Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/418

LEFT DIGIT 364 DIKE Within the small intestines most of the food undigested by the stomach is ren- dered fit for absorption. This takes place through the issue of the mucous membrane; much of the sugar and pep- tones find their way into capillary blood- vessels. Absorbed pi'oducts and notably fat globules, pass into the lactea^s, and thence into the blood, circulating through the veins at the root of the neck. DIGIT (a finger), a term applied to the 10 symbols of number, 0, 1, 2, etc., to 9; thus 305 is said to be a number of three digits. Numbers v^ere originally indicated by the fingers, and hence the name. Astronomers use digit to signify a twelfth-part of the diameter of the sun or moon, and speak of an eclipse of seven digits, meaning that seven-twelfths of the diameter is covered. See Notation. DIGITALIN, CssHo^Oh, a glucoside found in the leaves of Digitalis purpurea (foxglove). It occurs as a white, amor- phous powder, or in granular masses, almost insoluble in cold water, readily soluble in alcohol. Used in medicine as a heart stimulant, and in Bright's dis- ease. It is claimed that the drug is not cumulative in its action, thereby differ- ing from various preparations of digi- talis leaves. In large doses it is poison- ous, and in case of poisoning emetics should be given, followed by alcoholic stimulants or camphor. DIGITALIS, a genus of plants belong- ing to the natural order Scrophulariacese. They are natives of Europe and western Asia. There are numerous species, all of them tall herbs. D. jmrpurea is the common foxglove. The dried leaves of the foxglove are used in medicine, as powder, infusion, or tincture, or in the form of the active principle, digitalin. D. purpurea belongs to the order Soro- phulariacese, and is very useful in cases of heart disease. The powdered leaves or an extract of D. purpurea, ochroleuca, laevigata, fermginea, and other species, in overdoses produce vomiting, vertigo, and other symptoms, followed even by death. DIGITARIA, finger-grass, a genus of grasses so named from the digitate spikes. There are two species: D. san- guinalis, or cock's-^foot finger-grass, and D. Immifusa, smooth finger-grass. DIGITIGRADA. a section of the order Carnivora, comprising the lions, tigers, cats, dogs, etc., in which the heel is raised above the ground, so that the ani- mals walk more or less on the tips of the toes. The other two sections are the Pinrrigrada and the Plantigrada. The section Digitigrada is divided into the families Mustelidae, Viverridm, Camdx Hyssnidae, and Felidse. The first two are aberrant, being semiplantigrade. DIJON (de-zhonO, the chief town in the French department of Cote-d'Or, formerly capital of the old duchy of Burgundy, lies, spread out on a fertile plain at the foot of Mont Afrique (1,916 feet), at the junction of the Ouche and Suzon, and on the Canal de Bourgogne, 196 miles S. E. of Paris by rail. Its im- portance as a railway center has ren- dered it of consequence in the inner line of French defenses. On the death of Charles the Bold it came with Burgundy into the possession of France in 1477. In October, 1870, after a sharp engage- ment before the city, Dijon capitulated to a German force. There was again severe fighting here in January, 1871. Pop. about 75,000. DIKE, or DYKE, a word variously used to represent a ditch or trench, and also an embankment, rampart, or wall. It is specially applied to an embankment raised to oppose the incursions of the sea or of a river, the dikes of Holland being notable examples of works of this kind. Laws concerning dikes are found in the old Saxon and Swabian codes. The ancient ordinances concerning dikes rest for the most part on the unwritten la-:v or autonomy. The most important and complete code of regulations is the ordi- nance of the Duchy of Bremen of 1743. Of later ordinances the Prussian law of Jan. 28, 1848, and the so-called "Deich- ordnung" for the Duchy of Oldenburg, June 8, 1855, are notable. Owing to the possibility of great loss of property and of life, the punishment of all neglect or for malicious mischief to dikes is ex- tremely severe. The dikes which protect the Netherlands and the German coasts of the North Sea go back to the old Roman times. Apparently even _ before the Romans appeared the Batavians at the mouth of the Rhine protected them- selves by dikes. Drusus after the con- quest of Holland, 10 b. C, built an elab- orate system of artificial canals and dikes. Pliny the Elder gives interesting descriptions* of the artificial hills, which were erected at places of refuge during the floods. In the 10th and 11th cen- turies the archbishops in Bremen sum- moned the native inhabitants to the building of dikes to protect the marshes of Bremen. Among the provinces in north and south Holland which have been protected bv dikes may be mentioned the province of Hanover, 618 miles, protecting 770,000 acres of marsh land. On the left bank of the Oder river there is a dike which