France, History Of, Demographic changes

Rates of demographic growth varied greatly from place to place: in Brittany, where typhoid fever was endemic, population figures peaked in 1700. In Quercy they grew by 70 percent between 1700 and 1786. But, regardless of local variations, France as a whole counted two million more peasants in 1790 than during the reign of Louis XIV. Better preventive medicine, a decline in infant mortality,

Gabon, Education

The educational system continues to be modeled closely after that of France. French remains the sole medium of instruction; Bantu languages are studied as electives at the secondary and higher levels. While education is officially mandatory from the ages of 6 to 16, the bulk of children do not attend long enough to achieve literacy or numeracy. The Omar Bongo University,

Interior Design, Northern Europe

In the Low Countries and northern Germany during the 16th-century Renaissance, ornament was adapted to form an entirely individual style, which can be seen in the pattern books

Lathrop, Julia Clifford

Lathrop attended Vassar College, graduating in 1880. Over the next 10 years she worked in her father's law office and interested herself in various reform movements. In 1890 she moved to Chicago and joined Jane Addams at the newly established Hull House settlement.

Wycombe

District, administrative and historic county of Buckinghamshire, England, in the southern part of the wooded Chiltern Hills. The River Thames forms its southern boundary. The predominantly rural district overlaps the designated Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Prehistoric burial mounds and earthworks are visible. Towns include High Wycombe,

Ithaca

City, seat (1817) of Tompkins county, south-central New York, U.S. It lies at the southern end of Cayuga Lake (one of the Finger Lakes), 55 miles (89 km) southwest of Syracuse. Within the city are picturesque gorges cut by several creeks. Founded in 1789 by Simeon DeWitt, surveyor general of New York, it had formerly been a part of the military tract granted in 1782 to veterans of the American Revolution.

Soteria

(from Greek: “deliverance”), in Hellenistic religions, any sacrifice or series of sacrifices performed either in commemoration or in expectation of deliverance from a crisis; in a specific sense the word was often used in reference to large-scale commemorative festivals held at planned intervals. Sixteen Soteria festivals are known; the most famous was that at Delphi,

Heinsius, Anthonie

A scion of an urban patrician family, Heinsius practiced law in Delft until 1679, when he became pensionary

Heiden, Eric

Heiden started skating

Pendleton

City, seat (1868) of Umatilla county, northeastern Oregon, U.S., on the Umatilla River, adjacent to the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Situated on the Oregon Trail, it was founded in 1869 by G.W. Bailey and named for George Hunt Pendleton, a prominent Ohio senator. It became a wheat and cattle centre after the arrival of the railroad in 1889 and remains a centre of grain and vegetable production

Dublin, Climate

With its coastal site on the western seaboard of the Irish Sea, Dublin enjoys a mild climate. The average temperature is lowest in January–February, 42° F (6° C), and highest in July–August, 59° F (15° C). Sunshine averages four hours a day. The mean annual rainfall is 30–40 inches (760–1,000 millimetres), although the rate is higher in the mountains. The period of maximum rainfall occurs in winter, and there

Jib

In sailing ships, triangular sail rigged to a stay extending from the foremast, or foretopmast, to the bowsprit or to a spar, the jibboom, that is an extension of the bowsprit. The jib is first known to have been used on one-masted vessels. Its use began to spread about 1600 and extended to larger war vessels about 1700. Jibs proved handy in helping to steer and were much valued—e.g., on

Theatre, Western, Native traditions

In spite of the lack of originality shown by dramatists, there were in Italy a number of native comic traditions that helped to shape the style of Roman comedy. The Fescennine verses (fescennia locatio) were bawdy, improvised exchanges sung by clowns at local harvest festivals and marriage ceremonies. These are thought to have combined with a tradition of performances

Osler, Sir William, Baronet

Canadian physician and professor of medicine who practiced and taught in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain and whose book The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892) was a leading textbook. Osler played a key role in transforming the organization and curriculum of medical education, emphasizing

F-16

Also called  Fighting Falcon,   single-seat, single-engine jet fighter built by the General Dynamics Corporation (now part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation) for the United States and more than a dozen other countries. The F-16 originated in an order placed in 1972 for a lightweight, cost-effective air-to-air fighter; current models are also all-weather capable, and it is effective for ground attack as well.

Ecuador, Domination of Velasco Ibarra (post-World War II)

Politics and government after World War II presented contradictions. Ecuador enjoyed a long period of constitutional government and relatively free elections following the presidency of the Radical Liberal leader Galo Plaza (1948–52). There were also two long interludes of military government (1963–66; 1972–79), but the period was dominated by one of Latin America's great caudillos,

Bey

Turkish  Bey, Old  Turkish  Beg,  Arabic  Bay, or Bey,   title among Turkish peoples traditionally given to rulers of small tribal groups, to members of ruling families, and to important officials. Under the Ottoman Empire a bey was the governor of a province, distinguished by his own flag (sancak, liwa). In Tunis after 1705 the title become hereditary for the country's sovereign. Later “bey” became a general title of respect in Turkish

Kiel

City, capital (1945) of Schleswig-Holstein Land (state), northern Germany. Kiel is a port on both sides of the Kiel Fjord, an inlet of the western Baltic, and lies at the eastern end of the Kiel Canal. The name Kyle (“fjord,” or “spring,” possibly derived from the Anglo-Saxon kille: “a safe place for ships”) was used for the settlement as early as the 10th century. The city was founded in 1242, and it adopted

Blood Serum

The part of blood plasma remaining after coagulation, during which process the plasma protein fibrinogen is converted to fibrin and remains behind in the clot. Immune serum or antitoxin, serum prepared from the blood of animals or humans that have been exposed to a disease and have developed specific antibodies, is used to protect persons against diseases to which

Jhelum

Town, Punjab province, northeastern Pakistan. The town lies just west of the Jhelum River (there bridged by both road and rail) and is connected by rail and the Grand Trunk Road with Peshawar and Lahore. The old town, across the river, may have been Bucephala, founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Although once a salt-trade centre, Jhelum is now a major timber market.

Macdonald, Sir John (alexander)

Macdonald emigrated from Scotland to Kingston, in what is now Ontario, in 1820. He was called to the bar in 1836. After the British Parliament united Upper and Lower

Bracegirdle, Anne

Bracegirdle studied acting with Thomas Betterton, her guardian, and appeared on the stage as early as six years of age. In 1688 her performance in Thomas Shadwell's The Squire of Alsatia at Drury Lane Theatre, London, brought her notice. Different playwrights, particularly William Congreve and Nicholas Rowe,

Aiken, Conrad

In full  Conrad Potter Aiken  American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, short-story writer, novelist, and critic whose works, influenced by early psychoanalytic theory, are concerned largely with the human need for self-awareness and a sense of identity. Aiken himself faced considerable trauma in his childhood when he found the bodies of his parents

Indre River

River, west-central France, a left-bank tributary of the Loire River. Rising on the northern flanks of the Massif Central, it flows 165 miles (265 km) northwestward through Indre and Indre-et-Loire départements, joining the Loire northwest of Chinon and draining a basin of about 5,200 square miles (13,500 square km). It flows exclusively through agricultural regions, crossing La Châtre, and

Moscow Zoo

Russian  Moskovsky Zoo-park,   largest zoo in Russia, exhibiting an outstanding collection of northern animals and many exotic species. Founded by a public society in 1864, the zoo later was privately owned. In 1919 it was declared the property of Soviet Russia and in 1923 was put under the Moscow City Soviet (council). It incorporates 20 hectares (49 acres) and includes small, unbarred enclosures as well as large paddocks

Kammerer, Paul

The results of Kammerer's experiments with salamanders and other amphibians were widely published in technical papers and books, the first of these appearing in 1904 and the last published posthumously

Dance, Western, The Soviet ballet

Although Diaghilev's achievements were ignored there, the Soviet Union in the 1920s abounded with the daring choreographic experiments of Fyodor Lopukhov (1886–1973) and others. Despite the official imposition of “socialist realism” as the criterion of artistic acceptability in 1932, ballet gained enormous popularity with the Soviet people. They loved their dancers, who were superbly