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218 DORSET the conglomerate thus produced being the most fertile in the county. Besides the chalk formation, Dorsetshire contains pipe, plastic, and potters' clays, and has famous quarries of Portland stone, so called from the locali- ty in which it is found, and which is ex- ported to various parts of England, Ireland, and France. There are no ores nor coal. The downs are employed chiefly as sheep pastures. The Dorset sheep are noted as a profitable breed, and " Southdown mutton " has a high reputation. There is another and very small breed in the island of Purbeck, much prized by epicures. Excellent butter is made, but the cheese is of poor quality. The principal grain crops are wheat and barley. Potatoes, flax, and hemp are also raised. The manufac- tures comprise silk, woollens, cottons, blan- kets, canvas, ducks, fabrics of flax, gloves, parchment, buttons, beer, ale, and cider. Her- rings, salmon, oysters, and large quantities of mackerel are taken off the coast. The chief towns are Dorchester, the county seat, Brid- port, Lyme Regis, Weymouth, Poole, Shaftes- bury, Wareham, and Sherborne. DORSET, John Syng, an American physician, born in Philadelphia, Dec. 23, 1783, died Nov. 12, 1818. He studied medicine with his rel- ative Dr. Physick, received the degree of M. D. in 1802, visited France and England, and returned home in December, 1804. He was elected adjunct professor of surgery in the Philadelphia medical school in 1807, was transferred to the chair of materia medica, and having given two courses of lectures on that subject, was chosen to succeed Dr. Wis- tar as professor of anatomy. On the evening after delivering his introductory lecture he was attacked by a fever, and died at the end of a week, having gained at the age of 35 the reputation of one of the first surgeons of Ame- rica. He contributed valuable papers to several periodicals, and published "Elements of Sur- gery" (2 vols. 8vo, 1813), adopted as a text book in the university of Edinburgh. DORSIBRANCHIATES, a division of worms, swimming free in the sea, or living in the mud and sand, whose organs of respiration are in the form of tufts or branchial appendages ar- ranged along the back or sides. The lob-worm (arenicola piscatorum), so much prized as bait in Europe, attains the size of the finger, and species of eunice have been found 4 ft. long. DORT, or Dordrecht (Lat. Dordracum), an an- cient town of the Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, situated on an island in the Merwede, a river formed by the junction of the Maas and the Waal, 11 m. S. E. of Rotter- dam; pop. in 1870, 25,359. The advantages of its position, near the sea, accessible from the Rhine through the Waal, and having easy com- munication with an extensive inland district have rendered it one of the first commercial towns of Holland. From Liege it receives coal, lime, and millstones. The vineyards on the Rhine supply it with wine, and from Switz- DORTMUND erland and upper Germany it obtains timber, which drifts down the river in large rafts like floating islands, and is here collected. The surrounding waters afford plenty of good fish and wild fowl. A flourishing trade is carried on in oil, seeds, grain, flax, and stock fish. There are oil mills, saw mills, salt and sugar refineries, bleaching grounds, and factories of white lead, tobacco, steel pens, and window glass. The port is excellent. There are ca- nals leading to the interior of the town, and a number of quays. The houses have an exceed- ingly antiquated appearance ; the windows are grotesquely ornamented, and the gable ends generally face the street. Three old houses formerly used as rendezvous for armed burgh- ers are still standing. In one of these, now used as a play house, was held the famous Prot- estant synod of Sort in 1618-'19, which con- demned the doctrines of Arminius ; and the provincial synods of South Holland were held in the same place until 1731, after which they convened in the great church. Another has been converted into a court house, and a pub- lic school is taught in the third. The chief church is St. Mary's, an immense building of great antiquity, now used by the Protestants, but originally by the Roman Catholics, and then containing 20 chapels and 40 altars. The pulpit is a fine piece of workmanship, of white marble elaborately sculptured. The town hall is very old, but in good preservation. Dort also has a corn exchange, a bank, an artil- lery arsenal, classical, agricultural, and other schools, an orphan asylum, almshouses, an infirmary, and a lunatic asylum. In 1421 it was involved in a terrible inundation, which is said to have swallowed up 70 villages, and to which the island of Dort owes its formation, the city having previously stood on the main- land. A conflagration in 1457 consumed up- ward of 2,000 houses, including many public edifices. The first meeting of the states gen- eral, at which the independence of the United Provinces was declared, w^as held here in 1572. While the disputes about the stadth eldership were raging in 1672, the inhabitants of this town sided with the house of Orange ; in 1786- '7, when similar difficulties arose, and Prussia intervened, Dort took a decided stand against that kingdom, and succeeded in obtaining ad- vantageous terms. DORT, Synod of. See REFOEMED PEOTESTANT DUTCH CHUEOH. DORTMUND, a town of Prussia, in the province of Westphalia, 31 m. S. by W. of Minister; pop. in 1871, 44,454. It is enclosed by walls, has five gates, several churches, two hospitals, and some other public buildings, manufactories of woollen, linen, cotton, &c., four annual fairs, and a considerable trade. It was important at an early day, and was a member of the Hanse- atic league, but its prosperity afterward de- clined. Formerly a free imperial city, it pass- ed to the family of Nassau-Diez in 1802, and into the hands of Prussia in 1815.