DIB 



DIG 



DIAPERED, or DIAPHE, in heraldry, 

 the dividing of a field in planes, like fret- 

 | work, and filling the same with variety of 

 i figures. This chiefly obtains on bordures 

 ' which are diapered or fretted over, and 

 the fret charged with things proper for 

 bordnres. Baron renders it variatus, 

 which is not sufficient to express the se- 

 veral things of which it is variated. 



DIAPHANOUS, an appellation given 

 to all transparent bodies, or such as trans- 

 mit the rays of light. 



DIAPHORETICS, among physicians, 

 all medicines which promote perspira- 

 tion. 



DIAPHRAGM, in anatomy, a large, 

 robust, musculous membrane or skin, 

 placed transversely in the trunk, and di- 

 viding the thorax from the abdomen. See 



AXATOMT. 



DIARRHOEA, in medicine, is a fre- 

 quent and copious evacuation of li- 

 quid excrement by stool. See MEDI- 

 CINE. 



DIASTOLE, among physicians, sig- 

 nifies the dilatation of the heart, auri- 

 cles, and arteries ; and stands opposed 

 to the systole, or contraction of the same 

 parts. 



DIASTOLE, in grammar, a figure of 

 prosody, whereby a syllable naturally 

 short is made long: such is the first syl- 

 lable of Priamides in the following verse 

 of Virgil. 



Jltque Me Priamides : nihil o tibi, amice, 

 relictum. 



This figure is used either out of mere 

 poetic license, without any necessity for 

 so doing, or through necessity, for the 

 sake of the verse ; as when three or more 

 short syllables follow each other in hex- 

 ameter verse. 



DIATESSARON, among ancient mu- 

 sicians, a concord or harmonical inter- 

 val, composed of a greater tone, a less 

 tone, and one greater semi-tone : its pro- 

 portion in numbers is as 4 : 3. The word 

 diatessaron has been of late,, used by se- 

 veral authors for a harmony of the four 

 gospels. 



DIBBLING, in agriculture, a mode of 

 setting corn, or other seeds, practised 

 with advantage in places where labour is 

 cheap ; it is chiefly used for putting wheat 

 crops into the ground. The practice of 

 dibbling was first introduced into Nor- 

 folk, about 25 years ago. The method 

 of dibbling is this : when the land is 

 ploughed and rolled, a man with an iron 

 dibble of about three feet long in each 



VOL. IV. 



hand, walking backwards, makes two 

 rows of holesin each furrow, at about four 

 inches distance from each other, and an 

 inch or two deep. The dibbler is fol- 

 lowed by two or three women, or chil- 

 dren, who drop two or three grains into 

 each hole. The field is afterwards bush- 

 harrowed. The usual quantity of seed is 

 from a bushel and a half to two bushels 

 per acre, and the expense of labour about 

 ten shillings. An experienced dibbler, 

 with three active attendants, will plant 

 half an acre a day, making six holes in 

 every foot length. 



DICE, among gamesters, certain cu- 

 bical pieces of bone or ivory, marked 

 with dots on each of their faces, from 

 one to six, according to the number of 

 faces. 



Sharpers have several ways of falsify- 

 ing dice : 1. By sticking a hog's bristle in 

 them so as to make them run high or low 

 as they please. 2. By drilling and load- 

 ing them with quicksilver ; which cheat 

 is found out by holding them gently by 

 two diagonal corners ; for, if false, the 

 heavy sides will turn always down. 3. 

 By filing and rounding them. But all 

 these ways fall far short of the art of the 

 dice makers ; some of whom are so 

 dextrous this way, that sharping game- 

 sters will give any money for their assis- 

 tance. 



DICERA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Polyandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Essential character : petals four or five, 

 ob ovate, trifid ; nectary four or fire 

 emarginate corpuscles ; anthers two 

 horned. There are two species ; D. den- 

 tata, is an elegant tree, bearing at the ex- 

 tremities of the branches abundance of 

 leaves, which are alternate, oval, blunt- 

 ish, smooth, petioled, with a double 

 gland at their base; flowers on very mi- 

 nute pedicles, nodding ; stamens sixteen 

 when there are four, and twenty when 

 there are five petals ; pistil single ; fruit 

 an oval berry, with a hard stone in it. It 

 is preserved in its unripe state in the 

 manner of olives. It is a native of New 

 Zealand. D. serrata, agrees in the struc- 

 ture of the flower with the preceding, 

 but differs in the fruit. This is also a na- 

 tive of New Zealand. 



DICHONDRA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Pentandria Digynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Asperifoliae. Borragi- 

 nex, Jussieu. Essential character : ca- 

 lyx five-leaved ; corolla rotate, inferior : 

 capsule dicoccous. There is but one 

 species, viz. D. repens, a native of Peru, 

 Jamaica, and New Zealand. 



DICKSONIA, in botany, so called in 



Z 



