Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/476

LEFT DBAC^NA 414 DRACONTIUM romance: "The Stark Munro Letters" (1895); "Uncle Bernac" (1897); "The Tragedy of the Korosko" (1898) ; "Songs of Action" (1898); "Sir Nigel" (1906); "Songs of the Road" (1911); "A Lost SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE World" (1912); "Valley of Fear" (1915) ; "His Last Bow" (1918) ; "His- tory of the Great War" (1918-1919), etc. DRAC^NA, a genus of Liliacex, tribe Asparagess. Formerly, the genus was so defined as to include nearly or quite 30 species. The well-known D. draco, or dragon-tree, requires to be studied in its native country, the Canary Islands. Commencing as an unbranched endogen with linear entire evergreen sheathing leaves, which leave annular scars as they fall annually, it continues to advance slowly to maturity, the proc- ess, it is said, taking 25 to 30 years. Then the leaf scars are gradually oblit- erated, and branches begin to be put forth. Next a glorious panicle of in- florescence appears at the apex of the stem, the individual flowers of which, however, are small and greenish white. At an indefinitely long period it begins to decay. The celebrated dragon-tree of Teneriffe was one of the wonders of the world. Bethencourt in 1402 or 1406 de- scribed it as old and hollow. It had changed but little from that time till its destruction in 1867. It was between 70 and 75 feet high, with a circumference at the base of about 46 1/^ feet. D. draco furnishes one of the resins called dragon's-blood. The tree called D Termi- nalis, mentioned by Lindley and others as furnishing the Ti plant of the Sandwich Islands, was next named Cordyline ter- minalis, and is now denominated Calo-- dracon terminalis. DRACHENFELS (dra'chenfels) (Dragon's Rock), a peak of the range called the Siebengebirge, on the right bank of the Rhine, 8 miles S. E. of Bonn, Prussia. It has an elevation of 1,056 feet. DRACHMA (drak'ma), DRACHM (dram), or DRAM, a silver coin, the unit of the money system in ancient Greece. It varied in value in different parts of Greece and at different times, but always remained the 6000th part of the talent, and 100th part of the mina^ and was divided into six obols. The Attic drachma is estimated as equivalent to a French franc, or 19.3c in United States gold. The drachma (originally "a handful") was also the name of a weight, and 100 drachmas made a mina (nearly one pound) in weight, as in money. DRACHM ANN, HOLGER (drach' man), a Danish poet, painter, and novel- ist; born in Copenhagen, Oct. 9, 1846. His works show a lively fancy and excel in descriptions of the life of the common people, especially fishermen and mari- ners. His "Poems" appeared in 1872. His novels include "Condemned," "Once Up- on a Time," and "Sea Tales." His best known painting is "From Hamburg Harbor," which was presented by the Danes in Hamburg to the King and Queen of Denmark. Drachmann visited the United States in 1898. He died Jan. 13, 1908. DRACO (dra'ko), an Athenian legis- lator, the extraordinary and indiscrimi- nate severity of whose laws has rendered his name odious to humanity. During the period of his archonship, about 623 B. c., he enacted a criminal code in which slight offenses were punished as severely as murder or sacrilege. Hence it was said to be "written in blood." The laws of Draco, the first written laws of Athens, were for the most part super- seded by the legislation of Solon. Draco is said to have been accidentally killed in a theater at .^Egina. DRACO, a constellation in the N. hemisphere. The star Draconis, a bright star nearly in the solstitial colure, was used in determining the co-efficient of aberration of the fixed stars, DRACONTIUM. a genus of Orontia- cese. D. polyphyllum is an antispasmodic and an expectorant. It grows in India,.