DILKE

dilke, sir charles wentworth, bart. (1810-1869), english politician, son of charles wentworth dilke, proprietor and editor of _the athenaeum_, was born in london on the 18th of february 1810, and was educated at westminster school and trinity hall, cambridge. he studied law, and in 1834 took his degree of ll.b., but did not practise. he assisted his father in his literary work, and was for some years chairman of the council of the society of arts, besides taking a prominent part in the affairs of the royal horticultural society and other bodies. he was one of the most zealous promoters of the great exhibition (1851), and a member of the executive committee. at the close of the exhibition he was honoured by foreign sovereigns, and the queen offered him knighthood, which, however, he did not accept; he also declined a large remuneration offered by the royal commission. in 1853 dilke was one of the english commissioners at the new york industrial exhibition, and prepared a report on it. he again declined to receive any money reward for his services. he was appointed one of the five royal commissioners for the great exhibition of 1862; and soon after the death of the prince consort he was created a baronet. in 1865 he entered parliament as member for wallingford. in 1869 he was sent to russia as representative of england at the horticultural exhibition held at st petersburg. his health, however, had been for some time failing, and he died suddenly in that city, on the 10th of may 1869. a selection from his writings, _papers of a critic_ (2 vols., 1875), contains a biographical sketch by his son. his son, sir charles wentworth dilke, bart. (1843- ), became a prominent liberal politician, as m.p. for chelsea (1868-1886), under-secretary for foreign affairs (1880-1882), and president of the local government board (1882-1885); and he was then marked out as one of the best-informed and ablest of the advanced radicals. he was chairman of the royal commission on the housing of the working classes in 1884-1885. but his sensational appearance as co-respondent in a divorce case of a peculiarly unpleasant character in 1885 cast a cloud over his career. he was defeated in chelsea in 1886, and did not return to parliament till 1892, when he was elected for the forest of dean; and though his knowledge of foreign affairs and his powers as a critic and writer on military and naval questions were admittedly of the highest order, his official position in public life could not again be recovered. his military writings are _the british army_ (1888); _army reform_ (1898) and, with mr spenser wilkinson, _imperial defence_ (1892). on colonial questions he wrote with equal authority. his _greater britain_ (2 vols., 1866-1867) reached a fourth edition in 1868, and was followed by _problems of greater britain_ (2 vols., 1890) and _the british empire_ (1899). he was twice married, his second wife (nee emilia frances strong), the widow of mark pattison, being an accomplished art critic and collector. she died in 1904. the most important of her books were the studies on _french painters of the eighteenth century_ (1899) and three subsequent volumes on the architects and sculptors, furniture and decoration, engravers and draughtsmen of the same period, the last of which appeared in 1902. a posthumous volume, _the book of the spiritual life_ (1905), contains a memoir of her by sir charles dilke. [illustration: dill (_anethum_ or _peucedanum graveolens_), leaf and inflorescence.] dill (_anethum_ or _peucedanum graveolens_), a member of the natural botanical order umbelliferae, indigenous to the south of europe, egypt and the cape of good hope. it resembles fennel in appearance. its root is long and fusiform; the stem is round, jointed and about a yard high; the leaves have fragrant leaflets; and the fruits are brown, oval and concavo-convex. the plant flowers from june till august in england. the seeds are sown, preferably as soon as ripe, either broadcast or in drills between 6 and 12 in. asunder. the young plants should be thinned when 3 or 4 weeks old, so as to be at distances of about 10 in. a sheltered spot and dry soil are needed for the production of the seed in the climate of england. the leaves of the dill are used in soups and sauces, and, as well as the umbels, for flavouring pickles. the seeds are employed for the preparation of dill-water and oil of dill; they are largely consumed in the manufacture of gin, and, when ground, are eaten in the east as a condiment. the british pharmacopoeia contains the aqua anethi or dill-water (dose 1-2 oz.), and the oleum anethi, almost identical in composition with caraway oil, and given in doses of 1⁄2-3 minims. dill-water is largely used as a carminative for children, and as a vehicle for the exhibition of nauseous drugs. dillen [dillenius], johann jakob (1684-1747), english botanist, was born at darmstadt in 1684, and was educated at the university of giessen, where he wrote several botanical papers for the _ephemerides naturae curiosorum_, and printed, in 1719, his _catalogus plantarum sponte circa gissam nascentium_, illustrated with figures drawn and engraved by his own hand, and containing descriptions of many new species. in 1721, at the instance of the botanist william sherard (1659-1728), he came to england, and in 1724 he published a new edition of ray's _synopsis stirpium britannicarum_. in 1732 he published _hortus elthamensis_, a catalogue of the rare plants growing at eltham, kent, in the collection of sherard's younger brother, james (1666-1738), who, after making a fortune as an apothecary, devoted himself to gardening and music. for this work dillen himself executed 324 plates, and it was described by linnaeus, who spent a month with him at oxford in 1736, and afterwards dedicated his _critica botanica_ to him, as "opus botanicum quo absolutius mundus non vidit." in 1734 he was appointed sherardian professor of botany at oxford, in accordance with the will of w. sherard, who at his death in 1728 left the university £3000 for the endowment of the chair, as well as his library and herbarium. dillen, who was also the author of an _historia muscorum_ (1741), died at oxford, of apoplexy, on the 2nd of april 1747. his manuscripts, books and collections of dried plants, with many drawings, were bought by his successor at oxford, dr humphry sibthorp (1713-1797), and ultimately passed into the possession of the university. for an account of his collections preserved at oxford, see _the dillenian herbaria_, by g. claridge druce (oxford, 1907).