protyle

Noun

protyle (countable and uncountable, plural protyles)

1. (historical, physical) A hypothetical base substance from which all chemical elements were believed to have been made; subatomic particles.
   • Two principles are postulated, according to which the elements have probably been evolved: (1) the ontogenic principle, involving the formation of the primary members of the different groups by direct condensation of protyl; (2) the phytogenetic principle, by which the higher members of the groups...1918, E. H. R., Abstract of Curt Schmidt, "The Periodic System and Genesis of the Elements", in Journal of the Chemical Society, vol. 114, part 2, 1918, p. 305–306
   • Dumas wondered whether the fundamental building blocks of atoms might be some smaller division of the hydrogen atom: a half, say, or a quarter. This basic substance became known as ‘protyle’.2002, Philip Ball, The Elements: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, published 2004, page 73