_Ephemerides naturae
curiosorum_, and printed, in 1719, his _Catalogus plantarum sponte circa
Gissam nascentium_, illustrated with figures drawn and engraved by his
own hand, and containing descriptions of many new species. In 1721, at
the instance of the botanist William Sherard (1659-1728), he came to
England, and in 1724 he published a new edition of Ray's _Synopsis
stirpium Britannicarum_. In 1732 he published _Hortus Elthamensis_, a
catalogue of the rare plants growing at Eltham, Kent, in the collection
of Sherard's younger brother, James (1666-1738), who, after making a
fortune as an apothecary, devoted himself to gardening and music. For
this work Dillen himself executed 324 plates, and it was described by
Linnaeus, who spent a month with him at Oxford in 1736, and afterwards
dedicated his _Critica botanica_ to him, as "opus botanicum quo
absolutius mundus non vidit." In 1734 he was appointed Sherardian
professor of botany at Oxford, in accordance with the will of W.
Sherard, who at his death in 1728 left the university L3000 for the
endowment of the chair, as well as his library and herbarium. Dillen,
who was also the author of an _Historia muscorum_ (1741), died at
Oxford, of apoplexy, on the 2nd of April 1747. His manuscripts, books
and collections of dried plants, with many drawings, were bought by his
successor at Oxford, Dr Humphry Sibthorp (1713-1797), and ultimately
passed into the possession of the university.

For an account of his collections preserved at Oxford, see _The
Dillenian Herbaria_, by G. Claridge Druce (Oxford, 1907).

DILLENBURG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau,
delightfully situated in the midst of a well-wooded country, on the
Dill, 25 m. N.W. from. Giessen on the railway to Troisdorf. Pop. 4500.
On an eminence above it lie the ruins of the castle of Dillenburg,
founded by Count Henry the Rich of Nassau, about the year 1255, and the
birthplace of Prince William of Orange (1533). It has an Evangelical
church, with the vault of the princes of Nassau-Dillenburg, a Roman
Catholic church, a classical school, a teachers' seminary and a chamber
of commerce. Its industries embrace iron-works, tanneries and the
manufacture of cigars. Owing to its beautiful surroundings Dillenburg
has become a favourite summer resort.

DILLENS, JULIEN (1849-1904), Belgian sculptor, was born at Antwerp on
the 8th of June 1849, son of a painter. He studied under Eugene Si