one school of doctors, whose interpretations were had in respect, considered it to be sufficient cause if he preferred another woman, or if his wife did not dress his victuals to his satisfaction. This law is said (Matt. xix.) to have been a concession to the hardness of heart of the Jews, who were not prepared to receive a better doctrine. The wife, on receiving her bill of divorce, was at liberty to marry again, after waiting 90 days, in order to avoid doubts as to the paternity of her next born child. This law, like those of the Eastern countries generally, pays very little respect to the rights of the wife as a party to a matrimonial contract. The husband might marry another wife immediately. The wife could not divorce the husband.

The Mohammedan law of divorce, founded upon some passages in the Koran, allows of a separation by mutual consent, giving the wife the right of retaining her marriage portion, unless she agrees to relinquish a part of it as the price of the separation. The parties are permitted to separate and reunite twice, if they can so agree, without any particular conditions; but after the third divorce, the husband is not permitted to receive his wife again, until she shall have previously married another husband. The act of divorce is a judicial proceeding before the cadi, who does not decree it until three months after the application, which delay is made in order to determine whether the wife is pregnant; and if she be so, the divorce is delayed until after her delivery. The magistrates throw obstacles in the way of divorce, so that the expenses of the proceedings, and the necessity of allowing the wife her marriage portion back again, in case of divorce, sometimes discourage the husband from prosecuting the affair, and induce him to make a composition. But here, according to D'Arvieux's Memoirs, the magistrate interposes, and will not permit a reconciliation and discontinuance of the proceedings, until the wife is first married to another person; for which purpose some youth is agreed with to act the part of second husband, so far as may be necessary in order to afford a ground for the discontinuance of the proceedings, and the relenting husband must be a spectator of this second marriage and its incidents. A cadi informed this traveller that this condition was rigidly enforced, in order to prevent the tribunals from being overburthened with applications for divorce.

The Hindoo laws pay still less respect to the women, who are considered very much in the light of slaves to their hus bands. According to a maxim of these

261

laws, "prudent husbands instantly forsake a wife who speaks unkindly." Barrenness, the bearing of daughters only, eating in her husband's presence, any incurable disease, or quarrelsomeness, is each a sufficient cause of divorce. The same law inculcates upon the wife the obligation to revere her husband as a god, although he is devoid of all good qualities, or enamored of another woman. If the wife is superseded by the husband's taking another, he must still maintain her. The wife is, however, so far protected, that the husband is not allowed to put her to death, or to mutilate her person, unless in case of an amour with one of a lower caste.

The Chinese laws of divorce are very similar to the Hindoo, but add some other sufficient causes, such as disregard to the husband's parents, loquaciousness, and jealousy of temper. But the husband cannot divorce a wife who has mourned three years for his parents, or if his family has become rich subsequently to his marriage, or if the wife have no parents living to receive her back again. A woman who has been deserted three years by her husband, may marry another.

The different Grecian states had each their respective laws of divorce. At Sparta, they do not seem to have greatly regarded the delicacy of the marriage bed, when the interest of the republic was in question; but divorces appear to have been rare, since the ephori fined Lysander for repudiating his wife. At Athens, either the husband or wife might procure a divorce, by exhibiting a bill for this purpose to the archon, and obtaining the verdict or consent of a jury, to whom the question was referred. But the party applying must, it seems, have made application personally; and Alcibiades, according to Plutarch, took advantage of his authority as a husband, to prevent his wife from making the application personally; for, when she was going from her brother's house, where she had taken refuge, to the archon's, to sue for a divorce, he forcibly seized upon her, and confined her to his own house.

The early laws of Rome permitted the husband to divorce his wife for poisoning his children, counterfeiting his keys, or adultery. But other causes were afterwards added; for the first divorce recorded was for the sterility of the wife. This was by Sp. C. Ruga, in the year 523 after the building of the city. Divorces afterwards became very frequent, and a law was, on this account, made by Augustus, requiring additional ceremonies in a divorce; among other things, the presence of seven witnesses to the act of dissolution of the mar

riage. By the Theodosian code, the husband could divorce the wife for adultery, or if she was a witch or a murderess, had sold a freeborn person into slavery, violated a sepulchre, committed sacrilege, been accessary to theft or robbery, was given to feeding with strangers without the knowledge or against the wishes of the husband, lodging abroad without good reason, or frequented theatres and shows, her husband forbidding, or was aiding and abetting in plots against the state, or dealt falsely, or offered blows. The wife had equivalent rights in this respect, for she could procure a divorce on similar charges against her husband. He could be married again immediately; she, not within a year. The facility of divorce continued, without restriction, under the Roman emperors, notwithstanding the doctrine promulgated on the subject in the New Testament; but, as the modern nations of Europe emerged from the ruins of the Roman empire, they adopted the doctrine of the New Testament (Matt. xix.), "what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Marriage, under the Roman church, instead of a civil contract, came to be considered a sacrament of the church, and subject to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and so it is, at this time, in England; and the canonists founded upon this text the doctrine of the unlawfulness of dissolving this contract, the dissolution of which they considered to be a violation of a sacred institution. If parties were once legally married, they could not be unmarried, though they might be separated. But though marriage was thus held to be a sacrament, still the ceremony of union might pass between those who could not lawfully be joined in "holy" wedlock, in which case the marriage might be annulled, or rather declared, by the competent tribunals, to have been null from the first. Divorces a vinculo are, accordingly, decreed by the ecclesiastical courts in England, for prior contract, impotency, too near an affinity or consanguinity, and other causes, existing at the time of the marriage, but not for any subsequent cause. For any cause whatever, arising after the marriage, the ecclesiastical courts can only decree divorce a mensa et thoro, which does not leave either of the parties at liberty to marry again. To obtain a divorce a vinculo matrimonii, for any cause whatever, arising after the marriage of the parties, to whose union no legal impediment existed at the time of the marriage, the omnipotence, as it is called, of parliament, must be resorted to.

In the U. States, marriage, though it

may be celebrated before clergymen as well as civil magistrates, is considered to be a civil contract. The causes of divorce, and the facility or difficulty of obtaining it, are by no means the same in the several states; and the diversity in this respect is so great, that instances have heretofore not been unfrequent, of one of the parties removing into a neighboring state for the express purpose of obtaining a divorce a vinculo. The more general causes of such a divorce are, former marriage, physical incapacity, or fraudulent contract, according to the expression in the Connecticut law, to include these and other causes; consanguinity; and the New York code particularly enumerates idiocy and insanity, and the circumstance of either party being under the age of consent. Adultery is also a cause of divorce a vinculo ; but the laws of some of the states prohibit the guilty party from marrying again. If the husband or wife is absent seven years, or, by the laws of some states, three years, and not heard from, the other is at liberty to marry again; and in some states, if the husband desert the wife, and make no provision for her support during three years, being able to make such provision, the wife can obtain a divorce. Extreme cruelty in either party is also, generally, a cause of divorce, either a vinculo or a mensa. In many of the states, applications to the legislature for divorce, in cases not provided for by the statutes, are very frequent. In New York and New Jersey, divorce is a subject of chancery jurisdiction, from which, as in other cases, questions of law may be referred to a jury for trial. But, in mos! of the states, the courts of law have cognizance of divorce. The laws prescribe the provision to be made for the wife in case of divorce, confiding to the courts, however, some degree of discretion in fixing the amount of alimony.

DJEBEL is an Arabian word, signifying mountain, as Djebel-el-Mousa, the mountain of Moses; Djebel-el-Tarik (Gibraltar), the mountain of Tarik.

DJEZZAR, Achmet, pacha of Acre, who checked the victorious career of Bonaparte in Egypt and Syria, was born in Bosnia, and is said to have sold himself as a slave to Ali Bey, in Egypt. There he ingratiated himself with his master to such a degree, that he rose from the low state of a mameluke to that of governor of Cairo. For his future success, he was not less indebted to his faithlessness and ingratitude, than to his courage and talents. As pacha of Acre, he rendered himself so formidable to the rebels, that he was

raised to the dignity of a pacha of three tails. Differences soon arose between him and the Porte, which is jealous of every pacha of spirit and enterprise. Obeying the commands received from Constantinople no farther than they coincided with his own plans, he maintained himself by force and cunning. On Bonaparte's invasion of Syria, in 1799, he broke out into the most ungovernable fury, that Christians from Europe should dare to attempt the conquest of his province. Assisted by the French engineer, Philippeaux, who conducted the defence with great ability, and by sir Sidney Smith, who supported him with several English men-of-war, Djezzar could boast of repelling the man before whom Europe trembled. He afterwards had several bloody struggles with the grand-vizier and the pacha of Jaffa, and died in 1804. He received the name of Djezzar (butcher) from his bloodthirsty disposition.

DJIDDA. (See Jidda.)

DNIEPER, or DNEPER, or NIEPER (anciently, Borysthenes); a river of Russia, which rises in the west part of the government of Tver, passes by Smolensk, Mogilev, Kiev, Ekaterinoslav, &c., and runs into the Black sea, near Otchakov. It begins to be navigable a little above Smolensk. Notwithstanding the course of this river is so extensive, its navigation is only once interrupted by a series of cataracts, which commence about 200 miles from its mouth, and continue 30 or 40 miles; these, however, are not very dangerous, and may be passed in the spring by loaded barks. Length, 1000 miles. The lower part of the river has been the theatre of many conflicts between the Russians and Turks.

DNIESTER, or DNIESTR (the ancient Tyras or Danaster); a large river of Europe, which has its source in a lake in the Carpathian mountains, in Austrian Galicia, and empties itself into the Black sea, between Ovidiopol and Akerman, after a course of between 500 and 600 miles, mostly through Russia, the government of which has done much towards improving its navigation.

DOBBERAN; a castle and borough (210 houses and 1400 inhabitants), under the jurisdiction of a bailiff, between two and three iniles from the Baltic, in the duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. About a mile from the place is the Heilige Damm, or Holy Dam, a high natural mound of stones, curiously formed and colored, stretching far into the Baltic. Tradition says, that the sea threw up these

263

stones in one night: it was, perhaps, the effect of an earthquake. Three miles distant from Dobberan is a bathing-house, the oldest establishment for sea-bathing in Germany. It was founded by the duke in 1793; and to it Dobberan has been chiefly indebted for its celebrity.

DOBROWSKY, Joseph, abbé, born in 1754, doctor of philosophy, member of the royal Bohemian society of sciences, and several other societies, lives at Prague, in the family of count Nostitz. He is the most learned Sclavonian in the Austrian empire. Beside other works, he has written a History of the Language and ancient Literature of Bohemia (revised edition, Prague, 1818); and a work entitled Methodius and Cyrillus, the apostles of the Sclavonians. He is now preparing a critical edition of Jornandes, for the society of ancient German history at Frankfort.

Dock; a name applied to different species of the genus rumex. These are large herbaceous plants, with stout roots, alternate and often entire leaves, and bearing panicles of small greenish flowers. Several species have been introduced into our gardens from Europe, and have become troublesome weeds. Their roots have an austere taste, are astringent and styptic, and the seeds are sometimes employed in hemorrhage. The root of the water-dock (R. aquaticus) strikes a black color is solution of sulphate of iron. About species of this genus are known, five or six of which are really natives of the U. States. The term dock is frequently applied to other large weeds.

Docks. The word dock was formerly applied to the slip or excavation made for the purpose of building or repairing a vessel; and was distinguished as a dry dock when furnished with flood-gates to prevent the influx of the tide, if required; and as a wet dock when, having no floodgates, the vessel could only be cleaned or repaired during the period in which the tide left her accessible. These slips or docks are still used. At present, the name of graving or building dock is more generally given to what we have termed dry dock, which latter term is applied to those docks or basins left dry by the tide; while the appellation slip is confined to the narrow inlet for building or repairing, unprotected by gates. During the growth of the maritime power and the commerce of Europe, it was found highly inconvenient to load and unload vessels in a tideriver or in a harbor not entirely landlocked; for either the ships could not be brought close to the wharves, or, when

conducted there at the flood of the tide, they were left dry at the ebb, and suffered continual damage by straining, by delay from neap tides, and other accidents and inconveniences. To obviate these inconveniences, improvements in the existing docks or slips were made from time to ume, until England, taking the lead, introduced a system of floating docks, which have greatly contributed to her advancement and prosperity. Many of the principal maritime ports of Europe are provided with dry docks for building and repairing vessels; and of these Toulon, Havre and Brest have the most remarkable. Most seaport towns are provided with graving docks for the repairing of ships; but it is only in the British islands that the system has been carried to any extent of forming large basins or floating docks, furnished with flood-gates for the reception of shipping to load and unload, wherein the vessel remains safe at the quay-side. The docks of Liverpool were the first constructed in England; and many other maritime towns have been induced to follow her example. It is scarcely 30 years since nearly the whole of the vessels that entered the port of London were obliged to remain moored in the open stream of the Thames. The example which Liverpool had set for nearly a ceny pointed out the remedy for the existng evils, and the construction of floating docks in the port of London was resolved on. The first constructed, and those nearest the trading part of the metropolis, are called the London docks. They are just below the site of the Tower, and on the left bank of the Thames; were begun in 1800, and completed in 1805. The dock, properly so called, is 420 yards in length, 276 yards in breadth, and 29 feet in depth; its superficies is equal to 25 acres; that of the basin communicating with it is above 2 acres; and, including the ground occupied by warehouses, sheds and quays, the whole premises contain a superficies of 110 acres. Excepting those ships that trade to the East and West Indies, every vessel, whether English or foreign, may enter the London dock upon paying the duties, to unship her cargo or take in a new lading. For the convenience of business, ranges of sheds, low, and of a very simple construction, have been erected along the sides of the dock and near the edges of the quays, into which cargoes are removed. Behind these sheds, and in a parallel direction to them, stands a line of magnificent warehouses, four stories high, with spacious

vaults, into which the casks are conveyed by inclined planes. These buildings occupy a superficies of 120,000 square yards. The cellars are appropriated to wines and brandies, and railways, or rather tramways, running in all directions, facilitate labor. The London docks have their several parts perfectly adapted to each other, and are of the most admirable construction. The gates, like all those whose size much exceeds 20 feet, instead of being straight, are curved on the side on which the water presses. The West India docks are on the left bank of the Thames, at the distance of about one mile and a half below the London docks. They are situated on the base of a tongue of land of the Isle of Dogs-a sort of peninsula formed by a long circuit of the river. The West India docks are much superior to the London, both in extent and regularity. These vast works were undertaken and executed by an association of private individuals, and by means of a mere subscription. 27 months sufficed to accomplish the whole. The excavations of the West India docks were begun on the 12th of July, 1800; and as early as the month of September, 1802, vessels entered the import dock! At the highest tides, the depth of water in the two docks is 24 feet; they are formed parallel to each other; their common length is about 890 yards. The largest, which has a superficies of above 30 acres, is destined for those vessels returning to the West Indies, which deposit their cargoes in the warehouses of this artificial port. The second, the superficies of which is about 25 acres, receives the vessels laid up in ordinary, or taking the outward-bound cargoes. These docks, with their basins, and the locks which connect them with the river, present an area of 68 acres of ground, excavated by human hands, for the reception and moorage of vessels. The total superficies, including that of the quays and warehouses, is 140 acres. During the busy season, this establishment employs about 2600 workmen. It can admit, at the same time, 204 vessels in the import, and 195 in the export dock, forming a total of 120,000 tons. During the first 15 years, 7260 vessels entered them. Upon the quays, under the sheds, and in the warehouses, there have been deposited, at the same time, 148,563 barrels or casks of sugar, 70,875 barrels and 433,648 bags of coffee, 35,158 pipes of rum and Madeira wine, 14,021 logs of mahogany, 21,350 tons of logwood, &c. At the upper and lower entrances of the two docks, a basin

presents three locks of communication. The first communicates with the Thames; the water is kept in it by means of double gates. The second and third locks lead respectively into the export and import docks; they have also double gates. By this means, the vessels are able to come in and go out independently of the state of the tide; they may remain in the basin as long as is judged convenient. The water of the docks being but very little higher than that of the basins, it does not press violently on the gates of the locks. It should be also observed, that this water, having had time to settle in its previous passage through the basin, hardly deposits any sediment when introduced into the docks. The East India docks, belonging to the East India company, are inferior to the West India docks in magnitude, but equal in point of construction and security of property. Having to receive vessels of 2500 tons, they are deeper than the West India docks, and have never less than 23 or 24 feet water.

DOCK-YARDS; arsenals containing all sorts of naval stores, and timber for shipbuilding. In England, the royal dockyards are at Chatham, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Deptford, Woolwich, and Sheerness, where the king's ships and vessels of war are generally moored during peace, and such as want repairing are taken into the docks, examined, and refitted for ser

vice.

DOCTOR. The title of doctor originated at the same time with the establishment of the universities. The dignity connected with it first received public sanction at the law university in Bologna, between 1128 and 1137, where the celebrated Irnerius (Werner) began to give instructions in law, in 1128, and was confirmed by the emperor as professor of law. He is said to have prevailed on the emperor Lothaire II, whose chancellor he was, to introduce the dignity of doctor. From the faculty of law, this title passed to that of theology. The faculty in Paris first conferred the degree of doctor of divinity on Peter Lombard, who, in 1159, became bishop of Paris. William Gordenio, of the college at Asti, in 1329, was the first person who was promoted to the diguity of doctor artium et medicinæ. The doctorate of philosophy was established last, because the faculty of philosophy was formed the latest. The title of magister was more common among the members of this faculty. The degree of doctor is either conferred publicly, with certain ceremonies, or by diploma. On the 23

VOL. IV.

265

continent of Europe, the order of rank is this doctor of theology, of law, of medicine, and of philosophy; but in England and the U. States of America, the doctor of laws ranks first, and the doctor of divinity next. Doctor of medicine is a professional title.-The degree of doctor of music is conferred at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge (England). The great Haydn and Romberg received this title from the university of Oxford.

DOCTORS' COMMONS. (See College of Civilians.)

DOCTRINAIRES. Since the second restoration of the Bourbons, a small number of deputies in the French chamber would neither rank themselves among the friends of absolute power, nor among the defenders of the revolution. They supported Decazes, while he was minister; and sereral of them held offices in the ministry, as, for instance, the counsellors of state Camille Jordan and Royer-Collard. Their system embraced a constitutional monarchy, allowing the government more power than the ultra-liberals would admit, and, on the other hand, restricting the royal power more, and admitting less approach towards the old form of government, than the ultra-royalists demanded. They retired with Decazes, and afterwards joined the liberal opposition. The first orator among them was Royer-Collard, and their most distinguished writer out of the chamber, Guizot. (See Chambers.)

In

DODD, William, an English clergyman, born in 1729, the son of a clergyman, was educated at Cambridge. In 1750, he married without the means of support ; in 1753, took orders, and soon became one of the most popular preachers in London. An expensive mode of living rendered his circumstances embarrassed, and he became the author or editor of several works which afforded him large profits. 1764, he was chosen one of his majesty's chaplains, and was active in the formation of a society for the relief of persons confined for small debts. Being now much involved in debt, he disgraced his station, and violated the rules of common honesty, by offering a bribe to the lord chancellor's lady if she would procure his nomination to a vacant rectory. The lady was indignant, and informed the chancellor of the offer, who procured Dodd's name to be struck from the list of the king's chaplains. To escape from the disgrace which attended the knowledge of his conduct, he went to Geneva, where he met with the earl of Chesterfield, to whom he had been