The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 162

DE WITT, JAN, a Dutch statesman, born at Dort; elected grand pensionary in 1652; like his father, Jacob de Witt, before him, was a declared enemy of the House of Orange, and opposed the Stadtholdership, and for a time he carried the country along with him, but during a war with England his influence declined, the Orange party prevailed, and elected the young Prince of Orange, our William III., Stadtholder. He and his brother Cornelius were murdered at last by the populace (1625-1672).

DEWSBURY (73), a town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 8 m. SW. of Leeds; engaged in the manufacture of woollens, blankets, carpets, and yarns.

DEXTRINE, a soluble matter into which the interior substance of starch globules is converted by acids or diastase, so called because when viewed by polarised light it has the property of turning the plane of polarisation to the right.

DEYSTER, LOUIS DE, a Flemish painter, born at Bruges; was of a deeply religious temper, and his character was reflected in his choice of subjects, such as the "Death of the Virgin," "The Resurrection of Christ," &c.; he was a recluse (1656-1711).

DEZOBRY, CHARLES, a French writer, born at St. Denis; author of "Rome in the Time of Augustus" (1798-1871).

DHAGOBA, a mound with a dome-shaped top, found to contain Buddhist relics.

DHARMA, the name given to the law of Buddha, as distinct from the Sangha, which is the Church.

DHARWAR (32), a town in the S. of the Bombay Presidency, a place of considerable trade in a district noted for its cotton growing.

DHWALAGIRI, one of the peaks of the Himalayas, the third highest, 26,826 ft. high.

DIABETES, a disease characterised by an excessive discharge of urine, and accompanied with great thirst; there are two forms of this disease.

DIAB'LERETS, a mountain of the Bernese Alps, between the Cantons de Vaud and de Valois.

DIAFOIRUS, THOMAS, the name of two pedantic doctors, father and son, who figure in Moliere's "Malade Imaginaire."

DIAGORAS, a Greek philosopher, born in Melos, one of the Cyclades, 5th century B.C., surnamed the Atheist, on account of the scorn with which he treated the G.o.ds of the popular faith, from the rage of whose devotees he was obliged to seek safety by flight; died in Corinth.

DIALECTIC, in the Hegelian philosophy the logic of thought, and, if of thought, the logic of being, of essential being.

DIALOGUES OF PLATO, philosophical dialogues, in which Socrates figures as the princ.i.p.al interlocutor, although the doctrine expounded is rather Plato's than his master's; they discuss theology, psychology, ethics, aesthetics, politics, physics, and related subjects.

DIALYSIS, the process of separating the crystalloid or poisonous ingredients in a substance from the colloid or harmless ingredients.

DIAMANTE, a Spanish dramatic poet, who plagiarised Corneille's "Cid"

and pa.s.sed it off as original; _b_. 1826.

DIAMANTINA (13), a district in Brazil, in the province of Minas Geraes, rich in diamonds.

DIAMOND, the name of Newton's favourite dog that, by upsetting a lamp, set fire to MSS. containing notes of experiments made over a course of years, an irreparable loss.

DIAMOND NECKLACE, a necklace consisting of 500 diamonds, and worth 80,000, which one Madame de la Motte induced the jeweller who "made" it to part with for Marie Antoinette, on security of Cardinal de Rohan, and which madame made away with, taking it to pieces and disposing of the jewels in London; the swindle was first discovered when the jeweller presented his bill to the queen, who denied all knowledge of the matter; this led to a trial which extended over nine months, gave rise to great scandal, and ended in the punishment of the swindler and her husband, and the disgrace of the unhappy, and it is believed innocent, queen. See CARLYLE'S "MISCELLANIES."

DIAMOND NET, a name given in the Hegelian philosophy to "the _connective tissue_, so to speak, that not only supports, but even in a measure const.i.tutes, the various organs" of the universe. See HEGELIANISM.

DIAMOND STATE, Delaware, U.S., from its small size and great wealth.

DIANA, originally an Italian deity, dispenser of light, identified at length with the Greek G.o.ddess Artemis, and from the first with the moon; she was a virgin G.o.ddess, and spent her time in the chase, attended by her maidens; her temple at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the world. See ARTEMIS.

DIANA DE POITIERS, the mistress of Henry II. of France, for whom he built the magnificent Chateau d'Anet, in Eure-et-Loir; she had a great influence over him, and the cruel persecutions of the Huguenots in his reign were due to her instigation (1490-1566).

DIANA OF FRANCE, the d.u.c.h.ess of Angouleme, the natural daughter of Henry II. and the d.u.c.h.ess de Castro (1538-1619).

DIARBEKIR (42), the largest town in the Kurdistan Highlands, on the Tigris, 194 m. NE. of Aleppo, and on the highway between Bagdad and Constantinople, with a large and busy bazaar.

DIASTASE, a nitrogenous substance developed during the germination of grain, and having the property of converting starch first into dextrine and then into sugar.

DIAVOLO, FRA (lit. Brother Devil), Michele Porsa, a Calabrian, originally a monk, who left his monastery and joined a set of bandits, who lent themselves to and conducted insurrectionary movements in Italy; taken prisoner, was hanged at Naples; Auber's opera, "Fra Diavolo," has no connection with him except the name (1760-1806).

DIAZ, BARTHeLEMY, a Portuguese navigator, sent on a voyage of discovery by John II., in the command of two ships; sailed down the W.

coast of Africa and doubled the Cape of Good Hope, which, from the storm that drove him past it, he called the Cape of Storms; returning to Lisbon he was superseded by Vasco da Gama, or rather subordinated to him; subsequently accompanied Cabral on his voyage to Brazil, and was lost in a storm in 1500.

DIAZ MIGUEL, governor of Porto Rico, born in Aragon; friend and companion of Columbus; suffered from the usual Jealousies in enterprises of the kind, but prevailed in the end; _d_. 1514.

DIAZ DE LA PEnA, a French painter, born at Bordeaux, of Spanish descent; a landscapist of the Romantic school, eminent as a colourist (1809-1876).

DIAZ DEL CASTELLO, historian; accompanied Cortes to Mexico; took part in the conquest, and left a graphic, trustworthy account of it; died in Mexico, 1560.