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ry which attributes contagious and infectious diseases, suppurative lesions, etc., to the agency of germs. The science of bacteriology was developed after this theory had been established.

atum; ultimate or first principle; cause of existence or occurrence; originating force or agency; as, the ground of my hope.

Actual performance; deed; act; workmanship; agency; hence, manner of performance. To change the hand in carrying on the war. Clarendon. Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand. Judges vi. 36.

By the influence or agency of heaven. Out heavenly guided soul shall climb. Milton.

rent; indwelling; abiding; intrinsic; internal or subjective; hence, limited in activity, agency, or effect, to the subject or associated acts; -- opposed to emanant, transitory, transitive, or objective. A cognition is an immanent act of mind. Sir W. Hamilton. An immanent power in the life of the world. Hare.…

nterposed or between, or without the intervention of another object as a cause, means, or agency; acting, perceived, or produced, directly; as, an immediate cause. The immediate knowledge of the past is therefore impossible. Sir. W. Hamilton. Immediate amputation (Surg.), an amputation performed within the first few ho…

That which impresses, or exercises an effect, action, or agency; appearance; phenomenon. [Obs.] Portentous blaze of comets and impressions in the air. Milton. A fiery impression falling from out of Heaven. Holland.

t of impelling or driving onward, or the state of being impelled; the sudden or momentary agency of a body in motion on another body; also, the impelling force, or impulse. "The impulsion of the air." Bacon.

of an effect, phusical or moral, by a gradual process; controlling power quietly exerted; agency, force, or tendency of any kind which the sun exerts on animal and vegetable life; the influence of education on the mind; the influence, according to astrologers,of the stars over affairs. Astrologers call the evil influen…

Agency; influence; production of effects. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

Applied to a case expressing means or agency; as, the instrumental case. This is found in Sanskrit as a separate case, but in Greek it was merged into the dative, and in Latin into the ablative. In Old English it was a separate case, but has disappeared, leaving only a few anomalous forms. Instrumental errors, those er…

tion of being instrumental; that which is instrumental; anything used as a means; medium; agency. The instrumentality of faith in justification. Bp. Burnet. The discovery of gunpowder developed the science of attack and defense in a new instrumentality. J. H. Newman.

By means of an instrument or agency; as means to an end. South. They will argue that the end being essentially beneficial, the means become instrumentally so. Burke.

Usefulness or agency, as means to an end; instrumentality. [R.] Hammond.

act of using or adapting as an instrument; a series or combination of instruments; means; agency. Otherwise we have no sufficient instrumentation for our human use or handling of so great a fact. H. Bushnell.

aking or becoming liquid; especially, the conversion of a solid into a liquid by the sole agency of heat.

olid form to that of a liquid; to melt; to dissolve; and technically, to melt by the sole agency of heat.

s, not members of a legislative body, who strive to influence its proceedings by personal agency. [U.S.]

One who looks. Looker-on, a spectator; one that looks on, but has no agency or part in an affair. Did not this fatal war affront thy coast, Yet sattest thou an idle looker-on Fairfax.

Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit. Addison. Elementary machine, a name sometimes given to one of the simple mechanical powers. See under Mechanical. -- Infernal machine. See under Infernal. -- Machine gun.See under Gun. -- Machine screw, a screw or bolt adapted f…