DEE.

the sea, in the neighborhood of Ben Macdhui (Map: Scotland, F 2). After flowing 12 miles south-southeast, it is joined by the Geauley, 1294 feet above sea-level, tumbles through a narrow chasm, called the Linn of Dee, runs east-northeast through Aberdeenshire and a small part of Kincardineshire, and ends in the North Sea at the harbor of Aberdeen. In its course of 90 miles, it receives the Lui, Muick, Feugh, etc. On its banks is Balmoral Castle. The smaller Dee rises near the northern boundary of Kirkcudbright shire (Map: Scotland, D 5). For the first forty miles, it flows southeasterly, then westerly, fall ing into the Solway Firth at Kirkcudbright Bay. It is about 50 miles long and navigable for the last seven miles. The Dee is noted for its salmon, which are superior in hue and size to those of most rivers in the south of Scotland.

DEE, JOHN (1527-1608). An English astrologer and mathematician. He was educated at Cambridge, lived for some time at the University of Louvain, and went to Paris in 1550, where, at the College of Rheims, he lectured on the Elements of Euclid with great success. In 1551 he returned to England, was introduced to Edward VI., and was pensioned; but during the next reign he was falsely accused of attempting Queen Mary's life, and came very near being executed. Queen Elizabeth received him kindly and promised him an appointment. This promise was not fulfilled, and Dee again set out for the Continent in 1564, ostensibly for the purpose of presenting to Emperor Maximilian a book which he had previously dedicated to him. Lilly, however, in his Memoirs, affirms that he acted as Queen Elizabeth's 'intelligencer' or spy. In 1594 he was made chancellor of Saint Paul's Cathedral, and in the next year warden of Manchester College. He died very poor. Dee's writings, mostly on the occult sciences, were published in London

in 1659.

re

DEED (an act, Lat. factum, something done). A written instrument, sealed and delivered, whereby a legal right is created or transferred. Though the term is popularly employed only in connection with instruments for the conveyance of land, it is not, in the legal sense, thus stricted, being equally applicable to a considerable variety of other legal transactions effected by the same solemn form. A contract, an appointment to office, the surrender of a right of action, may be effected by deed, as well as the transfer of title to land or goods. In other words, it is not the event, or transaction, but the manner in which it is performed, which constitutes the deed. So, too, it is in a popular, rather than a strictly legal sense, that a sealed writing, in and by itself considered, is described as a deed. Until delivered to the party who is to have the benefit of it, it is still a mere writing, an escrow (écrit, scriptum), an inchoate deed. The perfected deed is compounded of three distinet things-the writing, the act of sealing, and the act of delivery.

The superior validity of a transaction effected by deed, as compared with one consummated by spoken words or by ordinary writings, is a matter of history. Blackstone declares that a deed derives its name (deed, factum) from the circumstance that "it is the most solemn and authentic act that a man can possibly perform with relation to the disposal of his property; and therefore a man shall always be estopped by

his own deed, or not permitted to aver or prove anything in contradiction to what he has once so solemnly and deliberately avowed" (2 Bl. Com. 295). In fact, the deed is the one form in which the formal or ceremonial mode of incurring an obligation or transferring a legal right survives among us, corresponding in that respect to the mancipatio and the stipulatio of the Roman law, the latter of which still appears in the usual ceremony of marriage. Recent investigations into early legal procedure show conclusively that in primitive society a peculiar importance and validity attaches to legal transactions of the formal sort, and, though the tendency of advanc ing civilization is to reduce or eliminate the distinction betwen formal and informal obligations, this has never been completely accomplished. The conclusive effect of a deed is probably due to the fact that it originated at a time when writing was a rare accomplishment, confined to those who had taken holy orders, and that its character, as a solemn form of engagement, had become established before the art of writing became more general. Its superior validity still consists in the fact mentioned by Blackstone, in the passage quoted above, that he who makes a deed is conclusively bound by the statements which it contains, and that, in contracts and other transactions which ordinarily require a consideration to support them, no consideration is necessary if the transaction be consummated by deed. Technically, a contract in the form of a deed is known as a specialty.

Deeds are of two kinds, deeds poll and indentures the former being of only one part, i. e. binding only one person or group of persons, in the same way and to the same effect; and the latter having two or more parties, who become bound to one another. Thus, the ordinary deed of conveyance, whereby A, or A and B, convey land to C, the latter entering into no engagement with reference to the transaction, and the grantor or grantors, only, executing it, is a deed poll; whereas, articles of association or of partnership, or any other bilateral contract, under seal, whereby several parties become mutually bound to one another, is an indenture. The names are derived from the circumstance that deeds of the latter sort were formerly written in duplicate, etc., on the same piece of parchment, which was then cut so as to separate them by an indented and irregular line, whereby their identity could afterwards be established. deed poll, on the other hand, only one copy being required, was polled, i. e. shaved or cut off smooth. This difference in the form of deeds having disappeared, the term indenture is often carelessly employed in deeds which are really deeds poll. The distinction between them has not, however, been obliterated by their assimilation in form, and a deed purporting to bind only one party, or, whatever it may purport, executed by only one, is still a deed poll and binds only the giver thereof and not the person to whom it is delivered.

The

Deeds have from an early period been employed for the transfer of certain interests in land, but their general and almost exclusive use for this purpose is quite modern. Formerly, at common law, freehold interests in land were created or conveyed by the formal ceremony known as livery of seizin, while all estates less than freehold were subject to alienation by parol,

deeds being required only to convey the class of interests known as incorporeal, such as easements, profits, future interests in land, and the like. But deeds have now, under the technical description of grants, almost entirely superseded other modes of conveyance of interests in land. Only estates for years or tenancies at will are still capable of arising by parol or by writing not under seal, and in England even leaseholds, for three years and upward, can be created or transferred only by deed. In Great Britain and most of the United States, the general use of deeds for purposes of conveyance is a matter of regulation by statute.

In form, however, the deed remains substantially the same as at common law. The writing must still be on paper or parchment, though it may to-day be done by the typewriting machine or the printing-press. The old requirement of a seal is also generally adhered to, though in a few of the Western States it has been abolished, and in most others a scroll, or similar mark made with the pen, may be substituted for the more usual wafer or sealing-wax. But, whatever its form, the important thing is not the adhesion to the paper of something called a seal, but the sealing of the instrument by the party to be bound by it. It must be his own act and seal.' At the present time, also, it is generally considered that the instrument must contain the

name of the maker in his own handwriting, although prior to the Statute of Frauds, in 1648, signing was not necessary to the validity of deeds, and it is not clear that the statute contemplated any addition to the formalities with which they were already surrounded.

Delivery is properly accomplished by the obligated party handing over the sealed writing in person to the party to be benefited thereby. Either party may, however, be represented by an agent, and a delivery to an unauthorized third person is good if subsequently ratified by the benefited party. Indeed, it has been held that any unequivocal act on the part of the obligated party, showing an intention to vest the possession of the document in the benefited party, is sufficient to constitute a delivery, even without a manual transfer of possession to any one-as where the former, at or after the time of sealing, utters the words, I deliver this as my act and deed,' or where he incloses the sealed writing in an envelope, addressed to the benefited party, though retaining it in his own possession. There is some conflict of authority, however, as to whether a delivery of the latter sort, or to a third person, which, in fact, never comes to the knowledge of the party intended to be benefited, will be sustained by the courts. There may also be a conditional delivery, which is made to a third person, as an escrow,' or mere writing, to be delivered over to the benefited party on the performance of some act or the happening of

some event. An escrow does not take effect as a

deed until the delivery over, when it takes effect, by relation back, as of the time of its first delivery. See ESCROW, and the titles of the vari cus kinds of deeds, as COVENANT; GRANT; LEASE AND RELEASE. Consult: Coke on Littleton; Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of Eng. land: Kent, Commentaries on American Law; Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law (2d ed., Cambridge and Boston, 1899); Holmes,

The Common Law (Boston, 1881); and the authorities referred to under REAL PROPERTY.

An

DEEMS, CHARLES FORCE (1820-93). American clergyman. He was born in Baltimore, graduated at Dickinson College in 1839, and was for some time agent in North Carolina for the American Bible Society. He was professor of logic and rhetoric in the University of North Carolina from 1842 to 1845, and held the chair of natural sciences in Randolph Macon College (Ashland, Va.) from 1845 to 1846. He then became a Methodist preacher at New Berne, and for five years was principal of the Greensboro Female College. In 1865 he went to New York, where he helped found the Church of the Stranger (undenominational), of which he became pastor. In 1881 he founded the American Institute of Chris

tian Philosophy. Among his many publications are: Life of Dr. Adam Clarke (1840); The Home Altar (1850); Annals of Southern Methodism (1856); Life of Jesus (1872); A Scotch Verdict in Evolution (1886); The Light of the Nations (1886); The Gospel of Common Sense as Contained in the Canonical Epistle of James (1889); Chips and Chunks for Every Fireside; and Wit, Wisdom, and Pathos (1890); The Gospel of Spiritual Insight, and Studies in the Gospel of John (1891). Consult his Autobiography (New York, 1897).

The

dom, doom, judgment, as in Domesday Book; DEEM'STER, DEMPSTER, or DOOMSTER (AS. hence doomster or deemster, a judge). name of an officer formerly attached to the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland, who pronounced the doom or sentence of condemned persons. The office was held along with that of executioner. At the conclusion of a trial, this dread official was produced in open court, in presence of the wretched criminal, as is graphically described by Scott in his tale of Old Mortality. See notes to that work, and also notes to Heart of Midlothian. The office of deemster has been long abolished. In the Isle of Man and Jersey deemsters are judges, the office as well as the title be ing of great antiquity and dignity. The highest judicial authority in the Isle of Man is divided between two deemsters, one for the northern and the other for the southern half of the island.

DEEP RIVER. A river rising in Guilford County, N. C. (Map: North Carolina, C 2). It flows southeast and then east, and, joining the Haw River (q.v.) in Chatham County, forms the Cape Fear River (q.v.). About 120 miles long, the stream drains an area of 1350 square miles. Extensive coal and copper deposits are found in its valley. it furnishes extensive water-power at Lockville, and is navigable to Carbonton.

DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION. The depths of the sea have been explored with precision only during comparatively recent years. Deep-sea investigations began in the necessity for accurate soundings for submarine cables, and this is still the main reason for sounding, but much more has been accomplished in this field by dredging for purely scientific purposes.

The most important part of our knowledge of deep-sea conditions has been gained since 1870. The Challenger expedition sent out by the British Government from 1873 to 1876 (see CHALLENGER) engaged in pelagic investigations for nearly four years, sounding and dredging in the oceanic basins at more than 350 different places.

This

DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION.

vessel was well equipped, and carried a scientific staff under the direction of Sir Wyville Thomson. A great amount of deep-sea work was accomplished, and the large series of Reports form the most important contribution ever made to the literature of this subject. Other extensive deep-sea investigations have been conducted at various times by most of the European governments, while vessels of the United States Coast Survey, or of the Fish Commission, have been engaged in them more or less regularly since 1870. The Prince of Monaco has made very important contributions to this department of knowledge, as he has for many years employed his yachts almost entirely in deep-sea work, and has devoted much time to the improvement of the appliances for investigation.

The methods employed by the earlier investigators for measuring the depths were slow and uncertain, for their soundings were made with hemp rope, which was greatly drifted by currents and gave inaccurate depths. The soundings and dredgings conducted on the Challenger were so made, and often under great difficulties. At the present time such investigations are made by means of wire, the first successful employment of which was by Sir William Thomson in 1872. Wire sinks rapidly, presents the least frictional surface, and is but little affected by currents; and the machinery is now so perfect that sound ings may be made with accuracy in the greatest depths. The improved methods show that the early soundings by the Herald, Congress, and other vessels with rope, supposed to have reached over 7000 fathoms, were erroneous, and that there are probably no such depths in the ocean.

The greatest depth known was discovered by the United States cable-survey ship Nero in 1900, near the Island of Guam, where a sounding was made of 5269 fathoms, or nearly six statute miles, a depth sufficient to submerge the highest mountains. It is probable that future soundings will reveal slightly greater depths. For four years prior to the voyage of the Nero the deepest water known was north of New Zealand, where the British ship Penguin sounded in 5155 fathoms. Off the coast of Japan, in 1874, the United States ship Tuscarora found a depth of 4655 fathoms; and in 1900 the United States Fish Commission steamship Albatross made a sounding in the western Pacific of 4813 fathoms. Many great depths have been discovered in the Atlantic, the deepest (4561 fathoms) off Porto Rico, by the United States Coast Survey steamer Blake. More than forty "deeps," or depressions ranging from 3000 to 5200 fathoms, are now known, some of them mere holes, others of vast extent. The deeps are well distributed over the seas, but none have been found north of the fifty-fifth degree of latitude. The average depth of the sea is probably not less than 2200 fathoms.

METHOD OF SOUNDING. In the operation of sounding several instruments are sent down with the wire. A thermometer takes the temperature at the bottom; a closing cylinder brings up a specimen of the bottom water for analysis, and the sounding cylinder at the end of the line brings up a specimen of the bottom mud or ooze, for examination as to the character of the bottom. These instruments are all self-acting at the bottom and are not affected in rising to the

surface.

To the sounding cylinder is attached the sinker

VOL. VI.-5.

69

59

DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION.

--a 60-pound iron shot-which detaches itself on striking the bottom. An indicator attached to

the reel on deck shows the number of fathoms of wire that have run out. After sounding the wire is reeled in by steam. It takes about one hour to make a sounding three miles deep and get the instruments back on board.

DEEP-SEA DREDGING. The methods employed on board the United States Fish Commission steamship Albatross, doubtless the best-equipped deep-sea dredger in existence, may be taken as illustrative. The Albatross has brought together larger deep-sea collections than have been made on any other vessel. She has made nearly 6000 hydrographic soundings, and nearly 2000 hauls of the dredge or beam trawl. The investigations of this vessel cover areas extending from the Banks of Newfoundland along both coasts of North and South America to Bering Sea, and also limited areas in the tropical Pacific, and in the regions between Japan and Kamchatka. Her work has carried dredging into deeper waters than ever before, animal life having been obtained near the Tonga Islands at a depth of 4173 fathoms, while the dredge on one occasion in Bering Sea brought up from a depth of 1771 fathoms more than 800 deep-sea fishes at a single haul.

The creatures of the deep sea are brought up by means of a dredge or beam trawl towed by a wire rope, operated by a powerful engine on deck. The first operation in dredging is to ascertain the depth by sounding, after which the trawl is put overboard and allowed to sink to the bottom as the dredge rope is let out. The dredge, or beam trawl, is simply an iron frame to which is at tached a strong bag-shaped net about 20 feet long. The mouth of the dredge, as formed by the iron frame, is about eleven feet wide and two feet high. Dragged along the bottom, it quickly fills with animals. Sometimes it settles into mud or ooze and is very hard to lift. The dredge rope is connected with a large spring, or accumulator, attached to the foremast, which often shows the dredge to be pulling thousands of pounds. Before the dredge reaches the surface, most of the oozy mud washes away, so that the dredge haul is usually light enough to be hoisted from the water and landed on deck with safety. Sometimes it is filled with fishes; sometimes with sea-urchins, starfishes, crinoids or corals: sometimes with squids and devil-fish. It often brings up a varied collection, in which many classes of marine animals are represented. The time required by the Albatross in making her deepest dredge haul-that from 4173 fathomswas ten hours, the engine reeling in the great weight of line very slowly. In depths of 1000 to 1500 fathoms hauls can be made in three or four hours, according to conditions.

In addition to the dredge, another collecting machine, very useful on rough bottom, is the 'tangle.' This consists of bunches of shredded rope attached to iron bars, and when dragged over the bottom it frequently brings up seaurchins, starfish, and crinoids in abundance. A deep-sea fish-trap has been devised by the Prince of Monaco, in which fishes have been taken as deep as two miles. The Albatross, in 1897, suceeeded in setting ordinary gill-nets a mile deep, and catching Macrurus and other deep-water fishes. Deep-water exploration by means of gill nets, traps, and trawl lines promises to yield interesting results.

DEEP-SEA LIFE. The surface of the sea nearly everywhere bears an abundance of minute animal and plant life. In this surface life, or 'plankton,' as it is called collectively, many groups of invertebrates are represented. The phosphorescence often seen upon the surface of the sea is due entirely to their presence. These almost microscopic creatures are constantly dying and falling to the bottom. They constitute the principal food of the smaller animals dwelling there, and their remains form a large part of the deep-sea oozes. The most important forms among them, considered with reference to abysmal deposits, are the Globigerinidæ and the radiolarians, which are enormously abundant.

The marine deposits on the ocean floor are generally referred to three groups: Those of the continental slopes are called Terrigenous Deposits, derived from the land through the wearing action of rivers, tides, and currents. These coastwise deposits are the blue, green, coral, or volcanic muds, and are characteristic of the adjacent land slopes from which they are derived. Farther off shore, generally about 200 miles, occur the Pelagic Deposits, made up of dead marine organisms from the surface-the minute surface life already referred to: Here we find oozes, such as diatom, radiolarian, or globerina oozes which depend respectively upon the character of the surface life prevailing above them. Beyond these, in the deeper parts of the ocean, are the Red Clay Deposits, which cover about half the ocean floor. This region is not affected by matter from the land, and receives little pelagic matter from the surface. It lies so deep that the shells of surface organisms falling down are removed through the solvent action of the deep water. The red clay is believed to have formed very slowly, not more than a few feet of matter having accumulated since the Tertiary period.

INTERMEDIATE DEPTHS. The question as to the existence of life at intermediate depths has been given general reconsideration since the perfecting of closing tow-nets for the exploration of such depths. The experience gained with the various intermediate nets used on board the Albatross has shown no mingling of surface and bottom forms. The latter occur, of course, at all depths along the Continental slopes. See DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS.

From the evidence now at hand with respect to light in the sea, it seems certain that the sunlight does not extend below a couple of hundred fathoms, and even there becomes very dim. Below this the vast body of the ocean is absolutely dark, being illuminated only where phosphorescent creatures may shed a certain amount of steady or intermittent radiance (see below).

CONDITIONS AND LIFE AT GREAT DEPTHS. It is always cold at the bottom of the sea, the influence of the warm surface waters not extending below a few hundred feet. In the great depths the temperature is always close to the freezing point. In warm equatorial seas, where the depths exceed 400 fathoms the difference between surface and bottom temperatures usually ranges from 40° to 49° F. It has been found that from 100 fathoms down, or throughout the waters beyond the influence of the sun, temperatures remain practically constant. At the surface of the sea the lines of equal temperatures are parallel with the equator, although subject to deflections by currents, while at the bottom they follow the

general trend of the continents. The cold water of the depths comes from regions far to the north and south of the tropics, the coldness being due to the water in polar or subpolar regions sinking and gradually spreading itself over the ocean floor. If for any reason the cold polar waters should cease to flow downward toward the deep tropical basins, the deep-sea water would rise in temperature, and deep-sea life would perish from lack of the air which the polar currents absorb at the surface and carry down with them. So far as is known, the bottom currents are extremely slow, and, as the water is not affected by storms, it is likely that the lower part of the deep sea is a place of calm repose.

There is a tremendous pressure of water in the depths; so great, in fact, that it will crush all objects that are not constructed to resist it. All deep-sea instruments are made to withstand a pressure increasing about a ton to the square inch with each 1000 fathoms of depth. At the greatest depth known there would, therefore, be a pressure of nearly six tons to each square inch of surface. The tissues of deep-sea animals are so permeated by fluids, however, that a balance is maintained, and at the bottom they may be as firm as animals of the shallow waters. Most of these creatures are so soft that when withdrawn from the pressure which keeps them in a firm condition at the bottom and brought to the surface, they must be treated carefully to prevent their going to pieces. The bones of abysmal fishes are especially cartilaginous. When deepsea creatures are dragged to the surface from deep water they are always dead, and doubtless die during an early stage of their upward jour

ney.

PHOSPHORESCENCE AND COLOR. It has been mentioned that no light reaches the abyssal regions, which are absolutely dark so far as sunlight is concerned; hence plant life is unknown there, and all the animals of the depths are carnivorous.

Deep-sea dredging, however, has brought up so many phosphorescent animals that there can be little doubt of considerable phosphorescent light in the depths. The amount of such light given off at the surface is no measure of that produced under normal conditions at the bottom. Phosphorescent organs take many forms in the depths, and occur in both fishes and invertebrates.

The colors of deep-sea animals are usually as brilliant as those of animals living under the influence of light, although not so varied. The reds, yellows, purples, and greens predominate, and the colors, when they occur at all, are apt to be in solid masses, in striking contrast, or the whole animal is of a uniform brilliant coloration. There is a conspicuous absence of blue. The fishes, as a rule, are dark-colored, but many of the crustaceans, holothurians, and starfish are brilliant.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE.

1. Method and theory of deep-sea dredging, as practiced on the U. S. S. Albatross. 2. The deep-sea dredge and its derrick. 3. Gathering the surface life, by hand nets, and

by a towing net rigged to the port boom. 4. The tangles, showing its rigging. 5. The Townsend intermediate net, open and closed. Having been sunk to the depth desired, it is towed for a time and then a sliding weight is allowed to run down the line; striking the ring which holds upright the iron arm hooked to the tow-rope, it dislodges the ring and releases the arm, which falls, permitting a weight be

neath it to slide down and pinch together the folding rim

of the netting bag, which may then be drawn up without loss of contents.