amaist

[ALMOST.] Almost. (Scotch.) a-măl-gạm, * ạ-măl-gam-ạ, s. [In Fr. amalgame; Sp., Port., and Ital. amalgam a. By some derived from Gr. ἅμα (ham a) = together, and γαμέω (gameo) = to marry. By others taken from μάλαγμα ( malagma ) = (1) an emollient, (2) soft materials, from μαλάσσω ( malas so ) = to soften. The latter is the more probable derivation.] IMG:content-0429.jpg:[graphic] L. Literally : 1. Chem. The union or alloy of any metal with quicksilver (mercury). "Alloys of mercury or amalgams . Mercury combines with a great number of metals, forming compounds called amalgams , which are liquid or solid according as the mercury o mercury or the other metal prevails." -Graham: Chemistry, vol. ii., p. 324. IMG:content-0430.png:[graphic] 2. Mineralogy: (a) A mineral cla ed by Dana under his "Native Elements." It occurs crystallised, ma ive, or semi-fluid. Its colour and streak are silver-white. It is brittle, and when cut gives a grating noise. It consists of silver 34.8, and mercury 65-2. It occurs in Hungary, the Palatinate, Sweden, Spain, Chili, and elsewhere. (b) Gold Amalgam : A mineral occurring in white crumbling grains about the size of a pea, or in yellowish-white four-sided prisms. It consists of gold 39-02, and mercury 60-98. It is found in Columbia and in California. II. Fig .: A mixture of two things, which in their nature are different from each other. (a) Of two physical substances. either that the body of the wood will be turned into a kind of amalgam a , as the chemists call."-Bacon: Nat . Hist ., Cent. 1., § 99. it (b) Of what is not physical. 176 "They have attempted to confound all sorts of citizens, as well as they could, into one homogeneous ma ; and then they have divided this their amal gama into a number of incoherent republicks." Burke .