quieu, Voltaire, D'Alembert, David Hume, and Horace Walpole. In 1764, the society was divided into two parties by the defection of her companion, Mlle. de L'Espinasse, who took with her D'Alembert and several others. Madame Deffand had most affinity of nature with Walpole, who made several visits to Paris for the purpose of enjoying her society, and who maintained a close and interesting correspondence with her for 18 years. Of her innumerable witty sayings, the best known is her remark on the cardinal de Polignac's account of St. Denis' miraculous walk of two miles with his decapitated head in his hands: " It is only the first step that costs.' DEFIANCE, a co. in n.w. Ohio, on the Indiana border, intersected by the Miami canal, and the Toledo, Wabash and Western railroad; 414 sq.m.; pop. '80, 22,515. The surface is level and timber is abundant. Chief productions, wheat, corn, oats, butter, wool, tobacco, etc. Co. seat, Defiance. DEFIANCE, a village and seat of justice of Defiance co., Ohio, on the Maumee river, at the junction of the Auglaise, 50 m. n. w. of Toledo, with which it is connected by rail; pop. '80, 5,907. There are several flouring mills and other important manufac turing establishments. DEFICIENT NUMBERS. A number is said to be deficient whose aliquot parts, or factors, added together, make a sum less than the number itself: thus, 16, whose parts, 1, 2, 4, 8, make together only 15, is a deficient number. DEFILADING is that part of the art of fortification which consists in determining the directions and heights of the lines of rampart, so that the interior may not be commanded by the fire of any works.which the enemy may raise. Defilading is divided into horizontal and vertical. The object of the first is to prevent the lines being commanded in the direction of their length, or enfiladed; the prolongations of the lines, therefore, must avoid all points where hostile works could be erected. Vertical defilading determines the height of rampart necessary to protect the interior from direct fire. DEFILE, in military language, is the name given to any passage which is of such a nature that it must be traversed by troops only in column with a narrow front. Wherever free lateral movement is obstructed, is a defile; and a defile is a "pass" when it cannot be avoided, without making a long circuit. DEFINITE PROPORTIONS, LAWS OF, in chemistry. See ATOMIC THEORY. DEFINITION is the explanation or statement of the meaning of a word, viz., either the meaning it usually bears, or that which the speaker or writer, for the particular purposes of his discourse, intends to annex to it. To give merely another synonymous name-to say, for instance, that "man is a human being"-is not commonly considered a definition at all. Names requiring definition mostly imply, or connote, a set of attributes. To define such a name, then, is to enumerate all the attributes connoted by it. Hence, definition is a kind of analysis. If we were to define "man" as "a rational animal," the definition would be imperfect; for no one would call such beings as Swift's Houyhnhms men, which shows that, in the common acceptation of the word man, it connotes among other things a certain form. Definition, then, is of the nature of essential propositions; it conveys no information about the object to any one who is aware of the connotation of its name; it is only a statement of all the attributes, the absence of any one of which would make the object cease to be called by that name. The definition, "Man is a rational animal," though incomplete, is correct so far as it goes; though it does not enumerate all the essential attributes-i.e., all the attributes connoted by the name man, yet those it does enumerate are connoted by the name, and are sufficient to mark out its denotation-that is, to distinguish all the beings known to exist to whom it can properly be applied. Such is generally held, therefore, to be a complete definition, though logically imperfect; but to say that "Man is a featherless biped," involves a different kind of imperfection. The attribute featherless, though actually true of all men, and therefore serving to distinguish them from the only other bipeds, the birds, is no part of the meaning of the word, but is what logicians call an accidental attribute. This kind of imperfect definition is called a description. Such definitions are very common in science, and serve special purposes of classi fication. In Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, man is defined or described as 'a mammiferous animal having two hands." A distinction is generally drawn between definitions of names and definitions of things, or nominal and real definitions. A real definition is intended, it is said, “to explain and unfold the nature of the thing." In objection to this view, it is replied, that no definition can unfold the whole nature of a thing, and every true proposition respecting it unfolds some part of its nature: of all the propositions, then, unfolding its nature, how shall we distinguish those that define it from the others? This ques tion has never been answered. The fact seems to be that "all definitions are definitions of names, and of names only," but that many expressions that pass for definitions, are something more. They not only define the name of the thing, but they comprise a tacit assumption, that a thing with such attributes does or may exist. This is the case with the definitions of geometry; and it is from these tacit postulates that the consequences are deduced, and not from the mere definition of the meaning of a word. As there can be no accurate discussion unless all the terms employed have a distinct meaning recognized by all parties, it is often necessary to have recourse to formal defi- The scholastic logicians made definition consist in stating, first, the "genus" that a thing belonged to, and secondly, the "difference" or peculiarities that separate it from "poetry," all the other members of the same genus. This suits for natural history, and for all subjects analogous thereto. For example, if we were attempting to define " we could not do better than proceed per genus et differentiam. Poetry belongs to the class of fine arts: it has all the characters common to painting, sculpture, architecture, music, etc. Consequently, if we are well acquainted with these other subjects, we can draw from them part of the characteristics that belong to poetry; for example, its having for its end refined pleasure. We then inquire into the difference between it and the others, which we find to be the use of a peculiar medium or instrumentality-viz., thoughts expressed in language. If we would give a more particular account of the meaning, we should find it necessary to specify the kinds of poetry, or to find out the differences of epic, dramatic, lyric, etc.; which would be to define, not the subject itself, but its subordinate species. See J. S. Mill's Logic, vol. i. 182. DEFLAGRATION is applied to the rapid combustion of ignited charcoal when a nitrate (such as nitrate of potash) or a chlorate (such as chlorate of potash) is thrown thereon. As chlorates do not occur naturally, it follows that deflagration with a natural salt indicates a nitrate; and if the deflagration be accompanied by a violet flame, it is characteristic of nitrate of potash (ordinary niter or saltpeter); and if by a strong yellow flame, it is indicative of nitrate of soda (cubical niter). DEFLECTION is, generally, a change of course or line of motion of a moving body. The word deflection is also used as synonymous with diffraction (q. v.). DEFLUXION (Lat. defluxio), a discharge from a mucous membrane, especially of the air-passages. It is synonymous with catarrh (q.v.). DE FOE, DANIEL, was b. in London, 1661, and was the son of James Foe, a butcher. The prefix De was not added to the family name of Foe by our author until he had De F., whose father was a dissenter, was educated at a dissenting reached manhood. academy at Newington Green, where he remained until he had nearly reached the age of nineteen. In 1682, he began his career as author, publishing a pamphlet which contained strictures upon the clergy of that day. This was followed, in 1683, by another pamphlet, entitled A Treatise against the Turks. In 1685, he took part in the rebellion of the duke of Monmouth, but luckily escaped being punished on its suppression. After this he engaged in trade, but a series of misfortunes finally determined him to forsake it. In 1701, he published his famous satirical poem, The True-born Englishman, which was written in vindication of king William, and in answer to a poem in which he had been attacked, called The Foreigners. This poem proved a wonderful success; 80,000 pirated copies of it were sold on the streets at a trifling price. During the same year, when the deputation that presented the famous petition of the freeholders of Kent to the house of commons were illegally thrown into prison, De F. drew up, a few days after, a remonstrance, known in history as the Legion Memorial; and is said to have himself, in the disguise of a woman, presented it to the speaker as he entered the house. In 1703, a complaint being made in the house of commons regarding one of his recent publications, called The Shortest Way with Dissenters (1702), the whole tenor of which seems to have been misunderstood, he was apprehended, tried, found guilty, pilloried, fined, and imprisoned. While in prison, he wrote a Hymn to the Pillory; and here also he projected The Review, a periodical which he established on his release in Aug., 1704, In 1706, lord Godolphin, who admired the and continued to conduct for nine years. practical talent and literary vigor of De F., employed him as one of the staff of the commissioners to Scotland to bring about the union. De F.'s knowledge of revenue, trade, and taxes was found to be of great value; and it is supposed that he was rewarded with a pension for his services on that occasion. His visit to Scotland enabled him to write a History of the Union. For some years after, De F. seems to have lived in comfortable circumstances, but gradually his numerous political enemies gathered voice again, and De F. was literally silenced by noise and obloquy; at last, however, roused by the insolence of the Jacobite party, he was once more tempted to write unwarily, and the result was that he was again (1713) apprehended, fined in £800, and committed to Newgate. After his release, De F. became sick of politics, and, fortunately for the world, sought rest in the sphere of imaginative literature. In 1719, appeared the famous Robinson Crusoe the most popular of all his works. Its success was immediate. The publisher, who had accepted the book after all the others had refused it, is said to have cleared De F., in rapid succession, pro£1000 by its publication-no small sum in those days. Degerando. duced his other notable works of fiction. Moll Flanders (1721), Journal of the Plagus (1722), Colonel Jack (1721), Adventures of Roxana (1724), and the Memoirs of a Cavalier, the last of which Chatham used to recommend as the best account of the civil wars extant, bear witness to De F.'s industry during these years. He died in April, 1731. D.'s style, both in his political and imaginative works, is simple, clear, and vigorous. His fictitious narratives are characterized by an unparalleled appearance of truth. This is pre-eminently the case in the Journal of the Plague, which for a long time imposed upon the well-known Dr. Mead as genuine. See Life and recently discovered Writings of De F., by Lee. DEFORCE MENT, in English law, is an ouster of the freehold (q.v.). It is the holding of any lands or tenements to which another person has right. In this sense, it includes as well an abatement, intrusion, disseisin, or discontinuance (q. v.), as any other species of wrong whatsoever, whereby he that hath right to the freehold is kept out of possession. But in its strict sense, it is only such a detainer of the freehold from him that hath the right of property, but never had any possession under that right, as falls within none of those injuries.-Co. Litt., by Butler, 331 b. n. (1). The party thus wrongfully retaining possession was called the deforciant, and was said by Blackstone (2 Comm. 196) to have an apparent right of possession. There was this difference between a party retaining possession of the freehold by means of deforcement, and one who occupied by either of the other modes of ouster, that in the former case the party ousted had no right of entry (q. v.). This, previous to the reign of William IV., was a matter of some importance, inasmuch as the claimant was thereby debarred from recovering possession by means of entry or ejectment, and was driven to the more tedious process of asserting his right by a real action (q.v.). But by 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 27, all real actions, except four, having been abolished, this distinction between deforcement and the other means of ouster has ceased to have the same practical importance. DEFOR CIANT, a title of the defendant in a suit for levying a fine of lands (q.v.).— The party wrongfully retaining possession of a freehold by deforcement (q.v.). DE FOREST, JOHN WILLIAM, b. Conn., 1826. While yet young, he passed several years in Europe and western Asia. In the war of the rebellion he served as captain of volunteers, and was promoted to major. For a time he was commander of what was known as a Freedman's bureau district." Among his books are Oriental Sketches; European Acquaintances; Seacliff; The Wetherel Affair; Miss Ravenel; Overland; and Kate Beaumont, DEFORMITIES. Varieties of form which mar the external appearance, may be congenital or acquired, according as they occur before or after birth. The former class were considered by the ancients to carry some important meaning in their mysterious shapes, and to show the anger of the gods; hence, they termed them monsters, from monstrare, to show; and even in later times, they were popularly believed to be the result of the most hideously unnatural combinations. Modern scientific writers have, however, made them a subject of special study, under the name teratology (teras, monster, and logos, science), and their researches have shown that D. generally depend on some arrest of development of the fetus, or some accidental position it has got into, or some inflammatory disease which has caused unnatural adhesion of parts. It has been found that in 3,000 births in Paris, there occurs about one monster. They generally follow some definite law. D. are more common among domestic than wild animals, among mammalia than birds, and very rare among fishes and the invertebrata. It is a common belief, that the mind of the female parent has an influence over the shape of her infant; but although some singular coincidences have occurred, there is no scientific proof that such is really the case. This theory, however absurd, was eagerly adopted in the middle ages; it was, in fact, often appealed to in the interest of mercy as a loophole of escape for pregnant women, who, by the barbarous ignorance of the time, might be condemned to torture; and so universal has the popular belief in this theory become, that even at the present day no scientific demonstration to the contrary has proved sufficient to undermine it. D. are, however, in many cases, hereditary, as may be seen in the instances of additional fingers and toes, and of harelips. It seems uncertain whether the male or female parent chiefly influences the occurrence of deformity in the offspring. One rarely sees a case of harelip without being able to recognize a sort of tuck or shortening in the same feature of the mother; but the writer of this article knows a family of three with harelips, whose father alone is similarly deformed; and another family of three, with perfectly formed mouths, whose mother has an uncured and extremely unsightly harelip. The chief congenital D. may be classed under the following heads: Deformity as regards number of parts; as, for instance, the Sirens, who have appar ently but a single inferior extremity, which tapers to a point; the Cyclops, with but one eye; or the head itself may be absent, or some organ, as the brain. Such D., from a deficiency of parts, may also result from amputation of portions of the limbs of the fetus when still within the uterus by the pressure of the umbilical cord. Curiously enough, however, it often happens that this intra-uterine amputation of parts leads indirectly to an exactly opposite condition-namely, a multiplication of parts arising from the stumps left by these uterine amputations; the fetus in the early stages of its growth appearing to possess something of the power of reproduction of parts observed in most of the lower orders of animals. The parts most commonly reproduced are fingers and toes, or, most commonly of all, only abortive portions of these, as little projections from the stump of the limb, with traces of nail, and sometimes a single joint with an imperfect bony development. We see a new growth of little fingers or toes according to the member lost, and this power shows itself sometimes without being preceded by such an injury, in additional fingers, toes, etc. These parts are generally close to the similar natural ones, but not always, as, for instance, an ear in the neck. Deformity with regard to size. This may involve the whole body, as in dwarfs, of whom there have been some remarkable peripatetic specimens: the Corsican fairy was only 2 ft. 7 in. high; Mlle. Crachami, the smallest lady who ever lived, died at 10 years of age, only 20 in. in height. This kind of deformity is not necessarily hereditary; the father of Borowlaski, who was only 39 in. when 30 years old, had six children alternately short and tall; and dwarf women have brought forth infants as long, when extended, as their mothers. One limb only may be diminutive. Of course, D. the opposite of these exist, such as giants, or instances of premature or excessive local growth. O'Byrne, the Irish giant, measured 8 ft. 4 in. when he died, at the age of 22. Such individuals are generally subject to premature decay. Deformity as regards shape; this results generally from retarded growth, the parts of the embryo not consolidating as growth advances, as in harelip; or from irregular muscular contractions, as in club-foot (q.v.); or by two or more parts coalescing, as two fingers; or in cyclopy, when both the eyes run into one. D. of color are frequently coexistent with tendency to, or the presence of, some disease. There may be deficiency of coloring matter, as in albinos; or an apparent increase, as in blue disease, arising from the partition between the right and left sides of the heart not being completed; or from some coloring matter produced in the body, as in the mottled individuals shown in caravans. D. of continuity occur from the lateral halves of the embryo not completely closing, as seen in clefts of the back, the palate, etc. Acquired deformities will be noticed under their special names. DEFREGGER, FRANZ, an Austrian painter; b. 1855, at Stronach, in the Tyrol. He gave early evidence of talent, but had no opportunity for instruction till 1860; when, after studying drawing with the sculptor Stolz at Junsbrack, he was admitted to the Munich academy of fine arts, and afterwards, 1863-65, pursued his studies in Paris. In 1867, he began a series of paintings illustrating scenes of everyday life in the Tyrol that have justly made him famous. Among the best known are: "The Forester Returning Home for the Last Time;" Wrestlers in the Tyrol;" "The Poachers;" "Dancing on the Alin;" and "The Last Call of 1809." He stands high among living genre painters. DEFTER-DAR, a title of the Turkish minister of finance, who has a seat in the divan and disburses the public money. The title may be translated "book-keeper.” DEGER, ERNST, b. 1809; a German painter who studied at Düsseldorf under Von Schadow. He painted the frescos in the church of Apollonaris on the Rhine; on the completion of which William IV. employed him to adorn the chapel in the castle of Stolzenfels. He has held for a number of years a professorship in the academy of fine arts in Munich. DEGERANDO, Jos. MARIE, Baron, author and philanthropist, was b. 29th Feb., 1772, at Lyons, France. His family was originally from Italy. He studied at the college of the Oratoire of Lyons, with a view to becoming a priest; but the persecutions of the revolutionists altered his plans. In 1797, he went to Paris. The coup d'état of the 18th Fructidor compelled him to flee to Germany, where he entered the army of Massena as a common soldier. While at Colmar with his regiment, D. wrote a treatise, which was "crowned by the academy, and which was afterwards enlarged and published under the title of Des Signes et de l'Art de penser, considérés dans leurs Rapports Mutuels (Par. 1800). In 1802, appeared his De la Génération des Connaissances Humaines, a precursor of his Histoire comparée des Systèmes de Philosophie relativement aux Principes des Connaissances Humaines (Par. 1803; German, by Tennemann), which is reckoned the best French work on the history of philosophy. It procured him, in the following year, admission into the académie des inscriptions et des belles-lettres. About the same time, he was appointed secretary-general to the ministry of the interior, and subsequently held a variety of high offices under Napoleon. But D. is even better known, and has done more service, by his philanthropic than his philosophic writings. To the former class belong his excellent work, Le Visiteur du Pauvre (Par. 1820), which obtained the Montyon prize, as did also his Du Perfectionnement Moral, etc. (Par. 1824); his Cours Normal des Instituteurs Primaires (Par. 1832); Institutions du Drot Administratif (Par. 1835); Education des Sourds-muets de Naissance (Par. 1827); Des Progrès de l'Industrie (1841). D. was elevated to the peerage in 1837, and died 12th Nov., 1842, vice-president of the council of state.-His son, Ă. DEGERANDO, has written two interesting works-Essai Historique sur l'Origine des Hongrois (Par. 1841); and Transylvanie et ses Habitants (Par. Degree. DEGGENDORF, a t. of Lower Bavaria, situated on the Danube, 29 m. n.w. of Passau. It is well built, and has several churches, an hospital, an orphan-house, and a poor. house. D. has pottery and linen factories, and carries on a brisk trade in these articles, as well as in cattle, fruit, wood, etc. There is a remarkable church on the Geiersberg, possessed of a miraculous wafer, and having "doors of grace," which are only opened once in the year. Many pilgrims (often numbering more than 30,000 annually) flock hither, pope Innocent VIII. having promised general absolution to all such as visited the church. Pop. '80, 6,226. DEGLUTITION. See SWALLOWING. DEGRA'DED, in heraldry, means placed upon steps or degrees, as in'a Cross Calvary. DEGREE, in a college or university (Fr. degré, from Lat. gradus, a step), is a recog. nition of the student having made a certain step in advance, and having attained, as it were, to a certain resting-place in his academical career. The evidence of a D. is usually called a diploma (q.v.). Degrees may be divided into various classes, according to the privileges which they confer. 1. They are either simple certificates of attainment granted by a competent authority; attesting either that the college or university granting them has ascertained the fact by examination-in which case they are ordinary degrees or that the common fame of the individual is such that the learned body conferring the D. is willing to take it for granted, in which case they are honorary degrees. To this class belong our degrees in arts, and the honorary degrees of LL.D., D.C.L., and D.D., which are granted by most universities. 2. They are licenses to teach the branch of knowledge with which the holder is certified to be acquainted. To this class belonged all doctors', and probably all masters' degrees in the universities of the middle ages. See DOCTOR. 3. They are licenses to practice a certain profession or art. As the latter privilege is one in which the general community is more deeply interested than in either of the others, it is generally requisite to its full exercise that the university D. should be accompanied by a government license. These latter degrees-of which the D. of M.D. and D.C.L. (see DOCTORS-COMMONS) are the only ones known in Gt. Britainin this case resolve themselves into one or other of the former classes. University degrees, like most institutions which have held their place in society long, arose out of public exigencies, and are not traceable to any single founder or to any single act. There is every reason to suppose that, substantially, they have existed for ages. The doctors or teachers of the law (nomodidúskaloi), so often mentioned in the New Testament and probably the scribes also-were a class, taken, it would seem, very frequently from the sect of the Pharisees, but essentially distinct from them (Luke v. 17), possessing privileges very closely resembling those which were attached to the D. of a teaching doctor in after times. In classical Greece, though far less formal than it afterwards became, education was probably more systematic than is commonly supposed. In the schools of Isocrates and Plato, Mr. Kirkpatrick, in his ingenious book on the Historically-received Conception of the University, has traced not only substantially the func tion, but much even of the external organization of the university. He has shown also, very clearly, that it was the systematic training which had become necessary for success in public life that called the Sophists into existence, and gave to them the marvelous social influence which they possessed. It was the ambition, not of the higher class of orators and statesmen alone, but of every noisy demagogue who aspired to notoriety, to come before the public with the prestige of having been the pupil of some_famous Sophist, or, as we should say, of having been to a good school, and taken a good degree. All the appliances of modern teaching existed unquestionably in the museum at Alexandria, and it is inconceivable that those who had passed through the kuklos or cycle of studies, should not have carried away some testimonial of proficiency very much resembling a degree. As there was a distribution both of teachers and students into what we should call the faculties of philosophy, philology, and medicine, it is probable, moreover, that there were distinct degrees corresponding to each of them. During the three centuries which intervened between Alexander and Augustus, Athens continued to be the great school of philosophy, as Rhodes was of oratory, and Alexandria of philology and medicine. The importance of an education in the Greek schools rather increased than diminished during the period of the Roman empire. So entirely, indeed, was the success of the young provincial in public life also dependent upon his literary acquirements, that, as Mr. Kirkpatrick informs us, students, before leaving the provinces for Rome, were obliged to obtain a written permission from a magistrate, and that a record of the proficiency of each student was sent in to the government, in order that the latter might be thereby guided in the selection of fit individuals for the public service. In Constantinople, moreover, down to the very last, lifeless and unproductive though the intellectual life unquestionably was, it was formally organized to an extent which reminds one of China rather than of any existing European nation. The worthless and contemptible Byzantines, male and female, like the Chinese, passed endless examinations, and took abundance of degrees. After the incursion of the northern nations, the extreme rudeness of the general community of western Europe caused the learned class to stand out from it with a prominence unknown in the society of antiquity, and hence the greater importance which academical degrees assumed in the middle ages. A man who had passed through the trivium or quadrivium at Constantinople before barbarism had made |