MALIC a.
es; as, malic acid. Malic acid, a hydroxy acid obtained as a substance which is sirupy or crystallized with difficulty, and has a strong but pleasant sour taste. It occurs in many fruits, as in green apples, currants, etc. It is levorotatory or dextrorotatory according to the temperature and concentration. An artificia…
MANDRAKE n.
ed, and supposed to resemble a man. It was therefore supposed to have animal life, and to cry out when pulled up. All parts of the plant are strongly narcotic. It is found in the Mediterranean region. And shrieks like mandrakes, torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, run mad. Shak.…
MARGARIC a.
ining to, or resembling, pearl; pearly. Margaric acid. (a) (Physiol. Chem.) A fatty body, crystallizing in pearly scales, and obtained by digesting saponified fats (soaps) with an acid. It was formerly supposed to be an individual fatty acid, but is now known to be simply an intimate mixture of stearic and palmitic aci…
MARTIAL a.
, iron; chalybeate; as, martial preparations. [Archaic] Martial flowers (Med.), a reddish crystalline salt of iron; the ammonio-chloride of iron. [Obs.] -- Martial law, the law administered by the military power of a government when it has superseded the civil authority in time of war, or when the civil authorities are…
MASSIVE a.
In mass; not necessarily without a crystalline structure, but having no regular form; as, a mineral occurs massive. Massive rock (Geol.), a compact crystalline rock not distinctly schistone, as granite; also, with some authors, an eruptive rock.
MEAN a.
l the errors; -- called also, especially by European writers, mean error. -- Mean line. (Crystallog.) Same as Bisectrix. -- Mean noon, noon as determined by mean time. -- Mean proportional (between two numbers) (Math.), the square root of their product. -- Mean sun, a fictitious sun supposed to move uniformly in th…