718 



DRACO DRAGON. 



was called the stater. These coins differed much in 

 value in different coiintrio in Greece, and in different 

 ages in the same country. The Attic drachm and 

 stater occur most frequently. Those coined pre- 

 vious to the time of Pericles were worth about 8d., 

 the talents (silver), of course, 23O ; the value of the 

 later drachms (during the two centuries before and af- 

 ter the Christian era), was 7^d. ; of the talents, 205. 

 The stater, in the former period, was worth 2s. 10d.; 

 in t lie latter, 2s. fxl. Besides these silver coins, there 

 were also the stater of gold, equal in value to 20 

 drachms, and the talent of gold, which was used 

 sometimes to designate a quantity of gold equal in 

 t-iil ue. sometimes a quantity of gold equal in weight, 

 to the silver talent. It sometimes, also, designates 

 a gold coin, weighing six drachms. In the time of 

 Solon, a sheep could be bought for one drachm, an 

 ox for five. In the time of Demosthenes, a fat ox 

 cost 80 drachms, a lamb, 10. 



DRACO ; an archon and legislator of Athens, 

 about GOO B. C., celebrated for the extraordinary 

 severity of his laws. The slightest offence, such as 

 stealing fruit, and even idleness, he punished with 

 death, no less than sacrilege, murder, or treason. 

 Hence lu's laws were said to be written in blood. 

 Nothing was more natural than that this rigour should 

 render them odious, and prevent their execution, 

 especially as the people became more civilized and re- 

 fined. Solon was therefore commissioned to compose 

 a new code. (See Attica.) Tradition relates that 

 Draco, on his appearance in the theatre at /Egina, 

 where he is said to have carried his laws, was suffo- 

 cated amidst the applauses of the people, who, 

 according to their custom, threw their garments and 

 caps upon him. He was buried under the theatre. 



DRACUNCULI, in medicine; small, long worms, 

 which breed in the muscular parts of the arms and 

 legs, called Guinea-worms, common among the na- 

 tives of Guinea. The worm is white, round, and 

 uniform, resembling white, round tape. It is lodged 

 between the interstices and membranes of the mus- 

 cles, where it insinuates itself, sometimes exceeding 

 five ells in length. It occasions no great pain in the 

 beginning; but at such times as it is ready to go 

 out, the part adjoining to the extremity of the worm, 

 where it attempts its exit, begins to swell, throb, and 

 become inflamed : this generally happens about the 

 ankle, leg, or thigh, and rarely higher. The coun- 

 tries where this distemper is observed are hot and 

 sultry, subject to great droughts, and the inhabitants 

 make use of stagnating and corrupted water, in which 

 it is very probable that the ova of these animalculae 

 may be contained ; for the white people who drink 

 this water are liable to the disease as well as the 

 negroes. 



DRAG ; a machine consisting of a sharp, square 

 frame of iron, encircled with a net, and commonly 

 used to rake the mud off from the platform or bot- 

 tom of the docks, or to clean rivers. 



DRAGGING THE ANCHOR; the act of trailing 

 it along the bottom, after it is loosened from the 

 ground, by the effort of the wind or current. 



DRAGOMAN ; an interpreter, employed in the 

 East, and especially at the Turkish court. The dra- 

 goman of the Porte, who is in the service of the 

 court, and through whom the sultan receives the 

 communications of the Christian ambassadors, was 

 formerly a Christian, by birth a Greek, and often 

 attained the rank of a prince (hospodar) of Moldavia 

 or Wallachia. 



DRAGON; 



1. One of the northern constellations. Fable 

 says that Juno translated to the heavens the dragon 

 which kept the golden apples in the chamber of the 

 llesperides, and was slain by Hercules. 



2. The dragon of fable. The fabulous stories of this 

 monster reach back almost as far as history. His form 

 is described as most terrible, and his residence has 

 been assigned to almost all countries, particularly 

 that part of India and Africa that was formerly un 

 known. His length is represented from twenty to 

 seventy ells. Of the latter sort was the dragon 

 which lived in India, according to &\\m, in the 

 time of Alexander the Great, and was venerated as 

 a god. The dragon is described as having no feet, 

 but as crawling like a serpent, his body covered with 

 scales, and his neck, according to some accounts, 

 adorned with a mane. These relations are almost 

 all contradictory, and agree only in this that the 

 dragon liad very acute senses, especially a piercing 

 vision. His strength was so great that he could 

 easily strangle an elephant. His food consisted of 

 the blood and flesh of all sorts of animals, and of 

 various fruit. Notwithstanding his ferocity, how- 

 ever, the dragon might be confined and tamed, which 

 the old authors represent as having happened in 

 various cases. The animal which gave occasion to 

 these fables is probably no other than the great boa 

 constrictor. (See Boa.) The fabled dragon of the 

 middle ages had four lion's feet, a long, thick, ser- 

 pent's tail, and an immense throat, from which 

 streamed flames of fire. This dragon played a dis- 

 tinguished part in the ages of chivalry : he is one of 

 those monsters whom it was the business of the 

 heroes of romance to destroy. The idea of the dra- 

 gon of the middle ages probably grew out of indis- 

 tinct and exaggerated accounts of the crocodile of 

 the Nile, which were brought to Europe by means 

 of the crusades, and from similar descriptions of the 

 largest land serpents. Even at the present day, 

 the existence of dragons is fully believed in by the 

 inhabitants of certain countries. 



3. The researches of modern naturalists have 

 served to explode this and many other fictions con- 

 nected with the history of animals ; and, at the pre- 

 sent day, the curious inquirer, who seeks for the 

 celebrated dragon, will be disappointed in discover- 

 ing that the animal to which the name properly be- 

 longs, is not an untamable and ferocious monster, 

 but an inoffensive lizard, a few inches long, formid- 

 able to nothing but the small insects on which it 

 feeds. The love of gain often makes the natives ot 

 warm climates guilty of the most ingenious frauds 

 on the credulity of strangers, for whom they prepare 

 with great art, fictitious animals, which are purchased 

 by the ignorant, as genuine dragons, mermaids, &c. 

 In this way, ill-informed travellers are led occasionally 

 to revive the fable of the existence of the dragon. 

 Two species of dragon -lizard are described by natur- 

 alists, but it is most probable that the second ia 

 merely a variety of the first (D. volans), which is 

 said to inhabit Asia, Africa, and South America. 

 Length, seldom exceeding twelve inches ; body 

 lacertiform ; sides furnished with peculiar produc- 

 tions of the skin, supported by internal cartilaginous 

 rays, which, when expanded, enable it to support 

 itself in the air for a few seconds, in springing from 

 branch to branch, among the lofty trees in which it 

 resides ; body and wings covered by small scales ; 

 back slightly carinate ; throat with the skin produced 

 into a pouch-shaped expansion, which is inflated 

 with air, at the pleasure of the animal. The food 

 consists almost exclusively of insects. Colour varied 

 with blackish, brown, and whitish. The proportions 

 of the animal are delicate, and it is very active. 

 Dried specimens, preserved in the cabinets of the 

 curious, do not give a good idea of the animal, as 

 the process of drying destroys the proportions ; and 

 it is also to be regretted that few engraved figures 

 are commendable fur their fidelity. 



