r> i c 
D I C 
802 
2. Dicera ferrata, or ferrated dicera : ftyles four; 
leaves oppofite, cordate-ovate, unequally ferrate; ra¬ 
cemes, lateral, compound. This agrees in the ftrudhire 
of the flower with the preceding, but it differs in the 
fruit. Native of New Zealand. See Elteocarpus di- 
'cer* 7. 
DICH. This word feems corrupted from dit for do it: 
Rich men fin, and I eat root: 
Much good dick thy good heart, Apemantus. Shakcfp. 
DICHAS'TERES, f. [from Gr - t° divide -] 
A name of tire fore-teeth, becaufe they divide the food. 
DICHON'DR A, f. [from uitwice, and a 
grain, becaufe two little grains fucceed to each flower.] 
In botany ; a genus of the clafs pentandria, order digy- 
nia, natural order afperifbliac. The generic characters 
are — Calyx: five-leaved; leaflets obovate, netted-nerved, 
hairy without, fmootli within, permanent. Corolla: 
monopetalous, inferior, rotate, fubcampanulate, five- 
cleft, the length of the calyx. Stamina: filaments five, 
fubulate, fpreading, placed alternately between the divi- 
fions of the corolla, and only half the length ; antherae 
roundifh, Piftillum : germs two, hairy ; ftyles two, di¬ 
varicate, fetaceous, the length of the fiamens, arifing on 
the infide from the bafe of the germs ; ftigmas capitate, 
Pericarpi’um: capfules two, globular, fubhirfute, one- 
celled. Seeds: one in each cell, globular.— EJfentiaL Cha- 
rafler. Calyx, five-leaved; corolla, rotate, inferior; 
capfule, dicoccous. 
Dichor.dra repens, or creeping dichondra, a Angle fpe- 
cies, was at firft taken by Linnaeus for a fpecies of Sib- 
thorpia, from which it differs both in clafs and order, and 
in having two capfules.with a (ingle feed in each, inftead 
of a t'.vo-cclled many-feeded capfule, which the Sib- 
thorpia has. It is alfo very diftindt from Falkia, which 
it relembles fomewhat in the leaves. The fpecimens 
from different countries differ in having the leaves naked 
above, or filky on both lides; alfo in the length of the 
petioles and peduncles ; but thefe feem only to be varie¬ 
ties. Muds lent it to Linnaeus from New Granada ; 
Commerfon found it at Buenos Ayres, and in the ifland 
of Mauritius; it is alfo known to be a native of Peru, 
Jamaica, and New Zealand. 
DICHOPHY'IA, f. [from hx,a, double, and tpvu, Gr. 
to grow.] A diftemper of the hair, in which it fplits and 
grows forked. 
To DICHOT'OMIZE, v. a. To cut or divide into two 
parts’. 
DICHOT'OMOUS, adj. (In botany.) Having the 
(talk divided into two parts at each knot or (hoot. 
DICHO'TOMY, f [^ot o^cc, Gr.] Diftribution of 
ideas by pairs.—Some perfons have dilturbed the order 
of nature, and abufed their readers by an affedtation of 
dichotomies , trichotomies, fevens, twelves, &c. Watts. 
DI'CING-HOUSE, f. A gaming-houfe.—As if a pri- 
vy-counfellor fliouldat the table take his metaphor front 
a dieing-houfe. Ben jonfon. 
DICK'AR, or Dicker, /. [&*«?, Gr. ten.] A quan¬ 
tify of leather, confiding of ten hides, filial. III. i. 
A dicker of iron is ten bars. Domejday. 
DICK'ENS, J'. A kind of adverbial exclamation, im¬ 
porting, as it feems, much the fame with the devil .—I 
cannot tell what the dickens his name is my hufband had 
him of. Skakefpeare. —What a dickens does he mean by a 
trivial flint ? Congreve. 
DICK'INSON, or Dickenson (Edmund), a cele¬ 
brated Engliflt phyfician and chemift in the feventeenth 
century, born at Appleton in Berkffiire, in 1624. His 
clatlical education he received at Eton fchool, whence, in 
1642, he was removed to Oxford, and admitted one of 
tiie Eton polt-mafters at Merton college. After taking 
his degrees in arts, he was entered on the medical line, 
and was admitted to the degrees of bachelor and dodtor 
in phyiic in 16 56. In 1655 he publiflted a work, entitled 
Delphi Phcenicizantes, Be. the objedl of which was to 
prove, that the Greeks borrow'ed the (lory of the Pythian 
Apollo, and all that rendered the oracle of Delphi fa¬ 
mous, from the holy Scriptures, and the book of Joflma 
in particular. This work difplays a wonderful (kill in 
the oriental and Greek languages, and a profound know¬ 
ledge of antiquity, and is accompanied with dill’ertations 
abounding in much ingenious and curious matter. It 
procured to Dr. Dickinfon a very great reputation, both 
at home and abroad, and imprefled Dr. Sheldon, after¬ 
wards archbifhop of Canterbury, with fo high a fenfe of 
his merit, that he endeavoured to perfuade him to take 
orders, and to devote his talents to the ferviceof reli¬ 
gion. He found him, however, determined to continue 
in the profefiion which he had already chofen. In 1684, 
on the death of Dr. Willis, an eminent phyfician in Lon¬ 
don, Dr. Dickinfon removed thither, took Dr. Willis’s 
houfe, and pradtifed with great reputation for many years. 
Having proved fuccefsful in treating the defperate cafe 
of the earl of Arlington, lord chamberlain to Charles II. 
that nobleman introduced him to his majefiy, by whom 
he was appointed one of his phyficians in ordinary, and 
phyfician to the houfliold. As that prince was fond of 
chemiflry, Dr. Dickinfon’s proficiency in the art made 
him a great favourite at court, and occalioned his being 
honoured with much of his majefty’s converfation in the 
royal laboratory. He retained his official fituations and 
the royal favour during the remainder of the reign of 
Charles II. and that of his brother and fuccefior. In 
the courfe of his chemical purfuits, he became acquaint¬ 
ed at Oxford with a French adept in alchemy, named 
Theodore Mundanus, who appears to have made a con¬ 
vert of him to the dodtrine of the tranfmutation of me¬ 
tals. Whether he had the art of extracting much gold 
from the doctor’s purfe we are not informed ; but that 
he fo farimpofed upon him as, “by an illuflrious demon- 
ftration, to take from him all power of doubting any 
longer” refpedting the truth of that dodtrine, may be 
learned from a work publiffied by Dr. Dickinfon in 1686, 
intitled Epijlola Edmundi Dickinfon, M.D. & M.R. ad T/ieod. 
Mund. Philojophum adeptum, de Quintcjjcntia Plimfophorvm , 
Be. 8vo. Soon after the abdication of James II. Dr. 
Dickinfon retired from practice, owing to his advanced 
age and increafing infirmities. He continued, however, 
his literary and philolophical (Indies, and for fome years 
employed himfelf in the compofition of a laborious work, 
intitled Phyfica Vetus B Vera, five TraClatus de Naturali Ve- 
ritate Hcxaemetri Mofaici, Be. 4to. which made its appear¬ 
ance in 1702. The objedl of this work is to prove, 
“ that the method and mode of the creation of the uni- 
verfe, according to the principles of true philofophy, 
are ftridtly and concifely laid down by Mofes.” He is 
fuppofed to have been the author alfo of Parabola Philo - 
Jophica, Be. or, A Journey to the Mount of Mercury, by 
Philaretes ; and he left behind him, in manufeript, a trea- 
tife in Latin, On the Grecian Games, which was annexed 
to an account of his life and writings, publiffied in 1739. 
He died in the year 1707. 
DICK’s COVE, a village of Africa, on the Gold Coaft, 
fituated on a fmall creek, which admits only boats. 
DICK’s RIVER, in North America, is a branch of Ken¬ 
tucky river, which it joins in a north-weft diredtion. It is 
about fifty miles long, and forty-five yards at the mouth. 
DICKSO'NIA, f. [fo named by Monf. l’Heritier, 
from Mr. James Dickfon-, who, from his accurate know¬ 
ledge in the cryptogamia clafs, well delerves fuch an 
honour.] In botany, a genus of the clafs cryptogamia, 
order Alices, natural order o i /dices, or ferns. The ge¬ 
neric characters are—Fructifications kidney-fhaped, lying 
under the edge of the frond at the lower furface ; outer 
valve formed of the fubltance of the leaf itfelf, inner 
membranaceous. 
Species. 1. Dickfonia arborefeens, or tree Dickfonia : 
fronds fuperdecompound, villofe; leaflets almolt entire; 
(tern 
