Defn: Lifeless matter deposited in the form of minute granules within the protoplasm of living cells.
ELEME FIGS; ELEMI FIGS El"e*me figs`, El"e*mi figs` (el"e*mi). [Turk. eleme anything which has been sifted and freed from dust or broken parts.]
Defn: A kind of figs of superior quality.
ELEMENT
El"e*ment, n. Etym: [F. élément, L. elementum.]
1. One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
2. One of the ultimate, undecomposable constituents of any kind of matter. Specifically: (Chem.) A substance which cannot be decomposed into different kinds of matter by any means at present employed; as, the elements of water are oxygen and hydrogen.
Note: The elements are naturally classified in several families or groups, as the group of the alkaline elements, the halogen group, and the like. They are roughly divided into two great classes, the metals, as sodium, calcium, etc., which form basic compounds, and the nonmetals or metalloids, as oxygen, sulphur, chlorine, which form acid compounds; but the distinction is only relative, and some, as arsenic, tin, aluminium, etc., form both acid and basic compounds. The essential fact regarding every element is its relative atomic weight or equivalent. When the elements are tabulated in the order of their ascending atomic weights, the arrangement constitutes the series of the Periodic law of Mendelejeff. See Periodic law, under Periodic. This Periodic law enables us to predict the qualities of unknown elements. The number of elements known is about seventy-five, but the gaps in the Periodic law indicate the possibility of many more. Many of the elements with which we are familiar, as hydrogen, carbon, iron, gold, etc., have been recognized, by means of spectrum analysis, in the sun and the fixed stars. From certain evidence (as that afforded by the Periodic law, spectrum analysis, etc.) it appears that the chemical elements probably may not be simple bodies, but only very stable compounds of some simpler body or bodies. In formulas, the elements are designated by abbreviations of their names in Latin or New Latin.
The Elements ————————————————————————————
——Name |Sym-|Atomic Weight| |bol | O=16 | H=1 | —————————-
————————————————————-Aluminum | Al | 27.1 | 26.9|
Antimony(Stibium) Argon Arsenic Barium Beryllium (see Glucinum)
Bismuth Boron Bromine Cadmium Caesium Calcium Carbon Cerium Chlorine
Chromium Cobalt Columbium Copper (Cuprum) Erbium Fluorine Gadolinium
Gallium Germanium Glucinum Gold Helium Hydrogen Indium Iodine Iridium
Iron (Ferrum) Krypton Lanthanum Lead (Plumbum) Lithium Magnesium
Manganese Mercury (Hydrargyrum) Molybdenum Neodymium Neon Nickel
Niobium (see Columbium) Nirogen Osmium Oxygen Palladium Phosphorus
Platinum Potassium (Kalium) Praseodymium Rhodium Rubidium Ruthenium
—————————————————————————————-The
Elements — continued ———————————————————————-
——————-Name Samarium Scandium Selenium Silicon Silver
(Argentum) Sodium (Natrium) Strontium Sulphur Tantalum Tellurium
Thallium Thorium Thulium Tin (Stannum) Titanium Tungsten (Wolframium)
Uranium Vanadium Wolfranium (see Tungsten) Xenon Ytterbium Yttrium
Zinc Zirconium ———————————————————————————
———
Note: Several other elements have been announced, as holmium, vesbium, austrium, etc., but their properties, and in some cases their existence, have not yet been definitely established.