DEC 
of either of the parties, fur citicg witneffes or for the exhi- 
ition of writings, The arbiters have merely power to de- 
cide; but the execution of the decre = babag: to the judge. 
Decrees arbitral are not eal upon any ground, except 
corruption, bribery, or falfehoo 
E a ENT, or Dacarssayn in Heraldry, denotes” 
wa decreafe of a , When fhe is receding 
from ce full rears the n 
In this fkate the is called, in in bl zon, a moon: -cecreffant, or 
en decours; fince to callit a crefcent, would be improper 
as that te notes an i fe. oon Jooki 
nerea 
pe left fide ia the efcutcheon, is always fuppofed to be de- 
reffant : n fhe faces the right the is crefcent, or in her 
owth. 
Decr EMENT, equal, of life. See Comprement of life. 
DECREPITATION is the violent crackling and mo- 
tion excited by Titicdle heating any falt or other hard fub- 
ftance which contains a little water or other evaporable 
fluid, but much lefs thanis fufficient for liquefaGion. Com- 
mon falt affords a perfedt inftance of decrepitation ~~ 
thrown on a very hot fhovel, cr in the fire 
DECREPITUDE, in Medicine, the con fequences of rhe 
infirmities of old age: which by degrees leads to death. See 
EATH. : 
DECRETAL, a refcript, or letter of a pope, eiatiaed 
fome point or queition in the ecclefialtical law is folved, 
determined: or a dig geft of the canons . all the soins 
that pertained to o er one 
The decretals, Mera ae comico the fecond part 
of the Canon law 
All the eee che to the popes before Siricius, 
in 318, are evidently fuppotititious. 
nam 
. They were ae i * abled by Ri- 
culph, bifhop of Mentz, 1 in the ninth century. 
Po ope Gregory IX. in the thirteenth eatin, procured a 
or pontifical contti- 
leery in five books, by friar Raimond, 
es colleGtion 
tutions of his pr ed 
a Dominican, his cha 
suomi by the hol 
Th 
ory 
efe decretals, publifhed by Cau 1X, fays Mr. 
e, (Hift. Eng. vol. ti. p. 229.) are a colleGtion of for- 
geries favourable to the court of Rome, and confifting of 
the fuppofed decrees of pop e firft centuries, 
pa 
ft monftrous contradi€tions and abfurdities, has been 
obliged to abandon them to the critics. But in the dark 
period of we 13th century, Geer pafled for undifputed and 
authentic 3 and even, entangled in the mazes of this falfe 
literature, ee to the phil Behe, equally falfe, of the 
times, had nothing with which to defend themfelves, but 
e fm 
neces and impiety, end the indelible regard to felf-intereft, 
which, as it was the fole motive in the priefts for framing 
thefe impottures, ferved alfo, in fome degree, to protect the 
laity againf{ them. 
DECRETUM Gratians. See Canon Law 
DECTUNINES, in Hic Geography, a people of Italy, 
in Liguria. 
DECTUR APOUR, in Geography, one of the —— 
dive iflands;-in the India N. lat. 12° 8’, E. long. 72°. 
DEC 
all remains of common fenfe, which paffed for pro- . 
€a. 
UARIA, in Ancien Geography, a town of Albion, 
DEC 
according to the anonymous writer of Ravenna; fuppofed 
by Camden to be Beverley. 
DECUBITUS, in Medicine, the manner or pofture in 
which a fick perfon lies in bed. 
circumftance is of confiderable Sal aodeeud in the 
cbfervaton of the phylician, as it indicates very accurately 
the degree and extent of feveral agen ms, hy which his 
The 
judgment ‘of the event of the difeafe may be directe d. 
mot: natural and agreeable pofition of the bod 
when we lie on one fide, with the limbs drawn out of the. 
right line, or half-contra&ted, fo that both fets of mulcles, 
the flexors and extenfors, hall be in a ftate of relaxation. 
When we obferve a patient, therefore, lying in this pofition, 
efpecially if flecping, we may in ; 
iene, a natural aa 
ae 13 generally sen: Thus, when the 
omach are affe ith pain, the thighs are curmonly 
contracted inflinively towards the abdomcu, py which the 
mufcles of that part are relaxed, and preflure lefie 5.» on the 
bow = io ae us st when the lungs or liver are d:feafed, 
th can ie on one or the other fide ‘ 
many ‘iforders an ie former, a3 in peripneumony, bydro 
&c. he fits upright ; not becaufe his difcafe is ne 
a fu uperficial obferver might ae but becaufe 
he is iar with asa ion, if he attempt to aflume 
the horizontal pofture, in confequence of the change of po- 
fition of the fluids fated within the chet. Some degr 
of muicular power is requilite to pak the 
fo that in the lat ages of maligna 
difeafes ‘of extreme debility, the slr - the vit 
is indicated by the pofture of the ent; he ere is 
found on his back, with his limbs ere in confequence 
aac general relaxation of a:l the mufcles both of the trunk 
and limb 
DECUMA, in a Geograghy, a borough of Spains 
dependent on the community of Colonia Patricia, or Cor-: 
dova, and fituated near ae town of Sacilis (Alcorrucen),. 
and before the confluence of the rivers Beetis and Singulis. 
DECUME. Sce Decimam. 
DECUMANY, in Ancient Geography, ' a — of Gallia 
Narbonnenfis; fo called, as it is fuppofed, becaufe they 
were a colony drafted from-the roth ee on 
DECUMAN NI Denres, a term ufed by the Latin 
writers: on bera ee to exprefs that fort of see iN aris, 
which we call danfette or dancetté. See Dancrrre. 
tis a kind of indented line, but is very ine and hag 
very few teeth, commorily no more than three. It is fi 
pofed to have been in its origin no other than the letter 
ides ie two legs extended from one fide of the field to the 
o 
it) 
t 
DE CUMANUS. See Dre a 
DECUMARIA, in Botany, (on decuma oy decima, in - 
aariey to the eld ftruéture, not indeed very coaitant, 
the flower and fruit.) Linn. Gen. 238. Schreb. gio. 
ild, Sp. Pl.v.2, So. Jul. 324. (Forfythia, Walt. Carol, 
ate 
2. 
[oa 
$.).  Clafs and "Ore. Polyandria Monogynia. 
Ord. Myrii. Joi. 
Gen..Ch. Cal. Perianth urceolate, with eight, nine, or 
ten minute, ovate, acute, coloured teeth, at length reflexed. . 
cr 
erted into the rim of tne calyx in a fimple row, {preading. 
Siam. Filaments 16 to 24, inferted into the calyx, thread- 
fhaped, equal, as lone as the petals, Anthers roundih, of 
two cells, comprefie cd. Pi, Germen inferior, turbinate. 
te) Style 
