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ralization with regard to systems of chemical equilibrium, discovered by Prof. J. Willard Gibbs. It may be stated thus: The degree of variableness (number of degrees of freedom) of a system is equal to the number of components minus the number of phases, plus two. Thus, if the components be salt and water, and the phas…

lace. "Profane authors." I. Disraeli. The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine. Gibbon.

e threefold distinction of profectitious, adventitious, and professional was ascertained. Gibbon.

lliamson's blue, insoluble Prussian blue, Berlin blue, etc. -- Prussian carp (Zoöl.) See Gibel. -- Prussian green. (Chem.) Same as Berlin green, under Berlin.

"Very punctilious copies of any letters. The Nation. Punctilious in the simple and intelligible instances of common life. I. Taylor. -- Punc*til"ious*ly, adv. -- Punc*til"ious*ness, n.

loosely and colloquially, any exalted station; great wealth. "He was born in the purple." Gibbon.

A quip; a gibe.

A smart, sarcastic turn or jest; a taunt; a severe retort; a gibe. Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles. Milton. He was full of joke and jest, But all his merry quips are o'er. Tennyson.

Such as can be read; legible; fit or suitable to be read; worth reading; interesting. -- Read"a*ble*ness, n. -- Read"a*bly, adv,.

One who is recidivous or is characterized by recidivism; an incorrigible criminal. -- Re*cid`i*vis"tic (#), a.

See Government, n., 7. Gibbs.

being reflected, or thrown back. The light of the sun consists of rays differently refrangible and reflexible. Cheyne.

To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; -- said of complex ideas or obscure questions; to make clear or certain; to free from doubt; to disentangle; to unravel; to explain; hence, to clear up, or dispel, as doubt; as, to resolve a riddle. "Resolve my doubt." Shak. To the resolving whereof we must first know that t…

expression; a satirical remark uttered with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt; a gibe; a cutting jest. The sarcasms of those critics who imagine our art to be a matter of inspiration. Sir J. Reynolds.

A flout; a jeer; a gibe; a taunt. [Obs.] Fortherby.

killfully or inelegantly written. The left will make such a scrawl, that it will not be legible. Arbuthnot. You bid me write no more than a scrawl to you. Gray.

of character which makes Christianity and its principal doctrines distasteful or unintelligible. I. Taylor.

stop short in one's course; to turn short. He was taken up very short, and adjudged corrigible for such presumptuous language. Howell. To sell short (Stock Exchange), to sell, for future delivery, what the party selling does not own, but hopes to buy at a lower rate.

A gibbon (Hylobates syndactylus), native of Sumatra. It has the second and third toes partially united by a web.

Direct; clear; intelligible; not abstruse or enigmatical; as, a simple statement; simple language.