DIABLEBETS 345 DIALOauE •will be passed in each pint of urine. Though life may be prolonged, yet the disease is very intractable. DIABLEBETS (dya-ble-ra'), a re- markable mountain of the Bernese Alps, Switzerland, on the frontiers of Bern and Valais, with a height of 10,651 feet above the sea. The Diablerets, with their four main peaks, are composed of limestone strata, the lower beds of which are so soft and shaly that they are easily disintegrated, and masses from above tumble over into the valley, occasioning the most terrible catastrophes, as in 1714 and 1749. SIABOLO, a game played by spinning a top and catching it by means of a cord fastened on two sticks. The game originated in China, became popular in France in the beginning of the 18th century, and later spread into England. It was revived in 1907, and for a time the game was again the rage all through the Continent. DIACHYLUM, or DIACHYLON, formerly a plaster made of the juices of several plants; now a plaster made by boiling hydrated oxide of lead with olive oil. It is used for curing ulcers. DIAGNOSIS, in medicine (1) The sign or symptom by which a disease is known or distinguished from others; (2) (PI.) That branch of medical sci- ence which deals with the study of the symptoms by which diseases are diag- nosed or discriminated; symptomatolo- gy. Diagnostics are of two kinds: (1) The special or pathognomonic, which are peculiar to a certain disease, and serve to distinguish it from all other diseases; and (2) the adjunct, or such as are common to many diseases. DIAL, an instrument for showing the time of day by the sun's shadow. It is evident that the dial having a gnomon which makes with the horizontal plane an angle equal to the latitude of the place is the invention of the Asiatics. Dials are of -various construction, accord- ing to the presentation of the plane of the dial. A dial in telegraphy is an insulated, stationary wheel having alternating con- ducting and non-conducting portions, against which the point of a spring key is in fricWonal contact. DIAL, NATHANIEL BABKSDALE, a United States Senator from South Carolina, born in Laurens co., S. C, in 1862. He was educated at Richmond College, Vanderbilt University, and the law department of the University of Virginia. He began the practice of law in 1883, and also engaged in business, becoming an officer and director in many important industrial and financial in- stitutions. He was defeated as a can- didate for the Senate in 1912, but was elected November, 1918, for the term ending 1925. DIALECT, discourse; conversation; speech; language; arg^ument; phraseolo- gy; manner of speaking or expression. In the philosophical sense of the word, a language which resembles another in its general features, but differs from it in detail. The two most widely spread families of language in the world are the Indian-Gothic, and the Semitic. In the former are included the Sanskrit, Zend, Armenian, Greek, Latin, Lithuan- ian, Slavonic, Teutonic, and Celtic dia- lects. In all these, the resemblance, though often far distant, is able to be traced. The Semitic embraces the He- brew, Syriac, Arabic, and other dialects not so well known. DIALECTICS, the old name for logic, or the art of reasoning and disput- ing justly. There were several sys- tems of dialectics among the ancients. The dialectics of Plato are a kind of an- alyses to direct the human mind by di- viding, defining, and bringing things to the first truth; which having reached, it applies itself to explain sensible things, but with a view to return to the first truth, where alone it can rest. The dialectics of Aristotle comprise the doc- trine of simple words, delivered in his book of "Predicaments"; the doctrine of propositions, contained in his book "De Interpretatione" ; and that of the several kinds of syllogism, in his books of "An- alytics," "Topics," and "Elenchuses." In modern times various systems of dia- lectics have been propounded in different countries. DIALLAGE, a silico-magnesian min- eral of a lamellar or foliated structure. Its sub-species are green diallage, hy- persthene, and bronzite. The metalloidal sub-species is called schilleistein, or Schiller spar. It forms diallage rock, and enters into serpentine. DIALLING, the art of making sun- dials; also the art and practice of mine- surveying, in which the theodolite, mag- netic needle, etc., are employed. DIALOGUE, a conversation or dis- course between two or more persons. The word is used more particularly for a formal conversation in theatrical per- formances, and for a written conversa- tion or composition, in which two or more persons carry on a discourse. This form was much in favor among the an-
