Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

D A V (307
for fuch fpaces, lines, and angles as are given iti magni¬
tude, or to which we can aflign others equal.
DATE, in law, is the defcription of the day, month,
year of our Lord, and year of the reign of the king,
in which a deed or other writing was made.
Date, the fruit of the phoenix, or great palm-tree. See
Phoenix.
DATISI, in logic, a mode of fyllogifms in the third fi¬
gure, wherein the major is an univerfal affirmative, and
the minor and conclufion particular affirmative propo-
fitions. For example.
Da- All who ferve God are kings;
ti- Some who ferve God are poor;
si. Therefore, fome who are poor are kings.
DATIVE, among grammarians, the third cafe in the
declenfion of nouns, expreffing the relation of a thing
to whofe profit or lofs fome other thing is referred. It
is called dative, becaufe ufually governed by a verb,
implying fomethihg to be given to fome perfoh. In
Engliffi, the dative is expreffed by the figns to or for.
DATURA, the Thorn-apple, in botany, a genus of
the pentandria monogynia clafs. The corolla is plaited
and tunnel-ffiaped ; the calix is tubulous, angular, and
deciduous; and the capfule confills of four valves.
There are fix fpecies, all natives of warm climates.
The thorn-apple is a narcotic poifon : It has lately
been recommended in cafes of madnefs by Dr Stork,
but without anfwering any ufeful purpofe.
DAUCUS,-the Carrot, in botany, a genus of plants
belonging to the pentandria digynia clafs. The co-
rollse are fubradiated, and all hermaphrodite; and the
feeds are rough and hairy. There are five fpecies,
only one of which, viz. the carota, wild-carrot, or
bird’s-neft, is a native of Britain. The feeds are faid
to be diuretic and carminative.
DxWENTRY, a market-town of Northamptonffiire, fi-
. tuated about ten miles north of Northampton: W.
long. i° 15', and N. lat. 520 12'.
DAVIDISTS, in church-hiftory, a fed of Chriftian he¬
retics in the XVIth century; . fo called from David
George, their leader, who began by giving out that he
was the Meffiah, and was fent into the world in order •
to people the kingdom of heaven, which was quite
empty of inhabitants, for want of virtuous and good
men: he rejeded marriage, and denied the refur-
redion.
DAVIDS, or St David’s, a city and biffiop’s fee of
Pembrokeffiire, fituated near the Irilh channel, about
twenty miles north-weft of Pembroke: W. long. 50
20', and N. lat. 52°.
St David’s is alfo the name of a town and fort fituated
on the coaft of Coromandel, in the hither India, about
eighty miles fouth of Fort St George: E. long. 790
40', and N. lat. n° 45'.
DAVIS’s STRAITS run north-weft from Cape Fare¬
well, in 6o° N. lat. to Baffin’s bay, in 8oQ N. lat.
feparating Greenland from North America.
DAVIT, in a ffiip, that ffiort piece of timber with a
notch at one end, wherein, by a ftrap, hangs the filh-
block.
The ufe of this block is to help up the fluke of the
Vol. II. No. 43. 3
) D E A
anchor, and to faften it at the {hip’s bow or loof. The
davit is fliiftable from one fide of the Ihip to-the other,
as there is occafion.
DAUPHIN, a title given to the eldeft fon of France,
and heir prefumptive of the crown, on account of the
province of Dauphiny, which, in 1343, was given to
Philip of Valois, on this condition, by Humbert dau¬
phin of the Viennois..
DaupHiN-FORT, a fort built by the 'French, on the
eaftern coaft of the ifland of Madagafcar, E. long 48°,
and S. lat. 240.
DAUPHINE, or Dauphiny, a province^of France,
bounded by Burgundy on the north, by Piedmont on
the eaft, by Provence on the fouth, and by the river
Rhone, which feparates it from Languedoc and the
Lyonois, on the weft.
DAY. See Vol. I. P. 491.
Days of grace, are thofe granted by the court at the
prayer of the defendant, or plaintiff, in whofe delay
it is.
Days of grace, in commerce, are a cuftdmary number
of days allowed for the payment of a bill of exchange,
&c. after the fame becomes due.
Three days of grace are allowed in Britain ; ten in
France and Dantzic ; eight at Naples; fix at Venice,
Amfterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp ; four at Franc-
fort ; five at Leipfic ; twelve at Hamburg; fix in Por¬
tugal ; fourteen in Spain ; thirty in Genoa, <bc.
Day’s-man, in the north of England, an arbitrator or
perfon chofen to determine an affair in difpute.
Intercalary Days. See Vol. I. p. 489.
DEACON, one of the three facred orders of the Chri-
ftian church.
As to the office of deacons, the moft common and
ordinary was to be attendant on the biftiops and pref-
byters in the fervice of the altar, to take care of the
holy table and all the ornaments and utenfils belonging
to it; and, in the next place, to receive the offerings
of the people, and to prefent them to the prieft; at
the fame time reciting the names of thofe that offered.
In fome churches, though not in all, the deacons read
the gofpel both before and at the communion- fervice ;
but their moft peculiar office was to affift the biffiop and
prelbyters in the adminiftration of the eucharift, at
which their bufinefs was to diftribute the elements to
the people who were prefent, and carry them‘to thofe
who \vere abfent. That they were never allowed to
confecrate them at the altar, appears from the teftimo-
nies of Hilary, Jerom, and the author of the conftitu-
tions. They were permitted, however, to adminifter
folely the facrament of baptifm in fome cafes. An¬
other part of the office of deacons, was to be a fort
of monitors and dire&ors to the people in the exercife
of their public devotions in the church ; for which pur¬
pofe they made ufe of certain known forms of words,
to give notice when each part of the fervice began.
Whence they are fometimes called \eirokerukes,~\ the
the holy cryers of the church.
Deacons had, by licence and authority from the bi-
fhop, a power to preach, to reconcile penitents and
grant them abfolution, and to reprefent their biffiops
4 I ip