Tiele, Cornelis Petrus

Educated at Amsterdam High School and at the seminary of the Remonstrant Brotherhood, Tiele served as pastor at Moordrecht and Rotterdam, then as professor at the Remonstrant Seminary. In 1877 he was appointed

Earth, Variation with latitude

Even if the Earth were of uniform density or uniformly stratified in layers of constant density, gravity at sea level would increase from the Equator to the poles because of the combined effects of the planet's rotation and spheroidal shape. The effect of rotation arises from the fact that any body on the Earth experiences a centripetal acceleration given by rw2, where

Andreani, Andrea

Andreani was active in Florence (1584 - 85), in Siena (1586 - 93), and in Mantua (1599). Between 1602 and 1610 he appears in contemporary

Silica Mineral

Any of the forms of silicon dioxide (SiO2), including quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, coesite, stishovite, melanophlogite, lechatelierite, and chalcedony. Various kinds of silica minerals have been produced synthetically, among which are keatite and silicalite.

Nolde, Emil

Born of a peasant family, the youthful Nolde made his living as a wood-carver. He was able to study art formally only when some of his early works

Henry

Unit of either self-inductance or mutual inductance, abbreviated h (or hy), and named for the American physicist Joseph Henry. One henry is the value of self-inductance in a closed circuit or coil in which one volt is produced by a variation of the inducing current of one ampere per second. One henry is also the value of the mutual inductance of two coils arranged such that

Gabon, Government

Under the frequently revised constitution of 1961, Gabon is a republic under the executive direction of a president elected by direct universal suffrage for a period of seven years and a Council of Ministers appointed by the president. Provision is also made for a prime minister (appointed by the president) and a National Assembly (elected by direct suffrage) to assume

World War I, The Western Front, 1915

Repeated French attacks in February - March 1915 on the Germans' trench barrier in Champagne won only 500 yards (460 metres) of ground at a cost of 50,000 men. For the British, Sir Douglas Haig's 1st Army, between Armenti�res and Lens, tried a new experiment at Neuve-Chapelle on March 10, when its artillery opened an intense bombardment on a 2,000-yard front and then, after 35 minutes, lengthened its range,

Bartas, Guillaume De Salluste, Seigneur Du (lord Of)

Though he tried to avoid participating in the Wars of Religion, du Bartas was an ardent Huguenot and a trusted counsellor of Henry of Navarre. His aim was to use the new poetic techniques introduced into France by the literary group known as La Pl�iade for

Say, L�on

Say was born into a prominent Protestant family and was the grandson of another well-known economist, Jean-Baptiste Say. Early in his career, Say worked for the Journal des D�bats, later becoming its editor. He became known for his opposition to the Second Empire in general

Hand Tool, The Acheulian industry

As the Pleistocene Epoch progressed, humans slowly developed the primitive chopper into a better instrument. About half a million years ago a superior implement finally appeared after nearly 2,000,000 years of effort. The industry, or style, is known as the Acheulian, and the typical implement was the flint hand ax (sometimes called a fist hatchet). Throughout the ages the plump

Girdle-tailed Lizard

Their name is derived from the rings of spiny scales that encircle the tail, and sometimes the body, in a series of whorls. In some species the armoured girdles serve effectively as protection

Eskimo-aleut Languages, Yupik

Yupik, a dialectal form meaning �real person,� includes five languages: Central Alaskan Yupik, spoken southward from Norton Sound; Pacific Yupik, commonly called Alutiiq, spoken from the Alaska Peninsula eastward to Prince William Sound; Naukanski Siberian Yupik, whose speakers were resettled southward from Cape Dezhnyov, the easternmost point of the Eurasian

Biblical Literature, The final period of the kingdom of Judah

Meanwhile, the southern kingdom of Judah was to have another century and a half of existence before a similar and even grimmer fate befell it. Hezekiah (reigned c. 715 - c. 686), who instituted a religious reform to return worship to a pure Yahwist form, also displayed political independence, joining a coalition of Palestinian states against Assyria. But the coalition was soon

East Hertfordshire

East Hertfordshire district is largely undulating and rural, characterized by medieval manor houses and thatched cottages. The River Lea, navigable to barge traffic from the London docks to the town of Hertford, drains the

Biblical Literature, Offerings, sacrifices, and priestly worship

The first verse attributes these regulations to YHWH, who speaks to Moses from the Tent of Meeting, beginning with the rules for offerings by the individual layman. These include burnt, cereal, peace, sin, and guilt offerings, all described in precise details. The prescription for priestly offerings is about the same, with some slight differences in the order of actions,

Antarctica

Alagoinhas

City, northeastern Bahia state, northeastern Brazil, lying 35 miles (56 km) inland from the Atlantic coast at 607 feet (185 metres) above sea level. It was elevated to city rank in 1880, and its municipality is the largest orange-producing region in the state. Bananas, lemons, and cassava (manioc) are also cultivated, and dairying is widespread. Tanning, coal mining, and lumbering are also important.

Great Circle Route

The shortest course between two points on the surface of a sphere. It lies in a plane that intersects the sphere's centre and was known by mathematicians before the time of Columbus. Until the 19th century ships generally sailed along rhumb lines, which made use of prevailing winds and fixed compass headings. The development of steamships in the 19th century allowed complete

Furniture, Transitional modern

Conservative in style (but not imitative), well-constructed, and carefully finished, the best modern furniture earned its reputation of being in good, correct taste. Often relying on handcraft details and on wood, most factories used speeded-up variations of earlier cabinetmaking operations. This, along with the United States' emphasis on artificially stimulated

Port Authority Of New York And New Jersey

Formerly �Port of New York Authority� self-supporting corporate agency formed in 1921 by agreement between the states of New York and New Jersey for the purpose of developing and operating trade and transportation facilities in the northern New Jersey - New York City region. Twelve nonsalaried commissioners, six appointed by the governor of each state, plan and oversee the operations of a variety of services

General Strike

The idea of a general strike, as a deliberate part of the tactics of collective bargaining, apparently began in Great Britain

Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeoamericana

Spanish and Spanish-American biography and gazetteer information are especially strong. Major articles - e.g., on countries - are quite long and include lengthy bibliographies of international scope. Although coverage is considered

Insurance, Coinsurance

Although there is no coinsurance clause as such in the ocean marine policy, losses are settled as though a 100 percent coinsurance clause existed. Thus, if an insured takes out coverage equal to 50 percent of the true replacement cost of the goods, only 50 percent of any partial loss may be recovered.

Arctic Regions

During 1997 U.S. and Canadian oil and gas companies made renewed efforts to proceed with exploration and development in environmentally sensitive areas of arctic Alaska and the northern part of Canada's Yukon. In January BP Exploration Alaska Inc. announced plans to increase capital spending in Alaska by $1 billion to $3.5 billion over the next five years and reverse the fall

Chagres River

Spanish �R�o Chagres� stream in Panama forming part of the Panama Canal system. It rises in the Cordillera de San Blas, flows south-southwest, and broadens to form Madden Lake (22 square miles [57 square km]) at Madden Dam, which was built in 1935 for navigation, flood control, and hydroelectric power. Below the dam it continues southwest to Gamboa, where it joins the Panama Canal at the north end of the Gaillard

Wace

The Rou was commissioned by Henry II of England, who sometime before 1169 secured for Wace a canonry at Bayeux in northwestern France. The Brut may have been dedicated to Henry's queen,

Taifa

, Arabic �ta'ifah�, plural �tawa'if� a faction or party, as applied to the followers of any of the petty kings who appeared in Muslim Spain in a period of great political fragmentation early in the 11th century after the dissolution of the central authority of the Umayyad caliphate of C�rdoba. After the dictatorship of al-Muzaffar (reigned 1002 - 08), civil war reduced the caliphate to a puppet institution and allowed

Durango

Although first settled in 1556, it was not officially founded until 1563. It was the political and ecclesiastical capital of Nueva Vizcaya,

Indiana, Flag Of

In 1916, the centennial of Indiana statehood, the Daughters of the American Revolution held a flag design competition. The winning design, by Paul Hadley, was approved as the �state banner� on May 31, 1917. The flag is defined by law as having design elements in either gold or buff, although in practice gold (actually golden yellow) is almost always used. The torch, symbolic of enlightenment

Cambridge, Richard Owen

Educated at Eton College and at St. John's College, Oxford, the young Cambridge went into residence at Lincoln's Inn in 1737. Four years later he married and went to live at his country seat of Whitminster, Gloucestershire. In 1751 he moved to Twickenham, where he