WideSail

Zeus

2005-04-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

According to a Cretan myth that was later adopted by

Ocean Ranching

2005-04-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

The rearing of fish and shellfish under artificially controlled conditions to restock the sea. See aquaculture.

Athaliah

2005-04-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Athalia, in the Old Testament, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and wife of Jeham, king of Judah. After the death of Ahaziah, her son, Athaliah usurped the throne and reigned for seven years. She massacred all the members of the royal house of Judah (II Kings 11:1–3), except Joash. A successful revolution was organized in favour of Joash, and she was killed. The story of Athaliah forms the subject

Christian Catholic Church

2005-04-03T05:34:00.000-07:00

Conservative American Christian sect founded in Chicago in 1896 by John Alexander Dowie. A Congregational minister from Australia, Dowie became interested in faith healing and established a tabernacle and “healing rooms” in Chicago, where he attracted a large following. With many of his followers Dowie established an exclusive Christian community in nearby Zion

Pabst, G.w.

2005-04-03T03:32:00.000-07:00

In full Georg Wilhelm Pabst German film director whose films were among the most artistically successful of the 1920s. Pabst's films are marked by social and political concerns, deep psychological insight, memorable female protagonists, and human conflicts with culture and society. He is also noted for

Hyatt, Alpheus

2005-04-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

He studied at Harvard (1858–62) under the Swiss–U.S. naturalist

Sorel, Agnès

2005-04-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

Born of a family of the lesser nobility at Fromenteau in Touraine, Sorel was attached at an early age to the service of Isabel of Lorraine, queen of Sicily and wife of René of Anjou, who was the brother-in-law of

France, History Of, Commitment to modernization

2005-03-31T18:21:00.000-08:00

The great peculiarity of the ancien régime, however, was that traditionalism, though deeply felt, was only one-half of a complicated institutional diptych. When first conceived by Cardinal Richelieu between 1624 and 1642 and developed after him by Mazarin, Colbert, Louvois, and the Sun King, the ancien régime was also committed to a program of modernization. Guided by a modern

Switzerland, Remaining challenges

2005-03-31T02:39:00.000-08:00

At the end of the 20th century, growing doubts about Switzerland's past and future emerged. Many Swiss questioned the country's traditional “bunker mentality” in a Europe at peace and with open borders. Particularly troubling for Switzerland was an international debate during the 1990s about “dormant accounts”—assets left by foreign Jews in Swiss banks during the Nazi era

Byrd, William, Of Westover

2005-03-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

His birthplace was the James River plantation home of his father, also named William Byrd, an Indian trader and slave importer. The boy went to school in England, travelled in Holland, and studied law in the Middle Temple, London.

Aichinger, Gregor

2005-03-30T01:22:00.000-08:00

Aichinger took holy orders and became organist to the family of Jakob Fugger at Augsburg from 1584. He visited Italy in 1584–87 and again in 1598–1600. His music is chiefly choral and ecclesiastical, set to Latin

Zakopane

2005-03-29T04:16:00.000-08:00

City, Nowy Sacz województwo (province), south-central Poland. The city is situated in the Carpathian Mountains near the Slovakian border. Its location at the foot of the Alpine-like Tatras Mountains makes it a major winter-sports and health-resort centre. Situated on good rail and highway routes, Zakopane also serves as the cultural centre for the area. The Chalubinski

Amsterdam-rhine Canal

2005-03-28T04:27:00.000-08:00

Dutch Amsterdam-rijnkanaal, waterway connecting the port of Amsterdam with the Lek River (via Utrecht) and the Waal River (at Tiel) in The Netherlands. Inaugurated in 1952, it has a total length of 45 miles (72 km) and four locks. It is considered to be the most heavily used canal in western Europe, and it handles vessels of up to 4,300 tons' displacement. The canal's minimum depth is 18 feet (5.5 m).

Requena

2005-03-27T16:57:00.000-08:00

City, Valencia provincia and comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), eastern Spain. Overlooking the left bank of the Magro River, the city, 2,270 feet (692 metres) above sea level, commands the Utiel plain. Settlement of Requena's site dates from antiquity; there are remains of Phoenician, Greek, Roman, and Muslim occupation. During the 12th and 13th centuries the city was a battleground

Sunda Shelf

2005-03-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

Stable continental shelf, or platform, a southward extension of mainland Southeast Asia. Most of the platform is covered by shallow seas, including the southern South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand, and the Java Sea, averaging less than 330 feet (100 m) in depth. Borneo and parts of Java, Sumatra, and associated islands are eroded metamorphic sections of the shelf left above sea

Biblical Literature, The Qumran texts and other scrolls

2005-03-26T19:55:00.000-08:00

Until the discovery of the Judaean Desert scrolls, the only pre-medieval fragment of the Hebrew Bible known to scholars was the Nash Papyrus (c. 150 BCE) from Egypt containing the Decalogue and Deuteronomy. Now, however, fragments of about 180 different manuscripts of biblical books are available. Their dates vary between the 3rd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, and all but 10 stem from

Russell, Charles Taze

2005-03-26T16:07:00.000-08:00

By the time he was 20, Russell had left both Presbyterianism and Congregationalism because he could not reconcile the idea of an eternal hell with God's mercy. He had drifted into skepticism when a chance encounter with some Adventists

Nilotic Languages

2005-03-26T04:55:00.000-08:00

The Nilotic languages are usually divided into a Western group (containing

Van Gennip, Yvonne

2005-03-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

At the start of the 1988 Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, much of the attention in the women's speed-skating competition was focused on the East German team, which had dominated at the previous Olympics, capturing

Approximant

2005-03-23T15:54:00.000-08:00

In phonetics, a sound that is produced by bringing one articulator in the vocal tract close to another without, however, causing audible friction (see fricative). Approximants include semivowels, such as the y sound in “yes” or the w sound in “war.”

Biblical Literature, The Ascension of Isaiah

2005-03-23T05:38:00.000-08:00

According to the Lives of the Prophets, Jeremiah was stoned to death and Isaiah was sawn asunder. These two legends are reflected in two originally Jewish works. The Ascension of Isaiah, in which the martyrdom of Isaiah is narrated, is as a whole extant only in Ethiopic, translated from a Greek original, which itself is also known from fragments. The book contains important

Race, Immigration and the racial worldview

2005-03-23T02:09:00.000-08:00

In the 1860s, when Chinese labourers immigrated to the United States to build the Central Pacific Railroad, a new population with both physical and cultural differences had to be accommodated within the racial worldview. While industrial employers were eager to get this new and cheap labour, the ordinary white public was stirred to anger by the presence of this “yellow

Van

2005-03-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

City, eastern Turkey. It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Van at an altitude of about 5,750 feet (1,750 m). The city lies in an oasis at the foot of a hill crowned by an ancient ruined citadel. A ruined stone building near the foot of the rocky spur bears cuneiform inscriptions dating from the 8th and 7th centuries BC, when Van was the chief centre of the Urartu Kingdom. After the fall of Nineveh

Succinic Acid

2005-03-22T07:12:00.000-08:00

Succinic acid was first obtained as a distillation product of amber (Latin: succinum), for which it is named. The

Neuropteran

2005-03-22T03:56:00.000-08:00

Fossil representatives of the modern families Sialidae

Epidermal Tooth

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

Any of several hard, horny projections analogous to but not homologous with true teeth (see tooth). Epidermal teeth are found in the jawless fish (e.g., lampreys), on the edges of the jaws of tadpoles (larval frogs and toads), in the mouth of the platypus, where horny plates replace the true teeth before birth, and in sirenians (e.g., sea cows) accompanying true teeth.

Mu'izz, Al-

2005-03-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

He was about 22 years of age when he succeeded his father, al-Mansur, in 953 with the title of al-Mu'izz. His authority was acknowledged over the greater part of the region now comprising Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, and he soon took the island

Individual Psychology

2005-03-20T05:09:00.000-08:00

Body of theories of the Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler, who held that the main motives of human thought and behaviour are individual man's striving for superiority and power, partly in compensation for his feeling of inferiority. Every individual, in this view, is unique, and his personality structure—including his unique goal and ways of striving for it—finds

Elimination Reaction

2005-03-19T15:09:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of organic chemical reactions in which a pair of atoms or groups of atoms are removed from a molecule, usually through the action of acids, bases, or metals and, in some cases, by heating to a high temperature. It is the principal process by which organic compounds containing only single carbon-carbon bonds (saturated compounds) are transformed to compounds

Irish Yew

2005-03-17T18:10:00.000-08:00

Ornamental evergreen of the yew family. See English yew.

Renkum

2005-03-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Gelderland provincie, central Netherlands. Renkum is situated on the Lower Rhine (Neder Rijn) River, immediately west of Arnhem, and comprises the communities of Oosterbeek (the local government centre), Renkum, Doorwerth, Heelsum, and Wolfheze. The locality was especially associated with the Battle of Arnhem in World War II; on the Oosterbeek village

Pharmaceutical Industry, Dispersions

2005-03-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

Aerosols were formerly defined as colloidal systems consisting of very finely subdivided liquid or solid particles dispersed in a gas. Today the term aerosol, in general usage, has become synonymous with a pressurized package. For pharmaceutical purposes aerosols may be divided into two types. Space sprays disperse the medicament as a finely divided spray with

Antibes

2005-03-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

Port town, Alpes-Maritimes département, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur région, France, on the eastern side of the Garoupe Peninsula across the Baie des Anges (Bay of the Angels) from Nice. Originally Antipolis, a Greek trading post established by Phocaeans from Marseille, it became a Roman town, and from 1384 to 1608 it was a fief of the coast-ruling Grimaldi family. The Grimaldi château,

American Academy Of Arts And Sciences

2005-03-16T19:59:00.000-08:00

Honorary society incorporated on May 4, 1780, in Boston, Mass., U.S., for the purpose of cultivating “every art and science.” Its membership—some 3,300 fellows in the United States and about 550 foreign honorary fellows (all scholars and national leaders)—is divided into four classes: the physical sciences, the biological sciences, the social arts and sciences, and the humanities and fine

Acciaccatura

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

In music, ornamental note sometimes confused with appoggiatura (q.v.).

Crothers, Rachel

2005-03-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

Crothers graduated from the Illinois State Normal School (now Illinois State University) in 1892, then studied dramatic art in Boston and New York City, and for a time she appeared

Wied-neuwied, Maximilian, Prinz (prince) Zu

2005-03-16T00:58:00.000-08:00

Maximilian was the prince of the small state of Neuwied and served in the Prussian army. He undertook explorations in Brazil in

Celestius

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

When the Goths menaced Rome about 409, the

Puerto Padre

2005-03-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Las Tunas provincia, eastern Cuba. Lying on sheltered Puerto Padre Bay, off the Atlantic Ocean, the city is a commercial and manufacturing centre for a fertile irrigated hinterland. Sugarcane, tobacco, fruit, and livestock produced in the area are processed in the city, which also contains brickyards and sawmills. Saltworks, asphalt deposits, and

Astoria

2005-03-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1844) of Clatsop county, northwestern Oregon, U.S., on the south bank of the Columbia River (there bridged to Megler, Washington) near its mouth on the Pacific Ocean. It is near the site of Oregon's first military establishment, Fort Clatsop, built by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which wintered there (1805–06); the reconstructed fort, 4.5 miles (7.5 km) southwest, is a national memorial.

Moscoso, Mireya

2005-03-13T05:24:00.000-08:00

Moscoso was born to a poor family in a rural town. After graduating from high school, she worked as a secretary and in the early 1960s met Arnulfo Arias, a former president of Panama. She began working on his political campaigns, and on October 1, 1968, he was reelected. When he was deposed nine days later

Cromwell, Richard

2005-03-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

He served in the Parliamentary army and, during his father's protectorate, was a member of the Parliaments of 1654 and 1656. In 1655 he was

Lenormant, François

2005-03-12T05:33:00.000-08:00

French Assyriologist and numismatist who recognized, from cuneiform inscriptions, a language now known as Akkadian that proved valuable to the understanding of Mesopotamian civilization 3,000 years before the Christian era. He published his first archaeological paper at 14 and went on to become a scholar of wide achievement. He published La Monnaie

Belgium

2005-03-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

The Belgian Parliament approved a further decentralization of power to the country's three regions during 2001. After six months of intense negotiations between the major political parties, it was agreed in July that responsibility for agricultural policy, foreign trade, development cooperation, and control over communal and provincial councils would pass from

Clodion

2005-03-11T01:13:00.000-08:00

In 1755 Clodion went to Paris and entered the workshop of Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, his uncle. On his uncle's death, he became a pupil of J.B. Pigalle. In 1759 he won the grand prize for sculpture at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, and in 1762 he went to Rome. Catherine II was

Kyoto

2005-03-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Fu (urban prefecture), Honshu, Japan, bounded by the ken (prefectures) of Fukui and Shiga (east), Nara (south), and Hyogo (northwest), the fu of Osaka (southwest), and the Sea of Japan (north). Much of it is composed of the Tamba Mountains, which are sometimes considered to be the eastern extension of the Chugoku Range. From 1874 until World War II, Kyoto was the prefecture with the largest industrial

Gulf Series

2005-03-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

Major division of Upper Cretaceous rocks (66.4 to 97.5 million years old) in the Gulf coastal region of the United States. The Gulf Series has been divided into several groups of rocks. The lowermost groups of limestone and clay are overlain by the Eagleford Shale, about 145 m (475 feet) of clayey shales, which in turn is overlain by the Austin Chalk, about 130 m (420 feet) of chalks and marls. The Taylor

Davidson College

2005-03-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Davidson, North Carolina, U.S. It is a liberal arts college with bachelor's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Junior-year students can study at the University of Tours in Tours, France, or the Julius Maximilian University in W

Ben Rinnes

2005-03-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

Mountain in the Moray council area, Scotland, situated 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Keith and about 5 miles (8 km) east of the confluence of the Rivers Avon and Spey. It reaches an elevation of 2,759 feet (841 metres). One of the notable sights associated with Ben Rinnes is the Linn of Ruthie, a waterfall on one of the many streams descending from the mountain.

Roussel, Albert(-charles-paul-marie)

2005-03-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

Roussel joined the French navy at the age of 18 and made several journeys to Southeast Asia, the exotic impressions of which he recalled in later orchestral and dramatic works. At 25 he resigned his

Spain, Flag Of

2005-03-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

Many symbols used today by Spain have origins that, according to tradition, stretch back for centuries. Even when not documented, the myths associated with these symbols are powerful forces for national pride. For example, the lion symbol of León is supposed to have been used by a Roman legion in the 1st century AD, and the gold shield with four red bars of the kingdom of Aragon

Wanganui

2005-03-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

City (“district”) and port, Manawatu-Wanganui local government region, southwestern North Island, New Zealand, near the mouth of the Wanganui River. The site lies within a tract bought by the New Zealand Company in 1840. The company established a settlement in 1841 and named it Petre. It was renamed in 1844, the present name deriving from a Maori term meaning “big mouth,” “big bay,” or “big

Abell, Kjeld

2005-03-07T05:10:00.000-08:00

Abell studied political science but afterward began a career as a stage designer in Paris. He

Kea

2005-03-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

New Zealand parrot species of the subfamily Nestorinae. See parrot.

Zamora

2005-03-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

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

Strategus

2005-03-06T00:27:00.000-08:00

An annual board of 10 strategi was introduced in Athens during the reorganization of the tribal system under Cleisthenes (c. 508 BC), each of the 10 tribal units being represented in the army by a taxis (“regiment”) led by a strategus. At the Battle

Chand, Dhyan

2005-03-05T23:36:00.000-08:00

Chand is most remembered for his goal-scoring feats and for his three Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936) in field hockey, while India was dominant in the sport. He joined the Indian army in 1922 and came to prominence when he toured New Zealand with the

Spratling, William

2005-03-03T19:37:00.000-08:00

A graduate of the New York Fine Arts Institute and Auburn University, in Alabama (where he studied architecture), Spratling taught art and architecture at Tulane University, New Orleans,

Bharhut

2005-03-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

The stupa was probably begun in the time

Measurement System, Electric current: ampere

2005-03-03T03:44:00.000-08:00

The ampere is defined as the magnitude of the current that, when flowing through each of two long parallel wires separated by one metre in free space, results in a force between the two wires (due to their magnetic fields) of 2 ´ 10-7 newton (the newton is a unit of force equal to about 0.2 pound) for each metre of length.

Turin, Shroud Of

2005-03-03T01:07:00.000-08:00

Also called Holy Shroud , Italian Santa Sindone a length of linen that for centuries was purported to be the burial garment of Jesus Christ; it has been preserved since 1578 in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy. Measuring 14 feet 3 inches long and 3 feet 7 inches wide, it seems to portray two faint brownish images, those of the back and front of a gaunt, sunken-eyed, 5-foot 7-inch man—as if a body had

France, History Of, The Consulate

2005-03-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

The “revisionists” who engineered the Brumaire coup intended to create a strong, elitist government that would curb the republic's political turmoil and guarantee the conquests of 1789. They had in mind what might be called a senatorial oligarchy rather than a personal dictatorship. General Bonaparte, however, advocated a more drastic concentration of power. Within

Jacksonville

2005-03-01T18:13:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1755) of Onslow county, southeastern North Carolina, U.S. It lies along the New River at the head of its estuary, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Wilmington. Originally settled as Wantland's Ferry (c. 1757), its name was changed to Onslow Courthouse and then Jacksonville in 1842 to honour President Andrew Jackson. It remained a small hunting and fishing resort until 1941, when the establishment

Heinrich Von Morungen

2005-03-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

A native of Thuringia, he spent much of his later life in the service of Duke Dietrich of Meissen. His poems, of which some 33 are to be found in the Heidelberg manuscript, are all devoted to the fashionable cult of love. His poems show more originality and spontaneity than those

Andania Mysteries

2005-03-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

Ancient Greek mystery cult, held in honour of the earth goddess Demeter and her daughter Kore (Persephone) at the town of Andania in Messenia. A long inscription of 92 BC gives elaborate directions for the conduct of the rites, although it relates no details of the initiation ceremonies. The ritual was performed by certain “holy ones” of both sexes, who were chosen from the

China, Fine arts

2005-02-28T23:34:00.000-08:00

In the realm of the arts, the Ming period has long been esteemed for the variety and high quality of its state-sponsored craft goods—cloisonné and, particularly, porcelain wares. The sober, delicate monochrome porcelains of the Sung dynasty were now superseded by rich, decorative polychrome wares. The best known of these are of blue-on-white decor, which gradually changed

Prodigy

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

An extraordinary person, particularly a child, who shows spontaneous early signs of genius or exceptional ability along certain lines. Among these are the arithmetical prodigies, the chess prodigies, and the lightning calculators who have a remarkable memory for figures. Best known are the musical prodigies—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, and Felix

Kertész, André

2005-02-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

While working as a clerk on the Budapest Stock Exchange from 1912 to 1914, Kertész began to experiment with photography. During World War I he served in the Hungarian

Maccarthy Island

2005-02-27T04:35:00.000-08:00

Also called Jangjangbure, originally Lemain Island, island, in the Gambia River, 176 miles (283 km) upstream from Banjul, central Gambia. It was ceded in 1823 to Captain Alexander Grant of the African Corps, who was acting for the British crown. Designated as a site for freed slaves, the island was renamed for Sir Charles MacCarthy, British colonial governor (1814–24). In the 1830s peanut (groundnut) cultivation was introduced by the Wesleyan Mission

Gun War

2005-02-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

(1880–81), southern African war that ended 10 years of rule by the British Cape Colony over Basutoland (Lesotho). Cape magistrates had interfered with the chiefs' authority and with the traditional laws of the Sotho people; part of southern Lesotho was demarcated for white use, and a 1879 Disarmament Act was to be enforced in 1880. The Sotho refused to give up their guns. Fighting from defensive

Ardea

2005-02-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

Ancient town of the Rutuli people, and now a modern village in Roma provincia, Lazio regione, west-central Italy. It lies 23 miles (37 km) south of Rome. In ancient times it was an important centre of the cult of Juno. Ardea developed into one of the most important Latin cities and was a member of the Latin leagues of the 6th and 5th centuries BC. In 444 the town signed a treaty with the Romans,

Fudo Myo-o

2005-02-26T04:35:00.000-08:00

In Japanese Buddhist mythology, the fierce form of the Buddha Vairocana, and the most important of the Myo-o class of deities. See Myo-o.

Fudge

2005-02-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

Creamy candy made with butter, sugar, milk, and usually chocolate, cooked together and beaten to a soft, smooth texture. Fudge may be thought of as having a consistency harder than that of fondant (q.v.) and softer than that of hard chocolate. According to most recipes, the ingredients of fudge are cooked to what is termed in kitchen parlance the soft ball stage, that point

National Capital Parks

2005-02-24T19:22:00.000-08:00

Today there are more than 300 park units with a combined area of 10 square miles (26 square km). The overwhelming majority of units are located in Washington, D.C.;

Integraph

2005-02-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

Mathematical instrument for plotting the integral of a graphically defined function. Two such instruments were invented independently about 1880 by the British physicist Sir Charles Vernon Boys and the Lithuanian mathematician Bruno Abdank Abakanowicz and were later modified and improved by others. The integraph draws the graph of the integral as the user traces

Yamato

2005-02-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

City, Kanagawa ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the eastern part of the Sagamihara Plateau. During the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) it was a local trade centre for the surrounding sericultural region. An air base of the Imperial Japanese Army, established in the city in 1942, was taken over by U.S. occupation forces after World War II. The city has rapidly industrialized since 1955, producing

Vending Machine

2005-02-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

Coin-actuated machine through which various goods may be retailed. Vending machines should not be confused with coin-operated amusement games or music machines. The first known commercial use of vending machines came early in the 18th century in England, where coin-actuated “honour boxes” were used to sell snuff and tobacco. These devices were also in use in the British-American

France, History Of, The cultural scene

2005-02-22T17:24:00.000-08:00

Paris after World War II quickly regained its stature as one of the world's great centres of intellectual creativity. A cluster of brilliant thinkers and writers competed for influence, attracting acolytes both in France and abroad. The first postwar wave was led by Jean-Paul Sartre, whose influence made existentialism the leading ideology of the time. Sartre saw

Cairo, Climate

2005-02-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

The typical desert climate contrasts daytime dry heat with cool nights freshened by Nile breezes. Cairo has only two seasons: approximately eight months of summer and four months of winter. In the hottest of the summer months—June, July, and August—the average daily maximum temperature is 95 °F (35 °C), and the average daily minimum is 70 °F (21 °C). The summer temperature has reached as

Henogamy

2005-02-21T22:56:00.000-08:00

The custom by which one, and only one, member of a family is permitted to marry. The classic example is that of the patrilineal Nambudiri Brahmans of Malabar in Tamil Nadu, India; among them, only eldest sons were permitted to marry Nambudiri women and have legitimate children. The custom is concerned with the need to keep property intact and to limit the number of legitimate

Amphipod

2005-02-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Any member of the invertebrate order Amphipoda (class Crustacea) inhabiting all parts of the sea, lakes, rivers, sand beaches, caves, and moist (warm) habitats on many tropical islands. Marine amphipods have been found at depths of more than 9,100 m (30,000 feet). Freshwater and marine beach species are commonly known as scuds; those that occupy sand beaches are called

Overture

2005-02-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

Musical composition, usually the orchestral introduction to a musical work (often dramatic), but also an independent instrumental work. Early operas opened with a sung prologue or a short instrumental flourish, such as the trumpet “Toccata” that opens Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607). Subsequent 17th-century operas were sometimes preceded by a short instrumental piece

More, Henry

2005-02-20T02:47:00.000-08:00

Though reared a Calvinist, More became an Anglican as a youth. At Christ's College, Cambridge, he encountered such Platonists as Edward Fowler and John Worthington. In 1639 he was

Marsh Frog

2005-02-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

(Rana ridibunda), large aquatic frog (family Ranidae), similar in appearance and habits to the closely related pool frog (R. lessonae) and the edible frog (R. esculenta). In Europe they are all called green frogs. The marsh frog inhabits marshes, river banks, and lake edges in Europe and western Asia. About 9 to 13 cm (3.5 to 5 inches) long, it is brown or green, with or without irregular black

Caribou

2005-02-19T05:33:00.000-08:00

City, Aroostook county, northeastern Maine, U.S. It lies along the Aroostook River, near the New Brunswick border, 13 miles (21 km) north of Presque Isle. Settled in 1824, it developed as a lumbering centre and was incorporated in 1859 as Lyndon. It was renamed Caribou in 1877 for the woodland caribou once plentiful in the region. The city is the shipping point for a large potato-growing region.

Macdowell, Edward (alexander)

2005-02-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

MacDowell first studied in New York with Teresa Carreño and then at the Conservatoire (1876–78) in Paris. In 1878 he went to Germany to study composition

Oscillograph

2005-02-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

Instrument for indicating and recording time-varying electrical quantities, such as current and voltage. The two basic forms of the instrument in common use are the electromagnetic oscillograph and the cathode-ray oscillograph; the latter is also known as a cathode-ray oscilloscope (q.v.), which, strictly speaking, is purely an indicating instrument, while the oscillograph

China, Internal migration

2005-02-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

Migrations have occurred often throughout the history of China. Sometimes they took place because a famine or political disturbance would cause the depopulation of an area already intensively cultivated, after which people in adjacent crowded regions would move in to occupy the deserted land. Sometime between 1640 and 1646 a peasant rebellion broke out in Szechwan,

I Ching

2005-02-17T03:46:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Yi Ching, Pinyin Yi Jing (Chinese: “Classic of Changes,” or “Book of Changes”), an ancient Chinese text, one of the Five Classics (Wu Ching) of Confucianism. The main body of the work has traditionally been attributed to Wen Wang (fl. 12th century BC), sage and father of the founder of the Chou dynasty, and contains a discussion of the divinatory system used by the Chou dynasty wizards. A supplementary section

Stalinism

2005-02-16T14:16:00.000-08:00

In a party dominated by intellectuals and rhetoricians, Stalin stood for a practical approach to revolution, devoid of ideological sentiment. Once power was in Bolshevik hands, the

Isaiah, Ascension Of

2005-02-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

Pseudepigraphal work surviving intact only in a 5th–7th-century-AD Ethiopic edition. Fragments exist in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Old Slavonic. Three separate works comprise the total book, the final version by a Christian editor, which appeared in the 2nd century AD. The first section is entitled “The Martyrdom of Isaiah,” a Midrash on the Manasseh story in II Kings 21, possibly written

Andreis, Felix De

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

Ordained at Piacenza (Italy) in 1802, Andreis was transferred (1806) to Rome, where he served as preacher, professor of theology, and apostle to the poor. While on a visit to Rome in 1815, William Du Bourg, the bishop of Louisiana, arranged for Andreis to serve his

Mahallah Al-kubra, Al-

2005-02-15T05:57:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Mahalla El-kubra, city, in the central Nile River delta of Lower Egypt, eastern Al-Gharbiyah muhafazah (governorate). It lies just west of the Damietta Branch of the Nile. Because the names of a large number of Egyptian places were compounded with mahallah (Arabic: “encampment”), exact references to the town by early Arab writers are uncertain. Al-Mahallah al-Kubra, however, was apparently an important

Kamelaukion

2005-02-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the kamelaukion was made of precious metal, sometimes of fabric; in either event, it might be richly decorated with jewels. The

Iamb

2005-02-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Metrical foot consisting of one short syllable (as in classical verse) or one unstressed syllable (as in English verse) followed by one long or stressed syllable, as in the word {breve}be|cause¢ . Considered by the ancient Greeks to approximate the natural rhythm of speech, iambic metres were used extensively for dramatic dialogue, invective, satire, and fables. Also suited

Colombian Abyssal Plain

2005-02-13T02:40:00.000-08:00

Submarine plain forming part of the floor of the south-central Caribbean Sea, and the deepest and flattest portion of the Colombian Basin. It rises to the southeast to form the Caribbean coast of Colombia, joins the Clark Basin and Central America's part of the continental shelf to the west, and stretches northward toward the island of Jamaica. The plain is separated

Qabis

2005-02-13T00:28:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Gabès, Latin Tacapa, town, southeastern Tunisia. The town is located at the mouth of the Qabis River, which has its source 6 miles (10 km) upstream at the Ras al-Oued (springs), the town's main water source. Situated on a Mediterranean oasis along the Gulf of Gabes, Qabis was founded as the Roman trading centre of Tacapa. Declining somewhat under Turkish rule, it experienced a modest revival during the

Biblical Literature, The Essenes

2005-02-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

Though the Essenes of the Dead Sea Scrolls are not mentioned in the New Testament, they are described by Philo, Josephus, and Eusebius, a 4th-century Christian historian. With publication of the Essenes' own sectarian writings since the 1950s, however, they have become well known. They did not have any really new ideas, but their founder, the Teacher of Righteousness, believed

Zahlah

2005-02-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Zahlé, town, central Lebanon. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Lebanon Mountains, at an elevation of 3,150 feet (960 m) above sea level. An agricultural market centre for the broad al-Biqa' Valley, it is also a popular summer resort on the Beirut–Damascus railroad. Zahlah is noted for its fruits, vineyards, and arrack (a type of alcoholic beverage). Pop. (1985 est.) 200,000.

Pendant

2005-02-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

In stone ceilings the use of pendant vaulting was