DEACONESS DE^VF AND DUMB. 



607 



church, also, no person can be ordained deacon before 

 he is twenty-three years old, except by dispensation 

 from the archbishop of Canterbury. The office of 

 deacons, in Presbyterian and Independent churches, 

 is to distribute the bread and wine to communicants. 

 In the latter, they are elected by the members of the 

 church. In Scotland, this name is given to masters 

 of incorporated companies. In German Protestant 

 churches, the assistant ministers are generally called 

 deacons. If there are two assistant ministers, the 

 first of them is called archdeacon. 



DEACONESS. This name was given to women in 

 the early church, who consecrated themselves to the 

 service of the church, and rendered those offices to 

 females which could not be decently performed by men. 

 They also had the care of the poor, the sick, &c. 



DEAD-EYE, or DEAD MAN'S EYE ; a sort of 

 round, flattish, wooden block, encircled with a rope, 

 or with an iron band, and pierced with three holes 

 through the flat part, in order to receive a rope called 

 the laniard, which, corresponding with three holes in 

 another dead-eye, creates a purchase, employed for 

 various uses, but chiefly to extend the shrouds and 

 stays, otherwise called the standing rigging. 



DEAD RECKONING ; the judgment or estima- 

 tion which is made of the place where a ship is situ- 

 ated, without any observation of the heavenly bodies. 

 It is obtained by keeping an account of the distance 

 which the ship lias rim by the log, and of her course 

 steered by the compass, and by rectifying these data 

 by the usual allowance for drift, lee-way, &c., accord- 

 ing to the ship's known trim. This reckoning is, 

 however, always to be corrected as often as any good 

 observation of the sun can be obtained. 



DEAD ROPES are those which do not run in any 

 block. 



DEAD SEA, or ASPHALTITES, i. e. the lake of 

 Bitumen ; anciently called, also, the sea of Sodom, 

 Salt sea, and lake Sirbon, and now, by the Arabs, 

 Bahheret-Lut,i.-e. the* sea of Lot; a lake in Pales- 

 tine, about sixty or seventy miles long from N. to S., 

 and ten or fifteen wide ; according to Mariti, 180 

 miles in circuit ; but its dimensions are stated with 

 considerable diversity. It is bordered on the east by 

 lofty hills, having rugged and frightful precipices ; on 

 the N. by the plain of Jericho, through which it re- 

 ceives the river Jordan. Other streams flow into it ; 

 but it has no visible outlet. Copious evaporation, 

 caused by the subterraneous heat, supplies the place 

 of one. The water is clear and limpid, uncommonly 

 salt, and even bitter, and of greater specific gravity 

 than any other hitherto discovered. The proportion 

 of the weight of the salts held in solution to the 

 whole weight of the water varies, according to dif- 

 ferent experiments by chemical analysis, from twenty- 

 five to nearly fifty per cent. In 100 parts of water, 

 there are 42*80 salt, which explains the difficulty of 

 diving in this lake, and the sluggish motion of the 

 waves, comparatively undisturbed by the wind. 

 From the depths of the lake rises asphaltum or mine- 

 ral pitch, or, as the Germans call it, Jeiv pitch, which 

 is melted by the heat of the bottom of the lake, and 

 again condensed by the water, and of which Seetzen 

 tells us that there are pieces large enough for camel 

 loads. According to the same traveller, it is porous, 

 and is thrown out only in stormy weather. There is 

 also another kind of pitch, dug on the shore, where 

 it is found mixed with small pieces of salt, pebbles, 

 and earth. It is used, purified, for the antidote 

 called theriaca. The whole northern shore of the 

 lake appears to be covered with this substance, called 

 anotanon. Asphaltum is used for theriaca, for em- 

 balming, calking, sculpture, and the colouring of 

 wool, and therefore is an important article of com- 

 merce. The limestone impregnated with bitumen, 



and in which the inflammable substance is so con- 

 cealed, that it can be brought out only by rubbing, 

 can be heated so as to glow like a coal without being 

 consumed, and has been used for amulets since an- 

 cient times. A great part of those found in the cata- 

 combs at Sakkarah are made of this substance ; and 

 large quantities of rosaries are yearly prepared from 

 it in Jerusalem. According to the Scriptures, the 

 beautiful valley, of Siddim, with Sodom, Gomorrah, 

 and other places, were buried here by a volcanic 

 eruption. The immediate vicinity is destitute of 

 vegetation, dull, cheerless, and inanimate ; hence, 

 probably, its name of Dead sea. Among the absurd 

 tables formerly circulated respecting this sea, it was 

 affirmed, that the pestiferous vapours hovering over 

 it were fatal to birds attempting to fly across. But 

 this is contradicted by various recent travellers. 

 " The waters of this lake," says doctor E. D. Clarke, 

 "notwithstanding the numberless assertions to the 

 contrary, swarm with fishes ; shells abound on its 

 shores, certain birds make it a place of peculiar re- 

 sort, and there is nothing insalubrious in its exhala- 

 tions." 



DEAF AND DUMB. The sensation which we call 

 hearing is produced by the vibrations of the air, strik- 

 ing on the tympanum or drum of the ear, and communi- 

 cated to the auditory nerve, by means of a series of 

 small bones connected in a very remarkable manner. 

 When the tympanum becomes insensible to these im- 

 pulses, a person is termed deaf; although the vibra- 

 tions may still 'be communicated, in some cases, 

 through the bones of the head, by means of a stick 

 placed between the teeth, or, as the Code of Justinian 

 states to have been practised in the case of dying 

 persons, by speaking with the mouth close to the top 

 of the head. The Eustachian tube extends from the 

 tympanum into the mouth ; and sometimes sounds 

 are better distinguished by opening the mouth, when 

 the external opening, only, is obstructed. Hence 

 the habit of " listening with the mouth open." Deaf- 

 ness occurs in every degree, from that which merely 

 impairs the accuracy of the ear in distinguishing faint 

 or similar sounds, to that state in which there is no 

 more sensation in this organ than in any other ; and 

 sound is felt in almost every part of the body, as a 

 mere vibration. 



Articulation and Dumbness. Articulation is ac- 

 quired by imitating the sounds which we hear ut- 

 tered by others, and correcting the voice, by means 

 of the ear, until the imitation is precise. Deafness, 

 therefore, in every degree, affects the distinctness of 

 articulation, and, if it is so great that the subject can 

 no longer distinguish between articulate sounds, he is 

 incapable of acquiring speech, in the ordinary man- 

 ner, and becomes dumb in consequence of his deaf- 

 ness. A case has occurred within the knowledge of 

 the writer, in which entire deafness, taking place at 

 the age of eighteen, so affected the articulation, that 

 the individual was no longer intelligible, even to his 

 friends. This result will not be prevented by any 

 degree of hearing less than we have mentioned ; for 

 most deaf and dumb persons can hear some sounds ; 

 and some can distinguish the high from the low, who 

 perceive no difference in articulations. Only a few 

 mutes are found, who owe this defect to feebleness of 

 mind, or to any imperfections in the organs of speech. 

 These remarks show the fallacy of the idea, that the 

 want of speech is owing to the want of mental capa- 

 city a prejudice which has been cherished by the 

 usual name of deaf and dumb, which we hope, for 

 this reason, as well as for euphony, will be changed 

 for that of deaf mute, which may be employed both 

 as a noun and an adjective. 



Number. The number of deaf mutes varies ma- 

 terially in different countries, and situations, and 



