DAMIRON, JEAN PHILIBERT (1794-1862), French philosopher, was born at Belleville. At nineteen he entered the normal school, where he studied under Burnouf, Villemain, and Cousin. After teaching for several years in provincial towns, he came to Paris, where he lectured on philosophy in various institutions, and finally became professor in the normal school, and titular professor at the Sorbonne. In 1824 he took part with P. F. Dubois and Th. S. Jouffroy in the establishment of the Globe; and he was also a member of the committee of the society which took for its motto Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera. In 1833 he was appointed chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and in 1836 member of the Academy of Moral Sciences. Damiron died at Paris on the 11th of January 1862.
The chief works of Damiron, of which the best are his accounts of French philosophers, are the following:—An edition of the Nouveaux mélanges philosophiques de Jouffroy (1842), with a notice of the author, in which Damiron softened and omitted several expressions used by Jouffroy, which were opposed to the system of education adopted by the Sorbonne, an article which gave rise to a bitter controversy, and to a book by Pierre Leroux, De la mutilation des manuscrits de M. Jouffroy (1843); Essai sur l’histoire de la philosophie en France au XIXe siècle (1828, 3rd ed. 1834); Essai sur l’histoire de la philosophie en France au XVII. siècle (1846); Mémoires à servir pour l’histoire de la philosophie en France au XVIII. siècle (1858-1864); Cours de la philosophie; De la Providence (1849, 1850).
See A. Franck, Moralistes et philosophes (1872).
DAMJANICH, JÁNOS (1804-1849), Hungarian soldier, was born at Stása in the Banat. He entered the army as an officer in the 61st regiment of foot, and on the outbreak of the Hungarian war of independence was promoted to be a major in the third Honvéd regiment at Szeged. Although an orthodox Serb, he was from the first a devoted adherent of the Magyar liberals. He won his colonelcy by his ability and valour at the battles of Alibunár and Lagerdorf in 1848. At the beginning of 1849 he was appointed commander of the 3rd army corps in the middle Theiss, and quickly gained the reputation of being the bravest man in the Magyar army, winning engagement after engagement by sheer dash and daring. At the beginning of March 1849 he annihilated a brigade at Szolnók, perhaps his greatest exploit. He was elected deputy for Szolnók to the Hungarian diet, but declined the honour. Damjanich played a leading part in the general advance upon the Hungarian capital under Görgei. He was present at the engagements of Hort and Hatvan, converted the doubtful fight of Tápió-Bicsk into a victory, and fought with irresistible élan at the bloody battle of Isaszeg. At the ensuing review at Gödöllö, Kossuth expressed the sentiments of the whole nation when he doffed his hat as Damjanich’s battalions passed by. Always a fiery democrat, Damjanich uncompromisingly supported the extremist views of Kossuth, and was appointed commander of one of the three divisions which, under Görgei, entered Vācz in April 1849. His fame reached its culmination when, on the 19th of April, he won the battle of Nagysarló, which led to the relief of the hardly-pressed fortress of Komárom. At this juncture Damjanich broke his leg, an accident which prevented him from taking part in field operations at the most critical period of the war, when the Magyars had to abandon the capital for the second time. He recovered sufficiently, however, to accept the post of commandant of the fortress of Arad. After the Vilagós catastrophe, Damjanich, on being summoned to surrender, declared he would give up the fortress to a single company of Cossacks, but would defend it to the last drop of his blood against the whole Austrian army. He accordingly surrendered to the Russian general Demitrius Buturlin (1790-1849), by whom he was handed over to the Austrians, who shot him in the market-place of Arad a few days later.
See Ödön Hamvay, Life of János Damjanich (Hung.), (Budapest, 1904).
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DAMMAR, or Dammer (Hind, damar = resin, pitch), a resin, or rather series of resins, obtained from various coniferous trees of the genus Dammara (Agathis). East Indian dammar or cat’s eye resin is the produce of Dammara orientalis, which grows in Java, Sumatra, Borneo and other eastern islands and sometimes attains a height of 80-100 ft. It oozes in large quantities from the tree in a soft viscous state, with a highly aromatic odour, which, however, it loses as it hardens by exposure. The resin is much esteemed in oriental communities for incense-burning. Dammar is imported into England by way of Singapore; and as found in British markets it is a hard, transparent, brittle, straw-coloured resin, destitute of odour. It is readily soluble in ether, benzol and chloroform, and with oil of turpentine it forms a fine transparent varnish which dries clear, smooth and hard. The allied kauri gum, or dammar of New Zealand (Australian dammar), is produced by Dammara australis, or kauri-pine, the wood of which is used for wood paving. Much of the New Zealand resin is found fossil in circumstances analogous to the conditions under which the fossil copal of Zanzibar is obtained. Dammar is besides a generic Indian name for various other resins, which, however, are little known in western commerce. Of these the principal are black dammar (the Hindustani kala-damar), yielded by Canarium strictum, and white dammar, Indian copal, or piney varnish (sufed-damar), the produce of Vateria indica. Sal dammar (damar) is obtained from Shorea robusta; Hopea micrantha is the source of rock dammar (the Malay dammer-batu); and other species yield resins which are similarly named and differ little in physical properties.