AngryTray

Melville Island

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

Island in the Timor Sea, 16 miles (26 km) off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. It is separated from the Australian mainland by Clarence Strait. Measuring about 80 by 55 miles (130 by 88 km), it has an area of 2,240 square miles (5,800 square km) and rises from sandy beaches and shoreline mangrove swamps to low wooded hills. It is divided from Bathurst Island (west) by the narrow Apsley

Loxonema

2005-04-04T01:44:00.000-07:00

Genus of extinct gastropods (snails) found as fossils in rocks of Ordovician to Early Carboniferous age (505 to 320 million years ago). Loxonema has a distinctive high-spired, slender shell with fine axial ornamentational lines. A distinct lip is present at the base of the aperture of the main whorl.

Insectivore, Habitats

2005-04-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

Insectivores utilize diverse habitats. Shrews occupy the ground surface in forests and grasslands but are less common in deserts, although Notiosorex and Diplomesodon occupy New and Old World deserts, respectively. Moles are largely confined to North Temperate Zone forests and meadows, especially in areas of deciduous forests and adjacent prairies. Hedgehogs

Music, Western, Monophonic secular song

2005-04-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

Secular music undoubtedly flourished during the early Middle Ages, but, aside from sporadic references, the earliest accounts of such music in the Western world described the music of the goliards; these people were itinerant minor clerics and students who, from the 7th century on, roamed the land singing and playing topical songs dealing with love, war, famine, and

Scandinavian Literature, The literary Renaissance in Denmark

2005-04-01T10:04:00.000-08:00

The literary Renaissance reached Denmark in the 1600s, giving rise to a strict adherence to classical patterns and blind belief in authority in political, religious, and literary matters. In religious literature Latin dogmatics and pamphlets reflecting the superstitions of the century were dominant. It was, however, a great era of scholarship. Ole Worm is famous for

Black Knot

2005-03-31T20:30:00.000-08:00

Disease of wild and cultivated plums, cherries, and apricots in North America caused by the fungus Dibotryon morbosum. Infected twigs, branches, and fruit show light brown swellings that turn velvety olive-green in late spring. By autumn, hard, rough, coal-black knots girdle and kill affected parts. Older knots, often riddled by insects, stunt and kill the tree. Black knot

Indigirka River

2005-03-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

River, Sakha republic (Yakutia), far eastern Russia. It is one of the major rivers of northeastern Siberia. The Indigirka rises in the Verkhoyansk Mountains and flows 1,072 miles (1,726 km) north through the Chersky Range into the broad Indigirka lowland, most of which is in tundra vegetation, to enter the East Siberian Sea through an extensive delta. Its two main tributaries are

Rach Gia

2005-03-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

Port city, northern Ca Mau Peninsula, southern Vietnam. It lies at the head of Rach Gia Bay on the Gulf of Thailand, at the north bank of the Cai Lon estuary, 120 miles (195 km) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Formerly Cambodian territory, in 1715 the flat, forest-covered swamp was placed under the protection of the Nguyen lords of Hue; its Cambodian name is Kramuon-Sa. It became

More, Sir Thomas

2005-03-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

Also called Saint Thomas More humanist and statesman, chancellor of England (1529–32), who was beheaded for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. He is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic church.

Aesthetics, Symbolism in art

2005-03-28T04:39:00.000-08:00

Later philosophers have been content merely to distinguish representation and expression as different modes of artistic meaning, characterized perhaps by different formal or semantic properties. Nelson Goodman of the United States is one such philosopher. His Languages of Art (1968) was the first work of analytical philosophy to produce a distinct and systematic

Mauritshuis

2005-03-27T18:25:00.000-08:00

In full Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen (Mauritshuis), (Dutch: Royal Gallery of Paintings [Mauritshuis]) picture gallery in The Hague housed in a palace (1633–44) designed by Jacob van Campen and built by Pieter Post for Prince John Maurice of Nassau. The collection, opened to the public in 1820, is especially noted for its Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 15th to the 17th century.

Crocodile

2005-03-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

The

Arfvedsonite

2005-03-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

Amphibole mineral, an iron-rich sodium silicate. Lithium and magnesium replace iron in the structure to form eckermannite. Both minerals characteristically occur as dark-green crystals in alkali igneous rocks and their associated pegmatites. For chemical formula and detailed physical properties, see amphibole (table).

Hawthorne Research

2005-03-25T05:34:00.000-08:00

Also called Hawthorne effect socioeconomic experiments conducted by Elton Mayo in 1927 among employees of the Hawthorne Works factory of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. For almost a year, a group of female workers were subjected to measured changes in their hours, wages, rest periods, lighting conditions, organization, and degree of supervision and consultation in order to determine

Anthropological Linguistics

2005-03-25T02:32:00.000-08:00

Study of the relationship between language and culture; it usually refers to work on languages that have no written records. In the United States a close relationship between anthropology and linguistics developed as a result of research by anthropologists into the American Indian cultures and languages. Early students in this field discovered what they felt

Sorghum

2005-03-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Cereal grain plant of the family Gramineae (Poaceae), probably originating in Africa, and its edible starchy seeds. All types raised chiefly for grain belong to the species Sorghum vulgare, which includes varieties of grain sorghums and grass sorghums, grown for hay and fodder, and broomcorn, used in making brooms and brushes. Grain sorghums include durra, milo, shallu,

Argon

2005-03-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

(Ar), chemical element, inert gas of Group 0 (noble gases) of the periodic table, terrestrially the most abundant and industrially the most frequently used of the noble gases. Colourless, odourless, and tasteless, argon gas was isolated (1894) from air by the British scientists Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay. Henry Cavendish, while investigating atmospheric nitrogen (“phlogisticated

Philadelphia

2005-03-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1833) of Neshoba county, east-central Mississippi, U.S., and headquarters of the Choctaw Indian Agency, 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Jackson. It was settled on an old Native American site, Aloon Looanshaw, following the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1830) and named for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The agency was established in 1918, and the majority of the state's several thousand

Nuclear Weapon, The Axis powers

2005-03-22T02:39:00.000-08:00

By the time the war began on Sept. 1, 1939, Germany had a special office for the military application of nuclear fission; chain-reaction experiments with uranium and carbon were being planned, and ways of separating the uranium isotopes were under study. Some measurements on carbon, later shown to be in error, led the physicist Werner Heisenberg to recommend that heavy water

Abramov, Fyodor

2005-03-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

Of peasant ancestry, Abramov studied at Leningrad State University, interrupting his schooling to serve as a soldier

Zanzibar Treaty

2005-03-21T01:22:00.000-08:00

The

Gobabis

2005-03-20T04:16:00.000-08:00

Town, eastern Namibia. It lies on the edge of the Kalahari (Desert) on the intermittent Black Nossob River at an elevation of 4,740 feet (1,445 m). It is a rail terminus and cattle-marketing centre. Tribal reserves (homelands) for the Herero are situated north and southeast of Gobabis. Pop. (1988 est.) 6,500.

Gia Long

2005-03-19T04:27:00.000-08:00

Nguyen Anh—the nephew of Hue Vuong, the legitimate heir to the throne, who died in prison during a civil war in 1766—became a great general. He was aided in winning his kingdom by French mercenaries and other Western soldiers of fortune, whose assistance

Tu Duc

2005-03-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

The son of Emperor Thieu Tri, Prince Nguyen Phuoc Hoang Nham was chosen over his older brother to succeed his father. He ascended the throne in 1847, taking the reigning name Tu

Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon

2005-03-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

In his doctoral thesis at the University of Leiden (1875), Lorentz refined the electromagnetic theory of James

Regiment

2005-03-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

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,

Cheddar

2005-03-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

Village (“parish”), Sedgemoor district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England, at the mouth of a spectacular limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills. The gorge (now owned by the National Trust) and caverns, in which human remains and artifacts dating back to the Stone Age have been found, attract many tourists. Cheddar cheese was first made there at or before

Space

2005-03-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

Space is treated in a number of articles. For a philosophical consideration of the subject, see metaphysics. For a discussion of the relativity of space and time, see relativity. For a description of space as the region of the universe beyond the Earth

Insurance

2005-03-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

International insurance is surveyed in Paul P. Rogers, Bruno Schönfelder, and Ehrenfried Schütte, Insurance in Socialist East Europe (1988); Bernard Wasow and Raymond D. Hill (eds.), The Insurance Industry in Economic Development (1986); Robert M. Crowe (ed.), Insurance in the World's Economies (1982); Michael E. Hogue and Douglas G. Olson (eds.), World Insurance Outlook (1982); Wenlee Ting, Multinational Risk Assessment and Management: Strategies for Investment and Marketing Decisions (1988); Werner Pfenningstorf and Donald G. Gifford, A Comparative Study of Liability Law and Compensation Schemes in Ten Countries and the United States (1991); and Norman A. Baglini, Global Risk Management: How U.S. International Corporations Manage Foreign Risks (1983).

Talbiyah

2005-03-17T04:55:00.000-08:00

In Islam, the formulaic pronouncement labbaykah allahummah labbaykah (“at your service, O Lord, at your service”), recited especially during a pilgrimage when pious Muslims perform the tawaf—i.e., walk around the sacred shrine of the Ka'bah. The question whether the talbiyah is obligatory or merely a commendable tradition has been much discussed, but Muslim theologians have

Bothriolepis

2005-03-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Bothryolepis, genus of extinct fishes of the order Antiarcha, class Placodermi, characteristic of the Middle and Late Devonian (from about 387 million to 360 million years ago). The front end of Bothriolepis was very heavily encased in bony armour. The eyes were located on top of the head shield and situated very close to the light-receptive pineal eye. The shield was separated into two parts,

Fra Mauro

2005-03-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

Crater on the Moon that appears to be heavily eroded, named for a 15th-century Italian monk and mapmaker. The site of the third manned lunar landing, the Apollo 14 mission in February 1971, is several miles north of the crater. About 80 km (50 miles) in diameter, Fra Mauro lies in Mare Nubium (the Sea of Clouds) at about 6° south latitude, 17° west longitude.

Mckeesport

2005-03-14T05:38:00.000-08:00

City, Allegheny county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It is situated at the junction of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, 14 miles (23 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. First settled about 1769 by David McKee, a ferry operator, the town was laid out in 1795 by his son John. In 1794 it was a centre of dissident activity during the Whiskey Rebellion (an insurrection against an excise tax on

Nagy, Ivan

2005-03-14T02:09:00.000-08:00

Nagy trained as a youth with his mother and first performed with the Budapest State Opera Ballet. Frederic Franklin, then the director of the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., saw Nagy when he won a silver medal at the International Ballet Competition at Varna in 1965. Impressed, Franklin

Eliot, Jared

2005-03-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

Eliot, the grandson of John Eliot, noted New England missionary, was graduated from the Collegiate School of Connecticut (Yale College) in 1706. He taught for two years and then received a call as pastor of the Congregational Church in Killingworth (Clinton), Conn. He served

Lindsay

2005-03-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

Town, seat (1861) of Victoria county, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies along the Scugog River, 21 miles (34 km) west-northwest of Peterborough. Laid out in 1825 as Purdy's Mills (after William Purdy, who built the first mills), it was renamed for one of the original land surveyors. The town's growth has been due partly to the Trent Canal (1833) and the improvement of the waterway between Sturgeon

Cane Furniture

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

Furniture in which a mesh of split canes is stretched over parts of the framework, principally on the backs and seats of chairs. It was made in India as early as the 2nd century AD and was also known in China. Cane was imported into Europe by the East India Company, and cane furniture became fashionable in England and the Netherlands toward the end of the 17th century. It is particularly

Radiation Therapy

2005-03-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Radiotherapy, or Therapeutic Radiology, use of radiation sources in the treatment or relief of diseases. Radiation therapy almost always makes use of ionizing radiation, deep tissue-penetrating rays, which can physically and chemically react with diseased cells to destroy them. The other forms of radiation, infrared and ultraviolet, can be employed in heat lamps for neuritis and arthritis conditions

Aerospace Industry, Product development and testing

2005-03-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

Initiation of the product development process differs between the military and commercial sectors. In the United States the defense services normally provide detailed mission specifications for desired products, against which contractors submit proposals as part of a competitive process. Proposals are reviewed, and one or more development contractors

Sculpture

2005-03-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

A form of aesthetic expression in which hard or plastic materials are worked (as by carving, molding, or welding) into three-dimensional art objects. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments ranging from tableaux to contexts that envelop the spectator. An enormous variety of media may be used, including clay, wax,

Arzner, Dorothy

2005-03-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

Arzner was reared in Los Angeles, where her family owned a Hollywood

Vairagin

2005-03-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

Most vairagins, when not wandering or on pilgrimage,

Wessel, Horst

2005-03-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

A student and low-life bohemian, Wessel joined the Nazi Party in 1926 and became a member of the SA (Storm Troopers). In 1930 political enemies, possibly Communists, killed him in a brawl in his room in the Berlin slums. Nazi propagandists,

Intelligence

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

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

National Association Of Congregational Christian Churches

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

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.

Beyer, Jinny

2005-03-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

Beyer received a B.A. in speech and French from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, and an

Perceval, Spencer

2005-03-07T19:59:00.000-08:00

The second son of the 2nd Earl of Egmont, Perceval was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1786 and became a king's counsel in 1796. In that same year he entered Parliament, where his rise to power was facilitated through

Amphibole, Igneous rocks

2005-03-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

Calcic amphiboles are characteristically contained in igneous rocks. Igneous amphiboles are intermediate in composition between tremolite, tschermakite, edenite, and pargasite end-members. Typically, these amphiboles of intermediate composition are called hornblende. Hornblende occurs in various plutonic igneous rocks, including diorites, quartz diorites,

Devils Postpile National Monument

2005-03-07T00:58:00.000-08:00

The monument's most notable feature is the Devils Postpile

Indonesia, Justice

2005-03-05T02:44:00.000-08:00

There are four judicial spheres (for general, religious, military, and administrative

Wandsworth

2005-03-05T02:08:00.000-08:00

Inner borough of London, lying west of Lambeth and stretching for 5 miles (8 km) along the south bank of the River Thames. Wandsworth was established in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan borough of Battersea with approximately two-thirds of what then constituted Wandsworth (the remainder of which went to Lambeth). The present borough includes such districts as (roughly

Libya

2005-03-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Libya's international relations in 1997 were again dominated by the decade-long

Wells, Carolyn

2005-03-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Wells supplemented her formal education with an early-formed habit of voracious reading. After completing her schooling she worked as a librarian for the Rahway Library Association for some years. Her love of puzzles

Absolution

2005-03-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

In the Christian religion, a pronouncement of remission (forgiveness) of sins to the penitent. In Roman Catholicism, penance is a sacrament and the power to absolve lies with the priest, who can grant release from the guilt of sin to the sinner who is truly contrite, confesses his sin, and promises to perform satisfaction to God. In the New Testament the grace of forgiveness

Antibiotic

2005-03-03T05:33:00.000-08:00

Although antibiotics are released naturally into the soil by bacteria and fungi, they did not come into worldwide prominence until the introduction of penicillin in 1941. Since then they have revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections

Bahraich

2005-03-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

City, east-central Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, located on a tributary of the Ghaghara River and on a rail line between Lucknow and Nepalganj, Nepal. Bahraich is a centre of trade (agricultural products and timber) with Nepal; there is also some sugar processing. The tomb of Sayyid Salar Mas'ud, an Afghan warrior-saint who died there in 1033, is visited by Muslim and Hindu pilgrims.

Jacobs, Joseph

2005-03-02T01:13:00.000-08:00

After attending primary school Sydney, Jacobs

Hesychasm

2005-03-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

In Eastern Christianity, type of monastic life in which practitioners seek divine quietness (Greek hesychia) through the contemplation of God in uninterrupted prayer. Such prayer, involving the entire human being—soul, mind, and body—is often called “pure,” or “intellectual,” prayer or the Jesus prayer. St. John Climacus, one of the greatest writers of the Hesychast tradition,

Valdepeñas

2005-02-28T22:14:00.000-08:00

City, Ciudad Real province, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, south central Spain. The city lies on the left bank of the Río Jabalón, southeast of the city of Ciudad Real. Situated in a fertile area of La Mancha plain, it is the centre of a grape-growing district, the wines of which are among the most popular in Spain. Related industries are vinegar making,

Cabot, George

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

After studying at Harvard, Cabot went to sea. He became a shipowner and successful merchant, retiring from business in 1794. Cabot was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (1779–80), of the state Senate (1783), and of the Massachusetts convention that ratified the Federal

Böhmer, Johann Friedrich

2005-02-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

After studying at the universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg, Böhmer journeyed to Italy, where he became interested in art history. Upon his return to Frankfurt (1822), he became an assistant librarian

Shamanism, The universe

2005-02-26T08:15:00.000-08:00

The classic worldview of shamanism is found among the peoples of northern Asia. In their view the universe is full of heavenly bodies peopled by spiritual beings. Their own world is disk-shaped—saucerlike—with an opening in the middle leading into the Netherworld; the Upper World stands over the Central World, or Earth, this world having a manyfold vault. The Earth,

Abreu, Capistrano De

2005-02-26T05:10:00.000-08:00

After serving at the National Library of Rio de Janeiro (1875–83), Abreu became professor of history at the Colégio Dom Pedro II in 1883. Influenced by the sociology of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer and the historical enterprises of Henry

Roving

2005-02-26T01:57:00.000-08:00

In archery, form of practice or competition dating from at least the 16th century, when it was practiced by the Honourable Artillery Company at Finsbury Fields near London. Archers set up many marks on the field and shot from one to the next in sequence, the object being, as in golf, to use the fewest shots in completing the course. Roving is similar to modern field archery,

Nitisol

2005-02-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Occupying 1.6 percent of the total land surface on Earth, Nitisols are found mainly in eastern Africa at higher altitudes, coastal India, Central America, and tropical islands (Cuba, Java, and the Philippines). They are perhaps the most inherently fertile of the tropical soils

Cylinder Machine

2005-02-25T00:27:00.000-08:00

Device for producing paper, paperboard, and other fibreboards, invented in 1809 by John Dickinson. It consists of one or more tubes of wire screen partially immersed and rotated in a vat containing a mixture of pulp and water; the screen picks up a film from which the water drains, leaving a wet sheet that is transferred from the cylinder onto a felt in a continuous web. Cylinders

D.b.e.

2005-02-24T23:36:00.000-08:00

Dame commander of the British Empire, member of the second highest class of a British order of knighthood. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.

Ptolemy Xii Auletes

2005-02-24T13:37:00.000-08:00

Following the sudden, violent deaths of the last two fully legitimate members of the Ptolemaic family in Egypt, the people of Alexandria in 80 invited Ptolemy

Wu, Chien-shiung

2005-02-23T09:15:00.000-08:00

Wu graduated from the National Central University in Nanking, China, in 1936 and then traveled to the United States to pursue graduate studies in physics

Faraday's Laws Of Electrolysis

2005-02-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, quantitative laws used to express magnitudes of electrolytic effects, first described by the English scientist Michael Faraday in 1833. The laws state that (1) the amount of chemical change produced by current at an electrode-electrolyte boundary is proportional to the quantity of electricity used, and (2) the amounts of chemical changes produced by the same

Barari Ghat, Battle Of

2005-02-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

(Jan. 9, 1760), in Indian history, one of a series of Afghan victories over the Marathas in their war to gain control of the decaying Mughal Empire, which gave the British time in which to consolidate their power in Bengal. At the Barari Ghat (Ferry Station) of the Jumna (now Yamuna) River, 10 miles (16 km) north of Delhi, the Maratha chief Dattaji Sindhia, retreating from the Punjab before the Afghan

Forbes, James David

2005-02-22T01:07:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Edinburgh, Forbes became a professor there in 1833. Between 1836 and 1844 he published four series of “Researches on Heat” in which he described the polarization (alignment of waves to vibrate in a plane) of radiant infrared heat by the mineral

Niccolò Dell'arca

2005-02-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Niccolo Da Bari early Renaissance Italian sculptor famed for his expressionistic use of northern Gothic realism in combination with true compositional principles of Renaissance art. Niccolò takes his name from the tomb (arca in Italian) of St. Dominic in the church of S. Domenico, Bologna, where he made the canopy and most of the freestanding figures (1469–94). His masterpiece is the passionately

Annealing

2005-02-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

Treatment of a metal or alloy by heating to a predetermined temperature, holding for a certain time, and then cooling to room temperature to improve ductility and reduce brittleness. Process annealing is carried out intermittently during the working of a piece of metal to restore ductility lost through repeated hammering or other working. Full annealing is done

Switzerland, Economic development

2005-02-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

A major period of economic growth began after 1815. There was a general improvement in agriculture, and tourism, especially from England, began to develop. But the industrial sector of the economy made the most significant gains. The exclusion of the English from European markets by the continental blockade, while initially detrimental to the textile industry, forced

Subarkose

2005-02-20T11:01:00.000-08:00

Variety of sandstone in which 5–25 percent of the sand grains are composed of feldspar. See arkose.

Cimon Of Cleonae

2005-02-19T23:34:00.000-08:00

Although Cimon has been dated to the 8th century BC, the fact would seem

Amis, Sir Kingsley

2005-02-19T11:16:00.000-08:00

Amis was educated at the City of London School and at St. John's College, Oxford (B.A., 1949). His education was interrupted during World War II by his service as a lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals.

Smith, Adam

2005-02-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

After two centuries, Adam Smith remains a towering figure in the history of economic thought. Known primarily for a single work, An Inquiry into the nature and causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), the first comprehensive system of political economy, Smith is more properly

Agassiz, Elizabeth Cabot

2005-02-18T04:35:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Cary was related to many of Boston's leading families. She received no formal schooling but acquired a somewhat haphazard education at home. In April 1850 she married the distinguished and recently

Andes Mountains, Physiography of the Central Andes

2005-02-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

The Central Andes begin at latitude 35° S, at a point where the cordillera undergoes a sharp change of character. Its width increases to about 50 miles, and it becomes arid and higher; the passes, too, are higher and more difficult to cross. Glaciers are rare and found only at high elevations. There is virtually no vegetation, lakes having disappeared north of 39° S and forests north

Wesak

2005-02-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Vesak, Sanskrit Vaishakha, Pali Vesakha most important of the Theravada Buddhist festivals, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha. The event is observed on the full-moon day of the lunar month Vesakha, which falls in April or May. The day is observed as a public holiday in many Southeast Asian countries. It is marked by special devotional services and various deeds intended to be

Jacobean Age

2005-02-17T04:35:00.000-08:00

In architecture the Jacobean age is characterized

Babak

2005-02-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Iranian Papak leader of the Iranian Khorram-dinan, a religious sect that arose following the execution of Abu Muslim, who had rebelled against the 'Abbasid caliphate. Denying that Abu Muslim was dead, the sect predicted that he would return to spread justice throughout the world. Babak led a new revolt against the 'Abbasids that was put down in 837.

Minahasan

2005-02-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

People inhabiting the northernmost extension of the island of Celebes, Indonesia, in and around the port town of Manado. Of Proto-Malay stock, the Minahasan, formerly headed by chiefs, are now organized patrilineally under headmen, and land is owned communally by each village. Extended families are bound to undivided estates that are apportioned according to the

'abbas I

2005-02-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

The third son of Soltan Mohammad Shah, 'Abbas came to the throne in October 1588, at a critical moment in the fortunes of the Safavid dynasty. The weak rule of his semiblind father had allowed usurpation by the amirs, or chiefs, of the Turkmen tribes, who had brought the Safavid to power and still constituted the backbone of Safavid military strength. Moreover, the intertribal factionalism

Miracle, Sacred places

2005-02-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

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

Leningrad Affair

2005-02-14T03:45:00.000-08:00

(1948–50), in the history of the Soviet Union, a sudden and sweeping purge of Communist Party and government officials in Leningrad and the surrounding region. The purge occurred several months after the sudden death of Andrey A. Zhdanov (Aug. 31, 1948), who had been the Leningrad party boss as well as one of Joseph Stalin's most powerful lieutenants in the postwar period. The purge, which

Coleroon River

2005-02-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

River in Tiruchchirappalli and Thanjavur districts, Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, formed by the northern bifurcation of the Cauvery River at Srirangam. The river flows between South Arcot and Thanjavur districts for 36 mi (58 km) and empties through several mouths into the Bay of Bengal, 3 mi south of Porto Novo. The Coleroon is part of the Cauvery Delta, the most fertile and

Béjart, Maurice

2005-02-12T22:56:00.000-08:00

After studies in Paris, Béjart toured with the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (1947–49), the International Ballet (1949–50), and the Royal Swedish Ballet (1951–52). In 1954 he founded Les Ballets

Baratieri, Oreste

2005-02-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Baratieri had been a volunteer for Giuseppe Garibaldi, the popular hero of Italian unification, serving

Shiloh, Battle Of

2005-02-12T01:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Battle of Pittsburg Landing (April 6–7, 1862), second great engagement of the American Civil War, fought in southwestern Tennessee, resulting in a victory for the North and in large casualties for both sides. In February, Union General Ulysses S. Grant had taken Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland. The Confederates had acknowledged the importance of these forts by abandoning

Computers, COBOL

2005-02-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

Amnesia

2005-02-11T02:27:00.000-08:00

The condition also may be traced to severe

Kogaku

2005-02-10T07:14:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: “Ancient Learning”), one of three schools of Neo-Confucian studies that developed in Japan during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). See Neo-Confucianism.

Alewife

2005-02-10T05:33:00.000-08:00

Also called Sawbelly, Grayback, Gaspereau, or Branch Herring (Pomolobus, or Alosa, pseudoharengus), important North American food fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. Deeper-bodied than the true herring, the alewife has a pronounced saw-edge on the underside; it grows to about 30 cm (1 foot). Except for members of a few lake populations, it spends several years along the Atlantic coast of North America before

Welland, River

2005-02-09T16:38:00.000-08:00

River in the eastern Midlands, England. The Welland River rises in the county of Leicestershire and flows eastward past Market Harborough and Stamford for about 70 miles (110 km) into Lincolnshire to enter the southwestern corner of the shallow North Sea inlet called The Wash. From Market Deeping past Spalding its course across the drained Fens has been embanked. It was

Arabia, Plant life

2005-02-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

The date palm grows almost everywhere, except at very high elevations and in Dhofar, on the coast of which it is replaced by the coconut palm. The date is a source of food, and uses are found for the trunk, branches, and fibre of the date palm. Among places noted for high-quality date-palm production are Medina, Bishah, and Al-Hasa. Alfalfa (lucerne), widely used as fodder, often fills

Computers, Colossus

2005-02-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

The exigencies of war gave impetus and funding to computer research. For example, in Britain, the impetus was code-breaking. The Ultra project was funded with much secrecy to develop the technology necessary to crack ciphers and codes produced by the German electromechanical devices known as the Enigma and the Geheimscheiber (“Secret Writer”). The first code-breaking

Hyatt, Anna Vaughn

2005-02-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

Anna Hyatt was the daughter of noted Harvard paleontologist Alpheus Hyatt. She was educated privately and began her study of sculpture with Henry H. Kitson in Boston. She later attended the Art Students