DEC 
In Mr. Sauveur's fyltem, the decameris is the tenth part 
of the heptameris, which he makes the feventh part of the 
meris; and this is the forty-third a of the odtave 3 fo that 
the decameris is 75 of an o&ave. See Mem. Acad. 
Science. 17Ct.a nd 1707. 
DECAMERON, fon dena, ten, and nega, day 5 a work 
ontaining the a€tions or converfations of ten da Bocca- 
cio’s a meron confifls of one hundred noveis dated in 
tena 
elates to the 
ey were encamped, 
ECAMPMENT, in a Military Senfe, 
oval of troops from a place whe 
, for the mott part, iffued one, or more, 
days before the < army commences its march. At the hour 
eons for ftriking the tents the drums beat she general, 
which ts the fignal uaiverfally knowr for a remova! of quar 
ae fo much fo indeed, that whenever the general is beat 
through the camp, or town, the whole prepare for march- 
ing by firiking the tents, loading the baggage, harnefling 
the cattle, limbering the cannon, and all the various opera- 
tions attendant upon fuch a change of locality. © When the 
notice hzs been long given, it is ies to allow from half to 
a ao mou between beating the general, and beating the 
b 
ee ad that a very fhort interval of time would fuffice for 
thofe feveral matters which are inevitably delayed to the lait 
moment. But when the decampment is rather fudden, an 
it has not been praticable to call im various detach- 
ments, out-polts, &c. the time between the general and th 
e 
ajemblée 1s ufually extended, sas aps to two or three hours, 
nerally known, and that every 
thing may be completed for removal. 
eca eet arifing from emergency, fuch as the in- 
telligence of riots, &c. in neighbouring towns, or of an in 
tended furprife by a party of the enemy, are commonly an- 
nounced by beating fo arms, on which fignal, every one re- 
pairs to his poft, and the means of attack, of refiftance, or 
of retreat, panes the firft confideration. When this hap- 
ce of an expected aflault, and that it is 
Beak 
guard; or it is left, as 
ground,” i é. 
further orde: 
sia a6 made for fecret al dae a as a night 
a 
chnically termed, “ on the 
at the ae quitted by the troops,) to await 
pofe a greater force 
poft vacated, towards which he had bettowed a large por- 
tion of his force, thus thrown ont of the line of a€tion s are 
the approaching troops ; or to appear, when the decamp- 
ment is known to the enemy, as the rear, or baggage-guard, 
and thus to lead them into a purtuit 5 fo that evs may 
either fall into an ambufcade, or etached 
rom their main body, and eventually be cut - 
we are not to confider So ent as the mere aét of re- 
oval from one quarte r pofition, to another ; but 
as one of thofe ru/es aa ah often give a complete 
turn to the pofture of affairs, and have been known to change 
the campaign into a new direCtion, as well as to give it a 
DEC 
new afpe&t. This device was one of the mok fuccefsful, 
among the many exercifed, again our commanders, by the 
great Wathington : perhaps it would he difficult to quote any 
inftances in European warfare, that could bear a competition 
for (kill, and allurement, with thofe praStifed by that worthy 
and brave general. Nor have the French, during their late 
fucceffes among the fubdued ftates of Europe, been a lntle 
indebted to this deception; whether by bribery, by ignor- 
ance, or by want of prudence, our allies have on SS Cc. 
cafions fuffered partly by this zenis-fatuus fyitem ; and whea 
they thought it was impoffible for the object of ee 
attack to efcape, have found their rear fuddenly iene 
by the el troops they judged to be fome miles diitant 
their fro 
r readers will ‘euiean that decampment may be 
eencaly ee rather as an evolution, than as a me- 
sae operation ; and that, ches well conducted, it often 
affords the means of pees intended mifchief, and of fe- 
verely retaliating on the 
DECAMYRON, in oe "Med icinal Writings of ihe 
clerts , cf same of a maiz 
different kinds of aromatics: thefe 
a ee a adarce, frorax, pepper, oint- 
nt of nard, opobalfamu id wax. - 
“DEC CANDRIA, in nee the tenth clafs of ent 
with hermaphrodite flowers, and ten ftamina, or male par 
in each. 
The word is formed of the Greek d:xec, ten, and amp, ma ale, 
Of this clafs of plants there-are 
nogynia, — ane three genera ; - 
hending twelve genera; the ie diwan cleven ; Ge pentagyniay 
fourteen ; a the deca agynia, two g 
DECANTATION, is the ae a: pouring a liquor off 
ANUS, among the Romans, an officer who had ten 
other officers, or perfons, under his charge ; 3 whence our 
Englifh dean, See Dean. 
Decanus, in Afrology, a title given to the god who pre~ 
fided at any birth, adn e ASTROLOGY. 
PITE’, in Heraldry. See Derait. 
DECAPOLIS, in Ancient Geography, a country of Pa- 
leftine, he contained 10 principal able ae on this ny 
e on the other fide of Jordan, w Phin 
enumerates the following : Severs, Philadelphia, ie 
~~ oe la, Gera . Canatha, and 
m differently. They were 
= thovgh fome of them 
I, DEcEMPRIMI, among the Ancients, were 
officers who gathered the tributes, or Hee 
The word comes from ‘dzxa, ten, ros, fir 3 prob 
bly becaufe the.ten firft, or seer eolone of each com- 
municy, were chofen to make the levies, 
e decaproti were obliged to pay for the dead ; or, to 
aes to the emperor for the quota of fuch as died, out’of 
their own Sei Cicero, in his oration for Rofeins, calls 
them decemprim 
DECA SMUS Anaop@+, in Antiquity, the name of an 
o be eematihed hkewife. 
ib. 3 
) ERMOUM, in eas. See Psip 
DECASTADIUM, in Ancient Geo cogra pce a — n of 
Italy 1 in Brutium, at its fouthern extremity, S. of Rheginm, 
and on the fame coa 
DECASTYLE, ia n Architedure. A temple is faid to be 
decaltyle 
? 
* 
