Aedile

Latin  Aedilis,  plural  Aediles  (from Latin aedes, “temple”), magistrate of ancient Rome who originally had charge of the temple and cult of Ceres. At first the aediles were two officials of the plebeians, created at the same time as the tribunes (494 BC), whose sanctity they shared. These magistrates were elected in the assembly of the plebeians. In 366 two curule (“higher”) aediles were created. These were at first patricians;

Andrew Of Crete, Saint

From his monastery in Jerusalem he was sent to Constantinople (modern Istanbul), where he became deacon of the Hagia Sophia. During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Philippicus Bardanes he was made archbishop of Gortyna and took part

Earth, Expansion phase

The expansion phase is less well understood than the growth phase. Many investigators support the “near-Earth neutral-line” model, but concurrently other explanations have been suggested. In the neutral-line model a localized x-type neutral line is formed inside the plasma sheet somewhere between 20 and 40 Re (earth radii) behind the Earth. Figure 13 (top) shows the topology

Gentil, émile

A naval officer, Gentil led an expedition from the French Congo down the Chari (Shari) River to Lake Chad in 1895–97, establishing a French protectorate

Aqaba, Gulf Of

Arabic  Khalij Al-'aqabah,   northeastern arm of the Red Sea, penetrating between Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula. It varies in width from 12 to 17 miles (19 to 27 km) and is 100 miles (160 km) long. The gulf lies in a pronounced cleft between hills rising abruptly to about 2,000 feet (600 m). Navigation is difficult because of the gulf's narrow entrance at the Straits of Tiran and its islands, coral reefs, and sudden squalls. The

Atzcapotzalco

Also spelled  Azcapotzalco,   city, northwestern Federal District, central Mexico. Situated approximately 7,350 feet (2,240 m) above sea level in the Valley of Mexico, the city was founded in the 12th century and given the Aztec name meaning “anthill” because of its large population. It became famous for its slave market and the skill of its craftsmen in working precious metals. Hernán Cortés later set up smelters

Swan Hill

City, northern Victoria, Australia, on the Murray River, northwest of Melbourne. It is the chief market centre for the southern section of the irrigated Riverina district of New South Wales. The site was named in the 1830s by the explorer Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Mitchell, who was kept sleepless there by the calls of swans. Settled in 1846 by sheepherders, the community prospered

Top

A toy having a body of conical, circular, or oval shape, often hollow, with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. If given a knock, a spinning top will go around in a circle at a slant; if spun with a slant at the start, it will quickly stand upright until halted by friction. Its physical properties are similar to those of the gyroscope. Some tops, as the common peg top,

Radetzky, Joseph, Count (graf)

Radetzky joined the Austrian army in 1784 and served in the Turkish War of 1787–92 and in the Low Countries in the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. His courage and enterprise were conspicuous

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Coastal habitat conservation area in southern Texas, U.S., located about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Corpus Christi. The refuge, parts of which are jointly administered by state and federal agencies, covers a total of 181 square miles (469 square km) on the Gulf of Mexico, including large tracts of land on Matagorda Island and on a broad peninsula between San Antonio Bay and St. Charles

Art, African, Ibibio

Among the oldest sculptures of tropical Africa are several hundred ancestor figures, called ekpu, of the Ibibio coastal trade centre of Oron, some of which are thought to date from the late 18th century. They are bearded figures 3 to 4 feet (90 to 120 cm) high and are so individual as to suggest portraiture, despite their schematic style. Oron is one group of Ibibio-speaking villages.

Nemours, Jacques De Savoie, Duc De, (duke Of), Comte (count) De Genevois, Marquis De Saint-sorlin

He won a military reputation in the French royal service on the eastern frontier and in Piedmont in the 1550s and against the Huguenots and their German allies in the 1560s. His amorous exploits at the Valois court were also admired; the chronicler Pierre de Brantôme characteristically

Abstraction-création

The immediate predecessor of the Abstraction-Création group was the Cercle et Carré (“Circle and Square”) group, founded by Michel Seuphor and Joaquin Torres-Garcia in 1930. Artists Georges Vantongerloo, Jean Hélion, and Auguste Herbin worked together

Astome

Any uniformly ciliated protozoan of the order Astomatida, commonly found in annelid worms and other invertebrates. As the name implies, this parasite has no mouth. Some astomes attach themselves to their hosts by suckers; others use various types of hooks or barbs. Asexual reproduction is by transverse fission. In some cases, chains of individuals form by repeated

Stagnelius, Erik Johan

Both his works

Kesey, Ken

Kesey was educated at the University of Oregon and Stanford University. At a Veterans Administration hospital in Menlo Park, California, he was a paid volunteer experimental subject, taking mind-altering drugs

Manchu

Also called  Man,  people who lived for many centuries in Manchuria and adjacent areas and who in the 17th century conquered China and ruled that country for more than 250 years. The term Manchu dates from the 16th century, but it is certain that the Manchu are descended from a group of peoples collectively called the Tungus (the Even and Evenk [Evenki] are also descended from that group). The Manchu,

China, The arts

Conservatism played a dominant role in the arts during the Mongol period. In sponsored arts such as sculpture and ceramics, the Mongols' desire to lay claim to the Chinese Imperial heritage was not complemented by any strong artistic vision of their own, and conservatism meant mere perpetuation. Sung, Liao, and Chin ceramic types were continued, often altered only

Ilaro

Town, western Ogun state, southwestern Nigeria. Located on the former trade route from the towns of the empire of Oyo to the port of Porto-Novo (now the capital of Benin), 40 miles (64 km) southwest, it was established by the late 18th century as the capital and chief trade centre of the Egbado people (a subgroup of the Yoruba). With the decline of Oyo in the early 19th century, the Egbado

Han-fei-tzu

Pinyin  Hanfeizi   the greatest of China's Legalist philosophers. His essays on autocratic government so impressed King Cheng of Ch'in that the future emperor adopted their principles after seizing power in 221 BC. The book that goes by Han-fei's name comprises a synthesis of legal theories up to his time.

Epidermis

In zoology, protective outermost portion of the skin. There are two layers of epidermis, the living basal layer, which is next to the dermis, and the external stratum corneum, or horny layer, which is composed of dead, keratin-filled cells that have migrated outward from the basal layer. The melanocytes, responsible for skin colour, are found in the basal cells. The epidermis

Dahlonega

City, seat (1833) of Lumpkin county, northern Georgia, U.S. Gold was discovered in the locality in 1828, and the site was settled and incorporated in 1833 after one of the nation's first gold rushes; its name derives from the Cherokee taulonica (“yellow metal”). A U.S. mint operated there from 1838 until 1861, when Georgia seceded from the Union; Dahlonega-minted gold coins are now highly prized by

Skeena River

River in western British Columbia, Canada. It rises in the Skeena Mountains in the northern part of the province and flows generally southwestward, receiving its two major tributaries, the Babine and Bulkley rivers, before emptying into Chatham Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean), south of Prince Rupert, after a course of about 360 miles (580 km). The Skeena is an important salmon-fishing

Performing Arts, Britain.

Some of the best films of the year

Buenos Aires, Museums and libraries

The city's museums—several of which are run by the municipal government—house varied collections. The Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences has an exceptionally rich fossil collection and operates a scientific institute. The National Museum of Fine Arts contains collections of world masters and of Argentine painters and sculptors, while

Calabrian Stage

All those rocks deposited worldwide during the Calabrian Age (1,600,000–10,000 years ago). The stage's name is derived from the region of Calabria in southern Italy, which has traditionally served as the type district for rocks of this age. The Calabrian Stage encompasses those rocks laid down during the Pleistocene Epoch. As defined in 1985 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy,

Trade Organization

The oldest

Phibunsongkhram, Luang

He was educated at the royal military academy, and in 1914 he entered the Siamese artillery corps. In 1924–27 he took advanced military training in France, where he became involved with Thai students who