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92 DICQUEMARE nals, and published a work on "Dengue (Philadelphia, 1826) ; " Manual of Pathology and Practice of Medicine ;" " Essays on Pathol- ogy and Therapeutics" (2 vols. 8vo, New- York, 1845) ; " Essays on Life, Sleep, Pain, &c. (12rao, Philadelphia, 1852); and "Elements of Medicine " (8vo, Philadelphia, 1855). He was also the author of a pamphlet on slavery, in which he asserted the essential inferiority of the negro race. DICQIE3IARE, Jacqnes Francois, a French nat- uralist and astronomer, born in Havre, March 7, 1733, died March 29, 1789. He was a priest, and became professor of experimental physics at Havre, and member of the academy of Rouen and of the royal marine academy. He invent- ed several useful instruments in connection with astronomy and navigation, but is better known by his researches into the natural his- tory of zoophytes, infusoria, and mollusks, and particularly by his discoveries relative to sea anemones, on which he published an essay in French and English (4to, London, 1774). He designed an instrument called the cosmoplane, by means of which he solved problems in nau- tical astronomy. Besides numerous papers in the Journal de Physique, he published an In- dex geographique (1769), Idee generate de Gas- tronomic (1769), and Connaissance de I'as- tronomie (1771). DICTATOR, the chief magistrate in the cities of the ancient Latin confederacy, in Alba, Tus- culum, &c. The Romans adopted the word from their Latin neighbors, and applied it in the earliest period of the republic to exception- al magistrates appointed in times of danger, with nearly absolute power over life and prop- erty, from which there was no appeal to law or people. The dictator was usually nominated by the senate, and appointed by one of the consuls for six months, during which time the consuls and other regular magistrates continued in their office, though subject to his dictates, and deprived temporarily of their badges of dignity. The power of the dictator was most- ly limited to one object, and particularly to foreign affairs. Being elected, he appointed his lieutenant or master of the horse (magister equitum) and surrounded himself with his 24 lictors (twice as many as attended the consuls), armed with fasces and axes. He was limited only in regard to the use of the public money, and responsible only after the expiration of his term ; he was not allowed to leave Italy, or to appear on horseback within the precincts of the city. Officers bearing the same title were also sometimes appointed for certain civil or religious purposes. This office was quite harmless, but in later periods dictators were appointed reipublicce constituenda causa (to form a new constitution), such as Sulla and Caesar, whose arbitrary power destroyed the republic. The first Roman dictator, Lartius, was appointed within ten years after the establish- ment of the republic (about 500 B. C.), to save the state from the threatening allies of Tarquin DICTIONARY the expelled king, and the more dangerous dis- turbances within the walls. The public lands were in t the grasp of the patricians, and the plebeians were poor and degraded. The danger from the supporters of Tarquin was imminent. The senate commanded new levies, but the peo- ple refused to obey, declaring that they had nothing to defend, and that no foreign yoke could bring upon them greater hardships than those they endured. In their disobedience they were protected by the law recently passed through the efforts of Valerius Poplicola, which permitted every citizen condemned to any se- vere punishment to appeal to the people. To evade the force of this popular law, the senate agreed upon the extraordinary measure of electing a single magistrate with more than regal power. The people confirmed the decree, and the success and honesty of Lartius proved worthy of the new dignity. About two years later another dictator, Aulus Posthumius, de- stroyed the last hopes of the banished king, in a battle fought near Lake Regillus. Not less remarkable were the services of the dictator L. Quintius Cincinnatus, who, having accom- plished the object of his appointment by rout- ing the ^Equi and saving the surrounded con- sular army, resigned his dignity within 17 days. C. M. Rutilus (356) was the first plebeian appointed to the dictatorship, and M. J. Pera (216) was the last dictator in the original sense of the word ; for the same dignity, as bestowed on Sulla (82), and three times on Ceesar (47, 45, and 44), meant only unlimited, despotic sway. Mark Antony abolished it altogether. DICTIONARY (Lat. dictio, a word), in its ordinary acceptation, a book containing the words of a language, in alphabetical order, with a definition annexed to each. The title of dictionary is also sometimes given to alpha- betically arranged cyclopaedias ; as dictionaries of law, of medicine, of the arts, of sciences, of commerce, &c. (See CYCLOPEDIA.) A complete dictionary would fulfil the same office with respect to language that a uni- versal cyclopaedia fulfils with respect to arts, sciences, and literature, giving an account of the origin and applications of the verbal symbols of ideas and facts, as the latter gives an account of the ideas and facts themselves. It would, therefore, state the etymology of words, and note their variations in meaning through the successive periods of a literature. A glossary is a dictionary of obsolete, provin- cial, or technical words; and the term lexi- con, though hardly distinguished by usage from dictionary, is more frequently applied to vocabularies of the ancient and learned lan- guages, with the definitions and explanations in some modern language. The earliest dic- tionary known is probably the series of clay tablets covered with cuneiform inscriptions which were found in the ruins of a palace of Nineveh, and which are ascribed to the time of the Assyrian king Asshur-bani-pal, whose seal is impressed on them. They are divided into