DANDRUFF 



1698 



DANTE ALIGHIERI 



smooth, erect and hollow, and the entire plant 

 contains a white, milky juice. 



Young dandelion leaves are often used for 

 greens and salads. 

 If blanched like cel- 

 ery, they will be- 

 come more tender 

 and less bitter. The 

 thick, fleshy tap- 

 root, sometimes 

 twenty inches long, 

 when carefully 

 washed and thor- 

 oughly dried is 

 used for its medi- 

 cinal properties in 

 diseases of the* 

 liver and in dys- 

 pepsia. Over 200,- 

 000 pounds of 

 dandelion root, 

 commanding from 

 four to six cents a 

 pound, are im- 

 ported into the 

 United States each 

 year. 



DAN'DRUFF, a 

 white, scaly sub- 

 stance that forms 

 on the scalp as the ROOT OF DAN- 

 result of a skin that DELION 



. , The length of 



is too dry, or be- the root is from 



cause of certain JfiS/JJ/HS 

 scalp diseases, of the plant 

 When the head above the ground. 



is scratched large quantities of minute scales 

 are loosened from the skin and cling to the 

 hair or fall on the clothing. Dandruff may be 

 simply scales of skin, but in the disease known 

 as seborrhoea oily matter secreted by the 

 glands dries and forms scales which are also 

 classed as dandruff. Any scaly formation re- 

 sults in a gradual loss of the hair, and dan- 

 druff is a very important cause of baldness. 

 Vigorous massaging of the scalp daily, to 

 stimulate the circulation, and frequent sham- 

 pooing with pure soap are helpful remedies, 

 but stubborn cases should have the attention 

 of a specialist. 



DANIEL, dan' y el, a Hebrew prophet, the 

 hero of the Old Testament book which bears 

 his name. No other Biblical hero is more 

 popular, for his wonderful rise from the posi- 

 tion of captive and slave in a royal household 

 to that of ruler of the kingdom was brought 



about not through kingly favor but through 

 Daniel's own wisdom and goodness. When 

 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, swept down 

 upon Jerusalem, he carried off not only the 

 sacred vessels from the temple but a number 

 of high-born youths, of whom Daniel was one. 

 In Babylon, Daniel refused to eat of his "por- 

 tion of the king's meat," lest he might defile 

 himself, but throve so well on his simple diet 

 that he attracted the notice of the king. 



One night King Nebuchadnezzar had a 

 troublesome dream which his wise men could 

 not interpret. But Daniel, declaring that "there 

 is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets," 

 described the dream and gave the interpreta- 

 tion, and as a reward was made ruler over the 

 whole province of Babylon. In later years 

 he made clear another royal dream, which fore- 

 told the madness of Nebuchadnezzar, and in- 

 terpreted to Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchad- 

 nezzar, the marvelous handwriting on the wall 

 (see BELSHAZZAR). Under Darius, the Median, 

 who fulfilled the writing by capturing Baby- 

 lon, Daniel was given high authority by 

 reason of his wisdom, but the Babylonian 

 princes became jealous and by a trick had 

 him cast into a den of lions. His mirac- 

 ulous preservation led Darius to acknowl- 

 edge the God of the Hebrews and put 

 an end to the persecutions of Daniel, who 

 from this time on "prospered in the reign of 

 Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." 



DANISH WEST INDIES. See VIRGIN IS- 

 LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



DANTE ALIGHIERI, dahn' ta ahlegya're, 

 (1265-1321), one of the world's great poets, 

 the chief pride and ornament of Italian litera- 

 ture. As Homer's name is associated with the 

 Iliad, Vergil's with the Aeneid and Milton's 

 with Paradise Lost, so that of Dante, the fourth 

 great epic poet, calls instantly to mind the 

 Divine Comedy that marvelous account of 

 the wanderings of a poet soul in hell and purga- 

 tory. No less intimately connected with the 

 name of Dante is that of Beatrice, the idol of 

 his life from his childhood and the inspiration 

 of his poetry, although he never saw her 

 more than a few times and she had very little 

 knowledge of him. He tells in his New Life 

 of his meeting with her when he was but nine 

 years of age, and traces the course of his love. 

 This was an idealized emotion, far removed 

 from desire for possession and from jealousy, 

 for he loved her just as devotedly and with no 

 hint of bitterness after her marriage to another 

 (see BEATRICE PORTINARI). 



