Dor´ohoi, a town of Roumania in N.W.
Moldavia, near the Austrian frontier. Pop. 11,140.—The department of Dorohoi has an area of 1090 sq. miles, and a pop. of 189,789.
Dor´pat (Tartu), a town, formerly in the Russian province of Livonia, now belonging to the Republic of Esthonia. It is situated on the Embach, about 135 miles N.E. of Riga. Dorpat is chiefly remarkable for its university and other educational establishments. It is an ancient town, and was once a member of the Hanseatic Union. Captured by the Russians in 1559, it was ceded to Poland in 1582, was subsequently taken by the Swedes, and in 1704 passed to the Russians, who called it Yuryev. The town was occupied by the Germans on 18th Feb., 1918. The vernacular language is Esthonian, but the upper classes speak German. Pop. 44,140.
D'Orsay, Alfred, Count, a dilettante artist and man of fashion, born at Paris 1801, died 1852. When a young man he visited England, and became acquainted with Byron and other literary and fashionable celebrities. He married a daughter of the Earl of Blessington, but after the earl's death a separation took place, and D'Orsay became an inmate of Gore House, which the Countess of Blessington had made the centre of a famous literary coterie. A zealous Bonapartist, he followed Prince Louis Napoleon to Paris in 1849, and enjoyed his favour till his death. Disraeli has described him in his novel Henrietta Temple, under the name of 'Count Mirabel'.—Cf. Richard Madden, Life of Lady Blessington.
Dorset, Earls of. See Sackville.
Dorset, or Dorsetshire, a maritime county in the south of England, having on the south the English Channel; area, 627,265 acres, over 490,000 being under crop. The general surface of the county is undulating; its principal elevations being chalk hills known as the North and South Downs, upon which immense flocks of sheep are pastured. On the south, on the borders of Hampshire and along part of the sea-coast, is a heathy common. A great part of the county is in grass, and dairy husbandry is extensively carried on. Neither coal nor ores of any kind are found, but the quarries yield the well-known Portland stone. Pipe-clay, plastic clay, and potter's clay also abound. The principal manufactures are those of flax, canvas, duck, &c., also silk and woollens. The fish frequenting the coast are of various kinds, but mackerel is the most abundant. Near the mouth of Poole harbour is a prolific oyster bank. The principal rivers are the Stour, the Frome, and the Piddle. The county has four parliamentary divisions, with a member for each. Dorchester is the county town. Other towns are Bridport, Poole, and Weymouth. Pop. 223,274.
Dorsetshire Regiment, The, once known as the East Middlesex, dates from 1702, and is intimately associated with Gibraltar, which it twice defended during siege (1727 and 1779-82). For its services in India under Clive it bears the motto Primus in Indis. It later took part in the relief of Ladysmith, and during the European War suffered heavily on the Western front, being also represented at Kut and Ramadie.
Dorste´nia, a genus of plants, nat. ord. Moraceæ, found in tropical America. They have their naked flowers buried in a flat, fleshy, somewhat concave receptacle. D. Contrayerva and other species have a stimulant and tonic rhizome, which is used medicinally under the name of contrayerva.
Dort, or Dordrecht, a town, Holland, province of South Holland, 14 miles S.E. of Rotterdam, on the Merwede, an arm or part of the Maas, and on an island separated from the mainland by an inundation in 1421. It is an old town, founded in 1018 by Count Dietrich III of Holland, with a fine Gothic Church (Groote Kerk, 'Great Church'), a good town-house and museum. It was formerly of more importance than now, but it still carries on an extensive trade, being not only near the sea, but by the Rhine, the Maas, and other water communications, connected with an immense extent of inland territory. Pop. 47,300.
Dort, Synod of, an assembly of Protestant divines convoked at Dort on 13th Nov., 1618, dissolved on 9th May, 1619. Besides the Dutch and Walloon divines, it included representatives from England, Scotland, Switzerland, and part of Germany, in all about sixty-two native and twenty-four foreign deputies. The Synod was convoked principally for the sake of crushing the Arminian party, and extreme measures were taken to prevent that party being represented in the assembly or having a free voice there. The result was the condemnation of the Arminians and the dogmatic establishment of Calvinism in the Reformed Church. The Synod also set on foot the Dutch translation of the Bible known as the Dort Bible.