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DIDRON DIEDENHOFEN 97 with cheap and correct editions. He invented, or more correctly revived the stereotype pro- cess, which he brought at once to comparative perfection. He translated Virgil's " Bucolics " and Theocritus's "Idyls." He was elected in 1827 to the chamber of deputies. His sons, AMBROISE FIRMIX, born in 1790, and HYA- OINTHE, born in 1794, succeeded him in the management of the firm. Among their notable publications are : Monuments de VEgypte. et de la Nubie, by Champollion the younger ; Voy- age de Jacquemont dans Vlnde ; Expedition sci- entifique des Franpais en Moree ; the Thesaurus Lingua Grcecce of Henry Stephens, with anno- tations and additions by the best French and German scholars ; a complete Bibliotheque des auteurs grecs, a very cheap and correct edition of the Greek writers, with copious notes and Latin translations. Their editions of the French classics are numerous and valuable ; while their extensive popular publications, such as L" 1 Uni- vers pittoresque, U Encyclopedie moderne, and La nouvelle biographic generate (completed in 1866), are remarkable for cheapness and gen- eral accuracy. The two heads of the firm are now aided by their sons ALFRED (born in 1828) and PAUL (born in 1826). DIDRON, Adolphe Napoleon, a French archae- ologist, born in Hautevillers, department of Marne, March 13, 1806, died in Paris, Nov. 13, 1867. He travelled on foot through Norman- dy, examining all the remarkable mediaeval monuments. In 1835 he was appointed by Guizot secretary of the historical committee of arts and monuments, and wrote the four vol- umes of elaborate reports issued by that com- mittee. In 1838 he delivered in the royal library a course of lectures on Christian ico- nography, after which he made a journey to Greece to compare the art of the Greek church with that of the West, and to obtain access to mediaeval manuscripts. On his return to Paris in 1840 he delivered another course of lectures, and in 1845 founded there an archaeological publishing house, and a manufactory of painted glass. He established in 1844, and edited until 1866, the Annales archeologiques, devoted par- ticularly to the archaeology of the middle ages, in preparing which he was assisted by the prin- cipal archaeologists, architects, designers, and engravers of Europe. His most important pub- lication is the Manuel d'iconographie chretienne grecque et latine (1845), of which an English translation was published in 1851. DIDYMIUM (Gr. diSv^o^ twin), a metal dis- covered in 1841 by Mosander in the mineral cerite, and named for its resemblance to the metal lanthanum, which occurs in the same mineral, and for the persistence with which its salts remain combined with those of this metal. The rose color of the salts of lanthanum is prob- ably due to the presence of didymium. But neither of the two metals, nor the cerium with which they occur, possesses any special interest, and the complete quantitative separation of the metals is even yet attended with great difficulty. DIDYMUS, an Alexandrian grammarian and critic, born about 64 B. C. He was noted for his industry and the copiousness of his writings, in consequence of which he received the nick- names of XaA/cevrepof, or brazen-bo welled, and Bip'Aiohadas, or forgetter of books. The num- ber of his works is stated by Athenaaus at 3,500, and by Seneca at 4,000. DIEBITSCH, Hans Karl Friedrich Anton, a Rus- sian general, born in Silesia, May 13, 1785, died near Pultusk, Poland, June 10, 1831. His father, a Prussian and afterward a Russian officer, sent him in 1797 to the house of cadets in Berlin, but made him enter the ranks of the Russian imperial guard in 1801. He fought in the battles of Austerlitz, Eylau, and Friedland, was made captain, and devoted himself to the study of military science during the five years of peace which followed the treaty of Tilsit. He served under Wittgenstein during the in- vasion of the French in 1812, and persuaded the Prussian general York to capitulate. As chief of Wittgenstein's staff in 1813 he distin- guished himself at Ltitzen, and was then at- tached as quartermaster general to the corps of Barclay de Tolly in Silesia. At Leipsic he was made by the emperor Alexander lieu- tenant general on the battle field. In the campaign of 1814, when Schwarzenberg ad- vised the retreat of the allied armies, Diebitsch decided for the march on Paris, which termi- nated the war. In 1815 he married a niece of Barclay de Tolly. Being made chief of the staff of the army, he accompanied Alexander through the south of Russia, and was present at his death at Taganrog in 1825. At St. Pe- tersburg he distinguished himself during the outbreak of Dec. 25 by intrepidity, prudence, and humanity. The new emperor, Nicholas, rewarded his services with the title of baron, and afterward with that of count. In the war of 1828-'9 against Turkey he took Varna, and by marching across the Balkan forced the Porte to make the peace of Adrianople, and received the name of Zabalkanskoi (Trans- balkanian, that is, crosser of the Balkan). On the outbreak of the revolution in Warsaw, Nov. 29, 1830, he was appointed commander- in-chief of the army and governor of the prov- inces adjoining Poland. He crossed the Polish frontier Jan. 25, 1831, but the engagements at Wisniew and Stoczek, Feb. 11, at Dobre on the 18th, at Grochow and Wawer on the 19th, and still more the battles fought about the end of March in the vicinity of Praga, proved that fortune had left his banners. Without profit- ing by the favorable issue of the battles of Nur, Lomza, and Ostrolenka (May 15-26), he removed his camp to Kleczewo, where he sud- denly died of cholera. DIEDENHOFEN (Fr. Thionville a fortified town of Germany, in Lorraine, situated on the Moselle, and on the railway from Metz to Luxemburg, about 15 m. N. of Metz ; pop. in 1871, 7,155. It has a gymnasium, a botanic garden, and manufactories of hosiery, woollen