DUE 
DUG 
stretches at least i farther, so that the 
twenty-two inches are now 111 leagues: 
but in the flattening, instead of they 
could stretch it J, which would bring it to 
120 leagues. This appears a prodigious 
extension, and yet it is nothing to what 
this gentleman has p."oved gold to be capa- 
ble of. 
Ductility nf glass. We all know, that 
when well penetrated with the heat of the 
fire, the workmen can figure and manage 
glass like soft wax ; but what is most re- 
markable, it may be drawn, or spun out, 
into threads exceedingly long and fine. 
Our ordinary spinners do not form their 
threads of silk, flax, or the like, with half 
the ease and expedition as the glass-spin- 
ners do threads of this brittle matter. W e 
have some of them used in plumes for chil- 
dren’s heads, and divers other works, much 
tiner than any hair, and which bend and 
wave like hair with every wind. Nothing 
is more simple and easy than the method of 
making them. There are two workmen 
employed ; the first holds one end of a piece 
of glass over the flame of a lamp, and when 
the heat has softened it, a second operator 
applies a glass hook to the metal thus in fu- 
sion ; and, withdrawing the hook again, it 
brings with it a thread of glass, which still 
adheres to the mass : then, fitting his hook 
en the circumference of a wheel about two 
feet and a half in diameter, he turns the 
wheel as fast as he pleases ; which, drawing 
out the thread, winds it on its run, till after 
a certain number of revolutions, it is cover- 
ed with a skein of glass-thread. The mass 
in fusion over the lamp diminishes insensi- 
bly, being wound out like a clue of silk 
upon the wheel ; and the parts, as they re- 
cede from the flame, cooling, become more 
coherent to those next to them, and this 
bv degrees : the parts nearest the tire are 
always the least coherent, and, of conse- 
quence, qmst give way to the effort the rest 
make to draw them towards the wheel. 
The circumference of these threads is 
usually a flat oval,bein^ three or four times as 
broad as thick : some of them seem scarcely 
bigger than the thread of a silk-woim, and 
are surprisingly flexible. If the two ends 
of such threads are knotted together, they 
may be drawn and bent, till the aperture, 
or space in the middle of tlie knot, does 
not exceed one-fouith of a line, or one 
forty-eighth of an inch in diameter. Hence 
M. Reaumur advances, that the flexibility 
of glass increases in proportion to the fine- 
ness of the tlueads; and that, probably. 
had we but the art of drawing threads as 
fine as a spider’s web, we might weave 
stuffs and cloths of them for wear. Ac- 
cordingly, he made some experiments this 
way; and found that he could make thread* 
fine enough, viz. as fine, in his judgment, as 
spider’s thread, but he could never make 
them long enough to do any thing with 
them. 
DUEL, a single combat, at a time and 
place appointed, in consequence of a chal- 
lenge. This custom came originally from 
the northern nations, among whom it was 
usual to decide all their controversies by 
arms. Both the accuser and accused gave 
pledges to tl.e judges on their respective 
behalf ; and the custom prevailed so far 
amongst the Germans, Danes, and Franks, 
that none were excused from it but women, 
sick people, cripples, and such as were 
under 21 years of age, or above 60. Even 
ecclesiastics, priests, and monks, were ob- 
liged to find champions to fight in their 
stead. The punishment of the vanquished 
was either death, by hanging or beheading ; 
or mutilation of members, according to th« 
circumstances of the case. Duels were at 
first admitted not only on criminal occa- 
sions, but on some civil ones for the main- 
tenance of rights to estates, and the like : 
in latter tiiiies, however, before tliey were 
entirely abolished, they were restrained to 
these four cases : 1. That the crime should 
be capital. 2. That it should be certain 
the crime was perpetrated. 3. The accused 
must, by common fame, be suppospjl guilty. 
And, 4. Tiie matter not capable of proof by 
witnesses. In England, though the trial of 
duel is disused, the law on which it is found- 
ed is still in force. See Champion. 
Duel, at present is used for a single 
combat on some private quarrel, and must 
be premeditated, otherwise it is called a 
rencounter. If a person be killed in a duel 
both the principals and seconds are guilty 
of murder, whether the seconds engage or 
not. It is also a very high offence to chal- 
lenge a person either by word or letter, or 
to be tlie messenger of a challenge. 
DUET, in music, a composition ex- 
pressly written for two voices or instru- 
ments, with or without a bass and accom- 
paniments. In good duets the execution 
is pretty equally distributed between the 
two parts, and the melodies so connected, 
intermingled, and dependent on each other, 
as to lose every effect when separated, but 
to be perfectly related and conciiinous 
when heard together. 
