adhesion

[In Fr. adhésion; Lat. ad hes us, pa, par. of adhæreo = to adhere.] [ADHERE.] A. Ordinary Language: 1. Lit. The act or state of sticking to. 44 and by the firın adhesion of the alveolar periosteum to the organised cement which invests the fang or fangs of the tooth."-Owen Cla if, of the Mammal i a , p. 15. "So also by tapping the end of the poker we loosen the adhesion of the fluids to the atoms, and enable the earth to pull them apart."- Tyndall : Frag. of Science . 2. Fig .: A sticking to; but when the sense is figurative, adherence is the word more commonly used. and choose justice with adhesion of the mind." Jeremy Taylor: Works (1839), vol. iii., p. 4. B. Technically: 1. Min. Adhesion to the tongue , or failure to do this, is one of the points to be tested when one seeks to identify a mineral. (Phillips: Mineralogy , 2nd ed., p. xxxvi.) gas. 2. Nat . Phil. The molecular attraction exerted between bodies in contact. Its effect is to make them adhere firmly together. It takes place between two solids, between a solid and a liquid, or between a solid and a It acts only at insensible distances. It differs from chemical affinity in this respect, that it acts between surfaces of any size, and without altering the character of the adhering bodies; whereas chemical affinity takes place between the ultimate particles of substances, and generally alters the aspect of the latter in a remarkable way. 3. Med . The sticking together or uniting of parts of the bodily frame which, in a perfectly healthy subject, remain apart; the reuniting of parts temporarily severed by wounds or bruises. "The healing of wounds, the adhesion of divided parts, are familiar to every one."- Todd & Bowman: Physiol. Anat., i. 11. 4. Bot . The growing together of two portions of a plant normally distinct, as of two opposite leaves, . ad-he-sive, a. [Fr. adhésif, as if from Lat. adhæsivus.] [ADHESION.] I. Literally : 1. That adheres; sticky, tenacious, viscous. 2. Fitted with some appliance or means for adhesion: as, adhesive envelopes. II. Fig .: That tends to adhere; clinging, persevering; remaining attached. "If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the tract." Thomson: Autumn, 437. adhesive-felt, s. A kind of felt used for sheathing wooden ships.