DEN 
501 
D E M 
greater numbers oil the North Cape in Nor- 
way, whence they are called the north-ca- 
pers. These and all other whales are observ- 
ed to swim against the wind ; and to be much 
disturbed, and tumble about with unusual 
violence, at the approach of a storm. 
4. The leucas, a species called by the 
Germans and Russians “ white lish.’ The 
body is oblong, and rather slender, tapering 
from the back (which is a little elevated) to 
the tail. It is qu te destitute of the dorsal 
fin. Its length is from 12 to 18 feet. It 
makes great use of its tail in swimming; for 
it bends that part under it, as a lobster does 
its tail, and works it with such force as to 
dart along with the rapidity of an arrow. It 
is common in all the Arciic seas, and forms 
an article of commerce, being taken on ac- 
count of its blubber. They are numerous in 
the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and go with the 
tide as high as Quebec. There are fisheries 
for them and the common porpesse in that 
river. A considerable quantity of oil is ex- 
tracted, and of their skin is made a sort ot 
morocco leather, thin, yet strong enough to 
resist a musket-ball. They are frequent in 
the Dwina and the Oby, go in small families 
from five to ten, and advance pretty tar up 
the rivers in pursuit of fish. 1 hey are usually 
caught in nets, but are sometimes harpooned. 
They bring only one young at a time, which 
is dusky; but they grow white as they ad- 
vance in age, the change first c mmencing 
on the belly. They are apt to follow boats, 
as if they were tamed, and appear extremely 
beautiful by their resplendent whiteness. 
Delphinus, in astronomy, a constellation 
of the northern hemisphere, whose stars in 
Ptolemy’s and Tycho’s catalogues are ten, 
and in Mr. Flamsteed’s eighteen. 
DEMAIN, or demesne, signifies the king’s 
lands appertaining to him in property. No 
common person has any domains simply un- 
derstood, for we have no land (that ot the 
crown only excepted) which is not holden ot 
a superior, as all depends either mediately, 
or immediately, on the crown: thus, when a 
man in pleading would signify his land to be 
his own, he says that he is or was seized 
thereof in his deinain as of fee ; whereby he 
means, that although his land is to him and 
his heirs for ever, yet it is not true demain, 
but depending upon a superior lord, and 
holden by service, or rent in lieu ot service, 
or by both service and rent. 
DEMAND, calling upon a man for any 
sum or sums of money, or any other thing 
due. By the several statutes of limitation, 
debts, claims, &c. are to be demanded and 
made in time, or they will be lost in law. 
There are two manners of demands, the one 
hi deed, the other in law: in deed, as in every 
precipe there is an express demand ; in law, 
as in every entry in land, distress tor rent, 
taking or seizing of goods, and such like acts, 
which may be done without any words, aie 
demands in law. Where there is a duty 
which the law makes payable on demand, 
no demand need be made ; but if there is no 
duty till demand, in such case there must be 
a demand to make the duty. 1 Lit. 432. 
Upon a penalty the party need not make a 
demand; as if a man be found to pay 20/. on 
such a day, and in default thereof to pay 40/. 
the 40/. must be paid without demand. If a 
person release to another all demands, this is 
the best release the releasee can have, as he 
D E M 
is thereby excluded from all actions, duties, 
and seizures. 
DEM 1-cadence, in music, a term used 
in church-music. W hen the last or final sound 
of a verse in a chant is on the key-note, it is 
called a full or complete cadence ; but il it 
fall on any other than the key-note, as the 
fifth or third, it takes the name of an imper- 
fect or demt-cadence. 
Demi-culverin, a piece of ordnance 
usually 4-| inches bore, 2700 pound weight, 10 
feet long, and carrying point-blank 175 
paces. 
Demi-culverin of the least size, is 4-+ 
inches bore, 10 feet long, and 2000 pounds 
weight. It carries a ball of four inches dia- 
meter, and of nine pounds weight, and its 
level range is 174 paces. 
Demi-culverin of the largest sort, is 4f 
inches bore, 10-j feet long, and weighs 
3000 pounds. It carries a ball 4 \ inches 
diameter, weighing 12 pounds 11 ounces, 
point-blank 178 paces. 
Demi-ditone, a minor third. 
Demi-gorge, in fortification, is that part 
of the polygon which remains after the flank 
is raised, "and goes from the curtin to the 
angle of the polygon. It is halt of the vacant 
space or entrance into a bastion. 
Demi-lune, half-moon, in fortification, 
an outwork consisting of two faces and two 
little flanks, frequently built before the angle 
of a bastion, and sometimes also before the 
curtin, though now much disused. 
Demi-tone, an interval of half a tone. 
See Semitone. 
DEMISEMIQUAVER, a note of the 
ninth degree of length, reckoning from the 
large, oi r of the sixth degree of length, rec- 
koning from the semibreve, or longest note 
now in common use, of which it is a thirty- 
second part. 
DEMISE, is applied to an estate m fee 
simple, fee tail, or tor term oi life, and so it is 
commonly taken in many w rits, 2 Inst. 483. 
The king’s death is in law termed the demise 
of the king to his successor. 
DEMONSTRATION, in logic, a series 
of syllogisms, all the premises ot which are 
either definitions, self-evident truths, or pro- 
positions already established. 
DEMURRAGE, is an allowance made to 
the master of a ship by the merchants, for 
being detained in port longer than the time 
appointed and agreed for his departure. The 
rate of this allowance is generally settled in 
the charterparty. It is now firmly esta- 
blished, that the claim of demurrage ceases 
as soon as the ship is cleared out, and ready 
for sailing. Jameson v. Lawrie, house of 
lords, Nov. 10, 1796. 
DEMURRER, is a kind of pause or stop, 
put to the proceedings of an action upon a 
point of difficulty, which must be determined 
by the court before any farther proceedings 
can be had therein. He that demurs in law 
confesses the facts to be true, as stated by the 
opposite party ; but denies that by the law 
arising upon those facts, any injury is done 
to the plaintiff, or that the defendant has 
made out a lawful excuse. As if the matter 
of the plaintiff’s declaration be insufficient in 
law, then the defendant demurs to the decla- 
ration: if, on the other hand, the defendant’s 
excuse or plea be invalid, the plaintiff de- 
murs in Jaw to the plea; and so on hi every 
other part of the proceedings, w here either 
side perceives anv material objection in point 
of law, upon which he may rest his case. 3 
Black. 314. General demurrer being en- 
tered, it cannot be afterwards waved, without 
leave of the court; but a special demurrer 
generally may, unless the plaintiff has lost a 
term, or the assizes, by the defendant s de- 
murring. Impey, i. K. B. And upon either 
a general or special demurrer, the opposite 
party avers it to be sufficient, which is called 
a rejoinder in demurrer, and then the parties 
are at issue in point of law; which issue in 
law, or demurrer, is argued by counsel on 
both sides; and if the points are difficult, 
then it is argued openly by the judges of the 
court, and ft' they, or the majority of them, 
concur in opinion, accordingly judgment is 
given ; but in case of great difficulty, they 
may adjourn into the exchequer-chamber, 
where it shall be argued by all the judges. 
1 Inst. 71. 
Demurrer to evidence, is where a question 
of law arises thereon ; and because juries, by 
direction of the court, usually find a doubtful 
matter specially, demurrers upon evidence 
are now seldom used. 5 Rep. 104. 
Demurrer to indictments. It a criminal 
joins issue upon a point ot law in an indict- 
ment or appeal, allowing the fact to be true 
as laid therein, this is a demurrer in law, by 
which he insists that the fact as stated is no 
felony or treason, or whatever the crime is 
alleged to be. But demurrer to indictments 
are seldom used, since the same advantages 
may lie taken upon a plea of not guilty ; or 
afterwards in arrest of judgment, where the 
verdict has established the fact. 4 Black. 
333. 
DEN, a syllable which added to the names 
of places shews them to be situated in valleys, 
or near woods ; as Tcnterden, in Kent. . 
DENARIUS, in Roman antiquity, the 
chief silver-coin among the Romans, worth 
in our money about seven-pence three far- 
things. As a weight, it was the seventh part 
of a Roman ounce. 
Denarius tertius comitatus, a third part 
of the profits of county-courts. When these 
courts had superior jurisdictions, before 
others were erected, two parts of the profits 
went to the king, and a third part to the earl 
of the county. 
DENDRITES, or Arborizations. This 
appellation is given to figures of vegetables 
which are frequently observed in fossil sub- 
stances. They are of two kinds ; the one 
superficial, the other internal. 
The first are chiefly found on the surface 
of stones, and between the strata and in the 
fissures of those of a calcareous nature. 
Stones of a similar kind, when very compact, 
sometimes also exhibit internal arborizations; 
such are the marbles of Hesse, of Angersburg 
in Prussia, and of Baden-Dourlach on the 
left bank of the Rhine. Several of these den- 
drites bear a striking resemblance to the pop- 
lar; while others exhibit the straight stem, 
pyramidal form, and pendant branches, of the 
fir. Some specimens of dendrites found in 
Switzerland, represent, in a very surprising 
manner, plantations of willows ; and many of 
them are so beautiful, as really to appear the 
work of art. 
The superficial dendrites are mostly of a 
brown, changing gradually to a reddish yel- 
low. The internal dendrites are of a deep 
