520 
D I E 
D I F 
D I G 
colour ; the tail feathers are curled, stand up 
on the rump, and incline to yellow. The 
legs have four toes, three before and one be- 
hind ; are very stout, short, and yellowish ; 
the claws are black. It inhabits the inlands 
of Mauritius and bourbon in the Indian 
Ocean. See Plate Nat. Hist. lig. 1 by. 
2. The solitaire, or solitary dodo, is a large 
bird, and the male is said to weigh sometimes 
-45 pounds. The neck is of a proportionable 
length, and the ere black and lively; the 
head is not crested, and the general colour 
of the plumage is grey and brown mixed: it 
has scarcely any tail, and the bastard wing 
swells out into a round knob ; the wings are 
too short for flight ; and the hind parts are 
rounded like a horse’s rump, being clothed 
with feathers, which may be termed coverts. 
The females are covered with sometimes 
brown and sometimes light-yellow feathers, 
and appear very beautiful. The feathers on 
each side of the breast enlarge into two white 
tufts, somewhat resembling the bosom of a 
woman. Those of the thighs are rounded at 
the end like shells; and, accqrding to J,e- 
guat, the bird has altogether a noble and ele- 
gant gait. This is an inhabitant of the isle 
.of Rodrigue, where it is not uncommon ; but 
not met with in docks, scarcely more than 
two being found together. It makes its nest 
in by-places* of leaves of the palm, a foot and 
a half in thickness, and lays one egg, bigger, 
than that of a goose. The male sits in ins 
turn, and does not suffer any bird to approach 
within 200 yards of the spot while the lien is 
sitting, which is seven weeks. The young 
is some months before it can shift for itself; 
the old ones, in the mean time, are affection- 
ate to it, and faithful to each other afterwards, 
though they occasionally may mix with others 
of their kind. The young birds, though ti- 
mid, are stupid enough to suffer the approach 
of any one ; but when grown up, are more 
shy, and will not be tamed. They are chased 
in the winter season, viz. from March to Sep 
Member, being then fat, and the young birds 
are much esteemed for the table. 
3. The Nazarene dodo is larger than a 
swan. The bill is a little bent downwards, 
and large ; instead of feathers, the whole is 
covered over with a black down ; but the 
wings are feathered, and it has some frizzled 
ones upon the rump, which serve instead of 
a tail; the legs are long and scaly, and there 
are three toes on each foot. I his was met 
with in the Isle of France, and described as. 
above by Fr. Cauche; who adds, that the’ 
female lays only one egg, which is white, and 
as big as a penny-loaf, and that there is al- 
ways found with it a w hite stone ot the size 
of a hen’s egg ; that it makes a nest of 
leaves and dry herbs in the forests on the 
ground ; and that there is likewise found a 
grey stone in the gizzard of the young-bird. 
DIDYNAM1A, the name of the 14th class 
in Linnaeus’s .sexual method, consisting ot 
plants with hermaphrodite flowers, which 
•have four stamina or male organs, two of 
which are long and two short. See Botany. 
DIES, in common law, are of two kinds, 
dies juridici, and non juridici. Dies juridici, 
-or fasti, are all days wherein justice is ad- 
ministered in court. Dies non juridici, or 
-nefasti, are all Sundays in the year: and, in 
•Easter term, the feast of ascension of our 
Lord; in Trinity term, the nativity of St. 
iphu the Baptist; in Michaelmas term, the 
feasts of all saints and all souls; and in Hilary 
term, the purification of the Blessed Virgin. 
Dies datus, is a day, or time of respite, 
given by the court to the defendant m a 
cause. 
DIESIS. (From the Greek.) The name 
given to the smallest interval used in the 
music of the ancient Greeks. In harmonic 
calculations, those are called diesis which 
are greater than a comma, and less than a 
semi-tone. Diesis, In modern music, is the 
name given to the elevation of a note above 
its natural pitch. This raising of the sound 
is, however, only a kind of insensible gliding 
through the interval of a semi-tone, and does 
not produce any change in the denomination 
of the note upon which it operates. V\ ith 
some authors, diesis is only another name 
for the quarter of a tone; 
DIET, bee Materia Mf.dica. 
Diet, or Dyet, in matters of policy, is 
used for the general assembly of the states 
or circles of the empire of Germany, and for- 
merly of Poland, to deliberate and concert 
measures proper to be taken for the good of 
the public. The general diet of the empire is 
usually held at Katisbon: it consists of the em- 
peror, the ten electors, and the ecclesiastical 
princes ; viz. the archbishops, bishops, ab- 
bots, and abbesses; the secular princes, who 
are dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, or 
barons ; and the representatives of the' im- 
perial cities. It meets on the emperor’s 
summons, and any of the princes may send 
their deputies thither in their stead/ The 
diet makes laws, raises taxes, determines 
differences between the several princes and 
states, and can relieve the subjects from the 
oppressions of their sovereigns. 
D1EU et mon pro it, God and my right, 
the motto of the royal arms of England, 
first assumed by king’ Richard I. to intimate 
that he did not hold iiis empire in vassalage 
of any mortal authority. It was afterwards 
taken by Edward the Third, and was continued 
without interruption to the time of king 
William III. who used the motto jc main- 
tiendray , though the former was still retained 
upon the great seal. After him, queen Anne 
used the motto semper eadem, which had 
been before used by queen Elizabeth ; but 
ever since queen Anne, dim d mon droit 
continues to be the royal motto. 
Dif.u son act, words anciently often 
used in our law; and to this day, it is a 
maxim in law, that the act of God shall pre- 
judice no man : therefore, if a house is blown 
or beaten down by a tempest, thunder, or 
lightning, the lessee, or tenant for life or 
years, shall be quit of an a- tion of waste; 
and, by. the law, he has likewise a special 
interest or liberty allowed to take timber, to 
rebuild the house for his habitation. 
DIFFERENCES, in heraldry, certain ad- 
ditaments to coat armour, whereby something 
is added or altered to distinguish younger 
families from the elder. 
DIFFERENTIAL calculus. See Cal- 
culus DIFFERENTIATES. 
DIFFER ENTIO, different! \ us cal- 
culus, isa method of differencing differential 
quantities. 
We have observed, under the word Cal- 
culus, that the differential of a quant ity is ex- 
pressed by the letter d prefixed to it, as the 
differential, of x is called dr; we are to re- 
mark, therefore, in this place, that the dif- 
ferential of dx, is ddx ; and the differential I 
of ddx, is dddx ; or, as sir Isaac Newton 
would express it, x, fyc. These differentials 
may be expressed more compendiously Unis, j 
d*x, d'x, cy v. whence we have powers or j 
degrees of differentials. The differential of 
an ordinary quantity, is called a differential of 
the first degree, as dx. The differential of 
the second degree, is an infinitesimal of a I 
differential quantity of the first degree, aa j 
ddx, d.\ dx, or dx 2 , dxdy. 4’C. The differen-1 
tiai of the third degree, is an infinitesimal ofl 
a differential quantity of the second degree, ; 
as dddx, dx 3 , dxdydz, and so on. 
The powers of different' als are differenced] 
after the same manner as the pow ers of ordi- 
nary quantities : and as compound differen- 
tials either multiply or divide' each other, or 
are perfect or imperfect powers of differentials] 
of the first degree, the dilierentio-differentialife 
calculus is in effect the same with the dia 
ferential calculus, bee Calculus dif- 
ferentia us. 
DIGASTRIC US, in anatomy, a muscle of 
the lower jaw, called also biventer. 
DIGES T-ION, in medicine, is the disscN 
lution of the aliments into such minute pa ts 
as are fit to enter the lacteal vessels, ami 
circulate with the mass of blood. 
There is a very great difference in the 
quantity of aliment which animals require, 
and in the time which they cm pass with- 
out it. In general, those animals which 
are most active require most, and thosfi 
which are most indolent require least food! 
The cause of this is obvious: the bodies 
of animals do not remain stationary, the! 
are constantly wasting ; and the waste is 
proportional to the activity of the animal. 
Hence the body must receive, from time to 
time, new supplies, in place of what has been 
carried off. The me of food answers this 
purpose. 
We are much better acquainted with the 
food of animals than of vegetables. It com 
sisls of an infinite variety of animal and 
vegetable substances : for there are but very 
few of either which some animal or other do® 
not use as food. Man uses as food chielly 
the muscles of animals, the seed of certain 
grasses, and a variety of vegetable fruits! 
Almost all tiie inferior animals have particular 
substances on which they feed exclusively. 
Some of them feed on animals, others on 
vegetables. Man has a greater range ; he 
can feed on a very great number of sub- 
stances. 'To enumerate these substances 
would be useless, as we are not able to 
point out with accuracy what it is which ren- 
ders one substance more nourishing than 
another. 
Many substances do not serve as nourish- 
men* at ail; and some, instead of nourish- 
ing, destroy life. These last are call® 
poisons. Some poisons act chemically, by 
decomposing live animal body. The actior 
of others is not so well understood. 
'The food is introduced into the body by 
the mouth, and almost all animals reduce If 
to a kind of pulpy consistence. In man am 
many other animals this is done in the moutl 
by means of teeth, and the saliva with whidl 
it is there mixed; but many other animal* 
grind their food in a different manner. Aftyl 
the food has been thus ground, it is introduce* 
into the stomach, where it is subjected ti 
