824 



DIMSDALE 



DINGLE 



An inorganic substance is in a somewhat 

 analogous manner said to be dimorphous when 

 it is capable of crystallising in two different 

 forms or systems (see CRYSTALLOGRAPHY). A 

 large number of substances have this property, of 

 which sulphur, carbon, carbonate of lime, and* 

 iodide of mercury are the best examples. Thus 

 carbon, as the diamond, crystallises, in the regular 

 system, as octahedra, while as graphite, or Black 

 Lead (q.v. ), it forms hexagonal crystals belonging 

 to the rhombohedral system. In some cases there 

 is a great tendency for the one form of crystal to 

 change spontaneously into the other form. The 

 red iodide of mercury is a striking example of this. 

 When heated, this substance is volatilised, and 

 may be condensed on a glass plate as a yellow 

 crystalline crust, consisting of rhombic plates. 

 When this is rubbed, or even scratched, an imme- 

 diate change takes place, the rhombic plates be- 

 coming broken up into octahedra, while the colour 

 at the same time alters from yellow to a brilliant 

 scarlet. So also when sulphur is crystallised from 

 its solution in bisulphide of carbon, it yields 

 transparent amber-coloured octahedra ; but when 

 melted sulphur is cooled, prismatic crystals are the 

 result. In the course of a few days the prisms 

 become opaque, owing to their being broken up 

 into small octahedra, while conversely the octa- 

 hedra, when heated to 230 (110 C. ), are changed 

 into smaller prismatic crystals. Those substances, 

 such as sulphate and selenate of nickel, which 

 crystallise in three systems, are said to be tri- 

 morphous. 



Dimsdale, THOMAS (1712-1800), an English 

 physician who wrote several works on inoculation, 

 was famous as an inoculator (making journeys in 

 1768 and 1784 to Russia to inoculate the Empress 

 Catharine and other magnates), and sat for Hert- 

 ford in two parliaments. 



Diliajplll*, capital of a district in the Rajshahi 

 division (Kuch Behar) of Bengal, stands 221 miles 

 N. of Calcutta by rail, on the Purnabhaba River, 

 which, through the Mahananda, enters the Lower 

 Ganges. Pop. 13,200. The district has an area of 

 4118 sq. m., and a pop. (1891) of 1,555,835, almost 

 entirely rural, and mainly of aboriginal descent. 

 The Mussulmans slightly outnumber the Hindus. 



IHnail, a very old town in the French depart- 

 ment of C6tes-du-Nord, on the Ranee, 30 miles 

 NW. of Rennes, and 14 S. of St Malo. The situa- 

 tion of Dinan, on the summit of a steep hill of 

 granite, and with the Ranee flowing through a 

 valley 250 feet below, is romantic in a high degree. 

 The valley is crossed by a fine granite bridge of ten 

 arches. The town is still partly surrounded by its 

 old ivy-covered walls. The old castle of the Dukes 

 of Brittany is now in part used as a prison. In the 

 older district the streets are crooked, narrow, and 

 steep ; in some parts, the overhanging houses, and 

 arcades resting on carved granite pillars, present 

 many picturesque architectural features. The 

 church of St Sauveur, a fine Romanesque church, 

 contains the heart of the famous French warrior 

 Bertrand du Guesclin, who here had a famous 

 encounter with an English knight. The terraces 

 around the town afford very charming views. 

 Many English reside here. Pop. 9704. Four miles 

 off lies the village of Corseult, on an old Roman 

 site, where many antiquities have been found. 

 . IMnant, a town of Belgium, occupying a narrow 

 site between the Meuse and a limestone hill, 17 

 miles S. of Namur by rail, and consisting mainly of 

 one narrow street. On the cliff above stands the 

 citadel (1530), and the Gothic church dates from 

 the 13th century. There are manufactures of 

 cotton, paper, leather, iron, &c., with black marble 

 quarries ; and the gingerbread of Dinant, com- 



posed of rye-flour and honey, has an extensive 

 sale. The place was formerly noted for its copper 

 wares, familiarly known as Dinanderie. Pop. 6773. 

 Dinant, which dates from the 6th century, has 

 suffered greatly from frequent sieges. The present 

 fortifications date from 1815. 



Dinapore (Ddndpur), military headquarters 

 of the district of Patna in Bengal, on the Ganges, 

 12 miles W. of Patna city by a road lined with 

 houses throughout. It is divided into two parts, 

 the Cantonments and the Nizamat, or city proper. 

 Pop. (1891) 44,419, of whom 25,000 resided within 

 the Nizamat. In the mutiny of 1857 the three 

 sepoy regiments stationed here rose in July, and 

 escaped into Shahabad district, where they attacked 

 Arrah (q.v.). 



Dina'ric Alps, the name applied to the 

 mountains connecting the Julian Alps with the 

 Balkan system. The main range stretches from 

 north-west to south-east, separating Dalmatia 

 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as far as the 

 mouth of the Narenta ; and a minor chain ex- 

 tends through the Dalmatian coast country. The 

 mountains are principally calcareous ; the highest 

 summits are Orjen (6225) and Dinara (5940), and 

 the mean height is 2300 feet. 



Dindigal, a town in the presidency of Madras, 

 40 miles NNW. of Madura by rail, with an old 

 fort, still in good preservation, commanding the 

 approaches to Coimbatore from the south. It has 

 a trade in hides, tobacco, coffee, and cardamoms. 

 Pop. (1891) 12,865, mostly Hindus. 



Dindorf, WILHELM, a famous Hellenist, born 

 2d January 1802 at Leipzig, where his father Gott- 

 lieb Immanuel Dindorf (died 1812) was professor 

 of Oriental Languages. In 1817 he began his 

 studies in philology at Leipzig, under Gottfr. 

 Hermann and Chr. Daniel Beck, declined a call 

 to Berlin in 1827, and next year accepted an 

 extraordinary professorship at Leipzig, which he 

 resigned in 1833 to devote himself entirely to his 

 literary activity. Here he died, 1st August 1883. 

 Dindorf's long life gave many contributions of the 

 first value to Greek scholarship, especially in the 

 region of dramatic poetry. Among his works 

 were the preparation of vols. 7-13 of the great 

 Invernizzi-Beck edition of Aristophanes (1820-34), 

 editions of Aristophanes, with notes and scholia 

 (1835-39), of ^schylus (1841-51), Euripides (1834- 

 63), Sophocles, with notes (1832-36), and a second 

 vol. of the series of scholia to Sophocles, edited by 

 Elmsley (1852), also an edition with annotations 

 and scholia of Demosthenes ( 1846-51 ), all printed 

 at Oxford. Other works are those on the metres 

 of /Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristo- 

 phanes (1842); the lexicons to Sophocles (1871) 

 and TEschylus ( 1873-76) ; his edition of the text of 

 Homer (1855-56), and of the scholia to the Odyssey 

 (1855) and the Iliad (1875-77). With Hase and 

 his brother Ludwig ( 1805-71 ) he edited the 

 Thesaurus Grcecce Lingua; of Stephanus (1832-65). 



Dingelstedt, FRANZ VON, German poet, born 

 near Marburg in 1814, was royal librarian at 

 Wiirtemberg in 1843-50, intendant of the court 

 theatres at Munich, Weimar, and Vienna in 1850- 

 71, and afterwards director of the Burg Theatre 

 in Vienna. He was ennobled by the Austrian 

 emperor, and died 15th May 1881. Besides several 

 volumes of poems, displaying great versatility and 

 considerable power, he published a series of novels, 

 one fine tragedy (Das Haus der Barneveldt), 

 essays, and translations and studies of Shake- 

 speare. His collected works fill 12 vols. (1877). 



Dingle, a seaport on the north side of Dingle 

 Bay, in County Kerry, Ireland, 27 miles SW. of 

 Tralee railway station, and 30 WNW. of Kil- 



