EDMUND, a celebrated English physician and chemist, born in 1624. He studied and took his degrees at Merton college, Oxford; and in 1655 published there his Delphi Phoenicizantes &c., a most learned piece, in which he attempted to prove, that the Greeks borrowed the story of the Pythian Apollo, and all that rendered the oracle at Delphos famous, from the Holy Scriptures, and the book of Joshua in particular: a work that procured him great reputation both at home and abroad. He practised physic first at Oxford; but removing to London in 1684, his good fortune in recovering the earl of Arlington from a dangerous sickness, procured his promotion to be physician in ordinary to Charles II. and to his household. As that prince understood and loved chemistry, Dr Dickinson grew into great favour at court, and was continued in his appointments under James II. After the abdication of his unfortunate master, being then in years, and afflicted with the stone, he retired from practice, and died in 1707. He published many other things, particularly Physica vetus et vera, &c. containing a system of philosophy, chiefly framed on principles collected from the Mosaic history.

DICCTAMNUS, white dittany, or Fraxinella: A genus of plants belonging to the decandra clas; and in the natural method ranking under the 26th order, Multiflora. See Botany Index.

DICCTATOR, a magistrate at Rome invested with regal authority. This officer was first chosen during the Roman wars against the Latins. The consuls being unable to raise forces for the defence of the state, because the plebeians refused to enlist if they were not discharged of all the debts they had contracted with the patricians, the senate found it necessary to elect a new magistrate with absolute and uncontrollable power to take care of the state. The dictator remained in office for six months, after which he was again elected if the affairs of the state seemed to be desperate; but if tranquillity was re-established, he generally laid down his power before the time was expired. He knew no superior in the republic, and even the laws were subjected to him. He was called dictator, because dictus, named by the consul, or quoniam dictis ejus parebat populus, because the people implicitly obeyed his command. He was named by the consul in the night viva voce, and his election was confirmed by the augurs. As his power was absolute, he could proclaim war, levy forces, conduct them against an enemy, and disband them at his pleasure. He punished as he pleased, and from his decision there lay no appeal, at least till latter times. He was preceded by 24 lictors with the fasces; during his administration, all other officers, except the tribunes of the people, were suspended, and he was the master of the republic. But amidst all this Dictator independence, he was not permitted to go beyond the borders of Italy; he was always obliged to march on foot in his expeditions; he never could ride in difficult and laborious marches without previously obtaining a formal leave from the people. He was chosen only when the state was in imminent danger from foreign enemies or inward seditions. In the time of a pestilence a dictator was sometimes elected, as also to hold the comitia, or to celebrate the public festivals, or drive a nail into the capitol, by which superstitious ceremony the Romans believed that a plague could be averted, or the progress of an enemy stopped. This office so respectable and illustrious in the first ages of the republic, became odious by the perpetual usurpations of Sylla and Julius Caesar; and after the death of the latter, the Roman senate passed a decree which forever after forbade a dictator to exist in Rome. The dictator, as soon as elected, chose a subordinate officer called his master of horse, magister equitum. This officer was respectable; but he was totally subservient to the will of the dictator, and could do nothing without his express order. This subordination, however, was some time after removed; and during the second Punic war the master of the horse was invested with a power equal to that of the dictator. A second dictator was also chosen for the election of magistrates at Rome after the battle of Cannae. The dictatorship was originally confined to the patricians; but the plebeians were afterwards admitted to share it. Titus Lartius Flavus was the first dictator, in the year of Rome, 253.