683 



DIPPING DIRECT TAX. 



The characters, the direction in which the lines are 

 written, the abbreviations, the sij.ns which supplied 

 the places of whole words, the flourishes, var.rd con- 

 siderably from one century to another. On some of 

 the diplomas, the signature is a cipher or monogram ; 

 and, as it is often in the form of a cross, it is called 

 chrismon. Seals of white wax are found, either im- 

 printed on, or pending from diplomas, in small cases : 

 at a later period, they were stamped on metal, and 

 affixed in the same manner. In the conquered pro- 

 vinces of the Roman empire, and chiefly those which 

 compose, at present, Great Britain and Germany, 

 Uie Latin language at length gave way to the idiom> 

 of the natives ; and various languages, therefore, 

 must be learned by the students of diplomatics to en- 

 able themselves to distinguish the genuine documents 

 fron. the spurious, and to bring to light such facts' as 

 can increase historical knowledge, and clear up 

 points of private or public right. Since the reforma- 

 tion, the science can be of little sen-ice in the latter 

 respect, but it still promises valuable assistance in 

 the study of antiquity. (See Charters.) In this point 

 of view, diplomas are considered as literary docu- 

 ments ; and much diligence and research have been 

 bestowed, by men not less distinguished by learning 

 than by industry, in the investigation of their con- 

 tents and the examination of their authenticity. The 

 Benedictine monks have done much in this depart- 

 ment of learning : among them Mabillon, Toussaint, 

 and Tassin, hold a distinguished place, and their 

 works will long be the most valuable manuals for the 

 study of diplomatics. A Jesuit named Papebroeck 

 was the first, perhaps, who gave an example of the 

 application wlu'ch can be made of them to historical 

 researches. The celebrated count Maffei, the most 

 distinguished antiquary of modern Italy, is the author 

 of a supplement to Mabillon's Code Diplomatique. 

 Gatterer and Schoneman have, in times still more re- 

 cent, treated the science in the most systematic man- 

 ner. Walter's Lexicon Dipt., Gottingen, 1745, is an 

 excellent guide for abbreviations, and Carpentier's 

 Alphaletttm Tironianum, Paris, 1747, for characters 

 representing whole words, hi ancient diplomacy. 

 See, also, Henselii, Synopsis Universe Philologies, 

 and Kapp's Alphabet. 



DIPPING, among miners, signifies the interrup- 

 tion of a vein of ore an accident that often gives 

 them a great deal of trouble before they can discover 

 the ore again. 



DIPPING NEEDLE, or INCLINATORY NEE- 

 DLE ; a magnetical needle, so hiing, that, instead ot 

 playing horizontally, and pointing north and south, 

 one end dips or inclines to the horizon, and the other 

 points to a certain height above it. The inventor of 

 this instrument was one Robert Norman, a compass- 

 maker, of VVapping, about the year 1576. Some per- 

 sons have endeavoured to find the latitude and longi- 

 tude of places by means of the dipping needle ; but 

 nothing of importance has followed from their at- 

 tempts. The following general rule, however, may 

 be adopted in order to find the longitude or latitude 

 by the dipping needle. If the lines of equal dip, be- 

 low the horizon, be drawn on maps, or sea-charts, from 

 good observations, it will be easy, from the longitude 

 known, to find the latitude, and from the latitude 

 known, to find the longitude. Suppose, for example, 

 you were travelling or sailing along the meridian of 

 London, and found the angle of dip, with a needle of 

 one foot, to be 75, the chart will show, that this me- 

 ridian and the line of dip meet in the latitude of 53 

 1 1', which therefore is the latitude sought. Or sup- 

 pose you were travelling or sailing along the parallel 

 of London, i, e., in 51 32' N. lat., and you find the 

 uiigle of dip to be 74. This parallel, and the line 

 of this dip, will meet in the map in 1 46' of E. longi- 



tude from London, which is therefore the longitude 

 sought. 



DIPTYCHA (Greek) originally signifies the same 

 as diploma, something folded. The Greeks and Ro- 

 mans, among other materials for writing, used tablets 

 of metal, ivory, or wood, of equal size, fastened toge- 

 ther by a hinge or little ring which went through 

 them, that they might be more easily carried or pass- 

 ed from one hand into the other. Such double tablets 

 were originally called diplomata or diptycha. Botli 

 terms, however, afterwards received different signifi- 

 cations. The diptycha became important in the Chris- 

 tian church, and were of three sorts, containing the 

 names of the bishops, of the living, and of the dead. 

 The first contained the names and lives of deserving 

 bishops. It was customary to read them at festivals, 

 which gave rise afterwards to the custom of canoniza- 

 tion. In the diptycha of the living, the names of 

 popes, patriarchs, bishops, and other ecclesiastics, then 

 the names of the emperors, kings, princes, and other 

 distinguished persons, who had deserved well of the 

 church, though still alive, were written down, to be 

 mentioned in the church prayers. The diptycha of 

 the dead, finally, comprised the names of those who 

 had departed in the Lord, which were also mentioned 

 in the church prayers. There was also another spe- 

 cies of diptycha, containing the names of the baptized. 

 Casaubon, in h!s observations on Athenceus, lib. vi. 

 cap. 14, supposes the Christians to have borrowed the 

 custom of writing names in a book, and rehearsing 

 them at mass, from the heathens, who entered the 

 names of persons to whom they would do any signal 

 honour in the verses of the Salii, as was done to Ger- 

 manicus and Verus, sons of the emperor Marcus A ure 

 lius, and a long time before, during the period of the 

 republic. (See Tacitus, lib. ii.) The profane dipty- 

 cha were frequently sent as presents to princes, &c., 

 on which occasions they were finely gilt and embel- 

 lished. Those presented were usually made of ivory. 



DIR^E, or EUMENIDES. See Furies. 



DIRECTORY ; a guide, a rule to direct. This 

 name was given to five officers, to whom the execu- 

 tive authority in France was committed by the con- 

 stitution of the year III. This regulation was imi- 

 tated in other states over which France exercised an 

 immediate influence, as in Switzerland, Holland, &c. 

 The two legislative bodies, called the councils, elected 

 the members of the directory : one of them was oblig- 

 ed to retire yearly, and his place was supplied by 

 election. This body was invested with the authority, 

 which, by the constitution of 1791, had been granted 

 to the king. The seven ministers of state were im- 

 mediately under, and were appointed and removed by, 

 the directory. By the revolution of the 18th Bru- 

 maire, this body, and the constitution of the year III, 

 were abolished. For the history of the directory and 

 of the 18th Brumaire, see the Memoires de Louis Je- 

 rome Go/tier (Paris, 1824, 2 vols.), the last president 

 of this body. 



DIRECT TAX. Taxes are distinguished into di- 

 rect and indirect. A tax is direct when it is paid by 

 the persons who permanently own, or use, or con- 

 sume the subject of the tax. An indirect tax falls 

 ultimately on a different person from the one who 

 immediately pays it to the government. Thus the 

 importer of goods pays a duty on them to the govern- 

 ment, but reimburses himself by charging the amount 

 of this duty in the price of the goods, so that the 

 retailer who takes them of him refunds the duty, 

 and the consumer who takes them of the retailer 

 again reimburses the latter. On the contrary, a land- 

 tax, a capitation-tax, an annual excise on watches, 

 coaches, &c., or an excise collected on articles as 

 they are distributed by the retail dealer among his 

 customers for consumption is a direct tax ; for the 



