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Water is directed to pafs among earths thus impregnated, and from thence becomes faturated with fait in the fame manner, and is afterwards boiled in the common way. Hoffman de Salin. Hallens, c. 2. and 4. Obf. Phyf. Chym. 1.2. obf. 16. The fand of the fea is alio in fome places ufed as a fubfhnce to make fait from. There are works of this kind on the coaft of Normandy, where a brine is made from the fand, and evaporated at fo fmall an expence, that it is worth their while to export it to England and other countries. We had formerly fome works of this kind in England, as at Wire- water, and fome other places in Lancafhire and Weftmore- land, where pit-coal being fcarce, they boiled it with turf fires ; but fmce the works of the brine fait, and purified rock fait, have fucceeded fo happily with us : thefe are all laid afide, except fome i neon fid er able ones in Lancafhire. Thefe are near Ulverftone, and the fand from which they make their brine there, is extracted from the flat fandy fhores, which are only covered with water in the higheft tides, which flow two or three days before, and three or four days after the new and full moon ; for thofe parts of the fand which are overflowed by the neap tides are feldom fufficiently dried, and are at too great a diftana: from the falterns.
This fand they collect in flats and wafhes, or in parts of the fands, which are perfectly plain, and in little hollows, where the fea water is left, and either finks into the fand, or is dried up by the heat of the fun, and leaves the fait behind. This is only collected in dry weather, and at fuch times when the fea water has been exhaled from it by the fun, and there have been no rains afterwards to wafh the fait out of it. They dig a pit adjoining to the faltern eighteen foot long, three broad, and one deep ; the bottom of this they cover with flraw, or rufhes, and then fill it up with fand collected in this manner ; they pour upon this fea water, and this imbibing the fait from the fand is filtered through the ftraw or rufhes, and runs clear through a pipe at the bottom. Brownrig of Salt, N° 136.
DIMACH/E, in antiquity, a kind of horfemen, fir ft inftituted by Alexander. Their armour was lighter than that of the infantry, and at the fame time heavier than that ufed by horfemen, fo that they could act as horfe or foot as occafion required. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.
DIMACHiERUS, A/j^r^f©-, in antiquity, a gladiator who fought with two fwords. Vid. Hift. Acad, lnfcript. T. 2. p. 374. feq. _
DIMETIENT, in geometry, is fometimes ufed for Diameter. Harris, in voc.
DIMINISHED interval, in mufic, is applied to fuch as are lef- fened by a femi-tone minor. Thus from C t) to E being a third minor, if E be lowered by a femi-tone minor, we fhall have E b, and then from C tj to E b is called a diminijhed third, in the language of practical muficians, and occurs frequently in their works. But ftrictly fpeaking, in this cafe, the note E muft be lowered more than a femi-tone minor, as fhall be {hewn farther on.
Diminished Second is a femi-tone major, lefTened by a femi- tone minor. See the articles Interval and Second.
Diminished Ihird, by fome called defective third, is pro- perly a third minor lefTened by a femi-tone minor. But a- mong practical muficians, it commonly figniftes an interval equal to two femi-tones major. And this they confound with the former j but there is a difference between them, equal to the difference between a tone-major and minor, that is, a ■ comma. The firft mentioned of thefe diminiflsed thirds, will be exprefied by -*■* — f- : §£, and is equal to the tone major and enharmonic diefis; for ~±*- — f. x ^~. The fecond diminijhed third will be expreffed by, \\~ — i£ x J-f , which is a comma lefs than the former. See the table in the article Interval.
Diminished Fourth. See the table in the article Interval. The diminijhed fourth often occurs in practice, as from C to G t} defcending ; and fometimes, though more rarely from G t| to C afcending.
Diminished Fifth, in mufic, is lefs than the true fifth by a femi-tone minor, and is therefore equal to two lefTer thirds. Practitioners often confound the diminijhed fifth, with the femi-diapente, or falfe fifth, which is a comma lefs. See Interval.
Diminished Sixth. — This interval, according to Ozanam, contains two tones and three femi-tones major ; or a fourth and diminifhed third ; or a diminijhed fourth and third minor. Thus from (J t) to A b is a diminijhed fixth. But, as there are two diminijhed thirds, fo there may be as many dimmjbed fixths ; thefe being the complements of the former to the octave. One of thefe diminijhed fixths will be exprefied by '-$£$ = -* x-J-*-*, and this is a femi-tone major more than the femi-diapente ; the other diminijhed fixth will be ' r lf=f x J-tfj which is a femi-tone minor lefs than the flat fixth. Practitioners confound thefe two ; and, in effect, in temperate fcalcs they coincide, as do all other intervals, dif- fering only by a comma. See Temperament.
Diminished Seventh, is of two kinds, differing by a comma. See the table in the article Interval. That diminijhed feventh, which is the complement of the fu-
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perfluous fecond to the octave, is the only one in ufe. T t \ a femi-tone major more than the fixth minor, as from C tj to B b.
Diminished Oclave, is a femi-tone minor lefs than the octave as from C to eh. It occurs fometimes in the bafles of inftru* mental pieces of mufic. See Interval.
DIMORPHOTHECA, in Botany, a name given by Vaillant to a genus of plants, which Linnreus makes the fame with the calendula. The characters are thefe : the common cup i s fimple, erect, and divided into feveral parts. The flower is of the compound radiated kind, its disk is compofed of a great number of hermaphrodite flofcules, and its radius of a vaft number of female flowers : thefe are very long, and are of the fame number with the fegmentsof the cup. The hermaphrodite flofcules are tubular, and lightly divided into five fegments at the edge, and are of the length of the cup. The female flowers in the radius are of a ligulated form, and divided into three denticulations at the end ; they are alfo hairy at the bafe, and have no ribs. The ftamina in the hermaphrodite flowers are five filaments, very fhort and flender, and the an- therse are cylindric, tubular, and of the length of the flower. The piftill in the hermaphrodite flowers has itsgermen ftand- ing below the flower. The ftyle is capillary, and is fcarcely of the length of the ftamina ; and the ftigma is obtufe, bifid, and erect. In the female flowers, the germen of the piftill is oblong and of a triangular form ; the ftyle is capillary, and of the length of the ftamina ; and the ftigmata are two, and are oblong, pointed, and reflex. There is no capfule for the feeds but the cup becomes roundifh and deprefled, and clofes at the fummit. There are no feeds from the central flowers of the disk ; but thofe near the margin, have each a fingle feed after them which is membranaceous, and furrounded with a cordated comprefied fubftance ; they are of an oblong figure, broader at the top than elfewhere, and probably are fteril. The feeds which follow the female flowers are fingle, larger, and of an oblong figure ; they are crooked, and approacli to a fomewhat triangular form, and are externally marked with a fort of figure of a plant in a longitudinal direction. The re- ceptacle is naked and flat. Lmnai Gen. Plant, p. 419.
DINUS, in medicine, according to fome, is the name of a dif- eafe, called more ufually Vertigo. See Vertigo.
DIOCALLIA, in Botany, a name by which Apuleius and fome other authors have called the common fweet chamomile. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
DIOCLEIA, AtoKhBta, in antiquity, a folemnity kept in the fpring at Megara, in memory of the Athenian hero Diodes, who died in the defence of the youth he loved. Pott. ArchseoL Graec. 1. 2. c. 20.
DIOCTAR/EDRIA, in natural hiftory the name of a genus of fpars. The word is derived from the Greek ft; twice, ox?a eight, and ify, a fide. The bodies of this genus are fpars compofed of twice eight planes, or two octangular pyramids joined bafe to bafe, without any intermediate column. Of this genus there are three known fpecies. 1. One with lono- pyramids, which is found in the mines of Rammelsberg in the Hartz foreft in Germany, and no where el(e, fo far as is yet known. 2. One with fhort and fharp pointed pyramids found in many of the mines of the Hartz foreft, and fometimes tinged with the colours of the gemms. And 3. One with fhort and obtufe pyramids, which is found in the mines of Cornwall, and lodged in the cetton ftone of Rutland. Hill's Hift. of of Foff. p. 2 1 1 .
DIODIA, in Botany, the name of a genus of plants. The characters of which are thefe : the perianthium confifts of two leaves, of an oval figure, equal in fize, and placed upon the germen, thefe remain when the flower is fallen. The flower is of the one-leaved kbiated kind ; its tube is flender and longer than the cup ; its upper lip is erect and bifid, and the lower lip is expanded, and divided into two pointed fegments. The ftamina are four filaments of the thicknefs of a briftle ; and two of thefe, which are oppofite to one another, are fomewhat fhorter than the others. The anthers are ob- long, and verfatile. The germen of the piftil is round- ifh, but in fome degree four cornered, this ftands under the cup of the flower. The ftyle is capillary, and of the length of the ftamina, and the ftigma is bifid. The fruit is a capfule, of an oval figure, with four corners, fo as to appear fquare, and is crowned with the cup grown larger ; this is compofed of two valves, and contains two cells ; the feeds are fingle, of an oval oblong figure, and convex on one fide, and plain on the other. Linnai-, Gen. Plant, p. 291.
DIOECESIS, A/o/jcujr/f, among the Romans, a prefecture of feveral provinces joined together, under the fame governor, called Prafeclus. H'ffm. Lex. in voc. See Prefect and Diocese, Cycl.
DIONYSIACA, {Cycl.) in antiquity, was alfo a defignation given to plays and all manner of fports acted on the ftage ; be- caule play houfes were dedicated to Dionyfius, i.e. Bacchus and Venus, as being the deities of fports and pleafure. Potter, Archsol. Gnec. 1. 1. c. 8. t. 1. p. 41.
DIONYSIAS Lapis, in natural hiftory, the name of a ftone de- ferred by Pliny, and fome other of the antients, as a black
ftone
