ern region to the sea, by channels further and further east, the conditions became such as to permit the deposition, from seas comparatively undisturbed, of the stratified clays and sands, which are seen in so many cases to rest upon the bowlder clay, and are found with their characteristic fossils at elevations of 600 and even 800 ft. above the sea; while others, though so far as known without organic remains, are met with at still higher levels. But portions of floating ice still dropped from time to time the rock masses with which they were freighted, in the midst of these stratified clays. Nor are evidences wanting in the lower St. Lawrence that a second invasion of icebergs may have given rise to new accumulations of bowlder drift after the deposition of the stratified clays. The valleys among the hills, and the shores of the islands, which then rose above an icy sea, would be filled with the local glaciers, of which the traces still remain, which gave their tribute to the northern current, already charged as now with immense icebergs from the polar regions. These in great part submerged and half stranded masses, urged by current, wind, and tide, would plough and furrow the bottom, there piling up the unstratified heaps of bowlder clay, to which the earth and rocks borne by the melting ice would contribute.—The formation of the diluvium or bowlder drift is thus, according to either view, the result of the action of ice. But the glacial action, in the opinion of the land-glacialists, was limited to a definite period, and operated simultaneously over a vast area, which, according to one hypothesis, was not less than an entire hemisphere. Those, on the other hand, who restrict the action of land ice to local glaciers, and call in the aid of floating ice and the arctic current, maintain that the process of glaciation is limited rather by place than by time. Ever since the conditions of the earth have been such as to give rise to the formation of polar ice, the shores and the shallow seas to which the arctic current has borne it must have been subject to glacial action such as we have endeavored to describe. From the days in which the glaciation of our valleys and the deposition in them of the glacial drift took place, this process has not ceased, but has been transferred to other regions; and we may suppose that the banks of Newfoundland, it now raised above the ocean's level, would present striations and glacial drift, which, but for the presence of remains showing its formation to have been in the historic period, would be indistinguishable from the ancient bowlder clays of New England and Canada.
DIME (Fr. dîme, contraction of dixième, a tenth), a silver coin of the United States, of the value of 10 cents, or 110 of a dollar. It was first coined in 1796, in pursuance of the act of April 2, 1792, in which year pattern pieces were struck. Its legal standards have been as follows: by act of April 2, 1792, fineness 892.4 thousandths, weight 41.6 grains; by act of Jan. 18, 1837, fineness 900 thousandths, weight 41¼ grains; by act of Feb. 21, 1853, fineness 900 thousandths, weight 38.4 grains. The half dime, of proportional weight and like fineness, was authorized by the same acts. These coins, which previous to Feb. 21, 1853, had been a legal tender for any amount, were by the act of that date made a legal tender only for sums not exceeding $5. By the act of Feb. 12, 1873, the half dime was discontinued, and the weight of the dime was fixed at 38.58 grains, or one fifth that of the half dollar. The number of pieces coined to June 30, 1873, was: dimes 89,854,925, half dimes 97,547,938; total, 187,402,863; value, $13,862,889 40.
DIMSDALE, Thomas, an English physician, born at Thoydon-Garnon, Essex, in 1712, died in Hertford, Dec. 30, 1800. He was noted for his zeal in promoting inoculation for the smallpox, and was invited to Russia by Catharine II. in 1768, for the purpose of inoculating herself and her son. He afterward visited Frederick II. of Prussia at Sans-Souci, and then returned to England, where in 1776 he published a treatise on inoculation, which was translated into all the European languages. In 1780 he was elected to the house of commons, and in 1781 made a second professional visit to Russia. He also published several pamphlets on inoculation.
DINAGEPOOR, a town of Bengal, India, capital of a district of the same name, in lat. 25° 84′ N., lon. 88° 45′ E., 210 m. N. of Calcutta; pop. about 30,000. The town has a large square in the centre surrounded with shops, but there are no public buildings of any consequence, although it is the seat of the British judicial and revenue courts. There are no temples and but one mosque, which is small and without architectural pretensions. The dwellings of the Europeans are large and commodious, but exhibit no taste, while those of the natives are mere huts. The trade of the place is inconsiderable.
DINAN, a town of Brittany, France, in the department of Côtes-du-Nord, on the Rance, 30m. N. W. of Rennes; pop. in 1866, 8,510. It occupies a commanding and romantic site on the crown and slopes of a steep hill overlooking the narrow valley of the Ranee, which flows 250 ft. below its summit. It is surrounded by a high wall, pierced by four gates, which anciently had 54 round towers, but has now but 16. The old and picturesque castle, built about 1300, is now a prison. On the outside of the walls, now overgrown with ivy, are beautiful terraces and gardens in the former moat. There are some fine specimens both of ancient and modern architecture. In one of the four open places is a statue of Du Guesclin, who successfully defended the town against the English in 1359. Its port can admit vessels of 90 tons burthen, and it has a considerable coasting trade. Its manufactures consist chiefly of linen, cotton, and woollen goods, leather, beet-root sugar, and salt. In the en-
