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tal depravity of man, the vicarious atonement, and the eternity of future punishment. His theory was, that Christ was a man divinely commissioned, who had no existence before he was conceived by the Virgin Mary; that human sin was the imitation of Adam's sin, and that human salvation was the imitation and adoption of C…

bration which would occasion sound to a percipient if present with unimpaired; hence, the theory of vibrations in elastic media such cause sound; as, a treatise on sound.

A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; view; notion; conjecture. From him Socrates derived the principles of morality, and most part of his natural speculations. Sir W. temple. To his speculations on these subjects he gave the lofty name of the "Oracles of Reason." Macaulay.…

The theory, formerly held by many, that the sperm or spermatozoön contains the germ of the future embryo; animalculism.

k formed by the earth taken from an excavation, as of a canal. -- The spoils system, the theory or practice of regarding public and their emoluments as so much plunder to be distributed among their active partisans by those who are chosen to responsible offices of administration.

or taught by, Stahl, a German physician and chemist of the 17th century; as, the Stahlian theory of phlogiston.

by strength and activity of the muscular and nervous system; as, a sthenic fever. Sthenic theory. See Stimulism (a).

The theory of medical practice which regarded life as dependent upon stimulation, or excitation, and disease as caused by excess or deficiency in the amount of stimulation.

ed; as, a man well studied in geometry. I shrewdly suspect that he is little studied of a theory of moral proportions. Burke.

A hypothetical component of a chemical atom, on the theory that the elements themselves are complex substances; -- called also atomicule.

d the sulphates in electrolytic decomposition; -- so called in accordance with the binary theory of salts. [Written also sulphione.]

e capable of acting as a base in the formation of sulphur salts according to the old dual theory of salts. [Archaic] -- Sulphur dioxide (Chem.), a colorless gas, SO2, of a pungent, suffocating odor, produced by the burning of sulphur. It is employed chiefly in the production of sulphuric acid, and as a reagent in bleac…

ic acid. (a) Sulphur trioxide (see under Sulphur); -- formerly so called on the dualistic theory of salts. [Obs.] (b) A heavy, corrosive, oily liquid, H2SO4, colorless when pure, but usually yellowish or brownish, produced by the combined action of sulphur dioxide, oxygen (from the air), steam, and nitric fumes. It att…

twelve Tory peers. J. R. Green. Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus of a theory. Sir W. Hamilton.

The theory, plan, or practice of trade-union action (originally as advocated and practiced by the French Confédération Générale du Travail) which aims to abolish the present political and social system by means of the general strike (as distinguished from the local or sectional strike) and direct action of whatever kin…

The doctrine or theory, attributed to Melanchthon, that in the regeneration of a human soul there is a coöperation, or joint agency, on the part both of God and of man.

A theory of generation in which each germ is supposed to contain the germs of all subsequent generations; -- the opposite of epigenesis.

g impressions from without; -- a term used by Hobbes, Locke, and others, in maintaining a theory opposed to the doctrine of innate ideas.

course; mean; medium. [R.] The perfect lawgiver is a just temper between the mere man of theory, who can see nothing but general principles, and the mere man of business, who can see nothing but particular circumstances. Macaulay.

The doctrine of terms; a theory of terms or appellations; a treatise on terms.