Da'na, Charles

ANDERSON, journalist; born at Hinsdale, N. H., Aug. 8, 1819. He attended Harvard College two years, but did not graduate on account of a disease of the eyes, though he afterward received the degree of A.M. He took up journalism and for many years held important positions on the New York Tribune, but resigned in 1862 in consequence of a disagreement with its editor, Horace Greeley. He entered government service and became A istant Secretary of War (1863-5). After the war he edited the Chicago Republican, which did not succeed, and in 1868 he organized a stock company for the purchase of the New York Sun, of which he is still (1897) the able and trenchant editor. While connected with the Tribune he was co-editor, with George Ripley, of the New American Cyclopædia; he has translated and published The Black Ant; edited The Household Book of Poetry; wrote, with Gen. James H. Wilson, a Life of Gen. Grant; and, with Ro iter Johnson, compiled Fifty Perfect Poems. Died Oct. 17, 1897. Dana, NAPOLEON JACKSON TECUMSEH, U. S. military officer; born in East port, Me., April 15, 1822. Graduated at West Point, and began his career by serving chiefly at frontier posts. Was engaged in the Mexican War, afterward became a banker at St. Paul, Minn., entered the Civil War at its outbreak and served to its close, rising to the rank of major-general. Resigned in 1865, and afterward engaged in mining and railroad operations. Dan'aide. ( Mech .) A hydraulic machine of ingenious construction and large utilization of power, consisting of two hollow cylinders, one within the other, with a narrow space intervening. The inner cylinder is closed at the bottom and there is an aperture in the center of the bottom of the outer. Partitions radiate from center to circumference between the bottoms, but do not extend into the space between the cylinders. The whole is sustained on a vertical axis, about which it easily turns. If a jet of water be now admitted to the annular space, striking the surface of the cylinder at as near a horizontal tangent as po ible, its friction sets the machine in revolution. Soon the revolving water, acting on the partitions at the base, exerts a force upon them which increases the velocity. It has been proved by experiment that from 70 to 75 per cent. of the waterpower employed is utilized by this machine. The name comes from the fable of the Danaïdes ( q . r . ), who poured water continually into a ve el from which it as continually escaped. Dancing Mania. ( Path .) A form of epidemic disorder, allied to hysteria, which has appeared from time to time, various instances of it occuring in Germany in the middle ages, while in Italy a somewhat similar affection, known as tarantism, was attributed to the bite of the spider called Tarantula. Similar epidemics have been observed in India and Aby in i a, and in modern Europe strong religious excitement has yielded similar results. To what extent imposture has entered into these manifestations it is not easy to decide; but it is certain that in many instances the convulsive movements were beyond the control of the will. They were doubtle the result of imitative emotions acting upon susceptible temperaments, perhaps instigated by a craving for sympathy or notoriety. The true D. M. of the med iæval period had its seat principally in the cities of Germany, the first instance occurring in 1374 at Aix-laChapelle, when a emblies of men and women, excited by the wild and frantic celebration of the festival of St. John, began to dance in the streets, screaming and foaming at the mouth as if po e ed. This frenzy spread wildly through other towns, and broke out again from time to time in the following centuries. Examples of the same kind occurred in the U. S. in the early camp meetings of the frontier settlements, in which convulsive movements of the most uncontrollable character were common. Dan'die Din'mont. A name applied to a variety of short-legged dogs, having long hair, and apparently a cro between the otter-hound and the Scotch terrier. Dan'enhower, JOHN WILSON, arctic explorer, born in Chicago, Ill., Sept. 30, 1849. Graduated from U. S. Naval Academy in 1870. Served on the Portsmouth in a surveying expedition to the Northern Pacific; helped to quell an insurrection at Honolulu in 1873; and was one of the officers in charge of the Vandal i a during Gen. Grant's visit to Egypt and the Levant. He joined the Jeannette expedition, which started from Havre, France, went to San Francisco and thence sailed (July 8, 1879) for the Arctic Ocean via Bering Strait. The ve el was crushed in the ice and the crew, after dragging their boats for ninety-five days over the ice, took to the open sea. The boats were separated by a storm and all were lost but that of Lieut. D. , which landed at Lena Delta, Sept. 17, 1881, and he reached the U. S. in June, 1882. He wrote The Narrative of the Jeannette. Died at Anna polis, April 20, 1887. Dan'ites, or Destroying Angels. ( Amer . Hist .) A name given by the Mormons to a secret society organized among them in 1838. It comprised originally about 300 men, who are said to have pledged themselves to execute the orders of their leaders, regardle of consequences. During the early history of Utah there occurred many robberies and murders which were ascribed to the D. , though this was denied by the Mormons. A train of "Gentile" emigrants was attacked, and the party ma acred by this body in 1857; for participating in which crime, twenty years afterward, John D. Lee, a member of the society, was tried, condemned and executed. Dan'ube Canal. See CANALS. Dar-Fur, a division of the Soudan in Central Africa, ranging from about 10° to 16° N. Lat., and 22° to 28° Ε. Lon., though its borders are not well defined. In the N. it is desert in character, but during the rainy season in the S. good crops are raised. Tobacco is largely cultivated. Copper and iron are the chief minerals. Cattle form the principal wealth of the inhabitants. It is inhabited by the Fulahs, a well built and intelligent race. It was annexed to Egypt in 1874, and is now under the control of the Mahdists, Darjeeling. A sanitary station in the lower Himalaya, situated on a narrow ridge 7,167 feet above sea level. It is an increasingly popular summer resort for visitors and invalids. The fashionable month is October, after the rains, when the atmosphere is remarkably clear -D. is also the name of a district of Bengal, with an area of 1,234 sq. m., devoted largely to the cultivation of tea. Dark Room. ( Photog. ) A room from which actinic light is excluded; used for sensitizing and developing plates.