DIV 



BIV 



they possess in the capital or common 

 stock of the concern. 



The term is likewise generally applied 

 to the annual interest paid by govern- 

 ment on the various public debts, al- 

 though this is either a terminable or 

 Serpetual annuity, and in no respect a 

 ivision of profits. In this sense, the or- 

 der by which stockholders receive their 

 interest is called a dividend warrant, and 

 the portions of interest unreceived are 

 denominated unclaimed dividends. 



The amount of unclaimed dividends re- 

 maining in the hands of the bank of Eng- 

 land, previous to the year 1750, seldom 

 exceeded 50,000^. ; its increase since that 

 period will appear from the following ex- 

 tract from an account laid before the 

 Blouse of Commons. 



I. s. d. 

 On July 5, 1759 102,075 4 ll| 



1769 227,928 6 2$ 



1779 314,885 8 3$ 



1789 547,366 16 6| 



In 1791, an act was passed authorising 

 the bank to advance, out of the unclaimed 

 dividends in their hands, 500,000^. for the 

 public service ; with a provision, that if 

 the sum in their hands should be reduc- 

 ed under 600,000/. the difference should 

 be repaid them. In consequence of the 

 publication of the names of the proprie- 

 tors of the dividends then unclaimed, a 

 considerable part of them were received, 

 and the sum advanced to government 

 thus became only 376,739/. The amount 

 of unclaimed dividends has -accumulated 

 considerably, being 



On April 1, 18Q6 . 1,235,265/. 



July 1 ... 1,003,599 



October 1 . . 1,067,778 



January 1, 1807 1,019,336 



In consequence of this great increase, 

 the bank, in 1808, advanced the further 

 sum of 500,000/. for the public service, 

 on condition that the balance in their 

 hands, on this account, should never be 

 reduced below 100,000/. 



DIVIDEND, in the university, signifies 

 that part or share, which every one of 

 the fellows equally divide among them- 

 selves of their yearly stipend. 



DIVINATION, the knowledge of things 

 obscure, or future, which cannot be at- 

 tained by any natural means. 



DIVIXE, something relating to God. 



DIVING, the art of descending under 

 water to considerable depths, and abiding 

 there a competent time. The uses of 

 diving are considerable, particularly hi 



fishing for pearls, corals, spongtfs, wreck* 

 of ships, &c. See PBARL, &c. 



There have been various engines con- 

 trived to render the business of diving 

 safe and easy ; the great point is to fur- 

 nish the diver with fresh air, without 

 which he must either make but a short 

 stay, or perish. Those who dive fop 

 sponges in the Mediterranean, carry 

 down sponges dipt in oil in their mouths ; 

 but considering the small quantity of air 

 that can be contained in the pores of a 

 sponge, and how muchi that little will be 

 contracted by the pressure of the incum- 

 bent air, such a supply cannot subsist a 

 diver long, since a gallon of air is not tit 

 for respiration above a minute. 



DIVUVG bell. A diving bell is most con- 

 veniently made in form of a truncated 

 cone, the smaller end being closed, and 

 the larger opened. It is to be poised 

 with lead, and so suspended, that the ves- 

 sel may sink full of air, and with its open 

 base downwards, and as nearly as may be 

 in a situation parallel to the horizon, so 

 as to close w'th the surface of the water 

 all at once. The diver, sitting under this, 

 sinks down with the included air to the 

 depth desired ; and if the cavity of the 

 vessel can contain a tun of water, a single 

 man may remain a full hour without much, 

 inconvenience, at five or six fathoms 

 deep ; but the lower he goes the includ- 

 ed air contracts itself, according to the 

 weight of the water which compresses it, 

 so that at thirty-three feet deep the bell 

 becomes half full of water, the pressure 

 of the incumbent water being then equal 

 to that of the atmosphere : and at all other 

 depths, the space occupied by the com- 

 pressed air in the upper part of the bell 

 will be to the under part of its capacity 

 filled with water, as thirty-three feet to 

 the surface of the water in the bell below 

 the common surface, and this condensed 

 air being taken in with the breath, soon 

 accommodates itself to the existing cir- 

 . cumstances, so as to have no ill effect, 

 provided the bell is admitted to descend 

 slowly ; but the greatest inconvenience of 

 this engine is, that the water, entering it, 

 contracts the bulk of air into so small a 

 compass, that it soon heats, and becomes 

 unfit for respiration, so that there' is a 

 necessity for its being drawn up to re- 

 cruit it, besides the uncomfortable situa- 

 tion of the diver, who must be almost co- 

 vered with water. 



To obviate these difficulties of the 

 ing bell, Dr. Halley, to whom we owe tl 

 preceding account, contrived a farther 

 apparatus, whereby, not only to recruit 

 the air from time to time, but also to 



