DIS 
statutes were in force against Dissenters, 
but by William I. stat. 1. cap. 18. com- 
monly called the “Toleration Act,” it is 
enacted, that none of the acts made against 
persons dissenting from the Cliurch of Eng- 
land, (except the Test Acts 25 Charles II. 
cap. 2. and 30 Charles II. stat. 2. cap. 1.) 
shall extend to any person dissenting from 
the Church of England, who shall at the 
general sessions of the peace, to be held for 
the county or place where such person shall 
live, take the oaths of allegiance and su- 
premacy, and subscribe the declaration 
against popery, of which the court shall keep 
a register ; and no olficer shall take more 
than 6d. for registering the same, and 6d. for 
a certificate tliereof signed by such officer. 
Provided that the place of meeting be 
certified to the bishop of the diocese, or to 
the archdeacon of the archdeaconry, or to 
the justices of the peace at the general or 
quarter sessions; and the register or clerk 
of the peace, shall register ou record the 
same, and give certificate thereof to any 
one who shall demand the same ; for which 
no greater fee than 6d. shall be taken : and 
provided that during the time of meeting, 
the doors shall not be locked, barred, or 
bolted. 
Dissenters chosen to any parochial or 
ward offices, and scrupling to take the oaths, 
may execute the office by deputy, who 
shall comply with the law in this behalf. 
But it seems they are not subject to fine, 
on refusing to serve corporation offices; 
for they may object to the validity of their 
election, on the ground of their own non- 
conformity. 
DISSONANCE, in music, the effect 
which results from the unison of two sounds 
not in accord with each other. 
DISSYLLABLE, among grammarians, 
a word consisting only of two syllables: 
such as nature, science, &c. 
DISTAFF, an instrament about which 
flax is tied in order to be spun. - 
DISTANCE, in general, an interval be- 
tween two tilings, either with regard to 
time or place. Dr. Berkely, in his essay 
on vision, maintains that distance cannot 
of itself and immediately be seen, for dis- 
tance being a line directed endwise to the 
eye, it projects only one point in the fund 
of the eye, which point remains invariably 
the same, whetlier the distance be longer 
or shorter. But Mr. M'Laurin observes, 
that the distance here spoken of, is distance 
from the eye ; and that what is said of it 
must not be applied to distance in general. 
DIS 
The apparent distance of two stars is capa- 
ble of the same variations as any other 
quantity or magnitude. Visible magnitudes 
consist of parts into which they may be 
resolved as well as tangible magnitudes, 
and the proportions of the former may be 
assigned as well as those of the latter ; so 
that it is going too far to tell us, that visi- 
ble magnitudes are no more to be accounted 
the object of geometry than words; and 
that the ideas of space, and things placed 
at a distance, are not, strictly speaking, the 
object of sight; and are not otherwise per- 
ceived by the eye than by the ear. 
Distance, in navigation, the number of 
minutes or leagues a ship has sailed from 
any given place or point. 
Distance, in astronomy. The distance 
of the. sun, planets, and comets, is only 
found from their parallax, as it cannot be 
found either by eclipses or their different 
phases : for from the theory of the motions 
of the earth and planets we know, at any 
time, the proportion of the distances of the 
sun and planets from us ; and the horizon- 
tal parallaxes are in a reciprocal propor- 
tion to these distances. See Astronomy. 
Distance of the eye, in perspective, is a 
line drawn from the eye to the principal 
point. See Perspective. 
Distances accessible, in geometry, are 
such as may be measured by the chain, &c. 
Distances inaccessifiZe, are such as can- 
not be measured by the chain, &c. by rea- 
son of some river, or the like, which obs- 
tructs our passing from one object to an- 
other. See Mensuration. 
DISTICH, a couplet of verses making 
a complete sense. Thus hexameter and 
pentameter verses are disposed in distichs. 
DISTILLATION, a chemical process, 
which consists in separating bodies which 
are volatile, from those which are more 
fixed, by the application of heat. All bo- 
dies which are susceptible of the elastic 
or vaporous form, at the same time that 
they are not decomposed, or otherwise 
changed in their properties, are capable 
of being separated from other matter by 
distillation. 
The process employed for distilling liquid 
bodies from other matter, is simply called 
distillation; that, on the contrary, used to 
separate solid bodies, by giving them tlie 
elastic form, is termed sublimation. 
The apparatus employed for the first 
process are. of several varieties, suited to 
the nature of the volatile body. That em- 
ployed for the distillation of ryater, alco- 
