world, but who not allowing any difference between moral good and evil, deny that God takes any notice of the morally good or evil actions of men ; these things depending, as they imagine, on the arbitrary constitutions of human laws. 3. Those who having right apprehensions concerning the natural attributes of God, and his all-governing providence, and some notion of his moral perfections also; yet, being prejudiced against the notion of the immortality of the human soul, believe that men perish entirely at death, and that one generation shall perpetually succeed another, without any future restoration or renovation of things. 4. Such as believe the existence of a supreme Being, together with his providence in the government of the world, the reality of right and wrong, and the immortality of the soul; but so far only, as these things are discoverable by the light of nature, without any other divine revelation. These last are the only true deists; but as, in his opinion, the principles of these men should lead them to embrace the Christian revelation, the learned author concludes there is now no consistent scheme of deism in the world.

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DEITY, a term frequently used in a synonymous sense with God. See God.

DELFT ware, a kind of pottery of baked earth covered with an enamel of white glazing which gives it the appearance and neatness of PORCELAIN, which see.

DELIQUESCENCE, in chemistry, a term applied to certain saline bodies that have become moist or liquid, by means of the water which they absorb from the atmosphere, in consequence of their great

attraction to water. When the salt has, by expo sure to air, become so far deliquesced as to be in a liquid state, it is said to be in the state of deliquium. Hence alkali, reduced by this means to a liquid state, was formerly denominated “oil of tartar per deliquium.”

: DELPHINUS, the dolphin, a genus of fishes, containing several species; among these the porpesse, is the most abundant of the cetaceous animals.

Porpesses are gregarious, and are frequently seen frolicking on the water, and playing their uncouth gambols, more especially on the approach of boisterous weather. They feed on smaller fishes, and are themselves very fat, and produce large quantities of oil. They were once considered as a species of luxury at the tables of the great, but are never seen there now. The dolphin is a very large fish, measuring sometimes ten feet in length. It is found both in the Pacific and European seas, and its appearance is in general preliminary to a tempest. It not only pursues and attacks small fish, on which indeed, it subsists, but assails the whale itself, and is stated to have been seen firmly adhering to whales as they have leaped from the water. The ancients appear to have had almost a superstitious attachment to this animal, and relate various anecdotes of it, implying a peculiar susceptibility of gratitude and affection, a strong attachment to mankind, and a rapturous fondness for music.

DELUGE, an inundation covering the earth either in the whole or in part. In history we find accounts of several deluges, as that in the time of Deucalion, which overflowed Thessaly in the year

before Christ 1529. The deluge of Ogyges, which happened 300 years before that of Deucalion. Of a similar kind were those inundations in the Netherlands which, in 1727, overwhelmed and covered with the sea all that part now called the gulf Dollart in the United Netherlands, and in 1421 all that country situated between Brabant and Holland; but the most memorable deluge is that which by way of eminence is called The universal Deluge or Noah's Flood, recorded in Scripture as a general inundation sent by God to punish the corruption and wickedness of the world. This flood makes one of the most considerable epochas in chronology. Its history is given by Moses in the book of Genesis, ch. vi & vii. and its time is fixed to the year from the creation 1656. From this flood, the state of the world is divided into "diluvian" and "anti-diluvian.”

DEMAIN, or demesne in law, is commonly understood to be the lord's chief manor-place, with the lands thereunto belonging, which he and his ancestors have time out of mind kept in their own manual occupation, for the maintenance of themselves and their families.

DEMAIN denotes also all the parts of any manor not in the hands of freeholders; and is frequently used for a distinction between those lands that the lord of the manor has in his own hands, or in the hands of his lessee demised at a rack-rent; or such other land appertaining to the manor, which belongs to free or copyholders.

DEMAIN is sometimes taken in a more special sense, as opposite to frank-fee; such lands as were in possession of Edward the Confessor, being

called ancient demesne, and all others frank-fee. In England, no private person has any demesnes, according to the simple acceptation of the word, because there is no land but what depends mediately or immediately upon the crown, as of some honour belonging to it, and not granted in fee to an inferior -person; wherefore when a person pleading would signify the land to be his own, he says, that he is seized thereof in his demain as of fee; by which it appears, that though his land be to him' and his heirs for ever, yet it is not true demesne, but depending upon a superior lord, and is held by rent or service.

DEMESNE, See DEMAIN.

DEMISE, in law, is applied to an estate either in fee, for term of life or years, though most usually the latter. The king's death in law is termed the demise of the king, which does not discontinue any writ or process, nor determine any commission, ecivil or military, nor a parliament till after six - months.

DEMOCRACY, a government, wherein the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the people: such were Rome and Athens of old: as to modern republics, Basil only excepted, their government comes nearer to aristocracy than democracy; and this must always perhaps be the case.

DEMURRAGE, in commerce, an allowance made to the master of a ship by the merchants, for staying in a port longer than the time first appointed for his departure.

DEMURRER, in law, a stop put to any action upon some point of difficulty, which must be determined by the court, before any farther proceedings can be

had in the suit. Demurrers are either general, without showing any particular cause; or special, where the causes of it are particularly assigned; and one may not pray the judgment of the court on an insufficient declaration or plea, otherwise than by demurrer, when the matter comes judicially before them. In pleadings, if a matter is insuffieiently alieged, that the court cannot give judgment thereon, a general demurrer will suffice, and so for want of substance in any plea, &c. but if there be any want of form, it is required that there be a special demurrer.

DENDRITES, or Arborizations. This appellation is given to figures of vegetables which are frequently observed in fossil substances. They are of two kinds; the one superficial the other internal. The first are chiefly found on the surface of stones, between the strata, and in the fissures of those of a calcareous nature.

Denizen, in law, an alien made a subject by the king's letters-patent, otherwise called donaison, because his legitimation proceeds er donatione regis, from the king's gift. A denizen is enabled in several respects to act as natural subjects do, viz. to purchase and possess lands, and enjoy any office or dignity; yet it is short of naturalization: for a stranger, when naturalized, may inherit lands by descent, which a denizen cannot do. If a denizen purchase lands, his issue that are born afterward may inherit them, but those he had before shall not; and as a denizen may purchase, so he may take lands by devise.

DENOMINATOR, in arithmetic, a term used in speaking of fractions. The denominator of a frac