DEXTRINE.
393
disunions of the elements, which he can exercise with certainty in effecting innumerabletransformations in the arts.
DECREPITATION (Eng. and Fr.; Verknistern, Germ.) is the crackling noise,attended with the flying asunder of their parts, made by several salts and minerals,' v hen heated. It is caused by the unequal sudden expansion of their substance b£ theheat. Sulphate of baryta, chloride of sodium, calcareous spar, nitrate of baryta, and many®ore bodies which contain no water, decrepitate most violently, separating at the naturalIWnts of their crystalline structure. Some chemists have preposterously enough ascribedthe phenomenon to the expansion of the combined water into steam. What a specimen°i inductive philosophy!
DEFECATION (Eng. and Fr.; Klaren, Germ.), the freeing from dregs or impurities.DEFLAGRATION (Eng. and Fr. ; Verpuffung, Germ.), the sudden blazing up of acot nbustible; as of a charcoal or sulphur when thrown into melted nitre.
GELPHINIA. The vegeto-alkaline principle of the Delphinium staphysagria , orstavesacre. It is poisonous!
DELIQUESCENT ( Zerjliessen, Germ.) is said of a solid which attracts so muchoisture from the air as to become spontaneously soft or liquid; such as potash andmu «ate of lime.
ti i^HLEGMATION is the process by which liquids are deprived of their watery par-,, les - It is applied chiefly to spirituous liquors, and is now nearly obsolete, as involving® a lchemistical notion of a peculiar principle called phlegm.
DEPHLOGISTICATED; deprived of phlogiston, — formerly supposed to be the®|ntnon combustible principle. It is nearly synonymous with oxygenated. The idea■Smally attached to the word having proceeded from false logic, the word itself shouldbe used either in science or manufactures.
sub BPl LATORY (Depilatoire, Fr.; Enthaarensmittel, Germ.) is the name of any.j,^ sl: ance capable of removing hairs from the human skin without injuring its texture,pi act either mechanically ‘or chemically. The first are commonly glutinousth sters formed of pitch and rosin, which stick so closely to the part of the skin wherei s Jl are applied, that when removed, they tear away the hairs with them. This methodacti ° re Painful, but less dangerous than the other, which consists in the solventth e , a ° f a menstruum, so energetic as to penetrate the pores of the skin, and destroybarvt ' 10US rools the hairs. This is composed either of caustic alkalis, sulphuret offoj,, 1 ’ or arsenical preparations. Certain vegetable juices have also been recommendedbe eil e sa me purpose; as spurge and acacia. The bruised eggs of ants have likewiseGaj P resc rit>ed. But the oriental rusma yields to nothing in depilatory power,in* , ■ Gassincourt has published in the Didimnaire des Sciences Medicates, the follow*jj? cl Pe for preparing it.
of a * two ounces of quicklime with half an ounce of orpiment or realgar, (sulphuretby t |j' e '? lc ;) boil that mixture in one pound of strong alkaline ley, then try its strengthIt i s b )|r| v a feather into it, and when the flue falls off, the rusma is quite strong enough.tvn^PPUed to the human skin by a momentary friction, followed by washing withbeginn' Vater ‘- ® uc *' a caus t' c liquid should be used with the greatest circumspection,ab( JVe "with it somewhat diluted. A soap is sometimes made with lard and thet°ry "? r edients; or soft soap is combined with them; in either case to form a depila-°r t W(J ma fle. Occasionally one ounce of orpiment is taken to eight ounces of quicklime,its ca Us .” .twelve, or three to fifteen; the last mixture being of course the most active,to f orin Icit y may be tempered by the addition of one eighth of starch or rye flour, so asries aur! 1 sop l )a ste, which being laid upon the hairy spot for a few minutes, usually car-The ru 1 le hairs with it.
0 f the risi m r s * lou ' | l never be applied but to a small surface at a time, for independently°f the arseni corr0 ^‘ n " the sk‘ n ) dangerous consequences might ensue from absorption
the Percuuf ® ee Fulminating, for the mode of preparing detonating powder for
DE UTOXY^ apS ° f fire - arms -
a Coia Pounii *D®q literally means the second oxyde, but is usually employed to denotea Ptetai contain m* two atoms or two prime equivalents of oxygen to one or more ofP?lueviat e( j th" S We heutoxyde of coppeiq and deutoxyde of mercury. Berzelius hasaccord' !! ex P re . ss ‘°n by adopting the principles of the French nomenclature of,L° n and th n "i l ° the higher stage of oxydizement is characterized by the termina-
j ® ^ e,, toxj-(i es e f °T er ^ ous> ani * he writes accordingly cupric and mercuric, to designateha ye adopted°ti ■ se lw ° metals; cuprous and mercurous to designate their protoxydes.this Diction-,,! 18 no ’ nenc l a ture in the article Decomposition , and in some other parts0 j.DEXTRlNg aS “ ein " s fl°rt and sufficiently precise.
j me molecule, J* matter of a gummy appearance into which the interior substanceriv es it s nam „ starch is converted, through the influence of diastase or acids. Itrom the circumstance that it turns, more than any other body, the