Diploid Phase, in botany. See Generations, Alternation of.
Diplo´ma (Gr. diplōma, from diploō, to double or fold), literally a document folded but once, and therefore divided into two parts. It is used to signify a document signed and sealed, in which certain rights, privileges, or dignities are conferred, especially a university degree.
Diplo´macy, the science or art of foreign politics. In a more restricted sense the term denotes the science or art of conducting negotiations and arranging treaties between states and nations; the branch of knowledge which deals with the relations of independent states to one another; the agency or management of envoys accredited to a foreign court; the forms of international negotiations. The word, borrowed from the French, was first used in England in 1796 by Burke. The Cardinal de Richelieu is generally considered as the founder of that regular and uninterrupted intercourse between Governments which exists at present between almost all the Christian powers; though the instructions given by Machiavelli to one of his friends, who was sent by the Florentine Republic to Charles V (Charles I of Spain) show that Richelieu was not the first to conceive the advantages that might be derived from the correspondence of an intelligent agent accredited at the seat of a foreign Government. As a uniform system, however, with a fixed international status, diplomacy was only established in the nineteenth century at the Congresses of Vienna (1815) and Aix-la-Chapelle (1818). Amongst the European powers it is agreed that of ministers of the same rank he who arrives first shall have the precedence over his colleagues.—Bibliography: D. J. Hill, History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe; E. C. Grenville-Murray, Embassies and Foreign Courts: a History of Diplomacy; P. Pradier-Fodéré, Cours de droit diplomatique; L. Oppenheim, International Law; D. P. Heatley, Diplomacy and the Study of International Relations.
Diplomat´ics, originally the science of deciphering ancient MSS. It laid down certain principles for the systematic examination of public documents, and taught the forms and styles adopted in them, and the titles and rank of public officers subscribing them. Among the earliest exponents of diplomatics were Daniel van Papenbroeck, an Antwerp Jesuit (1675), and Mabillon (De Re Diplomatica, 1681).
Diplomatic Service, The, as now existing, may be said to have originated in the Venetian Republic, which employed ambassadors as early as the thirteenth century. At first these officials had a very brief term of office, rarely remaining at their post in a foreign country for more than two or three months. By the middle of the fifteenth century, however, a permanent Milanese embassy had been established at Genoa, followed by one at Paris in 1494; while two years later Venice was officially represented at London. The clergy, who for the most part alone possessed the requisite accomplishments for such work, were the usual ambassadors of the Middle Ages; but by the sixteenth century lawyers, or not seldom merchants, were employed. It was not till two hundred years later that the modern attachés, junior officials of an embassy, came into being. The diplomatic service of Great Britain, controlled by the Foreign Office, includes (1) ambassadors, and (2) envoys and ministers plenipotentiary, both of which ranks represent the person of their sovereign and enjoy numerous special privileges in the country to which they are sent. Of lower standing are (3) ministers resident and (4) chargés d'affaires; the last-named are accredited, not to a sovereign, but to his foreign minister, and frequently act merely as temporary substitutes for an ambassador. Secretaries of more than one grade, with naval, military, and, of late years, commercial attachés, also form members of an embassy. Candidates for the British diplomatic service require a nomination from the Foreign Secretary, must be between the ages of nineteen and twenty-five, are subjected to an examination, and are almost invariably young men of good birth and position. The service is distinguished and affords a pleasant, if to some extent an idle life; but it does not offer any prospect of financial fortune. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe (the 'Great Elchi') and Lord Lyons rank high among distinguished British ambassadors. See Civil Service.
Diplozo´on, a parasitic trematode worm which infests the gills of the bream, and which appears to be formed of two distinct bodies united in the middle, and resembling an
Dip´noi, mud-fishes or lung-fishes, an ancient order now represented by three genera—Neoceratodus, Protopterus, and Lepidosiren. Like some adult Amphibia they possess both gills and lungs, the latter corresponding to a specialized swim-bladder. The heart has two auricles instead of one only, as in all other fishes. The single species of Neoceratodus (N. forsteri) is a large form with paddle-like fins and large overlapping cycloid scales. It is native to the Burnett and Mary Rivers of Queensland. Protopterus is represented by three African species, which inhabit rivers and swamps from the Senegal to the Zambezi. It is smaller than Neoceratodus, somewhat eel-shaped, with very narrow fins, and small cycloid scales embedded in the skin. It spends the summer in a torpid condition, buried
in the mud, and is dug up by the natives as an article of food. Lepidosiren includes a single South American species (L. paradoxa) ranging from the Amazon to Paraguay. It is closely related to Protopterus, which it resembles in shape and the character of the fins.