GLOSSARY OF WORDS AND PHRASES



APPENDIX.

GLOSSARY OF SUCH WORDS AND PHRASES AS MAY NOT EASILY BE UNDERSTOOD BY
THE YOUNG READER

[Many words not contained in this GLOSSARY will be found explained in
the body of the work, in the places where they first occur.]


_Action brought by the Commonwealth:_ A prosecution conducted in the
name of the public, or by the authority of the State.

_Albumen:_ Nourishing matter stored up between the undeveloped germ and
its protecting wrappings in the seed of many plants. It is the flowery
part of grain, the oily part of poppy seeds, the fleshy part in cocoa-
nuts, etc.

_Alcoholic:_ Made of or containing alcohol, an inflammable liquid which
is the basis of ardent spirits.

_Alkali,_ (plural, _alkalies:_) A chemical substance, which has the
property of combining with and neutralizing the properties of acids,
producing salts by the combination. Alkalies change most of the
vegetable blues and purples to green, red to purple, and yellow to
brown. _Caustic alkali:_ An alkali deprived of all impurities,
being thereby rendered more caustic and violent in its operation. This
term is usually applied to pure potash. _Fixed alkali:_ An alkali
that emits no characteristic smell, and can not be volatilized or
evaporated without great difficulty. Potash and soda are called the
fixed alkalies. Soda is also called a _fossil_ or _mineral alkali,_ and
potash the _vegetable alkali. Volatile alkali:_ An elastic, transparent,
colorless, and consequently an invisible gas, known by the name of
ammonia or ammoniacal gas. The odor of spirits of hartshorn is caused by
this gas.

_Anglo-American:_ English-American, relating to Americans descended
from English ancestors.

_Anther:_ That part of the stamen of a flower which contains the pollen
or farina, a sort of mealy powder or dust, which is necessary to the
production of the flower.

_Anthracite:_ One of the must valuable kinds of mineral coal, containing
no bitumen. It is very abundant in the United States.

_Aperient:_ Opening.

_Archaology:_ A discourse or treatise on antiquities.

_Arrow-root_: A white powder, obtained from the fecula or starch, of
several species of tuberous plants in the East and West Indies, Bermuda,
and other places. That from Bermuda is most highly esteemed. It is used
as an article for the table, in the form of puddings, and also as a
highly nutritive, easily digested, and agreeable food for invalids. It
derives its name from having been originally used by the Indians as a
remedy for the poison of their arrows, by mashing and applying it to the
wound.

_Articulating process_: The protuberance or projecting part of a bone,
by which it is so joined to another bone as to enable the two to move
upon each other.

_Asceticism_: The state of an ascetic or hermit, who flies from
society and lives in retirement, or who practices a greater degree of
mortification and austerity than others do, or who inflicts
extraordinary severities upon himself.

_Astral lamp_: A lamp, the principle of which was invented by
Benjamin Thompson, (a native of Massachusetts, and afterward Count
Rumford,) in which the oil is contained in a large horizontal ring,
having at the centre a burner which communicates with the ring by
tubes. The ring is placed a little below the level of the flame, and
from its large surface affords a supply of oil for many hours.

_Astute_: Shrewd.

_Auricles_: (From a Latin word, signifying the ear,) the name given to
two appendages of the heart, from their fancied resemblance to the ear.

_Baglivi, (George)_: An eminent physician, who was born at Ragusa,
in 1668, and was educated at Naples and Paris. Pope Clement XIV., on
the ground of his great merit, appointed him, while a very young man,
Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the College of Sapienza, at Rome.
He wrote several works, and did much to promote the cause of medical
science. He died A.D. 1706.

_Bass_, or bass-wood: A large forest-tree of America, sometimes called
the lime-tree. The wood is white and soft, and the bark is sometimes
used for bandages.

_Bell, Sir Charles_: A celebrated surgeon, who was born in Edinburgh, in
the year 1778. He commenced his career in London, in 1806, as a lecturer
on Anatomy and Surgery. In 1830, he received the honors of knighthood,
and in 1836 was appointed Professor of Surgery in the College of
Edinburgh. He died near Worcester, in England, April 29th, 1842. His
writings are very numerous and have been, much celebrated. Among the
most important of these, to general readers, are his _Illustrations of
Paley's Natural Theology_, and his treatise on _The Hand, its Mechanism
and Vital Endowments, as evincing Design_.

_Bergamot_: A fruit which was originally produced by ingrafting a branch
of a citron or lemon-tree upon the stock of a peculiar kind of pear,
called the bergamot pear.

_Biased_: Cut diagonally from one corner to another of a square or
rectangular piece of cloth.

_Bias pieces_: Triangular pieces cut as above mentioned.

_Bituminous_: Containing _bitumen_, which is an inflammable mineral
substance, resembling tar or pitch in its properties and uses. Among
different bituminous substances, the names _naphtha_ and _petrolium_
have been given to those which are fluid, _maltha_, to that which has
the consistence of pitch, and _asphaltum_ to that which is solid.

_Blight_: A disease in plants by which they are blasted, or prevented
from producing fruit.

_Blonde lace_: Lace made of silk.

_Blood heat_: The temperature which the blood is always found to
maintain, or ninety-eight degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer.

_Blue vitriol_: Sulphate of copper.

_Blunts_: Needles of a short and thick shape, distinguished from
_Sharps_, which are long and slender.

_Booking_: A kind of thin carpeting or coarse baize.

_Botany_: (From a Greek word signifying an herb,) a knowledge of
plants; the science which treats of plants.

_Brazil wood_: The central part or heart of a large tree which
grows in Brazil, called the _Caesalpinia echinata_. It produces
very lively and beautiful red tints, but they are not permanent.

_Bronze_: A metallic composition, consisting of copper and tin.

_Brulure_: A French term, denoting a burning or scalding; a blasting of
plants.

_Brussels_, (carpet:) A kind of carpeting, so called from the city of
Brussels, in Europe. Its basis is composed of a warp and woof of strong
linen threads, with the warp of which are intermixed about five times
the quantity of woolen threads of different colors.

_Bulb_: A root with a round body, like the onion, turnip, or hyacinth.

_Bulbous_: Having a bulb.

_Byron, (George Gordon,) Lord_: A celebrated poet, who was born in
London, January 23d, 1788, and died in Missolonghi, in Greece, April
18th, 1824.

_Calisthenics_: From two Greek words--_kalos_, beauty, and _sthenos_,
strength, being the union of both.

_Camwood_: A dyewood, procured from a leguminous (or pod-bearing)
tree, growing on the western coast of Africa, and called _Baphianitida_.

 _Canker-worm_: A worm which is very destructive to trees and plants.
It springs from an egg deposited by a miller that issues from the
ground, and in some years destroys the leaves and fruit of apple and
other trees.

_Capillary_: A minute, hair-like tube.

_Carbon_: A simple, inflammable body, forming the principal part
of wood and coal, and the whole of the diamond.

_Carbonic acid:_ A compound gas, consisting of one part of carbon
and two parts of oxygen; fatal to animal life. It has lately been
obtained in a solid form.

_Carbonic Oxide:_ A compound, consisting of one part of carbon and one
part of oxygen; it is fatal to animal life. Burns with a pale, blue
flame, forming carbonic acid.

_Carmine:_ A crimson color, the most beautiful of all the reds. It is
prepared from a decoction of the powdered cochineal insect, to which
alum and other substances are added.

_Caseine:_ One of the great forms of blood-making matter; the
cheesy or curd-part of milk; found in both animal and vegetable
kingdoms.

_Caster:_ A small vial or vessel for the table, in which to put
vinegar, mustard, pepper, etc. Also, a small wheel on a swivel-joint,
on which furniture may be turned in any direction.

_Chancellor of the Exchequer: In England, the highest judge of the
law; the principal financial minister of a government, and the one who
manages its revenue.

_Chateau:_ A castle, a mansion.

_Chemistry:_ The science which treats of the elementary constituents of
bodies.

_Chinese belle,_ deformities of: In China, it is the fashion to compress
the feet of female infants, to prevent their growth; in consequence of
which, the feet of all the females of China are distorted, and so small
that the individuals can not walk with ease.

_Chloride:_ A compound of chlorine and some other substance.

_Chlorine_ is a simple substance, formerly called oxymuriatic acid. In
its pure state, it is a gas of green color, (hence its name, from a
Greek word signifying green.) Like oxygen, it supports the combustion of
some inflammable substances. _Chloride of lime_ in a compound of
chlorine and lime.

_Cholera infantum:_ A bowel-complaint to which infants are subject.

_Chyle:_ A white juice formed from the chyme, and consisting of the
finer and more nutritious parts of the food. It is afterward converted
into blood.

_Chyme:_ The result of the first process which food undergoes in the
stomach previously to its being converted into chyle.

_Cicuta:_ The common American hemlock, an annual plant of four or five
feet in height, and found commonly along walls and fences and about old
ruins and buildings. It is a virulent poison as well as one of the most
important and valuable medicinal vegetables. It is a very different
plant from the hemlock-tree or _Pinus Canadiensis_.

_Clarke, (Sir Charles Mansfield,) Dr.:_ A distinguished English
physician and surgeon, who was born, in London, May 28th, 1783. Ha was
appointed physician to Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV., in
1830, and in 1831 he was created a baronet. He was the author of several
valuable medical works.

_Cobalt:_ A brittle metal, of a reddish-gray color and weak
metallic lustre, used in coloring glass. It is not easily melted nor
oxidized in the air.

_Cochineal:_ A color procured from the cochineal insect, (or
_Coccus cacti,_) which feeds upon the leaves of several species
of the plant called cactus, and which is supposed to derive its coloring
matter from its food. Its natural color is crimson; but, by the addition
of a preparation of potash, it yields a rich scarlet dye.

_Cologne-water:_ A fragrant perfume, which derives its name from
having been originally made in the city of Cologne, which is situated
on the river Rhine, in Germany. The best kind is still procured from
that city.

_Comparative anatomy:_ The science which has for its object a comparison
of the anatomy, structure, and functions of the various organs of
animals, plants, etc., with those of the human body.

_Confection:_ A sweetmeat; a preparation of fruit with sugar; also a
preparation of medicine with honey, syrup, or similar saccharine
substance, for the purpose of disguising the unpleasant taste of the
medicine.

_Cooper, Sir Astley Paston:_ A celebrated English surgeon, who was born
at Brooke, in Norfolk county, England, August 23d, 1768, and commenced
the practice of surgery in London, in 1792. He was appointed surgeon to
King George IV. in 1827, was created a baronet in 1831, and died
February 12th, 1841. He was the author of many valuable works.

_Copal:_ A hard, shining, transparent resin, of a light citron color,
brought originally from Spanish-America, and now almost wholly from the
East-Indies. It is principally employed in the preparation of _copal
varnish._

_Copper, Sulphate of:_ See _Sulphate of copper.

_Copperas:_ (Sulphate of iron or green vitriol,) a bright green
mineral substance, formed by the decomposition of a peculiar ore of
iron called pyrites, which is a sulphuret of iron. It is first in the
form of a greenish-white powder or crust, which is dissolved in water,
and beautiful green crystals of copperas are obtained by evaporation.
It is principally used in dyeing and in making black ink. Its solution,
mixed with a decoction of oak bark, produces a black color.

_Coronary:_ Relating to a crown or garland. In anatomy, it is
applied to arteries which encompass the heart, in the manner, as it
is fancied, of a garland.

_Corrosive sublimate:_ A poisonous substance composed of chlorine
and quicksilver.

_Cosmetics:_ Preparations which, some people foolishly think will
preserve and beautify the skin.

_Cream of tartar_: See _Tartar_.

_Curculio_: A weevil or worm, which affects the fruit of the
plum-tree and sometimes that of the apple-tree, causing the unripe
fruit to fall to the ground.

_Cuvier, Baron_: The moat eminent naturalist of the present age;
was born A. D. 1769, and died A.D. 1832. He was Professor of Natural
History in the College of France, and held various important posts
under the French government at different times. His works on Natural
History are of the greatest value.

_Cynosure_: The constellation of the Lesser Bear, containing the star
near the North Pole, by which sailors steer. It is used, in a figurative
sense, as synonymous with _pole-star_ or _guide_, or anything to which
the eyes of many are directed.

_De Tocqueville_: See _Tocqueville_.

_Diamond cement_: A cement sold in the shops, and used for mending
broken glass and similar articles.

_Drab_: A thick woolen cloth, of a light brown or dun color. The
name is sometimes used for the color itself.

_Dredging-box_: A box with holes in the top, used to sift or scatter
flour on meat when roasting.

_Drill_: (In husbandry,) to sow grain in rows, drills, or channels;
the row of grain so sowed.

_Duchess of Orleans_: See _Orleans_.

The _East_, and the _Eastern States_: Those of the United States
situated in the north-east part of the country, including Maine,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont.

_Elevation_, (of a house:) A plan representing the upright view
of a house, as a ground-plan shows its appearance on the ground.

_Euclid_: A celebrated mathematician, who was born in Alexandria,
in Egypt, about two hundred and eighty years before Christ. He
distinguished himself by his writings on music and geometry. The most
celebrated of his works is his _Elements of Geometry_, which is in use
at the present day. He established a school at Alexandria, which became
so famous that, from his time to the conquest of Alexandria by the
Saracens, (A.D. 646,) no mathematician was found who had not studied
at Alexandria. Ptolemy, King of Egypt, was one of his pupils; and it
was to a question of this king, whether there was not a shorter way
of coming at geometry than by the study of his _Elements_, that Euclid
made the celebrated answer, "There is no royal path to geometry."

_Equator_ or _equinoctial line_: An imaginary line passing round the
earth, from east to west and directly under the sun, which always shines
nearly perpendicularly down upon all countries situated near the
equator.

_Evolve_: To throw off, to discharge.

_Exchequer:_ A court in England in which the Chancellor presides, and
where the revenues of and the debts due to the king, are recovered.
This court was originally established by King William, (called "the
Conqueror,") who died A.D. 1087; and its name is derived from a
checkered cloth (French _echiquier_, a chess-hoard, checker-work)
on the table.

_Excretion:_ Something discharged from the body, a separation of animal
matters. _Excrementitious:_ Consisting of matter excreted from the body;
containing excrements.

_Fahrenheit, (Gabriel Daniel:)_ A celebrated natural philosopher,
who was born at Dantzig, A.D. 1686. He made great improvements in the
thermometer, and his name is sometimes used for that instrument.

_Farinaceous:_ Mealy, tasting like meal.

_Fell:_ To turn down on the wrong side the raw edges of a seam after it
has been stitched, run, or sewed, and then to hem or sew it to the
cloth.

_Festivals_ of the Jews, the three great annual: These were, the
Feast of the Passover, that of Pentecost, and that of Tabernacles; on
occasion of which, all the males of the nation were required to visit
the temple at Jerusalem, in whatever part of the country they might
reside. See Exodus 28:14, 17; 34:23; Leviticus 33: 4; Deuteronomy
16:16. The Passover was kept in commemoration of the deliverance of
the Israelites from Egypt, and was so named because the night before
their departure the destroying angel, who slew all the first-born of
the Egyptians, _passed over_ the houses of the Israelites without
entering them. See Exodus 12. The Feast of Pentecost was so called
from a word meaning _the fiftieth_, because it was celebrated on
the fiftieth day after the Passover, and was instituted in commemoration
of the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day from the
departure out of Egypt. It is also called the Feast of Weeks, because
it was kept seven weeks after the Passover. See Exodus 34:32; Leviticus
23: 15-21; Deuteronomy 16: 9, 10. The Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast
of Tents, was so called because it was celebrated under tents or
tabernacles of green boughs, and was designed to commemorate their
dwelling in tents during their passage through the wilderness. At this
feast they also returned thanks, to God for the fruits of the earth
after they had been gathered. See Exodus 23: 16; Leviticus 33: 34-44;
Deuteronomy 16:13; and also St. John 7: 2.

_Fire-blight:_ A disease in the pear and some other fruit-trees,
in which they appear burnt as if by fire. It is supposed, by some to
be caused by an insect, others suppose it to be caused by-an
over-abundance of sap.

_Fluting-iron:_ An instrument for making flutes, channels, furrows,
or hollows in ruffles, etc.

_Foundation muslin_: A nice kind of buckram, stiff and white, used for
the foundation or basis of bonnets, etc.

_Free States_: A phrase formerly used to distinguish those States in
which slavery was not allowed, as distinguished from Slave States, in
which slavery did exist.

_French chalk_: A variety of the mineral called talc, unctuous to the
touch, of greenish color, glossy, soft, and easily scratched, and
leaving a silvery line when drawn on paper. It is used for marking
on cloth, and extracting grease-spots.

_Fuller's earth_: A species of clay remarkable for its property of
absorbing oil, for which reason it is valuable for extracting grease
from cloth, etc. It is used by fullers in scouring and cleansing
cloth, whence its name.

_Fustic_: The wood of a tree which grows in the West-Indies called
_Morus tinctoria_. It affords a durable but not very brilliant
yellow dye, and is also used in producing some greens and drab colors.

_Gastric_: (From the Greek [Transliterated: gasths], _gaster_, the
belly,) belonging or relating to the belly, or stomach. _Gastric
juice_: The fluid which dissolves the food in the stomach. It is
limpid, like water, of a saltish taste, and without odor.
_Geology_: The science which treats of the formation of the earth.

_Gluten_: The glue-like, sticky, tenacious substance which gives
adhesiveness to dough. The principle of gelly, (now generally written
_jelly_.)

_Gore_: A triangular piece of cloth.

_Goring_: Cut in a triangular shape.

_Gothic_: A peculiar and strongly-marked style of architecture,
sometimes called the ecclesiastical style, because it is most frequently
used in cathedrals, churches, abbeys, and other religious edifices. Its
principle seems to have originated in the imitation of groves and
bowers, under which the ancients performed their sacred rites; its
clustered pillars and pointed arches very well representing the trunks
of trees and their in-locking branches.

_Gourmand_ or _Gormand_: A glutton, a greedy eater. In agriculture, it
is applied to twigs which take up the sap but bear only leaves.

_Green vitriol_: See _Copperas_.

_Griddle_: An iron pan, of a peculiarly broad and shallow construction,
used for baking cakes.

_Ground-plan_: The map or plan of the floor of any building, in which
the various apartments, windows, doors, fire-places, and other things
are represented, like the rivers, towns, mountains, roads, etc., on a
map.

_Gum Arabic_: A vegetable juice which exudes through the bark of
the _Acacia, Mimosa nilotica_, and some other similar trees growing
in Arabia, Egypt, Senegal, and Central Africa. It is the purest of all
gums.

_Hardpan_: The hard, unbroken layer of earth below the mould or
cultivated soil.

_Hartshorn_, (spirits of:) A volatile alkali, originally prepared
from the horns of the stag or hart, but now procured from various other
substances. It is known by the name of ammonia or spirits of ammonia.

_Hemlock_: see _Cicuta.

_Horticulturist:_ One skilled in horticulture, or the art of cultivating
gardens: horticulture being to the garden what agriculture is to the
farm, the application of labor and science to a limited spot, for
convenience, for profit, or for ornament--though implying a higher
state of cultivation than is common in agriculture. It includes the
cultivation of culinary vegetables and of fruits, and forcing or exotic
gardening as far as respects useful products.

_Hydrogen_: A very light, inflammable gas, of which water is in part
composed. It is used to inflate balloons.

_Hypochondriasis_: Melancholy, dejection, a disorder of the imagination,
in which the person supposes he is afflicted with various diseases.

_Hysteria or hysterics_: A spasmodic, convulsive affection of the
nerves, to which women are subject. It is somewhat similar to
hypochondriasis in men.

_Ingrain_: A kind of carpeting, in which the threads are dyed in
the grain or raw material before manufacture.

_Ipecac_: (An abbreviation of _ipecacuanha_) an Indian medicinal plant,
acting as an emetic.

_Isinglass_: A fine kind of gelatin or glue, prepared from the
swimming-bladders of fishes, used as a cement, and also as an ingredient
in food and medicine. The name is sometimes applied to a transparent
mineral substance called mica.

_Jams_: A side-piece or post.

_Kamtschadales_: Inhabitants of _Kamtschatka_, a large peninsula
situated on the north-eastern coast of Asia, having the North Pacific
Ocean on the east. It is remarkable for its extreme cold, which
is heightened by a range of very lofty mountains extending the whole
length of the peninsula, several of which are volcanic. It is very
deficient in vegetable productions, but produces a great variety of
animals, from which the richest and most valuable furs are procured.
The inhabitants are in general below the common height, but have broad
shoulders and large heads. It is under the dominion of Russia.

_Kerosene_: Refined Petroleum, which see.

_Kink_: A knotty twist in a thread or rope.

_Lambrequin_: Originally a kind of pendent scarf or covering attached to
a helmet to protect and adorn it. Hence, a pendent ornamental curtain
over a window.

_Lapland_: A country at the extreme north part of Europe, where it is
very cold. It contains lofty mountains, some of which are covered with
perpetual snow and ice.

_Latin:_ The language of the Latins or inhabitants of Latium, the
principal country of ancient Italy. After the building of Rome, that
city became the capital of the whole country.

_Leguminous:_ Pod-bearing.

_Lent:_ A fast of the Christian Church, (lasting forty days, from
Ash-Wednesday to Easter,) in commemoration of our Saviour's miraculous
fast of forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. The word Lent
means spring, this fast always occurring at that season of the year.

_Levite:_ One of the tribe of Levi, the son of Jacob, which tribe
was set apart from the others to minister in the services of the
Tabernacle, and the Temple at Jerusalem. The priests were taken from
this tribe. See Numbers 1: 47-53.

_Ley:_ Water which has percolated through ashes, earth, or other
substances, dissolving and imbibing a part of their contents. It is
generally spelled _lye_.

_Linnaeus, (Charles:)_ A native of Sweden, and the most celebrated
naturalist of his age. He was born May 13th, 1707, and died January
11th, 1778. His life was devoted to the study of natural history. The
science of botany, in particular, is greatly indebted to his labors.
His _Amaenitates Academicae_ (Academical Recreations) is a collection of
the dissertations of his pupils, edited by himself, a work rich in
matters relating to the history and habits of plants. He was the first
who arranged Natural History into a regular system, which has been
generally called by his name. His proper name was Linne.

_Lobe:_ A division, a distinct part; generally applied to the two
divisions of the lungs.

_Loire:_ The largest river of France, being about five hundred and fifty
miles in. length. It rises in the mountains of Cevennes, and empties
into the Atlantic Ocean about forty miles below the city of Nantes. It
divides France into two almost equal parts.

_London Medical Society:_ A distinguished association, formed in 1773.
It has published some valuable volumes of its transactions. It has a
library of about 40,000 volumes, which is kept in a house presented to
the Society, in 1788, by the celebrated Dr. Lettsom, who was one of its
first members.

_Louis XIV.:_ A celebrated King of France and Navarre, who was born
September 5th, 1638, and died September 1st, 1715. His mother having
before had no children, though she had been married twenty-two years,
his birth was considered as a particular favor from heaven, and he was
called the "Gift of God." He is sometimes styled "Louis the Great," is
notorious as a period of licentiousness. He left behind him monuments of
unprecedented splendor and expense, consisting of palaces, gardens, and
other like works.

_Lumbar:_(From the Latin lumbus, the loin,) relating or pertaining to
the loins.

_Lunacy, writ of:_ A judicial proceeding to ascertain whether a person
be a lunatic.

_Mademoiselle:_ The French word for miss, a young girl.

_Magnesia:_ A light and white alkaline earth, which enters into the
composition of many rocks, communicating to them a greasy or soapy
feeling and a striped texture, with sometimes a greenish color.

_Malaria:_ (Italian, _mal/aria, bad air_,) a noxious vapor or
exhalation; a state of the atmosphere or soil, or both, which, in
certain regions and in warm weather, produces fever, sometimes of great
violence.

_Mammon:_ Riches, the Syrian god of riches. See Luke 16:11-13; St.
Matthew 6:24. _Mexico:_ A country situated south-west of the United
States and extending to the Pacific Ocean.

_Miasms:_ Such particles or atoms as are supposed to arise from
distempered, putrefying, or poisonous bodies.

_Michilimackinac_ or _Mackinac:_ (Now frequently corrupted into
_Mackinaw_, which is the usual pronunciation of the name,) a military
post in the State of Michigan, situated upon an island, about nine miles
in circuit, in the strait which connects Lakes Michigan and Huron. It is
much resorted to by Indians and fur-traders. The highest summit of the
island is about three hundred feet above the lakes and commands an
extensive view of them.

_Midsummer:_ With us, the time when the sun arrives at his greatest
distance from the equator, or about the twenty-first of June, called,
also the summer solstice, (from the Latin _sol, the sun_ and _sto, to
stop_ or _stand still_,) because when the sun reaches this point he
seems to stand still for some time, and then appears to retrace his
steps. The days are then longer than at any other time.

_Migrate:_ To remove from one place to another; to change residence.

_Mildew:_ A disease of plants; a mould, spot, or stain in paper, cloths,
etc., caused by moisture.

_Militate:_ To oppose, to operate against.

_Millinet:_ A coarse kind of stiff muslin, formerly used for the
foundation or basis of bonnets, etc.

_Mineralogy:_ A science which treats of the inorganic natural substances
found upon or in the earth, such as earths, salts, metals, etc., and
which are called by the general name of minerals.

_Minutiae:_ The smallest particulars.

_Monasticism:_ Monastic life; religiously recluse life in a monastery or
house of religious retirement.

_Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley:_ One of the most celebrated among the
female literary characters of England. She was daughter of Evelyn,
Duke of Kingston, and was born about 1690, at Thoresby, in England She
displayed uncommon abilities at a very early age, and was educated by
the best masters in the English, Latin, Greek, and French languages.
She accompanied her husband (Edward Wortley Montagu) on an embassy to
Constantinople, and her correspondence with her friends was published
and much admired. She introduced the practice of inoculation for the
small-pox into England, which proved of great benefit to millions. She
died at the age of seventy-two, A.D. 1762.

_Moral Philosophy:_ The science which treats of the motives and rules of
human actions, and of the ends to which they ought to be directed.

_Moreen: A kind of woolen stuff used for curtains, covers of cushions,
bed hangings, etc.

_Mortise: A cavity cut into a piece of timber to receive the end of
another piece called the _Tenon_.

_Mucous:_ Having the nature of _mucus, a glutinous, sticky, thready,
transparent fluid, of a salt savor, produced by different membranes of
the body, and serving to protect the membranes and other internal parts
against the action of the air, food, etc. The fluid of the mouth and
nose is mucus.

_Mucous membrane: That membrane which lines the mouth, nose, intestines,
and other open cavities of the body.

_Muriatic acid: An acid composed of chlorine and hydrogen, called also,
hydrochloric acid and spirit of salt.

_Mush-stick:_ A stick to use in stirring _mush, which is corn-meal
boiled in water.

_Nankeen_ or _Nankin:_ A light cotton cloth, originally brought from
Nankin, in China, whence its name.

_Nash, (Richard:)_ Commonly called _Beau Nash, or King of Bath, a
celebrated leader of the fashions in England. He was born at Swansea,
in South-Wales, October 8th, 1674, and died in the city of Bath,
(England,) February 3d, 1761.

_Natural History:_ The history of animals, plants, and minerals.

_Natural Philosophy:_ The science which treats of the powers of nature,
the properties of natural bodies, and their action one upon another. It
is sometimes called _physics_.

_New-milch cow:_ A cow which has recently calved.

_Newton, (Sir Isaac:)_ An eminent English philosopher and mathematician,
who was born on Christmas day, 1642, and died March. 20th, 1727. He was
much distinguished for his very important discoveries in Optics and
other branches of Natural Philosophy. See the first volume of _Pursuit
of Knowledge under Difficulties_, forming the fourteenth volume of _The
School Library_, larger series.

_Night-Soil:_ Human excrement, so-called because usually removed from
privies by night.

_Non-bearers:_ Plants which bear no flowers nor fruit.

_Northern States_: Those of the United States situated in the northern
and eastern part of the country.

_Ordinary_: See _Physician in ordinary_.

_Oil of Vitriol_: (sulphuric acid, or vitriolic acid,) an acid composed
of oxygen and sulphur.

_Oino-mania_: A disease of the brain produced by excessive use of
alcoholic stimulants; derived from two Greek words, _oinos_, wine, and
_mania_, madness. The same disease sometimes arises from overuse of
tobacco and other stimulants of the nerves.

_Orleans, (Elizabeth Charlotte de Baviere) Duchess of_: Second wife of
Philippe, the brother of Louis XIV., was born at Heidelberg, May 26th,
1652, and died at the palace of St. Cloud, in Paris, December 8th, 1722.
She was author of several works; among which were _Memoirs and Anecdotes
of the Court of Louis XIV._

_Ottoman_: A kind of hassock or thick mat for kneeling upon; so-called
from being used by the Ottomans or Turks.

_Oxalic acid_: a vegetable acid, which exists in sorrel.

_Oxide_: A compound of a substance with oxygen, though not enough
oxygen to produce an acid; for example, oxide of iron, or rust of
metals.

_Oxidize_: To combine oxygen with a body without producing acidity.

_Oxygen_: The vital element of air, a simple and very important
substance which exists in the atmosphere and supports the breathing
of animals and the burning of combustibles. It was called oxygen from
two Greek words, signifying to produce acid, from its power of giving
acidity to many compounds in which it predominates.

_Oxygenized_: Combined with oxygen.

_Pancreas_: A gland within the abdomen just below and behind the
stomach, and providing a fluid to assist digestion. In animals, it is
called the sweet-bread.

_Pancreatic_: Belonging to the pancreas.

_Parterre_: A level division of ground, a flower-garden.

_Pearlash_: The common name for impure carbonate of potash, which in a
purer form is called _Saleratus_.

_Peristaltic_: Contracting in successive circles; worm-like.

_Petroleum_: Rock oil, an inflammable, bituminous liquid exuding from
rocks or from the earth in the neighborhood of the carboniferous or
coal-bearing formation.

_Phosphorous_: One of the elementary substances.

_Physician in Ordinary to the Queen_: The physician who attends the
Queen in ordinary cases of illness.

_Pitt, William_: A celebrated English statesman, son of the Earl
of Chatham. He was born May 28th, 1759, and at the age of twenty-three
was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and soon afterward Prime Minister.
He died January 23d, 1806.

_Political Economy_: The science which treats of the general
causes affecting the production, distribution, and consumption of
articles of exchangeable value, in reference to their effects upon
national wealth and welfare.

_Pollen_: The fertilizing dust of flowers, produced by the stamens and
falling upon the pistils in order to render a flower capable of
producing fruit or seed.

_Potter's clay_: The clay used in making articles of pottery.

_Prairie_: A French word, signifying meadow. In the United States,
it is applied to the remarkable natural meadows or plains which are
found in the Western States. In some of these vast and nearly level
plains, the traveler may wander for days without meeting with wood or
water, and see no object rising above the plane of the horizon. They
are very fertile.

_Prime Minister_: The person appointed by the ruler of a nation
to have the chief direction and management of the public affairs.

_Process_: A protuberance or projecting part of a bone.

_Pulmonary_: Belonging to or affecting the lungs.

_Pulmonary artery_: An artery which passes through the lungs, being
divided into several branches, which form a beautiful network over the
air-vessels, and finally empty themselves into the left auricle of the
heart.

_Puritans_: A sect which professed to follow the pure word of God
in opposition to traditions, human constitutions, and other authorities.
In the reign, of Queen Elizabeth, part of the Protestants were desirous
of introducing a simpler, and, as they considered it, a _purer_ form of
church government and worship than that established by law, from which
circumstance they were called _Puritans_. In process of time, this party
increased in numbers and openly broke off from the church, laying aside
the English liturgy, and adopting a service-book published at Geneva by
the disciples of Calvin. They were treated with great rigor by the
government, and many of them left the kingdom and settled in Holland.
Finding themselves not so eligibly situated in that country as they had
expected to be, a portion of them embarked for America, and were the
first settlers of New England.

_Quixotic_: Absurd, romantic, ridiculous; from _Don Quixote_, the hero
of a celebrated fictitious work written by Cervantes, a distinguished
Spanish writer, and intended to reform the tastes and opinions of his
country-men.

_Reeking_: Smoking, emitting vapor.

_Residue_: The remainder or part which remains.

_Routine_: A round or course of engagements, business, pleasure, etc.

_To Run a seam_: To lay the two edges of a seam together and pass
the threaded needle out and in, with small stitches, a few threads
below the edge and on a line with it.

_To Run a stocking_: To pass a thread of yarn, with a needle, straight
along each row of the stocking, as far as is desired, taking up one loop
and missing two or three, until tie row is completed, so as to double
the thickness at the part which is run.

_Sabbatical year_: Every seventh year among the Jews, which was a year
of rest for the land, when it was to be left without culture. In this
year, all debts were to be remitted, and slaves set at liberty. See
Exodus 21:2:23:10; Leviticus 25:2, 3, etc.; Deuteronomy 15:12; and
other similar passages.

_Saleratus_: See _Pearlash_.

_Sal ammoniac_: A salt, called also muriate of ammonia, which derives
its name from a district in Libya, Egypt, where there was a temple of
Jupiter Ammon, and where this salt was found.

_Scotch Highlanders_: Inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland.

_Selvedge_: The edge of cloth, a border. Improperly written _selvage_.

_Service-book_: A book prescribing the order of public services in a
church or congregation.

_Sharps_: See _Blunts_.

_Shorts_: The coarser part of wheat bran.

_Shrubbery_: A plantation of shrubs.

_Siberia_: A large country in the extreme northern part of Asia, having
the Frozen Ocean on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east, and
forming a part of the Russian empire. The northern part is extremely
cold, almost uncultivated, and contains but few inhabitants. It
furnishes fine skins, and some of the most valuable furs in the
world. It also contains rich mines of iron and copper, and several
kinds of precious stones.

_Sinclair, Sir John_: Of whom it was said, "There is no greater name in
the annals of agriculture than his," was born in Caithness, Scotland,
May 10th, 1754, and became a member of the British Parliament in 1780.
He was strongly opposed to the measures of the British government toward
America, which produced the American Revolution. He was author of many
valuable publications on various subjects. He died December 21st, 1835.

_Sirloin_: The loin of beef. The appellation "sir" is the title of a
knight or baronet, and has been added to the word "loin," when applied
to beef, because a king of England, in a freak of good humor, once
conferred the honor of knighthood upon a loin of beef.

_Slack_: To loosen, to relax, to deprive of cohesion.

_Soda_: An alkali, usually obtained from the ashes of marine plants.

To _Spade_: To throw out earth with a spade.

_Spermaceti_: An oily substance found in the head of a species of whale
called the spermaceti whale.

_Spindling_: Shooting into a long, small stalk.

_Spinous process_: A process or bony protuberance, resembling a spine or
thorn, whence it derives its name.

_Spool_: A piece of cane or reed or a hollow cylinder of wood, with a
ridge at each end, used to wind yarn and thread upon.

_Stamen_, (plural, _stamens_ and _stamina_:) In _weaving_, the warp, the
thread, any thing made of threads. In _botany_, that part of a flower on
which the artificial classification is founded, consisting of the
filament or stalk, and the anther, which contains the pollen or
fructifying powder.

_Stigma_, (plural _stigmas_ and _stigmata_:) The summit or top of the
pistil of a flower.

_Style_ or Stile: The part of the pistil between the germ and the
stigma.

_Sub-carbonate_: An imperfect carbonate.

_Sulphate, Sulphates, Sulphites_: Salts formed by the combination
of some base with sulphuric acid, as _Sulphate of copper_, (blue
vitriol or blue stone,) a combination of sulphuric acid with copper.
_Sulphate of iron_: Copperas or green vitriol. _Sulphate of lime_:
Gypsum or plaster of Paris. _Sulphate of magnesia_: Epsom salts.
_Sulphate of potash_: A chemical salt, composed of sulphuric acid and
potash. _Sulphate of soda_: Glauber's salts. _Sulphate of zinc_:

White vitriol. _Sulphuret_: A combination of an alkaline earth
or metal with sulphur, as _Sulphuret of iron_, a combination of
iron and sulphur. _Sulphuric acid_: Oil of vitriol, vitriolic
acid.

_Suture_: A sewing; the uniting of parts by stitching; the seamor
joint which unites the flat bones of the skull, which are notched
like the teeth of a saw, and the notches, being united together, present
the appearance of a seam.

_Tartar_: A substance, deposited on the inside of wine casks, consisting
chiefly of tartaric acid and potash.

_Cream of tartar_: The crude tartar separated from all its impurities by
being dissolved in water and then crystallized, when it becomes a
perfectly white powder.

_Tartaric acid_: A vegetable acid which exists in the grape.

_Technology_: A description of the arts, considered generally in
their theory and practice as connected with moral, political, and
physical science.

_Three-ply_ or _triple ingrain_: A kind of carpeting, in which the
threads are woven in such a manner as to make three thicknesses of the
cloth.

_Tic douloureux_: A painful affection of the nerves, mostly those
of the face.

_Tocqueville, (Alexis de:)_ A celebrated statesman and writer of
France, and author of volumes on the political condition, and the
penitentiaries of the United States, and other works.

_Trachea_: The windpipe, so named (from a Greek word signifying
_rough_) from the roughness or inequalities of the cartilages of
which it is formed.

_Truckle-bed_ or _Trundle-bed_: A bed that runs on wheels.

_Tuber_: A solid, fleshy, roundish root, like the potato.

_Tuberous_: Thick and fleshy; composed of or having tubers.

_Tucks_, (improperly _Tacks_): Folds in garments.

_Turmeric:_ The root of a plant called _Curcuma longa_, a native of the
East-Indies, used as a yellow dye.

_Twaddle:_ Idle, foolish talk or conversation.

_Unbolted:_ Unsifted. _Unslacked:_ Not loosened or deprived of cohesion.
Lime, when it has been slacked, crumbles to powder from being deprived
of cohesion.

_Valance:_ The drapery or fringe hanging round the cover of a bed,
couch, or other similar article.

_Vascular:_ Relating to or full of vessels.

_Venetian:_ A kind of carpeting, composed of a striped woolen warp on a
thick woof of linen thread,

_Verisimilitude:_ Probability, resemblance to truth.

_Verbatim:_ Word for word.

_Vice versa:_ The side being changed, or the question reversed, or the
terms being exchanged.

_Viscera_, (plural of _viscus:_) Organs contained in the great cavities
of the body, the skull, the abdomen, and the chest. Generally applied to
the contents of the abdomen.

_Vitriol:_ A compound mineral salt of a very caustic taste. _Blue
Vitriol_, sulphate of copper. _Green Vitriol_, see _Copperas. _Oil of
Vitriol_, sulphuric acid.

_White Vitriol_, sulphate of zinc.

_Waffle-iron:_ An iron utensil for the purpose of baking waffles,
which are thin and soft cakes indented by the iron in which they are
baked.

_Wash-leather:_ A soft, pliable leather dressed with oil, and in
such a way that it may be washed without shrinking. It is used for
various articles of dress, as undershirts, drawers, etc., and also for
rubbing silver, and other articles having a high polish. The article
known in commerce as chamois or shammy leather is also called
wash-leather.

_Welting-cord:_ A cord sewed into the welt or border of a garment.

_The West_ or _Western World_. When used in Europe, or in distinction
from the Eastern World, it means America. When used in this country, the
West refers to the Western States of the Union.

_Western Wilds:_ The wild, thinly-settled lands of the Western States.

_White vitriol:_ see _Zinc.

_Wilton carpet:_ A kind of carpets made in England, and so called from
the place which is the chief seat of their manufacture. They are woolen
velvets with variegated colors.

_Writ of lunacy_. See _Lunacy.

_Xantippe:_ The wife of Socrates, noted for her violent temper and
scolding propensities. The name is frequently applied to a shrew,
or peevish, turbulent, scolding woman.

_Zinc:_ A bluish-white metal, which is used as a constituent of brass
and some other alloys. _Sulphate of Zinc_ or _White vitriol_; A
combination of Zinc with sulphuric acid.