Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/253

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DICE. 213 DICHKOMATISM IN BIKDS. are counted. According to the purposes of the east, any number, from one to five dice, are east. The highest .iggregate mimhurs exposed on the top of the dice when they settle, in one or more tlirows, as agreed, win. There are a variety of other purely dice games, such as "round the spot,' wherein only those spots which lie round a centre spot are counted, such as three or five — the first counting two, and the other four; 'mul- tiplication,' in which the first throw is three dice, the highest being left on the tabic and the two thrown again, the liighest being again left, and the last one thrown again; and 'draw poker,' played with five dice, each player having one throw, and the privilege of a second. In the first throw all the dice are thrown, but the player need not take them all up; he may select only those which are satisfactory to him, or leave the wliole. The tlirows rank as in the card game of poker (q.v. ), Ijeginning with the lowest: one pair, two pairs, triplets, a full hand, four of the same; the highest throw is five alike. 'S'iitgt- un' is played with a single die, each player throwing as often as neeessaiv to get the sum of the spots equal to, or as near as possible, not over. 21. 'Ace in the pot' and 'help your neig!'- bor' are other combinations of throwing the dice, or, in other words, 'casting the die.' Unscrupu- lous gamblers adopt the practice of loading dice, by plugging them with lead on a particular side, so that the highest number may turn up, by gravitation, as the dice roll out of the box. DICENTRA (Xeo-Lat. nom. pi., from Gk. 5i- Kcyrpot, dikcitlros. two-pointed, from 5i-, di-, dou- ble -|- K^yrpop, keiitroii. point). A genus of hardy perennial plants of the natural order Fu- niariacea'. Divintra sprctabilis. bleeding-heart. u native of Siberia and the northern provinces of China, was introduced into Great Britain from the island of Cbusan in 184(5. and rapidly be- came a general favorite, on account of its long racemes of drooping, delicate, rosy-pink flowers. The common squirrel-corn iDicentrn Canadensis) is one of the first spring flowers of the northern and eastern United States, as is also Dutcli- nian'sbreeches (Diccntra cuciiUaria) . Dielytra is an old name for the genus Dicentra. DICEY, di'sl. Albert Vexn (18.35—). An Knglish barrister and author. He was educated at Balliol College. Oxford, was admitted to the bar in 186.3. was in 1882 appointed professor of English law in the tiniversity. and later became a fellow of All Souls. He received in 1800 an appointment to the Queen's Council, and in 1890 became principal of the Workingmen's College, London, succeeding Sir .John Lubbock. His pub- lications include: Thr Priri/ Ci,unril (Arnold prize essay. 18('>n and 1887) : a Treatise on Rules fnr fieleciion nf Parlies (1870); The Laic of Domicil (1870): Enqland's Case Apainst Home Jtiilc (188fi) : and a' Treatise on the Confliet of I.airf. (1S0(;). DICEY, Kdward (18.32—). An English jour- nalist and author. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, was for a time a leader- writer for the Daibi Telrf/raph, and from 1870 to 1880 was editor of the Ohserrer. In IS7.5 he was called to the bar. He is regarded as an au- thority on matters appertaining to South .Africa. Bulgaria, and Egypt, and has advocated the an- nexation to Great Britain of that country. His publications include: ff'.— ;.. 1>!i!n (1861); The Schlesicig-Hohtein War (1864); The Morning Land (1870) ; England and Egypt (1884) ; Bul- garia, the Peasant State (1895); and other works. DICHOGAMY, di-kog'iinil (Gk. 5/x«. dielui, in two + -yd/ios, ganios, marriage) . Flowers whose anthers and stigmas do not mature at the same time are said to be dichogamous. 'Protandry' is the condition in which the anthers mature first ; 'protogyny' that in which the stigmas mature first. See Poi.l.I.NATlOX. DICHOTOMY, di-kol'o-mi {Gk. Sixo-oiila, di- chotomia, a cutting in two, from Sixa, divha, in two + rinveiv, temnein, to cut). In botany, a form of branching in which the axis forks at the apex and hence continues no farther. It is .specially characteristic of cryptogams. (See Bu.NCiil.NG.) In logic, the method of exhaustive division in classificationj of which the device known as the Tree of Porphyry may be consid- ered typical (see e.g. Lessons in Logie, ". Stan- ley Jevons, London, 1880). In metaphysical an- thropology-, the theory of man as a twofold being, physical and spiritual, or consisting of body and soul. DI'CHROISM (from Gk. St- di-. double + Xpoa. rhroii. color). TIII'CHROISM, PLE'- OCHROTSM. Crjstals not only absorb in dif- ferent amounts the light of different wave- lengths; but, unlike uncryst.alline or amorphous substances, the amount .and kiml of absorption differs according to the direction in which light is transmitted through the crystal. This selec- tive ;ind ditTerential light-absorption is rarely perceived by the unaided eye, because so many rays from a crystal enter the eye simultaneously. If, however, polarized light be employed to bring successively into the eye light-rays which at any given instant vibrate along a single di- rection of a colored crystal, a change in color is generally noticeable. This selective light-ab- sorption along the different directions within a crj'stal is termed dichroism or pleochroism. Crystals of the isometric system alone possess no pleochroism. Crystals of the tetragonal and hexagonal systems exhibit two extreme colors (dichroism), between which all the other colors produced clearly graduate. Crystals of the re- maining crystal systems exhibit three extreme colors (trichroism) , with regard to which all the other colors produced by the crystal are in- termediate. The dichroscope is a simple device for measuring both the quality and quantity of dichroism. See Cetstallogeaphy. DI'CHROITE. See Iolite. DICHRO'MATISM IN BIRDS (Gk Si-, di-, doulile -i- x."'^f'"- etironia. color). The name given to that peculiar occurrence of two phases of color in the plumage of a species of bird, not due to age, se.x, or health, which is so well illustrated by the common screech-owl of the United States I .Megascops asio) , some individuals of which are gray and some rusty red. This phe- nomenon is not infrequent among birds, but it is not always easy to determine what constitutes a clear case of it. Thus some ornithologists regard the various species of flicker (Calaptes) as di- or rather trichromatic forms of a single species, while others do not regard this as the same sort of a phenomenon as the color phases of the screech-owl. There are at least three distinct