DEACONESS 284 DEAD-NETTLE widows who could not support them- selves unaided. The majority of these could speak only Aramaic; a minority, Jewish by descent like the former, were Grecians, i. e., spoke Greek, or at least their husbands had done so. The ma- jority monopolized all the attention of the almsgivers, and the representatives of the minority had to complain of neg- lect. The apostles, being appealed to, felt that it would interfere with the suc- cess of their spiritual work if they be- came mixed up with disputes about the apportionment of money; they advised or commanded that seven men of honest report, i. e., of honorable reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, should be sought and appointed almsmen to the Church. In the Methodist Episcopal Churches. — The junior order of the priesthood, the novitiate being first ordained a dea- con, and then after a time, if satisfactory conditions have been fulfilled — such as progress in grace and gifts, and ilie pro- bation of character — e^pvated to the full priesthood or eldership. In the Churches of Rome and England. — A deacon is a spiritual officer ranking beneath the bishops and priests or pres- bjrters. The diaconate may be held at 23 years of age, the priesthood not till 24. In the Presbyterian Churches — The orders here are teaching eiders, or minis- ters, ruling elders, generally called sim- ply elders (these two orders looking over the spiritual affairs of the congrega- tion) ; and deacons (now gradually being displaced in many places by managers), to attend to the more secular matters. In the Congregational, Baptist, and other Ch^irches. — Deacons are spiritual officers ranking immediately under the minister, and looking after both the spiritual and the temporal concerns of the congregations. DEACONESS, a female deacon in the early Christian Church. The term is sometimes applied to a sister of mercy, or those ladies who live in community and follow the rule of the Lutheran dea- conesses. Deaconesses existed in the 1st century. The office has been revived in the United States, in Germany, and to a certain extent in England. DEAD, BOOK OF THE, the great funerary work of the ancient Egyptians, who themselves entitled it "Per-em-Hru," "to go forth from (or by) day." It is a collection of prayers and exorcisms composed at various periods for the benefit of the Pilgrim-soul in his journey through Amenti (the Egyptian Hades) ; and it was in order to provide him with a safe conduct through the perils of that terrible valley that copies of the work, or portions of it, were buried with the mummy in his tomb. Such copies con- stitute fully one-half of the thousands of extant papyri. A pure text has been published by Edouard Naville in "The Egyptian Deadbook of the 18th and 20th Dynasties" (Berlin, 1886). Dr. Birch's English translation ("Egypt's Place in Universal History," vol. v. 1867), is based on Lepsius' imperfect Turin text (1842). DEADLY NIGHTSHADE, a plant botanically known as belladonna, yield- ing an extract of much utility in ophthal- mic investigation. The "beauty" implied by the name is in the berries, which are shining black, but are poisonous. The best known antidote to them is vinegar. "The leaves of the plant are usefulas a medicine, being given in intermittent fevers, palsy, pertussis, amaurosis, ca- chexia, epilepsy, and ticdouloureux. A remedy much used in homoeopathic phar- macy. The name is also given to a sub- division of the genus Amaryllis, contain- ing the belladonna lily, a fine flower found in the West Indies. DEAD MAN'S HILL, an elevatioi near Verdun, on the Meuse, called Lfe Mort Homme, which was the scene of fierce fighting during the German effort, from Febrnary to July, 1916, to take Verdun. During the entire attack the French held with extraordinary bravery to the northern slopes of the hill, to which on the first surprise they had been driven. Three hundred thousand Ger- mans are held to have been killed or wounded as the price of the gains made in the vicinity. Positions did not change much during the greater part of 1917, though there was much fighting. In August, however, the French by a quick thrust took Le Mort Homme (Dead Man's Hill), Avocourt Wood, Corbeaux and Cumieres Woods and other territory with 19,000 prisoners. By the middle of September the French had recovered 100 of the 120 square miles around the hill, seized by the Germans in 1916, DEAD-MEN'S FINGERS, a popular name for the Alcyonium, a genus of polypes, the typical one of the family alcyonidse. It contains many well-known species, such as A. digitatum, or sea- finger, and A. glomeratum. DEAD-NETTLE, the common name of the species of plants of the genus La- mium, natural order Lahiatx, from the resemblance of their leaves to those of the nettle, though they have no stinging property. There are several species found in Great Britain (and now also in North America), as the white dead-
