Chapter 27 of 52 · 3980 words · ~20 min read

Part 27

DUPUY, CHARLES ALEXANDRE (1851- ), French statesman, was born at Le Puy on the 5th of November 1851, his father being a local official. After being a professor of philosophy in the provinces, he was appointed a school inspector, and thus obtained a practical acquaintance with the needs of French education. In 1885 he was elected to the chamber as an Opportunist Republican. After acting as "reporter" of the budget for public instruction, he became minister for the department, in M. Ribot's cabinet, in 1892. In April 1893 he formed a ministry himself, taking as his office that of minister of the interior, but resigned at the end of November, and on 5th December was elected president of the chamber. During his first week of office an anarchist, Vaillant, who had managed to gain admission to the chamber, threw a bomb at the president, and M. Dupuy's collected bearing, and his historic words: "Messieurs, la seance continue," gained him much credit. In May 1894 he again became premier and minister of the interior; and he was by President Carnot's side when the latter was stabbed to death at Lyons in June. He then became a candidate for the presidency, but was defeated, and his cabinet remained in office till January 1895; it was under it that Captain Dreyfus was arrested and condemned (23rd of December 1894). The progress of _l'affaire_ then cast its shadow upon M. Dupuy, along with other French "ministrables," but in November 1898, after M. Brisson had at last remitted the case to the judgment of the court of cassation, he formed a cabinet of Republican concentration. In view of the apparent likelihood that the judges of the criminal division of the court of cassation--who formed the ordinary tribunal for such an appeal--would decide in favour of Dreyfus, it was thought that M. Dupuy's new cabinet would be strong enough to reconcile public opinion to such a result; but, to the surprise of outside observers, it was no sooner discovered how the judges were likely to decide than M. Dupuy proposed a law in the chamber transferring the decision to a full court of all the divisions of the court of cassation. This arbitrary act, though adopted by the chamber, was at once construed as a fresh attempt to maintain the judgment of the first court-martial; but in the interval President Faure (an anti-Dreyfusard) died, and the accession of M. Loubet doubtless had some effect in quieting public feeling. At all events, the whole court of cassation decided that there must be a new court-martial, and M. Dupuy at once resigned (June 1899). In June 1900 he was elected senator for the Haute Saone.

DUPUY, PIERRE (1582-1651), French scholar, otherwise known as PUTEANUS, was born at Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) on the 27th of November 1582. In 1615 he was commissioned by Mathieu Mole, first president of the parlement of Paris, to draw up an inventory of the documents which constituted what at that time was known as the _Tresor des chartes_. This work occupied eleven years. His MS. inventory is preserved in the original and in copy in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and transcriptions are in the national archives in Paris, at the record office in London, and elsewhere. Dupuy's classification is still regarded with respect, but the inventory has been partially replaced by the publication of the _Layettes du tresor_ (four volumes, coming down to 1270; 1863-1902). Dupuy also published, with his brother Jacques, and their friend Nicolas Rigault, the _History_ of Aug. de Thou (1620, 1626). The two brothers then bought from Rigault the post of keeper of the king's library, and drew up a catalogue of the library (Nos. 9352-9354 and 10366-10367 of the Latin collection in the Bibliotheque Nationale). In the course of this work, Dupuy became acquainted with and copied an enormous mass of unpublished documents, which furnished him with the material for some excellent works: _Traite des droits et des libertes de l'eglise gallicane, avec les preuves_ (1639), _Histoire de l'ordre militaire des Templiers_ (1654), _Histoire generale du schisme qui a ete dans l'eglise depuis 1378 jusqu'a 1428_ (1654), and _Histoire du differend entre le pape Boniface VIII et le roi Philippe le Bel_ (1655). These works, especially the last, are important contributions to the history of the relations of church and state in the middle ages. They were written from the Gallican standpoint, i.e. in favour of the rights of the crown in temporal and political matters, and this explains the delay in their publication until after Dupuy's death. He wrote also _Traite des regences et des majorites des rois de France_ (1655) and _Recueil des droits du roi_ (1658). Dupuy's papers, preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, were inventoried by Leon Dorez (_Catalogue de la collection Dupuy_, 1899). See also L. Delisle's _Le Cabinet des manuscrits de la bibliotheque imperiale_. Dupuy died in Paris on the 14th of December 1651.

DUPUY DE LOME, STANISLAS CHARLES HENRI LAURENT (1816-1885), French naval architect, the son of a retired naval officer, was born at Ploemeur, near Lorient, on the 15th of October 1816. He entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1835, and in 1842 was sent to England to study and report on iron shipbuilding. Acting on his report, which was published in 1844, the government built their first iron vessels under his supervision. He planned and built the steam line-of-battle ship "Napoleon" (1848-1852), and devised the method of altering sailing ships of the line into steamers, which was afterwards extensively practised in both France and England. He also showed the practicability of armouring the sides of a ship, and the frigate "Gloire" gave a very clear demonstration of his views. It was the beginning of the great change in the construction of ships of war which has been going on ever since. In 1857 Dupuy de Lome was appointed "chef de la direction du materiel," at Paris; and in 1861, "inspecteur general du materiel de la marine." In 1866 he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences. At the beginning of the Franco-German War he was appointed a member of the committee of defence, and during the siege of Paris occupied himself with planning a steerable balloon, for carrying out which he was given a credit of 40,000 fr.; but the balloon was not ready till a few days before the capitulation. The experiments that were afterwards made with it did not prove entirely satisfactory. In 1875 he was busy over a scheme for embarking a railway train at Calais, and exhibited plans of the improved harbour and models of the "bateaux porte-trains" to the Academy of Sciences in July. In 1877 he was elected a senator for life. He received the cross of the Legion of Honour in 1845, was made a commander in 1858, and grand officer in December 1863. He died at Paris on the 1st of February 1885.

DUPUYTREN, GUILLAUME, BARON (1777-1835), French anatomist and surgeon, was born on the 6th of October 1777 at Pierre Buffiere (Haute Vienne). He studied medicine in Paris at the newly established Ecole de Medecine, and was appointed by competition prosector when only eighteen years of age. His early studies were directed chiefly to morbid anatomy. In 1803 he was appointed assistant-surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu, and in 1811 professor of operative surgery in succession to R.B. Sabatier (1732-1811). In 1815 he was appointed to the chair of clinical surgery, and became head surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu. Dupuytren's energy and industry were alike remarkable. He visited the Hotel-Dieu morning and evening, performing at each time several operations, lectured to vast throngs of students, gave advice to his outdoor patients, and fulfilled the duties consequent upon one of the largest practices of modern times. By his indefatigable activity he amassed a fortune of L300,000, the bulk of which he bequeathed to his daughter, with the deduction of considerable sums for the endowment of the anatomical chair in the Ecole de Medecine, and the establishment of a benevolent institution for distressed medical men. The most important of Dupuytren's writings is his _Treatise on Artificial Anus_, in which he applied the principles laid down by John Hunter. In his operations he was remarkable for his skill and dexterity, and for his great readiness of resource. He died in Paris on the 8th of February 1835.

DUQUE DE ESTRADA, DIEGO (1589-?), Spanish memoir writer, soldier and adventurer, son of Juan Duque de Estrada, also a soldier of rank, was born at Toledo on the 15th of August 1589. Having been left an orphan when very young, he was educated by a cousin. While still young he was betrothed to his cousin's daughter. One night he found an intruder in the house, a gentleman with whom he was acquainted, and in a fit of jealousy killed both him and the young lady. The prevailing code of honour was considered a sufficient justification for Duque de Estrada's violence, but the law looked upon the act as a vulgar assassination, and he had to flee. After leading a vagabond life in the south of Spain, he was arrested at Ecija, was brought to Toledo, and was there put to the torture with extreme ferocity, in order to extort a general confession as to his life during the past months. He had the strength not to yield to pain, and was finally able to escape from prison, partly by the help of a nun in a religious house which faced the prison, and partly by the intervention of friends. He made his way to Naples, where he entered the service of the duke of Osuna (q.v.), at that time viceroy. Duque de Estrada saw a good deal of fighting both with the Turks and the Venetians; but he is mainly interesting because he was employed by the viceroy in the conspiracy against Venice. He was one of the disguised Spanish soldiers who were sent into the town to destroy the arsenal, and who were warned in time that the conspiracy had been betrayed, and therefore escaped. After the fall of his patron, Duque de Estrada resumed his vagabond life, served under Bethlen Gabor in Transylvania, and in the Thirty Years' War. In 1633 he entered the order of San Juan de Dios, and died at some time after 1637 in Sardinia, where he is known to have taken part in the defence of the island against an attack by the French. He left a book of memoirs, entitled _Comentarios de el desengenado de si Mismo prueba de todos estados, y eleccion del Mejor de ellos_--"The Commentaries of one who knew his own little worth, the touchtstone of all the state of man, and the choice of the best." They were written at different times, and part has been lost. The style is incorrect, and it would be unsafe to trust them in every detail, but they are amazingly vivid, and contain a wonderful picture of the moral and intellectual state of a large part of Spanish society at the time.

The memoirs have been reprinted by Don Pascual de Gayangos in the _Memorial historico espanol_, vol. xii. (Madrid, 1860).

DUQUESNE, ARRAHAM, MARQUIS (1610-1688), French naval officer, was born at Dieppe in 1610. Born in a stirring seaport, the son of a distinguished naval officer, he naturally adopted the profession of a sailor. He spent his youth in the merchant service, and obtained his first distinction in naval warfare by the capture of the island of Lerins from the Spaniards in May 1637. About the same time his father was killed in an engagement with the Spaniards, and the news raised his hatred of the national enemy to the pitch of a personal and bitter animosity. For the next five years he sought every opportunity of inflicting defeat and humiliation on the Spanish navy, and he distinguished himself by his bravery in the engagement at Guetaria (1638), the expedition to Corunna (1639), and in battles at Tarragona (1641), Barcelona (1643), and the Cabo de Gata. The French navy being left unemployed during the minority of Louis XIV., Duquesne obtained leave to offer his services to the king of Sweden, who gave him a commission as vice-admiral in 1643. In this capacity he defeated the Danish fleet near Gothenburg and thus raised the siege of the city. The Danes returned to the struggle with increased forces under the command of King Christian in person, but they were again defeated--their admiral being killed and his ship taken. Peace having been concluded between Sweden and Denmark in 1645, Duquesne returned to France. The revolt at Bordeaux, supported as it was by material aid from Spain, gave him the opportunity of at once serving his country and gratifying his long-cherished hatred of the Spaniards. In 1650 he fitted out at his own expense a squadron with which he blockaded the mouth of the Gironde, and compelled the city to surrender. For this service he was promoted in rank, and received a gift of the castle and isle of Indre, near Nantes. Peace with Spain was concluded in 1659, and for some years afterwards Duquesne was occupied in endeavours to suppress piracy in the Mediterranean. On the revolt of Messina from Spain, he was sent to support the insurgents, and had to encounter the united fleets of Spain and Holland under the command of the celebrated Admiral de Ruyter. After several battles, in which the advantage was generally on the side of the French, a decisive engagement took place near Catania, on the 20th of April 1676, when the Dutch fleet was totally routed and de Ruyter mortally wounded. The greater part of the defeated fleet was afterwards burned in the harbour of Palermo, where it had taken refuge, and the French thus secured the undisputed command of the Mediterranean. For this important service Duquesne received a letter of thanks from Louis XIV., together with the title of marquis and the estate of Bouchet. His last achievements were the bombardment of Algiers (1682-1683), in order to effect the deliverance of the Christian captives, and the bombardment of Genoa in 1684. He retired from service in 1684, on the ground of age and ill-health. It is probable also that he foresaw the revocation of the edict of Nantes, which took place in the following year. He died in Paris on the 2nd of February 1688.

See Jal, _Abraham Duquesne, et la marine de son temps_ (1873).

DUQUESNE, a borough of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the Monongahela river, about 12 m. S.E. of Pittsburg. Pop. (1900) 9036, of whom 3451 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 15,727. It is served by the Pennsylvania railway. Its most prominent buildings are the Carnegie free library and club (opened in 1904 and containing 17,500 volumes in 1908), and the city hall. A short distance N. of the borough limits Kennywood Park, with a large auditorium and pavilion, is an attractive resort. By far the most important industry of the borough is the manufacture of steel. The value of the borough's factory products increased from $20,333,476 in 1900 to $28,494,303 in 1905, or 40.1%. The municipality owns and operates its water-works. Duquesne was settled in 1885 and was incorporated in 1891.

DURAMEN (a rare Latin word, meaning hardness, from _durus_, hard), a botanical term for the inner, harder wood of a tree, the heart-wood.

DURAN, a Jewish Provencal family of rabbis and scholars, of whom the following are the most important.

1. PROFIAT DURAN, called also EPHODI. He was in 1391 compelled to profess Christianity, but remained devoted to Judaism. His chief works were grammatical and philosophical. In the former realm his most important contribution was the _Ma'aseh 'Ephod_ (completed in 1403); in the latter, his commentary to the _Guide of the Perplexed_ by Maimonides (q.v.).

2. SIMON BEN ZEMAH DURAN (1361-1441), rabbi of Algiers. He was one of the first of the medieval rabbis to be a salaried official of the synagogue. Before the 14th century the rabbinical post had been almost invariably honorary, and filled by men who derived their income from a profession, especially medicine. Duran wrote a systematic work on theology, _Magen 'Aboth_, but is chiefly famous for his numerous _Responsa_ (known as _Tashbaz_) published in three vols. in 1738-1739. These _Responsa_, "Answers to questions sent from many lands," give valuable information as to social and religious conditions in the earlier part of the 15th century. (I. A.)

DURAN, AGUSTIN (1789-1862), Spanish scholar, was born in 1789 at Madrid, where his father was court physician. He was sent to the seminary at Vergara, whence he returned learned in the traditions of Spanish romance. In 1817 he began the study of philosophy and law at the university of Seville, and in due course was admitted to the bar at Valladolid. From 1821 to 1823 he held a post in the education department at Madrid, but in the latter year he was suspended on account of his political opinions. In 1834 he became secretary of the board for the censorship of the press, and shortly afterwards obtained a post in the national library at Madrid. The revolution of 1840 led to his dismissal; but he was reinstated in 1843, and in 1854 was appointed chief librarian. Next year, however, he retired to devote himself to his literary work. In 1828, shortly after his first discharge from office, he published anonymously his _Discurso sobre el influjo que ha tenido la critica moderna en la decadencia del teatro antiguo_; this treatise greatly influenced the younger dramatists of the day. He next endeavoured to interest his fellow-countrymen in their ancient, neglected ballads, and in the forgotten dramas of the 17th century. Five volumes of a _Romancero general_ appeared from 1828 to 1832 (republished, with considerable additions, in 2 vols. 1849-1851), and _Talia espanola_ (1834), a reprint of old Spanish comedies. Duran's _Romancero general_ is the fullest collection of the kind and is therefore unlikely to be superseded, though the texts are inferior to those edited by Menendez y Pelayo.

DURANCE (anc. _Druentia_), one of the principal rivers descending from the French slope of the Alps towards the Mediterranean. Its total length from its source to its junction with the Rhone (of which it is one of the principal affluents), a little below Avignon, is 217-1/2 m. For the greater part of its course it flows in a south-westerly direction, but near Pertuis gradually bends N.W. and thenceforth preserves this direction. It passes through the departments of Hautes-Alpes, of Basses-Alpes, and between those of Vaucluse and Bouches-du-Rhone. It is commonly said to take its origin in some small lakes a little south of the summit plateau of the Mont Genevre Pass. But really this stream is surpassed both in volume and length of course by two others which it joins beneath Briancon:--the Clairee, flowing in from the north, through the smiling Nevache glen, at the head of which, not far from the foot of the Mont Thabor (10,440 ft.), it rises in some small lakes, on the east side of the Col des Rochilles; and the Guisane (flowing in from the north-west and rising near the Col du Lautaret, 6808 ft.). The united stream soon receives its first affluent, the Cerveyrette (left), and, after having passed through some fine deep-cut gorges, the Gyronde (right). It then runs through a stony plain, where it frequently overflows and causes great damage, this being indeed the main characteristic of the Durance throughout its course. At the foot of the fortress of Mont Dauphin it receives (left) the Guil, which flows through the Queyras valley from near the foot of Monte Viso. Some way beyond it passes beneath Embrun, the first important town on its banks. It soon becomes the boundary for a while between the departments of the Hautes-Alpes and of the Basses-Alpes, and receives successively the considerable Ubaye river, flowing from near the foot of Monte Viso past Barcelonnette (left), and then the small stream of the Luye (right), on which, a few miles above, is Gap. It enters the Basses-Alpes shortly before reaching Sisteron, where it is joined (right) by the wild torrent of the Buech, flowing from the desolate region of the Devoluy, and receives the Bleone (left) (on which Digne, the capital of the department, is situated) and the Asse (left), before quitting the department of the Basses-Alpes just as it is reinforced (left) by the Verdon, flowing from the lower summits of the Maritime Alps past Castellane. After passing through some narrow gorges near Sisteron the bed of the river becomes wide, and spreads desolation around, the frequent overflows being kept within bounds by numerous dykes and embankments. These features are especially marked when the river, after leaving the Basses-Alpes, soon bends N.W. and, always serving as the boundary between the departments of Vaucluse (N.) and of the Bouches-du-Rhone (S.), passes Cavaillon before it effects its junction with the Rhone. The drainage area of the Durance is about 5166 sq. m., while the height it descends is 6550 ft., if reckoned from the lakes on the Mont Genevre, or 7850 ft. if we take those at the head of the Nevache valley as the true source of the river. (W. A. B. C.)

DURAND, ASHER BROWN (1796-1886), American painter and engraver, was born at South Orange, New Jersey, on the 21st of August 1796. He worked with his father, a watchmaker; was apprenticed in 1812 to an engraver named Peter Maverick; and his first work, the head of an old beggar after Waldo, attracted the attention of the artist Trumbull. Durand established his reputation by his engraving of Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence." After 1835, however, he devoted himself chiefly to portrait painting. He painted several of the presidents of the United States and many other men of political and social prominence. In 1840 he visited Europe, where he studied the work of the old masters; after his return he devoted himself almost entirely to landscape. He died at South Orange on the 17th of September 1886. He had been one of the founders of the National Academy of Design in 1826, and was its president in 1845-1861. Durand may be called the father of the Hudson River School. Although there was something hard and unsympathetic about his landscapes, and unnecessary details and trivialities were over-prominent, he was a well-trained craftsman, and his work is marked by sincerity.

DURAND, GUILLAUME (GUILLELMUS DURANDUS), also known as DURANTI or DURANTIS, from the Italian form of _Durandi filius_, as he sometimes signed himself (c. 1230-1296), French canonist and liturgical writer, and bishop of Mende, was born at Puimisson, near Beziers, of a noble family of Languedoc. He studied law at Bologna, especially with Bernardus of Parma, and about 1264 was teaching canon law with success at Modena. Clement IV., his fellow-countryman, called him to the pontifical court as a chaplain and auditor of the palace, and in 1274 he accompanied Clement's successor Gregory X. to the council of Lyons, the constitutions of which he drew up, along with some other prelates. As spiritual and temporal legate of the patrimony of St Peter, he received in 1278, in the name of the pope, the homage of Bologna and of the other cities of Romagna. Martin IV. made him vicar spiritual in 1281, then governor of Romagna and of the March of Ancona (1283). In the midst of the struggles between Guelfs and Ghibellines, Durandus successfully defended the papal territories, both by diplomacy and by arms. Honorius IV. retained him in his offices, and although elected bishop of Mende in 1286, he remained in Italy until 1291. In 1295 he refused the archbishopric of Ravenna, offered him by Boniface VIII., but accepted the task of pacifying again his former provinces of Romagna and the March of Ancona. In 1296 he withdrew to Rome, where he died on the 1st of November.