DIGGING

The operation of moving earth \vith a spade. In gardens where the soil is loose the main object of digging is to mix the soil by burying the surface and bringing what is below to the top, and in that case a spade with a large blade may be used; but in digging firm ground spades can only be used which have narrow blades, as these may be more easily made to penetrate the ground. DIGIT (Lat. digit us, finger), in Arithmetic, signifies one of the ten symbols, 0, 1, 2, 3, ., bv which all numbers are expre ed. By astronomers the term is used in speaking of eclipses, to denote the twelfth part of the diameter of the sun or moon. Thus, the eclipse is said to be of ten digits, if ten parts out of twelve of the diameter are concealed. It is convenient to employ this mode of defining the magnitude of an eclipse. [s. 358]