superposition (super poz is hon)

[= F. superposition = Sp. super pos i cion = Pg. sobrepo sição = It. soprapposizione, Before leaving Hullabid, it may be well tention to the order of superposition of the different animal friezes, alluded to already, when speaking of the rock-cut monastery described by the Chinese Pilgrims. J. Fergu on, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 403. 2. In bot., same as anteposition, 2.-3. Specifically, in geol., noting the relations of strati fied formations to one another from the point of view of the relative time of their deposi tion. That underlying beds are older than those which cover them is called the law of superposition. The apparent exceptions to this law are those instances in which Strati fie dies have been so disturbed and turned since their deposition that older beds have been made to rest upon newer ones. 4. In geom., the ideal operation of carrying one magnitude to the space occupied by another, and showing that they can be made to coincide throughout their whole extent. This is method Euclid, to which his axiom, that which coincide are equal, refers, but the use of the word superpose in this sense appears to be due to Auguste Comte (French super poser ). 5. In the early church, an addition to or extension of a fast; a fast longer than the ordinary fast. Bingham, Antiquities, xxi. 3.