LEVULIN n.
dextrin, obtained from the bulbs of the dahlia, the artichoke, and other sources, as a colorless, spongy, amorphous material. It is so called because by decomposition it yields levulose. [Written also lævulin.]
MERCAPTAN n.
r in place of oxygen, and hence called also the sulphur alcohols. In general, they are colorless liquids having a strong, repulsive, garlic odor. The name is specifically applied to ethyl mercaptan, C2H5SH. So called from its avidity for mercury, and other metals.
METHANE n.
A light, colorless, gaseous, inflammable hydrocarbon, CH4; marsh gas. See Marsh gas, under Gas. Methane series (Chem.), a series of saturated hydrocarbons, of which methane is the first member and type, and (because of their general chemical inertness and indifference) called also the paraffin (little affinity) series.…
METHYL n.
called wood spirit; -- called also methol, carbinol, etc. -- Methyl amine (Chem.), a colorless, inflammable, alkaline gas, CH3.NH2, having an ammoniacal, fishy odor. It is produced artificially, and also occurs naturally in herring brine and other fishy products. It is regarded as ammonia in which a third of its hydr…
NITRIC a.
ounds, the element has a higher valence; as, nitric oxide; nitric acid. Nitric acid, a colorless or yellowish liquid obtained by distilling a nitrate with sulphuric acid. It is powerfully corrosive, being a strong acid, and in decomposition a strong oxidizer. -- Nitric anhydride, a white crystalline oxide of nitrogen…
NITROGEN n.
A colorless nonmetallic element, tasteless and odorless, comprising four fifths of the atmosphere by volume. It is chemically very inert in the free state, and as such is incapable of supporting life (hence the name azote still used by French chemists); but it forms many important compounds, as ammonia, nitric acid, th…