DKISM 



735 



Detfr'<'s. INIVKRSITV. In its original sig 

 HflOMOO a degree was simply u certilirale thii 

 MM pei-M.ii who held it was qualified to take 

 p;iit in tin- puhlie teaching of a univer.Mty. In 

 the fully de\ eloped mi-dieval university there 

 "ere the four faculties of art, law, medicine, 

 ami theology ; und in each of these faculties 

 there were special degrees of its own. Tin-.-.- 

 degrees \\,. n - the haca laureate, the licentiate, and 

 the doetorate, though, strictly sneaking, the first 

 \\.-i> not a de-ri-e. >im-e it 'did not confer the 

 right of puhlic teaching. For the attainment of 

 8Mb degree certain subjects were prescribed for 

 examination, as also a lixe<l term of study in con- 

 nection with some university. Itoth tlie'suhjects 

 and the periods of study varied with the progress 

 of learning ; hut the different universities always 

 sought to preserve a common standard. In Paris, 

 at the close of the loth century, the terms of study 

 requisite to qualify for teaching in the different 

 faculties were the following : in arts, four yc,-ir> ; 

 in law, seven ; in medicine, eight ; and in theology, 

 fourteen. In modern times a degree in arts is 

 simply a certificate of a certain measure of 

 acquaintance with the subject to which it refers ; 

 but in the case of the higher faculties, that is, of 

 law, medicine, and theology, the degree also implies 

 a license to exercise the functions of the professions 

 thai depend on these faculties. It was formerly an 

 indispensable condition to obtain a degree that the 

 knowledge it represented should have been acquired 

 at one or other of the legally constituted univer- 

 sities ; but of late years certain universities, such 

 as that of London, have been founded, which grant 

 degrees to persons who pass examinations on pre- 

 sented subjects without the necessity of university 

 attendance. A still further departure from the 

 original import of the term is seen in what are 

 known as 'honorary degrees.' Such degrees are 

 conferred by universities on persons who have dis- 

 tinguished themselves in spheres of life which have 

 no direct connection with the studies for which 

 they exist. Thus, eminent soldiers, artists, and 

 even merchants, have received the degree of Doctor 

 of Laws. Not a few scholastic bodies are even 

 understood to grant degrees on purchase, or on 

 other such easy conditions that the original signifi- 

 cance of the degree is completely lost. In the 

 middle ages the right to confer degrees was granted 

 by the pope, who was the recognised head of all the 

 universities ; and at the present day he claims the 

 privilege of directly conferring degrees on whom he 

 pleases. In Protestant countries the right can lie 

 granted only by the state. By an act of the reign 

 of Henry VIII., the Archbishop of Canterbury re- 

 ceived the right of conferring degrees ; but these, 

 known as ' Lambeth degrees,' never carried with 

 them the same privileges as those of Oxford and 

 Cambridge. In the medieval universities, music 

 made part of the curriculum of the faculty of arts, 

 and doctors and bachelors of music are still created 

 by some universities. The German doctorate in 

 philosophy corresponds in some respects to the 

 M. A. degree elsewhere. The degrees of doctor and 

 bachelor of science are of comparatively recent in- 

 stitution. For the usual abbreviations for degrees, 

 see ABBREVIATIONS. See also UNIVERSITIES, 

 DOCTOR ; and for the Chinese system of degrees, 

 see CHINA, p. 190. For degrees of relationship, 

 see CONSANGUINITY. 



De Gubernatis. See GUBERNATIS. 



Dehiscence (Lat., 'gaping'), a technical term 

 applied to the mode of opening of certain ripe 

 fruits, those which do not open being termed 

 indehisccnt. See FRflT. 



l>'hra, the capital of the Dehra I Mm district in 

 the North-western Provinces of India, is pleasantly 



situated in u mountain-valley, 2300 feet above sea- 

 level, and 100 miles NE. of Meerut. Pop. (1H81) 

 18,959; (1891)25,684. 



IIHanHra, daughter of (Kneus and .Ktln-u, 

 and sister of Meleager. She became the wife of 

 H.-iciiles, but unwittingly cauMed hu* death by 

 sending him the mantle of the centaur NCHHUN, 

 which \\.-is said to have the property of preserving 

 love, but was really steeped in fatal |*oi*on. The 

 poi>,.n entering his frame, the hero Muttered nuch 

 agony that he ordered a funeral pyre to be erected 

 in Mount (Eta, and cost himself Into the (lames, 

 whereupon Deianeira hanged herself from grief. 



Del CiratiA (Lat., 'by the grace of God') U a 

 formula taken from several apoi-tolical expressions 

 in the New Testament. It is believed to have been 

 first formally used by the bishops at the Council 

 of Kphesus, 431 A. p. Afterwards, it came to be 

 appended by archbishops, bishops, abbots, monks, 

 and even chaplains, to their titles, in letters, and 

 other documents, as a humble expression of depend- 

 ence on the Most High. After the middle of the 

 13th century, the higher clergy wrote Dei et 

 Apostolica: sedis gratift, ' by the favour of God and 

 the apostolic see.' In the British Islands, this style 

 was generally dropped about the time of the Refor- 

 mation, but it was occasionally given to the Arch- 

 bishops of Canterbury and York, even after the 

 beginning of the 17th century. Many temporal 

 princes, earls, and barons made use of the formula 

 Dei Gratia ; William II. and Edward III. of Eng- 

 land employed it ; and before the loth century, no 

 idea of independence or of divine right seems to 

 have been attached to it. But in 1442 King 

 Charles VII. of France forbade its use by the Comte 

 d'Armagnac, and in 1449 obliged the Duke of Bur- 

 gundy to declare that he used it without prejudice 

 to the rights of the French crown. These instances 

 show that it hail now begun to be regarded as 

 belonging exclusively to sovereigns who owed no 

 allegiance to any other earthly potentate or power. 

 In this way, what was originally a pious expression 

 of humility came to be looked upon as an assertion 

 of the doctrine of the ' divine right ' of kings. 

 Deinotlicriuin. See DINOTHERIUM. 

 Dcipnosophists. See ATHEN&US. 

 Deira, an ancient Anglian kingdom, extending 

 from the Tees to the Humber, and westwards to 

 the borders of Cumbria. With its northern neigh- 

 bour, Bernicm, it was afterwards merged in the 

 kingdom of Northumbria, but later both were earl- 

 doms under the West Saxon kings. 



Deir-el-kamar ('convent of the moon'), a 

 town of Syria, formerly the capital of the Druses, 

 13 miles SSK. of Beyrout. It is situated on the edge 

 of a deep and picturesque glen of Mount Lebanon, 

 on the opposite side of which stands the palace 

 Bteddta, the summer residence of the Christian 

 governor of Lebanon. Pop. 8000, mostly Moronites. 

 Deism properly means belief in a God, as 

 opposed to atheism ; but the term used to 

 nress this sense is Theism (q.v.). On the other 

 hand, Deism is generally understood to implv tin- 

 denial of a revelation ; and a Deist is one who holds 

 the existence and providence of God, but grounds 

 his belief on reason and evidence, rejecting the 

 testimony of a revelation. The name is often used 

 vaguely by way of reproach. 



The term Deists, or Freethinkers, is usually 

 employed to designate a series of writers who 

 appeared in England in the 17th and isth centuries, 

 and sought to establish Natural Religion UIM>II the 

 basis of reason and free inmiiry, in opposition to all 

 jMisitive religions, and without reference to super- 

 natural revelation. They were critical, if not 

 hostile, in their attitude 'towards Scripture, and 



