Mountain, The Alpine-Himalayan, or Tethyan, System
The interconnected system of mountain ranges and intermontane plateaus that lies between the stable areas of Africa, Arabia, and India on the south and Europe and Asia on the north owes its existence to the collisions of different continental fragments during the past 100,000,000 years. Some 150,000,000 years ago, India and much of what is now Iran and Afghanistan lay many thousands of
Lee, Sammy
In 1942, while a student at Occidental College (Los Angeles), Lee won his first national championship with victories in both the 3-metre springboard and 10-metre platform events. Standing only 5 feet 1 inch, Lee utilized his short stature in his dives, tucking tighter and
Spraying And Dusting
In agriculture, the standard methods of applying pest-control chemicals and other compounds. In spraying, the chemicals to be applied are dissolved or suspended in water or, less commonly, in an oil-based carrier. The mixture is then applied as a fine mist to plants, animals, soils, or products to be treated. In dusting, as an alternative method, dry, finely powdered chemicals
Trig�re, Pauline
Trig�re was the daughter of a tailor. She early learned to sew and helped her mother custom-tailor women's clothes. After graduating from the Coll�ge Victor Hugo in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near
Lapse, Doctrine Of
In Indian history, formula devised by Lord Dalhousie, governor-general of India (1848 - 56), to deal with questions of succession to Hindu Indian states. It was a corollary to the doctrine of paramountcy, by which Great Britain, as the ruling power of the Indian subcontinent, claimed the superintendence of the subordinate Indian states and so also the regulation of their
Fuel Cell
Any of a class of devices that convert the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electricity by electrochemical reactions. A fuel cell is much more efficient than most other types of energy converters.
Sculpture, Western, Early Christian
Early in the 20th century it was thought that Christian art began after the death of Christ or, at least, in the second half of the 1st century AD. But later discoveries and studies showed that a truly Christian art - that is, with a style quite distinctive from Pagan Roman art - did not exist before the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd century. When it ended, or rather developed
Hancock, Langley George
Hancock began prospecting while managing his family's sheep station
Triconodon
Genus of extinct primitive mammals found in Europe as fossil deposits of the Late Jurassic (163 to 144 million years ago). Triconodon is representative of the triconodonts, known throughout the world in regions as widely separated as North America, Europe, and China. Triconodon, a relatively large animal for its time (most early mammals were very small), was about the size of
San Crist�bal
In full �Benem�rita de San Crist�bal� city, south-central Dominican Republic. It is situated in the coastal lowlands close to the Caribbean Sea. Founded by Spaniards in 1575, when gold was discovered in the area, it was the site of the signing of the Dominican Republic's first constitution (1844) and of the birth of dictator Rafael Trujillo Molina (1891). San Crist�bal is now a prosperous commercial centre for its agricultural
Priesthood, Christianity
At this critical juncture in Judaism, Christianity, with its own particular conception of priesthood and sacrificial redemption, began in Palestine and rapidly spread throughout the surrounding regions in the Greco-Roman world. In the New Testament the imminent destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and its worship is predicted, and the culmination of its high
Bouira
The surrounding region is encompassed by the ranges and valleys of the Tell Atlas. Although it
Gerhard, Johann
Gerhard was deeply influenced as a youth by the Lutheran theologian Johann Arndt and obtained training
Severocesk�
Also called �Severn� Cechy�, English �Northern Bohemia� kraj (region), northwestern Czech Republic. It is the smallest of the country's regions. Severocesk� is bounded on the north by Germany and Poland, on the east by V�chodocesk� kraj, on the south by Stredocesk� kraj, and on the west by Z�padocesk� kraj. The north of the region is dominated by the Ore (Kru
Oberon
French �Alberon, �German �Alberich, � king of the elves, or of the �faerie,� in the French medieval poem Huon de Bordeaux. In this poem Oberon is a dwarf-king, living in the woodland, who by magic powers helps the hero to accomplish a seemingly impossible task. In the legendary history of the Merovingian dynasty Oberon is a magician, the brother of Merowech (M�rov�e). In the medieval German epic the Nibelungenlied
Haber, Fritz
Deciding on an academic career, he first took up organic chemical research at the University of Jena, but its orthodox methods gave
Bothwell, Francis Stewart Hepburn, 5th Earl Of
Nephew of the 4th earl; by his dissolute and proud behaviour he caused King James VI of Scotland (afterward James I of Great Britain) gradually to consider him a rival and a threat to the Scottish crown and was made an outlaw. Through his father, John Stewart, prior of Coldingham, he was a grandson of King James V and was thus related to Mary, Queen of Scots,
Coptic Literature
Body of writings, almost entirely religious, that dates from the 2nd century, when the Coptic language of Egypt, the last stage of ancient Egyptian, began to be used as a literary language, until its decline in the 7th and 8th centuries. It contains, in addition to translations from the Greek, original writings by the Greek Fathers and founders of Eastern monasticism and
Trifid Nebula
(catalog numbers NGC 6514 and M 20), bright, diffuse nebula in the constellation Sagittarius, lying several thousand light-years from the Earth. It was discovered by the French astronomer Legentil de La Galaisi�re before 1750 and named by the English astronomer Sir John Herschel for the three dark rifts that seem to divide the nebula and join at its centre. Of about the ninth magnitude
Kamarupa
Kamarupa was ruled by a single dynasty from AD 350 to 650. Although it began as a feudatory state of the Gupta empire, Kamarupa under a second dynasty
Hesilrige, Sir Arthur, 2nd Baronet
A native of Leicestershire, Hesilrige succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1629. He sat in both the Short and Long Parliaments
Painting, Western, Germany
In Germany also there was a reaction against classicism and the academies, and, as elsewhere, it involved all aspects of the arts. Again, as elsewhere, theory preceded practice: Herzensergiessungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders (�Effusions of an Art-Loving Monk�), by Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, had an immediate and widespread influence upon its publication
Raynal, Guillaume-thomas, Abb� De
Raynal was educated by the Jesuits and as a young man joined the order, but after going to Paris to work for the church he gave up religious life in favour of writing. He established himself as a writer with two historical works, one
A Lo Divino
In Spanish literature, the recasting of a secular work as a religious work, or, more generally, a treatment of a secular theme in religious terms through the use of allegory, symbolism, and metaphor. Adaptations a lo divino were popular during the Golden Age of Spanish literature during the 16th and 17th centuries.
France, History Of, Continuity and change
The political history of 18th-century France can be conceptualized in terms of the double heritage and the problems it entailed. The discussion may be linked to two issues: first, the economic transformation of a traditional and essentially agricultural society by both commerce and ideas; and, second, the state's efforts (and eventual inability) to modernize and unify
Zanjan
Geographic region of northwestern Iran. It lies west of Tehran and is bordered on the northwest by Azerbaijan and on the southwest by Kordestan. The region constitutes one of the uplands that frame central Iran and has an average elevation of 8,200 feet (2,500 m). It forms part of the Caspian Sea basin. The Zanjan River is the only major river in the region. Agriculture is the principal
Cabbage
Vegetable and fodder plant the various forms of which are said to have been developed by long cultivation from the wild, or sea, cabbage (Brassica oleracea) found near the seacoast in various parts of England and continental Europe. The common horticultural forms of Brassica oleracea may be classified according to the plant parts used for food and the structure
Aichb�
Site of a Middle Neolithic settlement (end of the 3rd millennium BC) on the shores of Lake Feder (Federsee) in southeastern Baden-W�rttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. Foundations of 25 rectangular buildings arranged in an irregular row along the shoreline were uncovered in the peat wetland by R. Schmidt in 1930. Approximately 20 of the buildings were two-room houses averaging
Insurance, United States
The first American insurance company was organized by Benjamin Franklin in 1752 as the Philadelphia Contributionship. The first life insurance company in the American colonies was the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund, organized in 1759. By 1820 there were 17 stock life insurance companies in the state of New York alone. Many of the early property insurance companies failed from
