HangingDoor

Ashcan School

2005-03-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

Group of American realist painters based in New York City in the early 20th century. The group's most prominent figures were known as “The Eight.” See Eight, The.

A-erh-chin Mountains

2005-03-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

The range falls into three divisions. The southwest

'amir, 'abd Al-hakim

2005-03-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

'Amir attended War College, where he met Gamal Abdel Nasser. The two men served during the first Arab-Israeli

Endosperm

2005-03-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

Tissue that surrounds and nourishes the embryo in the angiosperm seed. The initiation of endosperm is a definitive characteristic of angiosperms and requires the fusion of at least one nucleus in the embryo sac with a sperm nucleus from the pollen grain. (In gymnosperms the nutritive material of the seed is present before fertilization.) In some seeds the endosperm

Syrian And Palestinian Religion, The Baal cycle

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

Baal (Hadad) is regularly denominated “the son of Dagan,” although Dagan (biblical Dagon) does not appear as an actor in the mythological texts. Baal also bears the titles “Rider of the Clouds,” “Almighty,” and “Lord of the Earth.” He is the god of the thunderstorm, the most vigorous and aggressive of the gods, the one on whom mortals most immediately depend. Baal resides on Mount Zaphon

Ninazu

2005-03-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

In Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian deity, the city god of Enegir, which was located on the Euphrates River between Larsa and Ur in the southern orchard region. Ninazu was also the city god of Eshnunna (modern Tall al-Asmar in eastern Iraq). Ninazu, whose name means “Water Knower,” was primarily an underworld deity, although the exact nature of his character or functions

Spruce Knob

2005-03-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

Highest point in West Virginia, U.S., located in the Allegheny Mountains in the eastern part of the state, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Elkins. Spruce Knob lies at an elevation of 4,863 feet (1,482 metres) at the southern end of Spruce Mountain, a ridge extending northeast-southwest along the western edge of Pendleton county. The peak, accessible by road from nearby Judy Gap, is within

Furniture, Bookcases

2005-03-04T14:52:00.000-08:00

Bookcases or bookshelves are a less interesting form of storage furniture from the viewpoint of furniture history. Perhaps the most significant innovation appeared in 18th-century England in the bookcase with adjustable shelves and a closed-off lower section for folio files. The shelves were protected by glass doors consisting of an ingenious trelliswork of

Vacuum Technology

2005-03-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

Capacities >are available from 1/2 to 1,000 cubic feet per minute, operating from atmospheric pressure down to as low as 2 ´ 10-2 torr for single-stage pumps and less than 5 ´ 10-3 torr for two-stage pumps. The pumps develop their full speed from atmosphere to about one torr, the speed then decreasing to zero at their ultimate pressures. One device of this type, useful for pumping both liquids

Lucas Van Leyden

2005-02-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Lucas was first trained by his father, Huygh Jacobszoon; later, he entered the workshop of Cornelis Engelbrechtsz(oon), a painter of Leiden. Lucas is more highly regarded today as a printmaker than as a painter. He was extraordinarily precocious. Even

Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; And Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen

2005-02-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

Closely united in their lives and work, the two men are rarely named separately. They met as youths in 1827 and became “blood

Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen; And Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen

2005-02-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1912–2001) International Amateur Athletic Federation track-and-field organization of national associations of more than 160 countries. It was founded as the International Amateur Athletic Association at Stockholm in 1912. In 1936 the IAAF took over regulation of women's international track-and-field competition from the Fédération Sportive Féminine International, which had been founded in 1921. The major aims of the IAAF are to

Sprint

2005-02-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

Racers compete in groups of two (sometimes called a match sprint) or three, and they frequently spend the early laps of the race moving relatively slowly and trying to manoeuvre their opponents into the lead, while at the same time following close

Agnihotri, Shiv Narayan

2005-02-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

At the age of 16 Agnihotri entered the government-sponsored Thompson Engineering College in Roorkee and in 1873 took a position as a drawing master in the Government School of Lahore. He and his wife became active members of the Brahmo Samaj (literally, “Society

Molière

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

Although the sacred and secular authorities of 17th-century France often combined against him, the genius of Molière finally emerged to win him acclaim. Comedy had a long history before Molière, who employed most of its traditional forms, but he succeeded in inventing

Turban

2005-02-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

Early Persians wore a conical cap sometimes encircled by bands of cloth, which perhaps may be considered one of the origins of the turban. The turban did not become common among the Turks, however, until after the capture of Constantinople in 1453, when the Ottoman sultan

Sung-chiang

2005-02-12T21:38:00.000-08:00

It first became an independent county in 751 under the name of Hua-t'ing, and in 1278 its name was changed to Sung-chiang. It was a superior prefecture under the Ming (1368–1644) and Ch'ing (1644–1911) dynasties and grew into

Kiraly, Karch

2005-02-11T04:39:00.000-08:00

When Kiraly was four years old, he moved with his family to Santa Barbara, California. His father, Laszlo Kiraly, had played on the Hungarian national

Avocado

2005-02-08T23:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Alligator Pear, fruit of Persea americana of the family Lauraceae, a tree native to the Western Hemisphere from Mexico south to the Andean regions. The tree, tall or spreading, has leaves elliptic to egg-shaped in form and 100–300 mm (4–12 inches) in length. The small, greenish flowers, borne in dense racemes, are devoid of petals and have six perianth lobes, nine stamens arranged in

Dion

2005-02-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

When the younger Dionysius, who was weak and inexperienced, succeeded in 367, Dion assumed control and persuaded Plato, whose friendship he had acquired, to train the new tyrant in the practical application of his philosophical principles. The experiment

Wilbur, Richard (purdy)

2005-02-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

Wilbur was educated at Amherst College, Amherst, Mass., and Harvard University, where he studied literature. He fought in Europe during World War II and earned a master's degree from Harvard in 1947. With The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems (1947) and Ceremony and Other Poems (1950), he established himself

Scandinavian Literature, Poetry

2005-02-02T23:07:00.000-08:00

Much poetry was written up to the time of the Reformation, and many new forms were devised. The best poems were religious pieces, in honour of the Virgin, the Apostles, or other saints. The well-known Lilja (c. 1350; “The Lily”) by Eysteinn Ásgrímsson, a monk from Thykkvabaer, gave an account of the fall of Satan, the creation, the first sin, and the birth, life, and Passion of Christ. The term

Scandinavian Literature

2005-02-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

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

Nature Worship, Water as fructifying

2005-01-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

Wherever early archaic culture spread the myth of heaven and earth as the world parents, there also was a belief that heaven fructifies the earth with heaven's seed. The springs, pools, and rivers on the earth, therefore, may bring not only healing and expiation but also fertility. The Scamander (now Turkey's Küçükmenderes) River in ancient Greece evidently was so personified;

Melanesian Pidgin

2005-01-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

Also called Melanesian Pidgin English, Neo-melanesian, Beach-la-mar, or Sandalwood English, an English-based pidgin that is used widely in Melanesia as a trade and mission language; in some areas it has become established as a creole (i.e., it has become the native language of some communities). Melanesian Pidgin has also become the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea, where several hundred native languages are spoken, most of them being mutually

Obesity

2005-01-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Also called Corpulence, or Fatness, excessive accumulation of body fat, usually caused by the consumption of more calories than the body can use. The excess calories are then stored as fat, or adipose tissue. Overweight, if moderate, is not necessarily obesity, particularly in muscular or large-boned individuals. In general, however, a body weight 20 percent or more over the optimum tends to be associated

Novato

2005-01-23T21:29:00.000-08:00

City, Marin county, western California, U.S. It lies along Novato Creek, between San Pablo Bay (east) and Point Reyes National Seashore (west). The original site was partly on the Rancho de Novato, an 1839 Mexican land grant that occupied most of the Canada de Novato (a valley probably named for a Christianized Indian chief). Francis C. DeLong acquired the land and founded the community

Pole Of Inaccessibility

2005-01-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

The term is also used occasionally

Draft Riot Of 1863

2005-01-19T13:28:00.000-08:00

Major four-day eruption of violence in New York City resulting from deep worker discontent with the inequities of conscription during the U.S. Civil War. Although labouring people in general supported the Northern war effort, they had no voice in Republican policy and occasionally deserted from the army or refused reenlistment. Because of their low wages, often

West Dorset

2005-01-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of Dorset, southern England. The district lies almost entirely within the historic county of Dorset, except for small areas along the northern border that belong to the historic county of Somerset. It occupies an area bordering on Lyme Bay of the English Channel and surrounds to landward the ports of Weymouth and Portland, which

Cohen, Hermann

2005-01-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Cohen was the son of a cantor, and he studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau and at the University of Berlin before receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Halle in

Anquetil-duperron, A(braham)-h(yacinthe)

2005-01-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

At the University of Paris, Anquetil mastered Hebrew as his first Eastern language; later, he added Persian and

Resistance

2005-01-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Underground in European history, any of various secret and clandestine groups that sprang up throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II to oppose Nazi rule. The exact number of those who took part is unknown, but they included civilians who worked secretly against the occupation as well as armed bands of partisans or guerrilla fighters. Their activities ranged

Arts, Central Asian

2005-01-09T04:08:00.000-08:00

This immense

Anglo-norman Literature

2005-01-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

In the 12th century the oldest substantial Anglo-Norman prose work, “The Book of Kings,” was written in England, as were many versions of the Psalter. Sanson de Nanteuil translated into verse the proverbs of Solomon, with commentary; and in the 13th century Robert of Greatham wrote the “Sunday Gospels” for a noble lady. The same century saw the beginning of the magnificent series

Ob River

2005-01-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

Although paleo-Asiatic peoples have inhabited the Ob basin for millennia, Russian explorers and adventurers first penetrated the area only toward the end of the 16th century. During the reign of Ivan IV (the Terrible), the Cossack folk hero Yermak led an expedition into the Ob basin (1581–84/85) that claimed vast expanses for the tsar. Settlements and forts were established at Tyumen

Sabbatini, Nicola

2005-01-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

In his major and most enduring written work, Pratica di fabricar scene e macchine ne' teatri (1638; “Manual for Constructing Scenes and Machines in the Theatre”), Sabbatini described

Puget Sound

2005-01-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

Deep inlet of the eastern North Pacific Ocean indenting northwestern Washington, U.S. It stretches south for 100 miles (160 km) from Admiralty Inlet and Whidbey Island (beyond which lie the straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca). Hood Canal is a large western extension. The sound is the submerged northern end of the Cowlitz-Puget trough, which extends for some 350 miles (565 km) between the

Brugsch, Heinrich Karl

2004-12-31T07:47:00.000-08:00

Brugsch was sent to Egypt by the Prussian government in 1853 and met there the noted French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. He then worked in the Berlin Museum. In 1860 he was sent to Persia; in 1864 he was consul

John Climacus, Saint

2004-12-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

After entering the monastery of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai c. 600, John withdrew to live as a hermit in a nearby

Distillation

2004-12-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

Process involving the conversion of a liquid into vapour that is subsequently condensed back to liquid form. It is exemplified at its simplest when steam from a kettle becomes deposited as drops of distilled water on a cold surface. Distillation is used to separate liquids from nonvolatile solids, as in the separation of alcoholic liquors from fermented materials,

Adams, John

2004-12-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

His insistence that elites were unavoidable realities in all societies, however, made him vulnerable to the charge of endorsing aristocratic rule in America, when in fact he was attempting to suggest that the inevitable American elite must be controlled, its ambitions channeled toward public purposes. He also was accused of endorsing monarchical principles because he argued that the chief executive in the American government, like the king in medieval European society, must possess sufficient power to check the ravenous appetites of the propertied classes. Although misunderstood by many of his contemporaries, the realistic perspective Adams proposed—and the skepticism toward utopian schemes he insisted upon—has achieved considerable support in the wake of the failed 20th-century attempts at social transformation in the communist bloc. In Adams's own day, his political analysis enjoyed the satisfaction of correctly predicting that the French Revolution would lead to the Reign of Terror and eventual despotism by a military dictator.

Anchorage

2004-12-26T06:26:00.000-08:00

City, southern Alaska, U.S. It is a port at the head of Cook Inlet (a bay of the Pacific). Anchorage was founded in 1914 as the headquarters of the Alaska Railroad running north to Fairbanks. It became a key aviation and defense centre with the construction of Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force Base during World War II. Subsequently, it became a regular stop on air routes from

Procter & Gamble Company

2004-12-24T00:26:00.000-08:00

The company was formed in 1837 when William Procter, a British candlemaker, and James Gamble, an Irish soapmaker, merged their businesses in Cincinnati. The chief ingredient for both products was animal fat, which was readily available in the hog-butchering

Antarctica, IGY and the Antarctic Treaty

2004-12-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

The importance of coordinating polar science efforts was recognized in 1879 by the International Polar Commission meeting in Hamburg, Ger., and thus the 11 participating nations organized the First International Polar Year of 1882–83. Most work was planned for the better-known Arctic, and, of the four geomagnetic and meteorologic stations scheduled for Antarctic regions, only

Soromenho, Fernando Monteiro De Castro

2004-12-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Soromenho was taken to Angola by his parents in 1911, was sent to school in Portugal at the age of six, and returned

Interior Design, Middle Ages

2004-12-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

From the fall of Rome, when the city was finally sacked by Odoacer in 476, to the 15th century, when the Renaissance was already well advanced, information about the decoration of interiors is scarce. Its history has to be pieced together from surviving objects and illuminated manuscripts.

As If, Philosophy Of

2004-12-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

The system espoused by Hans Vaihinger in his major philosophical work Die Philosophie des Als Ob (1911; The Philosophy of “As If”), which proposed that man willingly accept falsehoods or fictions in order to live peacefully in an irrational world. Vaihinger, who saw life as a maze of contradictions and philosophy as a search for means to make life livable, began by accepting

Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius

2004-12-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

Powerful deputy of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. He was chiefly responsible for the victory over Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and during Augustus' reign he suppressed rebellions, founded colonies, and administered various parts of the Roman Empire. Of modest birth but not a modest man, Agrippa was disliked by the Roman aristocracy.

Sa'id, Aminah Al-

2004-12-18T23:15:00.000-08:00

At age 14, Sa'id joined the youth section of the Egyptian Feminist Union, and in 1931 she became one of the first women to attend the Egyptian University (now Cairo University). After graduating

Pharmaceutical Industry

2004-12-18T22:14:00.000-08:00

Drugs may be classified in one of three ways: by chemical group (e.g.,alkaloids, mentioned above); pharmacologically (i.e.,by the way they work in the body); and according to their therapeutic uses. Pharmacological and therapeutic classifications show considerable divergence, as drugs that act upon the body in different ways may bring about the same desired therapeutic

Eckermann, Johann Peter

2004-12-17T02:29:00.000-08:00

Reared

Ogunde, Hubert

2004-12-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

Nigerian playwright, actor, theatre manager, and musician who was a pioneer in the field of Nigerian folk opera (drama in which music and dancing play a significant role). He was the founder of the Ogunde Concert Party (1945), the first professional theatrical company in Nigeria. Often regarded as the father of Nigerian theatre, Ogunde sought to

Gabar

2004-12-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Any member of the small Zoroastrian minority in Iran. The name Gabar was formerly applied derogatorily to the Iranian Zoroastrians; the term is linguistically related to the Arabic kafir, meaning “infidel.” The Zoroastrians who remained in Persia (modern Iran) after the Arab–Muslim conquest (7th century AD) had a long history as outcasts. Although they purchased some toleration

Switzerland, Internal political difficulties; external threats to neutrality

2004-12-14T03:55:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, this era of material prosperity was not free from political problems. The Mediation Act had disappeared with Napoleon, its place taken by a new Federal Pact that once again established Switzerland as a confederation of sovereign states united only for common defense and the maintenance of internal order. Thus, the formulation and execution of

Perching Duck

2004-12-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

Any of the species of the tribe Cairinini, family Anatidae (order Anseriformes), waterfowl that typically inhabit wet woodlands, nest in holes in trees, and perch on branches by means of their long-clawed toes. The tribe is widely represented, especially in the tropics. Perching ducks are closely akin to dabbling ducks, which they resemble in feeding habits and, in some

Van Allen Radiation Belt

2004-12-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

The Van Allen belts are most intense over the Equator and are effectively absent above the poles. No

Mitchell, Sir Thomas Livingstone

2004-12-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

As a soldier in the Peninsular War in Spain (1811–14), Mitchell worked in topographical intelligence. He became a major in 1826 but was placed on half pay. In 1827 he went to New South Wales as assistant surveyor general to John Oxley at Sydney.

Bredero, Gerbrand Adriaenszoon

2004-12-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

The conflict between Bredero's experiences of the medieval, full-blooded life of the backstreets of Amsterdam and the sophistication of the Renaissance intelligentsia was most evident in his earliest poetry, which is collected

Fahrenheit Temperature Scale

2004-12-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

Scale based on 32° for the freezing point of water and 212° for the boiling point of water, the interval between the two being divided into 180 equal parts. The 18th-century German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit originally took as the zero of his scale the temperature of an equal ice-salt mixture and selected the values of 30° and 90° for the freezing point of water and normal body

Procter, William Cooper

2004-12-06T02:40:00.000-08:00

The soapmaking firm of Procter & Gamble was founded in Cincinnati by Procter's grandfather, William Procter, a candlemaker, who joined with James Gamble, an Irish soapmaker, in 1837. The company expanded steadily with the successful

Porirua

2004-12-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

City, Wellington local government region, southern North Island, New Zealand. It is located about 13 miles (21 km) north of Wellington city, at the head of Porirua Harbour. The earliest inhabitants were aboriginal moa hunters in the 12th century. European whalers and traders occupied nearby Mana Island from 1832 to 1834, and in 1836 a permanent whaling station was built near Porirua. The city

Ryegrass

2004-12-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

Any of about 10 species constituting the genus Lolium (family Poaceae), which includes forage and lawn grasses of temperate Eurasia and the noxious weed known as darnel (L. temulentum). Ryegrasses are about 0.3 to 1 m (1 to 3 feet) tall and have tough, dark green leaves. The flower spikelets grow in the angles of a zigzag rachis (flower stem). Both perennial ryegrass (L. perenne) and Italian

Hull, Cordell

2004-12-03T00:42:00.000-08:00

As a young Tennessee attorney, Hull early identified with

Animal

2004-12-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

(kingdom Animalia), any of a group of multicellular eukaryotic organisms (i.e., as distinct from bacteria, their deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is contained in a membrane-bound nucleus). They are thought to have evolved independently from the unicellular eukaryotes. Animals differ from members of the two other kingdoms of multicellular eukaryotes, the plants (Plantae)

Utah, Mormon settlement and territorial growth

2004-11-30T23:07:00.000-08:00

When wagonloads of Mormon pioneers under the leadership of Brigham Young first entered

Zodiacal Light

2004-11-30T05:21:00.000-08:00

Band of light in the night sky, thought to be sunlight reflected from meteoroids concentrated in the plane of the zodiac, or ecliptic. The light is seen in the west after twilight and in the east before dawn, being easily visible in the tropics where the ecliptic is approximately vertical. In mid-northern latitudes it is best seen in the evening in February and March

Macdonald, Flora

2004-11-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

Scottish Jacobite heroine who helped Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, the Stuart claimant to the British throne, to escape from Scotland after his defeat in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745–46. The daughter of Ranald Macdonald, a tacksman or farmer of Milton in the island of South Uist (Hebrides),

Requests, Court Of

2004-11-28T08:53:00.000-08:00

Called the Court of Poor Men's Causes until 1529, it was a popular court because of the limited expense of bringing suit before it. Modeled after the French Chambre

Pacific Ocean, European exploration

2004-11-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

Pacific islanders had long inhabited their homelands before the European “discovery” of the Pacific in the 16th century. European exploration can be divided into three phases: Spanish and Portuguese, Dutch, and English and French. The Spanish and Portuguese period began with the voyages in the 1520s of Ferdinand Magellan and, after his death, of his crew members. Later discoveries

Sidqi, Isma'il

2004-11-26T00:12:00.000-08:00

Sidqi earned his diploma at the Collège des Frères and won honours at the Khedivial Law school. He joined the public prosecutor's office but in 1899 became administrative secretary of the Alexandria municipal commission. In 1914 he was appointed minister of agriculture and then

Macclesfield

2004-11-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Cheshire, England. The borough includes a narrow strip of the Pennines in the east that is part of the Peak District National Park. The principal town, Macclesfield, is the centre of the silk industry. The manufacture of silk-covered buttons began in the 16th century, and silk throwing was introduced in

Tientsin Massacre

2004-11-23T18:11:00.000-08:00

(June 21, 1870), in Tientsin, China, violent outbreak of Chinese xenophobic sentiment that nearly precipitated international warfare and signaled the end of the “cooperative policy” between China and the Western treaty powers. Before the incident, rumours circulated in Tientsin that the French Sisters of Charity were kidnapping and mutilating Chinese children. Hostility

Florida Keys

2004-11-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

The keys

Bacchus Marsh

2004-11-20T08:09:00.000-08:00

Town in southern Victoria, Australia. It is located 32 miles (51 km) northwest of Melbourne (to which a growing proportion of its residents commute daily) on the east bank of the Werribee River. In 1838, Captain William Henry Bacchus founded the town, and it grew as a stopping place for Cobb and Company coaches traveling from Melbourne to the Ballarat goldfields. Bacchus Marsh is

Minbu

2004-11-19T23:34:00.000-08:00

Although much of the surrounding land is semidesert scrub forming part of Myanmar's dry zone, large areas around Minbu are

Performing Arts, Italy.

2004-11-19T18:04:00.000-08:00

The most costly Italian production to date, Roberto Benigni's adaptation of the children's classic Pinocchio failed disastrously to win the international popularity of his Oscar-winning 1997 Life Is Beautiful. Among the most notable productions of the year were Marco Bellocchio's L'ora di religione (Il sorriso di mia madre) (The Religion Hour [My Mother's Smile]), a fierce

Znaniecki, Florian (witold)

2004-11-18T21:44:00.000-08:00

Znaniecki's earliest work was as a poet. After being expelled from

Bukittinggi

2004-11-17T21:31:00.000-08:00

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

Metabolism, Oxidation of the carbon skeleton

2004-11-16T01:05:00.000-08:00

As indicated in Figure 2, the carbon skeletons of amino acids (i.e., the portion of the molecule remaining after the removal of nitrogen) are fragmented to form only a few end products; all of them are intermediates of either glycolysis or the TCA cycle. The number and complexity of the catabolic steps by which each amino acid arrives at its catabolic end

Auklet

2004-11-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

Also called Sea Sparrow, any of six species of small seabirds of the family Alcidae (order Charadriiformes). They breed primarily in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific; some winter as far south as Japan and Mexico. Auklets in breeding plumage differ from the related murrelets in having plumes and other head ornaments, including brightly coloured bill plates like those

Nordenskjöld, Otto

2004-11-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

A nephew of the scientist-explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, he became a lecturer in mineralogy and geology at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, in 1894 and led a geologic expedition to southern South America

Zaehner, R.c.

2004-11-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

The son of Swiss parents who had immigrated to England, Zaehner studied Oriental languages at the University of Oxford, specializing in Persian, Armenian, and Avestan. He became a Roman Catholic in 1946. During

Benhadugah, 'abd Al-hamid

2004-11-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

Algerian writer who was considered the father of modern Arabic literature in Algeria; among the concerns he addressed in such novels as Rih al-janub (1971; "The Wind from the South") were the limitations that societal tradition imposes on young people as they strive for progress and the struggle of women for emancipation (b. Jan. 9, 1925--d. Oct. 20/21, 1996).

Tunnels And Underground Excavations, Rock bolts

2004-11-10T23:32:00.000-08:00

Rock bolts are used to reinforce jointed rock much as reinforcing bars supply tensile resistance in reinforced concrete. After early trials about 1920, they were developed in the 1940s for strengthening laminated roof strata in mines. For public works their use has increased rapidly since 1955, as confidence has developed from two independent pioneering applications, both

Rachidia, Er-

2004-11-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

The surrounding region

Wells, David Ames

2004-11-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

A graduate of Williams College (1847), Wells later studied under Louis Agassiz at the

Forage

2004-11-07T17:37:00.000-08:00

Vegetable food of wild or domestic animals. In agriculture, harvested, processed, and stored forage is called silage (q.v.).

Lafayette, Marie-joseph-paul-yves-roch-gilbert Du Motier, Marquis De

2004-11-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

Born into an ancient noble family, Lafayette had already inherited

Chuang-tzu

2004-11-06T22:32:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zhuangzi, personal name (Wade-Giles romanization) Chou the most significant of China's early interpreters of Taoism, whose work (Chuang-tzu) is considered one of the definitive texts of Taoism and is thought to be more comprehensive than the Tao-te Ching, which is attributed to Lao-tzu, the first major patriarch of Taoism. Chuang-tzu's teachings also exerted a great influence on the development of Chinese Buddhism and had

Forage

2004-11-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

Organization formed in the United States in 1916 at the instigation of Rodman Wanamaker, a Philadelphia businessman, with the stated purpose of promoting interest in professional golf, elevating the standards of the game, and advancing the welfare of its members. By the late 1980s the PGA had a membership of about 8,500 playing and teaching professionals. Its annual PGA national

Talak

2004-11-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

Extensive sandy dune region of northwestern Niger, west of the Aïr massif. It covers about 40,000 square miles (100,000 square km) and is drained by a number of small, ephemeral watercourses, the longest of which, the Azaouak, eventually empties into the Niger River. Dinosaur fossils have been found at numerous sites in the region. Eastern Talak is crossed (north-south) by the trans-Saharan

Raedwald

2004-11-02T04:36:00.000-08:00

Raedwald became a Christian during a stay in Kent, but on his return to East Anglia he sanctioned the worship of both the Christian and the heathen religions. For a time he recognized the overlordship of Aethelberht, king of Kent, but he seems to have shaken off the

Eliphaz The Temanite

2004-11-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

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

Champmeslé, Marie

2004-11-01T04:43:00.000-08:00

The daughter of an actor, she married the actor Charles Chevillet Champmeslé in 1666, and by 1669 both were members of the Théâtre du Marais in Paris. In 1670 they joined the Hôtel de Bourgogne, where she had her first success as Hermione in Racine's Andromaque. Only with difficulty could

Tribe

2004-10-30T03:50:00.000-07:00

Latin Tribus, plural Tribi, in Roman history, a unit of the Roman state. The first Roman tribes were probably ethnic in origin and consisted of the Titienses (Tities), Ramnenses (Ramnes), and Luceres. They were superseded by the creation of new local tribes (date uncertain) consisting of 4 urban tribes and 16 rural, or rustic, tribes. The latter were probably named after pagi (country districts) that were,

Coleridge, Sara

2004-10-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

During her childhood, her father was seldom at home, and his brother-in-law Robert Southey chiefly influenced Sara's early years. She did not see her father from 1812 to 1822, when she visited him at Highgate

Thun Und Hohenstein, Franz Anton, Prince (fürst) Zu

2004-10-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

Franz Anton was the son of Friedrich, Count von Thun und Hohenstein, and he shared the moderate pro-Czech

Corcovado, Mount

2004-10-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

Portuguese Morro Do Corcovado, sharp rocky peak (2,310 ft [704 m]), a part of the Carioca Range, overlooking Rio de Janeiro. Mt. Corcovado (Hunchback) is named for its shape. On its narrow summit towers the imposing statue of Christ the Redeemer, 98.5 ft tall. The peak is accessible by road and cog railway.

Fuller's Earth

2004-10-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

Any fine-grained, naturally occurring earthy substance that has a substantial ability to adsorb impurities or colouring bodies from fats, grease, or oils. Its name originated with the textile industry, in which textile workers (or fullers) cleaned raw wool by kneading it in a mixture of water and fine earth that adsorbed oil, dirt, and other contaminants from the