Or·gan·ic a.
 1. Biol. Of or pertaining to an organ or its functions, or to objects composed of organs; consisting of organs, or containing them; as, the organic structure of animals and plants; exhibiting characters peculiar to living organisms; as, organic bodies, organic life, organic remains.  Cf. Inorganic.
 2. Produced by the organs; as, organic pleasure. [R.]
 3. Instrumental; acting as instruments of nature or of art to a certain destined function or end. [R.]
    Those organic arts which enable men to discourse and write perspicuously.   --Milton.
 4. Forming a whole composed of organs. Hence: Of or pertaining to a system of organs; inherent in, or resulting from, a certain organization; as, an organic government; his love of truth was not inculcated, but organic.
 5. Chem. Of or pertaining to compounds which are derivatives of hydrocarbons; pertaining to, or denoting, any one of a large series of carbon-containing compounds which are related to the carbon compounds produced by biological processes (such as methane, oils, fats, sugars, alcohols, ethers, proteins, etc.) and include many substances of artificial production which may or may not occur in animals or plants; -- contrasted with inorganic.
 Note: Borderline cases exist which may be classified as either organic or inorganic, such as carbon terachloride (which may be viewed as a derivative of methane), but in general a compound must have a carbon with a hydrogen atom or another carbon atom attached to it to be viewed as truly organic, i.e. included in the subject matter of organic chemistry.
 Note: ☞ The principles of organic and inorganic chemistry are identical; but the enormous number and the completeness of related series of organic compounds, together with their remarkable facility of exchange and substitution, offer an illustration of chemical reaction and homology not to be paralleled in inorganic chemistry.
 Organic analysis Chem., the analysis of organic compounds, concerned chiefly with the determination of carbon as carbon dioxide, hydrogen as water, oxygen as the difference between the sum of the others and 100 per cent, and nitrogen as free nitrogen, ammonia, or nitric oxide; -- formerly called ultimate analysis, in distinction from proximate analysis.
 Organic chemistry. See under Chemistry.
 Organic compounds. Chem. Chemical substances which are organic5.  See Carbon compounds, under Carbon.
 Organic description of a curve Geom., the description of a curve on a plane by means of instruments. --Brande & C.
 Organic disease Med., a disease attended with morbid changes in the structure of the organs of the body or in the composition of its fluids; -- opposed to functional disease.
 Organic electricity. See under Electricity.
 Organic law or Organic laws, a law or system of laws, or declaration of principles fundamental to the existence and organization of a political or other association; a constitution.
 Organic stricture Med., a contraction of one of the natural passages of the body produced by structural changes in its walls, as distinguished from a spasmodic stricture, which is due to muscular contraction.
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 Car·bon n.  Chem.
 1. An elementary substance, not metallic in its nature, which is present in all organic compounds. Atomic weight 11.97. Symbol C. it is combustible, and forms the base of lampblack and charcoal, and enters largely into mineral coals. In its pure crystallized state it constitutes the diamond, the hardest of known substances, occuring in monometric crystals like the octahedron, etc. Another modification is graphite, or blacklead, and in this it is soft, and occurs in hexagonal prisms or tables. When united with oxygen it forms carbon dioxide, commonly called carbonic acid, or carbonic oxide, according to the proportions of the oxygen; when united with hydrogen, it forms various compounds called hydrocarbons. Compare Diamond, and Graphite.
 2. Elec. A carbon rod or pencil used in an arc lamp; also, a plate or piece of carbon used as one of the elements of a voltaic battery.
 Carbon compounds, Compounds of carbon Chem., those compounds consisting largely of carbon, commonly produced by animals and plants, and hence called organic compounds, though their synthesis may be effected in many cases in the laboratory.
    The formation of the compounds of carbon is not dependent upon the life process.   --I. Remsen
 -- carbon copy, originally, a copy of a document made by use of a carbon paper, but now used generally to refer to any copy of a document made by a mechanical process, such as xerographic copying.
 Carbon dioxide, Carbon monoxide. Chem. See under Carbonic.
 Carbon light Elec., an extremely brilliant electric light produced by passing a galvanic current through two carbon points kept constantly with their apexes neary in contact.
 Carbon point Elec., a small cylinder or bit of gas carbon moved forward by clockwork so that, as it is burned away by the electric current, it shall constantly maintain its proper relation to the opposing point.
 Carbon paper, a thin type of paper coated with a dark-colored waxy substance which can be transferred to another sheet of paper underneath it by pressing on the carbon paper.  It is used by placing a sheet between two sheets of ordinary writing paper, and then writing or typing on the top sheet, by which process a copy of the writing or typing is transferred to the second sheet below, making a copy without the need for writing or typing a second time.  Multiple sheets may be used, with a carbon paper placed above each plain paper to which an impression is to be transferred.  In 1997 such paper was still used, particularly to make multiple copies of filled-in purchase invoice forms, but in most applications this technique has been superseded by the more faithful xerographic reproduction and computerized printing processes.
 Carbon tissue, paper coated with gelatine and pigment, used in the autotype process of photography. --Abney.
 Gas carbon, a compact variety of carbon obtained as an incrustation on the interior of gas retorts, and used for the manufacture of the carbon rods of pencils for the voltaic, arc, and for the plates of voltaic batteries, etc.
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 Com·pound, n.
 1. That which is compounded or formed by the union or mixture of elements ingredients, or parts; a combination of simples; a compound word; the result of composition.
    Rare compound of oddity, frolic, and fun.   --Goldsmith.
    When the word =\“bishopric” was first made, it was made as a compound.\=   --Earle.
 2. Chem. A union of two or more ingredients in definite proportions by weight, so combined as to form a distinct substance; as, water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen.
 Note: ☞ Every definite chemical compound always contains the same elements, united in the same proportions by weight, and with the same internal arrangement.
 Binary compound Chem.. See under Binary.
 Carbon compounds Chem.. See under Carbon.
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