Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/74

 66 DEY edges of envelopes; also to labels, particularly those for glass bottles, causing them to adhere more permanently than any other suitable sub- stance. Confectioners employ it in the manu- facture of lozenges. It is often employed with .id vantage in the preparation of ban- dages to keep broken bones in perfect relative position. Fur this purpose it is generally used as crudely prepared by the action of sulphuric Potato starch is generally used in the manufacture of dextrine, on account of its cheapness and greater purity. IIKY, throughout the 17th century the title of the commander of the armies of Algiers, subject to a pasha appointed by the Porte. At* the beginning of the 18th century the diirnity of pasha was united with that of dey, and the dey was the highest officer of Algiers from that time till the conquest of the country by the French in 1830. The (leys were ap- pointed and deposed by a council or divan, and the deposition of a dey was generally followed by his death. His nomination was announced to the Porte at Constantinople, which always confirmed it by a firman. The dey, who was also the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, exercised with his ministers all the ex- ecutive authority; and the later deys took away the power of the divan. DEYRA DOON, or Dehra Uoon, a valley of Brit- ish India, between the S. W. base of the lowest and outermost ridge of the Himalaya and the N. E. slope of the Sivalik mountains, the for- mer having an elevation of 7,000 or 8,000 ft., And the latter of about 3,000 ; between lat. 30 and 30 32' N., and Ion. 77 43' and 78 24' E. It is bounded 8. E. by the Ganges and N. by the Jumna, is drained by their tributa- ries, and with the hilly region called Jounsar Bawur forms a district under the lieutenant- governorship of the Northwest Provinces. The productions are rice, maize, grain, cotton, sugar, opium, indigo, plantain, and hemp. Every English plant is said to thrive luxu- riantly, and considerable success has attend- ed the cultivation of tea. The valley is wa- tered by numerous streams, and abounds in game. The climate during part of the year is very unhealthy. The district was formerly in- cluded in the dominions of the rajah of Gurh- wal. was overrun by the Gorkhas in 1803, and in 1815, during the Nepaul war, was in- vaded by the British, who suffered jjreat loss and who, after the expulsion of the <MH-kha*. kept possession of the territory. . the principal town of the district, is pit nated in dense mango groves, at the inter- section of two routes of trade, 2,369 ft. above i. and l'J."i in. N. N. E. of Delhi UK/ML. Bee DISK. i. HlllKUllt. --eDARWAB. DimVAUURI. See HIMALAYA DHOLE. See DOG. DIABETES, Clufosaria, Diabetes Mellitas, or Gln- rohvmia (C,r. dioftmimt^ to pass through), a dis- ease characterized by an excessive secretion of DIABETES saccharine urine. Though disease marked by diuresis and attended with wasting of the body was frequently spoken of by earlier authors, Willis (1659) was the first who noted the dis- ' tinctive character of the complaint, the pres- ence of sugar in that fluid. Since his time diabetes, which is not very rare, has been fre- quently made a subject of study, yet still much obscurity envelops its causes, its essential char- acter, and its treatment. The invasion of dia- betes is commonly insidious. The attention of the patient is perhaps first attracted by the quantity of urine he passes and by the frequent calls to void it, or he notices that while his ap- petite is greatly increased he is growing weak- er and thinner. The urine is not only greatly increased in quantity, but somewhat changed in appearance; it is paler, transparent when first passed, and assumes on standing an opal- escent tint like the whey of milk or a solution of honey in water. It has no odor, or a some- what aromatic one, compared by some to that of new-made hay, by Dr. Watson to that of a room in which apples have been kept. If kept for a few days at a moderately elevated tem- perature, instead of acquiring an ammoniacal odor, like ordinary urine, it has a sharp, vinous smell, and will be found to be acid rather than alkaline. The urine has commonly a decidedly sweet taste ; drops of it upon the patient's linen or clothes stiffen them like starch, and some- times leave on evaporation a powdery efflores- cence. The specific gravity of the urine is greatly augmented ; instead of being on the average about 1 P 024, as is commonly the case, it ranges from 1*025 to 1*050; M. Bouchardat reports it even as high as 1-074. Two or three simple tests are sufficient to render the presence of sugar certain. In Trommer's test, a drop or two of solution of sulphate of copper is add- ed to a little of the urine in a test tube ; a so- lution of caustic potash is now added in ex- cess, and the mixture gently boiled over a spirit lamp for a few minutes ; if sugar is present, a precipitate of a reddish or yellowish brown color (suboxide of copper) will be thrown down, otherwise the precipitate will be black (common oxide). In Moore's test, a little of the urine is mixed in a test tube with about half its volume of liquor potassae, and the mixture boiled five minutes; if sugar be present, the fluid will acquire a brown hue, otherwise it re- mains unchanged. A third test is founded on the fact that diabetic urine rapidly undergoes fermentation when mixed with a little yeast and kept in a warm place. The sugar to which diabetic urine owes its peculiar properties ex- ists in the form of glucose or grape sugar. This is present in all proportions, from a mere trace to 30, 50, and even 134 parts in 1,000. The quantity of solid matter thus drained from the system is very great ; Watson estimates it on the average at 1 lb. a day, but it sometimes amounts to many times this quantity; and it is this drain of solid matter, together with the large amount of urine passed, which gives rise