Part 19

DRAGON-FLY, the common name of members of a family (Odonata or Libellulidae) of neuropterous insects. They have a large head, large eyes, and strong horny mandibles. They are beautiful in form and colour, and are of very powerful flight. The great dragon-fly (_Aeschna grandis_) is about 4 inches long, and the largest of the British species. They live on insects, and are remarkable for their voracity. The dragon-fly deposits its eggs in the water, where the wingless nymphs live on aquatic insects. The nymph stage lasts for a year. The family is of very wide distribution. The small blue Agrion is a common European form, but the familiar Libellula is the most extensively distributed. See _Demoiselle_.

DRAGONNADES, or DRAGONADES, the name given to the persecutions directed against the Protestants, chiefly in the south of France, during the reign of Louis XIV, shortly before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Bands of soldiers, headed by priests, marched through the villages, giving the Protestant inhabitants the alternative of renouncing their faith or being given over to the extortions and violence of the soldiery. The dragoons were conspicuous in these expeditions, to which they gave their name. The Dragonnades drove thousands of French Protestants out of France.--Cf. Tylor, _The Huguenots in the Seventeenth Century._

DRAGON'S BLOOD, or GUM DRAGON, a resinous juice, usually obtained by incision from various tropical plants, as _Cal[)a]mus Draco_, _Dracaena Draco_, _Pterocarpus Draco_, &c. It varies in composition, and is often much adulterated. It is opaque, of a reddish-brown colour, brittle, and has a smooth shining conchoidal fracture. It is soluble in alcohol and oil, but scarcely so in water. It is used for colouring varnishes, for staining marble, leather, and wood, and for tooth tinctures.

[Illustration: Dragon Tree (_Dracaena Draco_)

1, Fruiting branchlet. 2, Flowers.]

DRAGON TREE (_Dracaena Draco_), a tree-like liliaceous plant, with a stem simple or divided at top, and in old age often much branched. It is a native of the Canaries, and yields the resin known as dragon's blood. It is often grown in greenhouses.

DRAGOON', a kind of mounted soldier, so called originally from his musket (_dragon_) having on the muzzle of it the head of a dragon. At one time dragoons served both as mounted and foot soldiers, but now only as the former. In the British army there are _heavy_ and _light dragoons_. The first dragoon regiment, the Scots Greys, was formed in 1681.

DRAGUIGNAN (dr[.a]-g[=e]-ny[:a]n),a town of Southern France since 1793, capital of the department of Var, in a beautiful valley, 41 miles north-east of Toulon. It has some interesting buildings, and manufactures of silk, soap, and leather. Pop. 9974.

DRAINAGE. The term comprises the drainage of areas of country by rivers and streams, the reclamation of areas from the sea, and country formerly marshy, and the provision of culverts and pipe-drains to buildings and towns.

The Fens in Lincolnshire are a notable example of a comprehensive system of drainage by means of open ditches (locally called 'drains'), into which the surplus water is lifted by means of wind- and steam-pumps.

Low-lying or flat country often requires a considerable amount of drainage, which is carried out by means of a regular system of earthenware pipes, laid 2 to 3 feet deep, and from 15 to 35 feet apart. These pipes are porous, from 2 to 3 inches in diameter, laid with butt joints, and lead into larger mains, and thence by open ditches to streams.

A method recently introduced consists in drawing a pointed cylindrical tool, 2 inches in diameter, through the ground at the required depth. This tool is dependent from a thin steel plate, which connects it with the carriage above, so that it can be drawn underground in any desired direction. This system is economical in first cost, but its useful life is considerably less than that of a piped drain, and its use is obviously confined to soils of the heavier variety.

In considering the provision of drainage to water-logged or low-lying land, every care should first be taken to improve the existing natural means of drainage, such as deepening and cleaning out streams and ditches, and removing obstructions.

It should be borne in mind that the object of land drainage is not only to remove the surplus water, but to promote a free and natural circulation of water in the soil, and to allow the mineral constituents of the water to reach the plant roots.

In the drainage of buildings, glazed socketed stoneware pipes are used, varying in diameter from 3 to 9 inches, laid straight in plan and in longitudinal section, and laid to falls, calculated to give a minimum velocity of 3 feet per second when flowing half full. These are laid in trenches, with inspection chambers at all changes in direction, and should be laid on and surrounded with concrete. In bad ground, or under dwelling houses, cast-iron pipes are employed, with special turned and bored joints. In towns these drains lead into the public sewers, which are similar stoneware pipes from 6 to 18 inches in diameter, larger sizes being constructed in brickwork or concrete, and either circular or egg-shaped form. In populous areas these sewers attain very large dimensions, the northern outfall sewers of London consisting of five parallel sewers, each 9 feet in diameter. See _Draining_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. S. Mitchell, _Handbook of Land Drainage_; Moore and Silcock, _Sanitary Engineering_; Gilbert Thomson, _Modern Sanitary Engineering_.

DRAINAGE TUBES are fenestrated india-rubber tubes used in surgery to effect the gradual removal of the contents of a suppurating cavity. The inner end of the tube is in the cavity, and the outer end projects above the skin surface, and is usually fixed by a stitch or safety-pin, and covered with suitable dressings.

[Illustration: Covered Drain without Pipes]

[Illustration: Open Drain]

[Illustration: Stone-laid Drains]

DRAINING, in agriculture, a method of improving the soil by withdrawing the superfluous water from it by means of channels that are generally covered over. Plants cannot thrive unless there is free circulation of air and water round their roots. The successful practice of draining in a great measure depends on a proper knowledge of the superficial strata, of their situation, relative degrees of porosity, &c. Some strata allow water to pass through them, while others more impervious force it to run or filtrate along their surfaces till it reaches more level ground below. In general, where the grounds are in a great measure flat and the soils of materials which retain the excess of moisture, they require artificial means of drainage to render them capable of yielding good crops whether of grain or grass. The wetness of land, which makes it inferior for agricultural purposes, may appear not only as surface-water but as water which flows through the lower strata, and to draw off these there are the two distinct operations of surface-draining and under-draining. The rudest form of open drains are the deep furrows lying between high-backed ridges, and meant to carry off the surplus water after the soil is completely saturated, but in doing so they generally carry off also much of the best of the soil and of the manure which has been spread upon it. The ordinary ditch is a common form of water-course useful in certain cases, as in hill pastures. But covered drains at a depth of 4 feet or so are the common forms in draining agricultural lands. They are generally either _stone-drains_ or _tile-drains_. Stone-drains are either formed on the plan of open culverts of various forms, or of small stones in sufficient quantity to permit a free and speedy filtration of the water through them. The box-drain, for instance, is formed of flat stones neatly arranged in the bottom of the trench, the whole forming an open tube. In tile-drains, tiles or pipes of burnt clay are used for forming the conduits. They possess all the qualities which are required in the formation of drains, affording a free ingress to water, while they effectually exclude earth, as well as other injurious substances, and vermin. Drainage tiles and pipes have been made in a great variety of forms, the earliest of which, since the introduction of thorough draining, was the horse-shoe tile, so called from its shape. These should always rest on soles, or flats of burned clay. Pipe tiles, which combine the sole and cover in one piece, have been made of various shapes, but the best form appears to be the cylinder. An important department of draining is the draining off of the waters which are the sources of springs. The judicious application of a few simple drains, made to communicate with the watery layers, will often dry swamps of great extent, where large sums of money, expended in forming open drains in the swamp itself, would leave it but little improved. In the laying out of drains the first point to be determined is the place of outfall, which should always afford a free and clear outlet to the drains, and must necessarily be at the lowest point of the land to be drained. The next point to be determined is the position of the minor drains. In the laying out of these the surface of each field must be regarded as being made up of one or more planes, as the case may be, for each of which the drains should be laid out separately. Level lines are to be set out a little below the upper edge of each of these planes, and the drains must then be made to cross these lines at right angles. By this means the drains will run in the line of the greatest slope, no matter how distorted the surface of the field may be. All the minor drains should be made to discharge obliquely into mains or submains, and not directly into an open ditch or water-course. As a general rule, there should be a main to receive the waters of the minor drains from every 5 acres. The advantages of drainage are obvious. In the first place it brings the soil into a more suitable condition for the growth of plants, aiding in producing the finely divided and porous state which allows the roots and rootlets to spread themselves at will in order to obtain the needed supplies of food, air, and moisture. It also allows the sun's rays to produce their full effect on the soil and plants. In the presence of stagnant water a great part of this effect would be lost. See _Drainage_.

[Illustration: Horse-shoe and Cylindrical Drain Tiles]

[Illustration: Drain-traps]

DRAIN-TRAP, a contrivance to prevent the escape of foul air from drains, while allowing the passage of water into them. They are of various forms. In the traps represented below it will be seen that there must always be a certain quantity of water maintained to bar the way against the escape of the gas from the drain or sewer. When additional liquid is conveyed to the trap, there is, of course, an overflow into the drain. In older types of drains the gas was prevented from escaping by a metal plate thrown obliquely over the drain mouth and dipping into the water in the vessel beyond it.

DRAKE, Sir Francis, an English navigator, born at Tavistock, in Devonshire, in 1539, or according to some authorities in 1545. He served as a sailor in a coasting vessel, and afterwards joined Sir John Hawkins in his last expedition against the Spaniards (1567), losing nearly all he possessed in that unfortunate enterprise. Having gathered a number of adventurers round him, he contrived to fit out a vessel in which he made two successful cruises to the West Indies in 1570 and 1571. Next year, with two small ships, he again sailed for the Spanish Main, captured the cities of Nombre de Dios and Vera Cruz, and took a rich booty which he brought safely home. In 1577 Drake made another expedition to the Spanish Main, having this time command of five ships. On this the most famous of his voyages Drake passed the Straits of Magellan, plundered all along the coasts of Chile and Peru, sacked several ports, and captured a galleon laden with silver, gold, and jewels, to the value of perhaps L200,000. He then ran north as far as 48deg N. lat., seeking a passage to the Atlantic, but was compelled to return to Port San Francisco on account of the cold. He then steered for the Moluccas, and holding straight across the Indian Ocean doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Plymouth 3rd Nov., 1580, being thus the first of the English circumnavigators. As there was no war between England and Spain, the proceedings of Drake had a somewhat dubious character, but the queen maintained that they were lawful reprisals for the action of the Spaniards, and showed her favour to Drake by knighting him on board his own ship. Five years afterwards Drake was again attacking the Spaniards in the Cape Verde Islands and in the West Indies, and in 1588 particularly distinguished himself as vice-admiral in the conflict with the Spanish Armada. In 1593 he represented Plymouth in Parliament. His later expeditions, that in 1595 against the Spanish West Indies and that to Panama, were not so successful, and his death, which took place on 28th Jan., 1596, at sea off Porto Bello, was hastened by disappointment.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sir J. S. Corbett, _Sir Francis Drake_ (English Men of Action Series), and _Drake and the Tudor Navy_.

DRAKENBERG MOUNTAINS, a range of South Africa forming the western frontier of Natal, and rising to the height of 11,000 feet, a continuation of the Quathlamba range.

DRAMA (Gr. _drama_, action, from _dr[=a]n_, to act or do), a form of art which imitates action by introducing real persons to represent the fictitious characters, and to carry on the story by means of action and dialogue.

Man is naturally an imitative animal, and some crude form of drama must have been in existence in very early times. We can see the origins of drama in many of the games played by children, where important events such as war, marriage, and sacrifice are represented in song and dance. In Greece, the cradle of drama as of everything that is good, there must have been in prehistoric times war-dances which formed the basis of tragedy, and rough vintage revel dances which formed the basis of comedy.

_Greek Drama._--The Greek drama was religious in its origin. It arose from the dithyrambs or songs composed in honour of Dionysus, the god of all vegetation, though identified most closely with the vine. When vegetation died in winter, this was considered to be the death of Dionysus; when it bloomed anew in the spring, this was thought to be the god's resurrection. The one event was celebrated with gloomy song and dance, and the other with merry revels and crude indecency. The history of Greek drama is the history of the decline and fall of the chorus. At first the chorus was the whole play, and in the _Supplices_ of Aeschylus, the earliest extant tragedy, the chorus played a predominating part. According to tradition, Thespis (about 535 B.C.) introduced for the first time a masked actor, who carried on a dialogue with the leader of the chorus. Aeschylus introduced a second actor, and Sophocles a third. It is thought that there never were more than three actors, but, of course, duplication of parts was permitted. There were also frequently mute characters (_k[=o]pha pros[=o]pa_) on the stage. Dialogue became more important in the later plays of Aeschylus, and chorus became less important; Sophocles developed his dialogue in masterly style, though his choruses are among the most beautiful things in all Greek poetry; in Euripides the choruses, however lovely in themselves, are less an integral part of the drama than they were in the plays of his predecessors. In fact the chorus acted as a clog on the freedom of the dramatist, who wished to develop exciting situations and depict realistic characters. In comedy the same decline of the chorus is to be found; in the _Acharnians_, the earliest comedy, the chorus is very prominent; in the _Plutus_, the last comedy extant, it is comparatively unimportant. Sumptuary laws had something to do with this, and there is a vast difference between the magnificently apparelled chorus in the _Birds_, and the chorus in the _Lysistrata_, which represented elderly Athenian men and women in their everyday costume.

Greek tragedies were usually presented in the form of trilogies, that is, in sets of three plays all dealing with the same subject. To these was added, as a rule, a fourth play, known as a satyr-play. The _Cyclops_ of Euripides is the only example extant of this kind of play. It is not very amusing, though it contains a certain amount of horse-play and high spirits. The satyr-play was intended to lighten the gloom of the three preceding tragedies. We have one complete trilogy preserved--the magnificent _Oresteia_ of Aeschylus, consisting of the _Agamemnon_, _Choephoroe_, and _Eumenides_--plays which are bracketed with _Lear_ and _Othello_ as the highest and most majestic of all tragedies. In later times the three plays of the trilogy dealt with different subjects. The tragedies to be performed were carefully selected by some of the Athenian magistrates, and at the festival prizes were given for the best tragedy, on the recommendation of a carefully chosen jury. Comedies were presented one at a time; prizes were offered for the best of them also. Greek tragic actors wore long flowing robes, and added to their height by means of the _cothurnus_ or thick-soled boot; it is believed that they wore masks with some sort of speaking-trumpet in the mouth, so that their words would be audible to the vast audience which assembled in the theatre, a huge circular open-air amphitheatre.

Each of the three Greek tragic writers whose work has been preserved is supreme in his own way. Aeschylus's lyric dramas are among the greatest writings of all time; the plays of Sophocles are masterpieces of deft construction, of well-woven plot, and ironic dialogue; and his choruses are lyrics of the greatest beauty. Aeschylus is more titanic; Sophocles is more humane. Euripides, the latest of the three, is a great poet and a champion of the weak, such as women and slaves; moreover, he sees deeply into men's hearts. He is really the founder of romantic drama, through the Roman Seneca, who imitated him. Of Greek comic poets we only possess one, but he is a host in himself. Aristophanes is a Gargantuan mirth-maker; he bestrides the narrow world like a Colossus. He plays with a master's hand upon every note in the whole comic gamut. His works, owing to the conditions of the old comedy, were very frequently political and highly personal in their tone. The later plays are less so. The _Birds_, _Clouds_, and _Frogs_ are among the very greatest comic creations; only a little less great is the _Lysistrata_, where a serious purpose is veiled by intense indecency. The old comedy, however, was essentially the product of its own age; it did not invite, or even permit, imitation. The new comedy, of which Philemon, Menander, and Diphilus were the principal writers, gradually supplanted it. Their plays were more or less romantic comedies with carefully constructed plots. They are all lost, but we may gain some idea of them from Plautus and Terence, and from the fragments which have been found, some of them fairly recently.

[Illustration: A type of mask worn by the characters in a Roman play after Terence's time. The audience knew from the mask the particular character the actor represented.]

_Roman Drama._--Roman drama is not intrinsically good; it is in many respects a weak imitation of Greek drama, but it has been very much more important in its influence. Early English, French, and Italian dramatists all turned to Seneca as a model for tragedy, and to Plautus and Terence as models for comedy. This was partly due to the fact that though most of them had small Latin, they had less Greek; but it was partly because the Latin writers were easier to imitate. Italy had native farces, known as Atellan Fables, which were not without their influence on the development of comedy. These plays were broadly farcical, and dealt almost entirely with country life. The two great Roman comedy writers, Plautus and Terence, based their work, however, upon the new comedy of Greece, especially upon the plays of Menander and Diphilus. Plautus is decidedly coarse at times, and sometimes his fun is too much like that of a fourth-form boy at a public school, but his work is wholesome and vigorous, and he is a more creative and virile writer than Terence. Terence's plays are somewhat weak dramatically, but are written in a style of great beauty. He was a careful literary craftsman. Seneca, the only Roman tragic writer, had an immense influence on later dramatists. It is hard to account for this. He based his work upon Euripides, but he suppressed everything that makes Euripides tender and human. Senecan tragedy abounded in bloodshed and horrors; the speeches are full of pompous rant, and their metre is most monotonous. Some of the choruses are good rhetorical writing, though scarcely great poetry. Seneca's influence pervades all our early tragedy; it is clearly seen in _Gorboduc_ and in Jonson's _Sejanus_ and _Catiline_; even Shakespeare is not without traces of it. As the Roman Empire declined so did the Roman stage; finally nothing was performed save pantomime, in the proper sense of the word, where everything was done in dumb-show. This appeared to content the populace of the Roman Empire, even as the cinema seems to satisfy the citizens of a later and perhaps greater empire.