Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/180

 172 DOCTOR a little larger. The dock at Portsmouth is a balance dry dock, 350 ft. long, 105 ft. wide, and 38 ft. deep. There is also a basin 350 ft. long and 120 ft. wide, with two marine rail- ways. At I Vnsaeola the docking arrangements are precisely the same as at Portsmouth. There is in use at New York a so-called hy- drostatic screw dock, in which vessels are raised by hydrostatic power applied to screws to which chains are attached, supporting strong platforms consisting of trusses of timber. The first dock of the kind was worked by screws alone, and was patented by Elisha Turner in 1825. The improvements by which hydrostatic power was applied were patented by Zebedee Eing in 1836. The screws which suspend the chains are fixed in a drawing frame which rests upon pins at either side. The drawing frames are propelled by horizontal hydrostatic cylinders. The platform upon which the ves- sel rests may be adjusted to the bottom by raising or lowering each section or truss as may be required. DOCTOR (Lat, a teacher), a person who has taken all the degrees of a faculty, and is em- powered to teach and practise it. It is bestowed by universities and colleges as an honorary dis- tinction. The doctorate and the degrees which conduct to it were instituted early in the 12th century. The first ceremonious installation of a doctor was at the university of Bologna, when Bulgarus was promoted to the doctor- ate of the civil and canon law. The learned Irnerius, one of the revivers of the Roman law at that tune, composed the formulary which has been followed since, and which gives great solemnity to the reception of the degree. The usage was immediately adopted by the university of Paris, which in 1145 conferred the degree of doctor upon Peter Lombard and Gilbert de la Porree. The title and degree of doctor were in use in England under King John, about 1207. In Germany during the middle ages a doctor of law enjoyed the same Srivileges as knights and prelates. The first octors were only of law and theology; medi- cine was afterward added; and in 1340 in the university of Paris the four faculties of law, theology, medicine, and the arts or letters were organized as they are now. At Oxford and Cambridge, and recently also in some of the German and American universities, diplo- mas of doctor of music have been given. The title of doctor has occasionally been bestowed upon women. In 1787 the university of Got- tingen decreed the title of doctor of philosophy to Dorothea Schlozer ; in 1817 the university of Giessen gave the title of doctor of medicine to Mariane Charlotte von Siebold ; in 1827 the university of Marburg pronounced Johanna Wyttenbach doctor of philosophy. Still more recently women have received the title of doc- tor of medicine from foreign and from Ameri- can schools. In the universities of Oxford and ( -jiinb ridge, and in most of the continental universities, a student who is to receive the DOCTORS' COMMONS degree of doctor has to prepare one or more theses, which in Germany are called the inau- gural theses. In the United States the title is conferred upon those of eminent learning or ability in their profession, without demanding from them any learned exercise in return, ex- cepting in the medical profession, where it is be- stowed at the end of a course of study. The title had an existence outside of the universi- ties during the middle ages, and was bestowed upon every one of singular learning. Thus Alexander of Hales was called the irrefragable doctor ; Thomas Aquinas, the angelic doctor; Bonaventura, the seraphic doctor ; Duns Sco- tus, the subtle doctor ; Roger Bacon, the ad- mirable doctor ; "William Occam, the singular doctor ; Denys le Chartreux, the ecstatic doc- tor ; and Alain de Lille, the universal doctor. The title of doctor has been given to some of the fathers of the church whose teachings have the highest authority. At an early period there were accounted four doctors of the Greek church, St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and St. John Chrysostom; and also of the Latin church, St. Augustine, St. Je- rome, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Am- brose. Pope Pius V. assigned the fifth place among the Latin doctors to St. Thomas Aqui- nas, and Sixtus V. gave the sixth place to St. Bonaventura. St. Bernard was added to the series by Pius VIII. The title of doctor of the law existed among the ancient Jews. Those who figure in the Talmud are called doctors of the Talmud, or distinctively doctors of the Mishnah (tanairri) and of the Gemara (amo- raim), according to the divisions of that book in which they appear. They were also called rabbis. In England, Germany, and, the United States the title doctor of divinity (D. D.) or doctor of sacred theology (S. T. D.) is con- ferred, generally as an honorary degree, upon distinguished teachers of Christianity. The degrees of doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.) and doctor of civil and canon law (J. U. D., juris utriusque doctor) are conferred by German universities for proficiency in studies. In Eng- land and the United States, the title of doctor of laws (LL. D.) is conferred as an honorary de- gree upon those who have acquired distinction in any department of learning or public af- fairs. In place of this the university of Oxford confers the corresponding degree of doctor of civil law (D. 0. L.). DOCTORS' COMMONS, the college of civilians in London, near St. Paul's churchyard, found- ed by Dr. Henry Harvey, dean of the arches, for the doctors of the civil law, burned down in the great fire of 1666, rebuilt in 1672 at the cost of the profession, and taken down in 1867. In the common hall were held until 1858 the sessions of the court of arches, the chief ec- clesiastical court of the province, the arch- deacon's court, the prerogative court for the hearing of testamentary causes, the faculty court, the court of delegates, and the court of admiralty. The most interesting part of