732 



DRESDEN DROPSY. 



FJbe. The Ru-fians, under Wittgenstein, drove marshal St 

 I'yr, with his 0,000 men, from the strong positions of Giets- 

 luil. i-l mid Pirna. Whilst Blucher occupied Napoleon on the 

 JniiitiiT.i nt Silexii, tin- priuripal force of the allies advanced to 

 the great line of communication of tin- French in Saxony ; and 

 it was revolved to take Dresden. The Russians and Prussians, 

 under Wittgenstein and Kleint, now advanced from Pirna; 

 but the Austrians were obliged to take a longer route, upon 

 the road of Commotaii. fouriers were dispatched with the 

 information to Napoleon, who Immediately returned to Dres- 

 deu. 'I'll.- -j.Mh. tin- allies surrouinl'il the city. On this Jay, 

 the allied army \viis M holly united hefore Dresden, and, includ- 

 ing the reserve, consisted of 130,000 men. Napoleon advanced, 

 with the flow IT .'I his army, by forced marches, and entered the 

 .-.!> ..n the _t;th, with part of liis guards, after having dispatched 

 Vaiidumme in the ilirertiou of Pirna. Between noon and even- 

 ing, more than 60,000 men had marched from the Bautzen road, 

 - h the city, to the field of battle. About four o'clock in 

 the afternoon, after the whole body of the guard, and the cav- 

 alry under I .atour- Maubourg, had passed the Elbe, the iillics 

 advanced to the rity in six columns. The Prussians drove the 

 \ mint: guard to the walls of Anton's garden, where the latter 

 u en- driven back by the balls of their own comrades, and obliged 

 i renew the combat. At the same time, the city was bom- 

 barded. In the evening the French undertook a general at- 

 tack. The guards, supported by sixteen cannon, drove the 

 Prussians out of the suburbs, and the allies perceived the im- 

 possibility of taking a city defended by 100,000 men, and 

 strongly fortified. At nigh't they withdrew their forces into 

 their lo'nner |..it ion upon the heights. August 27, the French, 

 were re-enforced by the corps of Marmont and Victor. Napo- 

 leon made several ineffectual attacks on the centre of the 

 allies ; and here Moreau (q. v.) was mortally wounded by a 

 cannon ball, at no great distance from the emperor Alexander. 

 About noon, the king of Nanles (Murat), with the columns 

 under Victor, and the French and Saxon cavalry under La- 

 tour- Maubourg, succeeded in surrounding and overpowering 

 the Austrians. More than 10,000 men, with general Mesko, were 

 made prisoners. Meanwhile the commander of the allies, hear- 

 ing that Vandamme had passed the Kibe, near Konigstein, on 

 the 25th, and was advancing towards Pirna, decided on a re- 

 treat, which was accomplished in the night. The king of 

 Naples pursued only to Marienburg. The allies lost, in killed, 

 wounded, and prisoners, 30,000 men. The French, in these two 

 bloody days, had more than 10,000 men wounded : the number 

 of killed was considerable, but cannot be given exactly. There 

 were now twenty-four hospitals in the rity. After the 27th 

 August, the star of Napoleon declined. The news of Oudinot's 

 defeat near Grossbeeren (q. v.), of the defeat of Macdonald on 

 the Katzbach (q. v.), and the defeat of Vaudamme, near Culm 

 (q. v.), rapidly followed each other. The marches and coun- 

 termarches of the French army now caused great injury in the 

 vicinity of Dresden. Three new retrenchments were thrown 

 up before the Altstadt, Meissen was to form an outwork ol 

 Dresden, and the French army seemed to be able to bid defi- 

 ance to the allies from their strong position. The allied army 

 advanced anew from Bohemia. The defeat of Ney at Denne- 

 witz q. v.), September 6th, and the advance of Blucher, on 

 the 10th, towards Herrnhut, compelled the French emperor to 

 retire from the frontiers of Bohemia to Dresden, and to turn 

 upon the right bank of the Elbe. These marches devastated the 

 country, and turned it into a desert. The 14th, Napoleon ad- 

 vanced again towards the frontiers of Bohemia, and penetrated, 

 on the loth, to Culm ; but his guards were driven back at Nol- 

 lendorf, with considerable loss, by Colloredo, on the 16th : on 

 the - 2 1st, he returned to Dresden. The Austrians occupiec 

 Freyburg on the 17th: detachments from the army of the crown 



Ee of Sweden advanced to- Leipsic, and Blucher formed a 

 ion with Bubna. Napoleon drove back the Prussians to 

 zen , but was on the 24th again in Dresden. He now en 

 tirelv abandoned the right bank of the Elbe, and concentrate! 

 his forces on the left. The 28th and 29th, the allies attackei 

 the bridge at Meissen without success. The forces of Napo 

 leon marched through Freyburg towards Chemnitz, am 

 through Rossen towards Leipsic. The unexpected passage o 

 Blucher over the Elbe, at Wartenburg (3d of October), de 

 cided the march of Napoleon from Dresden (October 7). Th< 

 king of Saxony followed him. (See Leipric, Battle qf.) Abou 

 30,000 men, under St Cyr and the count von der Lobau,remainei 

 in the vicinity of Dresden. Bubna stormed, on the 8th, th 

 bridge of Pirna, and the allies attacked the outworks of th 

 Neustadt. At the same time, 16,000 Russians under Tolsto 

 Iwanoff, and Markoff. approached Dresden, to cover the mare 

 of Benningsen towards Leipsic. On the 17th, St Cyr drov 

 Tolstoi back to Dohna, with a loss of six cannons, and som 

 hundred men on the side of the Russians ; but, on the 20th, th 

 Russians obliged the marshal to retreat towards Dresden 

 which was now entirely surrounded, as the Austrian general 

 Chasteler and Klenau had joined Tolstoi on the 20th. Th 

 city, which was cut off from all supplies, suffered more and mor 

 from want of provisions. St Cyr, however, prepared for the mos 

 obstinate resistance ; he barricaded the suburbs, converted 

 number ot dwelling-houses into block-houses, and destroye 

 most of the gardens round the city. November 6, 10,000 infantr 

 and 1000 cavalry, under the count von der Lobau, with 20 

 waggons, marched out from the Neustadt, on their way towarc 

 Torgau ; but they were driven back near Reichenberg, by th 

 prince of Wied-Runkel, and returned to the city in the evening 

 Famine and disease raged among the soldiers and inhabitant 

 More than 200 corpses were daily carried from the hospitals, an 

 from 200 to 300 deaths occurred every week in the city. No 

 vember 1 1, articles of capitulation were agreed to byKlenau, hi 

 not ratified'by prince bchwarzenberg . The garrison were mad 



irisoners of war. 6000 sick remained In the hospitals. Dresden 

 eceiyed a strong Russian garrison, and became the seat ot tlto 

 "ussian administration, under the prince Repnin. The excel- 

 iii-.' of Napoleon's tactics was never, perhaps, displayed to 

 r. siler advantage than in the battle of Dresden, a masterpiece 

 I military skill. 



DRINK. Before the invention of wine, when 



mankind quenched their thirst only with pure water 



r milk, diseases must have been rare, as the period 



f human life was materially abridged after the 



.elnge, when the use of wine and fermented liquors 



ad oecome general. The Moors appear to have 



ntroduced the practice of distillation into Europe- 



nd from the use of ardent spirits may be traced 



much of i IK- crimes and misery which afflict human 



society at the present era. See Dietetics. 



DRESS. See Clothing. 



DROGHEDA, a town in the province of Leinster, 

 reland, situated on the banks of the river Boyne, 

 about five miles from its mouth, and thirty miles north 

 of Dublin. It is a place of considerable importance in 

 he annals of Ireland. (See Ireland.) Population in 

 1831, 17,365. 



DROMEDARY. See Camel. 

 DROPSY ; a preternatural collection of serous 

 or watery fluid in the cellular substance, or different 

 cavities of the body. It receives different appellations, 

 according to the particular situation of the fluid. 



When it is diffused through the cellular membrane, 

 either generally or partially, it is called anasarca ; 

 .vlien it is deposited in the cavity of the cranium, it 

 s called hydrocephalus ; when in the chest, hydro- 

 thorax, or hydrops pectoris ; when in the abdomen, 

 ascites ; in the uterus, hydrometra ; and within the 

 scrotum, Aydrocele. 



The causes of these diseases are a family disposition 

 thereto, frequent salivations, excessive and long con- 

 tinued evacuations, a free use of spirituous liquors 

 [which never fail to destroy the digestive powers), 

 scirrhosities of the liver, spleen, pancreas, mesentery, 

 and other abdominal viscera ; preceding diseases, as 

 the jaundice, diarrhoea, dysentery, phthisis, astlima, 

 gout, intennittents of long duration, scarlet fever, and 

 some of the exanthemata ; a suppression of accus- 

 tomed evacuations, the sudden striking in of erup- 

 tive humours, ossification of the valves of the heart, 

 polypi in the right ventricle, aneurism in the arteries, 

 tumors making a considerable pressure on the neigh- 

 bouring parts, permanent obstruction in the lungs, 

 rupture of the thoracic duct, exposure for a length 

 of time to a moist atmosphere, laxity of the exhalants, 

 defect in the absorbents, topical weakness, and gen- 

 eral debility. 



The first of these species which we shall describe 

 \sascites (from uncos, a sack or bottle; so called 

 from its bottle-like protuberancy), or dropsy of 

 the belly, a tense, but scarcely elastic, swelling 

 of the abdomen from accumulation of water. Ascites 

 is often preceded by loss of appetite, sluggishness, 

 dry ness of the skin, oppression of the chest, cough, 

 diminution of the natural discharge of urine, 

 and costiveness. After the swelling has com- 

 menced, it increases until the whole belly be- 

 comes uniformly swelled and tense. The disten 

 sion and sense of weight vary somewhat with the 

 position of the body, being greatest on the side on 

 which the patient lies. As the collection of water 

 becomes more considerable, the difficulty of breath- 

 ing is much increased, the countenance exhibits a 

 paie and bloated appearance, an immoderate thirst 

 comes on, the skin is dry and parched, and the urine 

 is very scanty, thick, and high coloured, and depo- 

 sites a lacteritious sediment. The pulse is variable, 

 being sometimes considerably quicker, sometimes 

 slower than natural. The operation of tapping 

 should be performed only where the distension i 

 very great, and the respiration or other important 



