Craig, Edward Gordon

Craig was the second child of a liaison between the actress Ellen Terry and the architect Edward William Godwin. Like Edith (the other child of his parents), their son was given the name

Tibet, Finance

There were no banks before 1951. Small loans to be paid with interest could be obtained from local merchants, and the Tibetan government loaned public funds at interest as a means of collecting revenue. The Chinese have established branches of the People's Bank of China and have also extended agricultural and commercial credit and introduced Chinese currency.

Amber

Amber occurs as irregular nodules, rods, or droplike shapes

Dinguiraye

Town, north-central Guinea. It lies at the eastern edge of the Fouta Djallon plateau. The town was once the seat of the imamate (region ruled by a Muslim religious leader) of 'Umar Tal, whose jihad (holy war) led to the creation of the Tukulor empire (1850–93) in the Niger River valley. Dinguiraye is now connected by road with the towns of Siguiri and Dabola. It is the chief trading centre

Marschner, Heinrich August

Marschner studied law at Leipzig, but, encouraged by Ludwig van Beethoven, whom he met in Vienna in 1817, and others, he turned to composing. In 1820 his close friend Carl Maria von Weber produced Marschner's opera Heinrich IV und d'Aubigné at Dresden. Marschner was later appointed

Rabato

The turned-back rabato was sometimes used as the support or base for a ruff,

Asura

Iranian  ahura  in Hindu mythology, a class of titans or demons, the enemies of the gods and of men. In the Vedic age the asuras and the devas were both considered classes of gods, but gradually the two groups came to oppose each other, a development that was reversed in Iran. (There asura, or ahura, came to mean the supreme god and the devas, or daevas, became demons.) In Hindu mythology, the asura

Action Painting

Direct, instinctual, and highly dynamic kind of art that involves the spontaneous application of vigorous, sweeping brushstrokes and the chance effects of dripping and spilling paint onto the canvas. The term was coined by the American art critic Harold Rosenberg to characterize the work of a group of American Abstract Expressionists (see Abstract

Vacarius

Educated at Bologna, Vacarius went to England to act as counsel to Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, in his successful struggle (ending in 1146) to have the papal legateship transferred from the

Fish Poisoning

Ciguatera poisoning is one of the most common forms of fish poisoning in the Caribbean. It is caused by fishes that in other parts of the world constitute food items (e.g., sea bass, snapper). The conditions under which these fishes become toxic in the Caribbean waters are not clear. Symptoms,

Tarakanova, Yelizaveta Alekseyevna

She claimed to have been reared in St. Petersburg, but she was probably not Russian, and her origins and real name are unknown. She appeared in various cities of western Europe

Finland, Recreation

In Finland the basic national sport—which originally was a necessary means of winter transportation—is cross-country skiing. Nationalism also encouraged the development of special proficiency, which was fostered by ski fairs and competitions held at Oulu beginning in the late 1890s. An interest in other athletics developed from the time that the Finns took part

Rochester

City, seat of Olmsted county, southeastern Minnesota, U.S., situated at the confluence of three tributaries of the Zumbro River, in a mixed-farming region, 75 miles (121 km) south of Minneapolis. The site, which originally served as a camping ground for wagon trains, was settled in 1854 and named for Rochester, N.Y. Its growth has been stimulated to a great degree by the Mayo Medical Center,

Gray, Elisha

Gray invented a number of telegraphic devices and in 1869 was one of two partners who founded what became Western Electric Company. On Feb. 14, 1876, the day that Bell filed an application for a patent for a telephone, Gray

Marriage

A legally and socially sanctioned union, usually between a man and a woman, that is regulated by laws, rules, customs, beliefs, and attitudes that prescribe the rights and duties of the partners and accords status to their offspring (if any). The universality of marriage within different societies and cultures is attributed to the many basic social and personal functions

Mobile

Abstract sculpture that has moving parts, driven either by motors or the natural force of wind. The word mobile was initially suggested by Marcel Duchamp for a 1932 Paris exhibition of such works by the American artist Alexander Calder. One of Calder's first mobiles consisted of coloured spheres motorized to move up and down curving wires at different speeds. Later, he

Biblical Literature, Background

The historical background of the New Testament and its times must be viewed in conjunction with the Jewish matrix from which it evolved and the Hellenistic (Greek cultural) world into which it expanded during a period of Jewish religious propaganda. It is difficult, however, to separate the phenomena of the Jewish and Hellenistic backgrounds, because the Judaism

Santorio Santorio

Santorio was a graduate of the University of Padua (M.D., 1582), where he later became professor of medical

Alexander Balas

The pretended son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, he won the Seleucid throne with the help of mercenaries, challenging and slaying Demetrius I Soter, the direct Seleucid heir. With the support of the Roman Senate and the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, he ruled the remains of the Seleucid

African Literature, English

Although a genuine African literature in English did not emerge until the 1950s, writing in English by Africans goes back to the 18th century. Many slave narratives were published in English between 1760 and 1865, when the Civil War ended in the United States. Perhaps the most remarkable is The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa,

Schattschneider, Elmer Eric

Schattschneider earned an A.B. at the University of Wisconsin (1915), an M.A. at the University of Pittsburgh (1927), and a Ph.D. at Columbia University (1935). He taught at Columbia (1927–30); Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. (1929–30); and Wesleyan