[ad. L. ēductum, neut. pa. pple. of ēdūcĕre to EDUCE.] That which is educed.
1. Chem. A body separated by the decomposition of another in which it previously existed as such, in contradistinction to product, which denotes a compound not previously existing, but formed during the decomposition (Watts, Dict. Chem.).
1799. Kirwan, Geol. Ess., 197. To form an idea of the composition of this stone we must consider the educts of its analysis.
1805. Hatchett, in Phil. Trans., XCV. 299. In the first experiment it was obtained as a product, and not as an educt. Ibid., 312, note. Consequently the latter is considered as an original ingredient or educt.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 628. The black coloring-matter of such urine is in all probability an educt from carbolic acid.
2. A result of inference or of development.
1816. Coleridge, Lay Serm., 321. In the Scriptures, they are the living educts of the imagination.
1857. Sir W. Hamilton, Reid, 784. All our knowledge is an Educt from Experience.
1865. Reader, 22 July, 86/3. Throw revelation overboard, and its educt, natural theology must bear it company.