The Orange party so profited by these disasters that the Perpetual Edict was revoked, and Prince William assumed the office of stadtholder. De Witt s policy was thus finally defeated, and he himself became an object of general and intense hatred. All sorts of monstrous charges were brought against him, and believed ; and his brother Cornelius was falsely accused of conspiring against the life of the stadtholder. Brought to the Hague, Cornelius was there, on July 24, 1672, tortured and condemned to per petual banishment. In the same town De Witt was assaulted by a band of assassins, who left him lying on the ground under the impression that he was dead. Sum moned by a pretended message from Cornelius, De Witt went to visit him in prison, when a mob assembled and murdered the brothers amid circumstances of revolting cruelty. De Witt is one of the greatest figures of Dutch history. His action in connection with the Triple Alliance proves that he thoroughly understood the central tendencies of European politics ; and, whether he is to be praised or blamed for his life-long opposition to the house of Orange, there can be no doubt as to the greatness and purity of his motives. As an administrator he displayed extraordinary energy and resource ; and personally he was a man of steady, upright character, loyal and fearless. His Memoirs were published at the Hague in 1667 ; and in 1725, at Amsterdam, appeared Lettres et Negotiations entre Jean De Witt et les Plenipotentiaires des Provinces Unies aux Cours de France, <kc., depuis Van 1652 jusqiCa 1669." A Life of the two brothers, by Madame Zoutelande, was published at Utrecht in 1709. (j. si.)
DEWSBURY, a market-town in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, situated at the foot of a hill, on the left bank
of the Calder, eight miles S. by W. of Leeds, on the
Manchester and Leeds railway. The chief industries are
the making of blankets, carpets, druggets, and worsted
yarn. A mile from the town is Batley, the centre of the
shoddy manufacture. Coal is worked in the neighbour
hood of Dewsbury. The parish church of All Saints
was for the most part rebuilt in the latter half of
the 18th century ; the portions still preserved of the
original structure are of great antiquity. Paulinus, first
archbishop of York, about the year 627 preached in the
district of Dewsbury, where Edwin, king of Northumbria,
whom he converted to Christianity, had a royal mansion.
Dewsbury is said to have been originally called Duis burgh,
or the town of Dui, the tutelar god of the Brigantes. At
Kirklees, in the parish of Dewsbury, is the tomb of Robin
Hood. The population of the municipal borough of Dews-
bury in 1851 was 14,019; in 1871 it was 24,764, while
that of the parliamentary borough, which has an extended
area, was 54,940. The municipal charter of the town was
granted in 1862. It returns one member to Parliament.
DEXTRIN, or British gum, C 6 H 10 O 5 , is a substance
produced from starch by the action of dilute acids, alkalies,
and diastase or malt extract, and by roasting it at a
temperature between 140 and 160 C. (284-320 Fahr.)
till it is of a light brown colour, and smells like over-baked
bread. Its name has reference to its powerful dextro-rotatory
action on polarized light. The purest dextrin is prepared
by boiling 25 parts of sulphuric acid with 125 of water,
and adding by degrees a mixture of 100 parts of starch
and 125 of cold water. The liquid is then lowered in
temperature to 60 or 70 C. (H0-158 Fahr.), at which
it is kept for some time ; it is next neutralized with chalk,
filtsred, and evaporated. Dextrin is an uncrystallizable,
insipid, odourless, yellowish-white, translucent substance,
brit^e and friable when thoroughly dried. It dissolves in
water and dilute alcohol ; by strong alcohol it is pre
cipitated from its solutions as the hydrated compound,
pe^io^s-HpO. Unlike starch it is not coloured blue by
iodine. Diastase converts it eventually into maltose,
C 12 H 22 U ; and by boiling with dilute acids and alkalies
it is transformed into dextrose, or ordinary glucose,
C 6 H 12 0,5. It does not ferment in contact with yeast, 1 and
in the pure state has probably no reducing action on an
alkaline copper solution. If heated with strong nitric acid
it gives oxalic, and not mucic acid. Limpricht has shown
that dextrin is present in the flesh-juice of the horse.
Dextrin much resembles gum arabic, instead of which it is
generally substituted for a great variety of purposes. It
is employed for sizing paper, for stiffening cotton goods,
and for thickening colours in calico printing, also in the
making of lozenges, adhesive stamps and labels, and
surgical bandages. In most technical operations the crude
solution only is used.
DHAR, a small native state of Malwa, in Central India,
under the political superintendence of the British Govern
ment. Area, 1*500 square miles ; population, 150,000
souls. The state contains much fertile ground, the prin
cipal agricultural products being wheat, opium, gram, sugar
cane, Indian corn, and cotton. The Raja- is a Puar or
Pramar Rajput, who claims descent from the famous King
Vikramaditya ; but the family only received possession
of Dhar in 1749, by gift from the MarhattA Peshwa, BAji
Rao. Towards the close of the last, and in the early part
of the present century, the state was subject to a series of
spoliations by Sindhia and Holkar, and was only preserved
from, destruction by the talents and courage of the adoptive
mother of the fifth Raja. By a treaty in 1819, Dhar
passed under British protection, and bound itself to act in
subordinate co-operation. The state was confiscated for
rebellion in 1857, but subsequently restored to RAji
Anand Rao Puar, then a minor, with the exception of the
detached district of Bairusia, which was granted to the
Begam of Bhopal. The revenue of the state is estimated
at 80,000 per annum, inclusive of jagirs. The military
force consists of 276 cavalry, with 800 infantry (including
police), 2 guns, and 21 artillery. Road-making is being
pushed on. Fifteen schools were attended in 1874 by 550
scholars. Two charitable dispensaries afford gratuitous
medical relief. The town of Dhar, situated on the road
from Mau (Mhow) to Baroda, extends 3 miles in length
by half a mile in breadth, and is surrounded by a mud
wall. The fort, built of red stone, forms a conspicuous
object outside the city, and contains the Raja s palace.
DHÁRWÁR, a district of British India in the presidency
of Bombay, situated between 14 6 and 15 53 N. lat.,
and 74 50 and 75 58 E. long. It contains a total area
of 4536 square miles, and a population of 988,037 inhabi
tants. The district is about 116 miles long, with an average
width of 77 miles. It is bounded on the N. by the
Belgaum and Kaladgi districts, on the E. by the Nizam s
territory and Bellari district, on the S. by Mysore, and
on the W. by Belgaum and North Kanara districts. The
western portions of the district, in the neighbourhood of
the Sabyadri range, are rugged and hilly ; but towards the
east, the land falls away into plains of black soil in many
parts very fertile and well suited to the growth of cotton,
with occasionally a detached peak or group of hills.
The chief rivers are the Malprabhd on the north and the
TungbhadrA on the south. The hills are principally com
posed of hornblende and chloritic schists, gneiss, and mica
slate, large interstratified beds of silicious and ferruginous
schists (as at and near Dharwar) often forming their ridges.
Seams and beds of a crystalline white marble occur, which,
near their junction with the hornblende slate, are often
coloured green. Gold is found sparingly in the Dumbal
hills, and chick mulgund, and also iron pyrites. Iron ore
is worked to a small extent at Teyur, where there was once
