DAFFODIL 245 DAHOMEY DAFFODIL, the popular name of a European plant which is one of the ear- liest ornaments of our gardens, being fa- vorite objects of cultivation. It belongs to the order Amay-ylliadaeese. Many va- rieties of the daffodil are in cultivation, differing chiefly in bulk and in the form of the flower, which is of a bright prim- rose-yellow color. There are other forms of the name in local or partial use. See Narcissus. DAGHESTAN (dag-es-tan'), a prov- ince of Transcaucasia, Russia, stretching along the W. side of the Caspian Sea; area, 11,471 square miles. Its fertile and tolerably cultivated valleys produce good crops of grain, and also silk, cotton, flax, tobacco, etc. The inhabitants, almost all professed Mohammedans, consist chiefly of races of Tartar origin and of Circas- sians. Capital, Derbend. Pop. about 700,000. DAGNAN-BOUVERET, PASCAL ADOLPHE JEAN, a French historical and portrait painter. Born in Paris in 1852 and, after years of study, won suc- cess with a picture entitled "The Conse- crated Bread" (1886), now displayed in the Luxembourg. Other important paint- ings of his are "The Conscripts" (1891) ; "Spanish Dancer" (1909) ; and "Mar- guerite au Sabat" (1912). In 1885 he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and in 1889 received the first medal of the Salon for his painting "Breton Women at the Pardon." Speci- mens of his work are in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and in many European galleries. DAGO, an island formerly belonging to Russia, now part of the Republic of Esthonia, to the S. W. of the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, with productive fish- eries. The inhabitants, almost all Swedes, are about 17,500. Area, 370 square miles. DAGOBEST I. (da-go-ber'), (called the Great on account of his military suc- cesses). King of the Franks, in 628 suc- ceeded his father Clothaire II. After a successful magnificent, but licentious reign, he died at Epinay in 638. DAGON, a national god of the Philis- tines worshiped at Gaza (Judges xvi:21- 30), Ashdod (I Sam. v: 5, 7, and I Chron. x: 10), and elsewhere. DAGUERRE, LOUIS JACQUES MANDE (da-gar'), a French inventor; born in Cormeilles, Seine-et-Oise, in 1789. He was a scene-painter at Paris, and as early as 1814 had his attention directed by Nic^phore Niepce to the subject of photographic pictures on metal. In 1829 they made a formal agreement to work out the invention together, but it was not till after Niepce's death, on July 5, 1833, that Daguerre succeeded in perfecting the process since called daguerreotype. The new process excited the greatest in- terest. Daguerre was made an officer of the Legion of Honor, and an annuity of 6,000 francs was settled on him. Da- guerre died July 10, 1851. DAGUERREOTYPE PROCESS, the original photographic process, consisting in sensitizing a silver plate with the vapor of iodine, and then placing it in a camera obscura previously focused, and afterward developing the picture by vapor of mercury. It is then fixed by immersion in hyposulphate of sodium. After thorough washing and drying the picture is covered with glass to prevent its being rubbed off. Daguerreotype has now been superseded by the collodion and other processes. See Photography. DAGUPAN, a town on the Dagupan river, near the Gulf of Lingayen on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines, in the province of Pangasinan; on the railroad from Manila, and about 130 miles N. W. of that city. It is situated in a fertile region, producing chiefly com, sugar, and tobacco. Pop. about 25,000. DAHLAK, a group of three islands, with many smaller rocks, in the Red Sea, off the Bay of Massowah. They were famous in Roman times for their pearl- fisheries, but the beds have long since been exhausted and abandoned. The islands are a dependency of Italy. Area, about 420 square miles; pop. about 1,500. DAHLGREN, JOHN ADOLPH, an American naval oflBcer; born in Phila- delphia, Pa., Nov. 13, 1809; entered the navy as a midshipman in 1826, and rose through the grades to the rank of rear- admiral. He rendered efficient service in suppressing blockade- running during the Civil War. He was an authority on ord- nance and invented the famous Dahlgren gun. He died in Washington, D. C, July 12, 1870. DAHLIA (so called after Andrew Dahl, a Swedish botanist and a pupil of Linnaeus, by whom this beautiful garden plant was first brought into cultivation) , a genus of composite plants, tribe Aste- roidese, sub-tribe EcUptese. Two species are cultivated in gardens, D. superflua, which has the outer involucre reflexed, and D. frustravea, in which it is spread- ing. D. variabilis is a cross between the two. Both are from Mexico. DAHOMEY (native name of the people, Dauma or Dahome), a colony of French West Africa between Laeos (British) and Togoland and extending
