DIV 
received are denominated unclaimed divi- 
dends. 
The amount of unclaimed dividends re- 
maining in the hands of the Bank of Eng- 
land, previous to the year 1750, seldom ex- 
ceeded 60,0001. j its increase since that 
period will appear from the following ex- 
tract from an account laid before the House 
of Commons. 
£. s. d. 
On July, 5, 1759 102,075 4 11^ 
1769 227,928 6 
1779 314,885 8 3i 
1789 547,366 16 6| 
In 1791, an act was passed authorising 
the bank to advance out of the unclaimed 
dividends in their hands 500,0001. for the 
public service ; with a provision that if the 
sum in their hands should be reduced unde 
600,0001. the difference should be repaid 
them. In consequence of the publication 
of the names of the proprietors of the divi- 
dends then unclaimed, a considerable part 
of them were received, and the sum ad- 
vanced to government thus became only 
376,7391. The amount of unclaimed divi- 
dends has accumulated considerably, being 
On April 1, 1806 ^£'1,235,265 
— July 1 1,003,599 
— October 1 1,067,778 
— January 1, 1807 1,019,336 
In consequence of this great increase, the 
bank, in 1808, advanced the further sum of 
500.0001. for the public service, on condi- 
tion that the balance in their hands, on this 
accoimt, should never be reduced below 
100.0001. 
Di vidend, in the university, signifies that 
part or share which every one of the fellows 
equally divide among themselves of their 
yearly stipend, 
DIVINATION, the knowledge of things 
obscure, or future, which cannot be attain- 
ed by any natural means. 
DIVINE, sometliing relating to God. 
DIVING, the art of descending undqr 
water, to considerable depths, and abiding 
there a competent time. The uses of 
diving are considerable, particularly in 
fishing for pearls, corals, sponges, wrecks of 
ships, &c. See Pearl, &c. 
There have been various engines con- 
trived to render the business of diving safe 
and easy ; the great point is to furnish the 
diver with fresh air, without which he must 
either make but a short stay, or perish. 
Those who dive for sponges in tlae Mediter- 
ranean, carry down sponges dipt in oil in 
their moutlis, but considering the small 
VOL. II. 
DIV 
quantity of air that can be contained in the 
pores of a sponge, and how much that little 
will be contracted by the pressure of the in- 
cumbent air, such a supply cannot subsist 
a diver long, since a gallon of air is not fit 
for respiration above a minute. 
Diving bell. A diving bell is most con- 
veniently made in form of atruncqted cone, 
the smaller end being closed, and the 
larger opened. It is to be poised with lead, 
and so suspended, that the vessel may sink 
full of air, and with its open base down- 
ward, and as nearly as may be in a si- 
tuation parallel to the horizon, so as to close 
with the surface of the water all at once. 
The diver sitting under this, sinks down 
with the included air to the depth desired ; 
and if the cavity of the vessel can contain 
’ a tun of water, a single man may remain a 
full hour witliout much inconvenience at 
five or six fathoms deep ; but the lower he 
goes the included air contracts itself ac- 
cording to the weight of the water which 
compresses it, so that at thirty-three feet 
deep the bell becomes half full of water, the 
pressure of the incumbent water being 
then equal to that of the atmosphere, and at 
all otlier depths tlie space occupied by the 
compressed air in the upper part of the bell 
will be to the under pai-t of its capacity 
filled with water, as thirty-three feet to the 
surface of the water in the bell below the 
common surface, and this condensed air 
being taken in with the breath, soon ac- 
commodates itself to the existing circum- 
stances, so as to have no ill effect, provided 
the bell is admitted to descend slowly, but 
the greatest inconvenience of tliis engine, 
is, that the water entering it, contracts the 
bulk of air into so small a compass, that it 
soon heats and becomes unfit for respira- 
tion, so that there is a necessity for its being 
drawn up to recruit it, besides the uncom- 
fortable situation of the diver who must be 
almost covered with water. 
To obviate these difficulties of the diving 
bell. Dr. Halley, to whom we owe the pre- 
ceding account, contrived a farther appa- 
ratus, whereby, not only to recruit the air 
from time to time, but also to keep the 
water wholly out of the machine at any 
depth. This bell was made of w'ood, con- 
taining about sixty cubic feet in its conca- 
vity, and was the form of a truncated cone, 
whose diameter at the top was three feet, 
and at the bottom five. It was so loaded 
with lead that it would go dovrai in a per- 
pendicular direction and no other. In the top 
was a window to let in light, and likewise 
M m 
