D I P 
D I P 
In the ancient Greek books, they frequently termi¬ 
nated the periods of a difcourfe, indead of any other di- 
vifion, by lines ; and thefe divifions were called, in Latin, 
verfus, from vertendo: for which reafon thefe lines are dill 
more properly named verfus than line a. At the end of a 
work, they put down the number of verfes of which it 
confided, that the copies might be more eafily collated : 
and it is in this fenfe we are to underhand Trebonius, 
when he fays, that the pandeCts contain 150,000 pane 
verfuum. The codes were likewife vel proba vcl deteriaris 
nota, more or lefs perfect, not only with regard to the 
calligraphy or beauty of the character, but to the cor¬ 
rection of the text alfo. It is likewife neceflary to ob- 
ferve, in ancient codes, the abbreviations, as they have 
been ufed in diderent centuries. Thus, for example, 
A. C. D. dignifies Aulus Caius Decimus ; Ap. Cn. Ap- 
piusCneius; Aug. Imp. Augudus Imperator, The cha¬ 
racters that are called not<t } are fuch as are not to be 
found in the alphabet; but which, notwithdanding, dig¬ 
nify certain words. All thefe matters are explained in a 
copious manner by Vodius, and in the Chronicon Gotvi- 
cenfe. Ladly, the learned divide all the ancient codes 
into codices minus raros, rariores , editos, & anecdotos. The 
critical art is here iadifpenfably neceflary: its refearches, 
moreover, have no bounds; and the more, as the ufe of 
it augments every day, by the difeoveries that are made 
in languages, and by the increade of erudition. 
DIPLO'PIA, f. [from JittAoo;, double, and cTrlo/xca, 
to fee.] A fault or deleft of vidion, where things appear 
£0 the eye double or multiplied. 
DIPON'DIARY, adj. Having the weight of .two 
pounds. 
DIPON'DIUS,/. in antiquity, a weight of two pounds; 
a fmall piece of money. 
DIP'PEL (John Conrad), a German phydician, who 
in his writings ftyled himfelf Chrijlianus Democritus , was 
born at Frankentlein, in 1672. He ftudied theology at 
Giefden, and afterwards gave phyfico-chiromantic lectures 
at Strafburg; but was obliged to leave that city on ac¬ 
count of his dillipa'ted life and the debts he had con¬ 
tracted. After this he returned to his own country, and 
publifhed a work called Orthodoxies Orthodoxorum, in which 
he fltewed that he had become a follower of the pietids; 
but, as he ridiculed the whole proteftant church in ano¬ 
ther, intitled Papifmus vapulans Protejlantium, he was again 
obliged to change his redidence. In 1698 he began to 
ftudy medicine ; and, being much attached to alchemy, 
pretended he had difeovereda tinCture which would ena¬ 
ble him to purchafe an efrate worth 50,000 florins. The 
tinCture, however, difappeared, and the purchafe was 
never made. He next repaired to Berlin, and employed 
himfelf in refearches to difeover the philofopher’s ftone : 
but this turned out worfe than the tinCture; for it was 
the caufe of his being thrown into prifon in 1707. Having 
recovered his liberty by the interceflion of lome man of 
rank, he fled to Frankfort-on-the-Mayne, where he af- 
fumed the title of a Danifh counfellor of ftate. Soon 
after he proceeded to Amiterdam, where he praCtifed as 
a phyfician, and indulged in his favourite ftudy, alchemy. 
In 1711 he obtained at Leyden the degree of doCtor of 
medicine ; but, on account of his improper converfation, 
and in particular of his work intitled A/ea Belli Mujfelman- 
nici, Scc. he was obliged to fly to Altona, where he again 
afrumed the title of a Danilh counfellor of ftate. Being 
obliged to leave this place alfo, in confequence of his 
bad conduCt, he fought fhelter at Hamburgh; but was 
delivered up by the lenate of that city, and, being tried 
before a Danifh tribunal, was not only deprived of his 
dignity as a counfellor of ftate, but was fubjeCted to the 
mortification of feeing his writings publicly burnt by the 
hands of the hangman. Fie was then carried bound to 
Copenhagen, and thence to the ifland of Bornholm, where 
he was condemned to perpetual imprifonment; but, after 
leven years confinement, he was liberated in 1726, at the 
Vol. Y. No. 3L9. 
849 
requeft of the queen. He then repaired to Sconen, with 
a view of returning to Germany, and refided fome time 
in the houfe of a merchant at Chriftiandadt, where he 
received an invitation to proceed to Sweden to attend the 
king, who had been attacked by fome dangerous malady. 
He afterwards returned to Germany, and refided at Bie- 
benburg, in the didriCt of Hildefheim. He was found 
dead in his bed, at the caftle of Witgenftein, in the morn¬ 
ing of the 24th of April, 1734. A collection of Dippel’s 
works was publifhed in his life-time, with the title of 
A Way opened for Peace with God and all his Creatures, 
by the Works hitherto publifhed of Chriftianus Demo¬ 
critus, Amft. 1709, quarto. A colledtion under the fame 
title appeared after his death at Berleburg, in 1747, in 
three volumes quarto, containing all his writings, toge¬ 
ther with fome anecdotes of him, and letters never before 
publifhed, as well as Chrijlianus Democritus Rcdivivus, or a 
luminary of all his theological works. Dippel acquired 
celebrity as a chemid, by the invention of Prullian blue, 
und an animal oil flill known by his name. This oil is 
faid to have been made of flag’s blood, and to have pof- 
feffed great medical virtues. 
DIP'PER,/ One that dips in the water. A fpoon 
made in a certain form. 
DIP'PING-NEEDLE, or Inclinatory Needle, /. 
a magnetical needle, fo hung, as that, inftead of playing 
horizontally, like the common compafs, and pointing out 
north and fouth, one end dips, or inclines to the hori¬ 
zon, and the other points to a certain degree of elevation 
above it. The dip or depreffion of this needle is found 
to be different in different latitudes, and it increafes in 
going northward, and decreafes in going fouthward. It 
•appears from a table of obfervations made with a marine 
dipping-needle of Mr. Nairne’s, in a voyage towards the 
north pole, in 1773, that 
In latitude 6o° 18' the dip was 75 0 o', 
In latitude 70 45 the dip was 77 52, 
In latitude 80 12 the dip was Si 52, and 
In latitude' 80 27 the dip was 82 2J. 
But Mr. Churchman is the only perfon that has deter¬ 
mined their revolution, which he dates to be the north- 
ernmoft in 1096 years, and the fouthernmofl in 2289 
years. Burrowes, Gilbert, Ridley, Bond, and others, 
endeavoured to apply this difeovery of the dip to the 
finding of the latitude ; and Bond, going dill farther, firft 
of any propofed finding the longitude by it ; but, tor 
want of obfervations and experiments, his endeavours 
proved abortive. Mr. Whidon, however,.being furnifhed 
with the farther obfervations of colonel Windham, Dr. 
Halley, Mr. Pound, Mr. Cunningham, M. Noel, M. 
Feuille, and his own, made great improvements in the 
doCtrine and ufe of the dipping-needle, brought it to more 
certain rules, and endeavoured in good earned to find the 
longitude by it. For this purpofe, he obferves, ill, That 
the true tendency of .the north or fouth end of every 
magnetic needle, is not to that point of the horizon to 
which the horizontal needle points, but towards another, 
direCtly under it, in the fame vertical, and in different 
degrees under it, in diderent ages, and at different places. 
2dly, That the power by which the horizontal needle is 
governed, and all our navigation ufually directed, it is 
proved is only one quarter of the power by which the 
dipping-needle is moved ; which diould render the latter 
far the more effectual and accurate indrument. 3dly, 
That a dipping-needle of afoot long will plainly (hew an 
alteration of the angle of inclination, in thefe parts of the 
world, in half a quarter of a degree, or (even and a half 
geographical miles ; and a needle of four feet, in two or 
three miles; i. e. luppofing thefe didances taken upon 
or near a meridian. 4thly, A dipping-needle, four feet 
long, in thefe parts of the world, will (hew an.equal al¬ 
teration along a parallel, as another of a foot long will 
diew'along a meridian; i.e. that will, with equal exaCt- 
nefsj (hew the longitude, as this the latitude. This de- 
1,0 G pends 
