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

DEN
10 feet long, and 2000 pounds weight. It carries a
ball of 4 inches diameter, and of 9 pounds weight,
and its level range is 174 paces.
Demi-culverin of the largefi fort, is 4I inches bore,
lOy feet long, and weighs 3000 pounds weight. It
carries a ball 4-I inches diameter, weighing 12 pounds
11 ounces, p*int blank 178 paces.
Demi-gorge, in fortification, is that part of the
polygon which remains after the flank is raifed, and
goes from the curtin to the angle of the polygon. It
is half of the vacant fpace or entrance into a baftion.
Demi-quave-r, a note in mufic, two of which are e-
qual to a quaver.
Demi-semi-quaver, in mufic, the fliorteft note, two
of them being equal to a femi-quaver.
DEMOCRACY, the fame with a popular government,
wherein thefupreme power is lodged in the hands of the
people: fuch were Rome and Athens of old ; but as to
our modern republics, Bafil only excepted, their go¬
vernment comes nearer to ariftocracy than demo¬
cracy.
DEMONSTRABLE, a term ufed in the fchools, to
fignify that a thing may be clearly proved. Thus it
is demonftrable that the three angles of a triangle
are equal to two right ones.
DEMONSTRATION, in logic, a feries of fyllogifins,
all whofe premifes are either definitions, felf-evident
truths, or propofitions already eftablifhed. See Lo-
GIC.
DEMONSTRATIVE, in grammar, a term given to
fuch pronouns as ferve to indicate or point out a thing.
Of this number are hic<,%ha;c, hoc, among the Latins;
and this, that, thefe, thofe, in Englifli.
DEMULCENTS, among phyficians, medicines good
againll acrimonious humours. Such are the roots of
marfh-mallows,'bf white lilies, of liquorice, and of
viper grafs, the five emollient herbs, <bc.
DEMURRAGE, ki comiperce,' an allowance made to
the mailer of a flap by the merchants, for flaying in a
port longer than the time firft appointed for his' de¬
parture.
DEMURRER, in law, a flop put to any aftion upon
fome point of difficulty which mull be determined by
the court, before any further proceedings can be had
in the fuit.
DEN, a fyllable which added to the names of places
ffiews them to be fituated in valleys or near woods, as
Tenterden.
DENARIUS,-in Roman antiquity, the chief fjjver coin
among the Romans, worth in. our money about leven-
pence three farthings. As a weight, it was the
feventh part of a Roman ounce.
Denarius is alfo ufed in our law books for an EngHfh
penny.
DENBY, the capital of Denbylhire, in North Wales:
W. long. 30 30', and N. lat. 530 ly'. It fends only
one member to parliament.
DENDERMOND, a fortified town of Flanders, fitu¬
ated at the confluence of the rivers Scheld and Den-
der, twelve miles call of Ghent: E. Jong. 30 50', and
N. lat. 510 10.
Vol. II. No. 43. 3
DEN
DENDRACHATES, in natural hiflory, the name ufed
by the ancients for an extremely elegant and beautiful
fpecies of agate, the ground of which is whitiffi, va¬
riegated with veins of a brighter white. Thefe veins
are beautifully difpofed in a number of various figures,
but generally in many concentric irregular circles,
drawn round one or more points. It is common alfo,
in various parts of this flone, to find very beautiful
delineations of trees, mofles, fea-p!ants, and the like,
fo elegantly exprefled, that many have erroneoufly ta¬
ken them for real plants included in the fubftance of
the flone; whence the name dendrachates.
DENDRANATOMY, a term ufed by fome for a de-
feription of the various parts of trees, as root, trunk,
branch, bark, wood, pith, flower, fruit, 6v. See
Agriculture, Part I.
DENDROPHORIA, in antiquity, the carrying of
boughs or branches of trees, a religious ceremony fo
called, becaufe certain priefts called from thence den-
drophori, tree bearers, marched in proceffion, carrying
the branches of trees in their hands in honour of fome
god, as Bacchus, Cebele, Sylvanus, tec. The col¬
lege of the dendrophori is often mentioned in ancient
marbles; and we frequently fee in baflo relievos the
bacchanals reprefented as men carrying little flirubs or
branches of trees.
DENEB, an Arabic term fignifying tail, ufed by a-
ftronomers to denote feveral fixed flats. Thus deneb
eleet, fignifies the bright flat in the lion’s tail. Deneb
adigege, that in the fwan’s tail, <bc.
DENIER, a fmall French copper-coin, of which twelve
make a fol.
There were two kinds of deniers, the one tournois,
the other parifis, whereof the latter was worth a
fourth part more than the former.
DENIZEN, in law, an alien made a fubjedt by the
king’s letters patent, otherwife called donaifon, he-
caufe his legitimation proceeds ex donatione regis,
from the king’s gift.
DENMARK, a kingdom fituated between 8° and 130
of E. long, and between 540 and 58° of N. lat.: it
comprehends the peninfula of Jutland, and the iflands
of Zeland, Funen, <hc. To the king of Denmark
likewife belong Norway, Iceland, and the dutchy of
Holflein.
DENNIS, or St Dennis, a town of France four miles
north of Paris, where the kings of France are inter¬
red.
DENOMINATOR, in arithmetic, a term ufed in fpeak-
ing of fradtions. See Arithmetick, p.387.
Dens canis, or dog’s-tooth, in botany. See Ery-
thronium.
Dens leonis. See Leontodon.
DENSITY of bodies, is that property diredtly oppofite
to rarity, whereby they contain fuch a quantity of
matter under fuch a bulk.
Accordingly, a body is faid to have double or
triple the denfity of another body, when their bulk be¬
ing equal, the quantity of matter is in the one double
or triple the quantity of matter in the other.
Density of the air. See Pneumatics.
4 L DENTAL IUM,
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