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DUMB WAITER

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 662 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUMB WAITER ,' a small oblong or circular table to hold reserve plates, knives and forks, and other necessaries for a See also:

meal. This piece of See also:furniture originated in See also:England towards the end of the 18th See also:century, and some exceedingly elegant examples were designed by See also:Sheraton and his school. They were usually circular, with three diminishing tiers, sometimes surrounded by a continuous or interrupted pierced See also:gallery in See also:wood or See also:brass. The smaller varieties are now much used in England for the display of small See also:silver See also:objects in See also:drawing-rooms. DUM-DUM, a See also:town and See also:cantonment in See also:British See also:India at the See also:head of an administrative subdivision in the See also:district of the Twenty-four Parganas, in the See also:presidency See also:division of See also:Bengal, with a station on the Eastern Bengal railway, 42 m. N.E. of See also:Calcutta. It was the headquarters of the Bengal See also:artillery from 1783 to 1853, when they were transferred to See also:Meerut as a more central station; and its See also:possession of a See also:cannon foundry and a percussion-cap factory procured for it the name of the See also:Woolwich of India. The barracks—still occupied by small detachments—are See also:brick-built and commodious; and among the other buildings are St See also:Stephen's See also:Protestant See also:church, a See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:chapel, a See also:European and native See also:hospital, a large See also:bazaar and an See also:English school. The See also:population in 1901 of See also:North Dum-Dum was 9916, and of See also:South Dum-Dum 10,904. It was at Dum-Dum that the treaty of 1757 was signed by which the See also:nawab of Bengal ratified the privileges of the English, allowed Calcutta to be fortified, and bestowed freedom of See also:trade. On the 7th of See also:December 1908 a serious See also:explosion occurred by See also:accident at the Dum-Dum See also:arsenal, resulting in See also:death or serious injury to about 50 native workmen. At the Dum-Dum foundry the hollow-nosed "Dum-Dum " (See also:Mark IV.) bullets were manufactured, the supposed use of which by the British during the See also:Boer See also:War caused considerable comment in 1899.

Their peculiarity consisted in their expanding on ' The See also:

term " dumb," strictly meaning See also:mute or destitute of speech (see See also:DEAF AND DUMB), is applied in this and other analogous cases (e.g. dumb-See also:bell, dumb-See also:barge) as connoting the See also:absence of some normal capacity in the term with which it is associated. impact and thus creating an ugly See also:wound, and they had been adopted in See also:Indian frontier fighting owing to the failure of the usual type of bullets to stop the rushes of fanatical tribesmen. They were not, in fact, used during the Boer War. Other and improvised forms of expanding See also:bullet were used in India and the See also:Sudan, the commonest methods of securing expansion being to See also:file down the point until the See also:lead core was exposed and to make See also:longitudinal slits in the See also:nickel envelope. All these forms of bullet have come to be described colloquially, and even in See also:diplomatic See also:correspondence, as " dum-dum bullets," and their alleged use by See also:Russian troops in the Russo-See also:Japanese War of 1904–1905 formed the subject of a protest on the See also:part of the Japanese See also:government. The proposals made at the second See also:Hague See also:Conference to forbid the use of these bullets by See also:international agreement were agreed to by all the See also:powers except See also:Great See also:Britain and the See also:United States. DUMESNIL; See also:MARIE FRANgOISE (1713–1803), See also:French actress, whose real name was Marchand, was See also:born in See also:Paris on the 2nd of See also:January 1713. She began her See also:stage career in the provinces, whence she was summoned in 1737 to make her debut at the Comedie Francaise as Clytemnestre in fphigenie en Tauride. She at once came into the front See also:rank, playing Cleopatre, Phedre, Athalie and Hermione with great effect, and when she created See also:Merope (1743) See also:Voltaire says that she kept the See also:audience in tears for three successive acts. She retired from the stage in 1776, but lived until the loth of See also:February 1803. Her See also:rival, See also:Clairon, having spoken See also:ill of her, she authorized the publication of a Memoire de Marie Francoise Dumesnil, en reponse aux memoires d'Hippolyte Clairon (1800).

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