D E M 
DEMO'DOCUS, a mufician at the-court of Aleinous, 
fang, in the prefence of Ulyfles, the fecret amours of 
Mars and Venus, See. Homer. 
DEMOI'VRE (Abraham), a celebrated mathemati¬ 
cian, of French original, but who fpent mod of his life 
in England. He was born at Vitri in Champagne, in 
1667. The revocation of the edict of Nantz, in 1685, 
determined him, with many others, to lake (belter in 
England. A mediocrity of fortune obliged him to em¬ 
ploy his mathematical knowledge in giving leflons, and 
reading public leftures, for his better flip port: in the 
latter part of his life too, he chiefly fubfifted by giving 
anfwers to queftions in chances, play, annuities, &c. and 
it is faid that mod of thefe refponfes were delivered at a 
coffee-houfe in St. Martin’s-lane, where he fpent molt of 
his time. The Principia Mathematica of Newton, which 
chance is faid to have thrown in his way, foon convinced 
Demoivre how little he had advanced in the fcience he 
profeffed. This induced him to redouble his application ; 
which was attended by a confiderable degree of fuccefs ; 
and he foon became connected with, and celebrated 
among, the firft-rate mathematicians. His eminence and 
abilities in this line, opened him an entrance into the 
royal fociety of London, and into the academies of Ber¬ 
lin and Paris. By the former his merit was fo well known 
and efteemed, that they judged him a fit perfon to decide 
the famous conteft between Newton and Leibnitz, con¬ 
cerning the invention of fluxions. The collection of the 
academy of Paris contains no memoir of this author, who 
died at London, in November 1754, at eighty-feven years 
of age, foon after his admiffion into it. But the Philo- 
fophical Tranfaftions of London have feveral, and all of 
them interefting, viz. in the volumes 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 
27, 29, 30, 32, 40, 41, 43. He publifiied alfo, 1. Mijcel- 
lanea Analylica, de Seriebus & Quadraturis, CSc. 1730, in 4to, 
1. Doctrine of Chances; or, Method of Calculating the 
Probabilities of Events at Play. This work was firlt 
printed, 1718, in 4to, and dedicated to fir Ifaac Newton: 
it was reprinted in 1738, with great alterations and im¬ 
provements ; and a third edition was afterwards printed. 
3. Annuities on Lives; firlt printed in 1724, in 8vo. 
To DEMO'LISH, v. a. [demolir , Fr. demolior, Lat.] To 
throw down buildings ; to raze ; to deflroy.—I expected 
the fabric of my book would long fince have been demo, 
li/hed, and laid even with the ground. Tillotfon. 
Red lightning play’d along the firmament. 
And their demolijh'd works to pieces rent. Drydcn. 
DEMO'LISHER, f. One that throws down build¬ 
ings ; a deltroyer ; a layer walte. 
DEMOLI'TION,/! The a£t of overthrowing or demo- 
lilhing buildings; deltruftion.—Two gentlemen fhould 
have the direction in the demolition of Dunkirk. Swift. 
DE'MON, f. [ daemon , Lat. Sa. Gr.] Afpirit; ge¬ 
nerally an evil fpirit. See the article D^mon, p. 558, of 
this volume. 
I felt him ftrike, and now I fee him fly : 
Curs’d demon! O for ever broken lie 
Thofe fatal (hafts, by which I inward bleed! Prior. 
DEMO'NA (valley of), adivifion of the illand of Si¬ 
cily, lying to the north-eaft part of the illand, neared to 
Italy, about a hundred miles long, and twenty broad. 
DE'MONAX, a cynic philofopher, eminent for his 
virtues, and the influence and refpedl which they pro¬ 
cured him, flourilhed during the reign of the emperor 
Adrian. He was a native of Cyprus, and defeended from 
a family of wealth and rank. But he preferred a life of 
philofophic ftudy to the honourable or advantageous em¬ 
ployments which his birth and fortune might command, 
and removed when young to Athens, where he fpent the 
remainder of his days. In his habit and manner of liv¬ 
ing he imitated Diogenes, whence he has been ranked 
among the Cynics; but he did not openly profefs to be¬ 
long to any particular fed of philofophers. From their 
D E M 703 
various tenets he feleited fuch as he confideredtobe mod- 
favourable to moral wifdorn, and followed the example 
of Socrates in making philofophy not a fpeculative 
fcience, but rule of life and manners. He was virtuous 
without ollentation, or affecting any ridiculous Angulari¬ 
ties, and poffcffed the happy art of reproving vice and 
folly without acrimony, and in a manner the molt likely 
to produce good, effect. So high was the reputation 
and efteem in which he was held, that his opinion often 
determined the refolutions of the Athenian people in 
their affemblies ; and after his death he was honoured 
with a public funeral, attended by a numerous train of 
philofophers, and others who lamented the lofs of fuch 
an excellent character. 
DEMO'NIAC, or Demoni'acal, adj. Belonging- to 
fpirits or demons: 
He, all unarm’d, 
Shall chafe thee with the terror of his voice 
From thy demoniac holds, poffeflion foul. Milton. 
Influenced by diabolical poffeflion .'—Demoniac phrenfy, 
moping melancholy. Milton. 
DEMO'NIAC, /! One whofe mind is difturbed and 
agitated by the power of wicked and unclean fpirits. See 
Demoniac, p. 560, of this volume.—Thole lunatics 
and demoniacs that were reftored to their right mind, were 
fuch as fought after him, and believed in him. Bentley. 
DEMO'NIAN, adj. Of the nature of demons; 
Dcmonian fpirits now, from the element 
Each of his reign allotted, rightlier call’d 
Powers of fire, air, water. Milton. 
DEMONO'CRACY, [of and ?!faV£ia, Gr. 
power.] The government or power of daemons. 
DEMONO'LATRY, [of and Aar^ia, Gr.) 
Worfhip paid to demons; or the worfhip of dead men. 
DEMONO'LOGY, f. [ot cixi/j-tov, and Xoyoc, Gr. a 
word or fpeech.] A treatife on evil fpirits. Thus king 
James T. infilled his book concerning witches. 
On the fubjecl of medical Demonology, a very inte¬ 
refting and curious paper has been lately publilhed in the 
third volume of the Manchefter Philofophical Tranfac- 
tions, by John Ferriar, M. D. abounding with ingenious 
remarks, and inftrudtive obfer vations, on that ftrange pro- 
penlity of the human mind to believe in the marvellouSj 
w’hich has more or lefs prevailed in every age and date 
of fociety. The fuperftitioits regard paid by the polilhed 
nations of antiquity to auguries and omens ; the confult- 
ers of dreams, and the belief of our forefathers in magic, 
witchcraft, apparitions, See. not only difplay the natural 
credulity of mankind, but lhevv how uniformly one po¬ 
pular illufion and abfurdity has been fucceeded by ano¬ 
ther. And yet, fays Dr. Ferriar, it is remarkable that 
the propenfity to alcribe the powers of animated to ina- 
nimated beings, is the foundation of poetry ; and what 
betrays men, in one ftage of fociety, to the lowed abfur¬ 
dity, becomes, in another, the fource of their mod ele¬ 
gant pleafure. The author goes on to remark, that an 
attention to dreams and omens is one of the fird afts of 
fuperdition, evidently derived from the affociations al¬ 
ready mentioned. Not only the civil magiftrates and 
military commanders, but philofophers, in the brighteft 
periods of Greece and Rome, were endaved by this ob- 
fervance. Pythagoras and Plato, (ays Cicero, to increafe 
the certainty of dreams, direct certain forms and diet 
preparatory to deep. Socrates predicted, while in pri- 
fon, that he fliould die within three days, becaufe he 
dreamt that a perfon repeated to him that verfe of Ho¬ 
mer, “ On the third day thou flialt arrive at the fertile 
Phthia.” Ariftotle wrote exprefsly on this fpecies of 
divination ; and, though he endeavours to account for 
dreams in general from natural caufes, yet he admits 
their production, in fome cafes, by fupernatural agency. 
All dreams, fays he, are not of divine origin, becaufe 
many of the lower animals dream; but though there be 
' nothing 
