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LEFT DISTICH 378 DISTRICT, CONGRESSIONAL forefinger and thumb of the right hand The thread, as it was spun, was wound on a reel, which was suspended from and revolved with the thread during spinning. DISTICH (dis'tik), a couplet of verses, especially one consisting of a Latin or Greek hexameter and pentam- eter, making complete sense. DISTILLATION, an important proc- ess in the arts; consisting essentially in converting a liquid into vapor in a closed vessel, by means of heat, and then conveying the vapor into another cool vessel, where it is condensed again into a liquid. When applied to a solid the process is called sublimation. The ob- ject of distillation is to separate one substance from others with which it may be mixed. In distillation proper no chemical decomposition takes place; when any of the substances are decom- posed it is called destructive distillation. Destructive distillation is the term ap- plied to the process of heating vegeta- ble and animal substances in retorts or similarly closed vessels at a tempera- ture sufficient to decompose the original substance, and to obtain therefrom products possessing different properties from the material which yielded them. Examples of this process are the heat- ing of coal in gas-works at a red heat, wfien it resolves itself into coke, which is left in the retort, and coal-gas, naph- tha, tar, etc., which distill over into suitable receivers. DISTILLED WATER, pure water ob- tained by distillation, H2O. The water, if it contains suspended impurities, should be first filtered. The soluble im- purities are either volatile or fixed. Of the water which comes over first about one-tenth should be rejected, as it con- tains nearly all the volatile impurities. The worm should be of block tin, silver, or platinum, as steam acts on glass, dis- solving out alkaline silicates. Care should be taken to prevent the mechani- cal spurting of the liquid; one-tenth of the water should be left in the retort; the solid impurities are also left. It should be redistilled to get rid of traces of organic matter, after it has been treated with a little caustic potash and permanganate of potassium, to oxidize the organic impurities. If it still con- tains traces of ammonia it should be again redistilled over KHSO4 to fix the ammonia. Distilled water is used in chemical analysis, and ought always to be used in preparing medicines. DISTINGinSHED SERVICE ORDER, an order instituted by Queen Victoria on Sept. 6, 1886, for the reward of na- val and military service. Foreign offi- cers who have been associated in naval and military operations with British forces are eligible to be honorary mem- bers, and the order ranks next to that of the Indian Empire. The badge is a gold cross enameled white, edged gold, with the imperial crown on one side and the cipher V. R. I. on the other, each inclosed in a laurel wreath. DISTRIBUTION, in political economy, the method in which the products of industry are shared among the people concerned. The methods of distribution have varied and do vary in accordance with the state of social development. They depend on legal as well as on economic conditions. They depend main- ly on the ideas and institutions whijch prevail with reference to property in the three requisites of production — viz., land, labor, and capital. In countries where slavery prevailed, the slaveholder, as the owner alike of land, labor, and capital, disposed at his pleasure of the entire product of industry. Under the feudal system, by which the cultivator was at- tached to the soil and had a fixed inter- est in it, he was obliged to render to his superiors dues in labor, in kind, and latterly in money, which were fixed by custom or authority. Whatever the arrangements regard- ing property and the distribution of the fruits of industry may be, account must be taken of the share claimed by the government in the form of taxes, for the maintenance of army and navy and other means of defense, for justice and police, and for education, etc. Some sections of the so-called professional classes are from this source paid for services rendered to the state. But the clerical and teaching professions derive their income more or less from corpo- rate property, while the legal and medi- cal professions obtain their share of the distribution mostly from the services they render to private individuals. DISTRICT, CONGRESSIONAL, in the United States, a division of a State according to its population, sufficient in size to entitle it to a representative in Congress. The ratio of representation is established by Congress every 10 years, and is based on the total popu- lation as reported by the last preceding census. This is in accordance with the provisions of the United States Consti- tution (Art, 1, Sec. 2), which further declares that the number of representa- tives shall not exceed one for every 30,000; and, lest some State nright have less than the required population, that each State shall have at least one repre- sentative. The action of the Federal