Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/613

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additions ; and, in general, by fuch things are generally called ferments. Shaw's Effay on Diftillery. See the articles Fer- ment, Spirits, Making ^, Lowering, C3V.

Malt Distillery. See Malt Dijiillery.

DISTORTION (Cvr/.)— A terrible malady to the human fhape, has been very often the mere effect of carelefsnefs and ill habits. Mr. Winflow, in the memoirs of the academy of fciences of Paris, gives a very remarkable account, to this purpofe, of a lady of quality, whom he had known to be per- fectly ftrait for feveral years ; but who taking afterwards to a fedentary courfe of life, got a cuftom of drefling herfelf very carelefsly, and of leaning as fhe fat, either forwards, or to one or the other fide. It was not many months before fhe found it troublefome and painful to ftand or fit upright, and foon afterwards file found an inequality in the lower part of the back bone : alarmed at this, fhe confulted the gentleman who gave the account. Who, to prevent the increafe of the malady, ordered the wearing a particular fort of jumps in- flead of her flays, and had a pad applied of proper fize : but this was foon neglected ; and the confequence was, that the back bone, in a little time became more and more crooked, and at length bent ttfelf fide ways, in two contrary directions, fo as to reprefent the figure of the Roman S ; and the lady refufing to take the proper meafures, loft a fourth part of her height, and continued for the remainder of her life, not only crooked both from right to left, and from left to right ; but fo oddly folded together, that the firft of the falfe ribs on one fide approached very near the crefl of the os ilium on that fide, and the vifcera of the lower belly became ftrangely pufhed out of their regular places to the op- pofite fide ; and the flomach itfelf was fo compreffed, that whatever fhe fwallowed, feemed to her to fall into two fepa- rate cavities. Mem. Acad. Scienc. 1740.

DISTRIBUTION {Cycl.)— The furplus of an eftate, or pur autre vie, is diftributable by admin ill ra tors. See Admini- strators, Cyd.

DISUNITE, in the manege, is ufed for a horfe that drags his haunches, that gallops falfe, or upon an ill foot. See Gallop.

DITCH (Cyd.)— In marfhes, and other wet land, where there are no hedges, the common fence or inclofure for land is a Ditd}. They allow thefe Ditches fix foot wide again ft high- ways that are broad, and againft commons five foot. But the common Ditches about inclofures, dug at the bottom of the bank, on which the quick is raifed, are three foot wide at the top, one at the bottom, and two foot deep ; by this means each fide has a Hope, which is of great advantage ; for where they neglect this, and dig them perpendicular, they are al- ways warning down ; befide, in a narrow bottomed Ditch, if cattle get down into it, they cannot ftand to turn themfelves to crop the quick ; but where the Ditch is four foot wide, it ihould be two and a half deep; and where it is five wide, it fhould be three deep, and fo in proportion.

Ditch water is often ufed as an object for the microfcope, and feldom fails to afford a great variety of animalcules. This water very often appears of a greenifh, reddifh, or yel- lowifii colour ; and this is wholly owing to the multitudes of animals of thefe colours which inhabit it. Thefe animals are ufually of the fhrimp kind : and Swammerdam, who very ac- curately examined them, has called them from the branched figures of their horns pulex aquations arborefcens. They copu- late in May and June ; and are often fo numerous at that feafon, that the whole body of the water they are found in, is feen to be of a red, green, or yellow colour, according to the colours of their bodies. The green thin fcum alfo, fb frequently feen on the furfaceof Handing waters in fummer is no other than a multitude of final] animalcules of this or fome of the other kinds. Dunghill water is not lefs full of animals than that of Ditches; but is often found fo thronged with animalcules, that it feems altogether alive ; this is fo very much crowded with thefe creatures, that it is proper to dilute it before they can be diftinctly viewed, by adding clear water to it. There are ufually in this fluid a fort of eels, which are extremely ac- tive j and befide thefe, and many other of the common inha- bitants of fluids, there is one fpecies found in this which feems peculiar to it ; the middle part of thefe is dark, and befet with hairs, but both ends are tranfparent ; their tails are tapering, with a long fprig at the extremity, and their motion is flow and wadling. Baker's microfcope, 87. See PEPPEK-water.

DITONICUM Diatmum. See Genus.

DITRIH./EDRIA, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of fpars. The word is derived from the Greek <^« twice, tp« three, and i^p-z, a fide, or plane. The bodies of this genus are fpars compofed of twice three planes, being formed of two trigonal pyramids joined bafe to bafe, without the intervention of any intermediate column. Of this genus there are five known fpecies. 1. One with long and pointed pyra- mids, found in the mines of Cornwall, and fome other parts of England. 2. One with long and broad pyramids found loofe in the fifliires of the alabafter quarries of Blanckenberg in Ger- many. 3. One with fliortand broad pyramids found in the mines of RammeEberg. 4. One with extreamly broad deprefTed pyra- mids, found in the alabafter quarries at Blan ken berg, and fome-

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times in the mines of Goflelaer in Saxony. 5. One with fW butfbarp pointed pyramids, found very frequently in the mines of the Hartz-foreft, and ibmetimes on Mendip Hills with us. Bill's Hift. of Fcff. p. 218.

DITTANY, in Botany, (ge. SeeFrtAxiNELLA.

Dittany of Crete, die'lamnum ereticum, in medicine, was high- ly extolled by the antients, as a vulnerary, and antidote a- gainft venomous bites. They alfo gave it to promote the menfes and affift delivery. With us it is difufed, except in fome officinal compofitions.

D1VALE, an Englifh name ufed by fome writers, and in fome counties ot England in common expreffion, for the deadly nightfhade, or folanum lethale, a plant with poifonous berries, looking like black cherries. Ger. Emac. Ind. 4.

DIVER, in zoology, the Englifh name of the Colymbus, a genus of water birds ; the characters of which are, they have narrow, ftrait, and fharp bills, their heads are fmall, their wings fhort, their feet placed far backward on the body, and near the tail, and their legs broad and flatted, their claws broad like the nails of ones fingers. They are called Colymbi, and in Eng- lifh Divers, from their great expertnefs in diving, and long continuance under water.

There are properly two fubordinate genera of thefe birds. The one having the feet not webbed, but the toes loofe, yet all widened by a membrane, and having no tail. Thofe of the other genus have webbed feet like the duck, and have tails. Of each of thefe genera there are feveral fpecies; thofe of the firft, or fuch as have no tails are, 1. The Co- lymbm major, or greater loon, called by the Venetians FiJJh- nelle. ^ 2. The Colymbus major erijlatus, or crefted great loon. This is called alfo the lepv.s marinus, or fea hare, and is com- mon both in Europe and America ; the bafe of its beak is covered with a deep yellow membrane ; the head is black on the crown and grey on the fides, the back part of the head is ornamented with a black creft, the top of the neck is black, and the reft of the neck is of a mixed colour of red and a ferrugi- neous brown ; the back and wings are black, and the breaft and belly of a greyifh white ; it has no tail, and its toes are fepa- rate. 3. The Colymbus cinereus, or grey Diver, This is a very rare fpecies, but is found in fome parts of England ; it is all over of a pale grey, and has a creft behind its head. 4. The Colymbus major erijlatus & cornutus, the greater crefted and horned Diver ; this has a long and ftrong beak, and the feathers on the top of its head, and on the upper part of its neck, ftand prominent, and are part black and part yellow; the neck is fhort, and is all over partly reddifh, partly black ; the breaft and belly are of a whitifh red, and the back is mot- tled with grey, brownifh red, and black. It is common in fome parts of Yorkfhire ; the laft fpecies is the common De- dapper, or Dobchick. See Tab. of Birds, N° 47. Of the fecond genus there are only three known fpecies. I. The Colymbus maximus caudatus, or great tailed Diver, which is a very remarkable bird, and feems of a middle nature between thofe web footed fowls, which have their hinder toe joined and brought forward with the reft, and thofe which have not. It is of a middle fize, between the duck and goofe ; its head is fmall, and its tail rounded at the end ; and the upper part of its neck is fo thick fet with feathers, that it appears even larger than the head ; its colours differ fometbing in the different birds ; fometimes it is feen in the back, neck, and head, of a fine black, variegated with white fpots and lines, and with a ring of white about the neck ; and fometimes without the ring, and with the back of a greyifh colour, va- riegated only with fpots without any lines : poflibly this may be the difference of the fexes. It is fuppofed, that this bird can- not fly, by reafon of the fhortnefs of its wings, but this is erroneous. It is common in Italy, and fometimes is ken with us. The other two fpecies of tile tailed Divers are the Colym- bus arclieus Lumme diclus. The northern Diver called the Lumme, and the Colymbus maximus of Gefner, called the Fluder, or fea fludder. Ray's Mythol. p. 258 to 260. See Lumme and Fludder.

DIVERGENCY — For the Point of divergency or divergence in optics, fee Virtual Foeus, Cyol.

DIVERSIFYING, in rhetoric, is of infinite fervice to the ora- tor ; it is an accomplishment effential to his character, and may fitly be called the fubjedt of all his tropes and figures. Voffius lays down fix ways of diverflfying a fubjecit. I. By enlarging on what was briefly mentioned before. 2. By a concife enumeration of what had been infilled on at length. 3. By adding fomething new to what is repeated. 4. By re- peating only the principal heads of what had been faid. 5, By tranfpofing the words and periods. 6. By imitating them. Vojf. Rhet. 1. 5. p. 281. fea.

DIVIDEND (Cycl.) — Stealing of any dividend warrants of the Bank, South-Sea Company, Eaft-India Company, or of any other corporation, is made felony, with or without benefit of clergy, in the fame manner as if the offender had ftolen, or taken by robbery, goods to the value of the money due on fuch dividend warrants. Stat. 2 Geo. 2. c. 25. Sec. 3.

DIVIDUAL, in arithmetic, is ufed for that part of the divi- dend.