protection of a special statute to the deaf mute : " Thoa shalt not curse the deaT' (Lev. xix, 14). This enact- ment not only absolutely prohibited the reviling of these unfortunates, but might also be understood figu- ratively, as if Moses recommended that kindness and instruction should be shown to them (Isa. xxix, 18, 85; Matt xi,5; Markvii,82). See Dumb.
Deal, a word often employed by our translators in the sense of part, with fractional numbers (*' tenth deal," Exod. xxix, 40, etc. ; like **a great deal"), but having no special equivalent in the original. See Number.
Dealtxy, William, D.D., F.R.S., was bora in Yorkshire in 1776, educated hi Catharine Hall and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was second wrangler in 1796 and fellow in 1798. He afterwards became professor of mathematics in the East India College, rector of Clapham in 1818, chancellor and prebendary of Whichester in 1880, and finally arch- deacon of Surrey m 1845. He died m 1848. His principal publications are, A Discourse on the Duly and Policy of propagaJdng Christianity (Lond. 1818, 8vo); Sermons (Lond. 1828, 8vo); •Obligations of the national Church (Lond. 1838, 8vo) ; The Foundation of the Failh (Lond. 1846, 8vo).— Darling, Cyclop, Bildiograpkicaj i, 882.
Dean (decanus, firom ^cca, ten'), an ecclesiastical title which has had several applications. (1.) The old- est use of it was to designate an officer in the ancient monasteries, in which every ten monks were subject to one called the decanus, or dean, from hb presiding over ten ; and every hundred had another officer called centenarius, from his presiding over one hundred. The business of the dean was to exact every man's daily task, and to bring it to the eeconomus^ or steward cdT the house, who himself gave a monthly account to the father of all. The word dean is occasionally used in early writers for archpresbyter. (2.) In the Church of England there are two sorts of deans : 1st, the dean of a cathedral^iiho is an ecclesiastical magistrate, next in degree to the bishop. He is chief of the chapter, and is caUed a dean \decanus) because he formerly presided over ten prebendaries or canons. He is by law a sole corporation — that is, he represents a whole succession, and is capable of taking an estate as dean and conveying it to his successors. 2d, rural deans, whose office is of ancient date in the Church of Eng- land, long prior to the Reibrmation, and which many of the bishops are now reviving. Their chief duty is to visit a certain number of parishes, and to report their condition to the bishop. There are two means of creating deans, because there are two foundations of cathedral churches in England, the old and the new. Those of the old foundation are appointed to their dig- nity ntfuch like bishops, the king first issuing his oongi d'dire to the chapter, the chapter then choosing, and the bishop confirming and giving his mandate to in- stal them. (8.) The word dean is also applied in Eng- land to the chief officers of certain peculiar churches or chapels, as the dean of the king's chapel, the dean of the arches, the dean of St George's Chapel at Wind- sor, and the dean of Bockhig, in Essex. (4.) The dean and chapter constitute the governing body of a cathe- dral. A chapter consists of the dean, with a certain number of canons or prebendaries, heads of the church — capita ecdesim. They are the council of the bishop, to aasist him with their advice in affairs of religion as well as in the temporal concerns of his see. When the rest of the clergy were settled in the several par- ishes of eadi diocese, these were reserved for the cele- bration of divine service in the bishop's own cathe- dral ; and the chief of them, who presided over the rest, obtained the name ofdecamts, or dean, being prob- ably at first appointed to superintend ten canons or prebendaries. The dean and chapter are the nominal electors at a bishop. (5.) The dean of a college faculty
DEARTH
n2
DEATH
ifl its prestdiiig officer.— Siegel, ffcmdbuck d. ehridL Al- iertkOmer, i, 485; Hook, Church Dictwnary, 8. v. See Chaptkb.
DEAN OF THB CABDINAL8. See Carddtals.
D£AN OF THB Chapbl Botal (Scotknd), an office held bj three clergymen of the Established Churoh, to which the^are appointed by the crown. The duties are nominid, being Ihnited to an occasional sermon before her nu^Jesty when in Scotland, and at- ' tendance at the election of the repreeentative peers. Recent appointments, however, have been conferred in connection with chairs in the University of Edinburgh which are not otherwise endowed. The title of dean is somewhat out of place in the Church of Scotland, where the rule of Pre8b3rterian parity is established. It is a remnant of Episcopacy, which the Church courts have never had occasion to challenge, as the deans do not sit or act in that capacity, and have scarcely any ecclesiastical duties to perfornL-^hamben, Ene^do- podia, B,Y.
Dearth (usually 39*^, hanger ; \ifi6Q, famine ; as both are elsewhere rendered; but in Jer. ziv.l, r*^ka, batstto'reth, reetramtf sc of rain, droughty as in Jer. xvii, 8), a scarcity of provisions. Although Palestine is a very fruitful land, yet a famine naturally followed a lack of crops, espedally when the rain finiled (1 Kings xvii ; Joeephus, Ant, zv, 9, 1), or the country was visited, among the not inftvquent land-plagues (2 Sam. xxiv, 13; Psa. xxxiii, 19; Ezek. xxxvi, 29; Jer. xiv, IS, 15), with swarms of locusts (q. v.) ; and we read of dearths in the historical narratives not only .in the patriarchal period (Gen. xli, 10 ; xlvii, 4, 13), and the era of the judges (Buth i, 1), when the soil was not regularly farmed, but also in the time of the kings (2 Sun. xxi, 1 ; 1 Kings xviii, 2 ; 2 Kings iv, 88 ; Jer. xiv, 1), and, indeed, ^e destitution sometimes continued more than one year together (2 Sam. xxi, 1). In such cases the inhabitants availed themselves of supplies fh>m the neighboring Egypt (Gen. xii, 10; xlii, 1 sq. ; xliii, 1 sq. ; Josephun, Ant, xv, 9, 2 ; XX, 2, 6 ; 6, 2), although this region likewise suffered in like manner whenever the Nile failed to reach its usual overflow (Gen. xli, xliiO* Under the Roman rule an extensive famine prevaUed (Acts xi, 12) in the time of the emperor Claudius (q. v.), which occurred during several years in different provinces of the em- pire, and reached Palestine at &e end of the fourth year of his reign (Joseph. Ant. xx, 2, 6; comp. iii, 15, 8). See AoABUS. Josephus mentions an earlier fiun- ine {Ant. xv, 9, 1), that took place in the thirteenth year of Herod the Great, which resulted from drought, and was followed by pestilence. — ^Winer, ii, 610. See Famine.