Ear, Human, Nerves

The seventh cranial nerve, called the facial nerve, passes by a somewhat circuitous route through the facial canal in the petrous portion of the temporal bone on its way from the brain stem to the muscles of expression of the face. A small but important branch, the chorda tympani nerve, emerges from the canal into the middle ear cavity and runs forward along the inner

Ear, Human, Nerves

The seventh cranial nerve, called the facial nerve, passes by a somewhat circuitous route through the facial canal in the petrous portion of the temporal bone on its way from the brain stem to the muscles of expression of the face. A small but important branch, the chorda tympani nerve, emerges from the canal into the middle ear cavity and runs forward along the inner

Craig, Edward Gordon

Craig was the second child of a liaison between the actress Ellen Terry and the architect Edward William Godwin. Like Edith (the other child of his parents), their son was given the name

Soria

Province, in the comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�) of Castile-Le�n, north-central Spain. Formed from part of Old Castile in 1833, it has an area of 3,972 square miles (10,287 square km). The terrain is varied: to the north are the Moncayo and Urbi�n mountain ranges; in the centre, around Soria city, the provincial capital, is a flat plain watered by the Duero (Portuguese: Douro) River; and

France, History Of, The Dreyfus affair

The 1890s also saw the Third Republic's greatest political and moral crisis - the Dreyfus affair. In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a career army officer of Jewish origin, was charged with selling military secrets to the Germans. He was tried and convicted by a court-martial and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island off the South American coast. Efforts by the Dreyfus

John George Ii

In 1657, just after his accession, he made an arrangement with his three brothers with the object of preventing disputes over their separate territories, and in 1664 he entered into friendly relations with Louis XIV of France. He received money from the French

Ujigami

In the Shinto religion of Japan, the tutelary deity of a village or geographic area. The meaning of ujigami has undergone considerable evolution over the centuries, mainly because of the historical migrations of clan communities in Japan. Originally the term referred to the ancestral deity (kami) of a family or clan (uji), blood kinship forming the basis of the spiritual

Sucker

Any of the freshwater fishes constituting the family Catostomidae, similar to and closely related to the carp and minnows (Cyprinidae). There are about 80 to 100 species of suckers; except for a few species in Asia, all are North American. Many suckers are almost indistinguishable from minnows, but catostomids may often be recognized by the sucking, usually ventral

Calder, Alexander (stirling)

U.S. sculptor best known as the originator of the mobile, a type of kinetic sculpture, the delicately balanced or suspended components of which move in response to motor power or air currents; by contrast, Calder's stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced numerous wire figures, notably for a vast miniature

Stahl, Franklin W.

Educated at Harvard (A.B., 1951) and the University of Rochester (Ph.D., 1956), Stahl pursued his research

Distillation

Process involving the conversion of a liquid into vapour that is subsequently condensed back to liquid form. It is exemplified at its simplest when steam from a kettle becomes deposited as drops of distilled water on a cold surface. Distillation is used to separate liquids from nonvolatile solids, as in the separation of alcoholic liquors from fermented materials,

Ibn Al-haytham

Latinized as �Alhazen,� in full, �Abu 'Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham � mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the principles of optics and the use of scientific experiments.

Botvinnik, Mikhail Moiseyevich

At the age of 14, less than two years after he had learned the moves of chess, Botvinnik defeated the then-current world champion, Jos� Ra�l Capablanca, in one game of an exhibition in which

Aerospace Industry, Avionics

Avionics includes all instruments, sensors, and electronic equipment and the electrical systems that link them to each other and to aerospace vehicle-control systems. It encompasses the functional equipment for guidance, navigation, and communications. A modern airline transport can contain more than 1,000 sensors and �black boxes.� The latter are metal or plastic

Overture

Musical composition, usually the orchestral introduction to a musical work (often dramatic), but also an independent instrumental work. Early operas opened with a sung prologue or a short instrumental flourish, such as the trumpet �Toccata� that opens Claudio Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607). Subsequent 17th-century operas were sometimes preceded by a short instrumental piece

Jew's Harp

Also called �Jaw's Harp, or Guimbarde, � musical instrument consisting of a thin wood or metal tongue fixed at one end to the base of a two-pronged frame. The player holds the frame to his mouth, which forms a resonance cavity, and plucks the instrument's tongue. The notes produced are limited to the fourth through tenth tones of the harmonic series (in relative pitch, c - e - g - b [approximately] - c� - d� - e�). The tongue produces

Skaraborg

Former l�n (county) of south-central Sweden, located between Lakes V�nern and V�ttern. Founded as a county in 1634, it was merged with the counties of �lvsborg and G�teborg och Bohus in 1998 to form the county of V�stra G�taland.

Baseball

Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs, the two sluggers who shattered major league baseball's existing home-run records in 1998, staged a reprise in 1999, with 65 and 63 home runs, respectively. Offense overall throughout both the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) increased substantially; the total home-run output of 5,528 broke the previous

Trask, Kate Nichols

Kate Nichols was of a wealthy family and was privately educated. In November 1874 she married Spencer Trask, a banker and financier. Although she had had literary leanings

Juan Jos� De Austria

Juan Jos� was the son of King Philip IV of Spain and Mar�a Calder�n, a celebrated actress. He received a princely education and a large

Interlude

In theatre, early form of English dramatic entertainment, sometimes considered to be the transition between medieval morality plays and Tudor dramas. Interludes were performed at court or at �great houses� by professional minstrels or amateurs at intervals between some other entertainment, such as a banquet, or preceding or following a play, or between acts. Although

Tabby

Type of dark-striped coat colouring found in both wild and domestic cats. One of the most common coat colours, the tabby pattern dates back to domestic cats in ancient Egypt. It is a recognized colour variety in purebred cats and is frequently seen in cats of mixed ancestry. Tabby colouring is highly variable but, for show cats, should consist of the following dark markings:

Tabby

Type of dark-striped coat colouring found in both wild and domestic cats. One of the most common coat colours, the tabby pattern dates back to domestic cats in ancient Egypt. It is a recognized colour variety in purebred cats and is frequently seen in cats of mixed ancestry. Tabby colouring is highly variable but, for show cats, should consist of the following dark markings:

Abu Bakar

Under an 1824 British treaty, supplemented by an agreement in 1855, the Malay state of Johore was ruled not

Felting

Consolidation of certain fibrous materials by the application of heat, moisture, and mechanical action, causing the interlocking, or matting, of fibres possessing felting properties. Such fibres include wool, fur, and certain hair fibres that mat together under appropriate conditions because of their peculiar structure and high degree of crimp (waviness). Wool

Utility And Value

The modern industrial economy is characterized by a high degree of interdependence of its parts. The supplier of components or raw materials, for example, must deliver the desired quantities of his products at the right moment and in the desired specifications. In economies such as those of western

Ahmed I

Ottoman sultan from 1603 to 1617, whose authority was weakened by wars, rebellions, and misrule. The rebellions he was able to suppress; he executed some of the viziers and exiled many palace dignitaries for bribery and intrigue; and he introduced a new regulation for the improvement of land administration. The peace of Zsitvat�r�k (1606) that he signed