adura, S.
India; was professor of Mathematics in London University from 1828 till
his death, though he resigned the appointment for a time in consequence
of the rejection of a candidate, James Martineau, for the chair of logic,
on account of his religious opinions; wrote treatises on almost every
department of mathematics, on arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry,
differential and integral calculus, the last pronounced to be "the most
complete treatise on the subject ever produced in England"; wrote also
"Formal Logic" (1806-1871).
DEMOSTHENES, the great Athenian orator, born in Athens; had many
impediments to overcome to succeed in the profession, but by ingenious
methods and indomitable perseverance he subdued them all, and became the
first orator not of Greece only, but of all antiquity; a stammer in his
speech he overcame by practising with pebbles in his mouth, and a natural
diffidence by declaiming on the sea-beach amid the noise of the waves;
while he acquired a perfect mastery of the Greek language by binding
himself down to copy five times over in succession Thucydides' "History
of the Peloponnesian War"; he employed 15 years of his life in
denunciation of Philip of Macedon, who was bent on subjugating his
country; pronounced against him his immortal "Philippics" and
"Olynthiacs"; took part in the battle of Cheronea, and continued the
struggle even after Philip's death; on the death of Alexander he gave his
services as an orator to the confederated Greeks, and in the end made
away with himself by poison so as not to fall into the hands of Autipater
(385-322 B.C.). See CTESIPHON.
DEMPSTER, THOMAS, a learned Scotchman, born in Aberdeenshire; held
several professorships on the Continent; was the author of "Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum," a work of great learning, but of
questionable veracity; has been reprinted by the Bannatyne Club; his last
days were embittered by the infidelity of his wife (1579-1625).
DENARIUS, a silver coin among the Romans, first coined in 269 B.C.,
and worth 81/2 d.
DENBIGH (6), the county town of Denbighshire, in the Vale of the
Clwyd, 30 m. W. of Chester; manufactures shoes and leather.
DENBIGHSHIRE (117), a county in North Wales, of rugged hills and
fertile vales, 40 m. long and 17 m. on an average broad, with a
coal-field in the NE., and with mines of iron, lead, and slate.
DENDERA, a village in Upper Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, 28
m. N. of Thebes,
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