PETER, a distinguished French surgeon, was born in Paris. In the time of Louis XIV. he was appointed anatomical and chirurgical demonstrator in the royal garden, and he was the first who held that place. He was surgeon in ordinary to Maria Theresa of Austria, queen of France, and to two dauphinesses and the royal children. He was the author of several works, both on anatomical and surgical subjects. One of the first of his publications, is entitled Anatomie de l'Homme, suivant la Circulation du Sang, 8vo, which appeared in 1692, and has been frequently reprinted, and translated into different languages. It was translated into the Tartarian dialect by a Jesuit for the use of the emperor of China. This work has been considered as a useful compendium of anatomy. In another work which he published in 1698, entitled, Differention Historique et Physique sur la Generation de l'Homme, he supports the ovarian hypothesis. In 1707 he published a work on surgery, entitled Cours d'Operations de Chirurgie, 8vo, which was several times reprinted; and latterly it was edited with notes by La Faye in 2 vols. This treatise was long received as a standard book on the subject. It contains many useful and pertinent observations detailed in plain, unaffected language. Dionis is the author of two other works; the first, Sur la Mort subite, et sur la Catalepsie, published in 1709, and the other Traité generale des Accouchements, in 1718. But the last is little else than an abridgement of Mauriceau's work on the same subject. Dionis died at Paris in 1718.

DIONÆA, Venus's Fly Trap, a genus of plants belonging to the decandria clas. See BOTANY Index.