682 



DARMSTADT 



DARTMOOR 



philological articles by his brother Arsene, arid 

 translated into rhythmical French a selection of 

 his wife's poems. ' He died 19th October 1894. 

 His wife, Agnes Mary F. n&e Robinson in 1857, has 

 written a long series of books of admirable poetry, 

 lyrical and other, translations from Euripides, a 

 novel (Arden), and Lives of Emily Bronte (1883) 

 and Kenan (1897). ARSENE (1846-88), trained to 

 be a rabbi, passed to the study of mediaeval French, 

 in which he soon became the recognised authority; 

 and began the great dictionary in collaboration 

 with M. Hatzfeld. 



Darmstadt* a town of Germany, capital 

 of the grand-duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, is 

 situated on the small river Darm, 15 miles S. of 

 Frankfort-on-Main. The streets of the old town 

 are narrow, but those of the new town exhibit 

 many imposing specimens of architecture. Darm- 

 stadt has several public squares, and fine public 

 gardens and promenades. Besides the arsenal, 

 the barracks, and the various religious edifices, 

 it possesses two palaces. One of these, the 

 old ducal palace, contains museums of painting, 

 natural history, and archaeology, and a library of 

 500,000 volumes ; in the other, Prince Charles's 

 palace, is Holbein's famous 'Meyer Madonna.' 

 The handsome post-office dates from 1881, the 

 theatre from 1871. There are manufactures of 

 chemicals, hats, machinery, tobacco, playing-cards, 

 carpets, and beer ; and a trade in iron, petroleum, 

 fruit, flour, and wine. But the place depends more 

 on its ducal court and government offices than on 

 its industries. Pop., with suburb (1875), 44,088; 

 (1890) 56,399 (including 9038 Catholics, 1498 Jews). 



Darnel (Lolium temnlentum), an annual grass 

 of the same genus with Rye-grass (q.v.), common 

 as a weed in cornfields in England and many parts 

 of Europe. Probably the tares of the parable, it is 

 reputed (though some authorities deny the fact) to 

 have a narcotic poisonous seed. See RAPHANIA. 



Dame'tal, a town in the French department of 

 Seine-Inferieure, 2^ miles E. of Rouen, with manu- 

 factures of cotton, linen, and cloth goods. Pop. 

 6532. 



Darnley. See MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 



Darter (Plotus), a genus of birds nearly allied 

 to Cormorants (q.v.), but very heron-like in gait 

 and gesture. The four species are severally re- 

 stricted to the warm parts of America, Africa, 



Darter (Plotus anhinga). 



Asia, and Australia. The head is small, with 

 naked cheeks and throat ; the neck is very long, 

 thin, and flexible ; the bill is long and straight ; 

 the tail and the toes are also long. The darters 

 catch fish voraciously and with great dexterity ; 

 the name ' snake-neck ' well describes them. 



Though aquatic in habit, they rest and nest on 

 trees. The American species figured is over three 

 feet in length. 



Dartford, a thriving market-town of Kent, in 

 the narrow valley of the Darent, 2 miles above its 

 influx to the Thames, and 17 ESE. of London. 

 Edward III. here founded an Augustinian nunnery 

 ( 1355) ; St Edmund's chantry was a great place of 

 pilgrimage ; and at Dartford Wat Tyler commenced 

 his rebellion ( 1381 ). The church, with a Norman 

 tower, was restored in 1863; among its interesting 

 monuments is one to Sir John Spielman, Queen 

 Elizabeth's jeweller, who in 1588 established at 

 Dartford what is said to have been the first paper- 

 mill in England. Paper is still manufactured, 

 besides steam-engines and machinery, gunpowder, 

 &c. The modern buildings include a county court- 

 house (1859), assembly rooms (1860), and, in the 

 neighbourhood, the City of London lunatic asylum 

 (1866). Pop. of parish (1851) 6224; (1881) 10,163; 

 (1891) 11,962. See the local histories by Dun kin 

 (1844) and Bayly (1876). 



Dartmoor is a great granitic upland in Devon- 

 shire, the source, with two exceptions, of all the 

 principal rivers of the county, remarkable alike for 

 its wild and rugged scenery, its antiquities, its wide, 

 solitary, trackless wastes, and its mineral products. 

 It is upwards of 130,000 acres in extent, the extreme 

 length from north to south being 25 miles, and the 

 extreme breadth from east to west 20 miles. The 

 outline is irregular. The central portion is the 

 ancient royal forest of Dartmoor, and this is sur- 

 rounded by a belt of open country, once known as 

 the ' Commons of Devonshire,' but portions of which 

 have been inclosed. The attempts to cultivate Dart- 

 moor itself have been very few, and the northern 

 quarter for miles shows no trace of man, but the val- 

 leys through which the rivers descend to the lowland 

 country are singularly fertile, and at times full of 

 beauty. The moor itself affords valuable mountain 

 pasture to cattle, sheep, and large numbers of half- 

 wild ponies. The forest rights belong to the duchy 

 of Cornwall ; but there are rights of pasturage 

 exercised by holders of what are called venvifie 

 tenures in certain parishes bounding the moor, 

 which date prior to the Norman Conquest. 



The average height of Dartmoor above the sea is 

 upwards of 1200 feet, but its highest point, High 

 Willhayes, is 2039 feet; and the next, Yes Tor, 

 2030. The hills are commonly called tors, and 

 for the most part have granite crests, weathered 

 into grotesque and picturesque shapes. The whole 

 of Dartmoor is of granite, protruded between the 

 close of the Carboniferous and the opening of the 

 Triassic periods. Devonian rocks mantle round its 

 southern extension, and Carboniferous round its 

 northern, associated at various points with gabbros, 

 dolerites, and other intrusive rocks. The granite 

 is chiefly gray, but there are rich red varieties, as 

 at Trowlesworthy. Large quantities of the ordi- 

 nary stone have been quarried, especially at Hey 

 Tor and King Tor. Dartmoor is rich in minerals. 

 Tin has been raised for many centuries, long 

 before the dawn of history, by streaming in the 

 valleys, and vestiges of the ancient mining opera- 

 tions of the ' old men ' abound. Copper, iron, 

 and manganese have also been worked, but 

 mining is now carried on at a few points only. 

 Gold has frequently been found in the river-beds. 

 The tinners of Devon had a quasi-corporate exist- 

 ence in Saxon times, and their rights were con- 

 firmed by King John and other monarchs. The 

 Stannary Parliaments, in which they managed their 

 affairs, were held in the open air on Crockern Tor. 

 The most important mineral product of Dartmoor 

 at the present day is china-clay, or kaolin, which 

 is the result of the decomposition of the felspar 



