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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.
Specifiable
(Spec"i*fi`a*ble) a. Admitting specification; capable of being specified.
Specific
(Spe*cif"ic) a. [F. spécifique, or NL. cpesificus; L. species a particular sort or kind + facere to
make. Cf. Specify.]
1. Of or pertaining to a species; characterizing or constituting a species; possessing the peculiar property
or properties of a thing which constitute its species, and distinguish it from other things; as, the specific
form of an animal or a plant; the specific qualities of a drug; the specific distinction between virtue and
vice.
Specific difference is that primary attribute which distinguishes each species from one another. I. Watts. 2. Specifying; definite, or making definite; limited; precise; discriminating; as, a specific statement.
3. (Med.) Exerting a peculiar influence over any part of the body; preventing or curing disease by a
peculiar adaption, and not on general principles; as, quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
In fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of the science. Coleridge. Specific character (Nat. Hist.), a characteristic or characteristics distinguishing one species from
every other species of the same genus. — Specific disease (Med.) (a) A disease which produces
a determinate definite effect upon the blood and tissues or upon some special tissue. (b) A disease
which is itself uniformly produced by a definite and peculiar poison or organism. — Specific duty.
(Com.) See under Duty. — Specific gravity. (Physics) See under Gravity. — Specific heat (Physics),
the quantity of heat required to raise temperature of a body one degree, taking as the unit of measure
the quantity required to raise the same weight of water from zero to one degree; thus, the specific heat
of mercury is 0.033, that of water being 1.000. — Specific inductive capacity (Physics), the effect
of a dielectric body in producing static electric induction as compared with that of some other body or
bodies referred to as a standard. — Specific legacy (Law), a bequest of a particular thing, as of a
particular animal or piece of furniture, specified and distinguished from all others. Wharton. Burrill.
— Specific name (Nat., Hist.), the name which, appended to the name of the genus, constitutes the
distinctive name of the species; — originally applied by Linnæus to the essential character of the species,
or the essential difference. The present specific name he at first called the trivial name. — Specific
performance (Law), the peformance of a contract or agreement as decreed by a court of equity.
Specific
(Spe*cif"ic), n.
1. (Med.) A specific remedy. See Specific, a., 3.
His parents were weak enough to believe that the royal touch was a specific for this malady. Macaulay.
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