(Lat. *detritus*, worn), a geological term denoting a mass of substances detached by attrition from solid bodies. It is applied to the finer portions of *debris*, which last generally comprises detritus, while detritus excludes the idea of the larger debris.

**DETOUR**, a city and port of entry of the United States of N. America, capital of the county of Wayne, Michigan, situated on the west bank of the Detroit strait or river, which connects lakes Huron, St. Clair, and Erie. Lat. 42. 2. N., Long. 83. 2. W. The city extends along the river for more than a mile and a-half, its central point being 7 miles from Lake St Clair, and 18 from Lake Erie. The river is here about five-eighths of a mile in width, and its depth varies from 12 to 48 feet. The descent from Lake St Clair to Lake Erie is about 6 feet or 3 inches per mile; and the velocity of the current at the deepest part, opposite the city, is 2½ miles per hour. Its shores on both sides are highly cultivated; and, from its outlet into Lake Erie to its origin at Lake Huron, resemble a continuous village with fine farms, pleasant villas, groves, gardens, and excellent roads. The town is well and regularly built, extending in the form of a rectangle for about 1200 feet from the river, and afterwards terminating in a triangle. Some of the principal streets are 200, others 120, and others 60 feet wide. These generally cross each other at right angles. The houses are mostly of wood, but many of them are of brick. The principal of the public buildings are—the old State House, the United States Buildings (of polished limestone), the state buildings for the supreme courts, public offices, county court-house, county jail, city hall and market, the new Catholic cathedral, and the cathedral of St Anne. There are numerous schools and churches, and several charitable as well as literary and scientific institutions. Detroit is well supplied with water from the river, by means of hydraulic machinery in the upper part of the town. Ship and boat building is a large and important branch of business; and there are several large steam saw-mills, iron foundries, &c. Detroit has a very extensive trade, for which it enjoys many advantages. The harbour is capacious and secure. It is connected by the Michigan Central railroad with Chicago and New Buffalo and Michigan city, a distance of 258 miles, and by the Pontiac, with the town of that name, 20 miles distant. The Great Western railway, about to be constructed through Canada, will bring it into direct communication with the New York and other eastern routes. The vessels cleared at the port in 1851 were 2611 of 920,690 tons; entered, 2582 of 905,646 tons. The periodical press of Detroit consists of 3 daily newspapers, 1 tri-weekly, 7 weekly, and 2 monthly. In 1802 the village of Detroit was incorporated; in 1810 the act of incorporation was repealed, and in 1815 it received its present charter of incorporation. The population in 1801 was only 770, and in 1820, 2222; in 1840 it amounted to 9193, and in 1850 to 21,057; while in the summer of 1853 it was 34,439. This, however, includes only those within the corporate limits; beyond which there is a numerous population, whose entire occupation and interests are in the city.

**DEUCALONIUS OCEANUS** (supposed to be derived from the Gaelic words *Duah Gael*, the *Northern Highlanders*), the sea on the north-west of Scotland.

**DEUCALION**, king of Phthia, in Thessaly, was the son of Prometheus and Clymene. The flood said to have happened in his time (B.C. 1500) is supposed to have been only an inundation of that country, occasioned by heavy rains, and an earthquake which stopped the course of the river Peneus at the place where it previously discharged itself into the sea. On these circumstances the fable of Deucalion's flood is founded. According to the tradition, Deucalion, being forewarned by his father of the impending deluge, built a ship, in which, with his wife Pyrrha, he was saved, when the rest of mankind perished in the flood. When the waters subsided, their ship was stranded on Mount Parnassus. The first care of Deucalion and his wife was to consult the oracle of Themis as to the means by which the earth was to be repeopled. The oracle ordered them to veil their heads and faces, to unloose their girdles, and to throw behind their backs the bones of their great mother. At this advice Pyrrha was seized with horror; but Deucalion explained the mystery by observing, that their great mother must mean the earth, and her bones the stones. The stones which Deucalion threw over his head became men, while those thrown by his wife became women. Some writers have supposed that Deucalion may be identified with the patriarch Noah; and that Deucalion's flood in Thessaly, as well as that of Oggyes in Attica, and of Prometheus in Egypt, were the same as the great deluge recorded in Scripture. Diodorus Siculus expressly says, that in the deluge which happened in the time of Deucalion almost all flesh died; and Apollodorus after mentioning how Deucalion took refuge, *ἐν ἀρκείᾳ*, or in the ark, describes him as immediately after his deliverance sacrificing to Zeus *Φύσιος*, Jupiter, the preserver of fugitives. The most minute account of the traditions concerning the deluge of Deucalion, is to be found in Lucian, a native of Samosata, of Commagene, on the Euphrates. His narrative coincides with the Mosaic version to a surprising extent.

DEUNX, in Roman Antiquity, 11 ounces, or $\frac{1}{2}$ of the libra, and of other things.

DEUTEROCANONICAL, a term applied in modern times to those sacred books, originally denominated ecclesiastical and apocryphal, which were not included in the Jewish canon, but, being contained in the old Greek versions, were publicly read in the early Christian church.

DEUTERONOMY, the Alexandrian name of the Fourth Book of Moses. See Pentateuch.

DEUTEROPOTMI, or Usteropotmi, in Grecian Antiquity, a designation given to such persons as had been supposed dead, and, after the celebration of the funeral rites, appeared alive.

DEUTEROSIS, the Greek name by which the Jews designated their Mishnah or second law.

DEUX PONTS (German Zwei Brücken), a town in the Bavarian circle of the Palatinate, on the Erbach, near its confluence with the Serre, 50 miles W. of Spire. It was formerly the capital of a duchy of the same name, originally governed by its own dukes, and which afterwards passed successively into the power of Sweden and of Bavaria. During the wars of the revolution this duchy was taken possession of by France, and confirmed to it by the peace of Luneville; but it was restored to Bavaria by the peace of Paris in 1814. The town is pleasantly situated and well built. The old palace of the dukes of Deux Ponts, formerly one of the finest in Germany, was in a great measure destroyed by the French, and part of it has been converted into a Roman Catholic church. It has a cathedral and two Lutheran churches; a gymnasium, lyceum, orphan asylum, hospital, and 7300 inhabitants. The principal manufactures are woollen, linen, and cotton stuffs; besides leather and tobacco. The town derives its name from two bridges, which here cross the Erbach. The well-known Bipontine edition of the classics was published here.

DEV A, the ancient name of Chester, which see; and also of the Dee, an estuary on which stood the town of Devana, near the modern Aberdeen.