Draco
See page 74. A celebrated lawgiver of Athens , who made a code of laws, B. C. 623, which, on account of their severity, were said to be written in letters of blood. Hence the term Draconic applied to any punishment of exceptional severity. See page 74. Circe and the Friends of Ulysses . Drusus, M. Livius. A celebrated Roman, who renewed the proposals bearing on the Agrarian laws, which had proved fatal to the Gracchi. Drusus, Nero Claudius. A son of Tiberius Nero and Livia. He distinguished himself in the wars in Germany and Gaul, and was honored with a triumph. There were other Romans of the same name, but of less distinction.
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Draco
a constellation in the N. hemisphere. The star Draconis, a bright star nearly in the solstitial colure, was used in determining the co-efficient of aberration of the fixed stars.
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Draco
an Athenian legislator, the extraordinary and indiscriminate severity of whose laws has rendered his name odious to humanity. During the period of his archonship, about 623 B. C., he enacted a criminal code in which slight offenses were punished as severely as murder or sacrilege. Hence it was said to be "written in blood." The laws of Draco, the first written laws of Athens, were for the most part superseded by the legislation of Solon. Draco is said to have been accidentally killed in a theater at Ægina.
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Draconites
otherwise dentrites, draconius, or obsianus, is described by Albertus Magnus as a shining black stone of pyramidal figure. It is not very easy to obtain, as it must be taken out of the head of a dragon, cut off while the beast is still panting. It subdues all sorts of poison, and endows its possessor with invincible courage. The kings of the East esteemed it a great treasure.
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Dracontium
a genus of Orontiaceæ. D. polyphyllum is an antispasmodic and an expectorant. It grows in India, Japan, etc. The American skunk cabbage was formerly referred to this genus; it is now called Symplocarpus fœtidus.
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Dracut
a town of Massachusetts, Middlesex co. in It is the center of an important agricultural region and its industries include woolen mills. Pop. (1910) 3,461; (1920) 5,280.
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Drago
LUIS MARIA, an Argentine . He lawyer was born at Buenos Aires, 1859, and was educated at the university of that city. He practiced law and became a judge at Buenos Aires, afterward being elected to Congress. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs under President Roca, and while in that position sent to the Argentine Minister in Washington the instructions known as the Drago Doctrine (1902). He was Argentine delegate to the Second Peace Conference and was one of the arbitrators nominated by agreement between Great Britain and the United States for the hearing of differences regarding fisheries off the North Atlantic coast. His works include: "La Literatura del Slang"; " La Idea del Derecho"; "Cobro Coercitivo de Deudas Publicas," etc.
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Dragon
a fabulous animal of monstrous size and fierceness. As represented in ancient art it is not unlike a winged crocodile; in heraldry it is a nondescript quadruped with fierce claws, large armed wings, a crested head, fiery eyes, and an open mouth, usually spouting fire. In legends the dragon is a fiery monster guarding a treasure, as the Golden Fleece , or the Garden of the Hesperides. The idea or modern notion most nearly approaching the dragon is possibly the popular conception of the devil, "who goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Spenser speaks of the dragon "stretched like a great hill." Among Christian traditions, that of St. George and the Dragon is one of the most noted. The dragon, which is regarded in China as a sort of divinity, has been made that nation's imperial emblem. The figure appears on the Chinese flag.
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Dragon (Fabulous animal found)
a fabulous animal, found the in mythology of nearly all nations, generally as an enormous serpent of abnormal form. Ancient legends represent the dragon as a huge hydra, watching as sentinel the Garden of the Hesperides, or guarding the tree on which was hung the Golden Fleece at Colchis. In other places he appears as a monster, making the neighborhood around his cave unsafe, and desolating the land; his death being ascribed to a hero or god made for the task, which was a service to all mankind. In Christian art the dragon is the usual emblem of sin; is met with in pictures of St. Michael and St. Margaret, when it typifies the conquest over sin; it also appears under the feet of the Saviour, and under those of the Virgin. The dragon also typifies idolatry. In pictures of St. George and St. Sylvester it serves to exhibit the triumph of Christianity over paganism. As a symbol of Satan we find the dragon nearly always in
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Dragon (GREEN the form of the fossil)
GREEN the form of the fossil Ichthyosaurus. The dragon appears on the shield of the most famous of the early Grecian heroes, as well as on the helmets of kings and generals. It is found on English shields after the time of William the Conqueror. In modern heraldry it appears on the shield and helmet ; and as supporter it is called a lindworm when it has no wings, and serpent when it has no feet; hangs by the head and wings it means a when it conquered dragon.
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Dragon (Lizard genus Draco has)
the lizard, genus Draco. has the first It six ribs extended in a nearly straight line, and supporting an expansion of the skin on each side which acts like a pair of parachutes. This enables these animals to take long leaps, if need be, about 30 paces from branch to branch, but there is no beating of the air, and consequently no flying ordinary sense of the word. There are , in the various species in the United States, Africa, Java , etc.
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Dragon's Blood
in botany a wingleaved, slender-stemmed palm, similar in habit to that which furnishes the chair It is a native of Sumatra and canes. other Malayan islands. The fruits, which grow in bunches, are about the size of a cherry, and are covered with imbricating scales of a red color, coated with a resinous substance, which is collected by placing the fruits in a bag and shaking them; the friction loosens the resin, which is then formed into sticks or cakes, and constitutes the best dragon's blood of commerce. In commerce, sanguis draconis, a resin, so called on account of its red color. It exudes from various trees, either spontaneously or from incisions. There are three kinds in commerce: (1) East Indian dragon's-blood, which is found on the ripe fruits and leaves of several palms of the genus Calamus viz., C. rotang, C. draco and C. Petrœus; (2) American, obtained from incisions in Pterocarpus draco, indigenous to the West Indies; and (3) Canary dragon'sblood from 'Dracena draco. Dragon'sblood is dark-red brown, opaque, tasteless, scentless, and brittle. When pure it dissolves with a fine red color in alcohol and in ether, and in oils both fixed and volatile; alkalies also dissolve it more or less completely. Nitric acid oxidizes dragon's-blood, forming oxalic acid, but dilute nitric acid heated with the resin, yields nitrobenzoic acid. Dragon's-blood is used for coloring varnishes, for preparing gold lacquers, for tooth tinctures, and for giving a fine red color to marble.
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