7 64 D E S 
made it the firft after that of emperor, above that of 
Auguftus or Sebaftocrator and Caelar. The defpots were 
nfually the emperors fons or fons-in-law, and their col¬ 
leagues or co-partners in the empire, as well as their pre- 
lumptive heirs. Under the (uccelfors of Conftantine the 
Great, the title defpot of Sparta was given to the empe¬ 
ror’s foil or brother, who had the city of Sparta or Lace- 
demon by way of appennege. Defpot is at prefent a title 
of quality given to the prince of Wallachia, Servia, and 
feme of the neighbouring countries. 
DESPO'TIC, or Despoticat,,^’. Abfolute in power; 
unlimited in authority ; arbitrary; unaccountable: 
God’s univerfal law 
Gave to the man defpolic power 
Over his female in due awe, 
Nor from that right to part an hour. 
Smile (lie or lovvre. Milton. 
DESPOT'ICALLY, adv. In a defpotical manner.— 
Fortefcue well diftinguilhed between a monarchy defpoti- 
cally regal, and a political or civil monarchy. Blackjlone. 
DESPO'TIC A LNF.SS, f. Abfolute authority. 
DESPO'TISM,yi [ defpotifme , Fr. from defpot. ] Abfo¬ 
lute power. 
To DESPU'MATE, v. n. \_defpumo, Lat.] To throw 
off parts in foam ; to froth ; to work. 
DESPUMA'TION, f. The aCt of throwing off excre- 
mentitious parts in feum or foam. 
DESQUAMA'TION,/. \ixoxn. fqwma, Lat.] The aCt 
of fealing foul bones. A term of furgery. 
To DESQUA'ME, v. n. [• dcfquamare, of de, priv. and 
fquama , Lat. the fcale of a filh.] To take off fcales. 
DES'SAU, a town of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony, and capital of the principality of Anhalt Deffau, 
fituated on the Muldau, near its union with the Elbe. 
It is divided into Old and New Town, has three faux- 
bourgs, and was furrounded with walls in 1341, by prince 
Leopold. There are two churches for Calvinifts, one for 
Lutherans, a Latin fchool, two hofpitals, and an orphan 
houfe; with manufadtures of cloth, (lockings, and hats: 
twenty-eight miles fouth-eaft of Magdeburg, and forty- 
eight fouth-wefl of Potfdam. Lat. 51.49. N. Ion. 29. 55. 
E. Ferro, 
DES'SAULT (Peter Jofeph), furgeon in chief to the 
Hofpital of Humanity, formerly the Hotel-Dieu, at Paris, 
born February 6, 1744, at Magny Vernois, a village in the 
neighbourhood of Lure, in the department of Haute 
Saone, formerly the province of Franche Comte. On the 
completion of his (Indies, his father, who had deftined 
him for the church, intimated a with that he fhould ap¬ 
ply himfelf to theology ; but hk genius had taken a dif¬ 
ferent diredtion, and he was averfe to the profeflion of an 
ecclefiaftic : in fhort, young Deffault declared that he was 
determined to betake himfelf to the ftudy of the healing 
art; and, after a long and ineffectual refinance on the 
part of his family, he was fent to Befort, to ferve in the 
military hofpital of that place. But his defire of fame 
required a more extenfive theatre, and his love ot ftudy 
made him folicitous of better means of inftruCtion. Paris 
prefented both thefe advantages, and lie accordingly re¬ 
paired thither in 1764, at the age of nineteen, in fearch 
of them. Surgery at that period flourilhed in the capi¬ 
tal, under the aufpices of Lafaye, Morand, Andouillet, 
■and Louis. The fight of fuch great mailers excited the 
genius of thofe who afpired to emulate them : Deffault 
deemed himfelf worthy of equalling men whom other 
Undents were content with only admiring. Animated 
by this fentiment, he entirely refigned himfelf to his ar¬ 
dour ; anatomy became the fpecial object of his labours, 
and his diifeCtions were not confined to the human body, 
for he inveftigated a prodigious number of animals of all 
kinds : at firft, from a difficulty of procuring human (ob¬ 
jects, and afterwards on account of the advantages to be 
derived from comparative anatomy. He accordingly 
fpenbthe greater part of the day in the amphitheatres, 
2 
D E S 
The hours (tolen from his favourite labours were em¬ 
ployed in attending the hofpitals; he was the firft at the 
bed of the patient, where an operation was to be perform¬ 
ed, and was fure to be prefent at the dreffings, on pur- 
pofe to examine the refult. In the winter of 1766 he 
commenced a courfe of anatomy, and foon reckoned 300 
pupils, moft of them older than himfelf, who were at¬ 
tracted by the clearnefs of his demonftrations, the metho¬ 
dical arrangement of his deferiptions, and, above all, by 
his indefatigable zeal in the fcience of inftruCtion. 
Deffault’s reputation now grew into notice, and a mul¬ 
titude of patients claimed his affiftance ; but he refuted 
to praCtife until he fhould be placed at the head of fome 
eflablifhment. At length he prefented himfelf as a can¬ 
didate to the corporation of furgeons; and they, much 
to their honour, admitted him, in 1776, on condition of 
paying the ufual fees when convenient. The following 
is the title of his thefis : De calailo roefica urinaria, eoque 
extrahendo, pravid JeBione, ope injlrumcnti Haukenjiani enun- 
dati. His public leCtures were accompanied with as much 
celebrity as his private ones. Brilliant difeoveries were 
not the obieCt of his anatomical labours, which were al¬ 
ways connected with the art of healing : he was, however, 
the firft man in France who taught furgical anatomy. 
After becoming firft a fimple member, and then a coun- 
fellor, of the perpetual committee of the academy of fur¬ 
gery, he was appointed chief furgeon to the hofpital of 
the college, and confulting furgeon to that of St. Sul- 
pice : neither of thefe added any thing to his fortune, 
but they gave him a clear infight into practice, and en¬ 
abled him to judge of cafes by the inductions arifing from 
His own experience. In 1779 he invented the bandage 
now in ufe for fraCtures ; by means of which, the frag¬ 
ments being kept in a ftate of perpetual contaCt, become 
confolidated, without the leafl appearance of deformity, 
an almoft inevitable confequence of the former mode. 
On his appointment to the place of furgeon-major to the 
Hofpital de la charitc , in 1782, he introduced a new me¬ 
thod of treatment in oblique fraCtures of the thigh-bone ; 
and he alfo healed, by means of a methodical compref- 
fion, thofe various ulcers whofe cure had hitherto been 
attended with great difficulty.' In addition to this, he 
fubftituted new bandages in fraCtures of the humerus 
and clavicle, and adopted a new mode of treating the 
hare-lip. Fie never recurred to amputation but in ex¬ 
treme cafes, when there was a certainty that dilfolution 
would have followed a negleCt of the operation. 
When a premature death carried off Ferrand, chief fur¬ 
geon of the Hotel-Dieu in Paris, Deffault was confidered as 
the mod proper perfon to fucceed him ; and, on the de- 
mife of Moreau, the whole charge of the hofpital de¬ 
volved on him. After three years of felicitations and 
difputes, he at length, in 1788, proceeded in his long- 
projeCted fcheme of eftabliffiing a clinical fchool; and a 
fpacious amphitheatre was ereCted for that purpofe. 
Scarcely had his firft courfe commenced, when the num¬ 
ber of pupils who flocked around him was really aftonifh- 
ing. Foreigners repaired from all parts, and feveral of 
the neighbouring dates fent ftudents to Paris, exprefsly 
for the purpofe of affifting at his demonftrations. More 
than 600 auditors conftantly attended, in order to learn 
a new fyftem, confiding of a fimple mode of treatment, 
difengaged from ancient prejudices, and incoherent prac¬ 
tice ; and moft of the furgeons who have been employed 
in the French army derived their knowledge from it. 
Deffault’s practice was diftingni(lied for efficacy and 
fimplicity. He was the author or introducer of various 
improvements in furgery, among which were bandages 
for the retention of fraCtured limbs, the ufe of compref- 
lion in the cure of ulcers, that of ligature in umbilical 
hernias of children, the extraction of loofe cartilages in 
joints, the ufe of bougies in feirrhofities of the rectum, 
that of elaftic,probes in contractions of the urethra ; and 
he improved the conftruCtion of various chirurgical in- 
ltruments. In 1791 he publiilied a Journal de C!ururgcrie i 
