Basil

Albanian in origin, Basil acceded to the throne of Moldavia in the spring of 1634. He intrigued throughout his reign to acquire the Walachian throne as well, and in 1637 and 1639 led unsuccessful expeditions against the ruling prince

Poison, Drugs of abuse

Mind-altering drugs commonly abused include amphetamines, cocaine, phencyclidine, heroin, and methaqualone. These drugs are primarily toxic to the central nervous system; amphetamine and cocaine cause stimulation of the system (hallucinations and delirium), and heroin causes the depression of the system (depressed respiration and coma). In contrast, phencyclidine

Corday, Charlotte

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

Kaffir

Also spelled �Kafir, �Arabic �Kafir � (�Infidel�), member of a group of southern African Bantu-speaking peoples (see Xhosa); also, member of a people of the Hindu Kush in northeastern Afghanistan (see Nuristani). Use of the term for either group reflects a negative opinion. Especially in South Africa, kaffir (not capitalized) is used in a generally pejorative way to mean any African black.

Albania

Officially �Republic of Albania, �Albanian �Shqip�ria, �or �Republika e Shqip�ris�, � country located in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula on the Strait of Otranto, the southern entrance to the Adriatic Sea. It encompasses an area of 11,100 square miles (28,748 square kilometres), with a maximum length from north to south of about 210 miles (340 kilometres) and a maximum width of about 95 miles. It is bounded to the northwest by Montenegro, to the northeast by the Kosovo region

Shillong

City, capital of Meghalaya state, northeastern India. The city is located on the Shillong Plateau at an elevation of 4,990 feet (1,520 m). Shillong first became prominent in 1864, when it succeeded Cherrapunji as the district headquarters; in 1874 it was made the capital of the new province of Assam. An earthquake destroyed the city in 1897, necessitating its complete rebuilding. The North East

Beard, Charles A(ustin)

American historian, best-known for his iconoclastic studies of the development of U.S. political institutions. His emphasis on the dynamics of socioeconomic conflict and change and his analysis of motivational factors in the founding of institutions made him one of the most influential American historians of his

Kunlun Mountains

Despite the extreme climatic and topographic conditions, the Kunluns and adjacent areas support permanent and migratory populations. On the northern slopes are found Uighur, up from the oases, and occasional Mongols; and, south to the northern areas of Tibet, Tibetan pastoral nomads have commandeered large expanses of formerly abandoned steppe grazing lands.

China, Integration of the South

The second Sui emperor, Yang-ti (reigned 604 - 617), has been depicted as a supreme example of arrogance, extravagance, and personal depravity who squandered his patrimony in megalomaniac construction projects and unwise military adventures. This mythical Yang-ti was to a large extent the product of the hostile record written of his reign shortly after his death. His reign

West Lancashire

District, administrative and historic county of Lancashire, northwestern England, north of the city of Liverpool. West Lancashire is separated from the Irish Sea by the narrow coastal strip of Sefton except in the north at the mouth of the River Ribble. The district is essentially a low-lying coastal plain, much of it reclaimed marshland, although marshes in the extreme

Delhi, Education

The growth of modern education in Delhi has kept pace with the expansion of the city's population. Primary-level education is nearly universal, and a large proportion of students also attend secondary school. Education for women at all levels has advanced at a much faster pace than it has for men. Among the institutions of higher learning, the most important is the

Sanchi Sculpture

Sanchi is the

Mito

Capital, Ibaraki Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, on the left bank of the Naka-gawa (Naka River). During the Heian era (794 - 1185) Mito developed around a Yoshida shrine, and its first castle was built during the Kamakura era (1192 - 1333). The city changed hands several times during the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1609 it became a fief of the Mito branch of the Tokugawa family, one of the three branches of that

Phidias

Also spelled �Pheidias� Athenian sculptor, the artistic director of the construction of the Parthenon, who created its most important religious images and supervised and probably designed its overall sculptural decoration. It is said of Phidias that he alone had seen the exact image of the gods and that he revealed it to man. He established forever general conceptions of Zeus and

Intensive Agriculture

In agricultural economics, system of cultivation using large amounts of labour and capital relative to land area. Large amounts of labour and capital are necessary to the application of fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to growing crops, and capital is particularly important to the acquisition and maintenance of high-efficiency machinery

Schreiber, R(aemer) E(dgar)

American experimental physicist who during World War II was one of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M., to develop the first atomic bombs and then helped assemble the two bombs that were dropped on Japan; after the war he stayed on at Los Alamos in the weapons division and helped develop the hydrogen bomb, from 1955 led the nuclear rocket

Smilax

Genus of plants in the family Smilacaceae, consisting of about 300 species of woody or herbaceous vines, variously known as catbriers and greenbriers, native to tropical and temperate parts of the world. The stems of many species are covered with prickles; the lower leaves are scalelike; and the leathery upper leaves have untoothed blades with

Chaga

Their methods of cultivation support a very dense population. They practice an intensive irrigated agriculture on terraced fields, keeping them under permanent cultivation through

Cylinder

In geometry, surface of revolution that is traced by a straight line (the generatrix) that always moves parallel to itself or some fixed line or direction (the axis). The path, to be definite, is directed along a curve (the directrix), along which the line always glides. In a right circular cylinder, the directrix is a circle. The axis of this cylinder is a line through the centre

Manapouri, Lake

Lake, southwestern South Island, New Zealand, the deepest lake in the country. It is one of the Southern Lakes, found in the highland section of Fiordland National Park, which were formed by the glacial deepening of an existing stream valley accompanied by damming of the valley with a moraine (glacial debris). Manapouri derives its name from a Maori word meaning �lake

Beach, Amy Marcy

Amy Cheney had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She began taking piano lessons at age six, although she had been composing simple melodies on the

Sangha

The sangha originated in the group of disciples who renounced the worldly life to wander with the Buddha and listen to his teachings. After the Buddha's

Smith, Patti

In full� Patti Lee Smith � American poet, rock songwriter, and singer. Growing up in New Jersey, Smith won an art scholarship to Glassboro State Teachers College. In 1967 she moved to New York City, where she became active in the downtown Manhattan arts scene, writing poetry and living with the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Her performance-driven poetry readings

Peru-chile Trench

The Peru-Chile Trench marks the subduction of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate

Chatoyance

The property of some minerals to exhibit a wavy, luminous band with a silky lustre, reminiscent of the eye of a cat, in the centre of a cabochon-cut (polished, with a rounded, unfaceted convex surface) stone. The effect, caused by parallel fibres or by oriented imperfections or inclusions within the stone, is typical of cat's-eye, tigereye, satin spar, and bronzite. The fibres,

Domestic Pigeon

(Columba livia), bird of the family Columbidae (order Columbiformes) that was perhaps the first bird tamed by man. Figurines, mosaics, and coins have portrayed the domestic pigeon since at least 4500 BC (Mesopotamia). From Egyptian times the pigeon has been important as food. Its role as messenger has a long history. Today it is an important laboratory animal, especially

Basedow, Johann Bernhard

Basedow as a boy revolted

Negritude

French �N�gritude� literary movement of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean writers living in Paris as a protest against French colonial rule and the policy of assimilation. Its leading figure was L�opold S�dar Senghor (elected first president of the Republic of Senegal in 1960), who, along with Aim� C�saire from Martinique and L�on Damas from French Guiana,

Mormon

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the principal formal body embracing

Barnet, Charlie

Born into a wealthy family, Barnet rejected their urging that he become a corporate lawyer and instead turned to music. He led his first band at age 16, on a transatlantic liner, and eventually made 22 such crossings; he also visited the South Seas and Latin

Pacific Ocean, Environmental impact of human activity

The Pacific Ocean is able to absorb, dilute, and disperse large quantities of human-generated wastes, but the increasing pace of economic activity - particularly the transport of crude oil and other hazardous substances - has led to measurable levels of pollution in some nearshore waters, especially close to ports and large coastal cities. At the same time, the loads

Glycogen Storage Disease

In the liver group, type O is set apart as

Spain

Officially �Kingdom of Spain�, Spanish �Espa�a� or �Reino de Espa�a� country located in the extreme southwest of the European continent. It occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour, Portugal. Spain is bordered on the west by Portugal; in the northeast it borders France, from which it is separated by the tiny principality of Andorra and by the great wall of the Pyrenees Mountains. Spain's

Kaema Highlands

Korean �Kaema-kowon� tableland, northern North Korea. Called the roof of the Korean Peninsula, the Kaema Highlands are bounded on the north by Paektu Mountain (9,003 feet [2,744 m]), on the west by the Nangnim Mountain Range, on the east by the coast of the Sea of Japan (East Sea), and on the south by the northern tip of the T'aebaek Mountains. The heights rise 3,300 - 6,600 feet (1,000 - 2,000 m) and are approximately 15,500 square miles (40,000 square km)

Kirkman, Jacob

Kirkman was trained as a cabinetmaker and went to England in the early 1730s to work for an obscure immigrant Flemish harpsichord maker in London. He eventually became harpsichord

Radar, Antennas

A widely used form of radar antenna is the parabolic reflector, the principle of which is shown in cross section in Figure 4 (A). A horn antenna or other small antenna is placed at the focus of the parabola to illuminate the parabolic surface of the reflector. After being reflected by this surface, the electromagnetic energy is radiated as a narrow beam. A paraboloid, which

Aeon

The first aeon was said to emanate directly

Fuchs, Ruth

In 1972, just 35 minutes after Polish athlete Ewa Gryziecka had set a record for the women's javelin throw, Fuchs threw the javelin more than 2.3 m (7 feet 6 inches) farther, a total of 65.06 m (213 feet 5 1/2 inches), her first world record. She went on to set a

Hooke's Law

Law of elasticity discovered by the English scientist Robert Hooke in 1660, which states that, for relatively small deformations of an object, the displacement or size of the deformation is directly proportional to the deforming force or load. Under these conditions the object returns to its original shape and size upon removal of the load. Elastic behaviour of solids

Celan, Paul

When Romania came under virtual Nazi control in World War II, Celan was sent to

Cambyses Ii

Achaemenid king of Persia (reigned 529 - 522 BC), who conquered Egypt in 525; he was the eldest son of King Cyrus II the Great by Cassandane, daughter of a fellow Achaemenid. During his father's lifetime Cambyses was in charge of Babylonian affairs. In 538 he performed the ritual duties of a Babylonian king at the important New Year festival, and in 530, before Cyrus set out on his last

Ahab

Omri left to Ahab an empire that comprised not only territory east of the Jordan River, in Gilead and probably Bashan, but also the land of Moab, whose king was tributary. The southern kingdom of Judah, if not actually subject to Omri, was certainly a

Pyran

Any of a class of organic compounds of the heterocyclic series in which five carbon atoms and one oxygen atom are present in a ring structure. Of two possible simple pyran compounds, only one is known; it was prepared in 1962 and found to be very unstable. Among the stable members of this family is tetrahydropyran, made by hydrogenating the dihydro compound. Sugars often

France, History Of, The Fourth Republic

Shortly after his return to Paris, de Gaulle announced that the citizens of France would determine their future governmental system as soon as the absent prisoners and deportees could be repatriated. That process was largely completed by midsummer 1945, soon after Germany's defeat, whereupon de Gaulle scheduled a combined referendum and election for October. Women,

China, The civil service

One of the main contributions of the Han dynasty to the future of Imperial China lay in the development of the civil service and the structure of central and provincial government. The evolutionary changes that subsequently transformed Han polity beyond recognition were not directed at altering the underlying principles of government but at applying them

Shabestari, Sa'd Od-din Mahmud

The details of Shabestari's life are obscure; apparently he spent most of it in Tabriz. He grew up in an age of spiritual confusion, following the Mongol invasion of Iran, the sack of Baghdad, and the final fall of the

Yeshiva University

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in New York, New York, U.S. It is a comprehensive research university comprising six undergraduate schools and seven graduate or professional schools at the Main Campus in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, the Midtown Center in Manhattan's Murray Hill area, the Brookdale Center on Fifth Avenue in

Jacksonville

City, Jackson county, southwestern Oregon, U.S. It lies along Jackson Creek, just west of Medford, in the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains. It began in 1851 - 52 as a mining camp with placer gold discoveries along the creek (named for a prospector). By the 1920s mining activities had declined together with the population, and, bypassed by the railroad, in 1927 the city lost to Medford its status

Solfeggio

French �Solf�ge, � vocal exercises sung to the solmization syllables (do, re, mi, etc.) and, by extension, vocalizes, or exercises sung to a single vowel, often florid and difficult to master. Solfeggio collections survive from the 17th century onward, with examples by leading composers of 18th-century opera, such as Nicola Porpora (also a singer and famed singing teacher) and Alessandro Scarlatti

Xenophon

Greek historian, author of the Anabasis. Its prose was highly regarded by literary critics in antiquity and had strong influence on Latin literature.

Dinaric Alps

Serbo-Croatian �Dinarsko Gorje�, or �Dinara Planina� southeastern division of the Eastern Alps, running parallel to the Dalmatian (Adriatic) coast from Trieste and Slovenia south to Albania. Bounded by the Soca (Italian Isonzo) and Sava rivers (north), the Drina River (south), the Kolubara, Ibar, and Sitnica rivers (east), and the Adriatic Sea (west), the Alps rise to 8,274 ft (2,522 m) in Bobotov Kuk of Durmitor. The coast is indented with numerous

Switzerland

Caribbean Literature

Literary works of the Caribbean area written in Spanish, French, or English. The literature of the Caribbean has no indigenous tradition. The pre-Columbian American Indians left few rock carvings or inscriptions (petroglyphs), and their oral traditions did not survive 16th-century Spanish colonization. The West Africans who replaced them were also without a written

Biblical Literature, The significance of Elijah

With the dynasty of Omri (c. 876 - 842), the prophetic movement begins to assume a position of tremendous importance in Israel and Judah. Omri (reigned c. 876 - 869) reestablished Israel's economic and military significance among the Syrian and Palestinian minor kingdoms, so much so that years after his death the Assyrians referred to the northern kingdom as �the land of Omri.� He is mentioned

Earth, Wind And Fire

American pop, soul, and jazz-fusion band that became one of the best-selling and most influential black groups of the 1970s. The principal members were Maurice White (b. December 19, 1941, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.), Philip Bailey (b. May 8, 1951, Denver, Colorado), Verdine White (b. July 25, 1951, Chicago), Fred White (b. January 13, 1956, Chicago), Al McKay (b. February 2, 1948, New Orleans, Louisiana), Johnny Graham (b. August 3, 1951, Kentucky), Ralph

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint

The biography of Thomas Aquinas is one of extreme simplicity; it chronicles little but some modest travel during a career devoted entirely to university life: at Paris, the Roman Curia, Paris again, and Naples. It would be a mistake, however, to judge that his life was merely the quiet life of a professional teacher untouched by the social and political affairs of his

Kuei-yang

Originally

Grumbach, Wilhelm Von

About 1540 Grumbach allied