Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/273

 DROMEDARY DROPSY 265 last of which it is separated by the Rh6ne ; area, about 2,500 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 320,417. It derives its name from the river Drome, which crosses it from E. to W., dividing it into two nearly equal parts. It is drained also by the Isfcre and numerous other streams, all, like the Drome, affluents of the Rhdne. The surface is much broken by mountains, particularly in the east, where the spurs of the Alps rise to an average height of 4,000 to 5,000 ft. These furnish excel- lent pasturage, and are browsed in the summer and autumn by large flocks of sheep, many of which are driven thither from neighbor- ing departments. Fir, oak, and beech trees grow on the summits, and on the lower hills are plantations of chest- nuts and walnuts, from the latter of which oil is made. The forests abound in game and the lakes and streams in fish. A large part of the soil is thin and sandy, and not enough grain is raised for home con- sumption; but the vine, olive, mulberry, and other fruits are raised in large quantities. Some of the vineyards are famous, among them L'Hermitage near Tain, on the Rhone, and those of Chateauneuf, Douzere, and Montelimart. The making of wine and the production of silk are the chief industries. There are manufac- tures also of porcelain, beet-root sugar, coarse woollens, hosiery, serge, linens, gloves, leather and morocco, paper, and bricks. Mines of iron, lead, and coal are worked, and gypsum and marble abound. The department is divi- ded into the arrondissements of Valence, Die, Monte"limart, and Nyons. Capital, Valence. DROMEDARY. See CAMEL. DRONTHEIM (Danish, Throndhjem ; locally, Drontjem). I. A province (diocese) of Norway, bordering on Sweden and the Atlantic; area, 19,550 sq. m. ; pop. in 1865, 256,529. It is moun- tainous, and much of it well wooded. The coasts are indented by numerous bays, the most impor- tant of which is the' Drontheim fiord, running 60 m. inland in an E. and N. E. direction, but de- scribing with its windings a curve of 90 m. ; and the surface is dotted over with lakes. The in- habitants are engaged chiefly in fishing, cattle raising, iron mining, and to some extent in agri- culture. Fruit, hops, flax, and hemp are the principal crops ; but little grain is raised. II. A town, the capital of the province, and the third of the cities of Norway in importance and pop- ulation, in lat. 63 25' N., and Ion. 10 23' E., on a small gulf near the outlet of the river Nid, by which river and the sea it is almost entirely surrounded, 233 m. N. of Christiania; pop. in 1870, 20,858. The most interesting edifice is the cathedral of St. Olaf, founded in the llth century; the little of the original building that remains and forms part of the present cathedral is sufficient to show that it was a magnificent Gothic structure. The har- bor is not deep, and is frequented only by small vessels. Its trade consists chiefly in exports of masts, copper and iron, goat skins, and dried and salted fish. It has a public Cathedral of Drontheim. library, a museum, and a society of arts and sciences, founded in 1760. On a rock in the midst of the harbor is the fortress of Munkholm, anciently an abbey, then a state prison, and now the chief fortification of the city on the sea side. On the land side Drontheim is com- manded by a succession of picturesque heights. It was founded in 997, and for a long time was the residence of the kings of Norway, who were consecrated and crowned in its cathedral ; and the kings of Sweden are still crowned there as kings of Norway. As it was formerly built only of wood, it has been several times almost entirely destroyed by fire. DROPSY (originally hydropsy; Gr. vdup, water, and 6if>if, the face or appearance), a morbid collection of fluid in one or more of the serous cavities within the body, or in the areolar tissue beneath the skin, and in other situations. A dropsical accumulation is to be distinguished from the effusion of liquid which takes place in certain inflammatory diseases, pleurisy, peritonitis, pericarditis, &c. In these diseases the effusion is due to inflammation, whereas in dropsy transudation takes place without the parts where it occurs being in- flamed. Moreover, the liquid which is the result of inflammation is either purulent or accompanied by coagulable lymph or fibrinous exudation. Dropsy may be local or general. It is local when the effusion of liquid is con-