catalysis
(kəˈtælɪsɪs)
[a. Gr. κατάλυσις dissolution (e.g. of a government), f. καταλύειν to dissolve, f. κατά down + λύ-ειν to loosen.]
† 1. Dissolution, destruction, ruin. Obs. rare.
| 1655 Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 67 In this sad catalysis and declension of piety to which we are reduced. 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. i. iv, The sad catalysis did come, and swept away eleven hundred thousand of the nation. |
2. Chem. The name given by Berzelius to the effect produced in facilitating a chemical reaction, by the presence of a substance, which itself undergoes no permanent change. Also called contact action.
| 1836 Berzelius in Edin. New Phil. Jrnl. XXI. 223 Many bodies..have the property of exerting on other bodies an action which is very different from chemical affinity. By means of this action they produce decomposition in bodies, and form new compounds into the composition of which they do not enter. This new power, hitherto unknown, is common both in organic and inorganic nature..I shall..call it catalytic power. I shall also call Catalysis the decomposition of bodies by this force. 1842 W. Grove Corr. Phys. Forces Pref. 12, I am strongly disposed to consider that the facts of Catalysis depend upon voltaic action. c 1865 in Circ. Sc. I. 83/1 By means of what has been termed catalysis, alcohol is..converted into acetic acid. |