[ad. L. transmissiōn-em, n. of action from transmittĕre to TRANSMIT. Cf. F. transmission (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).] The action of transmitting or fact of being transmitted; conveyance from one person or place to another; transference.
1611. Florio, Transmissione, a transmission.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 2. In the experiment of Transmission of the Sea-water into the Pits, the Water riseth; but in the experiment of transmission of the Water through the Vessels, it falleth.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 68, ¶ 2. Alphabetical writing made … the transmission of events more easy and certain.
1802–3. trans. Pallas’s Trav. (1812), I. 82. On the transmission of the Black Sea through the Propontis, a great part of its shallow banks consequently became a saline steppe.
a. 1859. De Quincey, Posth. Wks. (1891), I. 308. One link in the transmission of the Homeric poems.
b. Physics. Conveyance or passage through a medium, as of light, heat, sound, etc.
1704. Newton, Opticks (1721), 238. Their Reflexion or Transmission depends on the constitution of the Air and Water behind the Glass.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 7. Which greatly retards the transmission of the heat.
1834. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sc., xvii. 147. The transmission of sound as well as light is impeded in passing through an atmosphere of variable density.
1881. Sir W. Armstrong, in Nature, 8 Sept., 449/1. To force a transmission of heat from the fire to the water in the boiler.
c. Biol. The transmitting of the peculiar nature, or of some character, of an organism to its descendants; hereditary conveyance.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, II. xviii. II. 297. Equal transmission of ornamental characters to both sexes.
1880. E. R. Lankester, Degener., 13. An organism … inherits, that is to say, is born with—the peculiarities of its parents; this is known as Transmission.
1890. Sc. Gossip, XXVI. 66. Questions of protective resemblance and hereditary transmission.
d. Mech. Transference of motive force from one place to another; concr. a device for effecting this; spec. short for transmission-gear (see e).
1906. Daily Chron., 28 June, 2/7. There are four large and eleven smaller electric motors driving the transmissions. Ibid. Improvements in devices for preventing accidents with transmissions.
1911. Webster, Transmission,… Horol. the train of a watch, etc.
e. attrib. (chiefly in sense d): transmission-gear, mechanism for transmitting the power of an engine, etc.
1833. Brewster, Nat. Magic, ix. 219. The sound will be partly reflected…, and the direction of the transmission wave changed.
1894. Prospect. Tramway Motor Co., 2. A transmission gear giving a wide range of continuously varying speed and inversely varying tractive effort.
1894. Daily News, 3 Nov., 5/3. A large proportion of the sailors paid off there have gladly availed themselves of the transmission scheme.
1901. Scaffolding (ed. J. Black), 60. The endeavour to dispense with transmission gear between motor and machine constitutes to-day a recognised principle of construction [in cranes].
1906. Westm. Gaz., 22 Jan., 8/1. The electricity will be conveyed at high pressure to a central spot on the transmission lines. Ibid. (1908), 14 Nov., 14/2. Double universal joints to maintain true alignment between the power- and transmission-shafts.
Hence Transmissionist, one who holds the theory of the hereditary transmission of acquired characters; also attrib.
1900. C. Ll. Morgan, Animal Behaviour, iii. § 5. 113. It forms a very pretty subject for transmissionists and their critics to quarrel over. Ibid., 114. Let us expand the transmissionist position a little further.
