500 
D E S 
D E S 
DES 
ed in one second by that force, and substitute 
that instead of 1 6_L_ for the value of g in these 
formula : or, if the proportion of the force to 
the force of gravity be known, let the value of 
£ be altered in the same proportion, and the 
same formulas will still hold good. So, if the 
descent he on an inclined plane, making, for in- 
stance, an angle of SO 1 with the horizon; then, 
the force of descent upon the plane being al- 
ways as the sine of the angle it makes with the 
horizon, in the present case it will be as the sine 
of 30°, that is, as \ the radius ; therefore, in this 
case, the value of g will be but half the former, 
in all the foregoing formula;. 
Or, if one body descending perpendicularly 
draw another after it, by means of a cord sliding 
over a pulley ; then it will be, as the sum of the 
two bodies is to the descending body, so is 16_i_ 
to the value of g in this case ; Which value of it 
being used in the said formulae, they will still 
*wK>ld good. And in like manner for any other 
constant forces whatever. 
5th, r I he time of the oblique descent down 
any chord of a circle, drawn either from the 
uppermost or lowermost point of the circle, 
is equal to the perpendicular descent through 
the diameter of the circle. 
6th, The descent, or vibration, through all 
arcs of the same cycloid, are equal, whether 
great or small. 
7th, But the descent, or vibration, through 
unequal arcs of a circle, are unequal ; the times 
being greater in the greater arcs, and less in the 
less. 
Descent, line of swiftest, is that which a 
body, falling by the action of gravity, de- 
scribes in the shortest time possible, from 
one given point to another. And this line, it 
is proved by philosophers, is the arc of a cy- 
cloid, when the one point is not perpendicu- 
larly over t’ne other. See Cycloid. 
Descent, in law, or hereditary suc- 
cession, is the title by which a man on the 
death of his ancestor acquires his estate 
by right of representation as his heir at 
law ; and an estate so decending to the 
heir is in law called the inheritance. 2 Black. 
201 . 
Descent is of three kinds; by common 
law, by custom, or by statute. By common 
law, as where one has land of inheritance in 
fee-simple, and dies without disposing of it 
in his life-time, and the land goes to the eld- 
est son and heir of course, being cast upon 
him by the law. Descent of fee-simple by 
custom, is sometimes to ail the sons or to all 
the brothers (where one brother dies without 
issue), as in gavelkind ; sometimes to the 
youngest son, as in borough-English ; and 
sometimes to the eldest daughter, or the 
youngest, according to the customs of parti- 
cular places. Descent by statute is of fee- 
tail, as directed by the statute of Westmin- 
ster 2, de donis. 
Descent at common law is either lineal or 
collateral. Lineal consanguinity is that which 
subsists between persons, of whom one is de- 
scended in a direct line from the other, as be- 
tween a man and his father, grandfather, and 
great-grandfather, and so upwards in a di- 
rect ascending line ; or between a man and 
his son, grandson, great-grandson, and so 
downwards in the direct descending line. 
Every generation, in this lineal direct con- 
sanguinity, constitutes a different degree, 
recKoaed either upwards or downwards ; the 
father is related in the first degree, and so 
likewise are the son, grandsire, and grandson, 
in the second; greal-graudsire, and great- 
grandson, in the third. This is the only natural 
way of reckoning the degrees in the direct 
line, and therefore universally obtains, as 
well in the civil and canon as in the common 
law. Collateral kindred answers to the same 
description ; collateral relations agreeing with 
the lineal in this, that they descend from the 
same stock or ancestor ; but differing in this, 
that they do not descend one from the other. 
Collateral kinsmen are therefore such as li- 
neally sprung from one and the same an- 
cestor, who is the stirps or root, stipes, 
trunk or common stock, whence these rela- 
tions are branched out. As if a man has two 
sons, who have each a different issue, both 
these issues are lineally descended from him 
as their common ancestor ; and they are col- 
lateral kinsmen to each other, because they 
are all descended from this common an- 
cestor; and all have a portion of his blood in 
their veins, which denominates them consan- 
guineors. Inheritances shall lineally descend 
to the issue of the person last actually seised, 
in inlinitum, but shall never lineally ascend. 
3 Black. 208. 
The male issue -shall be admitted before 
the female ; and where there are two or more 
males in equal degree, the eldest only shall 
inherit (except where there are particular lo- 
cal customs to tiie contrary) ; but the females 
shall inherit all together, except in case of 
succession to the crown, which is indivisible ; 
and of succession to dignities and titles of 
honour : yet where a man holds an earldom 
to. him and tiie heirs of his body, and dies, 
his eldest daughter shall not succeed of course 
to the title of countess, but the dignity is in 
suspense or abeyance till the king shall de- 
clare which of the daughters shall have that 
title. 2 Black. 216. 
Descent of crown, lands. All the 
lands whereof the king is seized in jure co- 
rona-, shall attend upon and follow the 
crowm ; so that to whomsoever tiie crown 
descends, those( lands and possessions de- 
scend also.. Plowd. 247. 
Descent of dignities. The dignity of 
peerage is personal, annexed to the blood, 
and so inseparable, that it cannot be trans- 
ferred to any person, or surrendered even to 
the crown : it can move neither backward nor 
forward, but only downward to posterity ; 
and nothing but corruption of blood, as if the 
ancestor be attainted of treason or felony, 
can hinder the descent to the right heir. Lex 
Const. 85. 
Descent, in heraldry, is used to express 
the coming down of- any thing from above ; 
as, a lion en descent, is a lion with his head 
towards the base points and his heels towards 
one of the corners of the chief, as if he were 
leaping down from some high place. 
Descents, in fortification, are the holes, 
vaults, and hollow places, made by under- 
mining the ground. The descent into the 
moat or ditch is a deep passage made through 
the esplanade and covert-way, in form of a 
trench, whereof the upper part is covered 
with madriers and clays, to secure the be- 
siegers from the enemy’s fire. In wet ditches 
this trench is on a level with the surface of the 
water, but in dry ones it is sunk as deep a> 
the bottom of the ditch. 
DESCRIPTION, in law. In deeds and I 
grants there must be a certain description oi 1 
the lands granted, the places where they lie, 
aud the person to whom granted, S;c. to 
10 1 
make them good. But wills are more far 
voured than grants as to those descriptions; 
and a wrong description of the person will 
not make a devise void, if there be otherwise 
a sufficient certainty what person was 
intended by the testator.. 1 Nels. Abr, 
467. 
Where a first description of land, &c. is 
false, though the second be true, a deed will 
be void: contra, if the first be true, and the 
second false. 3 Rep. 2, 3, 8, and 10. 
DESERTER, in a military sense, a soldier 
who, by running, away from his regiment or 
company, abandons the service. 
A deserter is, by the articles of war, pu-- 
nishable by death, and, after conviction, is 
hanged at tiie head of the regiment he form- 
erly belonged to, with his crime written on his 
breast, and suffered to hang till the army 
leave that camp, for a terror to others. 
DESAC11 L', in heraldry, is where a beast 
has its limbs separated from its body, so that 
they still remain on the escutcheon, with 
only a small separation from their natural 
places. 
DESIGN, in a general sense, the plan, or- 
der, representation or construction of a build- 
ing, book, painting, &c. 
In building the term ichnography may be 
used, when by design is only meant the plan 
of a building, or a fiat figure drawn on paper : 
when some side or face of the building is 
raised from the ground, we may use the terra 
orthography; and when both front and sides 
are seen, in perspective, we may call it see- 
nography. 
Design, in manufactories,, expresses the 
figures with which the workman enriches 
his stuff, or silk, and which he copies after 
some painter, or eminent draughtsman, as 
in diaper, damask,, flowered silk, tapestry, 
and the like. 
In undertaking of such kinds of figured, 
stuffs, it is necessary, says M. Savary, that 
before the first stroke of the shuttle, tiie whole 
design be represented on the threads of the 
warp; we do not mean in colours, but with 
an infinite number of little packthreads, which, 
being disposed so as to raise tiie threads of 
the warp, let the workmen see, from time to 
time, what kind oi silk is to be put in the eye 
of the shuttle, for woof. This method "of 
preparing the work is called reading the de- 
sign and reading the figure, which is perform- 
ed in the following manner: A paper is pro- 
vided, considerably broader than the stuff, and: 
of a length proportionate to what is intended 
to be represented on it. This they divide 
lengthwise, by as many black lines as there are 
intended threads in the warp ; and cross these 
lines, by others drawn breadthwise, which,, 
with the former, make little equal squares ; 
on the paper thus squared, the draughtsman 
designs his figures, and heightens them with 
colours as he sees fit. When the design is 
finished, a workman reads it,, while another 
lays it on the simblot.. 
To read the design, is to tell the person 
who manages the loom, the number of 
squares, or threads, comprised in any space, 
intimating at the same time whether it 
is ground or figure. To put what is read 
on the simblot, is to fasten little strings 
to the several packthreads, which are to 
raise the threads, named ; and thus they 
continue to do till the whole design is read. 
Every piece being composed of several repe- 
