DELOS-DELPHI.

sanctity, that the Persians, when they made war against Greece, and had sent to Delos a navy of a thousand sail, out of reverence to the patron deities, forbore attacking the island. Delos was celebrated, in ancient times, for the number and the excellence of its artists, and the school which it founded. Pliny says that its bronze was excellent, and much esteemed. It was also celebrated for the fineness of its silver, which the Delians used with great skill and taste, in the formation of various utensils, vessels, statues of their gods, of heroes, animals. The statue of Jupiter Tonans, in the Capitol, was of Delian bronze. Cicero, in his oration for Roscius, has many eulogiums upon the fine vases of Delos and Corinth. The temple of Apollo, at Delos, was one of the most celebrated of its time in all Greece. Delos, now called Ilegi, is uninhabited, or is only the haunt of pirates; but splendid ruins of its former magnificence yet exist.

DELPHI, the seat of the most famous oracle of ancient Greece, was situated in Phocis, on the southern side of Parnassus. Apollo, according to fable, having killed the serpent Python (some call it Delphine), and determining to build his sanctuary here, perceived a merchant-vessel from Crete sailing by. He immediately leaped into the sea, in the form of an immense dolphin (hence he is called Delphin), took possession of the vessel, and forced it to pass by Pylos, and to enter the harbor of Crissa. After the Cretans had landed, he assumed the figure of a beautiful youth, and told them that they must not return to their country, but should serve as priests in his temple. Inspired, and singing hymns, the Cretans followed the god to his sanctuary, on the rocky declivity of Parnassus; but, discouraged by the sterility of the country, they implored Apollo to save them from famine and poverty. The god, smiling, declared to them the advantage which they would derive from serving as his priests. They then built Delphi, calling the city at first Pytho, from the serpent which Apollo had killed at this place. The oracles were delivered from a cave, called Pythium. Tradition ascribes its discovery to a shepherd, who pastured his flocks at the foot of Parnassus, and was filled with prophetic inspiration by the intoxicating vapor which arose from it. Over the cave, which was contained in a temple, was placed the holy tripod, upon which the priestess, called Pythia, by whose mouth Apollo was to speak, received the vapors ascending from beneath, and with them the

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inspiration of the Delphian god, and proclaimed the oracles (hence the proverb, to speak ex tripode, used of obscure sentences, dogmatically pronounced). After having first bathed herself, and particularly her hair, in the neighboring fountain of Castalia, and crowned her head with laurel, she seated herself on the tripod, which was also crowned with a wreath of the same; then, shaking the laurel tree, and eating perhaps some leaves of it, she was seized with a fit of enthusiasm. Her face changed color, a shudder ran through her limbs, and cries and long protracted groans This exciteissued from her mouth. ment soon increased to fury. Her eyes sparkled, her mouth foamed, her hair stood on end, and, almost suffocated by the ascending vapor, the priests were obliged to retain the struggling priestess on her seat by force; when she began, with dreadful howlings, to pour forth detached words, which the priests collected with care, arranged them, and delivered them in writing to the inquirer. At first, the answers were given in verse, but in later times, the authority of the oracle being diminished, they contented themselves with delivering them in prose. This oracle was always obscure and ambiguous; yet it served, in earlier times, in the hands of the priests, to regulate and uphold the political, civil and religious relations of Greece. It enjoyed the reputation of infallibility for a long time; for the Dorians, the first inhabitants of the place, who soon settled in all parts of Greece, spread an unbounded reverence for it.

At first, only one month in the year was assigned for the delivery of oracles; afterwards, one day in each month; but none who asked the god for counsel dared approach him without gifts. Hence the splendid temple possessed immense treasures, and the city was adorned with numerous statues and other works of art. the offerings of gratitude. Delphi was at the same time the bank, in which the rich deposited their treasures, under the protection of Apollo, though this did not prevent it from being repeatedly plundered by the Greeks and barbarians. cients believed Delphi to be the centre of the earth: this, they said, was determined by Jupiter, who let loose two eagles, the one from the east and the other from the west, which met here. The tomb of Neoptolemus (or Pyrrhus), the son of Achilles, who was killed here by Orestes, was also at Delphi. Not far from the tomb was the famous Lesche, adorned by Polygnotus with the history of the Trojan

The an

war. (See Polygnotus.) In the plain between Delphi and Cirrha, the Pythian games (q. v.) were celebrated, in the month Targelion. These national games, and the protection of the Amphictyons, gave Delphi a lasting splendor. It is now a village called Castri.

DELPHINI, IN USUM. (See Dauphin.) DELTA; A, a Greek letter, answering to D). The resemblance of the island formed by the alluvion, between the two mouths of the Nile, to a A, is the reason why it was called by the Greeks Delta. It contained Saïs, Pelusium, and Alexandria. It was divided into the great and small Delta. Islands at the mouths of other rivers, shaped like a A, have the same name: thus we speak of the Delta of the Mississippi.

DELUC, Jean André, a geologist and meteorologist, born in 1726, at Geneva, where his father was a watch-maker, passed his whole life in geological investigations, for the sake of which he made numerous journeys. He enriched science with very important discoveries. His theories and hypotheses, which he endeavored to accommmodate to the historical accounts contained in the Holy Scriptures, have met with violent opponents. (See Geology.) He passed some time in England, as reader to the queen, and died in 1817, at Windsor. Among his numerous writings are his Recherches sur les Modifications de l'Atmosphère (Geneva, 1772, 2 vols. 4to.); Nouvelles Idées sur la Météorologie (London, 1786, 2 vols.); and his Traité élémentaire de Géologie (Paris, 1810, 8vo.).

DELUGE (from the Latin diluvies, diluvium, from diluere, to wash away); the universal inundation, which, according to the Mosaic history, took place to punish the great iniquity of mankind. It was produced, according to Genesis, by a rain of forty days, and a breaking up of "the fountains of the great deep," and covered the earth fifteen cubits above the tops of the highest mountains, and killed every living creature, except Noah, with his family, and the animals which entered the ark, by the command of God. After the flood had prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days, and had decreased for an equal time, making its whole duration somewhat less than a year, Noah became convinced that the land had again emerged, by the return of a dove with an olivebranch, and landed on mount Ararat, in Armenia. The time when this chastisement took place was, according to the common computation, in the 1656th year of the world; according to Petavius, 2327

B. C.; according to Müller, 3547 B. C. Many other nations mention, in the mythological part of their history, inundations, which, in their essential particulars, agree with the scriptural account of Noah's preservation. Hence many persons have inferred the universality of this inundation. Fohi in the Chinese mythology, Sottivrata or Satyavrata in the Indian, Xisuthrus in the Chaldæan, Ogyges and Deucalion in the Greek, have each been recognised by many as the Noah of the Sacred Scriptures, under a different name. Even the American Indians have a tradition of a similar deluge, and a renewal of the human race from the family of one individual. All these individuals are said by their respective nations to have been saved, and to have become a second father of mankind. The many skeletons, also, found petrified on the tops, or in the interior of mountains, the remains of animals of hot climates in countries now cold, have been alleged as confirmations of a universal revolution on our planet, occasioned by the violent action of water, as the Mosaic relation states it to have been. On the other hand, rationalists and deists have objected, that such a general destruction of mankind, by which the innocent must have been punished like the guilty, is unworthy of the justice of God, the Father of his creatures; that the great advancement of civilization, and large population which history shows to have existed a few years after Noah, is inconsistent with such a general inundation; and that all the information which we have of it was written down at least 1000 years after it took place, so as to leave the universality of the flood a matter of great doubt.—Au interesting work on this subject has been lately published, entitled Ueber den Mythos der Sündfluth (2d edition, Berlin, 1819, by Buttmann). This subject is of great interest, whether considered in connexion with sacred history and theology, with civil history, or with natural history. The works treating of it are far too numerous to be mentioned here.

DEMARARA, or DEMERARY; a province of English Guiana, which derives its name from the river Demarara or Demerary. (q. v.) It originally belonged to the Dutch, and was ceded to Great Britain in 1814. It extends about 100 miles along the coast, lying on the east of Essequibo, and on the west of Berbice. The soil is very fertile, producing abundant crops of sugar, coffee, cotton, rice, &c. The climate resembles that of South Carolina. For 20 miles up the river, the country consists of extensive

DEMARARA-DEMIGODS.

meadows, and is perfectly level; then appear some sand-hills; afterwards the country becomes mountainous and broken. Chief town, Stabroek. (For further information, see Guiana.)

DEMARCATION, LINE OF; every line drawn for determining a border, which is not to be passed by foreign powers, or by such as are at war with each other. Thus the pope drew a line of demarcation through the ocean, to settle the disputes between the Spanish and Portuguese, after the first discoveries in the fifteenth century. According to a treaty between the French republic and the king of Prussia, concluded at Basle, May 17, 1795, a line of neutrality was established, which removed the theatre of war from northern Germany. Also in the armistice of Pleswitz (1813), such an artificial limit was fixed between the French and the allied troops of Russia and Prussia.

DEMBEA; a large lake of Abyssinia, in a province of the same name, in the west part of that country. It is supposed to be 450 miles in circumference, and contains many islands, one of which is a place of confinement for state prisoners. The Bahr-el-Azrek, the Abyssinian Nile, flows through it.

DEMERARY, OF DEMARARA; a river of South America, in English Guiana, which, after a course of about 200 miles, flows into the Atlantic, lon. 58° 25′ W., lat. 6° 40′ N. It is two miles wide at its mouth, and is navigable for ships of considerable burden nearly 100 miles. It affords an excellent harbor, but the bar will not admit vessels drawing more than 18 feet.

DEMESNE. (See Domain.) DEMETER; the Greek name of the goddess called by the Romans Ceres. (q. v.) DEMETRIUS; the name of several kings of Macedonia and Syria. Demetrius I, surnamed Poliorcetes (the conqueror of cities), king of Macedonia, son of Antigonus, waged several wars, in particular with Ptolemy Lagus. He appeared before Athens with a fleet, expelled Demetrius Phalereus, who had been appointed governor of the place by Cassander, and restored to the people their ancient form of government. Having lost the battle of Ipsus, against Seleucus, Cassander and Lysimachus (301 B. C.), he fled to Ephesus, and thence to Athens, where he was not permitted to enter. Passing over to Corinth, he embarked on an expedition against the Thracian dominions of Lysimachus. He then went to Asia, to bestow his daughter, Stratonice, in marriage

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on Seleucus, and on his way took possession of Cilicia, by which his friendship with Seleucus was broken off. He conquered Macedonia (294 B. C.), and reigned seven years, but lost this country by his arbitrary conduct. Deserted by his soldiers, he surrendered himself, at length, to his son-in-law, who exiled him to Pella, in Syria, where he died (284 B. C.) at the age of 54 years. The above-mentioned Demetrius Phalereus, a celebrated Greek orator, disciple of Theophrastus, devoted his first years to rhetoric and philosophy, but, towards the end of the reign of Alexander the Great, entered into the career of politics. He was made Macedonian governor of Athens, and archon (309 B. Č.), and embellished the city by magnificent edifices. The gratitude of the Athenians, over whom he ruled, erected him as many statues as there are days in the year. But the envy of his enemies produced an excitement against him, and he was condemned to death, and his statues destroyed. He fled to Egypt, to the court of the Ptolemies, where he is said to have promoted the establishment of the library, and of the museum, the superintendence of which Ptolemy Lagus intrusted to him. Under the following king, Ptolemy Philadelphus, he fell into disgrace, and was banished to a remote fortress, where he died from the bite of an asp. Demetrius was among the most learned of the Peripatetics, and wrote on several subjects of philosophical and political science. But the work on rhetoric, which has come to us under his name, belongs to a later age.

DEMIDOFF, Nicolaus, count of, a member of the ancient family of Demidoff, which discovered and wrought the iron, copper, gold and silver mines in Siberia, and thus first introduced civilization into that country, was born in 1774, at Petersburg, was made privy-counsellor and chamberlain of the emperor Alexander, entered the military service at an early age, and retired with the rank of colonel. He visited all parts of Europe, for the purpose of introducing the arts of civilization into Russia, and established many manufactories with this view. In 1812, he levied a regiment at his own expense, with which he acted against the French, till they were entirely expelled from Russia. He then devoted himself to study, and to the improvement of his manufactories. The university of Moscow having lost all its collections of natural history by fire, he presented to it his own rich cabinet.

DEMIGODS. (See Heroes.)

DEMME, Hermann Christoph Gottfried, was born at Mühlhausen, in 1760, and died at Altenburg, in Saxony, in 1822. He was one of the most practical German theologians, and his sermons are much esteemed. He also wrote many other works, of a practical moral tendency.

of.)

DEMOCRACY. (See Government, Forms

DEMOCRITUS, a philosopher of the new Eleatic school, a native of Abdera, flourished in the 72d Olympiad, and was born about 494 B. C. Some Magi and Chaldeans, whom Xerxes left on his return from his Grecian expedition, are said to have excited in Democritus the first inclination for philosophy. After the death of his father, he travelled to Egypt, where he studied geometry, and probably visited other countries, to extend his knowledge of nature. Among the Greek philosophers, he enjoyed the instruction of Leucippus. He afterwards returned to his native city, where he was placed at the head of public affairs. Indignant at the follies of the Abderites, he resigned his office, and retired to solitude, to devote himself exclusively to philosophical studies. We pass over the fables which have been related of Democritus, such as that he laughed continually at the follies of mankind (in contrast to the weeping Heraclitus), and give a short summary of his philosophical opinions. In his system, he developed still further the mechanical or atomical theory of his master, Leucippus. Thus he explained the origin of the world by the eternal motion of an infinite number of invisible and indivisible bodies, atoms, which differ from one another in form, position and arrangement, and are alternately separated and combined by their motions in infinite space. In this way the universe was formed, fortuitously, without the interposition of a First Cause. The eternal existence of atoms (of matter in general) he inferred from the consideration, that time could be conceived only as eternal, and without beginning. Their indivisibility he attempted to prove in the following manner: If bodies are infinitely divisible, it must be allowed that their division must be perceptible. After the division has been made, there remains either something extended, or points without any extent, or nothing. In the first case, division would not be finished; in the second case, the combination of points without extension could never produce something extended, and if there remained nothing, the material world would also be nothing; consequent

ly, there must exist simple, indivisible bodies (atoms). From his position of the eternal change of the separating and combining atoms, follows also the other, that there are numberless worlds continually arising and perishing. In the atoms he distinguished figure, size, gravity, and impenetrability. All things have the same elementary parts, and their difference depends only on the different figure, order and situation of the atoms, of which every thing is composed. This difference of the atoms is infinite, like their number: hence the variety of things is infinitely great. Fire consists, according to him, of active globules, and spreads, like a light envelope, round the earth. The air is moved by the continual rising of the atoms from the lower regions, and becomes a rapid stream, which carries along with it the stars formed in its bosom. The following doctrines of his, concerning the soul, deserve to be mentioned: The soul consists, in as far as it is a moving power, of igneous atoms; but, since it is acquainted with the other elements, and any thing can be known only by its equal, it must be composed in part, also, from the other elements. The sense of feeling is the fundamental sense, and the least deceitful of all; for that alone can be true and real in the objects, which belongs to the atoms themselves, and this we learn with the greatest certainty by our feeling. The other senses show more the accidental qualities of things, and are consequently less to be relied upon. The impressions produced on the five senses are effected, partly by the different composition of the atoms in the organs of sense, partly by the different influence exerted by external bodies, which varies with the arrangement of the atoms of which they consist. In the act of vision, images separate from the external body, and enter the eye. The motion of a body (for instance, of the lips in speaking) divides the air, and gives it a motion, varying according to the direction of the moving body. The parts of air thus put in motion arrive at the ear, and produce hearing. In a similar way arise the sensations of tasting and smelling. The images of the objects received by the eye arrive through it to the soul, and produce within us notions. If, therefore, no notions come to the soul by means of the eye, its activity ceases, as is the case in sleep. The knowledge conveyed by the senses is obscure and deceitful, and represents mere motions of the exterior bodies. What we know by the way of reason has a higher degree of

DEMOCRITUS—DEMON.