DAL 



DAN 



tigated the subject with the utmost care, 

 and shews, upon seemingly incontestible 

 evidence, that the word is applied always 

 to human spirits. From the arguments 

 adduced by the same author, it should 

 appear that all persons, spoken of as 

 possessed with devils in the New Testa- 

 ment, were either deranged or epileptic, 

 and in the same condition with madmen 

 and epileptics of modern days. 



DAFFODIL, the same with the narcis- 

 sus of botanists. 



DAGYSA, in natural history, a genus 

 of the Vermes Mollusca. Generic cha- 

 racter: body loose, nayant, angular, tu- 

 bular, and open at each extremity. One 

 species, viz. D. notata, found in the Spa- 

 nish sea, is about three inches long and 

 one thick. Body marked at one end with 

 a brown spot. This genus is very like the 

 SAI.I- v ; which see. 



DAIRY. See AUH^CULTI-BE. 



DAIS, in botany, a genus of the De- 

 candria Monogynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Vepreculse. Thymeleae, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : involucre 

 four-leaved ; corolla four or five-cleft ; 

 berry one-seeded. There are three spe- 

 cies, of which D. cotinifolia, cotinus- 

 leaved dais, is an ornamental green-house 

 shrub, of the deciduous kind; not having 

 yet produced any perfect seeds here, as 

 it does in Holland, it keeps up a very high 

 price among nursery men. 



DAISY. See BELLIS. 

 DALBERGIA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Dirtdelphia Decandria class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Papilionaceae, or 

 Legummosae. Essential character: fila- 

 ments two, four-cleft at top. Fruit pedi- 

 celled,not opening, leguminose, membra- 

 naceous, compressed. There are two 

 species, viz. D. lanceolaria and D. mone- 

 taria ; the former is a native of Malabar 

 and Ceylon, the latter of Surinam, in 

 moist places. 



DALECHAMPIA, in botany, so called 

 in honour of Jacobus Dalechampius ; a 

 genus of the Monoecia Monadelphia class 

 and order. Natural order of Tricoccse. 

 Euphorbias, Jussieu. Essential character : 

 outer common involucre with four leaf- 

 lets ; inner with two trifid leaves ; male, 

 umbellule ten-flowered ; involucre two- 

 leaved, with numerous chaffs ; proper pe- 

 rianth five leaved ; corolla none; filaments 

 very many, connate ; female floscules 

 three ; involucel three-leaved; proper pe- 

 rianth with eleven leaflets ; corolla none ; 

 style filiform ; capsule tricoccous. There 

 are two species, viz. D. colorata, coloured 



dalechampia, found in New Granada ; and 

 D. scandens, climbing dalechampia, is a 

 native of the West Indies. 



DAMA See CERVCS. 



DAMASKEENING, or DAMASKING, 

 the art or operation of beautifying iron, 

 steel, &c. by making incisions therein, 

 and filling them up with gold and silver 

 wire ; chiefly used for adorning sword 

 blades, guards, and gripes, locks of pis- 

 tols, &c. 



DAMASONIUM, in botany, a genus of 

 the Hexandria Hexagynia class and order. 

 Essential character: spathe one-leafed, 

 perianth one-leafed, three-parted ; petals 

 three ; berry ten-celled, inferior. There 

 is but one species, viz. D. alismoides, with 

 heart-shaped leaves, nerved, floating, 

 unarmed ; scape naked, quadrangular, 

 one-flowered. There are only six sta- 

 mens in the flower, with six bifid styles. 

 Native of the East Indies, Malabar, Cey- 

 lon, &c. 



DAMPS, in natural history, noxious 

 steams and exhalations, frequently found 

 in mines, pits, wells, and other subterra- 

 neous places. See GAS. 



UANCE, or DANCING. The causes 

 which produce the active operation of 

 dancing are as completely inherent in 

 the human system, as any of those which 

 are generally called involuntary affec- 

 tions of the nerves. A review of the his- 

 tory of mankind will serve to prove, that 

 the passions are expressed by the same 

 disposition of the muscles in every quar- 

 ter of the globe, and that joy has produc- 

 ed an inclination to dance throughout the 

 individuals of nations, who know not of 

 each other's existence. In the very early 

 ages of the world, before civilization had 

 polished the ideas, sudden joy may be 

 supposed to have been almost the only 

 stimulus to dancing, and this supposition 

 is corroborated by present observation ; 

 the moderns have, indeed, so far refined 

 their feelings, that their disposition to 

 leap or skip with joy is confined to the 

 minuet step in walking, which may be 

 frequently discovered when the features 

 express pleasure. On the contrary, the 

 rude child of nature, endued with nerves 

 of exquisite sensibility," having obtained 

 some desired object, received that inex- 

 plicable shock, which the Divinity hath 

 decreed man shall not fully comprehend ; 

 immediately the subtle pleasure extend- 

 ed to every fibre of his frame, and the 

 convulsive motion became a dance; as 

 joy is communicable, his family were in- 

 spired, his neighbours caught the infec- 

 tion, and the manner of this first dance 





