Traction diverticula of the oesophagus not uncommonly occur as sequels to suppurative inflammation of cervical lymphatic glands. More frequently dilatation of a section is met with, due as a rule to the presence of a stricture. The stomach often diverges from the normal in size, shape and position. Normally capable in the adult of containing from fifty to sixty ounces, either by reason of organic disease, or as the result of functional disturbance, its capacity may vary enormously. The writer has seen post mortem a stomach which held a gallon (160 ounces), and again one holding only two ounces. Cancer spread over a large area and cirrhosis of the stomach wall cause diminution in capacity; pyloric obstruction, weakness of the muscular coat, and nervous influences are associated with dilatation. A peculiar distortion of the shape of the stomach follows cicatrization ofulcers of greater or lesser curvature; the gastric cavity becomes “hour-glass” in shape. In addition, the stomach may be displaced downwards as a whole, a condition known as gastroptosis: if the pyloric portion only be displaced, the lesion is termed pyloroptosis. Ptoses of other abdominal organs are described; the liver, transverse colon, spleen and kidneys may be involved. Displacements downwards of the stomach and transverse colon, along with a movable right kidney and associated with dyspepsia and neurasthenia, form the malady termed by Glénard enteroptosis. A general visceroptosis often occurs in those patients who have some tuberculous lesion of the lungs or elsewhere, this disease causing a general weakening and subsequent stretching of all ligaments. Displacements of the abdominal viscera are almost invariably accompanied by symptoms of dyspepsia of a neurotic type. The rectum is liable to prolapse, consequent upon constipation and straining at stool, or following local injuries of the perineal floor.
Every pathological lesion shown by digestive organs is closely associated with the state of the nervous system, general or local; so stoppage of active gastric digestive processes after profound nervous shock, and occurrence of nervousInfluence of the nervous system.diarrhoea from the same cause. Gastric dyspepsia of nervous origin presents most varied and contradictory symptoms: diminished acidity of the gastric juice, hyper-acidity, over-production, arrest of secretion, lessened or increased movements, greater sensitiveness to the presence of contents, dilatation or spasm. Often the nervous cause can be traced back farther,—in females, frequently to the pelvic organs; in both sexes, to the condition of the blood, the brain or the bowel. Unhealthy conditions related to evacuation of the bowel-contents commonly induce reflex nervous manifestations of abnormal character referred to the stomach and liver. Gastric disturbances similarly react upon the proper conduct of intestinal functions.
Local Diseases.
The Mouth.—The lining membrane of the cheeks inside the mouth, of the gums and the under-surface and edges of the tongue, is often the seat of small irritable ulcers, usually associated with some digestive derangement. A crop of minute vesicles known as Koplik’s spots over these parts has been lately stated by Koplik to be an early symptom of measles. Xerostomia, or dry mouth, is a rare condition, connected with lack of salivary secretion. Gangrenous stomatitis, cancrum oris, or noma, occasionally attacks debilitated children, or patients convalescing from acute fevers, more especially after measles. It commences in the gums or cheeks, and causes widespread sloughing of the adjacent soft parts—it may be of the bones.
The Stomach.—It were futile to attempt to enumerate all the protean manifestations of disturbance which proceed from a disordered stomach. The possible permutations and combinations of the causes of gastric vagaries almost reach infinity. Idiosyncrasy, past and present gastric education, penury or plethora, actual digestive power, motility, bodily requirements and conditions, environment, mental influences, local or adjacent organic lesions, and, not least, reflex impressions from other organs, all contribute to the variance.
Ulcer of the stomach, however—the perforating gastric ulcer—occupies a unique position among diseases of this organ. Gastric ulcers are circumscribed, punched out, rarely larger than a sixpenny-bit, funnel-shaped, the narrower end towards the peritoneal coat, and distributed in those regions of the stomach wall which are most exposed to the action of the gastric contents. They occur most frequently in females, especially if anaemic, and are usually accompanied by excess of acid, actual or relative to the state of the blood, in the stomach contents. Local pain, dorsal pain, generally to the left of the eighth or ninth dorsal spinous process, and haematernesis and melaena, are symptomatic of it. The amount of blood lost varies with the rapidity of ulcer formation and the size of vessel opened into. Fatal results arise from ulceration into large blood-vessels, followed by copious haemorrhage, or by perforation of the ulcer into the peritoneal cavity. Scars of such ulcers may be found post mortem, although no symptoms of gastric disease have been exhibited during life; gastric ulcers, therefore, may be latent.
Irritation of the sensory nerve-endings in the stomach wall from the presence of an increased proportion of acid, organic or mineral, in the stomach contents is accountable for the well known symptom heartburn. Water-brash is a term applied to eructation of a colourless, almost tasteless fluid, probably saliva, which has collected in the lower part of the oesophagus from failure of the cardiac sphincter of the stomach to relax; reversed oesophageal peristalsis causing regurgitation. A similar reversed action serves in merycism, or rumination, occasionally found in man, to raise part of the food, lately ingested, from the stomach to the mouth. Vomiting also is aided by reversed peristaltic action, both of the stomach and the oesophagus, with the help of the diaphragm and the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall. Emesis may be caused both by local nervous influence, and through the central nervous mechanism either reflexly or from the direct action of substances circulating in the blood. Further, the causal agent acting on the central nervous apparatus may be organic or functional, as well as medicinal. Vomiting without any apparent cause suggests nervous lesions, organic or reflex. The obstinate vomiting of pregnancy is a case in point. Here the primary cause proceeds reflexly from the pelvis. In females the pelvic organs are often the true source of emesis. Haematemesis accompanies gastric ulcer, cancer, chronic congestion with haemorrhagic erosion, congestion of the liver, or may follow violent acts of vomiting. In cases of ulcer the blood is usually bright and in considerable amount; in cancer, darker, like coffee-grounds; and in cases of erosion, in smaller quantity and of bright colour. The reaction of the stomach contents, if the cause be doubtful, yields valuable aid towards a diagnosis. Of increased acidity in gastric ulcer, normal in hepatic congestion, it is diminished in cancer; but as the acid present in cancer is largely lactic, analysis of the gastric contents must often be asine qua non, because hyperacidity from lactic may obscure hypoacidity of hydrochloric acid.
Flatulence usually results from fermentative processes in the stomach and bowel, as the outcome of bacterial activity. A different form of flatulence is common in neurotic individuals: in such the gas evolved consists simply in carbonic acid liberated from the blood, and its evolution is generally characterized by rapid development and by lack of all fermentative signs.
The Liver.—The liver is an organ frequently libelled for the delinquencies of other organs, and regarded as a common source of ill. In catarrhal jaundice it is in most cases the bowel that is at fault, the liver acting properly, but unable to get rid of all the bile produced. The liver suffers, however, from several diseases of its own. Its fibrous or connective tissue is very apt to increase at the expense of the cellular elements, destroying their functions. This cirrhotic process usually follows long-continued irritation, such as is produced by too much alcohol absorbed from the bowel habitually, the organ gradually becoming harder in texture and smaller in bulk. Hypertrophic cirrhosis of the liver is not uncommonly met with, in which the liver is much increased in size, the “unilobular” form, also of alcoholic origin. In still-born children and in some infants a form of hypertrophic cirrhosis is occasionally seen, probably of hereditary syphilitic origin. Acute congestion of the liver forms an important symptom of malarial fever, and often leads in time to establishment of cirrhotic changes; here the liver is generally enlarged, but not invariably so, and the part played by alcohol in its causation has still to be investigated. Acute yellow atrophy of the liver is a diseasesui generis. Of rare occurrence, possibly of toxic origin, it is marked by jaundice, at first of usual type, later becoming most intense; by vomiting; haemorrhages widely distributed; rapid diminution in the size of the liver; the appearance of leucin and tyrosin in the urine, with lessened urea; and in two or three days, death. The liver after death is soft, of a reddish colour dotted with yellow patches, and weighs only about a third part of the normal—about 1½ lb in place of 3¾ lb. A closely analogous affection of the liver, known as Weil’s disease, is of infectious type, and has been noted inepidemic form. In this the spleen and liver are commonly but not always swollen, and the liver is often tender on pressure. As a large proportion of the sufferers from this disease have been butchers, and the epidemics have occurred in the hot season of the year, it probably arises from contact with decomposing animal matter. Hepatic abscess may follow on an attack of amoebic dysentery, and is produced either by infection through the portal vein, or by direct infection from the adjacent colon. In general pyaemia multiple small abscesses may occur in the liver.
The Gall-Bladder.—The formation of biliary calculi in the gall-bladder is the chief point of interest here. At least 75% of such cases occur in women, especially in those who have borne children. Tight-lacing has been stated to act as an exciting cause, owing to the consequent retardation of the flow of bile. Gall-stones may number from one to many thousands. They are largely composed of cholesterin, combined with small amounts of bile-pigments and acids, lime and magnesium salts. Their presence may give rise to no symptoms, or may cause violent biliary colic, and, if the bile-stream be obstructed, to jaundice. Inflammatory processes may be initiated in the gall-bladder or the bile-ducts, catarrhal or suppurative in character.
The Pancreas.—Haemorrhages into the body of the pancreas, acute and chronic inflammation, calculi, cysts and tumours, among which cancer is by far the most common, are recognized as occurring in this organ; the point of greatest interest regarding them lies in the relations established between pancreatic disease and diabetes mellitus, affections of the gland frequently being complicated by, and probably causing, the appearance of sugar in the urine.
The Small Intestine.—Little remains to be added to the account of inflammatory lesions in connexion with the small intestine. It offers but few conditions peculiar to itself, save in typhoid fever, and the ease with which it contrives to become kinked, or intussuscepted, producing obstruction, or to take part in hernial protrusions. The first section, the duodenum, is subject to development of ulcers very similar to those of the gastric mucous membrane. For long duodenal ulceration has been regarded as a complication of extensive burns of the skin, but the relationship between them has not yet been quite satisfactorily explained. The condition of colic in the bowel usually arises from overdistension of some part of the small gut with gas, the frequent sharp turns of the gut facilitating temporary closure of its lumen by pressure of the dilated gut near a curve against the part beyond. In the large bowel accumulations of gas seldom cause such acute symptoms, having a readier exit.
The Large Intestine.—The colon, especially the ascending portion, may become immensely dilated, usually after prolonged constipation and paralysis of the gut; occasionally the condition is congenital. Straining efforts made in defaecation may often account for prolapse of the lower end of the rectum through the anus. Haemorrhage from the bowel is usually a sign of disease situated in the large intestine: if bright in colour, the source is probably low down; if dark, from the caecum or from above the ileo-caecal valve. Blood after a short stay in any section of the alimentary canal darkens, and eventually becomes almost black in colour.
(A. L. G.; M. F.*)
DIGGES, WEST(1720-1786), English actor, made his first stage appearance in Dublin in 1749 as Jaffier inVenice Preserved; and both there and in Edinburgh until 1764 he acted in many tragic rôles with success. He was the original “young Norval” in Home’sDouglas(1756). His first London appearance was as Cato in the Haymarket in 1777, and he afterwards played Lear, Macbeth, Shylock and Wolsey. In 1881 he returned to Dublin and retired in 1784.
DIGIT(Lat.digitus, finger), literally a finger or toe, and so used to mean, from counting on the fingers, a single numeral, or, from measuring, a finger’s breadth. In astronomy a digit is the twelfth part of the diameter of the sun or moon; it is used to express the magnitude of an eclipse.
DIGITALIS.The leaves of the foxglove (q.v.), gathered from wild plants when about two-thirds of their flowers are expanded, deprived usually of the petiole and the thicker part of the midrib, bitter taste; and to preserve their properties they must be kept excluded from light in stoppered bottles. They are occasionally adulterated with the leaves ofInula Conyza, ploughman’s spikenard, which may be distinguished by their greater roughness, their less divided margins, and their odour when rubbed; also with the leaves ofSymphytum officinale, comfrey, and ofVerbascum Thapsus, great mullein, which unlike those of the foxglove have woolly upper and under surfaces. The earliest known descriptions of the foxglove are those given by Leonhard Fuchs and Tragus about the middle of the 16th century, but its virtues were doubtless known to herbalists at a much remoter period. J. Gerarde, in hisHerbal(1597), advocates the use of foxglove for a variety of complaints; and John Parkinson, in theTheatrum Botanicum, orTheater of Plants(1640), and later W. Salmon, inThe New London Dispensatory, similarly praised the remedy. Digitalis was first brought prominently under the notice of the medical profession by Dr W. Withering, who, in hisAccount of the Foxglove(1785), gave details of upwards of 200 cases chiefly dropsical, in which it was used.
Digitalis contains four important glucosides, of which three are cardiac stimulants. The most powerful isdigitoxinC34H54O11, an extremely poisonous and cumulative drug, insoluble in water.Digitalin, C35H56O14, is crystalline and is also insoluble in water.Digitaleinis amorphous but readily soluble in water. It can therefore be administered subcutaneously, in doses of about one-hundredth of a grain.Digitonin, on the other hand, is a cardiac depressant, and has been found to be identical with saponin, the chief constituent of senega root. There are numerous preparations, patent and pharmacopeial, their composition being extremely varied, so that, unless one has reason to be certain of any particular preparation, it is almost better to use only the dried leaves themselves in the form of a powder (dose ½-2 grains). The pharmacopeial tincture may be given in doses of five to fifteen minims, and the infusion has the unusually small dose of two to four drachms—the dose of other infusions being an ounce or more. The tincture contains a fair proportion of both digitalin and digitoxin.
Digitalis leaves have no definite external action. Taken by the mouth, the drug is apt to cause considerable digestive disturbance, varying in different cases and sometimes so severe as to cause serious difficulty. This action is probably due to the digitonin, which is thus a constituent in every way undesirable. The all-important property of the drug is its action on the circulation. Its first action on any of the body-tissues is upon unstriped muscle, so that the first consequence of its absorption is a contraction of the arteries and arterioles. No other known drug has an equally marked action in contracting the arterioles. As the vaso-motor centre in the medulla oblongata is also stimulated, as well as the contractions of the heart, there is thus trebly caused a very great rise in the blood-pressure.
The clinical influence of digitalis upon the heart is very well defined. After the taking of a moderate dose the pulse is markedly slowed. This is due to a very definite influence upon the different portions of the cardiac cycle. The systole is not altered in length, but the diastole is very much prolonged, and since this is the period not only of cardiac rest but also of cardiac “feeding”—the coronary vessels being compressed and occluded during systole—the result is greatly to benefit the nutrition of the cardiac muscle. So definite is this that, despite a great increase in the force of the contractions and despite experimental proof that the heart does more work in a given time under the influence of digitalis, the organ subsequently displays all the signs of having rested, its improved vigour being really due to its obtaining a larger supply of the nutrient blood. Almost equally striking is the fact that digitalis causes an irregular pulse to become regular. Added to the greater force of cardiac contraction is a permanent tonic contraction of the organ, so that its internal capacity is reduced. The bearing of this fact on cases of cardiac dilatation is evident. In larger doses a remarkable sequel to these actionsmay be observed. The cardiac contractions become irregular, the ventricle assumes curious shapes—“hour-glass,” &c.—becomes very pale and bloodless, and finally the heart stops in a state of spasm, which shortly afterwards becomes rigor-mortis. Before this final change the heart may be started again by the application of a soluble potassium salt, or by raising the fluid pressure within it. Clinically it is to be observed that the drug is cumulative, being very slowly excreted, and that after it has been taken for some time the pulse may become irregular, the blood-pressure low, and the cardiac pulsations rapid and feeble. These symptoms with more or less gastro-intestinal irritation and decrease in the quantity of urine passed indicate digitalis poisoning. The initial action of digitalis is a stimulation of the cardiac terminals of the vagus nerves, so that the heart’s action is slowed. Thereafter follows the most important effect of the drug, which is a direct stimulation of the cardiac muscle. This can be proved to occur in a heart so embryonic that no nerves can be recognized in it, and in portions of cardiac muscle that contain neither nervecells nor nerve-fibres.
The action of this drug on the kidney is of importance only second to its action on the circulation. In small or moderate doses it is a powerful diuretic. Though Heidenhain asserts that rise in the renal blood-pressure has not a diuretic action per se, it seems probable that this influence of the drug is due to a rise in the general blood-pressure associated with a relatively dilated condition of the renal vessels. In large doses, on the other hand, the renal vessels also are constricted and the amount of urine falls. It is probable that digitalis increases the amount of water rather than that of the urinary solids. In large doses the action of digitalis on the circulation causes various cerebral symptoms, such as seeing all objects blue, and various other disturbances of the special senses. There appears also to be a specific action of lowering the reflex excitability of the spinal cord.
Digitalis is used in therapeutics exclusively for its action on the circulation. In prescribing this drug it must be remembered that fully three days elapse before it gets into the system, and thus it must always be combined with other remedies to tide the patient over this period. It must never be prescribed in large doses to begin with, as some patients are quite unable to take it, intractable vomiting being caused. The three days that must pass before any clinical effect is obtained renders it useless in an emergency. A certain consequence of its use is to cause or increase cardiac hypertrophy—a condition which has its own dangers and ultimately disastrous consequences, and must never be provoked beyond the positive needs of the case. But digitalis is indicated whenever the heart shows itself unequal to the work it has to perform. This formula includes the vast majority of cardiac cases. The drug is contra-indicated in all cases where the heart is already beating too slowly; in aortic incompetence—where the prolongation of diastole increases the amount of the blood that regurgitates through the incompetent valve; in chronic Bright’s disease and in fatty degeneration of the heart—since nothing can cause fat to become contractile.
DIGNE,the chief town of the department of the Basses Alpes, in S.E. France, 14 m. by a branch line from the main railway line between Grenoble and Avignon. Pop. (1906), town, 4628; commune, 7456. The Ville Haute is built on a mountain spur running down to the left bank of the Bléone river, and is composed of a labyrinth of narrow winding streets, above which towers the present cathedral church, dating from the end of the 15th century, but largely reconstructed in modern times, and the former bishop’s palace (now the prison). The fine Boulevard Gassendi separates the Ville Haute from the Ville Basse, which is of modern date. The old cathedral (Notre Dame du Bourg) is a building of the 13th century, but is now disused except for funerals: it stands at the east end of the Ville Basse. The neighbourhood of Digne is rich in orchards, which have long made the town famous in France for its preserved fruits and confections. It is theDiniaof the Romans, and was the capital of the Bodiontii. From the early 6th century at least it has been an episcopal see, which till 1790 was in the ecclesiastical province of Embrun, but since 1802 in that of Aix en Provence. The history of Digne in the middle ages is bound up with that of its bishops, under whom it prospered greatly. But it suffered much during the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was sacked several times. A little way off, above the right bank of the Bléone, is Champtercier, the birthplace of the astronomer Gassendi (1592-1655), whose name has been given to the principal thoroughfare of the little town.
See F. Guichard,Souvenirs historiques sur la ville de Digne et ses environs(Digne, 1847).
See F. Guichard,Souvenirs historiques sur la ville de Digne et ses environs(Digne, 1847).
(W. A. B. C.)
DIGOIN,a town of east-central France, in the department of Saône-et-Loire, on the right bank of the Loire, 55 m. W.N.W. of Mâcon on the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906) 5321. It is situated at the meeting places of the Loire, the Lateral canal of the Loire and the Canal du Centre, which here crosses the Loire by a fine aqueduct. The town carries on considerable manufactures of faience, pottery and porcelain. The port on the Canal du Centre has considerable traffic in timber, sand, iron, coal and stone.
DIJON,a town of eastern France, capital of the department of Côte d’Or and formerly capital of the province of Burgundy, 195 m. S.E. of Paris on the Paris-Lyon railway. Pop. (1906) 65,516. It is situated on the western border of the fertile plain of Burgundy, at the foot of Mont Afrique, the north-eastern summit of the Côte d’Or range, and at the confluence of the Ouche and the Suzon; it also has a port on the canal of Burgundy. The great strategic importance of Dijon as a centre of railways and roads, and its position with reference to an invasion of France from the Rhine, have led to the creation of a fortress forming part of the Langres group. There is noenceinte, but on the east side detached forts, 3 to 4 m. distant from the centre, command all the great roads, while the hilly ground to the west is protected by Fort Hauteville to the N.W. and the “groups” of Motte Giron and Mont Afrique to the S.W., these latter being very formidable works. Including a fort near Saussy (about 8 m. to the N.W.) protecting the water-supply of Dijon, there are eight forts, besides the groups above mentioned. The fortifications which partly surrounded the old and central portion of the city have disappeared to make way for tree-lined boulevards with fine squares at intervals. The old churches and historic buildings of Dijon are to be found in the irregular streets of the old town, but industrial and commercial activity has been transferred to the new quarters beyond its limits. A fine park more than 80 acres in extent lies to the south of the city, which is rich in open spaces and promenades, the latter including the botanical garden and the Promenade de l’Arquebuse, in which there is a black poplar famous for its size and age.
The cathedral of St Bénigne, originally an abbey church, was built in the latter half of the 13th century on the site of a Romanesque basilica, of which the crypt remains. The west front is flanked by two towers and the crossing is surmounted by a slender timber spire. The plan consists of three naves, short transepts and a small choir, without ambulatory, terminating in three apses. In the interior there is a fine organ and a quantity of statuary, and the vaults contain the remains of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, and Anne of Burgundy, daughter of John the Fearless. The site of the abbey buildings is occupied by the bishop’s palace and an ecclesiastical seminary. The church of Notre-Dame, typical of the Gothic style of Burgundy, was erected from 1252 to 1334, and is distinguished for the grace of its interior and the beauty of the western façade. The portal consists of three arched openings, above which are two stages of arcades, open to the light and supported on slender columns. A row of gargoyles surmounts each storey of the façade, which is also ornamented by sculptured friezes. A turret to the right of the portal carries a clock called the Jaquemart, on which the hours are struck by two figures. The church of St Michel belongs to the 15th century. The west façade, the most remarkable feature of the church, is, however, of the Renaissance period. The vaulting of the three portals is of exceptional depth owing to the projection of the lower storey of the façade. Above this storey rise two towers of five stages, the fifth stage being formed by an octagonal cupola. The columns decorating the façade represent all the four orders. The design of this façade is wrongly attributed to HuguesSambin (fl. c. 1540), a native of Dijon, and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, but the sculpture of the portals, including “The Last Judgment” on the tympanum of the main portal, is probably from his hand. St Jean (15th century) and St Étienne (15th, 16th and 17th centuries), now used as the exchange, are the other chief churches. Of the ancient palace of the dukes of Burgundy there remain two towers, the Tour de la Terrasse and the Tour de Bar, the guard-room and the kitchens; these now form part of the hôtel de ville, the rest of which belongs to the 17th and 18th centuries. This building contains an archaeological museum with a collection of Roman stone monuments; the archives of the town; and the principal museum, which, besides valuable paintings and other works of art, contains the magnificent tombs of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, dukes of Burgundy. These were transferred from the Chartreuse of Dijon (or of Champmol), built by Philip the Bold as a mausoleum, now replaced by a lunatic asylum. Relics of it survive in the old Gothic entrance, the portal of the church, a tower and the well of Moses, which is adorned with statues of Moses and the prophets by Claux Sluter (fl. end of 14th century), the Dutch sculptor, who also designed the tomb of Philip the Bold. The Palais de Justice, which belongs to the reign of Louis XII., is of interest as the former seat of theparlementof Burgundy. Dijon possesses several houses of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, notably the Maison Richard in the Gothic, and the Hôtel Vogüé in the Renaissance style. St Bernard, the composer J. P. Rameau and the sculptor François Rude have statues in the town, of which they were natives. There are also monuments to those inhabitants of Dijon who fell in the engagement before the town in 1870, and to President Carnot and Garibaldi.
The town is important as the seat of a prefecture, a bishopric, a court of appeal and a court of assizes, and as centre of an académie (educational district). There are tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, an exchange (occupying the former cathedral of St Étienne), and an important branch of the Bank of France. Its educational establishments include faculties of law, of science and of letters, a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy, a higher school of commerce, a school of fine art, a conservatoire of music,lycéesand training colleges, and there is a public library with about 100,000 volumes.
Dijon is well known for its mustard, and for the black currant liqueur calledcassis de Dijon; its industries include the manufacture of machinery, automobiles, bicycles, soap, biscuits, brandy, leather, boots and shoes, candles and hosiery. There are also flour mills, breweries, important printing works, vinegar works and, in the vicinity, nursery gardens. The state has a large tobacco manufactory in the town. Dijon has considerable trade in cereals and wool, and is the second market for the wines of Burgundy.
Under the Romans Dijon (Divonense castrum) was avicusin thecivitasof Langres. In the 2nd century it was the scene of the martyrdom of St Benignus (Bénigne, vulg. Berin, Berain), the apostle of Burgundy. About 274 the emperor Aurelian surrounded it with ramparts. Gregory of Tours, in the 6th century, comments on the strength and pleasant situation of the place, expressing surprise that it does not rank as acivitas. During the middle ages the fortunes of Dijon followed those of Burgundy, the dukes of which acquired it early in the 11th century. The communal privileges, conferred on the town in 1182 by Hugh III., duke of Burgundy, were confirmed by Philip Augustus in 1183, and in the 13th century the dukes took up their residence there. For the decoration of the palace and other monuments built by them, eminent artists were gathered from northern France and Flanders, and during this period the town became one of the great intellectual centres of France. The union of the duchy with the crown in 1477 deprived Dijon of the splendour of the ducal court; but to counterbalance this loss it was made the capital of the province and seat of aparlement. Its fidelity to the monarchy was tested in 1513, when the citizens were besieged by 50,000 Swiss and Germans, and forced to agree to a treaty so disadvantageous that Louis XII. refused to ratify it. In the wars of religion Dijon sided with the League, and only opened its gates to Henry IV. in 1595. The 18th century was a brilliant period for the city; it became the seat of a bishopric, its streets were improved, its commerce developed, and an academy of science and letters founded; while its literary salons were hardly less celebrated than those of Paris. The neighbourhood was the scene of considerable fighting during the Franco-German War, which was, however, indirectly of some advantage to the city owing to the impetus given to its industries by the immigrants from Alsace.
See H. Chabeuf,Dijon à travers les âges(Dijon, 1897), andDijon, monuments et souvenirs(Dijon, 1894).
See H. Chabeuf,Dijon à travers les âges(Dijon, 1897), andDijon, monuments et souvenirs(Dijon, 1894).
DIKE,orDyke(Old Eng.dic, a word which appears in various forms in many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutchdijk, GermanTeich, Danishdige, and in French, derived from Teutonic,digue; it is the same word as “ditch” and is ultimately connected with the root of “dig”), properly a trench dug out of the earth for defensive and other purposes. Water naturally collects in such trenches, and hence the word is applied to natural and artificial channels filled with water, as appears in the proverbial expression “February fill-dyke,” and in the names of many narrow waterways in East Anglia. “Dike” also is naturally used of the bank of earth thrown up out of the ditch, and so of any embankment, dam or causeway, particularly the defensive works in Holland, the Fen district of England, and other low-lying districts which are liable to flooding by the sea or rivers (seeHollandandFens). In Scotland any wall, fence or even hedge, used as a boundary is called a dyke. In geology the term is applied to wall-like masses of rock (sometimes projecting beyond the surrounding surface) which fill up vertical or highly inclined fissures in the strata.
DIKKA,a term in Mahommedan architecture for the tribune raised upon columns, from which the Koran is recited and the prayers intoned by the Imam of the mosque.
DILAPIDATION(Lat. for “scattering the stones,”lapides, of a building), a term meaning in general a falling into decay, but more particularly used in the plural in English law for (1) the waste committed by the incumbent of an ecclesiastical living; (2) the disrepair for which a tenant is usually liable when he has agreed to give up his premises in good repair (seeEasement;Flat;Landlord and Tenant). By the general law a tenant for life has no power to cut down timber, destroy buildings, &c., (voluntary waste), or to let buildings fall into disrepair (permissive waste). In the eye of the law an incumbent of a living is a tenant for life of his benefice, and any waste, voluntary or permissive, on his part must be made good by his administrators to his successor in office. The principles on which such dilapidations are to be ascertained, and the application of the money payable in respect thereof, depend partly on old ecclesiastical law and partly on acts of parliament. Questions as to ecclesiastical dilapidations usually arise in respect of the residence house and other buildings belonging to the living. Inclosures, hedges, ditches and the like are included in things “of which the beneficed person hath the burden and charge of reparation.” In a leading case (Rossv.Adcock, 1868, L.R. 3 C.P. 657) it was said that the court was acquainted with no precedent or decision extending the liability of the executors of a deceased incumbent to any species of waste beyond dilapidation of the house, chancel or other buildings or fences of the benefice. And it has been held that the mere mismanagement or miscultivation of the ecclesiastical lands will not give rise to an action for dilapidations. To place the law relating to dilapidations on a more satisfactory footing, the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Act 1871 was passed. The buildings to which the act applies are defined to be such houses of residence, chancels, walls, fences and other buildings and things as the incumbent of the benefice is by law and custom bound to maintain in repair. In each diocese a surveyor is appointed by the archdeacons and rural deans subject to the approval of the bishop; and such surveyor shall by the direction of the bishop examine the buildings on the following occasions—viz. (1) when the benefice is sequestrated; (2) when it is vacant; (3) at the request of the incumbent or on complaint by the archdeacon, rural dean or patron. The surveyor specifies the works required, and gives anestimate of their probable cost. In the case of a vacant benefice, the new incumbent and the old incumbent or his representatives may lodge objections to the surveyor’s report on any grounds of fact or law, and the bishop, after consideration, may make an order for the repairs and their cost, for which the late incumbent or his representatives are liable. The sum so stated becomes a debt due from the late incumbent or his representatives to the new incumbent, who shall pay over the money when recovered to the governors of Queen Anne’s Bounty. The governors pay for the works on execution on receipt of a certificate from the surveyor; and the surveyor, when the works have been completed to his satisfaction, gives a certificate to that effect, the effect of which, so far as regards the incumbent, is to protect him from liability for dilapidations for the next five years. Unnecessary buildings belonging to a residence house may, by the authority of the bishop and with the consent of the patron, be removed. An amending statute of 1872 (Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Act (1871) Amendment) relates chiefly to advances by the governors of Queen Anne’s Bounty for the purposes of the act.
DILATATION(from Lat.dis-, distributive, andlatus, wide), a widening or enlarging; a term used in physiology, &c.
DILATORY(from Lat.dilatus, fromdifferre, to put off or delay), delaying, or slow; in law a “dilatory plea” is one made merely for delaying the suit.
DILEMMA(Gr.δίλημμα, a double proposition, fromδί-andλαμβάνειν), a term used technically in logic, and popularly in common parlance and rhetoric. (1) The latter use has no exact definition, but in general it describes a situation wherein from either of two (or more) possible alternatives an unsatisfactory conclusion results. The alternatives are called the “horns” of the dilemma. Thus a nation which has to choose between bankruptcy and the repudiation of its debts is on the horns of a dilemma. (2) In logic there is considerable divergence of opinion as to the best definition. Whately defined it as “a conditional syllogism with two or more antecedents in the major and a disjunctive minor.” Aulus Gellius gives an example as follows:—“Women are either fair or ugly; if you marry a fair woman, she will attract other men; if an ugly woman she will not please you; therefore marriage is absurd.” From either alternative, an unpleasant result follows. Four kinds of dilemma are admitted:—(a)Simple Constructive: If A, then C; if B, then C, but either B or A; therefore C. (b)Simple Destructive: If A is true, B is true; if A is true, C is true; B and C are not both true; therefore A is not true. (c)Complex Constructive: If A, then B; if C, then D; but either A or C; therefore either B or D. (d)Complex Destructive: If A is true, B is true; if C is true, D is true; but B and D are not both true; hence A and C are not both true. The soundness of the dilemmatic argument in general depends on the alternative possibilities. Unless the alternatives produced exhaust the possibilities of the case, the conclusion is invalid. The logical form of the argument makes it especially valuable in public speaking, before uncritical audiences. It is, in fact, important rather as a rhetorical subtlety than as a serious argument.
Dilemmistis also a term used to translateVaibhashikas, the name of a Buddhist school of philosophy.
DILETTANTE,an Italian word for one who delights in the fine arts, especially in music and painting, so a lover of the fine arts in general. The Ital.dilettareis from Lat.delectare, to delight. Properly the word refers to an “amateur” as opposed to a “professional” cultivation of the arts, but like “amateur” it is often used in a depreciatory sense for one who is only a dabbler, or who only has a superficial knowledge or interest in art. The Dilettanti Society founded in 1733-1734 still exists in England. A history of the society, by Lionel Cust, was published in 1898.
DILIGENCE,in law, the care which a person is bound to exercise in his relations with others. The possible degrees of diligence are of course numerous, and the same degree is not required in all cases. Thus a mere depositary would not be held bound to the same degree of diligence as a person borrowing an article for his own use and benefit. Jurists, following the divisions of the civil law, have concurred in fixing three approximate standards of diligence—viz. ordinary (diligentia), less than ordinary (levissima diligentia) and more than ordinary (exactissima diligentia). Ordinary or common diligence is defined by Story (On Bailments) as “that degree of diligence which men in general exert in respect of their own concerns.” So Sir William Jones:—“This care, which every person of common prudence and capable of governing a family takes of his own concerns, is a proper measure of that which would uniformly be required in performing every contract, if there were not strong reasons for exacting in some of them a greater and permitting in others a less degree of attention” (Essay on Bailments). The highest degree of diligence would be that which only very prudent persons bestow on their own concerns; the lowest, that which even careless persons bestow on their own concerns. The want of these various degrees of diligence is negligence in corresponding degrees. These approximations indicate roughly the greater or less severity with which the law will judge the performance of different classes of contracts; but English judges have been inclined to repudiate the distinction as a useless refinement of the jurists. Thus Baron Rolfe could see no difference between negligence and gross negligence; it was the same thing with the addition of a vituperative epithet. SeeNegligence.
Diligence, in Scots law, is a general term for the process by which persons, lands or effects are attached on execution, or in security for debt.
DILKE, SIR CHARLES WENTWORTH,Bart. (1810-1869), English politician, son of Charles Wentworth Dilke, proprietor and editor ofThe Athenaeum, was born in London on the 18th of February 1810, and was educated at Westminster school and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He studied law, and in 1834 took his degree of LL.B., but did not practise. He assisted his father in his literary work, and was for some years chairman of the council of the Society of Arts, besides taking a prominent part in the affairs of the Royal Horticultural Society and other bodies. He was one of the most zealous promoters of the Great Exhibition (1851), and a member of the executive committee. At the close of the exhibition he was honoured by foreign sovereigns, and the queen offered him knighthood, which, however, he did not accept; he also declined a large remuneration offered by the royal commission. In 1853 Dilke was one of the English commissioners at the New York Industrial Exhibition, and prepared a report on it. He again declined to receive any money reward for his services. He was appointed one of the five royal commissioners for the Great Exhibition of 1862; and soon after the death of the prince consort he was created a baronet. In 1865 he entered parliament as member for Wallingford. In 1869 he was sent to Russia as representative of England at the horticultural exhibition held at St Petersburg. His health, however, had been for some time failing, and he died suddenly in that city, on the 10th of May 1869. A selection from his writings,Papers of a Critic(2 vols., 1875), contains a biographical sketch by his son.
His son,Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bart.(1843- ), became a prominent Liberal politician, as M.P. for Chelsea (1868-1886), under-secretary for foreign affairs (1880-1882), and president of the local government board (1882-1885); and he was then marked out as one of the best-informed and ablest of the advanced Radicals. He was chairman of the royal commission on the housing of the working classes in 1884-1885. But his sensational appearance as co-respondent in a divorce case of a peculiarly unpleasant character in 1885 cast a cloud over his career. He was defeated in Chelsea in 1886, and did not return to parliament till 1892, when he was elected for the Forest of Dean; and though his knowledge of foreign affairs and his powers as a critic and writer on military and naval questions were admittedly of the highest order, his official position in public life could not again be recovered. His military writings areThe British Army(1888);Army Reform(1898) and, with Mr Spenser Wilkinson,Imperial Defence(1892). On colonial questions he wrote with equal authority. HisGreater Britain(2 vols., 1866-1867) reached a fourth edition in 1868, and was followed byProblems of Greater Britain(2 vols., 1890) andThe British Empire(1899). He was twice married, his second wife (néeEmilia Frances Strong), the widow of Mark Pattison, being an accomplished art critic and collector. She died in 1904. The most important of her books were the studies onFrench Painters of the Eighteenth Century(1899) and three subsequent volumes on the architects and sculptors, furniture and decoration, engravers and draughtsmen of the same period, the last of which appeared in 1902. A posthumous volume,The Book of the Spiritual Life(1905), contains a memoir of her by Sir Charles Dilke.
DILL(AnethumorPeucedanum graveolens), a member of the natural botanical order Umbelliferae, indigenous to the south of Europe, Egypt and the Cape of Good Hope. It resembles fennel in appearance. Its root is long and fusiform; the stem is round, jointed and about a yard high; the leaves have fragrant leaflets; and the fruits are brown, oval and concavo-convex. The plant flowers from June till August in England. The seeds are sown, preferably as soon as ripe, either broadcast or in drills between 6 and 12 in. asunder. The young plants should be thinned when 3 or 4 weeks old, so as to be at distances of about 10 in. A sheltered spot and dry soil are needed for the production of the seed in the climate of England. The leaves of the dill are used in soups and sauces, and, as well as the umbels, for flavouring pickles. The seeds are employed for the preparation of dill-water and oil of dill; they are largely consumed in the manufacture of gin, and, when ground, are eaten in the East as a condiment. The British Pharmacopoeia contains the Aqua Anethi or dill-water (dose 1-2 oz.), and the Oleum Anethi, almost identical in composition with caraway oil, and given in doses of ½-3 minims. Dill-water is largely used as a carminative for children, and as a vehicle for the exhibition of nauseous drugs.
DILLEN[Dillenius],JOHANN JAKOB(1684-1747), English botanist, was born at Darmstadt in 1684, and was educated at the university of Giessen, where he wrote several botanical papers for theEphemerides naturae curiosorum, and printed, in 1719, hisCatalogus plantarum sponte circa Gissam nascentium, illustrated with figures drawn and engraved by his own hand, and containing descriptions of many new species. In 1721, at the instance of the botanist William Sherard (1659-1728), he came to England, and in 1724 he published a new edition of Ray’sSynopsis stirpium Britannicarum. In 1732 he publishedHortus Elthamensis, a catalogue of the rare plants growing at Eltham, Kent, in the collection of Sherard’s younger brother, James (1666-1738), who, after making a fortune as an apothecary, devoted himself to gardening and music. For this work Dillen himself executed 324 plates, and it was described by Linnaeus, who spent a month with him at Oxford in 1736, and afterwards dedicated hisCritica botanicato him, as “opus botanicum quo absolutius mundus non vidit.” In 1734 he was appointed Sherardian professor of botany at Oxford, in accordance with the will of W. Sherard, who at his death in 1728 left the university £3000 for the endowment of the chair, as well as his library and herbarium. Dillen, who was also the author of anHistoria muscorum(1741), died at Oxford, of apoplexy, on the 2nd of April 1747. His manuscripts, books and collections of dried plants, with many drawings, were bought by his successor at Oxford, Dr Humphry Sibthorp (1713-1797), and ultimately passed into the possession of the university.