primordia

Plural of primordium. primordial (pri-môr'di-al), a. and n. [ in order; earliest; original; primitive; exist IMG:content-0961.png:[blocks in formation] I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first Darwin , Origin of Species, p. 420. breathed. 2. In an at., primitive; formative; in a rudimentary or embryonic state: opposed to definitive, or final, completed, or perfected: as, the prim or dial skull of man is partly membranous, partly cartilaginous. Three pairs of segmental organs, which have only a temporary existence and have been regarded as primordial kidneys, are developed at the posterior end of the body. Huxley , Anat. Invert., p. 192. 3. In bot., first formed: applied to the first true leaves formed by a young plant, also to the first fruit produced on a raceme or spike.-4. In geol., containing the earliest traces of life. Of all the results of geological and paleontological investigation during the past half-century, there is no one so remarkable as the revelation of the existence of the so called primordial fauna. It is now clearly established that there was a time when life was represented by a few forms, which were e entially the same all over the globe. What has long been known to be true for Europe and America has been recently supplemented, for Asia, by the investigations of Richthofen in China, where the peculiar pri mordial fauna seems to be largely developed, bearing, as Profe or Dames remarks, "an astonishing resemblance to that of North America and Scand in a via." Whitney and Wads worth, The Azoic System, p. 546. Primordial cell, in bot ., a cell of the simplest character, one which does not po e a cell-wall. — Primordialutri primrose cle, in bot., the layer of somewhat denser protoplasm which lines the inner surface of the wall of a vacuolated cell.Primordial zone, the name given by Barrande to certain strata in Bohemia which there contain the lowest fauna, pretty nearly the equivalent of the Potsdam sandstone of the New York Survey, and of the Cam brian of North Wales. In these various regions, as well as in other parts of the globe, as in China and the Cordilleras, the fauna of the primordial zone is strikingly similar, consisting largely of. trilobites and brachiopods, certain genera of which appear to have had a world-wide distribution. Syn. 1. Prime, etc. See primary. II. n. A first principle or element. The primordials of the world are not mechanical, but spermatical and vital. Dr. H. More, Divine Dialogues. Primordia lidæ (pri-môr-di-alʼi-dē), n . pl . [NL., primordial is , primordial, + -idæ . ] Afam ily of goniatites, having smooth whorls with simple sutures and large divided ventral lobes. Hyatt , Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1883, p. 315. primordialism (pri-môr'di-al-izm), n. [ pri mordial + -ism.] Continuance or observance of primitive ceremonies or the like. Yet another indication of primordialism may be named. This species of control [ceremonial observance] establishes itself anew with every fresh relation among individuals. H. Spencer , Prin. of Sociol., § 343. [ pri primordiality (pri-môr-di-al'i-ti), n. mordial + -ity.] The character of being primordial, and therefore not derived from anything else. primordially (pri-môr'di-al-i), adv. Under the first order of things; at the beginning. primordiate(pri-môrʼdi-āt), a. [ first. Not every thing chymists will call salt, sulphur, or spirit, that needs always be a primordiate and in generable body. Boyle . primordium (pri-môrʼdi-um), n.; pl. primordia (-a). [L., commonly in pl. primordia, the beginnings, I should really like to know what excuse Lord A could offer for his primosity to us, when he was riding with such a Jezebel as Lady Memoirs of Lady Hester Stanhope , xi. primovant (pri-mö'vant), n. In anc. astron., that sphere which was supposed to carry the fixed stars in their daily motions to which all the other orbs were attached. See primum mo bile. The motion of the primovant (or first equinoctial motion). Dee , Mathematic all Præface (1570).