DANUBE DAPHNIN. 



595 



it was not allowed to enjoy its independence. A 

 French governor, general Rapp, continued in the 

 garrison. In 1808, the Code Napoleon was intro- 

 duced ; and, by the continental system, its most im- 

 portant branch of support, the commerce with Bri- 

 tain, was cut off. Under such unfavourable cir- 

 cumstances, the year 1812 drew nigh, bringing the 

 heavy burdens of the Russian war. December 31, 

 the city was declared in a state of blockade. After 

 a very obstinate defence of nearly a year's continu- 

 ance, a capitulation was entered into, Jan. 1, 1814. 

 On this day, all the Poles and Germans were dis- 

 missed, and, on the 2d, the French marched out, to 

 be conducted, as prisoners of war, to the interior of 

 Russia. During this blockade and siege, 309 houses 

 and warehouses were burnt, lllS.buildings damaged, 

 and ninety men perished by hunger. Feb. 3, 1814, 

 Dantzic fell again under the dominion of Prussia. 

 Dec. 6, 1815, great damage was done by the explo- 

 sion of a powder magazine. 



There are, in this city, important manufactories of 

 gold and silver lace, cloth, woollen stuffs, and Cor- 

 dovan leather : the dye-houses, sugar refineries, 

 brandy, and other distilleries, vitriol, potash, &c., 

 manufactories, are likewise considerable. An im- 

 portant article of commerce in Dantzic is com, which 

 is brought down the Vistula from Poland, and ex- 

 ported to Britain, Holland, and the Hanse towns. 

 Other articles of export are timber, leather, wool, 

 furs, butter, tallow, wax, honey, potash, hemp, and 

 flax. The principal edifices worthy of mention are, 

 the high church of St Mark (in which is the Judg- 

 ment Day, by Van Eyck), the synagogue, the aca- 

 demical gymnasium, the marine institute, the build- 

 ings of the society of natural lu'story, including their 

 observatory. This society celebrated its eighty- 

 fourth anniversary, Jan. 2, 1826. It has published 

 memoirs. In 1823, there were 747 ships entered, 

 and 768 cleared, at this port. On the side of the 

 city between the Vistula and Nogat, is the fertile 

 island of Werder, which supports numerous herds of 

 cattle ; and at the mouth of the former lies the fort 

 of Munde, which defends the roads of* Dantzic, called 

 Neufahrwasser. April 9, 1829, the Vistula, swollen 

 by the melting of the snow in the interior, and choked 

 by masses of ice, broke through the dyke, which ex- 

 tends twenty-five miles up the river, overwhelming 

 fifty villages. The lower town of Dantzic was inun- 

 dated, and the houses filled to the roofs. The tor- 

 rent swept over the city, carrying away many houses, 

 and whatever they contained. On the 12th, the 

 waters began to abate ; but, as late as the 14th, 

 many sufl'erers were still remaining on the roofs of 

 the houses, unable to obtain relief, and destitute of 

 relief, and destitute of food. (For an account of the 

 last siege of this city, see the Relation de la Defense 

 de Dantzic en 1813, Paris, 1820 ; and also the Mili- 

 tary Annals of Atistria, 1825, 8th and 9th editions.) 



DANUBE (in German, Donau, i. e. deep water) 

 a river, which was called by the Romans, from its 

 sources to Vienna, Danulis, and lower down, Ister. 

 It has three sources, the Brege, Brigach, and a little 

 fountain in the yard of the castle of prince Donaues- 

 chingin, in Baden, 2050 feet above the level of the 

 sea (Ion. 10 30' 15" E., lat. 47 58' N.), near which 

 the united waters receive the name of Danube. Af- 

 ter its junction with the Iller, above Ulm, it becomes 

 navigable, being from eight to twelve feet deep, runs 

 through the kingdom of Bavaria, then from Engel- 

 liartszell to Orsowa (644 miles), through Austria, and 

 finally through Turkey, until it falls into the Black 

 sea, after a course of 1547 miles, and after having 

 received thirty navigable rivers and ninety other 

 streams. It discharges itself through five mouths, 

 called Kili, Saline, Kedrillo, Portessa, and Islawa 



Bogasi. The first is the chief and the deepest outlet, 

 and is now within the dominions of Russia, since Bes- 

 sarabia (q. v.) was ceded to this power by the Turks. 

 The fourth and fifth mouths are likewise navigable. 

 The Danube discharges so much water into the Black 

 sea, that the addition is perceptible in the latter, even 

 at the distance of 46 miles. Its current embraces the 

 waters of theSchwarzwald (the Black forest),theBoeh 

 merwald (the Bohemian forest), the Alps of Tyrol, 

 Stiria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and the Morlachian, 

 Carpathian, and Bulgarian mountains. The whirl- 

 pools have been rendered less dangerous by the la- 

 bour of man in Germany and Hungary, but the shal- 

 lows of Orsowa, and the tyrannical restrictions of the 

 Turkish government, obstruct the subsequent navi- 

 gation. .Many species of fish are taken in the river. 

 The most known is the sturgeon. From the times of 

 the Romans, through the period of the middle ages, 

 down to the time of Napoleon, the shores of the Da- 

 nube have been the scene of momentous conflicts. At 

 Ulm, the navigation of this river begins,. and is con- 

 tinued to its mouth in five divisions, occasioned by 

 political separations from Ulm to Ratisbon, thence 

 to Vienna, thence to Pest, thence to Belgrade, thence 

 to Galacz and Kilianova, where the river empties 

 itself. The navigation is almost entirely downwards, 

 without the aid of sails or oars. Such vessels as 

 move against the stream are drawn by horses, five 

 tons being allowed for each horse, if the river is not 

 swollen. As the greater part of the vessels are only 

 calculated to float down, and then to be sold as wood, 

 they are, of course, little better than rafts. The con- 

 gress of Vienna, in 1815, declared the navigation of 

 all the German rivers free ; but this freedom does 

 not as yet exist, and the custom lines of Waertemberg, 

 Bavaria, and Austria, prevent the navigation of the 

 Danube from attaining the extent which it would 

 easily reach if left free. From France, many goods are 

 sent to Ulm, and from thence to Turkey. At Pest, 

 about 8000 vessels and rafts arrive annually. Aus- 

 tria subjects the navigation of the river to very op- 

 pressive restrictions. Thus the boatmen from Ratis- 

 bon are only allowed to go to Vienna ; and they are 

 only allowed to take from thence wine. In Vienna, 

 these boatmen are incorporated. Charlemagne en- 

 tertained the grand idea of uniting the Rhine and 

 Danube, by a canal between the Altmuehl and the 

 Maine, near Nuremberg. If the navigation were 

 free, the navigation of steam-boats would make it in- 

 crease with a rapidity equal to that of the Mississippi. 

 See Devil's Wall. 



DAPHNE, in mythology ; a daughter of the river 

 god Peneus, beloved by Apollo, by whose contrivance 

 her lover, Leucippus, was skin. The nymph, deaf 

 to the suit of the god, and flying from him, besought 

 the earth to swallow her up. According to some she 

 besought her father or Jupiter to protect her. Her 

 prayer was heard ; for, at the moment when Apollo 

 was about to encircle her in his arms, her flight was 

 suddenly arrested, her feet took root in the earth, her 

 arms became branches, and, instead of the nymph, 

 Apollo embraced a laurel, which was thenceforth 

 consecrated to him. Daphne was also the name of 

 a daughter of Tiresias. She was priestess in the tem- 

 ple of Delphi. A grove near Antioch was likewise 

 so called. 



DAPHN1N ; the bitter principle of Daphne Al- 

 pnia. From the alcoholic infusion of the bark of this 

 plant, the resin was separated by partial evaporation, 

 and the remaining tincture, on being diluted with 

 water and filtered, afforded, on the addition of ace- 

 tate of lead, a. yellow precipitate, from which sul- 

 phureted hydrogen disunited the lead, and left the 

 laphnin in small transparent crystals. They are 

 liard, of a grayish colour, a bitter taste ; when heated, 

 2 \'2 



