Russian Tongue (Tolkovyl Slovar Zhivago Velikorusskago Yasika), which appeared in four volumes between 1861 ani 1866, and is of the most essential service to the student of the popular literature and folk-lore of Russia. " It is impossible," says Mr Ralston, " to praise too highly this magnificent work one to which he devoted during a great part of his lifetime what was truly a labour of love." It was based on the results of his own investigations throughout the various provinces of Russia, investigations which had furnished him with no fewer than 4000 popular tales and upwards of 30,000 proverbs. Among his other publications may be mentioned Bemerkungen zu Zimmer- mann s Entwurf des Krie/jstheaters Eusslands gegen Khiwa, published in German at Orenburg, and a Handbook of Botany, Moscow, 1849. A collected edition of his works
appeared at St Petersburg in 8 volumes, 1860-61.DAHLGREN, Karl Frederik (1791-1844),the Swedish poet, was born at Stensbruk in Ostergotlaud June 20, 1791. At the time when literary partizauship ran so high in Sweden, and the writers divided themselves into " Goths " and " Phosphorists," Dahlgren came over to tlie latter body, and made himself indispensable by his polemical activity. In the mock-heroic poem of Markalls sdmnlosa natter (MarkalFs Sleepless Nights), in which the Phosphorists bitterly, and with eminent success, ridiculed their opponents, Dahlgren, who was a genuine humourist, took a very prominent part. In 1825 he published The Tower of Babel, a satire, and in the same year, a comedy, Argus in Olympus. In 1828 he collected the scattered poems of his youth into two volumes. In 1829 he was appointed to an ecclesiastical post in Stockholm, which he held until his death. In a series cf odes and dithyrambic pieces, entitled Mollbergs Epistlar (1819, 1820), he strove to emulate the wonderful lyric genius of Bellman, of whom he was a student and follower. From 1825 to 1827 he edited a critical journal entitled Kometen (The Comet), and he is also the author of a comic novel, Nahum Frcdrik Bergstrom s Chronicle, which is said to be extremely witty. In company with Almqvist he founded the celebrated Manhems-forbund, a society of agricultural socialists, which had but a short tenure of existence. In 1834 he collected his poems in one volume; and in 1837 appeared his last book, a volume entitled Steamboat Songs. On the 1st of May 1844 he died at Stockholm. Dahlgren is one of the best humorous writers that Sweden has produced ; but it was perhaps in realistic and idyllic description that his peculiar talents displayed them selves to most advantage. His little poem of Zephyr and the Girl, which is to be found in every selection from Swedish poetry, is a good example of his sensuous and ornamented style, as well as of his ease and vivacity. His works were collected and published after his death by A. J. Arwidsson.
DAHLIA, a genus of herbaceous plants of the natural order Composite, so called after Dr Dahl, a pupil of Lin nseus. The dahlia is indigenous to Mexico, where it flourishes in sandy tracts at a height of 5000 feet above sea-level. Two cultivated species are distinguished by some botanists, D.frustranea and D. su2)erflua,the outer involucre in the former being spreading, in the latter reflexed. The flowers have a chaffy receptacle, a double involucre, and no pappus. The roots or tubers are spindle-shaped, and grow in bundles ; they were at one time used as food in France ; but their acrid flavour occasioned their rejection as an esculent. They may be stored in winter in the same manner as potatoes. The flowers, at the time of the first introduction of the plant, were single, with a yellow disc and dull scarlet rays ; under cultivation, since 1802 in France and 1804 in England, flowers of numerous brilliant hues, with the elements of the disc converted into ray- florets, have been produced. The flower has been modified also from a flat to a globular shape, and the arrangement of the florets has been rendered quite distinct in the ranunculus and anemone-like kinds. The ordinary natural height of the dahlia is about 7 or 8 feet, but one of the dwarf races grows to only 18 inches. With changes in the flower, changes in the shape of the seed have been brought about by cultivation ; varieties of the plant have been produced which require more moisture than others ; and the period of flowering has been made considerably earlier. In 1808 dahlias were described as flowering from September to November, but some of the dwarf varieties at present grown are in full blossom in the middle of June. The nature of the season has a marked effect upon certain kinds of dahlia, so that those which are good in one year may become decidedly bad in the next. In 1842 it was noted by one observer that every -dahlia with a tendency to become of a scarlet hue had its petals deeply notched, in some cases to the depth of half an inch. A fine colour is an important requisite for a good flower; there should also be no sinking of the centre or eye, and the backs of the petals should not be visible. Dahlias may be grown in almost any kind of soil, but flourish best in a rich loam ; on a light sandy mould they arrive early at maturity, and become dwarfed. The plants should be protected from north and east winds, and when watered the whole of their foliage should be wetted. They are propagated by cuttings and seed as well as by tubers. Experience has shown that the best plants obtained from cuttings are those planted in soil different from that on which the parent plants grow. The seeds are sown in pots early in March, under the protection of a hotbed frame or in a hothouse.
distinguished German historian and politician, was born on the 13th May 1785, at Wismar. He studied philology at the universities of Copenhagen and Halle, and at the age of twenty-five took his doctor s degree in that subject. He had already delivered lectures at Dresden ; and in 1812 he was appointed professor of history at Kiel. His devotion to historical study had been caused by his wish to take a useful and intelligent part in contemporary politics. In 1815 he was made secretary to the permanent deputation of the prelates and nobles of Schleswig Holstein, in which posi tion his influence was exerted against the policy of the Danish Government, and he henceforth took a prominent place among moderate liberals. In 1829 he was chosen professor of the science of politics in the university of Gottingen. Two or three years later he was engaged in drawing up the Hanoverian constitution of 1833. In 1837, when that constitution was abolished by Ernest Augustus, Dahlmann so strongly opposed the king s policy that he was banished from Hanover. He retired to Leipsic, and then to Jena, where he gave his time to the study of history and the pro duction of his most important works. In 1842 Dahlmann became professor of history and the science of politics at Bonn. In 1848 he was chosen a member of the committee of seventeen wh.ich was appointed to draw up a new German constitution ; and he was elected member of the National Assembly of Frankfort. He distinguished him self as an advocate of the election of the king of Prussia as emperor of Germany. He was indeed so much regarded as a leader that he was requested to form a ministry ; but his attempt was unsuccessful. In March 1849, when the Parliament rejected the constitution, Dahlmann, who had been opposed to the armistice of Malmoe, retired, with many of his followers, from the Parliament, and joined the assembly of Gotha, in which he still advocated the unifica tion of Germany under the king of Prussia. He also
worked in the same cause in the assembly of Erfurt and
