DOG DISTEMPER, a kind of violent catarrh, common among dogs, especially when young, producing running at the eyes and nose, and a dry cough, followed by wasting of flesh and loss of strength, and sometimes by inflammation of the lungs and dysentery. The usual remedies are laxatives, emetics, and occasional bleeding. Astrin gents are useful in diarrhea, and fits may be modified by anodynes and warm baths.
An 'apparent deprehension of an offender against venison in the forest,. Dog-draw is where any man hath stricken or wounded a wild beast by shooting with a cross-bow, long-bow, or otherwise, and is found with a hound or other dog drawing after him to receive the same.—Cowel's Interpreter.
DOGE (equivalent to duke) was the name of the chief magistrate, possessing princely rank, in the republics of Venice and Genoa. Dogate or dogado, both from the Latin ducatus, duchy, is used to indicate the dignity of doge. We find doges of Venice elected by the people, but enjoying almost the rights of absolute monarchs, as early as the beginning of the 8th century. Their power, however was considerably reduced towards the end of the 12th c., through the creation of a great council, composed of 470 members, chosen from nobles as well as citizens, and invested with legislative power. These afterwards appointed six of their own number to superintend the D. in the exercise of his executive power. Further, the pregadi, or nobles, who formerly were admitted by the D. to a share in the public affairs, were organized into a regular board of administration, numbering 60 members. By the new constitution, the people, too, lost the most essential of their rights—viz., the right of electing the doge. This right was now changed into a privilege belonging exclusively to the great council, whose members elected 24 from among themselves, and these latter again elected, by ballot, 12 of their own number, upon whom devolved the right of appointing a doge. Sebastian° Ziani was the first D. thus elected, 1177; and on the occasion of his elevation to office, he scattered money among the people, to console them for the loss of their rights—an act which was imitated by his successors, and soon became a recognized custom, as was also the case regarding the manner in which he went through the cere. mony of wedding the Adriatic sea. The pope Alexander III., whom, during his quarrels with the emperor Frederic I., the D. had faithfully supported, sent him, together with other privileges. a ring, as the symbol of domination the republic had acquired over the Adriatic. Accordingly, a marriage ceremony took place on Ascen sion day—a ring being thrown from the ship Bueentaur into the sea, to show that as the wife is subject to her husband, so is the Adriatic sea to the republic of Venice. The practical bearing of the ceremony soon appeared in the shape of stringent measures, regulating the navigation of the Adriatic, and imposing tribute upon all foreign ships. The power of the D. underwent, in 1179, a signal modification; the Treble Quarantia a high court of justice, composed originally of 40 members—having been erected, as also the board of advogad,ori, for the•setticraent of fiscal questions instituted. During the reign of Jacopo Tiepolo, 1229-49, a new restriction arose from the creation of an independent police, and a still greater one from the formation of a tribunal consisting of three inquisitors and five correctors, who, on the demise of a D., had to examine his conduct, sifting the minutest particulars of his private life. All these changes were effected by the great council, to the thorough exclusion of the people. In 1268, the great council, in order to cut short all family influence upon the affairs of the state, devised a curious and extremely complicated mode of election; but notwithstanding the limitations new and old, the power of a D. continued great, if he was only wise enough to profit by the contentions between nobles and citizens, the disputes of the different authorities, and especially by his own position as commander-in-chief of the forces and high-admiral of the navy. This last prerogative of the D. remained in vigor up to 1628, when, by a formal enactment, the D. was prohibited the exercise of such command, unless lie were authorized by the council of forty. Other privileges, how• ever, belonging originally to the dogate, were abrogated or circumscribed long before this, and especially during the period 1289-1311. Thus, at the instigation of the D., Gradenigo, who was actuated by jealousy towards the mighty family Tiepolo, the famous law of " closing the great council " was passed, and by it the whole legislative and judicial power made the heirloom of those families whose names were inscribed in the Golden Book, or Libra d'Oro. About that time (1309), ecclesiastics of any degree were declared unfit for political or judicial functions, To counterbalance the influence of discontented nobles, a public feast was instituted—to come off yearly—at which the D.
gave a dinner to the fishermen, fraternizing with them in testimony of equality. Shortly before Gradenigo's death. that terrible tribunal, the council of the ten, was erected, which was to be the highest in the state, irresponsible, and entitled to pass judgment upon the D. himself. In the meanwhile, the great council managed to get the functions, public as well as private, of the D. circumscribed in the minutest way. 'twice ordered that the D. should not announce his accession, except to the princes of Italy; neither was he permitted the opening of dispatches emanating from the popes or from princes; the kissing of his hands, or kneeling down in his presence, was strictly interdicted. He could not leave town, be possessed of real property abroad, or allow his children to contract matrimonial connections with foreign houses, accept donations, etc. He had to submit to the continued presence of two advogadori, to be fined for the least mistake, and bear the expenses of the ducal dignity from his own purse. To all these restric tions and burdens the D. declared himself liable on the occasion of his coronation, by signing a document headed " Protnissione." The state costume and retinue of the D. were minutely defined, and.a trifle fixed as his salary. As a symbol of princely dignity, the D. wore a horned cap, and had the title of serenity. The credentials of ambassadors were written in his name, but signed by a secretary of state, and sealed with the arms of the republic. The money was struck in his name, but not with his stamp or arms. All the magistrates rose and saluted the D. when he came into council, and the D. rose • to none but to foreign ambassadors. His family was exempt from the jurisdiction of the master of the ceremonies; and his children, though excluded from public offices, were allowed to have staff-officers, and gondoliers in livery. After the death of And. Dandolo, 1354, on a motion from the correctors, the three presidents of the quarantia, and later six ministers, were joined to the six privy-councilors of the D., who, together with the above-named, has formed henceforward the so-called Signoria Serenissima. At that stage the rank of D. could no longer be an object of ambition, and as early as 1339, a law was necessary to prohibit the D. elected from resigning his place. And. Contarini, 1367, accepted the proffered dignity only upon the threat of being declared a traitor to the country. In 1413, by a law emanating from the great council, the D. was even denied the title of Signoria, that of Messere being substituted instead; at the same time he was deprived of the right of convening an arengo, or meeting of the people. With the fall of the Venetian republic, 1797, the dignity of D. also disappeared. There were in all 73 D. at Venice, the first of whom, Anafeste (Paoluccio) was elected 697; the last, Manin (Lodovico), 1788. In the Palazzo Ducale, the celebrated frieze of the D. is to be seen round the Sala del Maggior Consiglie, exhibiting 72 portraits, and one space covered with a black veil, with an inscription, indicating that Faliero (Marino) was beheaded for high treason.
The republic of Genoa elected, after a victory gained by the party of the people (1339), Simon Boccanera for its first doge. He was elected tor life, and with absolute power, of which, however, he allowed a share to 12 aldermen (anziani), the one half being chosen from the eittadini (citizens), the other among the nobili (nobles). In the long run of centuries, the power, duration, and splendor of the ducal seat underwent frequent changes, arising from the vicissitudes of the state and the hostilities between the popular and aristocratic parties. A constitution for defining the functions and pre rogatives of the D. was framed in 1528, after the great victory of And. Doria over the French. According to this constitution, which, with slight modifications, remained till the end of the republic, the dignity of D. was of two years' duration, under restric tions similar to those at Venice. The candidate was to be a noble, and at least 50 years of age. The D. presided, with the right of veto, in the. sittings of the great council, oomposed of 300 members, as also in those of a smaller one, consisting of 100. These two •councils exercised the legislative power, whereas the executive was vested in the D., together with 12 governadori and eight proeuratori, among these latter being always the D. retiring. During the time of his government, the D. resided in the state palace, where he was liable to the same restrictions and ceremonies which were in use at Venice. When, in 1797, Genoa was occupied by the French, the dogate ceased to exist; in 1802, the Genoese republic being, conjointly with the Ligurian, re-established, the ducal dig mity was once more resuscitated; but in 1804, it disappeared forever, the republic itself having been dissolved.