StickySpring

Davenport

2005-04-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

City, seat (1838) of Scott county, eastern Iowa, U.S. It lies on the north bank of the Mississippi River and is the largest of the Quad Cities, an urban complex that includes neighbouring Bettendorf to the east and Moline and Rock Island across the river in Illinois. Credit Island, now a park, was a battlefield in the War of 1812; Fort Armstrong (restored) was established on Rock Island

Tyumen

2005-04-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Tiumen, or T'umen ', city and administrative centre of Tyumen oblast (province), central Russia. The city lies in the southwestern part of the West Siberian Plain. It is situated on both banks of the Tura River at its crossing by the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Founded in 1586, it is the oldest Russian city in Siberia, located on the site of a Tatar town, Chingi-Tura, founded in the 14th century. A river port,

Ribbon Worm

2005-04-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Also called Bootlace Worm, Proboscis Worm, Nemertine, or Nemertean, any member of the invertebrate phylum Nemertea (sometimes called Nemertinea, or Rhynchocoela), which includes mainly free-living forms but also a few parasites of crustaceans, mollusks, and sea squirts. The majority of the approximately 900 known nemertean species are found in marine habitats. Some, however, live in freshwater or on land. The name proboscis worm derives

Industrial Medicine

2005-04-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

Historically, industrial medicine was limited to the treatment of injuries and diseases occurring to production workers while at work. Over the years this has changed, and everyone at

Sanron

2005-04-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

School of Japanese Buddhism derived, by way of China, from the Indian Madhyamika school. See Madhyamika.

Skikda

2005-04-02T00:22:00.000-08:00

Formerly Philippeville, town, Mediterranean port, northeastern Algeria, situated on the Gulf of Stora. Founded by French Marshal Sylvain-Charles Valée in 1838 as the port of Constantine, it has an artificial harbour. Skikda occupies the site of ancient Rusicade, port of 4th-century Cirta, and has the largest Roman theatre in Algeria (used as a quarry, this has been greatly depleted). Roman artifacts

Machine Tool, Diamonds

2005-03-31T18:51:00.000-08:00

Diamonds have been used for many years for truing grinding wheels, in wire-drawing dies, and as cutting tools. For cutting applications they are used largely for taking light finishing cuts at high speed on hard or abrasive materials and for finish-boring bronze and babbitt-metal bearings.

Vendôme, César, Duke (duc) De

2005-03-30T09:16:00.000-08:00

The elder son of King Henry IV by his mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Vendôme was legitimized in 1595 and created Duke de Vendôme in 1598. In 1609 he married Françoise, daughter of Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duke de Mercoeur, to whose governorship he succeeded at that

Deep-scattering Layer

2005-03-30T07:21:00.000-08:00

Horizontal zone of living organisms, usually schools of fish, occurring below the surface in many ocean areas, so called because the layer scatters or reflects sound waves, causing echoes in depth sounders. Originally mistaken by some for the ocean bottom, the deep-scattering layer was later observed to rise toward the surface in the evening and to sink again at dawn,

Marquand, J(ohn) P(hillips)

2005-03-30T03:55:00.000-08:00

Marquand grew up in New York City and suburban Rye in comfortable circumstances until his father's business failure, when he was sent to live with relatives in Newburyport. This experience of reduced status and

Junker, Wilhelm

2005-03-28T08:31:00.000-08:00

After journeys to Iceland (1869) and Tunis (1873–74), Junker went to Egypt and the Sudan (1875), where from 1876 to 1878 he explored the lower Sobat River and the western tributaries

Murat, Joachim

2005-03-27T03:23:00.000-08:00

The son of an innkeeper, he studied briefly for a career in the church but enlisted in a cavalry regiment in 1787 and, when war broke out in 1792, won rapid promotion. In October 1795 he was

Eliphaz The Temanite

2005-03-27T03:16:00.000-08:00

In three speeches of increasing severity, Eliphaz attempts to reconcile Job to God and induce him to repent. In

Benchley, Robert (charles)

2005-03-26T05:03:00.000-08:00

A graduate of Harvard University (1912), Benchley joined the staff of the old Life magazine in 1920 as drama critic. His monologue “The Treasurer's Report,” delivered as a skit in an amateur revue in 1922, was the basis for one of the first all-talking short subjects. He subsequently wrote and acted in motion-picture

Fisher, Saint John

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

Ordained priest in 1491, he won the patronage of Lady Margaret Beaufort,

French Literature, Allegory

2005-03-25T07:45:00.000-08:00

Allegory, popular from early times, was employed in Latin literature by such authorities as Augustine, Prudentius, Martianus Capella, and, in the late 12th century, Alain de Lille. It was used widely in religious and moralizing works, as in the long Pèlerinage de la vie humaine (“Pilgrimage of Human Life”) by Guillaume de Deguileville, Dante's contemporary and a precursor

Rupnarayan River

2005-03-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

River in West Bengal state, northeastern India. It rises as the Dhaleswari (Dhalkisor) in the Chota Nagpur plateau foothills northeast of Purulia town and follows a tortuous southeasterly course past the town of Bankura, where it is known as the Dwarkeswar. It is joined by the Silai near the town of Ghatal, where it takes the name Rupnarayan. The river then joins the Hooghly after completing

Sérusier, (louis-)paul(-henri)

2005-03-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Originally a student of philosophy, Sérusier decided to become an artist and attended the Académie Julian (1886) in his native Paris. He painted with Paul Gauguin in Brittany at Pont-Aven (1888) and at Le Pouldu (1889–90), and in the 1890s he was associated with the Nabis—many of whom he had known at the Académie

Viélé-griffin, Francis

2005-03-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

Viélé-Griffin, son of a military governor for the Union in the American Civil War, was sent to France at the age of eight to attend school and remained there for the rest of his life. His first collection of verse, Cueille d'avril (1886; “April's Harvest”), showed

Performing Arts, Classical Music

2005-03-23T08:37:00.000-08:00

By 1999 the history of the 20th century could be seen in full perspective, and one conclusion evident to music lovers was that it had been the most operatic century since the Renaissance and the origins of opera. Newspapers and television (the nonfiction programs as well as the ones with invented plots and characters) were filled with “operatic” material—if Samuel Johnson's

Black Friday

2005-03-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

In U.S. history, Sept. 24, 1869, when plummeting gold prices precipitated a securities market panic. The crash was a consequence of an attempt by financier Jay Gould and railway magnate James Fisk to corner the gold market and drive up the price. The scheme depended on keeping government gold off the market, which the manipulators arranged through political influence. When

Waddington, William Henry

2005-03-22T01:03:00.000-08:00

The son of an English manufacturer living in France

Central African Republic, Settlement patterns

2005-03-21T15:19:00.000-08:00

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

Ust-orda Buryat

2005-03-21T02:54:00.000-08:00

Also called Ust-ordynsky Buryat, autonomous okrug (district) in Irkutsk oblast (province), east-central Russia. It lies west of Lake Baikal and extends across the Angara River. The okrug was created in 1937. Its plateau relief is partly in boreal forest, or taiga, of larch, spruce, fir, pine, and birch and partly in forest-steppe. Coal is mined in the west, where the Trans-Siberian Railroad crosses the okrug. Timber

Ancient Lights

2005-03-20T14:08:00.000-08:00

In English property law, the right of a building or house owner to the light received from and through his windows. Windows used for light by an owner for 20 years or more could not be obstructed by the erection of an edifice or by any other act by an adjacent landowner. This rule of law originated in England in 1663, based on the theory that a landowner acquired an easement to the

Bridge Whist

2005-03-20T02:19:00.000-08:00

Card game popular from the 1890s through 1910, and the second step in the historical progression from whist to bridge whist to auction bridge to contract bridge. See whist.

Earth, Variation with latitude

2005-03-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

Even if the Earth were of uniform density or uniformly stratified in layers of constant density, gravity at sea level would increase from the Equator to the poles because of the combined effects of the planet's rotation and spheroidal shape. The effect of rotation arises from the fact that any body on the Earth experiences a centripetal acceleration given by rw2, where

Canada Balsam

2005-03-19T17:17:00.000-08:00

Canada balsam solidifies to a transparent mass and is an important cement, particularly

Caries

2005-03-18T01:33:00.000-08:00

Diet,

Respiration, Amphibians

2005-03-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

The living amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians) depend on aquatic respiration to a degree that varies with species, stage of development, temperature, and season. With the exception of a few frog species that lay eggs on land, all amphibians begin life as completely aquatic larvae. Respiratory gas exchange is conducted through the thin, gas-permeable

Kyanite

2005-03-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Cyanite, also called Disthene, silicate mineral that is formed during the regional metamorphism of clay-rich sediments. It is an indicator of deep burial of a terrain rather than high stress, as formerly thought. Kyanite occurs as elongated blades principally in gneisses and schists, and it is often accompanied by garnet, quartz, and mica. Its colour ranges from gray-green to black or blue, with blue

D.c.m.g.

2005-03-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

Dame commander of St. Michael and St. George, member of the second highest rank of a British order of knighthood. See Saint Michael and Saint George, The Most Distinguished Order of.

Earth Sciences, Observation and study of storms

2005-03-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

Storms, particularly tropical revolving storms, were subjects of much interest. As early as 1697 some of the more spectacular features of revolving storms were recorded in William Dampier's New Voyage Round the World. On July 4, 1687, Dampier's ship survived the passage of what he called a “tuffoon” off the coast of China. The captain's vivid account of this experience clearly describes

Ogden, Peter Skene

2005-03-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

Ogden's parents were American loyalists who had fled to Canada (via England) during the American

English Literature, Early translations into English

2005-03-15T04:14:00.000-08:00

But the earliest literary prose dates from the late 9th century, when King Alfred, eager to improve the state of English learning, led a vigorous program to translate into English “certain books that are necessary for all men to know.” Alfred himself translated St. Gregory I the Great's Pastoral Care, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, St. Augustine of Hippo's Soliloquies

All Souls' Day

2005-03-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

In the Roman Catholic church, a day for commemoration of all the faithful departed, those baptized Christians who are believed to be in purgatory because they have died with the guilt of lesser sins on their souls. It is celebrated on November 2. Roman Catholic doctrine holds that the prayers of the faithful on earth will help cleanse these souls in order to fit them

La Tour, Charles (turgis De Saint-étienne De)

2005-03-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

La Tour went to Acadia with his father c. 1600. When the English destroyed the French settlements there in 1613–14, he went with Charles de Biencourt, commander of the devastated Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia), to live with

Nicaragua

2005-03-13T03:01:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Nicaragua, Spanish República de Nicaragua country of Central America, bounded by Honduras on the north, the Caribbean Sea on the east, Costa Rica on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It is the largest of the Central American republics, with an area of 50,464 square miles (130,700 square kilometres). Its population, mostly mestizo, is an ethnic mixture that reflects the country's history. The capital is Managua, the nation's

Antarctica, Birds

2005-03-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

About 45 species of birds live south of the Antarctic Convergence, but only three—the emperor penguin (see photograph), Antarctic petrel, and South Polar (McCormick's) skua—breed exclusively on the continent or on nearby islands. An absence of mammalian land predators and the rich offshore food supply make Antarctic coasts a haven for immense seabird

Lu-chou

2005-03-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Luzhou, city in southern Szechwan sheng (province), China. A river port at the junction of the Yangtze River and the T'o River, Lu-chou's communications were further improved during World War II, when a highway was built south across the mountains to K'un-ming in Yunnan province to connect Szechwan to the Burma Road. Lu-chou, although an ancient city, remains essentially a river

Thomas, Helen

2005-03-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

Born to Lebanese immigrants, Thomas was the seventh of nine children. When she was four years old, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan. While attending high school, Thomas decided

Leakey, Mary Douglas

2005-03-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

As a girl she exhibited a natural talent for drawing and was interested in archaeology. After undergoing sporadic

Grant, Bernie

2005-03-10T22:10:00.000-08:00

In full Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant British politician who, with Paul Boateng and Diane Abbott, was one of the first persons of African descent to win election to the House of Commons. The son of educators, he attended St. Stanislaus College, one of the finest schools in British Guiana. In the early 1960s he moved to the United Kingdom and became

Louis Vi

2005-03-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

Louis was designated by his father, Philip I, as his successor in 1098 and was already effectively the ruler well before Philip's death in 1108. He quickly recognized that his priority must be

Man-of-war Fish

2005-03-10T01:12:00.000-08:00

(species Nomeus gronovii), small marine fish of the family Nomeidae (order Perciformes; sometimes placed in family Stromateidae), noted for living unharmed among the stinging tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish (Physalia). The man-of-war fish is usually found in the open sea, near its protector. It is striped or mottled, with large, black pelvic fins and is about

Ear, Human, Auditory nerve fibres

2005-03-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

The vestibulocochlear nerve consists of two anatomically and functionally distinct parts: the cochlear nerve, which innervates the organ of hearing, and the vestibular nerve, which innervates the organs of equilibrium. The fibres of the cochlear nerve originate from an aggregation of nerve cell bodies, the spiral ganglion, located in the modiolus of the cochlea.

Yukon River, Plant and animal life

2005-03-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

Coniferous forests grow to low height and low densities across the valley floors and lower mountain slopes of the Yukon River basin. The upper tree line is at an elevation of about 3,500 to 4,500 feet, depending on local exposure and drainage; thus, about two-thirds of mountainous Yukon Territory is treeless. The largest stands of potentially commercial forest are along the

Berenice Iii

2005-03-07T04:19:00.000-08:00

Daughter of either Cleopatra Selene or Cleopatra IV, Berenice first married her uncle, Ptolemy X, sometime before 101. After the death in 101 of the dowager queen, Cleopatra III, the widow of Ptolemy VIII, Berenice became full queen. In 87 Ptolemy

Regiment

2005-03-07T02:04:00.000-08:00

In most armies, a body of troops headed by a colonel and organized for tactical control into companies, battalions, or squadrons. French cavalry units were called regiments as early as 1558. The word is derived from the Latin regimen, a rule or system of order, and describes the regiment's functions of raising, equipping, and training troops. As a regiment acquired individuality,

Technology, History Of

2005-03-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

The development over time of systematic techniques for making and doing things. The term technology, a combination of the Greek techne, “art, craft,” with logos, “word, speech,” meant in Greece a discourse on the arts, both fine and applied. When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to mean a discussion of the applied arts only, and gradually these “arts” themselves

Carlos De Austria

2005-03-05T19:21:00.000-08:00

Don Carlos spent his first years at Alcalá de Henares with his

Bahram V

2005-03-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

He was educated at the court of al-Mundhir, the Lakhmid Arab king of al-Hira, in Mesene, whose support helped him gain the throne after the assassination of his father, Yazdegerd I. He was apparently also supported by Mihr-Naresh, chief

Amtrak

2005-03-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

Formally National Railroad Passenger Corporation federally supported corporation that operates nearly all intercity passenger trains in the United States. It was established by Congress in 1970 and assumed control of passenger service from the nation's private rail companies the following year. Virtually all railways, with the exception of a small handful, signed contracts with Amtrak. The corporation pays the

Bonald, Louis-gabriel-ambroise, Vicomte De (viscount Of)

2005-03-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Mayor of Millau from 1785 to 1789, Bonald became president of the district of

Alemán, Miguel

2005-03-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

The son of a village shopkeeper who subsequently became a general in the revolution, Alemán studied law and set up practice in Mexico City, specializing in labour cases. Appointed senator from Veracruz, he became governor of the state in 1936. In 1940 he resigned to manage the successful presidential campaign of

Heredia, José Maria De

2005-03-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy Spanish coffee plantation owner and a French mother, Heredia was educated at Senlis, near Paris. He claimed France as “the country of my mind and heart”; and, although he went home after finishing his schooling, he quickly returned to Paris and studied at the

Aniconism

2005-03-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

The biblical Second Commandment (part of the First Commandment to Roman Catholics and Lutherans), “You shall not make yourself a graven image, or any likeness

Orlov, Aleksey Grigoryevich, Count (graf)

2005-03-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

Having entered the cadet corps in 1749, Orlov became an officer in the Russian guards as well as a close adviser to his brother Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, who about 1760 became the lover of Catherine,

Yukon River

2005-03-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

Major North American river that flows through the central Yukon Territory of Canada and central Alaska. It measures 1,980 miles (3,190 kilometres) from the headwaters of the McNeil River (a tributary of the Nisutlin River). The Yukon discharges into the Bering Sea after flowing northwestward and then generally southwestward through a low plateau that slopes down across Alaska.

France, History Of, France from 1715 to 1789

2005-03-01T17:51:00.000-08:00

Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Régime and the French Revolution (1955, reprinted 1978; originally published in French, 1856), is still a basic source for the study of the period. Comprehensive histories include C.B.A. Behrens, The Ancien Régime (1967, reprinted 1976); Pierre Goubert and Daniel Roche, Les Français et l'Ancien Régime, 2 vol. (1984); Albert Soboul, La France à la veille de la Révolution, 2nd rev. ed. (1974), a Marxist interpretation; Alfred Cobban, Old Régime and Revolution, 1715–1790 (1957, reprinted 1969), vol. 1 in his A History of Modern France; Hubert Méthivier, L‘Ancien Régime en France: XVIe–XVIIe–XVIIIe siècles (1981); and Norman Hampson, The Enlightenment (1968, reprinted 1982). For discussions of social classes and economic issues, see Robert Forster, The Nobility of Toulouse in the Eighteenth Century (1960, reprinted 1971); Elinor G. Barber, The Bourgeoisie in 18th Century France (1955, reprinted 1970); Franklin L. Ford, Robe and Sword: The Regrouping of the French Aristocracy After Louis XIV (1953, reprinted 1965); Henri Sée, Economic and Social Conditions in France During the Eighteenth Century (1927, reissued 1968; originally published in French, 1925); and Steven Laurence Kaplan, Provisioning Paris: Merchants and Millers in the Grain and Flour Trade During the Eighteenth Century (1984). Economic histories make much use of the 18th-century travelogue of Arthur Young, Travels During the Years 1787, 1788, & 1789: Undertaken More Particularly with a View of Ascertaining the Cultivation, Wealth, Resources, and National Prosperity of the Kingdom of France, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1794), available in many later editions. The culture and ideology of the period are explored in Harvey Chisick, The Limits of Reform in the Enlightenment: Attitudes toward the Education of the Lower Classes in Eighteenth-Century France (1981); Thomas E. Crow, Painters and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Paris (1985); Joan B. Landes, Women and the Public Sphere in the Age of the French Revolution (1988); Jeremy D. Popkin, News and Politics in the Age of Revolution: Jean Luzac's Gazette de Leyde (1989); and Jean Starobinski, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Transparency and Obstruction (1988; originally published in French, 1957).

Dengue

2005-03-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

The carrier incriminated

Abacha, Sani

2005-02-28T22:31:00.000-08:00

Many found it downright curious how in 1997 Gen. Sani Abacha, who had ruthlessly seized power in Nigeria in a coup four years earlier, was sending troops to Sierra Leone in an effort to defend democracy there. Earlier he had assisted peacekeeping forces in Liberia, and it was thought that Abacha was also providing economic aid to support democracy in that country. At home,

Cartagena

2005-02-28T15:09:00.000-08:00

Capital of Bolívar departamento, northern Colombia, at the northern end of Cartagena Bay. The old walled sections, including the 17th-century fortress of San Felipe de Barajas, lie on a peninsula and the island of Getsemaní, but the city now spreads over the islands of Manga and Manzanillo (site of the airport) and the mainland below La Popa Hill. In the old section are the

Forbes, George William

2005-02-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Forbes held a seat in the House of Representatives for thirty-five years as member for Hurunui (1908–43). He began his political career as a member of the Liberal Party, and when that party declined he became in 1928 a leader of the newly created United Party.

Mercedarian

2005-02-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

St. Raymond of Penafort, Nolasco's confessor and the author of the order's rule, based the rule on that of St. Augustine. In addition to the usual three religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Mercedarians

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, The people

2005-02-25T22:16:00.000-08:00

The Han migration altered the pattern of population distribution and ethnic composition

La Rochelle

2005-02-25T02:59:00.000-08:00

Town, Atlantic seaport and capital of Charente-Maritime département, Poitou-Charentes région, western France, situated on an inlet opposite Ré Island. The town, which has straight, regular streets, a large park, and shady promenades on the sites of its old fortifications, grew considerably after 1946, especially to the west. The old commercial harbour, too shallow for large

China, Land and people

2005-02-25T01:29:00.000-08:00

Physical geography is surveyed in The Physical Geography of China, 2 vol., trans. from Russian (1969), prepared by the Institute of Geography, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences; Songqiao Zhao, Physical Geography of China (1986); and Shih-hsun Ch'en, The Climate of China (1962). Studies of population include June Teufel Dreyer, China's Forty Millions (1976), an examination of China's minorities and their integration into society since 1949; C.K. Leung and Norton Ginsburg (eds.), China: Urbanization and National Development (1980); Liu Zheng et al., China's Population: Problems and Prospects (1981), containing surveys and case studies; Judith Banister, China's Changing Population (1987), an analysis of modern demographic trends; and New China's Population (1988), studies by Chinese demographers of three censuses. Atlases include Chiao-min Hsieh, Atlas of China, ed. by Christopher L. Salter (1973); P.J.M. Geelan and D.C. Twitchett (eds.), The Times Atlas of China (1974); Caroline Blunden and Mark Elvin, Cultural Atlas of China (1983); The Population Atlas of China (1987), on the 1982 census, prepared by the Population Census Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Nathan Sivin (ed.), The Contemporary Atlas of China (1988), including maps, illustrations, essays, and a chronology.

Cambrai, Treaty Of

2005-02-24T05:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Paix Des Dames (French: “Peace of the Ladies”; Aug. 3, 1529), agreement ending one phase of the wars between Francis I of France and the Habsburg Holy Roman emperor Charles V; it temporarily confirmed Spanish (Habsburg) hegemony in Italy. After a series of successes, Charles had defeated the French forces at Pavia in Italy in 1525 and forced Francis to sign the punitive Treaty of Madrid. Fearful of Charles's

Peter Iii

2005-02-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

In 1262 he had married Constance, heiress of Manfred, the Hohenstaufen king of Sicily; and after the revolt of the Sicilians in 1282 he invaded the island and was proclaimed king at Palermo, despite strong Guelph and papal opposition (see Sicilian

Landa, Diego De

2005-02-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

Landa was born to a noble family and when quite young joined the Franciscans (1541). His religious fervour manifested itself early, and he asked to be sent as a missionary to the New World. Once in Mexico he tried to help the Indians, who

Clapp, Cornelia Maria

2005-02-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

Clapp graduated from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1871, and after a year of teaching elsewhere she returned to Mount Holyoke as an instructor in mathematics. Later she also taught

Callahan, Harry Morey

2005-02-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

American photographer (b. Oct. 22, 1912, Detroit, Mich.—d. March 15, 1999, Atlanta, Ga.), experimented with the use of light, line, and space to produce images that portray ordinary scenes and objects in innovative, abstract ways. He felt that photographs had to have more significance than was apparent at first look; he focused on such favourite themes as his wife and daughter, landscapes, and

Livingston, Henry Brockholst

2005-02-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Livingston joined the Continental Army at the age of 19 and saw action with Benedict Arnold and as an aide to General Philip John Schuyler and General Arthur St. Clair before accompanying his brother-in-law, John Jay, on his mission to solicit aid from Spain in 1779. On his return

World War I, The Schlieffen Plan

2005-02-21T19:01:00.000-08:00

Years before 1914, successive chiefs of the German general staff had been foreseeing Germany's having to fight a war on two fronts at the same time, against Russia in the east and France in the west, whose combined strength was numerically superior to the Central Powers'. The elder Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the German general staff from 1858 to 1888, decided that Germany should stay

Montesquieu, Charles-louis De Secondat, Baron De La Brède Et De

2005-02-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

French political philosopher whose major work, The Spirit of Laws, was a major contribution to political theory.

Ironstone China

2005-02-20T15:20:00.000-08:00

Type of stoneware introduced in England early in the 19th century by Staffordshire potters who sought to develop a porcelain substitute that could be mass-produced. The result of their experiments was a dense, hard, durable stoneware that came to be known by several names—e.g., semiporcelain, opaque porcelain, English porcelain, stone china, new stone—all of which were

Ash'ari, Abu Al-hasan Al-

2005-02-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

An indispensable work for those who wish to read al-Ash'ari is Richard J. McCarthy (ed.), The Theology of al-Ash'ari (1953), containing the texts of two of his theological treatises with their English translation. W. Montgomery Watt, Islamic Philosophy and Theology, 2nd ed. (1985), places al-Ash'ari in the chronological development of Muslim thought.

Backhaus, Wilhelm

2005-02-19T22:07:00.000-08:00

Backhaus studied piano in Leipzig and in Frankfurt am Main. His first concert appearance took place when he was eight years of age, and in 1905 he won the Rubinstein prize in Paris. He held teaching appointments at the Royal Manchester College

Amphibian

2005-02-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

Any member of the class Amphibia, vertebrates distinguished by their ability to exploit both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. They include the frogs and toads, salamanders and newts, and caecilians. The name, derived from the Greek amphibios meaning “living a double life,” reflects this dual life strategy. Despite this distinction, however, some species are permanent

Maskelyne, John Nevil

2005-02-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

Trained as a watchmaker, Maskelyne became famous in 1865 when he, aided by George A. Cooke, exposed the Davenport Brothers as fraudulent spiritualists.

Trichophyton

2005-02-18T03:36:00.000-08:00

A genus of fungi (division Mycota) that infects the skin, hair, and nails of man and other animals. It is one of several causes of athlete's foot, jockstrap itch, and other ringworm (q.v.) infections in man. T. verrucosum causes ringworm in cattle. Although worldwide in distribution, some species apparently are more abundant in some areas than in others. T. schoenleini, for example,

Abraxas

2005-02-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Abrasax, sequence of Greek letters considered as a word and formerly inscribed on charms, amulets, and gems in the belief that it possessed magical qualities. In the 2nd century AD, some Gnostic and other dualistic sects, which viewed matter as evil and the spirit as good and held that salvation came through esoteric knowledge, or gnosis, personified Abraxas and initiated a cult

Alecsandri, Vasile

2005-02-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

His lyrical poems,

Sea Level

2005-02-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

Position of the air-sea interface, to which all terrestrial elevations and submarine depths are referred. The sea level constantly changes at every locality with the changes in tides, atmospheric pressure, and wind conditions. Longer-term changes in sea level are influenced by the Earth's changing climates. Consequently, the level is better defined as mean sea

Scandinavian Literature

2005-02-16T03:31:00.000-08:00

The literature of Scandinavia and, in particular, of Iceland has reflected two extraordinary features of the social and cultural history of pagan Europe and of Iceland. The way in which names such as Siegfried, Brunhild, and Attila cropped up again and again in different European literatures has borne witness to the dissemination of legends and traditions common

Il-khanid Dynasty

2005-02-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Hülegü, a grandson of Genghis Khan, was given the task of capturing Iran by the paramount Mongol chieftain Möngke. Hülegü set out in about 1253 with a Mongol army of about 130,000. He founded the Il-Khanid dynasty in 1256, and by 1258 he had captured Baghdad and all Iran. The Il-Khans consolidated their position in Iran

Richardson, Henry Handel

2005-02-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

From 1883 to 1887 Richardson was a pupil at the Presbyterian Ladies'

Cambridge

2005-02-14T16:25:00.000-08:00

City, Middlesex county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., situated on the north bank of the Charles River, partly opposite Boston. Originally settled as New Towne in 1630 by the Massachusetts Bay Company, it was organized as a town in 1636 when it became the site of Harvard College (now an undergraduate school of Harvard University). The town was renamed for Cambridge, England, in 1638 and became

Morocco, The pre-World War II period

2005-02-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

Abd al-Hafid

Gabrieli, Giovanni

2005-02-14T07:11:00.000-08:00

Various motets, among them In ecclesiis; madrigals in various collections; Canzoni e sonate (1615); Sacrae symphoniae, book 1 (1597), including the Sonata pian'e forte; Sacrae symphoniae (1615); Concerti di Andrea et di Giovanni Gabrieli a 6–16 voci (1587, containing pieces by Andrea).

Albanian Language

2005-02-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

The two principal dialects, Gheg in the north and Tosk in the south, are separated roughly by the Shkumbin River. Gheg and Tosk have been diverging for at least a millennium, and their less extreme forms are mutually intelligible. Gheg has the more marked subvarieties, the most striking of which are the northernmost and eastern types, which include those of the city

Mammal, Reproductive system

2005-02-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

The testes of mammals descend from the abdominal cavity to lie in a compartmented pouch termed the scrotum. In some species the testes are permanently scrotal and the scrotum is sealed off from the general abdominal cavity. In others the testes migrate to the scrotum only during the breeding season. It is thought that the temperature of the abdominal cavity is too

Amphion And Zethus

2005-02-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the twin sons of Zeus by Antiope. When children, they were left to die on Mount Cithaeron but were found and brought up by a shepherd. Amphion became a great singer and musician, Zethus a hunter and herdsman. After rejoining their mother, they built and fortified Thebes, huge blocks of stone forming themselves into walls at the sound of Amphion's lyre.

Skene

2005-02-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

(from Greek skene, “scene-building”), in ancient Greek theatre, a building behind the playing area that was originally a hut for the changing of masks and costumes but eventually became the background before which the drama was enacted. First used c. 465 BC, the skene was originally a small wooden structure facing the circle of spectators. It developed into a two-story edifice decorated

Biblical Literature, Later and modern editions

2005-02-11T18:29:00.000-08:00

New Testament editions in the 18th century did not question the Textus Receptus (T.R.), despite new manuscript evidence and study, but its limitations became apparent. E. Wells, a British mathematician and theological writer (1719), was the first to edit a complete New Testament that abandoned the T.R. in favour of more ancient manuscripts; and English scholar Richard Bentley

Anath

2005-02-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

Considered a beautiful young girl, she was often designated “the Virgin” in ancient texts. Probably one of the best-known of the Canaanite deities, she was famous for her youthful vigour and ferocity in battle; in that respect she was adopted as a special favourite by the Egyptian king Ramses

Pluralism

2005-02-10T01:17:00.000-08:00

In political science, the view that in liberal democracies power is (or should be) dispersed among a variety of economic and ideological pressure groups and is not (or should not be) held by a single elite or group of elites. Pluralism assumes that diversity is beneficial to society and that autonomy should be enjoyed by disparate functional or cultural groups within

Kuwait

2005-02-09T05:24:00.000-08:00

In 2003 the Kuwaiti government supported international efforts to induce Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein to resign and leave Iraq voluntarily. When those failed, Kuwait supported the U.S.-led campaign against Iraq and allowed a massive military buildup by U.S. and British troops on its territory. These forces finally invaded and occupied Iraq in March and April. Afterward,

Police Power

2005-02-09T01:20:00.000-08:00

In U.S. constitutional law, the permissible scope of federal or state legislation so far as it may affect the rights of an individual when those rights conflict with the promotion and maintenance of the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the public. When the U.S. Supreme Court has considered such cases, it has tended to use a doctrine called “balance of interests,