Coneflower

Plants

Clotilda, Saint

Clotilda was the granddaughter of Gundioc, king of Burgundy, who was related to the Visigothic kings and shared their Arian Christian faith. At Gundioc's death his kingdom was divided between his four sons, Gundobad, Godegesil,

Byrnes, James F.

A self-taught lawyer, Byrnes entered public life in

Graves, Robert (von Ranke)

English poet, novelist, critic, and classical scholar who carried on many of the formal traditions of English verse in a period of experimentation. His more than 120 books also include a notable historical novel, I, Claudius (1934); an autobiographical classic of World War I, Good-Bye to All That (1929; rev. ed. 1957); and erudite, controversial studies in

Aasen, Ivar

After studying Old Norwegian, Aasen undertook a survey of the contemporary Norwegian dialects. These he judged to be the true offshoots of Old Norwegian, as distinct from the Danish-influenced

Graves, Robert (von Ranke)

In the United Kingdom, television network consisting of a consortium of private companies in competition with the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, which was originally the Independent Television Authority. The ITV network was authorized by act of Parliament in 1954, when the BBC's monopoly over radio

Giovanni Da Pian Del Carpini

Giovanni was a contemporary and disciple of St. Francis of Assisi. By 1220 he

Sunderland, Henry Spencer, 1st Earl Of, Baron Spencer Of Wormleighton

Born to great wealth, he was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (M.A., 1636), and succeeded his father as Baron Spencer in 1636. A firm Royalist, he served as Charles I's negotiator in the early years of the conflict with Parliament—a conflict that evolved into the Civil Wars. On June 8, 1643, he

Arabic Language

Arabic is the language of the Qur'an (or Koran, the sacred book of Islam) and the religious language of all Muslims. Literary Arabic, usually called Classical Arabic, is essentially the form of the language

Steeplechase

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

Cerdan, Marcel

Cerdan began his professional career in 1934, all of his early bouts being fought in North Africa. He made his European debut in 1937 and won the French welterweight title in 1938 and the European welterweight championship in 1939. With the advent

Moree

Town, northern New South Wales, Australia, on the Gwydir River, in the Western Slopes district. Originating in 1848 as a livestock station, it became a village in 1852, a town in 1862, and a municipality in 1890. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word for “rising sun,” “long spring,” or “water hole.” At the junction of the Gwydir and Newell highways, with regular air and rail service to Sydney (319 mi [513 km] southeast),

M

Abbreviation of Messier catalog (q.v.), an astronomical listing.

Chilpancingo, Congress Of

(September–November 1813), meeting held at Chilpancingo, in present Guerrero state, Mex., that declared the independence of Mexico from Spain and drafted a constitution, which received final approval (Oct. 22, 1814) at the Congress of Apatzingán. José María Morelos y Pavón, who called the congress at Chilpancingo, had assumed leadership of the Mexican independence movement after

Niche

In ecology, the smallest unit of a habitat that is occupied by an organism. Habitat niche refers to the physical space occupied by the organism; ecological niche refers to the role it plays in the community of organisms found in the habitat. The activities of an organism and its relationships to other organisms are determined by its particular structure, physiology,

Palladius

Palladius took up the ascetical life himself, first at the Mount of Olives, the scene of Christ's Passion outside Jerusalem,

Unity School Of Christianity

Also called  Unity,   religious movement founded in Kansas City, Mo., in 1889 by Charles Fillmore (1854–1948), a real-estate agent, and his wife, Myrtle (1845–1931). Mrs. Fillmore believed that spiritual healing had cured her of tuberculosis. As a result, the Fillmores began studying spiritual healing. They were deeply influenced by Emma Curtis Hopkins, a former follower of Mary Baker Eddy, who founded Christian Science.

Constantine

Also called (after 1981)  Qacentina , Arabic  Blad el-Hawa , Phoenician  Cirta  city, northeast Algeria. A natural fortress, the city occupies a rocky, diamond-shaped plateau that is surrounded, except at the southwest, by a precipitous gorge through the eastern side of which flows the Rhumel River. The plateau is 2,130 feet (650 m) above sea level and from 500 to 1,000 feet (150 to 300 m) above the riverbed in the gorge. The cliffs of the gorge, at its narrowest, are 15 feet (4.5 m) apart and

Lettow-vorbeck, Paul Von

A member of the South West Colonial

Biblical Literature, Types of writing materials and methods

In Hellenistic times (c. 300 BC–c. AD 300), official records were often inscribed on stone or metal tablets. Literary works and detailed letters were written on parchment or papyrus, though short or temporary records were written or scratched on potsherds (ostraca) or wax tablets. Scrolls were made by gluing together papyrus sheets (made from the pith of the papyrus reed) or by sewing

Bruegel, Jan, The Elder

The second son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, born just before his father's death, he was reared by a grandmother and learned his art in Antwerp. In his youth, he went to Italy, where he painted under the patronage of Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, and later, in 1610, he was

Aniene River

Also called  Teverone,  Latin  Anio,   major tributary of the Tiber (Tevere) River in central Italy. It rises from two springs in the Simbruini Mountains near Subiaco, southeast of Rome, flows through a narrow valley past Tivoli, and meanders through the Campagna di Roma (territory) to join the Tiber north of Rome. It is 67 miles (108 km) long and has a drainage basin of 569 square miles (1,474 square km). The Roman emperor Nero created

ávila

In full  Ávila De Los Caballeros,   city and capital of Ávila province, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), central Spain. The city of Ávila is situated on the Adaja River at 3,715 feet (1,132 m) above sea level and is surrounded by the lofty Sierra de Gredos (south) and the Sierra de Guadarrama (east). The city lies 54 miles (87 km) west of Madrid. A pre-Roman settlement on the site became part of Roman Lusitania

East Germanic Languages

Group of long extinct Germanic languages once spoken by Germanic tribes located between the middle Oder and the Vistula.

Wakayama

City, Wakayama ken (prefecture), south-central Honshu, Japan. It is situated at the mouth of the Kino River, on the Kii Peninsula, and lies along the Kii Strait, which leads from the Pacific Ocean into the Inland Sea. It is the capital and largest city of Wakayama prefecture. The settlement's growth began in 1585 with the construction of a castle there by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Wakayama

Hindenburg

German dirigible, the largest rigid airship ever constructed, and the victim of a spectacular disaster. The Hindenburg was an 804-foot- (245-metre-) long airship of conventional Zeppelin design that was first launched at Friedrichshafen, Germany, in April 1936. It had a maximum speed of 84 miles per hour (135 km/h) and a cruising speed of 78 miles per hour (126 km/h). In 1936 the Hindenburg inaugurated commercial

Ramadi, Ar-

Capital of al-Anbar muhafazah (governorate), central Iraq. It lies on the Euphrates River just northwest of Hawr (Lake) al-Habbaniyah. Ancient settlements existed in the vicinity, but ar-Ramadi was founded only in 1869 to encourage settlement by the nomadic Dulaym tribes, a goal that has been partially fulfilled. The town prospered after becoming the departure point of a trade route

Theism, Hindu theism

It was noted, for example, that the Vedic hymns that appear in the earliest Hindu scriptures contain significant intimations of a sense of “the wonder of existence,” “the outpourings,” as Savepalli Radhakrishnan, the former philosopher-president of India, has expressed it, “of poetic minds who were struck by the immensity of the universe and the inexhaustible mystery

Denbigh

Welsh  Dinbych  market town, historic and present county of Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych), Wales. After the English king Edward I conquered Wales, Henry de Lacy, 3rd earl of Lincoln, founded a borough there in 1283 and built a castle, which withstood attack in 1402 by the rebel Owen Glendower, though the town itself was razed. In the 15th and 16th centuries Denbigh was one of the most important towns in Wales.

Aeschylus

Studies of special topics relating to Aeschylus' plays include Anthony J. Podlecki, The Political Background of Aeschylean Tragedy (1966); A.F. Garvie, Aeschylus' “Supplices”: Play and Trilogy (1969); George Thomson, Aeschylus and Athens: A Study in the Social Origins of Drama, 4th ed. (1973), a Marxist study; Anne Lebeck, The Oresteia: A Study in Language and Structure (1971), on the significant connections of imagery; R.P. Winnington-Ingram, Studies in Aeschylus (1983), a collection of insightful essays; Thomas G. Rosenmeyer, The Art of Aeschylus (1982), a critical study; D.J. Conacher, Aeschylus' “Prometheus Bound”: A Literary Commentary (1980); Mark Griffith, The Authenticity of “Prometheus Bound” (1977), a powerful attack on authenticity; and Oliver Taplin, The Stagecraft of Aeschylus: The Dramatic Use of Exits and Entrances in Greek Tragedy (1978), on dramatic techniques and meanings.

Cyprus

Greek  Kípros , Turkish  Kibris  island located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Turkey, 60 miles (97 km) west of Syria, and 480 miles (772 km) southeast of mainland Greece. Its maximum length, from Cape Arnauti in the west to Cape Apostolos Andreas at the end of the northeastern peninsula, is 140 miles (225 km); the maximum north-south extent is 60 miles (97 km). With an area of 3,572 square miles (9,251 square km), it is the third

Hovey, Richard

After graduating from Dartmouth in 1885, Hovey studied art and theology and in 1887 met Bliss Carman, the poet, with whom he later collaborated. Hovey lectured on aesthetics at the Farmington School of Philosophy and, for the last two years of his life, at Columbia University, where he held a post as professor

Saimaa, Lake

Lake in southeastern Finland. It lies just northwest of the Russian border and is northeast of Helsinki. Covering parts of the läänit (provinces) of Mikkeli and Kymi, it has an area of 443 square miles (1,147 square km) and is the primary lake in the Great Saimaa lake system, which, at 1,690 square miles (4,377 square km), is the largest system in Finland. The lake's two branches extend northward about

Infection, Q fever

Q fever is a disease caused by the rickettsial agent Coxiella burnetii. The Q stands for query, for its cause was at first unknown. It spreads rapidly in cows, sheep, and goats, and whole herds, flocks, and areas often are contaminated with the Coxiella organisms. The germs are passed in vast quantities in milk, urine, and feces, in vaginal discharges, and on placentas, and they

Schemochrome

Any one of many colourless, submicroscopic structures in organisms that serve as a source of colour by the manner in which they reflect light. Among those physical structures in organisms that fractionate light into its component colours are ridges, striations, facets, successive layers, and multiple fine, randomly dispersed light-scattering bodies.

Eye Dialect

The use of misspellings that are based on standard pronunciations (such as sez for says or kow for cow) but are usually intended to suggest a speaker's illiteracy or his use of generally nonstandard pronunciations. It is sometimes used in literature for comic effect.

Arrau, Claudio

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

Haber, Fritz

Deciding on an academic career, he first took up organic chemical research at the University of Jena, but its orthodox methods gave

Chancellor

In western Europe, the title of holders of numerous offices of varying importance, mainly secretarial, legal, administrative, and ultimately political in nature. The Roman cancellarii, minor legal officials who stood by the cancellus, or bar, separating the tribune from the public, were later employed in the imperial scrinia (writing departments). After the fall of

Azeotrope

In chemistry, a mixture of liquids that has a constant boiling point because the vapour has the same composition as the liquid mixture. The boiling point of an azeotropic mixture may be higher or lower than that of any of its components. The components of the solution cannot be separated by simple distillation.

Religious Experience, Revelational and mystical immediacy

Among defenders of the validity and cognitive import of religious experience, it is necessary to distinguish those who take such experience to be an immediate and self-authenticating encounter with the divine and those who claim that apprehension of the divine is the result of inference from, or interpretation of, religious experience. Two forms of immediacy

Amrouche, Jean

As a young man, Amrouche published Cendres (1934; “Cinders

China, Political institutions

The Ch'ing had come to power because of their success at winning Chinese over to their side; in the late 17th century they adroitly pursued similar policies to win the adherence of the Chinese literati. Ch'ing emperors learned Chinese, addressed their subjects using Confucian rhetoric, reinstated the civil service examination system and the Confucian curriculum,

China, Early T'ang (618–626)

When Kao-tsu became emperor (reigned 618–626), he was still only one among the contenders for control of the empire of the Sui. It was several years before the empire was entirely pacified. After the suppression of Hsüeh Chü and the pacification of the northwest, the T'ang had to contend with three principal rival forces: the Sui remnants commanded by Wang Shih-ch'ung at Lo-yang,

Shimada

City, Shizuoka ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the lower Oi River. During the Tokugawa era (1603–1867) it was an important post town on the Tokaido (Eastern Sea Highway) because fording the river was both difficult and dangerous. Since the early 20th century the city has become a trade centre for timber from the forest-covered Akaishi Range upstream. Shimada contains several large paper