THE IMPERIAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: A COMPLETE ENCYCLOPEDIC LEXICON, LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, BY JOHN OGILVIE, LL.D., Author of "The Comprehensive English Dictionary," "The Student's English Dictionary," &c. &c. NEW EDITION, CAREFULLY REVISED AND GREATLY AUGMENTED. EDITED BY CHARLES ANNANDALE, M.A. ILLUSTRATED BY ABOVE THREE THOUSAND ENGRAVINGS PRINTED IN THE TEXT. BLACKIE & SON, 49 AND 50 OLD BAILEY, EC.; CHANTILLY EXPLANATIONS REGARDING PRONUNCIATION AND CHEMICAL SYMBOLS. PRONUNCIATION. IN showing the pronunciation the simplest and most easily understood method has been adopted, that of re-writing the word in a different form. In doing so the sarae letter or combination of letters is made use of for the same sound, no matter by what letter or letters the sound may be expressed in the principal word. The key by this means is greatly simplified, the reader having only to bear in mind one mark for each sound. The Accent. Words consisting of more than one syllable receive an accent, as the first syllable of the word labour, the second of delay, and the third of comprehension. accented syllable is the most prominent part of the word, being made so by means of the accent. In this dictionary it is denoted by the mark'. This mark, called an accent, is placed above and beyond the syllable which receives the accent, as in the words la'bour, delay', and comprehen'sion. Many polysyllabic words are pronounced with two accents, the primary and the secondary accent, as the word excommunication, in which the third, as well as the fifth syllable is commonly accented. The accent on the fifth syllable is the primary, true, or tonic accent, while that on the third is a mere euphonic accent, and consists of a slight resting on the syllable to prevent indistinctness in the utterance of so many unaccented syllables. Where both accents are marked in a word, the primary accent is thus marked", and the secondary, or inferior one, by this mark', as in the word excommunication. CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND SYMBOLS. By means of chemical symbols, or formulas, the composition of the most complicated substances can be very easily expressed, and that, too, in a very small compass. An abbreviated expression of this kind often gives, in a single line, more information as to details than could be given in many lines of letterpress. When a symbol has a small figure or number underwritten, and to the right of it, such figure or number indicates the number of atoms of the element. Thus-O2 signifies two atoms of oxygen, S, five atoms of sulphur, and Co ten atoms of carbon. When two or more elements are united to form a chemical compound, their symbols are written one after the other, to indicate the compound. Thus-H2O means water, a compound of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen; C12H22O11 indicates cane-sugar, a compound of twelve atoms of carbon, twenty-two of hydrogen, and eleven of oxygen. These two expressions as they stand denote respectively a molecule of the substance they represent, that is, the smallest possible quantity of it capable of existing in the free state. To express several molecules a large figure is prefixed, thus: 2 H2O represents two molecules of water, 4(C12H22O1) four molecules of cane-sugar. When a compound is formed of two or more compounds the symbolical expressions for the compound are usually connected together by a comma; thus, the crystallized magnesic sulphate is MgSO4, 7 H2O. The symbols may also be used to express the changes which occur during chemical action, and they are then written in the form of an equa tion, of which one side represents the substances as they exist before the change, the other the result of the reaction. | Thus, 2 H2+O2=2 H2O expresses the fact that two molecules of hydrogen, each containing two atoms, and one of oxygen, also containing two atoms, combine to give two molecules of water, each of them containing two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. (1) |
