NormalFowl

Vedic Religion

2005-04-05T01:38:00.000-07:00

The ancient Vedic worshipers offered sacrifices to these gods in the hope that they in return would grant abundant numbers of cattle, good fortune, good health, long life, and male progeny, among other material benefits. To ensure the efficacy of their prayers, the people came to believe that their offerings could be made more acceptable to the gods if accompanied

Adams

2005-04-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

County, southern Pennsylvania, U.S., mostly consisting of a piedmont region bordered by Maryland to the south and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and north. The principal waterways are Lakes Meade and Heritage and Long Pine Run Reservoir, as well as Conewago, Toms, and Rock creeks. Parklands include parts of Caledonia State Park and Michaux State Forest, as well as

Girodias, Maurice

2005-04-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

As a young man Girodias worked closely with his father, Jack Kahane, whose Obelisk Press published such classics of erotica as Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer (1934) and Frank Harris's My Life and Loves, 3 vol. (1923–27). Girodias, who took his mother's non-Jewish maiden name during

Fabry, Charles

2005-04-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Fabry joined the staff of Marseilles University in 1894. His early studies centred on light interference, in which a primary research instrument

Cambridge Platform

2005-04-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

Basic document of New England Congregationalism, prepared in Cambridge, Mass. (U.S.), in 1648. It provided for all the details of church government, including the principle that was basic to Congregationalism, the autonomy of the local congregation. In doctrinal matters, the Cambridge Platform incorporated the Westminster Confession, the creedal statement of Presbyterianism

La Orotava

2005-04-03T00:47:00.000-08:00

Town, northern Tenerife island, Santa Cruz de Tenerife provincia, Canary Islands comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), Spain, just southwest of Santa Cruz de Tenerife city. The town is a health resort with its port, Puerto de la Cruz, on the coast immediately to the northwest. It lies in the Orotava Valley, known for its luxuriant vegetation and called the most beautiful

Norfolk, Thomas Of Brotherton, Earl Of

2005-04-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

He was created Earl of Norfolk in 1312 and was given vast lands in England, Wales, and Ireland; Edward II further distinguished him by creating him marshal of England. However, although he at first sided with the king, he was one of the first

Costigan, Edward Prentiss

2005-04-01T07:14:00.000-08:00

Costigan spent most of his youth in Colorado, where his parents moved in 1877. He graduated from Harvard University in 1899 and began his law practice in Denver the next year. His interest in good government led him to join nonpartisan

Forbes, George William

2005-03-31T17:41:00.000-08:00

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.

San Felipe

2005-03-30T05:13:00.000-08:00

Historic town, Austin county, southeastern Texas, U.S. It lies along the Brazos River, some 45 miles (70 km) west of Houston. Known as the “birthplace of Anglo-American settlement in Texas,” it was founded in 1824 as headquarters for the colony of Stephen Austin, who there first employed the Texas Rangers as a defense force. In 1829 the colony, then known as San Felipe de Austin, published the

Kirin, Mining and power resources

2005-03-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

The major minerals of the province include coal, iron ore, copper, zinc, and gold. Coal is found in the southeast, near the Yalu River border with North Korea. Many smaller local mines also supply provincial needs. The major hydroelectric power installation, the Feng-man station on the Sungari River southeast of Chi-lin, was built by the Japanese during World War II and

Altoona

2005-03-29T16:26:00.000-08:00

City, Blair county, central Pennsylvania, U.S. It is situated on the eastern slopes of the Allegheny Front, a segment of the Allegheny Mountains that separates the Atlantic from the Mississippi valley watersheds. The city lies 45 miles (72 km) by road northeast of Johnstown. It was founded in 1849 by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as a base for building railroads over the Alleghenies.

Bottle

2005-03-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

Although early bottles were made from such materials as gourds and animal skins, glass eventually became the major material employed.

Anne

2005-03-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

Queen of Great Britain from 1702 to 1714. The last Stuart monarch, she wished to rule independently, but her intellectual limitations and chronic ill health caused her to rely heavily on her ministers, who directed England's efforts against France and Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). The bitter rivalries between Whigs and Tories

San-ming

2005-03-27T00:40:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Sanming, city in west-central Fukien sheng (province), China. San-ming lies along the Sha River, a southern tributary of the Min River, the valley of which provides the chief southwest-to-northeast route through central Fukien. Westward and southwestward routes fan out into the mountainous interior of Fukien, and to the south there is a good route via the valley of the Chiu-lung

Race

2005-03-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

Contemporary scientists hold that human physical variations, especially in those traits that are normally used to classify people racially—skin colour, hair texture, facial features, and to some extent bodily structure—must be understood in terms of evolutionary processes and the long-range adaptation of human groups to differing environments. Other features

Procellariiform

2005-03-26T09:12:00.000-08:00

Also called tubinares (order Procellariiformes), any of the seabirds that include the albatrosses (family Diomedeidae); shearwaters, fulmars, prions, and large petrels (Procellariidae); storm petrels (Hydrobatidae); and diving petrels (Pelecanoididae). There are approximately 87 living and 36 fossil species of diverse sizes and ranges. All Procellariiformes are recognizable by their conspicuous

Swabian Alp

2005-03-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

German Swäbische Alb, continuation of the Jura Mountains in Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. The upland plateau extends approximately 100 miles (160 km) from the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) to the Wörnitz River at an average elevation of about 2,300 feet (700 m). The plateau rises in a steep northwestern scarp some 1,300 feet (400 m) above the valleys of the Neckar, Rems, and Fils rivers to its highest

Arrabal, Fernando

2005-03-23T16:28:00.000-08:00

Arrabal worked as a clerk in a paper company, then studied law at the University of Madrid. He turned to writing in the early 1950s, and in 1955 he went to study drama in Paris, where he remained.

Scythebill

2005-03-23T01:22:00.000-08:00

Also called Sabrebill, or Sicklebill, any of several birds of Central and South American tropical forests, belonging to the genus Campylorhamphus. The five species are woodcreepers (family Dendrocolaptidae, order Passeriformes), with long downcurved bills that are as much as one-third of the bird's total length, which is about 23 cm (9 inches).

Plutarch

2005-03-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

Greek Plutarchos , Latin Plutarchus biographer and author whose works strongly influenced the evolution of the essay, the biography, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century. Among his approximately 227 works, the most important are the Bioi paralleloi (Parallel Lives), in which he recounts the noble deeds and characters of Greek and Roman soldiers, legislators,

Camden

2005-03-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Town, eastern New South Wales, Australia, on the Nepean section of the Hawkesbury River, in the Southern Highlands. The locality, originally known as Cowpastures, was renamed Camden Park in 1805, after the 2nd earl Camden, secretary of state for the colonies at that time, by John Macarthur, who bred merino sheep in Australia. The village, surveyed in 1836, was proclaimed a municipality

Yama

2005-03-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

In Tibetan Buddhism, one of the eight fierce protective deities. See dharmapala.

Békésy, Georg Von

2005-03-20T15:59:00.000-08:00

As director of the Hungarian Telephone System Research Laboratory (1923–46), Békésy worked on problems

Automobile Racing

2005-03-20T03:33:00.000-08:00

The stunning success of Nigel Mansell, 1992 Formula One champion, in his first year in U.S. IndyCar competition highlighted a year in which virtuosity and tragedy shared centre stage. The 40-year-old Englishman, driving a Lola-Ford Cosworth for Newman-Haas Racing, edged 1993 Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi for the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) championship. Mansell

Byzantine Greek Language

2005-03-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

An archaic style of Greek that served as the language of administration and of most writing during the period of the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman, Empire until the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. During the Byzantine period the spoken language continued to develop without the archaizing tendencies of the written language. Byzantine Greek is still the liturgical

Absolutism

2005-03-19T17:59:00.000-08:00

The political doctrine and practice of unlimited, centralized authority and absolute sovereignty, as vested especially in a monarch. The essence of such a system is that the ruling power is not subject to regularized challenge or check by any other agency, be it judicial, legislative, religious, economic, or electoral. Louis XIV, who ruled France during the late 17th

India, Developments in the Deccan

2005-03-18T19:07:00.000-08:00

Toward the last years of Akbar's reign, the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar in the Deccan had engaged the attention of the emperor considerably. The main objective of his intervention in Ahmadnagar was to gain Berar, which had been recently acquired by Ahmadnagar from Khandesh, and Balaghat, which had been a bone of contention between Ahmadnagar and Gujarat. By 1596 Berar was conquered

Ibn Daud, Abraham Ben David Halevi

2005-03-18T00:43:00.000-08:00

Physician and historian who was the first Jewish philosopher to draw on Aristotle's writings in a systematic fashion. He is probably more esteemed today for his history Sefer ha-kabbala (“Book of Tradition”) than for his major philosophic work, Sefer ha-emuna ha-rama (“Book of Sublime Faith”), extant only in Hebrew and German

Tapestry

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

Tapestry is first of all a technique. It differs from other forms of patterned weaving in that no weft threads are carried the full width of the fabric web, except by an occasional accident of design. Each unit of the pattern or the background is woven with a weft, or thread of the required colour, that is inserted back and forth only over the section where that colour appears

Biblical Literature, Haggai

2005-03-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

The Book of Haggai, the 10th book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, is a brief work of only two chapters. Written about 520 BCE by the prophet Haggai, the book contains four oracles. The first oracle calls for Zerubbabel, the governor of Judaea, and Joshua, the high priest, to rebuild the Temple (chapter 1, verses 1–11). A drought and poor harvests, according to Haggai, had been caused because the

Farini, Luigi Carlo

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

After participating in the revolutionary uprisings of 1831, Farini received his medical degree at Bologna and went into practice. Exiled from the Papal States and from Tuscany, he drafted the manifesto

Aleixandre, Vicente

2005-03-15T23:34:00.000-08:00

Kessel Schwartz, Vicente Aleixandre (1970), introduces his life and writings. Santiago Daydí-Tolson (ed.), Vicente Aleixandre: A Critical Appraisal (1981), is a collection of essays that examine his work.

Pyrazine

2005-03-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of organic compounds of the heterocyclic series characterized by a ring structure containing four atoms of carbon and two of nitrogen. The pyrazine ring is part of many polycyclic compounds of biological or industrial significance. The simplest member of the pyrazine family is pyrazine itself, a colourless, water-soluble solid with molecular formula

Tactical Weapons System

2005-03-15T05:47:00.000-08:00

System integrating tactical weapons with electronic equipment for target acquisition, aiming, or fire control or a combination of such purposes. Tactical weapons are designed for offensive or defensive use at relatively short range with relatively immediate consequences. They include weapons used for antitank assault, antiaircraft defense, battlefield

Brother Adam

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

(KARL KEHRLE), German-born Benedictine monk and bee breeder (b. Aug. 3, 1898, Mittlebiberach, Ger.--d. Sept. 1, 1996, Buckfast, South Devon, Eng.), was regarded as an authority on bees for his revolutionary work, most notably the development of the Buckfast bee, a breed that was considered one of the hardiest and most prolific producers of honey ever bred. At the age of 11 he was sent from his home in Germany

Devils Lake

2005-03-14T03:06:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Ramsey county, northeast-central North Dakota, U.S. The community was established with the opening of a land office in 1882 as Creelsburg (later Creel City) and was the head of steamboat navigation on Devils Lake, a saline body of water originally about 30 miles [50 km] long. By 1909, when the lake had receded 4 miles (6 km) from the city, navigation ceased. The city developed as a trade

Prehistoric Religion, Shamanism, sorcery, and magic

2005-03-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Shamanism is a rather variable and highly stratified complex of practices and conceptions; characteristic among these are the use of ecstasy, the belief in guardian spirits (who are often in animal form, with the function of helping and guiding the dead on their voyage to the beyond), and beliefs concerning metamorphosis (change of form) and travelling to the beyond.

Clarendon

2005-03-12T00:11:00.000-08:00

China, A land revolution

2005-03-11T17:18:00.000-08:00

One reason for Communist success was the social revolution in rural China. The CCP was now unrestrained by the multiclass alliance of the United Front period. In the middle of 1946, as civil war became more certain, the party leaders launched a land revolution. They saw land redistribution as an integral part of the larger struggle; by encouraging peasants to seize the

Perec, Georges

2005-03-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Perec was orphaned at an early age: his father was killed in action in World War II, and his mother died in a concentration camp. He was reared by an aunt and uncle and eventually attended the Sorbonne for several years. His best-selling first novel, Les Choses: une

Venezuela, Climate

2005-03-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

Venezuela lies well within the tropics, and the country's temperatures are relatively uniform with little seasonal variation. Elevation, however, produces significant local differences in temperature, precipitation, and vegetation. More than nine-tenths of Venezuela has a mean annual temperature above 75 °F (24 °C). The average mean temperature for Caracas, lying in a

Dyce, Alexander

2005-03-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

As an undergraduate at the University of Oxford, Dyce edited a dictionary of the language of Shakespeare. After serving as a curate in Cornwall and Suffolk,

Luther, Martin, Luther's questioning of authority

2005-03-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Eck was able to go off to Rome with new prestige to give sharpness to the process of Luther's official condemnation. Luther had now to examine the further implications of his actions to date, in relation to the authority of the church, of councils, and of Scripture; his correspondence shows that he was reaching something like a crisis in his attitude to papal

World War Ii, The encirclement of Rabaul

2005-03-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

Allied moves to isolate the large Japanese garrison on Rabaul proceeded by land and air. The encirclement of Rabaul by land began during October and November 1943 with the capture by New Zealand troops of the Treasury Islands in the Solomons and was accompanied on November 1 by a U.S. landing at Empress Augusta Bay on the west of Bougainville. U.S. reinforcements subsequently

Pozzuoli

2005-03-08T06:19:00.000-08:00

The town was founded about 529 BC by Greek emigrants who called it Dicaearchia (“City of Justice”). Captured by Rome in the Samnite wars, it was vainly besieged by the Carthaginian general

Domus

2005-03-08T02:57:00.000-08:00

The more public functions and activities of the family took place in the atrium, generally

Tabari, At-

2005-03-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

The young at-Tabari demonstrated a precocious intellect and journeyed from his native town to study in the major centres of learning in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. Over the course of many years he collected oral and written material from numerous scholars and libraries for his later work. At-Tabari enjoyed sufficient financial independence to enable him to devote the latter

Bykovsky, Valery

2005-03-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

On June 16, 1963, after Bykovsky had been in orbit two days, the Soviet

Swahili Language

2005-03-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

People who speak Swahili as their sole mother tongue are usually

Bejaïa

2005-03-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

Formerly Bougie, town, Mediterranean port, northeastern Algeria. The town lies at the mouth of the Wadi Soummam. Sheltered by Mount Gouraya (2,165 feet [660 m]) and Cape Carbon, it receives an annual average rainfall of 40 inches (1,000 mm) and is surrounded by a fertile plain. The older town, built on the mountain slope, descends to the French-built sector spread along the road to Algiers and containing the business

Zaltan

2005-03-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Zelten, town site at the first exploited oil field in Libya. Located 105 miles (169 km) south of the Mediterranean port of Marsa al-Burayqah on the Gulf of Sidra, at the foot of the Zaltan Mountains, the town is in the centre of the so-called oasis group of oil fields that includes Jalu (Gialo), Waha, and Ar-Raqubah (Raguba). Discovered in 1959 and recognized as the nation's first large strike (17,500 barrels per day),

Sibley Provincial Park

2005-03-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

Park, southwestern Ontario, Canada, on Sibley Peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Superior, 20 miles (32 km) east of Thunder Bay. Established in 1950, the park has an area of 94 square miles (243 square km). It is the site of the 19th-century village of Silver Islet (including a restored hotel, store, and church), which was at one time the home of miners and lumbermen. Sibley has varied Canadian

Heilbrun, Carolyn

2005-03-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

Heilbrun attended Wellesley (Massachusetts) College (B.A., 1947) and Columbia University in New York City (M.A., 1951; Ph.D., 1959) and in 1960 joined the faculty of Columbia, where she taught until 1992. Among her scholarly

Elgin

2005-03-04T05:42:00.000-08:00

On a hill to the west stood the 12th-century castle that in 1291 marked the northern limit of the English occupation of Scotland. The castle was destroyed after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314), which

Chapman, Frank M(ichler)

2005-03-03T02:50:00.000-08:00

A self-taught ornithologist, Chapman was appointed assistant curator of ornithology and mammalogy (1888–1908) and curator of ornithology (1908–42) at the American

Ribble Valley

2005-03-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative county of Lancashire, northwestern England, along the county's eastern border, extending into the western Pennine uplands. The southern part of the borough, including the lower Ribble valley and the two largest towns, Clitheroe and Longridge, lies in the historic county of Lancashire. The remainder of the mostly rural borough, including

Utzon, Jørn

2005-03-02T10:52:00.000-08:00

Utzon studied at the Copenhagen School of Architecture (1937–42) and then spent three years in Stockholm, where he came under the influence of the Swedish architect Erik Gunnar Asplund. He also studied in the United States, and, for a six-month

Nordhausen

2005-03-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

City, Thuringia Land (state), central Germany, lying on the Zorge River, at the southern slopes of the Harz Mountains, in the fertile lowland known as the Goldene Aue (“Golden Meadow”). First mentioned in 927 as the site of a royal castle near the older Frankish settlement of Northusen (Nordhusa), it was made a free imperial city in 1290 and accepted the Reformation in 1522. It lost its independence

Gwandu

2005-03-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

Originally settled by the Kebbawa, a subgroup of the Hausa people, the town was named for the surrounding gandu (“royal farmlands”) that formerly belonged to Muhammadu Kanta, who founded the Kebbi kingdom in the 16th century. Although Fulani

Gaul

2005-02-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

By the 5th century BC the Gauls had migrated south from the Rhine River valley to the Mediterranean coast. By the middle of the 4th century

Absurd, Theatre Of The

2005-02-28T00:17:00.000-08:00

Dramatic works of certain European and American dramatists of the 1950s and early '60s who agreed with the Existentialist philosopher Albert Camus's assessment, in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942), that the human situation is essentially absurd, devoid of purpose. The term is also loosely applied to those dramatists and the production of those works. Though no formal Absurdist

Lea, River

2005-02-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

River rising north of Luton in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It flows for 46 miles (74 km) east and then south to enter the River Thames near Bromley-by-Bow, in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. In the 17th century an important aqueduct known as the New River was constructed in the valley of the Lea. Much of the valley has seen considerable industrial development, and many

Loyal Publication Society

2005-02-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

In addition to distributing materials “of unquestionable loyalty,” the societies were active in both state and national politics, allied with the Republican

Shadhiliyah

2005-02-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Shaziliyah, widespread brotherhood of Muslim mystics (Sufis), founded on the teachings of Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili (d. 1258) in Alexandria. Shadhili teachings stress five points: fear of God, living the sunna (practices) of the Prophet, disdain of mankind, fatalism, and turning to God in times of happiness and distress. The order, which spread throughout North Africa and the Sudan and into Arabia, was

China, The Shih-liu kuo (Sixteen Kingdoms) in the north (303439)

2005-02-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

The term Sixteen Kingdoms traditionally denotes the plethora of short-lived non-Chinese dynasties that from 303 came to rule the whole or parts of northern China. Many ethnic groups were involved, including ancestors of the Turks (such as the Hsiung-nu, possibly related to the Huns of late Roman history, and the Chieh), the Mongolians (Hsien-pei), and the Tibetans (Ti and Ch'iang).

Selkirk, Alexander

2005-02-26T00:24:00.000-08:00

The son of a shoemaker, Selkirk ran away to sea in 1695; he joined a band of buccaneers in the Pacific and by 1703 was sailing master of a galley on a privateering expedition. In September 1704, after a quarrel with his captain, he was put ashore at his own request

Karakoram Highway

2005-02-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

The highway was a joint Pakistani and Chinese project and required

Gonfalonier

2005-02-25T03:55:00.000-08:00

In Florence the gonfaloniers of the companies (gonfalonieri di compagnia) originated during the 1250s as commanders of the people's militia. In the 1280s a new office called the gonfalonier of justice (gonfaloniere di giustizia) was instituted to protect the interests of the people against

France, History Of, Peasants

2005-02-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

The condition of many peasants deteriorated markedly in the 18th century; perhaps as many as one-third of them were sporadically indigent. This cannot be explained by a decline in the peasants' share of the land. In 1789, French peasants still owned about one-third of arable land, most of it in small plots of less than 10 acres (nobles owned about one-fifth of the land, the church one-sixth,

Switzerland

2005-02-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

Many Swiss were considerably startled in 1997 at finding themselves being buffeted by an onslaught of criticism, some of it from within Switzerland itself, concerning their country's actions during and after World War II. (See Sidebar

Mahasanghika

2005-02-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

Its emergence about a century after the death of the Buddha (483 BC) represented the first major schism in the Buddhist community. Although traditional accounts of the second council, at Vaisali (now in Bihar state), attribute

La Rochelle

2005-02-23T06:18:00.000-08:00

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

Cameroon

2005-02-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Bantu settled in the Cameroons from equatorial Africa. The first group that invaded

Naqadah

2005-02-22T06:21:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Nakada, town, Upper Egypt. It lies on the west bank of the Nile, in the great bend of the river, opposite Qus, in Qina muhafazah (governorate). One of the oldest regions of Egypt, it is the site of a Neolithic town and burial grounds of the Predynastic period (before c. 2925 BC). It was first excavated by the British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie, and the cultures found are referred to by scholars

Caucasian Languages, Phonology

2005-02-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

The sound system of the Kartvelian languages is relatively uniform, with only the vowel systems exhibiting considerable differences. Apart from the five cardinal vowels a, e, i, o, u, which exist in all the Kartvelian languages, the Svan dialects show several additional vowels: the front (or palatalized) vowels, ä, ö, ü, and a high central vowel, {schwa} (as the a in English “sofa

Hyacinthus

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

In Greek legend, a young man of Amyclae in Laconia. According to the usual version, his great beauty attracted the love of Apollo, who killed him accidentally while teaching him to throw the discus; others related that Zephyrus (or Boreas) out of jealousy deflected the discus so that it hit Hyacinthus on the head and killed him. Out of his blood there grew the flower called

Macaulay (of Rothley), Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

2005-02-19T21:39:00.000-08:00

English Whig politician, essayist, poet, and historian best known for his History of England, 5 vol. (1849–61); this work, which covers the period 1688–1702, secured his place as one of the founders of what has been called the Whig interpretation of history. He was raised to the peerage in 1857.

Saxony-anhalt

2005-02-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

German Sachsen-anhalt, Land (state), east-central Germany. Saxony-Anhalt had its origins in the principality of Anhalt (q.v.), which was a duchy from 1863 to 1918 and a Land of Germany from 1918 until 1945, when it became part of Saxony-Anhalt. The latter was a newly created Land of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1949 until 1952, at which time it was broken up into the Bezirke (districts) of Magdeburg and Halle. Upon

Altair

2005-02-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

Also called Alpha Aquilae one of the 15 brightest stars, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.77. Its distance from the Earth is about 16 light-years. It is a hot white star somewhat larger and more massive than the Sun and giving out about 10 times as much light. The name probably derives from Arabic words meaning “the eagle,” applied to the constellation.

Yakutsk

2005-02-18T23:50:00.000-08:00

City and capital of Sakha republic (Yakutia), in far northeastern Russia, on the Lena River. A fort was founded on the Lena's low right bank in 1632 and transferred 43 miles (70 km) upstream to the present site of Yakutsk in 1642. Long a small provincial centre of wooden houses where, beginning in the 19th century, dissidents were exiled, Yakutsk has grown in size and acquired light industries,

Beaconsfield

2005-02-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

The wide main street of the old town of Beaconsfield, bordered by 18th-century houses, contrasts with the modern town, in which commuters to London—28 miles (39 km) to the southeast—reside. Beaconsfield was adopted by Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th-century British

Cost Of Living

2005-02-18T01:53:00.000-08:00

Monetary cost of maintaining a particular standard of living, usually measured by calculating the average cost of a number of specific goods and services required by a particular group. The goods and services used as indexes may be the minimum necessary to preserve health or may be what is considered average for a given income group, depending on the purposes of

John I

2005-02-17T04:15:00.000-08:00

King of Aragon (1387–1395), son of Peter IV. Influenced by his wife, Violante, he pursued a pro-French policy but refused to become involved in the Hundred Years' War. He died by a fall from his horse, like his namesake, cousin, and contemporary of Castile, John I. He was a man of insignificant character, with a taste for artificial verse.

Abbot, Charles Greeley

2005-02-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

The youngest of four children of a New Hampshire farming family,

Nagual

2005-02-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

The person who is

Aegilops

2005-02-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

Genus of grasses (order Cyperales) that has become an agricultural contaminant. Members of the genus grow with wheat, mature at the same time, and, unless care is taken, are harvested along with it. One Aegilops species was an ancestor of bread wheat. Its origin was in southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and western Iran.

China, Ming dynasty

2005-02-15T05:05:00.000-08:00

The last Ming years and the struggles of post-Mingloyalists are dealt with in James B. Parsons, The Peasant Rebellions of the Late Ming Dynasty (1970); Lynn A. Struve, The Southern Ming, 1644–1662 (1984); and Jonathan D. Spence and John E. Wills, Jr. (eds.), From Ming to Ch'ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century China (1979). Studies in Ming intellectual and religious history are found in Wm. Theodore De Bary et al., Self and Society in Ming Thought (1970), and The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism (1975).

Zion

2005-02-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

City, Lake county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan, near the Wisconsin border. Zion was founded in 1901 by John Alexander Dowie as the headquarters of his Christian Catholic Church. Until 1935 it was theocratically governed, and the church controlled all business activities. The church schools were closed in 1939, after which a modern educational system was

Beach

2005-02-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

Sediments that accumulate along the sea or lake shores, the configuration and contours of which depend on the action of coastal processes, the kinds of sediment involved, and the rate of delivery of this sediment. There are three different kinds of beaches. The first occurs as a sediment strip bordering a rocky or cliffy coast; the second is the outer margin of a plain

Vulci

2005-02-13T06:15:00.000-08:00

Etruscan Velch important town of the ancient Etruscans, the ruins of which are about 10 miles from the sea between the villages of Canino and Montalto di Castro, in Viterbo province, Italy. The site, excavated in 1956, has extensive cemeteries and a large network of streets and walls. Vulci grew out of a number of Villanovan villages and flourished chiefly in the 6th–4th century BC, largely as a result

Fabergé, Peter Carl

2005-02-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

Of Huguenot descent, Fabergé was educated in Germany, Italy, France, and England. His father had by 1842 established himself in St. Petersburg as a jeweler, dealing also in fine decorative objects, a tradition Peter Carl continued after inheriting

Grumbach, Wilhelm Von

2005-02-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

About 1540 Grumbach allied

Sweater

2005-02-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

Outer garment, usually knitted or crocheted, that is worn on the upper part of the body, either pulled over the head or buttoned down the front or back. Although hand knitting of wool had been practiced for about 2,000 years, it was not until the 15th century that the first knitted shirts or tunics were produced on the English Channel islands of Guernsey and Jersey; hence the English

Buraq

2005-02-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

In Islamic tradition, a creature said to have transported the Prophet Muhammad to heaven. Described as “a white animal, half-mule, half-donkey, with wings on its sides . . . ,” Buraq was originally introduced into the story of Muhammad's night journey (isra') from Mecca to Jerusalem and back, thus explaining how the journey between the cities could have been completed in a single night.

Level

2005-02-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

Device for establishing a horizontal plane. It consists of a small glass tube containing alcohol or similar liquid and an air bubble; the tube is sealed and fixed horizontally in a wooden or metallic block or frame with a smooth lower surface. The glass tube is slightly bowed, and adjustment to the horizontal is indicated by movement of the bubble. The device is on a

Amoroso Lima, Alceu

2005-02-09T23:22:00.000-08:00

Amoroso Lima's multifaceted

Mole

2005-02-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

Talpids occur throughout temperate Eurasia and North America. Most are quite small, with

Uccello, Paolo

2005-02-09T15:07:00.000-08:00

The standard and most readable and complete work on Uccello (and his followers) in English is John Pope-Hennessy, Paolo Uccello, 2nd ed. (1969). Eve Borsook discusses Uccello's Florentine frescoes in The Mural Painters of Tuscany, from Cimabue to Andrea del Sarto (1960). Uccello's role in the investigation of perspective is mentioned by John White in The Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space, 2nd ed. (1967); and this subject is treated more fully by Alessandro Parronchi in Studi su la dolce prospettiva (1964).

Eyasi, Lake

2005-02-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

Lake, northern Tanzania. It lies west of Lake Manyara and approximately 95 miles (155 km) southwest of Arusha. At an elevation of about 3,400 feet (1,040 m), the lake covers an area of about 400 square miles (1,050 square km) and occupies the bottom of a bowllike depression in a region of volcanic activity. The walls of the lake are purple lava enclosing a broad expanse of white alkaline shallows with