D E A 
*92 DEA 
toi_\ passage, from wax or other things; a 
ruptuie of the membrane of the tympanum ; 
or when it is corroded, or ulcerated, or the au- 
ditory nerve is obstructed or compressed. 
Externa! causes are, great falls; excessive 
no.se, such as the explosion of cannon ; Jike- 
v 1 , ac lue diseases or inflammations, which 
are lixely to terminate bv a critical haemorr- 
hage. 
'1 -hose born deaf are also dumb, as not be- 
ing able to learn any language, at least in the 
common way. As the eves, however, in some 
measure serve them for ears, they may un- 
derstand what is said by the motion of the 
bps, tongue, Ac. of the speaker ; and even 
accustom themselves to move their own as 
they see other people do, and by this means 
learn to speak. This fact was observed by 
bishop Burnet with respect to a young lady 
the daughter of a Mr. Goddy, minister of St! 
Gervais’ church in Geneva. At two years 
of age it was observed that she had lost her 
hearing; and was ever afterwards, though 
she had some perception of great noises, in- 
capable of hearing an articulate sound. Be- 
ing, however, of quick parts, she carefully 
observed the motions of the lips of tiiose who 
spoke to her ; and by an imitation of these 
sue enabled herself to articulate a number of 
words so as to hold a conversation with those 
• who were in habits of familiarity with her. 
Siie however was incapable of this in the 
dark, as she could not distinguish the mo- 
tions of their lips. But the most extraordi- 
nary of all is, that she had a sister with whom 
she was accustomed to sleep ; and by laving 
her hand on her sister's mouth, she was able 
to perceive what was spoken even in the 
dark. 
Like the blind, this unfortunate class of 
persons were long neglected ; they were con- 
sidered as idiots, and confirmed as such by 
this cruel inattention. The author of this 
article, however, knew a most beautiful and 
accomplished young lady in the north of 
England, who, by the force of an extraordi- 
nary genius, though labouring under this 
misfortune, taught herself to read and write, 
and various oilier branches of science, with 
no regular instruction. She wrote a fine 
hand, and her composition in her letters 
was easy and rather elegant though not per- 
fect or quite free from errors. She was an 
excellent arithmetician, and at the age of 
twenty actually kept her father’s books, wdio 
was a man in a considerable line of business. 
Dr. Wallis is said to have taught two young 
gentlemen who were deaf and dumb to un- 
derstand what was said to them, and te re- 
turn pertinent answers. A Swiss physician, at 
Amsterdam, ofthenameof Ammen, was equal- 
ly successful with several children ; and re- 
duced the art to a system, which was pub- 
lished at Amsterdam in 1692, under the title 
of Surdus Loquens. It was probably upon 
these hints that the celebrated Abbe de 
1’Epee instituted his school for the deaf and 
dumb. The plan has also been most suc- 
cessfully pursued in England by the late 
Mr. Braidwood, Mr. Telfair, and others; 
and a public charity has even been establish- 
ed in Southwark, for the benevolent purpose 
of instructing such of the children of the 
poor, as through this misfortune would other- 
wise have been lost to society. 
It is observed, that deaf persons, or ra- 
ther those who are hard of hearing, hear bet- 
ter and more easily if a loud noise be raised 
at the time when we speak (o them: 
which is owing, no doubt, to the great- 
er tension of the ear-drum on that oc- 
casion. Dr. Wallis mentions a deaf woman, 
who if a drum was beaten in the room could 
hear any thing very clearly ; so that her 
husband hired a drummer for a servant, 
that by this means he might hold conversa- 
tion w ith his wife. But with regard to this 
opinion there may be much deception ; the 
sense of feeling being so nearly allied to 
that of hearing as to convey certain vibra- 
tions which afford information to the mind, 
although the party be completely deaf. See 
Medicine, and Dumbness. 
DEAL, a .thin kind of Jir-planks, of great 
use in carpentry : they are formed- by saw- 
ing the trunk of a tree into a great many 
longitudinal divisions, of more or less thick- 
ness, according to the purposes they are in- 
tended to serve. Deals are rendered much 
harder, by throwing them into salt-water as 
soon as they are sawed, keeping them there 
three or lour days, and afterwards drying 
them in the air or sun; but neither this' nor 
any other method yet known will preserve 
them from shrinking. 
DEAN, an ecclesiastical officer, or 
dignitary: he is next under the bishop, and 
chiet ot the chapter, ordinarily in a cathedral 
church. There are four sorts of deans and 
deanries. The first is a dean who has a 
chapter consisting of prebendaries or ca- 
nons, subordinate to the bishop, as a coun- 
cil assistant Ip him in matters spiritual, re- 
lating to religion, and in matters temporal, 
relajtmg to the temporalities of his bishop- 
ric. Die second is a dean who has no chap- 
ter, and yet is presentative and has cure 
of souls : lie has a peculiar, and a court where- 
in he holds ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but 
is not subject to the visitation of the bishop 
or ordinary ; such is the dean of Battle in 
.Sussex. 1 he third dean is also ecclesiastical, 
but the deanry is not presentative, but do- 
native ; nor has he any cure of souls, but is 
only by covenant or condition ; and he has 
also a court and peculiar, in which he holds 
plea and jurisdiction, of all such matters and 
things as are ecclesiastical, and which arise 
within his peculiar, which often extends over 
many parishes ; such deans constituted by 
commission from the metropolitan of the 
province, are the dean of the Arches, and the 
dean of Booking in Essex. The fourth sort 
of dean, is he who is usually called the rural 
dean ; having no absolute judicial power in 
himself, but being to order the ecclesiastical 
affairs within his deanry and precinct, by 
the direction of the bishop or of the archdea- 
con ; he is a substitute of the bishop in 
many cases. 
DEATH of persons. There are a natural 
death of a man, and a civil death; natural 
where nature itself expires and extinguishes, 
and civil where a man is not actually/ dead 
but is adjudged so by law. If any person, 
for whose life any estate has been granted, 
remain beyond sea, or is otherwise absent, 
seven years, and no proof is made of his being 
alive, such person shall be accounted na- 
turally dead ; though if the party be after- 
wards proved living at the time of eviction 
of any person, then the tenant, Ac. may re- 
enter, and recover the profits. Slat. 19. C. 
II. c. 6. And persons in reversion or re- 
ft E A . 
mainder after the death of another, upoa 
affidavit that they have cause to believe such 
other dead, may move the lord chancellor 
to order the person to be produced; and if 
he be not produced, he shall be taken as 
quad, and those claiming may enter, Ac. g 
Anne, c. 18. 
t Death’s part, or dead-man’s part, is 
that portion of his personal estate, which re- 
mained after his wife and children had re- 
ceived thereout their respective reasonable 
parts; which was, if he had both, a wife and 
a child or children, one-third part ; if a wife 
and no child, or a child or' children and 
no wife, one-half; if neither wife nor fluid, 
he had the whole to dispose of by his last 
will and testament: and if lie made no will, 
the same was to go to his administrators! 
And within the city of London, and throufoi- 
out the province ot h ork, at this day 7 , in case 
of intestacy, the wife and children are en- 
titled to their said reasonable part, and the 
residue only is disputable, by the statute of 
distribution. 
Death-watch, in natural history, a - 
little insect famous for a ticking noise,' 'like 
the beat of a watch, which superstitious’ peo- 
ple take for a presage of death in the fa- 
mily where it is heard : whence it is also called 
pediculus fatidicus, mortisaga, pulsitorius, 
Ac. There are two kinds of death-watches! 
ftf the first we have a good account in the, 
Phil. Trans, by Mr. Allen. It is a small 
beetle, 5-l6ths of an inch long, of a dark- 
brown colour, spotted ; havingpeilucid wings 
under the vagina, a large cap or helmet on 
the head, and two antenna? proceeding from 
beneath the eyes, and doing the office of 
proboscides, dhe part it beats with, he 
observed, was the extreme edge of the face, 
which lie chooses to call the upper-lip ; die 
mouth being protracted by this bony part, 
and lying underneath, out of view. This ac- 
count is confirmed by Dr. Derham ; with 
this difference, that instead of ticking’ with 
the upper lip, he observed the insect to draw 
back its mouth, and beat with its forehead. 
That author had two death-watches, a male 
and a female, which he kept alive in a box 
several months ; and could bring one of 
them to beat whenever lie pleased, by imi- 
tating its beating. By this ticking noise, he 
could frequently invite the male to coition 
with the other. When the male found be- 
got up in vain, he would get off again, beat 
very eagerly, and then up again ; whence 
the ingenious author concludes those pulsa- 
tions to be the way whereby these insects 
woo one another, and find out and invite 
each other to copulation. 
The second kind of death-watdi is an in- 
sect in appearance quite different from the 
first. The former only beats seven or eight 
strokes at a time, and quicker: the latter 
wifi beat some hours together without inter- 
mission ; and his strokes are more leisurely, 
and like the beat of a watch. This latter is 
a small greyish insect, much like a louse 
when viewed with the naked eye. 
It is very common in all parts of the house 
in the summer months, it is very nimble 
in running to shelter, and shy ot beating 
when disturbed; but will beat very ireely 
before you, and also answer the beating, if 
you can view it without giving it disturb- 
ance, or shaking the place where it lies, Ac. 
The author cannot say whether they beat in 
