surances, and soon after sailed for the Pacific. Our commerce at Quallah Batoo has never since been molested. The sea service of Com. Downes terminated with this cruise. From 1837 to 1842, and from 1850 to 1852, he commanded the navy yard at Boston.

DOWNING, ANDREW JACKSON, an American landscape gardener, born in Newburg, N. Y., Oct. 30, 1815, drowned in the Hudson river, near Yonkers, July 28, 1852. From an early age his tastes were directed to horticulture, botany, and the natural sciences, which the occupation of his father, who carried on business as a nurseryman in the vicinity of Newburg, gave him many opportunities to cultivate. His school education was acquired chiefly at an academy in the neighboring town of Montgomery, from which he returned home at the age of 16 to assist an elder brother who had succeeded his father in the management of the nursery. At school he was a thoughtful, reserved boy, made few friendships, and seldom joined in boyish pastimes; but he was always a diligent reader and a close observer, and now endeavored to compensate for what he considered a premature removal from his studies by a course of self-instruction in his favorite sciences. In the intervals of his labors in the garden he read treatises on landscape gardening, botany, the culture of fruits and flowers, and in general every thing pertaining to the economy of rural life; and found time also to make himself familiar with poetry, art, and elegant literature. At 20 years of age he determined to become a rural architect, and with a mind richly stored with knowledge suitable to his vocation, he began to visit the neighboring estates on the Hudson river, to enlarge his experience and confirm his theories of art in landscape gardening. Three years later he was married to Miss Caroline De Wint, and almost immediately afterward commenced the erection on his little paternal estate of an elegant mansion, which, with its tastefully arranged grounds, afforded the first practical illustration of the builder's conception of an American rural home. He had previously written a few fugitive pieces for the newspapers, but his career as an author properly commences with the publication in 1841 of his "Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening." As a pioneer work of its class in this country, it necessarily attracted attention, and the author's extensive information, correct ideas of taste, and appreciation of the conditions of rural architecture in America, gave it immediate popularity and a position as a standard authority. In England it was highly commended by such competent judges as Loudon and Dr. Lindley, the latter of whom said that he "knew of no work in which the fundamental principles of this profession were so well or so concisely expressed." The "Cottage Residences," which followed in the succeeding year, was received with equal favor; and until his death Downing continued to be the chief American authority in rural art. The

appreciation in which he was regarded abroad was evinced by his election as corresponding member of many of the chief horticultural societies of Europe. In 1845 appeared simultaneously in London and New York his "Fruits and Fruit Trees of America," of which more than 14 editions have been published; and in 1846 he became the editor of the "Horticulturist," a monthly magazine published in Albany, for which he wrote an essay every month until the close of his life. In 1849 he wrote Additional Notes and Hints to persons about building in this country" for an American reprint of Wightwick's "Hints to Young Architects," and in 1850 published his "Architecture for Country Houses." His remaining work was an edition of Mrs. Loudon's "Gardening for Ladies." The summer of 1850 he passed in England, chiefly among the great country seats, of which he wrote some genial descriptions. On his return to America, having determined to devote himself exclusively to architecture and building, he received many private commissions, and was intrusted by President Fillmore in 1851 with the laying out of the public grounds in the city of Washington, in the vicinity of the capitol, the president's house, and the Smithsonian institution. In the midst of these labors he took passage at Newburg on July 28, 1852, in the steamboat Henry Clay, for New York. When near Yonkers, about 20 miles above New York, the Henry Clay, which had been racing with a rival steamboat, was discovered to be on fire, and was immediately steered for the shore. In the confusion of the moment Mr. Downing was separated from his wife, and when the heat of the conflagration had compelled him with many others to jump overboard, he was seen for the last time struggling in the water, with several persons clinging to him. His body was subsequently recovered and sent to Newburg for interment. A memoir of him by George W. Curtis, and a "Letter to his Friends," by Miss Bremer, who had been his guest during her visit to America, were prefixed to a collection of his contributions to the "Horticulturist," published in 1854, under the title of "Rural Essays." The labors of Mr. Downing gave a great impulse to the dissemination of correct taste in rural architecture among the American people, and of a love for rural life.

DOWNS, a term applied in England to hills of shifting sand along the coast; also called DUNES, which see. Barren tracts of hilly land used for sheep pasture are also called downs. A portion of the English channel, affording excellent anchorage, and much used by the British navy, bears the same name.

DOWSE, THOMAS, an American mechanic, who has obtained considerable celebrity as a lover of books and the collector of a valuable library, born in Charlestown, Mass., Dec. 28, 1772, died in Cambridgeport, Nov. 4, 1856. He has sometimes been called "the literary leather dresser." His father, Eleazer Dowse, was a leather dresser, and was driven with his

family from Charlestown on June 17, 1775, his house being one of those destroyed by the conflagration of that day. After a short time passed at Holliston, he established himself at Sherborn, a small town in Middlesex co., the original seat of the family, and there resumed his occupation as a leather dresser. At the age of 6, Thomas was severely injured by a fall from a tree; and a rheumatic fever setting in before he had recovered from the effects of this accident, a lameness resulted which continued, with frequent attacks of severe pain, through life. At the proper age, Thomas began to work with his father, at his trade and on the farm; forming at the same time a taste for reading, which he indulged with so much eagerness that, by the age of 18, he had read all the books he could procure in Sherborn. All his little earnings were expended in the purchase of books. He had no education but what could be obtained at the town school. He continued to live at home as an apprentice to his father till he had attained his majority. He was then seized with a desire to visit foreign countries. A neighbor of his father's, who commanded a vessel that traded from Norfolk in Virginia to London, offered him a free passage; he was, however, to reach Norfolk at his own expense. Too poor to accompany the captain by land, he engaged a passage in a coasting vessel from Boston. Head winds prevented the departure of the coaster till the vessel had sailed from Norfolk, and thus Thomas Dowse lost the opportunity of visiting foreign countries. Another never presented itself. He immediately sought employment in the business in which he had been brought up, and entered the service of Mr. Wait, a leather dresser and wool puller at Roxbury, Mass., at $12 a month wages. His pay was afterward raised to $25. He remained in this employ 10 years. He once informed a friend that at the age of 28 his highest income was $25 a month; that he had never paid $5 for conveyance from one place to another, never owned a pair of boots, and was then the possessor of several hundred volumes of good books well bound. In 1803 he set up in business at Cambridgeport, with the assistance of Mr. Wait, who advanced the capital and shared the profits. This partnership was dissolved at the end of the year; after which Mr. Dowse carried on the business of a leather dresser, wool puller, and glover, at first with a succession of partners, and afterward alone, till he was far advanced in life. His business was successful, and the articles manufactured by him enjoyed the reputation of being the best of their kind in the market. In 1814 he erected a large and commodious dwelling-house and shop in Cambridgeport, and laid out 2 or 3 acres as a garden; and here he lived unmarried the rest of his days. From the earliest period he devoted a large part of his income to the purchase of books. The working hours of the day were devoted to his shop or business connected with it; but the early morning and the evening hours were

employed in reading. He thus acquired an intelligent knowledge of the contents of his steadily increasing library. Having formed a taste, not only for good books but for handsome editions, in which the American press was then greatly deficient, he was accustomed to import them directly from London. About the year 1820 his agent in England sent him the prospectus of a lottery for the disposal of the sets of a costly collection of engravings of the most famous works of the old masters, and of the water-color copies made from the originals, for the purposes of this publication. Mr. Dowse bought 3 tickets in this lottery, and drew 2 prizes, one prize consisting of 2 sets of the engravings, colored and uncolored; the other prize being of the water-color copies framed, 52 in number. He thus became possessed of a large collection of admirable copies of some of the most celebrated paintings in England. In the judgment of Mr. Washington Allston, it afforded ampler means for the study of art than were elsewhere to be found at that time in the United States. The paintings were advanta geously arranged in rooms adjoining Mr. Dowse's library, and formed with it an attraction of steadily increasing interest to men of letters and taste resident in the neighborhood, and to strangers. Mr. Dowse's bodily infirmity unfitted him for much active intercourse with society, and his disposition naturally inclined him to retirement and solitary occupation. He abstained from public life in all its forms, and though a diligent reader, committed nothing to writing. He continued to work at his trade till after he was 70 years of age; but for the last 10 years of his life, though his shop remained open in the lower story of his dwelling, the business was conducted by persons in his employ. Of the eminent men whom the country has produced, Franklin was one of the special objects of Mr. Dowse's admiration. Toward the close of his life he expressed this sentiment by the erection, at his own expense, of a substantial granite obelisk at Mount Auburn, by the side of his own tomb. With the exception of the statue of Franklin presented by Mr. Bingham to the public library at Philadelphia, and the urn in Franklin place, Boston, which is rather an ornamental than a commemorative work, the obelisk erected by Mr. Dowse is believed to have been the first monument dedicated to the memory of Franklin in the United States. As Mr. Dowse was childless, the destination of his library after his decease was a matter of some curiosity among those acquainted with its value. A few months before his death he formed the resolution to present it to the Massachusetts historical society; and on July 30, 1856, the formal transfer was made. The library, however, was left by the society in the possession of M. Dowse during the brief remainder of his life. It consisted of about 5,000 volumes of a iniscellaneous character, generally in good, often in elegant bindings, and of the best editions. It is almost exclusively an English library, though contain

ing translations of the principal authors in the ancient languages, and the cultivated languages of modern Europe. It is estimated to have cost Mr. Dowse $40,000 without interest. After his death the library was deposited in the historical society's building, in an inner room fitted up for the purpose, and arranged in tasteful cabinets at a cost of $3,000 advanced by his executors, in addition to a sum of $10,000 also given by them as a permanent fund for the conservation and care of the library. Mr. Dowse in his will made provision for his relatives to the extent of $25,000. The residue of his property, amounting to about $40,000, was placed at the disposal of his executors, to be by them appropriated to literary, scientific, or charitable purposes. The collection of water-colors was given by them to the Boston Athenæum, where it is displayed in an apartment exclusively devoted to that purpose. Handsome donations have been made by the executors to the botanic garden of the university at Cambridge, and to other meritorious public objects in Cambridge and Boston. The Dowse high school has been founded by them at Sherborn, where he passed his youth and learned his trade; and the Dowse institute established at Cambridgeport, in the immediate vicinity of his residence. A commemorative discourse was delivered by Mr. Edward Everett, at the opening of the Dowse institute, Dec. 7, 1858, and before the Massachusetts historical society on Dec. 9. A fine portrait of Mr. Dowse was painted a short time before his decease by Wight of Boston, at the request of the society, and now adorns the room in which his library is deposited.

DOXOLOGY (Gr. doğa, glory, and λeyw, to ascribe), in general, a prayer to celebrate the grandeur and majesty of God. In the Roman Catholic church it is applied particularly to the angelic hymn or canticle of praise which is sung in celebrating the mass, and is otherwise called the Gloria in excelsis. This is also styled the greater doxology, to distinguish it from the lesser, or Gloria Patri, which is usually sung after the chanting or recitation of a psalm. Both doxologies are traced to the earliest periods of the church, and though slightly and temporarily modified during the prevalence of some heresies, have not been permanently changed. They both have a place in the liturgy of the Anglican church, and are of common use in the service of other branches of Protestantism.

DOYLE, RICHARD, an English humorous artist, born in London in 1826. From his father, Mr. John Doyle, an able political caricaturist, he inherited a taste for humorous illustration, and a few years after the establishment of "Punch" became known to the public by his designs published in that paper. His political caricatures are singularly free from direct personalities or the appearance of malice, but his humorous illustrations of London life afford the best examples of his harmless wit and graceful fancy. The series entitled "Manners and Customs of y Englyshe," though ostensibly caricatures, are in

fact sketches of the every-day life of the people, and for liveliness of invention and various technical merits may be regarded as unique performances. The "Continental Tour of Messrs. Brown, Jones, and Robinson," perhaps the most popular of his works, is in like manner a somewhat exaggerated view of the lights and shadows of travel on the continent. In 1850 Mr. Doyle, taking umbrage at the severe attacks of "Punch" upon the Roman Catholic hierarchy, severed his connection with that paper, since which time he has employed his pencil chiefly in illustrating books of fairy tales, and similar publications, including the "Fairy Ring," "Fairy Tales from all Nations," Leigh Hunt's "Jar of Honey," Ruskin's "King of the Golden River," &c. He fails in attempting to depict the merely prosaic or the sentimental, and his illustrations to Thackeray's "Newcomes" are comparatively feeble.

DRACHENFELS (Dragon's Rock), the most celebrated of the Siebengebirge range, or "seven hills" (though their number is really more than 7), on the right bank of the Rhine, near Bonn. The ascent of the mountain, which is 1,056 feet high, is fatiguing from its steepness, but amply rewards the traveller by the majestic beauty of the scenery of the river and valley beneath, and of the adjoining panorama of ruin-clad mountains. Upon the summit of the Drachenfels are the ruins of a castle of the 12th century, a monument erected in 1814 by the Siebengebirge militia to their gallant leader Genger, who died on the battle field, and another in August, 1858, in commemoration of the German war of independence. Here also is a famous quarry which furnished stone for the cathedral of Cologne, and hence called Dombruch (dome or cathedral quarry). The beauty of this far-famed mountain has been a fruitful theme with poets of every land, but to English readers it is familiar chiefly from the wellknown verses of Byron. Its name is explained by a tradition of a dragon which inhabited a cavern in its sides, and was slain by Siegfried, the hero of the Nibelungen lay.

DRACHMA, a measure both of weight and value among the ancient Greeks. In either case it was composed of 6 oboli, and was the

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part of the mina, and the 1000 part of the Attic talent. The drachma was the principal silver coin of the Greeks, and its value was from 15.20 to 17.05 cents. The drachma or drachm mentioned by Jewish writers was the Greek coin which became current among the Jews in the latest period of their national existence.

DRACO, the author of the first written code of laws at Athens, which he is supposed to have published in the 4th year of the 39th Olympiad, 621 B. C. He was of distinguished birth and virtue, honored for his severe manners and his large experience in public affairs; and the people of Athens, a prey to anarchy, besought him to give them a code of laws. Like all the other legislative systems of antiquity, the system which he proposed linked together civil and

moral duties. He took the citizen at the moment of his birth, prescribed the manner in which he should be nourished and educated, followed him with directions through the different epochs of life, and flattered himself that he should make men free and virtuous. The penalty of death was to be inflicted for almost every crime, for homicide and idleness, for sacrilege and the stealing of garden herbs. The slightest offence, he said, deserved death, and he knew no punishment more severe for the greatest. He even carried his severity to a fantastic extreme, ordering punishment to be inflicted upon inanimate things, as for instance on a statue whose fall had injured a man. So violent a code could not last, and within 30 years Athens was again in anarchy. Recourse was then had to Solon, whose wisdom and moderation gave to the Athenians, not, as he himself said, the best laws, but the best that they were able to support. Draco died at the culmination of his glory upon the isle of Ægina. As he entered the theatre he received the acclamations of the people, and was stifled amid the mass of caps, robes, and cloaks, which they in accordance with their custom threw upon him as a mark of honor.

DRACUT, a post village and township of Middlesex co., Mass., on the N. bank of Merrimack river, opposite Lowell, with which it is connected by 2 bridges, 28 m. N. W. from Boston, and 16 N. E. from Concord; pop. of the township in 1850, 3,450; in 1855, 1,966, a portion of it having been annexed to Lowell in 1851. It borders on New Hampshire, and is traversed by Beaver river, which supplies it with water power. It is mainly an agricultural town, but in 1855 had 1 cotton mill manufacturing $62,000 worth of goods per annum, 1 woollen mill producing 475,000 yards of stuff, and 2 paper mills producing $10,500 worth of paper. In 1858 it contained 4 churches.

DRAFT, a word used indiscriminately with the synonymous term DRAUGHT, from which, according to Dr. Webster, it is corrupted. Although no less than 17 definitions are given in his dictionary, no mention is made in this or in Worcester's of the common use of the word to express a current of air; as the draft of a chimney-to sit in a draft of air. In the former application it is also used to express quality, as a chimney of strong draft; so the word is used in the example given by Dr. Webster of a cart of easy draft, expressing "the quality of being drawn."

DRAGOMAN, an oriental word signifying interpreter. It is applied, in the Ottoman empire and the courts of the further East and of Barbary, to men who know several languages, and make it their business to act as interpreters between foreigners and the natives. What was formerly a necessity for commercial relations, has since become so for purposes of diplomacy. At Constantinople the office of prime dragoman, through whom the sultan receives the communications of Christian ambassadors, is one of the most important of the Sub

lime Porte, and is usually held by a Greek, belonging to one of the most illustrious families of his nation. Most foreign ambassadors and consuls in the ports of the Levant, and many travellers, keep private dragomans at their own expense.

DRAGON (draco, Linn.), an iguanian lizard, of the subfamily of acrodonts, or those having the teeth implanted in the bony substance of the jaws, to which they firmly adhere by the base of the roots. The head of these reptiles is triangular, flattened, and covered with small irregular scales, sometimes ridged; the small circular and tubular nostrils open at the end of the obtuse snout; the tongue is thick and spongy, with a round single extremity; the anterior teeth are 3 or 4, and resemble incisors; behind these the median ones are conical, like canines, and there are generally 2 pairs in each jaw; the posterior teeth, or molars, are tricuspid and compressed; under the neck is a long crest or dewlap, and on each side a triangular cutaneous fold placed horizontally, all 3 having in their thickness a process from the hyoid bone; there is generally a small cervical crest. While some species have no external ear, in others there is a small circular membranous tympanum. The neck is slightly compressed; the body has a central dorsal depression, and is covered above and below with small imbricated ridged scales. Dragons are at once distinguished from all other reptiles of this order by the horizontal expan sion of the skin of the sides into a kind of wing, supported chiefly by the first 6 false ribs, which are extended horizontally outward instead of surrounding the abdomen. This flying membrane, of a semicircular form, is about as wide as the arm is long, free in front, but attached be hind to the anterior part of the thigh; in a state of rest the animal keeps it folded like a fan along the body, and spreads it like a parachute to sustain it when leaping from branch to branch; it cannot be moved as an active organ of flight like the wing of a bird or the membrane of the bat, but serves only as a passive supporting instrument like the parachute membrane of the flying squirrel; both surfaces of this membrane are furnished with very small smooth scales. The fore and hind limbs, each with 5 toes, are of about the same length, the latter being flattened, with the posterior border fringed with serrated scales; there are no femoral pores; the tail is very long, slender, wide and flat at the base, round at the end, with rhomboidal imbricated scales, strongly ridged beneath. Among the species with a visible tympanum, and the nasal openings directed laterally, are: 1, the fringed dragon (D. fimbriatus, Kuhl), with the thighs fringed behind with triangular scales, and with longitudinal white lines on the wings; the general color above is an olive gray with shades of brown in transverse bands, and whitish below; this is the largest species described by Duméril and Bibron, the total length being about 11 inches, of which the body is only 3; it is peculiar to Java: 2,

the flying dragon (D. Daudinii, Dum.), from Java, of a grayish color above with black spots, and the wings marbled with the same; total length about 9 inches: 3, the Timor dragon (D. Timorensis, Peron.), with wings spotted with brown on a reddish ground, and a row of ridged scales larger than the rest on each side of the median line of the back; length about 8 inches; probably a variety of the last: 4, the banded dragon (D. quinquefasciatus, Gray), with 5 brown bands traversing the upper sur face of wings and back; from the East Indies; about 10 inches long. The dragon of Dussumier (D. Dussumieri, Dum.) has the nostrils opening vertically, the wings spotted with brown near the body and widely marbled with the same on their upper free edge, and a black band across the lower surface of the neck; length about 8 inches; it is a native of the continent of India. The red-bearded dragon (D. hæmatopogon, Boie), from Java, has vertical nostrils, and a large black spot on each side of the red gular pouch; length about 9 inches. There are 2 species which have the tympanum concealed under the skin, constituting the genus dracunculus of Wiegmann; these are the lined dragon (D. lineatus, Daudin) of Amboyna and Celebes, about 63 inches long, with the back ashcolored, and the wings grayish brown with longitudinal white lines; the Philippine dragon (D.spilopterus, Wiegm.), from the neighborhood of Manila, about 8 inches long, with red wings spotted with black or brown, and throat yellow with black dots. Dragons live almost entirely in trees, and feed upon insects, which they catch with dexterity.

DRAGON, an animal often alluded to in the Bible, supposed by some to be the crocodile, and by others to refer, in some passages, to a species of giant serpent, or to a wild beast like the jackal or wolf. According to Robinson's Calmet, it is not improbable that St. John had in mind the enormous boa of Africa and the East when he described the symbolic great red dragon.In mythology, the dragon is a fantastic animal, variously represented as of immense size, with wings, thorny crests, powerful claws, and a snaky tail and motion. He figured in the ancient conceptions of the Orient and of the classical nations, was a familiar subject in the middle ages, is still an emblem of universal use among the Chinese, and seems to have existed almost everywhere except in nature.

DRAGON-FLY (libellula, Linn.), an insect of the family subulicornes of Latreille, and the order neuroptera. The insects of this genus, in this country commonly called "devil's needles," in the perfect form are light and graceful fliers, of the most brilliant and beautiful colors, with 4 large, shining, delicate wings of nearly equal size; the mouth is arranged for crushing insect prey, provided with strong horny mandibles and spiny maxilla; the eyes are lateral, large, and brilliant, with 3 stemmata upon the top of the head; the antennæ consist of from 3 to 6 joints; the legs are short, 6 in number, directed forward,

arising from a firm thorax formed of 3 united segments; the abdomen is very long, a flattened cylinder, soft, without sting or piercer, and in the males terminated by 2 lamellar appendages. In some genera the male sexual organs are placed in the 2d abdominal ring, and those of the female in the last ring, which requires an unusual position in the act of reproduction; the female deposits her eggs on aquatic plants beneath the surface of the water. From their lightness and beauty the French call them demoiselles. Kirby speaks of their "dress" as "silky, brilliant, and variegated, and trimmed with the finest lace;" Mouffet says they "set forth nature's elegancy beyond the expression of art;" yet with all their gay coloring they are among the most voracious and cruel of insects, darting with hawk-like swiftness and ferocity upon gnats, mosquitoes, butterflies, and almost any soft-bodied winged insect, eating even their own species. They are not only in no way injurious to man, attacking neither his person, cattle, nor crops, but are directly beneficial in destroying many noxious insects. They hover over pools in search of prey, or dart from a post or fence upon insects coming near; having caught one, they alight to devour it, first pulling off the wings; in their habits they resemble the fly-catchers among birds. They are equally carnivorous in the larva state, which they pass in the water. The larvæ are without wings; they have 6 feet, and a very complicated arrangement of the parts forming the under lip, which covers the face like a mask, concealing the mouth, and serving by the unfolding of its plates for seizing and conveying food to the mouth; they crawl stealthily along the bottom, like a cat, and when within reach spring their jointed mask upon insects and even small fishes with great precision. By a valvular apparatus at the end of the tail, these larvæ draw in and expel water, using the jet against the surrounding stationary fluid as a means of locomotion; the currents thus produced also bring insects within reach of the jaws, and doubtless serve some of the purposes of respiration, though respiratory trachea also exist on the sides of the body. They remain several months in the water, and change their skins several times. The nymphs have rudimentary wings, and when they are ready to assume their final change, the brilliant eyes of the future fly may be seen through the envelope, which becomes more transparent; they crawl out of the water upon some bank or aquatic plant, where the pupa skin becomes dry and crisp and bursts open on the back; the head and legs of the perfect insect are slowly thrust and drawn out, the wings gradually expand themselves and become smooth, and the body and limbs assume their just proportions. During the drying of the wings the insect bends the body into a crescentic form, that their delicate tissue may not be disturbed by contact with any foreign substance. The anterior nervures of the wings must be very strong, though light, to enable the rapid vibrations of these organs to be performed; their sec