DearKettle

Brân

2005-04-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

(Celtic: “Raven”), gigantic Celtic deity who figured in the Mabinogion (a collection of medieval Welsh tales) as “crowned king over this Island” (i.e., Britain). Because of his stature, he and his court had to live in a tent, as no house had ever been built large enough to contain him. The most important aspect of Brân's myth concerned his wondrous severed head. The ancient Celts worshiped

France, History Of, Absolutism of Louis

2005-04-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Thus, in religious matters (except where Jansenism was concerned), in his dealings with the nobility and the Parlement, in his attitude to the economy, and in his manner of governing the country, Louis revealed a desire to exercise a paternal control of affairs that might suggest a modern dictator rather than a 17th-century king. Though such a comparison has been made, it

Marriage Law

2005-04-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

The body of legal specifications and requirements and other laws that regulate the initiation, continuation, and validity of marriages. Marriage is a legally sanctioned union usually between one man and one woman. At the beginning of the 21st century, marriage between people of the same sex was legally recognized in two countries, The Netherlands (2001) and Belgium (2003), and

Bohemian Forest

2005-04-02T03:57:00.000-08:00

German Böhmer Wald , or Böhmerwald , Czech Šumava forested southwestern highlands of the Bohemian Massif largely on the German–Czech Republic frontier and extending from the upper valley of the Ohre River, in the northwest, to a section of the Danube River valley in Austria (between Melk and Krems), in the southeast. The nomenclature of the subranges that compose the highlands is intricate and confused. The main

Farini, Luigi Carlo

2005-04-01T22:18:00.000-08:00

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

Alesia

2005-03-31T21:35:00.000-08:00

Ancient town situated on Mont Auxois, above the present-day village of Alise-Sainte-Reine in the département of Côte d'Or, France, famous as the site of the siege of Vercingetorix by Julius Caesar in 52 BC that was decisive in his conquest of Gaul. The Gallic town was succeeded on the same site by a Roman town.

Asclepiades Of Bithynia

2005-03-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

He opposed the humoral doctrine of Hippocrates and instead taught that disease results from constricted or relaxed conditions of the solid particles, a doctrine derived from the atomic

Hall, Charles Martin

2005-03-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

While a student at Oberlin (Ohio) College Hall became interested in producing aluminum inexpensively. He continued to use the college laboratory after his graduation in 1885, discovering his method

Music, Music and world view

2005-03-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

Again, music proves its protean susceptibilities in the service of disparate world views. Among humanist psychologists (such as the Americans Gordon Allport and Abraham Maslow) music may be one among other means toward self-fulfillment, integration, self-actualization; for aesthetic Existentialists (such as the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre) it is yet another

Skelton, Red

2005-03-28T04:53:00.000-08:00

Byname of Richard Bernard Skelton U.S. pantomimist and radio and television comedian, host, and star performer of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) variety program The Red Skelton Show from 1951 to 1971. In this television series Skelton re-created a number of characters—among them Clem Kaddiddlehopper, Sheriff Deadeye, Junior, the Mean Widdle

Jacinto, António

2005-03-26T14:56:00.000-08:00

The son of Portuguese settlers in Angola, Jacinto became associated with militant movements against Portuguese colonial rule and was arrested in 1961. He was sent to São Paulo Prison

National Association Of Congregational Christian Churches

2005-03-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

Association of churches organized in Detroit, Mich., in 1955 by ministers and laymen of Congregational Christian Churches who did not wish to take part in the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church that formed the United Church of Christ. The National Association wished to continue the independent tradition of congregationalism.

Low Countries, History Of

2005-03-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

For historical purposes, the name Low Countries is generally understood to include the territory of what is today The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, as well as parts of northern France. However, Belgium, although it was not constituted as an independent kingdom until 1831, became a distinct entity after 1585, when

Aristarchus Of Samos

2005-03-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

Aristarchus' advanced ideas on the movement of the Earth are known from Archimedes and Plutarch; his only extant work is a short treatise, “On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon.” The values

I-lan

2005-03-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

Hsien (county), northeastern Taiwan, occupying an area of 825 square miles (2,137 square km) and bordered by the hsien of T'ai-pei (north), T'ao-yüan and Hsin-chu (west), and T'ai-chung and Hua-lien (south) and by the Philippine Sea (east). The Chung-yang Mountains extend over the southern part, and the Hsüeh-shan Mountains border the northwestern part of I-lan hsien. In the northeast, the I-lan River

Babbitt, Irving

2005-03-21T22:28:00.000-08:00

A vigorous teacher, lecturer, and essayist, Babbitt was the

Tadpole

2005-03-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

Most tadpoles are vegetarians, although those of some species are carnivorous or even cannibalistic. Tadpole metamorphosis follows

Mursilis Ii

2005-03-19T15:39:00.000-08:00

Son of the great Hittite conqueror Suppiluliumas, Mursilis succeeded his father after the brief reign of his older brother Arnuwandas III. Mursilis renewed the allegiance of North Syria, particularly Carchemish (controlled by his brother Shar-Kushukh) and the kingdom of Amurru; he also conducted a successful

Aquileia

2005-03-19T13:53:00.000-08:00

Founded as a Roman colony in 181 BC to prevent barbarian incursions, Aquileia's position at the junction of the Via Postumia

Alexander Ii

2005-03-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

Alexander came to the throne on the death of his father, William I (the Lion; reigned 1165–1214). When the English barons rebelled against King John (reigned 1199–1216) in 1215, Alexander sided

Babalola, S(olomon) Adeboye

2005-03-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

Babalola received his education in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cambridge, Eng., and earned a Ph.D. at the University of London. On his return

Alcoholic Beverage

2005-03-16T03:06:00.000-08:00

Alcoholic beverages are fermented from the sugars in fruits, berries, grains, and such other ingredients as plant saps, tubers, honey, and milk and may be distilled to reduce the original watery liquid to a liquid of much greater alcoholic

Amnesty International

2005-03-16T00:55:00.000-08:00

(AI), international organization headquartered in London that seeks to inform public opinion about violations of human rights, especially the abridgments of freedom of speech and of religion and the imprisonment and torture of political dissidents, and which actively seeks the release of political prisoners and the relief, when necessary, of their families. In

Tzu-kung

2005-03-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zigong, city in central Szechwan Province (sheng), China. Tzu-kung is a prefecture-level municipality (shih), which was formed in 1939 by the merger of Kung-ching—a great salt-producing district with a history dating to the 7th century AD—and the rapidly developing town of Tzu-liu-ching. The city is situated on the Ching Ho (river), a tributary of the T'o Chiang (river), and the area is connected

Arnold Of Brescia

2005-03-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

Italian Arnaldo da Brescia radical religious reformer noted for his outspoken criticism of clerical wealth and corruption and for his strenuous opposition to the temporal power of the popes. He was prior of the monastery at Brescia, where in 1137 he participated in a popular revolt against the government of

'abbas I

2005-03-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

L.L. Bellan, Chah 'Abbas I: sa vie, son histoire (1932), the only biography of Shah 'Abbas I in any European language—generally accurate; R.M. Savory, “ 'Abbas I” in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed., vol. 1, pp. 7–8 (1960); for general background to the period of Shah 'Abbas, the reader is referred to: J. Chardin, Voyages du Chevalier Chardin, 4th ed., 4 vol. (1811); Sir John Malcom, The History of Persia from the Early Period to the Present Time, 2 vol. (1815); and V. Minorsky, Tadhkirat al-Muluk (1943), especially the introduction, commentary, and appendixes.

Alexis

2005-03-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

The son of Michael, the first Romanov monarch of Russia (reigned 1613–45), Alexis received a superficial education from his tutor Boris Ivanovich Morozov before acceding to the throne at the age of 16. Morozov, who was also Alexis' brother-in-law, initially took charge of state affairs, but in 1648 a popular uprising

Chadic Languages

2005-03-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Group of languages spoken in northern Nigeria, northern Ghana, Niger, and Cameroon and in parts of Togo, Benin, Chad, and the Central African Republic and generally classified as a branch of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family. The group includes many languages that are spoken by small numbers of people and that have no written form; among these

Taree

2005-03-12T03:27:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, 10 miles (16 km) above the coastal mouth of the Manning River. Established in 1854 as a private town, it was proclaimed a municipality in 1885 and a city in 1981; it derives its name from the Aboriginal tareehin, or tarrebit, referring to a local wild fig. Situated on the Sydney-Brisbane rail line and the Pacific Highway, 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Newcastle,

Basel, Confession Of

2005-03-10T03:09:00.000-08:00

Moderate Protestant Reformation statement of Reformed doctrine composed of 12 articles. It was first drafted by John Oecolampadius, the Reformer of Basel, and was compiled in fuller form in 1532 by his successor at Basel, Oswald Myconius. In 1534 it was adopted by the Basel city authorities and two or three years later by the city of Muhlhausen in Alsace. It was used by the Church

Extenuating Circumstance

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

Many Anglo-American legal systems do not prescribe minimum punishments for all crimes. The judge is thus free to consider all the circumstances in setting the punishment up to a prescribed maximum. Some special circumstances

Bar-le-duc

2005-03-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

Capital of Meuse département, Lorraine région, northeastern France. It extends out along the narrow valley of the Ornain River, west of Nancy. To the northeast is the Canal de la Marne au Rhin, on the southwest the Canal des Usines. The Ornain River valley is enclosed by wooded and vine-clad hills. From the 10th century Bar was the seat of a countship, and later a duchy. The remains

Shah

2005-03-09T03:36:00.000-08:00

Old Persian Khshayathiya, title of the kings of Iran, or Persia. When compounded as shahanshah, it denotes “king of kings,” or emperor, a title adopted by the 20th-century Pahlavi dynasty in evocation of the ancient Persian “king of kings,” Cyrus II the Great (reigned 559–c. 529 BC). Another related title or form of address is padshah, or “lord king.” The title shah was also used in Afghanistan until the overturn of the monarchy

Peter, Gospel Of

2005-03-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Pseudepigraphal (noncanonical and unauthentic) Christian writing of the mid-2nd century AD, the extant portion of which covers the condemnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus. Because the work reflects the view that Christ's body had only the appearance of reality, Serapion, bishop of Antioch c. AD 190, believed it was written by a member of the heretical Docetist sect.

Earphone

2005-03-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

Small loudspeaker held or worn close to the listener's ear or within the outer ear. Common forms include the hand-held telephone receiver; the headphone (q.v.), in which one or two earphones are held in place by a band worn over the head; and the plug earphone, which is inserted in the outer opening of the ear. The conversion of electrical to acoustical signals is effected by

Zaccaria, Benedetto

2005-03-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

In 1264 Zaccaria was named Genoese ambassador to the Byzantine emperor, Michael VIII Paleologus, who bestowed on him and his brother Manuele the fief of Phocaea, north of Smyrna, with its alum mines. On this foundation the brothers built a commercial empire,

Pietro Da Cortona,

2005-03-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

Pietro studied in Rome from about 1612 under the minor Florentine painters Andrea Commodi and Baccio Ciarpi and was influenced by antique sculpture and the work of Raphael. The most important of his earliest paintings were three frescoes

Trail Of Tears

2005-03-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

A forced migration undertaken by the Cherokee (q.v.) Indians of the eastern United States in 1838–39.

Nitrite

2005-03-04T04:07:00.000-08:00

Any member of either of two classes of compounds derived from nitrous acid. Salts of nitrous acid are ionic compounds containing the nitrite ion, NO-2, and a positive ion such as Na+ in sodium nitrite (NaNO2). Esters of nitrous acid are covalent compounds having the structure R-O-N-O, in which R represents a carbon-containing combining group such as ethyl (C2H5) in ethyl nitrite.

Janet, Pierre(-marie-félix)

2005-03-03T13:36:00.000-08:00

Psychologist and neurologist influential in bringing about in France and the United States a connection between academic psychology and the clinical treatment of mental illnesses. He stressed psychological factors in hypnosis and contributed to the modern concept of mental and emotional disorders involving anxiety, phobias, and other

Mannar Island

2005-03-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

Dry, barren island that lies at the eastern end of Adam's Bridge, a chain of shoals off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Mannar Island has an area of about 50 square miles (130 square km). Fishing is economically important. The small port of Mannar is on the southeastern shore. Pop. (1990 est.) 132,000.

Ansonia

2005-03-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

City, coextensive with the town (township) of Ansonia, New Haven county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S., on the Naugatuck River. The area was a part of the township of Derby until it was incorporated as a separate township in 1889. Ansonia's separate identity had been established in 1843, when Anson Greene Phelps of New York City refused to pay an exorbitant price for land in the village

Extravaganza

2005-03-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

A literary or musical work marked by extreme freedom of style and structure and usually by elements of burlesque or parody, such as Samuel Butler's Hudibras. The term extravaganza may also refer to an elaborate and spectacular theatrical production. The term once specifically referred to a type of 19th-century English drama made popular by J.R. Planché, a British playwright

Bowling

2005-03-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

The world

Lanao, Lake

2005-02-28T02:45:00.000-08:00

Lake, west-central Mindanao, Philippines. It is situated just south of Marawi, northwest of the Butig Mountains. Lake Lanao is the second largest lake in the Philippines and has an area of 131 square miles (340 square km). Its outlet is the Agus River, which flows north, over Maria Cristina Falls, where there is a hydroelectric power plant, to Iligan Bay. There are numerous Muslim

Hay, Oliver Perry

2005-02-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

While serving as professor of biology and geology at Butler University, Indianapolis, Ind. (1879–92), he helped organize the Indiana Academy of Science (1890) and embarked on

Spoonerism

2005-02-27T08:56:00.000-08:00

Reversal of the initial letters or syllables of two or more words, such as “I have a half-warmed fish in my mind” (for “half-formed wish”) and “a blushing crow” (for “a crushing blow”). The word was derived from the name of William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), a distinguished Anglican clergyman and warden of New College, Oxford, a nervous man who committed many “spoonerisms.” Such transpositions

Arabian Religion, South Arabia

2005-02-27T00:58:00.000-08:00

The name of the Venus god 'Athtar corresponds to that of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar (Venus). Hawbas, a goddess, was his consort (but seems

Chemical Association

2005-02-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

The aggregation of atoms or molecules into larger units held together by forces weaker than chemical bonds that bind atoms in molecules. The term is usually restricted to the formation of aggregates of like molecules or atoms. Polymerization also denotes the formation of larger units by the union of like small units but usually with chemical bonds between the

China, Political history

2005-02-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

Ineptitude on the throne, bureaucratic factionalism at court, rivalries among Mongol generals, and ineffective supervision and coordination of provincial and local administration had gravely weakened the Yüan government by the 1340s. And in 1351 disastrous flooding of the Huang and Huai river basins aroused hundreds of thousands of long-oppressed Chinese peasants

Saarland

2005-02-24T14:15:00.000-08:00

Also called Saar, Land (state) in the southwestern portion of Germany. It is bounded by France on the south, Luxembourg on the west, and the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate on the north and east. It covers an area of 992 square miles (2,569 square km). The capital is Saarbrücken, which lies along the Saar River.

Staël, Germaine De

2005-02-24T04:13:00.000-08:00

In full Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, Baronne (baroness) de Staël-Holstein , byname Madame de Staël French-Swiss woman of letters, political propagandist, and conversationalist, who epitomized the European culture of her time, bridging the history of ideas from Neoclassicism to Romanticism. She also gained fame by maintaining a salon for leading intellectuals. Her writings include novels, plays, moral and political essays, literary

Burgess, Guy; And Maclean, Donald (duart)

2005-02-23T14:04:00.000-08:00

At the University of Cambridge in the 1930s Burgess and Maclean were part of a group of relatively privileged young men who shared a fashionable disdain for capitalist democracy. Recruited

Malacostracan, Excretion

2005-02-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

Malacostracans excrete waste fluids mainly through the ducts of the nephridial glands, which are present in the body segments of the second antennae and the maxillae. The ducts open on the basal segments of those head appendages. Antennal nephridial glands are present in the adult stages of eucaridans, mysidaceans, and amphipods and in the larval stages of stomatopods

Florida

2005-02-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

City, central Camagüey provincia, east-central Cuba. Lying just north of the Muñoz River, Florida is a rail junction and manufacturing centre for the surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands. The principal agricultural products of the area are sugarcane and oranges. Cattle also are raised. Large sugar refineries are located on the outskirts of Florida, which

Malacostracan, Excretion

2005-02-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

Former union of garment and apparel workers in the United States and Canada. It was formed in 1976 by the merger of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA), a large union representing workers in the men's clothing industry, with the Textile Workers Union of America, a smaller union founded in 1939. The ACWA was originally formed when militant elements within the United

Auray

2005-02-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

Breton Alre town, Morbihan département, Bretagne région, northwestern France, on the Auray Estuary. It is situated 7.5 miles (12 km) from the Atlantic, southwest of Rennes. Its château (demolished 1558) was a residence of the dukes of Brittany. Outside its walls in 1364 the War of the Breton Succession was ended by the victory of Jean de Montfort and his English allies over Montfort's cousin, Charles

Discoglossidae

2005-02-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

Discoglossid genera have been discovered from Jurassic deposits in Europe and represent some of the oldest frog fossils known. Included in the

Island

2005-02-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

Islands may be classified as either continental or oceanic. Oceanic islands are those that rise to the surface from the floors of the ocean basins. Continental islands are simply unsubmerged parts

Beak Style

2005-02-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Distinctive use of birdlike forms in human figures carved in wood in the lower Sepik and Ramu regions of Papua New Guinea. The head of the figure is generally placed on a short neck that connects it to a thick body, over which a long, beaklike nose often projects. Facial features have a thin, linear quality that emphasizes the downward thrust of the nose and contrasts

Soto

2005-02-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

The sect was founded in China in the 9th century by Liang-chieh and Pen-chi, where it was known as Ts'ao-tung (after its monastic centres on the mountains Ts'ao and Tung). It was transmitted to Japan by Dogen, who founded the Eihei Temple

O Canada

2005-02-17T07:51:00.000-08:00

The music, written by Calixa Lavallée (1842–91), a concert pianist and native of Verchères, Que., was commissioned in 1880 on the occasion of a visit to Quebec by Lord Lorne (later Duke of Argyll), then governor-general of Canada, and his wife, Queen Victoria's

Chelm

2005-02-15T22:06:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Chelm województwo (province), eastern Poland. The city is located on the Uherka River, a tributary of the Bug River, 15 miles (24 km) west of the Ukrainian border. It received town rights in 1233, passed to Poland in 1377, and fell to Austria (1795) and then to Russia (1815). During World War II, 90,000 people died in two German prisoner-of-war camps in the town. The Polish republic was proclaimed in

Sarasate, Pablo De

2005-02-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

Beginning his violin studies at the age of five, Sarasate gave his first performance at age eight and later studied at the Paris Conservatory. In 1859 he began the concert tours that made him famous throughout the world. His playing was particularly admired for sweetness and

Buchholz, Horst

2005-02-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

German film actor (b. Dec. 4, 1933, Berlin, Ger.—d. March 3, 2003, Berlin), enjoyed a lengthy career in several countries and was best known in the U.S. for his role in The Magnificent Seven (1960) and the Billy Wilder farce One, Two, Three (1961). The strikingly handsome Buchholz had his first screen role in Marianne de ma jeunesse (1954). He won a best young actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the 1955 film Himmel

Yerkes, Charles Tyson

2005-02-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

Yerkes started as a clerk at a Philadelphia commission broker, and by 1862 he was able to purchase his own banking house. In 1871 a stock exchange panic brought on by the Chicago fire found him unable to deliver money that he had received

Interior Monologue

2005-02-13T02:44:00.000-08:00

In dramatic and nondramatic fiction, narrative technique that exhibits the thoughts passing through the minds of the protagonists. These ideas may be either loosely related impressions approaching free association or more rationally structured sequences of thought and emotion. Interior monologues encompass several forms, including dramatized inner

Albertus Magnus, Saint

2005-02-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

English Saint Albert The Great , German Sankt Albert Der Grosse , byname Albert Of Cologne , or Of Lauingen , or Doctor Universalis (Latin: “Universal Doctor”) Dominican bishop and philosopher best known as a teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas and as a proponent of Aristotelianism at the University of Paris. He established the study of nature as a legitimate science within the Christian tradition. By papal decree in 1941, he was declared the

Aspergillus

2005-02-12T01:28:00.000-08:00

Genus of the Fungi Imperfecti (form-class Deuteromycetes). Those species for which the sexual phase is known are placed in the order Eurotiales. A. niger causes black mold of foodstuffs; A. flavus, A. niger, and A. fumigatus cause aspergillosis in humans. A. oryzae is used to ferment sake, and A. wentii to process soybeans. Three genera of the class Ascomycetes have

Kama-dhatu

2005-02-11T15:33:00.000-08:00

In Buddhism, the realm of feeling. See arupa-loka.

Gauguin, Paul

2005-02-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

In full Eugène-Henri-Paul Gauguin French painter, printmaker, and sculptor who sought to achieve a “primitive” expression of spiritual and emotional states in his work. The artist, whose work has been categorized as Post-Impressionist, Synthetist, and Symbolist, is particularly well known for his creative

Music, Western, The sonata and concerto

2005-02-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

The major new categories of instrumental music during the Baroque period were the sonata and the concerto. Originally applied to instrumental ensemble pieces derived from the canzona, the term sonata became the designation for a form that was to dominate instrumental music from the mid-18th until the 20th century. In its keyboard manifestation, it was a binary (two-part)

Adams, Léonie

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

After graduating from Barnard College (A.B., 1922), Adams became editor of The Measure, a literary publication, in 1924. She was persuaded to publish a volume of poetry, Those Not Elect, in 1925. While living in France from 1928 to

Tsukuba Science City

2005-02-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

Tsukuba Science City was developed in the 1970s and 1980s to stimulate scientific discovery.

Biblical Literature

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

The Old Testament is a collection of writings that was first compiled and preserved as the sacred books of the ancient Hebrew people. As the Bible of the

Saho

2005-02-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sao, Shaho, Shoho, or Shiho, also called Afar-saho, language spoken by several peoples, most of whom inhabit the coastal plains of southern Eritrea. Saho is generally classified as an Eastern Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family. The Saho-speaking peoples are bordered to the north by the Tigre, to the west by the Tigray, and to the south and east by the Afar, with whose language

China, Plant life

2005-02-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

Types of natural vegetation and their floristic composition are extremely diverse. The total number of seed plants in China is about 30,000 species, representing 2,700 genera; more than 200 of these genera are restricted to China. There are about 2,500 species of forest trees, and, among flowering plants, 95 percent of the known woody group are to be found. Many of them are trees of economic

Toadfish

2005-02-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

Any of about 45 species of bottom-living fishes constituting the family Batrachoididae and the order Batrachoidiformes. They are found chiefly in the New World and mostly in warm seas—occasionally in freshwater. Toadfishes are heavy-bodied fishes with broad, flattened heads and large mouths equipped with strong teeth. They grow to a maximum of about 40 cm (16 inches) and

Biblical Literature, The documentary hypothesis

2005-02-05T01:01:00.000-08:00

Beyond these obvious discrepancies, modern literary analysis and criticism of the texts has pointed up significant differences in style, vocabulary, and content, apparently indicating a variety of original sources for the first four books, as well as an independent origin for Deuteronomy. According to this view, the Tetrateuch is a redaction primarily of three

Boitano, Brian

2005-02-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

Boitano began skating at age eight. Shortly after that, he began taking skating lessons from Linda Leaver, who remained his only coach throughout his career. He quickly gained

Indian Philosophy, Principal texts and relation to Sabara

2005-02-04T04:27:00.000-08:00

Kumarila commented on Jaimini's sutraas well as on Sabara's bhasya. The Varttika (critical gloss) that he wrote was commented upon by Sucarita Misra in his Kasika (“The Shining”), by Somesvara Bhatta in his Nyayasudha (“The Nectar of Logic”), and Parthasarathi Misra in Nyayaratnakara (“The Abode of Jewels of Logic”). Parthasarathi's Sastradipika (“Light on the Scripture”) is a famous independent Mimamsa treatise

Hill, A.v.

2005-02-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

In full Archibald Vivian Hill British physiologist and biophysicist who received (with Otto Meyerhof) the 1922 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the production of heat in muscles. His research helped establish the origin of muscular force in the breakdown of carbohydrates with formation of lactic acid in the

Nabu-rimanni

2005-02-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Naburianos, Naburiannuos, Naburiannu, or Naburimannu the earliest Babylonian astronomer known by name, who devised the so-called System A, a group of ephemerides, or tables, giving the positions of the Moon, Sun, and planets at any given moment. Based on centuries of observation, these tables were nonetheless somewhat crude and were superseded about a century later by Kidinnu's System B, a refined mathematical

Solar Constant

2005-02-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

The total radiation energy received from the Sun per unit of time per unit of area on a theoretical surface perpendicular to the Sun's rays and at the Earth's mean distance from the Sun. Measurements at the Earth's surface must be corrected for atmospheric effects and seasonal changes in distance from the Sun. The value of the constant is approximately 2 calories per

Cardiovascular System, Conducting system of the heart

2005-02-01T01:24:00.000-08:00

Both the atrioventricular node, with an intrinsic beat of 40–60 beats per minute, and the Purkinje fibres, with an intrinsic beat of 15–40 beats per minute, are self-stimulating and capable of rhythmic contraction, but at a rate slower than that of the sinoatrial node, which possesses an intrinsic capacity to beat 72 times per minute. Therefore, since recovery time is faster in the

Salta

2005-01-31T17:31:00.000-08:00

Provincia, northwestern Argentina, with an area of 59,759 square miles (154,775 square km). It is bounded on the southwest by Chile, on the north by Bolivia, and on the northeast by Paraguay. In the southwestern part of the province, high Andean cordilleras, separated by broad 11,500-foot- (3,500-metre-) high salt flats (the Atacama Plateau), descend from the Andean Cordillera Oriental through quebradas

Rabbula

2005-01-30T06:17:00.000-08:00

Reforming bishop of Edessa and theologian who was a leading figure in the Christian church in Syria. He advocated the orthodox Alexandrian (Egypt) position in the 5th-century controversy with the Antiochian (Syria) school of Nestorianism, a heretical teaching that denied that the person of Christ possessed both a divine and

Taraki, Nur Mohammad

2005-01-29T03:12:00.000-08:00

Born into a rural Pashtun family, Taraki attended night school while working as a clerk in Bombay, India, where he learned English. In the late 1940s he worked in the press department of the Afghan government and in 1953 was appointed attaché at the

Azuchi-momoyama Period

2005-01-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

Also called Momoyama Period (1574–1600), in Japanese history, age of political unification under the daimyo Oda Nobunaga and his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who finally brought all provinces under the control of the central government. In contrast to the restraint of the preceding Muromachi, or Ashikaga, period (1338–1573), it was an age of magnificence and ostentation. The building of great castles and mansions

Eastern Orthodoxy, Modern theological developments

2005-01-28T19:45:00.000-08:00

Until the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), Byzantium was the unquestioned intellectual centre of the Orthodox Church. Far from being monolithic, Byzantine theological thought was often polarized by a Humanistic trend, favouring the use of Greek philosophy in theological thinking, and the more austere and mystical theology of the monastic circles. The

Ashe, Arthur (robert)

2005-01-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

Ashe began to play tennis at the age of seven in a neighbourhood park. He was coached by Walter Johnson of Lynchburg, Va., who had coached tennis champion Althea Gibson. Ashe moved to St. Louis, Mo., where he was coached by Richard Hudlin, before he entered

Obstfelder, Sigbjørn

2005-01-27T01:53:00.000-08:00

Most of Obstfelder's works appeared in the 1890s: his first volume of poetry, Digte (1893; Poems); a play, De røde draaber (1897; “The Red Drops”); several novellas; and the posthumously published

Tannenberg, Battle Of

2005-01-26T22:29:00.000-08:00

Polish and Lithuanian forces proceeding toward

Chiang Rai

2005-01-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

Chiang Rai lies at an elevation of 1,150 feet (350 m) in the basin of the Kok River, near the Khun Tan Range. It has an airport with scheduled flights, and road connections lead south to Lampang and north to Myanmar (Burma) and the Laotian border. It is a trading centre dealing in teak, coffee, and rice. The town was once the walled capital city of an independent principality.

Alcazar

2005-01-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

Spanish alcázar any of a class of fortified structures built in the 14th and 15th centuries in Spain. (The term is derived from the Arabic word al-qasr, meaning “castle,” or “fortress.”) As the Spanish efforts to drive out the Moors became more strenuous, the dual need for fortification and an imposing edifice became increasingly apparent. In form, an alcazar is generally rectangular with

Allied Powers

2005-01-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

The major Allied Powers in World War I were the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire, formally linked by the Treaty of London of Sept. 5, 1914; other nations that had been, or came to be, allied by treaty

Floriano

2005-01-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

City, west central Piauí state, northeastern Brazil, on the Rio Parnaíba, at 280 ft (85 m) above sea level. Floriano was elevated to city status in 1897. It is a trade centre with livestock raising and the extraction of carnauba wax as the principal economic activities. Chemicals and textiles are also produced there. Floriano is bridged to Barão de Grajaú, just across the river in

Mercury Lamp

2005-01-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

Electric discharge lamp (q.v.) in which light is emitted by electrically excited atoms of vapourized mercury.

Berenice I

2005-01-22T17:04:00.000-08:00

Berenice arrived in Egypt in the retinue of Eurydice, Ptolemy's second queen, whom he married as part of a political agreement with her father, Antipater of Macedonia. About 317 Ptolemy married Berenice. Probably because she was not of royal blood, a genealogy was fabricated

Heidenstam, Verner Von

2005-01-22T15:31:00.000-08:00

Ill health forced Heidenstam to spend most of his youth in the central and eastern Mediterranean countries. His first