677 



OITIRETICS. 



DIVIDEND. 



578 



Dionysus, as the name seems to have implied. (Plato, ' Legg.' iii.) 

 The music was Phrygian, and the accompaniment originally the flute. 

 (Aristot, 'Polit.' viii. 7, 9.) The Dithyrambus is particularly interest- 

 ing from the circumstance that Aristotle attributes to it the origin of 

 the Greek tragedy. " Tragedy and comedy," says he (' Poet.' iv. 14), 

 " having originated in a rude and xinpremeditated manner, the first 

 from the leaders in the Dithyrambic hymns, the other from the Phallic 

 songs, advanced gradually to perfection." These leaders (f^apxavrfs), 

 and not, as has been wrongly inferred from the words of Aristotle, the 

 whole chorus, recited trochaic tetrameters, and are to be considered as 

 the immediate predecessors of the actors. [DRAMA.] In the Appendix 

 to Walker's Treatise on the Trilogy (' Nachtrag zur Schrift uber die 

 -Eschylische Trilogie,' p. 228 and following), the reader will find a 

 learned disquisition on the Dithyrambus, deformed however by some 

 serious errors. After the leading properties of the Dithyrambus had 

 merged in the Greek tragedy, it became very bombastic, and in the 

 Greek, and even in modern languages, the epithet Dithyrambic is a 

 synonym for turgid and hyperbolical expressions. The etymology of 

 the word is unknown. 



DIURETICS are agents which augment the urinary secretion and 

 facilitate its expulsion from the bladder. They constitute an extensi% - e 

 class of substances which, however, are very uncertain in their action, 

 and require to be varied Very frequently on account of the effects which 

 their long continued use produces on the stomach and digestive func- 

 tion. The uncertainty of their operation is owing probably less to 

 causes inherent in them than to our want of acquaintance with or atten- 

 tion to the circumstances which influence their action. Some writers 

 disavow their belief in the existence of a distinct class of substances 

 entitled to be called diuretics, considering them as mere general 

 stimulants ; but such a view is inadmissible, as many of them, 

 far from being stimulants, are decidedly sedative, while some of 

 the feelings which cause diuresis, such as fear or terror, and the 

 external application of cold, are likewise sedative in their effects on 

 the system. 



In attempting to ascertain or account for their mode of action, we 

 must constantly bear in mind the nature of the functions of the 

 kidneys, namely, not only to remove from the body a considerable 

 quantity of its fluid contents, but at the same time a great number of 

 saline and other principles, the retention of which, for any considerable 

 time, in the system, causes serious departure from its healthy state, 

 and in some instances speedy death. Not only therefore must the 

 quantity of fluid eliminated be in due proportion, but the quality 

 or chemical constitution of it must also be of a proper kind. Any 

 variation in these conditions requires the interference of medicine to 

 rectify it. In endeavouring to accomplish this object, it must be 

 borne in mind that, according to the state of the system, sometimes 

 an acid diathesis predominates, sometimes an alkaline. The means 

 which we employ to attain our object may be classified according to 

 their primary modes of action on the system. Some are stimulant, 

 such as gamboge, cytisus scoparius, alcohol, spiritus xtheris nitrici, oil 

 of juniper, oil of turpentine, &c. Some, again, are sedative, such as 

 lactuca virosa , leontodon taraxacum, digitalis, squil, colchicum, &c. : 

 others are refrigerant, of which some render the urine acid, such as 

 tli" dilute mineral acids ; some, on the opposite hand, render the urine 

 alkaline, such as the carbonate of potass, acetate, tartrate and bi- 

 tartrate of potass ; while certain saline diuretics do not render it 

 either acid or alkaline, such as nitrate of potass, biborate of soda, &c. 



The more acrid diuretics seem to act upon the lower sphere of 

 life, or what may be considered the vegetative system, such as 

 the cellular tissue, the fatty structures, and the internal mucous 

 coats, the secretion of which they render thinner as well as more 

 abundant, but at the same time they interfere much with the assi- 

 milative process as well as with that of digestion, even when given 

 in small doses ; and hence arises the impossibility of prolonging their 

 employment beyond a very limited time. Whatever be the agent we 

 select it is by no means necessary that, to cause a diuretic effect, the 

 substance should be decomposed ; but it is important to remember that, 

 when saline diuretics are decomposed, the alkali is carried to the 

 kidneys as the emunctory by which it is to be ejected from the 

 system, and hence their use speedily renders the urine alkaline, which, 

 when in a high degree, may prove very hurtful to the system generally, 

 and to the bladder and urinary passages in particular. 



Numerous as are the agents termed diuretics, none of them will 

 act as such unless the patient be under certain conditions. If a very 

 inflammatory state of the system exist, no article will act as a diuretic 

 till this be lessened, and hence the necessity of employing venesection 

 and saline cathartics before administering any of the class of diuretics ; 

 and under such circumstances colchicum is perhaps the best to begin 

 with. Kven such inflammation as exists in some forms of dropsy 

 must be removed by antiphlogistic means before diuretics will have a 

 hi-neficial effect (Blackball ' on Dropsy ') ; particularly after scarlatina, 

 with albuminuria. 



When a very great quantity of fluid is present in the body, some of 

 it mjist be carried off by other means before diuretics can act, as the 

 .ibxorbenta under such circumstances do not furnish a supply to the 

 kidneys the activity of absorption' being always in an inverse ratio to 

 the smallness of the quantity of fluid present. (Majendie.) If there 

 be great general debility of the system, and particularly of the absorb- 



ABT8 ASD SCI. DIV. VOt. ITf. 



ents, this state must be obviated either by the exhibition of tonics 

 previous to or along with the diuretic remedies. Lastly, none of 

 the saline diuretics, which are susceptible of decomposition, will act, if 

 any considerable catharsis be going on, and hence that action, if 

 arising from other causes, should be moderated or checked ; and care 

 should be taken not to exhibit such of them as are also purgatives in 

 such doses as to act upon the bowels. This observation is not intended 

 to prohibit the exhibition of a single purgative previous to com- 

 mencing the use of diuretics, as this is often beneficial, or to forbid 

 their occasional use when required to obviate particular symptoms. It 

 must never be forgotten that if the patient be kept very warm, the 

 action will more probably be directed to the skin than to the kidneys ; 

 hence the patient should not, if possible, remain in bed : the medicines 

 should be given during the day, and the air of the apartment should 

 be cool, and the clothing light. Indeed cold itself is a powerful 

 diuretic, and sometimes succeeds where every other fails. The drink- 

 ing of diluents likewise promotes the action of the kidneys ; it is 

 therefore unwise as well as cruel to withhold water from dropsical 

 patients. [DILUENTS.] 



The wines of the Rhine, Maine, and above all, of the Moselle, are 

 powerful diuretic drinks, and their use tends much to diminish the 

 liability to stone in the bladder. (Liebig.) [WINE.] But to do good, 

 these wines should mostly be xised habitually and alone, not mixed 

 or alternated with other wines. 



Diuretics are by no means sufficiently employed as general curative 

 agentSj particularly in chronic diseases. In many cutaneous diseases 

 of an obstinate kind they are very valuable ; the vicarious nature 

 of the functions of the skin and the kidneys pointing the one out 

 as the appropriate substitute for the other. 



DIVAN or DIWAN, is a Persian word familiar to readers of works 

 relating to the East, in the sense of 1st, a senate, or council of state ; 

 and, 2nd, a collection of poems by one and the same author. The 

 earliest acceptation, however, in which we find it employed is that of a 

 muster-roll, or military pay-book. The Arabic historian, Fakhreddin 

 Razi informs us that when, in the caliphat of Omar, the second successor 

 of Mohammed, the conquests of the Mussulmans assumed an extensive 

 character, the equal distribution of the booty became a matter of great 

 difficulty. A Persian marzban, or satrap, who happened to be at the 

 head-quarters of the caliph at Medinah, suggested the adoption of the 

 system followed in his own country, of an account-book, in which all 

 receipts and disbursements were regularly entered, along with a list 

 duly arranged, of the names of those persons who were entitled to a 

 share in the booty. With the register itself, its Persian appellation 

 (diwan) was adopted by the Arabs. (Freytag, ' Locmani Fabulse et 

 plura loca ex codd. historicis selecta,' &c., pp. 32, 33 ; Henzi, ' Frag- 

 meuta Arabica,' St. Petersburg, 1828, p. 36, et seq.) Whether a council 

 of state was subsequently called divan, as having originally been a 

 financial board appointed to regulate the list (diwan) of stipendiaries 

 and pensioners, or whether it was so called as being summoned accord- 

 ing to the list (dlwftn) containing the names of all its members, we are 

 unable to determine. The opinion that a body of councillors should have 

 received this appellation, as has been asserted by some, in consequence 

 of the expression of an ancient king of Persia, tndn diwAn end, " these 

 (men) are (clever like) devils," will scarcely be seriously entertained by 

 any one. The word " diwan " is also used to express the saloon or hall 

 where a council is held, and has been applied to denote generally a 

 state chamber, or room where company is received. Hence probably 

 it has arisen that the word " divan," in several European languages, 

 signifies a sofa. The divan of the present empire of Turkey consists of 

 the grand vizir, or prime minister; the grand mufti, or head of the 

 church; the seraskier pasha, or minister of war; the tyrdji pasha, 

 commander of the artillery ; the capudan pasha, commander of the 

 navy ; the reis effendi, or oumouri kharjieh naziri, minister for foreign 

 affairs ; the kiaya bey, or oumouri milkieh naziri, minister of the inte- 

 rior ; the three ministers of finance, commerce, and police ; the presi- 

 dent of the council ; the master of the mint ; and the comptroller 

 general of ecclesiastical property. Each of these dignitaries bears the 

 title of mushir. 



Collections of poems in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hindustani, &c., 

 seem to have received the appellation " dtwan " from their methodical 

 arrangement, inasmuch as the poems succeed one another according to 

 the alphabetic order of the concluding letters of the rhyming syllables, 

 which are the same in all the distichs throughout each poem. 



DIVERGENCY, DIVERGENT. [CONVERGENT.] 



DIVIDED EYE-GLASS MICROMETER. [MICROMETER.] 



DIVIDEND, in arithmetic, any qiiantity which is to be divided 

 (dividendum). Thus, in the sentence " 100 divided by 20 gives 5," 

 the dividend is 100. 



DIVIDEND, in commerce, is a word having two distinct meanings. 

 In its more general employment, it is understood to express the money 

 which is divided, pro rata, among the creditors of a bankrupt trader, 

 out of the amount realised from his assets. [BANKRUPT.] 



The other meaning attached to the word dividend is not so appro- 

 priate as that which has just been explained. It is used to signify the 

 half-yearly payments of the perpetual and terminable annuities which 

 constitute the public debt of the country, and does not therefore 

 strictly express that which the word is made to imply. The payment 

 of those so-called dividends is managed on the part of the government 



PP 



