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fore washing. Dirt bed (Geom.), a layer of clayey earth forming a stratum in a geological formation. Dirt beds are common among the coal measures. -- Dirt eating. (a) The use of certain kinds of clay for food, existing among some tribes of Indians; geophagism. Humboldt. (b) (Med.) Same as Chthonophagia. -- Dirt pie,…

splease. [Obs.] He thought in no policy to distaste the English or Irish by a course of reformation, but sought to please them. Sir J. Davies.

in its most extended sense, including any writing, book, or other instrument conveying information in the case; any material substance on which the thoughts of men are represented by any species of conventional mark or symbol. Saint Luke . . . collected them from such documents and testimonies as he . . . judged to be…

In Canada, a legal holiday, July lst, being the anniversary of the proclamation of the formation of the Dominion in 1867.

Information concerning the previous performances of race horses, or other facts concerning them which may be of assistance in judging of their chances of winning future races; sometimes, similar information concerning other sports. [Sporting Slang]

A name applied in Germany to the Permian formation, there consisting of two principal groups.

A process of bone formation in which ossification takes place in the perichondrium and either surrounds or gradually replaces the cartilage.

The formation of the whitish powder or crust on the surface of efflorescing bodies, as salts, etc.

The natural process of formation or assimilation, performed by the living organs in animals and vegetables, by which a crude substance is changed into something of a higher order; as, the elaboration of food into chyme; the elaboration of chyle, or sap, or tissues.

The formation of an embryo.

The science which relates to the formation and development of the embryo in animals and plants; a study of the gradual development of the ovum until it reaches the adult stage.

Relating to, or aiding in, the formation of an embryo; as, embryoplastic cells.

, among some of the lower forms of life, precedes reproduction by budding, fission, spore formation, etc.

ithin; increasing by internal growth. Endogenous multiplication (Biol.), a method of cell formation, seen in cells having a cell wall. The nucleus and protoplasm divide into two distinct masses; these in turn become divided and subdivided, each division becoming a new cell, until finally the original cell wall is ruptu…

A process of bone formation in which ossification takes place within the substance of the cartilage.

Pertaining to the first in time of the three subdivisions into which the Tertiary formation is divided by geologists, and alluding to the approximation in its life to that of the present era; as, Eocene deposits. -- n.

Containing fossil remains; -- said of rocks, formations, mountains, and the like. [Obs.] Epizoötic mountains are of secondary formation. Kirwan.

ubsequent influence; a memorable period; as, the epoch of maritime discovery, or of the Reformation. "So vast an epoch of time." F. Harrison. The influence of Chaucer continued to live even during the dreary interval which separates from one another two important epochs of our literary history. A. W. Ward.…

mint, and the like. The . . . word essence . . . scarcely underwent a more complete transformation when from being the abstract of the verb "to be," it came to denote something sufficiently concrete to be inclosed in a glass bottle. J. S. Mill.

The science of the formation of character, national and collective as well as individual. J. S. Mill.