T)E U 



273 



DEX 



( fine arts, the parts of a work as distin- 



guished from the whole mass. 



DETEN'TS. In clockwork, from dftentus, 

 those stops which, by being lifted up or 

 let down, lock or unlock the clock, in 

 striking. 



DETE'NTE. In law, a writ or action that 

 lies against a person who has had goods, 



- &C., delivered to him to keep, and after- 

 wards detains or refuses to give them up. 



DETERMINATE, Lat. determinatus, li- 

 mited, fixed in value, as a determinate 

 quantity, in algebra. In botany, determi- 

 nati ramosus, abruptly branched, as when 

 each branch, after terminating in flowers, 

 produces a number of fresh shoots in a 

 circular order from just below the origin 

 of these flowers. In mathematics, a deter- 

 minate problem is one which has a limited 

 number of answers. 



DETERMINING LINE. In conic sections, 

 a line parallel to the plane of the base of 

 the cone. In the hyperbola it falls within 

 the base of the cone ; it forms a tangent 

 to the base in parabolic sections ; it falls 

 without in the ellipsis. 



DETONATING POWDER, fulminating mer- 

 cury, and silver, and other compounds, 

 which suddenly explode when struck or 

 heated. 



DETONATING TUBE, a stout glass tube 

 for the detonation of gaseous bodies. 



DETRAC'TOR, Lat. from de<rrt7io,todraw 

 a muscle, the office of which is to draw 

 the part to which it is attached from some 

 other part. 



DETRI'TUS (Lat.), the worn off or broken 

 fragments and matters formed by the dis- 

 integration of mountains, &c. 



Beneath the whole series of stratified 

 rocks that appear on the surface of the 

 globe, says Auckland, there probably 

 exists a foundation of unstratifled crys- 

 talline rocks, bearing an irregular sur- 

 face, from the detritus of which the 

 materials of stratified rocks have in a 

 great measure been derived. 

 DErTERo'NOMY, from $iurt$of, second, 

 and vo/nof, law; the second book of the 

 law, the name given in the Scriptures to 

 the fifth book of Moses ; equivalent to the 

 Mischna of the Hebrews. 



DEC'TERO-CANON'ICAL. In theology, a 

 term applied to certain books of Scrip- 

 ture which were added to the canon after 

 the rest were compiled : dcutero, abbr. of 

 S-yj, second. 



DEUTEROP'ATHT, Lat. deuteropathia 

 (fc'jttees , second, and <ra6o;, suffering) ; 

 a sympathetic affection where a second 

 part suffers from consent with the part 

 originally affected. 



DEFTOX'IDE, from diVTtgos, second, and 

 oxide (q. v.) ; literally, the second oxide, 

 but usually employed to denote a com- 

 pound containing two atoms or two prime 



equivalents of oxygen to one or more of a 

 metal. See OXIDE. 



DEVELOPMENT, Fr. dfveloppement, an 

 unfolding ; a term frequently employed by 

 algebraists to denote the transformation 

 of any fraction or other quantity into the 

 form of a series. The development of a 

 spheric surface on a plane is a method of 

 drawing a portion of a sphere nearly 

 spherical, by supposing it circumscribed 

 by a polyhedron, the side of which is ex- 

 tended upon a plane. 



DEVIA'TION. In commercial navigation, 

 from de and eta, the way ; the voluntary de- 

 parture of a ship, without necessity, from 

 the voyage insured for. This discharges 

 underwriters from their responsibility. 



DEVI'CE, Fr. devise ; a term used in 

 heraldry and painting for any emblem 

 contrived to represent a certain family, 

 person, action, or quality, with a suitable 

 motto applied figuratively. 



DEVIL'S-DUNG, a vulgar name for assa- 

 fcetida. 



DEVIS'E. In law, the act whereby a 

 person bequeaths his estate to another: 

 the act of dividing real estate. The per- 

 son who thus bequeaths is called the de- 

 visor, and the person in whose favour the 

 bequeathment is made is called the devisee. 



DEW, Sax. deaw. The vapour condensed 

 upon the surface of the earth during the 

 night in consequence of the radiation of 

 caloric into a clear expanse of sky, which 

 makes no return, so that the temperature 

 of these bodies sinks below that of the 

 air, from which they abstract a portion 

 of that caloric which holds the atmosphe- 

 rical humidity in solution, and cause a 

 part of it to be deposited. 



DEW AN'. In India, the head officer of 

 finance and revenue : always a Hindoo. 



DEWAN'N Y ADAW'LET. In India, a court 

 (adawlet) for trying revenue and other 

 civil causes, in distinction from the Atza- 

 mut adawlet (q. v.) See DEW AN. 



DEW-POINT. The temperature at which 

 dew begins to be deposited, varying with 

 the humidity of the atmosphere. 



DEX'TRAL. In conchology, all spiral 

 shells are divided into dextral and sinis- 

 tral : when the turn of the shell is on th e 

 right hand side (dexter) , the mouth being 

 downwards, it is termed dextral, when on 

 the left (sinister), it is sinistral or reversed. 

 The great majority of spiral shells are 

 dextral, but individuals of the very same 

 species are found reversed or sinistral. 



DEX'TRINE, from dexter, the right hand ; 

 a matter of a gun.my appearance, into 

 which the interior substance of the mole- 

 cules of starch is converted by diastase 

 or acids. Thus named, from the circum- 

 stance that it turns the plane of polariza- 

 tion to the right, hand more than a 

 j other body. It is white, insipid, tt 

 parent in their plates, aud without 



