distribution (dis tri bush on)

[F. distri bution = Pr. distribucio Sp. distribucion = Pg. distribuição = It. distribuzione, stribuzione, Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution, Bacon , Riches. I know that it is common to rail at the unequal distri bution of riches as the great source of jealousies, broils, and heart-breakings. Irving , Knickerbocker, p. 161. It is evidently on the real distribution of power, and not on names and badges, that the happine of nations must depend. Macaulay , Utilitarian Theory of Government. 2. That which is distributed or apportioned. Milton , On Def. of Humb. Remonst. 7. In arch., the arrangement of a plan with reference to walls and open spaces, or to the various services and uses to which the different apartments of an interior are destined; also, the artistic combination of ma es, ornaments, wall-openings, various kinds of masonry, etc.8. In pol it. econ., the division of the aggregate produce of the industry of any society among the independent individuals who compose it.9. In steam-engines, the operation by which steam is admitted into and withdrawn from the cylinder at each stroke of the piston.Accommodate distribution, in logic. See accommo date.-Civil distribution, in logic, the acceptation of a term for nearly all its singulars, according to the everyday loose usage of speech: as, everybody reverences Shakspere (where everybody excludes not only those who know nothing of him, but also a considerable number of his students). Distribution of a curve, in geom. See curve. -Distribution of electricity, a phrase employed to signify the density of the electricity on a body, as determined by its shape or the proximity of other electrified bodies, which act inductively upon it. (See density.) A charge of electricity always tends to distribute itself over the entire surface of the conductor. - Distribution of heat, a phrase expre ive of the several ways by which the rays of heat, as they fall upon the surface of a solid or liquid body, may be disposed of, as by reflection, by absorption, or by transmi ion. - Geographical distribution, in bot. and zool., that branch of the respective sciences which treats of the distribution of plants and animals over the surface of the earth, ascertaining the areas within which each species is found, investigating the climatic and other conditions which determine its occurrence, and in general settling all questions with regard to the areas occupied by the floras and faunas of the different countries world; chorology; zoögeography or phytogeography. - Parametric distribution, in math., the manner of correspondence of different values of a parameter with points of a curve. Thus, when the coördinates of the variable points of a bicursal curve are represented by elliptic functions of a parameter, to each point of the curve there belongs a twofold infinity of values of the parameter, and the precise description of the correspondence is the parametric distribution. - Province of distribution, in bot. and zool., a faunal and floral area; a chorological region. See the extract. Certain areas of the earth's surface are inhabited by groups of animals and plants which are not found elsewhere. Such areas are termed Provinces of Distribu tion. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 24. Statute of distributions, in law, a statute which regulates the distribution of the personal estate of intestates. =Syn. 1. Apportionment, partition, division, disposition, grouping.