806 



DIE-SINKING 



DIET 



flat face equal to the size of the coin. This blank 

 die, which is carefully softened by the process of 

 Annealing (q.v. ), is then engraved with the device 

 of the coin in intaglio. This is a very delicate and 

 artistic operation, and is effected by. a great num- 

 ber of careful touches with small and very hard 

 steel tools. The face of the die is now protected 

 with a thin coating of lampblack and linseed-oil, 

 and then placed with its face downwards in a 

 crucible containing animal charcoal. In this posi- 

 tion it is raised to a cherry-red heat, then taken out, 

 and hardened by being plunged into water. When 

 properly tempered, it is in a state to be used for 

 stamping the coin ; but dies of superior workman- 

 ship, from which many impressions are required, 

 are not thus directly used, as the expense of 

 engraving is very great, and the risk of breakage 

 considerable. This first engraved die, called the 

 matrix, is therefore reserved only for making other 

 dies. An impression in relief is made from this 

 matrix on a small block of soft steel, which is called 

 the puncheon ; this is retouched and hardened, and 

 from it the dies directly used for striking the coins 

 or medals are impressed. When the engraving is 

 not very costly, a small number of impressions re- 

 quired, or a soft metal is to be stamped, as in livery 

 buttons, for example, the work is stamped directly 

 from the engravea die or matrix. See MINT. 



Die-engraving is a very ancient art, and was per- 

 haps first suggested by the closely allied art of 

 engraving gems. Notwithstanding the great num- 

 ber of ancient Greek coins which have been pre- 

 served, it is stated by Mr R. S. Poole, of the 

 British Museum, that only one of the many dies 

 which were used for these has ever been found, or 

 at least only one believed to be of undoubted 

 authenticity. The Greek coins struck between the 

 years 415 and 336 B.C. show that the art of engrav- 

 ing dies had then reached the highest point of 

 excellence which it ever attained either in ancient 

 or modern times. As works of art, the Italian 

 medals of the 15th and 16th centuries come next in 

 merit to Greek coins, but none of these of the 

 15th, and only the smaller sized ones of the 16th 

 century time were struck from dies. All the others 

 were cast either from wax models or from patterns 

 made in other materials. The art of cutting dies, 

 in the comparatively deep intaglio required for 

 medals, consequently dates from the beginning of 

 the 16th century. Since then, or soon after it, 

 Germany, France, Russia, and England, as well as 

 Italy, have all had many more or less famous die- 

 engravers. 



The engraving of dies for medals is perhaps that 

 branch of the art which gives the greatest scope for 

 artistic skill, although the work on those required 

 for coins is nearly identical in its character. Com- 

 paratively few dies of new design are, however, 

 required for coins, while many hundreds of medal 

 dies are annually made in England. The medals 

 struck from these are used for such purposes as 

 awards at exhibitions, colleges, and schools ; for 

 prizes at various games, and in commemoration of 

 various events. Copper, bronze, and tin are the 

 metals most commonly employed for medals, the 

 copper being usually ' bronzed ' on the surface. A 

 copper medal w ; th a head in moderately high relief 

 requires half a dozen blows in the screw-press to 

 bring up a sharp impression ; but some in very bold 

 relief require to be struck with as many as thirty 

 blows. The medal requires to be frequently an- 

 nealed during the process. Coins are finished at 

 one blow, so that the devices upon them are only in 

 slight relief. When a coin or a medal is being 

 struck, a steel collar, accurately fitted to the die, is 

 used to prevent the metal from spreading. 



Dies have been extensively applied in Birming- 

 ham and other places to the manufacture of many 



kinds of objects in sheet-metal. These are of all 

 sizes, from those required for parts of jewelry up to 

 dies weighing more than a ton. Large and heavy 

 dies are, however, cast, and only in some cases 

 finished with the graver those for such articles as 

 curtain-pole and cornice ornaments being among 

 the largest kinds worked up and finished with the 

 die-cutter's tools. Dies have recently been used in 

 America in the stamping or pressing of solid pieces 

 of wood into lion's heads, rosettes, and other orna- 

 ments, in high relief, to imitate wood-carving. By 

 the same process similar ornaments, in bas-relier, 

 are made in pieces of wood formed of several layers 

 of veneers. 



Dies Irse, the name generally given to the cele- 

 brated Latin hymn on the Last Judgment, from the 

 first words of its first stanza : 



Dies irse, dies ilia 

 Solvet saecluin in favilla, 

 Teste David cum Sibylla. 



This incomparable hymn consists of seventeen such 

 stanzas, with an eighteenth of four lines, and is 

 based on the prophetic passage, Zephaniah, i. 14-18. 

 It is probably the work of the Franciscan, Thomas 

 de Celano, who died about 1255. The sublimity 

 and force of its thoughts are well matched with the 

 impressive solemnity of the verse, its stanzas of 

 three lines, each with the same double rhyme, 

 making the inmost soul tremble, ' as with three 

 blows of a hammer,' says Guericke. It is said to 

 have first appeared in the missals made at Venice 

 about 1250, and is one of the five ' Sequences ' 

 that have been universally used in the Roman 

 Catholic Church since the' Council of Trent. Its 

 place is in the Missa in commemoratione omnium 

 fidelium defunctorum. The Tridentine text, pub- 

 lished in 1567, is somewhat different from that in 

 the old missals, and another and considerably in- 

 ferior version appears on a marble tablet of unknown 

 date, in a Franciscan church at Mantua. The Dies 

 Irce has been the subject of musical compositions 

 by Palestrina, Haydn, Cherubini, and Mozart, and 

 no religious poem has been more frequently trans- 

 lated. There are English translations by Crashaw, 

 Macaulay, Lord Lindsay, Isaac Williams, and 

 others. The opening stanzas are paraphrased in 

 the Lay of the Last Minstrel, canto vi. 



See Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology ( 1892 ) ; ' Fifty 

 Versions of the Dies Irce' in the Dublin Review ( 1882 ) ; 

 a list of ninety-two versions in the Athe'nceum (July 

 1890) ; and C. F. S. Warren, The Dies Irce (1897 ). 



Diest, a town and fortress of Belgium, in the 

 province of Brabant, on the river Demer, 37 miles 

 SE. of Antwerp by rail, with manufactures of 

 woollen goods, beer, and gin. Pop. ( 1890) 8572. 



Diet. The different classes of food-stuffs, and 

 the value or potential of different foods, are 

 described in the article FOOD. In the article 

 DIGESTION the changes which the food undergoes 

 in the alimentary canal are treated. It is here pro- 

 posed to describe the quantity and quality of food 

 \vhich experience has shown to be required in order 

 to preserve the body in health and vigour. Of course, 

 no two individuals are alike, and the assumption 

 will in the first place be made that an average 

 healthy man of ordinary height and weight, and 

 doing ordinary work, is alone under consideration. 



In order to understand the requirements of the 

 body in respect of food, it is necessary to bear in 

 mind how complex the body is. Its chief activities 

 are muscular and nervous, and not only have the 

 brain and the muscular system to be fed, but in 

 addition the various glands, cartilages, bones, and 

 other tissues are all constantly requiring nourish- 

 ment. If we examine all these tissues under the 

 microscope, we see that although all are alike in 

 some respects, yet that they differ one from another 



