Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/615

 DRU

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DRU

the Stars, the Magnitude of the World, and the Earth, the Nature of Things, the Power and Wifdom of the Gods, ii'c. They preferved the Memory and Actions of great Men in their Verfes, which they never allowed to be wrote down, but made their Pupils get 'em off by Heart. In their common Courfe of Learning, they are faid to have taught 'em 14000 fuch Verfes. They had the Mijletoe in. lingular Veneration

Laftly t the fame Vopifcus, in his Life of Numeritmus, re- lates, that a Druide had foretold Diaflefian, he fhould be Emperor, when he fhould have kill'd Aper, which fignifies a Boar, and which was the Name of a •Pr.cfeSus <Pneto- rii, whom he kill'd with his own Hand.

Salmafius, in his Notes on Lampridius, is a little in doubt who thefe. Women were : But he gives into the moft

<w!»V "relates the Ceremony wherewith fhey°gather'd it every eafy, and plaufible Opinion, that they were either the Wives,

Tearf X. XV. C. 44; They placed a World of Confidence in or the Children of the Druids.

Serpents Eggs gather'd after a peculiar Manner, and under a DRUM, Tympanum, a Military, Mufical Instrument, of

certain Difpofition of the Moon, defcribed by 'Pliny; and Jjie principally among the Foot, ferving to call the Soldiers

imagin'd 'em effectual Means for the gaining of Law-Suits, together, to direct their March, Attack, Retreat, iSc.

and procuring the good Graces of Princes. And hence, the The jB dy f the Drum is made of a very thin Oak bent

fame Author concludes, it is, that the Caducous, or Rod en- m to a Cylinder, and cover'd at each End with Parchment,

compafs'd with two Serpents interwove, has been affum'd as -

a Symbol of Peace. Suetonius, in his Life of Claudius, af-

iiircs us, they facrificed Men; and Mercury is faid to be the

God they made thefe inhuman Sacrifices to. Diod. Siclllus

L. VI. obferves, it was only upon extraordinary Occafions

they made fuch Victims; as to confult what Meafures to Drums, whofe Body is of Brafs.

dUL JW.11 V lunula j ao iw ww~. ..--

take, to learn what fhould befal 'em, iSc. by the Fall oi the Viflim, the tearing of his Members, and the manner of his Blood gufhing out. Auguftus condemn'd the Cuftom : Ti- ierius, and Claudius, punifh'd, and abolifh'd it. See Ctefar Z. VI. and Mela X.III. C. 2.

We learn from Cffar, that they were the Judges, and Ar- biters of all Differences and Difputes, both public and pri- vate, took Cognizance of Murders, Succeffions, Boundaries, and Limits; and decreed Rewards, and Punifhments. Such as difobey'd their Decifions, they excommunicated, which was their principal Punifhment : the Criminal being hereby excluded from all public Affcmblies,

which is ftrain'd, or braced more or lefs, according to the Height, or Depth of the Sound required, by Strings; and ftruck with Sticks. The Height of the Drum is equal to its Breadth, which docs not exceed two Foot and a half, by eafon, no Skins can be had to cover bigger. There are alfo

lfo a Soldier deftined to beat

Drum, or Drummer, the Drum,

In each Company of Infantry there is at leaff one Drum, and a Drum-Major in every Regiment,

There are divers Beats of the Drum : As the March, Double March, Affembly, Charge, Retreat, Alarm, Cha- made, &c.

Drum, in Anatomy, or JEar-DRvu, a Cavity in the Inner Ear, thus call'd from the Refemblance it bears to the Figure of a War-Drum. See Ear.

Its outer Extreme is cover'd with a Membrane, by Anato-

o and avoided by all the mifts more ufually call'd Tympanum, or more properly,

World; no body daring to fpeak to' them, for fear of being Membrana fympani. See Tympanum.

"" '. jor The Office i of the Memhrema Tymfam, ax Drum of the

HsMfo obferves, they had fometimes Intereft and Authority Ear has been greatly controverted among Anatomifls.

cnou-m o flop Amies, upon the Point of Engaging; and The Account befl warranted, is, tha -being a Medium for the

" lu " j \ ■ tv a? .„ 000 Conveyance of the Sound to the Auditory Nerve, by its dit-

aC T™rheirari\TmbTy every Year at a certain Seafon fact Degr.es of Tenfion, it feves to modify the Sound, and

about the Middle of the Country, and there in a Place con- propagate it to the Nerve well proportioned, and commenlu- fecratcd for the Purpofe, kept their Affizes, and terminated

the Differences of the People, who flock'd thither from all Parts. . „ . r

Cmtar, who had feen of the Druids in "Britain, was of Opinion,' they had come thence into Gaul: But the more able among the Moderns, generally take this for a Miftake, and believe the very contrary. In effeft, it appears pretty pro- bable, that the ancient -Britons were originally Gauls; that the Celt*, or Belg<s, Gaulrjb Nations, were the firft that en- tcr'd our Illand, and peopled it. And that the Druids went alon« with 'em.

<Picard Celtop<ed. L.ll.p. 58. believes the Druids to have been thus call'd from Drills, or Dryuis, their Leader, the 4th, or 5th King of the Gauls, and Father ofSaron ot Nau- - be#, flo - red t0 a due~Tenfion.

hiny, Salmafius, V m mere, .^detive the Jtae ^^ mean Time he thought of a tern

rate thereto.

The ingenious Dr. Holder has improved on this Theory. He conceives, that the Action of the Mufcle, whereby the Drum is flretch'd, and relax 'd, does ordinarily, and con- flantly draw it to a moderate Tenfion; but when we have Occafion to liften, and give a particular Attention to any Sound, the Action of that Mufcie is then more intenfe, and the Drum is drawn to a more than ordinary Tenfion, to fa- cilitate the Paffage of the Sound. See Attention.

Upon thefe Confiderations, that Author having a young Gentleman, who was born deaf, put into his Hands; and per- ceiving the great Dcfecf to lye in the Want of a due Tenfion of theTympanum, he advifed his Mother to confult with Phy- ficians, whether by fome aftringent Fumes, or other wife, it

from AptTf, Oak;

mams, vigeue.e, ^. ^.- .- £— -■ i„ t he mean on Account of their inhabiting, or atleait * ,

temporary Way, by the

frequenting, and teaching in For efts; or perhaps by reafon, as 4'liny fays, they never facrificed but under the Oak. But 'tis hard to imagine, how the Druids fhould come to fpeak Greek Menage derives the Word from the old Britifh 3B«j ' Demon, Magician. Borel from the Saxon Dry, Ma- gician; or rather the old Britifh Dru, Oak; whence he Ikes l^.o be derived. Gorop. Becanus XI. takes. Druis to be an old Celtic, and Germaii Word, form d^trom fromr, hear the fam(, p er fons calling him very loudly.

mTrimis a Doclor of the Truth, and the Faith. This Et C!S^"^^"ofoph y ^.IL C. t, believes

Impulfe of any vehement Sound; as of a 'Drum beaten near him : Which Sound, during its Continuance, mult needs give the Tympanum a Tenfion, by driving and fuell- ing it outwards, as a frefh Gale of Wind fills the Sails of a Ship. And the Experiment fucceeded according to Expecta- tion. For fo long as he beat a Drum fall, and loud by him, he could hear thofe that Hood by him call him gently by his Name, But when the Drum ccafed, he could no longer

See Deae-

all the Learning and Philofophy of the Druids to have been ^ ^

derived from the Affyrian Magi, who are fiill call d in Ger-

NESS.

Drum, in Architeclure. See Tambour.

DRUNGUS, a Body, or Company of Forces, thus call'd,

And that, niMegus has loft

The Name Drungus, as appears from Vegetius, X.I1I. C. 16. was at firft only applied to foreign, and even hoftile

many, Trutten, or Truttner : -

its ancientSignification, which was honourable, and now figm- - bu£ ^^ ^ ^ &cm E ir( r it came in ufe for

£es a Magician, or Sorcerer; Druid, which had the iameSenle, f roops 0I the Empite it fclf. On which Occafion, the

°. r, t _.__j .,.,.1 ,. n «i r ™,f™ tin or hpr than a. r -. ^ - -

likewifc degenerated, and now fign.fies no other than a r, was form'd.

_^.i. *i— r»„«.i —- addicted to t ir

It amounts pretty nearly to what we call a Regiment, or Brigade. Leunclavius obferves, that the Drungus was not lefs than ioco Men, nor more than 4000.

The fame Leunclavius obferves, that ApJ/j-st among the modern Greeks fignifies a Staff, or Rod, the Badge of a Dig- nity, or Office, as Jgla among the Turks; and thinks, that

Perfon who has Commerce with the Devil, or Maoic. And accordingly, in Frifeland, where there anciently wer? Druids, fuch People are cf&Druis. Gale Dicken- fin and others, contend, that the Druids borrowed all their Philofophy, as well as Religion, from the Jews. DRUIDE. There were alfo Women, call'd Druids, or

Druides, among the Gauls,&c. The Authors of the Hifioria th( / Name m ay be form'd from the Latin Trmcus. But it

.■ 1...1-. T *w+,«*lJi»rr -iTiri ///ii^i/rwt make men- f -'.-_ 1. rr% • ^T>_..I * .,

Aiignfta!, particularly Lampridius, and Vopifcus, make men- tion thereof. ...., . ., , „

A Druide, fays Lampridius, p. 155. told Alexander Se- vens fomething which denoted he fhould be unhappy.

Vopifcus, in the Life oi Aurelian, relates, that having con- futed the Gaulifh Druids, whether or no the Empire ihould remain in his Family; they gave him for Anfwer, that no Name mould be more glorious in the Empire, than that the Defcendants of Claudius. On which the Hiflonan

appears from Vegetius, that Drungus is a Barbarous, not a Latin Word.

Spelman takes it for Saxon, becaufe at this Day, Trong, or Throng, in Englifo fignifies a Multitude. Salmafius de- rives it from Pu>x«i Beak; on Account of the Battallion's being difpofed beak-wife, or terminating in a Point.

DRUNKENNESS, phyfically confider'd, confifls in a takes prater-natural Compreffion of the Brain, and a Difcompo

Occafion to obferve, that Confiantms. ftautine, was a Claudius.

"the Father of Con- fure of its Fibres; occafion'd by the Fumes, or Ipintuous Parts of Liquors. 'Tis accounted tor thus : An immoderate 2>*, Quan-