DEW
t 19*1
DEX
ficle that of little and great Parafches. "t*is true, in the other Copies, ufed by private Perrons, they are divided into £ ve Parts, as among us ; Eur they give them no other Name, but the firft Word 'wherewith each Divifion begins : much as we do in quoting a Decree, or Chapter of the Canon- Law.
Thus, the firft Part of Mofes's Work they call 5Vt0Nl3 Serefchit, bccaufc beginning with that Diction. The fe- cond they call n~\ZW rftfctt Ve Elkh SchemOt : The third, t^!nr-*1 Vajickrah^ The fourth, "OTM Vajiedab- ber $ and the fifth, CT'mn rhti Elleh haddsbarim? which is one of the firft Words thereof. This Cuftom is very ancient among the Rabbins, as appears from the an- cient Commentaries on thofe Books, call'd, ri3*> rvK^-n Berefchit Rabba, r~m DlOltf n*7Nl Vcetkh Schemot Rabba, &c. and from the 'Prologus Galeatus of St. Jerora--, It was the Greeks, when they firft tranflated the Law, that aave the five Parts, into which it was divided, the Names of Gcnefis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, zndDeu- teronomy. Accordingly the Names arc Greek $ excepting that of Leviticus, which is Hebrew. And they exprefs what is ccntain'd in thofe Books, or at leaft the moil remarkable Things ccntain'd therein 5 which is the Greek Manner of giving Titles.
The Book o&DeuterotiOffiy was fo call'd, becaufe thislaft Part of the Work of Mofe s comprehends the Repetition, or Recapitulation, which that Lcgillator made to the Jfraelites before his Death, of the Law he had before deli ver'd them at length. And hence Deuteronomy is {till call'd by the Rabbins T\W& Mifchneh, Repetition, mm nJ!#D Re- petition of the Law ; fecond Law. They likewife call it CVin^'H 13D the Books of 'Reprimands, on Account of the XXVIJIth Chapter, which is lull ofBleffings promifed to fuch as keep the Law 5 and of Curies threatcn'd fuch as tran r grcfs it.
Deuteronomy was wrote the fortieth Tear after the Delivery from Egypt, in the Country of the Moabites beyond Jordan : Mofes being then in the 120th Year of his Age. It contains in Hebrew eleven Parafches, tho* only Ten in the Edition of the Rabbins at Venice 5 XX Chapters, and 955 Vcrfes. In the Greek and Ztf 27/2 Ver- fions it contains XXXIV Chapters. The laft is not of Mo- fes. Some fay it was added by Jofma immediately after Mofes\ Death 5 which is the moil probable Opinion. Others will have it added by Ffdras.
Th'e Word isGreek, compounded of ;f-s$rse«£ 3 Second, and v'o[jh(, Law.
DEW, R'os, a thin, light, infenfible Mift, or Rain, fall- ing while the Sun is below the Horizon.
Naturaliils ufually rank Dews among the Number of Meteors of the watery Kind. Seme define it a Vapour li- quified, and let fall in Drops. Others a Vapour having a like Relation to Froft, as Rain has to Snow, 0$c. Among the DifTertations of Monfr. Huet is a Letter, to fhew that Dew docs not fall, but rifes.
To us, Dew appears only to differ from Rain as more, and lefs. Its Origin, and Matter, no doubt, is from the Vapour, and Exhalation of the Earth and Water, rais'd, as /hewn under the Article Vapour. The, thin VeficuldS, whereof Vapours confift, being once de- tach'd from their Bodies, we all know, keep rifing in the Atmofphere, till they arrive at fuch a Stage of the Air, as is of the fame fpecific Gravity with thcmfelves ; Then their Rife is ftopp'd. Now, as 'tis the Warmth, or Fire, that, dilating the Parts of Water, forms the Veficulze fpecifically lighter than Air, and capable of afcending therein ; So when that Heat declines, or is loft, as by the Approach, or Contiguity of any colder Body, the Veficultf condenfe, be- come heavier, anddefcend. In the Day-time, therefore, the Sun warming the Atmofphere by a continual Influx of his Rays, the Vapours once rais'd, continue their Progrcfs, as meeting with nothing to increafe their Gravity, till fuch Time as they are got far out of the Reach of the reflected Warmth of the Earth, in the middle Region of the Atmo- fphere. Here condemning, they form Clouds, from which arife Rain, as fliewn under Clouds, and Rain.
But when the Sun is below the Horizon, the Cafe is fome- what different : For the Atmofphere then cooling, the Va- pours rais'd by the Warmth of the Earth, and ot the Rays of the Sun, lodg'd therein the precceding Day, begin to con- denfe a-pacc, as foon as they are got out of the Air, fpend- 1'ng their Stock of Fire and Heat on the cold, moift Air they pais through. Their Afcent, therefore, becomes fhort 5 and by that Time they arc got a few Fathoms high, being ex- h'auftcdcf rhcirEire, and reftor'd to the natural Dim en 'ft oris and Gravity of their conftituent Water j they precipitate and fall back again in little Spherules, or Drops, as fliewn of Rain.
From thefe Principles the other PhcenGinena of Dews are eafily accounted for. Hence, e.gr. it is, that Dews are more copious in the Spring, rhan in the other Seafons 5 there being then a greater Stock of Vapour in Readinefs,
through the frriall Expense thereof in the Winter's Cold antj Froft, than at other Times. Hence, what Tliny relates of Egypt, that it abounds in Dews throughout all the Heats of Summer 5 For the Air there being too hot to conftipato the Vapours in the Day-time, they never gather into Clouds and hence they have no Rain; But we know, that in Cli- mates where the Days are exceffive hot, the Nights are re- markably cold ; So that the Vapours raifed after Sunfet are readily condenfed into 'Dews. Or, perhaps, that na- table Coldnefs is rather the Effecl, than the Caufe of the Quantity of Dews. For a deal of Vapour being raifed by the great Heat of the Earth, and theStock of Fire fpent on it in the Day-time, the Influx of fuch a Quantity of cold Moiflure rauft greatly chill the Air. • .
May-Dx.w whitens Linen, and Wax 5 The Dew of Au- tumn is converted into a white Froft. Out of 2)ew putri- fied by the Sun, arife divers Infects, which change a-pace out of one Species into another : what remains is converted into a fine, white Salt, with Angles like thole of Salt-peter, after a Number of Evaporations, Calcinations, and Fixa- tions.
There is a Spirit drawn from May-Dew, which has won- derful Virtues attributed to it. The Method of gatherings and preparing it, is prefcribed by Hanneman, Phyfician at Kiel. 'Tis to be gather'd in clean linen Cloths expofed to the Sun in clofe Vials ; then diftill'd, and the Spirit, thrown upon the Caput Mortuum 5 this is to be repeated till the Earth unite with the Spirit, and become liquid * which happens about the 7 th, or 8th Cohobation, or Diftil- lation. By fuch means you gain a very red, odoriferous Spirit. Stolterfolth, a Phyfician ofLubec, thinks May- Dew may be gather'd in Glafs-Plates, efpecially in ftill Weather, and before Sun-rife. And E>t mutter is of the fame Sentiment. It might likewife be gather'd with aGlafs- Funnel, expofed to the Air, having a crooked Neck to bring the Dew into a Vial in a Chamber. See E'hilof Tranfatl. 1665. May. Hofjnann, and others. : Tis apparently from the Preparation of this 'Dew, that the Brothers of the Rofy- Crofs took their Denomination. SeeRosycRUciANS.
In the 'Philofoph. •TranfaEi. we have an Account of a very extraordinary Kind of Stew. For a good Part of the Win- ter 1695, fays the Bifliop oiCloyne, there fell in many Parts of the Provinces ofMunJler, and Leimjler ; a Kind of thick Dew, which the Country-People call'd Sutter, from. its Confiftency and Colour 5 being loft, clammy, and of a dark yellow. It fell always in the Night, and chiefly in low, mooriih Places, on the Top of the Grafs, and oft on the Thatch of Cabbins. 'Twas feldom obfervM in the fame Place twice. It commonly Jay on the Earth a fortnight without changing Colour, but then died, and turn'd bhek. It fell in Lumps $ and had a ftrong Smell like that of " Graves. Mr. R.Vans, in the fame Iranfutltons, gives an Account of the like at the fame Time, \nLi?neric, and 'Tip? pera?y; adding, that if one rubb'd it with the Hand, it melted $ but laying it by the Fire, it dried, and grew hard. DEXTANS, in Antiquity. See As. DEXTER, in Heraldry, is applied to the Right Side, as Sinifter is to the Left. See Escutcheon. DEXTER-yo/;/r. See Point.
Dexter-S^ is the right Side of the Bafe. See Base. DzxTER-Chief, the Angle on the right Fland of th© Chief. See Chief.
TheW r ord is pureZ^/V, figmfymgRight-baftd $ whence the Word Dexterity for Addrefs, and Ability in the per- forming of anv Thing.
DEXTROCHERE, or DESTROCHERE, in Heral- dry, is applied to the right Arm, which is painted in a Shield, fometimes naked, fometimes cloath'd, or adorn'd with a Bracelet, and fometimes arm'd, or holding fome Moveable, or Member ufed in the Arms.
The Dextrochere is fometimes placed as the Creft. The Word is form'd from the Latin Dextrocheriuffl y which fignifies a Bracelet wore on the right Wrift, men- tion'd in the Ac~ts of the Martyrdom of St. Agnes, and the Life of the Emperor Maximus.
DIA, the Beginning of divers Terms in Medicine, Chi- rurgery, Pharmacy, oc.
"Where thefe three Letters begin the Name of a Re- medy, Unguent, Plafter, Cataplafm, &c. they fignify Comfofition, and Mixture $ as in tDiaplafm, J)iac]oy- lo7i f &c. See Diaplasm, Diachylon, &c.
2)ia is likewife the Beginning of many Terms in the other Arts, and even in common Ufe 5 As, 'Diameter, Dia- logue, &c. on all which Occafions, Dia, which is an infe- parablc Particle, or Prepofition, is borrowed from the Greek fia., ex, or cum ^ which begins the fame Words in the Greek.
Indeed we have Words wherein©^ is no Prepofition bor- rowed from a foreign Language, tho' 'tis poffible, the Words themfclves may 5 as in Diamante Dial, Diana, &c.
DIABETES, in Medicine, a h ally, and profufe Evacua- tion of the Drink by the Urinary Pafiagesj accompanied
with
