HappyChain

Amorite Language

2005-04-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

One of the most ancient of the archaic Semitic languages, distributed in an area that is now northern Syria. Amorite is known almost exclusively from glosses and names, and the only known grammar is the grammar of names. Despite the unknown linguistic characteristics, Amorite is dated from the known chronology of proper names of the period in the last century of the

Acrylic Compound

2005-04-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of synthetic plastics, resins, and oils used to manufacture many products. By varying the starting reagents and the process of forming, a material may be produced that is hard and transparent, soft and resilient, or a viscous liquid. Acrylic compounds are used to make molded structural and optical parts, jewelry, adhesives, coating compounds, and textile

'abd Al-rahman Iii

2005-04-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Byname Al-Nasir li-Din Allah (Arabic: “Victor for the Religion of Allah”) , in full 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Hakam al-Rabdi ibn Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Dakhil first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad Arab Muslim dynasty of Spain. He reigned as hereditary emir (“prince”) of Córdoba from October 912 and took the title of caliph in 929.

Central African Republic, Settlement patterns

2005-04-02T08:36:00.000-08:00

About three-fifths of the population is rural, residing primarily in the southern and western parts of the country. The eastern and northeastern sections of the country are less populated. Of the urban population, a significant proportion lives in Bangui. Other major towns are Berbérati, Bossangoa, and Bouar in the west, Bambari and Bria in the central plains, and Bangassou

Abbey

2005-04-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

Group of buildings housing a monastery or a convent, centred on an abbey church or a cathedral and under the direction of an abbot or an abbess. In this sense, an abbey consists of a complex of buildings serving the needs of a self-contained religious community. The term abbey is also used loosely to refer to priories, smaller monasteries under a prior. In England, since

France, History Of, The conquest of southern Germany

2005-03-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

To the east, the Franks extended their domain in southern Germany, bringing Thuringia (c. 531 Chlotar I carried off Radegunda, a niece of the Thuringian king), the part of Alemannia between the Neckar and the upper Danube (after 536), and Bavaria under subjection. The latter was created as a dependent duchy in about 555. The Franks were less successful in northern Germany; in 536 they imposed

Ostariophysan, Feeding habits

2005-03-31T06:35:00.000-08:00

The remarkable diversity of feeding habits among ostariophysians is associated with a fantastic variety of adaptations in mouth shapes and tooth types (especially in the suborder Characoidei) probably unsurpassed by any other group. At one extreme are certain cyprinids (e.g., Notropis atherinoides) with highly developed gill rakers that strain phytoplankton

Sanhedrin

2005-03-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

Also spelled sanhedrim any of several official Jewish councils in Palestine under Roman rule, to which various political, religious, and judicial functions have been attributed. Taken from the Greek word for council (synedrion), the term was apparently applied to various bodies but became especially the designation for the supreme Jewish legislative and judicial court—the Great

Jean Le Bel

2005-03-30T15:55:00.000-08:00

A soldier and the constant companion of Jean, Count de Beaumont, with whom he went to England and Scotland in 1327, Le Bel wrote his Vrayes Chroniques (“True Chronicles”), recounting the events of the reign of Edward III,

Metalanguage

2005-03-29T07:26:00.000-08:00

In semantics and philosophy, language used for the analysis of object language (language that is used to talk about objects in the world). Thus, a metalanguage may be thought of as a language about another language. Such philosophers as the German-born Logical Positivist Rudolf Carnap and Alfred Tarski, Polish-born mathematician, argued that philosophical problems

Itinerarium

2005-03-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

The only surviving map is the Peutinger Table, a 13th-century copy of a Roman world map. The 4th-century “Antonine Itinerary,” one of the few

Multinational And Regional Organizations

2005-03-27T17:45:00.000-08:00

On June 22 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) admitted Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, and Laos as observers of its meetings. The new status of these countries was a first step toward their full membership in the seven-member (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) regional organization. The invitation to Myanmar, a military

Grumiaux, Arthur, Baron

2005-03-27T13:51:00.000-08:00

Grumiaux studied at the Charleroi and Royal conservatories in Brussels and later with Georges Enescu in Paris. In 1939 he won the Vieuxtemps Prize, and a year later he became the first recipient of the Belgian government's Prix de Virtuosité. Shortly after his debut

Auger

2005-03-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

Tool (or bit) used with a carpenter's brace for drilling holes in wood. It looks like a corkscrew and has six parts: screw, spurs, cutting edges, twist, shank, and tang. The screw looks like a tapered wood screw and is short and small in diameter; it centres the bit and draws it into the work. At the working end of the twist there are two sharp points called spurs, which score a circle

La Sale, Antoine De

2005-03-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

From 1400 to 1448 La Sale served the dukes of Anjou, Louis II, Louis III, and René, as squire, soldier, administrator and, ultimately, governor of René's son and heir, Jean

Gabon, History Of

2005-03-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

History of the area from the explorations of Europeans, beginning in the 15th century, to the present.

Galaxy, Clusters of galaxies as radio and X-ray sources

2005-03-23T23:16:00.000-08:00

Some clusters of galaxies contain a widespread intergalactic cloud of hot gas that can be detected as a diffuse radio source or as a large-scale source of X rays. The gaseous cloud has a low density but a very high temperature, having been heated by the passage of the galaxies of a cluster through it and by the emission of high-energy particles from active galaxies within

Ringerike

2005-03-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

Kommune (“commune”) and geographic region, Buskerud fylke (county), southeastern Norway, just northwest of Oslo. The region covers a total area of 600 square miles (1,553 square km) adjacent to the northern shore of Tyri Lake and northward to Rands Lake. The Ringerike was inhabited as early as AD 200 and existed as a petty kingdom in the 8th and 9th centuries. During the 10th century Norway's greatest

Interior Design, Other components

2005-03-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

The detailing referred to in connection with the handling of doors is one of the most important factors in interior design. Every architectural component must be detailed well. Poor details make for poor design. The meaning of detailing in a design sense is more than the graphic explanation of certain components on a drawing. It means the way materials are put together,

Magnus Vi

2005-03-21T10:25:00.000-08:00

Magnus succeeded his father, Haakon IV Haakonsson, in 1263 and quickly made peace with the Scottish king Alexander

Tegea

2005-03-21T07:22:00.000-08:00

Ancient Greek city of eastern Arcadia, 4 miles (6.5 km) southeast of the modern town of Trípolis. The Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea was described by the Greek geographer Pausanias (2nd century AD) as excelling all others in the Peloponnese. Originally built by the city's traditional founder, Aleus, the temple was later rebuilt by Scopas, the famous sculptor. Fragments of the temple

Maccabees, The Books Of The

2005-03-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

Maccabees also spelled Machabees four books, none of which is in the Hebrew Bible but all of which appear in some manuscripts of the Septuagint. The first two books only are part of canonical scripture in the Septuagint and the Vulgate (hence are canonical to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) and are included in the Protestant Apocrypha.

Orbital

2005-03-19T22:33:00.000-08:00

In chemistry and physics, a mathematical expression, called a wave function, that describes properties characteristic of no more than two electrons in the vicinity of an atomic nucleus or of a system of nuclei as in a molecule. An orbital often is depicted as a three-dimensional region within which there is a 95 percent probability of finding the electron (see

China, Buddhism

2005-03-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Buddhist age of China began in the 4th century. Several factors contributed to the extraordinary expansion and absorption of the foreign religion after about 300, both in the Chinese south and in the occupied north. A negative factor was the absence of a unified Confucian state, which naturally would be inclined to suppress a creed whose basic tenets (notably the

Dur Sharrukin

2005-03-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

Modern Khorsabad ancient Assyrian city located northeast of Nineveh, in Iraq. Built between 717 and 707 BC by the Assyrian king Sargon II (reigned 721–705), Dur Sharrukin exhibits careful town planning. The city measured about one mile square (2.59 square km); its outer walls were pierced by seven fortified gates. An inner wall enclosed a temple to Nabu (a god of vegetation and the patron of the art of writing), the

Anjou, (hercule-) François, Duke (duc) D'

2005-03-18T09:06:00.000-08:00

Catherine de Médicis gave him Alençon in 1566, and he bore the title of Duke d'Alençon until 1576. Small and swarthy, ambitious

Allegheny Mountains

2005-03-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

Also called Alleghenies, mountainous eastern part of the Allegheny Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains, U.S. The Allegheny range extends south-southwestward for more than 500 miles (800 km) from north-central Pennsylvania to southwestern Virginia. Rising to Mount Davis (3,213 feet [979 m]; highest point in Pennsylvania) and Spruce Knob (4,862 feet [1,482 m]; highest point in West Virginia), the mountains consist of nearly

Rio Branco Law

2005-03-17T06:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Law of Free Birth , Portuguese Lei do Ventre Livre measure enacted by the Brazilian parliament in 1871 that freed children born of slave parents. The law was passed under the leadership of José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Viscount do Rio Branco, premier during 1871–73, and Joaquim Nabuco de Araujo, a leading abolitionist. Although the children were set free, the measure allowed the parents' owners to require such children to work

Haakon Iii Sverresson

2005-03-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

During his short reign he tried to heal the breach between the crown and the church, so that exiled bishops returned to their sees. It was said that the sickness which caused his sudden death was the result of poison put into his drink at the instigation of his Swedish stepmother, Margaret.

Schlesinger, Arthur M(eier)

2005-03-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

Schlesinger graduated from Ohio State University in 1910. When he entered Columbia University, New York City, to continue graduate study in history, he came under the influence of the progressive scholarship of James H. Robinson,

Kuala Kangsar

2005-03-15T21:48:00.000-08:00

Town, northwestern West Malaysia (Malaya). It lies along the Perak River and the main west coast road and rail network. It was the site (1897) of the first conference of rulers of the Federated Malay States. Now a collecting centre for a rice- and rubber-growing area (the first rubber trees cultivated in Malaya were planted there), Kuala Kangsar is the royal town of Perak state with

Allen, Hervey

2005-03-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

Allen was wounded in World War

Aeg Ag

2005-03-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in Berlin in 1883 when the industrialist

Sierra Leone

2005-03-14T09:27:00.000-08:00

There are about 18 ethnic groups that exhibit similar cultural features, such as secret societies, chieftaincy, patrilineal descent, and farming methods. The Mende, found in the east and south, and the Temne in the north form the two largest groups. Other major groups include the Limba, Kuranko, Susu, Yalunka, and Loko, in the north; the Kono and Kissi, in the east; and the Sherbro,

Arabia, History Of, The Ottomans

2005-03-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

In 1517 the Ottoman sultan Selim I conquered Egypt and proclaimed the Hejaz part of the Ottoman dominions. Sharif Barakat II of Mecca sent his son to negotiate at the Ottoman court and was confirmed as lord of the Holy Cities and Jiddah, subject to recognizing the Ottoman sultan as overlord. Selim's successor, Süleyman I the Magnificent, at the zenith of Ottoman power, munificently

France, History Of, Regrowth of the French monarchy

2005-03-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

Thus the monarchy recovered much of the authority it had lost during the early stages of the Hundred Years' War. Although its influence in Burgundy and Flanders, now united in a formidable dynastic association, had declined, its definitive recovery of Aquitaine consolidated a direct domain, again extensive enough to free the Valois from anxiety about landed resources.

Aeschylus

2005-03-13T01:46:00.000-08:00

Aeschylus grew up in the turbulent period when the Athenian democracy, having thrown off its tyranny (the absolute rule of one man), had to prove itself against both self-seeking politicians at home and invaders from abroad. Aeschylus himself took part in his city's first struggles against the invading Persians. Later Greek chroniclers believed that Aeschylus was

Hesychius Of Jerusalem

2005-03-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

Serving as a priest in the church in Jerusalem c. 412, Hesychius gained repute as a theologian and catechist, so that by 429 he was

Ma Yuan

2005-03-11T19:29:00.000-08:00

Ma was born into a family of court painters: his great grandfather, Ma Fen, had been daizhao (i.e., painter in attendance) at the Northern Song court about 1119–25; both his grandfather Ma Xingzu and his father, Ma Shirong, held the same rank at the Southern Song court in the middle decades of the 12th century. Ma Yuan began his career under the emperor Xiaozong, became daizhao under Emperor

Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr

2005-03-11T17:45:00.000-08:00

Outstanding Welsh poet of the 12th century, court bard to Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys (d. 1160), and then to Madog's enemy Owain Gwynedd, prince of Gwynedd (d. 1170). The extant poems ascribed to him (about 50), composed in the Welsh bardic tradition of deliberate archaism, include a small amount of religious verse and a large number of eulogies to the chief princes throughout Wales. Cynddelw

Triclinius, Demetrius

2005-03-11T01:36:00.000-08:00

Triclinius' editions incorporated notes by other scholars as well as scholia from earlier traditions. He was the first Byzantine scholar to examine closely the metrical structure

Polenta Family

2005-03-09T15:27:00.000-08:00

Italian noble family, named for its castle of Polenta (located in the Romagna, southwest of Cesena), which dominated the city-state of Ravenna from the end of the 13th century to the middle of the 15th. The family's ascendancy began with Guido da Polenta (d. 1310), known as Guido Minore, or Guido the Old, who led the Guelf, or pro-papal, faction in Ravenna against the Ghibelline, or pro-emperor,

Xiangkhoang

2005-03-09T06:07:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Xieng Khouang, town, north-central Laos. Xiangkhoang lies just south of the Plain of Jarres and is situated in the Xiangkhoang Plateau. Corn (maize) and rice are raised by valley Lao north of Xiangkhoang and by Lao-Theung (Mon-Khmer) and Tai Neua groups in scattered upland areas to the north and east of the town; the Hmong (Miao, or Meo), a highland minority, have traditionally grown opium poppies

Agapetus I, Saint

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

Pope from 535 to 536. Of noble birth, he was an archdeacon at the time of his election (May 13, 535). At the urging of the Ostrogothic king Theodahad, he headed an unsuccessful mission to Constantinople to deter the emperor Justinian I from his plans to reconquer Italy. While there he secured the election of, and consecrated,

Wright, James

2005-03-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II, Wright studied under John Crowe Ransom at Kenyon College in

Elizabeth Stuart

2005-03-07T01:10:00.000-08:00

The daughter of James VI of Scotland (later James I of Great Britain) and Anne of Denmark, Elizabeth in 1606 came to the British royal court, where her beauty and charm attracted much attention and where she soon became a favourite subject of the poets. Gustavus

Incest

2005-03-06T23:00:00.000-08:00

Sexual relations between persons who, because of the nature of their kin relationships, are prohibited by law or custom from intermarrying. Because, cross-culturally, incest is more an emotional than a legal issue, the term taboo is generally preferred over prohibition. The incest taboo is acknowledged in anthropology as universal, although it is imposed differently

Wage And Salary

2005-03-06T16:10:00.000-08:00

Theories of wage determination and the share of labour in the gross national product have varied from time to time and have changed as the economic environment has changed. The body of thought referred to today as wage theories could not have emerged until the old feudal system had disappeared and the modern economy with its modern institutions had come into existence.

Visitandine

2005-03-06T15:57:00.000-08:00

Member of Visitation Order , formally Congregation of the Visitation of Holy Mary (V.H.M.) a Roman Catholic order of nuns founded by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal at Annecy, Fr., in 1610. The order was originally destined for charitable work, visiting and caring for the sick and poor in their homes, as well as for prayer. But, after five years of this work, the founders were obliged to accept a rule of strict enclosure, or cloistered life, which at the

Brunet, Jacques-charles

2005-03-05T01:29:00.000-08:00

The son of a bookseller, Brunet acquired a taste for bibliography at an early age and published a supplement to the Dictionnaire bibliographique de livres rares (1810; “Dictionary of Rare Books”), brought out a few years earlier. The first edition of Brunet's Manuel du libraire et de l'amateur de livres

David De Mayrena, Marie-charles

2005-03-04T04:22:00.000-08:00

After defrauding French authorities in Saigon, David de Mayrena fled to Kontum in the Central Highlands, where he impressed the French missionaries and persuaded the members

Quantitative Chemical Analysis

2005-03-04T03:37:00.000-08:00

Branch of chemistry that deals with the determination of the amount or percentage of one or more constituents of a sample. A variety of methods is employed for quantitative analyses, which for convenience may be broadly classified as chemical or physical, depending upon which properties are utilized. Chemical methods depend upon such reactions as precipitation,

Digestive System Disease, Ascites

2005-03-04T00:20:00.000-08:00

The accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity, or ascites, is related to portal hypertension, significant reduction in serum albumin, and renal retention of sodium. When albumin levels in the blood are lower than normal, there is a marked reduction in the force that holds plasma water within the blood vessels and normally resists the effects of the intravascular

1763, Proclamation Of

2005-03-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

Proclamation declared by the British crown at the end of the French and Indian War in North America, mainly intended to conciliate the Indians by checking the encroachment of white settlers on their lands. After Indian grievances had resulted in the start of Pontiac's War (1763–64), British authorities determined to subdue intercolonial rivalries and abuses by dealing

Gulmarg

2005-03-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

Resort town situated in the Indian-held sector of Jammu and Kashmir state, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Located at an elevation of 8,500 feet (2,600 m), Gulmarg (meaning “meadow of flowers”) displays a breathtaking panoramic view of the whole Vale of Kashmir and of Nanga Parbat, one of the highest peaks (26,660 feet [8,126 m]) of the Himalayas. The valley and mountains may be viewed

David De Mayrena, Marie-charles

2005-03-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

French national theatre created in 1920 to bring theatre to the general public. Its first director, Firmin Gémier, had been the director of the Théâtre Antoine and had made a number of attempts to create a people's theatre. Initially the TNP offered productions from the other national companies in a large hall with inexpensive tickets. It had no acting company, could not

Lockhart, John Gibson

2005-03-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

Lockhart, the son of a Presbyterian minister descended from the landed gentry, studied at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford and began the practice

Philidor, François-andré

2005-03-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

The last member of a large and prominent musical family, Philidor was thoroughly trained in music, but at age 18 he turned entirely to chess competition throughout Europe. He was particularly well

Conscience, Hendrik

2005-02-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

Conscience's father was French, his mother Flemish. He spent some of his early years as an assistant teacher (1828–30), took part in the uprising of July 1830 (which resulted in the independence of Belgium), and served in

Saint Vincent And The Grenadines

2005-02-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

In June 1998 the New Democratic Party (NDP), headed by Sir James Mitchell, narrowly won a fourth straight term in the general election. The NDP obtained 8 of the 15 House of Assembly

Qayrawan, Al-

2005-02-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Qairouan, or Kairouan, town, north-central Tunisia. The town, one of the holy cities of Islam, lies on the Low Steppes, a semiarid alluvial plain southeast of the Central Tell. Founded in 670 on the site of the Byzantine fortress of Kamouinia, it served as the camp from which the offensive was launched that resulted in the Islamic political and religious subjugation of the Maghrib (northwest Africa).

Fish River

2005-02-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

Afrikaans Visrivier, stream in southern Namibia. It rises in Namaqualand and flows south across the Great Namaqualand plateau, where it cuts a spectacular gorge 1,000 to 2,300 feet (300 to 700 m) deep, to empty into the Orange River. It is about 375 miles (600 km) long and is intermittent.

Scythe

2005-02-27T06:45:00.000-08:00

One of the most important of all agricultural hand tools, consisting of a curved blade fitted at an angle to a long, curved handle and used for cutting grain. In modern scythes the handle has a projecting peg that is grasped by one hand, facilitating control of the swinging motion by which grass and grain are cut. The exact origin of the scythe is unknown, but it was little

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Pagan and Christian interpretation

2005-02-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

Kenneth Burke, The Rhetoric of Religion (1961); Henry Chadwick, Early Christian Thought and the Classical Tradition (1966); C.H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (1968); A.O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being (1936); H. de Lubac, Exégèse médiévale: les quatre sens de l'Écriture (1959–64); A. Momigliano (ed.), The Conflict Between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century (1963); G. von Rad, Theologie des Alten Testaments, 2nd ed. (1958; Eng. trans., Old Testament Theology, 2 vol., 1962–65); Rene Roques, L'Univers dionysien (1954); B. Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, 2nd ed. (1952); H.A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, vol. 1, Faith, Trinity, Incarnation (1956); Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 2 vol. (1947).

Gulf Islands National Seashore

2005-02-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

In Florida the offshore islands and keys have historical ruins and white sandy beaches, as well as the Naval Live Oaks wilderness

Breisgau

2005-02-26T01:59:00.000-08:00

Historic region between the Rhine and the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, now in the South Baden district of the Land (state) Baden-Württemberg. It was part of the frontier region of the Roman Empire known as the Agri Decumates; from c. AD 260 it was occupied by the Germanic Alemanni. The Zähringen family was invested with the countship of Breisgau in the early Middle

Udhampur

2005-02-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

Town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir state, situated at an elevation of 2,500 feet (760 m). It is named for Udham Singh, eldest son of Gulab Singh, the founder and ruler of the Jammu and Kashmir state. Situated on the Pathankot-Uri national highway connecting Srinagar via Udhampur to the rest of India, Udhampur town is an important military cantonment in northern India. Krimchi,

San Felipe

2005-02-24T22:42:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Yaracuy estado (“state”), northwestern Venezuela. It lies on the flanks of the eastern portion of the Segovia Highlands, at an elevation of 1,800 feet (550 m) above sea level. San Felipe is a commercial and manufacturing centre in the fertile Yaracuy River valley. Much of the sugarcane, cotton, cacao, corn (maize), fruit, rice, and hides produced there are sent to Barquisimeto

Woolley, Sir (charles) Leonard

2005-02-24T22:31:00.000-08:00

From 1907 to 1911 Woolley served with an archaeological expedition

Price, Reynolds

2005-02-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

Price grew up in small towns and attended Duke University in Durham, N.C. (A.B. 1955), where the works of Eudora Welty became a primary influence on his writing. After receiving a B.Litt. degree in 1958 from the University of Oxford in England, he began his

Nageire

2005-02-23T01:36:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: “thrown in”), in Japanese floral art, the style of arranging that stresses fresh and spontaneous designs adhering only loosely to the classical principles of triangular structure and colour harmony. A single long branch with shorter branches and flowers at the base arranged in a tall upright vase are characteristic of the nageire style. Nageire was originally

Quantz, Johann Joachim

2005-02-21T14:41:00.000-08:00

Quantz obtained posts at Radeberg and Dresden and in 1717 studied counterpoint in Vienna with Johann Zelenka and Johann Fux. In 1718 he became oboist in the Polish court

Water Witch Incident

2005-02-21T05:47:00.000-08:00

In 1853 the “Water Witch” set out on a scientific study, organized by the U.S. government, of the Río de La Plata waterways. In 1854, after Page became involved in a

Encyclical

2005-02-21T04:26:00.000-08:00

Pastoral letter written by the pope for the whole Roman Catholic church on matters of doctrine, morals, or discipline. Although formal papal letters for the entire church were issued from the earliest days of the church, the first commonly called an encyclical was Ubi primum, dealing with episcopal duties, published by Benedict XIV in 1740. Only from the time of Pius IX

Azathioprine

2005-02-20T13:46:00.000-08:00

Immunosuppressive drug that is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and to suppress the body's rejection of transplanted organs. By inhibiting several enzymatic pathways required for the synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), azathioprine decreases the number of lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) that can migrate to inflammatory sites. Leukopenia (an

Wansbeck

2005-02-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

District, administrative and historic county of Northumberland, northern England, along the North Sea in the southeastern part of the county. Wansbeck spans a narrow coastal plain edging the Northumberland uplands to the west. Its three principal towns (Ashington, Bedlington, and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea) suffered economic decline in the 1960s and '70s because of the loss of

Forel, François-alphonse

2005-02-19T07:21:00.000-08:00

While lecturing in physiology and anatomy at the University of Lausanne, Switz., Forel began his investigations of lakes, notably Lake Geneva, and he published his findings in Le Léman: Monographie limnologique, 3 vol. (1892–1904). His standard work on limnology, Handbuch der

Cinematography

2005-02-19T05:55:00.000-08:00

The art and technology of motion-picture photography. It involves such techniques as the general composition of a scene; the lighting of the set or location; the choice of cameras, lenses, filters, and film stock; the camera angle and movements; and the integration of any special effects. All these concerns may involve a sizable crew on a feature film, headed by a person

Kachin Hills

2005-02-18T17:51:00.000-08:00

Heavily forested group of highlands situated in the northeasternmost section of Myanmar (Burma). They range north-south and are bordered on the northwest by Arunachal Pradesh state of India, on the north by the Tibet autonomous region of China, and on the east by Yunnan province of China. The hills blend with the Kumon Range to the west. The Kachin Hills are drained by

Biblical Literature, Uncials

2005-02-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

A, Codex Alexandrinus, is an early-5th-century manuscript containing most of the New Testament but with lacunae (gaps) in Matthew, John, and II Corinthians, plus the inclusion of the extracanonical I and II Clement. In the Gospels, the text is of the Byzantine type, but, in the rest of the New Testament, it is Alexandrian.

Arsenius Autorianus

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

Patriarch of Constantinople, whose deposition caused a serious schism in the Byzantine Church. He took the name Arsenius on being appointed patriarch of Nicaea in 1255 by the Byzantine emperor Theodore II Lascaris. In 1259 he crowned John IV, Theodore's son and legitimate heir, and Michael VIII Palaeologus as co-emperors. Arsenius retired

La Flesche, Francis

2005-02-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

U.S. ethnologist and champion of the rights of American Indians who wrote a book of general literary interest about his experiences as a student in a mission school in the 1860s. This memoir, The Middle Five (1900, new edition 1963), is rare in providing an account from an American Indian's viewpoint of his education by members of the

Literature

2005-02-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

For historical treatment of various

Daehlie, Bjørn

2005-02-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

Involved in many sports growing up, Daehlie was not serious about cross-country

Pacific Ocean, Tides

2005-02-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

In contrast to the tides of the Atlantic—which are almost always semi-diurnal (i.e., twice-daily) occurrences—those of the Pacific include many instances of diurnal (daily) and mixed tides. In the diurnal type of tidal oscillation, only a single high water and a single low water occur each tidal day (which lasts for about 24 hours and 50 minutes). Tides of this type occur in the Gulfs

Taranto, Gulf Of

2005-02-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

Latin Sinus Tarentinus, Italian Golfo Di Taranto, arm, about 85 mi (140 km) long and wide, of the Ionian Sea in southern Italy. Lying between the Capes Santa Maria di Leuca (northeast) and Colonne (southwest), it forms the hollow in front of the heel of the Italian “boot.” Feeder streams include the Sinni, Agri, Basento, and Bradano. Main economic activities are the oyster and mussel industries and the exporting of wine, olive oil, fruits,

Mazia, Daniel

2005-02-14T22:55:00.000-08:00

U.S. cell biologist (b. Dec. 18, 1912, Scranton, Pa.--d. June 9, 1996, Monterey, Calif.), studied the structure, division, and regulation of cells and was best known for having isolated the cellular structures involved in mitosis (the process by which chromosomes within the nucleus of a cell double and divide), research that he carried out in 1951 with Japanese biologist Katsuma Dan. Mazia, who was interested

Sangster, Margaret Elizabeth Munson

2005-02-14T22:32:00.000-08:00

Margaret Munson was an avid reader from an early age. She turned easily to writing, and her first published story, “Little Janey” (1855), won her a commission to write 100 juvenile stories to accompany a series of illustrations.

Abbott, Sir John

2005-02-13T02:14:00.000-08:00

Educated at McGill University, Montreal, Abbott became a lawyer in 1847 and was made queen's counsel in 1862. He served as dean of the McGill faculty of law from 1855 to 1880. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the then-united province of Canada in 1857 and

Bárány, Robert

2005-02-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

Bárány graduated in medicine from the University of Vienna in 1900. After study at German clinics he became assistant at the ear clinic of the University of Vienna

21-centimetre Radiation

2005-02-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Electromagnetic radiation of radio wavelength emitted by cold, neutral, interstellar hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen atom is composed of a positively charged particle, the proton, and a negatively charged particle, the electron. These particles can be considered as spinning around their own axes of rotation. When the spins of the two particles are antiparallel, then

Parakeet

2005-02-12T00:42:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Parrakeet any of numerous seed-eating parrots of small size, slender build, and long, tapering tail. In this sense the name is given to some 115 species in 30 genera of the subfamily Psittacinae (family Psittacidae) and has influenced another parrot name, lorikeet (see parrot). To indicate size only, the name is sometimes extended to little parrots with short, blunt tails, as the hanging

Seth

2005-02-11T01:18:00.000-08:00

The worship of Seth originally centred at Nubt (Greek Ombos), near modern Tukh, on the western bank of the Nile River. Nubt, with its vast cemetery at nearby Naqadah, was the principal predynastic centre in Upper Egypt. The town lost its preeminent position with the unification of Egypt about 3050 BC, which was carried

Young, Andrew

2005-02-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

Young was reared in a middle-class black family, attended segregated Southern schools, and later entered Howard University (Washington, D.C.) as a premed student. But he turned to the ministry and graduated in 1955 from the Hartford Theological Seminary (Hartford, Conn.) with a divinity

Novel, Apprenticeship

2005-02-10T06:37:00.000-08:00

The Bildungsroman, or novel about upbringing and education, seems to have its beginnings in Goethe's work, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1796), which is about the processes by which a sensitive soul discovers its identity and its role in the big world. A story of the emergence of a personality and a talent, with its implicit motifs of struggle, conflict, suffering, and success,

Murnau, F.w.

2005-02-10T03:46:00.000-08:00

Murnau studied philosophy, art history, and literature at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin. In 1908 he joined the company of renowned

La Gruyère

2005-02-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

German Greyerz, region and southernmost district of Fribourg canton, western Switzerland. La Gruyère lies along the middle reach of La Sarine (Saane) River, on the edge of the Vaudois uplands and the Bernese Oberland (highland), south of Fribourg. The name is derived either from gruyer, a forestry officer, or from the crane (grue), the bird crest of the powerful counts of La Gruyère (923–1555). The principal

Fry, Elizabeth

2005-02-08T04:23:00.000-08:00

The daughter of a wealthy Quaker banker and merchant, she married (1800) Joseph Fry, a London merchant, and combined her work with the care of a

Nägeli, Karl Wilhelm Von

2005-02-07T22:54:00.000-08:00

Nägeli received his earliest training from the German nature-philosopher Lorenz Oken and later studied botany under Augustin Pyrame de Candolle at the University of Geneva. He continued his botanical studies under Matthias Jakob Schleiden at the University of Jena and began

Yi

2005-02-07T01:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Lolo, or Wu-man, ethnic group of Austroasiatic origin living largely in the mountains of southwest China and speaking a Tibeto-Burman language; the term is used by the Chinese to designate what they formerly called the Lolo or Wu-man. The Yi people numbered about 5.9 million in the late 20th century. Their principal concentrations were in Yunnan and Szechwan provinces, with smaller numbers