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t assumed for the purpose of argument, or to account for a fact or an occurrence; as, the hypothesis that head winds detain an overdue steamer. An hypothesis being a mere supposition, there are no other limits to hypotheses than those of the human imagination. J. S. Mill.

hall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of abiogenesis. Huxley, 1870.

m), in which the correct conclusion is an inference from the demonstration that any other hypothesis must be incorrect.

The hypothesis that all living things proceed from preëxisting germs, and that these encase the germs of all future living things, inclosed one within another. Buffon.

f the several quantities to be added to, or taken from, its position as calculated on the hypothesis of a mean uniform motion, in order to find its true position as resulting from its actual and unequal motion. Absolute equation. See under Absolute. -- Equation box, or Equational box, a system of differential gearing…

A primeval larval form; a double-walled sac from which, according to the hypothesis of Haeckel, man and all other animals, that in the first stages of their individual evolution pass through a two-layered structural stage, or gastrula form, must have descended. This idea constitutes the Gastræa theory of Haeckel. See G…

One of the imaginary granules or atoms which, according to Darwin's hypothesis of pangenesis, are continually being thrown off from every cell or unit, and circulate freely throughout the system, and when supplied with proper nutriment multiply by self-division and ultimately develop into cells like those from which th…

red large portions of the northern hemisphere to the mountain tops. -- Glacial theory or hypothesis. (Geol.) See Glacier theory, under Glacier.

thing; to prove abortive; to fail. [Slang] -- To go upon, to act upon, as a foundation or hypothesis. -- To go with. (a) To accompany. (b) To coincide or agree with. (c) To suit; to harmonize with. -- To go (well, ill, or hard) with, to affect (one) in such manner. -- To go without, to be, or to remain, destitute of…

e or transcending physical laws; supernatural. Those who do not fly to some hyperphysical hypothesis. Sir W. Hamilton.

Characterized by, or of the nature of, an hypothesis; conditional; assumed without proof, for the purpose of reasoning and deducing proof, or of accounting for some fact or phenomenon. Causes hypothetical at least, if not real, for the various phenomena of the existence of which our experience informs us. Sir W. Hamilt…

One who proposes or supports an hypothesis. [R.]

equal; matchless; peerless; transcendent. A merchant of incomparable wealth. Shak. A new hypothesis . . . which hath the incomparable Sir Isaac Newton for a patron. Bp. Warburton. -- In*com"pa*ra*ble*ness, n. -- In*com"pa*ra*bly, adv. Delights incomparably all those corporeal things. Bp. Wilkins.

A complex nitrogenous substance, which, by Hermann's hypothesis, is continually decomposed and reproduced in the muscles, during their life.

- Material evidence (Law), evidence which conduces to the proof or disproof of a relevant hypothesis. Wharton.

Of or pertaining to nebulæ; of the nature of, or resembling, a nebula. Nebular hypothesis, an hypothesis to explain the process of formation of the stars and planets, presented in various forms by Kant, Herschel, Laplace, and others. As formed by Laplace, it supposed the matter of the solar system to have existed origi…

An hypothesis advanced by Darwin in explanation of heredity.

Of or pertaining to panspermy; as, the panspermic hypothesis.

differentials, differential coefficients, differentiation etc., of the function, upon the hypothesis that some of the variables are for the time constant. -- Partial fractions (Alg.), fractions whose sum equals a given fraction. -- Partial tones (Music), the simple tones which in combination form an ordinary tone; th…

A particular philosophical system or theory; the hypothesis by which particular phenomena are explained. [Books] of Aristotle and his philosophie. Chaucer. We shall in vain interpret their words by the notions of our philosophy and the doctrines in our school. Locke.