Search the Dictionary

A powerful astringent alkaloid extracted from ergot as a brown, amorphous, bitter substance. It is used to produce contraction of the uterus.

found in the bearberry (and others of the Ericaceæ), and extracted as a bitter, yellow, amorphous mass.

A general name for the history of the steps by which any living organism has acquired the morphological and physiological characters which distinguish it; a gradual unfolding of successive phases of growth or development.

A variety of gelatin; the chief ingredient of raw silk, extracted as a white amorphous mass.

A colorless, amorphous substance which is produced by the reduction of fluoresceïn, and from which the latter may be formed by oxidation.

A yellow or brown amorphous substance, of indifferent nature, found in cod-liver oil.

An amorphous, gelatinous substance containing nitrogen, found in milk and other animal fluids. It resembles peptone, and is variously regarded as a coagulating or emulsifying agent.

An amorphous mineral of apple-green color; a hydrous silicate of nickel and magnesia. It is an important ore of nickel.

An amorphous, gummy carbohydrate, found in Gelidium, agar-agar, and other seaweeds.

glue or gelatin; glutin. It is one of the constituents of wheat gluten, and is a tough, amorphous substance, which resembles animal glue or gelatin.

One of a large series of amorphous or crystalline substances, occurring very widely distributed in plants, rarely in animals, and regarded as influental agents in the formation and disposition of the sugars. They are frequently of a bitter taste, but, by the action of ferments, or of dilute acids and alkalies, always b…

A white, amorphous, tasteless substance resembling starch, soluble in water to an opalescent fluid. It is found abundantly in the liver of most animals, and in small quantity in other organs and tissues, particularly in the embryo. It is quickly changed into sugar when boiled with dilute sulphuric or hydrochloric acid,…

A white amorphous powder, C4H4O, obtained by heating and dehydrating glycolic acid. [Written also glycollide.]

onesia bark (Chrysophyllum), in the root of the walnut, etc., and extracted as a yellow, amorphous powder, of a bittersweet taste.

A white, amorphous, deliquescent powder, (CO.H)2, obtained by the partial oxidation of glycol. It is a double aldehyde, between glycol and oxalic acid.

A blood-sucking dipterous fly, of the genus Culex, undergoing a metamorphosis in water. The females have a proboscis armed with needlelike organs for penetrating the skin of animals. These are wanting in the males. In America they are generally called mosquitoes. See Mosquito.

and hair snake, from the absurd, but common and widely diffused, notion that they are metamorphosed horsehairs.

A yellow amorphous mineral, essentially a hydrated oxide of uranium derived from the alteration of uraninite.

A claylike mineral, occurring in soft, smooth, amorphous masses, of a whitish color.

A bluish black, amorphous substance containing iron and obtained from blood. It exists the red blood corpuscles united with globulin, and the form of hemoglobin or oxyhemoglobin gives to the blood its red color.