being any algebraic quantities. See CALCULUS. DISTRICT (ML. districtus, territory wherein a lord may distrain, from Lat. distringere, to pull asunder). A political subdivision of a city, county, or State, which forms the basis of legislative representation. Its boundaries are fixed by law, either by the enactment of the legislature or by the adjudication of a court, to whom this power is delegated. The citizens thereof assemble within these boundaries and vote for local, State and National officials. In the United States the boundaries of the Congressional district in each State are determined by the State Legislature after the apportionment of representation has been made by Congress, following on every decennial census. The ratio of representation under the census of 1900 was 194,182, and the total number of Congressional districts 386. There is no definite principle laid down for the manner in which a State may be redistricted, and as a rule the party in power will, as far as possible, so distribute representation as to insure its continued supremacy. See GERRY

MANDER.

For the purposes of taxation, the term has a broader meaning, and the Supreme Court of the United States has decided that for the collection of taxes a district means any part of a State described for the purpose of assessment, without reference to the civil or political divisions of the State, made for election purposes. See Kelly vs. Sanders, 99 United States Reports, p. 441.

DISTRICT ATTORNEY. In the United States, the public prosecuting officer within a defined district. The Federal Government has one set of district attorneys, and each State has an entirely different set for the same territory, The former are appointed by the President, and are in reality deputies of the Attorney-General of the United States, to whom they are required to make report of their official acts, and to whose direction and control they are subject. They are appointed for the several districts into which the United States are divided for district courts (see article on COURT, subdivision United States Courts), and are charged with prosecuting offenses against the Federal Government, as well as with conducting civil actions on behalf of the Government, and in some cases on behalf of Government officers. As a rule their compensation comes from fees, and is not in the form of a stated salary.

In most of the States a State district attorney is elected in each county, although his most important duties, as a rule, are discharged in prosecuting criminals before the State courts. He is also the prosecuting officer before the county court of the county in which he is elected. He is subject at times to the control of the AttorneyGeneral of the State, and in New York is removable by the Governor. In certain contingencies he may call upon the State Attorney-General for assistance in important criminal prosecutions. His duties and powers are regulated under the provisions of the statutes in accordance with which he is appointed or elected. For these consult the Federal and State statutes.

DISTRICT COURT. A court having a jurisdiction limited to a defined judicial district. Several of the United States have divided their territory into judicial districts, but the court of the district is usually a branch or 'term' of the highest court of original jurisdiction of the State and not a separate tribunal.

THE DISTRICT COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES, however, are district tribunals subordinate to the circuit courts. Criminal bankruptcy and admiralty causes are important branches of their jurisdiction. Each of the nine judicial circuits (corresponding to the number of justices of the Supreme Court) is divided into a larger or smaller number of districts. In some instances a district embraces the whole territory of a State; in others, States are divided into two or more districts. In four instances a single judge serves two districts. With these exceptions, there is one judge for each district. In the Southern District of New York there are three judges, and five districts have two judges each. See COURT, subdivision United States Courts.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. A territory embracing 60 square miles, situated on the east bank of the Potomac River, between Maryland and Virginia (Map: Maryland, B 7). The surface is flat and marshy along the Potomac, but elsewhere gently rolling and hilly. The Anacostia River, or Eastern Branch (of the Potomac), crosses the southern portion, and Rock Creek, a stream abounding in picturesque scenery, traverses the northwestern part. The climate (mean temperature 55°) is subject to sudden and extreme variations of temperature. The rainfall is about 50 inches anof short duration. The soil is a light sandy loam. nually. Snow falls in the winter, but is generally Twenty-two per cent. of the area, or 8500 acres, is contained in farms. The nature of the agricultural industries is determined by the prox imity to Washington, and the products are chiefly largest acreage therefore consists of hay and those of the vegetable garden and the dairy. The pasture lands and gardens. Floriculture is of considerable importance, the annual returns from this source exceeding half a million dollars.

POPULATION. The population in 1800 (when bered 14,100; in 1850, 51,687; in 1860, 75,000; the area was one-half larger than at present) numin 1870, 131,700; in 1890, 230,400; in 1900, 278,700; in 1905 (est.), 302,883. There was in 1900 a very small foreign-born population (19,500), but the negro element is large (86,700). The mass of the population is centred in the city of Washington. The villages surrounding it bear the relation of suburbs to the city proper.

GOVERNMENT. The District of Columbia was governed directly by Congress until 1871, when it was placed under a regular Territorial government. A Governor and Secretary were appointed, a delegate was chosen to represent the Territory in Congress, while a legislature of 11 councilmen and 22 delegates was elected by the people annually. In 1874 the government was placed under the control of three commissioners appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. The citizens have no direct voice in the appointments to office within the District, having no vote in District or National affairs.

HISTORY. Originally the District of Columbia comprised land on both sides of the Potomac

land ceded by the States concerned on the condition that Congress or the United States should exercise exclusive control over it forever. Maryland ceded 64 square miles (including water), the whole of Washington County, and Virginia ceded 36 square miles, Alexandria County. In 1846, as no Government buildings had been erected on the Virginia side, Alexandria County was retroceded. Within the present District, probably on the site of Anacostia, stood the famous Indian village of Powhattan, Nacochtank, or Anacostan, which Captain Smith visited in 1608. In 1663 Francis Pope, an Englishman, established a plantation where Washington was afterwards built. To the site of Georgetown settlers came probably as early as 1665, and in 1751 a town was laid out here, which in 1789 was regularly incorporated. Immediately after the close of the Revolution there was much discussion about the location of the permanent seat of government, and, after the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, this question gave rise to the first debate which aroused bitter sectional feeling. Finally, on June 28, 1790, after the claims of New York, Philadelphia,, Germantown, Baltimore, and several other places had been fully considered, Congress decided that after 1800 the Federal capital should be moved to "a district or territory not exceeding 10 miles square on the River Potomac between the mouth of the Eastern Branch and Conogocheague." This decision was reached partly as the result of a compromise and partly in deference to the known wishes of Washington. See WASHINGTON. DISTRINGAS. The name of a writ or proc

ess in the nature of an attachment or execution, taken from the emphatic word of the writ directed to the sheriff-viz. "It is hereby commanded that you distrain" the defendant, etc. It was formerly issued in England for a variety of purposes, such as forcing a defendant who neglected to appear to present himself in court, or forcing a corporation to obey a subpoena, or compelling jurors to attend court, or a defendant in an action in detinue after judgment to deliver the goods to the plaintiff. The writ has been abolished in England, as well as in most of the United States, although in Virginia it is retained as a form of execution in cases of detinue. See EXECUTION.

DISTURBANCE. The common-law offense of violating an incorporeal property right, as an easement, a profit, or a public right in the land of another. As such rights do not carry with them the right of possession, but, as the technical expression is, 'lie in grant,' and not 'in livery,' they cannot usually be protected by the action of trespass, which contemplates an interference with the possession of a corporeal interest in land. But such rights, however impalpable, do really constitute property, and they will be protected by appropriate legal proceedings against a disturbance by the owner of the land or by any other person whatsoever. In a few cases, as where one has an exclusive right to the use of another's land as a sole and several pasturage such right being nearly equivalent to the right of possession of the premises-the action of trespass is available for its protection. In other cases the disturbance constitutes a nuisance, which may be abated either by the act of the party injured thereby, or by the action

DISUSE.

known as 'trespass on the case,' or, more shortly, 'case'; or, in a proper case, by an injunction in equity.

The forms of disturbance are various, depending upon the nature of the right involved. Thus a common of pasture may be disturbed by shutting or driving out the cattle of the claimant of the right, or by unlawfully permitting other cattle to crop the herbage. In the last case the claimant may take the cattle damage feasant and impound them. A franchise is disturbed by wrongfully taking the tolls accruing therefrom, or by setting up a competing use, as a bridge, ferry, or turnpike. For interference with an advowson or right of presentation to a benefice, known as disturbance of patronage, a special action was provided, known as writ of right of advowson. Disturbance of ways happens "where a person who hath a right of way over another's ground by grant or prescription is obstructed by inclosures or other obstacles, or by plowing across it, by which means be cannot enjoy his right of way, or at least in so commodious a manner as he might have done" (2 Bl. Com., 242). This is remediable by the act of the party injured, removing the obstacle, or by an action on the

case.

All of these forms of disturbance of private rights, together with the remedies appropriate to them, exist to-day, as at common law, without material alteration. The ancient wrong of disturbance of tenure, which consisted in breaking the feudal tie of lord and tenant, has become obsolete with the disappearance of the feudal system of land tenure. The disturbance of public rights, as of a highway or a public right of common or of fishing, may be either a private nuisance, remediable by the individual whose right is interfered with, or a public nuisance, or purpresture, remediable by the State. See EASEMENT; NUISANCE; PROFIT; TRESPASS, etc.; and consult the authorities referred to under EASE

MENT.

DISTURBANCE OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. A modern statutory offense, which has, in the United States, generally superseded the commondefined, it consists in any willful interference, by law offense of brawling in church. As generally acts or words, with the good order of persons assembled for religious worship, whether within a consecrated place of worship or elsewhere. The offense may be committed by a person present in the place of worship, or by noisy conduct on the outside, and to constitute such acts or conduct a disturbance, it is not necessary that the congregation assembled shall at the time be engaged in worship. It is sufficient if they are assembled for that purpose. The offense constitutes a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment. It is not such a violation of private rights as to furnish grounds for an action for damages, unless it be habitual or so persistent as to amount to a nuisance. In that case the remedy by action lies in the hands of the trustees or other officers in whom the possession of the place of worship is vested. See NUISANCE.

DISUSE. One of the negative, but yet impor tant, factors of evolution is disuse. Its significance was first pointed out by Lamarck in his first law of evolution, wherein he says that the constant lack of use of an organ "imperceptibly weakens it, causes it to become reduced, progressively diminishes its faculties, and ends in

its disappearance." An example he gives of the reduction and loss of organs or limbs is that of snakes, which by change of habit from originally running to gliding directly along the ground, have acquired greater length of body, while their legs, being thus disadvantageous to them, have disappeared by atrophy.

He also instances the loss by disuse of teeth in the baleen whales and in birds, and in the anteater, "whose habit of not masticating its food has been for a long time established and preserved in its race.' He calls attention to the small reduced fore legs of the kangaroo, which "have remained thin, very small, and weak," and especially to the whale, saying: "Indeed, since the enormous length of time during which these animals have lived in the depths of the sea, never using their hind feet in seizing objects, their disused feet have wholly disappeared, as also their skeleton, and even the pelvis serving as their attachment."

Lamarck taught that the effects of disuse are inherited, a doctrine maintained by Darwin, who remarks: "I think there can be no doubt that use in our domestic animals strengthens and enlarges certain parts, and disuse diminishes them; and that such modifications are inherited," adding that in free nature "many animals have structures which can be explained by the effects of disuse." See USE-INHERITANCE.

Darwin also calls attention to the absence in many male dung-beetles, including the Ateuchus or 'sacred' beetle of the Egyptians, of the anterior tarsi or feet, and this atrophy he thinks it safe to regard "as due to the effects of longcontinued disuse." The same may be said of the reduction and loss of the fore tarsi of butterflies of the family Nymphalidæ. For cases of the loss of eyesight, of eyes, and the optic nerves and lobes in animals living in darkness, see CAVE ANIMALS.

Cases of the modification of animals by disuse occur in nearly every group. Among the mollusks it is especially noticeable in those bivalves, such as the oyster, anomia, etc., which live attached to other bodies. The oyster was originally equivalve and capable of freely moving, but by disuse, owing to change in its ancestors to a fixed mode of life, it has lost its siphons, its foot, and the shells are of unequal size. It is so with the fresh-water mussel (Mülleria) of South America, which has acquired sedentary habits. It is the case in a still more marked way with the barnacles. Among insects there are countless instances of the reduction and partial or total loss of limbs in wood-borers, in the grubs of many beetles living in seeds, nuts, etc.; in the larvæ of gall-flies, of ants, wasps, bees, and in the larvae of the ichneumon-flies. If, as is very clearly the case with insects, we also attempt to explain the loss of limbs in the two-legged Bipes, Chirotes, or the entirely legless Amphisbæna and the glass-snake (Ophiosaurus), we shall see that it is evidently due to disuse and its inherited effects. Reasoning from this to the origin of the order of snakes, it becomes apparent that they have diverged from the lizards, and that Lamarck was right when he attributed their origin to such a cause, (See DEGENERATION.) The majority of snakes possess no trace of vestigial legs, the exception being the boas, in which there are two minute horn-like vestiges projecting from under the scales, and represent

ing the hinder pair of limbs. Disuse has also made its mark in the running birds, the emu, ostrich, and cassowary, where the wings have by disuse retrograded, and as a compensation the legs and particularly the toes have become adapted for a cursorial mode of locomotion. Other examples of disuse are the loss of the thumb in the thumbless ring-monkey (Colobus) of Africa, and the spider-monkey (Ateles) of Central and South America.

It is to be observed in these cases of the reduction and loss of digits that it is generally complete and thorough-going; there are no vestiges left as seen in the two-toed ostrich and the threetoed moa, apteryx, emu, and cassowary. The reduction is complete, and is probably due to the high antiquity of these birds. That this is the case is suggested by the presence of the two splint-bones of the horse, while the bones of the two other toes which began to be lost at an earlier geological age have entirely lapsed. the potto (Perodicticus), a lemur which has partly lost the index-finger, there is a distinct vestige left, the reduction having apparently taken place late in the phylogeny of this form.

In

In the case of the loss of wings in insects, of which there are so many cases, we have all grades of reduction. Some are completely apterous, with no vestiges of wings; in others there are little flaps left. The absence of wings in all these cases is clearly the result of change in the surroundings, or mode of life, as the wingless beetles, etc., which live under stones, or burrow in the ground.

A very interesting question here arises: Could these losses ever be restored? When we consider forms like the stick-insect, whose ancestors of the Carboniferous period had large, well-developed wings; or the flea, and the Braula, the sheep-tick (Melophagus) and the bat-tick (Nyeteribia), it seems impossible that they could be restored to their ancestral winged form, even if the attempt were made to do so artificially in a laboratory of experimental evolution. Other cases are the loss outright of the collar-bone in running mammals like the horse and most carnivora, of the canines in rodents, and all the teeth in the ant-eaters. It may be considered as contrary to the course of nature to suppose that these structures, once degenerated and lost, could ever be restored. See DEGENERATION.

Here arises a question: Are there examples of the replacement by entirely new structures of organs lapsed by disuse?

The clearest case is that of the duckbill of Australia. Poulton has shown that the embryo duckbill has for a brief season the rudiments of three teeth in each upper maxilla, but that these are very soon lost, while their place is occupied by the posterior set of the eight horny plates situated in the upper and lower jaws, two upon each side of each jaw. The calcified true teeth of Ornithorhynchus became, Poulton thinks, unsuited to the needs of the animal when it adopted a mode of life in which large quantities of sand were necessarily taken into the mouth with the food, when it first fed upon insect larvæ, etc., which it dug with its broad bill out of the mud and sand at the bottom of streams. "Under such circumstances two things might happen: the true teeth might be protected from the effects of wear by continuous growth from persistent pulps or by a continued succession; or a constantly grow

DISUSE.

ing horny plate might be developed from the oral epithelium, and might be substituted for the true teeth." See DUCKBILL, and illustration of teeth thereunder.

A less satisfactory example is that of the replacement of the horny teeth of the tadpole by the teeth of the frog or toad. But Nature as a rule gets her new organs by a more economical and rapid method, i.e. by change of function of the same organ, which, owing to a change of habit, loses its original use, and becomes modified to carry on entirely different functions. See FUNCTION-CHANGES.

DISVELLOPED, or DEVELOPED (from OF. desveloper, to unfold). In heraldry, a term applied to the colors of a regiment or noble house, when flying.

DITCH (ME. diche, AS. dic, dike, Icel. dik, MHG. tich, ditch, Ger. Teich, pool; connected ultimately with Gk. Teixos teichos, wall). (1) In agriculture, a trench made along the sides of fields, or following the contour of the land, to collect and remove the excess of water. A hedge is often planted, or a fence built, upon the bank formed by the earth thrown out of the trench, the two thus furnishing a barrier for stock. Sometimes a double ditch is made and the hedge or fence is placed between. In ordinary farm operations ditches are largely constructed by hand, but efficient ditching machines are found in the market. In modern practice open ditches have been largely superseded by underground tile drains, thus effecting a great saving of land and securing better drainage. In irrigated regions the open ditch is used to convey the water from the main canals to the 'laterals' which distribute it over the field. See DRAINAGE; IRRIGATION.

(2) In military fortifications, part of the defense works of a fortified place. See FORTIFICATION; REDOUBT.

DITHMARSCHEN, dêt'märsh-en, NORTH AND SOUTH (Norder and Süder Dithmarschen). The name given to the western portion of Holstein, Prussia, lying along the coast of the North Sea between the Eider and Elbe rivers. It has an area of about 500 square miles, lies very low, and is for the most part marshy. Dithmarschen was originally inhabited by Saxons, who were subjugated and Christianized by Charlemagne in 804. Subsequently a considerable Frisian element was introduced into the population. In the latter part of the Middle Ages and at the time of the Reformation Dithmarschen constituted a kind of peasant republic, with a complex organization and a well-developed system of local autonomy. The inhabitants distinguished themselves by the bravery with which they defended their liberty against their neighbors. At last in 1559 they succumbed to the arms of Holstein and Denmark. In 1866 Dithmarschen, along with the rest of Holstein, was incorporated in Prussia. The people still retain many of their ancient customs and privileges. Population, in 1895, 84,262; in 1900, 86,019. Consult: Volkmar, Geschichte des Landes Dithmarschen (Brunswick, 1851); Nitzsch, Das alte Dithmarschen (Kiel, 1862); Nehlsen, Dithmarscher Geschichte (Hamburg, 1894).

DITH'YRAM’BUS (Lat., from Gk. di paußos, dithyrambos, of uncertain etymology). A hymn sung in honor of the god Dionysus, accompanied

by music on the flute and a dance around the altar. The subject was originally the birth and life of Dionysus, but later other themes were chosen. Its development into artistic form took place at Corinth-according to another tradition at Naxos-and was attributed by the ancients to the mythical Arion. The hymn was sung by a chorus of fifty, generally dressed as satyrs, the companions of Dionysus. At Athens there were annual contests at the Greater Dionysia, Lesser Dionysia, Panathenæa, Thargelia, and Lenæa (see GREEK FESTIVALS), between dithyrambic choruses entered by the ten tribes. The prize in the earliest period was an ox, in the fifth century and later a tripod. Of the hymns of the dithyrambic writers only fragments are preserved.

DITTANY (OF. ditain, dictame, Lat. dictamnum, Gk. díkтaμvov, diktamnon, dittany, from Gk. Aikτn, Dikte, a mountain in Crete, where the plant grew in abundance), Dictamnus. A genus of plants of the order Rutaceæ. The common dittany, also called bastard dittany or fraxinella (Dictamnus albus), a native of sunny mountains and rocks and dry mountain forests of the south of Europe, especially in calcareous soils, is cultivated as a garden flower. It is a perennial, with stem 1% to 3 feet high, perfectly unbranched, bearing a few pinnated leaves, which have three to five pairs of leaflets and an odd one, and terminating in a beautiful erect raceme of ten to twenty flowers of a fine rose-color, with darker veins, more rarely white. When in flower, the plant diffuses a powerful fragrance from its numerous oil-glands, and during dry, hot weather exhales a quantity of volatile oil the sudden combustion of which makes a slight flash when ignited by a candle. The root is thick, white, and very bitter, and was formerly in high repute in medicine as a tonic stimulant. tany of Crete (Origanum dictamnus), used as a febrifuge, and the dittany of the United States (Cunila mariana), are very different plants belonging to the natural order Labiatæ. The latter is found upon dry hillsides from New York to Georgia, and westward to Arkansas. The plant has smooth, heart-shaped leaves, and clusters of small white or purplish flowers.

Dit

DITTENBERGER, dit'ten-běrk-er, WILHELM (1840-). A German philologist, born at Heidelberg. He studied at Jena and Göttingen, and in 1874 was appointed professor of classical philology at the University of Halle. His publications include: De Ephebis Atticis (1863); Inscriptiones Attica Etatis Romance (1878-82; vol. iii. of the Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum, published by the Berlin Academy); Sylloge Inscriptionum Græcarum (1883; 2d ed. 18981900); Corpus Inscriptionem Græcarum Græciæ Septentrionalis (1892); and Orientis Græci Inscriptiones Selectæ, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1903).

DITTERS, dit'ters (DITTERS VON DITTERSDORF), KARL (1739-99). An Austrian violinist and composer. He was born in Vienna and studied under König, Ziegler, Trani, and Bono. Much of his education was due to the interest in him of Prince Joseph of Hildburghausen, whose orchestra Ditters afterwards led. He was a brilliant violinist, and won wide success, the tour with Gluck (1761) establishing him firmly as a violin virtuoso. He was a prolific composer in almost every department of composition, but

little, if anything, of his work remains in use. He had the misfortune to have his undoubted gifts overshadowed by the brilliant genius of Mozart, and little has survived him other than the reputation of preceding Mozart in the realm of dramatic composition. His music is marked by correctness of style, fluency of expression, and beauty of melody. Few musicians of his day met with greater appreciation, had more honors conferred upon them, or held more honorable positions. He died at Castle Rothlhotta, near Neuhaus, in Bohemia. The best edition of his autobiography is that edited by Spazier (Leipzig, 1801).

DIT TON, HUMPHREY (1675-1715). An eminent English mathematician. He was for some years a dissenting clergyman, but through the influence of Sir Isaac Newton secured a professorship in the new mathematical school at Christ's Hospital, where he remained through life. He and Whiston devised a new method for determining longitude at sea, but it was rejected by the Board of Admiralty. Ditton's death has been attributed to his disappointment. He was the author of mathematical works, including: General Laws of Nature and Motion (1705); An Institution of Fluxions (1706; 2d ed. 1726).

DIU, dê-oo' (Gujarati, from Skt. dvipa, island, so called from the situation of the town). A seaport, situated at the eastern extremity of an island of the same name, off the south coast of Gujarat, India (Map: India, B 4). It is fortified, and has a tolerably safe harbor, with a general depth of three or four fathoms. The anchorage, however, is gradually becoming shallower. The place has been in possession of the Portuguese since 1535; from its detached and isolated position its trade is of little consequence. The area of the island is about 2 square miles. Population, in 1894, 13,206.

DIURETICS (Lat. diureticus, from Gk. Sloupnikos, diouretikos, promoting urine, from Stovρeiv, diourein, to urinate, from diá, dia, throughoupeîv, ourein, to urinate, from oupov, ouron, urine). Medicines having the property of increasing the secretion of urine. They are of several classes: (1) Vascular or cardiac diuretics, which act by increasing arterial tension or the bloodsupply of the kidneys. These include all cardiac stimulants, important representatives being dig. italis, caffeine, theobromine, diuretin, convallaria, scoparius, sparteine, apocynin, squill, and strophanthus. (2) Refrigerant diuretics include the salts of sodium and potassium, particularly the acetate, citrate, and bitartrate of potassium. (3) Stimulant diuretics, or blenorrhetics, are those which have a direct stimulating action upon the genito-urinary tract; such as juniper, turpentine, copaiba, cubebs, oil of sandalwood, buchu, and cantharides. Some of these are extremely irritating, and must be used very cautiously. (4) Water is a most important diuretic, increasing the amount of fluid in the blood. Diuretics are used in conditions in which the quantity of urine is diminished: to aid the absorption of fluid in dropsy or collections of fluid in the body cavities, whether the result of inflammation, such as pleurisy, or of imperfect action of the heart, kidneys, etc.; to aid in the elimination of poisons; and to dilute the urine so as to make it less irritating in inflammations of the genito-urinary tract, or to prevent the

formation of calculi, or stones, in the kidneys or bladder. Many of the diuretics mentioned are described in separate articles. Some diaphoretics, such as pilocarpine, at times act as diuretics. The action of diuretics as a class is very uncertain, depending largely upon the individual, and varying in the same person under different conditions.

DIʼUREʼTIN (from Gk. dɩoupeîv, diourein, to urinate), or SODIO-SALICYLATE OF THEOBROMINE, C,H,NaÑ,0, + NaC,H,O,. A valuable diuretic, especially in cases of dropsy of cardiac origin; but, like all drugs of its class, very uncertain in action. It is a pure diuretic, acting by directly stimulating the cells of the kindey. It occurs as a white powder which is freely soluble in warm water, and remains dissolved after cooling. See SALICYLIC ACID.

DIURNAL MOTION (Lat. diurnalis, daily, from diurnus, daily, from dies, day). The ap: parent daily motion of a heavenly body caused by the rotation of the earth on its axis. AXIS; EARTH; PLANETS.

See

DIVAN, di văn. A Persian word, having various significations, being used in the sense of a muster-roll, a register of payments or accounts, or a place for the preservation of a register; and it is also applied to a collection of poems or songs by one and the same author. Goethe uses it in this sense in his Westöstliche Divan. Divan means next an administrative board; the highest council of state at Constantinople is called Divani humayun ('most illustrious divan'). Finally, 'divan' is the name for the state or reception room in Oriental palaces. Along the walls of the room are ranged low couches, covered with rich carpets, and provided with cushions. Hence the name divan is used for a kind of couch or sofa.

DIVER. The name of several water-birds, especially loons and grebes, remarkable for quick diving-in some cases so quick as to dive at the flash of a gun and escape the shot. The whole order (Pygopodes) to which these birds belong is often spoken of as 'divers.' See LooN.

DIVER, THE. A poem by Schiller (q.v.). DIVERTIMENTO, Ital. pron. dê-vâr'tê-mân’to (It., diversion). (1) A term originally applied to the dances interpolated between the scenes of the older French opera. (2) A composition somewhat like the modern suite (q.v.). It consists generally of five or six movements in free style, but the music is always of a simple character. (3) An entr'acte in an opera. (4) An episode in a fugue.

DIVES, di'vēz (Lat., rich). A word sometimes used as if it were a proper name for the rich man in the story of Lazarus in Luke xvi., there being no name given to him in the Gospel. DIVIDE (Lat. dividere, to divide). physical geography, the crest line between the The term is slopes of two drainage systems. used, mostly in the United States, synonymously with watershed.

In

DIVIDEND (Lat. dividendus, to be divided, from dividere, to divide). A fund, made up of principal or profits, set apart for distribution among a number of persons ratably entitled thereto; also the portion or share of each person so entitled. In practice the term is not