La Salle
City, La Salle county, north-central Illinois, U.S., on the Illinois River. With Peru (west) and Oglesby (south), it forms a tri-city unit. Settled in 1830 and named for the explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, its growth was stimulated by the Illinois and Michigan Canal (1848) and the arrival in the 1850s of the Illinois Central and Rock Island railroads. Its economy, based mainly on coal
Macdonald, Cynthia
Macdonald was educated at Bennington (Vermont) College (B.A., 1950); Mannes College of Music, New York City; Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York (M.A., 1970); and the Houston-Galveston (Texas) Psychoanalytic Institute, where she was certified as a psychoanalyst
Astronomy
Without doubt the most exciting event in astronomy was the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter, but studies of other small bodies in the solar system provided their own delights and surprises. Although the solar system is traditionally viewed as comprising the Sun, nine planets, their moons, and the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the discovery in
Eleusinian Mysteries
Most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece. According to the myth told in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the earth goddess Demeter (q.v.) went to Eleusis in search of her daughter Kore (Persephone), who had been abducted by Hades (Pluto), god of the underworld. Befriended by the royal family of Eleusis, she agreed to rear the queen's son. She was, however, prevented
Dance, Western, The French dance suite
At the great balls of the French court at Versailles, the minuet was the high point of the festivities, which culminated in a suite of dances. The opening branle, led by the king and his escort, was a measured circling around, one couple after another. Next came the courante, which had been toned down from its earlier rather capricious figurations. Over the years it assumed
Aristeas, Letter Of
Pseudepigraphal work of pseudo-history produced in Alexandria, probably in the mid-2nd century BC, to promote the cause of Judaism. Though the size and prestige of the Jewish community had already secured for itself a definite place in Alexandrian society and serious anti-Semitism had not yet gained currency, the Jewish community was in conflict. While some Jews embraced
Iridescence
Interference of light either at the surface or in the interior of a material that produces a series of colours as the angle of incidence changes. Best known are the colours seen in precious opal resulting from the interference of light by submicroscopic layers of nearly spherical particles 1,500 - 3,000 angstroms in diameter that are arranged in a regular pattern. Common opal
Mormon
The First Presidency (church president and two councillors), the Council of the Twelve, the First Quorum of Seventy (and its presidency, concerned especially with missions), and the presiding bishop and two councillors (who control the Aaronic priesthood) constitute the �General Authorities� of the church. They are �sustained in office� by the regular and now ritualized
Lamarr, Hedy
The daughter of a prosperous Viennese banker, Lamarr was privately tutored from age four; by the time she was
Great Sand Dunes National Monument And Preserve
Federal legislation enacted in 2000 created Great Sand
France, History Of, Loss of prestige
Genuinely popular in the earlier years of his reign, Louis XV had become
Kahn, Florence Prag
Florence Prag graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1887. Her ambition to study law was frustrated by the family's finances, and
Aza�s, Pierre-hyacinthe
Philosopher whose optimism was rooted in the idea that human experience is imbued with a natural and harmonious balance between joy and sadness and that it is in this balance that meaning can be discovered. He advocated the idea in the work that first brought him fame, Des compensations dans les destin�es humaines, 3 vol. (1809). In a following work,
Sculpture
A form of aesthetic expression in which hard or plastic materials are worked (as by carving, molding, or welding) into three-dimensional art objects. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments ranging from tableaux to contexts that envelop the spectator. An enormous variety of media may be used, including clay, wax,
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
Elias Of Cortona
In 1217 Elias headed the new Franciscan mission to the Holy Land as first minister provincial of Syria. He visited holy places in Palestine with Francis, returning with him
Asceticism
In all strictly ascetic movements, celibacy (q.v.) has been regarded as the first commandment. Virgins and celibates emerged among the earliest Christian communities and came to occupy a prominent status. Among the earliest Mesopotamian Christian communities, only the celibates were accepted as full members of the church, and in some religions only celibates have
Black Belt
Physical region in Alabama and Mississippi, U.S., so named for its soil. The Black Belt is a fertile plain, generally 25 - 30 miles (40 - 50 km) wide and stretching approximately 300 miles (480 km) across central Alabama and northeastern Mississippi. A region of dark, calcareous soils, it was one of the South's most important agricultural areas before the American Civil War. Though corn (maize) was
Affreightment
Essentially, such a contract is an agreement between two parties, the carrier and the shipper. The carrier undertakes to carry the goods to
Pitot, Henri
Beginning his career as a mathematician and astronomer, Pitot won election to the Academy of Sciences in 1724. He became interested in the problem of flow of water in rivers and canals and discovered that much contemporary theory was erroneous - for example,
Joveyni, 'ata Malek
Born into a well-known and highly respected family of governors and civil servants,
Zangi
When Zangi's father, the governor of Aleppo, was killed in 1094, Zangi fled to Mosul. He served the Seljuq dynasty, and in 1126 the Seljuq sultan, Mahmud II, appointed Zangi governor of Basra. When the 'Abbasid dynasty caliph al-Mustarshid
Motor-vehicle Insurance
Liability insurance pays for
Henry Viii
King of England (1509 - 47), who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. His six wives were, successively, Catherine of Aragon (the mother of the future queen Mary I), Anne Boleyn (the mother of the future queen Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (the mother of Henry's successor, Edward VI), Anne of Cleves, Catherine
Bebel, August
Bebel was the son of a Prussian noncommissioned officer. Growing up in extreme poverty
Hess, (walter Richard) Rudolf
The son of a merchant, Hess served in the German army during World War I. After the
Arend-roland, Comet
Comet remarkable for its anomalous second tail, which projects toward rather than away from the Sun. It was discovered on the night of Nov. 8 - 9, 1956, by S. Arend and P. Roland in Belgium. Its perihelion passage (i.e., its closest approach to the Sun) occurred on April 20, 1957. Because it was discovered months before perihelion, lengthy observations could be carried out. The anomalous tail appeared
Cape Verde
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund structural-adjustment programs had profound implications for national politics in Cape Verde in 2000. Designed to help attract foreign investment, the government's privatization program - especially the privatization of the state petroleum company Enacol - was strongly criticized by the main opposition party, the
Nervous System, Human, Facial nerve (CN VII or 7)
From the facial nucleus in the pons, facial motor fibres enter the internal auditory meatus, pass through the temporal bone, exit the skull via the stylomastoid foramen, and fan out over each side
