MedicalLeg

Gainsborough, Thomas

2005-04-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

Allosaurus weighed two tons and grew to 10.5 metres (35 feet) in length, although fossils indicate that

Abortion

2005-04-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages, occur for many

Analytic Geometry, General classes of curves

2005-04-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Caustic is an envelope of rays; more specifically, when the light rays emanating from a source are reflected by a given curve, the envelope of the reflected rays is the caustic by reflection, or catacaustic, of the given curve with respect to the source in question. When the rays from a source are refracted by a given curve, the envelope of refracted rays is called the caustic

China, Japan and Ryukyu

2005-04-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

Three years after the Meiji Restoration of 1868—which inaugurated a period of modernization and political change in Japan—a commercial treaty was signed between China and Japan, and it was ratified in 1873. Understandably it was reciprocal, because both signatories had a similar unequal status vis-à-vis the Western nations. The establishment of the new Sino-Japanese relations

Hugh Of Saint-victor

2005-04-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Of noble birth, Hugh joined the Augustinian canons at the monastery of Hamersleben, near Halberstadt (now in Germany). He went to Paris (c. 1115) with his uncle, Archdeacon Reinhard of Halberstadt, and settled at

U-2 Affair

2005-04-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

On May 5 the Soviet premier Nikita S. Khrushchev told the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. that

Moral Theology

2005-04-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Christian ethics Christian theological discipline concerned with identifying and elucidating the principles that determine the quality of human behaviour in the light of Christian revelation. It is distinguished from the philosophical discipline of ethics, which relies upon the authority of reason and which can only call upon rational sanctions for moral failure. Moral

Wolfe, Charles

2005-04-01T08:33:00.000-08:00

Irish poet and clergyman, whose “Burial of Sir John Moore” (1817), commemorating the commander of the British forces at the Battle of Corunna (La Coruña, Spain) during the Peninsular War, is one of the best-known funeral elegies in English. Wolfe attended Trinity College, Dublin, was ordained in 1817, and held curacies in County Tyrone.

Athlone

2005-03-31T04:47:00.000-08:00

Irish Baile Átha Luain town, County Westmeath, Ireland. It lies on the River Shannon just south of Lough (lake) Ree. Located at a major east-west crossing of the Shannon, it has always been an important garrison town. In the 12th century the area, previously fortified by the kings of Uí Maine and Connaught (Connacht), was seized by the Anglo-Normans. Their motte (palisade) castle was built in 1210 and underwent

Rwanda

2005-03-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ruanda , officially Republic of Rwanda , French République Rwandaise , Rwanda Republika y'u Rwanda landlocked republic lying south of the Equator in east-central Africa. It is bounded on the west by Congo (Kinshasa) and Lake Kivu, on the north by Uganda, on the east by Tanzania, and on the south by Burundi. The capital is Kigali. Like its neighbour to the south, Rwanda is a country of minute dimensions (10,169 square miles [26,338 square kilometres]), grinding poverty, and high population

Afghanistan, Amanollah (191929)

2005-03-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

Amanollah launched the inconclusive Third Anglo-Afghan War in May 1919. The month-long war gained the Afghans the conduct of their own foreign affairs. The Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed on August 8, 1919, and amended in 1921. Before signing the final document with the British, the Afghans concluded a treaty of friendship with the new Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union; Afghanistan

Har Rai

2005-03-30T02:02:00.000-08:00

The contemplative Har Rai spent more time in spiritual exercises than in administrative or military duties, and he knew

Xenotime

2005-03-28T17:17:00.000-08:00

Widely distributed phosphate mineral, yttrium phosphate (YPO4, though large proportions of erbium commonly replace yttrium), that occurs as brown, glassy crystals, crystal aggregates, or rosettes in igneous rocks and associated pegmatites, in quartzose and micaceous gneiss, and commonly in detrital material. Occurrences include Norway, Sweden, Madagascar, Brazil,

Metabolism, Oxidation of the carbon skeleton

2005-03-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

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

Hafez

2005-03-27T17:21:00.000-08:00

About 1368–69 Hafez fell out of favour at the court and did not

Gurung

2005-03-26T01:14:00.000-08:00

People of Nepal living mainly on the southern flank of the Annapurna mountain massif. Their numbers are estimated at about 200,000. The Gurung speak a language of the Tibeto-Burman family. Many are Lamaist Buddhists in religion, while others have adopted Hinduism. They make their living in agriculture and livestock raising. Along with the Magar, Rai, and other Nepalese ethnic

Sesostris Iii

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

During the reigns of his predecessors, the provincial nobles of Middle Egypt had enhanced their power through royal favours and intermarriage with the families of neighbouring potentates. Around the

O'casey, Sean

2005-03-25T05:44:00.000-08:00

O'Casey was born into a lower middle-class Irish Protestant family. His father died when John was six, and thereafter the family became progressively poorer.

401(k)

2005-03-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

In the United States, a retirement savings program organized by employers but funded primarily by workers through paycheck deductions. Because employees generally do not make withdrawals from the fund until after they have retired, the 401(k) is considered a deferred compensation plan. As a result, the worker is not taxed on any earnings or gains made in the account

Catechism

2005-03-24T02:06:00.000-08:00

A manual of religious instruction usually arranged in the form of questions and answers used to instruct the young, to win converts, and to testify to the faith. Although many religions give instruction in the faith by means of oral questions and answers, the written catechism is primarily a product of Christianity. Some early handbooks of instruction were prepared

Ogdensburg

2005-03-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

City and port, St. Lawrence county, northern New York, U.S. It lies on the St. Lawrence River, at the mouth of the Oswegatchie River and is linked to Ontario, Canada, by the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge (1960). The site was settled in 1749 when Abbé François Picquet established Fort-La Présentation as an Indian mission. The French abandoned the fort in 1760 in the face of a British

Earth, The ancients

2005-03-22T13:05:00.000-08:00

Credit for the idea that the Earth is spherical is usually given to Pythagoras (flourished 6th century BC) and his school, who reasoned that, because the Moon and the Sun are spherical, the Earth is too. Notable among other Greek philosophers, Hipparchus (2nd century BC) and Aristotle (4th century BC) came to the same conclusion. Aristotle devoted a part of his book De caelo (On the

Adwick Le Street

2005-03-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

Town, Doncaster metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of South Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. The town derives its name from the great north British Roman routeway, Ermine Street. The earliest references to the town are found in Domesday Book (1086), and the parish church of St. Lawrence dates from the 12th century. The Washington family—from which George

Amphibian, General features

2005-03-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

The form and structure of the skeletal, nervous, digestive, and urogenital systems of amphibians are intermediate between fishes and reptiles, but those of other systems are specifically modified for amphibians. The integument (skin) and circulatory and respiratory systems exemplify these adaptations and act together to provide cutaneous respiration. Amphibians

Henderson

2005-03-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

City, Clark county, southeastern Nevada, U.S., midway between Las Vegas and Boulder City. It was established in 1942 in the desert below Clark Mountain to provide housing for the employees of a government-constructed magnesium plant and was named for U.S. Senator Charles Belknap Henderson (1873–1954). Inactivated at the close of World War II when the plant was closed, the project was later

Janowitz, Morris

2005-03-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

After earning his B.A. at New York University (1941) and his Ph.D.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

2005-03-19T10:58:00.000-08:00

First suspension bridge across the Narrows of Puget Sound, connecting the Olympic Peninsula with the mainland of Washington state, U.S., and a landmark failure in engineering history. Four months after its opening, on the morning of November 7, 1940, in a wind of about 42 miles (67 km) per hour, the 2,800-foot (840-metre) main span, which had already exhibited a marked flexibility, went into a series

Mammal, Importance to humans

2005-03-19T04:01:00.000-08:00

Wild and domesticated mammals are so interlocked with our political and social history that it is impractical to attempt to assess the relationship in precise economic terms. Throughout our own evolution, for example, humans have been dependent on other mammals for food and clothing. Domestication of mammals helped to provide a source of protein for ever-increasing

Sara

2005-03-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

Cluster of peoples living on the fringe of the southern Sudan, especially in the northwestern regions of the Central African Republic and the south-central area surrounding Sarh, south of Lake Chad in Chad. They include the Gula, Kara, Kreish, Nduka, Ngama, and Sara proper. The Sara peoples all speak Central Sudanic languages of the Nilo-Saharan language family, and their

Fu-hsin

2005-03-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fuxin, city, northwestern Liaoning sheng (province), China. It is located near the border with the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and serves as a centre for the administration of the large Mongolian population of the border area. Until 1902 the border area remained a pasture ground reserved for the Mongolians. It was legally opened to Chinese colonization in that year, although

Sokhumi

2005-03-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

Formerly Sukhumi, city, capital of Abkhazia, Georgia. It lies on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Dioscurias on the Black Sea coast. Sokhumi's seaside location, beaches, and warm climate made it a popular Black Sea resort, with many sanatoriums and holiday camps. Local industries include fruit canning and wine making; there are also foundries and electrical-equipment plants. The

Hormone, Neurohypophysis and the polypeptide hormones of the hypothalamus

2005-03-16T22:44:00.000-08:00

Another neurosecretory system, which involves the hypothalamic region of the brain and the neurohypophysis of the pituitary gland, originates in groups of neurosecretory cells in the hypothalamus called, in mammals, the nucleus supraopticus and the nucleus paraventricularis and, in lower vertebrates, the nucleus preopticus. Neurohormones from these regions

Ilinsky, Igor (vladimirovich)

2005-03-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

Although Ilinsky debuted at the Novy Theatre in William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, it was not until he became associated with the experimental productions of Vsevolod Yemilyevich

Kagera River

2005-03-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Akagera, most remote headstream of the Nile River and largest tributary of Lake Victoria, rising in Burundi near the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika. It is formed at the confluence of its two headstreams—the Nyawarongo (Niavarongo) and the Ruvubu (Ruvuvu)—which in turn are fed by streams rising in the highlands east of Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganyika, between Congo (Kinshasa) and

Provençal Literature

2005-03-16T02:38:00.000-08:00

The oldest extant piece of Provençal verse probably belongs to the

Colbert, Claudette

2005-03-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

Colbert moved with her family to New York City about 1910. While studying fashion design, she landed a small role in the Broadway play The Wild Westcotts (1923) after

Horse, Arabian

2005-03-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

Its long history is obscured by legend, but the Arabian breed, prized for its stamina, intelligence, and character, is known to have been developed in Arabia by the 7th century AD. It is a compact horse with a small head, protruding eyes, wide nostrils, marked withers, and a short back. It usually has only 23 vertebrae, while 24 is the usual number for other breeds. Its legs are strong

China, Incipient Neolithic

2005-03-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

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

Ariobarzanes

2005-03-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

Persian satrap (provincial governor) of Phrygia after about 387. The son of a nobleman, he cultivated the friendship of Athens and Sparta and, about 366, led the unsuccessful revolt of the satraps of western Anatolia against the Persian king Artaxerxes II (reigned 404–359/358 BC).

Humanism, The English humanists

2005-03-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

Though continental humanists had held court positions since the days of Humphrey

Equatorial Current

2005-03-12T03:42:00.000-08:00

Ocean current flowing westward near the equator, predominantly controlled by the winds. Characteristically, equatorial-current systems consist of two westward-flowing currents approximately 600 miles (1,000 km) wide (North and South equatorial currents) separated by an eastward-flowing countercurrent only 300 miles (480 km) wide. Usually flowing at depths of less than 1,650 feet (500 m),

Performing Arts, Italy.

2005-03-11T17:19:00.000-08:00

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

Philosophy, History Of, Epistemology of appearance

2005-03-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

All of the post-Parmenidean philosophers, like Parmenides himself, presupposed that the real world is different from the one that men perceive. Thus the problems of epistemology, or theory of knowledge, arose. According to Anaxagoras, everything is contained in everything. But this is not what people perceive. He solved this problem, however, by assuming that, if there

Sol, Isla Del

2005-03-10T03:28:00.000-08:00

The island takes its name from the Temple of the Sun, traditionally the

Farina, Giuseppe

2005-03-10T00:10:00.000-08:00

Farina, the holder of a doctorate in engineering, was the Italian driving champion in 1937, 1938, and 1939. He won the world title in 1950 while driving for Alfa Romeo. He was killed in a road accident.

Cumberland Wrestling

2005-03-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

Form of wrestling developed in northern England and southern Scotland, also called the North Country style. The wrestlers stand chest to chest, each grasping the other with locked hands around the body, each opponent's chin on the other's right shoulder. The right arm is placed below and the left above the adversary's. When the hold has been firmly taken, an umpire gives

Byrnes, James F.

2005-03-09T05:56:00.000-08:00

A self-taught lawyer, Byrnes entered public life in

Raymond, Henry Jarvis

2005-03-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

Raymond worked for Horace Greeley on the weekly New Yorker in 1840 and then from 1841 to 1848 on the daily New York Tribune. As

Wang An-shih

2005-03-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

Wang emerged from a rising new group of southern bureaucrats with a strong utilitarian bent, who challenged

I-n-salah

2005-03-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Aïn Salah, oasis town, central Algeria, on the southern edge of the arid Tademaït Plateau. At the crossing of ancient trans-Saharan caravan routes, it was once an important trade link between northern and central Africa but has declined in modern times owing to high transportation costs and the exodus of workers to the developing gas fields 60 miles (100 km) southwest. Mainly visited

Argentina, Cultural life

2005-03-07T05:24:00.000-08:00

The role of the church is discussed in John J. Kennedy, Catholicism, Nationalism, and Democracy in Argentina (1958); and Daniel H. Levine (ed.), Churches and Politics in Latin America (1980).

Nigeria

2005-03-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

A republic and suspended member of the Commonwealth, Nigeria is located in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. Area: 923,768 sq km (356,669 sq mi). Pop. (1996 est.): 103,912,000. Cap.: Abuja. Monetary unit: naira, with (Oct. 11, 1996) an official par value of 22 naira to U.S. $1 (free rate of 34.66 naira = £1 sterling); a truer value of the naira was on the free market, where 79.70 naira = U.S. $1 (125.55 naira = £ 1 sterling). Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council in 1996, Gen. Sani

Stone Age, Egypt

2005-03-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

The Pleistocene terrace gravels of the Nile Valley in Egypt have produced a wealth of Paleolithic materials. The 30-metre terrace contains typical Abbevillian and early Acheulean hand axes, including a special form with a triangular section known as the Chalossian type. These are associated with primitive flake implements. In the 15-metre terrace, developed Acheulean

Rembrandt

2005-03-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

Another cluster of talented pupils worked with Rembrandt around 1640: Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621–74) from Amsterdam; Carel Fabritius (1622–54), later a leading painter in Delft; and Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–78) of Dordrecht, later better known for his art theory, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst (1678; “Introduction to the High School of Painting”). Each of these made his own variation

Induction

2005-03-05T01:53:00.000-08:00

In logic, method of reasoning from a part to a whole, from particulars to generals, or from the individual to the universal. As it applies to logic in systems of the 20th century, the term is obsolete. Traditionally, logicians distinguished between deductive logic (inference in which the conclusion follows necessarily from the premise, or drawing new propositions out

Pro Juárez, Miguel

2005-03-04T05:13:00.000-08:00

The son of a socially prominent family, Pro entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1911. Because of government persecutions, he fled to California (1914–15) and then to Spain (1915–19) and taught in Nicaragua from 1919 to 1922. He returned to Spain and then studied in Enghien,

Nephroblastoma

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

Also called embryoma , or Wilms' tumour malignant renal (kidney) tumour of early childhood. In 75 percent of the cases, the tumour grows before the age of five; about two-thirds of the instances are apparent by two years of age. The tumour grows rapidly and can approach the weight of the rest of the body. It rarely appears in adults. In its early stages the nephroblastoma causes no symptoms. Later, symptoms may indicate

Mammal, Reproduction

2005-03-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

In reproductively mature female mammals an interaction of hormones from the pituitary gland and the ovaries produces a phenomenon known as the estrous cycle. Estrus, or “heat,” typically coincides with ovulation, and during this time the female is receptive to the male. Estrus is preceded by proestrus, during which ovarian follicles mature under the influence of

France, History Of, Alienation and coups

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

After the Fructidor coup of 1797 the Directory imprudently resumed the republic's assault on the Roman Catholic religion. Besides prohibiting the outward signs of Catholicism such as the ringing of church bells or the display of crosses, the government revived the Revolutionary calendar. Instituted in 1793, the new calendar featured a 10-day week called the décade, designed

Breccia

2005-03-02T23:07:00.000-08:00

There are three categories of breccia: sedimentary, pyroclastic or igneous, and cataclastic. The constituent fragments may be of one lithology such as a rock fractured in position, or of many

Ancient Lights

2005-03-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

In English property law, the right of a building or house owner to the light received from and through his windows. Windows used for light by an owner for 20 years or more could not be obstructed by the erection of an edifice or by any other act by an adjacent landowner. This rule of law originated in England in 1663, based on the theory that a landowner acquired an easement to the

Ob, Gulf Of

2005-03-01T05:12:00.000-08:00

Russian Obskaya Guba, large inlet of the Kara Sea indenting northwestern Siberia, between the peninsulas of Yamal and Gyda, in north-central Russia. The gulf forms the outlet for the Ob River, the delta of which is choked by a huge sandbar. The gulf is about 500 miles (800 km) in length and has a breadth varying between 20 and 60 miles (32 and 97 km). The depth of the sea at this point is 33–40 feet (10–12 m). Its eastern coastline is

Padri War

2005-02-28T00:56:00.000-08:00

(1821–37), armed conflict in Minangkabau (Sumatra) between reformist Muslims, known as Padris, and local chieftains assisted by the Dutch. In the early 19th century the puritan Wahhabiyah sect of Islam spread to Sumatra, brought by pilgrims who entered the island through Pedir, a northern port. The Padris, as these Sumatran converts to Wahhabiyah came to be known, objected to local institutions

Coral Sea, Battle Of The

2005-02-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

By the end of April 1942 the Japanese were ready to seize control of the Coral Sea (between Australia and New Caledonia) by establishing air bases at Port Moresby in southeastern New Guinea and at Tulagi in the

Wachsmann, Konrad

2005-02-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

Originally apprenticed as a cabinetmaker, Wachsmann studied at the arts-and-crafts schools of Berlin and Dresden and at the Berlin Academy of Arts (under the Expressionist architect Hans Poelzig). During

Tocqueville, Alexis De

2005-02-25T20:32:00.000-08:00

The Revolution of 1848 brought about a new political situation for France and for Tocqueville. Having decried apathy as the chief danger for France, Tocqueville recognized even before the revolution that France was faced with a politically awakened working class that might well propel French politics into socialist and revolutionary channels. Tocqueville considered

Kirksville

2005-02-25T05:36:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Adair county, northeastern Missouri, U.S., near the Chariton River. Founded about 1841 as the county seat, it was known as Long Point and Hopkinsville before being renamed for Jesse Kirk, an early resident. A minor American Civil War battle was fought (1862) nearby. Kirksville is a trading and shipping centre for a grain and livestock area. The city's light manufactures

Qalamkari Textile

2005-02-24T10:11:00.000-08:00

The textile designs reflect the Persianized tastes of the wealthy ruling class and also

Rockwell International Corporation

2005-02-23T04:19:00.000-08:00

The main company was incorporated in 1928 as North American Aviation, Inc., a holding company for a number of aviation companies, but it switched to aircraft manufacturing when it received a contract

Vitamin

2005-02-23T02:09:00.000-08:00

Any of several organic substances that usually are separated into water-soluble (e.g., the B vitamins, vitamin C) and fat-soluble (e.g., vitamins A, D, E, K) groups; small quantities (from 0.00002 percent to 0.005 percent of a diet) are necessary for normal health and growth in higher forms of animal life. The substances commonly known as vitamins are diverse in chemical structure and function.

Steeplechase

2005-02-23T01:46:00.000-08:00

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

Cozens, John Robert

2005-02-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

The son of the watercolourist Alexander Cozens, John began to exhibit drawings with the Society of Artists in 1767. The two long visits he paid to the Continent, 1776–79 and 1782–83, were the formative and decisive events in his career. On the first

Allouez, Claude-jean

2005-02-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

Allouez entered the Society of Jesus at Toulouse, was ordained priest in 1655, and sailed for Quebec in 1658. He was stationed at settlements along the St. Lawrence River until his appointment (1663) as vicar general of the Northwest. He

Irish Elk

2005-02-21T00:44:00.000-08:00

Genus (Megaloceros) of extinct giant elk commonly found as fossils in Pleistocene deposits in Europe and Asia (the Pleistocene Epoch began 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Irish elk, about the size of the modern moose, had the largest antlers of any form of deer known—in some specimens, 4 m (about 13 feet) across. The antlers differed from those of the modern elk; the main

Chulym River

2005-02-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

River in Krasnoyarsk kray (region) and Tomsk oblast (province), Russia, and the longest right-bank tributary of the Ob River; it is 1,118 miles (1,799 km) long and has a basin of 53,400 square miles (134,000 square km). The Chulym, formed by the convergence of the Bely and Chyorny Iyus, rises on the northeastern slopes of the Kuznetsky Alatau Mountains. It flows northward through the mountains and then

Corday, Charlotte

2005-02-20T01:49:00.000-08:00

Descended from a noble family, educated in a convent at Caen, and royalist by sentiment, yet susceptible also to the ideals of the Enlightenment, Corday was living with an aunt in Caen when it became a centre of the “federalist” movement against the National

Daigak Guksa

2005-02-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

A son of the Koryo king Munjong, Uich'on became a Buddhist monk at age 11, and in 1084 he went to the Sung court of China and stayed a year and a half studying and collecting Buddhist literature. When Uich'on returned home to Korea, he brought with him the doctrines of the Chinese T'ien T'ai (Korean pronunciation

Jacksonville

2005-02-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

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

Rambouillet

2005-02-16T19:52:00.000-08:00

Town, Yvelines département, Paris region, northern France, just southwest of Versailles. Flanked by its famous château and surrounded by an extensive forest, it is a favoured tourist spot for Parisians. The château, built in 1375 by a courtier of Charles V of France, passed into the hands of Jacques d'Angennes, captain of King Francis I's bodyguard. In 1547, Francis died there on a

Alaska Current

2005-02-16T00:06:00.000-08:00

Flow velocities at a depth of 16 feet (5 m) have been reported to be as high as 1.7 knots (1.9 miles per hour)

Leo Ix, Saint

2005-02-15T03:39:00.000-08:00

After their settlement in Sicily in the second decade of the 11th century, the Normans presented considerable dangers to the existence of the papal state. In their marauding expeditions they plundered and

Computers, Minicomputers

2005-02-14T16:08:00.000-08:00

Around 1965, roughly coterminous with the development of time-sharing, a new kind of computer came on the scene. Small and relatively cheap (typically 1/10 the cost of the Big Iron machines), the new machines were stored-program computers with all the generality of the computers then in use but stripped down. The new machines were called minicomputers. (About the same time, the

Smith Sound

2005-02-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

The sound was discovered in 1616 by William Baffin and named for Sir Thomas Smythe (Smith), promoter of voyages to find a Northwest Passage. It was not until the mid-19th century that any explorer reached

Typhus

2005-02-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

Acute, infectious series of diseases that are characterized by a sudden onset with headache, chills, fever, and general pains, a rash appearing on the third to fifth day, and toxemia (toxic substances in the blood), and terminating after about two to three weeks. Originally considered a single clinical entity, it is now regarded as a group of closely related diseases caused

Babbitt Metal

2005-02-12T04:26:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Babbit Metal, any of several tin- or lead-based alloys used as bearing material for axles and crankshafts, based on the tin alloy invented in 1839 by Isaac Babbitt for use in steam engines. Modern babbitts provide a low-friction lining for bearing shells made of stronger metals such as cast iron, steel, or bronze. They may be made of: (1) high-tin alloys with small quantities of antimony and copper;

Ferri, Ciro

2005-02-12T03:59:00.000-08:00

When he was a little past 30, Ferri completed the painting of the ceilings and other internal decorations begun by his master in the Pitti Palace, Florence. He also cooperated in or finished

Aardvark

2005-02-11T21:51:00.000-08:00

Also called African Ant Bear (Orycteropus afer), heavily built mammal, ranging south of the Sahara in forest or plain, that constitutes the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. The name aardvark—Afrikaans for “earth pig”—refers to its stout, piglike body, up to 180 centimetres (6 feet) long, including the 60-cm tail. Its coat varies from glossy black and full to sandy yellow

China, Twentieth-century China

2005-02-10T04:16:00.000-08:00

The bibliography on contemporary Chinese history is vast and growing rapidly. Although publications on modern China are uneven in coverage and quality, most subjects of interest have been discussed in the writings of scholars and visitors to China and Taiwan. A comprehensive bibliography of these writings is compiled annually by the Journal of Asian Studies. See also George Ginsburgs and Michael Mathos, Communist China and Tibet: The First Dozen Years (1964); Edgar Snow, Red China Today (1971); John Wilson Lewis, Leadership in Communist China (1963, reprinted 1978), and (ed.), The City in Communist China (1971); Benjamin I. Schwartz, Communism and China: Ideology in Flux (1968); C.K. Yang, The Chinese Communist Society: The Family and the Village (1965); Byung-joon Ahn, Chinese Politics and the Cultural Revolution: Dynamics of Policy Processes (1976); Lowell Dittmer, Liu Shao-Ch'i and the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Politics of Mass Criticism (1974); Kenneth Lieberthal, Revolution and Tradition in Tientsin, 1949–1952 (1980); Maurice Miesner, Mao's China: History of the People's Republic (1977); William E. Griffith, The Sino-Soviet Rift, Analysed and Documented (1964), and Sino-Soviet Relations, 1964–1965 (1967); Richard Baum, Prelude to Revolution: Mao, the Party, and the Peasant Question, 1962–66 (1975); Roderick MacFarquhar, The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, 2 vol. (1974–83); Frederick C. Teiwes, Politics and Purges in China: Rectifications and the Decline of Party Norms, 1950–1965 (1979); Tang Tsou, The Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao Reforms (1986); Edward E. Rice, Mao's Way (1972); Robert A. Scalapino (ed.), Elites in the People's Republic of China (1972); Stuart Schram (ed.), Mao Tse-tung Unrehearsed: Talks and Letters: 1956–71 (1974, U.S. title, Chairman Mao Talks to the People: Talks and Letters, 1956–1971); Frederic Wakeman, Jr., History and Will: Philosophical Perspectives of Mao Tse-tung's Thought (1973); William W. Whitson and Chen-hsia Huang, The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927–71 (1973); Martin King Whyte, Small Groups and Political Rituals in China (1974); Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke (eds.), Women in Chinese Society (1975); and Margery Wolf, Revolution Postponed: Women in Contemporary China (1985).

Chehab, Fuad

2005-02-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Chehab received a military education in Syria and France and served with French mandatory forces in Syria after World War I. In 1945 he became commander of the Lebanese

Bulgakov, Macarius

2005-02-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

The son of a country priest, Bulgakov took the name Macarius on becoming a monk. After studying at the Ecclesiastical Academy of Kiev, he joined the faculty and taught history. Called in 1842 to the chair of theology at the Academy of St. Petersburg,

Brick And Tile

2005-02-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

The brick, first produced in a sun-dried form at least 6,000 years ago and the forerunner of a wide range of structural clay products used today, is a small building unit in the form of a rectangular block, formed from clay or shale or mixtures and burned (fired) in a kiln, or oven, to produce

Baldpate

2005-02-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

Popular North American game duck, also known as the American wigeon. See wigeon.

Tolkien, J.r.r.

2005-02-06T17:33:00.000-08:00

At age four Tolkien, with his mother and younger brother, settled near Birmingham, England, after his father, a bank manager, died in South Africa. In

Tiele, Cornelis Petrus

2005-02-06T08:57:00.000-08:00

Educated at Amsterdam High School and at the seminary of the Remonstrant Brotherhood, Tiele served as pastor at Moordrecht and Rotterdam, then as professor at the Remonstrant Seminary. In 1877 he was appointed

Hojo Tokimasa

2005-02-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

Japanese warrior who aided Minamoto Yoritomo in establishing the Kamakura shogunate, the military government by which Yoritomo ruled the country from his base at Kamakura in central Japan, while the emperor continued to rule only symbolically from his residence at Kyoto, to the southwest. After Yoritomo's death, Tokimasa transferred

Bar Hebraeus

2005-02-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

Motivated toward scholarly pursuits by his father, a Jewish convert to Christianity, Bar Hebraeus emigrated to Antioch (now Antakya,

Calah

2005-02-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Founded in the 13th century BC by Shalmaneser I, Calah remained unimportant until King Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 883–859 BC) chose it as his royal seat and the military capital of Assyria. His extensive work on the

Rach Gia

2005-02-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

Port city, northern Ca Mau Peninsula, southern Vietnam. It lies at the head of Rach Gia Bay on the Gulf of Thailand, at the north bank of the Cai Lon estuary, 120 miles (195 km) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Formerly Cambodian territory, in 1715 the flat, forest-covered swamp was placed under the protection of the Nguyen lords of Hue; its Cambodian name is Kramuon-Sa. It became

Ciskei

2005-02-02T06:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Xhosa-ciskei, or Xosa-ciskei, former republic (though never internationally recognized as such) that was inhabited principally by Xhosa-speaking people in southern Africa. It bordered the Indian Ocean on the southeast and was bounded by the Republic of South Africa on the southwest, northwest, and northeast. A fingerlike extension of South African territory on the northeast separated Ciskei

Hsi K'ang

2005-02-02T03:40:00.000-08:00

Of influential parentage, Hsi received a traditional education,