AcidBoard

Eliot, Charles William

2005-11-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

Eliot graduated from Harvard in 1853 and was appointed assistant professor of mathematics and chemistry there in 1858. In 1867 he sailed for Europe, where he made a study of European educational systems.

Eclecticism

2005-10-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

(from Greek eklektikos, “selective”), in philosophy and theology, the practice of selecting doctrines from different systems of thought without adopting the whole parent system for each doctrine. It is distinct from syncretism—the attempt to reconcile or combine systems—inasmuch as it leaves the contradictions between them unresolved. In the sphere of abstract

Daily Telegraph, The

2005-07-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Founded in 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, the paper has consistently combined a high standard of reporting with the selection of interesting feature subjects and editorial presentation. Its appeal is a conservative and middle-class

Alemán, Mateo

2005-07-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Descended from Jews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism, Alemán expressed many aspects of the experiences and feelings of the New Christians in 16th-century Spain. His most important literary work, Guzmán de

Valdemar I

2005-07-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

The son of Knud Lavard, duke of South Jutland, and a great-grandson of the Danish king Sweyn II, Valdemar gained sole possession of the monarchy, concluding

Hellenistic Age, Science and medicine

2005-07-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

The three great areas of Hellenistic scholarship were medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. Alexandria attracted Herophilus (fl. 3rd century BC) from Chalcedon, who refused to stand in awe of the accepted medical dogmas and was distinguished in systematic anatomy, and the notable physiologist Erasistratus (fl. 3rd century BC) from Ceos, who realized that the heart is the

Mark

2005-06-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

Former German monetary unit. In the 19th century the mark was a common small coin in the German states, but its value varied between states. In 1873, soon after the creation of the German empire, the gold mark, equal to 100 pfennigs, was adopted as the standard of value and the money of account for the empire. In 1948 the deutsche mark (DM; “German mark”) was introduced in West Germany, and in 1990 it

Saxhorn

2005-06-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

Any of a family of brass wind instruments patented by the Belgian instrument-maker Antoine-Joseph Sax, known as Adolphe Sax, in Paris in 1845. Saxhorns, one of many 19th-century developments from the valved bugle, provided military bands with a homogeneous series of valved brass in place of the miscellany of valved instruments that had come into use since 1825 (such as flügelhorns,

Eimeria

2005-06-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

Genus of parasitic protozoans of the spore-producing phylum Apicomplexa (previously Sporozoa). Eimeria, which causes coccidiosis in livestock and wild animals, infects mainly the cells of the digestive tract, although it also attacks cells of the liver and the bile duct. Symptoms of infection are diarrhea, weight loss, and general weakness. Eimeria is characterized

Sari

2005-05-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

Situated

China, The empire

2005-05-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

Shih huang-ti made a number of important reforms. He abolished the feudal system completely and extended

Sunspot

2005-03-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

Vortex of gas on the surface of the Sun associated with strong local magnetic activity. Spots look dark only by contrast with the surrounding photosphere, which is several thousand degrees hotter. The dark centre of a spot is called the umbra; the outer, lighter ring, the penumbra. Spots may be several times larger than the Earth or so small that telescopic observation

Chianciano Terme

2005-03-14T23:30:00.000-08:00

Town and mineral spa, Siena provincia, Toscana (Tuscany) regione, central Italy. It lies at an elevation of 1,500 feet (450 m), just southeast of Montepulciano. The mineral springs, which have been frequented since Etruscan times, are located about 1.25 miles (2 km) from the town; they are a popular tourist attraction, and there are numerous hotels for the accommodation of visitors. The town

Barabbas

2005-03-12T18:40:00.000-08:00

In Matthew 27:16, Barabbas was called a �notorious prisoner.� In Mark 15:7, Luke 23:19, and John 18:40, Barabbas was �among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection,� a

Tedder (of Glenguin), Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron

2005-03-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

Marshal of the Royal Air Force and deputy commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force under General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who contributed significantly to the success of the Allied invasion of Normandy (June 6, 1944) and the German defeat on the Western Front during World War II through his policy of bombing

Kaema Highlands

2005-03-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

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)

Cabasilas, Nilus

2005-03-05T00:58:00.000-08:00

Cabasilas' principal

Dilleniidae

2005-03-04T04:53:00.000-08:00

Although tricolpate pollen is known from the Barremian and Aptian ages (124 to 113 million years ago) of the Early Cretaceous Period (144 to 97.5 million years ago), the record of those fossils recognized as Dilleniidae goes back no farther than the Cenomanian Age (97.5 to 91 million years ago) of the Late Cretaceous Period (97.5 to 66.4 million years ago). By this time, families in all parts of the subclass

Liguria

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

Shaped like a crescent reaching from the mouth of the Roia River to that of the Magra and from the French frontier to Tuscany, Liguria is dominated by the Maritime Alps as far as the Cadibona

Giancana, Sam

2005-03-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

Born and reared in Chicago's �Little Italy� on the near southwest side, Giancana began working for Al Capone in the 1920s and, by 1966, had been arrested some 70 times and served five years

Christian Iv

2005-02-28T03:49:00.000-08:00

King of Denmark and Norway (1588 - 1648), who led two unsuccessful wars against Sweden and brought disaster upon his country by leading it into the Thirty Years' War. He energetically promoted trade and shipping, left a national heritage of fine buildings, and won repute as a plucky, hard-drinking man of grim wit and great

Literary Criticism, Criticism and knowledge

2005-02-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

The debate over poetic truth may illustrate how modern discussion is beholden to extraliterary knowledge. Critics have never ceased disputing whether literature depicts the world correctly, incorrectly, or not at all, and the dispute has often had more to do with the support or condemnation of specific authors than with ascertainable facts about mimesis. Today

Wright, Judith

2005-02-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

After completing her education at the University of Sydney, Wright worked in an advertising agency and as a secretary at the University of Queensland, where she helped publish Meanjin, a literary

Scandinavian Literature, The Icelanders', or family, sagas

2005-02-25T06:57:00.000-08:00

These sagas were about heroes who had supposedly lived in the 10th and 11th centuries. Their origins are unclear, and it is debatable whether they were faithful records of history. One theory is that they were composed in the 11th century and transmitted orally until written down in the 13th century; though researchers now reject this view, it is true that the sagas owed much

Actinide Element, Nuclear

2005-02-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

All of the actinide elements are unstable toward radioactive decay; the reason that actinium, thorium, protactinium, and uranium are found in nature at all is because some of their isotopes are unusually stable and others are being formed constantly by decay of the long-lived isotopes. It is convenient to divide the naturally occurring isotopes into families based