OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cy-près

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​CY-PRÈS (A.-Fr. for “so near”), in English law, a principle adopted by the court of chancery in dealing with trusts for charitable purposes. When the charitable purpose intended by a testator cannot be carried into effect, the court will apply the funds to some other purpose, as near the original as possible (whence the name). For instance, a testator having left a fund to be divided into four parts—one-fourth to be used for “the redemption of British slaves in Turkey and Barbary,” and the other three-fourths for various local charities—it was found that there were no British slaves in Turkey or Barbary, and as to that part of the gift therefore the testator’s purpose failed. Instead of allowing the portion of the fund devoted to this impossible purpose to lapse to the next of kin, the court devoted it to the purposes specified for the rest of the estate. This doctrine is only applied where “a general intention of charity is manifest” in the will, and not where one particular object only was present to the mind of the testator. Thus, a testator having left money to be applied in building a church in a particular parish, and that having been found to be impossible, the fund will not be applied cy-près, but will go to the next of kin.
In the United States, charitable trusts have become more frequent as the wealth of the country has progressed, and are regarded with increasing favour by the courts. The cy-près doctrine has been either expressly or virtually applied to uphold them in several of the states, and in some there has been legislation in the same direction. In others the doctrine has been repudiated, e.g. in Michigan, Tennessee, Indiana and Virginia. For many years the New York courts held that this doctrine was not in force there, but in 1893 the legislature repealed the provisions of the revised statutes on which these decisions rested and restored the ancient law. Statutes passed in Pennsylvania have established the doctrine there, and dissolved any doubt as to its being in force in that state.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demonetization

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​DEMONETIZATION, a term employed in monetary science in two different senses. (a) The depriving or divesting of a metal of its standard monetary value. From 1663 to 1717 silver was the standard of value in England and gold coins passed at their market value. The debasement and underrating of the silver coinage insensibly brought about the demonetization of silver in England as a standard of value and the substitution of gold. During the latter half of the 19th century, the tremendous depreciation of silver, owing to its continually increasing production, and consequently the impossibility of preserving any ratio of stability between it and gold, led to the abandonment or demonetization of the metal as a standard and to its use merely as token money. (b) The withdrawal of coin from circulation, as, for example, in England that of all pre-Victorian gold coins under the provisions of the Coinage Act 1889, and the royal proclamation of the 22nd of November 1890.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demotica

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​DEMOTICA, or Dimotica, a town of European Turkey, in the vilayet of Adrianople; on the Maritza valley branch of the Constantinople-Salonica railway, about 35 m. S. of Adrianople. Pop. (1905) about 10,000. Demotica is built at the foot of a conical hill on the left bank of the river Kizildeli, near its junction with the Maritza. It was formerly the seat of a Greek archbishop, and besides the ancient citadel and palace on the summit of the hill contains several Greek churches, mosques and public baths. In the middle ages, when it was named Didymotichos, it was one of the principal marts of Thrace; in modern times it has regained something of its commercial importance, and exports pottery, linen, silk and grain. These goods are sent to Dédéagatch for shipment. Demotica was the birthplace of the Turkish sultan Bayezid I. (1347); after the battle of Poltava, Charles XII. of Sweden resided here from February 1713 to October 1714.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demography

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​DEMOGRAPHY (from Gr. δῆμος, people, and γράφειν, to write), the science which deals with the statistics of health and ​disease, of the physical, intellectual, physiological and economical aspects of births, marriages and mortality. The first to employ the word was Achille Guillard in his Éléments de statistique humaine ou démographie comparée (1855), but the meaning which he attached to it was merely that of the science which treats of the condition, general movement and progress of population in civilized countries, i.e. little more than what is comprised in the ordinary vital statistics, gleaned from census and registration reports. The word has come to have a much wider meaning and may now be defined as that branch of statistics which deals with the life-conditions of peoples.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demoivre, Abraham

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​DEMOIVRE, ABRAHAM (1667–1754), English mathematician of French extraction, was born at Vitry, in Champagne, on the 26th of May 1667. He belonged to a French Protestant family, and was compelled to take refuge in England at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685. Having laid the foundation of his mathematical studies in France, he prosecuted them further in London, where he read public lectures on natural philosophy for his support. The Principia mathematica of Sir Isaac Newton, which chance threw in his way, caused him to prosecute his studies with vigour, and he soon became distinguished among first-rate mathematicians. He was among the intimate personal friends of Newton, and his eminence and abilities secured his admission into the Royal Society of London in 1697, and afterwards into the Academies of Berlin and Paris. His merit was so well known and acknowledged by the Royal Society that they judged him a fit person to decide the famous contest between Newton and G. W. Leibnitz (see Infinitesimal Calculus). The life of Demoivre was quiet and uneventful. His old age was spent in obscure poverty, his friends and associates having nearly all passed away before him. He died at London, on the 27th of November 1754.
The Philosophical Transactions contain several of his papers. He also published some excellent works, such as Miscellanea analytica de seriebus et quadraturis (1730), in 4to. This contained some elegant and valuable improvements on then existing methods, which have themselves, however, long been superseded. But he has been more generally known by his Doctrine of Chances, or Method of Calculating the Probabilities of Events at Play. This work was first printed in 1618, in 4to, and dedicated to Sir Isaac Newton. It was reprinted in 1738, with great alterations and improvements; and a third edition was afterwards published with additions in 1756. He also published a Treatise on Annuities (1725), which has passed through several revised and corrected editions.
See C. Hutton, Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary (1815). For Demoivre’s Theorem see Trigonometry: Analytical.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demotic

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​DEMOTIC (Gr. δημοτικός, of or belonging to the people), a term, meaning popular, specially applied to that cursive script of the ancient Egyptian language used for business and literary purposes,—for the people. It is opposed to “hieratic” (Gr. ἱερατικός, of or belonging to the priests), the script, an abridged form of the hieroglyphic, used in transcribing the religious texts. (See Writing, and Egypt: II., Ancient, D. Language and Writing.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demurrage

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​DEMURRAGE (from “demur,” Fr. demeurer, to delay, derived from Lat. mora), in the law of merchant shipping, the sum payable by the freighter to the shipowner for detention of the vessel in port beyond the number of days allowed for the purpose of loading or unloading (see Affreightment: under Charter-parties). The word is also used in railway law for the charge on detention of trucks; and in banking for the charge per ounce made by the Bank of England in exchanging coin or notes for bullion.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Demurrer

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​DEMURRER (from Fr. demeurer, to delay, Lat. morari), in English law, an objection taken to the sufficiency, in point of law, of the pleading or written statement of the other side. In equity pleading a demurrer lay only against the bill, and not against the answer; at common law any part of the pleading could be demurred to. On the passing of the Judicature Act of 1875 the procedure with respect to demurrers in civil cases was amended, and, subsequently, by the Rules of the Supreme Court, Order XXV. demurrers were abolished and a more summary process for getting rid of pleadings which showed no reasonable cause of action or defence was adopted, called proceedings in lieu of demurrer. Demurrer in criminal cases still exists, but is now seldom resorted to. Demurrers are still in constant use in the United States. See Answer; Pleading.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Don Beníto

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​DON BENÍTO, a town of western Spain, in the province of Badajoz; near the left bank of the river Guadiana, on the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. Pop. (1900) 16,565. Don Beníto is a thriving and comparatively modern town; for it dates only from the 15th century, when it was founded by refugees from Don Llorente, who deserted their own town owing to the danger of floods from the Guadiana. Besides manufactures of brandy, flour, oil, soap, linen and cloth, it has an active trade in wheat, wine and fruit, especially melons.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Donaghadee

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​DONAGHADEE, a market town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the north parliamentary division, near the south of Belfast Lough, on the Irish Channel, 25 m. E. by N. of Belfast by a branch of the Belfast and Co. Down railway. Pop. (1901) 2073. It is the nearest port in Ireland to Great Britain, being 21½ m. S.W. of Portpatrick in Wigtownshire. Telegraph and telephone cables join these ports, but a regular passenger route does not exist owing to the unsuitability of Portpatrick. Donaghadee harbour admits vessels up to 200 tons. On the north-east side of the town there is a rath or encampment 70 ft. high, in which a powder magazine is erected. The parish church dates from 1626. There are two holy wells in the town. The town is frequented as a seaside watering-place in the summer months.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Donati, Giovanni Battista

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​DONATI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1826–1873), Italian astronomer, was born at Pisa on the 16th of December 1826. He entered the observatory of Florence as a student in 1852, became assistant to G. B. Amici in 1854, and was appointed in 1864 to succeed him as director. A new observatory at Arcetri near Florence, built under his supervision, was completed in 1872. During the ten years 1854–1864 Donati discovered six comets, one of which, first seen on the 2nd of June 1858, bears his name (see Comet). He observed the total solar eclipse of the 18th of July 1860, at Torreblanca in Spain, and in the same year began experiments in stellar spectroscopy. In 1862 he published a memoir, Intorno alle strie degli spettri stellari, which indicated the feasibility of a physical classification of the stars; and on the 5th of August 1864 discovered the gaseous composition of comets by submitting to prismatic analysis the light of one then visible. An investigation of the great aurora of the 4th of February 1872 led him to refer such phenomena to a distinct branch of science, designated by him “cosmical meteorology”; but he was not destined to prosecute the subject. Attending the International Meteorological Congress of August 1873 at Vienna, he fell ill of cholera, and died a few hours after his arrival at Arcetri, on the 20th of September 1873.
See Vierteljahrsschrift der astr. Gesellschaft (Leipzig), ix. 4; Monthly Notices Roy. Astr. Society, xxxiv. 153; Memorie degli spettroscopisti italiani, ii. 125 (G. Cacciatore); Nature, viii. 556; &c. (A. M. C.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Donatio Mortis Causa

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​DONATIO MORTIS CAUSA (grant in case of death), in law, a gift of personal property made in contemplation of death and intended either expressly or impliedly to take complete effect only if the donor dies of the illness affecting him at the time of the gift. The conception as well as the name is borrowed from Roman law, and the definition given by Justinian (Inst. ii. 7. 1) applies equally to a donatio mortis causa in Roman and English law. A distinction, however, has arisen between the English and civil codes; by English law delivery either actual or (when from the nature of the thing actual delivery is impossible) constructive is essential, and this delivery must pass not only the possession but the dominion of the thing given; by the civil law, in some cases at least, delivery of possession was not essential (see the judgment of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in Ward v. Turner, 1751, 2 Ves. sen. 431, where the whole question is exhaustively discussed). A donatio mortis causa stands halfway between a gift inter vivos and a legacy, and has some of the characteristics of each form of disposition. It resembles a legacy in that (1) it is revocable during the donor’s life, (2) it is subject to legacy and estate duty, and (3) it is liable to satisfy debts of the testator in default of other assets. On the other hand, it resembles a gift inter vivos in that it takes effect from delivery; therefore the consent of the executor is not necessary. Anything may be the subject of a donatio mortis causa, the absolute property in which can be made to pass by delivery after the donor’s death either in law or equity; this will cover bankers’ deposit notes, bills of exchange, and notes and cheques of a third person, but not promissory notes and cheques of the donor in favour of the donee, for the donor’s signature is merely an authority for his banker to pay, which is revoked by his death.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Donaldson, John William

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​DONALDSON, JOHN WILLIAM (1811–1861), English philologist and biblical critic, was born in London on the 7th of June 1811. He was educated at University College, London, and Trinity College, Cambridge, of which society he subsequently became fellow. In 1841 he was elected headmaster of King Edward’s school, Bury St Edmunds. In 1855 he resigned his post and returned to Cambridge, where his time was divided between literary work and private tuition. He died on the 10th of February 1861. He is remembered as a pioneer of philology in England, and as a great scholar in his day, though much of his work is now obsolete. The New Cratylus (1839), the book on which his fame mainly rests, was an attempt to apply to the Greek language the principles of comparative philology. It was founded mainly on the comparative grammar of Bopp, but a large part of it was original, Bopp’s grammar not being completed till ten years after the first edition of the Cratylus. In the Varronianus (1844) the same method was applied to Latin, Umbrian and Oscan. His Jashar (1854), written in Latin as an appeal to the learned world, and especially to German theologians, was an attempt to reconstitute the lost biblical book of Jashar from the remains of old songs and historical records, which, according to the author, are incorporated in the existing text of the Old Testament. His bold views on the nature of inspiration, and his free handling of the sacred text, aroused the anger of the theologians. Of his numerous other works the most important are The Theatre of the Greeks; The History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (a translation and completion of C. O. Müller’s unfinished work); editions of the Odes of Pindar and the Antigone of Sophocles; a Hebrew, a Greek and a Latin Grammar.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Donaldson, Sir James

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​DONALDSON, SIR JAMES (1831– ), Scottish classical scholar, educational and theological writer, was born at Aberdeen on the 26th of April 1831. He was educated at Aberdeen University and New College, London. In 1854 he was appointed rector of the Stirling high school, in 1866 rector of that of Edinburgh, in 1881 professor of humanity in the university of Aberdeen, and in 1890 principal of the university of St Andrews, by the Universities (Scotland) Act. His chief works are: Modern Greek Grammar (1853); Lyra Graeca (1854), specimens of Greek lyric poetry from Callinus to Soutsos; A Critical History of Christian Literature and Doctrine from the Death of the Apostles to the Nicene Council (i.-iii., 1864–1866; new ed. of i. as The Apostolical Fathers, 1874), a book unique of its kind in England at the time of its appearance and one which adds materially to the knowledge of Christian antiquities as deduced from the apostolic fathers; Lectures on the History of Education in Prussia and England (1874); The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England (1905); Woman, her position and influence in ancient Greece and Rome (1907). He was knighted in 1907.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Augusta (Sicily)

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​AUGUSTA, a seaport of the province of Syracuse, Sicily, 19 m. N. of it by rail. Pop. (1901) 16,402. It occupies a part of the former peninsula of Xiphonia, now a small island, connected with the mainland by a bridge. It was founded by the emperor Frederick II. in 1232, and almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1693, after which it was rebuilt. The castle is now a large prison. The fortified port, though unfrequented except as a naval harbour of refuge, is a very fine one. There are considerable saltworks at Augusta. To the south, on the left bank of the Molinello. 11/2 m. from its mouth, Sicel tombs and Christian catacombs, and farther up the river a cave village of the early middle ages, have been explored (Notizie degli Scavi, 1902, 411, 631; Römische Quartalschrift, 1902, 205). Whether there was ever a town bearing the name Xiphonia is doubted by E. A. Freeman (Hist. of Sic. i. 583); cf., however, E. Pais, Atakta (Pisa, 1891), 55, who attributes its foundation, under the name of Tauromenion (which it soon lost), to the Zancleans of Hybla (afterwards Megara Hyblaea). (T. As.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Augusta Praetoria Salassorum

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​AUGUSTA PRAETORIA SALASSORUM (mod. Aosta, q.v.), an ancient town of Italy in the district of the Salassi, founded by Augustus about 24 B.C. on the site of the camp of Varro Murena, who subdued this tribe in 25 B.C., and settled with 3000 praetorians. Pliny calls it the last town of Italy on the north-west, and its position at the confluence of two rivers, at the end of the Great and Little St Bernard, gave it considerable military importance, which is vouched for by considerable remains of Roman buildings. The ancient town walls, enclosing a rectangle 793 by 624 yds., are still preserved almost in their entire extent. The walls are 21 ft. high. They are built of concrete faced with small blocks of stone, and at the bottom are nearly 9 ft. thick, and at the top 6 ft. There are towers at the angles of the enceinte, and others at intervals, and two at each of the four gates, making a total of twenty towers altogether. They are roughly 32 ft. square, and project 14 ft. from the wall. The Torre del Pailleron on the south and the Torre del Leproso in the west are especially well preserved. The east and south gates exist (the latter, a double gate with three arches flanked by two towers, is the Porta Praetoria, and is especially fine), while the rectangular arrangement of the streets perpetuates the Roman plan, dividing the town into 16 blocks (insulae). The main road, 32 ft. wide, divides the city into two equal halves, running from east to west, an arrangement which makes it clear that the guarding of the road was the main raison d’être of the city. Some arcades of the amphitheatre (the diameters of which are 282 ft. and 239 ft.), and the south wall of the theatre are also preserved, the latter to a height of over 70 ft., and a market-place some 300 ft. square, surrounded by storehouses on three sides with a temple in the centre, and two on the open (south) side, and the thermae, have been discovered. Outside the town is a handsome triumphal arch in honour of Augustus. About 5 m. to the west is a single-arched Roman bridge, the Pondel, which has a closed passage lighted by windows for foot passengers in winter, and above it an open footpath, both being about 3½ ft. in width. There are considerable remains of the ancient road from Eporedia (mod. Ivrea) to Augusta Praetoria, up the Valle d’ Aosta, which the modern railway follows, notably the Pont St Martin, with a single arch with a span of 116 ft. and a roadway 15 ft. wide, the cutting of Donnaz, and the Roman bridges of Châtillon (Pont St Vincent) and Aosta (Pont de Pierre), &c.
See C. Promis, Le antichità di Aosta (Turin, 1862); E. Bérard in Atti della Società di Archeologia di Torino, iii. 119 seq.; Notizie degli Scavi, passim; A. d’Andrade, Relazione dell’ Ufficio Regionale per la conservazione dei Monumenti del Piemonte e della Liguria (Turin, 1899), 46 seq. (T. As.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Augustine, Saint (of Canterbury)

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​AUGUSTINE, SAINT (d. c. 613), first archbishop of Canterbury, occupied a position of authority in the monastery of St Andrew at Rome, when Gregory I. summoned him to lead a mission to England in A.D. 596. The apprehensions of Augustine’s followers caused him to return to Rome, but the pope furnished him with letters of commendation and encouraged him to proceed. He landed in Thanet in A.D. 597, and was favourably received by Æthelberht, king of Kent, who granted a dwelling-place for the monks in Canterbury, and allowed them liberty to preach. Augustine first made use of the ancient church of St Martin at Canterbury, which before his arrival had been the oratory of the Queen Berhta and her confessor Liudhard. Æthelberht upon his conversion employed all his influence in support of the mission. In 601 Augustine received the pallium from Gregory and was given authority over the Celtic churches in Britain, as well as all future bishops consecrated in English territory, including York. Authority over the see of York was not, however, to descend to Augustine’s successors. In 603 he consecrated Christ Church, Canterbury, and built the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, afterwards known as St Augustine’s. At the conference of Augustine’s Oak he endeavoured in vain to bring over the Celtic church to the observance of the Roman Easter. He afterwards consecrated Mellitus and Justus to the sees of London and Rochester respectively. The date of his death is not recorded by Bede, but MS. F of the Saxon Chronicle puts it in 614, and the Annales Monasterienses in 612.
See Bede, Eccl. Hist. (ed. by Plummer), i. 23-ii. 3.