Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/543

DEG [179] DEI

but a fpecific Transformation feems out of the Power of Nature; a new Form ever fuppofing a new Generation, which again fuppofes a Corruption of the former Kind. See TRANSFORMATION, and SEED.

DEGLUTITION, in Medicine, the Act of fwallow- ing the Food. See Food.

Deglutition is perform'd, in the firſt place, by means of the Tongue, driving the Aliment into the Oefophagus, or Gullet; and then, by the Contraction of the Sphin- eter, and the fleshy Fibres of the fame Oefophagus, which leffening the Bore, or Aperture thereof, protrude the Contents downwards into the Stomach. See OESOPHA- GUS, PHARYNX, DIGESTION, &c.

Deglutition fucceeds Maftication, and is followed by Concoction. See MASTICATION, and CONCOCTION.

DEGRADATION, in our Law-Books call'd Dis- GRADATION, and DEPOSITION, the Act of depriving, or ftripping a Perfon for ever of a Dignity, or Degree of Honour, and taking away the Title, Badge, and Rights thereof. See DEPOSITION.

The Degradation of a Peer, a Prieft, a Knight, a Gentleman, an Officer, &c. is perform'd with divers Ce- remonies. That anciently obferv'd in degrading a Perfon from his Nobility, is very curious, and deferves to be rehear- fed here, after Geliot, and la Colombiere. It was practis'd in the Time of Francis I. upon Captain Fangel, who had cowardly given up Fontarabia, whereof he was Governor.

On this Occasion, twenty or thirty Cavaliers, without Imputation, or Reproach, were assembled, before whom the Gentleman was accused of Treafon, and Breach of Faith, by a King at Arms. Two Scaffolds were erected, the one for the Judges, Heralds, and Pursuevants, and the other for the condemn'd Cavalier, who was arm'd at all Points, and his Shield placed on a Stake before him, reversed with the Point upwards. On one Side assisted twelve Priests, in Surplices, who sung the Vigils of the Dead. At the Close of each Psalm they made a Pause, during which the Officers of Arms stripp'd the Condemn'd of some Piece of his Armour, beginning with the Helm, and proceeding thus, till he was quite disarm'd: Which done, they broke his Shield in three Picces with a Hammer. Then the King at Arms turn'd a Bason of hot Water on the Criminal's Head; and the Judges, putting on Mourning Habits, went to the Church. This done, the Degraded was drawn from off the Scaf fold, with a Rope tied under his Arm-Pits, laid on a Biere, and cover'd with Mortuary-Cloaths, the Priest sing- ing some of the Prayers for the Dead; And then he was de- liver'd to the Civil-Judge, and the Executioner of Justice.

Take a more Domestic Instance: Sir Andrew Harcla, Earl of Carlisle, being convicted, degraded, and atainted of Treason, 18°. Edu. Ild. coram Rege; after Judgment was pronounc'd on him, his Sword was broke over his Head, and his Spurs hewn off his Heels; Sir Anthony Lucy, the Judge, saying to him, Andrew, now art thou no Knight, but a Knave. And by Stat. 13. Caroli II. William, Lord Manson, Sir Henry Mildmay, and others, were degraded from all Titles of Honour, Dignities, and Preeminences, and none of them to bear, or use the Title of Lord, Knight, sfquier, or Gentle- man, or any Coat of Arms, for ever afterwards.

As to Ecclesiafticks, we have an Instance of Degrada- tion before Condemnation to Death, in the VIIIth Cen- tury, at Constantinople. It is in the Person of the Pa- triarch Constantin, whom Constantin Copronymus caused to be executed. He was made to ascend the Ambo; the Patriarch Nicetas sent some of his Bishops to strip him of the Pallium, and anathematized him. Then they made him go out of the Church backwards. But We have a much later Inftance in our own History. When Cranmer, Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, was degraded by Order of Queen Mary; They drefs'd him in Episcopal Robes, made only of Canvas, put the Mitre on his Head, and the Pastoral Staff in his Hand : And in this Attire shew'd him to the People. Which done, they stripp'd him Piece by Piece.

At present, they don't stand so much on the Ceremony of Degradation, in order to the putting a Priest to Death; by Reason of the Delays, and Difficulties that it would occasion. Pope Boniface pronounced, that six Bishops were requir'd to degrade a Priest: But the Difficulty of assembling so many Bishops, rendred the Punishment frequently impracticable. With us, a Priest, after having been deliver'd to his Ordinary, if he cannot purge himself of the Crime laid at his Door; his Gown, and other Robes are stripp'd over his Ears by the com- mon Hangman, by which he is declar'd divested of his Orders. It is decided, however, that Degradation does not efface the Priestly Character.

Degradation only seems to differ from Deposition in a few ignominious Ceremonies, which Custom has added thereto. Accordingly, in the Business of Arnoul, Arch- Bishop of Rheims, sentenced in the Council of Orleans; in 991, it was deliberated, what Form they should fol- low in the Deposition, whether that of the Canons, that is, fimple Deposition; or that of Custom, viz. Degrada- tion. And it was declared, that he should surrender the Ring, Pastoral Staff, and Pallium; but that his Robes should not be tore off him. In Effect, the Canons pre- scribe no more than a mere reading of the Sentence. 'Tis the rest, therefore, added hereto by Cuſtom, viz. the Stripping off the Ornaments, and the tearing the Pon- tifical Vestments, that properly constitutes Degradation.

DEORADATION, in Painting, expresses the lessening, and rendring dim and confused, the Appearance of distant Ob- jects in a Landskip; so as they shall appear there, as they would do to an Eye placed at that Distance from them.

DEGRADED, in Heraldry. A Cross degraded, is a Cross mark'd, or divided into Steps at each End; dimi- nishing as they ascend towards the Middle, or Centre: by the French call'd Perronnée. See CROSS.

DEJECTION, in Medicine, properly signifies the Act of Ejecting, or Evacuating the Excrements, by means of the Peristaltic Motion of the Guts; In which Senfe it comes ncarly to the Signification of Excretion. See EXCRETION. But the Term is alfo, and that more ordinarily, ap- plied to the Excrements themſelves, thus evacuated; in which Senſe it is of the fame import with Stool. See SrooL, and EXCREMENT.

Vifcid, glutinous, or, as they call them, unguinous De jections, frequent in Scorbutic Difcafes, indicate a Col- liquation of the Solids of the Body. See UNGUINOUS.

DEJECTION, Fall, in Aftrology, is applied to the Plancts, when in their Detriment, i. e. when they have loft of their Force, or Influence, by reafon of their being in Oppofition to fome others, which check, and counter- act them. Or it is ufed when a Planet is in a Sign op- pofite to that wherein it has its greatest Effect, or In- Huence, which is call'd its Exaltation. Thus, the Sign Aries being the Exaltation of the Sun, the Sign Libra is its Dejection. See EXALTATION.

DEICIDE, Deicida, a Term only us'd in fpeaking of the Condemnation, and Execution of the Saviour of the World, by Pontius Pilate, and the Jews; which was an horrible Deicide.

The Jews, an ingenious Author obferves, were never more remote from Idolatry than at prefent; Never more inviolably attach'd to the Law of Mofes, than at prefent : Whence then that Load of Evils and Misfortunes they have fo many Ages groan'd under, Evils imcomparably greater and more lafting than all the Chaftifements wherewith God anciently avenged their moft heinous Idolatries? Whence do they arife, but from the Deicide they com- mitted in the Perfon of Jefus Chrift.

DEIFICATION, in the Pagan Theology, the Act, or Ceremony of deifying their Emperors, i. e. of placing them among the Gods, and decreeing divine Honours to be rendred them. See God.

The Deification is the fame with Apotheofis. See APOTHEOSIS.

DEINCLINERS, or DEINCLINING Dials, are fuch as both decline; and incline, or recline at the fame Time. See DIAL.

Suppofe, for Inftance, a Plane to cut the prime Verti- cal Circle at an Angle of 30 Degrees; and the Horizontal Plane under an Angle of 24 Degrees; the Elevation of the Pole being 52 Degrees; a Dial drawn on this Plane, is call'd a Deincliner. See DECLINER.

DEISM, the Doctrine, or Belief of fuch as hold the Exiftence of a God, as the whole of their Religion. The Word is form'd from Deus, God. See DEISTS.

DEISTS, a Clafs of People, known alfo under the De- nomination of Free-thinkers, whofe Character is, not to profefs any particular Form, or Syftem of Religion; but only to acknowledge the Exiftence of a God, without rendring him any external Worship, or Service.

The Deifts hold, that, confidering the Multiplicity of Re- ligions, the numerous Pretences to Revelation, and the ob- fcure, precarious Arguments advanced in Proof thereof; the best and fureft Way is, to return to the Simplicity of Nature, and the Belief of one God, which is the only Truth agreed to by all Nations.

They complain, that the Liberty of thinking, and reafoning, is opprefs'd under the Yoke of Religion, and that the Minds of Men are ridden, and tyranniz'd over by the Neceffity impos'd on them of believing inconceivable Myfteries; And contend, that nothing fhould be requir'd to be affented to, or believed, but what their Reafon clearly conceive.

The Appellation Deift is more particularly given to fuch as are not altogether without Religion, but reject all Re- velation as an limpofition, and believe no more than what natural Light difcovers to them; as that there is a God, a Providence, a future State, with Rewards and Punifh-ments