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Speculum   Listen
noun
Speculum  n.  (pl. L. specula, E. speculum)  
1.
A mirror, or looking-glass; especially, a metal mirror, as in Greek and Roman archaeology.
2.
A reflector of polished metal, especially one used in reflecting telescopes. See Speculum metal, below.
3.
(Surg.) An instrument for dilating certain passages of the body, and throwing light within them, thus facilitating examination or surgical operations.
4.
(Zool.) A bright and lustrous patch of color found on the wings of ducks and some other birds. It is usually situated on the distal portions of the secondary quills, and is much more brilliant in the adult male than in the female.
Speculum metal, a hard, brittle alloy used for making the reflectors of telescopes and other instruments, usually consisting of copper and tin in various proportions, one of the best being that in which there are 126.4 parts of copper to 58.9 parts of tin, with sometimes a small proportion of arsenic, antimony, or zinc added to improve the whiteness.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Speculum" Quotes from Famous Books



... contemplo et formam cognosco meam, quem ad modum ego sum—saepe in speculum inspexi—nimis similest mei; itidem habet petasum ac vestitum: tam consimilest atque ego; sura, pes, statura, tonsus, oculi, nasum vel labra, malae, mentum, barba, ...
— Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi • Plautus Titus Maccius

... Scots, who being strangely diseased was, by some devine intelligence, advised to take the water of a well in England, called Muswell, which after long scrutation and inquisition, this well was found and performed the cure" (Norden's "Speculum Britanniae," p. 36, edit. 1723). I am informed that the mosaic pavement and other ruins of this well and its chapel were to be seen about twenty-five years ago ...
— A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume I. • R. Dodsley

... reflecting telescope, however, there are necessary limitations. Before the middle of this century, it was known that the future of astronomy depended upon the refracting lens, and not on the speculum. The latter, in the hands of the two Herschels and Rosse, had reached its utmost limits—as is shown by the fact that to this day the Rosse telescope is the largest of its kind in ...
— Notable Events of the Nineteenth Century - Great Deeds of Men and Nations and the Progress of the World • Various

... dispediculate it, doing so, as he said, because the seraphic father himself was no enemy of pedocchi, but on the contrary kept them on him (le portava adosso) and held it for an honor and a glory to wear these celestial pearls in his habit. Quoted by P. Sabatier: Speculum Perfectionis, etc., ...
— The Varieties of Religious Experience • William James

... speculum. Kelly was the doctor's speculator or seer. The speculum resembled a "piece of polished ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer

... original Greek, St. Paul uses the word mirror, which is also the word used in the Latin Vulgate, "per speculum;" that is, by means of a mirror. The meaning, therefore, of St. Paul is not that we see through a glass by transmitted light, as when we look through a telescope, but as when we see an image reflected in a mirror. Let us suppose a man so circumstanced in this world that he has never ...
— The Happiness of Heaven - By a Father of the Society of Jesus • F. J. Boudreaux

... show that J.T. Marston, their faithful friend and a man every way worthy of the friendship of such men, was only losing his time while mirroring the Moon in the speculum of the gigantic telescope on that ...
— All Around the Moon • Jules Verne

... speculum suum, mundet spiritum suum, quisquis sitit videre Deum suum. Exterso autem speculo et diu diligenter inspecto, incipit ei quaedam divini luminis claritas interlucere, et immensus quidam insolitae visionis radius ...
— The Cell of Self-Knowledge - Seven Early English Mystical Treaties • Various

... very painful. By turning it further, the blood is made to start; and by taking away the key, as at E, the tortured person is left in agony, without the means of helping himself, or being helped by others. This is applied in case of obstinacy, at the discretion of the captain. I, F, is a speculum oris. The dotted lines represent it when shut; the black lines when open. It opens at G, H, by a screw below with a knob at the end of it. This instrument was used by surgeons to wrench open the mouth in case of lock-jaw. It is ...
— An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans • Lydia Maria Child

... l'edition d'Hakluyt, et qui contient une assez longue preface de l'auteur, que cette edition n'a pas. Enfin, a l'epoque ou parut ce Voyage, Vincent de Beauvais l'avoit insere en grande partie dans son Speculum historiale. ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, - and Discoveries of The English Nation, Volume 10 - Asia, Part III • Richard Hakluyt

... happy in his contemporaries of his time and College, than in the pupilage and friendship of his Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer; of whom my Reader may note, that this Edwin Sandys was after Sir Edwin Sandys, and as famous for his "Speculum Europae," as his brother George for making posterity beholden to his pen by a learned relation and comment on his dangerous and remarkable Travels; and for his harmonious translation of the Psalms of David, the Book ...
— Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Rich'd Hooker, George Herbert, - &C, Volume Two • Izaak Walton

... Asia: and thence backe againe the same way to Russia, and Polonia, and so to Rome; spending in the whole voyage among the sayd Tartars one whole yeere and aboue foure moneths. Taken out of the 32. booke of Vincentius Beluacensis his Speculum historiale. ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries - Vol. II • Richard Hakluyt

... round or egg-shaped, if too long or too hard, they are liable to become fixed in the gullet and cause choking. Balls may be given with the "balling gun" (obtainable at any veterinary instrument maker's) or by the hand. If given by the hand a mouth speculum or gag may be used to prevent the animal from biting the hand or crushing the ball. Always loosen the horse before attempting to give a ball; if tied he may break his halter and injure himself or the one giving the ball. With a little practice it is much ...
— Special Report on Diseases of the Horse • United States Department of Agriculture

... grand on vellum—three pounds, two shillings; Le Chronique de Jean Froissart des guerres de France et D'Angleterre, folio grand, avec des belles Figures, vellum—three pounds, nine shillings; Norden . Speculum Britanniae—four pounds, seven shillings. It is not known to whom these books belonged at the period of the sale, but it appears probable they were the property of James Cecil, fourth Earl of Salisbury ...
— English Book Collectors • William Younger Fletcher



Words linked to "Speculum" :   medical instrument



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