Basilan

Island and city, southern Philippines, in the Celebes Sea. Basilan island lies 5 miles (8 km) off the southern tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao, across the Basilan Strait. With an area of 495 square miles (1,282 square km), it is the largest and northernmost island of the Sulu Archipelago. Most of the island consists of rugged or rolling forested uplands, with several volcanic

Omagh

Irish �An �maigh� town and seat of Omagh district, Northern Ireland. Situated on the River Strule, Omagh is a market, shopping, and light-manufacturing centre for the district. Traditional crafts (such as table linens and crochet lace) continue to be produced in the town. Tourism is important, and Omagh's numerous festivals and events attract many visitors; the town's West Tyrone Feis annually

Argentina, The branches of government

Executive power resides in the office of the president, who is elected with a vice president to a four-year term (only two terms can be consecutive). The president is commander in chief of the armed forces and appoints all civil, military, and federal judicial officers, as well as the chief of the Cabinet of Ministers, the body that oversees the general administration

Sacheverell, Henry

Early in the reign of Queen Anne

Harvard Classification System

In the 1860s the Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi distinguished four main spectral types of stars. At the Harvard College Observatory in the 1880s, during the compilation of the Henry

Quich�

Also called �Quich� Maya, � Mayan Indians living in the midwestern highlands of Guatemala. The Quich� Maya had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times, with a high level of political and social organization. Archaeological remains show large population centres and a complex class structure. Written records of Quich� history and mythology are preserved in the Popol Vuh, written

Girodias, Maurice

As a young man Girodias worked closely with his father, Jack Kahane, whose Obelisk Press published such classics of erotica as Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer (1934) and Frank Harris's My Life and Loves, 3 vol. (1923 - 27). Girodias, who took his mother's non-Jewish maiden name during

Devaluation

Reduction in the exchange value of a country's monetary unit in terms of gold, silver, or foreign monetary units. Devaluation is employed to eliminate persistent balance-of-payments deficits, because devaluation has the effect of decreasing prices of the home country's exports in terms of the importer's currency and, at the same time, increasing prices of imports

Svadilfari

In Norse mythology, an unusually swift and intelligent horse belonging to a giant who offered to build a great wall around Asgard (the kingdom of the gods) to keep invaders away. The gods stipulated that, if the builder completed the wall in one winter's time, his reward would be the goddess Freyja and possession of the sun and the moon. Svadilfari gave his owner such assistance

Hines, Earl (kenneth)

Byname �Fatha� American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer who was one of the strongest influences in the first 30 years of jazz history. He improvised lines with his right hand that were phrased like those of a trumpeter and - with the use of octave voicings, tremolos, and his powerful attack - caused the piano to seem almost brassy. This style,

Anauxite

Mineral, an interstratified mixture of kaolinite and free silica. See kaolinite.

Mammal, The skin and hair

The skin of mammals is constructed of two layers, a superficial nonvascular epidermis and an inner layer, the dermis or corium. The two layers interdigitate in dermal papillae (fingerlike projections), ridges of sensitive vascular dermis projecting into the epidermis. The outermost layers of the epidermis are cornified (i.e., impregnated with various tough proteins)

Adams, Samuel Hopkins

One of the so-called muckrakers of the period, Adams

Udine

City, capital of Udine provincia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia regione, northeastern Italy. It lies northwest of Trieste, near the border with Slovenia. Possibly the site of a Roman frontier station called Utina, the city was the seat of the Roman Catholic patriarchate of Aquileia from 1238 until 1751, when the patriarchate was dissolved and replaced by the archbishoprics of Udine

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, General theory and history

D.C. Allen, Mysteriously Meant: The Rediscovery of Pagan Symbolism and Allegorical Interpretation in the Renaissance (1970); C.H. Dodd, The Authority of the Bible (1958); A.S. Fletcher, Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode (1964); R.M. Grant, The Letter and the Spirit (1958); Edwin Honig, Dark Conceit: The Making of Allegory (1959); C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love (1936); Jean Pepin, Mythe et all�gorie (1958); Rosemond Tuve, Allegorical Imagery (1966); Maureen Quilligan, The Language of Allegory: Defining the Genre (1979).

Italy, The early years

Interest in the French Revolution was enhanced by the waning of the reformist impulse of the 1780s in the Italian states. Educated landowners and entrepreneurs who had put their trust in the enlightened rulers of their own states and had looked forward to important administrative and political reforms were disappointed. The French example gave them new hope. During

Submachine Gun

Lightweight automatic small-arms weapon chambered for relatively low-energy pistol cartridges and fired from the hip or shoulder. Most types utilize simple blowback actions. Using cartridges of such calibres as .45 inch or 9 mm, they usually have box-type magazines that hold from 10 to 50 cartridges, or occasionally drums holding more rounds. A short-range weapon, the submachine

Akershus

Fylke (county), southeastern Norway. Covering 1,898 square miles (4,917 square km), it extends north from Oslo Fjord to the southern end of Lake Mj�sa and east to the Swedish frontier. The Vorma River flows through Akershus from Mj�sa into the Glomma (Gl�ma) River and on to Lake �yeren. The national capital, Oslo, is the county seat, though it is a separate fylke and bykommune (urban commune)

Pittsburgh, University Of

Coeducational state system of higher learning in Pennsylvania, U.S., comprising a main campus in Pittsburgh and branches in Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, and Titusville. The Pittsburgh campus is a comprehensive research institution of higher learning and includes 16 schools that offer more than 360 degree programs. Among these schools are those of Medicine, Dental

Alcock, John

Educated at Cambridge, Alcock was made dean of Westminster (1461), and thereafter his promotion was rapid in religious and secular posts. In 1470 he was sent

Carney, Arthur William Matthew

American actor (b. Nov. 4, 1918, Mount Vernon, N.Y. - d. Nov. 9, 2003, Chester, Conn.), had a long and varied career in radio, television, theatre, and film, including an Academy Award-winning dramatic leading role in the movie Harry and Tonto (1974), but it was with one TV character that he would be most identified - sewer worker (or �underground sanitation expert�) Ed Norton, second banana to Jackie Gleason's

Yale, Linus

At first Yale tried portrait painting, but he became interested in locks after his father began to manufacture bank locks in Newport, N.Y., about 1840. His first achievement was the Yale Infallible Bank Lock in 1851. Later he opened his own shop in Shelburne

Narayan, R.k.

Reared by his grandmother, Narayan completed his education in 1930 and briefly worked as a teacher before deciding to devote himself to writing. His first novel, Swami and Friends (1935), is an episodic narrative recounting the adventures of a group of schoolboys.

Verdi, Giuseppe

In full� Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi � leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his Requiem Mass (1874).

Nervous System Disease, Vestibulocochlear nerve

When both divisions of the vestibulocochlear nerve are affected by disease, symptoms may include ringing in the ear (tinnitus), a sensation of spinning (vertigo), and other symptoms such as deafness. Deafness, if not caused by middle-ear disease, suggests damage to the cochlear portion of the nerve. Compression of the nerve at the cerebellopontine angle by a tumour, an

Byron Bay

Town, northeastern New South Wales, Australia. The town is situated on Cape Byron, easternmost point of the Australian mainland, which shelters Byron Bay and was discovered in 1770 by Captain James Cook, who named it after Commodore (later Admiral) John Byron, grandfather of the poet Lord Byron. Founded in 1860 as a timber port, Byron Bay was declared a town in 1896 and a shire in 1906. Before

Nacaome

City, southern Honduras, on the seasonally dry Nacaome River. It was founded in 1535 and given city status in 1845. Its colonial church, rebuilt in 1867, still stands. Nacaome is a manufacturing and commercial centre. Cement products are made in the city, which also contains tanneries. The surrounding agricultural lands yield principally sesame and cotton. Gold and silver are mined

Agriculture

The science or art of cultivating the soil, growing and harvesting crops, and raising livestock. The art of making land more productive is practiced throughout the world - in some areas by methods not far removed from the conditions of several thousands of years ago and in other areas, with the aid of science and mechanization, as a highly commercial type of endeavour.