BrightNeck

Webb, Sidney And Beatrice

2005-03-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

Sidney James Webb was born in London into a lower middle-class family; his father was a free-lance accountant and his mother was a shopkeeper. He left school before he was 16, but after attending evening classes he secured admission to the civil service and three years later (1884) passed his bar examinations. For some time he had been the close friend of the young journalist

Bonaparte, Lucien

2005-03-29T09:55:00.000-08:00

Educated in France, Lucien returned to Corsica in 1789 and became an outspoken speaker in the Jacobin Club at Ajaccio. He urged his brothers to break with the Corsican

Greece, The arts

2005-03-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

Against the background of this extraordinary artistic heritage, Greece enjoys a thriving cultural life. It is in the field of literature that Greece has made its greatest contributions. Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933), who lived most of his life in Alexandria, Egypt, is frequently ranked among the great poets of the early 20th century. His poetry is suffused with an ironic nostalgia

Vanir

2005-03-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

In Norse mythology, race of gods responsible for wealth, fertility, and commerce and subordinate to the warlike Aesir. As reparation for the torture of their goddess Gullveig, the Vanir demanded from the Aesir monetary satisfaction or equal status. Declaring war instead, the Aesir suffered numerous defeats before granting equality. The Vanir sent their gods Nj

Utica

2005-03-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

Modern Utique traditionally the oldest Phoenician settlement on the coast of North Africa. It is located near the mouth of the Majardah (French Medjerda, ancient Bagradas) River in modern Tunisia. After its founding in the 8th or 7th century BC, Utica grew rapidly and was second only to Carthage among Phoenician settlements in Africa. In the Third Punic War (149–146 BC), Utica sided with Rome against

Boeotian League

2005-03-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

League that first developed as an alliance of sovereign states in Boeotia, a district in east-central Greece, about 550 BC, under the leadership of Thebes. After the defeat of the Greeks at Thermopylae, Thebes and most of Boeotia sided with the Persians during the Persian invasions of 480 and 479. Subsequently, the victorious Greeks dissolved the Boeotian League as punishment.

Kraljevo

2005-03-23T18:11:00.000-08:00

Just 3 miles

Hamasah

2005-03-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

The anthology consists of 10 books, containing,

1054, Schism Of

2005-03-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

The relation of the Byzantine Church to the Roman may be described as

Gobi, Physiography

2005-03-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

The Ka-shun Gobi is bounded by the spurs of the Tien Shan to the west and the Pei Mountains to the south and rises to elevations as high as 5,000 feet (1,524 metres). It is gently corrugated, with a complex labyrinth of wide

Kiefer, Anselm

2005-03-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

Kiefer abandoned his law studies at the University of Freiburg in 1966 to pursue art. He subsequently studied at art academies in Freiburg, Karlsruhe, and Dusseldorf. In the latter city in 1970 he became a student of the conceptual

Nathdwara

2005-03-20T02:20:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, just south of the Banas River. Connected by road with Udaipur and close to the Malvi rail junction, Nathdwara is a place of Hindu pilgrimage; it contains a 17th-century Vaishnavite shrine that is one of the most famous in India. Within the temple is a celebrated image of the god Krishna, popularly said to date to the 12th century

Scaliger, Joseph Justus

2005-03-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

The son of an Italian physician and philosopher, Julius Caesar Scaliger, who immigrated to Agen in 1525, the young Joseph entered school at Bordeaux and

Atef, Muhammad

2005-03-18T02:43:00.000-08:00

Egyptian-born Islamist militant (b. 1944?, Egypt—d. Nov. 14/15, 2001, near Kabul, Afg.), was believed to have been a close associate of Osama bin Laden (in early 2001 his daughter married Bin Laden's son) and chief military strategist for the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda. He reportedly trained as a police officer before joining the radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad, members of which assassinated

Vanadium Processing

2005-03-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

The discovery of vanadium was first claimed in 1801 by a Spanish mineralogist, Andrés Manuel del Río, who gave it the name erythronium, after the red colour of one of its chemical compounds (Greek erythros, “red”). In 1830 a Swedish chemist, Nils Gabriel Sefström, rediscovered the element and named it vanadium, after Vanadis, the Scandinavian goddess of beauty, because of the beautiful

Forbes-robertson, Sir Johnston

2005-03-16T04:59:00.000-08:00

Educated at Charterhouse School, he studied art before turning to the theatre in 1874, when he first appeared on the London stage. He acted with the Bancrofts—Squire

Kildare

2005-03-16T04:57:00.000-08:00

Irish Cill Dara county in the province of Leinster, east-central Ireland. It comprises part of the lowland west of the Wicklow Mountains and part of the Irish central lowland. With an area of 654 square miles (1,694 square km), it is bounded on the north by County Meath, on the east by Dublin and Wicklow, on the south by Carlow, and on the west by Laoighis and Offaly. The River Liffey forms a gorge at Pollaphuca

Susah

2005-03-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sousse, or Sousa, capital of Susah wilayah (governorate), central east Tunisia. The town, an important port and commercial centre, originated as the Phoenician settlement of Hadrumetum. It declined under Arab control but was revived by the Aghlabid rulers of al-Qayrawan (Kairouan) in the 9th century, whose port it remained until the invasions of the Bedouin Arabs in the 11th century. Reestablished

Biblical Literature, Arabic versions

2005-03-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

There is no reliable evidence of any pre-Islamic Arabic translation. Only when large Jewish and Christian communities found themselves under Muslim rule after the Arab conquests of the 7th century did the need for an Arabic vernacular Scripture arise. The first and most important was that of Sa'adia ben Joseph (892–942), made directly from Hebrew and written in Hebrew script,

Nagasaki

2005-03-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

Capital and largest city, Nagasaki ken (prefecture), western Kyushu, Japan, at the mouth of the Urakami-gawa (Urakami River) where it empties into Nagasaki-ko (Nagasaki Harbour). The harbour is composed of a narrow, deep-cut bay, formed at the meeting point of Nomo-saki (Cape Nomo; south) and Nishisonoki-hanto (Nishisonoki Peninsula; northwest). The city is shaped like an amphitheatre,

Burgh Family

2005-03-13T01:58:00.000-08:00

Originally Burgo, also spelled Bourke, Burke, a historic Anglo-Irish family associated with Connaught. Its founder was William de Burgo, of a knightly family from eastern England; he and his descendants were granted much of Connaught in the late 12th century, and his grandson Walter was also granted Ulster. Although Walter's great-grandson, William, left no male heir, his kinsmen succeeded in holding the bulk of the

Aldrich, Bess Genevra Streeter

2005-03-13T01:41:00.000-08:00

Bess Streeter graduated from Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in 1901 and then taught school for five years. In 1907 she married Charles S. Aldrich. From an early age she had been

Price Maintenance

2005-03-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

Also called resale price maintenance measures taken by manufacturers or distributors to control the resale prices of their products charged by resellers. The practice is more effective in retail sales than at other levels of marketing. Only a few types of goods have come under such controls, the leading examples being drugs and pharmaceuticals, books, photographic supplies, liquors, miscellaneous

Damascus, The Muslim city

2005-03-11T00:41:00.000-08:00

Damascus was the first great city of the ancient world that the Muslim Arab forces encountered. In 661, Mu'awiyah, the first Umayyad caliph, moved out of Arabia and established his court in the Syrian capital. The city was renowned for almost a century thereafter as the capital of a luxurious and extensive empire—the most far-reaching of any achieved by Islam. The principal

Ear, Human, Function of the ossicular chain

2005-03-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

In order for sound to be transmitted to the inner ear, the vibrations in the air must be changed to vibrations in the cochlear fluids. There is a challenge involved in this task that has to do with difference in impedance—the resistance to the passage of sound—between air and fluid. This difference, or mismatch, of impedances reduces the transmission of sound. The tympanic

Qa

2005-03-10T02:38:00.000-08:00

Also spelled qû or ka ancient Babylonian liquid measure equal to the volume of a cube whose dimensions are each one handbreadth (3.9 to 4 inches, or 9.9 to 10.2 cm) in length. The cube held one great mina (about 2 pounds, or 1 kg) of water by weight. Five qa made up a šiqlu, 100 qa equaled an imeru (donkey load), and 300 qa equaled a gur. The gur was the equivalent of about 80 U.S. gallons (302 litres).

Azuero Peninsula

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

Spanish Península De Azuero, physical region in southwestern Panama, protruding south into the Pacific Ocean between the Gulf of Panama to the east and the Gulf of Montijo to the west. It measures 60 miles (100 km) from east to west and 55 miles (90 km) from north to south. It attains a maximum elevation of 3,068 feet (935 m) at Mount Canajagua, southwest of Las Tablas. The main towns of the region are Chitré and Las Tablas, both

Baseball

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

The Yankees advanced to the World Series by defeating the Boston Red Sox 4 games to 1 in the American League Championship Series (ALCS). In the opener at New York, after being down 3–0, the Yankees rallied and won it 4–3 on Bernie Williams's leadoff home run in the 10th. The next day the Yankees again prevailed, this time by 3–2. Game three at Boston's Fenway Park was a much-awaited pitching

Scandinavian Literature, Prose

2005-03-07T00:45:00.000-08:00

Prose literature of the 14th century included several sagas. Among them were the Finnboga saga ramma (“Saga of Finnbogi the Strong”), about a 10th-century hero, and another telling the love story of its hero Víglundr. Sagas about bishops, already a theme in the 13th century, became more numerous, as did lives of foreign saints. A large collection of exempla (moral tales) was also made,

Pathum Thani

2005-03-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

Town and changwat (province) in the Central region of Thailand. The provincial capital, Pathum Thani town, is a rice-collecting and milling centre north of Bangkok on the west bank of the Mae Nam (river) Chao Phraya. The province, with an area of 589 sq mi (1,526 sq km), occupies the low, well-irrigated plains of the Chao Phraya and is intensively farmed in rice. Fishing is a secondary economic

Arabian Religion, North Arabia

2005-03-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

North Arabian gods are named for the first time in the annals of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Esarhaddon, in which he reports having returned to the oasis of Adumatu (Dumat al-Jandal) the idols previously confiscated as war booty by his father, Sennacherib. Among the gods named by Esarhaddon are 'Atarsamain, 'Atarquruma, Nukhay, and Ruldayu. Herodotus wrote that the Arabs

Hyde Park

2005-03-06T04:01:00.000-08:00

Town (township) and unincorporated village, Dutchess county, eastern New York, U.S. It lies on the east side of the Hudson River, 8 miles (13 km) north of Poughkeepsie and about 75 miles (121 km) north of New York City. Both the village (settled as Stoutenburgh in 1741) and town (formed in 1821) bear the name of a local estate honouring Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, who was governor of New York (1702–08). Primarily

Scholasticism

2005-03-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

But not all of Scholasticism is specifically medieval and therefore definitively belonging to the dead past; there are perennial elements that are meant for every age, the present one included, three of which may be here distinguished. First, not only has Scholasticism held true to the normal historical rule that ideas, once thought and expressed, remain present

Christianity, The tendency toward asceticism

2005-03-03T05:22:00.000-08:00

The proponents of an ascetic theology demanded exclusiveness of devotion by faithful Christians to Christ and deduced from it the demand of celibacy. This is found in arguments for the monastic life and in the Roman Catholic view of the priesthood. The radical-ascetic interpretation stands in constant tension with the positive understanding of Christian marriage.

Thomson, Sir J.j.

2005-03-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

In full Sir Joseph John Thomson English physicist who helped revolutionize the knowledge of atomic structure by his discovery of the electron (1897). He received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906 and was knighted in 1908.

Bulgaria, Slavic invasions

2005-03-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

The story of the modern Bulgarian people begins with the Slavic invasions of the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, a time when Byzantium was absorbed in prolonged conflict with Persia and could not resist the incursions from the north. Ancient sources refer to two Slavic tribes north of the Danube at this time, the Slavenae and the Antae. Evidence suggests

Dental Auxiliary

2005-03-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

Person qualified by training and experience to perform dental work under the direction and supervision of a dentist. Some of these auxiliary persons work directly for the dentist in his own office; others work in a separate office or laboratory, where they perform services to the dentist on the basis of work authorizations or prescriptions. There are three principal

Epistemology, Cause and effect

2005-02-28T15:29:00.000-08:00

Although people gain much information from their impressions, most matters of fact depend upon reasoning about causes and effects, even though people do not directly experience causal relations. What, then, are causal relations? According to Hume they have three components: contiguity of time and place, temporal priority of the cause, and constant conjunction.

Papp, László

2005-02-28T02:24:00.000-08:00

Papp, a former railway clerk, competed as a middleweight (161 pounds [73 kg]) at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. A hard-hitting left-hander, he won the first of his gold medals by defeating Britain's John Wright in the final match. In 1952, when the

Margam

2005-02-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

Locality, Neath Port Talbot county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), Wales. Situated inland of the sandy Margam Burrows at the base of the peaks Mynydd Margam and Moel Ton-mawr, the community of Margam developed around a Cistercian abbey founded by Robert, earl of Gloucester, in 1147. Margam Abbey was a prominent cultural and educational centre until its

Mosaic Rhyme

2005-02-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

A type of multiple rhyme in which a single multisyllabic word is made to rhyme with two or more words, as in the end rhymes of the following two lines from W.S. Gilbert's song “The Modern Major-General”: About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news, With interesting facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Estado Novo

2005-02-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

In the election campaign of 1937 Vargas warned of a threatened Communist coup d'état and declared a 90-day state of emergency, issuing the Estado Novo. The

Christianity, Eschatological expectations and secularization

2005-02-25T03:19:00.000-08:00

In the eyes of some theologians, the very process of secularization, which progressively rules out transcendent explanations of natural and historical conditions, has been a working out of a form of eschatological expectation. Of course, the substance is quite different in the cases where people work in expectation of the Kingdom of God and in the other cases where

Yala

2005-02-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

Town, extreme southern Thailand. Yala is a modern commercial centre on the Pattani River, which flows north into the Gulf of Thailand. The town is also located on the Bangkok-Singapore railway and the Pattani–George Town (Penang [Malaysia]) highway. The population includes Thai Muslims, Malay Muslims, and Chinese. The region is heavily planted in rubber. Nearby caves contain

Aldridge, Ira Frederick

2005-02-24T03:09:00.000-08:00

Accounts of his life in the United States are conflicting. The great British-American actor James William Wallack is believed to have engaged him as a personal attendant while on a passage from the United States to England, where Aldridge established himself

Athenodorus Cananites

2005-02-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Athenodorus Son Of Sandon Greek Stoic philosopher who was the teacher of the younger Octavian, who later became the emperor Augustus. He is to be distinguished from Athenodorus Cordylion, also a Stoic, who became keeper of the library in Pergamum. Athenodorus acquired a lasting influence over Octavian and probably followed him to Rome in 44 BC, later returning

Pavarotti, Luciano

2005-02-23T14:52:00.000-08:00

Pavarotti graduated from a teaching institute in Modena (1955) and then taught elementary school for two years. He studied opera privately, mostly in Mantua. After winning the Concorso Internationale, a singing competition, he made his professional operatic debut

Armstrong, John

2005-02-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

Armstrong fought in the American Revolution (1775–83) and, as an officer in the Continental Army, was apparently the author of the Newburgh Addresses attacking Congress. After

Epirus

2005-02-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Ípiros, coastal region of northwestern Greece and southern Albania. It extends from Valona Bay (Gji i Vlorës) in Albania (northwest) to the Gulf of Arta (southeast); its hinterland extends eastward to the watershed of the Pindus Mountains. The nomoi (departments) of Árta, Ioánnina, Préveza (qq.v.), and Thesprotía make up the Greek part of Epirus. The Pindus Mountains separate Epirus

Farinati, Paolo

2005-02-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

Farinati's father, Giovanni Battista, was also a painter and may have been his first master; later he probably worked under Nicolò Giolfino. Farinati was active almost entirely in Verona. According to Carlo Ridolfi, a Madonna painted by Farinati attracted the

China, General works

2005-02-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

Denis Twitchett and John K. Fairbank (eds.), The Cambridge History of China (1978– ), will be the standard multivolume reference work for all aspects of Chinese history when it is completed. The following are comprehensive works: John K. Fairbank, China: A New History (1992), covering the span from paleolithic cultures to the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989, with an excellent bibliography; Wolfram Eberhard, A History of China, 4th ed. (1977, reissued 1987; originally published in German, 1948); John K. Fairbank and Edwin O. Reischauer, China: Tradition and Transformation, rev. ed. (1989); Otto Franke, Geschichte des chinesischen Reiches, 2nd ed., 5 vol. (1948–65); Jacques Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization (1982; originally published in French, 1972), a detailed survey of China's intellectual, social, and economic history from the neolithic cultures up to the Cultural Revolution of 1966; Charles O. Hucker, China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture (1975), to 1850; and John Meskill (ed.), An Introduction to Chinese Civilization (1973), which includes a survey of Chinese history and ten essays on such aspects of Chinese civilization as anthropology, economy, geography, and religion, among others.

Gneist, Rudolf Von

2005-02-20T15:11:00.000-08:00

The son of a supreme court judge, he studied at Berlin University

Joule, James Prescott

2005-02-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

Joule studied with the

Canterbury

2005-02-18T04:58:00.000-08:00

Local government region, east-central South Island, New Zealand, centred on the Canterbury Plains. The region borders the Pacific Ocean to the east and extends southward from the vicinity of Kaikoura to the Waitaki River and includes the city of Christchurch and Banks Peninsula. Canterbury's area also stretches westward to include the eastern slopes of the Southern

Van Dine, S.s.

2005-02-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Wright was educated at St. Vincent and Pomona colleges in California, at Harvard University, and in Munich and Paris. Pursuing a career as a writer, Wright became literary editor of the

Aerospace Engineering

2005-02-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

The aerospace engineer is armed with an extensive background suitable for employment in most positions traditionally occupied by mechanical engineers as well as limited positions in the other various engineering disciplines. The transportation, construction, communication, and energy industries provide the most opportunities for non-aerospace

Yerkes, Charles Tyson

2005-02-16T00:33:00.000-08:00

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

Ca Mau Peninsula

2005-02-15T01:23:00.000-08:00

Peninsula, the southernmost projection of Vietnam, lying between the South China Sea on the east and the Gulf of Thailand on the west, with drainage to each. The flat, triangular peninsula, with lengths ranging from 110 to 130 miles (180 to 210 km), averages about 7 feet (2 m) above sea level and owes its configuration largely to shore deposits of the Mekong River, which are also responsible

Earth, Measurement of gravitational acceleration

2005-02-14T23:01:00.000-08:00

For the study of the shape of the geoid or of large-scale structures in the Earth, values of g are required with a precision of one milligal or better. This implies a measurement accurate to one part in 106 of g itself. For more local studies, as in the use of gravity measurements for geophysical petroleum and mineral prospecting and for the study of the tidal variation of g at

Barat, Saint Madeleine-sophie

2005-02-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

Born of peasant stock, Madeleine was expertly tutored by her brother Louis, deacon and master. After the French Revolution, she went to Paris with Louis, who had become a priest. His superior, Joseph Varin, appointed Madeleine to head an educational order dedicated

Polar Coordinates

2005-02-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

System of locating points in a plane with reference to a fixed point (origin) and an axis through that point. The coordinates are written (r,q), in which r is the distance from the origin to any desired point and q is the angle made by the vector r and the axis. A simple relationship exists between Cartesian coordinates given in terms of two reference axes (x,y) and the polar coordinates

Arabia, History Of

2005-02-12T09:43:00.000-08:00

Some time after the rise of Islam in the first quarter of the 7th century AD and the emergence of the Arabian Muslims as the founders of one of the great empires of history, the name “'Arab” came to be used by these Muslims themselves and by the nations with whom they came in contact to indicate all people of Arabian

China, Population distribution

2005-02-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Because of complex natural conditions, the population of China is quite unevenly distributed. Population density varies strikingly, with the greatest contrast occurring between the eastern half of China and the lands of the west and the northwest. Exceptionally high population densities occur in the Yangtze Delta, in the Pearl River Delta, and on the Ch'eng-tu

Ubangi River

2005-02-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Oubangui, largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River, marking the border between Congo (Kinshasa) and Congo (Brazzaville). The Ubangi is formed by the union (near Yakoma, Congo [Kinshasa], on the border of the Central African Republic) of the Bomu and Uele (Welle) rivers, and it then flows west for about 350 miles (560 km). It bends northeast of Bangui and flows a somewhat longer distance southwest.

Macchiaioli

2005-02-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Group of 19th-century Florentine and Neopolitan painters who reacted against the rule-bound Italian academies of art and looked to nature for instruction. The Macchiaioli felt that patches (Italian: macchia) of colour were the most significant aspect of painting. They believed that the effect of a painting on the spectator should derive from the painted

Powdery Mildew

2005-02-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

A superficial, white or light gray, powdery to

China, Incipient Neolithic

2005-02-07T22:54:00.000-08:00

Study of the historical reduction of the size of human teeth suggests that the first human beings to eat cooked food did so in South China. The southern sites of Hsien-jen-tung in Kiangsi and Tseng-p'i-yen in Kwangsi have yielded artifacts from the 10th to the 7th millennium BC that include low-fired, cord-marked sherds with some incised decoration and mostly chipped stone

Computers, The first computer

2005-02-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

By the second decade of the 19th century, a number of ideas necessary for the invention of the computer were in the air. First, the potential benefits to science and industry of being able to automate routine calculations was appreciated, as it had not been a century earlier. Specific methods to make automated calculation more practical, such as doing multiplication

Olaf Iv Haakonsson

2005-02-07T14:33:00.000-08:00

After Valdemar's death in 1375, Olaf was elected (1376) king of Denmark and succeeded his father as king of Norway in 1380. The government of Norway was conducted by a state council, but power was largely in the hands of Olaf's mother, who planned to unite

Tigray

2005-02-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

Tigray contains the core of the ancient Aksumite kingdom and the

Fernandes, álvaro

2005-02-06T05:56:00.000-08:00

In 1445 Fernandes' uncle, João Gonçalves Zarco, also an explorer, furnished him with a caravel on condition that he devote himself to exploration. Fernandes joined the prince's fleet bound for Arguin Island (now in Mauritania) but sailed farther to the mouth of the Sénégal River.

Chiang-men

2005-02-05T04:43:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Jiangmen, also called Kongmoon, city in central Kwangtung sheng (province), China. The city is situated on the west bank of the main channel of the Hsi River, at the southwest corner of the Canton Delta, some 45 miles (70 km) from Canton. It has excellent waterway communications and is the chief collecting centre and agricultural market for the coastal region west of Canton. Chiang-men was opened as a treaty

Ear, Human, Semicircular canals

2005-02-04T03:31:00.000-08:00

The three semicircular canals of the bony labyrinth are designated, according to their position, superior, horizontal, and posterior (Figure 3). The superior and posterior canals are in diagonal vertical planes that intersect at right angles. Each canal has an expanded end, the ampulla, which opens into the vestibule. The ampullae of the horizontal and superior canals

Sabatier, Paul

2005-02-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

Sabatier studied at the École Normale

Balbuena, Bernardo De

2005-02-02T23:39:00.000-08:00

Balbuena, taken to Mexico as a child, studied there and in Spain. Returning to the New World, he held minor church offices in Jamaica (1608) and became bishop of Puerto Rico (1620), remaining

Wage And Salary

2005-02-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

The purchasing-power theory of wages involves the relation between wages and employment and the business cycle and is not, therefore, a theory of wage determination. It stresses the importance of spending through consumption and investment as an influence upon the activity of the economy. The theory gained prominence during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when

Costigan, Edward Prentiss

2005-02-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

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

Baba-yaga

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

Also called Baba-jaga, in Russian folklore, an ogress who steals, cooks, and eats her victims, usually children. A guardian of the fountains of the water of life, she lives with two or three sisters (all known as Baba-Yaga) in a forest hut which spins continually on birds' legs; her fence is topped with human skulls. Baba-Yaga can ride through the air—in an iron kettle or in a mortar that she drives with

Ovary

2005-01-31T11:11:00.000-08:00

A simple or unicarpellate ovary is formed from a single carpel, an evolutionarily modified leaf. It has one chamber (locule), within

Yablonitsky Pass

2005-01-31T00:04:00.000-08:00

Russian Pereval Yablonitsky, also spelled Pereval Jablonickij, pass in the outer eastern Carpathians of western Ukraine, an important route connecting the rest of the republic with the isolated Zakarpatskaya oblast (administrative region) and with northeastern Romania. The southern portion of the pass is formed by the valley of the Tisa River, and the northern section contains the headwaters of the Prut. The head of the pass

Water Glass

2005-01-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

Also called Sodium Silicate, or Soluble Glass, crystal-like lumps that range from colourless to white or grayish white and resemble glass but can be dissolved in water to form a syrupy liquid. Some forms are slightly soluble, and some are almost insoluble; they are best dissolved by heating with water under pressure. A little water dissolves water glass more readily than much water does. The solutions are strongly

Rifleman

2005-01-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

A New Zealand wren of the family Xenicidae (q.v.).

Rickey, Branch

2005-01-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

Rickey started his professional playing career while studying at Ohio Wesleyan University, spent two seasons (1906–07) in the American

Tunisia, Relief and drainage

2005-01-28T01:55:00.000-08:00

Tunisia is characterized by moderate relief. The Tunisian Dorsal, or High Tell, a southwest-to-northeast mountain range that is an extension of the Saharan Atlas (Atlas Saharien) of Algeria, tapers off in the direction of the Cape Bon peninsula in the northeast, south of the Gulf of Tunis. The highest mountain, Mount ash-Sha'nabi (Djebel Chambi), located near the centre of

Mammal, Respiratory system

2005-01-27T15:07:00.000-08:00

Closely coupled with the circulatory system is the ventilatory (breathing) apparatus, the lungs and associated structures. Ventilation in mammals is unique. The lungs themselves are less efficient than those of birds, for air movement consists of an ebb and flow, rather than a one-way circuit, so a residuum of air remains that cannot be expired. Ventilation in mammals

Novokuybyshevsk

2005-01-27T01:03:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Novokujbyševsk, or Novokuibyshevsk, city, Samara oblast (province), western Russia, near the Volga River. It was founded in 1948 in connection with the development of the oil industry and received city status in 1952. Novokuybyshevsk is situated amid the Volga-Urals oil field and has oil refining, petrochemicals, and associated industries. Synthetic alcohol, synthetic rubber, and plastics are also manufactured.

Polk, James K.

2005-01-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

During his campaign Polk surprised the country by taking a positive stand on two burning issues of the day. Whereas other candidates hedged on the question of whether to annex Texas, which had been independent of Mexico since 1836, he demanded annexation. Whereas other candidates evaded the problem of joint occupancy of Oregon with England, he openly laid claim to the whole territory that extended as far north as latitude 54°40¢ with the campaign slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight.” His election was close, but it was decisive—a popular plurality of about 38,000 votes and 170 electoral votes against 105 for Clay.

Olmütz, Punctation Of

2005-01-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

German Olmützer Punktation (Nov. 29, 1850), agreement signed at Olmütz (Olomouc, Moravia, in modern Czech Republic) between Prussia and Austria that regulated those two powers' relations. The development leading up to the punctation was triggered when the elector of Hesse in the autumn of 1850 appealed for help against his rebellious subjects; both Austria and Prussia sent troops in response, and these threatened

Dysentery

2005-01-24T09:11:00.000-08:00

There are two major types of dysentery: bacillary and amebic, caused, respectively, by bacteria and amoebas. Bacillary dysentery, or shigellosis, is caused by bacilli of the genus Shigella. Symptomatically,

Botticelli, Sandro

2005-01-24T06:07:00.000-08:00

Original name Alessandro Di Mariano Filipepi one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance. His “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.

Montfaucon, Bernard De

2005-01-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

He joined the Benedictine Congregation of Saint-Maur in 1676 and in 1687 was sent to Paris to edit the works of the Church Fathers. His major publications in this field were editions of Athanasius, 3 vol. (1698) and John Chrysostom, 13 vol. (1718–38). As a student of manuscripts

China, The Wu-tai (Five Dynasties)

2005-01-22T05:25:00.000-08:00

None of the Wu-tai regimes that dominated North China ever forgot the ideal of the unified empire. Each sought, with gradually increasing success, to strengthen the power of the central authorities. Even Chu Wen, who began the Wu-tai by deposing the last T'ang emperor in 907, sought to extend his control in the north. While consolidating his strength on the strategic plains

Marsa Al-burayqah

2005-01-21T23:46:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Marsa El-brega, Mediterranean port on the Gulf of Sidra, northeastern Libya. The site, which was located by a small fishing village destroyed during World War II, contained nothing but land mines when it was chosen as the terminal for Libya's first oil pipeline, running from Zaltan, 105 miles (169 km) south. After 1960 a new port and town were built from prefabricated materials, including breakwaters

Tanzania, Early exploration

2005-01-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

Most of the known history of Tanganyika before the 19th century concerns the coastal area, although the interior has a number of important prehistoric sites, including the Olduvai Gorge. Trading contacts between Arabia and the East African coast existed by the 1st century AD, and there are indications of connections with India. The coastal trading centres were mainly

Mckay, Donald

2005-01-20T08:47:00.000-08:00

After emigrating to New York City in 1827, he worked as an apprentice to the ship carpenter Isaac Webb. In 1845 he established a shipyard at East Boston, Mass.; there he designed and built his great clipper ships. His first, the Stag Hound, launched in 1850, was

Gyllenstierna, Johan, Greve

2005-01-18T04:38:00.000-08:00

From the beginning of his career (at the Riksdag, or Parliament, of 1660), Gyllenstierna advocated a strong royal authority and opposition to the nobles of the Riksråd (Council of the Realm). During Charles XI's minority, an opposition group in the regency and in the council

United States, Madison as president and the War of 1812

2005-01-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

In historical retrospect, the most important aspect of the peace settlement was an agreement to set up a boundary commission for the Canadian border, which could thenceforth be left unguarded. It was not the end of Anglo-American hostility, but the agreement marked the advent of an era of mutual trust. The conclusion of the War of 1812, which has sometimes been called the Second War of American Independence, marked a historical cycle. It resulted in a pacification of the old feelings of pain and resentment against Great Britain and her people—still for many Americans a kind of paternal relationship. And, by freeing them of anxieties on this front, it also freed Americans to look to the west.

Wright, Benjamin

2005-01-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

He was trained as a surveyor in his youth, and, after his family moved to the vicinity of Rome, N.Y., in 1789, Wright surveyed about 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) for farmers

Thompson River

2005-01-16T03:12:00.000-08:00

Major tributary of the Fraser River, in southern British Columbia, Canada. The North Thompson (210 miles [340 km]) rises in the Cariboo Mountains east of Wells Gray Provincial Park and follows an easterly then southwesterly course to Kamloops; the South Thompson (206 miles) emerges from Shuswap Lake and flows northwesterly to Kamloops (see photograph), where the two streams unite

Internationale, L'

2005-01-16T01:24:00.000-08:00

About 1871 a Parisian transport worker, Eugène Pottier, wrote the words (as a poem), which begin, “Debout, les damnés de la terre” (“Arise, the wretched of the earth”) and acclaim, “Nous n'étions rien—donc, soyons tout!” (“We were