DEG 
eeu of Longitede. See the preceding article and 
Loneirups. 
eouee, in Civil and Canon Law, denotes an interval 
in cognation of kinfhip, whereby proximity and remotenefs 
of blood are compute 
Degrees are the intervals whereby it ts pe what per- 
fons are neareft to the ftock or root. they are the 
diftances of one perfon (on another in the tae of confan- 
guinity or affinity, reckoned from fome common parent or 
anceftor. e CONSANGUINITY. 
ie fay, the fecond eS the third degree ; Gregory 
e Great was the 
o prohibited marriage to the 
at degree; which reftriStion was long obferved: the 
fecond council of Lateran, under Innocent IIf. refrained 
the prohibition to the fourth degree inclufive, that is, to 
coufin Germans’ children. See Mart 1AGE. 
In computing degrees of confanguinity, the rule of t 
civil law is univerfal, either in the dire& or collateral, oes 
wile called the oblique line: ‘ Quot funt gencrationes tot 
funt gradus.”” Every generation in the direé& line conftitutes 
ad fferent degree, reckoning either upwards or downwards ; 
and this method of computation univerfally obtains, as well 
in the civil and canon, as common law. utint 
canon Jaw, the rule is different for the oblique line, aa here 
a ‘Aikingion is made between the equal and unequal oblique 
o 
ao 
7 the ie an ae sb is,  Quot gradibus perfone 
a i ftipiti, tot gradibus inter fe 
a . eee cafe, the rule is, ‘* Quot gradibus 
perfona remotior diftat a communi ftipite tot radibus per: 
fone diftant inter fe.” 
rother are 
one; Titius and his nephew are re- 
lated in the fecond degree; for the nephew is two degrees 
remove m the common anceftor; viz own grand- 
father, the father of Titius. This mputation 1s 
nding 
mon laws on the cher ; fee Sas eaur. 
DEGREES of Comp arifon, in Cima. are ani reckoned 
three, viz. p ae alia and Supe rlative 3 which fee 
re{fpedtively. The in us Mr. Harris, (Hermes, p. 197.) 
in traciog the rife of comoar lon: and its different Boe 
obferves, that they cannot be more than tWo 3; one to denote 
fimple excefs, and one to denote fuperlative. If we were 
to introduce more degrees than thefe, we ought, he fays, 
perhaps, to introduce infinite, which is abfurd. For why 
ftop at a limited number, when in all {ubjects, fufceptible of 
intenfion, the Hegraae excefles a ina manner infinite ? 
There are infinite degrees of more white, between the firft 
fimple white, and the eaelange, ont. ; the fame may 
be faid of more great, more flrong, more minute, He 
adds, the doGrine of grammarians about three fuch degrees, 
hich they call the Boas the comparative, and the fuper- 
Jative, muft needs be abfurd ; both becaufe in their pofitive 
there is no comparifon at all, and becaufe their fuperlative 
bets 
A 
& 
moft fublime ot all eae a ae 
eliaag as aoc the fimp!e as the fapeatie, feem {ome 
and the fem 
REES. 
times to part with their relative nature, and only retain their 
intenfive. Thus, in the degree denoting fimple excefs, 
“ Triflior, et lacrymis oculos fuffufa nitentes.”’ 
irg. 
In the fuperlative degree this is more ufual, “ Vir ree 
mus ;”? Vir fortiffimus,””? a moft learned man, a molt b 
mau; that isto fay, not the brave and mof lea eer an 
that ever exifted, but a man poflefling. thofe putes in an 
tbs are c b 
to adjcétives, or, at lealt, to particip'es, fharing the nature 
of adjetives. s fome attributives admit of compzrifon, 
there are others which admit of sone. Such, for example, are 
thofe which denote that quality Nees that arifes from their 
figure, as when we fay, a circular table, a quadrangular court, 
&c. the reafon of which 1s, that a ssilion 9 es parttici- 
pating the fame figure, participate i i 
ve holds true in ‘ll abe 
-reafon of this is, that there canbe no comparifon 
without aes and 
and r on in things always a 
o fubftantive is fulceptible 
"A mountain cannot be faid 
a be fought for i in their quantities. 
. This term bas long been fuper- 
feded by that of interval. ‘The {mall intervals, Gegrevs, or 
intermediate fteps from a given note to its 4th above, are 
three in number, the tone major, tone _minor, and major 
femi-tone; as g, d, e, 
Degrees or intervals lefs than concords are neceffary in 
melody, as by thefe the concords are graduated, and mele 
diftance afcertained. Des Cartes, who has been copied by ot 
mufical lexicographer Graffineau, has rendered sacehness of 
the term degree perplexing, and ob{cure to ftudents, by ufing, 
mathematically, his letters of reference, fuppofing A an 
the diflance . a major 3d; whereas, in mutical language, 
from A to Then he talks of another 
ound C bet which renders the paflage 
wholly unintcligibe The ce pias ro pager rtes 
is and accurate, ‘I ars,’ at author 
*¢ that degrees (in vpraGiical ee are the ial iar of 
which the concords or harmonical intetvale ofed.’* 
See InrErva Concorp. Mufi a ines are 
three: the pace or greater tone, the lefs or minor tone, 
itone.”* 
ue sol = of the invention of {mall degrees or 
by w is 
vided, 
that there auld be too great a difproportion or inequality 
in their peace which would weary both the finger and 
2 hearer. 
Suppofing A and C the diftance of a third, if the 
voice were to proceed immediately, afcending from A to C, 
then as C is the acuter found it ftrikes the ear with more 
t move up- 
wards or downwards more eafily, and with le{s exertion of 
oice 
ss Flence 
