658 



DEVIL'S ADVOCATE DEVON. 



Cephaloptera giorna, the devil-fish, sea-devil, c., 

 is recognised by the following diameters : " Jaws 

 terminal, inferior one advanced; mouth with a 

 movable flabelliform appendage on each side ; eyes 

 prominent, lateral ; tail longer t linn the body, and 

 anned with one or two spines, very distinct from the 

 dorsal fin, which is situated between the ventrals ;" 

 teeth very minute and numerous, arranged in rows. 

 The skin of this li-h is not covered with spinous pro- 

 tuberances, like that of most others of the ray species, 

 but is merely rough to the touch, like that of many 

 sharks. In preparing the specimen deposited in the 

 Philadelphia museum, tins roughness of (he skin 

 produced most disagreeable effects on the hands of 

 the operators. Colour above, blackish ; beneath, 

 white, varied with dusky. The measurements of the 

 individual just mentioned, made him in breadth be- 

 tween fifteen and sixteen feet, and seven feet ten 

 inches in length, exclusive of the tail, which was 

 somewhat longer than the body. A similar specimen 

 was exhibited in New York, under the title of " the 

 Vampyre of the ocean," and described as such by 

 doctor Samuel L. Mitchell. Others have been 

 observed on various parts of the American coast, 

 generally in small families, and are believed to visit 

 sandy bottoms, for the purpose of breeding, arriving 

 in July, and seldom remaining later than the end 

 of September. The great size of the specimen pur- 

 chased by Mr Peale rendered it necessary to divide 

 the body, transversely into two equal portions, in 

 which state the process of stuffing was more easy. 

 The pieces were afterwards joined together, and the 

 animal exhibited in the museum, where it now re- 

 mains. In drying, the skin, of course, contracted con- 

 siderably, and the measurements now would be much 

 less than those taken from the recent animal. Pyro- 

 ligneous acid, being used to counteract putrefaction, 

 during several hot days in which it was exhibited, 

 no experiment was made, to determine the flavour of 

 the flesh, and its utility as an article of food. 



It is not improbable, that most of the stories relative 

 to sea serpents, which have so long been a theme of 

 wonder, are in truth to be referred to numbers of 

 these or other marine fishes of extraordinary size and 

 uncommon form. It is to be regretted, that more 

 perfect examinations have not been made, par- 

 ticularly in relation to the anatomical structure of 

 the cephaloptera ; but it is to be hoped that our na- 

 turalists, in subsequent researches, may supply the 

 desired information. 



DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (advocatus diabolt) is the 

 person appointed to raise doubts against the genuine- 

 ness of the miracles of a candidate for canonization 

 (q. v.), to expose any want of formality in the inves- 

 tigation of the miracles, and to assail the general 

 merits of the candidate. After everything is said 

 pro and contra, and three papal advocates of the con- 

 sistory have found the whole course of proceedings 

 legal and formal, the canonization follows. It is said 

 that, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, 

 the canonization of the cardinal Charles Borromeo 

 was almost prevented by the accusations of the 

 devil's advocate. 



DEVIL'S BRIDGE ; a famous bridge in Switzer- 

 land, over the Reuss, built of stone, from mountain 

 to mountain, seventy-five feet in length, on the road 

 over St Gothard, from Germany to Italy. It owes 

 its name principally to its antiquity, for there are 

 higher, longer, and wider bridges in Switzerland. 

 It is a very common subject of prints and paintings, 

 and is situated in a most romantic country. 



DEVIL'S PUNCH BOWL, a lake of Ireland, 

 near the summit of Mangerton mountain, in the vi- 

 'inity of the lakes of Killamey. It is elevated 2500 

 feet above the level of the sea and is supposed to be 



the crater of an ancient volcano. It is about half a 

 mile in length and a quarter in breadth. 



DEVIL'S WALL, in the soutli of Germany. It 

 was very common for gigantic works of art, or pe- 

 culiar formations of nature, to receive, in the middle 

 ages, the name of the devil. This wall was origi- 

 nally a Roman ditch, with palisades behind it, 'to 

 which, under the reign of the emperor Probus, a wall 

 with towers was added. It was intended to protect 

 the Roman settlements on the left bank of the Dan- 

 ube, and on the right bank of the Rhine, against the 

 inroads of the Teutonic and other tribes. The \\ ;ill 

 extended for about 368 miles, over mountains, 

 tlirough valleys, and over rivers, running towards 

 the Danube. Remains of it are found at present 

 only from Abensberg, in Bavaria, to Cologne, on the 

 Rhine. Sometimes these remains form elevated mails 

 and patlis through woods, sometimes tall oaks grow 

 upon them, sometimes buildings stand upon the im- 

 perishable structure. A. Buchnerhas shown, in his 

 Journey along the Devil's Wall (Ratisbon, 1821), 

 that it was the work of nearly two centuries, com- 

 mencing in the time of Adrian, and was at first a 

 mere wall of earth, but was afterwards made a sub- 

 stantial stone wall, of from six to eight feet in width. 

 Buchner followed the traces of this wall for two 

 summers. He points out, also, the course of the 

 Roman road beliind it. The same book contains a 

 plan of the canal by which Charlemagne intended to 

 unite the Danube and the Rhine, and of which a dry 

 ditch, called the Fossa Carolina, is the only remains. 

 (See Carolina.) Buchner says, that six million 

 gilders would be sufficient to complete this great 

 plan, which others doubt. See Danube. 



DEVISE, in law, is the disposition of real estate 

 by will. It is distinguished from a bequest of per- 

 sonal estate by will, the personal estate so dis- 

 posed of being called a legacy. The word devise is 

 also sometimes applied to any gift by will, whether of 

 real or personal estate. The person to whom a de- 

 vise is made is called devisee. 



DEVIZES ; a town of England, situated on the 

 northern border of Salisbury plain, in the centre of 

 Wilts-shire. The town consists of several streets 

 diverging from a spacious market-place, well paved 

 and lighted with gas, and being a great thoroughfare 

 on one of the roads from Bath to London, it contains 

 some capital inns, which, as well as many of the 

 shops and private houses, are spacious and handsome 

 buildings. The public edifices are a convenient 

 town hall, a handsome market cross, erected a few 

 years since at the expense of Viscount Sidmouth ; a 

 bridewell, and a house of correction. The chief 

 manufactures here are silk-throwing, making fine 

 woollen, and tobacco and snuff : here are also noted 

 breweries, which furnish the liquor called in London 

 Devizes ale. The Kennet ana Avon canal passes 

 near the town, and supplies the means of conveying 

 goods by water to the eastern and western parts ot 

 the kingdom. Population, 4562. 



DEVOLUTION. By the rule of devolution, the 

 right of presentation to a vacant place, especially a 

 clerical one, reverts, in case of neglect in exercising 

 it, to a superior (bishop, prince, or consistory). 



DEVON, a beautiful little river of Scotland, on 

 the confines of Stirling and Clackmannan shires. It 

 has its source at the foot of the Ochil hills, and after 

 a circuitous course of about forty miles, through ro- 

 mantic scenery, it falls into the Forth_about two miles 

 above Alloa. A little above Dollar, it forms a 

 series of cascades, the most noted of which is called 

 the Caldron Linn. Burns has celebrated this river 

 in his fine song, beginning 



" How pleasant the banks of the clear, winding Devon, 

 With green spreading bushes, and flowers blooming fair.'" 



