Foreland, he compelled the English to
take refuge in the Thames. On the 7th of June 1672 he fought a drawn
battle with the combined fleets of England and France, in Southwold or
Sole Bay, and after the fight he convoyed safely home a fleet of
merchantmen. His valour was displayed to equal advantage in several
engagements with the French and English in the following year. In 1676
he was despatched to the assistance of Spain against France in the
Mediterranean, and, receiving a mortal wound in the battle on the 21st
of April off Messina, died on the 29th at Syracuse. A patent by the king
of Spain, investing him with the dignity of duke, did not reach the
fleet till after his death. His body was carried to Amsterdam, where a
magnificent monument to his memory was erected by command of the
states-general.

   See _Life_ of De Ruyter by Brandt (Amsterdam, 1687), and by Klopp
   (2nd ed., Hanover, 1858).




DERVISH, a Persian word, meaning "seeking doors," i.e. "beggar," and
thus equivalent to the Arabic _faq[=i]r_ (fakir). Generally in Islam it
indicates a member of a religious fraternity, whether mendicant or not;
but in Turkey and Persia it indicates more exactly a wandering, begging
religious, called, in Arabic-speaking countries, more specifically a
_faqir_. With important differences, the dervish fraternities may be
compared to the regular religious orders of Roman Christendom, while the
Ulema (q.v.) are, also with important differences, like the secular
clergy. The origin and history of the mystical life in Islam, which led
to the growth of the order of dervishes, are treated under
[S.][=U]FI'ISM It remains to treat here more particularly of (1) the
dervish fraternities, and (2) the [S.][=u]f[=i] hierarchy.

1. _The Dervish Fraternities._--In the earlier times, the relation
between devotees was that of master and pupil. Those inclined to the
spiritual life gathered round a revered sheikh (_murshid_, "guide,"
_ustadh_, _pir_, "teacher"), lived with him, shared his religious
practices and were instructed by him. In time of war against the
unbelievers, they might accompany him to the threatened frontier, and
fight under his eye. Thus _mur[=a]bit_, "one who pickets his horse on a
hostile frontier," has become the marabout (q.v.) or dervish of French
Algeria; and _ribat_, "a frontier fort," has come to mean a monastery.
The relation, also, might be for a time only. The pupil might at any
time return to the world, when his religious education and training were
complete. On the death of the master the memory of his life and sayings
might go down from generation to generation, and men might boast
themselves as pupils of his pupils. Continuous corporations to
perpetuate his name were slow in forming. Ghazali himself, though he
founded, taught and ruled a [S.][=u]f[=i] cloister (_kh[=a]nq[=a]h_) at
Tus, left no order behind him. But 'Ad[=i] al-Hakk[=a]r[=i], who founded
a cloister at Mosul and died about 1163, was long reverenced by the
'Adawite Fraternity, and in 1166 died 'Abd al-Q[=a]dir al-Jil[=a]n[=i],
from whom the Q[=a]dirite order descends, one of the greatest and most
influential to this day. The troublous times of the break up of the
Seljuk rule may have been a cause in this, as, with St Benedict, the
crumbling Roman empire. Many existing fraternities, it is true, trace
their origin to saints of the third, second and even first Moslem
centuries, but that is legend purely. Similar is the tendency to claim
all the early pious Moslems as good [S.][=u]f[=i]s; collections of
[S.][=u]f[=i] biography begin with the ten to whom Mahomet promised
Paradise. So, too, the ultimate origin of fraternities is assigned to
either Ali or Abu Bekr, and in Egypt all are under the rule of a direct
descendant of the latter.

To give a complete list of these fraternities is quite impossible.
Commonly, thirty-two are reckoned, but many have vanished or have been
suppressed, and there are sub-orders innumerable. Each has a "rule"
dating back to its founder, and a ritual which the members perform when
they meet together in their convent (_kh[=a]nq[=a]h_, _z[=a]wiya_,
_takya_). This may consist simply in the repetition of sacred phrases,
or it may be an elaborate performance, such as the whirlings of the
dancing dervishes, the Mevlevites, an order founded by Jel[=a]l
ud-D[=i]n ar-R[=u]m[=i], the author of the great Persian mystical poem,
the _Mesnevi_, and always ruled by one of his descendants. Jel[=a]l
ud-D[=i]n was an advanced pantheist, and so are the Mevlevites, but that
seems only to earn them the dislike of the Ulema, and not to affect
their standing in Islam. They are the most broad-minded and tolerant of
all. There are also the performances of the Rif[=a]'ites or "howling
dervishes." In ecstasy they cut themselves with knives; eat live coals
and glass, handle red-hot iron and devour serpents. They profess
miraculous healing powers, and the head of the Sa'dites, a sub-order,
used, in Cairo, to ride over the bodies of his dervishes without hurting
them, the so-called D[=o]seh (_dausa_). These different abilities are
strictly regulated. Thus, one sub-order may eat glass and another may
eat only serpents. Another division is made by their attitude to the law
of Islam. When a dervish is in a state of ecstasy (_majdh[=u]b_), he is
supposed to be unconscious of the actions of his body. Reputed saints,
therefore, can do practically anything, as their souls will be supposed
to be out of their bodies and in the heavenly regions. They may not only
commit the vilest of actions, but neglect in general the ceremonial and
ritual law. This goes so far that in Persia and Turkey dervish orders
are classified as _b[=a]-shar'_, "with law," and _b[=i]-shar'_, "without
law." The latter are really antinomians, and the best example of them is
the Bakhtashite order, widely spread and influential in Turkey and
Albania and connected by legend with the origin of the Janissaries. The
Qalandarite order is known to all from the "Calenders" of the _Thousand
and One Nights_. They separated from the Bakhtashites and are under
obligation of perpetual travelling. The Senussi (Senussia) were the last
order to appear, and are distinguished from the others by a severely
puritanic and reforming attitude and strict orthodoxy, without any
admixture of mystical slackness in faith or conduct. Each order is
distinguished by a peculiar garb. Candidates for admission have to pass
through a noviciate, more or less lengthy. First comes the _'ahd_, or
initial covenant, in which the neophyte or _mur[=i]d_, "seeker," repents
of his past sins and takes the sheikh of the order he enters as his
guide (_murshid_) for the future. He then enters upon a course of
instruction and discipline, called a "path" (_tar[=i]qa_), on which he
advances through diverse "stations" (_maq[=a]m[=a]t_) or "passes"
(_'aqab[=a]t_) of the spiritual life. There is a striking resemblance
here to the gnostic system, with its seven Archon-guarded gates. On
another side, it is plain that the sheikh, along with ordinary
instruction of the novice, also hypnotizes him and causes him to see a
series of visions, marking his penetration of the divine mystery. The
part that hypnosis and autohypnosis, conscious and unconscious, has
played here cannot easily be overestimated. The Mevlevites seem to have
the most severe noviciate. Their aspirant has to labour as a lay
servitor of the lowest rank for 1001 days--called the _k[=a]rr[=a]
kolak_, or "jackal"--before he can be received. For one day's failure he
must begin again from the beginning.

But besides these full members there is an enormous number of lay
adherents, like the tertiaries of the Franciscans. Thus, nearly every
religious man of the Turkish Moslem world is a lay member of one order
or another, under the duty of saying certain prayers daily. Certain
trades, too, affect certain orders. Most of the Egyptian Q[=a]dirites,
for example, are fishermen and, on festival days, carry as banners nets
of various colours. On this side, the orders bear a striking resemblance
to lodges of Freemasons and other friendly societies, and points of
direct contact have even been alleged between the more pantheistic and
antinomian orders, such as the Bakhtashite, and European Freemasonry. On
another side, just as the _dhikrs_ of the early ascetic mystics suggest
comparison with the class-meetings of the early Methodists, so these
orders are the nearest approach in Islam to the different churches of
Protestant Christendom. They are the only ecclesiastical organization
that Islam has ever known, but it is a multiform organization,
unclassified internally or externally. They differ thus from the Roman
monastic orders, in that they are independent and self-developing, each
going its own way in faith and practice, limited only by the universal
conscience (_ijm[=a]'_, "agreement": see MAHOMMEDAN LAW) of Islam.
Strange doctrines and moral defects may develop, but freedom is saved,
and the whole people of Islam can be reached and affected.

2. _Saints and the [S.][=u]f[=i] Hierarchy._--That an elaborate doctrine
of wonder-working saints should have grown up in Islam may, at first
sight, appear an extreme paradox. It can, however, be conditioned and
explained. First, Mahomet left undoubted loop-holes for a minor
inspiration, legitimate and illegitimate. Secondly, the [S.][=u]f[=i]s,
under various foreign influences, developed these to the fullest.
Thirdly, just as the Christian church has absorbed much of the mythology
of the supposed exterminated heathen religions into its cult of local
saints, so Islam, to an even higher degree, has been overlaid and almost
buried by the superstitions of the peoples to which it has gone. Their
religious and legal customs have completely overcome the direct commands
of the Koran, the traditions from Mahomet and even the "Agreement" of
the rest of the Moslem world (see MAHOMMEDAN LAW). The first step in
this, it is true, was taken by Mahomet himself when he accepted the
Meccan pilgrimage and the Black Stone. The worship of saints, therefore,
has appeared everywhere in Islam, with an absolute belief in their
miracles and in the value of their intercession, living or dead.

Further, there appeared very early in Islam a belief that there was
always in existence some individual in direct intercourse with God and
having the right and duty of teaching and ruling all mankind. This
individual might be visible or invisible; his right to rule continued.
This is the basis of the Ism[=a]'[=i]lite and Sh[=i]'ite positions (see
MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION and MAHOMMEDAN INSTITUTIONS). The [S.][=u]f[=i]s
applied this idea of divine right to the doctrine of saints, and
developed it into the [S.][=u]f[=i] hierarchy. This is a single, great,
invisible organization, forming a saintly board of administration, by
which the invisible government of the world is supposed to be carried
on. Its head is called the _Qu[t.]b_ (Axis); he is presumably the
greatest saint of the time, is chosen by God for the office and given
greater miraculous powers and rights of intercession than any other
saint enjoys. He wanders through the world, often invisible and always
unknown, performing the duties of his office. Under him there is an
elaborate organization of _wal[=i]s_, of different ranks and powers,
according to their sanctity and faith. The term _wal[=i]_ is applied to
a saint because of Kor. x. 63, "Ho! the _wal[=i]s_ of God; there is no
fear upon them, nor do they grieve," where _wal[=i]_ means "one who is
near," friend or favourite.

In the fraternities, then, all are dervishes, cloistered or lay; those
whose faith is so great that God has given them miraculous powers--and
there are many--are _wal[=i]s_; begging friars are _fakirs_. All forms
of life--solitary, monastic, secular, celibate, married, wandering,
stationary, ascetic, free--are open. Their theology is some form of
S[=u]fi'ism.

   AUTHORITIES.--The bibliography of this subject is very large, and the
   following only a selection:--(1) _On Dervishes._ In Egypt, Lane's
   _Modern Egyptians_, chaps. x., xx., xxiv., xxv.; in Turkey, D'Ohsson,
   _Tableau général de l'emp. othoman_, ii. (Paris, 1790); _Turkey in
   Europe_ by "Odysseus" (London, 1900); in Persia, E. G. Browne, _A
   Year among the Persians_ (1893), in Morocco, T. H. Weir, _Sheikhs of
   Morocco_ (Edinburgh, 1904); B. Meakin, _The Moors_ (London, 1902),
   chap. xix.; in Central Asia, all Vambéry's books of travel and
   history. In general, Hughes, _Dict. of Islam_, s.v. "Faqir"; Depont
   and Cappolani, _Les Confréries religieuses musulmanes_ (Alger, 1897);
   J. P. Brown, _The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism_ (London,
   1868). (2) _On Saints._ I. Goldziher, _Muhammedanische Studien_, ii.
   277 ff., and "De l'ascétisme aux premiers temps de l'Islam" in _Revue
   de l'histoire des religions_, vol. xxxvii. pp. 134 ff.; Lane, _Modern
   Egyptians_, chap. x.; _Arabian Nights_, chap. iii. note 63; Vollers
   in _Zeitsch. d. morgenländ. Gesellsch._ xliii. 115 ff.   (D. B. MA.)




DERWENT (Celtic _Dwr-gent_, clear water), the name of several English
rivers. (1) The Yorkshire Derwent collects the greater part of the
drainage of the North Yorkshire moors, rising in their eastern part. A
southern head-stream, however, rises in the Yorkshire Wolds near Filey,
little more than a mile from the North Sea, from which it is separated
by a morainic deposit, and thus flows in an inland direction. The early
course of the Derwent lies through a flat open valley between the North
Yorkshire moors and the Yorkshire Wolds, the upper part of which is
known as the Carrs, when the river follows an artificial drainage cut.
It receives numerous tributaries from the moors, then breaches the low
hills below Malton in a narrow picturesque valley, and debouches upon
the central plain of Yorkshire. Its direction, hitherto westerly and
south-westerly from the Carrs, now becomes southerly, and it flows
roughly parallel to the Ouse, which it joins near Barmby-on-the-Marsh,
in the level district between Selby and the head of the Humber estuary,
after a course, excluding minor sinuosities, of about 70 m. As a
tributary of the Ouse it is included in the Humber basin. It is tidal up
to Sutton-upon-Derwent, 15 m. from the junction with the Ouse, and is
locked up to Malton, but the navigation is little used. A canal leads
east from the tidal water to the small market town of Pocklington.

(2) The Derbyshire Derwent rises in Bleaklow Hill north of the Peak and
traverses a narrow dale, which, with those of such tributary streams as
the Noe, watering Hope Valley, and the Wye, is famous for its beauty
(see DERBYSHIRE). The Derwent flows south past Chatsworth, Matlock and
Belper and then, passing Derby, debouches upon a low plain, and turns
south-eastward, with an extremely sinuous course, to join the Trent near
Sawley. Its length is about 60 m. It falls in all some 1700 ft. (from
Matlock 200 ft.), and no part is navigable, save certain reaches at
Matlock and elsewhere for pleasure boats.

(3) The Cumberland Derwent rises below Great End in the Lake District,
draining Sprinkling and Sty Head tarns, and flows through Borrowdale,
receiving a considerable tributary from Lang Strath. It then drains the
lakes of Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite, after which its course,
hitherto N. and N.N.W., turns W. and W. by S. past Cockermouth to the
Irish Sea at Workington. The length is about 34 m., and the fall about
2000 ft. (from Derwentwater 244 ft.); the waters are usually beautifully
clear, and the river is not navigable. At a former period this stream
must have formed one large lake covering the whole area which includes
Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite; between which a flat alluvial plain is
formed of the deposits of the river Greta, which now joins the Derwent
from the east immediately below Derwentwater, and the Newlands Beck,
which enters Bassenthwaite. In time of high flood this plain is said to
have been submerged, and the two lakes thus reunited.

(4) A river Derwent rises in the Pennines near the borders of
Northumberland and Durham, and, forming a large part of the boundary
between these counties, takes a north-easterly course of 30 m. to the
Tyne, which it joins 3 m. above Newcastle.




DERWENTWATER, EARL OF, an English title borne by the family of
Radclyffe, or Radcliffe, from 1688 to 1716 when the 3rd earl was
attainted and beheaded, and claimed by his descendants, adherents of the
exiled house of Stewart, from that date until the death of the last male
heir in 1814. Sir Francis Radclyffe, 3rd baronet (1625-1697), was the
lineal descendant of Sir Nicholas Radclyffe, who acquired the extensive
Derwentwater estates in 1417 through his marriage with the heiress of
John de Derwentwater, and of Sir Francis Radclyffe, who was made a
baronet in 1619. In 1688 Sir Francis was created Viscount Radclyffe and
earl of Derwentwater by James II., and dying in 1697 was succeeded as
2nd earl by his eldest son Edward (1655-1705), who had married Lady Mary
Tudor (d. 1726), a natural daughter of Charles II. The 2nd earl died in
1705, and was succeeded by his eldest son James (1689-1716), who was
born in London on the 28th of June 1689, and was brought up at the court
of the Stewarts in France as companion to Prince James Edward, the old
Pretender. In 1710 he came to reside on his English estates, and in July
1712 was married to Anna Maria (d. 1723), daughter of Sir John Webb,
baronet, of Odstock, Wiltshire. Joining without any hesitation in the
Stewart rising of 1715, Derwentwater escaped arrest owing to the
devotion of his tenantry, and in October, with about seventy followers,
he joined Thomas Forster at Green-rig. Like Forster the earl was lacking
in military experience, and when the rebels capitulated at Preston he
was conveyed to London and impeached. Pleading guilty at his trial he
was attainted and condemned to death. Great efforts were made to obtain
a mitigation of the sentence, but the government was obdurate, and
Derwentwater was beheaded on Tower Hill on the 24th of February 1716,
declaring on the scaffold his devotion to the Roman Catholic religion
and to King James III. The earl was very popular among his tenantry and
in the neighbourhood of his residence, Dilston Hall. His gallant bearing
and his sad fate have been celebrated in song and story, and the _aurora
borealis_, which shone with exceptional brightness on the night of his
execution, is known locally as "Lord Derwentwater's lights." He left an
only son John, who, in spite of his father's attainder, assumed the
title of earl of Derwentwater, and who died unmarried in 1731; and a
daughter Alice Mary (d. 1760), who married in 1732 Robert James, 8th
Baron Petre (1713-1742).

On the death of John Radclyffe in 1731 his uncle Charles (1693-1746),
the only surviving son of the 2nd earl, took the title of earl of
Derwentwater. Charles Radclyffe had shared the fate of his brother, the
3rd earl, at Preston in November 1715, and had been condemned to death
for high treason; but, more fortunate than James, he had succeeded in
escaping from prison, and had joined the Stewarts on the Continent. In
1724 he married Charlotte Maria (d. 1755), in her own right countess of
Newburgh, and after spending some time in Rome, he was captured by an
English ship in November 1745 whilst proceeding to join Charles Edward,
the young Pretender, in Scotland. Condemned to death under his former
sentence he was beheaded on the 8th of December 1746. His eldest son,
James Bartholomew (1725-1786), who had shared his father's imprisonment,
then claimed the title of earl of Derwentwater, and on his mother's
death in 1755 became 3rd earl of Newburgh. His only son and successor,
Anthony James (1757-1814), died without issue in 1814, when the title
became extinct _de facto_ as well as _de jure_. Many of the forfeited
estates in Northumberland and Cumberland had been settled upon Greenwich
Hospital, and in 1749 a sum of £30,000 had been raised upon them for the
benefit of the earl of Newburgh. The present representative of the
Radclyffe family is Lord Petre, and in 1874 the bodies of the first
three earls of Derwentwater were reburied in the family vault of the
Petres at Thorndon, Essex.

In 1865 a woman appeared in Northumberland who claimed to be a
grand-daughter of the 4th earl and, as there were no male heirs, to be
countess of Derwentwater and owner of the estates. She said the 4th earl
had not died in 1731 but had married and settled in Germany. Her story
aroused some interest, and it was necessary to eject her by force from
Dilston Hall.

   See R. Patten, _History of the Late Rebellion_ (London, 1717); W. S.
   Gibson, _Dilston Hall, or Memoirs of James Radcliffe, earl of
   Derwentwater_ (London, 1848-1850); G. E. C(okayne), _Complete
   Peerage_ (Exeter, 1887-1898); and _Dictionary of National Biography_,
   vol. xlvii. (London, 1896).




DERWENTWATER, a lake of Cumberland, England, in the northern part of the
celebrated Lake District (q.v. for the physical relations of the lake
with the district at large). It is of irregular figure, approaching to
an oval, about 3 m. in length and from ½ m. to 1¼ m. in breadth. The
greatest depth is 70 ft. The lake is seen at one view, within an
amphitheatre of mountains of varied outline, overlooked by others of
greater height. Several of the lesser elevations near the lake are
especially famous as view-points, such as Castle Head, Walla Crag,
Ladder Brow and Cat Bells. The shores are well wooded, and the lake is
studded with several islands, of which Lord's Island, Derwent Isle and
St Herbert's are the principal. Lord's Island was the residence of the
earls of Derwentwater. St Herbert's Isle receives its name from having
been the abode of a holy man of that name mentioned by Bede as
contemporary with St Cuthbert of Farne Island in the 7th century.
Derwent Isle, about six acres in extent, contains a handsome residence
surrounded by lawns, gardens and timber of large growth. The famous
Falls of Lodore, at the upper end of the lake, consist of a series of
cascades in the small Watendlath Beck, which rushes over an enormous
pile of protruding crags from a height of nearly 200 ft. The "Floating
Island" appears at intervals on the upper portion of the lake near the
mouth of the beck. This singular phenomenon is supposed to owe its
appearance to an accumulation of gas, formed by the decay of vegetable
matter, detaching and raising to the surface the matted weeds which
cover the floor of the lake at this point. The river Derwent (q.v.)
enters the lake from the south and leaves it on the north, draining it
through Bassenthwaite lake, to the Irish Sea. To the north-east of the
lake lies the town of Keswick.




DES ADRETS, FRANÇOIS DE BEAUMONT, BARON (c. 1512-1587), French
Protestant leader, was born in 1512 or 1513 at the château of La Frette
(Isère). During the reign of Henry II. of France he served with
distinction in the royal army and became colonel of the "legions" of
Dauphiné, Provence and Languedoc. In 1562, however, he joined the
Huguenots, not from religious conviction but probably from motives of
ambition and personal dislike of the house of Guise. His campaign
against the Catholics in 1562 was eminently successful. In June of that
year Des Adrets was master of the greater part of Dauphiné. But his
brilliant military qualities were marred by his revolting atrocities.
The reprisals he exacted from the Catholics after their massacres of the
Huguenots at Orange have left a dark stain upon his name. The garrisons
that resisted him were butchered with every circumstance of brutality,
and at Montbrison, in Forez, he forced eighteen prisoners to precipitate
themselves from the top of the keep. Having alienated the affections of
the Huguenots by his pride and violence, he entered into communication
with the Catholics, and declared himself openly in favour of
conciliation. On the 10th of January 1563 he was arrested on suspicion
by some Huguenot officers and confined in the citadel of Nîmes. He was
liberated at the edict of Amboise in the following March, and,
distrusted alike by Huguenots and Catholics, retired to the château of
La Frette, where he died, a Catholic, on the 2nd of February 1587.

   AUTHORITIES.--J. Roman, _Documents inédits sur le baron des Adrets_
   (1878); and memoirs and histories of the time. See also Guy Allard,
   _Vie de François de Beaumont_ (1675); l'abbé J. C. Martin, _Histoire
   politique et militaire de François de Beaumont_ (1803); Eugène and
   Émile Haag, _La France protestante_ (2nd ed., 1877 seq.).




DESAIX DE VEYGOUX, LOUIS CHARLES ANTOINE (1768-1800), French general,
was born of a noble though impoverished family. He received a military
education at the school founded by Marshal d'Effiat, and entered the
French royal army. During the first six years of his service the young
officer devoted himself assiduously to duty and the study of his
profession, and at the outbreak of the Revolution threw himself
whole-heartedly into the cause of liberty. In spite of the pressure put
upon him by his relatives, he refused to "emigrate," and in 1792 is
found serving on Broglie's staff. The disgrace of this general nearly
cost young Desaix his life, but he escaped the guillotine, and by his
conspicuous services soon drew upon himself the favour of the Republican
government. Like many other members of the old ruling classes who had
accepted the new order of things, the instinct of command, joined to
native ability, brought Desaix rapidly to high posts. By 1794 he had
attained the rank of general of division. In the campaign of 1795 he
commanded Jourdan's right wing, and in Moreau's invasion of Bavaria in
the following year he held an equally important command. In the retreat
which ensued when the archduke Charles won the battles of Amberg and
Würzburg (see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS) Desaix commanded Moreau's
rearguard, and later the fortress of Kehl, with the highest distinction,
and his name became a household word, like those of Bonaparte, Jourdan,
Hoche, Marceau and Kléber. Next year his initial successes were
interrupted by the Preliminaries of Leoben, and he procured for himself
a mission into Italy in order to meet General Bonaparte, who spared no
pains to captivate the brilliant young general from the almost rival
camps of Germany. Provisionally appointed commander of the "Army of
England," Desaix was soon transferred by Bonaparte to the expeditionary
force intended for Egypt. It was his division which bore the brunt of
the Mameluke attack at the battle of the Pyramids, and he crowned his
reputation by his victories over Murad Bey in Upper Egypt. Amongst the
fellaheen he acquired the significant appellation of the "Just Sultan."
When his chief handed over the command to Kléber and prepared to return
to France, Desaix was one of the small party selected to accompany the
future emperor. But, from various causes, it was many months before he
could join the new Consul. The campaign of 1800 was well on its way to
the climax when Desaix at last reported himself for duty in Italy. He
was immediately assigned to the command of a corps of two infantry
divisions. Three days later (June 14), detached, with Boudet's division,
at Rivalta, he heard the cannon of Marengo on his right. Taking the
initiative he marched at once towards the sound, meeting Bonaparte's
staff officer, who had come to recall him, half way on the route. He
arrived with Boudet's division at the moment when the Austrians were
victorious all along the line. Exclaiming, "There is yet time to win
another battle!" he led his three regiments straight against the enemy's
centre. At the moment of victory Desaix was killed by a musket ball.
Napoleon paid a just tribute to the memory of one of the most brilliant
soldiers of that brilliant time by erecting the monuments of Desaix on
the Place Dauphinè and the Place des Victoires in Paris.

   See F. Martha-Beker, Comte de Mons, _Le Général L. C. A. Desaix_
   (Paris, 1852).




DÉSAUGIERS, MARC ANTOINE MADELEINE (1772-1827), French dramatist and
song-writer, son of Marc Antoine Désaugiers, a musical composer, was
born at Fréjus (Var) on the 17th of November 1772. He studied at the
Mazarin college in Paris, where he had for one of his teachers the
critic Julien Louis Geoffroy. He entered the seminary Saint Lazare with
a view to the priesthood, but soon gave up his intention. In his
nineteenth year he produced in collaboration with his father a light
opera (1791) adapted from the _Médecin malgré lui_ of Molière.

During the Revolution he emigrated to St Domingo, and during the negro
revolt he was made prisoner, barely escaping with his life. He took
refuge in the United States, where he supported himself by teaching the
piano. In 1797 he returned to his native country, and in a very few
years he became famous as a writer of comedies, operas and vaudevilles,
which were produced in rapid succession at the Théâtre des Variétés and
the Vaudeville. He also wrote convivial and satirical songs, which,
though different in character, can only worthily be compared with those
of Béranger. He was at one time president of the _Caveau_, a convivial
society whose members were then chiefly drawn from literary circles. He
had the honour of introducing Béranger as a member. In 1815 Désaugiers
succeeded Pierre Yves Barré as manager of the Vaudeville, which
prospered under his management until, in 1820, the opposition of the
Gymnase proved too strong for him, and he resigned. He died in Paris on
the 9th of August 1827.

Among his pieces maybe mentioned _Le Valet d'emprunt_ (1807); _Monsieur
Vautour_ (1811); and _Le Règne d'un terme et le terme d'un règne_, aimed
at Napoleon.

   An edition of Désaugiers' _Chansons et Poésies diverses_ appeared in
   1827. A new selection with a notice by Alfred de Bougy appeared in
   1858. See also Sainte-Beuve's _Portraits contemporains_, vol. v.




DESAULT, PIERRE JOSEPH (1744-1795), French anatomist and surgeon, was
born at Magny-Vernois (Haute Saône) on the 6th of February 1744. He was
destined for the church, but his own inclination was towards the study
of medicine; and, after learning something from the barber-surgeon of
his native village, he was settled as an apprentice in the military
hospital of Belfort, where he acquired some knowledge of anatomy and
military surgery. Going to Paris when about twenty years of age, he
opened a school of anatomy in the winter of 1766, the success of which
excited the jealousy of the established teachers and professors, who
endeavoured to make him give up his lectures. In 1776 he was admitted a
member of the corporation of surgeons; and in 1782 he was appointed
surgeon-major to the hospital _De la Charité_. Within a few years he was
recognized as one of the leading surgeons of France. The clinical school
of surgery which he instituted at the Hôtel Dieu attracted great numbers
of students, not only from every part of France but also from other
countries; and he frequently had an audience of about 600. He introduced
many improvements into the practice of surgery, as well as into the
construction of various surgical instruments. In 1791 he established a
_Journal de chirurgerie_, edited by his pupils, which was a record of
the most interesting cases that had occurred in his clinical school,
with the remarks which he had made upon them in the course of his
lectures. But in the midst of his labours he became obnoxious to some of
the revolutionists, and he was, on some frivolous charge, denounced to
the popular sections. After being twice examined, he was seized on the
28th of May 1793, while delivering a lecture, carried away from his
theatre, and committed to prison in the Luxembourg. In three days,
however, he was liberated, and permitted to resume his functions. He
died in Paris on the 1st of June 1795, the story that his death was
caused by poison being disproved by the autopsy carried out by his
pupil, M. F. X. Bichat. A pension was settled on his widow by the
republic. Together with François Chopart (1743-1795) he published a
_Traité des maladies chirurgicales_ (1779), and Bichat published a
digest of his surgical doctrines in _OEuvres chirurgicales de Desault_
(1798-1799).




DES BARREAUX, JACQUES VALLÉE, SIEUR (1602-1673), French poet, was born
in Paris in 1602. His great-uncle, Geoffroy-Vallée, had been hanged in
1574 for the authorship of a book called _Le Fléau de la foy_. His
nephew appears to have inherited his scepticism, which on one occasion
nearly cost him his life. The peasants of Touraine attributed to the
presence of the unbeliever an untimely frost that damaged the vines, and
proposed to stone him. His authorship of the sonnet on "Pénitence," by
which he is generally known, has been disputed. He had the further
distinction of being the first of the lovers of Marion Delorme. He died
at Chalon-sur-Saône on the 9th of May 1673.

   See _Poésies de Des Barreaux_ (1904), edited by F. Lachèvre.




DESBOROUGH, JOHN (1608-1680), English soldier and politician, son of
James Desborough of Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, and of Elizabeth Hatley of
Over, in the same county, was baptized on the 13th of November 1608. He
was educated for the law. On the 23rd of June 1636 he married Eltisley
Jane, daughter of Robert Cromwell of Huntingdon, and sister of the
future Protector. He took an active part in the Civil War when it broke
out, and showed considerable military ability. In 1645 he was present as
major in the engagement at Langport on the 10th of July, at Hambleton
Hill on the 4th of August, and on the 10th of September he commanded the
horse at the storming of Bristol. Later he took part in the operations
round Oxford. In 1648 as colonel he commanded the forces at Great
Yarmouth. He avoided all participation in the trial of the king in June
1649, being employed in the settlement of the west of England. He fought
at Worcester as major-general and nearly captured Charles II. near
Salisbury. After the establishment of the Commonwealth he was chosen, on
the 17th of January 1652, a member of the committee for legal reforms.
In 1653 he became a member of the Protectorate council of state, and a
commissioner of the treasury, and was appointed one of the four generals
at sea and a commissioner for the army and navy. In 1654 he was made
constable of St Briavel's Castle in Gloucestershire. Next year he was
appointed major-general over the west. He had been nominated a member of
Barebones' parliament in 1653, and he was returned to the parliament of
1654 for Cambridgeshire, and to that of 1656 for Somersetshire. In July
1657 he became a member of the privy council, and in 1658 he accepted a
seat in Cromwell's House of Lords. In spite of his near relationship to
the Protector's family, he was one of the most violent opponents of the
assumption by Cromwell of the royal title, and after the Protector's
death, instead of supporting the interests and government of his nephew
Richard Cromwell, he was, with Fleetwood, the chief instigator and
organizer of the hostility of the army towards his administration, and
forced him by threats and menaces to dissolve his parliament in April
1659. He was chosen a member of the council of state by the restored
Rump, and made colonel and governor of Plymouth, but presenting with
other officers a seditious petition from the army council, on the 5th of
October, was about a week later dismissed. After the expulsion of the
Rump by Fleetwood on the 13th of October he was chosen by the officers
a member of the new administration and commissary-general of the horse.
The new military government, however, rested on no solid foundation, and
its leaders quickly found themselves without any influence. Desborough
himself became an object of ridicule, his regiment even revolted against
him, and on the return of the Rump he was ordered to quit London. At the
restoration he was excluded from the act of indemnity but not included
in the clause of pains and penalties extending to life and goods, being
therefore only incapacitated from public employment. Soon afterwards he
was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kill the king and queen, but
was quickly liberated. Subsequently he escaped to Holland, where he
engaged in republican intrigues. Accordingly he was ordered home, in
April 1666, on pain of incurring the charge of treason, and obeying was
imprisoned in the Tower till February 1667, when he was examined before
the council and set free. Desborough died in 1680. By his first wife,
Cromwell's sister, he had one daughter and seven sons; he married a
second wife in April 1658 whose name is unrecorded. Desborough was a
good soldier and nothing more; and his only conception of government was
by force and by the army. His rough person and manners are the constant
theme of ridicule in the royalist ballads, and he is caricatured in
Butler's _Hudibras_ and in the _Parable of the Lion and Fox_.




DESCARTES, RENÉ (1596-1650), French philosopher, was born at La Haye, in
Touraine, midway between Tours and Poitiers, on the 31st of March 1596,
and died at Stockholm on the 11th of February 1650. The house where he
was born is still shown, and a _métairie_ about 3 m. off retains the
name of Les Cartes. His family on both sides was of Poitevin descent.
Joachim Descartes, his father, having purchased a commission as
counsellor in the parlement of Rennes, introduced the family into that
demi-noblesse of the robe which, between the bourgeoisie and the high
nobility, maintained a lofty rank in French society. He had three
children, a son who afterwards succeeded to his father in the parlement,
a daughter who married a M. du Crevis, and René, after whose birth the
mother died.


Early years.

Descartes, known as Du Perron, from a small estate destined for his
inheritance, soon showed an inquisitive mind. From 1604 to 1612 he
studied at the school of La Flêche, which Henry IV. had lately founded
and endowed for the Jesuits. He enjoyed exceptional privileges; his
feeble health excused him from the morning duties, and thus early he
acquired the habit of reflection in bed, which clung to him throughout
life. Even then he had begun to distrust the authority of tradition and
his teachers. Two years before he left school he was selected as one of
the twenty-four who went forth to receive the heart of Henry IV. as it
was borne to its resting-place at La Flêche. At the age of sixteen he
went home to his father, who was now settled at Rennes, and had married
again. During the winter of 1612 he completed his preparations for the
world by lessons in horsemanship and fencing; and then started as his
own master to taste the pleasures of Parisian life. Fortunately he went
to no perilous lengths; the worst we hear of is a passion for gaming.
Here, too, he made the acquaintance of Claude Mydorge, one of the
foremost mathematicians of France, and renewed an early intimacy with
Marin Mersenne (q.v.), now Father Mersenne, of the order of Minim
friars. The withdrawal of Mersenne in 1614 to a post in the provinces
was the signal for Descartes to abandon social life and shut himself up
for nearly two years in a secluded house of the faubourg St Germain.
Accident betrayed the secret of his retirement; he was compelled to
leave his mathematical investigations, and to take part in
entertainments, where the only thing that chimed in with his theorizing
reveries was the music. French politics were at that time characterized
by violence and intrigue to such an extent that Paris was no fit place
for a student, and there was little honourable prospect for a soldier.
Accordingly, in May 1617, Descartes set out for the Netherlands and took
service in the army of Prince Maurice of Orange. At Breda he enlisted as
a volunteer, and the first and only pay which he accepted he kept as a
curiosity through life. There was a lull in the war, and the
Netherlands was distracted by the quarrels of Gomarists and Arminians.
During the leisure thus arising, Descartes one day had his attention
drawn to a placard in the Dutch tongue; as the language, of which he
never became perfectly master, was then strange to him, he asked a
bystander to interpret it into either French or Latin. The stranger,
Isaac Beeckman, principal of the college of Dort, offered to do so into
Latin, if the inquirer would bring him a solution of the problem,--for
the advertisement was one of those challenges which the mathematicians
of the age were accustomed to throw down to all comers, daring them to
discover a geometrical mystery known as they fancied to themselves
alone. Descartes promised and fulfilled; and a friendship grew up
between him and Beeckman--broken only by the dishonesty of the latter,
who in later years took credit for the novelty contained in a small
essay on music (_Compendium Musicae_) which Descartes wrote at this
period and entrusted to Beeckman.[1]

After spending two years in Holland as a soldier in a period of peace,
Descartes, in July 1619, attracted by the news of the impending struggle
between the house of Austria and the Protestant princes, consequent upon
the election of the palatine of the Rhine to the kingdom of Bohemia, set
out for upper Germany, and volunteered into the Bavarian service. The
winter of 1619, spent in quarters at Neuburg on the Danube, was the
critical period in his life. Here, in his warm room (_dans un poêle_),
he indulged those meditations which afterwards led to the _Discourse of
Method_. It was here that, on the eve of St Martin's day, he "was filled
with enthusiasm, and discovered the foundations of a marvellous
science." He retired to rest with anxious thoughts of his future career,
which haunted him through the night in three dreams that left a deep
impression on his mind. The date of his philosophical conversion is thus
fixed to a day. But as yet he had only glimpses of a logical method
which should invigorate the syllogism by the co-operation of ancient
geometry and modern algebra. For during the year that elapsed before he
left Swabia (and whilst he sojourned at Neuburg and Ulm), and amidst his
geometrical studies, he would fain have gathered some knowledge of the
mystical wisdom attributed to the Rosicrucians; but the Invisibles, as
they called themselves, kept their secret. He was present at the battle
of Weisser Berg (near Prague), where the hopes of the elector palatine
were blasted (November 8, 1620), passed the winter with the army in
southern Bohemia, and next year served in Hungary under Karl Bonaventura
de Longueval, Graf von Buquoy or Boucquoi (1571-1621). On the death of
this general Descartes quitted the imperial service, and in July 1621
began a peaceful tour through Moravia, the borders of Poland, Pomerania,
Brandenburg, Holstein and Friesland, from which he reappeared in
February 1622 in Belgium, and betook himself directly to his father's
home at Rennes in Brittany.

At Rennes Descartes found little to interest him; and, after he had
visited the maternal estate of which his father now put him in
possession, he went to Paris, where he found the Rosicrucians the topic
of the hour, and heard himself credited with partnership in their
secrets. A short visit to Brittany enabled him, with his father's
consent, to arrange for the sale of his property in Poitou. The proceeds
were invested in such a way at Paris as to bring him in a yearly income
of between 6000 and 7000 francs (equal now to more than £500). Towards
the end of the year Descartes was on his way to Italy. The natural
phenomena of Switzerland, and the political complications in the
Valtellina, where the Catholic inhabitants had thrown off the yoke of
the Grisons and called in the Papal and Spanish troops to their
assistance, delayed him some time; but he reached Venice in time to see
the ceremony of the doge's wedlock with the Adriatic. After paying his
vows at Loretto, he came to Rome, which was then on the eve of a year of
jubilee--an occasion which Descartes seized to observe the variety of
men and manners which the city then embraced within its walls. In the
spring of 1625 he returned home by Mont Cenis, observing the
avalanches,[2] instead of, as his relatives hoped, securing a post in
the French army in Piedmont.

For an instant Descartes seems to have concurred in the plan of
purchasing a post at Châtellerault, but he gave up the idea, and settled
in Paris (June 1625), in the quarter where he had sought seclusion
before. By this time he had ceased to devote himself to pure
mathematics, and in company with his friends Mersenne and Mydorge was
deeply interested in the theory of the refraction of light, and in the
practical work of grinding glasses of the best shape suitable for
optical instruments. But all the while he was engaged with reflections
on the nature of man, of the soul and of God, and for a while he
remained invisible even to his most familiar friends. But their
importunity made a hermitage in Paris impossible; a graceless friend
even surprised the philosopher in bed at eleven in the morning
meditating and taking notes. In disgust, Descartes started for the west
to take part in the siege of La Rochelle, and entered the city with the
troops (October 1628). A meeting at which he was present after his
return to Paris decided his vocation. He had expressed an opinion that
the true art of memory was not to be gained by technical devices, but by
a philosophical apprehension of things; and the cardinal de Berulle, the
founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, was so struck by the tone of
the remarks as to impress upon the speaker the duty of spending his life
in the examination of truth. Descartes accepted the philosophic mission,
and in the spring of 1629 he settled in Holland. His financial affairs
he had entrusted to the care of the abbé Picot, and as his literary and
scientific representative he adopted Mersenne.

Till 1649 Descartes lived in Holland. Thrice only did he revisit
France--in 1644, 1647 and 1648. The first of these occasions was in
order to settle family affairs after the death of his father in 1640.
The second brief visit, in 1647, partly on literary, partly on family
business, was signalized by the award of a pension of 3000 francs,
obtained from the royal bounty by Cardinal Mazarin. The last visit in
1648 was less fortunate. A royal order summoned him to France for new
honours--an additional pension and a permanent post--for his fame had by
this time gone abroad, and it was the age when princes sought to attract
genius and learning to their courts. But when Descartes arrived, he
found Paris rent asunder by the civil war of the Fronde. He paid the
costs of his royal parchment, and left without a word of reproach. The
only other occasions on which he was out of the Netherlands were in
1630, when he made a flying visit to England to observe for himself some
alleged magnetic phenomena, and in 1634, when he took an excursion to
Denmark.

During his residence in Holland he lived at thirteen different places,
and changed his abode twenty-four times. In the choice of these spots
two motives seem to have influenced him--the neighbourhood of a
university or college, and the amenities of the situation. Among these
towns were Franeker in Friesland, Harderwyk, Deventer, Utrecht, Leiden,
Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Leeuwarden in Friesland. His favourite residences
were Endegeest, Egmond op den Hoef and Egmond the Abbey (west of
Zaandam).

The time thus spent seems to have been on the whole happy, even allowing
for warm discussions with the mathematicians and metaphysicians of
France, and for harassing controversies in the Netherlands. Friendly
agents--chiefly Catholic priests--were the intermediaries who forwarded
his correspondence from Dort, Haarlem, Amsterdam and Leiden to his
proper address, which he kept completely secret; and Father Mersenne
sent him objections and questions. His health, which in his youth had
been bad, improved. "I sleep here ten hours every night," he writes from
Amsterdam, "and no care ever shortens my slumber." "I take my walk every
day through the confusion of a great multitude with as much freedom and
quiet as you could find in your rural avenues."[3] At his first coming
to Franeker he arranged to get a cook acquainted with French cookery;
but, to prevent misunderstanding, it may be added that his diet was
mainly vegetarian, and that he rarely drank wine. New friends gathered
round him who took a keen interest in his researches. Once only do we
find him taking an interest in the affairs of his neighbours,--to ask
pardon from the government for a homicide.[4] He continued the
profession of his religion. Sometimes from curiosity he went to the
ministrations of anabaptists,[5] to hear the preaching of peasants and
artisans. He carried few books to Holland with him, but a Bible and the
_Summa_ of Thomas Aquinas were amongst them.[6] One of the
recommendations of Egmond the Abbey was the free exercise there allowed
to the Catholic religion. At Franeker his house was a small château,
"separated by a moat from the rest of the town, where the mass could be
said in safety."[7] And one motive in favour of accepting an invitation
to England lay in the alleged leanings of Charles I. to the older
church.

The best account of Descartes's mental history during his life in
Holland is contained in his letters, which extend over the whole period,
and are particularly frequent in the latter half. The majority of them
are addressed to Mersenne, and deal with problems of physics, musical
theory (in which he took a special interest), and mathematics. Several
letters between 1643 and 1649 are addressed to the princess Elizabeth,
the eldest daughter of the ejected elector palatine, who lived at The
Hague, where her mother maintained the semblance of a royal court. The
princess was obliged to quit Holland, but kept up a philosophical
correspondence with Descartes. It is to her that the _Principles of
Philosophy_ were dedicated; and in her alone, according to Descartes,
were united those generally separated talents for metaphysics and for
mathematics which are so characteristically co-operative in the
Cartesian system. Two Dutch friends, Constantijn Huygens (von
Zuylichem), father of the more celebrated Huygens, and Hoogheland,
figure amongst the correspondents, not to mention various savants,
professors and churchmen (particularly Jesuits).

His residence in the Netherlands fell in the most prosperous and
brilliant days of the Dutch state, under the stadtholdership of
Frederick Henry (1625-1647). Abroad its navigators monopolized the
commerce of the world, and explored unknown seas; at home the Dutch
school of painting reached its acme in Rembrandt (1607-1669); and the
philological reputation of the country was sustained by Grotius, Vossius
and the elder Heinsius. And yet, though Rembrandt's "Nightwatch" is
dated the very year after the publication of the _Meditations_, not a
word in Descartes breathes of any work of art or historical learning.
The contempt of aesthetics and erudition is characteristic of the most
typical members of what is known as the Cartesian school, especially
Malebranche. Descartes was not in any strict sense a reader. His wisdom
grew mainly out of his own reflections and experiments. The story of his
disgust when he found that Queen Christina devoted some time every day
to the study of Greek under the tuition of Vossius is at least true in
substance.[8] It gives no evidence of science, he remarks, to possess a
tolerable knowledge of the Roman tongue, such as once was possessed by
the populace of Rome.[9] In all his travels he studied only the
phenomena of nature and human life. He was a spectator rather than an
actor on the stage of the world. He entered the army, merely because the
position gave a vantage-ground from which to make his observations. In
the political interests which these contests involved he took no part;
his favourite disciple, the princess Elizabeth, was the daughter of the
banished king, against whom he had served in Bohemia; and Queen
Christina, his second royal follower, was the daughter of Gustavus
Adolphus.

Thus Descartes is a type of that spirit of science to which erudition
and all the heritage of the past seem but elegant trifling. The science
of Descartes was physics in all its branches, but especially as applied
to physiology. Science, he says, may be compared to a tree; metaphysics
is the root, physics is the trunk, and the three chief branches are
mechanics, medicine and morals,--the three applications of our
knowledge to the outward world, to the human body, and to the conduct of
life.[10]

Such then was the work that Descartes had in view in Holland. His
residence was generally divided into two parts--one his workshop for
science, the other his reception-room for society. "Here are my books,"
he is reported to have told a visitor, as he pointed to the animals he
had dissected. He worked hard at his book on refraction, and dissected
the heads of animals in order to explain imagination and memory, which
he considered physical processes.[11] But he was not a laborious
student. "I can say with truth," he writes to the princess
Elizabeth,[12] "that the principle which I have always observed in my
studies, and which I believe has helped me most to gain what knowledge I
have, has been never to spend beyond a very few hours daily in thoughts
which occupy the imagination, and a very few hours yearly in those which
occupy the understanding, and to give all the rest of my time to the
relaxation of the senses and the repose of the mind." But his
expectations from the study of anatomy and physiology went a long way.
"The conservation of health," he writes in 1646, "has always been the
principal end of my studies."[13] In 1629 he asks Mersenne to take care
of himself "till I find out if there is any means of getting a medical
theory based on infallible demonstrations, which is what I am now
inquiring."[14] Astronomical inquiries in connexion with optics,
meteorological phenomena, and, in a word, the whole field of natural
laws, excited his desire to explain them. His own observation, and the
reports of Mersenne, furnished his data. Of Bacon's demand for
observation and collection of facts he is an imitator; and he wishes (in
a letter of 1632) that "some one would undertake to give a history of
celestial phenomena after the method of Bacon, and describe the sky
exactly as it appears at present, without introducing a single
hypothesis."[15]

He had several writings in hand during the early years of his residence
in Holland, but the main work of this period was a physical doctrine of
the universe which he termed _The World_. Shortly after his arrival he
writes to Mersenne that it will probably be finished in 1633, but
meanwhile asks him not to disclose the secret to his Parisian friends.
Already anxieties appear as to the theological verdict upon two of his
fundamental views--the infinitude of the universe, and the earth's
rotation round the sun.[16] But towards the end of year 1633 we find him
writing as follows:--"I had intended sending you my _World_ as a New
Year's gift, and a fortnight ago I was still minded to send you a
fragment of the work, if the whole of it could not be transcribed in
time. But I have just been at Leyden and Amsterdam to ask after
Galileo's cosmical system as I imagined I had heard of its being printed
last year in Italy. I was told that it had been printed, but that every
copy had been at the same time burnt at Rome, and that Galileo had been
himself condemned to some penalty."[17] He has also seen a copy of
Galileo's condemnation at Liége (September 20, 1633), with the words
"although he professes that the [Copernican] theory was only adopted by
him as a hypothesis." His friend Beeckman lent him a copy of Galileo's
work, which he glanced through in his usual manner with other men's
books; he found it good, and "failing more in the points where it
follows received opinions than where it diverges from them."[18] The
consequence of these reports of the hostility of the church led him to
abandon all thoughts of publishing. _The World_ was consigned to his
desk; and although doctrines in all essential respects the same
constitute the physical portion of his _Principia_, it was not till
after the death of Descartes that fragments of the work, including _Le
Monde_, or a treatise on light, and the physiological tracts _L'Homme_
and _La Formation du foetus_, were given to the world by his admirer
Claude Clerselier (1614-1684) in 1664. Descartes was not disposed to be
a martyr; he had a sincere respect for the church, and had no wish to
begin an open conflict with established doctrines.

In 1636 Descartes had resolved to publish some specimens of the fruits
of his method, and some general observations on its nature which, under
an appearance of simplicity, might sow the good seed of more adequate
ideas on the world and man. "I should be glad," he says, when talking of
a publisher,[19] "if the whole book were printed in good type, on good
paper, and I should like to have at least 200 copies for distribution.
The book will contain four essays, all in French, with the general title
of 'Project of a Universal science, capable of raising our nature to its
highest perfection; also Dioptrics, Meteors and Geometry, wherein the
most curious matters which the author could select as a proof of the
universal science which he proposes are explained in such a way that
even the unlearned may understand them.'" The work appeared anonymously
at Leiden (published by Jean Maire) in 1637, under the modest title of
_Essais philosophiques_; and the project of a universal science becomes
the _Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison et chercher la
vérité dans les sciences_. In 1644 it appeared in a Latin version,
revised by Descartes, as _Specimina philosophica_. A work so widely
circulated by the author naturally attracted attention, but in France it
was principally the mathematicians who took it up, and their criticisms
were more pungent than complimentary. Fermat, Roberval and Desargues
took exception in their various ways to the methods employed in the
geometry, and to the demonstrations of the laws of refraction given in
the Dioptrics and Meteors. The dispute on the latter point between
Fermat and Descartes was continued, even after the philosopher's death,
as late as 1662. In the youthful Dutch universities the effect of the
essays was greater.


Spread of Cartesianism.

The first public teacher of Cartesian views was Henri Renery, a Belgian,
who at Deventer and afterwards at Utrecht had introduced the new
philosophy which he had learned from personal intercourse with
Descartes. Renery only survived five years at Utrecht, and it was
reserved for Heinrich Regius (van Roy)--who in 1638 had been appointed
to the new chair of botany and theoretical medicine at Utrecht, and who
visited Descartes at Egmond in order more thoroughly to learn his
views--to throw down the gauntlet to the adherents of the old methods.
With more eloquence than judgment, he propounded theses bringing into
relief the points in which the new doctrines clashed with the old. The
attack was opened by Gisbert Voët, foremost among the orthodox
theological professors and clergy of Utrecht. In 1639 he published a
series of arguments against atheism, in which the Cartesian views were
not obscurely indicated as perilous for the faith, though no name was
mentioned. Next year he persuaded the magistracy to issue an order
forbidding Regius to travel beyond the received doctrine. The
magisterial views seem to have prevailed in the professoriate, which
formally in March 1642 expressed its disapprobation of the new
philosophy as well as of its expositors. As yet Descartes was not
directly attacked. Voët now issued, under the name of Martin Schoock,
one of his pupils, a pamphlet with the title of _Methodus novae
philosophiae Renati Descartes_, in which atheism and infidelity were
openly declared to be the effect of the new teaching. Descartes replied
to Voët directly in a letter, published at Amsterdam in 1643. He was
summoned before the magistrates of Utrecht to defend himself against
charges of irreligion and slander. What might have happened we cannot
tell; but Descartes threw himself on the protection of the French
ambassador and the prince of Orange, and the city magistrates, from whom
he vainly demanded satisfaction in a dignified letter,[20] were snubbed
by their superiors. About the same time (April 1645) Schoock was
summoned before the university of Groningen, of which he was a member,
and forthwith disavowed the more abusive passages in his book. So did
the effects of the _odium theologicum_, for the meanwhile at least, die
away.


Discourse of Method, and Meditations.

In the _Discourse of Method_ Descartes had sketched the main points in
his new views, with a mental autobiography which might explain their
origin, and with some suggestions as to their applications. His second
great work,. _Meditations on the First Philosophy_, which had been begun
soon after his settlement in the Netherlands, expounded in more detail
the foundations of his system, laying especial emphasis on the priority
of mind to body, and on the absolute and ultimate dependence of mind as
well as body on the existence of God. In 1640 a copy of the work in
manuscript was despatched to Paris, and Mersenne was requested to lay it
before as many thinkers and scholars as he deemed desirable, with a view
to getting their views upon its argument and doctrine. Descartes soon
had a formidable list of objections to reply to. Accordingly, when the
work was published at Paris in August 1641, under the title of
_Meditationes de prima philosophia ubi de Dei existentia et animae
immortalitate_ (though it was in fact not the _immortality_ but the
_immateriality_ of the mind, or, as the second edition described it,
_animae humanae a corpore distinctio_, which was maintained), the title
went on to describe the larger part of the book as containing various
objections of learned men, with the replies of the author. These
objections in the first edition are arranged under six heads: the first
came from Caterus, a theologian of Louvain; the second and sixth are
anonymous criticisms from various hands; whilst the third, fourth and
fifth belong respectively to Hobbes, Arnauld and Gassendi. In the second
edition appeared the seventh--objections from Père Bourdin, a Jesuit
teacher of mathematics in Paris; and subsequently another set of
objections, known as those of _Hyperaspistes_, was included in the
collection of Descartes's letters. The anonymous objections are very
much the statement of common-sense against philosophy; those of Caterus
criticize the Cartesian argument from the traditional theology of the
church; those of Arnauld are an appreciative inquiry into the bearings
and consequences of the meditations for religion and morality; while
those of Hobbes (q.v.) and Gassendi--both somewhat senior to Descartes
and with a dogmatic system of their own already formed--are a keen
assault upon the spiritualism of the Cartesian position from a generally
"sensational" standpoint. The criticisms of the last two are the
criticisms of a hostile school of thought; those of Arnauld are the
difficulties of a possible disciple.


The Principia.

In 1644 the third great work of Descartes, the _Principia philosophiae_,
appeared at Amsterdam. Passing briefly over the conclusions arrived at
in the _Meditations_, it deals in its second, third and fourth parts
with the general principles of physical science, especially the laws of
motion, with the theory of vortices, and with the phenomena of heat,
light, gravity, magnetism, electricity, &c., upon the earth. This work
exhibits some curious marks of caution. Undoubtedly, says Descartes, the
world was in the beginning created in all its perfection. "But yet as it
is best, if we wish to understand the nature of plants or of men, to
consider how they may by degrees proceed from seeds, rather than how
they were created by God in the beginning of the world, so, if we can
excogitate some extremely simple and comprehensible principles, out of
which, as if they were seeds, we can prove that stars, and earth and all
this visible scene could have originated, although we know full well
that they never did originate in such a way, we shall in that way
expound their nature far better than if we merely described them as they
exist at present."[21] The Copernican theory is rejected in name, but
retained in substance. The earth, or other planet, does not actually
move round the sun; yet it is carried round the sun in the subtle matter
of the great vortex, where it lies in equilibrium,--carried like the
passenger in a boat, who may cross the sea and yet not rise from his
berth.

In 1647 the difficulties that had arisen at Utrecht were repeated on a
smaller scale at Leiden. There the Cartesian innovations had found a
patron in Adrian Heerebord, and were openly discussed in theses and
lectures. The theological professors took the alarm at passages in the
_Meditations_; an attempt to prove the existence of God savoured, as
they thought, of atheism and heresy. When Descartes complained to the
authorities of this unfair treatment,[22] the only reply was an order by
which all mention of the name of Cartesianism, whether favourable or
adverse, was forbidden in the university. This was scarcely what
Descartes wanted, and again he had to apply to the prince of Orange,
whereupon the theologians were asked to behave with civility, and the
name of Descartes was no longer proscribed. But other annoyances were
not wanting from unfaithful disciples and unsympathetic critics. The
_Instantiae_ of Gassendi appeared at Amsterdam in 1644 as a reply to the
reply which Descartes had published of his previous objections; and the
publication by Heinrich Regius of his work on physical philosophy
(_Fundamenta physices_, 1646) gave the world to understand that he had
ceased to be a thorough adherent of the philosophy which he had so
enthusiastically adopted.

It was about 1648 that Descartes lost his friends Mersenne and Mydorge
by death. The place of Mersenne as his Parisian representative was in
the main taken by Claude Clerselier (the French translator of the
Objections and Responses), whom he had become acquainted with in Paris.
Through Clerselier he came to know Pierre Chanut, who in 1645 was sent
as French ambassador to the court of Sweden. Queen Christina was not yet
twenty, and took a lively if a somewhat whimsical interest in literary
and philosophical culture. Through Chanut, with whom she was on terms of
familiarity, she came to hear of Descartes, and a correspondence which
the latter nominally carried on with the ambassador was in reality
intended for the eyes of the queen. The correspondence took an ethical
tone. It began with a long letter on love in all its aspects (February
1647),[23] a topic suggested by Chanut, who had been discussing it with
the queen; and this was soon followed by another to Christina herself on
the chief good. An essay on the passions of the mind (_Passions de
l'âme_), which had been written originally for the princess Elizabeth,
in development of some ethical views suggested by the _De vita beata_ of
Seneca, was enclosed at the same time for Chanut. It was a draft of the
work published in 1650 under the same title. Philosophy, particularly
that of Descartes, was becoming a fashionable _divertissement_ for the
queen and her courtiers, and it was felt that the presence of the sage
himself was necessary to complete the good work of education. An
invitation to the Swedish court was urged upon Descartes, and after much
hesitation accepted; a vessel of the royal navy was ordered to wait upon
him, and in September 1649 he left Egmond for the north.


Death.

The position on which he entered at Stockholm was unsuited for a man who
wished to be his own master. The young queen wanted Descartes to draw up
a code for a proposed academy of the sciences, and to give her an hour
of philosophic instruction every morning at five. She had already
determined to create him a noble, and begun to look out an estate in the
lately annexed possessions of Sweden on the Pomeranian coast. But these
things were not to be. His friend Chanut fell dangerously ill; and
Descartes, who devoted himself to attend in the sick-room, was obliged
to issue from it every morning in the chill northern air of January, and
spend an hour in the palace library. The ambassador recovered, but
Descartes fell a victim to the same disease, inflammation of the lungs.
The last time he saw the queen was on the 1st of February 1650, when he
handed to her the statutes he had drawn up for the proposed academy. On
the 11th of February he died. The queen wished to bury him at the feet
of the Swedish kings, and to raise a costly mausoleum in his honour; but
these plans were overruled, and a plain monument in the Catholic
cemetery was all that marked the place of his rest. Sixteen years after
his death the French treasurer d'Alibert made arrangements for the
conveyance of the ashes to his native land; and in 1667 they were
interred in the church of Ste Geneviève du Mont, the modern Pantheon. In
1819, after being temporarily deposited in a stone sarcophagus in the
court of the Louvre during the Revolutionary epoch, they were
transferred to St Germain-des-Près, where they now repose between
Montfaucon and Mabillon. A monument was raised to his memory at
Stockholm by Gustavus III.; and a modern statue has been erected to him
at Tours, with an inscription on the pedestal: "Je pense, donc je suis."

Descartes never married, and had little of the amorous in his
temperament. He has alluded to a childish fancy for a young girl with a
slight obliquity of vision; but he only mentions it _à propos_ of the
consequent weakness which led him to associate such a defect with
beauty.[24] In person he was small, with large head, projecting brow,
prominent nose, and eyes wide apart, with black hair coming down almost
to his eyebrows. His voice was feeble. He usually dressed in black, with
unobtrusive propriety.

_Philosophy._--The end of all study, says Descartes, in one of his
earliest writings, ought to be to guide the mind to form true and sound
judgments on every thing that may be presented to it.[25] The sciences
in their totality are but the intelligence of man; and all the details
of knowledge have no value save as they strengthen the understanding.
The mind is not for the sake of knowledge, but knowledge for the sake of
the mind. This is the reassertion of a principle which the middle ages
had lost sight of--that knowledge, if it is to have any value, must be
intelligence, and not erudition.


Mathematics.

But how is intelligence, as opposed to erudition, possible? The answer
to that question is the method of Descartes. That idea of a method grew
up with his study of geometry and arithmetic,--the only branches of
knowledge which he would allow to be "made sciences." But they did not
satisfy his demand for intelligence. "I found in them," he says,
"different propositions on numbers of which, after a calculation, I
perceived the truth; as for the figures, I had, so to speak, many truths
put before my eyes, and many others concluded from them by analogy; but
it did not seem to me that they told my mind with sufficient clearness
why the things were as I was shown, and by what means their discovery
was attained."[26] The mathematics of which he thus speaks included the
geometry of the ancients, as it had been handed down to the modern
world, and arithmetic with the developments it had received in the
direction of algebra. The ancient geometry, as we know it, is a
wonderful monument of ingenuity--a series of _tours de force_, in which
each problem to all appearance stands alone, and, if solved, is solved
by methods and principles peculiar to itself. Here and there particular
curves, for example, had been obliged to yield the secret of their
tangent; but the ancient geometers apparently had no consciousness of
the general bearings of the methods which they so successfully applied.
Each problem was something unique; the elements of transition from one
to another were wanting; and the next step which mathematics had to make
was to find some method of reducing, for instance, all curves to a
common notation. When that was found, the solution of one problem would
immediately entail the solution of all others which belonged to the same
series as itself.

The arithmetical half of mathematics, which had been gradually growing
into algebra, and had decidedly established itself as such in the _Ad
logisticen speciosam notae priores_ of François Vieta (1540-1603),
supplied to some extent the means of generalizing geometry. And the
algebraists or arithmeticians of the 16th century, such as Luca Pacioli
(Lucas de Borgo), Geronimo or Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576), and Niccola
Tartaglia (1506-1559), had used geometrical constructions to throw light
on the solution of particular equations. But progress was made
difficult, in consequence of the clumsy and irregular nomenclature
employed. With Descartes the use of exponents as now employed for
denoting the powers of a quantity becomes systematic; and without some
such step by which the homogeneity of successive powers is at once
recognized, the binomial theorem could scarcely have been detected. The
restriction of the early letters of the alphabet to known, and of the
late letters to unknown, quantities is also his work. In this and other
details he crowns and completes, in a form henceforth to be dominant for
the language of algebra, the work of numerous obscure predecessors, such
as Étienne de la Roche, Michael Stifel or Stiefel (1487-1567), and
others.

Having thus perfected the instrument, his next step was to apply it in
such a way as to bring uniformity of method into the isolated and
independent operations of geometry. "I had no intention,"[27] he says in
the _Method_, "of attempting to master all the particular sciences
commonly called mathematics; but as I observed that, with all
differences in their objects, they agreed in considering merely the
various relations or proportions subsisting among these objects, I
thought it best for my purpose to consider these relations in the most
general form possible, without referring them to any objects in
particular except such as would most facilitate the knowledge of them.
Perceiving further, that in order to understand these relations I should
sometimes have to consider them one by one, and sometimes only to bear
them in mind or embrace them in the aggregate, I thought that, in order
the better to consider them individually, I should view them as
subsisting between straight lines, than which I could find no objects
more simple, or capable of being more distinctly represented to my
imagination and senses; and on the other hand that, in order to retain
them in the memory or embrace an aggregate of many, I should express
them by certain characters, the briefest possible." Such is the basis of
the algebraical or modern analytical geometry. The problem of the curves
is solved by their reduction to a problem of straight lines; and the
locus of any point is determined by its distance from two given straight
lines--the axes of co-ordinates. Thus Descartes gave to modern geometry
that abstract and general character in which consists its superiority to
the geometry of the ancients. In another question connected with this,
the problem of drawing tangents to any curve, Descartes was drawn into a
controversy with Pierre (de) Fermat (1601-1663), Gilles Persone de
Roberval (1602-1675), and Girard Desargues (1593-1661). Fermat and
Descartes agreed in regarding the tangent to a curve as a secant of that
curve with the two points of intersection coinciding, while Roberval
regarded it as the direction of the composite movement by which the
curve can be described. Both these methods, differing from that now
employed, are interesting as preliminary steps towards the method of
fluxions and the differential calculus. In pure algebra Descartes
expounded and illustrated the general methods of solving equations up to
those of the fourth degree (and believed that his method could go
beyond), stated the law which connects the positive and negative roots
of an equation with the changes of sign in the consecutive terms, and
introduced the method of indeterminate coefficients for the solution of
equations.[28] These innovations have been attributed on inadequate
evidence to other algebraists, e.g. William Oughtred (1575-1660) and
Thomas Harriot (1560-1621).

The _Geometry_ of Descartes, unlike the other parts of his essays, is
not easy reading. It dashes at once into the middle of the subjects with
the examination of a problem which had baffled the ancients, and seems
as if it were tossed at the heads of the French geometers as a
challenge. An edition of it appeared subsequently, with notes by his
friend Florimond de Beaune (1601-1652), calculated to smooth the
difficulties of the work. All along mathematics was regarded by
Descartes rather as the envelope than the foundation of his method; and
the "universal mathematical science" which he sought after was only the
prelude of a universal science of all-embracing character.[29]


Descartes' method.

The method of Descartes rests upon the proposition that all the objects
of our knowledge fall into series, of which the members are more or less
known by means of one another. In every such series or group there is a
dominant element, simple and irresoluble, the standard on which the rest
of the series depends, and hence, so far as that group or series is
concerned, absolute. The other members of the group are relative and
dependent, and only to be understood as in various degrees subordinate
to the primitive conception. The characteristic by which we recognize
the fundamental element in a series is its intuitive or self-evident
character; it is given by "the evident conception of a healthy and
attentive mind so clear and distinct that no doubt is left."[30] Having
discovered this prime or absolute member of the group, we proceed to
consider the degrees in which the other members enter into relation with
it. Here deduction comes into play to show the dependence of one term
upon the others; and, in the case of a long chain of intervening links,
the problem for intelligence is so to enunciate every element, and so
to repeat the connexion that we may finally grasp all the links of the
chain in one. In this way we, as it were, bring the causal or primal
term and its remotest dependent immediately together, and raise a
derivative knowledge into one which is primary and intuitive. Such are
the four points of Cartesian method:--(1) Truth requires a clear and
distinct conception of its object, excluding all doubt; (2) the objects
of knowledge naturally fall into series or groups; (3) in these groups
investigation must begin with a simple and indecomposable element, and
pass from it to the more complex and relative elements; (4) an
exhaustive and immediate grasp of the relations and interconnexion of
these elements is necessary for knowledge in the fullest sense of that
word.[31]

"There is no question," he says in anticipation of Locke and Kant, "more
important to solve than that of knowing what human knowledge is and how
far it extends." "This is a question which ought to be asked at least
once in their lives by all who seriously wish to gain wisdom. The
inquirer will find that the first thing to know is intellect, because on
it depends the knowledge of all other things. Examining next what
immediately follows the knowledge of pure intellect, he will pass in
review all the other means of knowledge, and will find that they are two
(or three), the imagination and the senses (and the memory). He will
therefore devote all his care to examine and distinguish these three
means of knowledge; and seeing that truth and error can, properly
speaking, be only in the intellect, and that the two other modes of
knowledge are only occasions, he will carefully avoid whatever can lead
him astray."[32] This separation of intellect from sense, imagination
and memory is the cardinal precept of the Cartesian logic; it marks off
clear and distinct (i.e. adequate and vivid) from obscure, fragmentary
and incoherent conceptions.


Fundamental principles of philosophy.

The _Discourse of Method_ and the _Meditations_ apply what the _Rules
for the Direction of the Mind_ had regarded in particular instances to
our conceptions of the world as a whole. They propose, that is, to find
a simple and indecomposable point, or absolute element, which gives to
the world and thought their order and systematization. The grandeur of
this attempt is perhaps unequalled in the annals of philosophy. The
three main steps in the argument are the veracity of our thought when
that thought is true to itself, the inevitable uprising of thought from
its fragmentary aspects in our habitual consciousness to the infinite
and perfect existence which God is, and the ultimate reduction of the
material universe to extension and local movement. There are the central
dogmas of logic, metaphysics and physics, from which start the
subsequent inquiries of Locke, Leibnitz and Newton. They are also the
direct antitheses to the scepticism of Montaigne and Pascal, to the
materialism of Gassendi and Hobbes, and to the superstitious
anthropomorphism which defaced the reawakening sciences of nature.
Descartes laid down the lines on which modern philosophy and science
were to build. But himself no trained metaphysician, and unsusceptible
to the lessons of history, he gives but fragments of a system which are
held together, not by their intrinsic consistency, but by the vigour of
his personal conviction transcending the weaknesses and collisions of
his several arguments. "All my opinions," he says, "are so conjoined,
and depend so closely upon one another, that it would be impossible to
appropriate one without knowing them all."[33] Yet every disciple of
Cartesianism seems to disprove the dictum by his example.


Cogito ergo sum.

The very moment when we begin to think, says Descartes, when we cease to
be merely receptive, when we draw back and fix our attention on any
point whatever of our belief,--that moment doubt begins. If we even stop
for an instant to ask ourselves how a word ought to be spelled, the
deeper we ponder that one word by itself the more hopeless grows the
hesitation. The doubts thus awakened must not be stifled, but pressed
systematically on to the point, if such a point there be, where doubt
confutes itself. The doubt as to the details is natural; it is no less
natural to have recourse to authority to silence the doubt. The remedy
proposed by Descartes is (while not neglecting our duties to others,
ourselves and God) to let doubt range unchecked through the whole fabric
of our customary convictions. One by one they refuse to render any
reasonable account of themselves; each seems a mere chance, and the
whole tends to elude us like a mirage which some malignant power creates
for our illusion. Attacked in detail, they vanish one after another into
as many teasing spectra of uncertainty. We are seeking from them what
they cannot give. But when we have done our worst in unsettling them, we
come to an ultimate point in the fact that it is _we_ who are doubting,
_we_ who are thinking. We may doubt that we have hands or feet, that we
sleep or wake, and that there is a world of material things around us;
but we cannot doubt that we are doubting. We are certain that we are
thinking, and in so far as we are thinking we are. _Je pense, donc je
suis._ In other words, the criterion of truth is a clear and distinct
conception, excluding all possibility of doubt.

The fundamental point thus established is the veracity of consciousness
when it does not go beyond itself, or does not postulate something which
is external to itself. At this point Gassendi arrested Descartes and
addressed his objections to him as pure intelligence,--_O mens!_ But
even this _mens_, or mind, is but a point--we have found no guarantee as
yet for its continuous existence. The analysis must be carried deeper,
if we are to gain any further conclusions.


Nature of God.

Amongst the elements of our thought there are some which we can make and
unmake at our pleasure; there are others which come and go without our
wish; there is also a third class which is of the very essence of our
thinking, and which dominates our conceptions. We find that all our
ideas of limits, sorrows and weaknesses presuppose an infinite, perfect
and ever-blessed something beyond them and including them,--that all our
ideas, in all their series, converge to one central idea, in which they
find their explanation. The formal fact of thinking is what constitutes
our being; but this thought leads us back, when we consider its concrete
contents, to the necessary pre-supposition on which our ideas depend,
the permanent cause on which they and we as conscious beings depend. We
have therefore the idea of an infinite, perfect and all-powerful
being--an idea which cannot be the creation of ourselves, and must be
given by some being who really possesses all that we in idea attribute
to him. Such a being he identifies with God. But the ordinary idea of
God can scarcely be identified with such a conception. "The majority of
men," he says himself, "do not think of God as an infinite and
incomprehensible being, and as the sole author from whom all things
depend; they go no further than the letters of his name."[34] "The
vulgar almost imagine him as a finite thing." The God of Descartes is
not merely the creator of the material universe; he is also the father
of all truth in the intellectual world. "The metaphysical truths," he
says, "styled eternal have been established by God, and, like the rest
of his creatures, depend entirely upon him. To say that these truths are
independent of him is to speak of God as a Jupiter or a Saturn,--to
subject him to Styx and the Fates."[35] The laws of thought, the truths
of number, are the decrees of God. The expression is anthropomorphic, no
less than the dogma of material creation; but it is an attempt to affirm
the unity of the intellectual and the material world. Descartes
establishes a philosophic monotheism,--by which the medieval polytheism
of substantial forms, essences and eternal truths fades away before God,
who is the ruler of the intellectual world no less than of the kingdom
of nature and of grace.

To attach a clear and definite meaning to the Cartesian doctrine of God,
to show how much of it comes from the Christian theology and how much
from the logic of idealism, how far the conception of a personal being
as creator and preserver mingles with the pantheistic conception of an
infinite and perfect something which is all in all, would be to go
beyond Descartes and to ask for a solution of difficulties of which he
was scarcely aware. It seems impossible to deny that the tendency of
his principles and his arguments is mainly in the line of a metaphysical
absolute, as the necessary completion and foundation of all being and
knowledge. Through the truthfulness of that God as the author of all
truth he derives a guarantee for our perceptions in so far as these are
clear and distinct. And it is in guaranteeing the veracity of our clear
and distinct conceptions that the value of his deduction of God seems in
his own estimate to rest. All conceptions which do not possess these two
attributes--of being vivid in themselves and discriminated from all
others--cannot be true. But the larger part of our conceptions are in
such a predicament. We think of things not in the abstract elements of
the things themselves, but in connexion with, and in language which
presupposes, other things. Our idea of body, e.g., involves colour and
weight, and yet when we try to think carefully, and without assuming
anything, we find that we cannot attach any distinct idea to these terms
when applied to body. In truth therefore these attributes do not belong
to body at all; and if we go on in the same way testing the received
qualities of matter, we shall find that in the last resort we understand
nothing by it but extension, with the secondary and derivative
characters of divisibility and mobility.

But it would again be useless to ask how extension as the characteristic
attribute of matter is related to mind which thinks, and how God is to
be regarded in reference to extension. The force of the universe is
swept up and gathered in God, who communicates motion to the parts of
extension, and sustains that motion from moment to moment; and in the
same way the force of mind has really been concentrated in God. Every
moment one expects to find Descartes saying with Hobbes that man's
thought has created God, or with Spinoza and Malebranche that it is God
who really thinks in the apparent thought of man. After all, the
metaphysical theology of Descartes, however essential in his own eyes,
serves chiefly as the ground for constructing his theory of man and of
the universe. His fundamental hypothesis relegates to God all forces in
their ultimate origin. Hence the world is left open for the free play of
mechanics and geometry. The disturbing conditions of will, life and
organic forces are eliminated from the problem; he starts with the clear
and distinct idea of extension, figured and moved, and thence by
mathematical laws he gives a hypothetical explanation of all things.
Such explanation of physical phenomena is the main problem of Descartes,
and it goes on encroaching upon territories once supposed proper to the
mind. Descartes began with the certainty that we are thinking beings;
that region remains untouched; but up to its very borders the mechanical
explanation of nature reigns unchecked.


Physical theory.

The physical theory, in its earlier form in _The World_, and later in
the _Principles of Philosophy_ (which the present account follows),
rests upon the metaphysical conclusions of the _Meditations_. It
proposes to set forth the genesis of the existing universe from
principles which can be plainly understood, and according to the
acknowledged laws of the transmission of movement. The idea of force is
one of those obscure conceptions which originate in an obscure region,
in the sense of muscular power. The true physical conception is motion,
the ultimate ground of which is to be sought in God's infinite power.
Accordingly the quantity of movement in the universe, like its mover,
can neither increase nor diminish. The only circumstance which physics
has to consider is the transference of movement from one particle to
another, and the change of its direction. Man himself cannot increase
the sum of motion; he can only alter its direction. The whole conception
of force may disappear from a theory of the universe; and we can adopt a
geometrical definition of motion as the shifting of one body from the
neighbourhood of those bodies which immediately touch it, and which are
assumed to be at rest, to the neighbourhood of other bodies. Motion, in
short, is strictly locomotion, and nothing else.

Descartes has laid down three laws of nature, and seven secondary laws
regarding impact. The latter are to a large extent incorrect. The first
law affirms that every body, so far as it is altogether unaffected by
extraneous causes, always perseveres in the same state of motion or of
rest; and the second law that simple or elementary motion is always in a
straight line.[36] These doctrines of inertia, and of the composite
character of curvilinear motion, were scarcely apprehended even by
Kepler or Galileo; but they follow naturally from the geometrical
analysis of Descartes.


Theory of vortices.

Extended body has no limits to its extent, though the power of God has
divided it in lines discriminating its parts in endless ways. The
infinite universe is infinitely full of matter. Empty space, as
distinguished from material extension, is a fictitious abstraction.
There is no such thing really as a vacuum, any more than there are atoms
or ultimate indivisible particles. In both these doctrines of _à priori_
science Descartes has not been subverted, but, if anything, corroborated
by the results of experimental physics; for the so-called atoms of
chemical theory already presuppose, from the Cartesian point of view,
certain aggregations of the primitive particles of matter. Descartes
regards matter as uniform in character throughout the universe; he
anticipates, as it were, from his own transcendental ground, the
revelations of spectrum analysis as applied to the sun and stars. We
have then to think of a full universe of matter (and matter = extension)
divided and figured with endless variety, and set (and kept) in motion
by God; and any sort of division, figure and motion will serve the
purposes of our supposition as well as another. "Scarcely any
supposition,"[37] he says, "can be made from which the same result,
though possibly with greater difficulty, might not be deduced by the
same laws of nature; for since, in virtue of these laws, matter
successively assumes all the forms of which it is capable, if we
consider these forms in order, we shall at one point or other reach the
existing form of the world, so that no error need here be feared from a
false supposition." As the movement of one particle in a closely-packed
universe is only possible if all other parts move simultaneously, so
that the last in the series steps into the place of the first; and as
the figure and division of the particles varies in each point in the
universe, there will inevitably at the same instant result throughout
the universe an innumerable host of more or less circular movements, and
of vortices or whirlpools of material particles varying in size and
velocity. Taking for convenience a limited portion of the universe, we
observe that in consequence of the circular movement, the particles of
matter have their corners pared off by rubbing against each other; and
two species of matter thus arise,--one consisting of small globules
which continue their circular motion with a (centrifugal) tendency to
fly off from the centre as they swing round the axis of rotation, while
the other, consisting of the fine dust--the filings and parings of the
original particles--gradually becoming finer and finer, and losing its
velocity, tends (centripetally) to accumulate in the centre of the
vortex, which has been gradually left free by the receding particles of
globular matter. This finer matter which collects in the centre of each
vortex is the _first_ matter of Descartes--it constitutes the sun or
star. The spherical particles are the _second_ matter of Descartes, and
their tendency to propel one another from the centre in straight lines
towards the circumference of each vortex is what gives rise to the
phenomenon of light radiating from the central star. This second matter
is atmosphere or firmament, which envelops and revolves around the
central accumulation of first matter.

A third form of matter is produced from the original particles. As the
small filings produced by friction seek to pass through the interstices
between the rapidly revolving spherical particles in the vortex, they
are detained and become twisted and channelled in their passage, and
when they reach the edge of the inner ocean of solar dust they settle
upon it as the froth and foam produced by the agitation of water gathers
upon its surface. These form what we term spots in the sun. In some
cases they come and go, or dissolve into an aether round the sun; but in
other cases they gradually increase until they form a dense crust round
the central nucleus. In course of time the star, with its expansive
force diminished, suffers encroachments from the neighbouring vortices,
and at length they catch it up. If the velocity of the decaying star be
greater than that of any part of the vortex which has swept it up, it
will ere long pass out of the range of that vortex, and continue its
movement from one to another. Such a star is a comet. But in other cases
the encrusted star settles in that portion of the revolving vortex which
has a velocity equivalent to its own, and so continues to revolve in the
vortex, wrapped in its own firmament. Such a reduced and impoverished
star is a planet; and the several planets of our solar system are the
several vortices which from time to time have been swept up by the
central sun-vortex. The same considerations serve to explain the moon
and other satellites. They too were once vortices, swallowed up by some
other, which at a later day fell a victim to the sweep of our sun.

Such in mere outline is the celebrated theory of _vortices_, which for
about twenty years after its promulgation reigned supreme in science,
and for much longer time opposed a tenacious resistance to rival
doctrines. It is one of the grandest hypotheses which ever have been
formed to account by mechanical processes for the movements of the
universe. While chemistry rests in the acceptance of ultimate
heterogeneous elements, the vortex-theory assumed uniform matter through
the universe, and reduced cosmical physics to the same principles as
regulate terrestrial phenomena. It ended the old Aristotelian
distinction between the sphere beneath the moon and the starry spaces
beyond. It banished the spirits and genii, to which even Kepler had
assigned the guardianship of the planetary movements; and, if it
supposes the globular particles of the envelope to be the active force
in carrying the earth round the sun, we may remember that Newton himself
assumed an aether for somewhat similar purposes. The great argument on
which the Cartesians founded their opposition to the Newtonian doctrine
was that attraction was an occult quality, not wholly intelligible by
the aid of mere mechanics. The Newtonian theory is an analysis of the
elementary movements which in their combination determine the planetary
orbits, and gives the formula of the proportions according to which they
act. But the Cartesian theory, like the later speculations of Kant and
Laplace, proposes to give a hypothetical explanation of the
circumstances and motions which in the normal course of things led to
the state of things required by the law of attraction. In the judgment
of D'Alembert the Cartesian theory was the best that the observations of
the age admitted; and "its explanation of gravity was one of the most
ingenious hypotheses which philosophy ever imagined." That the
explanation fails in detail is undoubted: it does not account for the
ellipticity of the planets; it would place the sun, not in one focus,
but in the centre of the ellipse; and it would make gravity directed
towards the centre only under the equator. But these defects need not
blind us to the fact that this hypothesis made the mathematical progress
of Hooke, Borelli and Newton much more easy and certain. Descartes
professedly assumed a simplicity in the phenomena which they did not
present. But such a hypothetical simplicity is the necessary step for
solving the more complex problems of nature. The danger lies not in
forming such hypotheses, but in regarding them as final, or as more than
an attempt to throw light upon our observation of the phenomena. In
doing what he did, Descartes actually exemplified that reduction of the
processes of nature to mere transposition of the particles of matter,
which in different ways was a leading idea in the minds of Bacon, Hobbes
and Gassendi. The defects of Descartes lie rather in his apparently
imperfect apprehension of the principle of movements uniformly
accelerated which his contemporary Galileo had illustrated and insisted
upon, and in the indistinctness which attaches to his views of the
transmission of motion in cases of impact. It should be added that the
modern theory of vortex-atoms (Lord Kelvin's) to explain the
constitution of matter has but slight analogy with Cartesian doctrine,
and finds a parallel, if anywhere, in a modification of that doctrine by
Malebranche.


Optical theories.

Besides the last two parts of the _Principles of Philosophy_, the
physical writings of Descartes include the _Dioptrics_ and _Meteors_, as
well as passages in the letters. His optical investigations are perhaps
the subject in which he most contributed to the progress of science;
and the lucidity of exposition which marks his _Dioptrics_ stands
conspicuous even amid the generally luminous style of his works. Its
object is a practical one, to determine by scientific considerations the
shape of lens best adapted to improve the capabilities of the telescope,
which had been invented not long before. The conclusions at which he
arrives have not been so useful as he imagined, in consequence of the
mechanical difficulties. But the investigation by which he reaches them
has the merit of first prominently publishing and establishing the law
of the refraction of light. Attempts have been made, principally founded
on some remarks of Huygens, to show that Descartes had learned the
principles of refraction from the manuscript of a treatise by Willebrord
Snell, but the facts are uncertain; and, so far as Descartes founds his
optics on any one, it is probably on the researches of Kepler. In any
case the discovery is to some extent his own, for his proof of the law
is founded upon the theory that light is the propagation of the aether
in straight lines from the sun or luminous body to the eye (see LIGHT).
Thus he approximates to the wave theory of light, though he supposed
that the transmission of light was instantaneous. The chief of his other
contributions to optics was the explanation of the rainbow--an
explanation far from complete, since the unequal refrangibility of the
rays of light was yet undiscovered--but a decided advance upon his
predecessors, notably on the _De radiis visus et lucis_ (1611) of
Marc-Antonio de Dominis, archbishop of Spalato.

If Descartes had contented himself with thus explaining the phenomena of
gravity, heat, magnetism, light and similar forces by means of the
molecular movements of his vortices, even such a theory would have
excited admiration. But he did not stop short in the region of what is
usually termed physics. Chemistry and biology are alike swallowed up in
the one science of physics, and reduced to a problem of mechanism. This
theory, he believed, would afford an explanation of every phenomenon
whatever, and in nearly every department of knowledge he has given
specimens of its power. But the most remarkable and daring application
of the theory was to account for the phenomena of organic life,
especially in animals and man. "If we possessed a thorough knowledge,"
he says,[38] "of all the parts of the seed of any species of animal
(e.g. man), we could from that alone, by reasons entirely mathematical
and certain, deduce the whole figure and conformation of each of its
members, and, conversely, if we knew several peculiarities of this
conformation, we could from these deduce the nature of its seed." The
organism in this way is regarded as a machine, constructed from the
particles of the seed, which in virtue of the laws of motion have
arranged themselves (always under the governing power of God) in the
particular animal shape in which we see them. The doctrine of the
circulation of the blood, which Descartes adopted from Harvey, supplied
additional arguments in favour of his mechanical theory, and he probably
did much to popularize the discovery. A fire without light, compared to
the heat which gathers in a haystack when the hay has been stored before
it was properly dry--heat, in short, as an agitation of the
particles--is the motive cause of the contraction and dilatations of the
heart. Those finer particles of the blood which become extremely
rarefied during this process pass off in two directions--one portion,
and the least important in the theory, to the organs of generation, the
other portion to the cavities of the brain. There not merely do they
serve to nourish the organ, they also give rise to a fine ethereal flame
or wind through the action of the brain upon them, and thus form the
so-called "animal" spirits. From the brain these spirits are conveyed
through the body by means of the nerves, regarded by Descartes as
tubular vessels, resembling the pipes conveying the water of a spring to
act upon the mechanical appliances in an artificial fountain. The nerves
conduct the animal spirits to act upon the muscles, and in their turn
convey the impressions of the organs to the brain.


Automatism.

Man and the animals as thus described are compared to automata, and
termed machines. The vegetative and sensitive souls which the
Aristotelians had introduced to break the leap between inanimate matter
and man are ruthlessly swept away; only one soul, the rational, remains,
and that is restricted to man. One hypothesis supplants the various
principles of life; the rule of absolute mechanism is as complete in the
animal as in the cosmos. Reason and thought, the essential quality of
the soul, do not belong to the brutes; there is an impassable gulf fixed
between man and the lower animals. The only sure sign of reason is the
power of language--i.e. of giving expression to general ideas; and
language in that sense is not found save in man. The cries of animals
are but the working of the curiously-contrived machine, in which, when
one portion is touched in a certain way, the wheels and springs
concealed in the interior perform their work, and, it may be, a note
supposed to express joy or pain is evolved; but there is no
consciousness or feeling. "The animals act naturally and by springs,
like a watch."[39] "The greatest of all the prejudices we have retained
from our infancy is that of believing that the beasts think."[40] If the
beasts can properly be said to see at all, "they see as we do when our
mind is distracted and keenly applied elsewhere; the images of outward
objects paint themselves on the retina, and possibly even the
impressions made in the optic nerves determine our limbs to different
movements, but we feel nothing of it all, and move as if we were
automata."[41] The sentience of the animal to the lash of his tyrant is
not other than the sensitivity of the plant to the influences of light
and heat. It is not much comfort to learn further from Descartes that
"he denies life to no animal, but makes it consist in the mere heat of
the heart. Nor does he deny them feeling in so far as it depends on the
bodily organs."[42]

Descartes, with an unusual fondness for the letter of Scripture, quotes
oftener than once in support of this monstrous doctrine. the dictum,
"the blood is the life"; and he remarks, with some sarcasm possibly,
that it is a comfortable theory for the eaters of animal flesh. And the
doctrine found acceptance among some whom it enabled to get rid of the
difficulties raised by Montaigne and those who allowed more difference
between animal and animal than between the higher animals and man. It
also encouraged vivisection--a practice common with Descartes
himself.[43] The recluses of Port Royal seized it eagerly, discussed
automatism, dissected living animals in order to show to a morbid
curiosity the circulation of the blood, were careless of the cries of
tortured dogs, and finally embalmed the doctrine in a syllogism of their
logic,--No matter thinks; every soul of beast is matter: therefore no
soul of beast thinks.


Relation of mind and body.

But whilst all the organic processes in man go on mechanically, and
though by reflex action he may repel attack unconsciously, still the
first affirmation of the system was that man was essentially a thinking
being; and, while we retain this original dictum, it must not be
supposed that the mind is a mere spectator, or like the boatman in the
boat. Of course a unity of nature is impossible between mind and body so
described. And yet there is a unity of composition, a unity so close
that the compound is "really one and in a sense indivisible." You cannot
in the actual man cut soul and body asunder; they interpenetrate in
every member. But there is one point in the human frame--a point midway
in the brain, single and free, which may in a special sense be called
the seat of the mind. This is the so-called conarion, or pineal gland,
where in a minimized point the mind on one hand and the vital spirits on
the other meet and communicate. In that gland the mystery of creation is
concentrated; thought meets extension and directs it; extension moves
towards thought and is perceived. Two clear and distinct ideas, it
seems, produce an absolute mystery. Mind, driven from the field of
extension, erects its last fortress in the pineal gland. In such a state
of despair and destitution there is no hope for spiritualism, save in
God; and Clauberg, Geulincx and Malebranche all take refuge under the
shadow of his wings to escape the tyranny of extended matter.


Psychology.

In the psychology of Descartes there are two fundamental modes of
thought,--perception and volition. "It seems to me," he says, "that in
receiving such and such an idea the mind is passive, and that it is
active only in volition; that its ideas are put in it partly by the
objects which touch the senses, partly by the impressions in the brain,
and partly also by the dispositions which have preceded in the mind
itself and by the movements of its will."[44] The will, therefore, as
being more originative, has more to do with true or false judgments than
the understanding. Unfortunately, Descartes is too lordly a philosopher
to explain distinctly what either understanding or will may mean. But we
gather that in two directions our reason is bound up with bodily
conditions, which make or mar it, according as the will, or central
energy of thought, is true to itself or not. In the range of perception,
intellect is subjected to the material conditions of sense, memory and
imagination; and in infancy, when the will has allowed itself to assent
precipitately to the conjunctions presented to it by these material
processes, thought has become filled with obscure ideas. In the moral
sphere the passions or emotions (which Descartes reduces to the six
primitive forms of admiration, love, hatred, desire, joy and sadness)
are the perceptions or sentiments of the mind, caused and maintained by
some movement of the vital spirits, but specially referring to the mind
only. The presentation of some object of dread, for example, to the eye
has or may have a double effect. On one hand the animal spirits
"reflected"[45] from the image formed on the pineal gland proceed
through the nervous tubes to make the muscles turn the back and lift the
feet, so as to escape the cause of the terror. Such is the reflex and
mechanical movement independent of the mind. But, on the other hand, the
vital spirits cause a movement in the gland by which the mind perceives
the affection of the organs, learns that something is to be loved or
hated, admired or shunned. Such perceptions dispose the mind to pursue
what nature dictates as useful. But the estimate of goods and evils
which they give is indistinct and unsatisfactory. The office of reason
is to give a true and distinct appreciation of the values of goods and
evils; or firm and determinate judgments touching the knowledge of good
and evil are our proper arms against the influence of the passions.[46]
We are free, therefore, through knowledge: _ex magna luce in intellectu
sequitur magna propensio in voluntate_, and _omnis peccans est
ignorans_. "If we clearly see that what we are doing is wrong, it would
be impossible for us to sin, so long as we saw it in that light."[47]
Thus the highest liberty, as distinguished from mere indifference,
proceeds from clear and distinct knowledge, and such knowledge can only
be attained by firmness and resolution, i.e. by the continued exercise
of the will. Thus in the perfection of man, as in the nature of God,
will and intellect must be united. For thought, will is as necessary as
understanding. And innate ideas therefore are mere capacities or
tendencies,--possibilities which apart from the will to think may be
regarded as nothing at all.

_The Cartesian School._--The philosophy of Descartes fought its first
battles and gained its first triumphs in the country of his adoption. In
his lifetime his views had been taught in Utrecht and Leiden. In the
universities of the Netherlands and of lower Germany, as yet free from
the conservatism of the old-established seats of learning, the new
system gained an easy victory over Aristotelianism, and, as it was
adapted for lectures and examinations, soon became almost as scholastic
as the doctrines it had supplanted. At Leiden, Utrecht, Groningen,
Franeker, Breda, Nimeguen, Harderwyk, Duisburg and Herborn, and at the
Catholic university of Louvain, Cartesianism was warmly expounded and
defended in seats of learning, of which many are now left desolate, and
by adherents whose writings have for the most part long lost interest
for any but the antiquary.


Holland.

The Cartesianism of Holland was a child of the universities, and its
literature is mainly composed of commentaries upon the original texts,
of theses discussed in the schools, and of systematic expositions of
Cartesian philosophy for the benefit of the student. Three names stand
out in this Cartesian professoriate,--Wittich, Clauberg and Geulincx.
Christoph Wittich (1625-1687), professor at Duisburg and Leiden, is a
representative of the moderate followers who professed to reconcile the
doctrines of their school with the faith of Christendom and to refute
the theology of Spinoza. Johann Clauberg (q.v.) commented clause by
clause upon the _Meditations_ of Descartes; but he specially claims
notice for his work _De corporis et animae in homine conjunctione_,
where he maintains that the bodily movements are merely procatarctic
causes (i.e. antecedents, but not strictly causes) of the mental action,
and sacrifices the independence of man to the omnipotence of God. The
same tendency is still more pronounced in Arnold Geulincx (q.v.). With
him the reciprocal action of mind and body is altogether denied; they
resemble two clocks, so made by the artificer as to strike the same hour
together. The mind can act only upon itself; beyond that limit, the
power of God must intervene to make any seeming interaction possible
between body and soul. Such are the half-hearted attempts at consistency
in Cartesian thought, which eventually culminate in the pantheism of
Spinoza (see CARTESIANISM).

Descartes occasionally had not scrupled to interpret the Scriptures
according to his own tenets, while still maintaining, when their letter
contradicted him, that the Bible was not meant to teach the sciences.
Similar tendencies are found amongst his followers. Whilst Protestant
opponents put him in the list of atheists like Vanini, and the Catholics
held him as dangerous as Luther or Calvin, there were zealous adherents
who ventured to prove the theory of vortices in harmony with the book of
Genesis. It was this rationalistic treatment of the sacred writings
which helped to confound the Cartesians with the allegorical school of
John Cocceius, as their liberal doctrines in theology justified the
vulgar identification of them with the heresies of Socinian and
Arminian. The chief names in this advanced theology connected with
Cartesian doctrines are Ludwig Meyer, the friend and editor of Spinoza,
author of a work termed _Philosophia scripturae interpres_ (1666);
Balthasar Bekker, whose _World Bewitched_ helped to discredit the
superstitious fancies about the devil; and Spinoza, whose _Tractatus
theologico-politicus_ is in some respects the classical type of rational
criticism up to the present day. Against this work and the _Ethics_ of
Spinoza the orthodox Cartesians (who were in the majority), no less than
sceptical hangers-on like Bayle, raised an all but universal howl of
reprobation, scarcely broken for about a century.


France.

In France Cartesianism won society and literature before it penetrated
into the universities. Clerselier (the friend of Descartes and his
literary executor), his son-in-law Rohault (who achieved that
relationship through his Cartesianism), and others, opened their houses
for readings to which the intellectual world of Paris--its learned
professors not more than the courtiers and the fair sex,--flocked to
hear the new doctrines explained, and possibly discuss their value.
Grand seigneurs, like the prince of Condé, the duc de Nevers and the
marquis de Vardes, were glad to vary the monotony of their feudal
castles by listening to the eloquent rehearsals of Malebranche or Regis.
And the salons of Mme de Sévigné, of her daughter Mme de Grignan, and of
the duchesse de Maine for a while gave the questions of philosophy a
place among the topics of polite society, and furnished to Molière the
occasion of his _Femmes savantes_. The Château of the duc de Luynes, the
translator of the _Meditations_, was the home of a Cartesian club, that
discussed the questions of automatism and of the composition of the sun
from filings and parings, and rivalled Port Royal in its vivisections.
The cardinal de Retz in his leisurely age at Commercy found amusement in
presiding at disputations between the more moderate Cartesians and Don
Robert Desgabets, who interpreted Descartes in an original way of his
own. Though rejected by the Jesuits, who found peripatetic formulae a
faithful weapon against the enemies of the church, Cartesianism was
warmly adopted by the Oratory, which saw in Descartes something of St
Augustine, by Port Royal, which discovered a connexion between the new
system and Jansenism, and by some amongst the Benedictines and the order
of Ste Geneviève.

The popularity which Cartesianism thus gained in the social and literary
circles of the capital was largely increased by the labours of
Pierre-Sylvain Regis (1632-1707). On his visit to Toulouse in 1665, with
a mission from the Cartesian chiefs, his lectures excited boundless
interest; ladies threw themselves with zeal and ability into the study
of philosophy; and Regis himself was made the guest of the civic
corporation. In 1671 scarcely less enthusiasm was roused in Montpellier;
and in 1680 he opened a course of lectures at Paris, with such
acceptance that hearers had to take their seats in advance. Regis, by
removing the paradoxes and adjusting the metaphysics to the popular
powers of apprehension, made Cartesianism popular, and reduced it to a
regular system.

But a check was at hand. Descartes, in his correspondence with the
Jesuits, had shown an almost cringing eagerness to have their powerful
organization on his side. Especially he had written to Père Mesland, one
of the order, to show how the Catholic doctrine of the eucharist might
be made compatible with his theories of matter. But his undue haste to
arrange matters with the church only served to compromise him more
deeply. Unwise admirers and malicious opponents exaggerated the
theological bearings of his system in this detail; and the efforts of
the Jesuits succeeded in getting the works of Descartes, in November
1663, placed upon the index of prohibited books,--_donec corrigantur_.
Thereupon the power of church and state enforced by positive enactments
the passive resistance of old institutions to the novel theories. In
1667, the oration at the interment was forbidden by royal order. In
1669, when the chair of philosophy at the Collège Royal fell vacant, one
of the four selected candidates had to sustain a thesis against "the
pretended new philosophy of Descartes." In 1671 the archbishop of Paris,
by the king's order, summoned the heads of the university to his
presence, and enjoined them to take stricter measures against
philosophical novelties dangerous to the faith. In 1673 a decree of the
parlement against Cartesian and other unlicensed theories was on the
point of being issued, and was only checked in time by the appearance of
a burlesque mandamus against the intruder Reason, composed by Boileau
and some of his brother-poets. Yet in 1675 the university of Angers was
empowered to repress all Cartesian teaching within its domain, and
actually appointed a commission charged to look for such heresies in the
theses and the students' note-books of the college of Anjou belonging to
the Oratory. In 1677 the university of Caen adopted not less stringent
measures against Cartesianism. And so great was the influence of the
Jesuits, that the congregation of St Maur, the canons of Ste Geneviève,
and the Oratory laid their official ban on the obnoxious doctrines. From
the real or fancied _rapprochements_ between Cartesianism and Jansenism,
it became for a while impolitic, if not dangerous, to avow too loudly a
preference for Cartesian theories. Regis was constrained to hold back
for ten years his _System of Philosophy_; and when it did appear, in
1690, the name of Descartes was absent from the title-page. There were
other obstacles besides the mild persecutions of the church. Pascal and
other members of Port Royal openly expressed their doubts about the
place allowed to God in the system; the adherents of Gassendi met it by
resuscitating atoms; and the Aristotelians maintained their substantial
forms as of old; the Jesuits argued against the arguments for the being
of God, and against the theory of innate ideas; whilst Pierre Daniel
Huet (1630-1721), bishop of Avranches, once a Cartesian himself, made a
vigorous onslaught on the contempt in which his former comrades held
literature and history, and enlarged on the vanity of all human
aspirations after rational truth.

The greatest and most original of the French Cartesians was Malebranche
(q.v.). His _Recherche de la vérité_, in 1674, was the baptism of the
system into a theistic religion which borrowed its imagery from
Augustine; it brought into prominence the metaphysical base which Louis
Delaforge, Jacques Rohault and Regis had neither cared for nor
understood. But this doctrine was a criticism and a divergence, no less
than a consequence, from the principles in Descartes; and it brought
upon Malebranche the opposition, not merely of the Cartesian
physicists, but also of Arnauld, Fénelon and Bossuet, who found, or
hoped to find, in the _Meditations_, as properly understood, an ally for
theology. Popular enthusiasm, however, was with Malebranche, as twenty
years before it had been with Descartes; he was the fashion of the day;
and his disciples rapidly increased both in France and abroad.

In 1705 Cartesianism was still subject to prohibitions from the
authorities; but in a project of new statutes, drawn up for the faculty
of arts at Paris in 1720, the _Method_ and _Meditations_ of Descartes
were placed beside the _Organon_ and the _Metaphysics_ of Aristotle as
text-books for philosophical study. And before 1725, readings, both
public and private, were given from Cartesian texts in some of the
Parisian colleges. But when this happened, Cartesianism was no longer
either interesting or dangerous; its theories, taught as ascertained and
verified truths, were as worthless as the systematic verbiage which
preceded them. Already antiquated, it could not resist the wit and
raillery with which Voltaire, in his _Lettres sur les Anglais_ (1728),
brought against it the principles and results of Locke and Newton. The
old Cartesians, Jean Jacques Dortous de Mairan (1678-1771) and
especially Fontenelle, with his _Théorie des tourbillons_ (1752),
struggled in vain to refute Newton by styling attraction an occult
quality. Fortunately the Cartesian method had already done its service,
even where the theories were rejected. The Port Royalists, Pierre Nicole
(1625-1695) and Antoine Arnauld (1612-1694), had applied it to grammar
and logic; Jean Domat or Daumat (1625-1696) and Henri François
Daugesseau (1668-1751) to jurisprudence; Fontenelle, Charles Perrault
(1628-1703) and Jean Terrasson (1670-1750) to literary criticism, and a
worthier estimate of modern literature. Though it never ceased to
influence individual thinkers, it had handed on to Condillac its
popularity with the masses. A Latin abridgment of philosophy, dated
1784, tells us that the innate ideas of Descartes are founded on no
arguments, and are now universally abandoned. The ghost of innate ideas
seems to be all that it had left.


Germany.

In Germany a few Cartesian lecturers taught at Leipzig and Halle, but
the system took no root, any more than in Switzerland, where it had a
brief reign at Geneva after 1669. In Italy the effects were more
permanent. What is termed the iatro-mechanical school of medicine, with
G. A. Borelli (1608-1679) as its most notable name, entered in a way on
the mechanical study of anatomy suggested by Descartes, but was probably
much more dependent upon the positive researches of Galileo. At Naples
there grew up a Cartesian school, of which the best known members are
Michel Angelo Fardella (1650-1708) and Cardinal Gerdil (1718-1802), both
of whom, however, attached themselves to the characteristic views of
Malebranche.


England.

In England Cartesianism took but slight hold. Henry More, who had given
it a modified sympathy in the lifetime of the author, became its
opponent in later years; and Cudworth differed from it in most essential
points. Antony Legrand, from Douai, attempted to introduce it into
Oxford, but failed. He is the author of several works, amongst others a
system of Cartesian philosophy, where a chapter on "Angels" revives the
methods of the schoolmen. His chief opponent was Samuel Parker
(1640-1688), bishop of Oxford, who, in his attack on the irreligious
novelties of the Cartesian, treats Descartes as a fellow-criminal in
infidelity with Hobbes and Gassendi. Rohault's version of the Cartesian
physics was translated into English; and Malebranche found an ardent
follower in John Norris (1667-1711). Of Cartesianism towards the close
of the 17th century the only remnants were an overgrown theory of
vortices, which received its death-blow from Newton, and a dubious
phraseology anent innate ideas, which found a witty executioner in
Locke.

For an account of the metaphysical doctrines of Descartes, in their
connexions with Malebranche and Spinoza, see CARTESIANISM.

   BIBLIOGRAPHY.--I. _Editions and Translations._--The collected works
   of Descartes were published in Latin in 8 vols. at Amsterdam
   (1670-1683), in 7 vols. at Frankfort (1697) and in 9 vols. by Elzevir
   (1713); in French in 13 vols. (Paris, 1724-1729), republished by
   Victor Cousin (Paris, 1824-1826) in 11 vols., and again under the
   authority of the minister of public instruction by C. Adam and P.
   Tannery (1897 foll.). These include his so-called posthumous works.
   _The Rules for the Direction of the Mind_, _The Search for Truth by
   the Light of Nature_, and other unimportant fragments, published (in
   Latin) in 1701. In 1859-1860 Foucher de Careil published in two parts
   some unedited writings of Descartes from copies taken by Leibnitz
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   appeared at Amsterdam between 1650 and 1678; a two-volume edition at
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   II. _Biographical._--A. Baillet, _La Vie de M. Des Cartes_ (Paris,
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   sketch of recent biographies is to be found in _The Edinburgh Review_
   (July 1906).

   III. _Philosophy._--Beside the histories of philosophy, the article
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   Natorp, _Descartes' Erkenntnisstheorie_ (Marburg, 1882); L. A.
   Prévost-Paradol, _Les Moralistes français_ (Paris, 1865); C.
   Schaarschmidt, _Descartes und Spinoza_ (Bonn, 1850); R. Adamson, _The
   Development of Modern Philosophy_ (Edinburgh, 1903); J. Müller, _Der
   Begriff der sittlichen Unvollkommenheit bei Descartes und Spinoza_
   (1890); J. H. von Kirchmann, _R. Descartes' Prinzipien der Philos._
   (1863); G. Touchard, _La Morale de Descartes_ (1898); Lucien
   Lévy-Bruhl, _Hist. of Mod. Philos. in France_ (Eng. trans., 1899),
   pp. 1-76.

   IV. _Science and Mathematics._--F. Cajori, _History of Mathematics_
   (London, 1894); M. Cantor, _Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der
   Mathematik_ (Leipzig, 1894-1901); Sir Michael Foster, _Hist. of
   Physiol. during the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries_
   (1901); Duboux, _La Physique de Descartes_ (Lausanne, 1881); G. H.
   Zeuthen, _Geschichte der Mathematik im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert_
   (1903); Chasles, _Aperçu historique sur l'origine et le développement
   des méthodes en géométrie_ (3rd ed., 1889). (W. W.; X.)


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] It was only published after the author's death; and of it, besides
    the French version, there exists an English translation "by a Person
    of Quality."

  [2] _OEuvres_, v. 255.

  [3] Ib. vi. 199.

  [4]: _OEuvres_, viii. 59.

  [5] Ib. viii. 173.

  [6] Ib. viii. 181.

  [7] Ib. vi. 123.

  [8] Ib. x. 375.

  [9] Ib. ix. 6.

  [10] Ib. iii. 24.

  [11] Ib. vi. 234.

  [12] Ib. ix. 131.

  [13] Ib. ix. 341.

  [14] Ib. vi. 89.

  [15] Ib. vi. 210.

  [16] Ib. vi. 73.

  [17] Ib. vi. 239.

  [18] Ib. vi. 248.

  [19] _OEuvres_, vi. 276.

  [20] Ib. ix. 250.

  [21] _Princip._ L. iii. S. 45.

  [22] _OEuvres_, x. 26.

  [23] _OEuvres_, x. 3.

  [24] Ib. x. 53.

  [25] _Regulae_, _OEuvres_, xi. 202.

  [26] _OEuvres_, xi. 219.

  [27] _Disc. de méthode_, part ii.

  [28] _Géométrie_, book iii.

  [29] _OEuvres_, xi. 224.

  [30] Ib. xi. 212.

  [31] _Disc. de méthode_, part. ii.

  [32] _OEuvres_, xi. 243.

  [33] Ib. vii. 381.

  [34] _OEuvres_, vi. 132.

  [35] Ib. vi. 109.

  [36] _Princip._ part ii. 37.

  [37] Ib. part iii. 47.

  [38] _OEuvres_, iv. 494.

  [39] Ib. ix. 426.

  [40] Ib. x. 204.

  [41] Ib. vi. 339.

  [42] Ib. x. 208.

  [43] Ib. iv. 452 and 454.

  [44] _OEuvres_, ix. 166.

  [45] _Passions de l'âme_, 36.

  [46] Ib. 48.

  [47] _OEuvres_, ix. 170.




DESCHAMPS, ÉMILE (1791-1871), French poet and man of letters, was born
at Bourges on the 20th of February 1791. The son of a civil servant, he
adopted his father's career, but as early as 1812 he distinguished
himself by an ode, _La Paix conquise_, which won the praise of Napoleon.
In 1818 he collaborated with Henri de Latouche in two verse comedies,
_Selmours de Florian_ and _Le Tour de faveur_. He and his brother were
among the most enthusiastic disciples of the _cénacle_ gathered round
Victor Hugo, and in July 1823 Émile founded with his master the _Muse
française_, which during the year of its existence was the special
organ of the romantic party. His _Études françaises et étrangères_
(1828) were preceded by a preface which may be regarded as one of the
manifestos of the romanticists. The versions of Shakespeare's _Romeo and
Juliet_ (1839) and of _Macbeth_ (1844), important as they were in the
history of the romantic movement, were never staged. He was the author
of several libretti, among which may be mentioned the _Roméo et
Juliette_ of Berlioz. The list of his more important works is completed
by his two volumes of stories, _Contes physiologiques_ (1854) and
_Réalités fantastiques_ (1854). He died at Versailles in April 1871. His
_OEuvres complètes_ were published in 1872-1874 (6 vols.).

His brother, Antoine François Marie, known as ANTONY DESCHAMPS, was born
in Paris on the 12th of March 1800 and died at Passy on the 29th of
October 1869. Like his brother, he was an ardent romanticist, but his
production was limited by a nervous disorder, which has left its mark on
his melancholy work. He translated the _Divina Commedia_ in 1829, and
his poems, _Dernières Paroles_ and _Résignation_, were republished with
his brother's in 1841.




DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE, called MOREL (1346?-1406?), French poet, was born
at Vertus in Champagne about 1346. He studied at Reims, where he is said
to have received some lessons in the art of versification from Guillaume
de Machaut, who is stated to have been his uncle. From Reims he
proceeded about 1360 to the university of Orleans to study law and the
seven liberal arts. He entered the king's service as royal messenger
about 1367, and was sent on missions to Bohemia, Hungary and Moravia. In
1372 he was made _huissier d'armes_ to Charles V. He received many other
important offices, was _bailli_ of Valois, and afterwards of Senlis,
squire to the Dauphin, and governor of Fismes. In 1380 his patron,
Charles V., died, and in the same year the English burnt down his house
at Vertus. In his childhood he had been an eye-witness of the English
invasion of 1358; he had been present at the siege of Reims and seen the
march on Chartres; he had witnessed the signing of the treaty of
Bretigny; he was now himself a victim of the English fury. His violent
hatred of the English found vent in numerous appeals to carry the war
into England, and in the famous prophecy[1] that England would be
destroyed so thoroughly that no one should be able to point to her
ruins. His own misfortunes and the miseries of France embittered his
temper. He complained continually of poverty, railed against women and
lamented the woes of his country. His last years were spent on his
_Miroir de mariage_, a satire of 13,000 lines against women, which
contains some real comedy. The mother-in-law of French farce has her
prototype in the _Miroir_.

The historical and patriotic poems of Deschamps are of much greater
value. He does not, like Froissart, cast a glamour over the miserable
wars of the time but gives a faithful picture of the anarchy of France,
and inveighs ceaselessly against the heavy taxes, the vices of the
clergy and especially against those who enrich themselves at the expense
of the people. The terrible ballad with the refrain "_Sà, de l'argent;
sà, de l'argent_" is typical of his work. Deschamps excelled in the use
of the ballade and the chant royal. In each of these forms he was the
greatest master of his time. In ballade form he expressed his regret for
the death of Du Guesclin, who seems to have been the only man except his
patron, Charles V., for whom he ever felt any admiration. One of his
ballades (No. 285) was sent with a copy of his works to Geoffrey
Chaucer, whom he addresses with the words:--

  "Tu es d'amours mondains dieux en Albie
   Et de la Rose en la terre Angélique."

Deschamps was the author of an _Art poétique_, with the title of _L'Art
de dictier et de fere chancons, balades, virelais et rondeaulx_. Besides
giving rules for the composition of the kinds of verse mentioned in the
title he enunciates some curious theories on poetry. He divides music
into music proper and poetry. Music proper he calls artificial on the
ground that everyone could by dint of study become a musician; poetry he
calls natural because he says it is not an art that can be acquired but
a gift. He lays immense stress on the harmony of verse, because, as was
the fashion of his day, he practically took it for granted that all
poetry was to be sung.

The work of Deschamps marks an important stage in the history of French
poetry. With him and his contemporaries the long, formless narrations of
the _trouvères_ give place to complicated and exacting kinds of verse.
He was perhaps by nature a moralist and satirist rather than a poet, and
the force and truth of his historical pictures gives him a unique place
in 14th-century poetry. M. Raynaud fixes the date of his death in 1406,
or at latest, 1407. Two years earlier he had been relieved of his charge
as _bailli_ of Senlis, his plain-spoken satires having made him many
enemies at court.

   His _OEuvres complètes_ were edited (10 vols., 1878-1901) for the
   _Société des anciens textes français_ by Queux de Saint-Hilaire and
   Gaston Raynaud. A supplementary volume consists of an Introduction by
   G. Raynaud. See also Dr E. Hoeppner, _Eustache Deschamps_
   (Strassburg, 1904).


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] "_De la prophécie Merlin sur la destruction d'Angleterre qui doit
    brief advenir_" (_OEuvres_, No. 211).




DESCHANEL, PAUL EUGÈNE LOUIS (1856-    ), French statesman, son of Émile
Deschanel (1819-1904), professor at the Collège de France and senator,
was born at Brussels, where his father was living in exile (1851-1859),
owing to his opposition to Napoleon III. Paul Deschanel studied law, and
began his career as secretary to Deshayes de Marcère (1876), and to
Jules Simon (1876-1877). In October 1885 he was elected deputy for Eure
and Loire. From the first he took an important place in the chamber, as
one of the most notable orators of the Progressist Republican group. In
January 1896 he was elected vice-president of the chamber, and
henceforth devoted himself to the struggle against the Left, not only in
parliament, but also in public meetings throughout France. His addresses
at Marseilles on the 26th of October 1896, at Carmaux on the 27th of
December 1896, and at Roubaix on the 10th of April 1897, were triumphs
of clear and eloquent exposition of the political and social aims of the
Progressist party. In June 1898 he was elected president of the chamber,
and was re-elected in 1901, but rejected in 1902. Nevertheless he came
forward brilliantly in 1904 and 1905 as a supporter of the law on the
separation of church and state. He was elected a member of the French
Academy in 1899, his most notable works being _Orateurs et hommes
d'état_ (1888), _Figures de femmes_ (1889), _La Décentralization_
(1895), _La Question sociale_ (1898).




DES CLOIZEAUX, ALFRED LOUIS OLIVIER LEGRAND (1817-1897), French
mineralogist, was born at Beauvais, in the department of Oise, on the
17th of October 1817. He became professor of mineralogy at the École
Normale Supérieure and afterwards at the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle in
Paris. He studied the geysers of Iceland, and wrote also on the
classification of some of the eruptive rocks; but his main work
consisted in the systematic examination of the crystals of numerous
minerals, in researches on their optical properties and on the subject
of polarization. He wrote specially on the means of determining the
different felspars. He was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological
Society of London in 1886. He died in May 1897. His best-known books are
_Leçons de cristallographie_ (1861); _Manuel de minéralogie_ (2 vols.,
Paris, 1862, 1874 and 1893).




DESCLOIZITE, a rare mineral species consisting of basic lead and zinc
vanadate, (Pb, Zn)_2(OH)V0_4, crystallizing in the orthorhombic
system and isomorphous with olivenite. It was discovered by A. Damour in
1854, and named by him in honour of the French mineralogist Des
Cloizeaux. It occurs as small prismatic or pyramidal crystals, usually
forming drusy crusts and stalactitic aggregates; also as fibrous
encrusting masses with a mammillary surface. The colour is deep
cherry-red to brown or black, and the crystals are transparent or
translucent with a greasy lustre; the streak is orange-yellow to brown;
specific gravity 5.9 to 6.2; hardness 3½. A variety known as
cuprodescloizite is dull green in colour; it contains a considerable
amount of copper replacing zinc and some arsenic replacing vanadium.
Descloizite occurs in veins of lead ores in association with
pyromorphite, vanadinite, wulfenite, &c. Localities are the Sierra de
Cordoba in Argentina, Lake Valley in Sierra county, New Mexico, Arizona,
Phoenixville in Pennsylvania, and Kappel (Eisen-Kappel) near Klagenfurt
in Carinthia.

Other names which have been applied to this species are vanadite,
tritochorite and ramirite; the uncertain vanadates eusynchite, araeoxene
and dechenite are possibly identical with it.




DESCRIPTIVE POETRY, the name given to a class of literature, which may
be defined as belonging mainly to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in
Europe. From the earliest times, all poetry which was not subjectively
lyrical was apt to indulge in ornament which might be named descriptive.
But the critics of the 17th century formed a distinction between the
representations of the ancients and those of the moderns. We find
Boileau emphasizing the statement that, while Virgil _paints_, Tasso
_describes_. This may be a useful indication for us in defining not what
should, but what in practice has been called "descriptive poetry." It is
poetry in which it is not imaginative passion which prevails, but a
didactic purpose, or even something of the instinct of a sublimated
auctioneer. In other words, the landscape, or architecture, or still
life, or whatever may be the object of the poet's attention, is not used
as an accessory, but is itself the centre of interest. It is, in this
sense, not correct to call poetry in which description is only the
occasional ornament of a poem, and not its central subject, descriptive
poetry. The landscape or still life must fill the canvas, or, if human
interest is introduced, that must be treated as an accessory. Thus, in
the _Hero and Leander_ of Marlowe and in the _Alastor_ of Shelley,
description of a very brilliant kind is largely introduced, yet these
are not examples of what is technically called "descriptive poetry,"
because it is not the strait between Sestos and Abydos, and it is not
the flora of a tropical glen, which concentrates the attention of the
one poet or of the other, but it is an example of physical passion in
the one case and of intellectual passion in the other, which is
diagnosed and dilated on. On the other hand Thomson's _Seasons_, in
which landscape takes the central place, and Drayton's _Polyolbion_,
where everything is sacrificed to a topographical progress through
Britain, are strictly descriptive.

It will be obvious from this definition that the danger ahead of all
purely descriptive poetry is that it will lack intensity, that it will
be frigid, if not dead. Description for description's sake, especially
in studied verse, is rarely a vitalized form of literature. It is
threatened, from its very conception, with languor and coldness; it must
exercise an extreme art or be condemned to immediate sterility. Boileau,
with his customary intelligence, was the first to see this, and he
thought that the danger might be avoided by care in technical execution.
His advice to the poets of his time was:--

  "Soyez riches et pompeux dans vos descriptions;
   C'est-là qu'il faut des vers étaler l'élégance,"

and:--

  "De figure sans nombre égayez votre ouvrage;
   Que toute y fasse aux yeux une riante image,"

and in verses of brilliant humour he mocked the writer who, too full of
his subject, and describing for description's sake, will never quit his
theme until he has exhausted it:--

  "Fuyez de ces auteurs l'abondance stérile
   Et ne vous chargez point d'un détail inutile."

This is excellent advice, but Boileau's humorous sallies do not quite
meet the question whether such purely descriptive poetry as he
criticizes is legitimate at all.

In England had appeared the famous translation (1592-1611), by Josuah
Sylvester, of the _Divine Weeks and Works_ of Du Bartas, containing such
lines as those which the juvenile Dryden admired so much:--

  "But when winter's keener breath began
   To crystallize the Baltic ocëan,
   To glaze the lakes, and bridle up the floods,
   And perriwig with wool the bald-pate woods."

There was also the curious physiological epic of Phineas Fletcher, _The
Purple Island_ (1633). But on the whole it was not until French
influences had made themselves felt on English poetry, that
description, as Boileau conceived it, was cultivated as a distinct art.
The _Cooper's Hill_ (1642) of Sir John Denham may be contrasted with the
less ambitious _Penshurst_ of Ben Jonson, and the one represents the new
no less completely than the other does the old generation. If, however,
we examine _Cooper's Hill_ carefully, we perceive that its aim is after
all rather philosophical than topographical. The Thames is described
indeed, but not very minutely, and the poet is mainly absorbed in moral
reflections. Marvell's long poem on the beauties of Nunappleton comes
nearer to the type. But it is hardly until we reach the 18th century
that we arrive, in English literature, at what is properly known as
descriptive poetry. This was the age in which poets, often of no mean
capacity, began to take such definite themes as a small country estate
(Pomfret's _Choice_, 1700), the cultivation of the grape (Gay's _Wine_,
1708), a landscape (Pope's _Windsor Forest_, 1713), a military
manoeuvre (Addison's _Campaign_, 1704), the industry of an
apple-orchard (Philip's _Cyder_, 1708) or a piece of topography
(Tickell's _Kensington Gardens_, 1722), as the sole subject of a lengthy
poem, generally written in heroic or blank verse. These _tours de force_
were supported by minute efforts in miniature-painting, by touch applied
to touch, and were often monuments of industry, but they were apt to
lack personal interest, and to suffer from a general and deplorable
frigidity. They were infected with the faults which accompany an
artificial style; they were monotonous, rhetorical and symmetrical,
while the uniformity of treatment which was inevitable to their plan
rendered them hopelessly tedious, if they were prolonged to any great
extent.

This species of writing had been cultivated to a considerable degree
through the preceding century, in Italy and (as the remarks of Boileau
testify) in France, but it was in England that it reached its highest
importance. The classic of descriptive poetry, in fact, the specimen
which the literature of the world presents which must be considered as
the most important and the most successful, is _The Seasons_ (1726-1730)
of James Thomson (q.v.). In Thomson, for the first time, a poet of
considerable eminence appeared, to whom external nature was all
sufficient, and who succeeded in conducting a long poem to its close by
a single appeal to landscape, and to the emotions which it directly
evokes. Coleridge, somewhat severely, described _The Seasons_ as the
work of a good rather than of a great poet, and it is an indisputable
fact that, at its very best, descriptive poetry fails to awaken the
highest powers of the imagination. A great part of Thomson's poem is
nothing more nor less than a skilfully varied catalogue of natural
phenomena. The famous description of twilight in "the fading
many-coloured woods" of autumn may be taken as an example of the highest
art to which purely descriptive poetry has ever attained. It is obvious,
even here, that the effect of these rich and sonorous lines, in spite of
the splendid effort of the artist, is monotonous, and leads us up to no
final crisis of passion or rapture. Yet Thomson succeeds, as few other
poets of his class have succeeded, in producing nobly-massed effects and
comprehensive beauties such as were utterly unknown to his predecessors.
He was widely imitated in England, especially by Armstrong, by Akenside,
by Shenstone (in _The Schoolmistress_, 1742), by the anonymous author of
_Albania_, 1737, and by Goldsmith (in _The Deserted Village_, 1770). No
better example of the more pedestrian class of descriptive poetry could
be found than the last-mentioned poem, with its minute and Dutch-like
painting:--

  "How often have I paused on every charm:
   The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm;
   The never-failing brook, the busy mill,
   The decent church that topped the neighbouring hill:
   The hawthorn-bush, with seats beneath the shade.
   For talking age and whispering lovers made."

On the continent of Europe the example of Thomson was almost immediately
fruitful. Four several translations of _The Seasons_ into French
contended for the suffrages of the public, and J. F. de Saint-Lambert
(1716-1803) imitated Thomson in _Les Saisons_ (1769), a poem which
enjoyed popularity for half a century, and of which Voltaire said that
it was the only one of its generation which would reach posterity.
Nevertheless, as Madame du Deffand told Walpole, Saint-Lambert is
"_froid, fade et faux,_" and the same may be said of J. A. Roucher
(1745-1794), who wrote _Les Mois_ in 1779, a descriptive poem famous in
its day. The Abbé Jacques Delille (1738-1813), perhaps the most
ambitious descriptive poet who has ever lived, was treated as a Virgil
by his contemporaries; he published _Les Géorgiques_ in 1769, _Les
Jardins_ in 1782, and _L'Homme des champs_ in 1803, but he went furthest
in his brilliant, though artificial, _Trois règnes de la nature_ (1809),
which French critics have called the masterpiece of this whole school of
descriptive poetry. Delille, however, like Thomson before him, was
unable to avoid monotony and want of coherency. Picture follows picture,
and no progress is made. The satire of Marie Joseph Chénier, in his
famous and witty _Discours sur les poèmes descriptifs_, brought the
vogue of this species of poetry to an end.

In England, again, Wordsworth, who treated the genius of Thomson with
unmerited severity, revived descriptive poetry in a form which owed more
than Wordsworth realized to the model of _The Seasons_. In _The
Excursion_ and _The Prelude_, as well as in many of his minor pieces,
Wordsworth's philosophical and moral intentions cannot prevent us from
perceiving the large part which pure description takes; and the same may
be said of much of the early blank verse of S. T. Coleridge. Since their
day, however, purely descriptive poetry has gone more and more
completely out of fashion, and its place has been taken by the richer
and directer effects of such prose as that of Ruskin in English, or of
Fromentin and Pierre Loti in French. It is almost impossible in
descriptive verse to obtain those vivid and impassioned appeals to the
imagination which are of the very essence of genuine poetry, and it is
unlikely that descriptive poetry, as such, will again take a prominent
place in living literature.                                   (E. G.)




DESERT, a term somewhat loosely employed to describe those parts of the
land surface of the earth which do not produce sufficient vegetation to
support a human population. Few areas of large extent in any part of the
world are absolutely devoid of vegetation, and the transition from
typical desert conditions is often very gradual and ill-defined.
("Desert" comes from Lat. _deserere_, to abandon; distinguish "desert,"
merit, and "dessert," fruit eaten after dinner, from _de_ and _servier_,
to serve.)

Deserts are conveniently divided into two classes according to the
causes which give rise to the desert conditions. In "cold deserts" the
want of vegetation is wholly due to the prevailing low temperature,
while in "hot deserts" the surface is unproductive because, on account
of high temperature and deficient rainfall, evaporation is largely in
excess of precipitation. Cold deserts accordingly occur in high
latitudes (see TUNDRA and POLAR REGIONS). Hot desert conditions are
primarily found along the tropical belts of high atmospheric pressure in
which the conditions of warmth and dryness are most fully realized, and
on their equatorial sides, but the zonal arrangement is considerably
modified in some regions by the monsoonal influence of elevated land.
Thus we have in the northern hemisphere the Sahara desert, the deserts
of Arabia, Iran, Turan, Takla Makan and Gobi, and the desert regions of
the Great Basin in North America; and in the southern hemisphere the
Kalahari desert in Africa, the desert of Australia, and the desert of
Atacama in South America. Where the line of elevated land runs east and
west, as in Asia, the desert belt tends to be displaced into higher
latitudes, and where the line runs north and south, as in Africa,
America and Australia, the desert zone is cut through on the windward
side of the elevation and the arid conditions intensified on the lee
side. Desert conditions also arise from local causes, as in the case of
the Indian desert situated in a region inaccessible to either of the two
main branches of the south-west monsoon.

Although rivers rising in more favoured regions may traverse deserts on
their way to the sea, as in the case of the Nile and the Colorado, the
fundamental physical condition of an arid area is that it contributes
nothing to the waters of the ocean. The rainfall chiefly occurs in
violent cloud-bursts, and the soluble matter in the soil is carried down
by intermittent streams to salt lakes around which deposits are formed
as evaporation takes place. The land forms of a desert are exceedingly
characteristic. Surface erosion is chiefly due to rapid changes of
temperature through a wide range, and to the action of wind transferring
sand and dust, often in the form of "dunes" resembling the waves of the
sea. Dry valleys, narrow and of great depth, with precipitous sides, and
ending in "cirques," are probably formed by the intense action of the
occasional cloud-bursts.

When water can be obtained and distributed over an arid region by
irrigation, the surface as a rule becomes extremely productive. Natural
springs give rise to oases at intervals and make the crossing of large
deserts possible. Where a river crosses a desert at a level near that of
the general surface, irrigation can be carried on with extremely
profitable results, as has been done in the valley of the Nile and in
parts of the Great Basin of North America; in cases, however, where the
river has cut deeply and flows far below the general surface, irrigation
is too expensive. Much has been done in parts of Australia by means of
artesian wells.

   For a general account of deserts see Professor Johannes Walther, _Das
   Gesetz der Wüstenbildung_ (Berlin, 1900), in which many references to
   other original authorities will be found.                 (H. N. D.)




DESERTION, the act of forsaking or abandoning; more particularly, the
wilful abandonment of an employment or of duty, in violation of a legal
or moral obligation.

The offence of naval or military desertion is constituted when a man
absents himself with the intention either of not returning or of
escaping some important service, such as embarkation for foreign
service, or service in aid of the civil power. In the United Kingdom
desertion has always been recognized by the civil law, and until 1827 (7
& 8 Geo. IV. c. 28) was a felony punishable by death. It was
subsequently dealt with by the various Mutiny Acts, which were replaced
by the Army Act 1881, renewed annually by the Army (Annual) Act. By § 12
of the act every person subject to military law who deserts or attempts
to desert, or who persuades or procures any person to desert, shall, on
conviction by court martial, if he committed the offence when on active
service or under orders for active service, be liable to suffer death,
or such less punishment as is mentioned in the act. When the offence is
committed under any other circumstances, the punishment for the first
offence is imprisonment, and for the second or any subsequent offence
penal servitude or such less punishment as is mentioned in the act. § 44
contains a scale of punishments, and §§ 175-184 an enumeration of
persons subject to military law. By § 153 any person who persuades a
soldier to desert or aids or assists him or conceals him is liable, on
conviction, to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for not more
than six months. § 154 makes provision for the apprehension of
deserters. § 161 lays down that where a soldier has served continuously
in an exemplary manner for not less than three years in any corps of
regular forces he is not to be tried or punished for desertion which has
occurred before the commencement of the three years. Desertion from the
regular forces can only be tried by a military court, but in the case of
the militia and reserve forces desertion can be tried by a civil court.
The Army Act of 1881 made a welcome distinction between actual
desertion, as defined at the commencement of this article, and the
quitting one regiment in order to enlist in another. This offence is now
separately dealt with as fraudulent enlistment; formerly, it was termed
"desertion and fraudulent enlistment," and the statistics of desertion
proper were consequently and erroneously magnified. The gross total of
desertions in the British Army in an average year (1903-1904) was nearly
4000, or 1.4% of the average strength of the army, but owing to men
rejoining from desertion, fraudulent enlistment, &c., the net loss was
no more than 1286, i.e. less than .5%. The army of the United States
suffers very severely from desertion, and very few deserters rejoin or
are recaptured (see _Journal of the Roy. United Service Inst._, December
1905, p. 1469). In the year 1900-1901, 3110 men deserted (4.3% of
average strength); in 1901-1902, 4667 (or 5.9%); in 1904-1905, 6553 (or
6.8%); and in 1905-1906, 6258 out of less than 60,000 men, or 7.4%.

In all armies desertion while on active service is punishable by death;
on the continent of Europe, owing to the system of compulsory service,
desertion is infrequent, and takes place usually when the deserter
wishes to leave his country altogether. It was formerly the practice in
the English army to punish a man convicted of desertion by tattooing on
him the letter "D" to prevent his re-enlistment, but this has been long
abandoned in deference to public opinion, which erroneously adopted the
idea that the "marking" was effected by red-hot irons or in some other
manner involving torture. The Navy Discipline Act 1866, and the Naval
Deserters Act 1847, contain similar provisions to the Army Act of 1881
for dealing with desertions from the navy. In the United States navy the
term "straggling" is applied to absence without leave, where the
probability is that the person does not intend to desert. The United
States government offers a monetary reward of between $20 and $30 for
the arrest and delivery of deserters from the army and navy.

In the British merchant service the offence of desertion is defined as
the abandonment of duty by quitting the ship before the termination of
the engagement, without justification, and with the intention of not
returning.

Desertion is also the term applied to the act by which a man abandons
his wife and children, or either of them. Desertion of a wife is a
matrimonial offence; under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, a decree of
judicial separation may be obtained in England by either husband or wife
on the ground of desertion, without cause, for two years and upwards
(see also DIVORCE).

For the desertion of children see CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO; INFANT.
                                                             (T. A. I.)




DES ESSARTS, EMMANUEL ADOLPHE (1839- ), French poet and man of letters,
was born at Paris on the 5th of February 1839. His father, Alfred
Stanislas Langlois des Essarts (d. 1893), was a poet and novelist of
considerable reputation. The son was educated at the École Normale
Supérieure, and became a teacher of rhetoric and finally professor of
literature at Dijon and at Clermont. His works are: _Poésies
parisiennes_ (1862), a volume of light verse on trifling subjects; _Les
Élévations_ (1864), philosophical poems; _Origines de la poésie lyrique
en France au XVI^e siècle_ (1873); _Du génie de Chateaubriand_ (1876);
_Poèmes de la Révolution_ (1879); _Pallas Athéné_ (1887); _Portraits de
maîtres_ (1888), &c.




DESFONTAINES, RENÉ LOUICHE (1750-1833), French botanist, was born at
Tremblay (Île-et-Vilaine) on the 14th of February 1750. After graduating
in medicine at Paris, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences
in 1783. In the same year he set out for North Africa, on a scientific
exploring expedition, and on his return two years afterwards brought
with him a large collection of plants, animals, &c., comprising, it is
said, 1600 species of plants, of which about 300 were described for the
first time. In 1786 he was nominated to the post of professor at the
Jardin des Plantes, vacated in his favour by his friend, L. G.
Lemonnier. His great work, _Flora Atlantica sive historia plantarum quae
in Atlante, agro Tunetano el Algeriensi crescunt_, was published in 2
vols. 4to in 1798, and he produced in 1804 a _Tableau de l'école
botanique du muséum d'histoire naturelle de Paris_, of which a third
edition appeared in 1831, under the new title _Catalogus plantarum horti
regii Parisiensis_. He was also the author of many memoirs on vegetable
anatomy and physiology, descriptions of new genera and species, &c., one
of the most important being a "Memoir on the Organization of the
Monocotyledons." He died at Paris on the 16th of November 1833. His
Barbary collection was bequeathed to the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle,
and his general collection passed into the hands of the English
botanist, Philip Barker Webb.




DESFORGES, PIERRE JEAN BAPTISTE CHOUDARD (1746-1806), French dramatist
and man of letters, natural son of Dr Antoine Petit, was born in Paris
on the 15th of September 1746. He was educated at the Collège Mazarin
and the Collège de Beauvais, and at his father's desire began the study
of medicine. Dr Petit's death left him dependent on his own resources,
and after appearing on the stage of the Comédie Italienne in Paris he
joined a troupe of wandering actors, whom he served in the capacity of
playwright. He married an actress, and the two spent three years in St
Petersburg, where they were well received. In 1782 he produced at the
Comédie Italienne an adaptation of Fielding's novel with the title _Tom
Jones à Londres_. His first great success was achieved with _L'Épreuve
villageoise_ (1785) to the music of Grétry. _La Femme jalouse_, a
five-act comedy in verse (1785), _Joconde_ (1790) for the music of Louis
Jaden, _Les Époux divorcés_ (1799), a comedy, and other pieces followed.
Desforges was one of the first to avail himself of the new facilities
afforded under the Revolution for divorce and re-marriage. The curious
record of his own early indiscretions in _Le Poète, ou mémoires d'un
homme de lettres écrits par lui-même_ (4 vols., 1798) is said to have
been undertaken at the request of Madame Desforges. He died in Paris on
the 13th of August 1806.




DESGARCINS, MAGDELEINE MARIE [LOUISE] (1769-1797), French actress, was
born at Mont Dauphin (Hautes Alpes). In her short career she became one
of the greatest of French tragédiennes, the associate of Talma, with
whom she nearly always played. Her début at the Comédie Française
occurred on the 24th of May 1788, in _Bajazet_, with such success that
she was at once made _sociétaire_. She was one of the actresses who left
the Comédie Française in 1791 for the house in the rue Richelieu, soon
to become the Théâtre de la République, and there her triumphs were no
less--in _King Lear_, _Othello_, La Harpe's _Mélanie et Virginie_, &c.
Her health, however, failed, and she died insane, in Paris, on the 27th
of October 1797.




DESHAYES, GÉRARD PAUL (1795-1875), French geologist and conchologist,
was born at Nancy on the 13th of May 1797, his father at that time being
professor of experimental physics in the École Centrale of the
department of la Meurthe. He studied medicine at Strassburg, and
afterwards took the degree of _bachelier ès lettres_ in Paris in 1821;
but he abandoned the medical profession in order to devote himself to
natural history. For some time he gave private lessons on geology, and
subsequently became professor of natural history in the Muséum
d'Histoire Naturelle. He was distinguished for his researches on the
fossil mollusca of the Paris Basin and of other Tertiary areas. His
studies on the relations of the fossil to the recent species led him as
early as 1829 to conclusions somewhat similar to those arrived at by
Lyell, to whom Deshayes rendered much assistance in connexion with the
classification of the Tertiary system into Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene.
He was one of the founders of the Société Géologique de France. In 1839
he began the publication of his _Traité élémentaire de conchyliologie_,
the last part of which was not issued until 1858. In the same year
(1839) he went to Algeria for the French Government, and spent three
years in explorations in that country. His principal work, which
resulted from the collections he made, _Mollusques de l'Algérie_, was
issued (incomplete) in 1848. In 1870 the Wollaston medal of the
Geological Society of London was awarded to him. He died at Boran on the
9th of June 1875. His publications included _Description des coquilles
fossiles des environs de Paris_ (2 vols. and atlas, 1824-1837);
_Description des animaux sans vertèbres découverts dans le bassin de
Paris_ (3 vols. and atlas, 1856-1866); _Catalogue des mollusques de
l'île la Réunion_ (1863).




DESHOULIÈRES, ANTOINETTE DU LIGIER DE LA GARDE (1638-1694), French poet,
was born in Paris on the 1st of January 1638. She was the daughter of
Melchior du Ligier, sieur de la Garde, _maître d'hôtel_ to the queens
Marie de' Medici and Anne of Austria. She received a careful and very
complete education, acquiring a knowledge of Latin, Spanish and Italian,
and studying prosody under the direction of the poet Jean Hesnault. At
the age of thirteen she married Guillaume de Boisguerin, seigneur
Deshoulières, who followed the prince of Condé as lieutenant-colonel of
one of his regiments to Flanders about a year after the marriage. Madame
Deshoulières returned for a time to the house of her parents, where she
gave herself to writing poetry and studying the philosophy of Gassendi.
She rejoined her husband at Rocroi, near Brussels, where, being
distinguished for her personal beauty, she became the object of
embarrassing attentions on the part of the prince of Condé. Having made
herself obnoxious to the government by her urgent demand for the
arrears of her husband's pay, she was imprisoned in the château of
Wilworden. After a few months she was freed by her husband, who attacked
the château at the head of a small band of soldiers. An amnesty having
been proclaimed, they returned to France, where Madame Deshoulières soon
became a conspicuous personage at the court of Louis XIV. and in
literary society. She won the friendship and admiration of the most
eminent literary men of the age--some of her more zealous flatterers
even going so far as to style her the tenth muse and the French
Calliope. Her poems were very numerous, and included specimens of nearly
all the minor forms, odes, eclogues, idylls, elegies, chansons, ballads,
madrigals, &c. Of these the idylls alone, and only some of them, have
stood the test of time, the others being entirely forgotten. She wrote
several dramatic works, the best of which do not rise to mediocrity. Her
friendship for Corneille made her take sides for the _Phèdre_ of Pradon
against that of Racine. Voltaire pronounced her the best of women French
poets; and her reputation with her contemporaries is indicated by her
election as a member of the Academy of the Ricovrati of Padua and of the
Academy of Arles. In 1688 a pension of 2000 livres was bestowed upon her
by the king, and she was thus relieved from the poverty in which she had
long lived. She died in Paris on the 17th February 1694. Complete
editions of her works were published at Paris in 1695, 1747, &c. These
include a few poems by her daughter, Antoine Thérèse Deshoulières
(1656-1718), who inherited her talent.




DESICCATION (from the Lat. _desiccare_, to dry up), the operation of
drying or removing water from a substance. It is of particular
importance in practical chemistry. If a substance admits of being heated
to say 100°, the drying may be effected by means of an air-bath, which
is simply an oven heated by gas or by steam. Otherwise a _desiccator_
must be employed; this is essentially a closed vessel in which a
hygroscopic substance is placed together with the substance to be dried.
The process may be accelerated by exhausting the desiccator; this
so-called vacuum desiccation is especially suitable for the
concentration of aqueous solutions of readily decomposable substances.
Of the hygroscopic substances in common use, phosphoric anhydride,
concentrated sulphuric acid, and dry potassium hydrate are almost equal
in power; sodium hydrate and calcium chloride are not much behind.

Two common types of desiccator are in use. In one the absorbent is
placed at the bottom, and the substance to be dried above. Hempel
pointed out that the efficiency would be increased by inverting this
arrangement, since water vapour is lighter than air and consequently
rises. Liquids are dried either by means of the desiccator, or, as is
more usual, by shaking with a substance which removes the water. Fused
calcium chloride is the commonest absorbent; but it must not be used
with alcohols and several other compounds, since it forms compounds with
these substances. Quicklime, barium oxide, and dehydrated copper
sulphate are especially applicable to alcohol and ether; the last traces
of water may be removed by adding metallic sodium and distilling. Gases
are dried by leading them through towers or tubes containing an
appropriate drying material. The experiments of H. B. Baker on the
influence of moisture on chemical combination have shown the difficulty
of removing the last traces of water.

In chemical technology, apparatus on the principle of the laboratory
air-bath are mainly used. Crystals and precipitates, deprived of as much
water as possible by centrifugal machines or filter-presses, are
transported by means of a belt, screw, or other form of conveyer, on to
trays staged in brick chambers heated directly by flue gases or steam
pipes; the latter are easily controlled, and if the steam be superheated
a temperature of 300° and over may be maintained. In some cases the
material traverses the chamber from the coolest to the hottest part on a
conveyer or in wagons. Rotating cylinders are also used; the material to
be dried being placed inside, and the cylinder heated by a steam jacket
or otherwise.




DESIDERIO DA SETTIGNANO (1428-1464), Italian sculptor, was born at
Settignano, a village on the southern slope of the hill of Fiesole,
still surrounded by the quarries of sandstone of which the hill is
formed, and inhabited by a race of "stone-cutters." Desiderio was for a
short time a pupil of Donatello, whom, according to Vasari, he assisted
in the work on the pedestal of David, and he seems to have worked also
with Mino da Fiesole, with the delicate and refined style of whose works
those of Desiderio seem to have a closer affinity than with the perhaps
more masculine tone of Donatello. Vasari particularly extols the
sculptor's treatment of the figures of women and children. It does not
appear that Desiderio ever worked elsewhere than at Florence; and it is
there that those who are interested in the Italian sculpture of the
Renaissance must seek his few surviving decorative and monumental works,
though a number of his delicately carved marble busts of women and
children are to be found in the museums and private collections of
Germany and France. The most prominent of his works are the tomb of the
secretary of state, Marsuppini, in Santa Croce, and the great marble
tabernacle of the Annunciation in San Lorenzo, both of which belong to
the latter period of Desiderio's activity; and the cherubs' heads which
form the exterior frieze of the Pazzi Chapel. Vasari mentions a marble
bust by Desiderio of Marietta degli Strozzi, which for many years was
held to be identical with a very beautiful bust bought in 1878 from the
Strozzi family for the Berlin Museum. This bust is now, however,
generally acknowledged to be the work of Francesco Laurana; whilst
Desiderio's bust of Marietta has been recognized in another marble
portrait acquired by the Berlin Museum in 1842. The Berlin Museum also
owns a coloured plaster bust of an Urbino lady by Desiderio, the model
for which is in the possession of the earl of Wemyss. Other important
busts by the master are in the Bargello, Florence, the Louvre in Paris,
the collections of M. Figdor and M. Benda in Vienna, and of M. Dreyfus
in Paris. Like most of Donatello's pupils, Desiderio worked chiefly in
marble, and not a single work in bronze has been traced to his hand.

   See Wilhelm Bode, _Die italienische Plastik_ (Berlin, 1893).




DESIDERIUS, the last king of the Lombards, is chiefly known through his
connexion with Charlemagne. He was duke of Tuscany and became king of
the Lombards after the death of Aistulf in 756. Seeking, like his
predecessors, to extend the Lombard power in Italy, he came into
collision with the papacy, and about 772 the new pope, Adrian I.,
implored the aid of Charlemagne against him. Other causes of quarrel
already existed between the Frankish and the Lombard kings. In 770
Charlemagne had married a daughter of Desiderius; but he soon put this
lady away, and sent her back to her father. Moreover, Gerberga, the
widow of Charlemagne's brother Carloman, had sought the protection of
the Lombard king after her husband's death in 771; and in return for the
slight cast upon his daughter, Desiderius had recognized Gerberga's sons
as the lawful Frankish kings, and had attacked Adrian for refusing to
crown them. Such was the position when Charlemagne led his troops across
the Alps in 773, took the Lombard capital, Ticinum, the modern Pavia, in
June 774, and added the kingdom of Lombardy to his own dominions.
Desiderius was carried to France, where he died, and his son, Adalgis,
spent his life in futile attempts to recover his father's kingdom. The
name of Desiderius appears in the romances of the Carolingian period.

   See S. Abel, _Untergang des Langobardenreichs_ (Göttingen, 1859); and
   _Jahrbücher des fränkischen Reiches unter Karl dem Grossen_ (Leipzig,
   1865); L. M. Hartmann, _Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter_ (Gotha,
   1903); and Paulus Diaconus, _Historia Langobardorum_, edited by L.
   Bethmann and G. Waitz (Hanover, 1878).




DESIGN (Fr. _dessin_, drawing; Lat. _designare_, to mark out), in the
arts, a drawing, more especially when made as a guide for the execution
of work; that side of drawing which deals with arrangement rather than
representation; and generally, by analogy, a deliberate planning,
scheming or purpose. Modern use has tended to associate design with the
word "original" in the sense of new or abnormal. The end of design,
however, is properly utility, fitness and delight. If a discovery, it
should be a discovery of what seems inevitable, an inspiration arising
out of the conditions, and parallel to invention in the sciences. The
faculty of design has best flourished when an almost spontaneous
development was taking place in the arts, and while certain classes of
arts, more or less noble, were generally demanded and the demand
copiously satisfied, as in the production of Greek vases, Byzantine
mosaics, Gothic cathedrals, and Renaissance paintings. Thus where a
"school of design" arises there is much general likeness in the products
but also a general progress. The common experience--"tradition"--is a
part of each artist's stock in trade; and all are carried along in a
stream of continuous exploration. Some of the arts, writing, for
instance, have been little touched by conscious originality in design,
all has been progress, or, at least, change, in response to conditions.
Under such a system, in a time of progress, the proper limitations react
as intensity; when limitations are removed the designer has less and
less upon which to react, and unconditioned liberty gives him nothing at
all to lean on. Design is response to needs, conditions and aspirations.
The Greeks so well understood this that they appear to have consciously
restrained themselves to the development of selected types, not only in
architecture and literature, but in domestic arts, like pottery. Design
with them was less the new than the true.

For the production of a school of design it is necessary that there
should be a considerable body of artists working together, and a large
demand from a sympathetic public. A process of continuous development is
thus brought into being which sustains the individual effort. It is
necessary for the designer to know familiarly the processes, the
materials and the skilful use of the tools involved in the productions
of a given art, and properly only one who practises a craft can design
for it. It is necessary to enter into the traditions of the art, that
is, to know past achievements. It is necessary, further, to be in
relation with nature, the great reservoir of ideas, for it is from it
that fresh thought will flow into all forms of art. These conditions
being granted, the best and most useful meaning we can give to the word
design is exploration, experiment, consideration of possibilities.
Putting too high a value on originality other than this is to restrict
natural growth from vital roots, in which true originality consists. To
take design in architecture as an example, we have rested too much on
definite precedent (a different thing from living tradition) and, on the
other hand, hoped too much from newness. Exploration of the
possibilities in arches, vaults, domes and the like, as a chemist or a
mathematician explores, is little accepted as a method in architecture
at this time, although in antiquity it was by such means that the great
master-works were produced: the Pantheon, Santa Sophia, Durham and
Amiens cathedrals. The same is true of all forms of design. Of course
the genius and inspiration of the individual artist is not here ignored,
but assumed. What we are concerned with is a mode of thought which shall
make it most fruitful.                                      (W. R. L.)




DESIRE, in popular usage, a term for a wishing or longing for something
which one has not got. For its technical use see PSYCHOLOGY. The word is
derived through the French from Lat. _desiderare_, to long or wish for,
to miss. The substantive _desiderium_ has the special meaning of desire
for something one has once possessed but lost, hence regret or grief.
The usual explanation of the word is to connect it with _sidus_, star,
as in _considerare_, to examine the stars with attention, hence, to look
closely at. If this is so, the history of the transition in meaning is
unknown. J. B. Greenough (_Harvard Studies in Classical Philology_, i.
96) has suggested that the word is a military slang term. According to
this theory _desiderare_ meant originally to miss a soldier from the
ranks at roll-call, the root being that seen in _sedere_, to sit,
_sedes_, seat, place, &c.




DESK (from Lat. _discus_, quoit, in med. sense of "table," cf. "dish"
and Ger. _Tisch_, table, from same source), any kind of flat or sloping
table for writing or reading. Its earliest shape was probably that with
which we are familiar in pictures of the monastic _scriptorium_--rather
high and narrow with a sloping slab. The primitive desk had little
accommodation for writing materials, and no storage room for papers;
drawers, cupboards and pigeon-holes were the evolution of periods when
writing grew common, and when letters and other documents requiring
preservation became numerous. It was long the custom to secure papers
in chests or cabinets, whereas the modern desk serves the double purpose
of a writing-table and a storehouse for documents. The first development
from the early stall-like desk consisted of the addition of a drawer;
then the table came to be supported upon legs or columns, which, as in
the many beautiful examples constructed by Boulle and his school, were
often of elaborate grace. Eventually the legs were replaced by a series
of superimposed drawers forming pedestals--hence the familiar pedestal
writing-table.

For a long period there were two distinct contemporary forms of
desk--the table and the bureau or escritoire. The latter shape attained
a popularity so great that, especially in England and America, it was
found even in houses in which there was little occasion for writing. The
English-speaking people of the 18th century were amazingly fond of
pieces of furniture which served a double or triple purpose. The
bureau--the word is the French generic appellation for a desk--derives
its name from the material with which it was originally covered (Fr.
_bure_, woollen cloth). It consists of an upright carcass sloping inward
at the top, and provided with long drawers below. The upper part is
fitted with small drawers and pigeon-holes, and often with secret
places, and the writing space is formed by a hinged slab supported on
runners; when not in use this slab closes up the sloping top. During the
18th century innumerable thousands of these bureaux were made on both
sides of the Atlantic--indeed, if we except tables and chairs, no piece
of old furniture is more common. In the first part of that period they
were usually of oak, but when mahogany was introduced into Europe it
speedily ousted the heavier-looking wood. Its deep rich colour and the
high polish of which it was capable added appreciably to its ornamental
appearance. While the pigeon-holes and small drawers were used for
papers, the long drawers were often employed for purposes other than
literary. In time the bureau-secretaire became a bureau-bookcase, the
glazed shelves, which were often a separate erection, resting upon the
top of the bureau. The cabinetmakers of the second half of the 18th
century, the period of the greatest _floraison_ of this combination,
competed with each other in devising elegant frets for the glass fronts.
Solid and satisfying to the eye, if somewhat severe in form, the
mahogany bureau was usually an exceedingly presentable piece of
furniture. Occasionally it had a _bombé_ front which mitigated its
severity; this was especially the case in the Dutch varieties, which
were in a measure free adaptations of the French Louis Quinze _commode_.
These Dutch bureaux, and the English ones made in imitation of them,
were usually elaborately inlaid with floral designs in coloured woods;
but whereas the Batavian marquetry was often rough and crude, the
English work was usually of considerable excellence. Side by side with
this form of writing apparatus was one variety or another of the
writing-table proper. In so far as it is possible to generalize upon
such a detail it would appear that the bureau was the desk of the yeoman
and what we now call the lower middle class, and that the slighter and
more table-like forms were preferred by those higher in the social
scale. This probably means no more than that while the one class
preserved the old English affection for the solid and heavy furniture
which would last for generations, those who were more free to follow the
fashions and fancies of their time were, as the pecuniarily easy classes
always have been, ready to abandon the old for the new.

Just about the time when the flat table with its drawers in a single
row, or in nests serving as pedestals, was finally assuming its familiar
modern shape, an invention was introduced which was destined eventually,
so far as numbers and convenience go, to supersede all other forms of
desk. This was the cylinder-top writing-table. Nothing is known of the
originator of this device, but it is certain that if not French himself
he worked in France. The historians of French furniture agree in fixing
its introduction about the year 1750, and we know that a desk worked on
this principle was in the possession of the French crown in the year
1760. Even in its early days the cylinder took more than one form. It
sometimes consisted of a solid piece of curved wood, and sometimes of a
tambour frame--that is to say, of a series of narrow jointed strips of
wood mounted on canvas; the revolving shutters of a shop-front are an
adaptation of the idea. For a long period, however, the cylinder was
most often solid, and remained so until the latter part of the 19th
century, when the "American roll-top desk" began to be made in large
numbers. This is indeed the old French form with a tambour cylinder, and
it is now the desk that is most frequently met with all over the world
for commercial purposes. Its popularity is due to its large
accommodation, and to the facility with which the closing of the
cylinder conceals all papers, and automatically locks every drawer. To
France we owe not only the invention of this ubiquitous form, but the
construction of many of the finest and most historic desks that have
survived--the characteristic marquetry writing-tables of the Boulle
period, and the gilded splendours of that of Louis Quinze have never
been surpassed in the history of furniture. Indeed, the "Bureau du roi"
which was made for Louis XV. is the most famous and magnificent piece of
furniture that, so far as we know, was ever constructed. This desk,
which is now one of the treasures of the Louvre, was the work of several
artist-artificers, chief among whom were Oeben and Riesener--Oeben, it
may be added here as a matter of artistic interest, became the
grandfather of Eugene Delacroix. The bureau is signed "Riesener fa. 1769
à l'Arsenal de Paris," but it has been established that, however great
may have been the share of its construction which fell to him, the
conception was that of Oeben. The work was ordered in 1760; it would
thus appear that nine years were consumed in perfecting it, which is not
surprising when we learn from the detailed account of its construction
that the work began with making a perfect miniature model followed by
one of full size. The "bureau du roi" is a large cylinder desk
elaborately inlaid in marquetry of woods, and decorated with a wonderful
and ornate series of mounts consisting of mouldings, plaques, vases and
statuettes of gilt bronze cast and chased. These bronzes are the work of
Duplessis, Winant and Hervieux. The desk, which shows plainly the
transition between the Louis Quinze and Louis Seize styles, is as
remarkable for the boldness of its conception as for the magnificent
finish of its details. Its lines are large, flowing and harmonious, and
although it is no longer exactly as it left the hands of its makers
(Oeben died before it was finished) the alterations that have been made
have hardly interfered with the general effect. For the head of the king
for whom it was made that of Minerva in a helmet was substituted under
his successor. The ciphers of Louis XV. have been removed and replaced
by Sèvres plaques, and even the key which bore the king's initial
crowned with laurels and palm leaves, with his portrait on the one side,
and the fleur de lys on the other, has been interfered with by an
austere republicanism. Yet no tampering with details can spoil the
monumental nobility of this great conception.               (J. P.-B.)




DESLONGCHAMPS, JACQUES AMAND EUDES- (1794-1867), French naturalist and
palaeontologist, was born at Caen in Normandy on the 17th of January
1794. His parents, though poor, contrived to give him a good education,
and he studied medicine in his native town to such good effect that in
1812 he was appointed assistant-surgeon in the navy, and in 1815 surgeon
assistant major to the military hospital of Caen. Soon afterwards he
proceeded to Paris to qualify for the degree of doctor of surgery, and
there the researches and teachings of Cuvier attracted his attention to
subjects of natural history and palaeontology. In 1822 he was elected
surgeon to the board of relief at Caen, and while he never ceased to
devote his energies to the duties of this post, he sought relaxation in
geological studies. Soon he discovered remains of _Teleosaurus_ in one
of the Caen quarries, and he became an ardent palaeontologist. He was
one of the founders of the museum of natural history at Caen, and acted
as honorary curator; he was likewise one of the founders of the
_Sociétié linnéenne de Normandie_ (1823), to the transactions of which
society he communicated papers on _Teleosaurus_, _Poekilopleuron_
(_Megalosaurus_), on Jurassic mollusca and brachiopoda. In 1825 he
became professor of zoology to the faculty of sciences, and in 1847,
dean. He died on the 17th of January 1867.

His son EUGÈNE EUDES-DESLONGCHAMPS (1830-1889), French palaeontologist,
was born in 1830. He succeeded his father about the year 1856 as
professor of zoology at the faculty of sciences at Caen, and in 1861 he
became also professor of geology and dean. After the death of his father
in 1867, he devoted himself to the completion of a memoir on the
Teleosaurs: the joint labours being embodied in his _Prodrome des
Téléosauriens du Calvados_. To the Société Linnéenne de Normandie he
contributed memoirs on Jurassic brachiopods, on the geology of the
department of La Manche (1856), of Calvados (1856-1863), on the _Terrain
callovien_ (1859), on _Nouvelle-Calédonie_ (1864), and _Études sur les
étages jurassiques inférieurs de la Normandie_ (1864). His work _Le Jura
normand_ was issued in 1877-1878 (incomplete). He died at Château
Matthieu, Calvados, on the 21st of December 1889.




DESMAISEAUX, PIERRE (1673-1745); French writer, was born at Saillat,
probably in 1673. His father, a minister of the reformed church, had to
leave France on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and took refuge
in Geneva, where Pierre was educated. Bayle gave him an introduction to
the 3rd Lord Shaftesbury, with whom, in 1699, he came to England, where
he engaged in literary work. He remained in close touch with the
religious refugees in England and Holland, and constantly in
correspondence with the leading continental savants and writers, who
were in the habit of employing him to conduct such business as they
might have in England. In 1720 he was elected a fellow of the Royal
Society. Among his works are _Vie de St Evremond_ (1711), _Vie de
Boileau-Despréaux_ (1712), _Vie de Bayle_ (1730). He also took an active
part in preparing the _Bibliothèque raisonnée des ouvrages de l'Europe_
(1728-1753), and the _Bibliothèque britannique_ (1733-1747), and edited
a selection of St Evremond's writings (1706). Part of Desmaiseaux's
correspondence is preserved in the British Museum, and other letters are
in the royal library at Copenhagen. He died on the 11th of July 1745.




DESMAREST, NICOLAS (1725-1815), French geologist, was born at Soulaines,
in the department of Aube, on the 16th of September 1725. Of humble
parentage, he was educated at the college of the Oratorians of Troyes
and Paris. Taking full advantage of the instruction he received, he was
able to support himself by teaching, and to continue his studies
independently. Buffon's _Theory of the Earth_ interested him, and in
1753 he successfully competed for a prize by writing an essay on the
ancient connexion between England and France. This attracted much
attention, and ultimately led to his being employed in studying and
reporting on manufactures in different countries, and in 1788 to his
appointment as inspector-general of the manufactures of France. He
utilized his journeys, travelling on foot, so as to add to his knowledge
of the earth's structure. In 1763 he made observations in Auvergne,
recognizing that the prismatic basalts were old lava streams, comparing
them with the columns of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and referring
them to the operations of extinct volcanoes. It was not, however, until
1774 that he published an essay on the subject, accompanied by a
geological map, having meanwhile on several occasions revisited the
district. He then pointed out the succession of volcanic outbursts and
the changes the rocks had undergone through weathering and erosion. As
remarked by Sir A. Geikie, the doctrine of the origin of valleys by the
erosive action of the streams which flow through them was first clearly
taught by Desmarest. An enlarged and improved edition of his map of the
volcanic region of Auvergne was published after his death, in 1823, by
his son ANSELME GAËTAN DESMAREST (1784-1838), who was distinguished as a
zoologist, and author of memoirs on recent and fossil crustacea. He died
in Paris on the 20th of September 1815.

   See _The Founders of Geology_, by Sir A. Geikie (1897), pp. 48-78.
                                                           (H. B. Wo.)




DESMARETS (or DESMARETZ), JEAN, SIEUR DE SAINT-SORLIN (1595-1676),
French dramatist and miscellaneous writer, was born in Paris in 1595.
When he was about thirty he was introduced to Richelieu, and became one
of the band of writers who carried out the cardinal's literary ideas.
Desmarets's own inclination was to novel-writing, and the success of his
romance _Ariane_ in 1631 led to his formal admission to the circle that
met at the house of Valentine Conrart and later developed into the
Académie Française. Desmarets was its first chancellor. It was at
Richelieu's request that he began to write for the theatre. In this kind
he produced a comedy long regarded as a masterpiece, _Les Visionnaires_
(1637); a prose-tragedy, _Érigone_ (1638); and _Scipion_ (1639), a
tragedy in verse. His success led to official preferment, and he was
made _conseiller du roi_, _contrôleur-général de l'extraordinaire des
guerres_, and secretary-general of the fleet of the Levant. His long
epic _Clovis_ (1657) is noteworthy because Desmarets rejected the
traditional pagan background, and maintained that Christian imagery
should supplant it. With this standpoint he contributed several works in
defence of the moderns in the famous quarrel between the Ancients and
Moderns. In his later years Desmarets devoted himself chiefly to
producing a quantity of religious poems, of which the best-known is
perhaps his verse translation of the _Office de la Vierge_ (1645). He
was a violent opponent of the Jansenists, against whom he wrote a
_Réponse à l'insolente apologie de Port-Royal ..._ (1666). He died in
Paris on the 28th of October 1676.

   See also H. Rigault, _Histoire de la querelle des anciens et des
   modernes_ (1856), pp. 80-103.




DESMARETS, NICOLAS, SIEUR DE MAILLEBOIS (1648-1721), French statesman,
was born in Paris on the 10th of September 1648. His mother was the
sister of J. B. Colbert, who took him into his offices as a clerk. He
became counsellor to the parlement in 1672, master of requests in 1674
and intendant of finances in 1678. In these last functions he had to
treat with the financiers for the coinage of new silver pieces of four
sous. After Colbert's death he was involved in the legal proceedings
taken against those financiers who had manufactured coins of bad alloy.
The prosecution, conducted by the members of the family of Le Tellier,
rivals of the Colberts, presented no proof against Desmarets.
Nevertheless he was stripped of his offices and exiled to his estates by
the king, on the 23rd of December 1683. In March 1686 he was authorized
to return to Paris, and again entered into relations with the
controllers-general of finance, to whom he furnished for more than ten
years remarkable memoirs on the economic situation in France. As early
as 1687 he showed the necessity for radical reforms in the system of
taxation, insisting on the ruin of the people and the excessive expenses
of the king. By these memoirs he established his claim to a place among
the great economists of the time, Vauban, Boisguilbert and the comte de
Boulainvilliers. When in September 1699 Chamillart was named
controller-general of finances, he took Desmarets for counsellor; and
when he created the two offices of directors of finances, he gave one to
Desmarets (October 22, 1703). Henceforth Desmarets was veritable
minister of finance. Louis XIV. had long conversations with him. Madame
de Maintenon protected him. The economists Vauban and Boisguilbert
exchanged long conversations with him. When Chamillart found his double
functions too heavy, and retaining the ministry of war resigned that of
finance in 1708, Desmarets succeeded him. The situation was exceedingly
grave. The ordinary revenues of the year 1708 amounted to 81,977,007
livres, of which 57,833,233 livres had already been spent by
anticipation, and the expenses to meet were 200,251,447 livres. In 1709
a famine reduced still more the returns from taxes. Yet Desmarets's
reputation renewed the credit of the state, and financiers consented to
advance money they had refused to the king. The emission of paper money,
and a reform in the collection of taxes, enabled him to tide over the
years 1709 and 1710. Then Desmarets decided upon an "extreme and violent
remedy," to use his own expression,--an income tax. His "tenth" was
based on Vauban's plan; but the privileged classes managed to avoid it,
and it proved no better than other expedients. Nevertheless Louis XIV.
managed to meet the most urgent expenses, and the deficit of 1715, about
350,000,000 livres, was much less than it would have been had it not
been for Desmarets's reforms. The honourable peace which Louis was
enabled to conclude at Utrecht with his enemies was certainly due to the
resources which Desmarets procured for him.

After the death of Louis XIV. Desmarets was dismissed by the regent
along with all the other ministers. He withdrew to his estates. To
justify his ministry he addressed to the regent a _Compte rendu_, which
showed clearly the difficulties he had to meet. His enemies even, like
Saint Simon, had to recognize his honesty and his talent. He was
certainly, after Colbert, the greatest finance minister of Louis XIV.

   See Forbonnais, _Recherches et considérations sur les finances de la
   France_ (2 vols., Basel, 1758); Montyon, _Particularités et
   observations sur les ministres des finances de la France_ (Paris,
   1812); De Boislisle, _Correspondance des contrôleurs-généraux des
   finances_ (3 vols., Paris, 1873-1897); and the same author's
   "Desmarets et l'affaire des pièces de quatre sols" in the appendix to
   the seventh volume of his edition of the _Mémoires de Saint-Simon_.
                                                              (E. Es.)




DES MOINES, the capital and the largest city of Iowa, U.S.A., and the
county-seat of Polk county, in the south central part of the state, at
the confluence of the Raccoon with the Des Moines river. Pop. (1890)
50,093; (1900) 62,139, of whom 7946 were foreign-born, including 1907
from Sweden and 1432 from Germany; (1910 census) 86,368. Des Moines is
served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago & North-Western,
the Chicago Great Western, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Wabash, the Minneapolis & St Louis,
and the Des Moines, Iowa Falls & Northern railways; also by several
interurban electric lines. The chief building in Des Moines is the State
Capitol, erected at a cost of about $3,000,000; other important
buildings are the public library (containing, in 1908, 40,415 volumes),
the court house, the post office, the Iowa State Historical building, a
large auditorium and two hospitals. As a manufacturing centre the city
has considerable importance. Among the leading products are those of the
furnaces, foundries and machine shops, flour and grist mills, planing
mills, creameries, bridge and iron works, publishing houses and a
packing house; and brick, tile, pottery, patent medicines, furniture,
caskets, tombstones, carriages, farm machinery, Portland cement, glue,
gloves and hosiery. The value of the factory product in 1905 was
$15,084,958, an increase of 79.7% in five years. The city is in one of
the most productive coal regions of the state, has a large jobbing
trade, and is an important centre for the insurance business. The Iowa
state fair is held here annually. In 1908 this city had a park system of
750 acres. Des Moines is the seat of Des Moines College, a Baptist
institution, co-educational, founded in 1865 (enrolment, 1907-1908,
214); of Drake University (co-educational; founded in 1881 by the
Disciples of Christ; now non-sectarian), with colleges of liberal arts,
law, medicine, dental surgery and of the Bible, a conservatory of music,
and a normal school, in which are departments of oratory and commercial
training, and having in 1907-1908 1764 students, of whom 520 were in the
summer school only; of the Highland Park College, founded in 1890; of
Grand View College (Danish Lutheran), founded in 1895; and of the
Capital City commercial college (founded 1884). A new city charter,
embodying what has become known as the "Des Moines Plan" of municipal
government, was adopted in 1907. It centralizes power in a council of
five (mayor and four councilmen), nominated at a non-partisan primary
and voted for on a non-partisan ticket by the electors of the entire
city, ward divisions having been abolished. Elections are biennial.
Other city officers are chosen by the council, and city employees are
selected by a civil service commission of three members, appointed by
the council. The mayor is superintendent of the department of public
affairs, and each of the other administrative departments (accounts and
finances, public safety, streets and public improvements, and parks and
public property) is under the charge of one of the councilmen. After
petition signed by a number of voters not less than 25% of the number
voting at the preceding municipal election, any member of the council
may be removed by popular vote, to which all public franchises must be
submitted, and by which the council may be compelled to pass any law or
ordinance.

A fort called Fort Des Moines was established on the site of the city in
1843 to protect the rights of the Sacs and Foxes. In 1843 the site was
opened to settlement by the whites; in 1851 Des Moines was incorporated
as a town; in 1857 it was first chartered as a city, and, for the
purpose of a more central location, the seat of government was removed
hither from Iowa City. A fort was re-established here by act of Congress
in 1900 and named Fort Des Moines. It is occupied by a full regiment of
cavalry. The name of the city was taken from that of the river, which in
turn is supposed to represent a corruption by the French of the original
Indian name, _Moingona_,--the French at first using the abbreviation
"moin," and calling the river "_la rivière des moins_" and then, the
name having become associated with the Trappist monks, changing it into
"_la rivière des moines_."




DESMOND, GERALD FITZGERALD, 15TH EARL OF (d. 1583), Irish leader, was
son of James, 14th earl, by his second wife More O'Carroll. His father
had agreed in January 1541, as one of the terms of his submission to
Henry VIII., to send young Gerald to be educated in England. At the
accession of Edward VI. proposals to this effect were renewed; Gerald
was to be the companion of the young king. Unfortunately for the
subsequent peace of Munster these projects were not carried out. The
Desmond estates were held by a doubtful title, and claims on them were
made by the Butlers, the hereditary enemies of the Geraldines, the 9th
earl of Ormonde having married Lady Joan Fitzgerald, daughter and
heiress-general of the 11th earl of Desmond. On Ormonde's death she
proposed to marry Gerald Fitzgerald, and eventually did so, after the
death of her second husband, Sir Francis Bryan. The effect of this
marriage was a temporary cessation of open hostility between the
Desmonds and her son, Thomas Butler, 10th earl of Ormonde.

Gerald succeeded to the earldom in 1558; he was knighted by the lord
deputy Sussex, and did homage at Waterford. He soon established close
relations with his namesake Gerald Fitzgerald, 11th earl of Kildare
(1525-1585), and with Shane O'Neill. In spite of an award made by Sussex
in August 1560 regulating the matters in dispute between Ormonde and the
Fitzgeralds, the Geraldine outlaws were still plundering their
neighbours. Desmond neglected a summons to appear at Elizabeth's court
for some time on the plea that he was at war with his uncle Maurice.
When he did appear in London in May 1562 his insolent conduct before the
privy council resulted in a short imprisonment in the Tower. He was
detained in England until 1564, and soon after his return his wife's
death set him free from such restraint as was provided by her Butler
connexion. He now raided Thomond, and in Waterford he sought to enforce
his feudal rights on Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Decies, who invoked the
help of Ormonde. The two nobles thereupon resorted to open war, fighting
a battle at Affane on the Blackwater, where Desmond was defeated and
taken prisoner. Ormonde and Desmond were bound over in London to keep
the peace, being allowed to return early in 1566 to Ireland, where a
royal commission was appointed to settle the matters in dispute between
them. Desmond and his brother Sir John of Desmond were sent over to
England, where they surrendered their lands to the queen after a short
experience of the Tower. In the meanwhile Desmond's cousin, James
Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, caused himself to be acclaimed captain of
Desmond in defiance of Sidney, and in the evident expectation of
usurping the earldom. He sought to give the movement an ultra-Catholic
character, with the idea of gaining foreign assistance, and allied
himself with John Burke, son of the earl of Clanricarde, with Connor
O'Brien, earl of Thomond, and even secured Ormonde's brother, Sir Edmund
Butler, whom Sidney had offended. Piers and Edward Butler also joined
the rebellion, but the appearance of Sidney and Ormonde in the
south-west was rapidly followed by the submission of the Butlers. Most
of the Geraldines were subjugated by Humphrey Gilbert, but Fitzmaurice
remained in arms, and in 1571 Sir John Perrot undertook to reduce him.
Perrot hunted him down, and at last on the 23rd of February 1573 he made
formal submission at Kilmallock, lying prostrate on the floor of the
church by way of proving his sincerity.

Against the advice of the queen's Irish counsellors Desmond was allowed
to return to Ireland in 1573, the earl promising not to exercise
palatinate jurisdiction in Kerry until his rights to it were proved. He
was detained for six months in Dublin, but in November slipped through
the hands of the government, and within a very short time had reduced
to a state of anarchy the province which Perrot thought to have pacified
by his severities. Edward Fitzgerald, brother of the earl of Kildare,
and lieutenant of the queen's pensioners in London, was sent to
remonstrate with Desmond, but accomplished nothing. Desmond asserted
that none but Brehon law should be observed between Geraldines; and
Fitzmaurice seized Captain George Bourchier, one of Elizabeth's officers
in the west. Essex met the earl near Waterford in July, and Bourchier
was surrendered, but Desmond refused the other demands made in the
queen's name. A document offering £500 for his head, and £1000 to any
one who would take him alive, was drawn up but was vetoed by two members
of the council. On the 18th of July 1574 the Geraldine chiefs signed the
"Combination" promising to support the earl unconditionally; shortly
afterwards Ormonde and the lord deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliam, marched
on Munster, and put Desmond's garrison at Derrinlaur Castle to the
sword. Desmond submitted at Cork on the 2nd of September, handing over
his estates to trustees. Sir Henry Sidney visited Munster in 1575, and
affairs seemed to promise an early restoration of order. But Fitzmaurice
had fled to Brittany in company with other leading Geraldines, John
Fitzgerald, seneschal of Imokilly, who had held Ballymartyr against
Sidney in 1567, and Edmund Fitzgibbon, the son of the White Knight who
had been attainted in 1571. He intrigued at the French and Spanish
courts for a foreign invasion of Ireland, and at Rome met the adventurer
Stucley, with whom he projected an expedition which was to make a nephew
of Gregory XIII. king of Ireland. In 1579 he landed in Smerwick Bay,
where he was joined later by some Spanish soldiers at the Fort del Ore.
His ships were captured on the 29th of July and he himself was slain in
a skirmish while on his way to Tipperary. Nicholas Sanders, the papal
legate who had accompanied Fitzmaurice, worked on Desmond's weakness,
and sought to draw him into open rebellion. Desmond had perhaps been
restrained before by jealousy of Fitzmaurice; his indecisions ceased
when on the 1st of November Sir William Pelham proclaimed him a traitor.
The sack of Youghal and Kinsale by the Geraldines was speedily followed
by the successes of Ormonde and Pelham acting in concert with Admiral
Winter. In June 1581 Desmond had to take to the woods, but he maintained
a considerable following for some time, which, however, in June 1583,
when Ormonde set a price on his head, was reduced to four persons. Five
months later, on the 11th of November, he was seized and murdered by a
small party of soldiers. His brother Sir John of Desmond had been caught
and killed in December 1581, and the seneschal of Imokilly had
surrendered on the 14th of June 1583. After his submission the seneschal
acted loyally, but his lands excited envy; he was arrested in 1587, and
died in Dublin Castle two days later.

By his second marriage with Eleanor Butler, the 15th earl left two sons,
the elder of whom, James, 16th earl (1570-1601), spent most of his life
in prison. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1600-1601 to recover his
inheritance he returned to England, where he died, the title becoming
extinct.

   See G. E. C(okayne,) _Complete Peerage_; R. Bagwell, _Ireland under
   the Tudors_ (1885-1890); _Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters_ (ed.
   J. O'Donovan, 1851); and the article FITZGERALD.




DESMOND (_Des-Mumha_), an ancient territorial division of Ireland,
covering the eastern part of the modern Co. Kerry and the western part
of Co. Cork. Its creation as a kingdom is placed in the year 248, when
Oliol Olum, king of Munster, divided his territory between his two sons,
giving Desmond to Eoghan, and Thomond or North Munster to Cormac. In
1329 Maurice Fitzthomas or Fitzgerald (d. 1356), lord of Decies and
Desmond, was created 1st earl of Desmond by Edward III.; like other
earls created about that time he ruled his territory as a palatinate,
and his family acquired enormous powers and a large measure of
independence. Meanwhile native kings continued to reign in a restricted
territory until 1596. In 1583 came the attainder of Gerald Fitzgerald,
15th earl of Desmond (q.v.), and in 1586 an act of parliament declared
the forfeiture of the Desmond estates to the crown. In 1571 a commission
provided for the formation of Desmond into a county, and it was
regarded as such for a few years, but by the beginning of the 17th
century it was joined to Co. Kerry.

In 1619 the title of earl of Desmond was conferred on Richard Preston,
Lord Dingwall, at whose death in 1628 it again became extinct. It was
then bestowed on George Feilding, second son of William, earl of
Denbigh, who had held the reversion of the earldom from 1622. His son
William Feilding succeeded as earl of Denbigh in 1675, and thenceforward
the title of Desmond was held in conjunction with that honour.




DESMOSCOLECIDA, a group of minute marine worm-like creatures. The body
tapers towards each end and is marked by a number of well-defined
ridges. These ridges resemble on a small scale those which surround the
body of a _Porocephalus_ (Linguatulida), and like them have no segmental
significance. Their number varies in the different species. The head
bears four setae, and some of the ridges bear a pair either dorsally or
ventrally. The setae are movable. Two pigment spots between the fourth
and fifth ridges are regarded as eyes. The Desmoscolecida move by
looping their bodies like geometrid caterpillars or leeches, as well as
by creeping on their setae. The mouth is terminal, and leads into a
muscular oesophagus which opens into a straight intestine terminating in
an anus, which is said to be dorsal in position. The sexes are distinct.
The testis is single, and its duct opens into the intestine and is
provided with two chitinous spicules. The ovary is also single, opening
independently and anterior to the anus. The nervous system is as yet
unknown.

[Illustration:

   From _Cambridge Natural History_, vol. ii., "Worms," &c., by
   permission of Macmillian & Co. Ltd.

   Female _Desmoscolex elongatus_ Panceri, ventral view. a, Ovary. (From
   Panceri.)]

There are several species. _D. minutus_ Clap. has been met with in the
English Channel. Others are _D. nematoides_ Greef, _D. adelphus_ Greef,
_D. chaetogaster_ Greef, _D. elongatus_ Panceri, _D. lanuginosa_
Panceri. _Trichoderma oxycaudatum_ Greef is 0.3 mm. long, and is also a
"ringed creature with long hair-like bristles." The male has two
spicules, and there is some doubt as to whether it should be placed with
the Desmoscolecida or with the Nematoda. With regard to the systematic
position of the group, it certainly comes nearest--especially in the
structure of its reproductive organs--to the Nematoda. We still,
however, are very ignorant of the internal anatomy of these forms, and
until we know more it is impossible to arrive at a very definite
conclusion as to their position in the animal kingdom.

   See Panceri, _Atti Acc. Napoli._ vii. (1878); Greef, _Arch. Naturg._
   35 (i.) (1869), p. 112.                                  (A. E. S.)




DESMOULINS, LUCIE SIMPLICE CAMILLE BENOIST (1760-1794), French
journalist and politician, who played an important part in the French
Revolution, was born at Guise, in Picardy, on the 2nd of March 1760. His
father was lieutenant-general of the _bailliage_ of Guise, and through
the efforts of a friend obtained a _bourse_ for his son, who at the age
of fourteen left home for Paris, and entered the college of Louis le
Grand. In this school, in which Robespierre was also a bursar and a
distinguished student, Camille Desmoulins laid the solid foundation of
his learning. Destined by his father for the law, at the completion of
his legal studies he was admitted an advocate of the parlement of Paris
in 1785. His professional success was not great; his manner was violent,
his appearance unattractive, and his speech impaired by a painful
stammer. He indulged, however, his love for literature, was closely
observant of public affairs, and thus gradually prepared himself for
the main duties of his life--those of a political _littérateur_.

In March 1789 Desmoulins began his political career. Having been
nominated deputy from the _bailliage_ of Guise, he appeared at Laon as
one of the commissioners for the election of deputies to the
States-General summoned by royal edict of January 24th. Camille heralded
its meeting by his _Ode to the States-General_. It is, moreover, highly
probable that he was the author of a radical pamphlet entitled _La
Philosophie au peuple français_, published in 1788, the text of which is
not known. His hopes of professional success were now scattered, and he
was living in Paris in extreme poverty. He, however, shared to the full
the excitement which attended the meeting of the States-General. As
appears from his letters to his father, he watched with exultation the
procession of deputies at Versailles, and with violent indignation the
events of the latter part of June which followed the closing of the
Salle des Menus to the deputies who had named themselves the National
Assembly. It is further evident that Desmoulins was already
sympathizing, not only with the enthusiasm, but also with the fury and
cruelty, of the Parisian crowds.

The sudden dismissal of Necker by Louis XVI. was the event which brought
Desmoulins to fame. On the 12th of July 1789 Camille, leaping upon a
table outside one of the cafés in the garden of the Palais Royal,
announced to the crowd the dismissal of their favourite. Losing, in his
violent excitement, his stammer, he inflamed the passions of the mob by
his burning words and his call "To arms!" "This dismissal," he said, "is
the tocsin of the St Bartholomew of the patriots." Drawing, at last, two
pistols from under his coat, he declared that he would not fall alive
into the hands of the police who were watching his movements. He
descended amid the embraces of the crowd, and his cry "To arms!"
resounded on all sides. This scene was the beginning of the actual
events of the Revolution. Following Desmoulins the crowd surged through
Paris, procuring arms by force; and on the 13th it was partly organized
as the Parisian militia which was afterwards to be the National Guard.
On the 14th the Bastille was taken.

Desmoulins may be said to have begun on the following day that public
literary career which lasted till his death. In May and June 1789 he had
written _La France libre_, which, to his chagrin, his publisher refused
to print. The taking of the Bastille, however, and the events by which
it was preceded, were a sign that the times had changed; and on the 18th
of July Desmoulins's work was issued. Considerably in advance of public
opinion, it already pronounced in favour of a republic. By its erudite,
brilliant and courageous examination of the rights of king, of nobles,
of clergy and of people, it attained a wide and sudden popularity; it
secured for the author the friendship and protection of Mirabeau, and
the studied abuse of numerous royalist pamphleteers. Shortly afterwards,
with his vanity and love of popularity inflamed, he pandered to the
passions of the lower orders by the publication of his _Discours de la
lanterne aux Parisiens_ which, with an almost fiendish reference to the
excesses of the mob, he headed by a quotation from St John, _Qui male
agit odit lucem_. Camille was dubbed "Procureur-général de la lanterne."

In November 1789 Desmoulins began his career as a journalist by the
issue of the first number of a weekly publication, _Les Révolutions de
France et de Brabant_. The title of the publication changed after the
73rd number. It ceased to appear at the end of July 1791.[1]

Success attended the _Révolutions_ from its first to its last number,
Camille was everywhere famous, and his poverty was relieved. These
numbers are valuable as an exhibition not so much of events as of the
feelings of the Parisian people; they are adorned, moreover, by the
erudition, the wit and the genius of the author, but they are
disfigured, not only by the most biting personalities and the defence
and even advocacy of the excesses of the mob, but by the entire absence
of the forgiveness and pity for which the writer was afterwards so
eloquently to plead.

Desmoulins was powerfully swayed by the influence of more vigorous
minds; and for some time before the death of Mirabeau, in April 1791, he
had begun to be led by Danton, with whom he remained associated during
the rest of his life. In July 1791 Camille appeared before the
municipality of Paris as head of a deputation of petitioners for the
deposition of the king. In that month, however, such a request was
dangerous; there was excitement in the city over the presentation of the
petition, and the private attacks to which Desmoulins had often been
subject were now followed by a warrant for the arrest of himself and
Danton. Danton left Paris for a little; Desmoulins, however, remained
there, appearing occasionally at the Jacobin club. Upon the failure of
this attempt of his opponents, Desmoulins published a pamphlet, _Jean
Pierre Brissot démasqué_, which abounded in the most violent
personalities. This pamphlet, which had its origin in a petty squabble,
was followed in 1793 by a _Fragment de l'histoire secrète de la
Révolution_, in which the party of the Gironde, and specially Brissot,
were most mercilessly attacked. Desmoulins took an active part on the
10th of August and became secretary to Danton, when the latter became
minister of justice. On the 8th of September he was elected one of the
deputies for Paris to the National Convention, where, however, he was
not successful as an orator. He was of the party of the "Mountain," and
voted for the abolition of royalty and the death of the king. With
Robespierre he was now more than ever associated, and the _Histoire des
Brissotins_, the fragment above alluded to, was inspired by the
arch-revolutionist. The success of the _brochure_, so terrible as to
send the leaders of the Gironde to the guillotine, alarmed Danton and
the author. Yet the role of Desmoulins during the Convention was of but
secondary importance.

In December 1793 was issued the first number of the _Vieux Cordelier_,
which was at first directed against the Hébertists and approved of by
Robespierre, but which soon formulated Danton's idea of a committee of
clemency. Then Robespierre turned against Desmoulins and took advantage
of the popular indignation roused against the Hébertists to send them to
death. The time had come, however, when Saint Just and he were to turn
their attention not only to _les enragés_, but to _les indulgents_--the
powerful faction of the Dantonists. On the 7th of January 1794
Robespierre, who on a former occasion had defended Camille when in
danger at the hands of the National Convention, in addressing the
Jacobin club counselled not the expulsion of Desmoulins, but the burning
of certain numbers of the _Vieux Cordelier_. Camille sharply replied
that he would answer with Rousseau,--"burning is not answering," and a
bitter quarrel thereupon ensued. By the end of March not only were
Hébert and the leaders of the extreme party guillotined, but their
opponents, Danton, Desmoulins and the best of the moderates, were
arrested. On the 31st the warrant of arrest was signed and executed, and
on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of April the trial took place before the
Revolutionary Tribunal. It was a scene of terror not only to the accused
but to judges and to jury. The retorts of the prisoners were notable.
Camille on being asked his age, replied, "I am thirty-three, the age of
the _sans-culotte_ Jesus, a critical age for every patriot." This was
false; he was thirty-four.[2] The accused were prevented from defending
themselves; a decree of the Convention denied them the right of speech.
Armed with this and the false report of a spy, who charged the wife of
Desmoulins with conspiring for the escape of her husband and the ruin of
the republic, Fouquier-Tinville by threats and entreaties obtained from
the jury a sentence of death. It was passed in absence of the accused,
and their execution was appointed for the same day.

Since his arrest the courage of Camille had miserably failed. He had
exhibited in the numbers of the _Vieux Cordelier_ almost a disregard of
the death which he must have known hovered over him. He had with
consummate ability exposed the terrors of the Revolution, and had
adorned his pages with illustrations from Tacitus, the force of which
the commonest reader could feel. In his last number, the seventh, which
his publisher refused to print, he had dared to attack even Robespierre,
but at his trial it was found that he was devoid of physical courage. He
had to be torn from his seat ere he was removed to prison, and as he sat
next to Danton in the tumbrel which conveyed them to the guillotine, the
calmness of the great leader failed to impress him. In his violence,
bound as he was, he tore his clothes into shreds, and his bare shoulders
and breast were exposed to the gaze of the surging crowd. Of the fifteen
guillotined together, including among them Marie Jean Hérault de
Séchelles, François Joseph Westermann and Pierre Philippeaux, Desmoulins
died third; Danton, the greatest, died last.

On the 29th of December 1790 Camille had married Lucile Duplessis, and
among the witnesses of the ceremony are observed the names of Brissot,
Pétion and Robespierre. The only child of the marriage, Horace Camille,
was born on the 6th of July 1792. Two days afterwards Desmoulins brought
it into notice by appearing with it before the municipality of Paris to
demand "the formal statement of the civil estate of his son." The boy
was afterwards pensioned by the French government, and died in Haiti in
1825. Lucile, Desmoulins's accomplished and affectionate wife, was, a
few days after her husband, and on a false charge, condemned to the
guillotine. She astonished all onlookers by the calmness with which she
braved death (April 13, 1794).

   See J. Claretie, _OEuvres de Camille Desmoulins avec une étude
   biographique ..._ &c. (Paris, 1874), and _Camille Desmoulins, Lucile
   Desmoulins, étude sur les Dantonistes_ (Paris, 1875; Eng. trans.,
   London, 1876); F. A. Aulard, _Les Orateurs de la Législative et de la
   Convention_ (Paris, 1905, 2nd ed.): G. Lenôtre, "La Maison de Camille
   Desmoulins" (_Le Temps_, March 25, 1899).


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] In April 1792 Desmoulins founded with Stanislas Fréron a new
    journal, _La Tribune des patriotes_, but only four numbers appeared.

  [2] This is borne out by the register of his birth and baptism, and
    by words in his last letter to his wife,--"I die at thirty-four."
    The dates (1762-1794) given in so many biographies of Desmoulins are
    certainly inaccurate.




DESNOYERS, JULES PIERRE FRANÇOIS STANISLAS (1800-1887), French geologist
and archaeologist, was born at Nogent-le-Rotrou, in the department of
Eure-et-Loir, on the 8th of October 1800. Becoming interested in geology
at an early age, he was one of the founders of the Société Géologique de
France in 1830. In 1834 he was appointed librarian of the Museum of
Natural History in Paris. His contributions to geological science
comprise memoirs on the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary Strata of the
Paris Basin and of Northern France, and other papers relating to the
antiquity of man, and to the question of his co-existence with extinct
mammalia. His separate books were _Sur la Craie et sur les terrains
tertiaires du Cotentin_ (1825), _Recherches géologiques et historiques
sur les cavernes_ (1845). He died in 1887.




DESOR, PIERRE JEAN ÉDOUARD (1811-1882), Swiss geologist, was born at
Friedrichsdorf, near Frankfort-on-Main, on the 13th of February 1811.
Associated in early years with Agassiz he studied palaeontology and
glacial phenomena, and in company with J. D. Forbes ascended the
Jungfrau in 1841. Desor afterwards became professor of geology in the
academy at Neuchâtel, continued his studies on the structure of
glaciers, but gave special attention to the study of Jurassic
Echinoderms. He also investigated the old lake-habitations of
Switzerland, and made important observations on the physical features of
the Sahara. Having inherited considerable property he retired to Combe
Varin in Val Travers. He died at Nizza on the 23rd of February 1882. His
chief publications were: _Synopsis des Échinides fossiles_ (1858), _Aus
Sahara_ (1865), _Der Gebirgsbau der Alpen_ (1865), _Die Pfahlbauten des
Neuenburger Sees_ (1866), _Échinologie helvétique_ (2 vols., 1868-1873,
with P. de Loriol).




DE SOTO, a city of Jefferson county, Missouri, U.S.A., on Joachim Creek,
42 m. S.S.W. of St Louis. Pop. (1890) 3960; (1900) 5611 (332 being
foreign-born and 364 negroes); (1910) 4721. It is served by the St.
Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railway, which has extensive repair
shops here. About 2½ m. from De Soto is the Bochert mineral spring. In
De Soto are Mount St Clement's College (Roman Catholic, 1900), a
theological seminary of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer under
the charge of the Redemptorist Fathers, and a Young Men's Christian
Association building. De Soto is in a good agricultural and
fruit-growing region, which produces Indian corn, apples, plums, pears
and small fruit. Lead and zinc are mined in the vicinity and shipped
from the city in considerable quantities; and among the city's
manufactures are shoes, flour and agricultural implements. The
municipality owns the water-works, the water supply of which is
furnished by artesian wells. De Soto was laid out in 1855 and was
incorporated in 1869.




DESPARD, EDWARD MARCUS (1751-1803), Irish conspirator, was born in
Queen's Co., Ireland, in 1751. In 1766 he entered the British navy, was
promoted lieutenant in 1772, and stationed at Jamaica, where he soon
proved himself to have considerable engineering talent. He served in the
West Indies with credit, being promoted captain after the San Juan
expedition (1779), then made governor of the Mosquito Shore and the Bay
of Honduras, and in 1782 commander of a successful expedition against
the Spanish possessions on the Black river. In 1784 he took over the
administration of Yucatan. Upon frivolous charges he was suspended by
Lord Grenville, and recalled to England. From 1790 to 1792 these charges
were held over him, and when dismissed no compensation was forthcoming.
His complaints caused him to be arrested in 1798; and with a short
interval he remained in gaol until 1800. By that time Despard was
desperate, and engaged in a plot to seize the Tower of London and Bank
of England and assassinate George III. The whole idea was patently
preposterous, but Despard was arrested, tried before a special
commission, found guilty of high treason, and, with six of his
fellow-conspirators, sentenced in 1803 to be hanged, drawn and
quartered. These were the last men to be so sentenced in England.
Despard was executed on the 21st of February 1803.

His eldest brother, JOHN DESPARD (1745-1829), had a long and
distinguished career in the British army; gazetted an ensign in 1760, he
was promoted through the various intermediate grades and became general
in 1814. His most active service was in the American War of
Independence, during which he was twice made prisoner.




DESPENSER, HUGH LE (d. 1265), chief justiciar of England, first plays an
important part in 1258, when he was prominent on the baronial side in
the Mad Parliament of Oxford. In 1260 the barons chose him to succeed
Hugh Bigod as justiciar, and in 1263 the king was further compelled to
put the Tower of London in his hands. On the outbreak of civil war he
joined the party of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, and led the
Londoners when they sacked the manor-house of Isleworth, belonging to
Richard, earl of Cornwall, king of the Romans. Having fought at Lewes
(1264) he was made governor of six castles after the battle, and was
then appointed one of the four arbitrators to mediate between Simon de
Montfort and Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester. He was summoned to
Simon de Montfort's parliament in 1264, and acted as justiciar
throughout the earl's dictatorship. Despenser was killed at Evesham in
August 1265.

   See C. Bémont, _Simon de Montfort_ (Paris, 1884); T. F. Tout in
   _Owens College Historical Essays_, pp. 76 ff. (Manchester, 1902).




DESPENSER, HUGH LE (1262-1326), English courtier, was a son of the
English justiciar who died at Evesham. He fought for Edward I. in Wales,
France and Scotland, and in 1295 was summoned to parliament as a baron.
Ten years later he was sent by the king to Pope Clement V. to secure
Edward's release from the oaths he had taken to observe the charters in
1297. Almost alone Hugh spoke out for Edward II.'s favourite, Piers
Gaveston, in 1308; but after Gaveston's death in 1312 he himself became
the king's chief adviser, holding power and influence until Edward's
defeat at Bannockburn in 1314. Then, hated by the barons, and especially
by Earl Thomas of Lancaster, as a deserter from their party, he was
driven from the council, but was quickly restored to favour and loaded
with lands and honours, being made earl of Winchester in 1322. Before
this time Hugh's son, the younger Hugh le Despenser, had become
associated with his father, and having been appointed the king's
chamberlain was enjoying a still larger share of the royal favour. About
1306 this baron had married Eleanor (d. 1337), one of the sisters and
heiresses of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, who was slain at
Bannockburn; and after a division of the immense Clare lands had been
made in 1317 violent quarrels broke out between the Despensers and the
husbands of the other heiresses, Roger of Amory and Hugh of Audley.
Interwoven with this dispute was another between the younger Despenser
and the Mowbrays, who were supported by Humphrey Bohun, earl of
Hereford, about some lands in Glamorganshire. Fighting having begun in
Wales and on the Welsh borders, the English barons showed themselves
decidedly hostile to the Despensers, and in 1321 Edward II. was obliged
to consent to their banishment. While the elder Hugh left England the
younger one remained; soon the king persuaded the clergy to annul the
sentence against them, and father and son were again at court. They
fought against the rebellious barons at Boroughbridge, and after
Lancaster's death in 1322 they were practically responsible for the
government of the country, which they attempted to rule in a moderate
and constitutional fashion. But their next enemy, Queen Isabella, was
more formidable, or more fortunate, than Lancaster. Returning to England
after a sojourn in France in 1326 the queen directed her arms against
her husband's favourites. The elder Despenser was seized at Bristol,
where he was hanged on the 27th of October 1326, and the younger was
taken with the king at Llantrisant and hanged at Hereford on the 24th of
November following. The attainder against the Despensers was reversed in
1398. The intense hatred with which the barons regarded the Despensers
was due to the enormous wealth which had passed into their hands, and to
the arrogance and rapacity of the younger Hugh.

The younger Despenser left two sons, Hugh (1308-1349), and Edward, who
was killed at Vannes in 1342.

The latter's son EDWARD LE DESPENSER (d. 1375) fought at the battle of
Poitiers, and then in Italy for Pope Urban V.; he was a patron of
Froissart, who calls him _le grand sire Despensier_. His son, THOMAS LE
DESPENSER (1373-1400), the husband of Constance (d. 1416), daughter of
Edmund of Langley, duke of York, supported Richard II. against Thomas of
Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, and the other lords appellant in 1397,
when he himself was created earl of Gloucester, but he deserted the king
in 1399. Then, degraded from his earldom for participating in
Gloucester's death, Despenser joined the conspiracy against Henry IV.,
but he was seized and was executed by a mob at Bristol in January 1400.

The elder Edward le Despenser left another son, HENRY (c. 1341-1406),
who became bishop of Norwich in 1370. In early life Henry had been a
soldier, and when the peasants revolted in 1381 he took readily to the
field, defeated the insurgents at North Walsham, and suppressed the
rising in Norfolk with some severity. More famous, however, was the
militant bishop's enterprise on behalf of Pope Urban VI., who in 1382
employed him to lead a crusade in Flanders against the supporters of the
anti-pope Clement VII. He was very successful in capturing towns until
he came before Ypres, where he was checked, his humiliation being
completed when his army was defeated by the French and decimated by a
pestilence. Having returned to England the bishop was impeached in
parliament and was deprived of his lands; Richard II., however, stood by
him, and he soon regained an influential place in the royal council, and
was employed to defend his country on the seas. Almost alone among his
peers Henry remained true to Richard in 1399; he was then imprisoned,
but was quickly released and reconciled with the new king, Henry IV. He
died on the 23rd of August 1406. Despenser was an active enemy of the
Lollards, whose leader, John Wycliffe, had fiercely denounced his
crusade in Flanders.

The barony of Despenser, called out of abeyance in 1604, was held by the
Fanes, earls of Westmorland, from 1626 to 1762; by the notorious Sir
Francis Dashwood from 1763 to 1781; and by the Stapletons from 1788 to
1891. In 1891 it was inherited, through his mother, by the 7th Viscount
Falmouth.




DES PÉRIERS, BONAVENTURE (c. 1500-1544), French author, was born of a
noble family at Arnay-le-duc in Burgundy at the end of the 15th century.
The circumstances of his education are uncertain, but he became a good
classical scholar, and was attached to various noble houses in the
capacity of tutor. In 1533 or 1534 Des Périers visited Lyons, then the
most enlightened town of France, and a refuge for many liberal scholars
who might elsewhere have had to suffer for their opinions. He gave some
assistance to Robert Olivetan and Lefèvre d'Étaples in the preparation
of the vernacular version of the Old Testament, and to Étienne Dolet in
the _Commentarii linguae latinae_. In 1536 he put himself under the
protection of Marguerite d'Angoulême, queen of Navarre, who made him her
_valet-de-chambre_. He acted as the queen's secretary, and transcribed
the _Heptaméron_ for her. It is probable that his duties extended beyond
those of a mere copyist, and some writers have gone so far as to say
that the _Heptaméron_ was his work. The free discussions permitted at
Marguerite's court encouraged a licence of thought as displeasing to the
Calvinists as to the Catholics. This free inquiry became scepticism in
Bonaventure's _Cymbalum Mundi ..._ (1537), and the queen of Navarre
thought it prudent to disavow the author, though she continued to help
him privately until 1541. The book consisted of four dialogues in
imitation of Lucian. Its allegorical form did not conceal its real
meaning, and, when it was printed by Morin, probably early in 1538, the
Sorbonne secured the suppression of the edition before it was offered
for sale. The dedication provides a key to the author's intention:
_Thomas du Clevier (or Clenier) à son ami Pierre Tryocan_ was recognized
by 19th-century editors to be an anagram for _Thomas l'Incrédule à son
ami Pierre Croyant_. The book was reprinted in Paris in the same year.
It made many bitter enemies for the author. Henri Estienne called it
_détestable_, and Étienne Pasquier said it deserved to be thrown into
the fire with its author if he were still living. Des Périers prudently
left Paris, and after some wanderings settled at Lyons, where he lived
in poverty, until in 1544 he put an end to his existence by falling on
his sword. In 1544 his collected works were printed at Lyons. The
volume, _Recueil des oeuvres de feu Bonaventure des Périers_, included
his poems, which are of small merit, the _Traité des quatre vertus
cardinales après Sénèque_, and a translation of the _Lysis_ of Plato. In
1558 appeared at Lyons the collection of stories and fables entitled the
_Nouvelles récréations et joyeux devis_. It is on this work that the
claim put forward for Des Périers as one of the early masters of French
prose rests. Some of the tales are attributed to the editors, Nicholas
Denisot and Jacques Pelletier, but their share is certainly limited to
the later ones. The book leaves something to be desired on the score of
morality, but the stories never lack point and are models of simple,
direct narration in the vigorous and picturesque French of the 16th
century.

   His _OEuvres françaises_ were published by Louis Lacour (Paris, 2
   vols., 1856). See also the preface to the _Cymbalum Mundi ..._ (ed.
   F. Franck, 1874); A. Cheneviere, _Bonaventure Despériers, sa vie, ses
   poésies_ (1885); and P. Toldo, _Contributo allo studio della novella
   francese del XV. e XVI. secolo_ (Rome, 1895).




DESPORTES, PHILIPPE (1546-1606), French poet, was born at Chartres in
1546. As secretary to the bishop of Le Puy he visited Italy, where he
gained a knowledge of Italian poetry afterwards turned to good account.
On his return to France he attached himself to the duke of Anjou, and
followed him to Warsaw on his election as king of Poland. Nine months in
Poland satisfied the civilized Desportes, but in 1574 his patron became
king of France as Henry III. He showered favours on the poet, who
received, in reward for the skill with which he wrote occasional poems
at the royal request, the abbey of Tiron and four other valuable
benefices. A good example of the light and dainty verse in which
Desportes excelled is furnished by the well-known _villanelle_ with the
refrain "Qui premier s'en repentira," which was on the lips of Henry,
duke of Guise, just before his tragic death. Desportes was above all an
imitator. He imitated Petrarch, Ariosto, Sannazaro, and still more
closely the minor Italian poets, and in 1604 a number of his plagiarisms
were exposed in the _Rencontres des Muses de France et d'ltalie_. As a
sonneteer he showed much grace and sweetness, and English poets borrowed
freely from him. In his old age Desportes acknowledged his
ecclesiastical preferment by a translation of the Psalms remembered
chiefly for the brutal _mot_ of Malherbe: "Votre potage vaut mieux que
vos psaumes." Desportes died on the 5th of October 1606. He had
published in 1573 an edition of his works including _Diane_, _Les Amours
d'Hippolyte_, _Élégies_, _Bergeries_, _OEuvres chrétiennes_, &c.

An edition of his _OEuvres_, by Alfred Michiels, appeared in 1858.




DESPOT (Gr. [Greek: despotês], lord or master; the origin of the first
part of the Gr. word is unknown, the second part is cognate with [Greek:
posis], husband, Lat. _potens_, powerful), in Greek usage the master of
a household, hence the ruler of slaves. It was also used by the Greeks
of their gods, as was the feminine form [Greek: despoina]. It was,
however, principally applied by the Greeks to the absolute monarchs of
the eastern empires with which they came in contact; and it is in this
sense that the word, like its equivalent "tyrant," is in current usage
for an absolute sovereign whose rule is not restricted by any
constitution. In the Roman empire of the East "despot" was early used as
a title of honour or address of the emperor, and was given by Alexius I.
(1081-1118) to the sons, brothers and sons-in-law of the emperor
(Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, ed. Bury, vol. vi. 80). It does not seem
that the title was confined to the heir-apparent by Alexius II. (see
Selden, _Titles of Honour_, part ii. chap. i. s. vi.). Later still it
was adopted by the vassal princes of the empire. This gave rise to the
name "despotats" as applied to these tributary states, which survived
the break-up of the empire in the independent "despotats" of Epirus,
Cyprus, Trebizond, &c. Under Ottoman rule the title was preserved by the
despots of Servia and of the Morea, &c. The early use of the term as a
title of address for ecclesiastical dignitaries survives in its use in
the Greek Church as the formal mode of addressing a bishop.




DES PRÉS, JOSQUIN (c. 1445-1521), also called DEPRÉS or DESPREZ, and by
a latinized form of his name, JODOCUS PRATENSIS or A PRATO, French
musical composer, was born, probably in Condé in the Hennegau, about
1445. He was a pupil of Ockenheim, and himself one of the most learned
musicians of his time. In spite of his great fame, the accounts of his
life are vague and the dates contradictory. Fétis contributed greatly
towards elucidating the doubtful points in his _Biographie universelle_.
In his early youth Josquin seems to have been a member of the choir of
the collegiate church at St Quentin; when his voice changed he went
(about 1455) to Ockenheim to take lessons in counterpoint; afterwards he
again lived at his birthplace for some years, till Pope Sixtus IV.
invited him to Rome to teach his art to the musicians of Italy, where
musical knowledge at that time was at a low ebb. In Rome Des Prés lived
till the death of his protector (1484), and it was there that many of
his works were written. His reputation grew rapidly, and he was
considered by his contemporaries to be the greatest master of his age.
Luther, who was a good judge, is credited with the saying that "other
musicians do with notes what they can, Josquin what he likes." The
composer's journey to Rome marks in a manner the transference of the art
from its Gallo-Belgian birthplace to Italy, which for the next two
centuries remained the centre of the musical world. To Des Prés and his
pupils Arcadelt, Mouton and others, much that is characteristic in
modern music owes its rise, particularly in their influence upon Italian
developments under Palestrina. After leaving Rome Des Prés went for a
time to Ferrara, where the duke Hercules I. offered him a home; but
before long he accepted an invitation of King Louis XII. of France to
become the chief singer of the royal chapel. According to another
account, he was for a time at least in the service of the emperor
Maximilian I. The date of his death has by some writers been placed as
early as 1501. But this is sufficiently disproved by the fact of one of
his finest compositions, _A Dirge (Déploration) for Five Voices_, being
written to commemorate the death of his master Ockenheim, which took
place after 1512. The real date of Josquin's decease has since been
settled as the 27th of August 1521. He was at that time a canon of the
cathedral of Condé (see Victor Delzant's _Sépultures de Flandre_, No.
118).

   The most complete list of his compositions--consisting of masses,
   motets, psalms and other pieces of sacred music--will be found in
   Fétis. The largest collection of his MS. works, containing no less
   than twenty masses, is in the possession of the papal chapel in Rome.
   In his lifetime Des Prés was honoured as an eminent composer, and the
   musicians of the 16th century are loud in his praise. During the 17th
   and 18th centuries his value was ignored, nor does his work appear in
   the collections of Martini and Paolucci. Burney was the first to
   recover him from oblivion, and Forkel continued the task of
   rehabilitation. Ambros furnishes the most exhaustive account of his
   achievements. An admirable account of Josquin's art, from the rare
   point of view of a modern critic who knows how to allow for modern
   difficulties, will be found in the article "Josquin," in Grove's
   _Dictionary of Music and Musicians_, new ed. vol. ii. The _Répertoire
   des chanteurs de St Gervais_ contains an excellent modern edition of
   Josquin's _Miserere_.




DESPRÈS, SUZANNE (1875-    ), French actress, was born at Verdun, and
trained at the Paris Conservatoire, where in 1897 she obtained the first
prize for comedy, and the second for tragedy. She then became associated
with, and subsequently married, Aurelien Lugné-Poë (b. 1870), the
actor-manager, who had founded a new school of modern drama,
_L'OEuvre_, and she had a brilliant success in several plays produced
by him. In succeeding years she played at the Gymnase and at the Porte
Saint-Martin, and in 1902 made her début at the Comédie Française,
appearing in _Phèdre_ and other important parts.




DESRUES, ANTOINE FRANÇOIS (1744-1777), French poisoner, was born at
Chartres in 1744, of humble parents. He went to Paris to seek his
fortune, and started in business as a grocer. He was known as a man of
great piety and devotion, and his business was reputed to be a
flourishing one, but when, in 1773, he gave up his shop, his finances,
owing to personal extravagance, were in a deplorable condition.
Nevertheless he entered into negotiations with a Madame de la Mothe for
the purchase from her of a country estate, and, when the time came for
the payment of the purchase money, invited her to stay with him in Paris
pending the transfer. While she was still his guest, he poisoned first
her and then her son, a youth of sixteen. Then, having forged a receipt
for the purchase money, he endeavoured to obtain possession of the
property. But by this time the disappearance of Madame de la Mothe and
her son had aroused suspicion. Desrues was arrested, the bodies of his
victims were discovered, and the crime was brought home to him. He was
tried, found guilty and condemned to be torn asunder alive and burned.
The sentence was carried out (1777), Desrues repeating hypocritical
protestations of his innocence to the last. The whole affair created a
great sensation at the time, and as late as 1828 a dramatic version of
it was performed in Paris.




DESSAIX, JOSEPH MARIE, COUNT (1764-1834), French general, was born at
Thonon in Savoy on the 24th of September 1764. He studied medicine, took
his degree at Turin, and then went to Paris, where in 1789 he joined the
National Guard. In 1791 he tried without success to raise an _émeute_ in
Savoy, in 1792 he organized the "Legion of the Allobroges," and in the
following years he served at the siege of Toulon, in the Army of the
Eastern Pyrenees, and in the Army of Italy. He was captured at Rivoli,
but was soon exchanged. In the spring of 1798 Dessaix was elected a
member of the Council of Five Hundred. He was one of the few in that
body who opposed the _coup d'état_ of the 18th Brumaire (November 9,
1799). In 1803 he was promoted general of brigade, and soon afterwards
commander of the Legion of Honour. He distinguished himself greatly at
the battle of Wagram (1809), and was about this time promoted general of
division and named grand officer of the Legion of Honour, and in 1810
was made a count. He took part in the expedition to Russia, and was
twice wounded. For several months he was commandant of Berlin, and
afterwards delivered the department of Mont Blanc from the Austrians.
After the first restoration Dessaix held a command under the Bourbons.
He nevertheless joined Napoleon in the Hundred Days, and in 1816 he was
imprisoned for five months. The rest of his life was spent in
retirement. He died on the 26th of October 1834.

   See _Le Général Dessaix, sa vie politique et militaire_, by his
   nephew Joseph Dessaix (Paris, 1879).




DESSAU, a town of Germany, capital of the duchy of Anhalt, on the left
bank of the Mulde, 2 m. from its confluence with the Elbe, 67 m. S.W.
from Berlin and at the junction of lines to Cöthen and Zerbst. Pop.
(1905) 55,134. Apart from the old quarter lying on the Mulde, the town
is well built, is surrounded by pleasant gardens and contains many
handsome streets and spacious squares. Among the latter is the Grosse
Markt with a statue of Prince Leopold I. of Anhalt-Dessau, "the old
Dessauer." Of the six churches, the Schlosskirche, adorned with
paintings by Lucas Cranach, in one of which ("The Last Supper") are
portraits of several reformers, is the most interesting. The ducal
palace, standing in extensive grounds, contains a collection of
historical curiosities and a gallery of pictures, which includes works
by Cimabue, Lippi, Rubens, Titian and Van Dyck. Among other buildings
are the town hall (built 1899-1900), the palace of the hereditary
prince, the theatre, the administration offices, the law courts, the
Amalienstift, with a picture gallery, several high-grade schools, a
library of 30,000 volumes and an excellently appointed hospital. There
are monuments to the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (born here in 1729),
to the poet Wilhelm Müller, father of Professor Max Müller, also a
native of the place, to the emperor William I., and an obelisk
commemorating the war of 1870-71. The industries of Dessau include the
production of sugar, which is the chief manufacture, woollen, linen and
cotton goods, carpets, hats, leather, tobacco and musical instruments.
There is also a considerable trade in corn and garden produce. In the
environs are the ducal villas of Georgium and Luisium, the gardens of
which, as well as those of the neighbouring town of Wörlitz, are much
admired.

Dessau was probably founded by Albert the Bear; it had attained civic
rights as early as 1213. It first began to grow into importance at the
close of the 17th century, in consequence of the religious emancipation
of the Jews in 1686, and of the Lutherans in 1697.

   See Würdig, _Chronik der Stadt Dessau_ (Dessau, 1876).




DESSEWFFY, AUREL, COUNT (1808-1842), Hungarian journalist and
politician, eldest son of Count József Dessewffy and Eleonora Sztaray,
was born at Nagy-Mihály, county Zemplén, Hungary. Carefully educated at
his father's house, he was accustomed to the best society of his day.
While still a child he could declaim most of the _Iliad_ in Greek
without a book, and read and quoted Tacitus with enthusiasm. Under the
noble influence of Ferencz Kazinczy he became acquainted with the chief
masterpieces of European literature in their original tongues. He was
particularly fond of the English, and one of his early idols was Jeremy
Bentham. He regularly accompanied his father to the diets of which he
was a member, followed the course of the debates, of which he kept a
journal, and made the acquaintance of the great Széchenyi, who
encouraged his aspirations. On leaving college, he entered the royal
aulic chancellery, and in 1832 was appointed secretary of the royal
stadtholder at Buda. The same year he turned his attention to politics
and was regarded as one of the most promising young orators of the day,
especially during the sessions of the diet of 1832-1836, when he had the
courage to oppose Kossuth. At the Pressburg diet in 1840 Dessewffy was
already the leading orator of the more enlightened and progressive
Conservatives, but incurred great unpopularity for not going far enough,
with the result that he was twice defeated at the polls. But his
reputation in court circles was increasing; he was appointed a member of
the committee for the reform of the criminal law in 1840; and, the same
year with a letter of recommendation from Metternich in his pocket,
visited England and France, Holland and Belgium, made the acquaintance
of Thiers and Heine in Paris, and returned home with an immense and
precious store of practical information. He at once proceeded to put
fresh life into the despondent and irresolute Conservative party, and
the Magyar aristocracy, by gallantly combating in the _Világ_ the
opinions of Kossuth's paper, the _Pesti Hírlap_. But the multiplicity of
his labours was too much for his feeble physique, and he died on the 9th
of February 1842, at the very time when his talents seemed most
indispensable.

   See _Aus den Papieren des Grafen Aurel Dessewffy_ (Pest, 1843);
   _Memorial Wreath to Count Aurel Dessewffy_ (Hung.), (Budapest, 1857);
   _Collected Works of Count Dessewffy, with a Biography_ (Hung.),
   (Budapest, 1887).                                        (R. N. B.)




DESSOIR, LUDWIG (1810-1874), German actor, whose name was originally
Leopold Dessauer, was born on the 15th of December 1810 at Posen, the
son of a Jewish tradesman. He made his first appearance on the stage
there in 1824 in a small part. After some experience at the theatre in
Posen and on tour, he was engaged at Leipzig from 1834 to 1836. Then he
was attached to the municipal theatre of Breslau, and in 1837 appeared
at Prague, Brünn, Vienna and Budapest, where he accepted an engagement
which lasted until 1839. He succeeded Karl Devrient at Karlsruhe, and
went in 1847 to Berlin, where he acted Othello and Hamlet with such
extraordinary success that he received a permanent engagement at the
Hof-theater. From 1849 to 1872, when he retired on a pension, he played
110 parts, frequently on tour, and in 1853 acting in London. He died on
the 30th of December 1874 in Berlin. Dessoir was twice married; his
first wife, Theresa, a popular actress (1810-1866), was separated from
him a year after marriage; his second wife went mad on the death of her
child. By his first wife Dessoir had one son, the actor Ferdinand
Dessoir (1836-1892). In spite of certain physical disabilities Ludwig
Dessoir's genius raised him to the first rank of actors, especially as
interpreter of Shakespeare's characters. G. H. Lewes placed Dessoir's
Othello above that of Kean, and the _Athenaeum_ preferred him in this
part to Brooks or Macready.




DESTOUCHES, PHILIPPE (1680-1754), French dramatist, whose real name was
Néricault, was born at Tours in April 1680. When he was nineteen years
of age he became secretary to M. de Puysieux, the French ambassador in
Switzerland. In 1716 he was attached to the French embassy in London,
where he remained for six years under the abbé Dubois. He contracted
with a Lancashire lady, Dorothea Johnston, a marriage which was not
avowed for some years. He drew a picture later of his own domestic
circumstances in _Le Philosophe marié_ (1726). On his return to France
(1723) he was elected to the Academy, and in 1727 he acquired
considerable estates, the possession of which conferred the privileges
of nobility. He spent his later years at his château of Fortoiseau near
Melun, dying on the 4th of July 1754. His early comedies were: _Le
Curieux Impertinent_ (1710), _L'Ingrat_ (1712), _L'Irrésolu_ (1713) and
_Le Médisant_ (1715). The best of these is _L'Irrêsolu_, in which
Dorante, after hesitating throughout the play between Julie and
Célimène, marries Julie, but concludes the play with the reflection:--

   "J'aurais mieux fait, je crois, d'épouser Célimène."

After eleven years of diplomatic service Destouches returned to the
stage with the _Philosophe marié_ (1727), followed in 1732 by his
masterpiece _Le Glorieux_, a picture of the struggle then beginning
between the old nobility and the wealthy _parvenus_ who found their
opportunity in the poverty of France. Destouches wished to revive the
comedy of character as understood by Molière, but he thought it
desirable that the moral should be directly expressed. This moralizing
tendency spoilt his later comedies. Among them may be mentioned: _Le
Tambour nocturne_ (1736), _La Force du naturel_ (1750) and _Le
Dissipateur_ (1736).

   His works were issued in collected form in 1755, 1757, 1811 and, in a
   limited edition (6 vols.), 1822.




DESTRUCTORS. The name destructors is applied by English municipal
engineers to furnaces, or combinations of furnaces, commonly called
"garbage furnaces" in the United States, constructed for the purpose of
disposing by burning of town refuse, which is a heterogeneous mass of
material, including, besides general household and ash-bin refuse, small
quantities of garden refuse, trade refuse, market refuse and often
street sweepings. The mere disposal of this material is not, however, by
any means the only consideration in dealing with it upon the destructor
system. For many years past scientific experts, municipal engineers and
public authorities have been directing careful attention to the
utilization of refuse as fuel for steam production, and such progress in
this direction has been made that in many towns its calorific value is
now being utilized daily for motive-power purposes. On the other hand,
that proper degree of caution which is obtained only by actual
experience must be exercised in the application of refuse fuel to
steam-raising. When its value as a low-class fuel was first recognized,
the idea was disseminated that the refuse of a given population was of
itself sufficient to develop the necessary steam-power for supplying
that population with the electric light. The economical importance of a
combined destructor and electric undertaking of this character naturally
presented a somewhat fascinating stimulus to public authorities, and
possibly had much to do with the development both of the adoption of the
principle of dealing with refuse by fire, and of lighting towns by
electricity. However true this phase of the question may be as the
statement of a theoretical scientific fact, experience so far does not
show it to be a basis upon which engineers may venture to calculate,
although, as will be seen later, under certain circumstances of
equalized load, which must be considered upon their merits in each case,
a well-designed destructor plant can be made to perform valuable
commercial service to an electric or other power-using undertaking.
Further, when a system, thermal or otherwise, for the storage of energy
can be introduced and applied in a trustworthy and economical manner,
the degree of advantage to be derived from the utilization of the waste
heat from destructors will be materially enhanced.


Composition and quantity of refuse.

The composition of house refuse, which must obviously affect its
calorific value, varies considerably in different localities, according
to the condition, habits and pursuits of the people. Towns situated in
coal-producing districts invariably yield a refuse richer in unconsumed
carbon than those remote therefrom. It is also often found that the
refuse from different parts of the same town varies considerably--that
from the poorest quarters frequently proving of greater calorific value
than that from those parts occupied by the rich and middle classes. This
has been attributed to the more extravagant habits of the working
classes in neglecting to sift the ashes from their fires before
disposing of them in the ash-bin. In Bermondsey, for example, the refuse
has been found to possess an unusually high calorific value, and this
experience is confirmed in other parts of the metropolis. Average refuse
consists of breeze (cinder and ashes), coal and coke, fine dust,
vegetable and animal matters, straw, shavings, cardboard, bottles, tins,
iron, bones, broken crockery and other matters in very variable
proportions according to the character of the district from which it is
collected. In London the quantity of house refuse amounts approximately
to 1¼ million tons per annum, which is equivalent to from 4 cwt. to 5
cwt. per head per annum, or to from 200 to 250 tons per 1000 of the
population per annum. Statistics, however, vary widely in different
districts. In the vicinity of the metropolis the amount varies from 2.5
cwt. per head per annum at Leyton to 3.5 cwt. at Hornsey, and to as much
as 7 cwt. at Ealing. In the north of England the total house refuse
collected, exclusive of street sweepings, amounts on the average to 8
cwt. per head per annum. Speaking generally, throughout the country an
amount of from 5 cwt. to 10 cwt. per head per annum should be allowed
for. A cubic yard of ordinary house refuse weighs from 12¼ to 15 cwt.
Shop refuse is lighter, frequently containing a large proportion of
paper, straw and other light wastes. It sometimes weighs as little as 7¼
cwt. per cubic yard. A load, by which refuse is often estimated, varies
in weight from 15 cwt. to 1½ tons.


Refuse disposal.

The question how a town's refuse shall be disposed of must be considered
both from a commercial and a sanitary point of view. Various methods
have been practised. Sometimes the household ashes, &c., are mixed with
pail excreta, or with sludge from a sewage farm, or with lime, and
disposed of for agricultural purposes, and sometimes they are conveyed
in carts or by canal to outlying and country districts, where they are
shot on waste ground or used to fill up hollows and raise the level of
marshland. Such plans are economical when suitable outlets are
available. To take the refuse out to sea in hopper barges and sink it in
deep water is usually expensive and frequently unsatisfactory. At
Bermondsey, for instance, the cost of barging is about 2s. 9d. a ton,
while the material may be destroyed by fire at a cost of from 10d. to
1s. a ton, exclusive of interest and sinking fund on the cost of the
works. In other cases, as at Chelsea and various dust contractors'
yards, the refuse is sorted and its ingredients are sold; the fine dust
may be utilized in connexion with manure manufactories, the pots and
pans employed in forming the foundations of roads, and the cinders and
vegetable refuse burnt to generate steam. In the Arnold system, carried
out in Philadelphia and other American towns, the refuse is sterilized
by steam under pressure, the grease and fertilizing substances being
extracted at the same time; while in other systems, such as those of
Weil and Porno, and of Defosse, distillation in closed vessels is
practised. But the destructor system, in which the refuse is burned to
an innocuous clinker in specially constructed furnaces, is that which
must finally be resorted to, especially in districts which have become
well built up and thickly populated.


Types of destructors.

Various types of furnaces and apparatus have from time to time been
designed, and the subject has been one of much experiment and many
failures. The principal towns in England which took the lead in the
adoption of the refuse destructor system were Manchester, Birmingham,
Leeds, Heckmondwike, Warrington, Blackburn, Bradford, Bury, Bolton,
Hull, Nottingham, Salford, Ealing and London. Ordinary furnaces, built
mostly by dust contractors, began to come into use in London and in the
north of England in the second half of the 19th century, but they were
not scientifically adapted to the purpose, and necessitated the
admixture of coal or other fuel with the refuse to ensure its cremation.
The Manchester corporation erected a furnace of this description about
the year 1873, and Messrs Mead & Co. made an unsatisfactory attempt in
1870 to burn house refuse in closed furnaces at Paddington. In 1876
Alfred Fryer erected his destructor at Manchester, and several other
towns adopted this furnace shortly afterwards. Other furnaces were from
time to time brought before the public, among which may be mentioned
those of Pearce and Lupton, Pickard, Healey, Thwaite, Young, Wilkinson,
Burton, Hardie, Jacobs and Odgen. In addition to these the "Beehive" and
the "Nelson" destructors became well known. The former was introduced by
Stafford and Pearson of Burnley, and one was erected in 1884 in the
parish yard at Richmond, Surrey, but the results being unsatisfactory,
it was closed during the following year. The "Nelson" furnace, patented
in 1885 by Messrs Richmond and Birtwistle, was erected at
Nelson-in-Marsden, Lancashire, but being very costly in working was
abandoned. The principal types of destructors now in use are those of
Fryer, Whiley, Horsfall, Warner, Meldrum, Beaman and Deas, Heenan and
Froude, and the "Sterling" destructor erected by Messrs Hughes and
Stirling.

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Fryer's Destructor.]


   Fryer's.

   The general arrangement of the destructor patented[1] by Alfred Fryer
   in 1876 is illustrated in fig. 1. An installation upon this principle
   consists of a number of furnaces or cells, usually arranged in pairs
   back to back, and enclosed in a rectangular block of brickwork having
   a flat top, upon which the house refuse is tipped from the carts.

   [Illustration: FIG. 2.--Horsfall's Improved Destructor.]

   A large main flue, which also forms the dust chamber, is placed
   underneath the furnace hearths. The Fryer furnace ordinarily burns
   from 4 to 6 tons of refuse per cell per 24 hours. It will be observed
   that the outlets for the products of combustion are placed at the
   back near the refuse feed opening, an arrangement which is imperfect
   in design, inasmuch as while a charge of refuse is burning upon the
   furnace bars the charge which is to follow lies on the dead hearth
   near the outlet flue. Here it undergoes drying and partial
   decomposition, giving off offensive empyreumatic vapours which pass
   into the flue without being exposed to sufficient heat to render them
   entirely inoffensive. The serious nuisances thus produced in some
   instances led to the introduction of a second furnace, or "cremator,"
   patented by C. Jones of Ealing in 1885, which was placed in the main
   flue leading to the chimney-shaft, for the purpose of resolving the
   organic matters present in the vapour, but the greatly increased cost
   of burning due to this device led to its abandonment in many cases.
   This type of cell was largely used during the early period of the
   history of destructors, but has to a considerable extent given place
   to furnaces of more modern design.

   [Illustration: FIG. 3. - Meldrum's Destructor at Darwen]


   Whiley's.

   A furnace[2] patented in 1891 by Mr Henry Whiley, superintendent of
   the scavenging department of the Manchester corporation, is automatic
   in its action and was designed primarily with a view to saving
   labour--the cells being fed, stoked and clinkered automatically.
   There is no drying hearth, and the refuse carts tip direct into a
   shoot or hopper at the back which conducts the material directly on
   to movable eccentric grate bars. These automatically traverse the
   material forward into the furnace, and finally push it against a
   flap-door which opens and allows it to fall out. This apparatus is
   adapted for dealing with screened rather than unscreened refuse,
   since it suffers from the objection that the motion of the bars tends
   to allow fine particles to drop through unburnt. Some difficulty has
   been experienced from the refuse sticking in the hopper, and
   exception may also be taken to the continual flapping of the door
   when the clinker passes out, as cold air is thereby admitted into the
   furnace. As in the Fryer cell, the outlet for the products of
   combustion into the main flue is close to the point where the crude
   refuse is fed into the furnace, and the escape of unburnt vapours is
   thus facilitated. Forced draught is applied by means of a Roots
   blower. The Manchester corporation has 28 cells of this type in use,
   and the approximate amount of refuse burnt per cell per 24 hours is
   from 6 to 8 tons at a cost per ton for labour of 3.47 pence.


   Horsfall's.

   Horsfall's destructor[3] (fig. 2) is a high-temperature furnace of
   modern type which has been adopted largely in Great Britain and on
   the continent of Europe. In it some of the general features of the
   Fryer cell are retained, but the details differ considerably from
   those of the furnaces already described. Important points in the
   design are the arrangement of the flues and flue outlets for the
   products of combustion, and the introduction of a blast duct through
   which air is forced into a closed ash-pit. The feeding-hole is
   situated at the back of and above the furnace, while the flue opening
   for the emission of the gaseous products is placed at the front of
   the furnace over the dead plate; thus the gases distilled from the
   raw refuse are caused to pass on their way to the main flue over the
   hottest part of the furnace and through the flue opening in the
   red-hot reverberatory arch. The steam jet, which plays an important
   part in the Horsfall furnace, forces air into the closed ash-pit at a
   pressure of about ¾ to 1 in. of water, and in this way a temperature
   varying from 1500° to 2000° F., as tested by a thermo-electric
   pyrometer, is maintained in the main flue. In a battery of cells the
   gases from each are delivered into one main flue, so that a uniform
   temperature is maintained therein sufficiently high to prevent
   noxious vapours from reaching the chimney. The cells being charged
   and clinkered in rotation, when the fire in one is green, in the
   others it is at its hottest, and the products of combustion do not
   reach the boiler surfaces until after they have been mixed in the
   main flue. The cast iron boxes which are provided at the sides of the
   furnaces, and through which the blast air is conveyed on its way to
   the grate, prevent the adhesion of clinker to the side walls of the
   cells, and very materially preserve the brickwork, which otherwise
   becomes damaged by the tools used to remove the clinker. The wide
   clinkering doors are suspended by counterbalance weights and open
   vertically. The rate of working of these cells varies from 8 tons per
   cell per 24 hours at Oldham to 10 tons per cell at Bradford, where
   the furnaces are of a later type. The cost of labour in stoking and
   clinkering is about 6d. per ton of the refuse treated at Bradford,
   and 9d. per ton at Oldham, where the rate of wages is higher.
   Well-constructed and properly-worked plants of this type should give
   rise to no nuisance, and may be located in populous neighbourhoods
   without danger to the public health or comfort. Installations were
   put down at Fulham (1901), Hammerton Street, Bradford (1900), West
   Hartlepool (1904), and other places, and the surplus power generated
   is employed in the production of electric energy.


   Warner's.

   Warner's destructor,[4] known as the "Perfectus," is, in general
   arrangement, similar to Fryer's, but differs in being provided with
   special charging hoppers, dampers in flues, dust-catching
   arrangements, rocking grate bars and other improvements. The refuse
   is tipped into feeding-hoppers, consisting of rectangular cast iron
   boxes over which plates are placed to prevent the escape of smoke and
   fumes. At the lower portion of the feeding-hopper is a flap-door
   working on an axis and controlled by an iron lever from the tipping
   platform. When refuse is to be fed into the furnace the lever is
   thrown over, the contents of the hopper drop on to the sloping
   firebrick hearth beneath, and the door is at once closed again. The
   door should be kept open as short a time as possible in order to
   prevent the admission of cold air into the furnace at the back end,
   since this leads to the lowering of the temperature of the cells and
   main flue, and also to paper and other light refuse being carried
   into the flues and chimney. The flues of each furnace are provided
   with dampers, which are closed during the process of clinkering in
   order to keep up the heat. The cells are each 5 ft. wide and 11 ft.
   deep, the rearmost portion consisting of a firebrick drying hearth,
   and the front of rocking grate bars upon which the combustion takes
   place. The crown of each cell is formed of a reverberatory firebrick
   arch having openings for the emission of the products of combustion.
   The flap dampers which are fitted to these openings are operated by
   horizontal spindles passing through the brickwork to the front of the
   cell, where they are provided with levers or handles; thus each cell
   can be worked independently of the others. With the view of
   increasing the steam-raising capabilities of the furnace, forced
   draught is sometimes applied and a tubular boiler is placed close to
   the cells. The amount of refuse consumed varies from 5 tons to 8 tons
   per cell per 24 hours. At Hornsey, where 12 cells of this type are in
   use, the cost of labour for burning the refuse is 9½d. per ton.


   Meldrum's

   The Meldurm "Simplex" destructor (fig. 3), a type of furnace which
   yields good steam-raising results, is in successful operation at
   Rochdale, Hereford, Darwen, Nelson, Plumstead and Woolwich, at each
   of which towns the production of steam is an important consideration.
   Cells have also been laid down at Burton, Hunstanton, Blackburn and
   Shipley, and more recently at Burnley, Cleckheaton, Lancaster,
   Nelson, Sheerness and Weymouth. In general arrangement the destructor
   differs considerably from those previously described. The grates are
   placed side by side without separation except by dead plates, but, in
   order to localize the forced draught, the ash-pit is divided into
   parts corresponding with the different grate areas. Each ash-pit is
   closed air-tight by a cast iron plate, and is provided with an
   air-tight door for removing the fine ash. Two patent Meldrum
   steam-jet blowers are provided for each furnace, supplying any
   required pressure of blast up to 6 in. water column, though that
   usually employed does not exceed 1½ in. The furnaces are designed for
   hand-feeding from the front, but hopper-feeding can be applied if
   desirable. The products of combustion either pass away from the back
   of each fire-grate into a common flue leading to boilers and the
   chimney-shaft, or are conveyed sideways over the various grates and a
   common fire-bridge to the boilers or chimney. The heat in the gases,
   after passing the boilers, is still further utilized to heat the air
   supplied to the furnaces, the gases being passed through an air
   heater or continuous regenerator consisting of a number of cast iron
   pipes from which the air is delivered through the Meldrum "blowers"
   at a temperature of about 300° F. That a high percentage (15 to
   18%) of CO_2 is obtained in the furnaces proves a small excess of
   free oxygen, and no doubt explains the high fuel efficiency obtained
   by this type of destructor. High-pressure boilers of ample capacity
   are provided for the accumulation during periods of light load of a
   reserve of steam, the storage being obtained by utilizing the
   difference between the highest and lowest water-levels and the
   difference between the maximum and working steam-pressure. Patent
   locking fire-bars, to prevent lifting when clinkering, are used in
   the furnace and have a good life. At Rochdale the Meldrum furnaces
   consume from 53 lb. to 66 lb. of refuse per square foot of grate
   area per hour, as compared with 22.4 lb. per square foot in a
   low-temperature destructor burning 6 tons per cell per 24 hours with
   a grate area of 25 sq. ft. The evaporative efficiency of the Rochdale
   furnaces varies from 1.39 lb. to 1.87 lb. of water (actual) per 1
   lb. of refuse burned, and an average steam-pressure of about 114
   lb. per square inch is maintained. The cost of labour and
   supervision amounts to 10d. per ton of refuse dealt with. A
   Lancashire boiler (22 ft. by 6 ft. 6 in.) at the Sewage Outfall
   Works, Hereford, evaporates with refuse fuel 2980 lb. of water per
   hour, equal to 149 indicated horse-power. About 54 lb. of refuse are
   burnt per square foot of grate area per hour with an evaporation of
   1.82 lb. of water per pound of refuse.

   [Illustration: FIG. 4.--Beaman and Deas Destructor at Leyton.]


   Beaman and Deas.

   The Beaman and Deas destructor[5] (fig. 4) has attracted much
   attention from public authorities, and successful installations are
   in operation at Warrington, Dewsbury, Leyton, Canterbury, Llandudno,
   Colne, Streatham, Rotherhithe, Wimbledon, Bolton and elsewhere. Its
   essential features include a level-fire grate with ordinary type
   bars, a high-temperature combustion chamber at the back of the cells,
   a closed ash-pit with forced draught, provision for the admission of
   a secondary air-supply at the fire-bridge, and a firebrick hearth
   sloping at an angle of about 52°. From the refuse storage platform
   the material is fed into a hopper mouth about 18 in. square, and
   slides down the firebrick hearth, supported by T-irons, to the grate
   bars, over which it is raked and spread with the assistance of long
   rods manipulated through clinkering doors placed at the sides of the
   cells. A secondary door in the rear of the cell facilitates the
   operation. The fire-bars, spaced only 3/32 in. apart, are of the
   ordinary stationary type. Vertically, under the fire-bridge, is an
   air-conduit, from the top of which lead air blast pipes 12 in. in
   diameter discharging into a hermetically closed ash-pit under the
   grate area. The air is supplied from fans (Schiele's patent) at a
   pressure of from 1½ to 2 in. of water, and is controlled by means of
   baffle valves worked by handles on either side of the furnace,
   conveniently placed for the attendant. The forced draught tends to
   keep the bars cool and lessen wear and tear. The fumes from the
   charge drying on the hearth pass through the fire and over the
   red-hot fire-bridge, which is perforated longitudinally with
   air-passages connected with a small flue leading from a grated
   opening on the face of the brickwork outside; in this way an
   auxiliary supply of heated oxygen is fed into the combustion chamber.
   This chamber, in which a temperature approaching 2000° F. is
   attained, is fitted with large iron doors, sliding with balance
   weights, which allow the introduction of infected articles, bad meat,
   &c., and also give access for the periodical removal of fine ash from
   the flues. The high temperatures attained are utilized by installing
   one boiler, preferably of the Babcock & Wilcox water-tube type, for
   each pair of cells, so that the gases, on their way from the
   combustion chamber to the main flue, pass three times between the
   boiler tubes. A secondary furnace is provided under the boiler for
   raising steam by coal, if required, when the cells are out of use.
   The grate area of each cell is 25 sq. ft., and the consumption varies
   from 16 up to 20 tons of refuse per cell per 24 hours. In a 24-hours'
   test made by the superintendent of the cleansing department, Leeds,
   at the Warrington installation, the quantity of water evaporated per
   pound of refuse was 1.14 lb., the average temperature in the
   combustion chamber 2000° F. by copper-wire test, and the average air
   pressure with forced draught 2½ in. (water-gauge). At Leyton, which
   has a population of over 100,000, an 8-cell plant of this type is
   successfully dealing with house refuse and filter press cakes of
   sewage sludge from the sewage disposal works adjoining, and even with
   material of this low calorific value the total steam-power produced
   is considerable. Each cell burns about 16 tons of the mixture in 24
   hours and develops about 35 indicated horse-power continuously, at an
   average steam-pressure in the boilers of 105 lb. The cost of labour
   at Leyton for burning the mixed refuse is about 1s. 7d. per ton; at
   Llandudno, where four cells were laid down in connexion with the
   electric-light station in 1898, it is 1s. 3¼d., and at Warrington
   9½d. per ton of refuse consumed. Combustion is complete, and the
   destructor may be installed in populous districts without nuisance to
   the inhabitants. Further patents (Wilkie's improvements) have been
   obtained by Meldrum Brothers (Manchester) in connexion with this
   destructor.


   Heenan.

   The Heenan furnaces are in operation at Farnworth, Gloucester,
   Barrow-in-Furness, Northampton, Mansfield, Wakefield, Blackburn,
   Levenshulme, Kings Norton, Worthing, Birmingham and other places, and
   are now dealing with over 1200 tons of refuse per day. The general
   arrangement of this destructor somewhat resembles that of the Meldrum
   type. The cells intercommunicate, and the mechanical mixture of the
   gases arising from the furnace grates of the various cells is sought
   by the introduction of a special design of reverberatory arch
   overlying the grates. The standard arrangement of this destructor
   embodies all modern arrangements for high-temperature refuse
   destruction and steam-power generation.


   Sterling.

   Destructors of the "Sterling" type, combined with electric-power
   generating stations, are installed at Hackney (1901), Bermondsey
   (1902) and Frederiksberg (1903)--the first-named plant being probably
   the most powerful combined destructor and electricity station yet
   erected. In these modern stations the recognized requirements of an
   up-to-date refuse-destruction plant have been well considered and
   good calorific results are also obtained.

   In addition to the above-described destructors, other forms have been
   introduced from time to time, but adopted to a less degree; amongst
   these may be mentioned Baker's destructor, Willshear's, Hanson's
   Utilizer, Mason's Gasifier, the Bennett-Phythian, Cracknell's
   (Melbourne, Victoria), Coltman's (Loughborough), Willoughby's, and
   Healey's improved destructors. On the continent of Europe systems for
   the treatment of refuse have also been devised. Among these may be
   mentioned those of M. Defosse and M. Helouis. The former has
   endeavoured to burn the refuse in large quantities by using a forced
   draught and only washing the smoke.[6] Helouis has extended the
   operation by using the heat from the combustion of the refuse for
   drying and distilling the material which is brought gradually on to
   the grate.


   Destructor accessories.

   Boulnois and Brodie's improved charging tank is a labour-saving
   apparatus consisting of a wrought iron truck, 5 ft. wide by 3 ft.
   deep, and of sufficient length to hold not less than 12 hours supply
   for the two cells which it serves. The truck, which moves along a
   pair of rails across the top of the destructor, may be worked by one
   man. It is divided into compartments holding a charge of refuse in
   each, and is provided with a pair of doors in the bottom, opening
   downwards, which are supported by a series of small wheels running on
   a central rail. A special feeding opening in the reverberatory arch
   of the cell of the width of the truck, situated over the drying
   hearth, is formed by a firebrick arch fitted into a frame capable of
   being moved backwards and forwards by means of a lever. The charging
   truck, when empty, is brought under the tipping platform, and the
   carts tip directly into it. When one of the cells has to be fed, the
   truck is moved along, so that one of the divisions is immediately
   over the feeding opening, and the wheel holding up the bottom doors
   rests upon the central rail, which is continued over the movable
   covering arch. Then the movable arch is rolled back, the doors are
   released, and the contents are discharged into the cell, so that no
   handling of the refuse is required from tipping to feeding. This
   apparatus is in operation at Liverpool, Shoreditch, Cambridge and
   elsewhere.

   Various forms of patent movable fire-bars have been employed in
   destructor furnaces. Among these may be mentioned Settle's,[7]
   Vicar's,[8] Riddle's rocking bars,[9] Horsfall's self-feeding
   apparatus,[10] and Healey's movable bars;[11] but complicated movable
   arrangements are not to be recommended, and experience greatly
   favours the use of a simple stationary type of fire-bar.

   [Illustration: FIG. 5.--Leyton Destructor. Block Plan, showing
   general arrangement of the Works.]

   A dust-catching apparatus has been designed and erected at Edinburgh,
   by the Horsfall Furnace Syndicate, in order to overcome difficulties
   in regard to the escape of flue dust, &c., from the destructor
   chimney. Externally, it appears a large circular block of brickwork,
   18 ft. in diameter and 13 ft. 7 in. high, connected with the main
   flue, and situated between the destructor cells and the boiler.
   Internally it consists of a spiral flue traversing the entire
   circumference and winding upwards to the top of the chamber. There is
   an interior well or chamber 6 ft. diameter by 12 ft. high, having a
   domed top, and communicating with the outer spiral flue by four ports
   at the top of the chamber. Dust traps, baffle walls and cleaning
   doors are also provided for the retention and subsequent weekly
   removal of the flue dust. The apparatus forms a large reservoir of
   heat maintained at a steady temperature of from 1500º to 1800° F.,
   and is useful in keeping up steam in the boiler at an equable
   pressure for a long period. It requires no attention, and has proved
   successful for its purpose.

   Travelling cranes for transporting refuse and feeding cells are
   sometimes employed at destructor stations, as, for example, at
   Hamburg. Here the transportation of the refuse is effected by means
   of specially constructed water-tight iron wagons, containing
   detachable boxes provided with two double-flap doors at the top for
   loading, and one flap-door at the back for unloading. There are
   thirty-six furnaces of the Horsfall type placed in two ranks, each
   arranged in three blocks of six in the large furnace hall. An
   electric crane running above each rank lifts the boxes off the wagons
   and carries them to the feeding-hole of each well. Here the box is
   tipped up by an electric pulley and emptied on to the furnace
   platform. When the travelling crane is used, the carts (four-wheeled)
   bringing the refuse may be constructed so that the body of the
   carriage can be taken off the wheels, lifted up and tipped direct
   over the furnace as required, and returned again to its frame. The
   adoption of the travelling crane admits of the reduction in size of
   the main building, as less platform space for unloading refuse carts
   is required; the inclined roadway may also be dispensed with. Where a
   destructor site will not admit of an inclined roadway and platform,
   the refuse may be discharged from the collecting carts into a lift;
   and thence elevated into the feeding-bins.

   Other accessory plant in use at most modern destructor stations
   includes machinery for the removal, crushing and various means of
   utilization of the residual clinker, stoking tools, air heaters or
   regenerators for the production of hot-air blast to the furnaces,
   superheaters and thermal storage arrangements for equalizing the
   output of power from the station during the 24-hours' day.


Working of destructors.

The general arrangement of a battery of refuse cells at a destructor
station is illustrated by fig. 5. The cells are arranged either side by
side, with a common main flue in the rear, or back to back with the main
flue placed in the centre and leading to a tall chimney-shaft. The
heated gases on leaving the cells pass through the combustion chamber
into the main flue, and thence go forward to the boilers, where their
heat is absorbed and utilized. Forced draught, or in many cases, hot
blast, is supplied from fans through a conduit commanding the whole of
the cells. An inclined roadway, of as easy gradient as circumstances
will admit, is provided for the conveyance of the refuse to the tipping
platform, from which it is fed through feed-holes into the furnaces. In
the installation of a destructor, the choice of suitable plant and the
general design of the works must be largely dependent upon local
requirements, and should be entrusted to an engineer experienced in
these matters. The following primary considerations, however, may be
enumerated as materially affecting the design of such works:--

   (a) The plant must be simple, easily worked without stoppages, and
   without mechanical complications upon which stokers may lay the blame
   for bad results. (b) It must be strong, must withstand variations of
   temperature, must not be liable to get out of order, and should admit
   of being readily repaired. (c) It must be such as can be easily
   understood by stokers or firemen of average intelligence, so that the
   continuous working of the plant may not be disorganized by change of
   workmen. (d) A sufficiently high temperature must be attained in the
   cells to reduce the refuse to an entirely innocuous clinker, and all
   fumes or gases should pass either through an adjoining red-hot cell
   or through a chamber whose temperature is maintained by the ordinary
   working of the destructor itself at a degree sufficient to exclude
   the possibility of the escape of any unconsumed gases, vapours or
   particles. The temperature may vary between 1500° and 2000°. (e) The
   plant must be so worked that while some of the cells are being
   recharged, others are at a glowing red heat, in order that a high
   temperature may be uniformly maintained. (f) The design of the
   furnaces must admit of clinkering and recharging being easily and
   quickly performed, the furnace doors being open for a minimum of time
   so as to obviate the inrush of cold air to lower the temperature ...

                          (_Continued in volume 8, slice 3, page 109._)


FOOTNOTES:

  [1] Patent No. 3125 (1876).

  [2] Patent No. 8271 (1891).

  [3] Patents No. 8999 (1887); No. 14,709 (1888); No. 22,531 (1891).

  [4] Patent No. 18,719 (1888).

  [5] Patents No. 15,598 (1893) and 23,712 (1893); also Beaman and
    Deas Sludge Furnace, Patent No. 13,029 (1894).

  [6] _Compte Rendu des Travaux de la Société des Ingénieurs Civils de
    France_, folio 775 (June 1897).

  [7] Patent No. 15,482 (1885).

  [8] Patents No. 1955 (1867) and No. 378 (1879).

  [9] Patent No. 4896 (1891).

  [10] Patent No. 20,207 (1892).

  [11] Patents No. 18,398 (1892) and No. 12,990 (1892).





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