Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/341

DEATH-HEAD MOTH 289 DEBORAH functions may be reduced to so low a condition that it is by no means easy to decide whether or not they are com- pletely annihilated. In cases of apparent drowning, chloroform poisoning, and in newly-born infants, they are frequently suspended and again restored, and cases occasionally occur in which the patient has the power of voluntarily suspending them for a considerable period. The gradual loss of animal heat is an impor- tant sign, but in exceptional cases a rise of temperature may take place after death. (2) The most important among the changes in the tissues is the "rigor mortis," or rigidity of the muscles, which ensues at a varying period after death. It may appear within half an hour, or it may be delayed 20 or 30 hours, ac- cording to the nature of the disease; its mean duration is from 24 to 36 hoixrs. It begins in the neck and trunk; then ap- pears, according to most observers, in the upper, and lastly in the lower, extremi- ties; and disappears in the same order. (3) The most important change in the external appearance of the body is un- questionably the altered color of the sur- face. Livid spots of various sizes may occur from local congestions during life; but the appearance of a g^reen tint on the skin of the abdomen, accompanied by a separation of the epidermis, is a certain sign that life is extinct. Death, in a legal point of view, is either natural or civil; the former being the cessation of both physical life and of the legal rights which attach to it, the latter the cessation of the legal rights while the physical life remains. The doctrine of civil death is now abolished except as to cases of outlawry, in which it seems still to be applicable. DEATH-HEAD MOTH, the largest species of lepidopterous insect found in Great Britain, and systematically known by the name of Acherontia atropos. The markings on the back of the thorax very closely resemble a skull, or death's-head; hence the English name. It measures from 4 to 5 inches in expanse. It emits peculiar sounds, somewhat resembling the squeaking of a mouse. It attacks bee- hives, pillages the honey, and disperses the inhabitants. DEATH-TICK, a beetle of the genus Anobium, an inmate of human dwellings, which makes a ticking sound. The most common form of this very prevalent su- perstition is the belief that when the death-tick is heard some member of the household will die within 12 months. DEATH VALLEY, a narrow valley between the Panamint and Funeral Moun- tains, in California. It is traversed by the Amargosa river, which is usually a dry channel, though probably it was for- merly full of water. The level of the valley is covered with salt, supposed to have been brought by the torrents from the surrounding desert and left on the evaporation of the water. Death Valley is considered to be the hottest and dryest place in the United States. A tempera- ture of 122° F. has been observed here. In 1849 a party of emigrants perished here; hence the name. The region is rich in borax, and extensive works have been established to prepare it for the market. Gold quartz is also found in considerable quantities. A DEBACLE (da-ba'kl), a sudden break- ing up of ice in a river; used by geol- ogists for any sudden outbreak of water, hurling before it and dispersing stones and other debris. DEBENTURE, in finance, a certificate or document signned by a legally author- ized officer, as an acknowledgment of a debt due to some person; a deed or bond of mortgage on certain property for the repayment to a certain person of a cer- tain sum of money advanced by such person, together with interest thereon at a certain stated rate. In customs, a certificate entitling the person to whom it is granted i ) a draw- back on certain goods exported, the du- ties on which have been paid. In public offices, in some government departments a term used to denote a bond or bill by which the government is charged to pay a creditor or his assigns the money due on auditing his account. DEBIR, a city of southern Judah, be- tween Hebron and Beersheba, but nearer the former, often mentioned in Scripture and even there identified with Kirjath- sepher and Kirjath-sannah (Joshua xv: 15, 49). It is now a poor village called Ed-Dahariyeh. It must have been very important at the time of the Judges in Israel, for it is even mentioned as "Debir with her suburbs." But there must have been another Debir, for in Joshua xiii: 26, it is mentioned as if on the borders of Gad, on the other side of the Jordan, actually in the opposite direction from Jerusalem. Elsewhere the word is used (Joshua x:3) as the name of an Amorite king of Eglon (now Ajlan or its vicinity) slain by Joshua about 1450 B. C. This Eglon is not far from Ed-Dahariyeh, and probably Debir was a capital of the Amo- rites, and may have been a predecessor of Jerusalem, for they were all in the heart of later Judah. DEBORAH, a Hebrew seer or proph- etess who lived in the time of the Judges, and by the aid of Barak delivered the N.