DES 
DESCRIPTION is such a strong and 
beautiful representation of a thing as gives 
the reader a distinct view and satisfactory 
notion of it. 
Description. In deeds and grants 
there must be a certain description of the 
lands granted, the places where they lie, 
and the persons to whom granted, &c. to 
make them good. But wills are more fa- 
voured than grants as to those descriptions ; 
and a wrong description of the person will 
not make a devise void, if there be other- 
wise a sufficient certainty, what person was 
intended by the testator. Wliere a first de- 
scription of land, &c. is false, though the 
second be true, a deed will be void : con- 
tra, if the first be true and the second 
false. 
Description, applied to botany, the 
natural character of the whole plant, includ- 
ing all the external parts. In this respect 
the description of the species is distinguish- 
ed from tlie specific difference, which re- 
gards the essential or striking characters 
only. A perfect, or complete description, 
is not confined to the principal parts of 
plants, as the root, stem, leaves, and fiwc- 
tification ; but includes, likewise, whatever 
is conspicuous in then- external appearance ; 
as the foot-stalks of the leaves and flower ; 
the stipulae, or scales ; the bracteae, or flo- 
ral leaves ; the glands, or vessels of secre- 
tion ; the weapons of offence and defence ; 
the buds ; the complication, or folding of 
the leaves within the buds ; and the habit 
or general appearance of tlie whole plant. 
The order to be observed in the description 
is that of nature, proceeding from the root 
to the stem ; next the branches ; then the 
foot-stalks, leaves, flower-stalks, and flow- 
ers. 
DESERTER, in a military sense, a sol- 
dier who, by running away from his regi- 
ment or company, abandons the service. 
A deserter is, by the articles of war, punish- 
able by death, and, after conviction, is 
hanged at the head of the regiment he for- 
merly belonged to, with his crime writ on 
liis breast, and suffered to hang till the army 
leave that camp, for a terror to others. 
DESHACHE, in heraldry, is where a 
beast has its limbs separated from its body, 
so that they still remain on tlie escutcheon, 
with only a small separation from their na- 
tural places. 
DESIDERATUM, is used to signify the 
desirable perfections in any art or science : 
thus, it is a desideratum with the black- 
smith, to render iron fusible by a gentle 
DES 
heat, and yet preserve it hard enough for 
ordinary uses. 
DESIGN, in a general sense, the plan, 
order, representation, or construction, of a 
building, book, painting, &c. 
Design, in the manufactories, expresses 
the figures with which the workman en- 
riches his stuff, or silk, and w'hich he copies 
after some painter, or eminent draughts- 
man, as in diaper, damask, and other flow- 
ered silk and tapestry, and the like. 
In undertaking of such kinds of figured 
stuffs, it is necessary, before the first stroke 
of the shuttle, that the whole design be re- 
presented 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 the tlireads of the 
warp, let the workmen see, from time to 
time, what kind of silk is to be put in the 
eye of the shuttle, for woof. This method 
of preparing the work is called reading the 
design, and reading the figure, which is per- 
formed in the following manner : a paper is 
provided considerably broader than the 
stuff, and of a length proportionate to what 
is intended to be represented thereon. — 
This they divide lengthwise, by as many 
black lines as there are intended threads in 
the warp ; and cross tliese lines, by others 
drawn breadthwise, which, witli the former, 
make little equal squares : on the paper 
thus squared, the draughtsman designs his 
figures, and heightens them witli 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 the space 
he is reading, 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 de- 
sign is read. 
Every piece being composed of several 
repetitions of the same design, when the 
whole design is drawn, the drawer, to re- 
begin the design afresh, has nothing to do 
but to raise the little strings, with slip-knots, 
to the top of the simblot, w'liich he had let 
down to the bottom : this he is to repeat as 
often as is necessary till the whole be manu- 
factured. 
The ribbon- weavers have likewise a de- 
sign, but far more simple than that now de- 
scribed. It is drawn on paper with lines 
