the paste for the gums has been perfected by Dr. E. A. L. Roberts of New York, who has largely manufactured it for Dr. Allen, and given it increased density and strength, overcoming in a great measure its brittleness, and causing it most effectually to resist the action of the fluids of the mouth. In the application of these artificial substitutes various kinds of professional talent and mechanical skill are called into play; and the operator, in order to give the natural expression to the mouth, imitating the true colors and proportions of the teeth and of the gums, must even possess a certain degree of that genius and taste which guide the pencil of the artist or the chisel of the sculptor. The mechanical operations connected with the work have led to increased knowledge in the use of plastic compounds, and introduced improved methods of treating the metals employed. (See BLOWPIPE, FURNACE.)

DENTITION. In all the higher animals the teeth are developed directly from the mucous membrane, and are therefore, like hair, nails, feathers, &c., appendages of the skin, and form no part of the true osseous system. As early as the 5th week of foetal life, according to the observations of Prof. Goodsir, a deep, narrow groove, between the lip and the rudimentary palate in the upper jaw, indicates the future situation of the teeth. Within the next 3 weeks papilla developed at the bottom of the groove become the germs of the future milk or temporary teeth. In the progress of development the papillæ are enveloped in open follicles, and these again are converted into shut sacs; contemporaneously with these changes, the edges of the dental groove are themselves growing, so that by the 14th week they meet, enclosing the tooth sacs. Within the sacs the papillary pulp is gradually converted into dentine, of which the body of the tooth is composed, while the enamel is formed from a separate pulp connected with the opercula of the sacs. (See DENTISTRY.) As teeth are required before the jaws have attained their growth, and yet from their structure are incapable of enlarging pari passu with the bones in which they are placed, provision is made for a temporary set, which, when they have served their purpose, are replaced by the permanent teeth. As early as the 14th week minute crescentic depressions of mucous membrane may be discovered above and at the inner part of the opercula of the milk teeth; these depressions soon become converted into minute compressed sacs, which gradually sink behind and below the sac of the milk teeth, and in these sacs are developed the first 10 permanent teeth of each jaw; the other 6 are developed in sacs placed posterior to those of the last milk teeth, which are formed in a manner precisely similar to those of the milk teeth themselves. The ossification of the permanent teeth commences a little before birth with that of the first molar, and proceeds during the first 3 years of infancy successively in the incisors, the canines, and the bicuspids. The approach of

the time for the eruption of the temporary teeth is announced by an increased secretion of saliva. In the earlier months of infancy the mouth is comparatively dry, but as the teeth shoot into the gums the mouth becomes moist and the child begins to drivel. The progress of dentition is not apparently continuous, but after the eruption of each successive pair a pause of one or two months generally follows. The central incisors commonly pierce the gum in the course of the 7th month after birth, those of the lower jaw preceding the upper ones by a short interval; between the 7th and 10th months the lateral incisors make their appearance; from the 12th to the 14th month the anterior molars, and between the 14th and 20th the canines are cut; and the first dentition is completed between the 18th and 36th months by the protrusion of the posterior molars. Both the time and the order of appearance of the first set of teeth admit of a good deal of variation, their progress being hastened or delayed sometimes for a period of 6 or 7 months, by a lateral incisor, or even a molar or canine tooth, cutting the gum before the appearance of the central incisors. The period of primary dentition is one looked forward to with much anxiety, and is justly regarded as attended with increased risk to the life of the infant. Statistical inquiries show that during its continuance the proportionate mortality becomes much increased, and in the bills of mortality numerous deaths are ascribed to teething alone. It must be remembered, however, that at this time all the functions of the young being are in a state of great activ ity, and that teething is but one in a series of changes by which the infant is prepared to substitute for the milk provided by its mother, food suitable to the conditions of its future existence. In a healthy infant dentition in itself is attended with little inconvenience and no danger; when the teeth come to distend and stretch the mucous membrane lining the gums, there is probably a little tenderness and pain, some fretfulness, and perhaps slight febrile excitement; but in the absence of other causes of disease, this soon passes over; if, however, the nervous system is unduly excitable, dentition may seriously complicate other maladies. When the process of dentition is advancing normally, it should never be interfered with; when the gum is red, swollen, and painful, scarification may be resorted to with advantage, and may be repeated if necessary, the trifling loss of blood affording relief to the inflamed gum. When the tooth is evidently about to pierce the gum, if the child appears to suffer, it may be freed by cutting down to it with the gum lancet. In cases where convulsions supervene suddenly without an evident cause, if dentition is proceeding actively and the gums are tense and swollen, the gum lancet may be resorted to. In the convulsive affections which take place in children whose nervous systems have been rendered irritable by improper diet, or an impure or vitiated atmosphere, the late Dr. Mar

DENTON

shall Hall was a strenuous advocate of the free incision of the gums even when dentition was not making active progress; but in such cases the immediate exciting cause of the convulsions must be sought elsewhere than in the gums, and the attacks are to be relieved by removing the cause when it can be discovered, while their recurrence is guarded against by change of air and a more appropriate diet. Occasionally dentition is attended with a good deal of fever and much derangement of the digestive organs, while a sloughy unhealthy ulceration makes its appearance on the gum over the teeth just about to protrude, or at the edge of the gum of those which have recently been cut. In these cases the gum lancet does positive harm, while they readily yield to a properly regulated diet, and to the use of the chlorate of potash in solution, in doses of one or two grains repeated every 4 hours. During the earlier period of childhood a bony plate or partition separates the permanent from the fangs of the temporary teeth; as the period approaches in which the latter are to replace the former, this partition disappears, and the crown of the enlarged permanent tooth makes its way into the cavity of the temporary fang. As the permanent tooth advances, the fang of the milk tooth is absorbed, not however from any pressure exercised by the one upon the other, the two never coming in contact; and as the crown of the milk tooth falls off, the permanent tooth is ready to replace it. The first anterior or true molar usually appears at about 63 years; about the same time or a few months later the central permanent incisors appear; the lateral ones are developed at 8, the anterior and posterior bicuspids at 9 and 10, the canines from 11 to 12, the 2d true molars from 12 to 13, and the wisdom teeth from 17 to 19. From the investigations of Mr. Edwin Saunders (" The Teeth a Test of Age, considered with reference to the Factory Children"), it would appear that the 2d dentition furnishes the best physical evidence of the age of children within our reach; in the large majority of instances he found its indications coincided very closely with the real age of the children, and when they failed the extreme deviation was but a year.

DENTON, a N. E. county of Texas, drained by two forks of Trinity river, and occupied partly by prairies and partly by vast forests called the Cross Timbers; area, 900 sq. m.; pop. in 1858, 3,907, of whom 195 were slaves. In 1850 it produced 14,171 bushels of corn, 980 of oats, and 18,728 lbs. of butter. Capital, Denton. DENUELLE, DOMINIQUE ALEXANDRE, French decorative artist, born in Paris in 1818. He studied under Paul Delaroche and Duban, the architect of the Louvre restoration, and passed several years in Italy. Since 1844, when he first became known, he has been extensively employed in restoring mural paintings in public buildings, many of which have also been decorated from his own designs. He has been employed upon the churches of St. Germain

des Prés, Ste. Clotilde, Notre Dame, and many others in Paris, Lyons, Orleans, Beauvais, &c.

DEODAND (Lat. Deo dandum, a thing to be given to God). A superstitious practice prevailed in England from the earliest time until a very recent period, whereby a chattel which had been the immediate instrument or cause of death to a human being was forfeited to the king, to be applied by him to pious uses. Omnia quæ movent ad mortem sunt Deo danda (all things which while in motion cause death are to be offered to God), is the rule stated by Bracton. It is supposed by Blackstone that the origin of this practice was the religious doctrine of making expiation for the souls of such as were carried off by sudden death. A singular distinction was made between an infant and an adult, viz.: that an infant falling from a cart or horse not being in motion, there was no forfeiture; whereas in the case of an adult the horse or cart was a deodand. Yet if a horse or other animal should of his own motion kill either an infant or adult, or if a cart should run over him, in either case the animal or cart was forfeited as a deodand. Another rule equally inexplicable was, that when a thing not in motion was the occasion of a man's death, only that part which was the immediate cause was forfeited; but if the thing was in motion, then the whole was forfeited; as, if a man was run over by a cart wheel, the whole cart was a deodand. It made no difference although the owner of the chattel was not in fault; it was equally a forfeiture as if he had contributed to the death. This absurd custom gave rise to a clause in indictments, which was held to be essential, viz: a finding by the grand jury what was the instrument of death, and its value; and so also in a verdict of a coroner's jury in cases of homicide. By the act 9 and 10 Victoria, c. 62 (1846), the forfeiture was abolished; and by the act 14 and 15 Victoria, c. 100 (1851), it was declared unnecessary to set forth in indictments the instrument of death. D'EON, CHEVALIER. See EON.

DEPARTURE, in navigation and surveying, the distance apart of two meridians, one drawn through each extremity of a line, such as a ship's course.

DE PEYSTER. I. JOHANNES, one of the early settlers of New Amsterdam, now New York, born in Haarlem, Holland, in the beginning of the 17th century, died in New York about 1685. He was of a French Huguenot family who took refuge in the United Provinces about the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and in the course of a long life held many offices of trust and honor under Dutch and English colonial rule. During the short period in 1673-24 in which the Dutch recovered possession of the province, he took a prominent part in the conduct of public affairs, and was one of the last to take the oath of allegiance to the British crown upon the final cession of the New Netherlands to that power; notwithstanding which he was subsequently at different times alderman, deputy mayor, and mayor. At his death, he

was one of the richest citizens in the colony. II. ABRAHAM, eldest son of the preceding, born in New York, July 8, 1658, died there, Aug. 10, 1728. He was by profession a merchant, and amassed considerable wealth in lands and goods; and also filled many important public offices after the final cession of the New Netherlands to Great Britain. Between 1691 and 1695 he was mayor of New York, and subsequently became chief justice of the province, and president of the king's council, in which latter capacity in 1701 he acted as colonial governor. He was also colonel of the forces of the city and county of New York, and treasurer of the provinces of New York and New Jersey. He possessed great influence in the councils of his native city from his administrative talent, integrity, and liberal sentiments, and was the intimate friend and correspondent of William Penn, and of the colonial governor, the earl of Bellamont. The mansion erected by him in Pearl street in 1695, which was at one time the head-quarters of General Washington, remained standing until 1856. The bell presented by him to the middle Dutch church in Nassau street a short time before his death, now hangs in the Reformed Dutch church in Lafayette place. Of the other children of Johannes De Peyster, JOHANNES filled the mayoralty chair of New York, ISAAC was member of the provincial legislature, and CORNELIUS was the first chamberlain of the city of New York, beside filling various other public offices. One of his granddaughters was the mother of Major-General William Alexander, the claimant of the Scottish earldom of Stirling.-Of the descendants of Col. Abraham De Peyster, his eldest son, ABRAHAM, was for many years treasurer of the province of New York; and his great-grandson, ABRAHAM, commanded a detachment of royal troops under Col. Ferguson at the battle of King's Mountain. After the war he was treasurer of the province of New Brunswick, and commander of the militia. JAMES, a brother of the preceding, was also an officer in the British army, and fell at the battle of Lincelles, in the Netherlands, in 1793. III. ARENT SCHUYLER, grandson of Col. Abraham De Peyster, and a colonel in the British army, born in New York, June 27, 1736, died at Dumfries, Scotland, in Nov. 1882. He entered the 8th or king's regiment of foot in 1755, served in various parts of North America under his uncle, Col. Peter Schuyler, and commanded at Detroit, Michilimackinac, and various places in Upper Canada, during the American revolutionary war. The Indian tribes of the north-west were then decidedly hostile to the British government, but the prudent measures adopted by Col. De Peyster tended to conciliate and finally to detach them entirely from the American cause. To his influence over the Indians several American missionaries and their families were on one occasion indebted for the preservation of their lives. Having risen to the rank of colonel, and commanded his regiment for many years, he re

tired to Dumfries, the native town of his wife, where he resided until his death. During the French revolution he was instrumental in embodying and training the 1st regiment of Dumfries volunteers, of which Robert Burns was an original member. He was on terms of friendship with Burns, who addressed to him one of his fugitive pieces, and with whom he once carried on a poetical controversy in the columns of the "Dumfries Journal." He died as full of honors as of years, having held the king's commission upward of 77 years, and being probably at the time the oldest officer in the service. His nephew, Captain ARENT SCHUYLER De PeySTER, was an American navigator, who sailed several times around the globe, and in a passage from the western coast of America to Calcutta, discovered a group of islands, called after him the De Peyster or Peyster islands.

DEPOSITION, in law, the testimony of a witness reduced to writing in due form of law, taken by virtue of a commission or other authority of a competent tribunal. When taken by commission, depositions are usually in answer to questions upon the examination in chief, and upon cross-examination, prepared and submitted to the court from which the commission issues. In other cases they are taken by consent of counsel or in due course of law, the privilege of crossexamination being always preserved, except in some cases where depositions of matters within the knowledge of persons of great age are allowed to be taken for the purpose of perpetuating their testimony, and in cases where immediate death by violence is expected. This must, when possible, be sworn to and signed by the witness. In the United States, compulsory process is usually allowed to procure this evidence. In ecclesiastical law, deposition is the act of depriving a clergyman by a competent tribunal of his clerical orders, in punishment of some offence, and to prevent his acting in his clerical character.

DEPPING, GEORGES BERNARD, a French naturalist and historian, born at Münster, Westphalia, May 11, 1784, died in Paris, Sept. 5, 1853. He went to Paris in 1803, and first devoted himself to teaching, and afterward to miscellaneous literary labor His juvenile works, Les soirées d'hiver (3d ed. 1832-; translated into many European languages) and Merveilles et beautés de la nature en France (9th ed. 1843), became as popular abroad as at home. He joined Malte Brun in his efforts to promote the knowledge of geography in France, and wrote a great number of geographical works. His intimacy with the Danish poets Baggesen and Oehlenschläger led him to apply himself to the study of Scandinavian literature, history, and archæology, and so successfully that he won the prize offered by the institute in 1820 for the best work on the maritime expeditions of the Normans into France in the 10th century. This work was followed by his "History of Normandy from 1066 to 1204" (1835). Among the most important of his other writings are a "History of the

DEPTFORD

Commerce between the Levant and Europe from the time of the Crusades to the Colonization of America" (1830); and a "History of the Jews in the Middle Ages" (1884).

DEPTFORD, a town and naval arsenal in Kent and Surrey, England, on the right bank of the Thames, at the mouth of the Ravensbourne, on the Croydon and Greenwich railways, and at the junction of the Croydon and Surrey canals, 3 m. S. E. from London bridge, and contiguous to Greenwich; pop. in 1851, 27,896. It contains a royal naval school incorporated in 1840, and 2 ancient hospitals for decayed pilots and shipmasters or their widows. Its principal feature, however, is the dock yard, established by Henry VIII., and now enclosing an area of 31 acres. There are 3 slips for ships of the line on the river front, 2 for smaller vessels opening into a basin 260 by 220 feet, and 2 dry docks, one communicating with the basin, and the other, a double dock, with the Thames. Adjoining the dock yard is the victualling yard, containing sheep and cattle pens, slaughter houses, salting establishments, a mill of great capacity, bakeries, a brewery, and a cooperage in which casks are made by machinery. The number of persons employed in time of war in the docks has been about 1,500, and in the victualling yard about 1,200.

DE QUINCEY, THOMAS, an English author, often styled "the English opium-eater," from the remarkable personal experiences detailed in his celebrated work bearing that title, born in Greenhay, a suburb of Manchester, in 1786. Many of his writings are autobiographical, but in the minute account he has given of his adventures and sufferings, fiction is supposed to be mixed with fact to such a degree as to render it impossible in many cases to discriminate between them. He was the 5th child of a merchant who spent most of his time at foreign ports, and who at his death in 1793 left to his family a fortune of £1,600 a year. His childhood was chiefly passed in rural seclusion, with 3 sisters for playmates. The death of one of these when he was 23 years old caused him not so much sorrow as a sad perplexity; it appalled him by its mystery, but he was solaced by a trust that she would return again like the crocuses and roses. A few years later, the death of a second sister overwhelmed him with grief, and the sentiments of love and religion which it awoke were nursed by him in silent reverie, and deepened the naturally solemn tone of his mind. "If," he says, "I should return thanks to Providence for all the separate blessings of my early situation, these four I should single out as worthy of special commemoration: that I lived in rustic solitude; that this solitude was in England; that my infant feelings were moulded by the gentlest of sisters, and not by horrid pugilistic brothers; finally, that I and they were dutiful and loving members of a pure, holy, and magnificent church." He was sent to various schools, and early distinguished himself by his proficiency in Greek; at the grammar school VOL. VI.-26

of Bath, where he studied from his 12th till his 14th year, the master said of him that he "could harangue an Athenian mob." He was transferred to a school at Winkfield, where he remained a year in discontent, entreating his guardian to send him to the university, but in vain, though the income of his patrimony was sufficient for his support. Resolved, however, to be no longer numbered among school boys, he borrowed from a lady of rank 10 guineas, ran away from school with a volume of Euripides in his pocket, and by accident directed his wanderings toward North Wales. The inns rapidly exhausted his money, and after a few weeks he was obliged first to limit himself to one meal a day, and then to subsist only on blackberries, hips, haws, and casual hospitalities. He contrived in May, 1800, to obtain a passage to London, and there a fiercer stage of his sufferings began. For 16 weeks he constantly endured the physical anguish of hunger, and that he did not sink under his torments he ascribes to his constant exposure to the open air, since he was houseless, seldom sleeping under a roof. He was at length permitted by an eccentric character to sleep in a large unoccupied house, where he found a forsaken, friendless, hunger-bitten girl, apparently 10 years of age, for his companion, who rejoiced in obtaining a protector during the darkness amid the rats and ghosts. He has written pathetic sketches of his associations at this time with some of the refuse members of London society. He had in vain resorted to a Jew for an advance of money on the strength of his future expectations, when at length an opening was made for reconciliation with his friends; and he attended school and visited in different parts of England and Ireland till he went to Oxford in Dec. 1803. After having been an unknown and unacknowledged vagrant, a houseless wanderer in Wales, and a solitary roamer in the streets of London, he speaks of himself as now for the first time becoming an object of notice to a large society, and burdened with the anxieties of a man and of a member of the world. He was a student at Oxford till 1808. He first resorted to opium on a visit to London in the autumn of 1804, with a view of lulling the pains of rheumatism. He took it; and in an hour, "O heavens! what a revulsion! what an upheaving from its lowest depths of the inner spirit! what an apocalypse of the world within me! That my pains had vanished was now a trifle in my eyes; this negative effect was swallowed up in the immensity of those positive effects which had opened before me, in the abyss of divine enjoyment thus suddenly revealed." He says that for 10 years he "lived on the earth the life of a demiurgus, and kept the keys of paradise." It was his custom to drink laudanum either on a Tuesday or Saturday night once in 3 weeks. On Tuesday night he went to the opera, where in the elaborate harmony and scenic display he saw unfolded before him, as in a piece of arras-work, the whole of his past life, with its passions exalted, spiritual