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

DEL ( 414 ) D E M
DELIBERATIVE, an appellation given to a kind
or branch of rhetoric, employed in proving a thing,
or convincing an affembly thereof, in order to perfuade
them to put it in execution.
To have a deliberative voice in the aflembly, is when
a perfjn has a right to give his advice and his vote
therein. In councils, the bifhops have deliberative
.voices; thofe beneath them have only confulcative
voices.
* DELICT, in Scots law, fignifies fuch fmall offences or
breaches of the peace as^are punifhable only by fine or
(hort imprifonment. See Scots Law, title 33.
DELIMA, in botany, a genus of the polyandria mono-
gynia clafs. It has no corolla; the calix confifts of
five leaves; and the berry contains two feeds. There
is but one fpecies, a native of Ceylon.
DELINEATION. See Designing.
DELINQUENT, a guilty perfon, or one who has com¬
mitted fome fault or offence, for which he is punilh-
able.
DELIQUIUM, or Animi Deliquium. SeeLiro-
THYMIA.
Deliquium, in chemiftry, fignifies the folution of any
body, when expofed to a cool and damp place, by the
humidity it attracts from the air.
DELIRIUM, in medicine, the production of ideas not
anfwerable |o external caufes, from an internal indif-
pofition of the brain. See Medicine.
DELIVERY, or Child-birth. See Midwifery.
DELLY, the capital of a province of the fame name,
and at prefent of all the Hither India: E. long. 790,
ahd N. lat. 28.
DELOS, the principal of the Cyclades ifiands, in the
Archipelago : E. long .25° yo\ and N. lat. 370 26,>
DELPHINIUM, or Lark’s-spur, in botany, a genus
of the polyandria trigynia clafs. It has no calix; the
corolla confifts of five petals ; and the nedtarium is bi¬
fid, and horned behind. There are feven fpecies, on¬
ly one of which,- viz the confolida, or- wild lark’s-
fpur, is a native of Britain.
DELPHINUS, or Dolphin, in ichthyology, a ge¬
nus belonging to the order of cete; the charafters of
- which are thefe': they have teeth in each jaw; and
a fiftula or pipe in the head. There are three fpecies,
.viz. 1. The phoccena, with a conical body, a broad
• back, and an obtufe fnout. The colour of the back
is a bl.ackilh blue, and the belly is white. The fiftil-
la, or pipe, through which they breathe and fpout up
the water, is betwixt the eyes : it has forty-fix teeth
in each jaw: it is fotftid in the Baltic and different
parts of the European ocean. The Ikin is fmooth
and foft. The external orifice of the fiftula refembles
the letter C: It has two ftrong peftoral fins, and a
cartilaginous fin on the back. The tail is bifid. The
penis of the male is not covered with a pneputium, it
lies concealed within the body, but is eafily protru¬
ded when occafion requires. In the female, the cer--
vix of the vulva is about nine Inches long, and fituate
betwixt the navel and anus. They copulate in the lum-
nner; bring forth one at a birth; they nourilh their
young with milk; and they live about thirty years.
They live feveral days out of the water, provided
they be not wounded. See Plate LXVIII. fig. 2.
It is about four feet long, and two and a half thick.
2. The delphus, or dolphin of the ancients, is of an
oblong cylindricallhape, and the fnout is fiiarp and ta¬
pering ; the teeth are Tubulated. It likewife frequents
the European ocean. 3. The orca, or leffer whale of
Ray, has the upper part of the fnout waved, and broad
ferrated teeth. The inferior jaw is much longer than
the fuperior one.
Delphinus, in aftronomy, a conftellation of the nor¬
thern hemifphere. See Astronomy.
DELSBERG, or Desberg, a town of Switzerland,
about feventeen miles fouth-weft of Bafil.
DELTOIDES,,in anatomy. See Vol. I. p. 195.
DELUGE, an inundation or overflowing of the earth,
either wholly or in part, by water.
We have feveral deluges recorded in hiftory, as that
of Ogyges, which overflowed almoft all Attica; and
that of Deucalion, which drowned all Theffaly in
Greece: but the moll memorable was that called the
univerfal deluge, or Noah’s flood, which overflowed
and deftroyed the whole earth, and out of which only
Noah, and thofe with him in the ark, efcaped. See
Ark.
Many attempts have been made to account for the
deluge by means of natural caufes: but thefe attempts
have only tended to difcredit philofophy, and to render
their authors ridiculous.
DEMAIN, or Demesne, in its common acceptation,
is ufed for the lands round a manor-houfe, occupied
by the lord.
Demain, or Demesne, in law, is commonly underftood
to be the lord’s chief manor-place, with the lands
thereto belonging, which he and his anceftors have
time out of mind kept in their own manual occupa¬
tion.
DEMEMBRE', in heraldry, is faid of difmembered a-
nimals, or thofe with their limbs cut off.
DEMEMBRATION, in Scots law, fignifies either the
crime of depriving another of any member of his bo¬
dy, or the punilhment of a crime by cutting off any
member of the criminal’s body. See Scots Law,
title 33.
DEMER, a river in the Auftrian Netherlands, on which
the city of Mechlin Hands.
DEMESNE, See Demain.
DEMETRIA, a feftival celebrated by the Greeks in
honour of Ceres, wherein it was ufual for the devo¬
tees to lafli themfelves.
DEMETRIOWITZ, a city of the dutchy pf Smolenlko,
in the Ruffian empire, fkuated upon the river Ugra,
in 370 E. long, and 520 30' N. lat.
DEMI, a word ufed in compofition with other words
to fignify half.
Demi-culverin, a piece of ordnance ufually 44 inches
bore, 2700 pound weight, ten feet long, and carry¬
ing point blank 175 paces.
Demx-culveris.4 o/' the leajl Jize, is 44 inches bore.