DIP 



DIP 



five-petalled ; nectaries five on the germ , 

 capsule three or five conjoined; seeds 

 veiled. There are nineteen species. 

 These are all shrubs, bearing the resem- 

 blance of heaths. The leaves are either 

 opposite or scattered, frequently crowded 

 and linear, sometimes having the edge 

 underneath dotted. The flowers are in co- 

 rymbs, or heads, at the ends of the branch- 

 es. The calyxes of some are glandulous 

 and dotted. They are natives of the Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



DIOSPYNAS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Polygamia Dioc-cia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Bicornes. Guaiacanx, Jus- 

 sieu. Essential character ; hermaphro- 

 dite ; calyx four-cleft; corolla pitcher- 

 shaped, four-cleft; stamina eight; style 

 four-cleft; berry eight-seeded. Male, ca- 

 lyx, corolla, and stamina of the other. 

 There are nine species, of which D. lotus, 

 European date plum, is a small tree, six 

 feet high, with spreading branches : leaves 

 ovate lanceolate, quite entire, large, alter- 

 nate, smooth, with oblique prominent 

 ribs ; flowers pale, terminating, solitary, 

 with a large leafy calyx four or five part- 

 ed, flat, permanent; berry round, half an 

 inch in diameter, yellow, lanuginose, one- 

 celled, containing eight oblong com- 

 pressed bony seeds, with very little 

 pulp. The broad-leaved variety grows 

 up into very large trees in the southern 

 parts of Caucasus. It is also found abun- 

 dantly on the whole coast of the Caspian 

 Sea. 



DIP, of the horizon, is an allowance 

 made in all astronomical observations of 

 altitude for the height of the eye above 

 the level of the sea. 



DIPHTHONG, in grammar, a double 

 vowel, or the mixture of two vowels pro- 

 nounced together, so as to make one syl- 

 lable. 



DIPHYSA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Diadelphia Decandria class and order. 

 Natural order of Papilionaceac or I/egu- 

 minosx. Essential character : calyx half 

 five-cleft; legume with a bladder on each 

 side ; seeds hooked. There is but one 

 species, riz. D. carthaginensis, a small 

 tree about ten feet in height, approach- 

 ing to the arborescent mimosas. It is 

 common every where about Carthagena 

 in New Spain, flowering in August and 

 September. 



DIPLOMA, an instrument or licence 

 given by colleges, societies, &c. to a 

 clergyman to exercise the ministerial 

 function, or to a physicyin to practise the 

 profession, &.c. after passing examination, 

 or admitting him to a degree. 



DTPLOMATICYetfe. The art of read- 

 ing letters written in cypher must be 

 founded on a knowledge of the nrt of 

 writing according to this method of con- 

 cealment. In examining a piece in newly 

 invented characters, we should endea- 

 vour to ascertain whether the number of 

 the characters correspond, or nearly so, 

 with the ordinary number of alphabetical 

 letters. We may sometimes detect a 

 weakness in the writer of having selected 

 his most simple marks, either for the 

 vowels or the first letters in the alphabet, 

 and his complex marks for the conso- 

 nants, or the letters most remote from a, 

 b, c, &c. We must observe which of the 

 characters, whether taken singly or com- 

 bined, occur the oftenest in the whole 

 specimen ; and of these probably the 

 most frequent will represent e, a, i, o -, 

 e being much more common than the 

 rest of the vowels, but u and y are 

 even less frequent than many of the con- 

 sonants. 



Endeavour next to ascertain the be- 

 ginning and ending of words, which are 

 sometimes distinguished by spaces or 

 points, or the insignificant marks or 

 nulis interposed ; but however it be done, 

 you must expect these signs to occur 

 after every few letters, and the frequen- 

 cy of their occurrence may serve as some 

 guide. 



When you have found out the distinc- 

 tion between words, take particular no- 

 tice of the order, number, frequency, 

 and combination of the letters in each 

 word; and first examine the characters 

 of which the shortest monosyllables are 

 composed. Remember, 1. That no word 

 can be without a vowel : a word of one 

 letter must therefore be a vowel, or a 

 consonant with an apostrophe. 2. That 

 the vowels are more frequently doubled 

 at the beginning of words than the conso- 

 nants : indeed the latter are only dou- 

 bled at the beginning of Spanish and 

 Welsh words. 3. That the vowels most- 

 ly exceed the consonants in short words ; 

 and when the double consonants are pre- 

 ceded by a single letter, that letter is a 

 vowel. 4. That the single consonant 

 which precedes or follows double conso- 

 nants is /, m, n, or r. 5. That the letter g 

 is always followed by u; and when two 

 different characters occur, the latter of 

 which is often joined with other letters, 

 but the former never found alone, nor 

 joined with any than the latter, those 

 characters stand for qu, which two, ex- 

 cept in a few Scotch names, are always 

 followed by a vowel. 6. That, although 



