DIDUNCULU8 



I Ml-. 



He wits himself un author.- His brother, FH:MI % . 

 (1764-1833), an a printer, and e*|ieciully as an 

 engraver and founder, raised tin* fuiuilv nuine to 

 tin- pinnacle of professional eininenee. The |erfect 

 Unman characters, used in the Louvre edition* 

 printed by liis elder lirother, were engraved and 

 cast by nim. He revive* I and developed the 

 stereotyping process, and produced singularly IMT 

 feet editions of many classical, French, and hng- 

 lish works. He l>ecame a deputy, and ohtuined 

 some reputation ax an author by his tragedies, 

 La Rfine tie I'nrtmjnl and La Mori (FAnnibttl, 

 ami several volumes of metrical translations from 

 the classics. Firmin's sons, AMBKOISK FIKMIN 

 (17'.M>-1876) and HYACINTIII: FIKMIN (1794-1880), 

 aided liy their sons, sustained the credit of the 

 Paris hou-e as Firinin Didot Freres ; and the 

 business still thrives under the present representa- 

 tives. See the hooks on the family l>v Werdet 

 (18G4), Brunei (1871), and NVallon (1886). 

 Didunculiis. See SAMOA. 

 DidYlllilllll is a very rare metal found in the 

 minerals Cerite, Allanite, c. Its symbol is Di, 

 its atomir weight 142, and its specific gravity 

 li -.">. It is found associated with Cerium and 

 l.riiitiianiim. and as the salts of the three metals 

 have closely similar properties, their separation is 

 very difficult. The salts of didymium are generally 

 soluble and rose-coloured. The hydrated oxide is 

 a gelatinous precipitate resembling alumina. Ito 

 compounds have nothing specially characteristic in 

 their properties except the absorption bands in the 

 spectrum. The metal, which has an iron-gray 

 colour, with a yellowish tinge, tarnishes in the air, 

 and burns brilliantly when held in a flame. 



Diebitsch, JOHN CHARLES, COUNT, a Russian 

 field-marshal, was born in Silesia in 1785, and made 

 the campaigns of 1805 and 1812-14. In the Turkish 

 war of lS-_". his forcing a passage of the Balkans 

 ( Kulevtcha, &c.) by dint of hard fighting was com- 

 memorated in the surname conferred on him of 

 Sabalkanski ('crosser of the Balkans'). He died 

 of cholera in February 1831, while endeavouring to 

 suppress the insurrection in Poland. 

 Diedeiihofen. See THIONVILLE. 

 Diefenbach, LORENZ, a great philologist, was 

 born at Ostheim, in the grand-duchy of Hesse, 29th 

 July 1806, studied theology and philosophy at 

 Giessen, travelled much, and was twelve years 

 pastor and lihrarian at Solms-Laubach. In 1848 

 tie settled at Frankfort-on-Main, where he was 

 second city librarian 1865-76. He died at Darm- 

 stadt, 28tO Mar.-li 1SS.S. His literary industry 

 was enormous, embracing poetry and romances, as 

 well as those more ponderous works by which his 

 name will live. His greatest books monuments 

 of sagacity and learning are Celtica (3 vols. 

 1839-40); Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Gotix<-inii 

 Soroche (2 vols. 1846-51); Glouarium Latino- 

 Germiniiriiiii mulice et infinite (rtatis, a supplement 

 to Ducange's well-known Glossary ( 1857) ; Originet 

 Europmn ; Hoch- unit .V /</ nl,i<t.-i<-l,,-s \\'i,,-t- 

 (with Wulcker, 2 vols. 1874-85). 



Diefleiibach, JOHANN Fi:n:ni:i< n, surgeon, 

 was born at Kni_ r sl>erg, 1st February 1794, ami in 

 1S32 became extraordinary, in 1840 ordinary, pro 

 fessor of Surgery at Berlin, where he died, llth 

 November 1847* He was distinguished as an 

 operator, especially in the art of forming by trans- 

 plantation new noses and lips. He wrote several 

 works of no great importance on surgery, being 

 little more than a brilliant operator. 



Diego Garcia, an island of the Indian Ocean, 

 in 7 ST lat., and 72 73 E. long., extends in an 

 irregular horseshoe shape, and is 30 miles long, 

 embracing between its extremities three minor 



islet* ( the Chagos Islands ). It contain* a paetast 

 bay, and is very convenient for coaling purposes. 

 The group ha* aUmt 700 inhabitant-.. and is * 

 dc|M-ndeiiey of MaiiritiiiM. 



DirtfO Snare/-, the natno of a fine bay at the 

 north end of Madagascar (q.v.), ceded to F ranee 

 by treaty in 1HH.Y 



Did) tro. See DICESTBA. 



Dlepenberk, AUKAHAM VAN, painter and 



draftsman, was lorn at lloi- |i- 1 >n<- in \<*i~, of, 

 according to other account-, in 1598. He Mudied 

 under Kul.en- in Antwerp, and after a residence in 

 Italy, returned to IM- an :i---i-tant of that |aintT. 

 He iiist devoteil him-elf to la** painting ; but he 

 soon turned to oil painting and deigning. Ex- 

 amides of his work in oils are in Pans, Dresden, 

 and Vienna. His plates to Maroll.-s InUruuj; Jtt 

 Ti-iiijtle dt* Mimes ( 1 i.V>>. engraved by Curnelis 

 BliM-maert, were much admiie.l. H- \i~it-l Kng- 

 land in the reign of Charle- I., where he |>aintd 

 some windows, and was much employed by tlie 

 Duke of Newcastle, for whom he e\e<-ute<| various 

 portraits and views, and drew the plate- for that 

 nobleman's famous folio on Horsemanship ( 1657). 

 These plates are valuable not only for their excel- 

 lence, but for the numlier <jf jMirtraits they contain. 

 He was elected pre-ident of the .\nt\serj. Academy in 

 1641, a post which he retained till his death in li>7'>. 



Dieppe, a seaport in the Fren.-h d--p.irtin.-nt 

 of Seine-Inferieure, on the English Channel, 40 

 miles N. of Rouen by rail. It is situated among 

 balk cliffs, at the "mouth of the river Arqnea, 

 and is regularly built. It has a castle (1433), 

 now occupied as liar racks, commanding the town 

 and the harbour, which admits vessels of 600 tons. 

 Dieppe has a college and a school of naviga- 

 tion, and there is a fine Gothic church of the 13th 

 century, as well as a handsome Iwthing establish- 

 ment and casino. Being one of the principal 

 watering-places of France, the town hat* a great 

 accession of visitors (luring the summer month-. It 

 manufactures clocks, lace, and tobacco ; and its 

 carved articles of horn, bone, and ivory have long 

 been famous. There are also shipbuilding yards 

 and distilleries ; and the fisheries, which are im- 

 portant, employ almost the whole of the population 

 of Pollet, one of the two siil.nil>- of the town. In 

 1066 Duke William sailed from Dieppe to the om- 

 ipiest of Kngland. It was then a men- village, but 

 its im|Kirtance steadily increased, until it reached 

 the heyday of it- prosiM-rity in the period U-tween 

 the middle of the 14th century and the end of the 

 17th. F.xpeditions sailed hence for the we*l coast 

 of Africa, where Petit Dieppe was founded at the 

 mouth of the (iamhia; and many of the early 

 voyages to Canada were made from thin J-M: 

 terrible lomlardmeiit by the English and Dutch, 

 howevei, destroyed all but two or three building* 

 in lll4; and 'though rebuilt, the town new 

 recovered its imjMirtance. and even U-fun- the rise 

 of Havre had already mink to a weoondary j-rt. 

 Nevertheless, packet* ntill ply regularU t. S 

 haven. The town is a favourite landing place of 

 F.ngli-h tonri-ts, and it* import and c\|iort trade 

 i- diiellv with Kngland and Norwax. P,.p. ( 187*) 

 ^) 22,509; tl-'.M J1.50i 



Die-sinking, the art of engraving ihe die or 

 stamp used for striking the impreion on roinxand 

 medaN, ami for stamping thin plate* of metal into 

 various shapes. The met li.nl of Kinking the die* 

 n-ed for coin- or medals will serve to illustrate the 

 general method of die-sinking. Suppose the coin 

 to be of the size of a shilling : a cylindrical piece of 

 carefully selected steel, about three or four inches 

 in length, and two in diameter, i* invpared by 

 slightly rounding one end of the cylinder, then 

 turning and -mouthing upon the middle of this* 



