D I S

161

D I S

Christ, in general ; but in a more restrained sense, the title isgiven to those alone who were the immediate followers and attend-ants on his person, of whom there were 70 or 72. The namesdisciple ami apostle are often sy nonimously used in the gospelhistory ; but sometimes the apostles are distinguished from disci-ples, as persons selected out ol the number of disciples, to be theprincipal ministers of his religion: of these there were only 12.The Latin -, kept the festival of the 70 or 72 disciples on July 15,and the Greeks on January 4.

DISCIPLINE, in a general sense, denotes instruction and go-vernmem, as military discipline, ecclesia-tieal discipline, &c.Ecclesiastical discipline consists in putting those laws in executionby whicli the church is governed, and inflicting the pena'lics en-joined by them against the several soils of offenders that professthe religion of Jesus ; the primitive church never pretended loex-

erci-e. 2 upon any but such as were within her pale, in

the largest sense, by some act of their own profession ; and evenupon these she never pretended to exercise her discipline so faras to cancel or disannul their baptism ; ail that she pretended to,was to deprive men of the benefits of externa! communion, suchas public prayer, receiving the eucharist, and other acts of divineworship. The church discipline was only confined to the admo-nition of the party, and to the less and greater excommunica-tion.

DISCLAIMER, is a plea containing an express denial, re-nouncing oi disclaiming; as if the tenant sues a replevin upon adistress taken by the lord, and the lord avows, saying that heholds of him as his lord, and that he distrained for rent not paid,or service no* performed ; then the tenant denying to hold of suchlord is said to disclaim ; and the lord proving the tenant to holdof him, the tenant lo-es his land. Co. on Lit. 102.

DISCONTINUANCE OF POSSESSION. A man miynot enter upon his own lands or tenements alienated (such alien-ation being discontinuance of possession,) whatsoever his right beto them, ot his own self, or by his own authority, but mustbring his writ, and seek to recover possession by law. Co. Rep.Jib. 3. 85.

Discontinuance of Process, is where the plaintiff leaves achasm in the proceedings of a cause, whereby the opportunity ofprosecution is lost for that time, in which case he must beginagain, and usually pay costs to the defendant, or the plaintiff' isdismissed the court, &c. Every suit, whether civil or criminal,and every process therein, ought to be properly continued fromclay to day, &c. from its commencement to its conclusion; andthe suffering of any default or gap herein, is called a discontinu-ance. 2 Haw. 298.

Discontinuance of Plea : if where divers tiling should bepleaded to, w hen some are omitted, this is a discontinuance.

DISCORD, in music, every sound which, joined with another,forms an assemblage disagreeable to the ear; or rather, every in-terval whose extremes do not coalesce. Now, as there are noother concords or consonances except those which form amongstthemselves, and with their fundamental sound, perfect chords, itfollows that every other interval must be a real dissonance or dis-cord; even the third and sixth were reckoned such among theancients, who excluded them from the number of consonantchords. The term dissonance, which is synonimnusl with discord, both in a literal and metaphorical sense, signifies disagree-ment or disunion. In reality, that which renders dissonance grat-ing, is, that the sounds which form them, far from uniting in theeai, seem to repel each other, and are heard each by itself, as Iwodistinct sounds thoHgh produced at the same tune. This repul-sion or violent oscillation of sounds is heard more or less fre-quently coincident. When two vocal strings are gradually tuned,till they approach a consonant interval, the pulsations becomeslower as the chord grows more just, till at last they are scarcelyJ-.eard, if heard at all ; from whence it appears certain that thepleasure produced in us by harmony results from the more or lessexact and frequent coincidence of vibrations; though the reasonwhy this coincidence should give pleasure more than any othermodification or combination of sounds, appears to us inscrutable.The agreeable clients of dissonance in harmony, are no objectionto this theory, since it is allowed, that the sensations excited by-discord are not in themselves immediately and necessarily pleas-ing, but only please by auricular deception. The ear is surprised

VOL. u.— no. 66.

with the shock it receives, without being able to imagine how itshould have happened; and in ptoporlibn as it is harsh and grat-ing, we feel the pleasure of returning harmony enhanced, and thedisappointment of being anlully and insensibly t’X'ricated moreagreeable. The name of dissonance, is given sometimes to theinterval, and some imes to each of the sounds which form it.Rut though two soon is equally form a dissonance between them-selves, the name is most frequently given to that sound in parti-cular w hich is most extram-ous to the chord. The number ofpossible dissonances is indefinite ; hut as in music we exclude allintervals which are not found in the system received, the numberof dissonances is reduced to a very tew : besides, in practice, we.can only select from those few, such as are agreeable to the spe-cies, ami the mode in which we compose ; and from this last num-ber we must exclude such as cannot he used consistently with therules prescribed. See Music.

DISCOUNT, in commerce, a term used by traders, mer-chants, ami bankers, especially by the two former when they pur-chase commodities on the usual time of credit, with a conditionthat 'lie seller should allow the buyer a cerlaio discount at the rateof so much per cent, per annum, tor the time for which the cre-dit is generally given, upon condition that the buyer pays readymoney for such commodities, instead of taking the time of credit.Traders and merchants are frequently taking promissory notes formonies due payable to them or order at a certain time, and some-times having occasion for money before the time-is elapsed, pro-cure these notes to be discounted by bankers before the time ofpayment. Rills of exchange are also discounted by bankers; andin this consists one article of the profits of banking. See Rank.Eor finding the discount of any sum for any time, see Arithme-tic and Interest.

DISCOURSE, [discursus,] among logicians, signifies the pro-gressive exercise ot reason in the search of truth ; as when fromself evident principles it discovers the truth of something it did notknow before ; by means of this, a second ; by that second, a third ;and so on. See Logic.

DISCOUS, [from discus, Lat.] broad, flat, wide. Used bybotanists to denote the middle, plain, and flat part ofsome flowers,such as die tlos soiis, 8cc.

DISCRETE, or DISJUNCT PROPORTION, is when theratio of two or more pairs of numbers or quantities is the same,but there is not the same proportion between all the four numbers.Ulus, if the numbers 3 : 6 : : 8 : 16 be considered, the ratio be-tween 3:6, is the same as that between 8 : 16, and therefore thenumbers are proportional; hut it is only discretely or disjunct!)’,for 3 is not to 6 as 6 to 8; that is, the proportion is broken off be-tween 8 ami 5, and is not continued in the following continualproportionals, 3 : (i : : 12 : 24. See Proportion,.

Discrete Quantity, such as is not continuous and joinedtogether. Such is a number whose parts being distinct units, can-not he united into one continuum : for in a continuum, there areno actual determinate parts before division, but they are poten-tialtv infinite.

DISCRETION E, in music, intimates to play or sing with at-tention and rare.

DISCRET1VE PROPOSITIONS, are those where variousjudgments are made and denoted by the particles but, notwith-standing, &c. either expressed or understood. Thus, fortune maydeprive me of my w ealth, but not of my vittue, is a decretive pro-position.

DISCUS, in antiquity, an instrument used by the ancients intheir public games. It is certain it was used in the gymnastic artfor preserving health and strengthening the constitution ; lint as toits front, its dimensions, and various uses, authors disagree. SeeDisc. The same exercise was performed with an instrumentcalled Ccxo;, which some distinguish from the discus, because thatwas made of iron, and the discus of stone; while others distin-guish them by the form, the being spherical, and (lie discusbroad.

Discus, in botany. See Botany. It generally consists ofsmall florets with a hollow regular petal. It is commonly sur-rounded by large, plain, or flat, tongue shaped petals, in the cir-cumference or margin ; as in daisy, groundsel, and leopard’s bane :sometimes the circumference is naked, as in cotton-weed and somespecies of coltsfoot.

2T

Discus