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DISPENSARY. During the early ages the monks wereaccustomed to practise the healing art, and had small de;>oUof medicine in their monasteries; the first regular dispen-sary, from which medicine was distributed to the poor gratui-tously, was established in the ducal palace of Stutgard, inthe sixteenth century.

The charitable dispensation of medicines by the Chinese itwell deserving notice; they have u stone which is ten cubit*high erected in the public squares of their cities, and on thi*stone is engraved the names of all sorts of medicines withthe price of each : whan therefore, the poor stand in need ofany relief, they go to the Treasury where they receive th«price each medicine is rated at.

DISPENSATORY. The first book written for the use ofajK>thecarics, was according to lieckman, drawn up by Yale*rius C'ordus, or at least his was the first made known by theapprobation of public magistrates ; in which the word dis-pensatorium was made use of for a collection of receipts,with directions how to prepare the medicines most in use.

DISTILLATION. The Egyptians were well acquaintedwith the method of distilling in the time of Diodesian, whobegan his reign A. D. 28r, and being enraged at them onaccount of an insurrection, is said to have burnt their writ-ings relating to the distilling of gold and silver. It is certainthat this art was not known to the ancient Greeks andRomans, since neither Pliny nor any other Latin or Greekwriter makes mention of it. The African Moors, in theirconquest of Spain , introduced this important branch of che-mistry into Europe , in the middle of the twelfth century.

DIVING. Anciently a dass of people called divers wereemployed to recover goods thrown overboard, and allowed ashare of the wreck proportionate to the depth to which they