DICTOGRAPH 



1794 



DIE 



nigh universal, of illustrating the use of words 

 by quotations from various authors. 



Other dictionaries of the English language 

 are that of Noah Webster, published in Amer- 

 ica in 1828, revised frequently and extensively, 

 and still, as The New International Dictionary, 

 a standard work containing over 400,000 denned 

 words; Worcester's Dictionary of the English 

 Language; The Standard Dictionary; and The 

 Century Dictionary; the last-named is a com- 

 bination, to a certain extent, of dictionary and 

 encyclopedia features. Perhaps the greatest of 

 all dictionaries is the New English Dictionary, 

 begun in 1884 and completed in 1915. This is 

 known popularly as the Oxford Dictionary, and 

 is published at Oxford University. Its quota- 

 tions are unusually full and illuminating and 

 are arranged chronologically, while its study of 

 word-history traces every word through all its 

 changes and modifications. See LANGUAGE; 

 ENGLISH LANGUAGE. A.MCC. 



DICTOGRAPH, dik'tograf, an instrument 

 made on the same principle as the telephone, 

 but with an attachment that greatly increases 

 the volume of sound at the receiving end. 

 Since 1912, when it was perfected, it has been 

 extensively used as a means of detecting or 

 preventing crime. It is so small as to be 

 inconspicuous and can be installed in a room 

 without anyone's being aware of its presence. 

 The fine connecting wires may be carried to 

 any desired place and a person stationed at the 

 receiver can hear conversation, even loud whis- 

 pers, carried on in the room" containing the 

 transmitter. 



DICTOPHONE, dik'tofone, an incorrect 

 name for the dictograph (see above). 



DIDACTIC, didak'tik, POETRY, that kind 

 of verse produced . by a poet when his chief 

 object is to instruct or impart information. 



The Georgics of Vergil and Horace's Art of 

 Poetry are classic examples of didactic poetry, 

 the former being an account of agriculture and 

 kindred arts, and the latter a discussion of the 

 principles of poetry. Pope's Essay on Criticism 

 and his Essay on Man are among the best- 

 known didactic poems in English literature. 

 The familiar couplet which follows is an admir- 

 able illustration of this type of verse : 



Know then thyself, presume not God to scan ; 



The proper study of mankind is man. 



Longfellow's A Psalm of Life may be con- 

 sidered an example of a short didactic poem. 



The exact -nature and purpose of poetry is a 

 matter of dispute. Some critics, those of the 

 Edgar Allan Poe class, tell us that the function 



of poetry is to give pleasure, and that Pope's 

 Essay on Man cannot properly be called 

 poetry. A medium ground is taken by those 

 who claim that the highest forms of poetry 

 teach important lessons of life without being 

 purposely didactic. Milton's Paradise Lost, 

 Goethe's Faust and Shakespeare's dramas all 

 contain valuable ethical teachings, but these 

 spring from the very heart of the masterpieces, 

 which are in no sense examples of didactic 

 verse. 



DI'DO, or ELIS'SA, founder and queen of 

 Carthage, was the daughter of a king of Tyre, 

 called variously Belus, Agenor and Mutgo. She 

 was the wife of Acerbas. Her brother Pyg- 

 malion, coveting her husband's possessions, 



AENEAS AT THE COURT OF DIDO 

 From the painting by Guerin. 



murdered him. Dido, concealing her wealth, 

 and accompanied by many devoted people of 

 Tyre, fled to Africa. She landed near Utica, a 

 colony of Tyre, where she was promised as 

 much land as might lie within the boundaries 

 of a bull's hide. Cutting a hide into many thin 

 strips, she pieced 'them together, and thus 

 secured an extensive territory. Here she built 

 Carthage. larbas, a neighboring prince, wished 

 to marry her, threatening war if she refused. 

 Hating and fearing him, she erected a funeral 

 pile, threw herself upon it and stabbed herself 

 in the presence of her subjects. Vergil gives 

 a different version of this episode, attributing 

 Dido's suicide to her love for and abandonment 

 by Aeneas, a Trojan hero (see AENEAS). Dido 

 was worshipped in Carthage as a goddess. 



DIE, a tool used for stamping metals and 

 leather. The design to be stamped is engraved 

 on the die, which is usually made of high- 

 quality steel. Coins are stamped on both sides 

 at once by using two dies. Some dies are 

 made for use by hand, but machinery is gen- 

 erally employed for stamping metals. 



