I )l LI. MANN 



Ihllmaim. i HI.I H\N I MM. i. h M Aii.rsr, a 

 ffreat Orieiitali-t, Unn 'J.-.th April I viS, at Illingeii, 

 in Wttrtemberg. Already ana student at Tubingen 

 his studies under Kwuld s influence had l--n 

 turned to orientalia, and in 1S4 4s he \i-ited the 

 libraries at Paris, London, ami Oxforil, cataloguing 

 the Kthiopic MSS. at the la-t two, and returning 

 to 'Tubingen to join its teaching stall. In 1854 he 

 !>ted a call to Kiel, where he became professor 

 of Oriental Language- m IMKI, but was transfcired 

 in 1864 to the chair of old 'Te-tament Exegesis at 

 'II, which in isti'.i he re-igned to uecome 

 Hengstenbeig - successor at Merlin. Dillmaiin was 

 beyond question the first authority in Kuro|>c on 

 the Kthiopic languages. 'The best books for the 

 student iii this obscure department of learning are 

 his (inti/tiiHitik // Artln<>i>i.-i<-li>-ii Xfn-nrhe (1857), 

 .// i.tn</ir sKt/iin/iirir ( 1H65), and his Chresto- 

 nintliin .V.tlnoitu-n (1H(M). Other works are hi- 

 c.crman translations of the Book of Enoch (1853), 

 of the Book of Jubilees or the 'Little Genesis' 

 (1849-51), and the Hook of Adam (1853) in Ewald's 

 Jnlirliucher, as well as editions in the original of the 

 first two ; and an edition of the ancient Ethiopia 

 translation of the Old Testament, Biblia Veteris 

 TisiniiK-itti jEthiopica (2 vols. 1853-72). His con- 

 tributions to pure theology are Ueberden Urt/trmi;/ 

 der Alt-testamentlichen Keligion (1865), Uebcr '/< 

 Propheten des alien Bundes ( 1868 ), and fresh edit ions 

 for the ' Kur/gefasstes Exegetisches Handbuch ' of 

 Hit /el's commentary on Jol) (1869), as well as of 

 Kihibel'.- commentaries on Exodus and Leviticus 

 (1880), and on Genesis (1882). Dillmann became 

 in 1877 a member of the Berlin Koyal Academy of 

 Sciences, and contributed many papers to its issues. 

 He was president of the fifth International Congress 

 of < >i icntali-ts, and edited its Alilm it<!t<tn</< it (.'< vols. 

 1881-82). Other works (1879-84) deal with the 

 history of the Ethiopic kingdom of Axum (q.v.). 

 He dieil 4th July 1894. 



Dillon, JOHN, the son of John Blake Dillon 

 (1816-66), who was a prominent member of the 

 Young Ireland party, and member for County 

 Tipperary in 1865-66. Born in New York in lv~>l. 

 he was educated at the Catholie University of 

 Dublin, after which he became a doctor. He early 

 identified him-elf with the Parnellite movement, 

 and in 1880 was returned for County Tipperary. 

 In the House of Commons Dillon soon became 

 prominent for the violence of his language, while 

 speeches delivered by him in Ireland led to his 



imprison nt in 1881, 1881-82, and 1888. From 



1883 to 1885 he was al.-eni from political life on 

 .count of ill-health; but in the latter year he 

 reappeared, and was elected for East Mayo. 

 Honest John Dillon' was one of the most promi- 

 nent promoters of the Plan of Campaign ' In 

 |s'.n-y9 he was Justin M'Carthy's successor as 

 . 'haii-man of the main section of tin- Nationali-t-. 



Oilman ', a town of Northern Persia, in the 

 province of Azerhijan, 7."> miles \V. of Tabriz. 

 Pop. 6000. 



DilUClltK, medicine- for diluting the blood 

 and increasing the excretions, especially tli;- UIMIC. 

 The simplest and be-t of diluents i- water; but 

 all watery fluids, .such as lemonade, soda-water, 

 beer, infusions, tea, milk, fee., .CM- diluent*. See 

 HKMULCENTS. 



Diluvium, a term formerly given by geologist* 



to tlm-e strata which they U'lieved to iia\el>een 

 tunned by the Deluge, and more particularly to the 

 boulder clay. The altered opinions as to the origin 

 of these beds have caused the word to fall into 

 disuse in Britain. It is still used on the Con 

 tinent, however, not in its original sense, but simply 

 as a general term for the glacial and tluvio-glarial 

 accumulations of the Pleistocene system. >Vhen 



the adjective diluvial U employed by modern 

 writer*, it in to characterine thoae ccutnuUlion of 

 gravel or angular Mtonm which have been produced 

 by -ndden or extraordinary curwit* of water. 



Dime* a vilver coin, the tenth inut of a United 

 State* dollar (noe DoLLAK), and <*jual to about 

 live|M-nce Kngli-h. 



Dimension. In i..-.,m.-iry. a |M>int, Mnee it 

 has iiii-n-ly po-ition, in Mtid to have no, nr t. ! of 

 zero, dimensioiiH ; a line, -ttai-ht or curved, b of 

 one dimension \ i/. l<-ngth ; a plane Murfare ha* 

 two length and breadth ; while a *olid i- n'nl to 

 be of three dimerisiotiH length, breiulth, and thick 

 11688. Thus it will lie seel that by the u-rm dim.-n- 

 sion i- meant a direction in which 

 be reckoned or measured. The three but-named 

 dimensions are found sullicient to detenuine ail 

 known forms of extension. Hence Rpace if in 

 dimensional. The possibility of npace of higlter 

 dinicii-ions existing has been much diitcuMed. 

 Since pointe, lines, and surfacew in general generate 

 by their motion lines, surfaces, and -<>lid- it-jM-.-t 

 ively, so it is held that some analogous generation 

 of a fourth dimensional figure by one of three 

 dimensions is conceivable. The subject, although 

 interesting, is wholly speculative. In Algebra, the 

 term dimension is employed in much the name 

 - !!- as 'A // B, to e \pn-- the -um ol : ' : '. : ; - "I 



those letters with reference to which the t.-nn con- 

 taining them is considered e.g. j-y, j*, are both of 

 two dimensions, or of second degree ; jry, x 3 , are 

 of three dimensions, or third degree, &c. 



Dimidiation, in Heraldry, a mode of mar- 

 shalling arms, adopted chiefly before quartering 

 and impaling according to the modern practice came 

 into use, and subsequently retained to mime extent 

 in continental though not in Knglish heraldrv. It 

 consists in cutting two coats of arms in half by a 

 vertical line, and uniting the dexter half of the one 

 to the sinister half of the other. Coats of husband 

 and wife were often so marshalled in England in 

 the 13th and 14th centuries. 



Dimity, a stout, figured cotton-fabric, used 

 chiefly for bed-hangings and window-curtain*. The 

 figure or stripe is distinctly raised. Originally 

 dimity was commonly white or of a single colour ; 

 but variegated dimities are now largely made ; one 

 band or stripe of the cloth having a woven pattern 

 in white alternating with u plain liand Le. the 

 fabric is all white as it comes from the loom. A 

 pattern is afterwards printed in colours on the plain 

 band. 



Dimorphism ' < Jr. r/i'\. twice ;' m.r/.A", '-Impt 

 or form'), a technical term applied in Biology tocaaes 

 where an organism ap|ear* in two different forma. 

 Thus in a colony of livdroids there mav U- 'dimorphic 

 persons' respectively nutritive and reprodn- 

 and yet fundamentally the same in structure and 

 origin. So too when "the two nexes are mnrkc.il \ 

 different, the term -exual dimorphism may In- uncJ. 

 Or the organisms may ln> different at certain M**OII 

 and in certain conditions. a> in summer ami winter 

 Kuttertltes (q.v. ), or in the two kind- of oimmn 

 Primrose nj.v. ) and cowslip. Sometime* three 

 different forms of butterfly are known in the tame 

 -, and to such cased the term /nMn/r/AiN is 

 con\eniently applied. The nune i tnie of the 

 common flower l.ythruin i/inini. In hvdruid and 

 medusoid colonies (e.g. Hvdrai-tinia and Siphoim- 

 phora i the de\elopmeiit of multiple forms rrult- 

 ing from 'Ii\i-*ion of Labour' (q.v.) is dem-riJ--.! 

 as tmJymorp/iutiH. The Mune term u obvimly 

 applicable to the different forms exhibit.-! by moM 

 social Ante (q.v. u The same set of terms may 

 also be employed in lefemiiii to ditferrnt forma 

 of the same mineral, Ac. See. under FLOWER, Per 

 of the Flutrtr; abo FBRTILISATIOS. 



