Dobson, Henry Austin, poet, born at Plymouth in 1840. He was educated at Beaumaris, Coventry, and Strasbourg; in 1856 obtained a clerkship under the Board of Trade, where he rose to be one of the officials known as principals. His earliest verses first appeared in book form under the title Vignettes in Rhyme and Vers de Société (1873). His other volumes of verse include: Proverbs in Porcelain (1877); Old World Idylls (1883); and At the Sign of the Lyre (1885), which The Athenæum pronounced to be "of its kind as nearly as possible perfect". Among his prose works may be mentioned his lives of Hogarth, Fielding, Steele, Goldsmith, Horace Walpole, Richardson, and Fanny Burney; Thomas Bewick and his Pupils; Four Frenchwomen, a study on Charlotte Corday, the Princesse de Lamballe, and Mesdames Roland and de Genlis; three series of Eighteenth Century Vignettes; A Paladin of Philanthropy; Sidewalk Studies; Old Kensington Palace; At Prior Park; A Bookman's Budget; and several editions of standard works. His collected poems were published in one volume in 1897. Many of Mr. Dobson's poems are written in various French forms, such as the rondeau and ballade, and all are marked by gracefulness and ease. He died in Sept., 1921.
Doce´tæ (from Gr. dokein, to seem or appear), the name given, in the earlier ages of the Church, to those who denied the reality of the human form of Christ, maintaining it to be merely a phantom or shadow. In the sense of regarding Christ's body as a heavenly and ethereal, instead
of a human one, docetism had its partisans even among the orthodox.
Dock, a name applied to different plants of the genus Rumex, belonging to the rhubarb family (Polygonaceæ). These are large herbaceous plants, with stout roots, alternate and often entire leaves, and bearing panicles of small greenish flowers. They are very troublesome as weeds, but the roots of some of them are used medicinally as astringents.
Docket, or Docquet (dok´et; from dock, to shorten; Icel. dokr, stumpy tail), in law, a term variously used, as for a summary of a larger writing; a small piece of paper or parchment containing the heads of a writing; an alphabetical list of cases in a court, or a catalogue of the names of the parties who have suits depending in a court.
Docks, are artificial enclosures for the reception of shipping, for the purpose of loading, discharging, or repairs. They may be divided into four types, viz. tidal docks or basins, wet docks, dry or graving docks, and floating docks.
Tidal Docks or Basins are open permanently to the main channel or river, and the water-level therefore varies with the rise and fall of the tide. This variation of level is a serious hindrance in the work of loading or discharging cargo, unless the tidal range be small. It should be noted that this form is more properly termed a tidal basin.
Wet Docks have a water entrance normally closed by gates or caissons, which permit the water-level of the enclosed area being maintained at high-water level. This uniformity of level is of great service in dealing with cargo, but this type has the disadvantage of only permitting traffic in and out of the dock at high water. This disadvantage may be modified by the provision of a lock at the dock entrance.