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A faint, cloudlike, self-luminous mass of matter situated beyond the solar system among the stars. True nebulæ are gaseous; but very distant star clusters often appear like them in the telescope.

rious forms by Kant, Herschel, Laplace, and others. As formed by Laplace, it supposed the matter of the solar system to have existed originally in the form of a vast, diffused, revolving nebula, which, gradually cooling and contracting, threw off, in obedience to mechanical and physical laws, succesive rings of matter,…

. These should be hours for necessities, Not for delights. Shak. What was once to me Mere matter of the fancy, now has grown The vast necessity of heart and life. Tennyson.

Not including superfluous, incidental, or foreign matter, as boxes, coverings, wraps, etc.; free from charges, deductions, etc; as, net profit; net income; net weight, etc. [Less properly written nett.] Net tonnage (Naut.), the tonnage of a vessel after a deduction from the gross tonnage has been made, to allow space f…

a nontoxic base, C5H14N2, found in the putrescent matters of flesh, fish, decaying cheese, etc.

decomposition of protagon with boiling baryta water, and in the putrefraction of proteid matter. It was for a long time considered identical with choline, a crystalline body originally obtained from bile. Chemically, however, choline is oxyethyl-trimethyl-ammonium hydroxide, while neurine is vinyl-trimethyl-ammonium h…

The delicate connective tissue framework which supports the nervous matter and blood vessels of the brain and spinal cord.

Overscrupulous or exacting; hard to please or satisfy; fastidious in small matters. Curious not knowing, not exact but nice. Pope. And to taste Think not I shall be nice. Milton.

Resembling the smell or taste of roast meat, or of corrupt animal matter. [R.]

An artificial bed of animal matter for the manufacture of niter by nitrification. See Nitrification, 2.

A process of oxidation, in which nitrogenous vegetable and animal matter in the presence of air, moisture, and some basic substances, as lime or alkali carbonate, is converted into nitrates.

ences on old walls, and in limestone caves, especially where there exists decaying animal matter.

It is not clear; -- a verdict given by a jury when a matter is to be deferred to another day of trial.

State of being under observation. [Obs.] Small matters . . . continually in use and in note. Bacon.

To feed and cause to grow; to supply with matter which increases bulk or supplies waste, and promotes health; to furnish with nutriment. He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Is. xliv. 14.

The matter composing the nucleus of a cell; the protoplasm of the nucleus; karyoplasma.

A kernel; hence, a central mass or point about which matter is gathered, or to which accretion is made; the central or material portion; -- used both literally and figuratively. It must contain within itself a nucleus of truth. I. Taylor.

In a more limited sense, the process by which the living tissues take up, from the blood, matters necessary either for their repair or for the performance of their healthy functions.

as whirling round and round about in it, all obfuscated and darkened over with fuliginous matter. Sterne. Clouds of passion which might obfuscate the intellects of meaner females. Sir. W. Scott.

he result of an act, or of acts, of observing; view; reflection; conclusion; judgment. In matters of human prudence, we shall find the greatest advantage in making wise observations on our conduct. I. Watts.