DIL 



DIO 



plants, with alternate leaves and flowers 

 in spikes :it the ends of the stein and 

 branches. D. purpurea, purple fox-glove, 

 is biennial; the stem is from three to 

 six feet high, upright ; leafy, round, pu- 

 bescent; leaves r.lternate, acute, veiny, 

 and wrinkled underneath ; flowers in a 

 long spike, nodding 1 , imbricate, all di- 

 rected the same way ; peduncles one- 

 flowered, pubescent, thickest at top ; ca- 

 lyx also pubescent ; corolla purple, the 

 bellying part sprinkled on the inside with 

 spots like little eyes; filaments a little 

 broader at top, crooked at bottom ; an- 

 thers large, clo\ en almost to the base, 

 yellowish, and frequently spotted; stig- 

 ma bifid ; nectary a gland, surrounding 

 the base of the germ; seeds dark brown, 

 truncate at both ends. It is a native of 

 Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, 

 in sandy and gravelly soils; near London 

 it grows plentifully. It flowers from June 

 to August. 



DIGITATED, among botanists, an ap- 

 pellation given to compound leaves, each 

 of which is composed of a number of 

 simple foliola, placed regularly on a com- 

 mon petiole ; though, strictly speaking, 

 there must be more than four foliola to 

 make a digitated leaf. 



DIGNITARY, in the cannon law, a per- 

 son who holds a dignity, that is, a bene- 

 fice which gives him some pre-eminence 

 over mere priests and canons. Such is a 

 bishop, dean, archdeacon, prebendary, 

 8tc. 



DIGNITY, as applied to the titles of 

 noblemen, signifies honour and autho- 

 rity. As the omission of a name of dig- 

 nity may be pleaded in abatement of a 

 writ, so may it be, where a peer or no- 

 bleman, who has more than one n:,mc 

 of dignity, is not named by that which i 

 most noble. 



DIGYN1A, the name of an order or se- 

 condary division in each of the first thir- 

 teen ciasst --, except the ninth, in Linnx- 

 us's method; consisting of plants, which, 

 to the cla.--.sic character, whatever it is, 

 add the circumstance of having two styles 

 or female organs. 



DILAPIDATION, is where an incum- 

 bent of a chnrch living suffers the par- 

 sonage-housi- or out-houses to fall down, 

 or be in decay for want of nccecsary re- 

 parations; or it is the pulling down or 

 destroying any of the houses or build- 

 ings belonging to a spiritual living, or 

 destroying of the woods, trees, &c. ap- 

 pertaining to the same ; for it is said to 

 extend to committing or suffering any wil- 



ful waste, in or upon the inheritance of 

 the church. 



DILATATION. See E\ 

 D1LATHIS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Triandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Ensatse. Irides, Jns- 

 sicu. Essential character: calyx none; 

 corolla six-petalled, hirsute ; filaments 

 one less than the others; stigma simple. 

 There are three species, all natives of the 

 Cape. 



DILEMMA, in logic, an argument con- 

 sisting of two or more propositions, wlu'ch 

 divides the whole into all its parts, or 

 members, by a disjunctive proposition, 

 and then infers something concerning 

 each part, which is finally referred to con- 

 cerning the whole. s^ 

 DILL. See A;THTM. 

 DILLENIA, in botany, so named in 

 honour of J. .1. Dillenius, professor of bo- 

 tany at Oxford, a genus of the Polyan- 

 dria Polygynia class and order. Natural 

 order of Coadunatx. Magnolia, Jussieu. 

 Essential character: calyx five-leaved; 

 patals five-cleft ; capsule many-seeded ; 

 connate filled with pulp. There are se- 

 ven species. These are very handsome 

 trees, natives of the East Indies; the 

 leaves are large, and of a leathery sub- 

 stance ; the flowers are axillary or termi- 

 nating, and frequently very large. 



DIMENSION, in geometry, is either 

 length, breadth, or thickness; hence a 

 line hath one dimension, viz. length ; a 

 superfices, two, viz. length and breadth; 

 and a body, or solid, has three, to wit, 

 length, breadth, and thickness. 



1)1 MINI TiON, in rhetoric, the exag- 

 gerating of what you have to say by an 

 expression that seems to diminish it. 



DIMINUTIVE, in grammar, a word 

 formed for some other, to soften or di- 

 minish the force of it, or to signify a thing 

 is little in its kind. Thus cellule is a di- 

 minutive cell, globule of globe, hillock 

 of hill. 



D1MOHCARPUS, in botany, a genus 

 of the Octandria Monogynia cl 

 or ler. Ouh x five-cleft ; corolla five-pe- 

 tal! ed ; berries two, one -seeded, large. 

 One species, found in China. 



DIMOHl'HA, in botany, a genus of the 

 DiadelphiaDccandria class and order. N:- 

 turalorderof Papilionace.eorLeguminosx. 

 Essential character : petals one large con- 

 volute, in place of the keel ; standard and 

 wings none. There are three species, 

 natives of the woods and banks of rivers 

 of Gi liana. 



DIOCESE, the circuit of every bishop's 

 jurisdiction For this reahn hath two 



