DUALISM

n. Du2'a2l-i2z'm. Lat., dualism us. Fr., dual is me. Ger., Dualism us, DuaUtatslehre, Polaritatslehre (1st def.). It., Sp., dualismo. 1. The science of duality according to which all the phenomena of nature are explained by means of two principles, the origin and cause of everything. 2. The science of polarity. 3. Of Lavoisier, and afterward of Berzelius, a chemical theory based on the a umption that salts are binary compounds formed by the combination of an acid and a base, and that every other compound has a like molecular arrangement. 4. Of Cooke and Berkley, the polymorphism of the reproductive apparatus of fungi in which there are two different forms of the same species, representing different stages of the development of the latter. 5. The doctrine that there are two forms of primary venereal sore, one (chancre) being the initial lesion of syphilis, and the other (chancroid) having nothing to do with syphilis. [A, 301, 322 (a, 21); B, 121 (a, 24); L, 41, 180.] [s. 623]