Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/324

LEFT DATISCACE^ 272 DAUDET 38.51; boric acid, 19.34-22.40; lime, 34.68-35-67; water, 4.60-8.63. DATISCACE.ffi, datiscads, an order of diclinous exogens, alliance Cucurbitales. The species are either branched herbs or trees of some size. Lindley enumerated three genera, and estimated the known species at four. They are scattered over North America, Asia, and the S. E. of Europe. DATURA (da-tu'ra), a genus of solanacese, tribe Datureae. The calyx and corolla are infundibulate, the latter much the larger of the two, both five- lobed; capsule four-celled. D. stramo- nium is the thorn apple, better known in this country as the Jamestown weed, the name arising from a poisoning among the Virginian settlers by its use. It is found on dung-hills, in waste places, etc. When taken internally it is a powerful narcotic; medically it is used in mania, convulsions, epilepsy, ticdoloureux, etc. When smoked it palliates the symptoms i^ asthma. D. tatula and metel are similarly used. The seeds of these two latter species are said to have been used to produce the frenzied ravings of the priests in the Delphic and some other temples. The Peruvians use for the same' purpose D. sanguinea^ and they also manufacture from it an mtoxicating beverage. D'AUBIGNE (do-ben-ya) THEO- DOBE AGRIPPA, a French scholar; born near Pons, in Saintonge, Feb. 8, 1552, of a noble family, he early entered the military profession, and distinguished himself by his services to the Huguenot cause. He was subsequently rewarded bjr Henry IV., who made him Vice-Ad- miral of Guienne and Brittany. His severe and inflexible character fre- quently embroiled him with the court; and after Henry's assassination (1610), he betook himself to Geneva, where he spent the remainder of his life in liter- ary studies. His best known work is a "Universal History." He died April 29, 1630. DAUBIGNY, CHARLES FRANCOIS (do-ben-ye'), a French landscape painter and etcher; born in Paris, in 1817; studied under his father, who was a miniature painter, Paul Delaroche, and others; and from 1838 exhibited in the Salon, though his full recognition only came after he was 50. He devoted him- self to close and sympathetic study from nature, working much on the Seine in a houseboat. In 1853 he gained a first- class medal with his "Pool of Gylien." In 1857 he produced his "Springtime"; in 1861, "The Banks of the Oise"; in 1872; "Windmills at Dordrecht"; and in 1877, "Rising Moon." His "Sluices in the Valley of Optevos" (1855) and his "Vintage" (1863) are in the Luxem- bourg Gallery. He is also known as a book-illustrator and as a vigorous etcher. He died in Paris, Feb. 19, 1878. DAUDET, ALPHONSE (do-da'), a French novelist; born in Nimes, May 13, 1840. He sought fortune in Paris in 1857; two booklets of poems were fail- ures; two plays — "The Last Idol" (1862) and "The White Daisy" (1865) — had more success. His charming little stories, "The Little Thing" (1868) ; "Letters from My Mill" (1869) ; "Mon- day Tales" (1873), established his repu- tation; and his next novel — "Fremont Jr. and Risler Sr." (1874) — was trans- ALPHONSE DAUDET lated into all the European languages. Not less celebrated are: "The Nabob" (1878); "Kings in Exile" (1880); '^Numa Roumestan" (1882) ; "Sappho" (1884). He struck a humorous vein in the "Tartarin" series: "Prodigious Ad- ventures of Tartarin"; "Tartarin in the Alps"; "Port Tarascon." He wrote two volumes of reminiscences. "Thirty Years of Paris" (1888), and "Recollections of a Man of Letters" (1889). He died in Paris, Dec. 16, 1897. DAUDET, ERNEST, a French novel- ist; brother of Alphonse Daudet; bom in Nimes, May 31, 1837. His most not- able novels are: "The Venus of Gordes"; "The Bloom of Sin"; "Martha." He is author of an autobiographical sketch, "My Brother and Myself" (1882); and