Orthogonal splitting and class numbers of quadratic forms

Orthogonal splitting for lattices on quadratic spaces over algebraic number fields is studied. It is seen that if the rank of a lattice is sufficiently large, then its spinor genus must contain a decomposable lattice. Also, splitting theory is used to obtain a lower bound for the class number of a lattice (in the definite case) in terms of its rank, via the partition function.