Crinoids were very abundant in some parts of the Devonian sea, though they were relatively scarce in others; they include the genera Melocrinus, Haplocrinus, Cupressocrinus, Calceocrinus and Eleuthrocrinus. The cystideans were falling off (Proteocystis, Tiaracrinus), but blastoids were in the ascendant (Nucleocrinus, Codaster, &c.). Both brittle-stars, Ophiura, Palaeophiura, Eugaster, and true starfishes, Palaeaster, Aspidosoma, were present, as well as urchins (Lepidocentrus).

When we turn to the crustaceans we have to deal with two distinct assemblages, one purely marine, trilobitic, the other mainly lacustrine or lagoonal with a eurypteridian facies. The trilobites had already begun to decline in importance, and as happens not infrequently with degenerating races of beasts and men, they began to develop strange eccentricities of ornamentation in some of their genera. A number of Silurian genera lived on into the Devonian period, and some gradually developed into new and distinctive forms; such were Proetus, Harpes, Cheirurus, Bronteus and others. Distinct species of Phacops mark the Lower and Upper Devonian respectively, while the genus Dalmania (Odontochile) was represented by species with an almost world-wide range. The Ostracod Entomis (Cypridina) was extremely abundant in places—Cypridinen-Schiefer—while the true Cypridina was also present along with Beyrichia, Leperditia, &c. The Phyllocarids, Echinocaris, Eleuthrocaris, Tropidocaris, are common in the United States. It is in the Old Red Sandstone that the eurypterids are best preserved; foremost among these was Pterygotus; P. anglicus has been found in Scotland with a length of nearly 6 ft.; Eurypterus, Slimonia, Stylonurus were other genera.

Insects appear well developed, including both orthopterous and neuropterous forms, in the New Brunswick rocks. Mr Scudder believed he had obtained a specimen of Orthoptera in which a stridulating organ was present. A species of Ephemera, allied to the modern may-fly, had a spread of wing extending to 5 in. In the Scottish Old Red Sandstone myriapods, Kampecaris and Archidesmus, have been described; they are somewhat simpler than more recent forms, each segment being separate, and supplied with only one pair of walking legs. Spiders and scorpions also lived upon the land.

The great number of fish remains in the Devonian and Old Red strata, coupled with the truly remarkable characters possessed by some of the forms, has caused the period to be described as the "age of fishes." As in the case of the crustaceans, referred to above, we find one assemblage more or less peculiar to the freshwater or brackish conditions of the Old Red, and another characteristic of the marine Devonian; on the whole the former is the richer in variety, but there seems little doubt that quite a number of genera were capable of living in either environment, whatever may have been the real condition of the Old Red waters. Foremost in interest are the curious ostracoderms, a remarkable group of creatures possessing many of the characteristics of fishes, but more probably belonging to a distinct class of organisms, which appears to link the vertebrates with the arthropods. They had come into existence late in Silurian times; but it is in the Old Red strata that their remains are most fully preserved. They were abundant in the fresh or brackish waters of Scotland, England, Wales, Russia and Canada, and are represented by such forms as Pteraspis, Cephalaspis, Cyathaspis, Tremataspis, Bothriolepis and Pterichthys.

In the lower members of the Old Red series Dipterus, and in the upper members Phaneropleuron, represented the dipnoid lung-fishes; and it is of extreme interest to note that a few of these curious forms still survive in the African Protopterus, the Australian Ceratodus and the South American Lepidosiren,—all freshwater fishes. Distantly related to the lung-fishes were the singular arthrodirans, a group possessing the unusual faculty of moving the head in a vertical plane. These comprise the wide-ranging Coccosteus with Homosteus and Dinichthys, the largest fish of the period. The latter probably reached 20 ft. in length; it was armed with exceedingly powerful jaws provided with turtle-like beaks. Sharks were fairly prominent denizens of the sea; some were armed with cutting teeth, others with crushing dental plates; and although they were on the whole marine fishes, they were evidently able to live in fresher waters, like some of their modern representatives, for their remains, mostly teeth and large dermal spines, are found both in the Devonian and Old Red rocks. Mesacanthus, Diplacanthus, Climatius, Cheiracanthus are characteristic genera. The crossopterygians, ganoids with a scaly lobe in the centre of the fins, were represented by Holoptychius and Glyptopomus in the Upper Old Red, and by such genera as Diplopterus, Osteolepis, Gyroptychius in the lower division. The Polypterus of the Nile and Calamoichthys of South Africa are the modern exemplars of this group. Cheirolepis, found in the Old Red of Scotland and Canada, is the only Devonian representative of the actinopterygian fishes. The cyclostome fishes have, so far, been discovered only in Scotland, in the tiny Palaeospondylus. Amphibian remains have been found in the Devonian of Belgium; and footprints supposed to belong to a creature of the same class (Thinopus antiquus) have been described by Professor Marsh from the Chemung formation of Pennsylvania.

Plant Life.—In the lacustrine deposits of the Old Red Sandstone we find the earliest well-defined assemblage of terrestrial plants. In some regions so abundant are the vegetable remains that in places they form thin seams of veritable coal. These plants evidently flourished around the shores of the lakes and lagoons in which their remains were buried along with the other forms of life. Lycopods and ferns were the predominant types; and it is important to notice that both groups were already highly developed. The ferns include the genera Sphenopteris, Megalopteris, Archaeopteris, Neuropteris. Among the Lycopods are Lycopodites, Psilophyton, Lepidodendron. Modern horsetails are represented by Calamocladus, Asterocalamites, Annularia. Of great interest are the genera Cordaites, Araucarioxylon, &c., which were synthetic types, uniting in some degree the Coniferae and the Cycadofilicales. With the exception of obscure markings, aquatic plants are not so well represented as might have been expected; Parka, a common fossil, has been regarded as a water plant with a creeping stem and two kinds of sporangia in sessile sporocarps.

Physical Conditions, &c.—Perhaps the most striking fact that is brought out by a study of the Devonian rocks and their fossils is the gradual transgression of the sea over the land, which took place quietly in every quarter of the globe shortly after the beginning of the period. While in most places the Lower Devonian sediments succeed the Silurian formations in a perfectly conformable manner, the Middle and Upper divisions, on account of this encroachment of the sea, rest unconformably upon the older rocks, the Lower division being unrepresented. This is true over the greater part of South America, so far as our limited knowledge goes, in much of the western side of North America, in western Russia, in Thuringia and other parts of central Europe. Of the distribution of land and sea and the position of the coast lines in Devonian times we can state nothing with precision. The known deposits all point to shallow waters of epicontinental seas; no abyssal formations have been recognized. E. Kayser has pointed out the probability of a Eurasian sea province extending through Europe towards the east, across north and central Asia towards Manitoba in Canada, and an American sea province embracing the United States, South America and South Africa. At the same time there existed a great North Atlantic land area caused partly by the uplift of the Caledonian range just before the beginning of the period, which stretched across north Europe to eastern Canada; on the fringe of this land the Old Red Sandstone was formed.

In the European area C. Barrois has indicated the existence of three zones of deposition: (1) A northern, Old Red, region, including Great Britain, Scandinavia, European Russia and Spitzbergen; here the land was close at hand; great brackish lagoons prevailed, which communicated more or less directly with the open sea. In European Russia, during its general advance, the sea occasionally gained access to wide areas, only to be driven off again, during pauses in the relative subsidence of the land, when the continued terrigenous sedimentation once more established the lagoonal conditions. These alternating phases were frequently repeated. (2) A middle region, covering Devonshire and Cornwall, the Ardennes, the northern part of the lower Rhenish mountains, and the upper Harz to the Polish Mittelgebirge; here we find evidence of a shallow sea, clastic deposits and a sublittoral fauna. (3) A southern region reaching from Brittany to the south of the Rhenish mountains, lower Harz, Thuringia and Bohemia; here was a deeper sea with a more pelagic fauna. It must be borne in mind that the above-mentioned regions are intended to refer to the time when the extension of the Devonian sea was near its maximum. In the case of North America it has been shown that in early and middle Devonian time more or less distinct faunas invaded the continent from five different centres, viz. the Helderberg, the Oriskany, the Onondaga, the southern Hamilton and the north-western Hamilton; these reached the interior approximately in the order given.

Towards the close of the period, when the various local faunas had mingled one with another and a more generalized life assemblage had been evolved, we find many forms with a very wide range, indicating great uniformity of conditions. Thus we find identical species of brachiopods inhabiting the Devonian seas of England, France, Belgium, Germany, Russia, southern Asia and China; such are, Hypothyris (Rhynchonella) cuboides, Spirifer disjunctus and others. The fauna of the Calceola shales can be traced from western Europe to Armenia and Siberia; the Stringocephalus limestones are represented in Belgium, England, the Urals and Canada; and the (Gephyroceras) intumescens shales are found in western Europe and in Manitoba.

The Devonian period was one of comparative quietude; no violent crustal movements seem to have taken place, and while some changes of level occurred towards its close in Great Britain, Bohemia and Russia, generally the passage from Devonian to Carboniferous conditions was quite gradual. In later periods these rocks have suffered considerable movement and metamorphism, as in the Harz, Devonshire and Cornwall, and in the Belgian coalfields, where they have frequently been thrust over the younger Carboniferous rocks. Volcanic activity was fairly widespread, particularly during the middle portion of the period. In the Old Red rocks of Scotland there is a great thickness (6000 ft.) of igneous rocks, including diabases and andesitic lavas with agglomerates and tuffs. In Devonshire diabases and tuffs are found in the middle division. In west central Europe volcanic rocks are found at many horizons, the most common rocks are diabases and diabase tuffs, schalstein. Felsitic lavas and tuffs occur in the Middle Devonian of Australia. Contemporaneous igneous rocks are generally absent in the American Devonian, but in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick there appear to be some.

There is little evidence as to the climate of this period, but it is interesting to observe that local glacial conditions may have existed in places, as is suggested by the coarse conglomerate with striated boulders in the upper Old Red of Scotland. On the other hand, the prevalence of reef-building corals points to moderately warm temperatures in the Middle Devonian seas.

The economic products of Devonian rocks are of some importance: in many of the metamorphosed regions veins of tin, lead, copper, iron are exploited, as in Cornwall, Devon, the Harz; in New Zealand, gold veins occur. Anthracite of Devonian age is found in China and a little coal in Germany, while the Upper Devonian is the chief source of oil and gas of western Pennsylvania and south-western New York. In Ontario the middle division is oil-bearing. Black phosphates are worked in central Tennessee, and in England the marls of the "Old Red" are employed for brick-making.

REFERENCES.—The literature of the Devonian rocks and fossils is very extensive; important papers have been contributed by the following geologists: J. Barrande, C. Barrois, F. Beclard, E. W. Benecke, L. Beushausen, A. Champernowne, J. M. Clarke, Sir J. W. Dawson, A. Denckmann, J. S. Diller, E. Dupont, F. Frech, J. Fournet, Sir A. Geikie, G. Guerich, R. Hoernes, E. Kayser, C. and M. Koch, A. von Koenen, Hugh Miller, D. P. Oehlert, C. S. Prosser, P. de Rouville, C. Schuchert, T. Tschernyschew, E. O. Ulrich, W. A. E. Ussher, P. N. Wenjukoff, G. F. Whidborne, J. F. Whiteaves and H. S. Williams. Sedgwick and Murchison's original description appeared in the Trans. Geol. Soc. (2nd series, vol. v., 1839). Good general accounts will be found in Sir A. Geikie's Text-Book of Geology (vol. ii., 4th ed., 1903), in E. Kayser's Lehrbuch der Geologie (vol. ii., 2nd ed., 1902), and, for North America, in Chamberlin and Salisbury's Geology (vol. ii., 1906). See the Index to the Geological Magazine (1864-1903), and in subsequent annual volumes; Geological Literature added to the Geological Society's Library (London), annually since 1893; and the Neues Jahrbuch fuer Min., Geologie und Palaeontologie (Stuttgart, 2 annual volumes). The U.S. Geological Survey publishes at intervals a Bibliography and Index of North American Geology, &c., and this (e.g. Bulletin 301,—the Bibliog. and Index for 1901-1905) contains numerous references for the Devonian system in North America. (J. A. H.)

DEVONPORT, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Devonshire, England, contiguous to East Stonehouse and Plymouth, the seat of one of the royal dockyards, and an important naval and military station. Pop. (1901) 70,437. It is situated immediately above the N.W. angle of Plymouth Sound, occupying a triangular peninsula formed by Stonehouse Pool on the E. and the Hamoaze on the W. It is served by the Great Western and the London & South Western railways. The town proper was formerly enclosed by a line of ramparts and a ditch excavated out of the limestone, but these are in great part demolished. Adjoining Devonport are East Stonehouse (an urban district, pop. 15,111), Stoke and Morice Town, the two last being suburbs of Devonport. The town hall, erected in 1821-1822 partly after the design of the Parthenon, is distinguished by a Doric portico; while near it are the public library, in Egyptian style, and a conspicuous Doric column built of Devonshire granite. This monument, which is 100 ft. high, was raised in commemoration of the naming of the town in 1824. Other institutions are the Naval Engineering College, Keyham (1880); the municipal technical schools, opened in 1899, the majority of the students being connected with the dockyard; the naval barracks, Keyham (1885); the Raglan barracks and the naval and military hospitals. On Mount Wise, which was formerly defended by a battery (now a naval signalling station), stands the military residence, or Government House, occupied by the commander of the Plymouth Coast Defences; and near at hand is the principal naval residence, the naval commander-in-chief's house. The prospect from Mount Wise over the Hamoaze to Mount Edgecumbe on the opposite shore is one of the finest in the south of England. The most noteworthy feature of Devonport, however, is the royal dockyard, originally established by William III. in 1689 and until 1824 known as Plymouth Dock. It is situated within the old town boundary and contains four docks. To this in 1853 was added Keyham steamyard, situated higher up the Hamoaze beyond the old boundary and connected with the Devonport yard by a tunnel. In 1896 further extensions were begun at the Keyham yard, which became known as Devonport North yard. Before these were begun the yard comprised two basins, the northern one being 9 acres and the southern 7 acres in area, and three docks, having floor-lengths of 295, 347 and 413 ft., together with iron and brass foundries, machinery shops, engineer students' shop, &c. The new extensions, opened by the Prince of Wales on the 21st of February 1907, cover a total area of 118 acres lying to the northward in front of the Naval Barracks, and involved the reclamation of 77 acres of mudflats lying below high-water mark. The scheme presented three leading features—a tidal basin, a group of three graving docks with entrance lock, and a large enclosed basin with a coaling depot at the north end. The tidal basin, close to the old Keyham north basin, is 740 ft. long with a mean width of 590 ft., and has an area of 10 acres, the depth being 32 ft. at low water of spring tides. It affords access to two graving docks, one with a floor-length of 745 ft. and 20 1/2 ft. of water over the sill, and the other with a length of 741 ft. and 32 ft. of water over the sill. Each of these can be subdivided by means of an intermediate caisson, and (when unoccupied) may serve as an entrance to the closed basin. The lock which leads from the tidal to the closed basin is 730 ft. long, and if necessary can be used as a dock. The closed basin, out of which opens a third graving dock, 660 ft. long, measures 1550 ft. by 1000 ft. and has an area of 35 1/2 acres, with a depth of 32 ft. at low-water springs; it has a direct entrance from the Hamoaze, closed by a caisson. The foundations of the walls are carried down to the rock, which in some places lies covered with mud 100 ft. or more below coping level. Compressed air is used to work the sliding caissons which close the entrances of the docks and closed basin. A ropery at Devonport produces half the hempen ropes used in the navy.

By the Reform Act of 1832 Devonport was erected into a parliamentary borough including East Stonehouse and returning two members. The ground on which it stands is for the most part the property of the St Aubyn family (Barons St Levan), whose steward holds a court leet and a court baron annually. The town is governed by a mayor, sixteen aldermen and forty-eight councillors. Area, 3044 acres.

DEVONPORT, EAST and WEST, a town of Devon county, Tasmania, situated on both sides of the mouth of the river Mersey, 193 m. by rail N.W. of Hobart. Pop. (1901), East Devonport, 673, West Devonport, 2101. There is regular communication from this port to Melbourne and Sydney, and it ranks as the third port in Tasmania. A celebrated regatta is held on the Mersey annually on New Year's day.

DEVONSHIRE, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The Devonshire title, now in the Cavendish family, had previously been held by Charles Blount (1563-1606), 8th Lord Mountjoy, great-grandson of the 4th Lord Mountjoy (d. 1534), the pupil of Erasmus; he was created earl of Devonshire in 1603 for his services in Ireland, where he became famous in subduing the rebellion between 1600 and 1603; but the title became extinct at his death. In the Cavendish line the 1st earl of Devonshire was William (d. 1626), second son of Sir William Cavendish (q.v.), and of Elizabeth Hardwick, who afterwards married the 6th earl of Shrewsbury. He was created earl of Devonshire in 1618 by James I., and was succeeded by William, 2nd earl (1591-1628), and the latter by his son William (1617-1684), a prominent royalist, and one of the original members of the Royal Society, who married a daughter of the 2nd earl of Salisbury.

WILLIAM CAVENDISH, 1st duke of Devonshire (1640-1707), English statesman, eldest son of the earl of Devonshire last mentioned, was born on the 25th of January 1640. After completing his education he made the tour of Europe according to the custom of young men of his rank, being accompanied on his travels by Dr Killigrew. On his return he obtained, in 1661, a seat in parliament for Derbyshire, and soon became conspicuous as one of the most determined and daring opponents of the general policy of the court. In 1678 he was one of the committee appointed to draw up articles of impeachment against the lord treasurer Danby. In 1679 he was re-elected for Derby, and made a privy councillor by Charles II.; but he soon withdrew from the board with his friend Lord Russell, when he found that the Roman Catholic interest uniformly prevailed. He carried up to the House of Lords the articles of impeachment against Lord Chief-Justice Scroggs, for his arbitrary and illegal proceedings in the court of King's bench; and when the king declared his resolution not to sign the bill for excluding the duke of York, afterwards James II., he moved in the House of Commons that a bill might be brought in for the association of all his majesty's Protestant subjects. He also openly denounced the king's counsellors, and voted for an address to remove them. He appeared in defence of Lord Russell at his trial, at a time when it was scarcely more criminal to be an accomplice than a witness. After the condemnation he gave the utmost possible proof of his attachment by offering to exchange clothes with Lord Russell in the prison, remain in his place, and so allow him to effect his escape. In November 1684 he succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father. He opposed arbitrary government under James II. with the same consistency and high spirit as during the previous reign. He was withdrawn from public life for a time, however, in consequence of a hasty and imprudent act of which his enemies knew how to avail themselves. Fancying that he had received an insulting look in the presence chamber from Colonel Colepepper, a swaggerer whose attendance at court the king encouraged, he immediately avenged the affront by challenging the colonel, and, on the challenge being refused, striking him with his cane. This offence was punished by a fine of L30,000, which was an enormous sum even to one of the earl's princely fortune. Not being able to pay he was imprisoned in the king's bench, from which he was released only on signing a bond for the whole amount. This was afterwards cancelled by King William. After his discharge the earl went for a time to Chatsworth, where he occupied himself with the erection of a new mansion, designed by William Talman, with decorations by Verrio, Thornhill and Grinling Gibbons. The Revolution again brought him into prominence. He was one of the seven who signed the original paper inviting the prince of Orange from Holland, and was the first nobleman who appeared in arms to receive him at his landing. He received the order of the Garter on the occasion of the coronation, and was made lord high steward of the new court. In 1690 he accompanied King William on his visit to Holland. He was created marquis of Hartington and duke of Devonshire in 1694 by William and Mary, on the same day on which the head of the house of Russell was created duke of Bedford. Thus, to quote Macaulay, "the two great houses of Russell and Cavendish, which had long been closely connected by friendship and by marriage, by common opinions, common sufferings and common triumphs, received on the same day the highest honour which it is in the power of the crown to confer." His last public service was assisting to conclude the union with Scotland, for negotiating which he and his eldest son, the marquis of Hartington, had been appointed among the commissioners by Queen Anne. He died on the 18th of August 1707, and ordered the following inscription to be put on his monument:-

Willielmus Dux Devon, Bonorum Principum Fidelis Subditus, Inimicus et Invisus Tyrannis.

He had married in 1661 the daughter of James, duke of Ormonde, and he was succeeded by his eldest son William as 2nd duke, and by the latter's son William as 3rd duke (viceroy of Ireland, 1737-1744). The latter's son William (1720-1764) succeeded in 1755 as 4th duke; he married the daughter and heiress of Richard Boyle, earl of Burlington and Cork, who brought Lismore Castle and the Irish estates into the family; and from November 1756 to May 1757 he was prime minister, mainly in order that Pitt, who would not then serve under the duke of Newcastle, should be in power. His son William (1748-1811), 5th duke, is memorable as the husband of the beautiful Georgiana Spencer, duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806), and of the intellectual Elizabeth Foster, duchess of Devonshire (1758-1824), both of whom Gainsborough painted. His son William, 6th duke (1790-1858), who died unmarried, was sent on a special mission to the coronation of the tsar Nicholas at Moscow in 1826, and became famous for his expenditure on that occasion; and it was he who employed Sir Joseph Paxton at Chatsworth. The title passed in 1858 to his cousin William (1808-1891), 2nd earl of Burlington, as 7th duke, a man who, without playing a prominent part in public affairs, exercised great influence, not only by his position but by his distinguished abilities. At Cambridge in 1829 he was second wrangler, first Smith's prizeman, and eighth classic, and subsequently he became chancellor of the university.

SPENCER COMPTON CAVENDISH, 8th duke (1833-1908), born on the 23rd of July 1833, was the son of the 7th duke (then earl of Burlington) and his wife Lady Blanche Howard (sister of the earl of Carlisle). In 1854 Lord Cavendish, as he then was, took his degree at Trinity College, Cambridge; in 1856 he was attached to the special mission to Russia for the new tsar's accession; and in 1857 he was returned to parliament as Liberal member for North Lancashire. At the opening of the new parliament of 1859 the marquis of Hartington (as he had now become) moved the amendment to the address which overthrew the government of Lord Derby. In 1863 he became first a lord of the admiralty, and then under-secretary for war, and on the formation of the Russell-Gladstone administration at the death of Lord Palmerston he entered it as war secretary. He retired with his colleagues in July 1866; but upon Mr Gladstone's return to power in 1868 he became postmaster-general, an office which he exchanged in 1871 for that of secretary for Ireland. When Mr Gladstone, after his defeat and resignation in 1874, temporarily withdrew from the leadership of the Liberal party in January 1875, Lord Hartington was chosen Liberal leader in the House of Commons, Lord Granville being leader in the Lords. Mr W. E. Forster, who had taken a much more prominent part in public life, was the only other possible nominee, but he declined to stand. Lord Hartington's rank no doubt told in his favour, and Mr Forster's education bill had offended the Nonconformist members, who would probably have withheld their support. Lord Hartington's prudent management in difficult circumstances laid his followers under great obligations, since not only was the opposite party in the ascendant, but his own former chief was indulging in the freedom of independence. After the complete defeat of the Conservatives in the general election of 1880, a large proportion of the party would have rejoiced if Lord Hartington could have taken the Premiership instead of Mr Gladstone, and the queen, in strict conformity with constitutional usage (though Gladstone himself thought Lord Granville should have had the preference), sent for him as leader of the Opposition. Mr Gladstone, however, was clearly master of the situation: no cabinet could be formed without him, nor could he reasonably be expected to accept a subordinate post. Lord Hartington, therefore, gracefully abdicated the leadership, and became secretary of state for India, from which office, in December 1882, he passed to the war office. His administration was memorable for the expeditions of General Gordon and Lord Wolseley to Khartum, and a considerable number of the Conservative party long held him chiefly responsible for the "betrayal of Gordon." His lethargic manner, apart from his position as war minister, helped to associate him in their minds with a disaster which emphasized the fact that the government acted "too late"; but Gladstone and Lord Granville were no less responsible than he. In June 1885 he resigned along with his colleagues, and in December was elected for the Rossendale Division of Lancashire, created by the new reform bill. Immediately afterwards the great political opportunity of Lord Hartington's life came to him in Mr Gladstone's conversion to home rule for Ireland. Lord Hartington's refusal to follow his leader in this course inevitably made him the chief of the new Liberal Unionist party, composed of a large and influential section of the old Liberals. In this capacity he moved the first resolution at the famous public meeting at the opera house, and also, in the House of Commons, moved the rejection of Mr Gladstone's Bill on the second reading. During the memorable electoral contest which followed, no election excited more interest than Lord Hartington's for the Rossendale division, where he was returned by a majority of nearly 1500 votes. In the new parliament he held a position much resembling that which Sir Robert Peel had occupied after his fall from power, the leader of a small, compact party, the standing and ability of whose members were out of all proportion to their numbers, generally esteemed and trusted beyond any other man in the country, yet in his own opinion forbidden to think of office. Lord Salisbury's offers to serve under him as prime minister (both after the general election, and again when Lord Randolph Churchill resigned) were declined, and Lord Hartington continued to discharge the delicate duties of the leader of a middle party with no less judgment than he had shown when leading the Liberals during the interregnum of 1875-1880. It was not until 1895, when the differences between Conservatives and Liberal Unionists had become almost obliterated by changed circumstances, and the habit of acting together, that the duke of Devonshire, as he had become by the death of his father in 1891, consented to enter Lord Salisbury's third ministry as president of the council. The duke thus was the nominal representative of education in the cabinet at a time when educational questions were rapidly becoming of great importance; and his own technical knowledge of this difficult and intricate question being admittedly superficial, a good deal of criticism from time to time resulted. He had however by this time an established position in public life, and a reputation for weight of character, which procured for him universal respect and confidence, and exempted him from bitter attack, even from his most determined political opponents. Wealth and rank combined with character to place him in a measure above party; and his succession to his father as chancellor of the university of Cambridge in 1892 indicated his eminence in the life of the country. In the same year he had married the widow of the 7th duke of Manchester.

He continued to hold the office of lord president of the council till the 3rd of October 1903, when he resigned on account of differences with Mr BALFOUR (q.v.) over the latter's attitude towards free trade. As Mr Chamberlain had retired from the cabinet, and the duke had not thought it necessary to join Lord George Hamilton and Mr Ritchie in resigning a fortnight earlier, the defection was unanticipated and was sharply criticized by Mr Balfour, who, in the rearrangement of his ministry, had only just appointed the duke's nephew and heir, Mr Victor Cavendish, to be secretary to the treasury. But the duke had come to the conclusion that while he himself was substantially a free-trader,[1] Mr Balfour did not mean the same thing by the term. He necessarily became the leader of the Free Trade Unionists who were neither Balfourites nor Chamberlainites, and his weight was thrown into the scale against any association of Unionism with the constructive policy of tariff reform, which he identified with sheer Protection. A struggle at once began within the Liberal Unionist organization between those who followed the duke and those who followed Mr CHAMBERLAIN (q.v.); but the latter were in the majority and a reorganization in the Liberal Unionist Association took place, the Unionist free-traders seceding and becoming a separate body. The duke then became president of the new organizations, the Unionist Free Food League and the Unionist Free Trade Club. In the subsequent developments the duke played a dignified but somewhat silent part, and the Unionist rout in 1906 was not unaffected by his open hostility to any taint of compromise with the tariff reform movement. But in the autumn of 1907 his health gave way, and grave symptoms of cardiac weakness necessitated his abstaining from public effort and spending the winter abroad. He died, rather suddenly, at Cannes on the 24th of March 1908.

The head of an old and powerful family, a wealthy territorial magnate, and an Englishman with thoroughly national tastes for sport, his weighty and disinterested character made him a statesman of the first rank in his time, in spite of the absence of showy or brilliant qualities. He had no self-seeking ambitions, and on three occasions preferred not to become prime minister. Though his speeches were direct and forcible, he was not an orator, nor "clever"; and he lacked all subtlety of intellect; but he was conspicuous for solidity of mind and straightforwardness of action, and for conscientious application as an administrator, whether in his public or private life. The fact that he once yawned in the middle of a speech of his own was commonly quoted as characteristic; but he combined a great fund of common sense and knowledge of the average opinion with a patriotic sense of duty towards the state. Throughout his career he remained an old-fashioned Liberal, or rather Whig, of a type which in his later years was becoming gradually more and more rare.

There was no issue of his marriage, and he was succeeded as 9th duke by his nephew VICTOR CHRISTIAN CAVENDISH (b. 1868), who had been Liberal Unionist member for West Derbyshire since 1891, and was treasurer of the household (1900 to 1903) and financial secretary to the treasury (1903 to 1905); in 1892 he married a daughter of the marquess of Lansdowne, by whom he had two sons. (H. CH.)

[1] His own words to Mr Balfour at the time were: "I believe that our present system of free imports is on the whole the most advantageous to the country, though I do not contend that the principles on which it rests possess any such authority or sanctity as to forbid any departure from it, for sufficient reasons."

DEVONSHIRE (DEVON), a south-western county of England, bounded N.W. and N. by the Bristol Channel, N.E. by Somerset and Dorset, S.E. and S. by the English Channel, and W. by Cornwall. The area, 2604.9 sq. m., is exceeded only by those of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire among the English counties. Nearly the whole of the surface is uneven and hilly. The county contains the highest land in England south of Derbyshire (excepting points on the south Welsh border); and the scenery, much varied, is in most parts striking and picturesque. The heather-clad uplands of Exmoor, though chiefly within the borders of Somerset, extend into North Devon, and are still the haunt of red deer, and of the small hardy ponies called after the district. Here, as on Dartmoor, the streams are rich in trout. Dartmoor, the principal physical feature of the county, is a broad and lofty expanse of moorland which rises in the southern part. Its highest point, 2039 ft., is found in the north-western portion. Its rough wastes contrast finely with the wild but wooded region which immediately surrounds the granite of which it is composed, and with the rich cultivated country lying beyond. Especially noteworthy in this fertile tract are the South Hams, a fruitful district of apple orchards, lying between the Erme and the Dart; the rich meadow-land around Crediton, in the vale of Exeter; and the red rocks near Sidmouth. Two features which lend a characteristic charm to the Devonshire landscape are the number of picturesque old cottages roofed with thatch; and the deep lanes, sunk below the common level of the ground, bordered by tall hedges, and overshadowed by an arch of boughs. The north and south coasts of the county differ much in character, but both have grand cliff and rock scenery, not surpassed by any in England or Wales, resembling the Mediterranean seaboard in its range of colour. As a rule the long combes or glens down which the rivers flow seaward are densely wooded, and the country immediately inland is of great beauty. Apart from the Tamar, which constitutes the boundary between Devon and Cornwall, and flows into the English Channel, after forming in its estuary the harbours of Devonport and Plymouth, the principal rivers rise on Dartmoor. These include the Teign, Dart, Plym and Tavy, falling into the English Channel, and the Taw flowing north towards Bideford Bay. The river Torridge, also discharging northward, receives part of its waters from Dartmoor through the Okement, but itself rises in the angle of high land near Hartland point on the north coast, and makes a wide sweep southward. The lesser Dartmoor streams are the Avon, the Erme and the Vealm, all running south. The Exe rises on Exmoor in Somersetshire; but the main part of its course is through Devonshire (where it gives name to Exeter), and it is joined on its way to the English Channel by the lesser streams of the Culm, the Creedy and the Clyst. The Otter, rising on the Blackdown Hills, also runs south, and the Axe, for part of its course, divides the counties of Devon and Dorset. These eastern streams are comparatively slow; while the rivers of Dartmoor have a shorter and more rapid course.

Geology.—The greatest area occupied by any one group of rocks in Devonshire is that covered by the Culm, a series of slates, grits and greywackes, with some impure limestones and occasional radiolarian cherts as at Codden Hill; beds of "culm," an impure variety of coal, are found at Bideford and elsewhere. This series of rocks occurs at Bampton, Exeter and Chudleigh and extends thence to the western boundary. North and south of the Culm an older series of slates, grits and limestones appears; it was considered so characteristic of the county that it was called the DEVONIAN SYSTEM (q.v.), the marine equivalent of the Old Red Sandstone of Hereford and Scotland. It lies in the form of a trough with its axis running east and west. In the central hollow the Culm reposes, while the northern and southern rims rise to the surface respectively north of the latitude of Barnstaple and South Molton and south of the latitude of Tavistock. These Devonian rocks have been subdivided into upper, middle and lower divisions, but the stratigraphy is difficult to follow as the beds have suffered much crumpling; fine examples of contorted strata may be seen almost anywhere on the north coast, and in the south, at Bolt Head and Start Point they have undergone severe metamorphism. Limestones are only poorly developed in the north, but in the south important masses occur, in the middle and at the base of the upper subdivisions, about Plymouth, Torquay, Brixham and between Newton Abbot and Totnes. Fossil corals abound in these limestones, which are largely quarried and when polished are known as Devonshire marbles.

On the eastern side of the county is found an entirely different set of rocks which cover the older series and dip away from them gently towards the east. The lower and most westerly situated members of the younger rocks is a series of breccias, conglomerates, sandstones and marls which are probably of lower Bunter age, but by some geologists have been classed as Permian. These red rocks are beautifully exposed on the coast by Dawlish and Teignmouth, and they extend inland, producing a red soil, past Exeter and Tiverton. A long narrow strip of the same formation reaches out westward on the top of the Culm as far as Jacobstow. Farther east, the Bunter pebble beds are represented by the well-known pebble deposit of Budleigh Salterton, whence they are traceable inland towards Rockbeare. These are succeeded by the Keuper marls and sandstones, well exposed at Sidmouth, where the upper Greensand plateau is clearly seen to overlie them. The Greensand covers all the high ground northward from Sidmouth as far as the Blackdown Hills. At Beer Head and Axmouth the Chalk is seen, and at the latter place is a famous landslip on the coast, caused by the springs which issue from the Greensand below the Chalk. The Lower Chalk at Beer has been mined for building stone and was formerly in considerable demand. At the extreme east of the county, Rhaetic and Lias beds make their appearance, the former with a "bone" bed bearing the remains of saurians and fish.

Dartmoor is a mass of granite that was intruded into the Culm and Devonian strata in post-Carboniferous times and subsequently exposed by denudation. Evidences of Devonian volcanic activity are abundant in the masses of diabase, dolerite, &c., at Bradford and Trusham, south of Exeter, around Plymouth and at Ashprington. Perhaps the most interesting is the Carboniferous volcano of Brent Tor near Tavistock. An Eocene deposit, the product of the denudation of the Dartmoor Hills, lies in a small basin at Bovey Tracey (see BOVEY BEDS); it yields beds of lignite and valuable clays.

Raised beaches occur at Hope's Nose and the Thatcher Stone near Torquay and at other points, and a submerged forest lies in the bay south of the same place. The caves and fissures in the Devonian limestone at Kent's Hole near Torquay, Brixham and Oreston are famous for the remains of extinct mammals; bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, bear and hyaena have been found as well as flint implements of early man.

Minerals.—Silver-lead was formerly worked at Combe Martin near the north coast, and elsewhere. Tin has been worked on Dartmoor (in stream works) from an unknown period. Copper was not much worked before the end of the 18th century. Tin occurs in the granite of Dartmoor, and along its borders, but rather where the Devonian than where the Carboniferous rocks border the granite. It is found most plentifully in the district which surrounds Tavistock, which, for tin and other ores, is in effect the great mining district of the county. Here, about 4 m. from Tavistock, are the Devon Great Consols mines, which from 1843 to 1871 were among the richest copper mines in the world, and by far the largest and most profitable in the kingdom. The divided profits during this period amounted to L1,192,960. But the mining interests of Devonshire are affected by the same causes, and in the same way, as those of Cornwall. The quantity of ore has greatly diminished, and the cost of raising it from the deep mines prevents competition with foreign markets. In many mines tin underlies the general depth of the copper, and is worked when the latter has been exhausted. The mineral products of the Tavistock district are various, and besides tin and copper, ores of zinc and iron are largely distributed. Great quantities of refined arsenic have been produced at the Devon Great Consols mine, by elimination from the iron pyrites contained in the various lodes. Manganese occurs in the neighbourhood of Exeter, in the valley of the Teign and in N. Devon; but the most profitable mines, which are shallow, are, like those of tin and copper, in the Tavistock district.

The other mineral productions of the county consist of marbles, building stones, slates and potters' clay. Among building stones, the granite of Dartmoor holds the foremost place. It is much quarried near Princetown, near Moreton Hampstead on the N.E. of Dartmoor and elsewhere. The annual export is considerable. Hard traps, which occur in many places, are also much used, as are the limestones of Buckfastleigh and of Plymouth. The Roborough stone, used from an early period in Devonshire churches, is found near Tavistock, and is a hard, porphyritic elvan, taking a fine polish. Excellent roofing slates occur in the Devonian series round the southern part of Dartmoor. The chief quarries are near Ashburton and Plymouth (Cann quarry). Potters' clay is worked at King's Teignton, whence it is largely exported; at Bovey Tracey; and at Watcombe near Torquay. The Watcombe clay is of the finest quality. China clay or kaolin is found on the southern side of Dartmoor, at Lee Moor, and near Trowlesworthy. There is a large deposit of umber close to Ashburton.

Climate and Agriculture.—The climate varies greatly in different parts of the county, but everywhere it is more humid than that of the eastern or south-eastern parts of England. The mean annual temperature somewhat exceeds that of the midlands, but the average summer heat is rather less than that of the southern counties to the east. The air of the Dartmoor highlands is sharp and bracing. Mists are frequent, and snow often lies long. On the south coast frost is little known, and many half hardy plants, such as hydrangeas, myrtles, geraniums and heliotropes, live through the winter without protection. The climate of Sidmouth, Teignmouth, Torquay and other watering places on this coast is very equable, the mean temperature in January being 43.6 deg. at Plymouth. The north coast, exposed to the storms and swell of the Atlantic, is more bracing; although there also, in the more sheltered nooks (as at Combe Martin), myrtles of great size and age flower freely, and produce their annual crop of berries.

Rather less than three-quarters of the total area of the county is under cultivation; the cultivated area falling a little below the average of the English counties. There are, however, about 160,000 acres of hill pasture in addition to the area in permanent pasture, which is more than one-half that of the cultivated area. The Devon breed of cattle is well adapted both for fattening and for dairy purposes; while sheep are kept in great numbers on the hill pastures. Devonshire is one of the chief cattle-farming and sheep-farming counties. It is specially famous for two products of the dairy—the clotted cream to which it gives its name, and junket. Of the area under grain crops, oats occupy about three times the acreage under wheat or barley. The bulk of the acreage under green crops is occupied by turnips, swedes and mangold. Orchards occupy a large acreage, and consist chiefly of apple-trees, nearly every farm maintaining one for the manufacture of cider.

Fisheries.—Though the fisheries of Devon are less valuable than those of Cornwall, large quantities of the pilchard and herrings caught in Cornish waters are landed at Plymouth. Much of the fishing is carried on within the three-mile limit; and it may be asserted that trawling is the main feature of the Devonshire industry, whereas seining and driving characterize that of Cornwall. Pilchard, cod, sprats, brill, plaice, soles, turbot, shrimps, lobsters, oysters and mussels are met with, besides herring and mackerel, which are fairly plentiful. After Plymouth, the principal fishing station is at Brixham, but there are lesser stations in every bay and estuary.

Other Industries.—The principal industrial works in the county are the various Government establishments at Plymouth and Devonport. Among other industries may be noted the lace-works at Tiverton; the manufacture of pillow-lace for which Honiton and its neighbourhood has long been famous; and the potteries and terra-cotta works of Bovey Tracey and Watcombe. Woollen goods and serges are made at Buckfastleigh and Ashburton, and boots and shoes at Crediton. Convict labour is employed in the direction of agriculture, quarrying, &c., in the great prison of Dartmoor.

Communications.—The main line of the Great Western railway, entering the county in the east from Taunton, runs to Exeter, skirts the coast as far as Teignmouth, and continues a short distance inland by Newton Abbot to Plymouth, after which it crosses the estuary of the Tamar by a great bridge to Saltash in Cornwall. Branches serve Torquay and other seaside resorts of the south coast; and among other branches are those from Taunton to Barnstaple and from Plymouth northward to Tavistock and Launceston. The main line of the London & South-Western railway between Exeter and Plymouth skirts the north and west of Dartmoor by Okehampton and Tavistock. A branch from Yeoford serves Barnstaple, Ilfracombe, Bideford and Torrington, while the Lynton & Barnstaple and the Bideford, Westward Ho & Appledore lines serve the districts indicated by their names. The branch line to Princetown from the Plymouth-Tavistock line of the Great Western company in part follows the line of a very early railway—that constructed to connect Plymouth with the Dartmoor prison in 1819-1825, which was worked with horse cars. The only waterways of any importance are the Tamar, which is navigable up to Gunnislake (3 m. S.W. of Tavistock), and the Exeter ship canal, noteworthy as one of the oldest in England, for it was originally cut in the reign of Elizabeth.

Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 1,667,154 acres, with a population in 1891 of 631,808, and 1901 of 661,314. The area of the administrative county is 1,671,168 acres. The county contains 33 hundreds. The municipal boroughs are Barnstaple (pop. 14,137), Bideford (8754), Dartmouth (6579), Devonport, a county borough (70,437), Exeter, a city and county borough (47,185), Torrington, officially Great Torrington (3241), Honiton (3271), Okehampton (2569), Plymouth, a county borough (107,636), South Molton (2848), Tiverton (10,382), Torquay (33,625), Totnes (4035). The other urban districts are Ashburton (2628), Bampton (1657), Brixham (8092), Buckfastleigh (2520), Budleigh Salterton (1883), Crediton (3974), Dawlish (4003), East Stonehouse (15,111), Exmouth (10,485), Heavitree (7529), Holsworthy (1371), Ilfracombe (8557), Ivybridge (1575), Kingsbridge (3025), Lynton (1641), Newton Abbot (12,517), Northam (5355), Ottery St Mary (3495), Paignton (8385), Salcombe (1710), Seaton (1325), Sidmouth (4201), Tavistock (4728), Teignmouth (8636). The county is in the western circuit, and assizes are held at Exeter. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into twenty-four petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Barnstaple, Bideford, Devonport, Exeter, Plymouth, South Molton, and Tiverton have separate commissions of the peace and courts of quarter sessions, and those of Dartmouth, Great Torrington, Torquay and Totnes have commissions of the peace only. There are 461 civil parishes. Devonshire is in the diocese of Exeter, with the exception of small parts in those of Salisbury and Truro; and there are 516 ecclesiastical parishes or districts wholly or in part within the county. The parliamentary divisions are the Eastern or Honiton, North-eastern or Tiverton, Northern or South Molton, North-western or Barnstaple, Western or Tavistock, Southern or Totnes, Torquay, and Mid or Ashburton, each returning one member; and the county also contains the parliamentary boroughs of Devonport and Plymouth, each returning two members, and that of Exeter, returning one member.

History.—The Saxon conquest of Devonshire must have begun some time before the 8th century, for in 700 there existed at Exeter a famous Saxon school. By this time, however, the Saxons had become Christians, and established their supremacy, not by destructive inroads, but by a gradual process of colonization, settling among the native Welsh and allowing them to hold lands under equal laws. The final incorporation of the district which is now Devonshire with the kingdom of Wessex must have taken place about 766, but the county, and even Exeter, remained partly Welsh until the time of AEthelstan. At the beginning of the 9th century Wessex was divided into definite pagi, probably corresponding to the later shires, and the Saxon Chronicle mentions Devonshire by name in 823, when a battle was fought between the Welsh in Cornwall and the people of Devonshire at Camelford. During the Danish invasions of the 9th century aldermen of Devon are frequently mentioned. In 851 the invaders were defeated by the fyrd and aldermen of Devon, and in 878, when the Danes under Hubba were harrying the coast with a squadron of twenty-three ships, they were again defeated with great slaughter by the fyrd. The modern hundreds of Devonshire correspond in position very nearly with those given in the Domesday Survey, though the names have in many cases been changed, owing generally to alterations in their places of meeting. The hundred of Bampton formerly included estates west of the Exe, now transferred to the hundred of Witheridge. Ten of the modern hundreds have been formed by the union of two or more Domesday hundreds, while the Domesday hundred of Liston has had the new hundred of Tavistock severed from it since 1114. Many of the hundreds were separated by tracts of waste and forest land, of which Devonshire contained a vast extent, until in 1204 the inhabitants paid 5000 marks to have the county disafforested, with the exception only of Dartmoor and Exmoor.

Devonshire in the 7th century formed part of the vast bishopric of Dorchester-on-Thames. In 705 it was attached to the newly created diocese of Sherborne, and in 910 Archbishop Plegmund constituted Devonshire a separate diocese, and placed the see at Crediton. About 1030 the dioceses of Devonshire and Cornwall were united, and in 1049 the see was fixed at Exeter. The archdeaconries of Exeter, Barnstaple and Totnes are all mentioned in the 12th century and formerly comprised twenty-four deaneries. The deaneries of Three Towns, Collumpton and Ottery have been created since the 16th century, while those of Tamerton, Dunkeswell, Dunsford and Plymptre have been abolished, bringing the present number to twenty-three.

At the time of the Norman invasion Devonshire showed an active hostility to Harold, and the easy submission which it rendered to the Conqueror accounts for the exceptionally large number of Englishmen who are found retaining lands after the Conquest. The many vast fiefs held by Norman barons were known as honours, chief among them being Plympton, Okehampton, Barnstaple, Harberton and Totnes. The honour of Plympton was bestowed in the 12th century on the Redvers family, together with the earldom of Devon; in the 13th century it passed to the Courtenay family, who had already become possessed of the honour of Okehampton, and who in 1335 obtained the earldom. The dukedom of Exeter was bestowed in the 14th century on the Holland family, which became extinct in the reign of Edward IV. The ancestors of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was born at Budleigh, had long held considerable estates in the county.

Devonshire had an independent sheriff, the appointment being at first hereditary, but afterwards held for one year only. In 1320 complaint was made that all the hundreds of Devonshire were in the hands of the great lords, who did not appoint a sufficiency of bailiffs for their proper government. The miners of Devon had independent courts, known as stannary courts, for the regulation of mining affairs, the four stannary towns being Tavistock, Ashburton, Chagford, and Plympton. The ancient miners' parliament was held in the open air at Crockern's Tor.

The castles of Exeter and Plympton were held against Stephen by Baldwin de Redvers, and in the 14th and 15th centuries the French made frequent attacks on the Devonshire coast, being repulsed in 1404 by the people of Dartmouth. In the Wars of the Roses the county was much divided, and frequent skirmishes took place between the earl of Devon and Lord Bonville, the respective champions of the Lancastrian and Yorkist parties. Great disturbances in the county followed the Reformation of the 16th century and in 1549 a priest was compelled to say mass at Sampford Courtney. On the outbreak of the Civil War the county as a whole favoured the parliament, but the prevailing desire was for peace, and in 1643 a treaty for the cessation of hostilities in Devonshire and Cornwall was agreed upon. Skirmishes, however, continued until the capture of Dartmouth and Exeter in 1646 put an end to the struggle. In 1688 the prince of Orange landed at Torbay and was entertained for several days at Ford and at Exeter.

The tin mines of Devon have been worked from time immemorial, and in the 14th century mines of tin, copper, lead, gold and silver are mentioned. Agriculturally the county was always poor, and before the disafforestation rendered especially so through the ravages committed by the herds of wild deer. At the time of the Domesday Survey the salt industry was important, and there were ninety-nine mills in the county and thirteen fisheries. From an early period the chief manufacture was that of woollen cloth, and a statute 4 Ed. IV. permitted the manufacture of cloths of a distinct make in certain parts of Devonshire. About 1505 Anthony Bonvis, an Italian, introduced an improved method of spinning into the county, and cider-making is mentioned in the 16th century. In 1680 the lace industry was already flourishing at Colyton and Ottery St Mary, and flax, hemp and malt were largely produced in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Devonshire returned two members to parliament in 1290, and in 1295 Barnstaple, Exeter, Plympton, Tavistock, Torrington and Totnes were also represented. In 1831 the county with its boroughs returned a total of twenty-six members, but under the Reform Act of 1832 it returned four members in two divisions, and with ten boroughs was represented by a total of eighteen members. Under the act of 1868 the county returned six members in three divisions, and four of the boroughs were disfranchised, making a total of seventeen members.

Antiquities.—In primeval antiquities Devonshire is not so rich as Cornwall; but Dartmoor abounds in remains of the highest interest, the most peculiar of which are the long parallel alignments of upright stones, which, on a small scale, resemble those of Carnac in Brittany. On Dartmoor the lines are invariably straight, and are found in direct connexion with cairns, and with circles which are probably sepulchral. These stone avenues are very numerous. Of the so-called sacred circles the best examples are the "Longstones" on Scorhill Down, and the "Grey Wethers" under Sittaford Tor. By far the finest cromlech is the "Spinster's Rock" at Drewsteignton, a three-pillared cromlech which may well be compared with those of Cornwall. There are numerous menhirs or single upright stones; a large dolmen or holed stone lies in the bed of the Teign, near the Scorhill circle; and rock basins occur on the summit of nearly every tor on Dartmoor (the largest are on Kestor, and on Heltor, above the Teign). It is, however, tolerably evident that these have been produced by the gradual disintegration of the granite, and that the dolmen in the Teign is due to the action of the river. Clusters of hut foundations, circular, and formed of rude granite blocks, are frequent; the best example of such a primitive village is at Batworthy, near Chagford; the type resembles that of East Cornwall. Walled enclosures, or pounds, occur in many places; Grimspound is the most remarkable. Boundary lines, also called trackways, run across Dartmoor in many directions; and the rude bridges, formed of great slabs of granite, deserve notice. All these remains are on Dartmoor. Scattered over the county are numerous large hill castles and camps,—all earthworks, and all apparently of the British period. Roman relics have been found from time to time at Exeter (Isca Damnoniorum), the only large Roman station in the county.

The churches are for the most part of the Perpendicular period, dating from the middle of the 14th to the end of the 15th century. Exeter cathedral is of course an exception, the whole (except the Norman towers) being very beautiful Decorated work. The special features of Devonshire churches, however, are the richly carved pulpits and chancel screens of wood, in which this county exceeded every other in England, with the exception of Norfolk and Suffolk. The designs are rich and varied, and the skill displayed often very great. Granite crosses are frequent, the finest and earliest being that of Coplestone, near Crediton. Monastic remains are scanty; the principal are those at Tor, Buckfast, Tavistock and Buckland Abbeys. Among domestic buildings the houses of Wear Gilford, Bradley and Dartington of the 15th century; Bradfield and Holcombe Rogus (Elizabethan), and Forde (Jacobean), deserve notice. The ruined castles of Okehampton (Edward I.), Exeter, with its vast British earthworks, Berry Pomeroy (Henry III., with ruins of a large Tudor mansion), Totnes (Henry III.) and Compton (early 15th century), are all interesting and picturesque.

AUTHORITIES.—T. Westcote, Survey of Devon, written about 1630, and first printed in 1845; J. Prince, Worthies of Devon (Exeter, 1701); Sir W. Pole, Collections towards a History of the County of Devon (London, 1791); R. Polwhele, History of Devonshire (3 vols. Exeter, 1797, 1798-1800); T. Moore, History of Devon from the Earliest Period to the Present Time (vols, i., ii., London, 1829-1831); G. Oliver, Historic Collections relating to the Monasteries in Devon (Exeter, 1820); D. and S. Lysons, Magna Britannia (vol. vi., London, 1822); Ecclesiastical Antiquities in Devon (Exeter, 1844); Mrs Bray, Traditions of Devonshire, in a series of letters to Robert Southey (London, 1838); G. C. Boase, Devonshire Bibliography (London, 1883); Sir W. R. Drake, Devonshire Notes and Notelets (London, 1888); S. Hewett, Peasant Speech of Devon (London, 1892); R. N. Worth, History of Devonshire (London, 1886, new edition, 1895); C. Worthy, Devonshire Parishes (Exeter, 1887); Devonshire Wills (London, 1896); Victoria County History, Devonshire.

DEVRIENT, the name of a family of German actors.

LUDWIG DEVRIENT (1784-1832), born in Berlin on the 15th of December 1784, was the son of a silk merchant. He was apprenticed to an upholsterer, but, suddenly leaving his employment, joined a travelling theatrical company, and made his first appearance on the stage at Gera in 1804 as the messenger in Schiller's Braut von Messina. By the interest of Count Bruehl, he appeared at Rudolstadt as Franz Moor in Schiller's Raeuber, so successfully that he obtained a permanent engagement at the ducal theatre in Dessau, where he played until 1809. He then received a call to Breslau, where he remained for six years. So brilliant was his success in the title-parts of several of Shakespeare's plays, that Iffland began to fear for his own reputation; yet that great artist was generous enough to recommend the young actor as his only possible successor. On Iffland's death Devrient was summoned to Berlin, where he was for fifteen years the popular idol. He died there on the 30th of December 1832. Ludwig Devrient was equally great in comedy and tragedy. Falstaff, Franz Moor, Shylock, King Lear and Richard II. were among his best parts. Karl von Holtei in his Reminiscences has given a graphic picture of him and the "demoniac fascination" of his acting.

See Z. Funck, Aus dem Leben zweier Schauspieler, Ifflands und Devrients (Leipzig, 1838); H. Smidt in Devrient-Novellen (3rd ed., Berlin, 1882); R. Springer in the novel Devrient und Hoffmann (Berlin, 1873), and Eduard Devrient's Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst (Leipzig, 1861).

Three of the nephews of Ludwig Devrient, sons of his brother, a merchant, were also connected with the stage. KARL AUGUST DEVRIENT (1797-1872) was born at Berlin on the 5th of April 1797. After being for a short time in business, he entered a cavalry regiment as volunteer and fought at Waterloo. He then joined the stage, making his first appearance on the stage in 1819 at Brunswick. In 1821 he received an engagement at the court theatre in Dresden, where, in 1823, he married Wilhelmine Schroeder (see SCHROeDER-DEVRIENT). In 1835 he joined the company at Karlsruhe, and in 1839 that at Hanover. His best parts were Wallenstein and King Lear. He died on the 5th of April 1872. His brother PHILIPP EDUARD DEVRIENT (1801-1877), born at Berlin on the 11th of August 1801, was for a time an opera singer. Turning his attention to theatrical management, he was from 1844 to 1846 director of the court theatre in Dresden. Appointed to Karlsruhe in 1852, he began a thorough reorganization of the theatre, and in the course of seventeen years of assiduous labour, not only raised it to a high position, but enriched its repertory by many noteworthy librettos, among which Die Gunst des Augenblicks and Verirrungen are the best known. But his chief work is his history of the German stage—Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst (Leipzig, 1848-1874). He died on the 4th of October 1877. A complete edition of his works—Dramatische und dramaturgische Schriften—was published in ten volumes (Leipzig, 1846-1873).

The youngest and the most famous of the three nephews of Ludwig Devrient was GUSTAV EMIL DEVRIENT (1803-1872), born in Berlin on the 4th of September 1803. He made his first appearance on the stage in 1821, at Brunswick, as Raoul in Schiller's Jungfrau von Orleans. After a short engagement in Leipzig, he received in 1829 a call to Hamburg, but after two years accepted a permanent appointment at the court theatre in Dresden, to which he belonged until his retirement in 1868. His chief characters were Hamlet, Uriel Acosta (in Karl Gutzkow's play), Marquis Posa (in Schiller's Don Carlos), and Goethe's Torquato Tasso. He acted several times in London, where his Hamlet was considered finer than Kemble's or Edmund Kean's. He died on the 7th of August 1872.

OTTO DEVRIENT (1838-1894), another actor, born in Berlin on the 3rd of October 1838, was the son of Philipp Eduard Devrient. He joined the stage in 1856 at Karlsruhe, and acted successively in Stuttgart, Berlin and Leipzig, until he received a fixed appointment at Karlsruhe, in 1863. In 1873 he became stage manager at Weimar, where he gained great praise for his mise en scene of Goethe's Faust. After being manager of the theatres in Mannheim and Frankfort he retired to Jena, where in 1883 he was given the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy. In 1884 he was appointed director of the court theatre in Oldenburg, and in 1889 director of dramatic plays in Berlin. He died at Stettin on the 23rd of June 1894.

DEW. The word "dew" (O.E. deaw; cf. Ger. Tau) is a very ancient one and its meaning must therefore be defined on historical principles. According to the New English Dictionary, it means "the moisture deposited in minute drops upon any cool surface by condensation of the vapour of the atmosphere; formed after a hot day, during or towards night and plentiful in the early morning." Huxley in his Physiography makes the addition "without production of mist." The formation of mist is not necessary for the formation of dew, nor does it necessarily prevent it. If the deposit of moisture is in the form of ice instead of water it is called hoarfrost. The researches of Aitken suggest that the words "by condensation of the vapour in the atmosphere" might be omitted from the definition. He has given reasons for believing that the large dewdrops on the leaves of plants, the most characteristic of all the phenomena of dew, are to be accounted for, in large measure at least, by the exuding of drops of water from the plant through the pores of the leaves themselves. The formation of dewdrops in such cases is the continuation of the irrigation process of the plant for supplying the leaves with water from the soil. The process is set up in full vigour in the daytime to maintain tolerable thermal conditions at the surface of the leaf in the hot sun, and continued after the sun has gone.

On the other hand, the most typical physical experiment illustrating the formation of dew is the production of a deposit of moisture, in minute drops, upon the exterior surface of a glass or polished metal vessel by the cooling of a liquid contained in the vessel. If the liquid is water, it can be cooled by pieces of ice; if volatile like ether, by bubbling air through it. No deposit is formed by this process until the temperature is reduced to a point which, from that circumstance, has received a special name, although it depends upon the state of the air round the vessel. So generally accepted is the physical analogy between the natural formation of dew and its artificial production in the manner described, that the point below which the temperature of a surface must be reduced in order to obtain the deposit is known as the "dew-point."

In the view of physicists the dew-point is the temperature at which, by being cooled without change of pressure, the air becomes saturated with water vapour, not on account of any increase of supply of that compound, but by the diminution of the capacity of the air for holding it in the gaseous condition. Thus, when the dew-point temperature has been determined, the pressure of water vapour in the atmosphere at the time of the deposit is given by reference to a table of saturation pressures of water vapour at different temperatures. As it is a well-established proposition that the pressure of the water vapour in the air does not vary while the air is being cooled without change of its total external pressure, the saturation pressure at the dew-point gives the pressure of water vapour in the air when the cooling commenced. Thus the artificial formation of dew and consequent determination of the dew-point is a recognized method of measuring the pressure, and thence the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere. The dew-point method is indeed in some ways a fundamental method of hygrometry.

The dew-point is a matter of really vital consequence in the question of the oppressiveness of the atmosphere or its reverse. So long as the dew-point is low, high temperature does not matter, but when the dew-point begins to approach the normal temperature of the human body the atmosphere becomes insupportable.

The physical explanation of the formation of dew consists practically in determining the process or processes by which leaves, blades of grass, stones, and other objects in the open air upon which dew may be observed, become cooled "below the dew-point."

Formerly, from the time of Aristotle at least, dew was supposed to "fall." That view of the process was not extinct at the time of Wordsworth and poets might even now use the figure without reproach. To Dr Charles Wells of London belongs the credit of bringing to a focus the ideas which originated with the study of radiation at the beginning of the 19th century, and which are expressed by saying that the cooling necessary to produce dew on exposed surfaces is to be attributed to the radiation from the surfaces to a clear sky. He gave an account of the theory of automatic cooling by radiation, which has found a place in all text-books of physics, in his first Essay on Dew published in 1818. The theory is supported in that and in a second essay by a number of well-planned observations, and the essays are indeed models of scientific method. The process of the formation of dew as represented by Wells is a simple one. It starts from the point of view that all bodies are constantly radiating heat, and cool automatically unless they receive a corresponding amount of heat from other bodies by radiation or conduction. Good radiators, which are at the same time bad conductors of heat, such as blades of grass, lose heat rapidly on a clear night by radiation to the sky and become cooled below the dew-point of the atmosphere.

The question was very fully studied by Melloni and others, but little more was added to the explanation given by Wells until 1885, when John Aitken of Falkirk called attention to the question whether the water of dewdrops on plants or stones came from the air or the earth, and described a number of experiments to show that under the conditions of observation in Scotland, it was the earth from which the moisture was probably obtained, either by the operation of the vascular system of plants in the formation of exuded dewdrops, or by evaporation and subsequent condensation in the lowest layer of the atmosphere. Some controversy was excited by the publication of Aitken's views, and it is interesting to revert to it because it illustrates a proposition which is of general application in meteorological questions, namely, that the physical processes operative in the evolution of meteorological phenomena are generally complex. It is not radiation alone that is necessary to produce dew, nor even radiation from a body which does not conduct heat. The body must be surrounded by an atmosphere so fully supplied with moisture that the dew-point can be passed by the cooling due to radiation. Thus the conditions favourable for the formation of dew are (1) a good radiating surface, (2) a still atmosphere, (3) a clear sky, (4) thermal insulation of the radiating surface, (5) warm moist ground or some other provision to produce a supply of moisture in the surface layers of air.

Aitken's contribution to the theory of dew shows that in considering the supply of moisture we must take into consideration the ground as well as the air and concern ourselves with the temperature of both. Of the five conditions mentioned, the first four may be considered necessary, but the fifth is very important for securing a copious deposit. It can hardly be maintained that no dew could form unless there were a supply of water by evaporation from warm ground, but, when such a supply is forthcoming, it is evident that in place of the limited process of condensation which deprives the air of its moisture and is therefore soon terminable, we have the process of distillation which goes on as long as conditions are maintained. This distinction is of some practical importance for it indicates the protecting power of wet soil in favour of young plants as against night frost. If distillation between the ground and the leaves is set up, the temperature of the leaves cannot fall much below the original dew-point because the supply of water for condensation is kept up; but if the compensation for loss of heat by radiation is dependent simply on the condensation of water from the atmosphere, without renewal of the supply, the dew-point will gradually get lower as the moisture is deposited and the process of cooling will go on.

In these questions we have to deal with comparatively large changes taking place within a small range of level. It is with the layer a few inches thick on either side of the surface that we are principally concerned, and for an adequate comprehension of the conditions close consideration is required. To illustrate this point reference may be made to figs. 1 and 2, which represent the condition of affairs at 10.40 P.M. on about the 20th of October 1885, according to observations by Aitken. Vertical distances represent heights in feet, while the temperatures of the air and the dew-point are represented by horizontal distances and their variations with height by the curved lines of the diagram. The line marked 0 is the ground level itself, a rather indefinite quantity when the surface is grass. The whole vertical distance represented is from 4 ft. above ground to 1 ft. below ground, and the special phenomena which we are considering take place in the layer which represents the rapid transition between the temperature of the ground 3 in. below the surface and that of the air a few inches above ground.



The point of interest is to determine where the dew-point curve and dry-bulb curve will cut. If they cut above the surface, mist will result; if they cut at the surface, dew will be formed. Below the surface, it may be assumed that the air is saturated with moisture and any difference in temperature of the dew-point is accompanied by distillation. It may be remarked, by the way, that such distillation between soil layers of different temperatures must be productive of the transference of large quantities of water between different levels in the soil either upward or downward according to the time of year.

These diagrams illustrate the importance of the warmth and moisture of the ground in the phenomena which have been considered. From the surface there is a continual loss of heat going on by radiation and a continual supply of warmth and moisture from below. But while the heat can escape, the moisture cannot. Thus the dry-bulb line is deflected to the left as it approaches the surface, the dew-point line to the right. Thus the effect of the moisture of the ground is to cause the lines to approach. In the case of grass, fig. 2, the deviation of the dry-bulb line to the left to form a sharp minimum of temperature at the surface is well shown. The dew-point line is also shown diverted to the left to the same point as the dry-bulb; but that could only happen if there were so copious a condensation from the atmosphere as actually to make the air drier at the surface than up above. In diagram 1, for soil, the effect on air temperature and moisture is shown; the two lines converge to cut at the surface where a dew deposit will be formed. Along the underground line there must be a gradual creeping of heat and moisture towards the surface by distillation, the more rapid the greater the temperature gradient.

The amount of dew deposited is considerable, and, in tropical countries, is sometimes sufficiently heavy to be collected by gutters and spouts, but it is not generally regarded as a large percentage of the total rainfall. Loesche estimates the amount of dew for a single night on the Loango coast at 3 mm., but the estimate seems a high one. Measurements go to show that the depth of water corresponding with the aggregate annual deposit of dew is 1 in. to 1.5 in. near London (G. Dines), 1.2 in. at Munich (Wollny), 0.3 in. at Montpellier (Crova), 1.6 in. at Tenbury, Worcestershire (Badgley).

With the question of the amount of water collected as dew, that of the maintenance of "dew ponds" is intimately associated. The name is given to certain isolated ponds on the upper levels of the chalk downs of the south of England and elsewhere. Some of these ponds are very ancient, as the title of a work on Neolithic Dewponds by A. J. and G. Hubbard indicates. Their name seems to imply the hypothesis that they depend upon dew and not entirely upon rain for their maintenance as a source of water supply for cattle, for which they are used. The question has been discussed a good deal, but not settled; the balance of evidence seems to be against the view that dew deposits make any important contribution to the supply of water. The construction of dew ponds is, however, still practised on traditional lines, and it is said that a new dew pond has first to be filled artificially. It does not come into existence by the gradual accumulation of water in an impervious basin.

AUTHORITIES.—For Dew, see the two essays by Dr Charles Wells (London, 1818), also "An Essay on Dew," edited by Casella (London, 1866), Longmans', with additions by Strachan; Melloni, Pogg. Ann. lxxi. pp. 416, 424 and lxxiii. p. 467; Jamin, "Complements a la theorie de la rosee," Journal de physique, viii. p. 41; J. Aitken, on "Dew," Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh, xxxiii., part i. 2, and "Nature," vol. xxxiii. p. 256; C. Tomlinson, "Remarks on a new Theory of Dew," Phil. Mag. (1886), 5th series, vol. 21, p. 483 and vol. 22, p. 270; Russell, Nature, vol 47, p. 210; also Met. Zeit. (1893), p. 390; Homen, Bodenphysikalische und meteorologische Beobachtungen (Berlin, 1894), iii.; Taubildung, p. 88, &c.; Rubenson, "Die Temperatur-und Feuchtigkeitsverhaeltnisse in den unteren Luftschichten bei der Taubildung," Met. Zeit. xi. (1876), p. 65; H. E. Hamberg, "Temperature et humidite de l'air a differentes hauteurs a Upsal," Soc. R. des sciences d'Upsal (1876); review in Met. Zeit. xii. (1877), p. 105.

For Dew Ponds, see Stephen Hales, Statical Essays, vol. i., experiment xix., pp. 52-57 (2nd ed., London, 1731); Gilbert White, Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, letter xxix. (London, 1789); Dr C. Wells, An Essay on Dew (London, 1818, 1821 and 1866); Rev. J. C. Clutterbuck, "Prize Essay on Water Supply," Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc., 2nd series, vol. i. pp. 271-287 (1865); Field and Symons, "Evaporation from the Surface of Water," Brit. Assoc. Rep. (1869), sect., pp. 25, 26; J. Lucas, "Hydrogeology: One of the Developments of Modern Practical Geology," Trans. Inst. Surveyors, vol. ix. pp. 153-232 (1877); H. P. Slade, "A Short Practical Treatise on Dew Ponds" (London, 1877); Clement Reid, "The Natural History of Isolated Ponds," Trans. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, vol. v. pp. 272-286 (1892); Professor G. S. Brady, On the Nature and Origin of Freshwater Faunas (1899); Professor L. C. Miall, "Dew Ponds," Reports of the British Association (Bradford Meeting, 1900), pp. 579-585; A. J. and G. Hubbard, "Neolithic Dewponds and Cattle-Ways" (London, 1904, 1907). (W. N. S.)

DEWAN or DIWAN, an Oriental term for finance minister. The word is derived from the Arabian diwan, and is commonly used in India to denote a minister of the Mogul government, or in modern days the prime minister of a native state. It was in the former sense that the grant of the dewanny to the East India Company in 1765 became the foundation of the British empire in India.

DEWAR, SIR JAMES (1842- ), British chemist and physicist, was born at Kincardine-on-Forth, Scotland, on the 20th of September 1842. He was educated at Dollar Academy and Edinburgh University, being at the latter first a pupil, and afterwards the assistant, of Lord Playfair, then professor of chemistry; he also studied under Kekule at Ghent. In 1875 he was elected Jacksonian professor of natural experimental philosophy at Cambridge, becoming a fellow of Peterhouse, and in 1877 he succeeded Dr J. H. Gladstone as Fullerian professor of chemistry in the Royal Institution, London. He was president of the Chemical Society in 1897, and of the British Association in 1902, served on the Balfour Commission on London Water Supply (1893-1894), and as a member of the Committee on Explosives (1888-1891) invented cordite jointly with Sir Frederick Abel. His scientific work covers a wide field. Of his earlier papers, some deal with questions of organic chemistry, others with Graham's hydrogenium and its physical constants, others with high temperatures, e.g. the temperature of the sun and of the electric spark, others again with electro-photometry and the chemistry of the electric arc. With Professor J. G. M'Kendrick, of Glasgow, he investigated the physiological action of light, and examined the changes which take place in the electrical condition of the retina under its influence. With Professor G. D. Liveing, one of his colleagues at Cambridge, he began in 1878 a long series of spectroscopic observations, the later of which were devoted to the spectroscopic examination of various gaseous constituents separated from atmospheric air by the aid of low temperatures; and he was joined by Professor J. A. Fleming, of University College, London, in the investigation of the electrical behaviour of substances cooled to very low temperatures. His name is most widely known in connexion with his work on the liquefaction of the so-called permanent gases and his researches at temperatures approaching the zero of absolute temperature. His interest in this branch of inquiry dates back at least as far as 1874, when he discussed the "Latent Heat of Liquid Gases" before the British Association. In 1878 he devoted a Friday evening lecture at the Royal Institution to the then recent work of L. P. Cailletet and R. P. Pictet, and exhibited for the first time in Great Britain the working of the Cailletet apparatus. Six years later, in the same place, he described the researches of Z. F. Wroblewski and K. S. Olszewski, and illustrated for the first time in public the liquefaction of oxygen and air, by means of apparatus specially designed for optical projection so that the actions taking place might be visible to the audience. Soon afterwards he constructed a machine from which the liquefied gas could be drawn off through a valve for use as a cooling agent, and he showed its employment for this purpose in connexion with some researches on meteorites; about the same time he also obtained oxygen in the solid state. By 1891 he had designed and erected at the Royal Institution an apparatus which yielded liquid oxygen by the pint, and towards the end of that year he showed that both liquid oxygen and liquid ozone are strongly attracted by a magnet. About 1892 the idea occurred to him of using vacuum-jacketed vessels for the storage of liquid gases, and so efficient did this device prove in preventing the influx of external heat that it is found possible not only to preserve the liquids for comparatively long periods, but also to keep them so free from ebullition that examination of their optical properties becomes possible. He next experimented with a high-pressure hydrogen jet by which low temperatures were realized through the Thomson-Joule effect, and the successful results thus obtained led him to build at the Royal Institution the large refrigerating machine by which in 1898 hydrogen was for the first time collected in the liquid state, its solidification following in 1899. Later he investigated the gas-absorbing powers of charcoal when cooled to low temperatures, and applied them to the production of high vacua and to gas analysis (see LIQUID GASES). The Royal Society in 1894 bestowed the Rumford medal upon him for his work in the production of low temperatures, and in 1899 he became the first recipient of the Hodgkins gold medal of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, for his contributions to our knowledge of the nature and properties of atmospheric air. In 1904 he was the first British subject to receive the Lavoisier medal of the French Academy of Sciences, and in 1906 he was the first to be awarded the Matteucci medal of the Italian Society of Sciences. He was knighted in 1904, and in 1908 he was awarded the Albert medal of the Society of Arts.