DRA 



DRA 



son and heir apparent, after marriage, 

 endows his wife, by his father's assent, ad 

 ostium ecclesix, of a certain quantity of 

 them ; in which case, after the death of 

 the son, his wife may enter into such par- 

 cel without any other assignment, though 

 the father be living ; but this assent of 

 the father's must be by deed, because his 

 estate is to be charged tnfuturo, and this 

 may likewise be of more than a third 

 part* 



The dowers ad ostium ecclesia, or ex 

 assensu patris, if the wife enter and assent 

 to them, are a good bar of her in com- 

 mon law ; but she may, if she will, wave 

 them, and claim her dower at common 

 law, because, being made after marriage, 

 she is not bound by them. 



DOWN, the shortest, smoothest, soft- 

 est, and most delicate feathers of birds, 

 particularly geese, ducks, and swans ; 

 growing on their neck and part of the 

 stomach. Down is a commodity of most 

 countries ; but that in most repute for 

 fineness, lightness and warmth, comes 

 from Denmark, Sweden, and other north* 

 ern countries. There is a down called 

 ostrich down, otherwise ostrich's hair, 

 and sometimes wool : it is of two sorts ; 

 that called the fine is used by hatters in 

 the manufacture of common hats, while 

 the coarse is used for making lists for 

 white cloth. 



DOXOLOG Y, an hymn used in praise 

 of the Almighty, distinguished by the ti- 

 tle of greater and lesser. 



DRAB A, in botany, English whitlow 

 grass, a genus of the Tetradynamia Sili- 

 culosa class and order. Natural order 

 of Siliquosse, or Cruciformes. Cruciferae, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : silicle en- 

 tire, oval oblong ; valves flattish parallel 

 to the dissepiment ; sty4e none. There 

 are nine species, of which one is D. 

 aizoides, hairy-leaved Alpine whitlow 

 grass. It has a perennial root ; the stem 

 is three inches high ; petals entire, silicic 

 hairy, rough, ovate, sharp at both ends ; 

 ending in a long style. This is a pretty 

 plant, well adapted to rock work, having 

 a sweet smell. It is a native of the moun- 

 tains of France,' Switzerland, Savoy, Aus- 

 tria and Silicia. Draba verna, or D. his- 

 pi.dula of Michaux, is the earliest of the 

 spring flowers in the United States. 

 It flowers from the last of Feburary to 

 the autumn. 



DRACHM, a Grecian coin, of the value 

 of seven pence three farthings. This was 

 also the name of a kind of weight, con- 

 sisting of three scruples, and each scruple 

 oftwooboli. As to the proportion that 



the drachm of the Greeks bore with the 

 ounce of the Romans, Q. Remnius, in his 

 poem of weights and measures, makes 

 the drachm the eighth part of an ounce, 

 not much different from the crown of the 

 Arabians, which weighs something more 

 than the drachm. 



DRACHM is also a weight used at pre- 

 sent by physicians, containing sixty grains, 

 or the eighth part of an ounce. 



DRACO, the dragon, in natural history, 

 a genus of Amphibia, of the order Rep- 

 tiles. Generic character: body four-foot- 

 ed, and tailed, and supplied on each side 

 with an expansile membrane, strengthen- 

 ed by radii or bony processes. Of these 

 animals there is only one species, D. vo- 

 lans, or the flying dragon. This is about 

 four inches in length, exclusively of the 

 tail, which is generally six or seven. Its 

 colour is a beautiful pale blue; It abounds 

 in various parts of Africa and Asia, and 

 resembles the genus of lizards (to which 

 it has by some naturalists been attached,) 

 in ranging along the boughs, feeding on - 

 the insects, which are, in those situations, 

 amply supplied for its subsistence. It is 

 perfectly gentle and inoffensive. It is dis- 

 tinguished from lizards by being accom- 

 modated with large, expansile, cutaneous 

 processes, supported by ribs, which reach 

 to the extremity of this membrane, and 

 by which the animal' contracts or extends 

 it. This representation of the flying dra- 

 gon is totally different from what must be 

 expected by those who are unacquainted 

 with natural history, and whose ideas of 

 the dragon are formed on the monstrous 

 creations of poetry and romance. Though 

 little adapted to excite terror, however, 

 the flying dragon is well calculated to 

 gratify curiosity. See Amphibia, Plate I. 

 fig.l. 



DRACO, a constellation of the northern 

 hemisphere. See ASTRONOMY. 



DRACOCEPHALUM, in botany, a ge- 

 nus of the Didynamia Gymnospermia 

 class and order. Natural order of Verti- 

 cillatae. Scrophulariae, Jussieu. Essen- 

 tial character: corolla throat inflated, up- 

 per lip concave. There are fifteen species. 

 These are mostly herbaceous. The stalks 

 are square, the leaves opposite in pairs. 

 The flowers are either in whorls, forming 

 altogether a spike at the end of the stalk, 

 or axillary on one-flowered or many-flow- 

 ered peduncles; they are supported by 

 bractes, which are generally broad, and 

 sometimes ciiiate. 



DRAC-ENA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Hexandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Sarmentaceae. Aspara- 



