DEB 



DEB 



long taken for a presage of death in the 

 family where it is heard ; an error that 

 cannot be too often confuted by facts. 

 There are two kinds of death watches. 

 Of the first we have a goo account in the 

 Phil. Trans, of London. It is a small 

 beetle, half an inch long, of a dark brown 

 colour, spotted; having pellucid wings 

 under the vagina, a large cap or helmet 

 on the head, and two antennae pro -ceding 

 from beneath ihe eyes, and doing the of- 

 fice of proboscides. The part it beats 

 'with, the writer observes, was the extreme 

 edge of the face, which he calls the up- 

 per-lip, the mouth being protracted by 

 this bony part, and lying underneath out 

 of view. This account is confirmed by 

 Dr. Derham, with the difference that, in- 

 stead of ticking with the upper-lip, he 

 observed the insect to draw back its 

 mouth and beat with its forehead. That 

 author had two death watches, a male 

 and a female, which he kept alive in a box 

 several months, and could bring one of 

 them to beat whenever he pleased, by 

 imitating its beating. From some cir- 

 cumstances, the ingenious author con- 

 cludes those pulsations to be the way 

 whereby these insects woo one another. 

 See PTISTTTS. 



The second kind of death-watch is an 

 insect, in appearance quite different from 

 the first. The former only beats seven or 

 eight strokes at a time, and quicker ; the 

 latter will beat some hours together 

 without intermission ; and his strokes are 

 more leisurely, and like the beat of a 

 watch. This latter is a small greyish in- 

 sect, much like a louse when viewed with 

 the naked eye. It is very common in all 

 parts of the house in the summer months: 

 it is very nimble in running to shelter, 

 and shy of beating when disturbed, but 

 will beat very freely before you, and also 

 answer the beating, if you can view it 

 without giving it disturbance, or shaking 

 the place where it is, &c. See TERMES. 



DEBENTURE, a term of trade, used 

 at the custom-house for a kind of certifi- 

 cate signed by the officers of the customs, 

 which entitles a merchant exporting goods 

 to the receipt of a bounty or drawback. 

 All merchandises that are designed to be 

 taken on board for that voyage being en- 

 tered and shipped, and the ship being 

 regularly cleared out, and sailed out of 

 port on her intended voyage, debentures 

 may be made out from the exporter's en- 

 tries, in order to obtain the drawbacks, 

 allowances, bounties, or premiums; which 

 debentures for foreign goods are to be 

 paid within one month after demand. 



And in making out these debentures, it 

 must be observed, that every piece of 

 vellum, parchment, or paper, containing 

 any debenture for drawing back customs 

 or duties, must, before writing, be stamp- 

 ed, and pay a duty, 



DEBENTURE, in military affairs, is a 

 kind of warrant given in the office of the 

 board of ordnance, whereby the person 

 whose name is thereby specified is en- 

 titled to receive such a sum of money as 

 by former contract had been agreed on. 

 Debenture, in some acts of parliament, 

 denotes a kind of bond or bill, by which 

 the government is charged to pay the 

 soldier, creditor, or his assigns, the mo- 

 ney due on auditing the account of his 

 arrears. The payments of the board of 

 ordnance for the larger services at home 

 are always made by debentures ; and the 

 usual practice has been, to make those 

 payments, which are said to be in course 

 of office, at a period which is always 

 something more than three months after 

 the date of each debenture. 



DEBET, among merchants, signifies 

 the sums due to them for goods sold on 

 credit, for which they have charged their 

 journal or ledger. It is more particu- 

 larly understood of the remainder of 

 debts, part of which has been paid on ac- 

 count 



DEBET, among book-keepers, is used 

 to express the left hand page of the 

 ledger, to which are carried all articles 

 supplied or paid, on the subject of an ac- 

 count. 



DEBT, a sum due from one person to 

 another, in consequence of work done, 

 goods delivered, or money lent, for which 

 reimbursement has not been made. The 

 non-payment, in these cases, is an injury, 

 for which the proper remedy is by action 

 of debt, to compel the performance of 

 the contract, and recover the special sum 

 due. * 



DEBT, national, the engagement en- 

 tered into by a government, to repay at a 

 future period money advanced by indivi- 

 duals for the public service, or to pay the 

 lenders an equivalent annuity. National 

 debts have arisen from the necessity of 

 obtaining larger sums of money than 

 could be raised, at the time they were 

 wanted, by direct contributions ; and of- 

 ten, when it would not have been abso- 

 lutely impossible to raise the requisite 

 sum, if a heavy tax had been imposed, 

 and strictly levied, it has been deemed 

 more prudent to avoid the evils atten- 

 dant on such a measure by the less ob- 

 noxious expedient of a loan. In most 



