D I A 
P 1 A 
Y' esc diamonds are differently mana- 
ged . That used for large pieces, as looking- 
glasses, is set in an iron ferule, about two 
inches long, and a quarter of an inch in dia- 
meter ; the cavity of the ferule being tilled up 
with lead, to keep the diamond firm: there 
is al o a handle of box or ebony fitted to the 
ferule, and by which it is held. 
Diamond, in heraldry, a term used for 
expressing the biack colour in the achieve- 
i meats of peerage. Guillim does not ap- 
; prove of blazoning the coats of peers by pre- 
; cions stones instead of metals and colours ; 
: but the English practice allows it. Morgan 
| says the diamond is an emblem of fortitude. 
I) I AISLE arbor or Arbor Lun/e, in 
chemistry, the beautiful crystallizations of 
' silver dissolved in aqua-fortis, to which some 
quicksilver is added; and so called from their 
f resembling the trunk, branches, leaves, See. 
of a tree. See Argentum Arborescens. 
DIANDRIA, the name of the second class 
in Linnaeus’s sexual system, consisting of her- 
maphrodite plants, which, as the name im- 
ports, have flowers with two stamina or male 
organs. The orders in this class are three, 
derived from the number of styles or female 
parts. Most plants with two stamina have 
one style; as jessamine, lilac, privet, vero- 
nica, and bastard alaternus : vernal grass has 
two styles ; pepper, three. 
DIANTRERA, in botany, a genus of the 
monogynia order, in the cliandria class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the 40th order, personate. The co- 
rolla is ringent; the capsule bilocular, part- 
ing with a spring at the heel ; the stamina 
each furnished with two anthers, placed al- 
ternately. There are 12 spec ies. 
DIANTHUS, clove-giiliflower, carnation, 
pink, sweet-william, 'Sec : . a genus of the cligy- 
„ nia order, in the decandria class of plants, and 
in the natural method ranking under the 22d 
! order, caryophyllei. The calyx is cylindric- 
; al and monophyllous, with four scales at the 
base. There are five petals, with narrow 
heels; the capsule is cylindrical and unilocu- 
lar. There are 30 species ; but not more 
than four that have any considerable beauty 
as garden-flowers, each of which furnishes 
some beautiful varieties. 
1. The caryophyllus, or clove-gill iflower, 
including all the varieties of carnation. It 
rises with many short trailing shoots from the 
root, with long, very narrow, evergreen 
| leaves; and amidst them upright slender 
! flower-stalks, from one to three feet high, 
I emitting many side-shoots ; all of which, as 
well as the main stalk, are terminated by 
| large solitary flowers, having short oval scales 
to the calyx, and crenated petals. The va- 
I rieties of this are very numerous, and unli- 
j mited in the diversity of flowers. 
2. The deltoides, or common pink, rises 
I with numerous short leafy shoots crowning 
the root, in a tufted head close to the ground, 
| with small narrow leaves; and from the ends 
of the shoots many erect flower-stalks, from 
about 6 to 15 inches high, terminated by so- 
| Jitary flowers of different colours, single and 
• double, and sometimes finely variegated. 
Tins species is perennial, as all the varieties 
of it commonly cultivated also are. 
3. The chinensis, Chinese, or Indian pink, 
is an annual plant, with upright firm flower- 
stalks, branching erect on every side, a foot 
or 15 inches high, having all the branches 
terminated by solitary flowers of different 
colours and variegations, appearing from J uly 
to November. 
4. The barbatus, or bearded dianthus, 
commonly called sweet-william. This rises 
with many thick leafy shoots, crowning the 
root in a cluster close to the ground, with 
spear-shaped evergreen leaves, from half an 
inch to two inches broad. The stems are 
upright and firm, branching erect two or 
three feet high, having all the branches and 
main-stem crowned hy numerous flowers in 
aggregate clusters of different colours and 
variegations. The culture of these is very 
generally known. 
DIAPASON, in music. By this term the 
antient Greeks expressed the interval of the 
octave : and certain musical instrument-ma- 
kers have a kind of rule or scale, called the 
diapason, by which they determine the mea- 
sures of the pipes, or other parts of their in- 
struments. There is a diapason for trumpets 
and serpents: bell-founders have also a dia- 
pason for the regulation of the size, thickness, 
w eight, &c. of their bells. Diapason is like- 
w ise the appellation given to certain stops in 
an organ. See Stop. 
Diapason diapente (from the Greek), 
the interval compounded of an octave and a 
fifth conjoined ; a twelfth. 
Diapason diatessaron (from the 
Greek), the interval compounded of an oc- 
tave and a fourth conjoined ; an eleventh. 
DlAPENSIA, in botany, a genus of the 
pentandria-monogynia class of plants, the 
flower of which consists of one saucer-like pe- 
tal, the tube being cylindrical, and the limb 
divided into five obtuse and plane segments ; 
the fruit is, a triloeular roundish capsule, con- 
taining a great many roundish seeds. There 
is one species. 
DIAPENTE, .in the antient music, an in- 
terval marking the second of the concords ; 
and, with the diatessaron, an octave. This 
is what in the modern music is called a fifth. 
DIAPERED, or Diapre', in heraldry, 
the dividing of a field in planes, like fret- 
work, and filling the same with variety of 
figures. 
DIAPHRAGM, in anatomy, a large, ro- 
bust, musculous membrane or skin, placed 
transversely in the trunk, and dividing the 
thorax from the abdomen, whence the Latin 
writers call it septum transversum. See Ana- 
tomy. 
DIARRHOEA. See Medicine. 
DIARTHROSIS,. See Anatomy. 
DIASCORDIUM, in pharmacy, a cele- 
brated composition so called from scordium, 
one of its ingredients. It is otherwise termed 
confectio fracastorii. See Pharmacy. 
DIASTOLE, among physicians, signifies 
the dilatation of the heart, auricles, and arte- 
ries ; and stands opposed to the systole, or 
contraction of the same parts. See Physi- 
ology. 
Diastole, in grammar, a figure of pro- 
sody, whereby a syllable naturally short is 
made long: such is the first syllable of Pri- 
amides, in the following verse of Virgil: 
Atque hie Priamides : nihil 6 tibi, amice, re- 
lictum. 
DIASTYLE. See Architecture. 
DIATESSARON in music (from the Gr.), 
a term applied by the antient Greeks to that 
interval which we call a fourth ; consisting of 
P I C 517 
a greater tone, a lesser tone, and one greater 
semitone. The word is now used for the 
four gospels, arranged alter the manner of a 
harmony. 
Diatessaron, in pharmacy, the name 
of a composition so called from the four in- 
gredients it comprehends. See Pharmacy. 
DIATONIC (from the Greek), a term ap- 
plied by the antient Greeks to that of their 
three genera, which consisted, like tire 
modern system of intervals, of major-tones 
and semitones. The diatonic genus has long 
since been considered as more natural than 
either the chromatic or enharmonic. Ari- 
stoxenus asserts it to have been the first, and 
informs us that the other two were formed 
from the division of its intervals. 
DIATONUM intensum, or sharp dia- 
tonic, the name given by musical theorists tt> ; 
those famous proportions of the intervals pro-- 
posed by Ptolemy, in his system of that name ; 
a system which, long after the time of this 
antient speculative musician, was received in 
our counterpoint, and is pronounced by Dr„- 
YVallis, Dr. Smith, and the most learned 
writers on harmonics, to be the best division 
of the scale. 
D1AZEUXIS (Greek), division, separa- 
tion; the name given by the antients to the- 
tone which separated two disjunct tetra- 
chords. The cliazeuxis was placed between 
the mesis and paramesis, i. e. between the. 
highest note of the second tetrachord, and 
the lowest of the third ; or between-the note 
synnernenon, and the paramesis hyperboleon. 
DICE, amoilg gamesters, cubical pieces • 
of bone or ivory, marked with dots on each, 
of their faces, from one to six, according to 
the number of faces. Sharpers have several 
ways of falsifying dice : 1 . By sticking a 
hog’s bristle in them so as to make them run 
high or low as they please. 2. By drilling' 
and loading them with quicksilver ; which 
cheat is found out by holding them gently by- 
two diagonal corners; for if false, the heavy 
sides will turn always down. 3. By filing 
and rounding them. But all these ways fall 
far short of the art of the dice-makers ; some 
of whom are so dextrous this way, that sharp- 
rers will repay them with any money. 
DiCERA, a genus of the polyandria mo- 
nogynia class and order. The petals are 
four, ovate and trifid; nectarium four or 
five emarginate corpuscules; anthers two 
horned. There are two species, trees of New 
Zealand. 
DICHONDRIA* a: genus of the class and 
order pentandria digynia. The calyx is five- 
leaved ; corolla rotate, inferior ;' capsule 
dicoccous. There is one species, an herb of 
New Zealand. 
DICHORD (from the Greek), the name 
given to the two-stringed lyre, said to have 
been invented by the Egyptian Mercury. 
Apollodorus accounts for its invention in the 
following manner: “ Mercury,” says he,. 
“ walking on the banks of the river Nile, 
happened to strike his foot against the shell 
of a tortoise, the flesh of which had been 
dried away by the heat of the sun, and no- 
thing left of its contents but the nerves and 
cartilages; he was so pleased with the sound 
it produced, that he thence conceived the 
idea of a lyre, which he afterwards construct- 
ed in the form of a tortoise, and strung it with 
the dried sinews of animals.” 
DICHOTOMY, a term used by astrono* 
