st in politics, and no sympathy with the passionate
fervour, or adequate appreciation of the importance, of political
struggles. And, secondly, with a laborious zeal then less common than
now among historians, he sought to bring to light fresh historical
material by patient search for letters, diaries and other manuscripts of
value which had escaped the notice of previous students. Indeed, the
honour has been claimed for him of being one of the founders of the
modern school of historical research.

Of the amiable personal character and the placid life of Isaac
D'Israeli a charming picture is to be found in the brief memoir
prefixed to the 1849 edition of _Curiosities of Literature_, by his
son Lord Beaconsfield.

DISS, a market town in the southern parliamentary division of Norfolk,
England; near the river Waveney (the boundary with Suffolk), 95 m. N.E.
by N. from London by the Great Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district
(1901) 3745. The town lies pleasantly upon a hill rising above a mere,
which drains to the Waveney, having its banks laid out as public
gardens. The church of St Mary exhibits Decorated and Perpendicular
stone and flint work. There is a corn exchange and the agricultural
trade is considerable; brushes and matting are manufactured. The poet
and satirist, John Skelton (d. 1529), was rector here in the later part
of his life, and is doubtfully considered a native.

DISSECTION (from Lat. _dissecare_, to cut apart), the separation into
parts by cutting, particularly the cutting of an animal or plant into
parts for the purpose of examination or display of its structure.

DISSENTER (Lat. _dis-sentire_, to disagree), one who dissents or
disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, &c. The term "dissenter" is,
however, practically restricted to the special sense of a member of a
religious body in England which has, for one reason or another,
separated from the Established Church. Strictly, the term includes the
English Roman Catholics, who in the original draft of the Relief Act of
1791 were styled "Protesting Catholic Dissenters." It is in practice,
however, restricted to the "Protestant Dissenters" referred to in sec.
ii. of the Toleration Act of 1688. The term is not applied to those
bodies who dissent from the Established Church of Scotland; and in
speaking of members of religious bodies which have seceded from
established churches abroad it is usual to employ the term "dissidents"