| balsam, Canada | <microscopy> A resin from the balsam fir Abies balsamea. Dissolved in xylene, toluene, or benzene it is used as a mountant for permanent microscopical preparations. Its refractive index may vary from 1.530 to l.545 and its softening point from room temperature to 100deg.C, these properties varying with age and solvent content. If impure it discolours with age. See: lens, Bertrand. (05 Aug 1998) |
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| canada | The largest country in north america, comprising 10 provinces and two territories. Its capital is ottawa. It was discovered by norsemen as early as 1000 a.d. And was the object of anglo-french rivalry in the 17th century, but by 1867 became one dominion. Canada is from an indigenous huron or iroquois word, kanata, meaning camp or village. The french explorers assumed this was the name of the entire country. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Canada balsam | A yellowish liquid resin from the balsam fir, Abies balsamea (family Pinaceae); contains kinene and bornyl acetate; used for mounting histologic specimens and as a cement for lenses. Synonym: Canada turpentine. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Canada snakeroot | An aromatic stimulant and diaphoretic. Synonym: Canada snakeroot, Indian ginger, wild ginger. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Canada turpentine | A yellowish liquid resin from the balsam fir, Abies balsamea (family Pinaceae); contains kinene and bornyl acetate; used for mounting histologic specimens and as a cement for lenses. Synonym: Canada turpentine. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Canada, Wilma | <person> U.S. Radiologist. See: Cronkhite-Canada syndrome. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cronkhite-canada syndrome | <radiology> Not inherited; no pattern, inflammatory glandular dilatation of stomach, colon, small bowel (50%), juvenile-type polyps, no malignant potential, protein and electrolyte loss, ectodermal abnormalities, alopecia, hyperpigmentation, nail loss (onycholysis), prognosis: males: remits, females: die in 6-18 months due to cachexia see: polyposis syndromes (12 Dec 1998) |
| Abbe's law of limiting resolution | <physics> For a periodic structure of units separated by distance d and obliquely illuminated by the unrefracted ray and one of the two diffracted rays (extremely oblique illumination). Abbe applied the law of diffraction: d = 0.5 lambda /NA, where: lambda = wavelength of the monochromic light or shortest of mixed wavelengths NA = the limiting numerical aperture (NA) of objective or condenser. (05 Aug 1998) |
| all or none law | Consistently total response to any effective stimulus. Synonym: all or none law. (05 Mar 2000) |
| American Law Institute formulation | Used in certain jurisdictions to determine criminal responsibility in legal proceedings. See: criminal insanity. (05 Mar 2000) |
| American Law Institute rule | A test of criminal responsibility (1962): "a person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law." (05 Mar 2000) |
| Ampere's law | <physics> General equation in electromagnetism relating the magnetic field and the currents generating it. The various forms of the equation can be found in an introductory electromagnetism text. (09 Oct 1997) |
| Angstrom's law | A substance absorbs light of the same wavelength as it emits when luminous. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Arndt's law | An obsolete law stating that weak stimuli excite physiologic activity, moderately strong ones favour it, strong ones retard it, and very strong ones arrest it. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Arrhenius law | The theory of electrolytic dissociation (1887) that became the basis of our modern understanding of electrolytes: in an electrically conductive solution (e.g., acid, base, or salt), free ions are present before electrolysis, and the proportion of molecules dissociated into ions can be calculated from measurements of electrical conductivity as well as of osmotic pressure. Synonym: Arrhenius law. (05 Mar 2000) |