symptoms, and cure of debility, we must refer to Dr. Struve's elaborate work, before mentioned, in which this subject is minutely discussed.
Decanter: See Bottle.
DECIPHERING, or Decyphering, the art, or act of discovering the alphabet of a cypher, or of explaining a letter written in cyphers, or secret characters.
Every language has peculiar rules of deciphering which depend not only on the form of its characters, but also on the place, order, frequency, combination, and number of the letters. The importance of this science to politicians has long been acknowledged, and several ingenious philosophers of the 17th century, published profound treatises on this subject; but, as it would be deviating too widely from the avowed plan of this work, to enter into the theory of deciphering, we can only refer the curious, who desire farther information on this head, to the 12th volume of the Gentleman's Magazine for 1742, where they will find the art of deciphering deduced from principles, and explained by examples in several languages. It deserves to be remarked, that there is extant, in the library of Oxford, a collection of letters written in cypher, about the time of Charles the Second, and decypbered by Dr. Wallis, the most eminent scholar this country ever produced, in that branch of mystical grammar. Mr. W. Wallis, a descendant of that learned divine (whose "Life and Sermons" he has lately published), is in the possession of another volume of Decyphered Letters, with their keys in various cyphers and characters; the whole of which contains much information relative to the transactions of those times; as the Doctor held the appointment of decypherer to that suspicious king.
DEED, an instrument written on paper or parchment, which relates principally to the conveyance, or transferring of property, and the validity of which consists in the following essential particulars: 1. Proper parties to contract with one another, and a proper subject matter to be contracted for; 2. A good and sufficient consideration; 3. Writing on parchment, or paper, duly stamped; 4. Sufficient and legal words, properly disposed; 5. Reading (if it be desired) before execution; 6. By stat. 29 Car. II. c. 3, in many cases signing also; and, lastly, delivery which must be done either by the party himself, or by his attorney, lawfully authorised, and expressed in the attestation. If any of these requisites be wanting, the deed is absolutely void, from the beginning.
The preservation of deeds is an object that has ever engaged the attention of the lawyer and the antiquary: it is of still greater importance to those who hold estates or other tenements, in order to enable them to peruse such papers as have been kept for a series of years, and which from moisture, or other causes, are almost illegible. To facilitate this desirable object, we select the following, as being the most simple of the many recipes which have been recommended: Immerse the parchment obliterated by time, into a vessel of cold water, fresh drawn from a well: in the space of a minute, it should be taken out, and pressed between two blotting papers, to prevent it from shrivelling, while it is drying. As soon as it is moderately dry (if the characters be
