DAVID'S DAY, ST. 



DEAF AND DUMB, CENSUS OF THE. 



3M 



Bourbon* in 1880, the title of Dauphin ha* been di*u*ed. The last 

 who bore it wao the Duke of AngoulAme, son of Charles X. 



DAVID'S DAY, ST., March 1. St. David, archbWiop of Mencvia, 

 now oiled from him St. David'*, in Pembrokeshire, lived in the 5th 

 and lh centuries of the Christiana*; PiU ('De Illutril>ui< Augliio 

 Soriptoribua ') Ulb us that be died at the age of 146 year*. He U Raid, 

 in the dy of the memorable Arthur, to hare gained a victory over 

 tile Saxon*, hi* loldler* during the conflict, for distinction and as a 

 military colour, wearing leet* in their caps. In memory of this fight 

 the Welsh ftill wear the leek on St David'* Day ; and it ll to this that 

 Shakapere allude* in ' Henry V.,' act v. ac. 1, when he make* Oower 

 upbraid PUtol for mocking "at an ancient tradition, bcg<m upon an 

 honourable respect, and worn a* a memorable trophy uf predecaaed 

 valour.' (See Brand'* ' Popular Antiq.,' ediUd by Sir H. Ellis, tto, 

 vol. i. ; Brady'* ' Clavi* Calendaria, Svo, Lond. 1812, voL i. p. 2'2$, ic.) 



DAY. Any a*tronomical period which depends directly upon the 

 earth's rotation ; or the interval between two transit* over the meri- 

 dian of any point in the heavens, real or imaginary. But the only 

 dayi distinguished by that name in astronomy are the ttdereal day, the 

 rtal tolar day, and the mean tolar day. 



The tidmal day is the interval between two transits of the same 

 fixed star ; that is, the absolute tune of revolution of the earth. It is 

 divided into 24 sidereal hours, ftc. It begins when the equinox is on 

 the meridian of the place. 



The rial tolar day is the interval between two noons or transits of 

 the sun over the meridian. Owing to the unequal motion of the sun, 

 at well as the obliquity of the ecliptic, it is not of the same length at 

 all periods of the year. The mean tolar day is the average of all the 

 real solar days ; it Is derived by supposing a fictitious sun to move 

 round the equator, and uniformly in the game time as the real sun 

 move* from an equinox to the same again. The method of adapting 

 the motion of this fictitious body to that of the real sun will be 

 explained in TIME, EQUATION or. 



The civil day, in England at least, is the moan solar day, and begins 

 at midnight ; that is, when the fictitious sun is on the invisible part 

 of the meridian. But the astronomical day always begins at the noon 

 of the civil day, and the hours are reckoned forward up to 34. Thus 

 eleven o'clock in the morning on the twelfth of January (civil reckon- 

 ing) is 23 hours of the astronomical clt tenth of January. After noon, 

 and up to midnight, the astronomical and civil reckoning coincide. 



The mean solar and sidereal days are thus related : the mean solar 

 day is 24 h. 3 m. 66-558., of sidereal time ; and the sidereal day i; 

 23 h. 26m. 4 '09*., of a mean solar day. 



The ancients almost universally began their day at sunrise, with the 

 exception of the Arabians, who began at noon, and the Egyptians at 

 midnight. Among the modems, most of the Eastern nations begin at 

 sunriae, with the exception of the Arabians, who still begin at noon, 

 and the Chinese, who rockon from midnight. The Austrians, Turks, and 

 Italians reckon from sunrise, and other European nations from midnight. 



DAYS OF GRACE. [BILL OF EXCHASOB.] 



DEACON, an ecclesiastical term of Greek origin, from AKWOTOI 

 (Diaconus, literally, a tcrraitt), introduced into the Saxon vocabulary, 

 and continued in use to the present time. 



It designates one of the ordert in the Christian priesthood, the 

 lowest of the three bishops, priests, and deacons. 



The first institution of the order is particularly set forth in the 

 sixth chapter of the Book of Acts. The administration of the charities 

 in the Church of Jerusalem was complained of as partial by the 

 Grecian converts. The apostles, in whom the administration bad been 

 vested, thought it expedient to divest themselves of this duty, and to 

 devolve it on other persons, that they might devote themselves to 

 prayer and to the ministry of the word. Seven persons were selected for 

 the office, and by prayer and the imposition of hands ordained deacons. 



It appears by the first Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, that there 

 were deacons in other Christian churches, and probably in all where 

 such an officer was needed. lie gives instructions (chap. iii. 8-13) 

 respecting the character which became persons who should be admitted 

 into the office. See also Phil. i. 1. There were also deaconesses in 

 the primitive church, one of whom, Phoebe, is mentioned Rom. xvi. 1. 

 This female officer may be traced to the llth or 12th century. 



The peculiar office of both deacon* and deaconesses was to attend 

 to works of mercy, to be the administrators of the amis of the more 

 opulent members of the church. 



In the g "gk- 1 ' church the name continues, and the peculiar form of 

 ordination, but the peculiar dutie* of the office seem to be lost sight of. 

 In fact the Poor Laws, by creating certain civil officers whose duty it 

 is to attend to the necessitous, have rendered thu services of the deacon 

 in this his characteristic capacity lev necessary. 



In some dissenting communities there are deacons who still dis- 

 charge the duties for which the office was instituted, collecting the 

 fan* of the people at the sacrament, and distributing them among the 

 poor. But they are always laymen, or person* who have not gone 

 through the forms, generally few and slight, of ordination, as practised 



There to a form for the ordination of deacon* in the English church : 

 ome okagimsli never take priest's order*. It appear* by the Hul.ri.- 

 that a person in deacon'* orders is empowered to read publicly the 

 Scripture* and homilies, to catechise, to preach when licensed to do so 



by the bishop, and to assist a priest in divine service, and especially in 

 the Communion. When contemplated in the light in which this form 

 places him, he appeal* as an assistant to a priest, for he is to nek out 

 the sick and poor and report them to the priest, and in the absence of 

 ill.- priest to baptiee. This hitter permission baa led to the iir 

 ti.iii ,,f the performance of other ecclesiastical duties, namely, the 

 celebration of matrimony, and the burial of the dead. In fact, the 

 deacon perform* all the ordinary offices of the Christian prii 

 except consecrating the elements at the administration of tin- ' 

 Supper, and pronouncing the absoluti.m. 



A person may be ordained deacon at twenty-three. He may then 

 become a chaplain in a private family ; he mayjjbe curate to a benefited 

 clergyman, or lecturer in a parish-church, but he cannot hold any bene- 

 fice, or take any ecclesiastical promotion. For this it is requisite that 

 he take priest's orders. 



DKAfi OIL. [CoAtTAR.] 



DEAF AND Dl'Mi:, c T.KSUS OF THE. Till the census of 1851 

 was taken, the public was without the usual official means of knowing 

 the proportion of the deaf and dumb to the population of the kingdom. 

 No previous account of the people had recognised either the deaf and 

 dumb, or the blind. A statement was made about twenty-five years 

 before, in the annual report of one of the provincial institution* fur tho 

 deal and dumb, that the number of deaf mutes in England and Wales 

 alone was not less than 8000, and it was generally received with dis- 

 credit. In the ' Journal of Education,' No. XIV. (1834), it was stated 

 that actual returns had been procured from various parts, of the king- 

 dom, from which it was inferred that the proportion of deaf and <lumli 

 persons in South Britain was 1 in 1700 ; and this data was generally 

 established in the minds of those most interested in the management 

 of the various institutions for this class. The correctness of these 

 estimates was sufficiently confirmed when the registrar-general's report 

 was published. The total number of the deaf and dumb, returned in 

 the various enumerations for the United Kingdom, being 



The above proportions vary in different parts of the kingdom. The 

 county enumerations present some notable facts to which attention 

 will be directed, inasmuch as they not only confirm certain opinions 

 and facto previously known, and thus corroborate the general accuracy 

 of the census returns, but they also point to other facts both new and 

 valuable. The counties of England, Wales, and Scotland, are grouped 

 in twelve geographical divisions : 



I. London, comprises parts of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent : in the 

 repetition of these counties below, their metropolitan portions are 

 excluded. In London the proportion of deaf and dumb to the imputa- 

 tion is 1 in 1783. 



