Dvořák (dvor-shäk´), Anton, a Bohemian musical composer, born in 1841, died in 1904. He studied at the Prague Conservatoire, and composed several operas on national Bohemian subjects, songs, orchestral arrangements of Bohemian dances, several symphonies, a Stabat
Mater, a cantata (The Spectre Bride), and an oratorio (St. Ludmila). In 1892 he was director of the New York National Conservatory, and after 1895 he lived in Prague, where he wrote, in 1889, the opera Der Teufel und die wilde Kätze.
Dwarf, a term applied to any animal or plant greatly below the usual size of its kind, particularly to a human being of small dimensions. Strictly speaking, the term should be used with reference to individuals and not to races. When a whole population consists of people of small stature, the proper term to apply to them is pigmies, not dwarfs. Accounts of pigmy tribes have been common from early times, such tribes being located especially in Africa; and it would appear from the accounts of Du Chaillu, Schweinfurth, and other travellers that there are several pigmy tribes throughout this continent. The Obongo, a race of dwarfs, are described as living in woods near the Okanda River, in wretched huts made of branches. Other races are the Mabongo, and the Akka dwarfs of Central Africa (see Akkas); and a race exists in the Congo State, not as a distinct community, however, but mixed with other tribes. Individual dwarfs occur in all races, and were formerly a fashionable appendage to the courts of princes and the families of nobles. Jeffery Hudson, the favourite dwarf of Charles I, at the age of thirty is said to have been only 18 inches high, though he afterwards grew to 3 feet 9 inches. Bébé, the celebrated dwarf of Stanislas of Poland, was 33 inches; Wybrand Lolkes, a Dutch dwarf, when sixty years of age was only 27 inches; Charles H. Stratton, 'General Tom Thumb', was 31 inches high at the age of twenty-five; Francis Flynn, 'General Mite', was only 21 inches at sixteen. In most of the extreme cases the dwarfing is the result of some defect in the ductless glands which regulate the normal growth of the body. Stories of dwarfs and brownies are to be found in the folk-lore of many tribes on earth.—Bibliography: E. J. Wood, Giants and Dwarfs; E. Tyson, Philological Essay concerning Pygmies of the Ancients.
Dwarfing, the process of training up trees or shrubs for ornament in houses so as to cause them never to reach more than a very small size, by keeping them in poor soil, giving them little water, pinching off strong shoots, &c. It is much practised among the Chinese and Japanese.
Dwight (dwīt), Timothy, American divine, born in Massachusetts 1752, died 1817. His father was Colonel Timothy Dwight, and his mother was a daughter of Jonathan Edwards. He served as chaplain in the revolutionary army, and ultimately became president of Yale College. His Theology Explained and Defended (1818) was for long a standard work both in Britain and in America.
Dy´aks, the aborigines of Borneo, chiefly inhabiting the interior of the island. They are a finely formed race, of a yellow complexion, and are described as docile, industrious, and superior to the Malays. The more advanced of them practise agriculture and dwell in neatly-constructed and tolerably comfortable houses. In Sarawak they have made considerable advances in civilization. The practice of head-hunting (hunting their enemies to make trophies of their heads) is practised among them, but has been abolished where European influence prevails.—Cf. Hose and M‘Dougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo (2 vols.).
Dyaus (dyous), the god of the sky in the older mythology of the Hindus. His name is etymologically connected with that of the Greek Zeus.
Dyce (dīs), Alexander, Shakespearean editor, born at Edinburgh 30th June, 1798, died 15th May, 1869. He was educated at Edinburgh and Oxford, but in 1827 settled in London, where most of his life was passed. He first became known by his editions of Collins, Peele, Webster, Marlowe, and Skelton, accompanied by notes and biographies of the authors. His chief work was an edition of Shakespeare in six volumes, with notes (1853-8).
Dyce, William, painter, born at Aberdeen in 1806, died near London, 1864. He studied in London and Rome, and practised his art in Edinburgh. In 1840 he became director of the School of Design in London, and in 1844 was appointed professor of fine art in King's College, London. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1848. Amongst his chief works are: Francesca da Rimini (1837): Joash shooting the Arrow of Deliverance (1844); King Lear in the Storm (1851); Christabel (1855); The Good Shepherd (1856); The Baptism of Ethelbert, a large fresco for the Houses of Parliament, and a series of frescoes illustrative of the legends relating to King Arthur, for the same. He also executed for the Prince Consort, at Osborne, the fresco Neptune giving the Empire of the Sea to Britannia.
Dyeing is the art of colouring textile and other materials in such a way that the colours are not readily removed by the action of light, washing, &c. Like spinning and weaving, it was originally a home industry, as it still is in many places. The natural dyes formerly employed are now largely displaced by dyes derived from coal-tar products, the first discovery of which was made by Perkin in 1856; a few mineral colours are employed in cotton dyeing. Before dyeing, the materials have generally to be cleansed or bleached to get rid of undesirable colouring matters or impurities; and frequently a textile material is subjected to some subsidiary treatment in order to obtain special effects. For example, cotton yarn may be subjected to