DOYLE 



1849 



DRAFT 



Doyle was born in Edinburgh and studied 

 medicine in the university of that city and in 

 Stonyhurst College (England). He practiced 

 as a doctor at Southsea between 1882 and 1890, 

 making an at- 

 tempt at story- 

 writing in the 

 meantime, and 

 winning success 

 in 1887 with A 

 Study in Scarlet. 7/t 

 This was followed 

 by its companion 

 volumes and by 

 several historical 

 novels, including 

 Micah Clarke, 

 The White Com- 

 pany, The Ad- 

 ventures o f 

 Gerard and Sir Nigel; the last is considered 

 by many critics to be -his best work ' in his- 

 torical fiction. Round the Red Lamp, The 

 Stark Munro Letters and The Green Flag and 

 Other Stories are volumes of short stories; he 

 has also written a book of poems called Songs 

 of Action and a play entitled Halves. Among 

 his latest stories are The Poison Belt and The 

 Case of Oscar Slater. 



Doyle gave his services to England during 

 the Boer War, acting as senior physician of a 

 field hospital, and on his return home published 

 The Great Boer War, a military history of the 

 struggle. Later he vigorously upheld the Brit- 

 ish policy in South Africa in The Cause and 

 Conduct of the War, a book widely read, and 

 translated into twelve languages. In 1902 the 



A. CONAN DOYLE 



British government knighted him in recognition 

 of his distinguished services to his country. 



DRACHMA, drak'ma, the name of a silver 

 coin which is the monetary unit of Greece. It 

 is of the same value as the French franc and 

 is worth 19.3 cents in United States and Cana- 

 dian money. A drachma is divided into 100 

 lepta, each worth .193 cent (nearly two mills). 

 Among the ancient Greeks the drachma was 

 also the unit of weight. It varied considerably 

 in different localities and has only recently 

 become standardized. The modern drachma 

 in weight is equal to the metric gram, or 15.433 

 grains. See COINS, FOREIGN. 



DRACO, dra'ko, an Athenian statesman and 

 legislator who in 621 B.C. drew up a code of 

 the common law of Athens. These written 

 laws in no way altered the laws already estab- 

 lished, but when written they appeared so 

 harsh that they were said to have been written 

 in blood. The only penalty named was death, 

 no matter what the offense. Solon later altered 

 many of these laws, but retained the death 

 penalty for murder. It is said that Draco met 

 his death at Aegina, being accidentally smoth- 

 ered in a theater beneath the great number of 

 garments and caps thrown on him by the over- 

 enthusiastic people. 



DRAFT, the name popularly given to any 

 bill of exchange (which see), and more partic- 

 ularly to a bill of exchange drawn by one bank 

 on another in favor of a third party. With 

 the exception of the check, the draft is the 

 form of negotiable paper most commonly in 

 use in ordinary business transactions. Its use 

 is easily illustrated by an example. Mr. A in 

 New York owes $500 to Mr. B in Toronto. 



^^/^^ 



ONE FORM OF DRAFT 



In case The Spurlock Company did not owe William Brownell. yet wished to draw on Smith for 

 $400, In place of Brownell's name as payee there could be written the name of the bank witt 

 which the drawer does business. The bank then would send the draft to a Montreal bank f 

 presentation and payment. 



