Phase
or PHASIS, in astronomy, etc. In physiology, the several changes one of the gradual changes undergone by the moon in passing from an unillumined state (new moon) through that of a continually broadening crescent to a complete orb (full moon), and back to new moon again. Similar phases are undergone by the inferior planets, Mercury and Venus, though, owing to their small size and the excessive brightness of the latter planet under the telescope, the phenomenon is not so easily seen. In mineralogy, transparent green quartz. In and, more widely, any bird of the subwhich the human and other organisms undergo in the progress from birth to maturity, and thence again to decline and death.