692 



DATE PLUM 



DAUBENY 



' stones ' or seeds are roasted in North Africa as a 

 substitute for coffee, and have also been introduced 

 into Britain for the same purpose. They are also 

 ground and pressed for oil, and the residue used 

 for feeding cattle. From leaf-stalks of the common 

 date palm, all kinds of basket and wicker work are 

 also made, and walking-sticks, fans, &c. The 

 leaves themselves are made into bags, mats, Jfe 

 the fibres of the web-like integuments at the base 

 of their stalks into cordage. The wood is used for 

 building, fences, &c. The Toddy Palm of the north 

 of India, or Wild Date Palm (P. sylvestris), so 

 nearly resembles this species, that it is doubtful if 

 it is distinct. In some places, the trees present a 

 curiously distorted and zigzag appearance, from the 

 practice of yearly tapping the alternate sides for the 

 sap or toddy. This forms a grateful and whole- 

 some beverage ; readily also fermenting into palm- 

 wine, and by distillation yielding Arrack (q.v. ); 

 whilst if boiled down it yields the syrup called 

 jaggery, from 4 Ib. of which 1 Ib. of sugar is 

 obtained, a single tree producing about 7 or 8 

 Ib. of sugar annually. Hie operation of tapping 

 for toddy spoils the fruit of the tree, which is 

 small and much inferior to the African date. It 

 is, however, eaten. Another species, P. paludosa, 

 the most gregarious of Indian palms, growing 

 only 6 or 8 feet high, covers the landscape of 

 the Sunderbunds with the liveliest verdure. P. 

 acaulis and P. farinifera are also dwarf and 

 closely allied common Indian species. P. re- 

 clinata is a characteristic palm of the Natal 

 coast, and P. spinosa of Sierra Leone, &c. 

 Some derive the origin of the colonnade pillar in 

 architecture to the regular mode of its planting and 

 the use of its stem in building, while in symbolic 

 interest it stands second to no other plant. The 

 symbol of beauty and of victory alike to Hebrews 

 and Hellenes from the earliest times, it passed 

 readily to the suggestion of victory over death and 

 glorious immortality; hence alike the name Phoenix 

 from the fabled bird, and the habit of representing 

 angels and the blessed with palms in their hands. 

 It was largely used also for decoration of festivals, 

 and for strewing in processions. Christ's triumphal 

 entry into Jerusalem is still commemorated on 

 Palm Sunday (q.v.). 



Date Plum (Diospyros), a genus of Ebenaceae, 

 important for timber (see EBONY, IRONWOOD) and 

 fruit. The Common Date Plum or Pishamin, also 

 called the European Lotus and the Date of Trebi- 

 zond (D. lotus), is a tree of 18 to 30 feet in height, 

 with oblong shining leaves and small reddish-white 

 flowers, a native of the coasts of the Caspian Sea, 

 Northern Africa, &c., but cultivated and natural- 

 ised in the south of Europe. It can also be, grown in 

 the south of England. Its fruit is of the size of a 

 cherry, and in favourable climates larger, yellow, 

 sweet, and astringent. It is eaten when over-ripe, 

 like the medlar, or is used for conserves. This 

 fruit has been supposed by some to be the Lotus 

 ( q. v. ) of the Lotophagi. The Virginian Date Plum, 

 or Persimmon (D. virginiana), is a tree of 30 to 60 

 feet high, with ovate oblong leaves and pale-yellow 

 flowers, a native of the southern states of North 

 America, where one tree often yields several bushels 

 of fruit. The fruit is about one inch in diameter, 

 Avith six to eight oval seeds. It is not palatable 

 till mellowed by frost, and is sweet and astringent. 

 A kind of beer or cider and an ardent spirit are 

 made from it. D. Mabola is cultivated as a fruit- 

 tree in Mauritius. D. Kaki, sometimes called the 

 Keg-fig, is a native of Japan, which occasionally 

 is kept in greenhouses in France and England. 

 The sweetmeat called Figues-caques is made from 

 this fruit in France. The fruit of some other 

 species is also edible e.g. D. decandra of Cochin - 

 China. 



Datholite (Gr. dathos, 'turbid'), a mineral, 

 colourless or inclining to grayish, greenish, white, 

 or yellowish-gray colour, occurring both massive 

 and crystallised in rhombic prisms, the edges and 

 angles of which are commonly replaced by planes. 

 It is composed of boracic acid, silica, and lime, with 

 a little water. It has been found both in schistose 

 and crystalline igneous rocks ; and occurs near 

 Edinburgh, in Norway, Italy, Connecticut, &c. 



Diltia, a native state of Bundelkhand, with 

 a pop. of 186,440. The chief town, Datia, 125 

 miles SE. of Agra, on a rocky eminence, has a pop. 

 of 27,566. It has several palaces, some now un- 

 tenanted. 



Datiseacea;* a very small order allied to 

 Begoniacese, including only four species, of remote 

 distribution. Datisca cannabina, a plant much 

 resembling hemp, is cultivated in Crete and Asia 

 Minor for its henip-like fibre, also as a source of 

 yellow dyestuff. It has tonic properties. 



Dative. See DECLENSION. 



Dat'ura. See THORN APPLE. 



Daub, KARL, a speculative theologian, was 

 born 20th March 1765, at Cassel, studied philosophy 

 and theology at Marburg, and became in 1795 

 professor of Theology at Heidelberg, where he 

 died 22d November 1836. An earnest and singu- 

 larly open-minded seeker after truth, although 

 defective in the true historical sense, and not 

 a robust and independent thinker, Daub laboured 

 incessantly to find a sound basis for a reconciliation 

 between religion and philosophy, and his successive 

 writings reflect the whole development of prevailing 

 philosophy from Kant to Hegel. Thus his Lehrbuch 

 der Katechetik (1801) rests completely on Kant's 

 fundamental principles ; again, dominated by the 

 influence of Schelhng's 'philosophy of identity' 

 are his Theologitmena ( 1 806 ) and Einleitung to 

 Christian dogmatics (1810) ; while Schelling's tran- 

 sition to theosophy and to 'positive philosophy' 

 is mirrored in L)aub's Jtidas Ischarioth (1816), 

 despite its eccentricities his best work. Hegel was 

 called to Heidelberg in 1816, and henceforth it was 

 his influence which was dominant over the receptive 

 mind of Daub. In his Dogmatische Theologie 

 (1833) and Prolegomena (1835), he attempts in 

 the darkest language of the Hegelian dialectic a 

 philosophical restoration of the dogmas of the 

 church. Daub's Theol.-philos. Vorlesungen were 

 collected by Marheineke and Dittenberger in seven 

 volumes ( 1838-43 ). See Rosenkranz's eulogistic but 

 uncritical Erinnerungen (1837), and D. F. Strauss. 

 CharaJderistiken und Kritiken (2d ed. 1844). 



Daubenton, Louis JEAN MARIE, naturalist, 

 was born at Montbar in Burgundy, 29th May 1716. 

 He studied theology at the Sorbonne, but soon 

 gave himself up to medicine and anatomy. In 

 1742 his old schoolfellow, Buffon, invited him to 

 assist him in the preparation of his great work 

 on Natural History, and Daubenton contributed 

 richly to the first fifteen volumes of the Histoire 

 Naturelle, until the jealousy of Buffon led to an 

 estrangement. Daubenton now devoted himself 

 almost entirely to his duties in the Jardin du Roi, 

 where he was professor of Mineralogy. He was 

 also for a time professor of Natural History in the 

 College of Medicine. He contributed largely to 

 the first Encyclopedic, and wrote many valuable 

 memoires. He died 31st December 1799. 



Daubeny, CHARLES GILES BRIDLE, chemist 

 and botanist, was born at Stratton in Gloucester- 

 shire, llth February 1795. He devoted himself 

 chiefly to the elucidation of natural phenomena by 

 ihe aid of chemical science his great work being 

 A Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes 

 1826). He also wrote on thermal springs. He 



