Spe"cies (?), n. sing. & pl. [L., a
sight, outward appearance, shape, form, a particular sort, kind, or
quality, a species. See Spice, n., and cf.
Specie, Special.] 1. Visible or
sensible presentation; appearance; a sensible percept received by the
imagination; an image. [R.] "The species of the letters
illuminated with indigo and violet." Sir I. Newton.
Wit, . . . the faculty of imagination in the writer,
which searches over all the memory for the species or ideas of
those things which it designs to represent.
Dryden.
&fist; In the scholastic philosophy, the species was
sensible and intelligible. The sensible species
was that in any material, object which was in fact discerned by the
mind through the organ of perception, or that in any object which
rendered it possible that it should be perceived. The sensible
species, as apprehended by the understanding in any of the relations
of thought, was called an intelligible species. "An apparent
diversity between the species visible and audible is, that the
visible doth not mingle in the medium, but the audible doth."
Bacon.
2. (Logic) A group of individuals
agreeing in common attributes, and designated by a common name; a
conception subordinated to another conception, called a genus, or
generic conception, from which it differs in containing or
comprehending more attributes, and extending to fewer individuals.
Thus, man is a species, under animal as a
genus; and man, in its turn, may be regarded as a
genus with respect to European, American, or the
like, as species.
3. In science, a more or less permanent group
of existing things or beings, associated according to attributes, or
properties determined by scientific observation.
&fist; In mineralogy and chemistry, objects which possess the same
definite chemical structure, and are fundamentally the same in
crystallization and physical characters, are classed as belonging to a
species. In zoölogy and botany, a species is an
ideal group of individuals which are believed to have descended from
common ancestors, which agree in essential characteristics, and are
capable of indefinitely continued fertile reproduction through the
sexes. A species, as thus defined, differs from a
variety or subspecies only in the greater stability of
its characters and in the absence of individuals intermediate between
the related groups.
4. A sort; a kind; a variety; as, a
species of low cunning; a species of generosity; a
species of cloth.
5. Coin, or coined silver, gold, ot other
metal, used as a circulating medium; specie. [Obs.]
There was, in the splendor of the Roman empire, a less
quantity of current species in Europe than there is
now.
Arbuthnot.
6. A public spectacle or exhibition.
[Obs.] Bacon.
7. (Pharmacy) (a) A
component part of compound medicine; a simple.
(b) (Med.) An officinal mixture or
compound powder of any kind; esp., one used for making an aromatic tea
or tisane; a tea mixture. Quincy.
8. (Civil Law) The form or shape given
to materials; fashion or shape; form; figure.
Burill.
Incipient species (Zoöl.), a
subspecies, or variety, which is in process of becoming permanent, and
thus changing to a true species, usually by isolation in localities
from which other varieties are excluded.
Spe"cies (?), n. sing. & pl. [L., a
sight, outward appearance, shape, form, a particular sort, kind, or
quality, a species. See Spice, n., and cf.
Specie, Special.] 1. Visible or
sensible presentation; appearance; a sensible percept received by the
imagination; an image. [R.] "The species of the letters
illuminated with indigo and violet." Sir I. Newton.
Wit, . . . the faculty of imagination in the writer,
which searches over all the memory for the species or ideas of
those things which it designs to represent.
Dryden.
&fist; In the scholastic philosophy, the species was
sensible and intelligible. The sensible species
was that in any material, object which was in fact discerned by the
mind through the organ of perception, or that in any object which
rendered it possible that it should be perceived. The sensible
species, as apprehended by the understanding in any of the relations
of thought, was called an intelligible species. "An apparent
diversity between the species visible and audible is, that the
visible doth not mingle in the medium, but the audible doth."
Bacon.
2. (Logic) A group of individuals
agreeing in common attributes, and designated by a common name; a
conception subordinated to another conception, called a genus, or
generic conception, from which it differs in containing or
comprehending more attributes, and extending to fewer individuals.
Thus, man is a species, under animal as a
genus; and man, in its turn, may be regarded as a
genus with respect to European, American, or the
like, as species.
3. In science, a more or less permanent group
of existing things or beings, associated according to attributes, or
properties determined by scientific observation.
&fist; In mineralogy and chemistry, objects which possess the same
definite chemical structure, and are fundamentally the same in
crystallization and physical characters, are classed as belonging to a
species. In zoölogy and botany, a species is an
ideal group of individuals which are believed to have descended from
common ancestors, which agree in essential characteristics, and are
capable of indefinitely continued fertile reproduction through the
sexes. A species, as thus defined, differs from a
variety or subspecies only in the greater stability of
its characters and in the absence of individuals intermediate between
the related groups.
4. A sort; a kind; a variety; as, a
species of low cunning; a species of generosity; a
species of cloth.
5. Coin, or coined silver, gold, ot other
metal, used as a circulating medium; specie. [Obs.]
There was, in the splendor of the Roman empire, a less
quantity of current species in Europe than there is
now.
Arbuthnot.
6. A public spectacle or exhibition.
[Obs.] Bacon.
7. (Pharmacy) (a) A
component part of compound medicine; a simple.
(b) (Med.) An officinal mixture or
compound powder of any kind; esp., one used for making an aromatic tea
or tisane; a tea mixture. Quincy.
8. (Civil Law) The form or shape given
to materials; fashion or shape; form; figure.
Burill.
Incipient species (Zoöl.), a
subspecies, or variety, which is in process of becoming permanent, and
thus changing to a true species, usually by isolation in localities
from which other varieties are excluded.
