Impotence

(im'po-tenz.) [From L. impotent ia, destitute of power.] (Law.) Physical incapacity on the part ofa husband to consummate the marital act; - the existence of such infirmity at the time of marriage, if afterwards proved to be radical, forms a ground for the di olution of the contract. (-prèg-na's hun.) [From L. Lat. impregn are, to make fecund.] (Physiol.) The act by which, in organized beings, the material furnished by the generative organs of the female, unites with that prepared by those of the male, so that a new being results therefrom. (Bot.) A deposit of the fecundating dust or pollen of the stamens on the pistils of a plant. [s. 479]