Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/619

 DRA

D R A

joiirners and freed fervants. Pott. Archscol. Grsec. 1. I. c. 25. T.i. p. 130.

DOWLE and Deal, in our old writers, are ufed to fignifv a divifion. The word comes from the Saxon dal, i. e. divifto, and that from dcslan, dividers; whence our Englifti word dealing is formed.

In this (^nfe it is that the ftones laid to the boundaries of lands arc cahed DowUjiones.

DOW&EINE8, a fort of kerfeys made in Devonfhire, in length twelve vails; whence alfo their name, which is otherwife Writ dofens dozens, or dozeins.

POZEIN, Decenna. In the rtatute for view of frank-pledge, made 18 Ejw. 2, one of the articles lor ftewards in their leets to enquire ot, is, if all the Dmeins be in the affize of our Lord the king, and which not, and who received them. Art. 3. See Deciners.

Dozein is alfo Uied for a fort of Devonshire kerfeys. Anno 5 and 6 Ed*. 6. c. 6, See Dowseines.

DOZELLlNA, in zoology, a name by which fome authors have called the muftela of the common fpecies, which we in Englifh term the Sea Locbe t and IFhijik-fijh. Willoughlrfh Hift. Fife p. 121.

DRABLER, in the fea language, a fmall fail in a {hip, which is the fame to a bonnet, that a bonnet is to a courfe, and is only ufed when the courfe and bonnet are too fnoal to cloath the mail. See Bonnet and Course.

DRABS, in the Engiifh fait works, a name given to a fort of wooden cafes into which the fait is put, as (bon as it is taken out of the boiling pan. Thefe are partitions like ftalls made for horfe>, they are lined on three fides and at the bottom with boards, and at the front have a Aiding board to put in or take out occafionally. Their bottoms are made fhclving, being higheft at the backfide, and gradually inclining forwards ; by which means the faline liquor that remains mixed with the fait eafily drains out from it, and the fait in three or four days becomes lufficiently dry, and is then taken out and laid up in large heaps for fale. In fome places they ufe cribs in- ftead of the Drabs See ClUBs.

DRACO Marinus* in zoology, the name of a fi(h of the cucu- Ius kind, known in England by the name of the weaver. It is a very long bodied n\h, fomewhat flat, with a crooked belly and ftrait back. The fides are variegated with brownifh and yellow lines running obliquely from the back to the bel- ly, and leaning toward the tail. The coverings of the gills are yellow, and the belly is white. Its fcales are very fmall and thin, and its head is of a moderate fize, fomewhat flat- ted, and finking into a hollow between the eyes. The eyes are placed very near one another, and ftand nearer the end of the fnout than in any other fifh of the fcaly kind. The mouth is very large, and the lower jaw is longer than the upper ; both the jaws are fumifhed with teeth, and the head is full of tubercles. It has two fins on the back : the foremofi of thefe is very fhort, and the other very long. The foremofi of thefe fins have feveral prickly points, and thefe are faid to inflidt a fort of poifonous wound. Its tail is but flightly fork- ed, and is bluifh in colour. Its flefh is delicate, and it grows in fome feas to twelve, or even eighteen inches in length. The fiihermtn are much afraid of its pricking them, and al- ways as loon as they have caught it, cut off the back fin. Gef- ner de aquat. p. 89.

Draco Volans y in natural hiftory, a name given by fome people to one of the flying lizards. Others have applied the fame term to a very different fubje£t, expreffmg by it a fort of ignis fatuus very common in this ifland, and others of the more northern countries, which is much redder, larger, and more ter- rible than our common lambent fires, or will in the wifps, as our country people exprels them. This fort of exhalation is principally feen on the borders of rivers, and in marfhy pla- ces, and feldom rifes very high from the ground, but plays and dances about the furface in an agreeable manner; and if peo- ple go up to it, will ftick to their hands or cloaths without burning, or doing them any injury. They are more com- mon in the fummer months than in the winter, and are more frequently feen in thick weather than in clear.

DRACOCEPHALON, Dragon's Head, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower confifts of one leaf, and is of the labiated kind, and the upper lip which is galeated, and the lower which is divi- ded into three fegments, refemble in fome (bit the head of a ferpent. The piftil arifes from the cup of the flower, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hinder part of it; the four embryos which furround this, ripen into fo many feeds, which the cup ferves as a receptacle for. See Tab. 1. of Bo- tany, Clafs 4.

The only known fpecies of this is the American Dracocepha- hn of Breynius, which has been called by others a fpecies of digitalis or foxglove. Toitrn. Inft. p. 181.

DRACONTEAS, a name given by Neuphytus, and fome others of the later Greek writers, to two plants diftinguifhed by the epithets of the great and the little kinds. The great Dracon- teas is the plant we call dragons % and the fmall Drdconteas is the arum. Neophytus fays that the roots of fome fpecies of Suppl. Vol. I.

the fmall Draconteas were eatable, which we alfo know to bfc true at this time ; for though with us the juice of this plant is* fiery and corroiive, yet we know that there are efculent arums' in other parts of the world. The Greek writers, from the earlieft times we have accounts of, were not ignorant of this ; and Theophraftus in particular hasdefcribed an efculent rooted arum under the name ofarumedodinium.[>SeeDRAeOficuLUs.

DRACONTHEMA, a name ufed by fome of the old writers in; medicine for what we cz\l Janguis draconis y or dragon's blood, a red vegetable refm.

DRACONTIA, or Dracontia Lapis, in natural hiftory, a name given by authors to a roundifh Or oval pellucid ftone, which feems no other than a cryftal cut into that form, and polifhed by the lavage inhabitants of feveral nations before the Roman conquefts, and intended to be worn as ornaments. Authors tell a number of idle and fabulous flories about this ftone, imagining it to be naturally of this figure and polifh, and to be found in the head of a dragon. Pliny, SoHnus, and many other authors, give us ridiculous and idle accounts of the manner of taking this ftone out of the creature's head, which, they fay, muft be done while it is yet not quite dead ; and fup- pofe it to have great virtues againft the bites of ferpents and other venomous beafts. They are not indeed all agreed about the fpe- cies of the ftone; Ficinus defenbing an aftroites under this name, and others fome other coloured ftone ; but the gene- rality of writers, efpecially the old ones, make it colourlefs and pellucid.

DRACON IIUM. The Greeks, from whom the botanical writers have taken this name, never uled it fingly as the denomination of a plant, but only as an adjedtive expreii.ng fome peculiari- ty in which that plant differed from lbme others of the lame fpecies. Thus the plant which we now call limply Draconti- um, was called by the Greeks Arum Dracontium, that is, the arum with ftalks (potted like dragons or (hakes skins; and the' plant we call dracunculus or tarragon had the fame epithet from its fiery heat.

DRACUNCULI, ,Cycl) a name ufed by authors for a fort of long and (lender worms, which breed in the mufcular flefh of the arms, legs, &c. and from their being more frequent in. fome parts of Guinea than elfewhere, are called by many Guinea worms. They have been long known in the world ; and Plu- tarch quotes Agathercidas for an account of thefe animals, which, he fays, the people about the red fea were at a certain time very much afHicled with. Plutarch tells us that they thruft out their heads through the skin, and on being hurt draw them in again, and caufe an intolerable pain and inflam- mation. Thefe worms principally uffecT: children, and their origin is not unlike that of the woi ms in the inteftmes. While they move about, they create no trouble; but when they fix their refidence, the place about them fuppurates, and then be- ing uneafy they thruft out their heads; and if they are broken in attempting to draw them out, the confequence is very bad. They may iometimes be manifeftly (een to move. They are no where fo frequent as on the gold coaft in Guinea about A- namaboe and Cormantyn. Ttie worm is white, round, lon<v and uniform, very much refembling a piece of white round tape or bobbin. It is lodged between the inteftines of the membranes and mufcles, where it infinuates itfelf to a prodi- gious length, fometimes exceeding five ells. It occafions no great pain in the beginning ; but when it is about to mow its head, a fwelling and inflammation appear on the part, which is ufiially the ankle, or fome part of the leg or thigh. The countries where this creature is thus produced are very hot, and fubjedt to great droughts, and the inhabitants make ufe of ftagnating and corrupted water, in which it is probable the ova of thefe animals lie: the white people and negroes who drink this water are equally fubje<£t to thefe worms. The furgeons feldom attempt to extract this worm by incifi- on, but when the tumor appears, they endeavour to bring it to a fuppuration as foon as they can ; and when they have broke the fwelling, and the head of the worm appears, they faften it to a ftick, and continue gradually winding it round at the rate of an inch or two in a day, till they by this means have wound it all out. If it be wound too haftiry, it is apt to break in the operation ; and if it does, the end is not eafily recovered again ; and if not, there are abfeeffes formed, not only at the place where it breaks, but all along the whole winding of the mufcles where the dead worm remains ; fo that often from one worm thus broken, there are produced a num- ber of obftinate ulcers in different parts. When the worm has not been broken, the ulcer out of which k was extracted heals ealily, and there is no farther trouble about it. Town's Difeafes of the Weft Indies, p. 561.

DRACUNCULUS, in zoology, the name of a fea-fifh, called by Bellonius and Gefner, a kind of the exocEetus. It is a fmall filh, of about a hand's breadth long, and fometimes a little larger. It is of a long and rounded body, and of a dead greenifh or olive colour on the back, and white on the belly, and is marked on the fides with a great number of bluifh, white, and very light fmall fpots. On the upper part of its head below the eyes, it has alio a purplifh triangular fpot. The. eyes are large, and ftand very clofe together, and the mouth K. vary