D I G 
nature of the foul, and the principles of things. At the 
beginning of the royal fociety, he became a didinguiflied 
member, being one of the fird council. And he had, at 
his own houfe, regular meetings of learned men, to im¬ 
prove themfelves in knowledge, by converfing with one 
another. This eminent perfon was, for the early preg¬ 
nancy of his talents, and his great proficiency in learning, 
compared to the celebrated Picus de Mirandola, who 
'was one of the wonders of human nature. Yet his know¬ 
ledge, though various and extenfiv'e, probably appeared 
greater than it really was ; as he had all the powers of 
elocution and addrefs to recommend it. He knew how 
to fliine in a circle, either of ladies or philofophers ; and 
was as much attended to when he fpoke on the mod tri¬ 
vial fubjedls, as when he fpoke on the mod important. 
It has been faid that one of the princes of Italy, who 
had no child, was defirous that his princefs fltould bring 
him a fon by fir Kenelnt, whom he edeemed a jud model 
of perfection. 
DIG'BY, a town of Nova Scotia, on the fouth coad 
of the bay of Annapolis : fifteen miles fouth-wed of An¬ 
napolis. 
Dl'GERENT, adj. \_digcrens,~Ltxi.'] That which has 
the power of digeding, or caufing digedion. 
DI'GERENTS, f. [with phyficians.] Medicines 
which diged or ripen. 
DI'GES, a town of France, in the department of the 
Yonne : two leagues north-wed of Tonnerre. 
DI'GEST, f. [ dige/a, Lat.] The book of the pan- 
dedts of the civil law. See the article Civil Law, vol. 
iv. p. 633.—I had a purpofe to make a particular digcjl, 
or reconcilement to the laws of mine own nation. Bacon. 
—Laws in the digejl fliew that the Romans applied them¬ 
felves to trade. Arbuthnot. 
To DIGE'ST, v.a. \_digero, dige/um, Lat.] To didri- 
bute into various clafles or repofitories ; to range or dif- 
pofe methodically. To concodt in the domach, fo as 
that the various particles of food may be applied to their 
proper ufe : 
If little faults, proceeding on didemper, 
Shall not be wink’d at, how (hall we dretch our eye, 
When capital crimes, chew’d, fwallow’d, and digejled. 
Appear? Shakefpeare. 
To foften by heat, as in a boiler; a chemical term. To 
range methodically in the mind ; to apply knowledge by 
meditation to its proper ufe : 
Chofen friends, with fenfe refin’d. 
Learning digejled well. Thomfon, 
To reduce to any plan, fcheme, or method : 
Our play 
Leaps o’er the vaunt and firdlings of thofe broils, 
’Ginning i’ th’ middle : darting thence away 
To what may be digejled in a play. Shakefpeare. 
To receive without loathing or repugnance ; not to re¬ 
ject;.—The pleafance of numbers is, that rudenefs and 
barbarifm might the better tade and digcjl the lelfons of 
civility. Pcacham. —To receive and enjoy : 
Cornwal and Albany, 
With my two daughters dowers, digejl the third. Shake/. 
[In chirurgery.] To difpofe a wound to generate pus, 
in order to a cure. 
To DIGE'ST, v. n. To generate matter, as a wound, 
and tend fo a cure. 
DIGEST'ER,/! He that digedsor difpofes. He that 
digeds or concocts his food.—People that are bilious 
and fat, rather than lean, are great eaters and ill dige/ers. 
Arbuthnot. —A drong chemical veffel, contrived by M. 
Papin, wherein to boil, with a very drong heat, any bony 
fubdances, fo as to reduce them into a fluid date. That 
which caufes or (trengthens the concodtive power.—Rice 
is of excellent ufe for all illnefles of the domach, a great 
redorer of health, and a great dige/er. Temple, 
DIG 819 
DIGEST'IBLE, adj. That which is capable of being 
digeded or concocted in the domach.—Thofe medicines 
that purge by (tool are, at the fird, not digjlible by the 
domach, and therefore move immediately downwards. 
Bacon. 
DIGES'TIBLENESS, J. The date of being digefti- 
ble. Scott. 
DIGES'TION, f. The add of digeding or concodting 
food in the domach. See Medicine. —Every morfel to 
a fatisfied hunger, is only a new labour to a tired digejlion. 
South. 
Now good dige/ion wait on appetite, 
And health on both. Shakefpeare. 
The preparation of matter by a chemical heat. See Che¬ 
mistry, vol.iv. p. 190. 
Did chemick chance the furnaces prepare, 
Raife all the labour-houfes of the air, 
And lay crude vapours in dige/ion there r Blackmore. 
Reduction to a plan ; the act of methodifing ; the matu¬ 
ration of a defign.—The dige/ion of the counfels in Swe¬ 
den is made in fenate, confiding of forty counfellors, who 
are generally the greated men. Temple. —The a 61 of dif- 
pofing a wound to generate matter. The difpofition of a 
wound or fore to generate matter.—The fird dage of 
healing, or the difeharge of matter, is by furgeons called 
dige/ion. Sharp. 
DIGES'l'IVE, adj. Having the power to caufe digef- 
tion, or to drengthen the domach.—A chilifadtory men- 
druum, or a dige/ive preparation, drawn from fpecies or 
individuals, whole domachs peculiarly diflolve lapideous 
bodies. Brown. —Capable by heat to foften and lubdue. 
—The earth and fun were in that very date ; the one ac¬ 
tive, piercing, and dige/ive, by its heat; the other paf- 
five, receptive, and dored with materials for fuch a pro- 
dudtion. Hale. —Methodifing; adjufling: 
To bufinefs, ripen’d by dige/ive thought, 
This future rule is into method brought. Dry den. 
DIGES'TI VE, f. An application which difpofes a 
wound to generate matter.— I dreffed it with dige/ives. 
Wifeman. 
DIGES'TURE, f. Concodlion : not ufed. —Neither tie 
yourfelf always to eat meats of eafy dige/ure ; fuch as 
veal, fweetbreads, &c. Harvey. 
DIG'GER,yi One that opens the ground with a fpade. 
—When we vifited mines, we have been told by diggers, 
that even when the fky feemed clear, there would fud- 
denly arife a (team fo thick, that it would put out their 
candles. Boyle. 
DIGGES (Leonard), an Englifh arithmetician of con- 
fiderable repute in the lixteenth century, born at Digges’s 
Court, in the parifli of Berh'am, Kent; but in what year 
is uncertain. We meet with few particulars refpedfing 
his life, excepting that he was educated in Univerfity 
college, Oxford, where he laid a good foundation of 
learning; of which he fo availed himfelf, in his fubfe- 
quent dudies, that he became an excellent mathemati¬ 
cian, a (kilful architeft, and a mod expert furveyor of 
land. He was alfo noted in his time for his ability in the 
condrudfion of fortifications. He died about the year 
1574 Hisworksare: 1. TeElonicum ; briefly (hewing the 
exadf meafuring of all manner of lands, fquares, timber, 
dones, deeples, &c. 1556, 4to. afterwards augmented, 
and republilhed by his fon Thomas Digges, in 1592. 2. 
A geometrical treatife, named Pantometria, in three books, 
publilhed after his death by his (on, who fupplied fuch 
parts of it as were obfeure and imperfedt, and added to 
it A Difcourfe geometrical of the Five regular and pla¬ 
tonic Bodies, containing fundry theoretical and pradtical 
Propofitions, &c. 1391, folio. 3. Prognodicalion ever- 
lading of right good Effedt; or, Choice Rules to judge 
the Weather by the Sun, Moon, and Stars, &c. 1555, 4to. 
corredted and augmented by his fon, with divers general 
tables, and many compendious rules, in 1392. 
DIGGES 
