Distilled Water
pure water obtained by distillation, H₂O. The water, if it contains suspended impurities, should be first filtered. The soluble impurities are either volatile or fixed. Of the water which comes over first about one-tenth should be rejected, as it contains nearly all the volatile impurities. The worm should be of block tin, silver, or platinum, as steam acts on glass, dissolving out alkaline silicates. Care should be taken to prevent the mechanical spurting of the liquid; one-tenth of the water should be left in the retort; the solid impurities are also left. It should be redistilled to get rid of traces of organic matter, after it has been treated with a little caustic potash and permanganate of potassium, to oxidize the organic impurities. If it still contains traces of ammonia it should be again redistilled over KHSO, to fix the ammonia. Distilled water is used in chemical analysis, and ought always to be used in preparing medicines.
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Distinguished Service Order
an order instituted by Queen Victoria on Sept. 6, 1886, for the reward of na-
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Distribution
in political economy, the method in which the products of industry are shared among the people concerned. The methods of distribution have varied and do vary in accordance with the state of social development. They depend on legal as well as on economic conditions. They depend mainly on the ideas and institutions which prevail with reference to property in the three requisites of production-viz., land, labor, and capital. In countries where slavery prevailed, the slaveholder, as the owner alike of land, labor, and capital, disposed at his pleasure of the entire product of industry. Under the feudal system, by which the cultivator was atsys tached to the soil and had a fixed interest in it, he was obliged to render to his superiors dues in labor, in kind, and latterly in money, which were fixed by custom or authority. Whatever the arrangements regarding property and the distribution of the fruits of industry may be, account must be taken of the share claimed by the government in the form of taxes, for the maintenance of army and navy and other means of defense, for justice and police, and for education, etc. Some sections of the so-called professional classes are from this source paid for services rendered to the state. But the clerical and teaching professions derive their income more or less from corporate property, while the legal and medical professions obtain their share of the distribution mostly from the services they render to private individuals.
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District (CONGRESSIONAL val and military)
CONGRESSIONAL val and military service. Foreign officers who have been associated in naval and military operations with British forces are eligible to be honorary members, and the order ranks next to that of the Indian Empire. The badge is a gold cross enameled white, edged gold, with the imperial crown on one side and the cipher V. R. I. on the other, each inclosed in a laurel wreath.
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District Court
a court having cognizance of cases arising within a certain defined district, more specifically as described below. In 1920 the United States was divided into 106 districts for judicial purposes, each State in the Union containing at least one district, and some of them more. For each district there are a judge, a district attorney, a marshal, and deputy marshals. dis- They constitute the officers of the trict courts. These tribunals have charge of the initial administration of justice in cases of offense against the Federal Government, and form a link in the judicial succession that culminates in the Supreme Court of the United States, being as it were the Federal courts of common pleas.
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Ditch
in agriculture, trench a 35,000 usually made along the sides of fields, so all the drains may be led into it, that or along the top of a field to divert surface water. In arable lands, since the general use of small and large pipes, ditches have in many cases been converted into underground drains.
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Dithorba
Brother of Red Hugh and Kimbay of Irish meby those who possess mediumistic powers. dieval legend. He was killed by his niece Macha, and his five sons expelled from Ulster. They resolved to wrest the sovereignty of Ireland from Macha, but she discovers them in the forest, overpowers them by her mesmeric influence, and carries them to her palace on her back. They build the famous Irish city of Emain Macha under her supervision.
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Ditmars
RAYMOND LEE, an American scientist, born in Newark, N. 131,425 J., in 1876. He graduated ed from Bar- 151,912 nard Military Academy in 1891. He was for 5 years assistant curator of ento- 173,901 mology at the American Museum of 194,182 Natural History and in 1899 became curator of reptiles at the New York Zoological Park. He was in charge of the department of mammals at this park from 1910. He was the author of "The Reptile Book" (1907); "Reptiles of the World" (1909). He also contributed numerous articles on entomology and kindred subjects to magazines.
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Dittany
the popular name of the plants of the genus Dictamnus, an herb of the rue family, found in the Mediterranean region. The leaves are pinor rose-colored nate, the large white nate, The flowers are in terminal racemes. whole plant is covered with oily glands, and the secreted oil is so volatile that in hot weather the air round the plant be- D. Fraxinella and comes inflammable. D. albus are found in gardens. The dit- States is Cunila tany of the United Mariana, a labiate plant. The dittany of Crete is Origanum Dictamnus, and the bastard dittany is a species of Marrubium (horehound), both labiates.
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Diu
a seaport situated at the E. extremity of a Portuguese island (7 by 2 miles) of the same name, off the S. coast of Kathiawar; 180 miles N. W. of Bombay. Once an important city of 50,000 inhabitants, it has sunk in importance till now the whole island has but 15,000 inhabitants, mostly fishermen. Some magnificent buildings still attest its ancient splendor, such as the Jesuit College (1601), now a cathedral. The place has been in possession of the Portuguese since 1535, and stood a famous siege in 1545.
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