More than one of these 7 encyclopedias carries each of the following subjects — but every one of them treats it in a sentence or two and then moves on. They are gathered here so the different accounts can sit side by side.
Distaff
Aiton's Encyclopedia: dis'taf, in hand spinning, a cleft stick about three feet long, on which was fastened a quantity of wool, cotton, or flax, as it came from the cards. The lower end of the distaff was held between the spinner's left arm and side, leaving the hands free to draw out some of the fibers, twist them into a thread, and wind the thread on the spindle. The spindle was suspended, or set in a whorl, so arranged as to revolve like a top, thus aiding in twisting and winding the thread. The seventh of January used to be called St. Distaff's day, because at that time women resumed their ordinary occupations of spinning, weaving, etc., after the interruption of the Christmas festival. See Carding; Spinning ; Spindle
Collier's New Encyclopedia: a cleft stick about 3 feet long, on which wool or carded cotton was wound in the ancient mode of spinning. The distaff was held under the left arm, and the fibers of cotton drawn from it were twisted spirally by the forefinger and thumb of the right hand The thread, as it was spun, was wound on a reel, which was suspended from and revolved with the thread during spinning.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Distillation
Collier's New Encyclopedia: an important process in the arts; consisting essentially in converting a liquid into vapor in a closed vessel, by means of heat, and then conveying the vapor into another cool vessel, where it is condensed again into a liquid. When applied to a solid the process is called sublimation. The object of distillation is to separate one substance from others with which it may be mixed. In distillation proper no chemical decomposition takes place; when any of the substances are decomposed it is called destructive distillation. Destructive distillation is the term applied to the process of heating vegetable and animal substances in retorts or similarly closed vessels at a temperature sufficient to decompose the original substance, and to obtain therefrom products possessing different properties from the material which yielded them. Examples of this process are the heating of coal in gas-works at a red heat, when it resolves itself into coke, which is left in the retort, and coal-gas, naphtha, tar, etc., which distill over into suitable receivers.
The Encyclopedia of Founding: Is vaporizing a liquid by heat in one vessel, and condensing it by cold in another; the object being to separate a liquid from non-volatile substances dissolved in it, as in distilling water to purify it from foreign matter, or to disunite two liquids which evaporate at different temperatures, as water and alcohol.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and The Encyclopedia of Founding
Dog Days
Collier's New Encyclopedia: the name applied by the ancients to a period of about 40 days, the hottest season of the year, at the time of the heliacal rising of Sirius, the dog-star. The time of the rising is now, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, different from what it was to the ancients, July 1; and the dog days are now counted from July 3 to August 11, that is, 20 days before and 20 days da after the heliacal rising.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: . See Sirius
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia
Dogbane
Aiton's Encyclopedia: a genus of perennial herbs. There are two species in the eastern part of the United States . Both have upright branching stems, opposite leaves, fibrous bark, and a milky juice. The spreading dogbane has delicate, open, bell-shaped flowers of a pale rose color, distributed in spreading clusters. The roots are used as an emetic. The other species has pale, erect, less open flowers crowded in close clusters. Its tough, stringy bark was used by the natives for making nets, whence the name, Indian hemp. The dogbanes belong to a large family of over a thousand species, including many Old World shrubs, vines, and trees. A number of species yield India rubber of commerce. The milktree and the cream-fruit of Africa, the periwinkle, and the cape jasmine are of the family.
Collier's New Encyclopedia: an American plant found from Canada to the Carolinas, belonging to the natural order of Apocyпacex. The whole plant is milky; the root is intensely bitter and nauseous, and is employed in the United States instead of ipecacuanha. Another species yields a useful fiber, and is known as Canada or Indian hemp.
Covered by Aiton's Encyclopedia and Collier's New Encyclopedia
Donatus
Collier's New Encyclopedia: ÆLIUS (dō-nā'tus), a Roman grammarian and commentator; born A. D. 333. He was the preceptor of St. Jerome, wrote notes on Vergil and Terence, and a grammar of the Latin language so universally used in the Middle Ages that "Donat" became a common term for grammar or primer of instruction. From him must be distinguished a later grammarian, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DONATUS (about 400), from whom we have a worthless life of Vergil, prefixed to many editions of that poet, and fragments of a commentary on the "Æneid." DONAUWÖRTH (dō-nou-vert), an ancient town of Bavaria; at the confluence of the Wörnitz and the Danube, 25 miles N. N. W. of Augsburg. It was formerly a free imperial city of considerable importance; but has now sunk into an insignificant place of about 6,000 inhabitants. In the Thirty Years' War it was twice stormed, by the Swedes and by the Bavarians. It is likewise associated with the name of Marlborough, who carried the intrenched camp of the French and Bavarians near here in 1704; and, on Oct. 6, 1805, the French, under Soult, obtained a victory here over the Austrians, under Mack. DON CARLOS. See CARLOS.
1000 Classical Characters: A celebrated grammarian, who taught at Rome in the middle of the fourth century, and was the preceptor of St. Jerome. His most famous work is a system of Latin Grammar, which has formed the groundwork of most elementary treatises upon the same subject from his own time to the present day.
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and 1000 Classical Characters
Dorians
Collier's New Encyclopedia: one of the great Hellenic races who took their name from the mythical Dorus, the son of Hellen, who settled in Doris; but Herodotus says that in the time of King Deucalion they inhabited the district Phthiotis; and in the time of Doris, the son of Hellen, the country called Histiæotis, at the foot of Ossa and Olympus. But the statement of Apollodorus is more probable, according to which they would appear to have occupied the whole country along the N. shore of the Corinthian Gulf. Indeed, Doris proper was far too small ard insignificant a district to furnish a sufficient number of men for a victorious invasion of the Peloponnesus. In this remarkable achievement they were joined with the Heracleidæ, and ruled in Sparta. Doric colonies were then founded in Italy, Sicily, and Asia Minor.
Aiton's Encyclopedia: one of the four great branches of the Greek race. The Spartans were the chief Dorian representatives. In achievement, the Dorians were second only to the Ionians. Sparta and Athens were rivals in many respects. As compared with their neighbors the Dorians were considered a plain, rude, blunt people, possessing character and strength. The Spartans were less lively than the Athenians, and did not equal them in music or literature. In art, however, they developed the Doric type of architecture, considered the most noble as well as the simplest style of architecture the world has ever known. See Greece
Covered by Collier's New Encyclopedia and Aiton's Encyclopedia