RADIUM n.
An intensely radioactive metallic element found (combined) in minute quantities in pitchblende, and various other uranium minerals. Symbol, Ra; atomic weight, 226.4. Radium was discovered by M. and Mme. Curie, of Paris, who in 1902 separated compounds of it by a tedious process from pitchblende. Its compounds color fla…
ROYAL a.
lately discovered also in Florida. -- Royal pheasant. See Curassow. -- Royal purple, an intense violet color, verging toward blue. -- Royal tern (Zoöl.), a large, crested American tern (Sterna maxima). -- Royal tiger. (Zoöl.) See Tiger. -- Royal touch, the touching of a diseased person by the hand of a king, with…
SLACK; SLACKEN v.
To cause to become less intense; to mitigate; to abate; to ease. To respite, or deceive, or slack thy pain Of this ill mansion. Milton. Air-slacked lime, lime slacked by exposure to the air, in consequence of the absorption of carton dioxide and water, by which it is converted into carbonate of lime and hydrate of lime…
SOLAR a.
, which become phosphorescent, and shine in the dark, after exposure to sunlight or other intense light. -- Solar plexus (Anat.), a nervous plexus situated in the dorsal and anterior part of the abdomen, consisting of several sympathetic ganglia with connecting and radiating nerve fibers; -- so called in allusion to t…