784 



DHAR 



DIABETES 



conquest by the French. The name was formerly 

 given to elderly people, especially among the 

 Janizaries ; hence came to be commonly applied at 

 Algiers to the commanding-officer of that corps, 

 who frequently became afterwards pasha or regent 

 of that province. See BEG. 



IHiar. a town of Central India, lying at an 

 elevation of 1908 feet above the sea, 33 miles W. of 

 Mhov. It has over 15,000 inhabitants, and pre- 

 serves, in two large mosques of red stone and a fort 

 defended by a high rampart and twenty-six towers, 

 traces of bygone magnificence. It is the capital 

 of a protected state of the same name, with an area 

 of 1740 sq. m., and 169,474 inhabitants. 



Dharmsala, a hill-station in the Punjab, 

 110 miles NE. of Lahore. Pop. 5500. 



Dharwar, a town and district in the southern 

 Mahratta country, in Bombay Presidency, separated 

 by the river Tungabhadra from Madras. The town 

 has no manufactures of importance, but a good 

 deal of trade. Pop. 32,841. The district lias an 

 area of 4600 sq. ru., and a pop. of 1,051,314, 

 mostly Hindus. The most interesting feature of 

 the country is its suitableness for the growth of 

 American cotton, which now occupies a third of 

 the total acreage devoted to cotton. Cotton and 

 silk cloth are manufactured in the district. The 

 prevalent language is Canarese. 



Dhole, the wild dog of India. See DOG. 



Dholka, a town of India, in Bombay Presi- 

 dency, 22 miles SW. of Ahrnadabad, with a reputa- 

 tion for the weaving of women's robes. It is 

 surrounded by a mud wall 4 miles in circuit, and 

 lies amid the ruins of noble palaces and tanks, 

 many dating from the early Hindu period. Pop. 

 18,500. 



Dliolpore, a native state of Rajputana, in 

 Central India, on the northern bank or the Chum- 

 bul, with an area of 1200 sq. m., and a pop. 

 of 279,890, mostly Hindus. Capital, Dholpore, on 

 the Chumbul, 34 miles S. of Agra by rail. A large 

 fifteen days' fair is held here in October, and two 

 religious fairs are held every year at Machkund, a 

 lake 3 miles to the west, with no fewer than 114 

 temples on its banks. 



Dhunchee, or DHANCHI [dZschynomene (Ses- 

 bania) aculeata], an annual herbaceous plant culti- 

 vated in Bengal on account of its coarse hemp-like 

 fibre. It is steeped and prepared very much like 

 Sunn (q.v. ). Other species are of similar use. 



Dhwalagiri (Dtwdlaairi), once supposed to 

 be the highest peak of the Himalayas, but now 

 ascertained to be at most only the third in point of 

 altitude, has a height of 26,826 feet above the sea. 

 It is in Nepal, in 29 N. lat. , and 82 30' E. long. 



Diabase. See BASALT. 



Diabe'tes (Gr., lit. 'a syphon,' from diabaino, 

 ' I go or flow through ' ), a disorder of the general 

 system, of which the principal symptom is a 

 greatly increased flow of urine. Diabetes is of two 

 distinct kinds : the one, diabetes insipidus, is a 

 mere exaggeration of the water-excreting function 

 of the kidneys, accompanied by extreme thirst, and 

 hence called polydipsia ( Gr. , ' excess of thirst ' ) by 

 some authorities ; the other is a more complex dis- 

 order of the assimilation, consequent on the forma- 

 tion first, and the excretion by the kidneys after- 

 wards, of an enormous excess of animal sugar 

 (see SUGAR), the sugar being found in excess 

 not only in the renal excretion, but in the blood, 

 and in nearly all the secretions which have been 

 examined. The pathology of this disease, called 

 diabetes mellitus (Lat. mel, 'honey'), is very 

 obscure, notwithstanding the numerous recent 

 physiological researches which tend to throw light 

 on the development of sugar in the animal organ- 



ism, especially in the liver, and which must 

 undoubtedly be regarded as bearing on the solution 

 of the problems connected with this disease. 

 Unhappily, the cure of it is still entirely unknown, 

 except in so far as it may be controlled or retarded 

 by good management of the diet, drink, and cloth- 

 ing. The course of the disease, however, is very 

 different at different periods of life. Before middle 

 age it is severe, progressive, and almost invariably 

 fatal. After that period precisely similar symptoms 

 often appear, especially in gouty persons, but are 

 so much less dangerous, and so much more easily 

 controlled, that many authorities are unwilling to 

 place them in the same class as true diabetes. All 

 diabetics are subject to progressive emaciation, and 

 they often become subject to a chronic disease of 

 the lungs, closely resembling true tubercular Con- 

 sumption (q.v.); it is chiefly in warding off' this 

 termination, or some other more quickly fatal, and 

 in mitigating the symptoms of the malady, that 

 the medical art can be of service. 



The first fact observed in cases of diabetes is 

 usually the increased flow of urine, when it 

 becomes so great as to amount to a practical 

 inconvenience ; and also a considerable increase 

 of the appetite, and an unquenchable thirst, 

 which rarely fail to accompany the disease from 

 the beginning, but often do not attract atten- 

 tion, or at least suggest the idea of anything 

 wrong, till an advanced stage of the disorder. 

 When the patient demands medical assistance he 

 is usually somewhat thin ; the pulse is quiet, the 

 skin cool, the heat of the surface, indeed, habitually 

 rather low and easily depressed. There is often a 

 complete absence of perspiration, which gives a 

 peculiar feeling of harshness to the surface, espe- 

 cially of the palms of the hands. With these 

 symptoms the first approaches of pulmonary disease 

 may concur. In the very last stages there is some- 

 times dropsy of the feet ; and the urine may be 

 natural in quantity, or even diminished. For 

 the other characters of diabetic urine, see URINE. 

 Diabetic persons bear excitement and fatigue, 

 either mental or bodily, extremely badly ; and im- 

 prudence in this respect is not unfrequently followed 

 by sudden or rapid collapse and death. The treat- 

 ment consists mainly in removing from the diet, as 

 far as consistent with comfort and due nourishment, 

 everything Avhich easily turns to the formation of 

 animal sugar in the system, especially all excess of 

 farinaceous food. The complete suppression of 

 sugar-forming food, however, as recommended long 

 ago by Rollo, has not been found possible in prac- 

 tice in the majority of cases. Bread composed of 

 gluten of wheat without starch, or bran-cakes baked 

 with eggs, or biscuits made of alrnonds, have been 

 strongly recommended ; and in most of the great 

 capitals, as London and Paris, bakers may be found 

 who regularly furnish bread suitable for this un- 

 fortunate class of sufferers ; indeed, any intelligent 

 baker who will take the trouble may, under 

 medical direction, be got to manufacture such 

 bread when required ; or it may be ordered in the 

 form of cakes and biscuits, in quantities at a time, 

 from London houses. It is of importance, however, 

 that it be ascertained that the bread or flour 

 supplied is really suitable ; for Dr Pavy, one of 

 the chief authorities on this disease, ascertained 

 that some of the so-called foods for diabetics 

 contain little less starch than ordinary bread. 

 Saccharin (q.v.) has lately been of great service to 

 diabetics, as it supplies the flavour of sugar without 

 its objectionable properties. Medicines proper 

 should be used only under the advice of the 

 physician. There is no specific, and the unguarded 

 use of strong remedies is to be condemned. Of all 

 medicines that have been used, however, opium 

 and morphia have been found most frequently use- 



