Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/327

Rh  to make investigations in the library. While hia fame rests chiefly on his philological labours, his botanical studies are not without value in the history of the science. The following is a list of his more important works ; and it will be observed that, dealing, as they do, with Slavonic subjects, they are all composed in Latin or German:—

1em  DOBRUDJA, or, in Bulgarian Dobritch, is the district lying between the Black Sea and the lower reaches of the Danube, by which it is separated from Roumania. The southern part of its area of 2900 is occupied by an irregular steppe stretching north from the Balkan range ; while the northern belongs to the alluvial tract produced by the action of the river. The predominant element in its heterogeneous population, which is estimated at 160,000, consists of the Tatars, whose numbers have been greatly augmented by immigration since Greeks, Armenians, Germans, and Jews, and all the various nationalities remain strikingly distinct, and usually occupy more or less exclusively their separate settlements. The principal places in the Dobrudja are Rassova, Hirsova, Matchin, Isakcha, and Tulcha on the Danube ; Babadagh towards the north, which was formerly regarded as the chief town of the district; Kustendji, Mangalia, and Esltchik on the coast Basardjik towards the south and some distance inland ; and, finally, the new Tatar city of Medjidia, which has sprung up since on the railway between Tchernavoda and Kustendji. The strategical importance of the Dobrudja was recognized by the Romans, who in the reign of Trajan built a line of fortifications from the river near Rassova to the coast near Kustendji; and in modern times it has been more than once utilized, especially during the Russian invasions of, , and. See Peters, Grundlinien zur Geo graphic und Geulogie der Dobrudscha, Vienna, –.  DOBSCHAU, or, a town of Northern Hungary, in the comitat of Gomor, on the Dobsina. In the vicinity are mines of iron, copper, cobalt, and mercury. Population, 5505 in.  DOBSON, (–), an English portrait and historical painter, born at London in. His father was master of the Alienation Office, but by his improvidence had fallen into reduced circumstances. The son was accordingly bound an apprentice to Peak, a stationer and picture dealer in Holborn Bridge ; and while in his employment he began to copy the pictures of Titian and Vandyck, whose manner he ever after retained. He also took portraits from life under the advice and instruction of Francis Cleyn, a German artist of considerable repute, Vandyck, happening to pass a shop in Snow Hill where one of Dobson's pictures was exposed, sought out the artist, and presented him to Charles I., who took Dobsou under his protection, and not only sat to him several times for his own portrait, but caused the prince of Wales, Prince Rupert, and many others, to do the same. The king had a high opinion of his artistic ability, styled huii the English Tintoret, and appointed him sergeant-painter on the death of Vandyck. After the fall of Charles, Dobson was reduced to great poverty, and fell into dissolute habits. He died at the early age of thirty-six. Excellent examples of Dobson's portraits are to be seen at Blenheim, Chats- worth, and several other country seats throughout England. The head in the Decollation of St John the Baptist at Wilton is said to be a portrait of Prince Rupert.  DOCETÆ (from δόκειν, to appear), a name applied to those heretics in the early Christian church who held that Christ, during his life, had not a real or natural, but only an apparent or phantom, body. Other explanations of the SOKT/O-IS, or appearance, have, however, been suggested, and in the absence of any statement by those who first used the word of the grounds on which they did so, it is impossible to determine between them with certainty. The name Docetse is used by Clement of Alexandria as the designation of a distinct sect, of which he says that Julius Cassianus was the founder. Docetism, however, undoubtedly existed before the time of Cassianus. The origin of the heresy is to be sought in the Greek, Alexandrine, and Oriental philo sophizing about the imperfection or rather the essential impurity of matter. Traces of a Jewish Docetism are to be found in Philo ; and ia. the Christian form it is generally supposed to be combated in the writings of John, and more formally in the epistles of Ignatius. It differed much iu its complexion according to the points of view adopted by the different authors. Among the Gnostics and Manichseans it existed in its most developed type, and in a milder form it is to be found even in the writings of the orthodox teachers. The more thoroughgoing Docetce assumed the position that Christ was born without any participation of matter ; and that all the acts and sufferings of his human life, including the crucifixion, were only apparent. They denied, accordingly, the resurrection and the ascent into heaven. To this class belonged Dositheus, Saturninus, Cerdo, Marcion, and their followers, the Ophites, Manichseans, and others. The other, or milder school of Docetae, attributed to Christ an ethereal and heavenly instead of a truly human body. Amongst these were Valentinus, Bardesanes, Basilides Tatianus, and their followers. They varied considerably in their estimation of the share which this body had in the real actions and sufferings of Christ. Clement and Origen, at the head of the Alexandrian school, took a somewhat subtle view of the incarnation, and Docetism pervades their controversies with the Monophysites. Docetic tendencies have also been developed in later periods of the church s history, as for example by the Priscillianists and the Bogomiles, and also since the Reformation by Jacob Boehme, Menno Siinonis, and a small fraction of the Anabaptists. Docetism springs from the same roots as Gnosticism, and the Gnostics generally held Docetic views. Accordingly, for a fuller account of the principles out of which Docetism arose, and of the various modifications it assumed, the reader is referred to the article. See also the articles oil the leading Docetse mentioned above.  DOCK, the name applied to the plants constituting the section Lapathum of the genus Rumex, and natural order Polygonacece. The leaves of the docks are pinnate-veined, and are never sagittate or hastate ; the fl owers, which are arranged in two to five rows, in alternate fascicles similar to whorls, are generally perfect, and have three free styles, multifid stigmas, six stamens, and the three inner perianth- segments or petals in some cases tubercled ; the fruit is an achene (see . ). In the Common or Broad- leaved Dock, Rumex oltuslfolius, the flower-stem is erect, branching, and 18 es to 3 high, with large radical leaves, heart-shaped at the base, and more or less blunt ; the other leaves are more pointed, and have shorter stalks. The whorls are many-flowered, close to the stem, and mostly leafless. The root is many-headed, black externally, and yellow within. The flowers appear from June to 
 * but there are also Turks, Bulgarians, Roumanians,