DIP 
are nineteen species. These are all shrubs, 
bearing the resemblance of heaths. The 
leaves are either opposite or scattered, fre- 
quently crowded and linear, sometimes hav- 
ing the edge underneath dotted. The flow- 
ers are in corymbs, or heads at tlie ends of 
the branches. The calyxes of some aie 
glandulous and dotted. They are natives ot 
the Cape of Good Hope. 
DIOSPYNAS, in botany, a genus ot 
the Polygamia Dioecia class and order. 
Natural order of Bicorues. Guaiacana;, 
Jussieu. Essential character: hermaphio- 
dite ; calyx four-cleft ; corolla pitcher- 
shaped, four -cleft ; stamina eight; style 
four-cleft; berry eight-seeded. Male, ca- 
lyx, corolla, and stamina of the other. Theie 
are nine species, of which D. lotus, Euro- 
pean date plum is a small tree, six feet 
high, with spreading branches ; leaves ovate 
lanceolate, quite entire, large, alternate, 
smooth, with oblique prominent libs; flow- 
ers pale, terminating, solitary, with a large 
leafy calyx four or five parted, flat, per- 
manent; berry round, half an inch in dia- 
meter, yellow, lanuginose, one-celled, con- 
taining eight oblong compressed bony seeds, 
with very little pulp. The broad-leaved 
variety grows up into very large trees in the 
southern parts of Caucasus. It is also 
found abundantly on the whole coast of the 
Caspian Sea. 
DIP, of the horizon, is an allowance 
made in all astronomical observations of al- 
titude for the height of the eye above the 
level of the sea. 
DIPHTHONG, in grammar, a double 
vowel, or the mixture of two vowels pro- 
nounced together, so as to make one sylla- 
We. 
DIPHYSA, in botany, a genus of the 
Diadelphia Decandria class and order. Na- 
tural order of Papilionaceae or Legumino- 
S£e. Essential character : calyx half five- 
cleft; legume with a bladder on each side ; 
seeds hooked. There is but one- species, 
vu. D. carthaginensis, a small tree about 
ten feet in height, approaching to the ar- 
borescent mimosas. It is common every 
where about Carthagena in New Spain, 
flowering in August and September. 
diploma, an instrument or licence 
given by colleges, societies, &c. to a cler- 
gyman to exercise the ministerial function, 
or to a physician to practise the profession, 
&c. after passing examination, or admitting 
him to a degree. 
DIPLOMATIC letters. The art of read- 
ing letters written in cyphei- must be found- 
DIP 
ed on a knowledge of the art of writing ac- 
cording to this method of concealment. In 
examining a piece in newly- invented cha- 
racters, we should endeavour to ascertain 
whether the number of the characters cor- 
respond, or nearly so, with the ordinary 
number of alphabetical letters. We may 
sometimes detect a weakness in the writer 
of having selected his most simple marks 
either for the vowels or the first letters in 
the alphabet, and his complex marks for the 
consonants, or the letters most remote from 
a, b, c, &c. We must observe which of the 
characters, whether taken singly or com- 
bined, occur the oftenest in the whole spe- 
cimen ; and of these probably the most 
frequent will represent e, a, i, o ; e being 
much more common than the rest of the 
vowels, but M and y are even less frequent 
than many of the consonants. 
Endeavour next to ascertain the begin- 
ning and ending of words, which are some- 
times distinguished by spaces or points, or 
the insignificant marks or nulls interposed ; 
but however it be done, you must expect 
these signs to occur after every few letters, 
and the frequency of their occurrence may 
serve as some guide. 
When you have found out the distinction 
between vrords, take particular notice of 
the order, number, frequency, and combi- 
nation of the letters in each word ; and first 
examine the characters of which the shortest 
monosyllables are composed. Remember, 
1. That no word can be without a vow'el; a 
word of one letter must therefore be a 
vowel, or a consonant with an apostrophe. 
2. That the vowels are more frequently 
doubled at the beginning of words than the 
consonants : indeed the latter are only 
doubled at the beginning of Spanish and 
Welsh words. 3. That the vowels mostly 
exceed the consonants in short words ; and 
when the double consonants are preceded 
by a single letter, that letter is a vowel. 
4. That the single consonant which precedes 
or follows double consonants is I, m, n, or r. 
5. That the letter q is always followed by 
u; and when two different characters occur, 
the latter of which is often joined with 
other letters, but the former never found 
alone, nor joined with any than the lat- 
ter, those characters stand for qu, which 
two, except in a few Scotch names, are 
always followed by a vowel. 6. That al- 
though every language has something pecu- 
liar in its structure the foregoing observa- 
tions will apply with little variation to all 
the European languages. 
