[a. Gr. κατάλυσις dissolution (e.g., of a government), f. καταλύειν to dissolve, f. κατά down + λύ-ειν το 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.
