Paleogeology

Also spelled �Palaeogeology, � the geology of a region at any given time in the distant past. Paleogeologic reconstructions in map form show not only the ancient topography of a region but also the distribution of rocks beneath the surface and such structural features as faults and folds. Maps of this kind help investigators to better determine the instances of deformation events in a region,

Ca' Da Mosto, Alvise

Retained by Prince Henry the Navigator, he set sail on March 22, 1455, visited Madeira and the Canary Islands, and coasted along Africa past the mouth of the Senegal River. He ascended some distance up the Gambia River, but, finding the people hostile, he returned to

Ear, Human, Structure of the cochlea

The cochlea contains the sensory organ of hearing. It bears a striking resemblance to the shell of a snail and in fact takes its name from the Greek word for this object. The cochlea is a spiral tube that is coiled two and one-half turns around a hollow central pillar, the modiolus. It forms a cone approximately 9 millimetres (0.35 inch) in diameter at its base and 5 millimetres

China, The Shang dynasty

The first dynasty to leave historical records is thought to have ruled from the mid-16th to mid-11th century BC. (Some scholars date the Shang dynasty from the mid-18th to the late 12th century BC.) One must, however, distinguish Shang as an archaeological term from Shang as a dynastic one. Erh-li-t'ou in north central Honan, for example, was initially classified archaeologically as Early

Iron Curtain

The political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. The term Iron Curtain had been in occasional and varied use as a metaphor since the 19th century, but it only came to prominence after it was used by the

Korchnoi, Viktor

As a youngster, Korchnoi lived through the World War II siege of Leningrad (1941 - 43). He became a Soviet master in 1951, an international master in 1954, and an international grandmaster

Minas Gerais

Inland estado (state) of Brazil. It is the storehouse of the mineral riches of that country, as is indicated by its name, which means �general mines.� The state is bounded on the north by the states of Goi�s and Bahia; on the east by Bahia, Esp�rito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro; on the south by Rio de Janeiro and S�o Paulo; and on the west by S�o Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goi�s. Its area

Nachi-katsuura

Town, Wakayama ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. Lying within Yoshino-Kumano National Park, the town is a summer resort renowned for its proximity to more than 40 waterfalls. The main fall is one of the highest in Japan, dropping 427 feet (130 m); it is approached through a large gate set in a grove of ancient cedars. The 7th-century Seiganto Temple is an important

Babeuf, Fran�ois-no�

John Anthony Scott (ed. and trans.), The Defense of Gracchus Babeuf Before the High Court of Vend�me, trans. from French (1964); R.B. Rose, Gracchus Babeuf: The First Revolutionary Communist (1978).

East Anglia

The area is low and undulating and almost entirely covered

Karab�

Town, northwestern Turkey, on the Yenice River. Once a small hamlet, it has grown rapidly since the establishment of Turkey's first major iron and steel complex there in 1940. The works were expanded greatly in the 1950s and '60s. Facilities include a coking plant, blast furnaces, a foundry, and tube works; chemical plants produce sulfuric acid and phosphates. The mills receive coal

Pius Ix

Original name �Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti � Italian head of the Roman Catholic church whose pontificate (1846 - 78) was the longest in history and was marked by a transition from liberalism to conservatism. Notable events of his reign included the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the sessions of the First

Vysotsky, Vladimir

Vysotsky's parents were divorced soon after his

Arensky, Anton

Although he was a composition student under Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Arensky's work was more akin to that of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; the predominant moods of his music are lyrical and elegiac. Of his three

Bevin, Ernest

Bevin was reared in a poor family and left school at the

Photography, Portraiture

A new style of portrait, introduced in Paris by Andr�-Adolphe-Eug�ne Disd�ri in 1854, was universally popular from 1859 onward. It came to be called the carte de visite because the size of the mounted photograph (four by 2 1/2 inches) corresponded to that of a calling card. Disd�ri used a four-lens camera to produce eight negatives on a single glass plate. Each picture could be separately

Tabuaeran Atoll

Also called �Fanning Atoll,� coral formation of the Northern Line Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Discovered in 1798 by an American, Edmund Fanning, the atoll is composed of several islets, with a total area of 13 square miles (35 square km), that surround a lagoon 32 miles (51 km) in circumference. It was annexed in 1888 by Britain as the site for a transpacific cable-relay station, which was in

Gray Birch

Also spelled �Grey Birch, �also called �Oldfield Birch, Wire Birch, or Poplar-leaved Birch� (Betula populifolia), slender ornamental tree of the family Betulaceae, found in clusters on moist sites in northeastern North America. Rarely 12 m (40 feet) tall, it is covered almost to the ground with flexible branches that form a narrow, pyramidal crown. The thin, glossy, dark green, triangular leaves have long, thin stems and flutter in the wind. In one variety, the leaves are

Palenque

Also called �Guarine, � Indian tribe of northern Venezuela at the time of the Spanish conquest (16th century). The Palenque were closely related to the neighbouring Cumanagoto (q.v.); their language probably belonged to the Arawakan family. They were a tropical-forest people known to eat human flesh, to be warlike, and to live in settlements surrounded by palisades (palenques). The Pat�ngoro (q.v.

Rye

Town (�parish�), Rother district, administrative county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, England, on a hill by the River Rother. The community's cobbled streets and timber-framed and Georgian houses attract many tourists. Originally a seaport, Rye was incorporated in 1289 and became a full member of the Cinque Ports (a confederation of English Channel ports) in about

Human Evolution, Ngaloba man

In 1976 a skull was found in the Ngaloba beds at the Laetoli site in Tanzania. These beds consist of deposits of sandstone and clay stone that are preserved in patches; these patches are made up of redeposited detritus that has been eroded from the underlying Ndolanya and Laetoli beds. In the upper Ngaloba beds, stone tools have been recovered that have been attributed

Human Evolution, Ngaloba man

In 1976 a skull was found in the Ngaloba beds at the Laetoli site in Tanzania. These beds consist of deposits of sandstone and clay stone that are preserved in patches; these patches are made up of redeposited detritus that has been eroded from the underlying Ndolanya and Laetoli beds. In the upper Ngaloba beds, stone tools have been recovered that have been attributed

Lenoir, (jean-joseph-) �tienne

Lenoir's engine was a converted double-acting steam engine with slide valves to admit the air-fuel mixture and to discharge exhaust products. A two-stroke cycle engine, it used a mixture of coal gas and air. Though only

China, Japan and Ryukyu

Three years after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 - which inaugurated a period of modernization and political change in Japan - a commercial treaty was signed between China and Japan, and it was ratified in 1873. Understandably it was reciprocal, because both signatories had a similar unequal status vis-�-vis the Western nations. The establishment of the new Sino-Japanese relations

Wick

Royal burgh (town) and fishing port, Highland council area, historic county of Caithness, Scotland. An ancient Norse settlement on the North Sea, situated about 14 miles (23 km) south of John o'Groats, Wick developed as a fishing port and centre and was designated a royal burgh in 1589. It expanded rapidly during the herring boom of the 19th century. Since then herring fishing has declined

France, History Of, The Revolution of 1830

The July Revolution was a monument to the ineptitude of Charles X and his advisers. At the outset, few of the king's critics imagined it possible to overthrow the regime; they hoped merely to get rid of Polignac. As for the king, he naively ignored the possibility of serious trouble. No steps were taken to reinforce the army garrison in Paris; no contingency plans were prepared.

Hench, Philip Showalter

American physician who with Edward C. Kendall in 1948 successfully applied an adrenal hormone (later known as cortisone) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. With Kendall and Tadeus Reichstein of Switzerland, Hench received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for discoveries concerning hormones of the adrenal

Ratite

Any bird whose sternum (breastbone) is smooth, or raftlike, because it lacks a keel to which flight muscles could be anchored. All species of ratites are thus unable to fly. They are a peculiar and puzzling group, with anatomic anomalies. The group includes some of the largest birds of all time, such as the moa (q.v.) and the elephant bird (Aepyornis). Extant ratites include the

Berat

Located strategically between the ancient regions of Illyria and Epirus, Berat was the