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DANA

500

DANDELION

American Cyclopaedia. He died f>n   Long Island, Oct. 17, 1897.

Dana, James Dwight, an American naturalist, was born at Utica, N. Y., Feb. 12, 1813. Graduating at Yale College, he was sent out in 1838 as a scientific observer in the United States exploring expedition under Wilkes, visiting the Antarctic and Pacific Oceans. During this expedition his ship was wrecked. He was for some time associate - editor of the A m e r i c a n | Journal of Science, | and in 1846 became t professor of nat-/ ural history and geology in Yale. He gained worldwide distinction as a scientist. He published several works, among them A Manual of Mineralogy and a Text-Book of Geology. He died at New Haven, Conn., April 14, 1895.

Dana, Richard Henry, an American poet and essayist, was born at Cambridge, Mass., in 1787. After studying at Harvard, where he was concerned in a college-rebellion which prevented his graduation, he studied law. His tastes, however, were literary, and he soon became associate-editor of the North American Review. Some of his poems in this magazine, as The Dying Raven and The Buccaneer, were warmly praised on both sides of the Atlantic. But his best work was done in the field of criticism, and he did much to educate and elevate the literary taste of New England. For some time he published The Idle Man. He died at Boston in 1897.

Dana, Richard Henry, Jr., an author and lawyer, was born in 1815. During his col-lepfe-course he was compelled for a while to abandon his studies, because of a trouble with his eyes, and he shipped as a common sailor on a trip to California and back. This voyage he described in Two Years Before the Mast, the best book of the kind in the language. As a lawyer, he became distinguished and also did other literary work, including an edition of Wheaton's International Law. He died at Rome on Jan. 6,1882. Danae (dan'de), according to Greek mythology, the daughter of Acrisius, king

of Argos. The king confined her in a tower because it had been foretold that her son would kill him. Jupiter fell in love with her, and gained access to her room through the openings in the roof. She had a child by Jupiter, who was later called Perseus. Acrisius put her with her child into a chest, and the chest with its prisoners was thrown into the sea. The sea-goddesses conducted the chest safely to Seriphas, where Dictys took care of the wanderers and educated the child. Perseus finally fulfilled the prophecy by accidentally killing his grandfather.

Danaides (da-nd'i-dez}, in Greek story, the 50 daughters of Danaiis, who were married to the 50 sons of their uncle ^Egyp-tus. Suspecting the sons of ^gyptus of treachery, Danaiis made his daughters promise to murder their husbands on their wedding-night. They all fulfilled this promise except Hypermnestra, who spared her husband, Lynceus. The Danaides were represented as condemned in Hades to pour water into sieves, in the vain endeavor to fill them.

Dan'bury, Conn., one of the capitals of Fairfield County, southwestern Connecticut, situated about 40 miles northwest of New Haven and 65 miles north-northeast of New York. It was settled in 1684, and was captured and burned by the British in 1777. Since then it has been noted for its manufacture chiefly of hats, being the first city to engage in this industry, and at present leading the U. S. Other manufactures are silver-plated goods, electrical goods and apparatus, art-metal ware, machinery, shirts, boots, shoes and sewing-machines. It has an excellent system of public schools, a state normal school, many beautiful churches, a public library and a city hospital. Population, 23,502.

Dan'delion, The common name of Taraxacum officinale, which belongs to the Composite family. It is a native of Europe and Asia, but has become naturalized throughout all temperate regions. Probably some of the Rocky Mountain forms are native. Its habit of persistent blooming and its characteristic globes of pappus are well known. Since it is prized for "greens" it has been cultivated and improved in Europe and in a few localities in this country. As a wild flower its distribution is general.

"Dear common flower that grow'st beside

the way,

Fringing the dusty road with  harmless gold."

It is a most persistent and hardy plant. Though the stem is short, the roots are long, the leaves so arranged that rain easily finds its way to the center and down to the roots. The stem is hollow, giving lightness and strength; the flower-head is made up of innumerable tiny flowers.

RICHARD H. DANA

JAMES D. DANA