CAUSTICITY, a quality belonging to several substances, by means of which the parts of living animals may be corroded and destroyed.
CAUSTICS is an appellation given to substances of so hot and fiery a nature, that, being applied, they consume, and as it were burn, the texture of the parts, like hot iron. Caustics are generally divided into four sorts; the common stronger caustic, the common milder caustic, the antimonial caustic, and the lunar caustic or nitrate of silver.