- A prosecution conducted in the name of the public, or by
the authority of the State.
- Nourishing matter stored up between the undeveloped germ
and its protecting wrappings in the seed of many plants. It is the
flowery part of grain, the oily part of poppy seeds, the fleshy part
in cocoa-nuts, etc.
- Made of or containing alcohol, an inflammable liquid
which is the basis of ardent spirits.
Alkali, (plural,
alkalies:)
- A chemical substance, which has the property of combining
with and neutralizing the properties of acids, producing salts by
the combination. Alkalies change most of the vegetable blues and
purples to green, red to purple, and yellow to brown.
- An alkali deprived of all impurities, being thereby
rendered more caustic and violent in its operation. This term is
usually applied to pure potash.
- An alkali that emits no characteristic smell, and can not
be volatilized or evaporated without great difficulty. Potash and
soda are called the fixed alkalies. Soda is also called a
fossil or
mineral alkali, and potash
the vegetable alkali.
- An elastic, transparent, colorless, and consequently an
invisible gas, known by the name of ammonia or ammoniacal gas. The
odor of spirits of hartshorn is caused by this gas.
- English-American, relating to Americans descended from
English ancestors.
- That part of the stamen of a flower which contains the
pollen or farina, a sort of mealy powder or dust, which is necessary
to the production of the flower.
- One of the most valuable kinds of mineral coal,
containing no bitumen. It is very abundant in the United States.
- Opening.
- A discourse or treatise on antiquities.
Arrow-root:
- A white powder, obtained from the fecula or starch of
several species of tuberous plants in the East and West-Indies,
Bermuda, and other places. That from Bermuda is most highly
esteemed. It is used as an article for the table, in the form of
puddings, and also as a highly nutritive, easily digested, and
agreeable food for invalids. It derives its name from having been
orginally used by the Indians as a remedy for the poison of their
arrows, by mashing and applying it to the wound.
- The protuberance or projecting part of a bone, by which
it is so joined to another bone as to enable the two to move upon
each other.
- The state of an ascetic or hermit, who flies from society
and lives in retirement, or who practices a greater degree of
mortification and austerity than others do, or who inflicts
extraordinary severities upon himself.
- A lamp, the principle of which was invented by Benjamin
Thompson, (a native of Massachusetts, and afterward Count Rumford,)
in which the oil is contained in a large horizontal ring, having at
the centre a burner which communicates with the ring by tubes. The
ring is placed a little below the level of the flame, and from its
large surface affords a supply of oil for many hours.
- Shrewd.
- (From a Latin word, signifying the ear,) the name given
to two appendages of the heart, from their fancied resemblance to
the ear.
- An eminent physician, who was born at Ragusa, in 1668,
and was educated at Naples and Paris. Pope Clement XIV., on the
ground of his great merit, appointed him, while a very young man,
Professor of Anantomy and Surgery in the College of Sapienza, at
Rome. He wrote several works, and did much to promote the cause of
medical science. He died A.D. 1706.
- A large forest-tree of America, sometimes called the
lime-tree. The wood is white and soft, and the bark is sometimes
used for bandages.
- A celebrated surgeon, who was born in Edinburgh, in the
year 1778. He commenced his career in London, in 1806, as a lecturer
on Anatomy and Surgery. In 1830, he received the honors of
knighthood, and in 1836 was appointed Professor of Surgery in the
College of Edinburgh. He died near Worcester, in England, April
29th, 1842. His writings are very numerous and have been much
celebrated. Among the most important of these, to general readers,
are his Illustrations of Paley's
Natural Theology, and his treatise on
The Hand, its Mechanism and Vital
Endowments, as evincing Design.
- A fruit which was originally produced by ingrafting a
branch of a citron or lemon-tree upon the stock of a peculiar kind
of pear, called the bergamot pear.
- Cut diagonally from one corner to another of a square or
rectangular piece of cloth.
- Triangular pieces cut as above mentioned.
- Containing bitumen,
which is an inflammable mineral substance, resembling tar or pitch
in its properties and uses. Among different bituminous substances,
the names naphtha and
petroleum have been given to
those which are fluid, maltha
to that which has the consistence of pitch, and
asphaltum to that which is
solid.
- A disease in plants by which they are blasted or
prevented from producing fruit.
- Lace made of silk.
- The temperature which the blood is always found to
maintain, or ninety-eight degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
- Sulphate of copper.
- Needles of a short and thick shape, distinguished from
Sharps, which are long and
slender.
- A kind of thin carpeting or coarse haize.
- (From a Greek word signifying an herb,) a knowledge of
plants; the science which treats of plants.
- The central part or heart of a large tree which grows in
Brazil, called the Casalpinia
echinata. It produces very lively and beautiful red tints,
but they are not permanent.
- A metallic composition, consisting of copper and tin.
- A French term, denoting a burning or scalding; a blasting
of plants.
- A kind of carpeting, so called from the city of Brussels,
in Europe. Its basis is composed of a warp and woof of strong linen
threads, with the warp of which are intermixed about five times the
quantity of woolen threads of different colors.
- A root with a round body, like the onion, turnip, or
hyacinth.
- Having a bulb.
Byron, (George Gordon,) Lord:
- A celebrated poet, who was born in London, January 22d,
1788, and died in Missolonghi, in Greece, April 18th, 1824.
- From two Greek words--καλος,
kalos, beauty, and σθ;ενος,
sthenos, strength, being the
union of both.
- A dyewood, procured from a leguminous (or pod-bearing)
tree, growing on the western coast of Africa, and called
Baphianitida.
- A worm which is very destructive to trees and plants. It
springs from an egg deposited by a miller that issues from the
ground, and in some years destroys the leaves and fruit of apple and
other trees.
- A minute, hair-like tube.
- A simple, inflammable body, forming the principal part of
wood and coal, and the whole of the diamond.
Carbonic acid:
- A compound gas, consisting of one part of carbon and two
parts of oxygen; fatal to animal life. It has lately been obtained
in a solid form.
- A compound, consisting of one part of carbon and one part
of oxygen; it is fatal to animal life. Burns with a pale, blue
flame, forming carbonic acid.
- A crimson color, the most beautiful of all the reds. It
is prepared from a decoction of the powdered cochineal insect, to
which alum and other substances are added.
- One of the great forms of blood-making matter; the cheesy
or curd-part of milk; found in both animal and vegetable kingdoms.
- A small vial or vessel for the table, in which to put
vinegar, mustard, pepper, etc. Also, a small wheel on a
swivel-joint, on which furniture may be turned in any direction.
Chancellor of the Exchequer:
- In England, the highest judge of the law; the principal
financial minister of a government, and the one who manages its
revenue.
- A castle, a mansion.
- The science which treats of the elementary constituents
of bodies.
Chinese belle,
deformities of:
- In China, it is the fashion to compress the feet of
female infants, to prevent their growth; in consequence of which,
the feet of all the females of China are distorted, and so small
that the individuals can not walk with ease.
- A compound of chlorine and some other substance.
- is a simple substance, formerly called oxymuriatic acid.
In its pure state, it is a gas of green color, (hence its name, from
a Greek word signifying green.) Like oxygen, it supports the
combustion of some inflammable substances.
- is a compound of chlorine and lime.
- A bowel-complaint to which infants are subject.
- A white juice formed from the chyme, and consisting of
the finer and more nutritious parts of the food. It is afterward
converted into blood.
- The result of the first process which food undergoes in
the stomach previously to its being converted into chyle.
- The common American hemlock, an annual plant of four or
five feet in height, and found commonly along walls and fences and
about old ruins and buildings. It is a virulent poison as well as
one of the most important and valuable medicinal vegetables. It is a
very different plant from the hemlock-tree or
Pinus Canadensis.
Clarke, (Sir Charles Mansfield,) Dr.:
- A distinguished English physician and surgeon, who was
born in London, May 28th, 1782. He was appointed physician to Queen
Adelaide, wife of King William IV., in 1830, and in 1831 he was
created a baronet. He was the author of several valuable medical
works.
- A brittle metal, of a reddish-gray color and weak metalic
lustre, used in coloring glass. It is not easily melted nor oxidized
in the air.
- A color procured from the cochineal insect, (or
Coccus cacti,) which feeds
upon the leaves of several species of the plant called cactus, and
which is supposed to derive its coloring matter from its food. Its
natural color is crimson; but, by the addition of a preparation of
potash, it yields a rich scarlet dye.
- A fragrant perfume, which derives its name from having
been originally made in the city of Cologne, which is situated on
the river Rhine, in Germany. The best kind is still procured from
that city.
- The science which has for its object a comparison of the
anatomy, structure, and functions of the various organs of animals,
plants, etc., with those of the human body.
- A sweetmeat; a preparation of fruit with sugar; also a
preparation of medicine with honey, syrup, or similar saccharine
substance, for the purpose of disguising the unpleasant taste of the
medicine.
Cooper, Sir Astley Paston:
- A celebrated English surgeon, who was born at Brooke, in
Norfolk county, England, August 23d, 1768, and commenced the
practice of surgery in London, in 1792. He was appointed surgeon to
King George IV., in 1827, was created a baronet in 1821, and died
February 12th, 1841. He was the author of many valuable works.
- A hard, shining, transparent resin, of a light citron
color, brought originally from Spanish-America, and now almost
wholly from the East-Indies. It is principally employed in the
preparation of copal varinsh.
- See Sulphate of copper.
- (Sulphate of iron or green vitriol,) a bright green
mineral substance, formed by the decomposition of a peculiar ore of
iron called pyrites, which is a sulphuret of iron. It is first in
the form of a greenish-white powder or crust, which is dissolved in
water, and beautiful green crystals of copperas are obtained by
evaporation. It is principally used in dyeing and in making black
ink. Its solution, mixed with a decoction of oak bark, produces a
black color.
- Relating to a crown of garland. In anatomy, it is applied
to arteries which encompass the heart, in the manner, as it is
fancied, of a garland.
- A poisonous substance, composed of chlorine and
quicksilver.
- Preparations which some people foolishly think will
preserve and beautify the skin.
Cream of tartar:
- See Tartar.
- A weevil or worm, which affects the fruit of the
plum-tree and sometimes that of the apple-tree, causing the unripe
fruit to fall to the ground.
- The most eminent naturalist of the present age; was born
A. D. 1769, and died A. D. 1832. He was Professor of Natural History
in the College of France, and held various important posts under the
French government at different times. His works on Natural History
are of the greatest value.
- The constellation of the Lesser Bear, containing the star
near the North Pole, by which sailors steer. It is used, in a
figurative sense, as synonymous with
pole-star or
guide, or any thing to which
the eyes of many are directed.
- See Tocqueville.
- A cement sold in the shops, and used for mending broken
glass and similar articles.
- A thick woolen cloth, of a light brown or dun color. The
name is sometimes used for the color itself.
- A box with holes in the top, used to sift or scatter
flour on meat when roasting.
- (In husbandry,) to sow grain in rows, drills, or
channels; the row of grain so sowed.
- See Orleans.
The East, and the
Eastern States:
- Those of the United States situated in the north-east
part of the country, including Maine, New-Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont.
- A plan representing the upright view of a house, as a
ground-plan shows its appearance on the ground.
- A celebrated mathematician, who was born in Alexandria,
in Egypt, about two hundred and eighty years before Christ. He
distinguished himself by his writings on music and geometry. The
most celebrated of his works is his
Elements of Geometry, which is in use at the present day. He
established a school at Alexandria, which became so famous that,
from his time to the conquest of Alexandria by the Saracens, (A.D.
646,) no mathematician was found who had not studied at Alexandria.
Ptolemy, King of Egypt, was one of his pupils; and it was to a
question of this king, whether there was not a shorter way of coming
at geometry than by the study of his
Elements, that Euclid made
the celebrated answer, "There is no royal path to geometry."
Equator or
equinoctial line:
- An imaginary line passing round the earth, from east to
west and directly under the sun, which always shines nearly
perpendicularly down upon all countries situated near the equator.
- To throw off, to discharge.
Exchequer:
- A court in England in which the Chancellor presides and
where the revenues of and the debts due to the king, are recovered.
This court was originally established by King William, (called "the
Conqueror,") who died A.D. 1087; and its name is derived from a
checkered cloth (French echiquier,
a chess-board, checker-work) on the table.
- Something discharged from the body, a separation of
animal matters.
- Consisting of matter excreted from the body; containing
excrements.
Fahrenheit, (Gabriel Daniel:)
- A celebrated natural philosopher, who was born at Dantzig,
A.D. 1686. He made great improvements in the thermometer, and his
name is sometimes used for that instrument.
- Mealy, tasting like meal.
- To turn down on the wrong side the raw edges of a seam
after it has been stitched, run, or sewed, and then to hem or sew it
to the cloth.
Festivals of the Jews, the
three great annual:
- These were, the Feast of the Passover, that of Pentecost,
and that of Tabernacles; on occasion of which, all the males of the
nation were required to visit the temple at Jerusalem, in whatever
part of the country they might reside. See Exodus 23: 14, 17; 34:
23; Leviticus 23: 4; Deuteronomy 16:16. The Passover was kept in
commemoration of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and
was so named because the night before their departure the destroying
angel, who slew all the first-born of the Egyptians,
passed over the houses of
the Israelites without entering them. See Exodus 12. The Feast of
Pentecost was so called from a word meaning
the fiftieth, because it was
celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover, and was instituted in
commemoration of the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai on the
fiftieth day from the departure out of Egypt. It is also called the
Feast of Weeks, because it was kept seven weeks after the Passover.
See Exodus 34: 22; Leviticus 23: 15-21; Deuteronomy 16: 9,10. The
Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Tents, was so called because it
was celebrated under tents or tabernacles of green boughs, and was
designed to commemorate their dwelling in tents during their passage
through the wilderness. At this feast they also returned thanks to
God for the fruits of the earth after they had been gathered. See
Exodus 23: 16; Leviticus 23: 34-44; Deuteronomy 16: 13; and also St.
John 7: 2.
- A disease in the pear and some other fruit-trees, in
which they appear burnt as if by fire. It is supposed by some to be
caused by an insect, others suppose it to be caused by an
over-abundance of sap.
- An instrument for making flutes, channels, furrows, or
hollows in ruffles, etc.
- A nice kind of buckram, stiff and white, used for the
foundation of basis of bonnets, etc.
- A phrase formerly used to distinguish those States in
which slavery was not allowed, as distinguished from Slave States,
in which slavery did exist.
- A variety of the mineral called talc, unctuous to the
touch, of greenish color, glossy, soft, and easily scratched, and
leaving a silvery line when drawn on paper. It is used for marking
on cloth, and extracting grease-spots.
- A species of clay remarkable for its property of
absorbing oil, for which reason it is valuable for extracting grease
from cloth, etc. It is used by fullers in scouring and cleansing
cloth, whence its name.
- The wood of a tree which grows in the West-Indies called
Morus tinctoria. It affords
a durable but not very brilliant yellow dye, and is also used in
producing some greens and drab colors.
- (From the Greek γαστηρ,
gaster, the belly,) belonging or relating to the belly, or
stomach.
- The fluid which dissolves the food in the stomach. It is
limpid, like water, of a saltish taste, and without odor.
- The science which treats of the formation of the earth.
- The glue-like, sticky, tenacious substance which gives
adhesiveness to dough. The principle of gelly, (now generally
written jelly.)
- A triangular piece of cloth.
- Cut in a triangular shape.
- A peculiar and strongly-marked style of architecture,
sometimes called the ecclesiastical style, because it is most
frequently used in cathedrals, churches, abbeys, and other religious
edifices. Its principle seems to have originated in the imitation of
groves and bowers, under which the ancients performed their sacred
rites; its clustered pillars and pointed arches very well
representing the trunks of trees and their inlocking branches.
- A glutton, a greedy eater. In agriculture, it is applied
to twigs which take up the sap but bear only leaves.
- See Copperas.
- An iron pan, of a peculiarly broad and shallow
construction, used for baking cakes.
- The map or plan of the floor of any building, in which
the various apartments, windows, doors, fire-places, and other
things are represented, like the rivers, towns, mountains, road,
etc., on a map.
- A vegetable juice which exudes through the bark of the
Acacia, Mimosa nilotica, and
some other similar trees growing in Arabia, Egypt, Senegal, and
Central Africa. It is the purest of all gums.
- The hard, unbroken layer of earth below the mould or
cultivated soil.
Hartshorn, (spirits
of:)
- A volatile alkali, originally prepared from the horns of
the stag or hart, but now procured from various other substances. It
is known by the name of ammonia or spirits of ammonia.
- see Cicuta.
- One skilled in horticulture, or the art of cultivating
gardens: horticulture being to the garden what agriculture is to the
farm, the application of labor and science to a limited spot, for
convenience, for profit, or for ornament--though implying a higher
state of cultivation than is common in agriculture. It includes the
cultivation of culinary vegetables and of fruits, and forcing or
exotic gardening as far as respects useful products.
- A very light, inflammable gas, of which water is in part
composed. It is used to inflate balloons.
- Melancholy, dejection, a disorder of the imagination, in
which the person supposes he is afflicted with various diseases.
- A spasmodic, convulsive affection of the nerves, to which
women are subject. It is somewhat similar to hypochondriasis in men.
- A kind of carpeting, in which the threads are dyed in the
grain or raw material before manufacture.
- (An abbreviation of
ipecacuanha,) and Indian medicinal plant, acting as an
emetic.
- A fine kind of gelatin or glue, prepared from the
swimming-bladders of fishes, used as a cement, and also as an
ingredient in food and medicine. The name is sometimes applied to a
transparent mineral substance called mica.
- A side-piece or post.
- Inhabitants of
Kamtschatka, a large peninsula situated on the north-eastern
coast of Asia, having the North Pacific Ocean on the east. It is
remarkable for its extreme cold, which is heightened by a range of
very lofty mountains extending the whole length of the peninsula,
several of which are volcanic. It is very deficient in vegetable
productions, but produces a great variety of animals, from which the
richest and most valuable furs are procured. The inhabitants are in
general below the common height, but have broad shoulders and large
heads. It is under the dominion of Russia.
- Refined Petroleum,
which see.
- A knotty twist in a thread or rope.
- Originally a kind of pendent scarf or covering attached
to a helmet to protect and adorn it. Hence, a pendent ornamental
curtain over a window.
- A country at the extreme north part of Europe, where it
is very cold. It contains lofty mountains, some of which are covered
with perpetual snow and ice.
Latin:
- The language of the Latins or inhabitants of Latium, the
principal country of ancient Italy. After the building of Rome, that
city became the capital of the whole country.
- Pod-bearing.
- A fast of the Christian Church, (lasting forty days, from
Ash-Wednesday to Easter,) in commemoration of our Saviour's
miraculous fast of forty days and forty nights in the wilderness.
The word Lent means spring, this fast always occurring at that
season of the year.
- One of the tribe of Levi, the son of Jacob, which tribe
was set apart from the others to minister in the services of the
Tabernacle, and the Temple at Jerusalem. The priests were taken from
this tribe. See Numbers 1: 47-53.
- Water which has percolated through ashes, earth, or other
substances, dissolving and imbibing a part of their contents. It is
generally spelled lye.
- A native of Sweden, and the most celebrated naturalist of
his age. He was born May 18th, 1707, and died January 11th, 1778.
His life was devoted to the study of natural history. The science of
botany, in particular, is greatly indebted to his labors. His
AmÆnitates AcademicÆ (Academical
Recreations) is a collection of the dissertations of his pupils,
edited by himself, a work rich in matters relating to the history
and habits of plants. He was the first who arranged Natural History
into a regular system, which has been generally called by his name.
His proper name was Linné.
- A division, a distinct part; generally applied to the two
divisions of the lungs.
- The largest river of France, being about five hundred and
fifty miles in length. It rises in the mountains of Cevennes, and
empties into the Atlantic Ocean about forty miles below the city of
Nantes. It divides France into two almost equal parts.
- A distinguished association, formed in 1773. It has
published some valuable volumes of its transactions. It has a
library of about 40,000 volumes, which is kept in a house presented
to the Society, in 1788, by the celebrated Dr. Lettsom, who was one
of its first members.
- A celebrated King of France and Navarre, who was born
September 5th, 1638, and died September 1st, 1715. His mother having
before had no children, though she had been married twenty-two
years, his birth was considered as a particular favor from heaven,
and he was called the "Gift of God." He is sometimes styled "Louis
the Great," and his reign is celebrated as an era of magnificence
and learning, and is notorious as a period of licentiousness. He
left behind him monuments of unprecedented splendor and expense,
consisting of palaces, gardens, and other like works.
Lumbar:
- (From the Latin lumbus,
the loin,) relating or pertaining to the loins.
- A judicial proceeding to ascertain whether a person be a
lunatic.
- The French word for miss, a young girl.
- A light and white alkaline earth, which enters into the
composition of many rocks, communicating to them a greasy or soapy
feeling and a striped texture, with sometimes a greenish color.
- (Italian, mal'aria, bad
air,) a noxious vapor or exhalation; a state of the
atmosphere or soil, or both, which, in certain regions and in warm
weather, produces fever, sometimes of great violence.
- Riches, the Syrian god of riches. See Luke 16: 11-13; St.
Matthew 6: 24.
- A country situated south-west of the United States and
extending to the Pacific Ocean.
- Such particles or atoms as are supposed to arise from
distempered, putrefying, or poisonous bodies.
Michilimackinac or
Mackinac:
- (Now frequently corrupted into
Mackinaw, which is the usual
pronunciation of the name,) a military post in the State of
Michigan, situated upon an island, about nine miles in circuit, in
the strait which connects Lakes Michigan and Huron. It is much
resorted to by Indians and fur-traders. The highest summit of the
island is about three hundred feet above the lakes and commands an
extensive view of them.
- With us, the time when the sun arrives at his greatest
distance from the equator, or about the twenty-first of June, called
also the summer solstice, (from the Latin
sol, the sun, and
sto, to stop or
stand still,) because when
the sun reaches this point he seems to stand still for some time,
and then appears to retrace his steps. The days are then longer than
at any other time.
- To remove from one place to another; to change residence.
- A disease of plants; a mould, spot, or stain in paper,
cloths, etc., caused by moisture.
- To oppose, to operate against.
- A coarse kind of stiff muslin, formerly used for the
foundation or basis of bonnets, etc.
- A science which treats of the inorganic natural
substances found upon or in the earth, such as earths, salts,
metals, etc., and which are called by the general name of minerals.
- The smallest particulars.
- Monastic life; religiously recluse life in a monastery or
house of religious retirement.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley:
- One of the most celebrated among the female literary
characters of England. She was daughter of Evelyn, Duke of Kingston,
and was born about 1690, at Thoresby, in England.
She displayed uncommon abilities at a very early age, and was
educated by the best masters in the English, Latin, Greek, and
French languages. She accompanied her husband (Edward Wortley
Montagu) on an embassy to Constantinople, and her correspondence
with her friends was published and much admired. She introduced the
practice of inoculation for the small-pox into England, which proved
of great benefit to millions. She died at the age of seventy-two,
A.D. 1762.
- The science which treats of the motives and rules of
human actions, and of the ends to which they ought to be directed.
- A kind of woolen stuff used for curtains, covers of
cushions, bed hangings, etc.
- A cavity cut into a piece of timber to receive the end of
another piece called the Tenon.
- Having the nature of
- a glutinous, sticky, thready, transparent fluid, of a
salt savor, produced by different membranes of the body, and serving
to protect the membranes and other internal parts against the action
of the air, food, etc. The fluid of the mouth and nose is mucus.
- That membrane which lines the mouth, nose, intestines,
and other open cavities of the body.
- An acid composed of chlorine and hydrogen, called also,
hydrochloric acid and spirit of salt.
- A stick to use in stirring
- which is corn-meal boiled in water.
- A light cotton cloth, originally brought from Nankin, in
China, whence its name.
- Commonly called Beau
Nash, or King of Bath, a celebrated leader of the fashions in
England. He was born at Swansea, in South-Wales, October 8th, 1674,
and died in the city of Bath, (England,) February 3d, 1761.
- The history of animals, plants, and minerals.
- The science which treats of the powers of nature, the
properties of natural bodies, and their action one upon another. It
is sometimes called physics.
- A cow which has recently calved.
- An eminent English philosopher and mathematician, who was
born on Christmas day, 1642, and died March 20th, 1727. He was much
distinguished for his very important discoveries in Optics and other
branches of Natural Philosophy. See the first volume of
Pursuit of Knowledge under
Difficulties, forming the fourteenth volume of
The School Library, larger
series.
- Human excrement, so-called because usually removed from
privies by night.
- Plants which bear no flowers nor fruit.
Northern States:
- Those of the United States situated in the northern and
eastern part of the country.
- See Physician in
ordinary.
- (sulphuric acid, or vitriolic acid,) an acid composed of
oxygen and sulphur.
- A disease of the brain produced by excessive use of
alcoholic stimulants; derived from two Greek words,
oinos, wine, and
mania, madness. The same
disease sometimes arises from overuse of tobacco and other
stimulants of the nerves.
Orleans, (Elizabeth Charlotte de Bavière,) Duchess of:
- Second wife of Philippe, the brother of Louis XIV., was
born at Heidelberg, May 26th, 1652, and died at the palace of St.
Cloud, in Paris, December 8th, 1722. She was author of several
works; among which were Memoirs and
Anecdotes of the Court of Louis XIV.
- A kind of hassock or thick mat for kneeling upon;
so-called from being used by the Ottomans or Turks.
- a vegetable acid, which exists in sorrel.
- A compound of a substance with oxygen, though not enough
oxygen to produce an acid; for example, oxide of iron, or rust of
metals.
- To combine oxygen with a body without producing acidity.
- The vital element of air, a simple and very important
substance which exists in the atmosphere and supports the breathing
of animals and the burning of combustibles. It was called oxygen
from two Greek words, signifying to produce acid, from its power of
giving acidity to many compounds in which it predominates.
- Combined with oxygen.
- A gland within the abdomen just below and behind the
stomach, and providing a fluid to assist digestion. In animals, it
is called the sweet-bread.
- Belonging to the pancreas.
- A level division of ground, a flower-garden.
- The common name for impure carbonate of potash, which in
a purer form is called Saleratus.
- Contracting in successive circles; worm-like.
- Rock oil, an inflammable, bituminous liquid exuding from
rocks or from the earth in the neighborhood of the carboniferous or
coal-bearing formation.
- One of the elementary substances.
Physician in Ordinary to the Queen:
- The physician who attends the Queen in ordinary cases of
illness.
- A celebrated English statesman, son of the Earl of
Chatham. He was born May 28th, 1759, and at the age of twenty-three
was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and soon afterward Prime
Minister. He died January 23d, 1806.
- The science which treats of the general causes affecting
the production, distribution, and consumption of articles of
exchangeable value, in reference to their effects upon national
wealth and welfare.
- The fertilizing dust of flowers, produced by the stamens
and falling upon the pistils inorder to render a flower capable of
producing fruit or seed.
- The clay used in making articles of pottery.
- A French word, signifying
meadow. In the United
States, it is applied to the remarkable natural meadows or plains
which are found in the Western States. In some of these vast and
nearly level plains, the traveler may wander for days without
meeting with wood or water, and see no object rising above the plane
of the horizon. They are very fertile.
- The person appointed by the ruler of a nation to have the
chief direction and management of the public affairs.
- A protuberance or projecting part of a bone.
- Belonging to or affecting the lungs.
- An artery which passes through the lungs, being divided
into several branches, which form a beautiful network over the
air-vessels, and finally empty themselves into the left auricle of
the heart.
- A sect which professed to follow the pure word of God in
opposition to traditions, human constitutions, and other
authorities. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, part of the
Protestants were desirous of introducing a simpler, and, as they
considered it, a purer form
of church government and worship than that established by law, from
which circumstance they were called
Puritans. In process of time, this party increased in numbers
and openly broke off from the church, laying aside the English
liturgy, and adopting a service-book published at Geneva by the
disciples of Calvin. They were treated with great rigor by the
government, and many of them left the kingdom and settled in
Holland. Finding themselves not so eligibly situated in that country
as they had expected to be, a portion of them embarked for America,
and were the first settlers of New-England.
- Absurd, romantic, ridiculous; from
Don Quixote, the hero of a
celebrated fictitious work written by Cervantes, a distinguished
Spanish writer, and intended to reform the tastes and opinions of
his countrymen.
- Smoking, emitting vapor.
- The remainder or part which remains.
- A round or course of engagements, business, pleasure,
etc.
- To lay the two edges of a seam together and pass the
threaded needle out and in, with small stitches, a few threads below
the edge and on a line with it.
- To pass a thread of yarn, with a needle, straight along
each row of the stocking, as far as is desired, taking up one loop
and missing two or three, until the row is completed, so as to
double the thickness at the part which is run.
- Every seventh year among the Jews, which was a year of
rest for the land, when it was to be left without culture. In this
year, all debts were to be remitted, and slaves set at liberty. See
Exodus 21: 2: 28: 10; Leviticus 25: 2, 3, etc.; Deuteronomy 15: 12;
and other similar passages.
- See Pearlash.
- A salt, called also muriate of ammonia, which derives its
name from a district in Libya, Egypt, where there was a temple of
Jupiter Ammon, and where this salt was found.
- Inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland.
- The edge of cloth, a border. Improperly written
selvage.
- A book prescribing the order of public services in a
church or congregation.
- See Blunts.
- The coarser part of wheat bran.
- A plantation of shrubs.
- A large country in the extreme northern part of Asia,
having the Frozen Ocean on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the
east, and forming a part of the Russian empire. The northern part is
extremely cold, almost uncultivated, and contains but few
inhabitants. It furnishes fine skins, and some of the most valuable
furs in the world. It also contains rich mines of iron and copper,
and several kinds of precious stones.
- Of whom it was said, "There is no greater name in the
annals of agriculture than his," was born in Caithness, Scotland,
May 10th, 1754, and became a member of the British Parliament in
1780. He was strongly opposed to the measures of the British
government toward America, which produced the American Revolution.
He was author of many valuable publications on various subjects. He
died December 21st, 1835.
- The loin of beef. The appellation "sir" is the title of a
knight or baronet, and has been added to the word "loin," when
applied to beef, because a king of England, in a freak of good humor,
once conferred the honor of knighthood upon a loin of beef.
- To loosen, to relax, to deprive of cohesion.
- An alkali, usually obtained from the ashes of marine
plants.
- To throw out earth with a spade.
- An oily substance found in the head of a species of whale
called the spermaceti whale.
- Shooting into a long, small stalk.
- A process or bony protuberance, resembling a spine or
thorn, whence it derives its name.
Spool:
- A piece of cane or reed or a hollow cylinder of wood,
with a ridge at each end, used to wind yarn and thread upon.
Stamen, (plural,
stamens and
stamina:)
- In weaving, the
warp, the thread any thing made of threads. In
botany, that part of a
flower on which the artificial classification is founded, consisting
of the filament or stalk, and the anther, which contains the pollen
or fructifying powder.
Stigma, (plural
stigmas and
stigmata:)
- The summit or top of the pistil of a flower.
- The part of the pistil between the germ and the stigma.
- An imperfect carbonate.
Sulphates, Sulphate, Sulphites:
- Salts formed by the combination of some base with
sulphuric acid, as
- (blue vitriol or blue stone,) a combination of sulphuric
acid with copper.
- Copperas or green vitriol.
- Gypsum or plaster of Paris.
- Epsom salts.
- A chemical salt, composed of sulphuric acid and potash.
- Glauber's salts.
- White vitriol.
- A combination of an alkaline earth or metal with sulphur,
as
- a combination of iron and sulphur.
- Oil of vitriol, vitriolic acid.
- A sewing; the uniting of parts by stitching; the seam or
joint which unites the flat bones of the skull, which are notched
like the teeth of a saw, and the notches, being united together,
present the appearance of a seam.
- A substance, deposited on the inside of wine casks,
consisting chiefly of tartaric acid and potass.
- The crude tartar separated from all its impurities by
being dissolved in water and then crystallized, when it becomes a
perfectly white powder.
- A vegetable acid which exists in the grape.
- A desrcription of the arts, considered generally in their
theory and practice as connected with moral, political, and physical
science.
Three-ply or
triple-ingrain:
- A kind of carpeting, in which the threads are woven in
such a manner as to make three thickness of the cloth.
- A painful affection of the nerves, mostly those of the
face.
Tocqueville, (Alexis de:)
- A celebrated statesman and writer of France, and author
of volumes on the political condition, and the penitentiaries of the
United States, and other works.
- The windpipe, so named (from a Greek word signifying
rough) from the roughness or
inequalities of the cartilages of which it is formed.
Truckle-bed or
Trundle-bed:
- A bed that runs on wheels.
- A solid, fleshy, roundish root, like the potato.
- Thick and fleshy; composed of or having tubers.
Tucks, improperly
Tacks):
- Folds in garments.
- The root of a plant called
Curcuma longa, a native of
the East-Indies, used as a yellow dye.
- Idle, foolish talk or conversation.
- Unsifted.
- Not loosened or deprived of cohesion. Lime, when it has
been slacked, crumbles to powder from being deprived of cohesion.
- The drapery or fringe hanging round the cover of a bed,
couch, or other similar article.
- Relating to or full of vessels.
- A kind of carpeting, composed of a striped woolen warp on
a thick woof of linen thread,
Verisimilitude:
- Probability, resemblance to truth.
- Word for word.
- The side being changed, or the question reversed, or the
terms being exchanged.
Viscera, (plural of
viscus:)
- Organs contained in the great cavities of the body, the
skull, the abdomen, and the chest. Generally applied to the contents
of the abdomen.
- A compound mineral salt of a very caustic taste.
- sulphate of copper.
- sulphuric acid.
- sulphate of zinc.
- An iron utensil for the purpose of baking waffles, which
are thin and soft cakes indented by the iron in which they are
baked.
- A soft, pliable leather dressed with oil, and in such a
way that it may be washed without shrinking. It is used for various
articles of dress, as undershirts, drawers, etc., and also for
rubbing silver, and other articles having a high polish. The article
known in commerce as chamois or shammy leather is also called
wash-leather.
- A cord sewed into the welt or border of a garment.
The West or
Western World.
- When used in Europe, or in distinction from the Eastern
World, it means America. When used in this country, the West refers
to the Western States of the Union.
- The wild, thinly-settled lands of the Western States.
- A kind of carpets made in England, and so called from the
place which is the chief seat of their manufacture. They are woolen
velvets with variegated colors.
- The wife of Socrates, noted for her violent temper and
scolding propensities. The name is frequently applied to a shrew, or
peevish, turbulent, scolding woman.
- A bluish-white metal, which is used as a constituent of
brass and some other alloys.
Sulphate of Zinc or
White vitriol:
- A combination of zinc with sulphuric acid
