DID 
exhibits the youngeft ever yet difcovered in the falfe 
'belly, weighing only twenty-one grains, and, from the ori¬ 
fice of its mouth, appears to be in the ftate of juft re¬ 
ceiving the nipple, and of courfe very recently ejedted 
from the womb. Fig. 4, (hews the foetus feme time after 
it had been attached to the nipple, with part of the dug, 
to (hew how far the nipple had been in the mouth. Fig. 5, 
reprefents the more mature ftate of the feetus, with the 
nipple in its mouth, and where the hind legs have ac¬ 
quired their proportion to the other parts. 
DIDEL'TA,yi [from twice, and the capital Greek 
letter A ; the receptacle having the form of a double del¬ 
ta, or double-equilateral triangle.] In botany, a genus 
of the clafs fyngenefia, order polygamia fruftranea, na¬ 
tural order compound flowers, (corymbiferte, Ju(T.) The 
generic characters are—Calyx : common double, perma¬ 
nent ; outer three-leaved or three-parted, umbilicated at 
the back ; leaflets cordate, acuminate, much expanded, 
tomentofe-hoary above ; inner placed on the dilk of the 
outer, ftiorter, compofed of eleven or twelve leaflets, 
which are linear-lanceolate, very acute, ferrate-prickly, 
one-nerved, fpreading, five or fix alternately (horter by 
half than the others ; the twelfth often wanting. Corol¬ 
la: compound radiated ; corollets hermaphrodite nume¬ 
rous, fhorter than the calyx ; barren in a deltoid diik ; 
fertile in the outer triangles of the receptacle ; females 
eleven or twelve in the ray, each oppofite to one of the 
calycine leaflets, and double the length of the calyx ; 
proper in both, hermaphrodites funnel-lhaped, half five- 
cleft ; border five-parted, linear, acute, patulous, revo¬ 
lute, brown at the tip; female ligulate, four or three¬ 
toothed, three-furrowed, tubular at the bafe, fpreading. 
Stamina: in both hermaphrodites ; filaments five, capil¬ 
lary, very ftiort, inferted into the tube; anther cylin- 
dric, tubular, five-toothed, brown at the tip, the length 
of tire corollet; in the females the rudiment of one fta- 
men inferted at the top of the tube. Piftillum : in the 
perfedt hermaphrodites germ inferior, immerfed in the 
receptacle, oblong, comprefled, crowned with a thin 
fliort pappus or down, like tire eye-lathes; ftyle (lender, 
finally (landing out ; ftigma two-parted, fubulate, revo¬ 
lute ; in the barren hermaphrodites, germ roundifli, very 
fmall, immerfed ; in other refpeCts as in the fertile ; fe¬ 
males, fcarcely any rudiment of a germ. Receptacle : 
deltoid, flat, honey-combed, with labyrinthed membranes, 
diftinCt and finally refolvable into four partial deltas or 
triangles ; the central naked, barren ; the fide ones pro¬ 
ducing feeds, roughened with ftiff brown bridles, becom¬ 
ing hard, and in feparating from each other becoming a 
pericarpium: nuts three, bony, three-cornered, flatted, 
ftiff-briftly, from the outer triangles of the receptacle 
gaped and hardened, each retaining an outer leaf and the 
oppofite inner calycine leaflets, or one-third part of the 
calyx, and many-celled. Seeds : fmall kernels, (nucleoli,) 
as many as there were germs, but fome abortive, oblong ; 
down fimple, thin, (hort, ftiffer than in the flower_ 
EJfential CharaEier. Calyx, expanding, outer leafy ; re¬ 
ceptacle, honey-combed, dividing into parts which re¬ 
tain the feeds ; down, chaffy, many-leaved. 
Species. 1. Didelta carnofa, orfucculent-leaved didelta: 
leaves alternate, lanceolate-oblong, fleftiy. This plant 
is fomewhat flefby, and has the air of tetragonia; ftem 
herbaceous, very much branched, eredl, round, eighteen 
inches in height ; branches alternate, ditfufed, fleftiy, 
fmooth, green, the thicknefs of a quill; the extreme 
branchlets woolly ; flowers folitary, terminating, on long 
peduncles, fcarcely nodding, yellow ; annual, but in the 
ftove enduring fome years, and becoming fomewhat 
fhrubby, which is frequently, the cafe with fome annual 
plants. It is a native of the Cape, and was found there 
by Mr. Fr. Maflbn. It flowers in July, and was intro¬ 
duced in 1774. 
2. Didelta fpinofa, or oppofite-leaved didelta : leaves 
oppofite, fomewhat ftem-clafping, ovate. This is very 
fmooth ; the leaves are broad, and the outer calyx is five- 
Vol, V. No, 316, 
DID 809 
leaved. This alfo is a native of the Cape, whence it was 
brought by Thunberg and Maflbn. Thefe plants may 
be propagated both from feeds and cuttings, muft have 
the protedtion of a dry ftove or glafs-cafe, and may be 
managed as other Cape plants. 
DI'DIA LEX, de Sumptibus , or Didean law, pafied by 
Didius, in the year of Rome 606, to reftrain the expencer, 
that attended public feftivals and entertainments, and 
limit the number of guefts which generally attended 
them, not only at Rome, but in all the provinces of Ita¬ 
ly. By it, not only thofe who received guefts in thefe 
feftival meetings, but the guefts themfelves, were liable 
to be fined. It was an extenfion of the Oppian and Fan- 
nian laws. 
DI'DEROT (Denys), an eminent French writer, the 
fon of a cutler at Langres, born in 1713. He was edu¬ 
cated among the jefuits, who wi(hed to engage him in 
their fociety; their ufual policy with refpect to pupils 
of promifing talents ; and one of his uncles, who held a 
canonry which he meant to beftow upon him, can fed him 
to receive the tonfure. The youth, however, (hewed 
fo little inclination for the ecclefiaftical profeflion, that 
his father fent him to purfue his (tudies at Paris, and 
then placed him with an attorney. He was, however, 
more attached to literature than to the ddk, which fo 
offended his father, that he withdrew from him his al¬ 
lowance, and for fome time left him to himfelf. Dide¬ 
derot’s (Indies embraced a wide circle ; phyfics, geome¬ 
try, metaphylics, moral philofophy, belles-lettres, all in 
their turn. The warmth of his imagination feemed to 
difpofe him to poetry and works of invention; but he 
chiefly attached himfelf to more ferious purfuits. The 
ready flow, and animation of his language in converfa- 
tion, and the decifivenefs of his tone, gave him partifans 
and protestors in Paris, where thofe qualities have al¬ 
ways borne their full value. One of his earHeft publi¬ 
cations was a tranflation from the Englifh of Star.yan’s 
Hiftory of Greece. He publifhed, in 1745, Principles of 
Moral Philofophy, 12010. a work which obtained com¬ 
mendation. But it was a piece publifhed the next year, 
under the title of Peifces Philofophi.ques, which firft gave 
him celebrity. This work was reprinted with the title 
ot Etrenncs aux Efprits.forts. It was much read, and be¬ 
came a companion to the toilet, and doubtlefs contri¬ 
buted much to that prevalence of free opinions by which 
France became fo diftinguifhed. He foon after began to 
lay the plan, in conjunction with his friend d’Alembert, 
of that vaft undertaking, the DiElionnaire Encyclopedique , 
which, while it was to be a magazine of every fpecies of 
human knowledge, was likewife to be the great engine 
for the fubverfion of all thofe eftablifhed opinions which 
were confidered by that fchool as originating in fraud and 
fuperftition. Diderot took, as his proper province in 
this work, the defeription of arts and trades, a part of 
undoubted utility ; but lie likewife wrote a confiderable 
number of fupplemental articles in various branches of 
(cience. He is accufed of being too wordy and difeur- 
(ive, too fond of the parade of fcientific language, too 
fubtle and metaphyiical. The firft edition of the Dic¬ 
tionary made its appearance from 1751 to 1767, and Di¬ 
derot was employed in condutling it near twenty years, 
with very inadequate recompenfe. In the mean time he 
compofed various other works, of very different kinds. 
In (peculative philofophy he wrote a Letter on the 
Blind, for the Ufe of thofe who fee, 1749 ; a piece which 
made much noife, and was the caufe of his being con¬ 
fined fix months at Vincennes. It was followed by a 
Letter on the Deaf and Dumb, for the Ufe of thofe who 
hear and fpeak, 2 vols. 121110. 1731. Other pieces in 
this clafs were : The Sixth Senfe, 1772; Thoughts on 
the Interpretation of Nature, 1754 ; The Code of Nature, 
1755. injured his moral character by his Bijoux In- 
difcrets, 2 vols. nino. a collection of licentious tales; 
but his two profe comedies, Le Fils Naturel, 1757, and Le 
Pere de Famille, 1758, are equally moral and interefting. 
9 U He 
