ChemicalPig

Robert Irving Burns Property Consultants

2006-11-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

Robert Irving Burns has been established for over 40 years and is an independent partnership, who specialise in a full range of property services. These include commercial property
and commercial offices as well as property to let london. Whilst my business partner and I were looking for Offices, we found Rib’s expertise invaluable.

Astronomical Map

2005-04-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

Any cartographic representation of the stars, galaxies, or surfaces of the planets and the Moon. Modern maps of this kind are based on a coordinate system analagous to geographic latitude and longitude. In most cases, modern maps are compiled from photographic observations made either with Earth-based equipment or with instruments carried aboard

Codreanu, Corneliu (zelea)

2005-04-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Early exposed to anti-Semitism, Codreanu participated widely in anticommunist and anti-Semitic activities during his university years at Iasi (1919–22). In 1922 he helped found the Association of Christian Students, which, from

Atlas

2005-04-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

In Greek mythology, son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene (or Asia) and brother of Prometheus (creator of mankind). In the works of Homer, Atlas seems to have been a marine creation who supported the pillars that held heaven and earth apart. These were thought to rest in the sea immediately beyond the most western horizon, but later the name of Atlas was transferred

Biblical Literature, Textual criticism

2005-04-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

Textual criticism is concerned with the basic task of establishing, as far as possible, the original text of the documents on the basis of the available materials. For the Old Testament, until 1947, these materials consisted principally of: (1) Hebrew manuscripts dated from the 9th century AD onward, the Masoretic text, the traditional Jewish text with its vocalization and punctuation

Osborne, Dorothy, Lady Temple

2005-04-01T14:11:00.000-08:00

English gentlewoman best known for the letters she wrote to her future husband, William Temple, before their marriage. The letters are simply written in an easy, conversational style and present an interesting picture of the life of a young English gentlewoman in the Commonwealth period

Kellermann, François-christophe, Duc (duke) De Valmy

2005-04-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Born into a family of the judicial nobility, Kellermann became an officer in the French Army in 1752. He fought with distinction against the Prussians and British during the Seven Years' War (1756–63) and was subsequently

Procedural Law

2005-03-31T16:37:00.000-08:00

Also called adjective law the law governing the machinery of the courts and the methods by which both the state and the individual (the latter including societies, whether incorporated or not) enforce their rights in the several courts. It prescribes the means of enforcing rights or providing redress of wrongs and comprises rules relative to jurisdiction, pleading and practice, evidence,

Amphipolis

2005-03-31T09:28:00.000-08:00

Ancient Greek city on the Strymon (Strimón) River about three miles from the Aegean Sea, in Macedonia. A strategic transportation centre, it controlled the bridge over the Strymon and the route from northern Greece to the Hellespont, including the western approach to the timber, gold, and silver of Mount Pangaeum in Thrace. Originally a Thracian town (Ennea Hodoi, “Nine

Shiba Kokan

2005-03-31T02:31:00.000-08:00

Kokan studied painting first with a teacher of the Kano school, in which Chinese themes and techniques were stressed, and then took

Priestley, Joseph

2005-03-29T20:28:00.000-08:00

English clergyman, political theorist, and physical scientist whose work contributed to advances in liberal political and religious thought and in experimental chemistry. He is best remembered for his contribution to the chemistry of

Qu Qiubai

2005-03-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization Ch'ü Ch'iu-pai, original name (Wade–Giles) Ch'u Shuang, also called Sung Yang prominent leader and, on occasions in the 1920s and early 1930s, head of the Chinese Communist Party. In addition to being a political activist, he is considered one of the most important literary figures of 20th-century China. In the People's Republic of China today, Qu, who was an early mentor of Mao Zedong, is honoured as one

Ganda

2005-03-28T06:57:00.000-08:00

Also called Baganda, or Waganda, people inhabiting the area north and northwest of Lake Victoria in south-central Uganda. They speak a Bantu language—called Ganda, or Luganda—of the Benue-Congo group. The Ganda are the most numerous people in Uganda and their territory the most productive and fertile. Once the core of the Uganda Protectorate, they have a higher standard of living and are more literate

Stegner, Wallace

2005-03-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

Stegner grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, and in several western states.

Dragasani, Battle Of

2005-03-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

(June 19, 1821), military engagement in which the Ottoman Turks defeated the forces of the Greek revolutionary society Philikí Etaireía and ended the first insurrection of the Greek War of Independence. Intending to overthrow Ottoman rule in the Balkans and to establish an independent Greek state, Philikí Etaireía sent the Sacred Battalion, under Alexander Ypsilantis,

Suckling

2005-03-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

In mammals, the drawing of milk into the mouth from the nipple or teat of a mammary gland (i.e., breast or udder). In human beings suckling is also referred to as nursing, or breast-feeding. Suckling is the method by which newborn mammals are nourished; it may last only 10–12 days, as in some rodents, or up to two years, as in the walrus. Milk composition may alter during the growth period,

Mecca, Public utilities

2005-03-25T15:44:00.000-08:00

Mecca depends upon the surrounding wadis for drinking water. The waters of 'Ayn Zubaydah (Zubaydah Spring), built in the 8th century, flow through tunnels from Wadi Nu'man, about 20 miles to the southwest. 'Ayn al-'Aziziyah sends its waters through pipelines from Wadi ash-Shamiyah, about 60 miles to the northeast. Water and electricity have reached almost all houses. Electricity is generated

Gambia, Flag Of The

2005-03-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

The British Parliament's Colonial Naval Defence Act of 1865 provided that the British Blue Ensign would be “defaced” by a badge for each government department or colony making use of it. These distinctive ensigns became de facto national flags even before the colonies achieved independence. In the case of The Gambia, the badge in question was a yellow disk bearing an elephant

O'flaherty, Liam

2005-03-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

O'Flaherty abandoned his training

Oranjestad

2005-03-23T00:34:00.000-08:00

Seaport and chief administrative centre of the Caribbean island of Aruba, located on the island's western coast. It is a free port and a petroleum-processing and shipping centre. The enclosed harbour, with two basins, has modern cargo-handling and fueling equipment. Oranjestad has brightly coloured buildings, fine residential sections, and a modern sports arena,

Boil

2005-03-22T22:21:00.000-08:00

Also called Furuncle, or Furunculosis, a staphylococcus skin infection characterized by an inflamed nodular swelling filled with pus, located at the site of a hair follicle. The lesion is painful and feels hard to the touch; healing begins after the pus is discharged. Boils are usually located in hairy body areas exposed to friction and maceration, such as the back of the neck, the face, armpits, buttocks,

Ogre-faced Spider

2005-03-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

Any member of the family Dinopidae (or Deinopidae; order Araneida). One pair of eyes is unusually large, producing an ogrelike appearance. The spiders occur throughout the tropics. One genus, Dinopis, the net-casting spider, carries a web that is thrown over prey.

Li Ka-shing

2005-03-21T02:59:00.000-08:00

Topping Asiaweek magazine's 2000 list of Asia's 50 most powerful people was Li Ka-shing, a billionaire who took “old economy” money and parlayed it into a “new economy” juggernaut. Nicknamed “Superman” by the regional media because of his uncanny ability to pull off a succession of profitable deals, Li inspired loyalty among stockholders, who had come to expect every Li-inspired

Chelmsford

2005-03-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

Remains of the Roman settlement of Caesaromagus have been discovered in the locality. In 1227 Chelmsford town became the regular seat of the county judicial gatherings known as assizes and quarter

Neap Tide

2005-03-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

Tide of minimal range occurring near the time when the Moon and the Sun are in quadrature. This condition is geometrically defined as the time at which the line from the Earth to the Moon is at right angles to the line from the Earth to the Sun. Thus, the tide-producing effects of the Sun and the Moon cancel each other, and tidal ranges are usually 10 to 30 percent less than the

Silane

2005-03-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Silicon Hydride, any of a series of covalently bonded compounds containing only the elements silicon and hydrogen, having the general formula SinH2n + 2, in which n equals 1, 2, 3, and so on. The silanes are structural analogues of the saturated hydrocarbons but are much less stable. The term silane is extended to include compounds in which any or all of the hydrogen atoms have been replaced by

Azhar University, Al-

2005-03-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Chief centre of Islamic and Arabic learning in the world, centred on the mosque of that name in the medieval quarter of Cairo, Egypt. It was founded by the Fatimids in AD 970 and was formally organized by 988. The basic program of studies was, and still is, Islamic law, theology, and the Arabic language. Late in the European Middle Ages philosophy and medicine were added to the curriculum,

Fact, Theatre Of

2005-03-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

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

Ma River

2005-03-18T21:46:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese Song Ma river, northern Vietnam, one of the longest of the region, rising in the northwest. It flows southeastward through Laos for about 50 miles (80 km), cutting gorges through uplands to reach the plains region at which northern Vietnam begins to narrow. The river enters the Gulf of Tonkin, 65 miles (105 km) south of Hanoi, after a course of 250 miles (400 km). Like the Red River (Song Hong) to the north, it

Naval Ship, World War I

2005-03-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

The airplane had just begun to go to sea on the eve of World War I. In November 1910 the American scout cruiser USS Birmingham launched the first airplane ever to take off from a ship, and two months later a plane was landed on an improvised flight deck built onto the armoured cruiser USS Pennsylvania. In 1913 a British cruiser, HMS Hermes, was converted to carry aircraft. In 1916, flying-off

Ahmad Musa

2005-03-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

Painter active at the court of the Il Khans at Tabriz. He is said to have learned painting from his father and to have “drawn the veil from the face of painting and invented the art of the Persian miniature.” He was active under Abu Sa'id (ruled 1316–35), the last of the Mongol sultans in fact as well as name. He illustrated a Kalila wa Dimna (book of animal fables)

'amir, 'abd Al-hakim

2005-03-16T05:28:00.000-08:00

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

Dielectric

2005-03-15T03:28:00.000-08:00

Insulating material or a very poor conductor of electric current. When dielectrics are placed in an electric field, practically no current flows in them because, unlike metals, they have no loosely bound, or free, electrons that may drift through the material. Instead, electric polarization occurs. The positive charges within the dielectric are displaced minutely

Buddhism, Sautrantika/Satyasiddhi

2005-03-15T01:10:00.000-08:00

The Sautrantika school is so named (sutra plus anta, “end”) because it gave preeminence to the sutra portion of the canon. Its followers trace their school back to Ananda, a close disciple of the Buddha. For them, the karmic factors (samskara) are insubstantial and momentary, disappearing as soon as they have been manifested only to reappear again to give rise to a new aggregate.

Châteauroux, Marie-anne De Mailly-nesle, Duchess (duchesse) De

2005-03-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

The fifth daughter of Louis de Mailly, Marquis de Nesle, Marie-Anne was married in 1734 to the Marquis de La Tournelle, who died in 1740. Her eldest sister, Louise-Julie, Countess de Mailly, had been Louis XV's mistress from

Howell, James

2005-03-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

Anglo-Welsh writer known for his Epistolae Ho-Elianae, 4 vol. (1645–55), early and lively essays in letter form. Though vividly recording contemporary phenomena, they lack historical reliability because of plagiarizing and the addition of fictitious dates—despite the author's position as historiographer royal, a post

War, Law Of

2005-03-13T19:41:00.000-08:00

That part of international law dealing with the inception, conduct, and termination of warfare. Its aim is to limit the suffering caused to combatants and, more particularly, to those who may be described as the victims of war—that is, noncombatant civilians and those no longer able to take part in hostilities. Thus, the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked, and prisoners

Epistemology, Knowledge and certainty

2005-03-13T03:12:00.000-08:00

The relationship between knowledge and certainty is complex, and there is considerable disagreement about the matter. Are these concepts the same? If not, how do they differ? Is it possible for someone to know that p without being certain that p? Is it possible for someone to be certain that p without knowing that p? These are the central issues around which the debate

Cosby, Bill

2005-03-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

Cosby left high school without earning his diploma and joined the U.S. Navy in 1956. While enlisted he passed a high school equivalency exam, and after his discharge he received an athletic scholarship to Temple

Rackham, Arthur

2005-03-12T09:07:00.000-08:00

Reared in London, Rackham enrolled in evening classes at the Lambeth School of Art in 1884 and spent seven years studying there while also working full-time in an insurance office. While a staff artist for a newspaper, the Westminster

Biblical Literature, Roman occupation and Jewish revolts

2005-03-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

In AD 66–70 there was a Jewish revolt while Nero was emperor of Rome (54–68). When he died and was succeeded by Vespasian, his former army commander (69–79), the siege and final destruction of Jerusalem occurred (AD 70). Before this event, Jewish Christians had fled, perhaps to Pella, and Yohanan ben Zakkai, a leading Jewish rabbi, with a group of rabbinical scholars, fled to Yavneh, where they established

Malawi

2005-03-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Malawi , formerly Nyasaland landlocked country in southeastern Africa. A country of spectacular highlands and extensive lakes, it occupies a narrow, curving strip of land along the East African Rift Valley. Stretching about 520 miles (840 kilometres) from north to south, it has a width varying from 5 to 100 miles and is bordered by Tanzania to the north, Mozambique to the east and south, and Zambia to the

Bacillite

2005-03-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

In geology, a type of crystallite (q.v.).

Nixon, Pat

2005-03-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

Richard Nixon was forced to resign as president for his involvement in the Watergate affair, and on August 9, 1974, the Nixons retired, first to California and then to New Jersey. She died of lung cancer in 1993 at her New Jersey home and was buried at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California.

Kama

2005-03-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

In the mythology of India, the god of love. During the Vedic age, he personified cosmic desire, or the creative impulse, and is called the first-born of the primeval chaos that makes all later creation possible. In later periods he is depicted as a handsome youth, attended by heavenly nymphs, who shoots love-producing flower-arrows. His bow is of sugarcane, his bowstring

Aschersleben

2005-03-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

City, Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), Germany. It is situated on the northern edge of the Unter Harz (Lower Harz) Mountains, southwest of Magdeburg. Probably founded in the 11th century, it was chartered in 1266 and was the ancestral seat of the Ascanians, an influential German family who derived their name (Latinized) from the town. It passed to the bishops of Halberstadt in 1315 and Brandenburg

Molecule

2005-03-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

The division of a sample of a substance into progressively smaller parts produces no change in either its composition or its chemical properties until parts consisting of single molecules are reached. Further

Resheph

2005-03-09T04:18:00.000-08:00

Ancient West Semitic god of the plague and of the underworld, the companion of Anath, and the equivalent of the Babylonian god Nergal. He was also a war god and was thus represented as a bearded man brandishing an ax, holding a shield, and wearing a tall, pointed headdress with a goat's or gazelle's head on his forehead. Resheph was worshiped especially at Ras Shamra, Byblos,

Grubenmann, Hans Ulrich; And Grubenmann, Johannes

2005-03-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

Swiss carpenters and bridge builders whose bridge (1758) over the Limmat River at the town of Wettingen, near Zürich, is believed to be the first timber bridge to employ a true arch in its design. The brothers' ingenious combination of the arch and truss principles made it possible to construct longer and better timber bridges

Mercator Projection

2005-03-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

Type of map projection introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. It is often described as a cylindrical projection, but it must be derived mathematically. The meridians are equally spaced, parallel vertical lines, and the parallels of latitude are parallel, horizontal straight lines, spaced farther and farther apart as their distance from the Equator increases. This

Cloaca

2005-03-06T21:05:00.000-08:00

(Latin: “sewer”), in vertebrates, common chamber and outlet into which the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts open. It is present in amphibians, reptiles, birds, elasmobranch fishes (such as sharks), and monotremes. A cloaca is not present in placental mammals or in most bony fishes. Certain animals have, within the cloaca, an accessory organ (penis) that is used to direct

France, History Of, The Jacobin dictatorship

2005-03-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

The Convention consolidated its revolutionary government in the Law of 14 Frimaire Year II (Dec. 4, 1793; for a discussion of the Revolutionary calendar, see below). To organize the Revolution, to promote confidence and compliance, efficiency and control, this law centralized authority in a parliamentary dictatorship, with the Committee of Public Safety at the helm. The committee

Backhaus, Wilhelm

2005-03-05T14:47:00.000-08:00

Backhaus studied piano in Leipzig and in Frankfurt am Main. His first concert appearance took place when he was eight years of age, and in 1905 he won the Rubinstein prize in Paris. He held teaching appointments at the Royal Manchester College

Bute

2005-03-05T03:20:00.000-08:00

Island, Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Buteshire, Scotland. It is the most important of a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean inlet known as the Firth of Clyde. It is separated from the mainland by the Kyles of Bute, a narrow winding strait. To the south the Sound of Bute separates Bute from the larger island of Arran. Bute is about 15 miles (24 km) long and covers

Caribbean Current

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

Powerful surface oceanic current passing west through the Caribbean Sea, then north through the Yucatán Channel, and finally east out the Straits of Florida to form the Florida Current. The warm Caribbean Current, derived from the junction of the North Equatorial Current and the Guiana Current, flows at an average rate in the range of 38 to 43 cm (15 to 17 inches) per second and

Sibelius, Jean

2005-03-04T07:48:00.000-08:00

Sibelius studied at the Finnish Normal School, the first Finnish-speaking school in Russian-held Finland, where he came into contact with Finnish literature and in particular with the Kalevala, the mythological epic of Finland, which remained for him a constant

Nicholas Ii

2005-03-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

Russian in full Nikolay Aleksandrovich the last Russian emperor (1895–1917), who, with his wife, Alexandra, and their children, was killed by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution.

Cetacean, Feeding adaptations

2005-03-02T03:24:00.000-08:00

Before cetaceans evolved aquatic adaptations, they had a fully differentiated set of teeth (heterodont dentition), including incisors, canines, premolars, and molars. As the animals became more adapted to aquatic locomotion and lost the ability to manipulate food with their forelimbs, they started grabbing their food and swallowing it whole. In toothed

Chagres River

2005-03-01T22:58:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Chagres stream in Panama forming part of the Panama Canal system. It rises in the Cordillera de San Blas, flows south-southwest, and broadens to form Madden Lake (22 square miles [57 square km]) at Madden Dam, which was built in 1935 for navigation, flood control, and hydroelectric power. Below the dam it continues southwest to Gamboa, where it joins the Panama Canal at the north end of the Gaillard

Macadamia

2005-03-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

Macadamias originated in the coastal rain forests and scrubs of what is now Queensland in northeastern Australia. The macadamias grown commercially in Hawaii and Australia are principally

Bottle Tree

2005-03-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

Any of various trees of the genus Brachychiton, within the cacao, or chocolate, family (Sterculiaceae), native to Australia. They grow to a height of 18 m (60 feet). They are cultivated in other warm regions as ornamentals. The name refers to the peculiar shape of the trunk.

Buddhacarita

2005-03-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

In full Buddhacarita-kavya-sutra (Sanskrit: “Poetic Discourse on the Acts of the Buddha”), poetic narrative of the life of Buddha by the Sanskrit poet Asvaghosa, one of the finest examples of Buddhist literature. The author, who lived in northern India in the 1st–2nd century AD, created a loving account of the Buddha's life and teachings, one that—in contrast to other treatments such as the Mahavastu (“Great Story”) and

Ararat, Mount

2005-02-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Turkish Agri Dagi, extinct volcanic massif in extreme eastern Turkey overlooking the point at which the frontiers of Turkey, Iran, and Armenia converge. Its northern and eastern slopes rise from the broad alluvial plain of the Aras River, about 3,300 ft (1,000 m) above sea level; its southwestern slopes rise from a plain about 5,000 ft above sea level; and on the west a low pass separates it from a long range

Pacific Ocean, Salinity

2005-02-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

The salinity patterns of the surface waters of the Pacific are influenced largely by wind and by rainfall and evaporation patterns. The waters within the belt of calms and variable winds near the equator have lower salinities than those in the trade-wind belts. In the equatorial belt, relatively large amounts of rain fall and little evaporation occurs both because

Consalvi, Ercole

2005-02-27T00:17:00.000-08:00

Having entered the papal government service in 1783, Consalvi rose to become auditor of the Rota, a tribunal

Boteti River

2005-02-26T00:39:00.000-08:00

Formerly Botletle River, river of Botswana. It emerges near Maun and the Thamakalane River, developing from the outflow of the Okavango Delta, Botswana. It flows in a southeasterly direction to Lake Xau (Dow), then north to enter the Makgadikgadi Pans after a course of 190 miles (305 km).

Astor, John Jacob

2005-02-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

Astor started a fur-goods shop in New York City about 1786 after learning about the fur trade while aboard the ship that brought him to the U.S. Benefitting

Ta-t'ung

2005-02-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

During the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, the region was the headquarters for the eastern frontier command of the Han armies protecting the region

Bureaucracy

2005-02-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

A professional corps of officials organized in a pyramidal hierarchy and functioning under impersonal, uniform rules and procedures. In the social sciences, the term usually does not carry the pejorative associations of popular usage.

Fagaras

2005-02-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hungarian Fogaras, town, Brasov judet (county), central Romania. It lies north of the Fagaras Mountains, a range of the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathian Mountains), on the Olt River. First mentioned in documents in 1291, Fagaras became a military centre during the Middle Ages. The Fagaras Castle, built during the 15th century and now restored to its original form, is one of the outstanding examples of medieval

Gaulish Language

2005-02-23T02:36:00.000-08:00

Ancient Celtic language or languages spoken in western and central Europe and Asia Minor before about 500. Gaulish is attested by inscriptions from France and northern Italy and by names occurring in classical literature. Modern knowledge of the vocabulary and sounds of Gaulish is slight, and its exact relation to the Celtic languages of Britain and Ireland is not

China, Culture

2005-02-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

The predominance of state power also marked the intellectual and aesthetic life of Ming China. By requiring use of their interpretations of the Classics in education and in the civil service examinations, the state prescribed the Neo-Confucianism of the great Sung thinkers Ch'eng I and Chu Hsi as the orthodoxy of Ming times; by patronizing or commandeering craftsmen

Wilbur, Richard (purdy)

2005-02-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

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

Lut Desert

2005-02-22T08:44:00.000-08:00

Persian Dasht-e Lut, also spelled Dasht-i Lut, desert in eastern Iran. It stretches about 200 miles (320 km) from northwest to southeast and is about 100 miles wide. In the east a great massif of dunes and sand rises, while in the west an extensive area of high ridges is separated by wind-swept corridors. In its lowest, salt-filled depression—less than 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level—the summer heat and low humidity are believed to be unsurpassed

Marquette, Jacques

2005-02-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

Marquette arrived in Quebec in 1666. After a study of Indian languages, he assisted in founding a mission at Sault Ste. Marie (now in Michigan) in 1668, and another at St. Ignace (now in Michigan) in 1671. In mid-May

Rime

2005-02-21T07:36:00.000-08:00

White, opaque, granular deposit of ice crystals formed on objects that are at a temperature below the freezing point. Rime occurs when supercooled water droplets (at a temperature lower than 0° C [32° F]) in fog come in contact with a surface that is also at a temperature below freezing; the droplets are so small that they freeze almost immediately upon contact with the object.

Lefebvre, (pierre-) François-joseph, Duc (duke) De Dantzig

2005-02-20T15:14:00.000-08:00

Lefebvre, the son of an Alsatian miller, worked for a time as a clerk before entering a military career in the French Guards in 1773. A sergeant at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, he was, between September 1792 and January 1793, promoted rapidly from captain to divisional

Jackstones

2005-02-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

Also called fivestones, jacks , or dibs game of great antiquity and worldwide distribution, now played with stones, bones, seeds, filled cloth bags, or metal or plastic counters (the jacks), with or without a ball. The name derives from “chackstones”—stones to be tossed. The knuckle, wrist, or ankle bones of goats, sheep, or other animals also have been used in play. Such objects have been found in prehistoric caves

Space Perception

2005-02-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

Human beings have been interested in the perception of objects in space at least since the question

Leap Of Faith

2005-02-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

Metaphor used by the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in his Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift (1846; Concluding Unscientific Postscript) to describe commitment to an objective uncertainty, specifically to the Christian God. For Kierkegaard, God is totally other than man; between God and man there exists a gulf that faith alone can bridge. Kierkegaard

Bridgman, Percy Williams

2005-02-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

Bridgman was the son of a journalist. He entered Harvard University in 1900, receiving his M.A. in 1905 and his Ph.D. in 1908. His experimental work on static high pressures was begun

Xingshu

2005-02-18T01:25:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization hsing-shu a semicursive Chinese script that developed out of the Han dynasty lishu script at the same time that the standard kaishu script was evolving (1st–3rd century AD). The characters of xingshu are not abbreviated or connected, but strokes within the characters are often run together. The best-known example of early surviving Chinese calligraphy, Lanting Xu (“Essay

India, The Bangladesh war

2005-02-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

In December 1970 Pakistan held general elections, its first since independence. The Awami League, headed by East Pakistan's popular Bengali leader Mujibur Rahman (Sheikh Mujib; 1920–75), won a majority of seats in the new assembly, but West Pakistan's chief martial law administrator and president, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, refused to honour the democratic choice of his

Mare

2005-02-17T02:04:00.000-08:00

Plural Maria, any flat, dark plain of lower elevation on the Moon. The term, which in Latin means “sea,” was erroneously applied to such a feature of the lunar surface by telescopic observers of the 17th century. In actuality, maria are huge lava flows marked by ridges, graben, rilles, and faults and are devoid of any water. There are 14 surficial areas of this type, and all of them occur on the side

Ringed Seal

2005-02-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

(species Pusa, or Phoca, hispida), nonmigratory, earless seal (family Phocidae) of North Polar seas and a few freshwater lakes in Europe and on Baffin Island. Named for the characteristic pale rings on its grayish or yellowish coat, the ringed seal grows to about 1.5 m (5 feet) in length and 90 kg (200 pounds) in weight. It lives near the pack ice and feeds on crustaceans, mollusks, and some

Novara, Battle Of

2005-02-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

(March 23, 1849), battle of the first Italian War of Independence in which 70,000 Austrian troops under Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky thoroughly defeated 100,000 poorly trained Italian troops (not all of whom were actually employed in the battle) under Charles Albert, king of Sardinia-Piedmont. It was fought at Novara, 28 miles (45 km) west of Milan, 11 days after Charles Albert had denounced the armistice

Loyola, Saint Ignatius Of

2005-02-15T08:20:00.000-08:00

Spanish San Ignacio de Loyola, baptized Iñigo Spanish theologian and one of the most influential figures in the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Paris in 1534.

Choiseul, étienne-françois De Choiseul, Duc De (duke Of )

2005-02-15T06:25:00.000-08:00

Choiseul, the son of François-Joseph de Choiseul, Marquis de Stainville, adopted the title Count de Stainville, entered the French army, and served with distinction against the British and Austrians in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48). At the end of the conflict,

Dzungar

2005-02-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Jungar, Jüüngar, Dzhungar, or Dsongar, people of Central Asia, so called because they formed the left wing (dson, “left”; gar, “hand”) of the Mongol army. A western Mongol people whose home was the Ili River valley and Chinese Turkistan, they adopted Buddhism in the 17th century. They are for all practical purposes identical with the Oyrat (q.v.).

Scandinavian Literature, The Eddaic verse forms

2005-02-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Three metres are commonly distinguished in Eddaic poetry: the epic measure, the speech measure, and the song measure. Most narrative poems were in the first measure, which consisted of short lines of two beats joined in pairs by alliteration. The number of weakly stressed syllables might vary, but the total number of syllables in the line was rarely fewer than four.

Monash, Sir John

2005-02-13T07:05:00.000-08:00

Monash attended Scotch College and Melbourne University obtaining degrees in the arts, in civil engineering, and law. Responsible for the design of a number of bridges in Melbourne and Tasmania, Monash pioneered

Zamora

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

Town, southeastern Ecuador. It lies in the forested jungles east of the main Andean ranges and is situated at the southeastern foot of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) de Zamora, just south of the Zamora River. The Roman Catholic Church has established a Vicar Apostolic in Zamora, which is considered to be a missionary settlement; the population is almost entirely

Alabama State University

2005-02-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. It is a historically black school, and its enrollment is predominantly African American. Alabama State offers bachelor's and master's degree programs in the schools of Music and Graduate Studies and colleges of Business Administration, Education, and Arts and Sciences. An educational

Middle Eastern Religion

2005-02-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

Any of the religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices developed in the ancient Middle East (extending geographically from Iran to Egypt and from Anatolia and the Aegean Sea to the Arabian Peninsula and temporally from about 3000 to 330 BC, when Alexander the Great conquered much of the area). They have had an enduring influence on Western civilization. While this article treats

Aristides

2005-02-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

Athenian philosopher, one of the earliest Christian Apologists, his Apology for the Christian Faith being one of the oldest extant Apologist documents. Known primarily through a reference by the 4th-century historian Eusebius of Caesarea, Aristides addressed his Apology either to the Roman emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138) or to his successor Antoninus Pius

Arrau, Claudio

2005-02-11T06:35:00.000-08:00

After studying privately in Santiago for two years, Arrau went to Berlin, where he studied with Martin Krause, a pupil of Franz Liszt, from 1912 to 1918. His serious career began with a recital in Berlin in 1914, and during the next decade he toured

Agreda, María De

2005-02-11T06:22:00.000-08:00

Her virtues and holy life were universally acknowledged, but controversy arose over her mystical writings, her political influence, and her missionary activities.

Lowell, James Russell

2005-02-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

A member of a distinguished New England family, Lowell graduated from

Thun Und Hohenstein, Leo, Count (graf) Von

2005-02-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

Pro-Czech Austrian statesman and administrator who improved the educational establishments of the Austrian Empire, sought to resolve the antagonisms between Czechs and Germans in Bohemia, and favoured the conversion of the Habsburg monarchy into a federal