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-- Cycle of eclipses, a priod of about 6,586 days, the time of revolution of the moon's node; -- called Saros by the Chaldeans. -- Cycle of indiction, a period of 15 years, employed in Roman and ecclesiastical chronology, not founded on any astronomical period, but having reference to certain judicial acts which too…

An East Indian carnivorous mammal (Prionodon gracilis), resembling the civets, but without scent pouches. It is handsomely spotted.

signs (Astron.), those through which the planets descent toward the south. -- Descending node (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward. -- Descending series (Math.), a series in which each term is numerically smaller than the preceding one; also, a series arrange…

A perennial, creeping grass (Cynodon dactylon), highly prized, in Hindostan, as food for cattle, and acclimated in the United States. [Written also doub grass.]

y possess most of the properties of double points (see Conjugate). They are also called acnodes, and those points where the branches of the curve really cross are called crunodes. The extremity of a cusp is also a double point. -- Double quarrel. (Eccl. Law) See Duplex querela, under Duplex. -- Double refraction. (Op…

over's original prescription) with nitrate and sulphate of potash and licorice. It is an anodyne diaphoretic.

Belonging to that space of time in which the moon performs one revolution, from ascending node to ascending node. See Dragon's head, under Dragon. [Obs.] "Dracontic month." Crabb.

ropping of the person, resembling the motion of a duck in water. Here be, without duck or nod, Other trippings to be trod. Milton. Bombay duck (Zoöl.), a fish. See Bummalo. -- Buffel duck, or Spirit duck. See Buffel duck. -- Duck ant (Zoöl.), a species of white ant in Jamaica which builds large nests in trees. -- Du…

A mineral of a blackish green color, commonly massive or in nodules. It is a hydrous phosphate of iron.

A concretionary nodule of clay ironstone, of the size of a walnut or larger, so called by the ancients, who believed that the eagle transported these stones to her nest to facilitate the laying of her eggs; aëtites.

iarch of Alexandria, the patriarch of Jerusalem, the patriarch of Antioch, and the Holy Synod of Russia. The Eastern Church accepts the first seven ecumenical councils (and is hence styled only schismatic, not heretical, by the Roman Catholic Church), has as its creed the Niceno- Constantinopolitan (without the later a…

The class Echinodermata which includes the sea urchins. They have a calcareous, usually more or less spheroidal or disk-shaped, composed of many united plates, and covered with movable spines. See Spatangoid, Clypeastroid. [Written also Echinidea, and Echinoida.]

The Echinodermata.

A genus of echinoderms, including the common edible sea urchin of Europe.

o eclipses. Lunar ecliptic limit (Astron.), the space of 12º on the moon's orbit from the node, within which, if the moon happens to be at full, it will be eclipsed. -- Solar ecliptic limit, the space of 17º from the lunar node, within which, if a conjunction of the sun and moon occur, the sun will be eclipsed.…

magnets. (f) Positive electricity, the electricity that appears at the positive pole or anode of a battery, or that is produced by friction of glass; -- called also vitreous electricity.

A brittle gem occurring in light green, transparent crystals, affording a brilliant clinodiagonal cleavage. It is a silicate of alumina and glucina.

An inodorous exudation, usually in the form of yellow tears, produced chiefly by the African Euphorbia resinifrea. It was formerly employed medicinally, but was found so violent in its effects that its use is nearly abandoned.

caprice, or eccentricity; irregular; oddly shaped; grotesque. There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high. T. Gray.

To fix; to settle; to confirm; to establish. [Obs.] And Jove has firmed it with an awful nod. Dryden.