Dog's-mercury, Mercuriālis perennis, nat. ord. Euphorbiaceæ, a woodland herb common in Britain. It has poisonous properties, and may be made to yield a fugitive blue dye.
Dog's-tail Grass (Cynosūrus), a genus of grasses. Cynosūrus cristātus is a perennial found wild all over Great Britain in pastures, lawns, and parks. Its roots are long and wiry, and, descending deep into the ground, ensure the herbage against suffering from drought. Its stem is from 1 to 2 feet high, and its leaves are slightly hairy.
Dog's-tooth Ornament, an architectural ornament or moulding consisting usually of four leaves radiating from a raised point at the centre. It is the characteristic decorated moulding of Early English architecture, as the zigzag is of the Norman.
Dog-tooth Spar, a form of mineral calcium carbonate or calc-spar found in Derbyshire and other parts of England, and named from a supposed resemblance of its pointed crystals to a dog's tooth.
Dog-watch, a nautical term distinguishing two watches of two hours each (4 to 6 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m.). All the other watches count four hours each, and without the introduction of the dog-watches the same hours would always fall to be kept as watch by the same portion of the crew.
Dogwood, a common name of trees of the genus Cornus, but specifically applied in Britain to C. sanguinea. It is a common shrub in copses and hedges in England; the small cream-white flowers are borne in dense roundish clusters. The branchlets and leaves become red in autumn. The wood is used for skewers and for charcoal for gunpowder.
Doit, an ancient Scottish coin, of which eight or twelve were equal to a penny sterling. In the Netherlands and Lower Germany there was a coin of similar name and value.
Dol, a town of France, department of Ille-et-Vilaine, 14 miles south-east by east of St. Malo. The old cathedral of St. Samson mostly dates back to the thirteenth century. To the north of the town stretches a salt-marsh, protected from inroads of the sea by a twelfth-century dyke, and in the centre of the marsh Mont-Dol rises to a height of 213 feet. Pop. 3540.
Dolci (dol´chē), Carlo, celebrated painter of the Florentine school, was born at Florence in 1616, and died there in 1686. His works, principally heads of madonnas and saints, have a character of sweetness and melancholy. Among his chief productions are: Archduchess Claudia, in the Uffizi (Florence); St. Cecilia at the Organ and Herodias with the Head of John the Baptist, both in the Dresden Gallery; Ecce Homo and St. Andrew in Prayer, at the Pitti Gallery; and Magdalene, at Munich.