giG D t V 
fliip, above water, as he rowed up to the (tern and touch¬ 
ed it before he defcended. Had lie faftened it there, the 
explofion of 150 pounds of powder (the quantity con¬ 
tained in the magazine) muft have been fatal to the fliip. 
Afterwards attempts were made in Hudfon’s river, above 
the city, by the fame perfon ; but, in going towards the 
fliip, the tide ran fo ftrong, that, as he defcended under 
water, for the fliip’s bottom, itfwept him away. 
I11 the year 1777, Mr. Bufhnel made an attempt from 
a whale-boat againfl the Cerberus Britifli frigate, then 
at anchor between Counedticut river and New London, 
by drawing a machine againfl: her lide, by means of a line. 
The machine was loaded with powder, to be exploded 
by a gun-lock, which was to be unpinioned by the appa¬ 
ratus, on being brought along-fide of the frigate. This 
machine fell in with a fchooner at anchor, a-ftern of the 
frigate, and concealed from his fight. By this means it 
was fired, and demolifiied the fchooner and three men ; 
and blew the only one left alive over-board, who was 
taken up very much hurt. After this he fixed feveral 
kegs under water, charged with powder, to explode, 
upon touching any thing, as they floated with the tide : 
he fct them a-float in the Delaware, above the Englifh 
lhipping at Philadelphia, in December 1777. “ I was 
unacquainted (fays he) with the river, and obliged to 
depend upon a gentleman very imperfectly acquainted 
with that part of it, as I afterwards found. We went as near 
the (hipping as he durft venture ; I believe the darknefs 
of the night greatly deceived him, as it did me. We in¬ 
tended them to fall with the ebb, upon the (hipping : 
but, as I afterwards found, they were fet adrift much 
too far diftant, and did not arrive until after being de¬ 
tained fome time by froft, they advanced in the day-time, 
in a difperfed fituation, and under great difadvantages. 
One of them blew up a boat with feveral perfons in it, 
who imprudently handled it too freely, and thus gave 
the Britifli that alarm, which brought on what was after¬ 
wards called the battle of the kegs.” 
DIVI'NI (Euflachio), an ingenious Italian optician, 
who lived at Rome about the middle of the feventeenth 
century. He and Campani, at Bologna, were the firft 
who diftinguifhed themfelves in the art of grinding tele- 
fcopic glalfes. Divini was fo celebrated for the excel¬ 
lence of his telefcopes, that they were in requefl among 
aftronomers in every part of Europe. M. Huygens, how¬ 
ever, foon out-ftripped him.in the mode of conftruCting 
thole inftruments, by introducing fuel) improvements as 
enabled him to difeover the ring of Saturn. When the 
difeovery was made public, Divini contefled its truth, 
becaufe he could not perceive the ring through his own 
telefcopes; ana wrote a treatife on the fubjeft in op- 
pofition to Huygens, intitled,' Brevis Annotatio in Syfiema 
Saturninum, 8vo. 1660. Huygens immediately replied to 
him, and Divini wrote a rejoinder, in the year 1661. We 
learn nothing farther concerning him, excepting that, in 
1663, he announced the invention of a new combina¬ 
tion of optical glalfes, to which he alcribcd very con- 
fiderable advantages. 
DIVINI'POTENT, adj. [from the Eat. divinus, di¬ 
vine, and potens, able, j Divinely powerful, powerful in 
divine things. Scott. 
DIVI'NITY,/. [ divinite, Fr. from divinitas , Lat.] Par¬ 
ticipation of the nature and excellence of God ; deity ; 
godhead.—When he attributes divinity to other things 
than God, it is , only a divinity by way of participation. 
Stillingjleet. —God; the Deity; the Supreme Being; the 
Caufe of caufes: 
’Tis the Divinity that flirs within us, 
’Tis Heav’n itfelf that points out an hereafter, 
And intimates eternity to man. Addifon. 
Falfe god: 
Vain idols, deities that ne’er before 
In lfrael’s lands had fix’d their dire abodes, 
Beafily divinities , and droves of gods. Prior. 
D I V 
Celcfiial being.—-God doubtlefs cangovern this machine 
he could create, by more direct and eafy methods than 
employing thefe fubfervient divinities. Cheyne. —The fei- 
ence of divine things ; theology : 
Hear him but reafon in divinity, 
And, all admiring, with an inward wifli 
You would defire the king were made a prelate. Skakefp. 
Something fupernatural.—They fay there is divinity in 
odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death. Shakef. 
DIVI'SA , f. an ancient term inlaw, of various fignifi- 
cations; fometimes it is ufed for a device, award, or de¬ 
cree ; fometimes for devife of a portion or parcel of 
lands, &cc. by will; and fometimes it is taken for the 
bounds or limits of divifion of a parifh or farm, &c. as 
divifas perambulare, to walk the bounds of a parifh ; in 
which fenfe it has been extended to the divifion between 
counties, and given name to towns, as to the Devifes, a 
town in Wiltfhire, fituate on the confines, the divifion, of 
the Weft Saxon and Mercian kingdoms. Cozucl. 
DIVI'SIBLE, adj. \_divifibilis, Lat. ] Capable of being 
divided into parts ; difcerptible ; feparable.—When we 
frame in our minds any notion of matter, we conceive 
nothing elfe but extenfion and bulk, which is impene¬ 
trable, or divifible and paflive. Bentley. 
DIVISIBILITY, f. \_divifibilite', Fr.] A property in 
quantity, body, or extenfion, by which it becomes fepa¬ 
rable into parts. Such divifibility is infinite, if not ac¬ 
tually, at lead potentially ; for no part can be conceived 
fo fmall, but another may be conceived Hill fmaller; 
for every part of matter mu ft have fome finite exten¬ 
fion, and that extenfion may be bifected, or otherwife 
divided ; for the fame reafon, thefe parts may be di¬ 
vided again, and fo on without end. We are not here 
contending for the pofiibility of an actual divifion in in¬ 
finitum-. it is only aflerted, that however fmall a body is, 
it may be (fill farther divided; which it is prefumed may 
be called a divifion in infinitum, becaufe what has no li¬ 
mits, is called infinite. 
It is true that there are no fuch tilings as parts infi¬ 
nitely fmall; yet the fubtilty of the particles of feveral 
bodies is fuch, that they far furpafs our conception ; and 
there are innumerable inftances in nature of fuch parts 
actually feparated from one another. Several inftances 
of this are given by Mr. Boyle. He fpeaks of a filken 
thread 300 yards long, that weighed but two grains and 
a half. He meafured leaf-gold, and found by weighing 
it, that fifty fquare inches weighed but one grain : if the 
length of an inch be divided into 200 parts, the eye may 
diftinguilh them all ; therefore in one fquare inch there 
are 40,000 vifible parts ; and in one grain of it there are 
two millions of fuch parts; which vifible parts no one 
will deny are ftill farther divifible. Again, an ounce 
weight of filver may be gilt over with eight grains of 
gold, which may be afterwards drawn into a wire 13,000 
feet long, and ftill be all covered with the fame gilding. 
In odoriferous bodies a ftill greater fubtilty of parts 
is perceived, and even fuch as are aftually feparated 
from one another: feveral bodies fcarcely lofe any fen- 
fible part of their weight in a long time, and yet con¬ 
tinually fill a very large fpace with odoriferous parti¬ 
cles. Dr. Keil, in his Vera Phyfiica, has calculated the 
magnitude of a particle of, affafoetida, which will be the 
Tooooooo 5 ooooootoo th P art of a cilbic inch - And he 
lhews that the particles of the blood in animalculae, ob- 
ferved in fluids by means of microfcopes, muft be lefs 
than that part of a cubic inch which is exprefled by a frac¬ 
tion whole numerator is eight, and denominator unity 
with thirty ciphers after it. The particles of light, alfo, 
if "light confift of real particles, furnifh another lurprifing 
inftance of the minute divifibility of fome parts of mat¬ 
ter. A fmall lighted candle placed on a plain, will be 
vifible two miles, and confequently its light fills a fphere 
of four miles diameter, before it has loft any fenfible part 
of its weight. Now, as the force of any body is diredtly in 
proportion 
t 
