DROPSY 



2692 



DROUGHT 



Dropsy (Gr. hydrops, from 

 by dor, water). Accumulation of 

 fluid the watery part of the blood 

 in the tissues and cavities of the 

 body. Dropsy arises in conditions 

 which impede the normal circula- 

 tion of the blood and increase the 

 pressure in the vessels, causing fluid 

 to transude through their walls. 

 The commonest conditions giving 

 rise to general dropsy are disease of 

 the heart, kidneysfand liver. Loca- 

 lised dropsy, or oedema, may result 

 from local weakness of the vessels, 

 as in varicose veins, a,nd from in- 

 flammation. 



Dropsy is generally first notice- 

 able in puffiness of the eyelids, and 

 in swelling of the ankles. If the 

 swollen tissues be pressed with the 

 tip of the finger, a small depression 

 is produced which persists for a 

 brief interval. In more advanced 

 cases fluid collects in the abdo- 

 minal cavity, producing the con- 

 dition known as ascites (q.v.), which 

 sometimes leads to great distension 

 of the abdomen. Accumulation of 

 fluid in the lungs causes a " water- 

 logging" of the organs which may 

 bring about difficulty in breathing, 

 and cough. 



Treatment must be directed 

 towards the cause of the condition, 

 but frequently great relief is 

 afforded by measures which drain 

 the body "of fluids, such as the 

 administration of diuretics to 

 stimulate the flow of urine, and 

 purgatives, which cause copious 

 watery evacuations. In severe 

 cases of accumulation of fluid in 

 the abdomen or pleural cavities, 

 tapping may be adopted. 



Drop wort (Spiraea filipendula). 

 Perennial herb of the natural 

 order Rosaceae. A native of Eu- 

 rope, N. Africa, and N. Asia, it is a 

 flant of downs and dry pastures, 

 b has an erect, grooved stem, 2 ft. 

 or 3 ft. high. The leaves are chiefly 

 from the rootstock, broken into 

 many pairs of deeply-toothed 

 leaflets. The small, but numerous, 

 white flowers are rosy on the out- 

 side, and borne in panicles. 



Droseraceae (Gr. droseros, 

 dewy). Natural order of perennial 

 herbs, of wide distribution in 

 marshy places. It consists of six 

 genera and over 100 species. The 

 flowers consist of four to eight 

 sepals, a similar number of petals, 

 4-20 stamens and 1-5 styles. They 

 are all insectivorous, catching their 

 prey by various means and digest- 

 ing the bodies, upon which they 

 mainly subsist. All have poor 

 roots in one species none at all. 

 See Sundew ; also illus. p. 1219. 



Droshky . Russian w ord mean- 

 ing a little wagon. A droshky is 

 a light carriage on four wheels 

 and without a covering. The first 



droshkies were 

 formed of a board 

 placed across two 

 pairs of wheels, 

 enabling the pas- 

 sengers to sit side- 

 ways, as in an Iri<h 

 jaunting car. 



Dressing Oven. 

 Furnace used in the 

 manufacture of rtd 

 lead. In that pro- 

 cess pig lead is 

 melted in a low- 

 arched furnace, 

 that has a bed formed of firebricks 

 supported on a cast-iron base and 

 provided with openings for intro- 

 ducing the fuel and the metal. The 

 molten metal is rabbled about in 

 this furnace and thus exposed to 

 air until it is converted into oxide 

 or litharge. The temperature is not 

 allowed to rise sufficiently high to 

 melt the litharge. What in effect 

 is done is, to use the works' term, 

 to convert the lead into a dross. 

 See Lead. 



D r o s t e-H ill sh o ff , ANNETTE 

 ELISABETH, BARONESS VON (1797- 

 1848). German poet. Born at 

 Hiilshoff, near Munster, Jan. 10, 

 1797, she came under the influence 

 of her cousin, afterwards arch- 

 bishop of Cologne. Her principal 

 works are Poems, 1838: and the 



Dropwort. Perennial herb, which 

 grows on downs and dry pasture land 



Spiritual Year, 1851. She died at 

 Meersburg, on Lake Constance, 

 May 24, 1848. 



Drouais, FRANCOIS HUBERT 

 (1727-75). French portrait painter. 

 Born at Paris, Dec. 14, 172J, he 

 studied under his father, Hubert 

 Drouais, a miniature painter, Van 

 Loo, Boucher, and Natoire. He be- 

 came an academician in 1758 ; and 

 a little later painter to the court. 

 Notable portraits by him are those 

 of the Pompadour (at Orleans) 

 and the Comte d'Artois (in the 

 Louvre). He died in Paris, 

 Oct. 21, 1775. 



His son, Jean Germain (1763- 

 88), also a painter, born at Paris, 

 Nov. 25, 1763, studied with bis 



Droshky. Light vehicle which plies for hire on the 

 streets in Russia 



father and with J. L. David (q.v. ). 

 In 1784 he won the prix de Rome 

 with his Woman of Canaan at the 

 Feet of Jesus Christ, and in 1785 

 accompanied David to Italy. He 

 died at Rome, Feb. 13, 1788. 



Drouet, JEAN BAPTISTE, COMTE 

 D'ERLON (1765-1844). French sol- 

 dier. Born at Reims, July 29, 

 1765, he en 

 tered the army 

 as a private in 

 1782, and had 

 risen to the 

 rank of briga- 

 dier - general 

 by 1799. He 

 plaved a pro- 

 mineotpartat 

 J ena and in 

 the closing stages of the Peninsular 

 War. Imprisoned hi the citadel of 

 Lille for alleged complicity in an 

 an ti- Bourbon conspiracy, when 

 Napoleon returned from Elba in 

 1815 he escaped and seized and held 

 the citadel for his old master. 

 After the Waterloo campaign, in 

 which he took part, Drouet went 

 into exile, but returned to Paris 

 in 1825. In 1834 35 he was 

 governor of Algeria, and in 1843 

 was made a marshal. He died at 

 Paris, Jan. 25, 1844. 



Drought. Spell of dry weather 

 sufficiently long to cause serious 

 deficiency in the supply of water. 

 Countries which normally receive 

 the greater part of their rainfall at 

 one season often suffer from 

 droughts during the dry season. 

 Thus the countries bordering the 

 Mediterranean Sea, and those in 

 similar latitudes on the W. of con- 

 tinents, whether N. or S. of the 

 equator, e.g. California in N. Amer- 

 ica and Central Chile in S. America, 

 have most rain in winter, while the 

 summers are droughty. Conversely, 

 countries having a monsoon tvpe 

 of climate, e.g. India, have wet 

 summers and droughty winters. 



Vast areas where prolonged 

 droughts are experienced at all 

 seasons, i.e. arid desert lands, are 

 chiefly found on the W. of conti- 

 nents in the latitudes of the Trade 

 Winds. The type of pressure distri- 

 bution largely determines rainfall 



