DON 
be added to the year and its fourth, m order 
to find the dominical letter. Example: what 
will be the dominical letter for the year 1842 ? 
This question, by the above rule, ^wilMm 
solved in the following manner: 1S--4 — 4; 
from which subtracting 1, and the remain- 
der 3 taken from 18, gives 15, which being 
subtracted from 21, the nearest sevens, gives 
6, the number to be added. Then to the 
given year 1842, add its fourth part 460, ana 
the number found 6, the sum is 2308 ; which 
being divided by 7, gives 329 for the quotient, 
and the remainder is 5 ; which taken from 7, 
leaves 2, the index of the letter B, the domi- 
nical letter required. By the same mode we 
find that E is the dominical letter for the pre- 
sent year, 1806. 
DOMINICANS, an order of religious, 
called, in France, jacobins, and, in England, 
black friars, or preaching friars. This order, 
founded by St. Dominic, a native of Spain, 
was approved by Innocent III. in 121 5, and 
confirmed by a bull of Honorius III. in 1216. 
The design of their institution was, to preach 
the gospel, convert heretics, defend the faith, 
and propagate Christianity. 1 hey embraced 
the rule of St. Augustine, to which they 
added statutes and constitutions, which had 
formerly been observed by the Carthusians. 
The principal articles enjoined perpetual si- 
lence, abstinence from flesh at all times, 
wearing of woollen, rigorous poverty, and 
several other austerities. This order has 
spread into all the parts of the world. It lias 
produced a great number of martyrs, con- 
fessors, bishops ; and they reckon three popes, 
sixty cardinals, one hundred and fifty arch- 
bishops, and eight hundred bishops of their 
order, besides the masters of the sacred 
palace, who have alway T s been dominicans. 
The nuns, or sisters of this order, owe then- 
foundation to St. Dominic himself, who built 
a monastery at Prouilles, where poor maids 
might be brought up and supplied with all 
necessaries for their subsistence. I he habit 
of these religious was a white robe, a tawny 
mantle, and a black veil. Their founder 
obliged them to work at certain hours of the 
day, and particularly to spin yarn and flax to 
make their own linen. 
DONATIA, a. genus of the trigynia 
order, in the triandria class of plants. I he 
calyx is a triphyllous perianthiurri, with shoit 
sulmlated leaves standing at a distance from 
one another. The corolla has from eight to 
tea petals of an oblong linear shape, twice as 
long as the calyx. The stamina are three 
subulated filaments the length ot the calyx ; 
the antherie roundish, didymous, and two- 
lobed at the base. There is one species. 
DONATION, an act whereby a person 
transfers to another either the property or 
the use of something, as a fiee gift. Jn 
older to be valid, it supposes a capacity both 
in the donor and donee, and requires consent, 
acceptance, and delivery ; and, by the French 
law, also registry. Civilians distinguish do- 
nation into pure and conditional. Donatio 
puva is when one gives a thing with an inten- 
tion that it become immediately the property 
of the donee, never to revert to the donor; 
and this from no other motive than his gene- 
rosity. Donatio conditionalis is when one 
gives a thing with an intention that it become 
the property ot the donee, upon peuorniing 
some condition stipulated. 
DOR 
DON ATISTS, Christians ift Africa, who took 
their name front their leader Donatus. A se- 
cret hatred against Ciecilian, elected bishop ot 
Carthage about the year 311, excited Dona- 
tus to lorni this sect. He accused Ciecuian 
of having delivered up the sacred books to 
th'* pagans, and pretended that his election 
was void, and all his adherents heretics. He 
taught that baptism administered by heretics 
was null, that every church but the African 
was become prostituted, and that he was to 
be the restorer of religion. Some accuse 
the Donatists of Arianism. Constant ius and 
Honorius made laws for their banishment, 
and Theodosius and Honorius condemned 
them to grievous mulcts. 
DONATIVE, a gratuity or present made 
to any person. Donative, among the Ro- 
mans; was properly a gift made to the soldiers, 
as congiarium was that made to the people. 
Salmasius says, the common and legitimate 
rate of a donative was three pieces ot gold 
per head ; and Casaubon observes, that the 
le^al donative was 20,000 denarii ; and that 
it was not customary to give less, especially 
to the pro: tori an soldiers ; that the centurions 
had double, and the tribunes, Ac. more in 
proportion. , . . r 
Donative, in the canon law, is a benefice 
given by the patron to a priest, without pre- 
sentation to the ordinary, and without insti- 
tution or induction. The king may tound a 
church or chapel, and exempt it from the 
jurisdiction of the ordinary. He may also, 
by his letters patent, grant licence to a com- 
mon person to found such a church, and 
ordain it to be made donative. The resigna- 
tion of a donative must be to the donoi 01 
patron, nor may the ordinary visit the same, 
but the patron by commissioners appointed 
by him. There can be no lapse of this bene- 
fice, though the bishop may compel such 
patron to nominate a clerk by ecclesiastical 
censures ; and the clerk must be qualiiietl as 
other clerks of churches are. 
DON AX, a genus of insects belonging to 
the order of vermes testacea. It is an animal 
of the oyster kind ; and the shell has two 
valves, with a very obtuse margin m the lore 
part. There are- 10 species, principally dis- 
tinguished by the figure of their shells. See 
Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 172. . 
DONJON, in fortification, signifies a strong 
tower, or redoubt of a fortress, whither the gar- 
rison may retreat, in case ol necessity , and 
capitulate with greater advantage. 
DONOR, in law, the person who gives 
lands or tenements to another in tail, Ax. as 
he to whom such lands, Ac. are given is the 
d °DOR.ENA, a genus of the pentandria 
monogvnia class and order. The cor. is five- 
cleft ; stigma emarginate ; caps, one-celled. 
There is one species, a dwarf tree about six 
feet high, a native of Japan. 
DORIC order, in architecture, the second 
of the five orders, being that between the 
Tuscan and Ionic. See Architecture. 
DOR 
547 
Doric dialect, in grammar, one of the 
five dialects, or manners of speaking, which 
were principally in use among the Greeks. 
It was first used by the Lacedemonians, par- 
ticularly those of Argos ; afterwards it passed 
into Epirus, Lybia, Sicily, and the islands of 
Rhodes, Crete, Ac. According to the Doric 
dialect, the vowels m, s, o, «, are changed into a; 
the diphthong u into a or «i ; and the consonants 
$ into y ; £ into ffV; * and s into r ; r and p Into 
K ; x with a r or & following it, into v. Thus for 
pn fj-n, kXsi^i ( 3 xe$«p«, Ac. they say 
TO*X.O>, xX* 8 o;, 7 Xtpctp*, &c. They likewise change 
h into w, as Xo<yw for Xo^k; also e®- for ius, as 
tiXecj for ^ottr.XE®-: £«, and «ei, into n, as xpi 
for xpeas, iyi\T)s for and ytAnf for 7 eX*eu; 
with other transmutations of the like nature. 
Doric mode, in music, the first ol the 
authentic modes of the antients ; its character 
is to be severe, tempered with gravity and 
joy ; and is proper upon religious occasions, 
as also to be used in war. 
DORIS, a genus of insects, belonging to 
the order of vermes testacea. r l he body is 
oblong, flat beneath, creeping: mouth placed 
below : vent behind surrounded with a fringe : 
two feelers, retractile. There are several 
species. The argo, or lemon doris, has an 
oval body, convex, marked with numerous 
punctures, of a lemon-colour, the vent beset 
with elegant ramifications. It inhabits dif- 
ferent parts of our seas, and is properly called 
the sea-lemon. There are tour species. 
DORMANT, in heraldry, is used for the 
posture of a lion, or any other beast, ly ing 
along in a sleeping attitude, with the head on 
the fore paws ; by which it is distinguished 
from the couchant, where though the beast is 
lying, yet he holds up his head. 
DORMOUSE, in zoology. See Mus, and 
Sciurus. 
DORONICUM, leopard’s bane ; a ge- 
nus of the polygamia superflua order, in the 
syngenesis class of plants ; and in the natural 
method ranking under the 49th order, com- 
posite. The receptacle is naked, the pappus 
simple ; the scales of the calyx in a double 
row, longer than the disc. T he seeds of the 
radius naked without any pappus. 1 here ai e 
three species ; of which the only one woilhy 
of notice is the pardalianches, with obtuse 
heart-shaped leaves. It grows naturally in 
Hungary, and on the Helvetian mountains ; 
but is frequently preserved in the English 
gardens. It has thick fleshy roots, which 
divide into many- knobs or knees, sending out 
strong fleshy fibres which penetrate deep into 
the ground; from these arise in the spiinga 
cluster of heart-shaped leaves, which are hairy, 
and stand upon footstalks : between these 
arise the flow erstalks, which are channelled 
and hairy, near three feet high, putting out 
one or two smaller stalks from the side. Each 
stalk is terminated by one large yellow flower. 
The plant multiplies very fast by its spreading 
roots ; and the seeds, it permitted to scatter, 
will produce plants wherever they happen to 
fall ; so that it very soon becomes a weed in 
the places where it is once established. It 
loves a moist soil and shady situation. .1 he 
roots were formerly used in medicine, but 
their operation was tound so violent that they 
are now entirely laid aside. 
DORSAL muscles are the muscles of 
the back and loins, which are for the most 
part common. 
DORSIFEROUS plants, among botan- 
ists, such as are of the papillary kind, w ithout 
stalks, and which bear their seeds on the back- 
side of their leaves. 
DORSTENIA, contrayerva; a genus 
of the monogynia order, in the tetrandria class 
of plants ; and in the natural method ranking 
under the 53d order, scabridse. The re- 
ceptacle is common, monophyllous, and car- 
nous ; the seeds lying singly in the car nous 
substance. There are eight species, all •£ 
