Cell, The vacuole

Most plant cells contain one or more membrane-bound vesicles called vacuoles. Within the vacuole is the cell sap, a water solution of salts and sugars kept at high concentration by the active transport of ions through permeases in the vacuole membrane. This high concentration causes the entry, via osmosis, of water into the vacuole, which in turn expands the vacuole

Szeryng, Henryk

Szeryng studied with Carl Flesch in Berlin and with Jacques Thibaud in Paris. He made his debut in 1933, and from 1933 to 1939 he was a composition student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During World War II he was on the staff of the Polish government-in-exile.

Plymouth

Named Sudtone in Domesday Book (1086), Plymouth's original harbour is still called Sutton Harbour. A developing trade and the shipment of armies

Bacab

In Mayan mythology, any of four gods, thought to be brothers, who, with upraised arms, supported the multilayered sky from their assigned positions at the four cardinal points of the compass. (The Bacabs may also have been four manifestations of a single deity.) The four brothers were probably the offspring of Itzamn�, the supreme deity, and Ixchel, the goddess of weaving,

Selkirkshire

Archaeological evidence indicates that Selkirkshire was occupied by the Neolithic Period. Romans established

Silhouette Island

Granitic island, third largest of the Seychelles archipelago, Republic of Seychelles, in the western Indian Ocean. It has an area of 7.6 sq mi (20 sq km), rises to 2,467 ft (751 m), and is 12 mi (19 km) northwest of Mah� Island. Virgin forests still grow in the more inaccessible parts of its mountainous terrain. The island is protected as a national park. Copra and fish are the main products. Pop. (1982 est.) 255.

Gambia River

River in western Africa, 700 miles (1,120 km) long, rising in the Republic of Guinea and flowing westward through The Gambia into the Atlantic Ocean. Its major tributaries are the Sandougou and the Sofianiama. The Gambia is one of the finest waterways in Africa and the only western African river that is easily accessible to oceangoing shipping. It constitutes a unifying factor

Macdonald, George

Novelist of Scottish life, poet, and writer of Christian allegories of man's pilgrimage back to God, who is remembered chiefly, however, for his allegorical fairy stories, which have continued to delight children and their elders. He became a Congregational minister, then a free-lance preacher and lecturer. In 1855 he published

Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce

The bank was established in 1858 as the Bank of Canada and reorganized in 1867 as the Canadian Bank of Commerce. The present name was assumed upon the merger in 1961 of the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the Imperial Bank of Canada (established in 1875). Over the years the bank has absorbed

Individualism

Political and social philosophy that places high value on the freedom of the individual and generally stresses the self-directed, self-contained, and comparatively unrestrained individual or ego. The French political commentator Alexis de Tocqueville, who coined the word, described it in terms of a kind of moderate selfishness, disposing human beings to be concerned

Argentina, Per�n's legacy

When Per�n died on July 1, 1974, he left to his widow a deeply compromised inheritance, yet the transition of power was smooth, and Isabel Per�n was sworn in as the world's first woman president. Under the influence of L�pez Rega, the government became even more inflexibly oriented toward the right, and violence reached new heights. L�pez Rega, who used the rightist crusade to

Antalya

Ancient Greek �Attalia, � city and Mediterranean port, southwestern Turkey, on the Gulf of Antalya. Attalia was founded as a seaport in the 2nd century BC by Attalus II, a king of Pergamum. It was bequeathed to the Romans by his successor, Attalus III. St. Paul and St. Barnabas embarked from the seaport on their evangelical mission to Antioch. The �Hadrian Gate,� a marble portal of three identical arches,

India, The Anglo-French struggle, 1740 - 63

In 1740 India appeared to be relatively tranquil. In the north the Persian Nadir Shah's invasion (1739) had proved only to be a large-scale raid. In the Deccan, the Nizam-ul-Mulk (�Deputy for the Whole Empire�) provided some measure of stability. In western India the Marathas were dominant. However, there was competition between Marathas, Mughals, and local rulers for political supremacy in the

Gabrielino

Also called �San Gabrielino, �Gabriele�o�, or �Tongva� any of two - and possibly three - dialectally and culturally related North American Indian groups who spoke a language of Uto-Aztecan stock and lived in the lowlands, along the seacoast, and on islands in southern California. The Gabrielino proper inhabited what are now southern and eastern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County, as well as the islands of Santa

Ham Nghi

Ung Lich was a nephew of the emperor Tu Duc, whose death in 1883 led to a disputed succession. After several equally legitimate heirs had been assassinated or deposed, Ung Lich ascended the throne through the intricate intrigues of two mandarin power

Mason, Daniel Gregory

Mason was the grandson of the music publisher and educator Lowell Mason and the son of Henry Mason, a founder of the Mason

Ambassador

At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, ambassadors were one of the four classes of diplomatic agents who were formally defined and recognized. Ambassadors were deemed to represent the person and dignity of the sovereign (or head of state) and were entitled to personal access to the sovereign

Ibiza

Also spelled �Iviza, or Ivica, � island, Balearic Islands provincia and comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�), Spain, one of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean. It lies 50 mi (80 km) southwest of Majorca and has an area of 221 sq mi (572 sq km). A strategic point of great importance in ancient times, the island was inhabited by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians and has some notable archaeological

Dachau

During World War II the main camp was supplemented by about 150 branches scattered throughout

Arts, Central Asian, Ghaznavids and Ghurids

Alp Tigin, a slave of Turkic origin at the Samanid court, escaped in AD 962 to Kabul, where he rapidly gained control of the town. He transferred his headquarters to Ghazna in central Afghanistan and established his dynasty there. Few Ghaznavid works of art have survived, but the admirably proportioned and decorated mortuary towers at Ghazna are architectural achievements

Antarctica, The development of IGY

The idea for more frequent programs was born in 1950, when it was proposed that scientists take advantage of increasing technological developments, interest in polar regions, and, not the least, the maximum sunspot activity expected in 1957 - 58. (The earlier, second polar year was a year of sunspot minimum.) The idea quickly germinated and grew: a formalized version was adopted by

Boece, Hector

Boece was educated at Dundee and the University of Paris, where he was appointed regent (professor) of philosophy and became a friend of Desiderius Erasmus. He was chief adviser to William Elphinstone, bishop of Aberdeen, in the foundation of the University of Aberdeen and

Kami

Plural �Kami� object of worship in Shinto and other indigenous religions of Japan. The term kami is often translated as �god,� �lord,� or �deity�; but it also includes other forces of nature, both good and evil, which, because of their superiority or divinity, become objects of reverence and respect. The sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami and other creator spirits, illustrious ancestors, and both

Man Orchid

The flower spike, about 10 to 45 cm (4 to 18 inches) tall, may bear up to 90 greenish or yellowish flowers, which have an unpleasant odour.

Man Orchid

Also called �spiny anteater� any of three species of peculiar egg-laying mammals from Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that eat and breathe through a bald, tubular beak protruding from a dome-shaped body covered in spines. Echidnas have beady eyes and mere slits for ears, and at the end of their beaks are two small nostrils and a tiny mouth. Electroreceptors in the skin

Scaevola, Quintus Mucius

As consul in 95 Scaevola and his colleague obtained the passage of the Lex Licinia Mucia, which removed certain groups not amalgamated into the Roman Republic (the so-called Latin and Italian allies) from the citizen rolls. The unrest created by this measure exploded in the Social (Italic) War of 90 - 88. After his consulship Scaevola

Osawatomie

City, Miami county, eastern Kansas, U.S. It lies along the Marais des Cygnes River at the mouth of Pottawatomie Creek; its name combines elements of the words Osage and Pottawatomie. Settled in 1854 with support of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, Osawatomie was the headquarters for John Brown's militant Free State operations in Kansas Territory and was a station on

Eyasi, Lake

Lake, northern Tanzania. It lies west of Lake Manyara and approximately 95 miles (155 km) southwest of Arusha. At an elevation of about 3,400 feet (1,040 m), the lake covers an area of about 400 square miles (1,050 square km) and occupies the bottom of a bowllike depression in a region of volcanic activity. The walls of the lake are purple lava enclosing a broad expanse of white alkaline shallows with

Alain

Graduating in philosophy, he taught at lyc�es in a number of towns, including Rouen, where he became involved in politics and began contributing a daily short article of 600 words to a Radical newspaper. The high literary quality of these

Narragansett Bay

Inlet of the North Atlantic, extending northward (from Rhode Island Sound) for 28 mi (45 km) into Rhode Island, U.S., almost dividing the state into two parts. The bay is 3 to 12 mi wide and receives the Taunton, Providence, and Sakonnet rivers. It includes Rhode, Prudence, and Conanicut islands and Mt. Hope Bay (a northeastern arm), which is crossed by one of New England's longest bridges. Since