D R A 
D R A 
legate is to be charged in fuUiro, and this 
[ivay likewise be of more than a third part. 
[Co. Lit. 35, 36. 
I The dowers ad ostium ecclesue, or ex as- 
sensu patris, if the wife enter and assent to 
[them, are a good bar of her in common law ; 
•but she may, if she will, wave them, and 
[claim her dower at common law, because 
[being made after marriage, she is not bound 
[by them. Hr. 97. 
Dower dc La plus belle, is where there is 
I I a guardian in chivalry, and the wife occupies 
lands of the heir as guardian in soccage : if 
the wife bring a writ of dower against such 
guardian in chivalry, he may shew this mat- 
iter, and pray that the wife may be endowed 
| de la plus belle of the tenements in soccage, 
[and it will be adjudged accordingly ; and the 
reason of this endowment was to prevent the 
I dismembering of the lands holden in chivalry, 
which are pro bono publico, and for the de- 
[fence of the realm. Lit. sect. 48. 
After judgment given, the wife may take 
her neighbours, and in their presence endow 
herself of the plus belle, or fairest part, of the 
tenements which she has in soccage, for her 
| life. Lit. sect. 48. 
DOWN, the fine feathers from the breasts 
, ©f several birds, particularly of the duck kind. 
[That of the eider duck (see Anas) is the 
most valuable. These birds pluck it from 
j their breasts, and line their nests with it. 
T\ e are told that the quantity of down found 
in one nest more than filled the crown of a 
hat, yet weighed no more than three quar- 
ters of an ounce. Three pounds of this down 
[way be compressed into a space scarcely 
[larger than one’s list ; yet is afterwards so 
[dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet square. 
[That found in the nests is most valued, and 
[termed live doom; it is infinitely more elas- 
tic than that plucked from the dead bird, 
[which is little esteemed in Iceland. The 
[best sort is sold at 45 fish per pound when 
[cleansed, and at 16 when not cleansed. 
[There are generally exported every year, on 
[the company’s account, 1500 or 2 000 lb. of 
[both sorts, exclusive of what is privately ex- 
ported by foreigners. In 1750, the Iceland 
company sold as much in quantity of this ar- 
ticle as amounted to 3745 banco dollars, be- 
sides what was sent directly to Gluckstadt. 
I DOWNS, a bank or elevation of sand, 
[which the sea gathers and forms along its 
■shores, and which serves it as a barrier. 
DOWRY, in antient time, applied to that 
which tire wife brings her husband in mar- 
iriage, otherwise called maritagium, or mar- 
tiage-goods ; but these are termed more pro- 
perly goods given in marriage, and the mar- 
riage-portion. 1 Inst. 31. 
Dowry, is used in a monastic sense for 
a sum of money given along with a maid, 
upon entering her in some religious order. 
In France, the dowry of persons entering a 
imonastery, to make profession of a religious 
life, was limited by law. That given upon en- 
jtering a monastery of Carmelites, Ursulines, 
and others not regularly founded, but esta- 
blished since the year 1600, by letters pa- 
tent, did not exceed the sum of 8000 livres 
in towns where parliaments were held, nor 
6000 in other places. 
j DRABA, a genus of the siiiculosa order, in 
the tetradynamia class of plants, and in the 
natural method ranking under the 39th or- 
der, siliquoss. The silicula is entire, and 
P It A 
oval-oblong; with the valves a little plane, 
parallel to the partition ; there is no style. 
The>e are nine species; of which the only 
one worthy of notice is the verna, or early 
whitlow-grass. It has naked stalks, with leaves 
a little serrated. The blossoms are white, and 
at night the flowers hang down. It grows on 
old walls and dry banks. It is one of the 
earliest-flowering plants we have, and is good 
to eat as a salad. Goats, sheep, and horses 
eat it; cows are not fond of it; swine refuse 
it. 
D RABLER, in the sea language, a small 
sail in a ship, which is the same to a bonnet 
that a bonnet is to a course, and is only used 
when the course and bonnet are too shoal to 
clothe the mast. 
DRABLING, in angling, is a method of 
catching barbels. 'Jake a strong line of six 
yards, which, before you fasten to your rod, 
must Ire put through a piece of lead, that if 
the lish bite it may slip to and fro, and that 
the water may something move it on the 
ground. Bait with a lob-worm well secur- 
ed, that by its motion the barbel may be 
enticed into the danger without suspicion. 
The best places are in running water near 
piles, or under wooden bridges, supported 
with oaks floated and slimy. 
DRABS, in the salt-works, a kind of wood- 
en boxes for holding the salt when taken out 
of the boiling-pan. The bottoms of them 
are made shelving or inclining forwards, that 
the briny moisture of the salt may drain off. 
DRACAENA, a genus of the monogynia 
order, in the hexandria class of plants. The 
corolla is sexpartite and erect ; the filaments 
a little thicker about the middle; the berry 
trilocular and monospermous. There are 
14 species, most of them having the habit of 
the palms, and one of them at least (the D. 
draco, which is a magnificent plant, or rather 
tree) affording a red powder, like the eastern 
dragon’s-blood. See that article. 
DRACHM, a Grecian coin,, of the value 
of74i/. Drachm is also a weight used by 
our physicians ; containing just sixty grains, 
three scruples, or the eighth part of an 
ounce. 
DRACO, the dragon, in zoology, a genus 
belonging to the order of amphibia reptilia; 
flie characters of which are these: it has four 
legs, a cylindrical tail, and two membrana- 
ceous wings, radiated like the fins of a fish, 
by which he is enabled to fly, but not to any 
great distance at a time. There are two spe- 
cies. 
1. The volans, or flying-dragon, with the 
wings entirely distinct from the fore-legs. It 
is found in Africa and the East Indies. 
2. The pnepos, with the wings fixed to the 
fore-legs. It is a native of America. They 
are both harmless little creatures, and feed 
upon flies, ants, and small insects. See Plate 
Nat. Hist. fig. 174. 
Draco volans, in meteorology, a fiery 
exhalation, frequent in marshy and cold 
countries. It is most common in summer ; 
and though principally seen playing near the 
banks of rivers, or in boggy places, yet some- 
times mounts up to a considerable height in 
the air, to the no small terror of the amazed 
beholders ; its appearance being that of an 
oblong, sometimes roundish, fiery body, with 
a long tail. It is entirely harmless, frequent- 
ly sticking to the hands and clothes of people 
without injuring them in the least. 
big 
Draco, in astronomy, a constellation of 
the northern hemisphere, whose stars, ac- 
cording to Ptolemy, are 81; according to 
Tycho, 32; according to Hevelius, 40; ac- 
cording to Bayer, 33; and according to Mr. 
Flamsteed, 80. .See Astronomy. 
DRACOCEPHALUM, dragon’s-head, a 
genus of the gymnospermia order, in thedi- 
dynumia class of plants. The throat of the 
corolla is inflated, the upper lip concave. 
There are 15 species, most of them herba- 
ceous, annual, or perennial plants, from IS 
Inches to three feet high, mostly with entire 
leaves and vhorled spikes of small monopeta- 
lous and ringent flowers, of a blue, white, or 
purple colour. They are ail easily propa- 
gated by seeds, which may be sown either in 
the spring or autumn; and after the plants 
are come up, they will require no other cul- 
ture but to be kept clear from weeds. The 
D. canariense is well known by the name of 
balm of Gilead. 
DRACONARIUS, in antiquity, dragon- 
bearer. Several nations, as the Persians, 
Parthians, Scythians, &c. bore dragons on 
their standards ; whence the standards them- 
selves were called dracones, dragons. The 
Romans borrowed the same custom from the 
Parthians ; or, as Casaubon has it, from the 
Dae* ; or, as Codin, from the Assyrians; 
The Roman dracones were figures of dragons 
painted in red on their flags, as appears from 
Ammianus Marcellinus: but among the Per- 
sians and Parthians they were like the Roman 
eagles, figures in full relievo ; so that the 
Romans were frequently deceived, and took 
them for real dragons. The soldier who 
bore the dragon or standard, was called by 
the Romans draconarius; and by the Greeks 
Spaxovapios and Spaxovruotpopof', for the empe- 
rors carried the custom with them to Con- 
stantinople. 
DRACONTIUM, dragons, a genus of the 
polyandria order, in the gynandria class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the first order, palm*. The spatha is 
cymbiform, or shaped like a boat ; . tne spa- 
dix covered all over; there is no calyx; there 
are five petals; the berries poly sperm on s.- 
There are five species, all natives of the In- 
dies. The only one which makes any ap- 
pearance is the pentusum, with leaves having 
holes, and a climbing stalk. This is a native 
of most of the West India islands. It has 
trailing stalks, which put out roots at every' 
joint, that fasten to the trunks of trees, walls, 
or any support which is near them, and by 
that means rise to the height of 25 or 30 feet. 
The leaves are placed alternately upon long 
footstalks: they are four or five inches long, 
two and a half broad, and have several ob- 
long holes in each, which at first sight ap- 
pear as if eaten by insects, but they are na- 
tural to the leaves. The flowers are pro- 
duced at the top of the. stalk, which always 
swells to a much larger size in that part than 
in any other: these are covered with an ob- 
long spatha or hood of a whitish-green co- 
lour, which opens longitudinally on one side, 
and shows the pistil, which is closely covered 
with flowers of a pale yellow, inclining to 
white. This plant is easily propagated bv 
cuttings, which if planted in pots filled with 
poor sandy earth, and plunged into a hot- 
bed, will soon put out roots ; but the plants 
are so tender, that they must be preserved in 
a stove; 
