has been deemed peculiarly fortunate in its presidents, it may with truth be said that it has at no time been more prosperous than under the presidency of Dr. Day. His learning and talent, united to great kindness of heart, soundness of judgment, and urbanity of manner, secured alike the respect and love of his thousands of pupils, all of whom looked upon him more as a father and friend than as a mere teacher and guide in the ways of knowledge. Dr. Day has always been distinguished as a mathematician, and as a close and vigorous thinker on all subjects to which he turned his attention. His well-known "Algebra," first published in 1814, has passed through numerous editions; and a new and much improved and extended edition of it was issued in 1852, by the joint labors of himself and Prof. Stanley. His work on the "Mensuration of Superficies and Solids" was published in 1814, his "Plane Trigonometry" in 1815, and his "Navigation and Surveying" in 1817. These works, like his "Algebra," have gone through numerous editions, and are adopted extensively as standard works in the colleges and seminaries of the land. In 1838 Dr. Day published an "Inquiry on the Self-Determining Power of the Will, or Contingent Volition," and a second edition of the same in 1849. In 1841 he published an "Examination of President Edwards's Inquiry as to the Freedom of the Will." He has also published a number of occasional sermons, and contributed papers to the "Journal of Science," the "New Englander," &c. He still lives in New Haven, in the possession of all his faculties, and the enjoyment of a ripe old age, respected and esteemed by the entire community, as well as by thousands in every part of the land whom he has aided in training for respectability and usefulness.

DAY, JOHN, an English printer, born at Dunwich, in Suffolk, in 1522, died July 23, 1584. He improved the Greek types then in use, was the first who printed in Saxon characters in England, and was 4 times elected warden of the stationers' company, and in 1580 master of the same. In 1544 he carried on printing in London, a little above Holborn conduit, in partnership with William Seres. In 1549 he removed to Aldersgate street, near St. Anne's church. Beside this printing office, he kept several shops where his books were sold. In 1562 he printed the first edition of John Fox's "Acts and Monuments," with cuts representing the execution of Huss, Cobham, Tyndal, Lambert, and other martyrs. Of this work no perfect copy is known to exist. His publications materially aided the reformation. Of his 13 children, JOHN, born in 1566, died in 1627, at Thurlow, in Suffolk, became a popular preacher; and RicnARD, who officiated for some time as minister at Ryegate, in Surrey, translated into English the De Christo Triumphante Comadia of Fox, and followed afterward his father's business as print er, which for many years he carried on in the same place.

DAY, MAHLON, a publisher of New York, born in Morristown, N. J., Aug. 27, 1790, lost on board the steamer Arctic, Sept. 20, 1854. He was a member of the society of Friends, commenced his career in New York as a journeyman printer, but soon accumulated from his savings enough to embark in business on his own account, in which he took up a department previously neglected, that of the publication of story books and toy books for children. He also commenced and published as long as he continued in business "Day's Bank Note List and Counterfeit Detector." This was the first periodical of the kind issued, and in the multiplication of banks became important and indeed necessary to the business community. The profits of this enterprise enabled Mr. Day to retire from business, and the last 15 years of his life were spent in charitable and public-spirited labors. He was a manager of the house of refuge, of the public school society, of the institution for the blind, and of other similar institutions.

DAY, STEPHEN, the first printer in New England, born in England in 1611, died in Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 22, 1668. He came to this country in 1638, and commenced printing at Cambridge, by direction of the magistrates and elders, in 1639. The first thing printed was the "Freeman's Oath," in 1639; next in the same year an almanac, made by Wm. Pierce, mariner; then the Psalms, "newly turned into metre," in 1640. He also printed a catechism; "Body of Liberties," 100 laws, in 1641; and a second edition of the Psalms, 1647. From his extant works we are able to say that he was not a skilful printer. The printing house was taken from him about 1648, and put into the hands of Samuel Green.

DAY, THOMAS, an English author and politician, born in London in 1748, died Sept. 28, 1789. His father, a collector of the customs, died when Thomas was a year old, leaving him an ample fortune. He was educated at the charterhouse, and at Corpus Christi college, Oxford, which he left after 3 years' study, without taking a degree. He at once began his romantic and benevolent course of life, residing successively in different parts of the continent, making himself familiar with the mental and physical wants of the lower classes of society, and alleviating them to the extent of his power. The distresses which he witnessed caused him temporary melancholy and lasting indignation against certain criminal noblemen, one of whom he vainly challenged to single combat. With peculiar views of education, he selected from the foundling hospital at Shrewsbury 2 girls 12 years of age, designing to educate them after the principles of Rousseau, and ultimately to marry one of them. His expectations, however, were not realized, and he gave portions to his protégées on their marriage with persons of their choice. In 1778 he married a lady of Yorkshire, having opinions and a fortune like his own, and retired to his estates in Essex and Surrey, where he took an active part in public meetings as an ad

capacity he served till 1783, when he was promoted to the command of the Jersey brigade. He was in active service during the whole war, and took part in the important battles of Springfield, Monmouth, Brandywine, Germantown, and Yorktown. He had 3 horses shot under him, one at Springfield, one at Germantown, and one at Crosswick's bridge. After the war he served several terms in the legislature of his native state. Upon the formation of the New Jersey society of the Cincinnati, Gen. Dayton was chosen its president, and held that office until his death. DAYTON, JOHN, a governor of South Carolina, born about 1761, died in Charleston, S. C., Nov. 27, 1822. He held several government offices, was chosen governor of South Carolina in 1800 and again in 1808, and was afterward appointed judge of the U. S. district court, a position which he held until his death. He published "A View of Sonth Carolina," and "Memoirs of the Revolution" in that state.

DAYTON, JONATHAN, LL.D., an American statesman, born at Elizabethtown, N. J., Oct. 16, 1760, died there, Oct. 9, 1824. At the age of 16 he was graduated at the college of New Jersey, and 2 years afterward, in 1778, he entered the army as a paymaster. He held several commissions at different periods of the war, and after the peace of 1783 he was elected to the legislature of his native state, and was chosen speaker of the house in 1790. In June, 1787,he was appointed one of the delegates from New Jersey to the convention at Philadelphia for the purpose of framing the federal constitution. In 1791 he was elected by the federal party a representative in congress, in which capacity he served for 3 successive terms, during the last 2 of which he was speaker of the house. In 1799 he was elected to the U. S. senate. When there were apprehensions of a war with France, President Adams sent him a commission as brigadier-general, which was at first declined; but upon being informed that its acceptance would not vacate his seat in the senate, he consented to retain it. He afterward served several terms in the council, as the superior branch of the New Jersey legislature was formerly termed. Among other incidents of his somewhat eventful life, it may be mentioned that he was arrested for alleged complicity with Aaron Burr in his conspiracy, but no further proceedings were had in the case. DAYTON, WILLIAM LEWIS, an American jurist and statesman, born at Baskingridge, N. J., Feb. 17, 1807. He is the son of Joel Dayton, a farmer, and was graduated at the college of New Jersey in Sept. 1825; commenced soon afterward the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar of his native state in May, 1830. In 1837 he was elected a member of the council, or senate, as it is now called, and was made chairman of the judiciary committee. On Feb. 28, 1838, he was chosen by the legislature as one of the associate justices of the supreme court of New Jersey, which position he resigned in Nov. 1841; and on the decease of the Hon. Samuel L. Southard, a U. S. senator,

in 1842, he was appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy so caused. In March, 1845, his appointment was confirmed by the legislature, and he was also elected for a full term of 6 years. He served in the senate from July 6, 1842, to March 4, 1851. As a member of the senate he was what might be called a free-soil whig; he maintained to the fullest extent the right of congress to legislate with respect to slavery in the territories of the United States, on which subject he expressed his views in a speech on the treaty with Mexico in 1847. He was an intimate and influential adviser of President Taylor, the policy of whose administration he warmly supported. He advocated the admission of California into the Union as a free state, was in favor of the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and voted against the fugitive slave bill. At the expiration of his term the democratic party was in the ascendency in the New Jersey legislature, and they chose Commodore Robert F. Stockton as his successor. Mr. Dayton now resumed the practice of his profession at Trenton; and in 1856 he was nominated by the republican national convention as their candidate for the vicepresidency of the United States, with Col. Fremont as the candidate for president. In March, 1857, he was appointed attorney-general of the state of New Jersey, which office he still holds.

DEACON (Gr. Staxovos, minister, servant), an inferior minister of the Christian church. The apostles appointed 7 deacons (Acts vi.), whose duty it was to superintend the temporal concerns of the church, and to distribute alms from the common fund. Their functions were subsequently enlarged, and in the Roman Catholic church the deaconship is a major order, ranking next below the priesthood. The deacon assists the priest in the celebration of mass, during which he wears a vestment with slit sleeves called a dalmatica, and with permission of the bishop may preach and baptize. He must have entered his 23d year before being ordained, and is bound to celibacy. In the church of England he occupies a somewhat similar position, being allowed to exercise all priestly functions except consecrating the eucharist and pronouncing absolution. He may administer the wine at communion, and officiate as lecturer, curate, or private chaplain, but is incapable of ecclesiastical preferment. The Presbyterians and Independents give this name to officers elected by the church members to distribute the bread and wine to communicants; the German Protestants apply it to assistant ministers; and in Scotland it is the title of overseers of the poor, and presidents of incorporated companies.

DEACONESS, a name given to those females in the early church who were consecrated to the service of the sanctuary, and performed for women the offices which deacons filled for men. They had care of the sick and poor of their own sex. The order has been abolished in the Latin church since the 11th century, and in the Greek church since the 12th century.

DEAD RECKONING, in navigation, the estimation that is made of the place of a ship with out any observation of the heavenly bodies. The data for the reckoning are the distance the ship has run by the log, and the course she has taken by the compass; and the result has to be rectified by due allowances for drift, leeway, &c. This reckoning should be corrected upon the first opportunity for an observation of the sun.

DEAD SEA, called by the Latin geographers Lacus Asphaltites, and by the Arabs Birket or Bahr Loot, sea of Lot. It is also known as the sea of Sodom, and in the Scriptures is spoken of as the Salt sea, sea of the Plain, and Eastern sea. Its position is about 25 m. to the east of Jerusalem, between the mountains of Moab on the east and those of Hebron on the west. The locality is that of the ancient vale of Siddim, which Lot selected when he parted from Abraham, and which was then an attractive region, watered by the Jordan, and containing the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even at that early period the district was probably of peculiar geological character, the vale being described as "full of slime pits " (Gen. xiv. 10). The catastrophe which resulted in the destruction of these cities, and in the formation of the sea, is computed to have occurred about 1900 years before the Christian era. By earthquake, accompanying volcanic action (Gen. xix. 28), the valley appears to have sunk to a great depth, and the waters of the Jordan flowing in produced this sea, which was made intensely salt by the saline strata exposed to their action. On its southwest side is a mountain retaining the name of Sodom, or Oosdoom, containing strata of salt, out from which stands a lofty pillar of the same material, observed by Lieut. Lynch, of the U. S. navy, which is probably what travellers often describe by the name of Lot's wife. Josephus speaks of a similar pillar, perhaps the same, which he himself saw, and believed to be that into which Lot's wife was transformed. Clement of Rome and Irenæus also make mention of the same. It is about 40 feet high, standing upon an oval pedestal, the top of which is 40 or 50 feet above the water. The pillar of salt is capped by limestone. Bitumen or asphaltum, from which the sea receives one of its names, is found along the shores of the lake, and during some recent earthquakes, to which the region is still subject, it was thrown up in large quantities at the southern extremity of the sea. The hardened lumps of it are worked into rosaries at Jerusalem. From its abundance in this region it is often called Jews' pitch. Pieces of sulphur are met with upon the shores, and sulphurous exhalations are perceived arising from the ground. The banks are slippery, with a slimy mud, into which the foot sinks deep, and the tracks thus left are soon lined with incrustations of salt. A similar mud covers a considerable portion of the bottom, and when brought up in sounding, crystals of salt are found sticking to it, thus indicating a full saturation of the saline mixture. But a portion of the bottom is rough and rocky,

and subject to sudden and great changes of depth. This feature, in connection with the pieces of lava occasionally found, seems to indicate a formation due to volcanic agency, such as is produced in other regions where "the smoke of the country is seen to go up as the smoke of a furnace." The water is dense and bitter with its heavy charge of salt, so that bodies float in it with much greater buoyancy than in other seas. In bathing, one experiences difficulty in keeping the feet down, and a man may float in it breast high without exertion. The southern part of the lake is shallow, giving an average depth of only 13 feet; but the northern portion, as sounded by Lieut. Lynch and others, is found to reach a maximum depth of more than 1,300 feet. The dimensions as given by him are 42 m. from north to south, and the greatest width nearly 10 m. A remarkable feature in the lake is its great depression below the level of the Mediterranean. By the levelling conducted by Lieut. Symonds of the royal engineers, which was confirmed by nearly identical results afterward obtained by the same method by Lieut. Lynch, the difference of level of the two surfaces is 1312.2 feet. This depression, which is the deepest of the kind known upon the face of the earth, extends up the valley of the Jordan toward the north to the sea of Tiberias, which is only 984 feet higher than the Dead sea. The stream of the Jordan is consequently entirely below the flow of all other rivers, and even far below the level of the sea. Yet its swift current, often rushing on in rapids dangerous to navigate, even with the iron boats of the expedition under Lieut. Lynch, pours a large volume of water into the deep basin, from which there is no outlet. During the rainy season the influx is so great from this and other streams, that the level of the sea is raised 10 or 15 feet, and its dimensions extend, especially in a southern direction, over the low flats, far beyond the ordinary margin of the waters. But in the burning heat of the dry season, when the beach becomes so hot as to blister the feet, and the water, as observed by the officers of the expedition, acquires a temperature of 90° F. a foot below the surface, the evaporation rapidly carries off the excess of water, and reduces the sea to its lowest level. The vapors are seen to rise in columns, resembling water spouts, but far exceeding them in size. At this season the air becomes so highly heated in the deep basin between the precipitous mountains which enclose it, that it is almost irrespirable, and the thermometer often rises to 106° or more, even after the setting of the sun. At midnight it was observed to be 98°. Currents of this heated air are set in motion, and sweep in hurricanes over the water. As described by the U. S. officers, the hot wind blistered the faces of the men exposed to it. Every metallic object was burning hot; the coolest substances were the inner surfaces of the clothing. If a pool of fresh water were found to bathe in, the skin was instantly afterward left dry and parched. The perspiration disappeared by evaporation as

rapidly as it was produced. In such an atmosphere, and surrounded in the intervals of the sweeping wind by swarms of mosquitoes, which tormented the men almost to madness, they cast themselves upon the pebbly beach and sought for rest, with their garments wrapped around their heads. One morning, after a night thus passed, the commander of the expedition found a young quail that had nestled by his side, seeking shelter from the hot blast of the sirocco. The hills upon each side are precipitous cliffs of limestone and sandstone in horizontal strata. On the east they are rugged mountains 2,000 to 2,500 feet high, traversed by deep chasms, desolate and bare of vegetation. On the west the height is estimated at 1,500 feet; but the summit level upon the whole is little if any higher than the surface of the Mediterranean. Much of the country between the two seas is a wilderness, without trees or shrubs, save in a few ravines fed by small water courses. In such a desolate district is the convent of Mar Saba, so near the Dead sea that the sound of its evening bell reaches the dreary solitudes of its shores, assuring the disheartened traveller that human life may be continued in this region of gloom and death. Mr. Costigan, who surveyed the sea in 1835, with a Maltese sailor as his servant, died soon after completing its tour. Lieut. Molyneux of the royal navy experienced the same fate in 1847. The excessive heat of the sun was no doubt the direct cause of their death. Two of the seamen belonging to the American expedition were sent to this convent for relief, and Lieut. Dale, the 2d officer, before the party left the country, fell a victim to the fever at Beyroot, where Lieut. Lynch also, and nearly all the men of the party, were attacked by the same disease. It is to this expedition, despatched by the U. S. government in 1847, that we are indebted for most of our exact information relative to this singular spot; though many other travellers, English, French, Russian, and American, also have been led by its ancient celebrity and mysterious nature to venture upon its exploration, and their accounts, full of interesting particulars, have been at various times presented to the public. In March, 1848, the American party, well equipped, passed across, with their boats drawn on trucks by camels, from the bay of Acre, over the mountains of Lebanon, and launched them in the lake of Gennesareth. Thence they descended the Jordan, entering the river on April 10, and passing out of its mouth into the Dead sea on the 19th of the same month. The length of the river they estimated to be at least 200 m., though in a direct course the two lakes are only about 60 m. apart. They spent 21 nights upon the shores of the Dead sea, and after having thoroughly explored the region, they left it on May 10, sending their boats across the desert to Jerusalem. Contrary to the opinion generally entertained regarding the pestilential atmosphere of this neighborhood, they found numerous animals living upon the shores of the lake, as doves, hawks, partridges, and

hares, and also ducks swimming upon its surface; and a curious fact regarding the birds, insects, and other animals here met with, is that they are all of a stone color, described as "the same as the mountains and the shore." Whether animal life exists in the water itself is not so certain, though some authorities have mentioned that living shells are found in the sea, and one small species of fish is said to be peculiar to it. It is very possible that the shells may have been swept into the lake from the Jordan or other streams. The surface was in one instance at night observed to present "one wide sheet of phosphorescent foam, and the waves, as they broke upon the shore, threw a sepulchral light upon the dead bushes and fragments of rocks." This is probably owing to animalcules, such as give the same appearance to the ocean. In the sample of water brought back by the party no vestige of animal life was detected; but in Jameson's "Philosophical Journal" of Feb. 1850, it is stated that Ehrenberg found an abundance of infusoria of brackish water species in samples of the water and sediment brought to him for examination. The want of vegetable matter for food must necessarily to a great extent exclude animal life. A few plants which furnish soda in their ashes are occasionally found upon the shore, and at the foot of the cliffs is noticed a scanty vegetation of cane and of the tamarisk shrub, their foliage sometimes of a light green and sometimes of a yellow hue, stained by the exhalations of sulphuretted hydrogen; but the few bushes to be seen often present their branches leafless and incrusted with salt, and the trunks of dead trees scattered here and there add to the desolation of the scene.-Various analyses have been made by eminent chemists of the water taken from the lake, the results of which differ, in consequence, no doubt, of the different seasons of the year and portions of the lake at which the samples were taken, and also of the different methods of conducting the analyses. The specific gravity, as stated by Lavoisier, is 1.240; by Klaproth, 1.24; by Marcet, 1.211; by Gmelin, 1.212; by Apjohn, 1.153; by Salisbury, 1.1877; and by Lynch, 1.13. The constituents are thus given by different authorities: