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A genus of leguminous plants (herbs, shrubs, or trees) of many species, most of which have purgative qualities. The leaves of several species furnish the senna used in medicine.

the northernmost of the two bright stars in the constellation Gemini, the other being Pollux.

A genus of leafles trees or shrubs, with drooping branchlets of a rushlike appearance, mostly natives of Australia. Some of them are large, producing hard and heavy timber of excellent quality, called beefwood from its color.

One who believes that the most important geological phenomena have been produced by cataclysms.

amity; great misfortune. The strange catastrophe of affairs now at London. Bp. Buret. The most horrible and portentous catastrophe that nature ever yet saw. Woodward.

ration of all things capable of being named; an enumeration by the summa genera i.e., the most extensive classes into which things could be distributed. J. S. Mill.

Having stems which bear flowers and fruit year after year, as most trees and shrubs.

To extol or honor in a solemn manner; as, to celebrate the name of the Most High.

yptogams (Bot.), those flowerless plants which have no ducts or fiber in their tissue, as mosses, fungi, lichens, and algæ. -- Cellular theory, or Cell theory (Biol.), a theory, according to which the essential element of every tissue, either vegetable or animal, is a cell; the whole series of cells having been formed…

Belonging to the most recent division of geological time, including the tertiary, or Age of mammals, and the Quaternary, or Age of man. [Written also cænozoic, cainozoic, kainozoic.] See Geology.

One given to fault-finding; a censurer. Nor can the most circumspect attention, or steady rectitude, escape blame from censors who have no inclination to approve. Rambler.

The nucleus or central part of the earth, forming most of its mass; -- disting. from lithosphere, hydrosphere, etc.

g the condition of the brain by examination of the interior of the eye (as with an ophthalmoscope). Buck.

dding downward; pendulous; drooping; -- said of a bud, flower, fruit, or the capsule of a moss.

A class of parasitic worms (Platelminthes) of which the tapeworms are the most common examples. The body is flattened, and usually but not always long, and composed of numerous joints or segments, each of which may contain a complete set of male and female reproductive organs. They have neither mouth nor intestine. See…

elated genera. The posterior teeth form a pavement of bony plates for crushing shellfish. Most of the species are extinct. The Port Jackson shark and a similar one found in California are living examples.

Pertaining to, or derived from, the lichen, Iceland moss (Cetaria Islandica). Cetraric acid. See Cetrarin.

A white substance extracted from the lichen, Iceland moss (Cetraria Islandica). It consists of several ingredients, among which is cetraric acid, a white, crystalline, bitter substance.

extensive order of Annelida, characterized by the presence of lateral setæ, or spines, on most or all of the segments. They are divided into two principal groups: Oligochæta, including the earthworms and allied forms, and Polychæta, including most of the marine species.

tries his wily arts, And wins (O shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts. Pope. I spake of most disastrous chance. Shak.