position micrometer (pozishonmikrometer)

A micrometer for measuring angles of position (see angle of position, under pos i tion ), which are read upon a graduated circle. It has a single thread, or a pair of parallel threads, which can be revolved around the common focus of the object gla and eye-gla in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the telescope. positive (poz'i-tiv), a. and n. [ ing definite characters of its own; of a kind to excite sensation or be otherwise directly ex perienced; not negative. Thus, light is pos i tive, darkne negative; man is positive, nonman negative. To him, as to his uncle, the exercise of the mind in discu ion was a positive pleasure. Macaulay . The force of what seems a positive desire for an object is in many cases derived from a negative desire or aversion to some correlative pain. J. Sully , Outlines of Psychol., p. 581. 3. Arbitrarily laid down; determined by declaration, enactment, or convention, and not by nature: opposed to natural. Thus, the phenomenon of onomatopœia shows that words are in some degree natural, and not altogether positive; so, positive law, positive theology. [This sense, the original one in Latin, is a translation of Greek θέσει.] 4. Imperative; laid down as a command to be followed without question or discretion: as, positive orders. In laws, that which is natural bindeth universally; that which is positive , not so.. Although no laws but pos i tive are mutable, yet all are not mutable which be positive . Hooker . 5. Unquestionable; indubitable; certain; hence, experiential. 'Tis positive against all exceptions, lords, That our superfluous lackeys... To purge this field of such a hilding foe. IMG:content-0696.jpg:[graphic] were enow Shak., Ilen. V., iv. 2. 25. IMG:content-0697.png:[blocks in formation] 8t. Actually or really officiating or discharging the duties of an office. I was, according to the Grand Signior his comm an dement, very courteously interteined by Peter, his positiue positive prince. Hakluyt's Voyages , II. 289. 9. Not reversed. (a) Greater than zero; not measured in a reversed direction: signifying the absence of such reversal. (b) In photog., representing lights by lights and shades by shades, and not the reverse. (c) Being that one of two opposite kinds which is arbitrarily considered as first: as, positive electricity. In all these senses opposed to negative . 10. Not comparative. Especially, in gram., signifying a quality without an inflection to indicate comparison as to the intensity of that quality.-Positive allega tion, in law, an allegation made without reserve, as distinguished from an allegation made on information and belief or argumentatively. - Positive attribute, an attribute whose real nature is analogous to the form of a positive term.- Positive colors. See color. - Positive crystal. See refraction and hemihedrism. - Positive degree, in gram., the simple value of an adjective or adverb, without comparison or relation to increase or diminution: used by antithesis to comparative and superlative degree: see comparison, 5. Positive discrepancy, the relation between the testimony of two witne es one of whom explicitly affirms what the other explicitly denies.Positive distinction, a distinction which distinguishes two real existences: opposed to negative distinction, which distinguishes an existence from a non-existence. - Positive electricity, ens, entity, evidence, eyepiece. See the nouns.- Positive judgment, in logic, an affirmative proposition.- Positive law, in the philosophy of jurisprudence and legislation, the body of laws prescribed or controlling human conduct, as distinguished from laws so called which are merely generalizations of what has been observed to take place; law set as a rule to which itself requires conformity. Some have included divine law, others only human law; judicial as well as statutory law is included. - Positive misprision, motion, organ. See the nouns. - Positive philosophy, a philosophical system founded by Auguste Comte (1798-1857). Its main doctrines are as follows. All speculative thought pa es through three stages - the theological, the metaphysical, the positive. The theological stage is that in which liv. ing beings with free will are supposed to account for phenomena; the metaphysical is that in which unverifiable abstractions are resorted to; the positive is that which contents itself with general descriptions of phenomena. The sciences are either abstract or concrete. The ab stract discover regularities, the concrete show in what manner these regularities are to special cases. The abstract sciences are (1) mathematics, (2) astronomy, (3) physics, (4) chemistry, (5) biology, (6) sociology. They must be studied in this order, since each after the first rests on the preceding. Especially, sociology must be founded on biology. The development of civilization has taken place according to certain laws or regularities. The civilized community is a true organism a Great Being to which individuals are related somewhat as cells to an animal organism. This Great Being should be an object of worship; and this worship should be systematized after the model of the medieval church.Positive pleasure or pain, a state of pleasure or pain exceeding the neutral point; a pleasure or pain which is such irrespective of comparison with other states. -Positive pole of a voltaic pile or battery. See pole2 and electricity. Positive precision. See precision. - Positive prescription. See prescription, 3 (a). Positive proof, direct proof deducing the conclusion as a particular case of some general rule, without the use of the reductio ad absurdum, etc. Positive quantity, in alg., an affirmative or additive quantity, which character is indicated by the sign + (plus) prefixed to the quantity, called in consequence the positive sign. Positive is here used in contradistinction to negative. - Positive term, a term not in form affected with the negative sign. - Positive whole, a whole which has parts: opposed to a negative whole, or something called a whole as being indivisible. II. n. 1. That which settles by absolute appointment. Positives ... while under precept cannot be slighted without slighting morals also. Water land , Scripture Vindicated, iii. 37. 2. That which is capable of being affirmed; reality. Rating positives by their privatives. South , Sermons, I. ii. 3. In gram., the positive degree.-4. In pho tog., a picture in which the lights and shades are rendered as they are in nature: opposed to negative. Positives are usually obtained by printing from negatives. See negative and pho tography.-5. Same as positive organ. Alabas trine positive. See alabastrine. positively (pozʻi-tiv-li), adv. In a positive manner. (a) Absolutely; by itself; independently of anything else; not comparatively. The good or evil which is removed may be esteemed good or evil comparatively, and not positively or simply. Bacon . (b) Not negatively; really; in its own nature; directly; inherently: thus, a thing is positively good when it produces happine by its own qualities or operation: it is negatively good when it prevents an evil or does not produce it. (c) Certainly; indubitably; decidedly. Give me some breath, some little pause, my lord, Before I positively speak herein. Shak., Rich. III., iv. 2. 25. So, Maria, you see your lover pursues you; positively you sha'n't escape. Sheridan , School for Scandal, i. 1. ( d ) Directly; explicitly: as, the witne testified positively to the fact. (e) Peremptorily; in positive terms; expre ly. I would ask whether the whole tenor of the divine law does not positively require humility and meekne ? Bp . Sprat. The Queen found it expedient to i ue an order positive ly forbidding the torturing of state-prisoners on any pretence whatever. Macaulay , Lord Bacon. (f) With full confidence or a urance: as, I cannot speak positively in regard to the fact. (g) By positive electricity: as, positively electrified. See electricity . positivene (poz'i-tiv-nes), n . The state of being positive; actual ne ; reality of exis 4636 tence; not mere negation; undoubting a urance; full confidence; peremptorine . positivism (poz'i-tiv-izm), n. [= F. posit i vis me; as positive + -ism.] 1. Actual or absolute knowledge. The metaphysicians can never rest till they have taken their watch to pieces and have arrived at a happy positiv ism as to its structure. Lowell , Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 150. 2. [ cap .] The Positive philosophy (which see, under positive ). Positivist (poz'i-tiv-ist), n. [= F. positiviste ; as positive + -ist .] One who maintains the doctrines of the Positive philosophy. positivistic (poz"i-ti-vis'tik), a . [ Positivist + -ic.] Of or pertaining to the Positivists or Positivism. teaches us, when a