NITER; NITRE n.
with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me. Jer. ii. 22. Cubic niter, a deliquescent salt, sodium nitrate, found as a native incrustation, like niter, in Peru and Chili, whence it is known also as Chili saltpeter. -- Niter bush (Bot.), a genus (Nitraria) of thorny shrubs bearing edible…
PEBBLE n.
zilian pebble; -- so called by opticians. Pebble powder, slow-burning gunpowder, in large cubical grains. -- Scotch pebble, varieties of quartz, as agate, chalcedony, etc., obtained from cavities in amygdaloid.
QUANTIC n.
in general containing only positive integral powers of the variables, and called quadric, cubic, quartic, etc., according as it is of the second, third, fourth, fifth, or a higher degree. These are further called binary, ternary, quaternary, etc., according as they contain two, three, four, or more variables; thus, the…
ROMAN a.
of numerals, as distinguished from the Arabic numerals, 1, 4, etc. Roman alum (Chem.), a cubical potassium alum formerly obtained in large quantities from Italian alunite, and highly valued by dyers on account of its freedom from iron. -- Roman balance, a form of balance nearly resembling the modern steelyard. See th…