SoftBook

Waimea

2005-03-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

Town, Kauai county, on Waimea Bay, southwestern Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S. It lies at the mouth of the Waimea River. The canyon valleys of the Waimea (Hawaiian: “Reddish Water”) River and its tributary, the Makaweli River, were once heavily populated, and the town was an early centre of native government. It was there that Captain James Cook, the English navigator-explorer, made

Graham, Billy

2005-03-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

The son of a prosperous dairy farmer, Graham attended rural public schools. He professed his “decision for Christ” at a revival meeting at the age of 16 and subsequently attended Bob Jones

Native American, Population and languages

2005-03-15T19:13:00.000-08:00

Estimates of the aboriginal population are based on information supplied by explorers, traders, missionaries, and other early reporters and are only as good as the reporters' observations were trustworthy. A more serious impediment to an accurate count is that some tribes, by the time they were encountered by the reporting traveler, had already been depopulated

Lowell, Francis Cabot

2005-03-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

While visiting the British Isles (1810–12) Lowell closely studied the textile industries

Florida

2005-03-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

The geographic location of Florida has been the key factor in a long and colourful development, and it helps explain the striking contemporary character of the state. The

Ammann, Othmar Herman

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

In 1904 Ammann immigrated to the United States, where he helped design railroad bridges. Joining the Pennsylvania Steel Company the following

Charles, Ray

2005-03-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

When Charles was an infant his family moved to Greenville, Florida, and he

Fuad Pasa, Mehmed

2005-03-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

The son of a well-known Turkish poet, Fuad Pasa was trained in medicine, but his knowledge of French allowed him to enter the diplomatic service, where he

Anthomyiid Fly

2005-03-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

A common insect of the family Anthomyiidae (order Diptera) resembling the housefly in appearance. The lesser housefly (Fannia canicularis) and the latrine fly (F. scalaris) are important anthomyiid flies. They breed in filth, can carry diseases, and are often found in the home. Some larvae feed on plants and are serious pests, many are scavengers and live in excrement and

Fruit Farming

2005-03-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

The subject of fruit and nut production deals with intensive culture of perennial plants, the fruits of which have economic significance (a nut is a fruit, botanically). It is one part of the broad subject of horticulture, which also encompasses vegetable growing and production of ornamentals

Adams, Samuel Hopkins

2005-02-27T17:40:00.000-08:00

One of the so-called muckrakers of the period, Adams

T'ien-t'ai

2005-02-25T03:42:00.000-08:00

The chief scripture of the school is the Lotus Sutra (Chinese: Fa-hua Ching; Sanskrit: Saddharmapu

Scheer, Reinhard

2005-02-23T00:10:00.000-08:00

Scheer entered the German navy in 1879 and by 1907 had become the captain of a battleship. He became chief of staff of the High Seas Fleet under Henning von Holtzendorff in 1910 and commander of a battle squadron in 1913. After the outbreak of World War I, he

Smith, George

2005-02-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

English Assyriologist who advanced knowledge of the earliest (Sumerian) period of Mesopotamian civilization with his discovery of one of the most important literary works in Akkadian, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Moreover, its description of a flood, strikingly similar to the account in Genesis, had a stunning effect on Smith's

Moschus

2005-02-18T19:43:00.000-08:00

Greek pastoral poet and grammarian from Syracuse, in Sicily, whose only surviving works are three short extracts from his Bucolica, a longer piece translated as Love the Runaway, and an elegiac piece on love as a plowman. The short epic poem Europa is perhaps correctly attributed to him, the Lament for Bion, considered an excellent work, less certainly so. No traces

Ma-wang-tui

2005-02-16T11:45:00.000-08:00

In tomb number one was found the almost

Sea Gooseberry

2005-02-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

Either of two cosmopolitan genera of invertebrate marine animals in the phylum Ctenophora: the Hormiphora and the Pleurobrachia. The genera, widely distributed in all the oceans, are represented by 90 species. Sea gooseberries are wholly planktonic in their life cycle, lacking any sessile (attached) stages. They feed on other small planktonic animals such as arrow

Cartography

2005-02-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Cartography is an ancient discipline that dates from the prehistoric depiction of hunting and fishing

Tae Kwon Do

2005-02-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

Tae kwon do is characterized by the

Strasburger, Eduard Adolf

2005-02-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

Strasburger was educated at the universities of Paris, Bonn, and Jena, where he received a Ph.D. in 1866. He taught at the universities of Warsaw (1868), Jena (1869–80), and Bonn (1880–1912). Strasburger's earliest research was a continuation of the work begun

Edinburgh Review, The, Or The Critical Journal

2005-02-04T04:18:00.000-08:00

Scottish magazine that was published from 1802 to 1929, and which contributed to the development of the modern periodical and to modern standards of literary criticism. The Edinburgh Review was founded by Francis Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, and Henry Brougham as a quarterly publication, with Jeffrey as its first and longtime editor. It was intended as an outlet for liberal views

Eleazar Ben Azariah

2005-02-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

Eleazar was a wealthy, learned, and highly esteemed resident of Jabneh who traced his descent through Ezra, the legendary spiritual leader of Palestine. He served

Media And Publishing, Amateur Radio.

2005-01-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

Despite the rise of the Internet, more than two million people throughout the world in 1997 continued to communicate over the air as amateur radio operators. Most of these hams--nearly 700,000, by the FCC's count--were in the U.S. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) reported that it started off the year with 175,000 members, the most in its 83-year history. Hams used their radios mostly for personal

Chicago Critics

2005-01-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

The group's members, associated from the 1940s with the University of Chicago, often were called “Aristotelian,” or, more accurately, “Neo-Aristotelian,

Dire Wolf

2005-01-27T05:23:00.000-08:00

(species Canis dirus), wolf that existed during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). It is probably the most common mammalian species to be found preserved in the La Brea Tar Pits in southern California. The dire wolf differed from the modern wolf in several ways: it was larger and it had a more massive skull, a smaller brain, and relatively light limbs. It is probable that

Biblical Literature, The succession of Solomon to the throne

2005-01-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

I Kings (chapters 1 and 2) continues the story of David and the struggle for the succession of his throne. The sides were drawn between Adonijah, David's eldest living son, and Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba. Supporting Adonijah were the “old guard”—the general Joab and the priest Abiathar—and supporting Solomon were the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and the captain

Sullivan, Louis

2005-01-23T22:12:00.000-08:00

In full Louis Henry Sullivan American architect, regarded as the spiritual father of modern American architecture and identified with the aesthetics of early skyscraper design. His more than 100 works in collaboration (1879–95) with Dankmar Adler include the Auditorium Building, Chicago (1887–89); the Guaranty Building, Buffalo, New York (1894–95; now Prudential

World War I, Eastern Front strategy, 1914

2005-01-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

Russian Poland, the westernmost part of the Russian Empire, was a thick tongue of land enclosed to the north by East Prussia, to the west by German Poland (Poznania) and by Silesia, and to the south by Austrian Poland (Galicia). It was thus obviously exposed to a two-pronged invasion by the Central Powers; but the Germans, apart from their grand strategy of crushing France

Skiing

2005-01-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

The 15th Nordic World Cup overall title for men's cross-country racing was clinched by Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakhstan, the previous season's runner-up. Defending champion Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway was second, and Jari Isometsae of Finland placed third. The women's crown was won by Manuela Di Centa of Italy, followed by two Russians, Lyubov Yegorova (see BIOGRAPHIES) and Yelena

Fuchsia

2005-01-18T03:08:00.000-08:00

Genus of about 100 species of flowering shrubs and trees, in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae), native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America and to New Zealand and Tahiti. Several species are grown in gardens as bedding plants, small shrubs, or miniature treelike specimens; others are grown as pot plants or in hanging baskets

Tlalpan

2005-01-16T15:08:00.000-08:00

Delegación, central distrito federal (“federal district”), central Mexico. At 1,425 feet (2,294 m) above sea level in the Valley of Mexico, it is on the northeastern slopes of the extinct Cerro Ajusco volcano. In the district are remains of a pre-Columbian town, and 1.5 miles (2.5 km) west of Tlalpan is the Cuicuilco Pyramid, considered to be the oldest man-made structure on the North American continent

Astringent

2005-01-14T22:55:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of substances that cause the contraction or shrinkage of tissues and that dry up secretions. Astringents are usually classified into three groups according to their mode of action: (1) those that decrease the blood supply by narrowing the small blood vessels (e.g., epinephrine and cocaine), (2) those that abstract water from the tissue (e.g., glycerol and alcohol

Carbine

2005-01-12T01:44:00.000-08:00

Light, short-barrelled musket or rifle. The word, the source of which is obscure, seems to have originated in the late or mid-16th century. The carbine, in various versions corresponding to the different full-sized military arms, was chiefly a cavalry weapon until the 18th century. Then some unmounted officers, artillerymen, and other specialists began to carry carbines.

Metamorphic Rock, Albite-epidote-hornfels facies

2005-01-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Rocks of the albite-epidote-hornfels facies are characteristically found as the outer zones of contact aureoles where the thermal episode fades out and the rocks pass into their regional grade of metamorphism. The mineral assemblages are quite similar to those found in regional greenschist-facies metamorphism, except for the presence of low-pressure phases

Canadian Alliance

2005-01-08T22:46:00.000-08:00

The Canadian Alliance traced its roots to the Reform Party, which formed in 1987 as a populist and conservative expression of western Canadian frustration with the governing Progressive Conservative Party and previous governments led by the Liberal Party. The Reform

Wesel

2005-01-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

Town, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. It lies along the Rhine and Lippe rivers and the Lippe-Seiten Canal, northwest of the Ruhr. Chartered in 1241, it joined the Hanseatic League in about 1350 and has long been an important trade and shipping point. It was also a traditional district capital and cultural centre of the border area of the lower Rhine. The

Palencia

2005-01-03T21:59:00.000-08:00

Inland provincia, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), northern Spain. It is bounded by the autonomous community (and province) of Cantabria (north) and by the provinces of Burgos (east), Valladolid (south), and Valladolid and León (west). It was formed in 1833. The north is traversed by the Cantabrian Mountains, rising to 8,268 feet (2,520 m) at Curavacas peak. The remainder

Marryat, Frederick

2005-01-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

Marryat entered the Royal Navy at the age of 14 and served with distinction in many parts of the world before retiring in 1830 with a captain's rank. He then began a series of adventure novels marked

Korea, North

2004-12-31T19:08:00.000-08:00

Officially Democratic People's Republic of Korea , Korean Choson Minjujuui In'min Konghwaguk country in East Asia. It occupies the northern portion of the Korean peninsula, which juts out from the Asian mainland between the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the Yellow Sea. The country is bordered by China and Russia to the north and by the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to the south. North Korea has an area of 47,399 square miles (122,762 square kilometres), occupying about 55 percent of the

Vodou

2004-12-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun , or French Vaudou an official religion of Haiti (together with Roman Catholicism). Vodou is a creolized religion forged by descendents of Dahomean, Kongo, Yoruba, and other African ethnic groups who had been enslaved and brought to colonial Saint-Domingue (as Haiti was known then) and Christianized by Roman Catholic missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries. The word Vodou means “spirit

Wicksteed, Philip Henry

2004-12-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Wicksteed, who was for some years a Unitarian minister, was a writer on literature, classics, theology, and philosophy, and his fame at the time of his death was greater in these contexts than as an economist. He wrote, among many works, Dante and

Indigo

2004-12-25T03:14:00.000-08:00

The naturally occurring precursor

Van Vogt, A.e.

2004-12-23T06:12:00.000-08:00

Van Vogt attended the University of Ottawa and began his writing career in the early 1930s, selling fictional

Selinus

2004-12-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

Selinus was founded in 651 or 628 BC by colonists from Megara Hyblaea and from Megara in Greece. The city got its name from the wild celery (Greek: selinon) that still grows in the locality. It achieved great prosperity in the 5th century BC, when its

Ikire

2004-12-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

Town, Osun state, southwestern Nigeria. The town lies along the road from Ibadan to Ile-Ife. A collecting point for local cash crops (cocoa and palm oil and kernels), it also serves as a trade centre for yams, maize (corn), cassava, palm produce, cotton, and kola nuts. Cotton weaving is a traditional industry of its Yoruba inhabitants. Pop. (1991 est.) 111,500.

Ligand

2004-12-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, any atom or molecule attached to a central atom, usually a metallic element, in a coordination or complex compound. The atoms and molecules used as ligands are almost always those that are capable of functioning as the electron-pair donor in the electron-pair bond (a coordinate covalent bond) formed with the metal atom. Examples of common ligands are the

Interior Design, General works

2004-12-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Arnold Friedmann, John F. Pile, and Forrest Wilson, Interior Design: An Introduction to Architectural Interiors (1970), an introduction to the field of interior architecture written for students of design; Sherrill Whiton, Elements of Interior Design and Decoration, 3rd ed. (1963), a scholarly text; Ray and Sarah Faulkner, Inside Today's Home, 3rd ed. (1968), a thorough and well-illustrated book on the interior design of homes; Diana Rowntree, Interior Design (1964), a brief and personal view of interior design written primarily for British readers; Edgar Kaufman, What Is Modern Interior Design? (1953, reprinted 1969), a very brief but perceptive treatise. A later monograph on home decorating is Mary Gilliat, The Decorating Book (1981), with special photography by Michael Dunne.

Cohoes

2004-12-13T22:16:00.000-08:00

City, Albany county, eastern New York, U.S. It lies at the Cohoes Falls (locally called the Great Falls; 70 feet [21 metres] high) of the Mohawk River, where it tumbles into the Hudson River. Settled in 1665 by the Dutch Van Schaick family on the colonial military road between Albany (10 miles [16 km] south) and Lake George, its name is of Algonquian origin and means “pine tree.” Growth was influenced

Fact, Theatre Of

2004-12-10T22:03:00.000-08:00

Also called Documentary Theatre German dramatic movement that arose during the early 1960s, associated primarily with Rolf Hochhuth, Peter Weiss, and Heinar Kipphardt. Their political plays examined recent historical events, often through official documents and court records. Their concern that the West, and especially Germany, was forgetting the political horrors of the Nazi era led them to explore

Mac Family

2004-12-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

The Mac family began as ministers to the Le kings of the Vietnamese Later Le dynasty (1428–1787). By the early 16th century, however, the Later Le rulers had become virtually powerless, and in 1527 Mac Dang Dung, the head of the family, usurped the throne. Eight years later the powerful Nguyen family

Heinemann, William

2004-12-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

Heinemann studied music in England and Germany but decided instead to become

Alcidamas

2004-12-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

Prominent Sophist and rhetorician who taught in Athens. He was a pupil of Gorgias and a rival of Isocrates. His only extant work, Peri sophiston (“Concerning Sophists”), stresses the superiority of extempore (though prepared) speeches over written ones. The oration attributed to him entitled Odysseus is spurious. Only fragments of his other works survive. Aristotle

Fuseli, Henry

2004-12-03T03:10:00.000-08:00

Fuseli was reared in an intellectual and artistic milieu and initially studied theology. Obliged to flee Zürich because of political entanglements, he went first to Berlin, and then settled in London in 1764. He was encouraged

Game Theory

2004-11-30T23:18:00.000-08:00

Branch of applied mathematics fashioned to analyze certain situations in which there is an interplay between parties that may have similar, opposed, or mixed interests. In a typical game, decision-making “players,” who each have their own goals, try to outsmart one another by anticipating each other's decisions; the game is finally resolved as a consequence of the players'

Racism

2004-11-28T05:45:00.000-08:00

Also called racialism any action, practice, or belief that reflects the racial worldview—the ideology that humans are divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called "races," that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural behavioral features, and that some races are innately superior to

Bukittinggi

2004-11-26T00:15:00.000-08:00

Formerly Fort De Kock, city, Sumatera Barat provinsi (“province”), Sumatra, Indonesia. It lies at an elevation of 3,000 feet (900 m) on the Agam Plateau, a ridge of high land parallel to the coast. The city is in the Minangkabau country, one of the most scenic sections of Indonesia. Typical of the region are houses with saddle-shaped roofs, the ends pointing upward like buffalo horns. Bukittinggi is an important

Rocky Mountain National Park

2004-11-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

National park, in north central Colorado, U.S., established in 1915. Enclosing part of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, it is 262,191 ac (106,109 ha) in area. The park contains numerous high peaks exceeding 10,000 ft (3,000 m), including Longs Peak (14,256 ft), as well as broad valleys, gorges, alpine lakes, and plunging streams. Ice Age glacial deposition is evidenced by meadows and rolling moraines. A great variety

Harbour Grace

2004-11-22T02:45:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Newfoundland, Canada. It lies on the northeast coast of Avalon Peninsula, 32 miles (51 km) west-northwest of St. John's, across Conception Bay. Settled about 1550, it was probably named for Le Havre-de-Grâce (Le Havre, France). Peter Easton, the pirate, had his headquarters there about 1600. Since 1856 the town has been the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop. Until the 1920s it was one of the

Rouen

2004-11-20T01:42:00.000-08:00

Known to the Romans as Rotomagus, the town first became important in the 3rd century AD, when Christianity was brought there by St. Mellon, who was its first bishop. Invaded by the Normans in 876, it became subject to the English crown after

Hsiung Shih-li

2004-11-19T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hsiung was an anti-Manchu revolutionary in early youth, but after the age of 30 he devoted himself wholly to philosophy. He first studied metaphysical idealism in the

Gobi, Climate

2004-11-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

The climate is acutely continental and dry: winter is severe, spring is dry and cold, and summer is warm. The annual temperature range is considerable, with average lows in January reaching -40° F (-40° C) and average highs in July climbing to 113° F (45° C); daily temperature ranges also can be quite large. The annual total precipitation varies from less than three inches in the west to more

Vietnamese Literature

2004-11-14T07:26:00.000-08:00

The oral poetry tradition is purely

Berkhamsted

2004-11-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Dacorum borough, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, England, 28 miles (45 km) northwest of London on an old coaching route along the Bulbourne Valley of the Chiltern Hills, which now contains modern road, rail, and canal routes. A moated Norman castle has been thoroughly excavated and is preserved. Diversified light industry includes paper

Allen, Sir Hugh (percy)

2004-11-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

Allen was an organ scholar at Christ's College, Cambridge, and later held organist's posts at Ely cathedral (1898–1901) and New College, Oxford (1901–18). In 1918 he became director of the Royal College of Music, London, and in

Pan-germanism

2004-11-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

German Pangermanismus or Alldeutschtum movement whose goal was the political unification of all people speaking German or a Germanic language. Some of its adherents favoured the unification of only the German-speaking people of central and eastern Europe and the Low Countries (Dutch and Flemish being regarded as Germanic dialects). The movement had its roots in the desire for German unification stimulated

Staged Rocket

2004-11-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Vehicle driven by several rocket systems mounted in vertical sequence. The lowest, or first stage, ignites and then lifts the vehicle at increasing velocity until exhaustion of its propellants. At that point the first stage drops off, lightening the vehicle, and the second stage ignites and accelerates the vehicle further. Most space launch vehicles have three

Balaguer, Victor

2004-11-04T00:46:00.000-08:00

Balaguer was a precocious youth; his first dramatic essay, Pépin el Jorobado; o, el hijo de Carlomagno (1838; “Pippin the Hunchbacked; or, The Son of Charlemagne”), was staged in Barcelona when he was 14. At 19 he was publicly “crowned” after the production of his second play, Don Enrique el Dadivoso (1843; “Don Henry

Mac Lane, Saunders

2004-11-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Mac Lane graduated from Yale University in 1930 and then began graduate work at the University of Chicago. He soon moved to Germany, where he received his doctorate in 1933, with

Intellectual-property Law

2004-11-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

The legal regulations governing an individual's or an organization's right to control the use or dissemination of ideas or information. Various systems of legal rules exist that empower persons and organizations to exercise such control. Copyright law confers upon the creators of “original forms of expression” (e.g., books, movies, musical compositions, and works

Malayan Lar

2004-10-29T01:27:00.000-07:00

Species of gibbon (q.v.).

Andaman Sea

2004-10-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

Sea, part of the northeastern Indian Ocean, with an area of 308,000 square miles (798,000 square km). Through such ports as Bassein, Moulmein, Tavoy, and Mergui—as well as Yangôn (Rangoon) itself—it forms the most important sea link between Myanmar (Burma) and other nations; it also forms part of a shipping route between India and China, via the Strait of Malacca. The Andaman Sea is bounded to

Steeplechase

2004-10-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

In horse racing, a race over jumps or obstacles. Although dating back to Xenophon (4th century BC), it derives its name from impromptu races by fox hunters in 18th-century Ireland over natural country in which church steeples served as course landmarks. It differs from hurdle racing, in which the barriers or hurdles are portable. Steeplechasing was long a favourite sport

Cadogan, William Cadogan, 1st Earl

2004-10-23T01:34:00.000-07:00

The son of a Dublin barrister, Cadogan began his military career in 1690. In 1702 he was made quartermaster general to Marlborough, who had just been appointed commander of the allied armies

Taegu

2004-10-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Taiku, or Daegu, city and provincial capital, Kyongsang-puk do (province), southeastern South Korea. Taegu is Korea's third largest city and has the status of a special city, with administrative status equal to that of a province. It lies east of the confluence of the Naktong and the Kumho rivers and 55 miles (90 km) north-northwest of Pusan. The city lies in a valley rimmed by low mountains that reach

Frederick Louis, Prince Of Wales

2004-10-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

After his grandfather became king of Great Britain as George I in 1714, Frederick was betrothed to Wilhelmina Sophia Dorothea,

Sicel Language

2004-10-18T02:02:00.000-07:00

After the Greek settlements in Sicily, the Siculi became Hellenized and substituted Greek for their original language. Scholars believe Sicel to have been an Indo-European

Dacke War

2004-10-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

Led by Nils Dacke, an outlaw, the peasants of the province of Småland took up arms against the King in the spring of 1542 in protest against the royal

Roberts, Kenneth (lewis)

2004-10-13T03:20:00.000-07:00

Roberts worked as a journalist until 1917, when he began service as a captain in the Intelligence Section of the U.S. Army's Siberian Expeditionary Force. He was staff correspondent of the Saturday Evening Post from 1919 until

Hawaii, Industry

2004-10-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

Hawaii has several hundred companies engaged in diversified manufacturing. Heavy-manufacturing plants, using raw materials for the most part imported from the U.S. mainland, include an oil refinery that produces a variety of petroleum products and chemical compounds, a steel mill manufacturing reinforcing bars, several cement plants, a concrete-pipe plant, and

Gum

2004-10-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

In botany, adhesive substance of vegetable origin, mostly obtained as exudate from the bark of trees or shrubs belonging to the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) of the pea order Fabales. Some plant gums are used in the form of water solutions in the manufacture of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and foods. When the water evaporates, a film having a considerable adhesive character

Cividale Del Friuli

2004-10-08T04:10:00.000-07:00

Town, Udine province, Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, northeastern Italy, on the Natisone River just northeast of Udine city. Founded in Roman times as Forum Julii, perhaps by Julius Caesar, it gave its name to, and was the capital of, Friuli, the first Lombard duchy formed in Italy. From 730 to 1238 it was the residence of the patriarchs of Aquileia. It fell to Venice with the rest of

Leningrad Affair

2004-10-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

(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

Nitrobenzene

2004-10-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

Nitrobenzene was first prepared in 1834 by the German chemist Eilhardt Mitscherlich, who treated benzene with

Antae

2004-10-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Antes federation of eastern Slavic nomadic tribes known by the 3rd century AD, dwelling in southern Russia between the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. A powerful people with highly developed agriculture, handicrafts, and ironwork, the Antae fought the Goths, who were fleeing westward from the Huns in the 4th century. In the early 6th century they joined in Slavic raids against

Nepos, Julius

2004-09-29T03:02:00.000-07:00

Born of a distinguished family, Nepos was sent by the Eastern ruler Leo I to govern Italy as augustus (emperor). He at once deposed the Western emperor, Glycerius, whom Leo regarded as a usurper. Nepos proclaimed himself emperor in June 474. A year later he was obliged to recognize the independence of the Visigothic kingdom

Gumilyov, Nikolay Stepanovich

2004-09-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

The son of a naval surgeon, Gumilyov was educated at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where he was influenced by the poet and teacher Innokenty Annensky. Gumilyov's earliest published volumes

Vaisya

2004-09-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Vaishya, Sanskrit Vaisya, third highest in ritual status of the four varnas, or social classes, of Hindu India, traditionally described as commoners. Legend states that the varnas (or colours) sprang from Prajapati, a creator god—in order of status, the Brahman (white) from his head, the Kshatriya (red) from his arms, the Vaisya (yellow) from his thighs, and the Sudra (black) from his feet. The yellow colour

Amino Acid

2004-09-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

The only exceptions to this basic structure are proline and hydroxyproline, in which the primary amino group is replaced by a secondary amino group present

Adage

2004-09-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

A saying, often in metaphoric form, that embodies a common observation, such as "If the shoe fits, wear it,'' "Out of the frying pan, into the fire,'' or "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.'' The scholar Erasmus published a well-known collection of adages as Adagia in 1508. The word is from the Latin adagium, “proverb.”

Zamora

2004-09-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

Province, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-León, northwestern Spain. It was formed in 1833 from part of the historic province of León and is bounded by Portugal and Orense (west), by León (north), by Valladolid (east), and by Salamanca (south). It has an area of 4,077 square miles (10,559 square km) and is traversed from east to west by the Duero (Portuguese Douro) River; the Tormes River

China, Education

2004-09-17T04:12:00.000-07:00

The educational system in China is a major vehicle for both inculcating values in and teaching needed skills to its people. Traditional Chinese culture attached great importance to education as a means of enhancing a person's worth and career. In the early 1950s the Chinese Communists worked hard to increase the country's rate of literacy, an effort that won them considerable

Kamarupa

2004-09-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Kamarupa was ruled by a single dynasty from AD 350 to 650. Although it began as a feudatory state of the Gupta empire, Kamarupa under a second dynasty

Rabih Az-zubayr

2004-09-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

Rabih was enslaved as a child and later enrolled in the military service of az-Zubayr Pasha, a Sudanese prince. Rabih was loyal and capable, and he rose to a position of command. When in 1878 az-Zubayr rebelled against the Egyptian administration of the Sudan,

Zahir Shah, Mohammad

2004-09-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

The sons of Mohammed Nader Shah, Zahir Shah and his brothers reasserted central government control during a period of anarchy and banditry in the late 1920s. Zahir Shah came to the throne at the age of 19, after the assassination of his father in November 1933, having previously served as

Shaft Coupling

2004-09-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

A common type of rigid coupling

Jefferson, Martha

2004-09-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

After Jefferson became president in 1801, he often called upon Dolley Madison, wife of his secretary of state, James Madison, to handle social events at the White House. On other occasions his daughters Patsy and Polly served as hostesses. During Jefferson's second administration, Patsy gave birth to a son, the first baby to be born in the White House.

Schäfer, Karl

2004-09-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Schäfer started training to be a figure skater early in his youth. He placed fourth

Encyclopedia Americana, The

2004-09-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

First published in 1829–33, with subsequent editions in 1911 (20 volumes) and 1918–20 (30 volumes), and thereafter continuously revised, Americana is international in scope and is known for its

Haeju

2004-08-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

City, southwestern North Korea. Situated on Haeju Bay, facing the Yellow Sea, it is the only port on the west coast of North Korea that does not freeze over in winter. Haeju was the centre for trade with China until the Kyong-Ui rail line, constructed in 1906 from Seoul to Sinuiju, on the border with Manchuria, bypassed it. With the Chaeryong plain (a granary area) nearby and Yonp'yong Island

African Violet

2004-08-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

African violet flowers are bilaterally symmetrical and violet, white, or pink in colour; they bloom throughout