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e removal or alteration of some of the ingredients of a compound; disintegration; as, the decomposition of wood, rocks, etc.

A variety of shale or clay slate, containing iron pyrites, the decomposition of which leads to the formation of alum, which often effloresces on the rock.

quartz, calcite, and the zeolites. When the imbedded minerals are detached or removed by decomposition, it is porous, like lava.

An electro-negative element, or the element which, in electro- chemical decompositions, is evolved at the anode; -- opposed to cation. Faraday.

Preventing fermentation or decomposition. -- n.

to cause to approach, adhere, or combine; or to cause to resist divulsion, separation, or decomposition. All bodies and all parts of bodies mutually attract themselves and one another. Derham.

Chemical decomposition brought about by bacteria without the addition of oxygen.

averic rigidity. Dunglison. Cadaveric alkaloid, an alkaloid generated by the processes of decomposition in dead animal bodies, and thought by some to be the cause of the poisonous effects produced by the bodies. See Ptomaine.

ntense pressure. It is produced in the fermentation of liquors, and by the combustion and decomposition of organic substances, or other substances containing carbon. It is formed in the explosion of fire damp in mines, and is hance called after damp; it is also know as choke damp, and mephilic air. Water will absorb it…

formation of an intermediate compound or compounds, so that by alternate composition and decomposition the agent is apparenty left unchanged; as, the catalysis of making ether from alcohol by means of sulphuric acid; or catalysis in the action of soluble ferments (as diastase, or ptyalin) on starch.…

An electro-positive substance, which in electro-decomposition is evolved at the cathode; -- opposed to anion. Faraday.

lcohol. It is uncertain whether it exists as such in nerve tissue, or is a product of the decomposition of some more complex substance.

A sugarlike body obtained by the decomposition of the nitrogenous non-phosphorized principles of the brain.

A term sometimes applied to the decomposition of organic substance into more simple bodies, by the use of chemical agents alone. Thudichum.

d from rhubarb as a bitter, yellow, crystalline powder, and yielding chrysophanic acid on decomposition.

ds, consisting of hydrous silicate of alumunium. It is the result of the wearing down and decomposition, in part, of rocks containing aluminous minerals, as granite. Lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, and other ingredients, are often present as impurities.

To destroy, as by decomposition, dissipation, waste, or fire; to use up; to expend; to waste; to burn up; to eat up; to devour. If he were putting to my house the brand That shall consume it. Shak. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume. Matt. vi. 20 (Rev. Ver. ). Let me alo…

The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration. The inducing and accelerating of putrefaction is a subject of very universal inquiry; for corruption is a reciprocal to "generation". Bacon.…

A white, crystalline substance, C12H13NO3, obtained as a product of the decomposition of narcotine. It has weak basic properties, and is usually regarded as an alkaloid.

An explosion or sudden report made by the instantaneous decomposition or combustion of unstable substances' as, the detonation of gun cotton.