Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/279

DRUIDS function. All men, whether in a public or private capacity, had to submit to their de- cisions, for the recalcitrant was condemned to excommunication, which rendered him an out- cast and an outlaw. Over the community or college of druids an arch-druid presided, whose authority was supreme and irrevocable, al- though his office was elective. The election was made by the suffrages of the whole body, but sometimes, in the rivalry of factions, led to serious conflicts of arms. At a fixed period every year they assembled at a consecrated spot in the territory of the Carnutes, which passed for the centre of Gaul, whither all re- sorted who had disputes to settle or decrees to solicit. The entire priesthood were exempted from all taxation or imposts, and from every burden of war or peace. Affiliated to these three orders, without sharing their preroga- tives, were prophetesses, or sorceresses, appa- rently divided into three orders also, according to their degrees of sanctity. Their rules were whimsical and contradictory, but their influ- ence over the fears of the people was power- ful. One branch of them could declare the secrets of futurity only to those who had pol- luted them ; another was devoted to perpetual virginity ; a third to long periods of celibacy, or they were allowed to visit their husbands but once a year ; while others had to assist at nocturnal rites with their naked bodies painted black, their hair dishevelled, and abandoning themselves to transports of fury. Their fa- vorite resort was the island of Sena, where the nine Senes dwelt, and the nameless islet op- posite the mouth of the Loire, where once every year, between sunrise and sunset, they pulled down and rebuilt the roof of their temple ; but if any one by chance let fall a particle of the sacred materials, she was torn to pieces, amid frantic dances, in which the Greeks saw the rites of their own Bacchan- tes, or the orgies of Samothrace. The druids attained to an almost absolute rule, which was in many respects beneficial, but it also inevitably degenerated into tyranny. They sooner or later, therefore, aroused the jealousy of another order in society, which Caesar des- ignates the equites or warriors, who had taken the lead in the political conduct and constitu- tion of the tribes. It is supposed that these gradually overthrew the power of the druids in Gaul. When that country was subdued by the Romans, the druidical religion gradually retired before the classic heathenism, and with- drew, at first into Armorica, and then into Britain, where in the time of Nero it was as- saulted and mostly suppressed. It lingered as a public worship longest in the island of An- glesea, whence it was finally driven out by the Romans with great fierceness. As a private superstition it continued to hold sway for many years thereafter over the minds of the Celtic tribes and their descendants. The only modern remains of druidism are the immense structures of stone, the menhirs, cromlechs, dolmens, and 274 VOL. vi. 18 DRUMMOND 271 avenues, which are found in the immense ruins at Stonehenge, Avebury, and Carnac, as well as in many smaller forms throughout Great Britain and western France. See Barth, Ueber die Druiden der Celten (1826) ; G Higgins " Celtic Druids " (1827) ; and the first volume of Henri Martin's Histoire de France (1833). DRUM (Dan. trom ; Ger. Trommel), in music, a hollow cylinder of thin wood or brass, cover- ed at each end with vellum or parchment, the tension of which is regulated by small cords or braces on the outer side of the instrument acted upon by sliding knots of leather. The common drum is suspended at the side of the drummer, whence it is called the side drum, and is beaten upon at one end with sticks. An instrument similar in shape, but on a much larger scale, called the base drum, is beaten at both ends with drumsticks having leather pads on the knobs. Both kinds are highly effective in mili- tary bands. Another species, called the kettle drum, consists of a thin copper basin, nearly hemispherical, the parchment covering of which, is held by an iron rim, and tightened or relaxed by screws. Kettle drums are always in pairs, one instrument being tuned to the key note, and the other to the fifth of the key. They are generally supported on iron tripods. Instru- ments of percussion of the drum species have been familiar in the East from remote ages, and among savage races in all parts of the world are used in the celebration of religious rites as well as for the performance of music. They were common among the Egyptians, chiefly for military music, as early as 1600 B. 0., some being long cylinders, similar to the tom- toms of India, which were beaten with the hand, while others were of a barrel shape and were beaten with sticks. Among the Greeks and Romans the drum, called the tympanum, had the form of the modern kettle drum or of the tamborine. The drum was probably intro- duced into Europe by the Saracens and Moors, by whom it was called the tumbur, whence the Spanish tambor and the French tambour ; and in the first half of the 14th century it was generally adopted for military music. DRUMMOND, Thomas, a British naval officer and inventor, born in Edinburgh in October, 1797, died in Dublin, April 15, 1840. While a cadet at Woolwich he displayed unusual math- ematical ability, and attracted considerable at- tention by rejecting as unsatisfactory a stan- dard demonstration in conic sections, and sup- plying a new and original one, which was adopted in future text books. In 1820 he was employed in the trigonometrical survey of the United Kingdom. He had given considerable attention to chemistry, and conceived the idea that the incandescence of lime might be put to use for illuminating distant stations in the survey, as a substitute for the argand lamp. In 1824 he was transferred to the survey of Ireland, in which some improved method of il- lumination was still more a necessity, and there constructed his lamp. Its first trial was