"Decompositions like those of starch into dextrose, of cane-sugar into dextrose and levulose‥which involve the fixation of the elements of water, may all be said to be the result of hydrolysis, and those substances which, like sulphuric acid, diastase, emulsin, etc., induce hydrolysis, may be termed hydrolytic agents or hydrolysts. The substance hydrolysed is the hydrolyte. The mere fixation of the elements of water unaccompanied by decomposition‥may be termed hydration in contradistinction" (OED).