D.
The fourth letter of the Phoenician, the Hebrew, the Greek, the Roman, and of nearly all alphabets.
In Hebrew it is Daleth, signifying the door of life, a representation of which was probably its original hieroglyph, as in the illustration. Here
1 shows the approximation to the Hebrew Daleth;
2 the Greek Delta, resembling the opening of a tent.
The numerical value of Daleth is four; as a Roman numeral it stands for 500.
DA COSTA, HIPPOLYTO JOSEPH.
A native of Colonia-do-Sacramento, on the river La Plata. He was made a Freemason in Philadelphia in the United States and afterward settled in Lisbon. He was subsequently persecuted by the Inquisition, and was rescued only in time to save his life by the aid of English Brethren who got him under the protection of the British flag. He then passed over into England, where he lived for several years, becoming a zealous Freemason and devoting himself to Masonic literature. In 1811, he published in London a Narrative of his persecution in Lisbon, by the Inquisition, for the pretended crime of Freemasonry, in two volumes. He wrote also a History of the Dionysian Artificers, in which he attempts to connect Freemasonry with the Dionysian and other mysteries of the ancients. He begins with the Eleusinian mysteries, assuming that Dionysus, Bacchus, Adonis, Thammuz, and Apollo were ail various names for the Sun, Whose apparent movements are represented by the death and resurrection referred to in the ceremonies. But as the sun is typified as being dead or hidden for three months under the horizon, he thinks that the mysteries must have originated in a cold climate as far north as latitude 66°, or among a people living near the polar circle. He therefore attributes the invention of these mysteries to the ancient Scythians or Massagetae, of whom he confesses that we know nothing. He afterward gives the history of the Dionysiac or Orphic mysteries of EIeusis, and draws a successful parallel between the initiation into these and the Masonic initiation. His disquisition's are marked by much learning, although his reasoning may not always carry conviction.
DACTYLI.
Priests of Cybele, in Phrygia, of whom there were five, which number could not be exceeded, and alluded to the salutation and blessing by the five fingers of the hand. The word is from the Greek daktylos, meaning a finger.
DADUCHOS.
A torch-bearer. The title given to an officer in the Eleusinian mysteries, who bore a torch in commemoration of the torch lit by Ceres at the fire of Mount Etna, and carried by her through
the wood in her search for her daughter.
DAEDALUS.
A famous artist and mechanician, whose genealogy is traced in the Greek myths as having sprung from the old Athenian race of kings, the Erechtheidae. He is said to have executed the Cretan Labyrinth, the reservoir near Megaris in Sicily, the Temple of Apollo at Capua, and the celebrated altar sculptured with lions on the Libyan coast. He is said to be the inventor of a number of the working Tools used in the various degrees of Freemasonry, the plumb-line and the ax, most of the tools used in carpentry, and of glue. Of him is told the fable of his flying safely over the Aegean by means of wings made by himself. His nephew, Perdix, is the reputed inventor of the third Great Light in Freemasonry, the Compasses, which are dedicated to the Craft. Through envy Daedalus is said to have hurled his nephew, Perdix, from the Temple Athena.
DAGGER.
In the advanced Degrees a symbol of Masonic vengeance, or the punishment of crime (see
Vengeance).
DAGRAIN, LOUIS.
A miter in the Amsterdam Journal of November 3, 1735, of an article on the subject of Freemasonry, which caused an edict from the States General forbidding Masonic gatherings throughout the country (see Thory, Acta Latomorum 11, 306).
DAGRAN, LOUIS.
President of a General Assembly of thirty Lodges, held on Saint John's Day, 1756, at the Hague, for the formation of the Grand Lodge of Holland. It was at this December meeting that Baron Van Aerssen Beyeren Van Hogerheide was appointed Grand Master (see Thory, Acta Latomorum 1, 72).
DAIS.
From the French word dais, meaning a canopy. The raised floor at, the head of a banqueting
room, or any ceremonial chamber or hall, designed for guests of distinction ; so called because it used to be decorated with a canopy. In Masonic language, the dais is the elevated portion of the eastern part of the lodge-room, which is occupied by Past Masters and the dignitaries of the Order. This should be elevated three steps above the floor. This station of the Junior Warden is raised one step, and that. of the Senior two.
DAKOTA.
Saint .John's Lodge was the first Lodge in Dakota. It received a Dispensation from the
Grand Lodge of Iowa, December 5, 1862, and a Charter on June 3, 1863. Representatives of this Lodge and of Incense. Elk Point, Minnehaha, and Silver Star Lodges held a Convention on June 21, 1875, to consider the formation of a Grand Lodge.
Members of Mount Zion Lodge, U. D., were present but, owing to the fact that they had no Charter, did not take part, in the proceedings. A Constitution was adopted and Grand Officers; who were installed at another meeting on July 21, were elected. When in 1999 the territory of Dakota was divided by Act of Congress into North Dakota and South Dakota the Grand Lodge of Dakota became the Grand Lodge of South Dakota and certain Lodges in North Dakota were permitted to organize a Grand Lodge of North Dakota.
The General Grand Chapter of the United States chartered eight Chapters in Dakota, the first of
which was Yankton, No.1, at. Yankton, chartered on August 24, 1885. On February. 25, 1885, the Grand Chapter was organized by the following Chapters: Yankton, No. 1 ; Sioux Falls, No. 2; Dakota, No. 3; Siroc, No. 4; Casselton, No. 7; Cheyenne, No. 9, U. D.Huron, No. 10, U. D. ; Keystone, No. 11, U. D.; Watertown, No. 12, U. D. ; Jamestown, No, 13, U. D. ; Aberdeen, No. 14, U. D. The first Annual Convocation was held June 8, 1885. When the division of the Territory took place the Grand Chapter of Dakota gave permission to the Lodges located in South Dakota to organize a Grand Chapter of South Dakota, under the Constitution of the General Grand Chapter. This was done on January 6, 1890. The Grand Chapter of North Dakota was organized three days later.
The first Council in Dakota, Fargo, No.1, was chartered by the General Grand Council on November 19, 1889. This Council was located in North Dakota and, therefore, after 1889, was considered the first. Council of that State. There was no Grand Council in Dakota until after the division of the Territory.
The Grand Commandery was organized at Sioux Falls on May 14, 1884, by representant of the four Commanderies. Dakota. No1; Cyrene, No. 2; De Molay; No. 3, and Fargo, No. 5. On June 16, 1890 the representatives of Tancered. No 4: Fargo , No.5 ; Grand Forks, No. 8, and Wi-ha-ha, No . 12, organized the Grand Commandery of North Dakota. The Grand Commandery of North Dakota. The Grand Commandery of Dakota then changed its name to that of Grand Commandery of South Dakota.
A Consistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was chartered at Fargo, on May 26, 1886, as Dakota, No. 1 ; a Council of Kadosh, Fargo, No.1, on December 8, 1883 ; a Chapter of Rosy Croix, Mackey, No.1, on February 27, 1882, and a Lodge of Perfection, Alpha, No. 1, on February 8, 1882.
DALCHO, FREDERICK.
One of the founders of the Suprême Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. He was born in the City of London in the year 1770, of Prussian parents. His father had been a distinguished officer under Frederick the Great and, having been severely wounded, was permitted to retire to England for his health. He was a very earnest Freemason, and transmitted his sentiments to his son. At his death, this son was sent for by een uncle, who had a few years before emigrated to Baltimore. Here he obtained a good classical education, after which he devoted himself successfully to the study of medicine, including a more extensive course of botany than has been common in medical course. Having received his degree of Doctor of Medicine, he took a commission in the medical department of the American army. With his division of the army he came to South Carolina, and was stationed at Fort Johnson, in Charleston harbor. Here some diviculty arose between Doctor Dalcho and his brother officers, in consequence of which he resigned his place in the army in 1799. He then removed to Charleston, where he formed a partnership in the practice of physic with Isaac Auld, and he became a member of the Medical Society, and a trustee of the Botanic Garden, established through its influence, On the 12th of June, 1818, Doctor Dalcho was admitted to the priesthood of the Protestant Èpiscopal Church. On the 23d of February, he was elected assistant minister of Saint Michael's Church, in Charleston. He died on the 24d of November, 1836, in the sixty- seventh year of his age, and the seventeenth of his ministry in Saint Michael's Church.
The principal published work of Doctor Dalcho is "An Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina. He also published a work entitled " The Evidence from Prophecy for the Truth of Christianity and the Divining of Christ : besides several sermons and essays, some of which were the result of considerable labor and research. He was also the projector, and for a long time the principal conductor, of the Gospel Messenger, then the leading organ of the Episcopal Church in South Caroline.
The Masonic career of Doctor Dalcho closely connects him with a York Freemasonry in South Carolina, and the Scottish Rite throughout. the United States.
He was initiated in a York or Athol Lodge at the time when the Jurisdiction of South Carolina was divided by the existence and the dissension's of two Grand Lodges, the one deriving its authority from the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England, and the other from the rival Atholl Grand Lodge.
His constant desire appears, however, to have been to unit these discordant elements, and to uproot the evil spirit of Masonic rivalry and contention which at that time prevailed -a wish which was happily gratified, at length, by the union of the two Grand Lodges of South Carolina in 1817, a consummation to which he himself greatly contributed.
In 1801 Doctor Dalcho received the Thirty.-third and ultimate Degree of Sovereign Grand Inspector of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite ; and May 31, 1801 he became instrumental in the establishment at Charleston of the Supreme Council for the Southern
Jurisdiction of the United States, of which Body he was appointed Grand Secretary, and afterward Grand commander; which latter position he occupied until 1823, when he resigned.
September 23, 1801, he delivered an oration before the Sublime Grand Body in Charleston. This and another delivered March 21, 1803, before the same Body, accompanied by a learned historical appendix, were published in the latter year under the general name of Dalcho's Orations. The work was soon after republished in Dublin by the Grand Council of Heredom or Prince Masons of that city ; and McCosh says that there were other editions issued in Europe, which, however, Brother Mackey had never seen.
The oration of 1803 and the appendix furnish the best information that up to that day, and for many years afterward. was accessible to the Craft in relation to the history of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in this country.
In 1807. at the request of the Grand Lodge of York Masons of South Carolina, he published an Ahiman Rezon, which was adopted as the code for the government of the Lodges under the jurisdiction of that Body. This work, as was to be expected from the character of the Grand Lodge which it represented, was based on the previous book of Laurence Dermott.
In 1808 he was elected Corresponding Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ancient York
Masons, and from that time directed the influences of his high position to the reconciliation of the Masonic difficulties in South Carolina.
In 1817 the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and that of Ancient York Masons of South Carolina became united under the name of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of South Carolina. Doctor Dalcho took a very active part in this reunion, and at the first annual communication he was elected Grand Chaplain. The duties of this office he faithfully performed. and for many years delivered a public address or sermon on the Festival of Saint John the
Evangelist.
In 1822 he prepared a second edition of the Ahiman Rezon which was published the following year, enriched with many notes. Some of these notes he would have hardly written, with the enlarged experience of the present day; but on the whole the second edition was an improvement on the first. Although retaining the peculiar title which had been introduced by Dermott it ceased in a great measure to follow the principles of the "'Antient Masons."'
In 1822 Dalcho became involved in an unpleasant controversy with some of his Masonic associates, in consequence of difficulties and dissension's which at that time existed in the Scottish Rite ; and his feelings were so wounded by the unmasonic spirit which seemed to actuate his antagonists and former friends, that he resigned the office of Grand Chaplain, and retired for the remainder of his life from all participation in the active duties of Freemasonry.
DAMASCUS.
An ancient and important city of Syria, situated on the road between Babylon and Jerusalem, and said in Masonic tradition to have been one of the resting-places of the Freemasons who, under the proclamation of Cyrus, returned from the former to the latter city to rebuild the Temple. An attempt was made in 1868 to introduce Freemasonry into Damascus, and a petition, signed by fifteen applicants, for a Charter for a Lodge was sent to the Grand Lodge of England; but the petition was rejected on the ground that all the petitioners were members of Bodies under other Grand Lodge Jurisdictions.
DAMBOOL.
The vast rock temple of the Buddhists in Ceylon, containing a profusion of carvings, figures of Buddha of extraordinary magnitude. Monuments of this deity are, in the common Singhalese
term, called Dagoba, but the more general name is Stupa or Tope (see Topes).
DAME.
In the York Roll No.4 and some of the other old manuscripts, we find the direction to the
Apprentice that he shall not so act as to bring harm or shame, during his apprenticeship, "either to his Master or Dame." It is absurd to suppose that this gives any color to the theory that in the ancient Masonic gilds women were admitted. The word was used in the same sense as it still is in the public schools of England, where the old lady who keeps the house at which the pupils board and lodge, is called the dame. The Companions de la Tour in France called her la mére, or the mother. it must, however, be acknowledged, that women, under the title of sisters were admitted as members. and given the freedom of the company, in the old Livery Companies of London -a custom which Herbert ( History of the Livery Companies i, 83) thinks was borrowed, on the reconstitution of the companies by Edward III, from the religious gilds (see this subject discussed under the tittle Sisters of the Gild).
DAMES OF MOUNT TABOR.
An androgynous, both sexes, Masonic Society, established about the year 1818, under the auspices of the Grand Orient of France. Its design was to give charitable relief to destitute females.
DAMES OF THE ORDER OF SAINT JOHN.
Religious ladies who, from its first institution, had been admitted into the Fraternity of Knights Hospitalers of Saint John of Jerusalem. The rules for their reception were similar to those for the Knights, and the proofs of noble descent which were required of them were sometimes more rigid. They had many conventual establishments or asylums in France, Italy, and Spain.
DAMES PLEIADES.
See Feuillants.
DAMOISEL.
A name sometimes given in the times of chivalry to a page or candidate for knighthood, but also used mean a young woman.
DAN.
One of the twelve tribes of Israel, whose blue banner, charged with an eagle, is borne by the
Grand Master of the First Veil in a Royal Arch Chapter.
DANGER.
In all the old Constitutions and Charges, Freemasons are taught to exercise brotherly love, and
to deal honestly and truly with each other, whence results the duty incumbent upon every Freemason to warn his Brother of approaching danger. That this duty may never be neglected, it is impressed upon every Master Mason by a significant ceremony.
DANIEL.
The old countersign with "Darius" formerly used in the Thirty-second Degree, Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite. A Hebrew prophet, contemporary of Ezekiel, about 600 B.c. Carried captive to Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, but selected for instruction in all the learning of the Chaldeans by order of the Court. His skill in the interpretation of dreams was famed. He became Governor of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, and the first ruler of the whole Medo-Persian Empire, inferior only to Darius, then the king. Under Cyrus he was Grand Master of the
Palace and Interpreter of Visions, as suggested by the Fifteenth Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
He did not return with his countrymen to Judea when granted their liberty. It is a dispute as to when he died, or where, but the majority favor Sushan, in Persia, when he was ninety years of age. At the present day a tomb is shown in this ancient city bearing his name; in fact, it is the only standing structure there. Daniel was noted and famed for his piety, and as well for his worldly possessions.
DANNEBROG.
The banner of Denmark containing a white cross is founded upon the tradition, which reminds us of that of Constantine, that Waldemar II, of Denmark, in 1219 saw in the heavens a fiery cross, which betokened his victory over the Esthonians.
Brother Charles Schou, San Carlos, Occidental Negros, Philippine Islands, writes that the Danish
flag is a white cross on a red field, the white cross dividing the background or field of the flag into four red squares. He says further that " the origin of this banner, or the legend of its origin as it was taught to me years ago when I went to school. in Denmark is as follows: 'During the Esthonian battle in 1219, the Danish army was being hard pressed and it looked as if it would lose the battle. Bishop Absolon who was with the Army, asked to be carried up on a hill nearby and there he prayed for victory for the Danes. The Bishop was old, he had just left his sickbed and he soon became exhausted and it was necessary for the monks to hold up his arms while praying. Suddenly the heavens opened up and a large red banner with a white cross was seen floating towards earth. It was immediately caught and carried to the front of the Danish Army. The sight of the cross inspired the Army with new courage and soon the Esthonians were fleeing for their lives.'
DANTZIC.
In the year 1768, on the 3d of October, the burgomaster and magistrates of the city of Dantzic
commenced a persecution against Freemasonry, which Institution they charged with seeking to undermine the foundations of Christianity; and to establish in its place the religion of nature. Hence, they issued a decree forbidding every citizen, inhabitant, and even stranger sojourning in the city, from any attempt to reestablish the society of Freemasons, which was thenceforth to be regarded "as forever abolished," under penalties of fine and imprisonment.
DAO.
The Zen name for light, from Daer, meaning to shine.
DARAKIEL.
A responsive word in the Twenty-third Degree of the Scottish Rite. sometimes pronounced dar-kee-ale. The Latin expression is Directio Dei, meaning By direction of God.
DARIUS.
The successor of Cyrus on the throne of Persia, Babylon, and Medea. He pursued the
friendly policy of his predecessor in reference to the Jews, and confirmed the decrees of that monarch by a new edict. In the second year of his reign, Haggai and Zechariah, encouraged by this edict, induced their countrymen to resume the work of restoring the Temple, which was finished four years afterward.
Darius is referred to in the Degrees of Princes of Jerusalem, the Sixteenth of the Scottish Rite, and Companion of the Red Cross in the American Rite.
DARKNESS.
Suplement.
Darkness has, in all the systems of initiation, been deemed a symbol of ignorance, and so
opposed to light, which is the symbol of knowledge.
Hence the rule, that the eye should not see until the heart has conceived the true nature of those beauties which constitute the mysteries of the Order. In the Ancient Mysteries, the aspirant was always shrouded in darkness as a preparatory step to the reception of the full light of knowledge. The time of this confinement in darkness and solitude varied in the different mysteries. Among the Druids of Britain the period was nine days and nights ; in the Grecian Mysteries it was three times nine days ; while among the Persians, according to Porphyry, it was extended to the almost incredible period of fifth, days of darkness, solitude, and fasting.
Because, according to all the cosmogonies, accounts of the universe, darkness existed before light was created, darkness was originally worshipped as the firstborn, as the progenitor of day and the state of existence before creation. The apostrophe of Young to Night embodies the feelings which gave origin to this debasing worship of darkness :
O majestic night !
Nature's great ancestor ! Day's elder born !
And fated to survive the transient sun !
By morals and immortals seen with awe !
Freemasonry has restored darkness to its proper place as a state of preparation; the symbol of that antemundane chaos from whence light issued at the Divine command; of the state of nonentity' before birth, and of ignorance before the reception of knowledge. Hence, in the Ancient Mysteries, the release of the aspirant from solitude and darkness was called the act of regeneration, and he was said to be born again, or to be raised from the dead. And in Freemasonry, the darkness which envelops the mind of the uninitiated being removed by the bright effulgence of Masonic light, Freemasons are appropriately called the sons of light.
In Doctor Oliver's Signs and Symbols there is a lecture "On the Mysterious Darkness of the Third
Degree.'' This refers to the ceremony of enveloping the room in darkness when that Degree is conferred-a ceremony once always observed, but now, in this country at least, frequently but improperly omitted. The darkness here is a symbol of death, the lesson taught in the Degree, while the subsequent renewal of light refers to that other and subsequent lesson of eternal life.
DARMSTADT, GRAND LODGE OF.
The Grand Lodge of Darmstadt, in Germany, under the distinctive appellation of the Grand Lodge zur Eintracht (meaning of Concord), was established on the 22d of March, 1846, by three Lodges, in consequence of a dissension between them and the Eclectic Union. The latter body had declared that the religion of Freemasonry was universal, and that Jews could be admitted into the Order. Against this liberal declaration a Lodge at Frankfort had protested, and had been erased from the roll for contumacy. Two other Lodges, at Mainz and at Darmstadt, espoused its cause, and united with it in forming a new Grand Lodge for Southern Germany, founded on the dogma "that Christian principles formed the basis on which they worked." It was, in fact, a dispute between tolerance and intolerance. Nevertheless, the Body had the Grand Duke of Hesse as patron, and was recognized by most of the Grand Lodges of Germany.
DASSIGNY, FIFIELD.
A Freemason and physician of Dublin, Ireland, who published, in 1744, at that city, A Serious and Impartial Inquiry into the Cause of the present Decay of Freemasonry in the Kingdom of Ireland. It contained an abstract of the history of Freemasonry, and an allusion to the Royal Arch Degree, on account of which it has been cited by Dermott in his Ahiman Rezon. The work is important on account of its reference to Royal Arch Masonry, but is very scarce, only three copies of it being known to exist, of which one belongs to the Grand Lodge of Iowa, and one to the West Yorkshire
Masonic Library, of which a facsimile was published in 1893, while a third copy was discovered in 1896.
The writer's name is spelled D'Assigny or Dassigny, but is given in the latter form on the title-page of the Serious Enquiry. Dr. W. J. Chetwode Crawley has investigated the history of the D'Assigny family (see Caelnentaria Hibernica. FascieulusII).
Both the spelling and the pronunciation of this name have been matters of some inquiry. The name is Dassigny on the title page of his famous Enquiry.
The Ahiman Rezon of Brother Laurence Dermott, 1764 (page 47), gives the name as D'Assigny. Kenning's Cyclopedia of Freelnasonry spells the name Assigny and says of this spelling " generally so spelt, but his real name seems to have been Dassigny," though Brother Woodford (page 148) spells it D'Assigny, a choice of three ways. As for the sounds in the name the following is suggested as representative of common usage: Das, as in pass or class; sig, as in see or key, and ny, as in penny or many. Doctor E. B. de Sauzé prefers the following from a French point of view: Da, as the first a in lateral; ssi, as ci in city; gn, as in signor with the Spanish ñ, and y, as the French i. He also feels certain that the original spelling of the name was D'Assigny.
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