LowTongue

Earthnut

2005-04-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Also called Pignut, or Hognut (Conopodium majus), European plant of the carrot family (Apiaceae), so called because of its edible tubers. It grows in woods and fields in the British Isles and from Norway, France, Spain, and Portugal to Italy and Corsica. The slender, smooth perennial, growing 750 mm to 1 m (30 to 39 inches) high, has much-divided leaves and small, white flowers in compound umbels. The tubers, reaching 25 mm

Gainsborough

2005-04-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

(foaled 1915), English racehorse (Thoroughbred) who won the British Triple Crown, consisting of the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket, the Derby at Epsom Downs, and the Saint Leger at Doncaster in 1918. The horse later became a stud of worldwide importance, being the sire of the famous stallion Hyperion. Sired by Bayardo and foaled by Rosedrop, Gainsborough was owned by Lady James

Scherzo

2005-04-02T22:59:00.000-08:00

Plural Scherzos, or Scherzi, in music, frequently the third movement of a symphony, sonata, or string quartet; also, in the Baroque era (c. 1600–c. 1750), a light vocal or instrumental piece (e.g., the Scherzi musicali of Claudio Monteverdi, 1607), and, in the 19th century, an independent orchestral composition. In symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets of the 19th century, the scherzo replaced the 18th-century minuet. Unlike the

Carnivore, Importance of carnivora

2005-04-01T01:33:00.000-08:00

There is probably no other group of animals more familiar to man than mammals belonging to the order Carnivora. The more popular domesticated pets of man, the dog and the cat, are both derived from wild members of this order. The majority of luxurious natural furs (ermine, mink, sable, otter) worn by women of fashion, as well as the furs of utility used by primitive man, come

Cythera

2005-04-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Exportation of murex, a purple dye obtained from a species

Howland Island

2005-03-30T07:15:00.000-08:00

Sighted in 1842 by American whalers and named for one of the first

Adams, Henry

2005-03-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

Henry Adams, The Degradation of the Democratic Dogma (1919, reprinted 1969), a collection of Adams' theoretical essays with a lengthy introduction by his brother Brooks; “The Great Secession Winter 1860–1861,” Proceedings, Massachusetts Historical Society, 43:656–687 (1909–10), an essay, written during the secession crisis of 1860–61 but not published for 50 years, which analyzed the political developments that led to the Civil War; Essays in Anglo-Saxon Law (1876), a collection of studies in early British history written by Adams and his seminar students; Historical Essays (1891), a reprint of articles Adams had previously published in various journals; and introductions to Documents Relating to New England Federalism (1877), which shed light on the politics of the early national period; Ernest Samuels (ed.), The Education of Henry Adams (1973), is the definitive edition in which collation is made between the privately printed text and the revised text of the published edition. Worthington Chauncey Ford (ed.), A Cycle of Adams Letters, 1861–1865, 2 vol. (1920, reprinted in 1 vol. 1969), Letters of Henry Adams, 1858–1891 (1930, reprinted 1969), and Letters of Henry Adams, 1892–1918 (1938, reprinted 1969), all contain a rich selection of Adams' letters; Ernest Samuels, The Young Henry Adams (1948), Henry Adams: The Middle Years (1958), and Henry Adams: The Major Phase (1964), the most comprehensive and distinguished biography of Adams; J.C. Levenson, The Mind and Art of Henry Adams (1957), an unexcelled interpretative work centring upon both the man and his writings; Melvin Lyon, Symbol and Idea in Henry Adams (1970), an examination of the problem of illusion and reality, which Adams often expressed through symbols, as seen in his six major works; Vern Wagner, The Suspension of Henry Adams: A Study of Manner and Matter (1969), a discussion of Adams' writing style as an example of unique literary artistry; Frederic Cople Jaher, Doubters and Dissenters: Cataclysmic Thought in America, 1885–1918 (1964), a critical study of Adams, seeing him as a displaced Brahmin afloat in an industrialized world he was helpless to understand; William Dusinberre, Henry Adams: The Myth of Failure (1980), is a reconsideration.

Ryle, Sir Martin

2005-03-29T10:52:00.000-08:00

British radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems and used them for accurate location of weak radio sources. With improved equipment, he observed the most distant known galaxies of the universe. Ryle and Antony Hewish shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974, the first Nobel prize

Tirpitz, Alfred Von

2005-03-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Original name Alfred Tirpitz German admiral, the chief builder of the German Navy in the 17 years preceding World War I and a dominant personality of the emperor William II's reign. He was ennobled in 1900 and attained the rank of admiral in 1903 and that of grand admiral in 1911; he retired in 1916.

Lower Burma

2005-03-28T00:11:00.000-08:00

Historical and geographic division of Burma (Myanmar), referring to the southern coastal and delta region on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea (as opposed to Upper Burma). It was the centre of the Mon kingdoms based at Pegu and was acquired by the British Indian government in 1826 and 1852. Under the British, Lower Burma rapidly developed into the country's principal rice-growing

O'shaughnessy, Arthur

2005-03-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

O'Shaughnessy became a copyist in the library of the British Museum at age 17 and later became a herpetologist in the museum's zoological department. He published four volumes of verse: An Epic of Women (1870), Lays of France (1872), Music and Moonlight (1874), and Songs of a Worker (1881). O'Shaughnessy

Parallax

2005-03-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, the difference in direction of a celestial object as seen by an observer from two widely separated points. The measurement of parallax is used directly to find the distance of the body from the Earth (geocentric parallax) and from the Sun (heliocentric parallax). The two positions of the observer and the position of the object form a triangle; if the base

Fu-an

2005-03-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fu'an, city in northeastern Fukien sheng (province), China. It is situated on the east bank of the Chiao River, with highway communications running north into Chekiang and south along the coast to Fu-chou, some 90 miles (150 km) away. It is in an area of Fukien that was developed comparatively late, since it is somewhat less productive than the south of the province. Fu-an is above all a market

Aquino, Corazon

2005-03-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

Corazon Cojuangco was born into a wealthy, politically prominent family based in Tarlac province, north of Manila. She graduated from Mount St. Vincent College in New York City in 1954 but abandoned further

Saratov

2005-03-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

Most of the right(west)-bank area is occupied by the Volga Upland, which is greatly dissected by river valleys and erosion gullies; the left (east) bank is a low, rolling plain

Anchovy

2005-03-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

Any of numerous schooling saltwater fishes of the family Engraulidae (order Clupeiformes) related to the herring and distinguished by a large mouth, almost always extending behind the eye, and by a pointed snout. Most of the more than 100 species live in shallow tropical or warm temperate seas, where they often enter brackish water around river mouths.

Gneiss

2005-03-23T01:50:00.000-08:00

Metamorphic rock that has a distinct banding, which is apparent in hand specimen or on a microscopic scale. Gneiss usually is distinguished from schist (q.v.) by its foliation and schistosity; gneiss displays a well-developed foliation and a poorly developed schistosity and cleavage. For the casual student, it is convenient to think of a gneiss as a rock with parallel,

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

2005-03-22T20:57:00.000-08:00

In spite of his success as a pianist and composer, Mozart had serious financial worries, and they worsened as the famously fickle Viennese found other idols. One may calculate his likely income during his last five years, 1786–91, as being far larger than that of most musicians though much below that of the section of society with which he wanted to be associated; Leopold's early

Jhansi

2005-03-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

City, southwestern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, at a major road and rail junction. The main city, which is enclosed by a wall, arose around a fort built in 1613 by the ruler of Orchha. The area fell to the Marathas in 1732 and was acquired by the British in 1853. A massacre of British officers and civilians occurred at Jhansi during the 1857 Indian Mutiny. In 1886 Jhansi came under British rule in

Ito Jakuchu

2005-03-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

The son of a greengrocer, he first studied drawing with a painter of the Kano school (stressing Chinese subject matter and techniques). He also made copies of old Chinese

Abu Nidal

2005-03-22T02:27:00.000-08:00

Abu Nidal and his family fled Palestine after the 1948 war following the creation of the state

Procyon

2005-03-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Alpha Canis Minoris brightest star in the northern constellation Canis Minor (Lesser Dog) and one of the brightest in the entire sky, with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.34. Procyon lies about 11 light-years from the Earth and is a visual binary, a bright yellow-white subgiant with a faint, white dwarf companion of about the 11th magnitude. The name apparently derives from Greek words for “before

Houseleek

2005-03-20T10:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Live-forever, any of numerous low-growing succulent plants constituting the genus Sempervivum, about 40 species, in the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae), native to Europe, Morocco, and western Asia. The name houseleek refers to the growth of some species on thatched roofs in Europe; “live-forever” indicates their hardiness and durability. Houseleeks usually have thick fleshy leaves

Middle East, Ancient

2005-03-20T00:21:00.000-08:00

History of the region from prehistoric times to the rise of civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other areas.

Xerxes I

2005-03-19T23:02:00.000-08:00

Soured by this failure, which modern historians consider the beginning of Achaemenian decline, Xerxes retired to Susa and Persepolis. He then furthered the depletion of the once-enormous resources he had gathered, through multiple taxation, by launching a vast construction program. At the capital city of Persepolis, Darius' architects, working from a unified plan

Kadesh, Battle Of

2005-03-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

(1275 BC), major battle between the Egyptians under Ramses II and the Hittites under Muwatallis, in Syria, southwest of Hims, on the Orontes River. Seeking to recapture the Hittite-held city of Kadesh in Syria, Ramses II invaded Syria with four divisions and an auxiliary force. Muwatallis gathered a large alliance among his vassal states and, hiding his army behind the city mound,

Graves, Robert (von Ranke)

2005-03-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

English poet, novelist, critic, and classical scholar who carried on many of the formal traditions of English verse in a period of experimentation. His more than 120 books also include a notable historical novel, I, Claudius (1934); an autobiographical classic of World War I, Good-Bye to All That (1929; rev. ed. 1957); and erudite, controversial studies in

Sucellus

2005-03-17T03:06:00.000-08:00

Powerful and widely worshiped Celtic god; his iconographic symbols were usually his mallet and libation saucer, indicative of his powers of protection and provision. His Irish equivalent seems to have been the Dagda. Sucellus was possibly one of the Gaulish gods who were equated by Julius Caesar with the Roman god Dis Pater, from whom, according to Caesar, all the

Tuam

2005-03-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

Irish Tuaim chief market town of the northern part of eastern County Galway, Ireland. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop, the see having been founded by St. Jarlath (c. 550), and the seat of a Protestant bishop. The Protestant cathedral incorporates part of an ancient church built about 1130 with the help of Turloch O'Connor, king of Connaught. The chancel is all that remains of the original

Swan Hill

2005-03-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

City, northern Victoria, Australia, on the Murray River, northwest of Melbourne. It is the chief market centre for the southern section of the irrigated Riverina district of New South Wales. The site was named in the 1830s by the explorer Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Mitchell, who was kept sleepless there by the calls of swans. Settled in 1846 by sheepherders, the community prospered

Fabre, émile

2005-03-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

The son of a stage manager, Fabre began writing and producing plays at the age of 13. Comme ils sont tous (1894; “As They All Are”) was his first success, followed by a series of popular political and social satires: L'Argent

Gates, Horatio

2005-03-14T06:13:00.000-08:00

Gates first served in North America in the French and Indian War (1754–63), emerged as a major, and returned to England. In 1772 he immigrated to the region that

Arraignment

2005-03-14T03:12:00.000-08:00

In Anglo-American law, first encounter of an accused person with the court prior to trial, wherein he is brought to the bar and the charges against him are read. The accused usually enters a plea of guilt or innocence. If he chooses not to plead, a plea of not guilty will be entered for him. A guilty plea will usually result in the case's being handed over for judgment. Sometimes

Interior Design, 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe

2005-03-13T23:28:00.000-08:00

Neoclassicism predominated in France till the rise of Napoleon, when to Roman styles were added Egyptian motifs from his Egyptian campaign of 1798. This was known in France as the Empire style, after the First Empire of France (1804–14), and in England as Regency, for the period (1811–20) when George III was too deranged to rule. Furniture design, for the most part light and graceful during the

Biblical Literature, The fall of Judah

2005-03-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

The southern kingdom of Judah, under the Davidic monarchy, was able to last about 135 years longer, often only as a weak vassal state. Hezekiah (reigned c. 715–c. 687), with the advice of the prophet Isaiah, managed to avoid conflict with or outlast a siege of the Assyrians. Hezekiah was succeeded by his son Manasseh, an apostate king who stilled any prophetic outcries, reintroduced Canaanite

Ramatirtha

2005-03-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Rama Tirtha, original name Tirath Rama Hindu religious leader known for the highly personal and poetic manner in which he taught what he styled “Practical Vedanta,” using common experiences to illustrate the divine nature of man. For Ramatirtha, any object whatever could be approached as a “mirror to

Avvakum Petrovich

2005-03-12T04:20:00.000-08:00

Archpriest, leader of the Old Believers, conservative clergy who brought on one of the most serious crises in the history of the Russian church by separating from the Russian Orthodox church to support the “old rite,” consisting of many purely local Russian developments. He is also considered to be a pioneer of modern Russian

Neoteros

2005-03-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

Plural Neoteroi, any of a group of poets who sought to break away from the didactic-patriotic tradition of Latin poetry by consciously emulating the forms and content of Alexandrian Greek models. The neoteroi deplored the excesses of alliteration and onomatopoeia and the ponderous metres that characterized the epics and didactic works of the Latin Ennian tradition. They wrote

Perch

2005-03-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

The common and yellow perches are found, respectively, in the fresh waters of Eurasia

Ombre

2005-03-10T10:47:00.000-08:00

Card game for three players, fashionable in Europe in the 17th century and into the 18th but now practically obsolete. It was similar to Whist, involving bidding, trump suit, and taking tricks. Originally played with the Spanish packs of 40 or 48 cards, it was adapted to the French pack of 52. In the course of time it acquired terms from Spanish, French, Italian, and English, as well as a

Aymaran Languages

2005-03-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

A group of South American Indian languages spoken over a fairly large region in the southern Peruvian highlands and adjacent areas of Bolivia. Some scholars classify the Aymaran group and the Quechuan group together in the Quechumaran stock. See Quechuan languages.

Sarcophagus

2005-03-09T22:37:00.000-08:00

Stone coffin. The original term is of doubtful meaning; Pliny explains that the word denotes a coffin of limestone from the Troad (the region around Troy) which had the property of dissolving the body quickly (Greek sarx, “flesh”; phagein, “to eat”). This explanation is questionable; religious and folkloristic ideas may have been involved in calling a coffin a body eater. The

Epinephrine And Norepinephrine

2005-03-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

Also called adrenaline and noradrenaline, two separate but related hormones secreted by the medulla of the adrenal glands. They are also produced at the ends of sympathetic nerve fibres, where they serve as chemical mediators for conveying the nerve impulses to effector organs. Chemically, the two compounds differ only slightly; and they exert similar pharmacological actions, which resemble the effects

Yessentuki

2005-03-08T03:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Jessentuki , or Essentuki city, Stavropol kray (region), southwestern Russia, in the valley of the Podkumok River. It was founded in 1798, developed as a fortress in the 1830s, and became a city in 1917. It is located at mineral springs at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. The city is composed of an old Cossack village in the southern sector and a newer city in the north. It is a major health resort, with sanatoriums

Respiration

2005-03-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

The process by which animal organisms take up oxygen and discharge carbon dioxide in order to satisfy their energy requirements. In the living organism, energy is liberated, along with carbon dioxide, through the oxidation of molecules containing carbon. The term respiration also denotes the exchange of the respiratory gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) between

Aalst

2005-03-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

French Alost, municipality, East Flanders province, north-central Belgium, on the Dender River, 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Brussels. The town hall (begun in the middle of the 12th century), with its 52-bell carillon, is the oldest in Belgium, and its archives include 12th-century manuscripts. Ravaged by fire in 1360, the town hall was subsequently rebuilt and its 13th-century belfry restored in the 15th century.

Calcareous Sponge

2005-03-07T03:55:00.000-08:00

Any of a class (Calcispongiae, or Calcarea) of sponges characterized by skeletons composed of calcium carbonate spicules (needlelike structures). Calcareous sponges occur mainly on the rocky bottoms of the continental shelves in temperate, shallow waters; they are usually dull in colour. Most are small, seldom exceeding 15 cm (6 inches).

Amarapura

2005-03-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Town, central Myanmar (Burma). It lies on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River. A suburb of Mandalay, it is also known as Taung-myo (Southern Town) or Myohaung (Old City). Founded by King Bodawpaya in 1783 as his new capital, it supplanted Ava, 6 miles (10 km) southwest. Its population in 1810 was estimated at 170,000, but a fire that year and the return of the court to Ava in 1823 caused a decline to about 30,000 by 1827. King

Algeria, Press and broadcasting

2005-03-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

Daily newspapers are published in both Arabic and French in Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. Several weeklies and a host of magazines are also published in the country. The number and range of newspapers increased during the 1990s, despite frequent violent attacks directed against journalists by Islamic extremists. Radiodiffusion Télévision Algérienne operates

Egypt, Dynastic strife and decline (14530 BC)

2005-03-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Physcon was able to rule in Egypt until 116 BC with his sister Cleopatra II (except for a period in 131–130 BC when she was in revolt) and her daughter Cleopatra III. His reign was marked by generous benefactions to the Egyptian temples, but he was detested as a tyrant by the Greeks, and the historical accounts of the reign emphasize his stormy relations with the Alexandrian

Procter & Gamble Company

2005-03-04T23:08:00.000-08:00

The company was formed in 1837 when William Procter, a British candlemaker, and James Gamble, an Irish soapmaker, merged their businesses in Cincinnati. The chief ingredient for both products was animal fat, which was readily available in the hog-butchering

Saladin

2005-03-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Saladin was born into a prominent Kurdish

Microtonal Music

2005-03-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

Much of the world's music, however, of both past and present times, uses intervals greater or smaller than 100 cents.

Domitian

2005-03-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

Titus Flavius Domitianus was the second son of the future emperor Vespasian and Flavia Domitilla. During the civil war of AD 69 over the imperial crown, Domitian remained unharmed in Rome, but on December 18 he took refuge in the

Atherton Tableland

2005-03-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

Also called Atherton Plateau, highland region that is part of the Great Dividing Range (Eastern Highlands) in northeastern Queensland, Australia. The plateau region is bounded by the Palmer (north) and Burdekin (south) rivers and has an area of 12,000 square miles (31,000 square km). Its average elevation of 2,000–3,000 feet (600–900 m) induces relatively high rainfall, which, in conjunction with rich volcanic soils, makes the plateau

Bureaucracy

2005-03-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

A professional corps of officials organized in a pyramidal hierarchy and functioning under impersonal, uniform rules and procedures. In the social sciences, the term usually does not carry the pejorative associations of popular usage.

Brace, Charles Loring

2005-03-01T01:24:00.000-08:00

The descendant of a Hartford family long prominent in religious and political life, Brace was educated at Yale University and at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Asked

Asanga

2005-03-01T00:57:00.000-08:00

Asanga was the eldest of three brothers who were the sons of a Brahman, a court priest at Purusapura, and who all became monks in the Sarvastivada order (which held the doctrine that “all is real”). Dissatisfied with the Hinayana concepts of sunyata (“emptiness

Miracle, Sacred places

2005-02-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

Miracles are often connected with special sacred places. Normally these are natural shrines, such as sacred groves, or temples and sanctuaries in which a god or spirit lives or has manifested himself or in which his statue, symbol, holy objects, or relics are enshrined. Holy places, such as Mecca and the Ka'bah in Islam or the Buddhist stupas, are centres of pilgrimages

Economist, The

2005-02-28T01:47:00.000-08:00

Weekly magazine of news and opinion published in London and generally regarded as one of the world's preeminent journals of its kind. It provides wide-ranging coverage of general news and particularly of international and political developments and prospects bearing on the world's economy. It was founded in 1843 by Scotsman James Wilson as a voice against grain import

Paddlefish

2005-02-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula; see

Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston

2005-02-27T03:21:00.000-08:00

Breckinridge graduated from Wellesley College in 1888. After a time as a schoolteacher in Washington, D.C., she studied law in her father's office and in 1895 became the first woman to be admitted to the Kentucky bar. Uninterested in legal practice, she

Italy

2005-02-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

Officially Italian Republic , Italian Italia or Repubblica Italiana country of south-central Europe, occupying a peninsula that juts deep into the Mediterranean Sea. It has a shape that has been likened frequently to a high-heeled boot about to prod its triangular subject island of Sicily. Another important island, Sardinia, lies some 160 miles (260 kilometres) west of Italy's “shin.” The magnificent mountain barrier of the Alps forms a northern

Alcman

2005-02-25T23:58:00.000-08:00

Alcman's work survives in fragments, the longest being a parthenion (a choir song for girls) discovered in a 1st-century papyrus in Egypt in 1855. In the Suda lexicon (late 10th century AD) Alcman is described as a man “of an extremely amorous disposition and the inventor of love poems.” He was clearly

Slavery, Legal relationships between slave owners

2005-02-25T07:02:00.000-08:00

There was more uniformity across systems regarding legal relationships between slave owners. All societies had provisions for the recovery of runaways, and most imposed sanctions on owners who stole others' slaves (a capital offense in some systems) or helped them to flee. There also were relatively uniform laws about passing slaves from one generation to

Neo-expressionism

2005-02-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

Diverse art movement (chiefly of painters) that dominated the art market in Europe and the United States during the early and mid-1980s. Neo-Expressionism comprised a varied assemblage of young artists who had returned to portraying the human body and other recognizable objects, in reaction to the remote, introverted, highly intellectualized abstract art production

Agung

2005-02-24T03:46:00.000-08:00

In the early years of Sultan Agung's reign, he consolidated the sultanate by subduing the autonomous trade-based coastal states of Padang and Tuban in 1619; Banjermasin, Kalimantan, and Sukadana in 1622; Madura in 1624; and Surabaya in 1625. Because the country's economy

Gonzales, Pancho

2005-02-24T00:34:00.000-08:00

Born into a Mexican-American family, Gonzales as a youth had no access to tennis clubs and was largely a self-taught player. In 1943 he achieved top ranking in boys' tennis in southern California. Before turning professional

Anthroposophy

2005-02-24T00:12:00.000-08:00

Philosophy based on the premise that the human intellect has the ability to contact spiritual worlds. It was formulated by Rudolf Steiner (q.v.), an Austrian philosopher, scientist, and artist, who postulated the existence of a spiritual world comprehensible to pure thought but fully accessible only to the faculties of knowledge latent in all humans. He regarded human

Interferon

2005-02-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

Interferon was named for its ability to interfere with viral proliferation. The various forms of interferon are the body's most rapidly produced and important defense against viruses. Interferons can also

Alaska, Economic growth

2005-02-22T10:12:00.000-08:00

A dispute between the United States and Canada over the boundary between British Columbia and the Alaska panhandle was decided by an Alaska Boundary Tribunal in 1903. The U.S. view that the border should lie along the crest of the Boundary Ranges was accepted and boundary mapping was completed in 1913. Between 1898 and 1900 a narrow-gauge railroad was built across White Pass to link

Galba

2005-02-22T07:43:00.000-08:00

Galba was the son of the consul Gaius Sulpicius Galba and Mummia Achaica, and in addition to great wealth and ancient lineage he enjoyed the favour of the emperors Augustus and Tiberius. He began his senatorial career before

Epistemology, George Berkeley

2005-02-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

Locke is part of a philosophical tradition called empiricism, that is, the view that the sole or at least the major source of human knowledge is sensory experience. George Berkeley (1685–1753) was the next great adherent of empiricism. In his major work, Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710), he divides ideas into three types: Ideas that come from sense correspond

Peter Nolasco, Saint

2005-02-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

Peter dedicated himself to helping the poor.

Abruzzo, Ben L.

2005-02-19T23:19:00.000-08:00

Abruzzo graduated from the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) in 1952 and served two years in the U.S. Air Force at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M. (1952–54). He settled in Albuquerque

Paddle Tennis

2005-02-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

Small-scale form of tennis similar to a British shipboard game of the 1890s. Frank P. Beal, a New York City official, introduced paddle tennis on New York playgrounds in the early 1920s. He had invented it as a child in Albion, Mich. It became popular, and national championship tournaments are still held in the United States. Platform tennis, a later development, is sometimes called

Kidney Function Test

2005-02-19T07:03:00.000-08:00

Any clinical and laboratory procedure designed to evaluate various aspects of renal (kidney) capacity and efficiency and to aid in the diagnosis of kidney disorders. Such tests can be divided into several categories, which include (1) clearance tests that give an estimate of the filtration rate of the glomeruli, the principal filtering structures of the kidneys

War Of The Sons Of Light Against The Sons Of Darkness, The

2005-02-19T04:50:00.000-08:00

Hebrew Megillat Milhamat B'ne, or Beb'ne Hoshekh, also called War Rule, or War Scroll, a Dead Sea Scroll, and one of the most important documents of the Essene sect of Jews that established a community at Qumran in the Judaean desert during the first half of the 2nd century BC. The Essenes thought themselves to be the holy elect of Israel, the Sons of Light, who would at the end of time engage in a catastrophic war with the enemies of Israel, the Sons of

All-union Council Of Evangelical Christians And Baptists

2005-02-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

Voluntary association of Baptist churches in Russia that was formed (in the Soviet Union) in 1944 by uniting the Union of Evangelical Christians and the Russian Baptist Union. The Baptists in Russia grew from religious revival movements that began in the 1860s and '70s. In Ukraine, groups of Russians influenced by German Mennonite settlers gathered for Bible study and eventually

Malachi, The Book Of

2005-02-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

The book consists of six distinct sections, each in the form of a question-and-answer discussion. With the aid of this unusual discussion technique,

Gabon, History Of

2005-02-17T17:13:00.000-08:00

By 1800 the British were becoming the leading traders in manufactures throughout the Gulf of Guinea. After 1815 the French sought to compete more actively in the commercial sphere and to join Britain in combating the slave trade. To these ends, Captain Édouard Bouët-Willaumez negotiated treaties with the heads of two Mpongwe clans, King Denis (Antchouwe Kowe Rapontchombo)

Tar-baby

2005-02-17T00:16:00.000-08:00

In Harris' version,

Andalusia

2005-02-16T21:36:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1841) of Covington county, southern Alabama, U.S., near the Conecuh River, about 85 miles (135 km) south of Montgomery. It originated in 1841 as New Site, when the county seat of Montezuma relocated to higher ground because of floods, at a point along the Three Notch Trail (used by Andrew Jackson on his way to New Orleans in 1813). Renamed Andalusia in 1844, probably for the Spanish province, it

Tiv

2005-02-16T06:09:00.000-08:00

The Tiv are subsistence farmers whose main crops are yams, millet, and sorghum, all of which are eaten as porridge

Cyrenaic

2005-02-16T03:15:00.000-08:00

The school was called Cyrenaic because Cyrene in North Africa was the

Parima Mountains

2005-02-15T06:46:00.000-08:00

Headstreams of the Orinoco River rise on the western flanks, and headstreams of the Branco

Wilbur, Richard (purdy)

2005-02-14T20:49:00.000-08:00

Wilbur was educated at Amherst College, Amherst, Mass., and Harvard University, where he studied literature. He fought in Europe during World War II and earned a master's degree from Harvard in 1947. With The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems (1947) and Ceremony and Other Poems (1950), he established himself

Hydrogenation

2005-02-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

Chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen and an element or compound, ordinarily in the presence of a catalyst. The reaction may be one in which hydrogen simply adds to a double or triple bond connecting two atoms in the structure of the molecule or one in which the addition of hydrogen results in dissociation (breaking up) of the molecule (called hydrogenolysis,

Wykeham, William Of

2005-02-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Wykeham evidently came from a very poor family. Wealthy patrons helped him obtain an education, and about 1356 he entered the service of King Edward III. By the mid-1360s he was the king's most trusted assistant. In 1367 he was made chancellor

China, Popular uprising

2005-02-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

The third quarter of the 19th century saw a series of uprisings, again as a result of social discontent.

Ecotourism: The New Face Of Travel

2005-02-12T18:45:00.000-08:00

The latest trend in tourism is travel that combines preserving the natural world and sustaining the well-being of the human cultures that inhabit it. Known as ecotourism, the industry was unknown a decade ago yet now receives rave reviews from environmentally conscious travelers who immerse themselves in pristine places and authentic experiences. Unlike traditional

Antelope

2005-02-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

Antelopes are even-toed, hoofed mammals that

Beardworm

2005-02-12T03:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Pogonophoran, any of a group of marine invertebrates constituting the phylum Pogonophora. Pogonophorans live a sedentary life in long, protective tubes on seafloors throughout the world. The common name beardworm refers to the beardlike mass of pinnate (feather-like) tentacles borne at the anterior end of many species. An intestine, which forms in embryos, disappears as development

Culverwel, Nathanael

2005-02-11T03:41:00.000-08:00

Details of Culverwel's life are obscure. Though it is known that he was elected to a fellowship at the University of Cambridge in 1642, he is thought to have suffered a mental breakdown in his last years. His writings

Marquette, Jacques

2005-02-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

Marquette arrived in Quebec in 1666. After a study of Indian languages, he assisted in founding a mission at Sault Ste. Marie (now in Michigan) in 1668, and another at St. Ignace (now in Michigan) in 1671. In mid-May

Switzerland, Climate

2005-02-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Four major European climates affect Switzerland. From the west, influenced by the North Atlantic Drift, come mild and moist air masses; dry and cold air arrives from the North Arctic areas; continental air from the east brings dry colder air in winter and warmer air in summer; relatively moist and warm air flows northward from the Mediterranean. The mixing of these

Intelligence

2005-02-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

Military intelligence is as old as warfare itself. Even in biblical times, Moses sent spies to live with the Canaanites in order to learn about their ways and about their strengths and weaknesses. In the American Revolution George

Computers, The Altair

2005-02-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

In September 1973 Radio Electronics published an article describing a “TV Typewriter,” which was a computer terminal that could connect a hobbyist with a mainframe computer. It was written by Don Lancaster, an aerospace engineer and fire spotter in Arizona who was also a prolific author of do-it-yourself articles for electronics hobbyists. The TV Typewriter provided

Tedder (of Glenguin), Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron

2005-02-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

Marshal of the Royal Air Force and deputy commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who contributed significantly to the success of the Allied invasion of Normandy (June 6, 1944) and the German defeat on the Western Front during World War II through his policy of bombing

Nagauta

2005-02-08T03:36:00.000-08:00

The standard complete instrumentation of a nagauta piece consists of singers; players of the three-stringed, plucked samisen; and performers