New York City, Greater New York

The Democratic machine reigned, its excesses became apparent, reformers arose and were temporarily triumphant, and then voters restored a chastened Tammany to power. A generation after Tweed fell, the Croker regime was successfully challenged by reformers who elected Mayor William Strong. Once consolidation won voter support, the

Jerez De Garc�a Salinas

City, south-central Zacatecas estado (�state�), north-central Mexico. Formerly known simply as Jerez, the city is on the Jerez River, 6,650 feet (2,027 m) above sea level and southwest of Zacatecas, the state capital. It is the commercial and manufacturing centre for an agricultural and pastoral hinterland in which beans, quince, and apples are the principal crops and horses, pigs, sheep,

Robert-houdin, Jean-eug�ne

Original name �Jean-Eug�ne Robert� French magician who is considered to be the father of modern conjuring. He was the first magician to use electricity; he improved the signalling method for the �thought transference� trick; and he exposed �fakes� and magicians who relied on supernatural explanations for their feats. Although he did not do away with apparatus, he

Wolf, Friedrich August

Extremely precocious, Wolf learned Greek, Latin, and French as a child. He was largely self-taught when in 1777 he

Ramiro Ii

King of Leon and Asturias in Christian Spain from 931 to 951. The second son of King Ordo�o II, he became king on the abdication of his elder brother, Alfonso IV. Ramiro was an exceptional general who scored several major victories (e.g., the Battle of Simancas, 939) over the caliphate of C�rdoba in Muslim Spain. In 944 he negotiated a five-year truce with the caliph 'Abd

Asam, Cosmas Damian; And Asam, Egid Quirin

Principal late Baroque exponents of illusionist decoration in religious architecture. The Asam brothers were part of a generation of Germans educated in Rome in the Italian Baroque tradition. Their works, primarily produced in collaboration, are notable

Metallurgy

Art and science of extracting metals from their ores and modifying the metals for use. Metallurgy customarily refers to commercial as opposed to laboratory methods. It also concerns the chemical, physical, and atomic properties and structures of metals and the principles whereby metals are combined to form alloys.

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl Of, Baron Cooper Of Pawlett, Baron Ashley Of Wimborne St. Giles

His early education was directed by John Locke, and he attended Winchester College. He entered Parliament in 1695 and, succeeding as 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury in 1699, attended Parliament regularly in the House of Lords for the remainder

Roman Catholicism, History Of, Religious life in the 17th and 18th centuries

Yet it would be a mistake to allow the narrative of these controversies to monopolize one's attention. Less dramatic but no less important was the continuing life of the Roman Catholic Church during these centuries as �mother and teacher.� Bossuet was not only the formulator of Gallican ideology but also one of the finest preachers of Christian history. He addressed

Mansehra

Town, northeastern North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The town is situated at the southern end of the Pakhli Plain on the Bhut Stream, a tributary to the Siran River, at an elevation of 3,682 feet (1,122 m) above sea level. It is a market town surrounded by pine-covered hills and has a flour mill, a woolen-yarn mill, and an agricultural research centre. The nearby Asokan rock edicts

Brachiation

In animal behaviour, specialized form of arboreal locomotion in which movement is accomplished by swinging from one hold to another by the arms. The process is highly developed in the gibbon and siamang, which are anatomically adapted for it in the length of their forelimbs, their long hooklike fingers, and the mobility of their shoulder joints. The South American

Gauss's Law

Either of two statements describing electric and magnetic fluxes. Gauss's law for electricity states that the electric flux across any closed surface is proportional to the net electric charge enclosed by the surface. The law implies that isolated electric charges exist and that like charges repel one another while unlike charges attract. Gauss's law for magnetism

Gamagori

City, Aichi Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, facing Mikawa-wan (Mikawa Bay). The city has been well known for the manufacture of cotton textiles since the Tokugawa era (1603 - 1867). Mandarin orange orchards grace the mountain slopes behind Gamagori, which also serves as a seaside resort. There are hot-spring spas nearby. The city is connected by bridge to offshore Take-shima (Take Island),

Earth, Paleontological research

Many paleontological observations are most easily explained by continental drift and/or polar wandering. For example, fossils of the freshwater reptile Mesosaurus, which lived 270,000,000 years ago, are found only in South America and Africa. The reptile's bone structure was such that it probably could not have swum across the Atlantic, but if South America and Africa had been

Futures

Commercial contract calling for the purchase or sale of specified quantities of a commodity at specified future dates. The origin of futures contracts was in trade in agricultural commodities, and the term commodity is used to define the underlying asset even though the contract is frequently completely divorced from the product. It therefore differs from

Low, Juliette Gordon

Juliette Gordon was born into a prominent Georgia family. She was educated at private schools in Virginia and New York City and for some years thereafter traveled widely. She married William M. Low, a fellow native of Savannah, Georgia, who was living in England,

Biblical Literature, In Christianity

The Hebrew Bible is as basic to Christianity as it is to Judaism. Without the Old Testament, the New Testament could not have been written and there could have been no man like Jesus; Christianity could not have been what it became. This has to do with cultural values, basic human values, as much as with religious beliefs. The Genesis stories of prehistoric events and people

Diorite

Medium- to coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock that commonly is composed of about two-thirds plagioclase feldspar and one-third dark-coloured minerals, such as hornblende or biotite. The presence of sodium-rich feldspar, oligoclase or andesine, in contrast to calcium-rich plagioclase, labradorite or bytownite, is the main distinction between diorite and gabbro

Abajo Mountains

Volcanic segment of the Colorado Plateau, in San Juan county, southeastern Utah, U.S. Abajo Peak (11,362 feet [3,463 metres]) is the highest point in the mountains, which comprise eight summits and are embraced by the Manti-LaSal National Forest. The heavily forested range is locally called the Blue Mountains for its appearance. Mining and lumbering are the main economic activities

Metacarpal

Any of several tubular bones between the wrist (carpal) bones and each of the forelimb digits in land vertebrates, corresponding to the metatarsal bones of the foot. Originally numbering five, metacarpals in many mammals have undergone much change and reduction during evolution. The lower leg of the horse, for example, includes only one strengthened metacarpal;

World War I, The Battle of Jutland

Admiral Reinhard Scheer, who became commander in chief of the High Seas Fleet in January 1916, planned to contrive an encounter on the open sea between his fleet and some

Daniel Of Kiev

Also called �Daniel The Pilgrim, �Russian �Daniil Kievsky, or Daniil Polomnik� the earliest known Russian travel writer, whose account of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land is the earliest surviving record in Russian of such a trip. Abbot of a Russian monastery, he visited Palestine probably during 1106 - 07. His narrative begins at Constantinople; from there he traveled along the west and south coasts of Asia Minor to Cyprus and the Holy Land. Despite his

Salem

City, seat (1851) of Dent county, southeast-central Missouri, U.S., situated in the Ozark Mountains between the Current and Meramec rivers. Established in 1845 on the site of an inn and trading post, it was named for Salem, N.C. The town was occupied by Federal forces during the American Civil War, except briefly in 1864, when raiders burned the courthouse and jail. In a battle that was fought

Pei-p'iao

Pinyin �Beipiao, � mining town, western Liaoning Province, China. Located northwest of the Ta-ling Stream and east of the Ta-ch'ing Mountains, it is the site of a coal combine. The vertical shafts, which extend nearly 3,280 feet (1,000 m), are among the deepest mines in China. They produce coking coal from a southwestern extension of the Fu-hsin basin. Pop. (mid-1970s est.) 100,000 - 300,000.

Maui

Volcanic island, Maui county, Hawaii, U.S., separated from Molokai (northwest) and Hawaii (southeast) islands by the Pailolo and Alenuihaha channels. With an area of 728 square miles (1,886 square km), the island is the second largest of the Hawaiian chain (after Hawaii Island). It takes its name from a Polynesian demigod and was created by two volcanoes, Puu Kukui and Haleakala, which

Paestum

Poseidonia was probably founded about 600 BC by Greek colonists from Sybaris, along the Gulf of Taranto, and it had become a flourishing town by 540, judging from its temples.

Heidelberg, University Of

German �in full Ruprecht-karl-universit�t Heidelberg, � state-supported institution of higher learning at Heidelberg, Ger. Modelled on the University of Paris, it was founded in 1386 by the elector Rupert I and, like other German universities, was endowed by a foundation of colleges. The first was the college of the Cistercian order (1389); the first secular college was founded in 1390 by the university chancellor. During the 17th and 18th centuries,

Bel And The Dragon

In full� The History Of The Destruction Of Bel And The Dragon, � Greek apocryphal addition to the biblical Book of Daniel. It is a deuterocanonical work in that it is accepted in the Roman canon but not by Jews or Protestants. It tells of the Jewish hero Daniel, who refuses to worship the god Bel and kills the dragon, thus being forced into a den of lions, which he is allowed to leave after seven days because he is unharmed. His enemies,

Karakum Canal

Waterway in Turkmenistan. The main section, begun in 1954 and completed in 1967, runs some 520 miles (840 km) from the Amu Darya (river) to G�kdepe, west of Ashgabat, skirting the Karakum Desert. In the 1970s and '80s the canal was extended to the Caspian Sea coast, making the total length 870 miles (1,400 km). Water from the canal, which is navigable for 280 miles (450 km), is used principally for irrigation, and fishing has