DECLENSION 



1736 



DECORATION DAY 



on July 3 the Declaration, which was drafted 

 by Jefferson, was taken up, and on July 4 

 it was passed and published to the people. 

 The delegates from twelve colonies gave their 

 approval at this time, New York adding its 

 vote on July 9. In its final form the Declara- 



WHERE THE DECLARATION WAS WRITTEN 



House in Philadelphia in which Jefferson and 

 his associates framed the document. 



tion is shorter than reported by the commit- 

 tee, as several amendments were made before 

 the final vote was taken. 



The news of the adoption of the Declara- 

 tion of Independence brought rejoicing to all 

 parts of the country, and the famous Liberty 

 Bell in Independence Hall was rung as never 

 before, for Fourth of July of 1776 gave new 

 meaning to the legend engraved upon it 

 "Proclaim liberty to all the land and to the 

 inhabitants thereof" (see LIBERTY BELL). The 

 original document is now in the care of the 

 State Department, sealed in a steel case to 

 protect it from light and air, and preserved 

 with the nation's other priceless relics. 



DECLENSION, de klen'shun. When the dif- 

 ferent forms of any noun or pronoun are ar- 

 ranged in their order in the three cases and 

 both numbers, we are said to decline it, or 

 to give its declension. Thus, declension is to 

 nouns and pronouns what conjugation is to 



Nom. 

 Posa. 

 Obj. 



SINGULAR 



man 



man's 



man 



PLTTRAL 



men 



men's 



men 



verbs and comparison to adjectives; that is 

 to say, it is a form of inflection, or the sys- 

 tematic arrangement of changes in form. The 

 noun man, the personal pronoun he, and the 

 relative pronoun who are declined above as 

 types. 

 Among the interrogative and relative pro- 



nouns, who (with its compounds who* jer and 

 whosoever) is the only one that is declined, 

 for which, what and that have the same form 

 in both the nominative and objective cases, 

 singular and plural, and are not used in the 

 possessive case. 



DECLINATION, dek Una' shun. See ASCEN- 

 SION AND DECLINATION OF STARS. 



DECOMPOSITION , de kom po zish ' un, in 

 chemistry, is the process of separating com- 

 pound substances into the substances of which 

 they are composed in other words, the process 

 of converting one substance into two or more 

 substances. Thus, water may be decomposed 

 into hydrogen and oxygen, and limestone may 

 be decomposed into lime and carbon dioxide. 

 The term decomposition is most commonly ap- 

 plied to the separation of compounds due to 

 natural causes, such as the decomposition of 

 dead vegetable and animal matter under the 

 action of micro-organisms. Such decomposi- 

 tion, or decay, is aided by moderate heat and 

 by moisture (see BACTERIA; MOLDS). 



Dry substances will not decompose, and a 

 low temperature retards or stops decomposi- 

 tion. Heating for a time to the temperature 

 of boiling water will kill the micro-organisms 

 and so preserve the vegetable or animal mat- 

 ter. These methods are all used in the pre- 

 serving of foods. Poisonous substances from 

 decaying food often injure the system and 

 sometimes produce fatal results (see PTO- 

 MAINE). Decaying food, of course, should not 

 be eaten, though some people like the flavors 

 that develop in meat that has begun to decay. 

 Game is sometimes left hanging until it has 

 acquired such flavors. It is then said to be 

 "high." The flavors of some sorts of cheese 

 are also developed by the organisms concerned 

 in decay; these are called putrefactive organ- 

 isms. J.F.S. 



DECORA 'TION DAY, or MEMO 'RIAL 

 DAY, one day in the spring of each year set 

 apart as a legal holiday in most of the states 

 of the American Union, to do honor to those 



SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR AND PLURAL 



he they who 



his their whose 



him them whom 



who fought on either side in the War of Seces- 

 sion. Out of an expression of love and grief 

 by bereaved women of the South the strewing 

 of wild flowers on the graves of their soldier 

 dead one certain day each year has grown a 

 nation-wide and beautiful custom. Since 1899 

 the celebration of the day has been extended 



