Sea Snake

Any of more than 50 species of venomous marine snakes of the family Hydrophiidae. In adaptation to marine life, sea snakes have oarlike tails and flattened bodies. Their nostrils have valvelike closings and are usually on top of the snout. Several sea snakes have bodies much thicker than their heads and necks affording them greater stability

Eastern Desert

The Eastern Desert consists of a rolling sandy highland that rises abruptly from the Nile valley and merges

Reformed Churches In The Netherlands

The Christian Reformed Church was organized by seceders who left The Netherlands Reformed Church (q.v.) in 1834 because of disagreements over church organization

Wilder, Gene

As a youth in Milwaukee, Wilder was a student of the renowned acting instructor Herman Gottlieb, and in 1955 he graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in theatre. In 1961 he joined the Actors Studio in New York City, where he studied under Lee

Lowell, Robert, Jr.

Lowell grew up in Boston. James Russell Lowell was his great-granduncle, and Amy, Percival, and A. Lawrence Lowell were distant cousins. Although he turned away from his Puritan heritage - largely because he was repelled by what he felt was the high

Cheka

Also called �Vecheka, � early Soviet secret police agency and a forerunner of the KGB (q.v.).

Holborn

Neighbourhood and former metropolitan borough (until 1965) of London. Now part of the borough of Camden, it lies northwest of the City of London and south of the Islington neighbourhood of Clerkenwell. Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn, two of the four Inns of Court, are central features of the district. The houses of Sir John Soane's Museum overlook Lincoln's Inn Fields from the north,

Developmental Psychology

Also called �Life-span Psychology, � the branch of psychology concerned with the changes in cognitive, motivational, psychophysiological, and social functioning that occur throughout the human life span. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, developmental psychologists were concerned primarily with child psychology. In the 1950s, however, they became interested in the relationship between personality

Goodall, Sir Reginald

Goodall studied at the Royal College of Music in London and in Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna before joining the Sadler's Wells company in 1944. The next year he conducted the first performance of Benjamin Britten's opera

Ad Valorem Tax

Ad valorem rates, which have come into increased use, have the important advantage of adjusting the

Wynn, Ed

Wynn made his professional debut with the Thurber-Nasher Repertoire Company in Norwich, Conn., in 1902 and acquired the nickname of the Perfect Fool from a revue of the same name in

Hermann Von Reichenau,

The son of a Swabian count, Hermann was lame from youth,

Hermann Von Reichenau,

The son of a Swabian count, Hermann was lame from youth,

Vinh

City, north-central Vietnam, located on the Ca River delta, 160 miles (260 km) south of Hanoi. The Ca River enters the Gulf of Tonkin just northeast of Vinh. An important trade centre for the surrounding region, the city is the focus of a densely populated agricultural area. It is also the site of an electric power plant and has chemical and textile industries. Manganese and phosphates

Bhakti

(from Sanskrit bhaj, �to allot,� �to revere�), in Hinduism, a devotional movement emphasizing the intense emotional attachment and love of a devotee toward his personal god. Bhakti assumes a dualistic relationship between the devotee and god, in contrast to the monistic ideal of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. The way of bhakti (bhakti-marga) is contrasted with other means of

Sacrifice, Method of sacrifice

Along with libation and the sacrificial effusion of blood, one of the commonest means of making an oblation available to sacred beings is to burn it. In both ancient Judaism and Greek religion the major offering was the burnt or fire offering. Through the medium of the fire, the oblation was conveyed to the divine recipient. In ancient Greece the generic term for sacrifice

Kabbala

By the mid-16th century the unchallenged centre of Kabbala was Safed, Galilee, where one of the greatest of all Kabbalists, Isaac ben Solomon Luria, spent the last years of his life. According to Gershom Gerhard Scholem, a modern Jewish scholar of Kabbala, Luria's influence was surpassed only by that of the Sefer ha-zohar. Lurianic Kabbala developed several basic doctrines:

Meramec River

Tributary of the Mississippi River rising in the Ozark Mountains, near Salem in Dent county, southeast Missouri, U.S. The river winds 207 miles (333 km) generally north, northeast, and southeast through the limestone Meramec Caverns and Meramec State Park (near Sullivan) to enter the Mississippi River 20 miles (32 km) below St. Louis. Lead was mined along its banks in the 1700s, and the river

Rousseau, Jean-jacques

Rousseau was the least academic of modern philosophers and in many ways was the most influential. His thought marked the end of the Age of Reason. He propelled political

Sculpture, Western, Early Cycladic

The Early Cycladic period is celebrated principally

Scallop

The two valves of the shell are usually fan-shaped,

Biblical Literature, The Essenes

Though the Essenes of the Dead Sea Scrolls are not mentioned in the New Testament, they are described by Philo, Josephus, and Eusebius, a 4th-century Christian historian. With publication of the Essenes' own sectarian writings since the 1950s, however, they have become well known. They did not have any really new ideas, but their founder, the Teacher of Righteousness, believed

Ecloga

Leo issued the law code in Greek instead of the traditional Latin, so that it could be understood by more people and utilized by judges

Meleager

In Greek mythology, the leader of the Calydonian boar hunt. The Iliad relates how Meleager's father, King Oeneus (q.v.) of Calydon, had omitted to sacrifice to Artemis, who sent a wild boar to ravage the country. Meleager collected a band of heroes to drive it away and eventually killed it himself. The Calydonians and the Curetes (neighbouring warriors who aided in the hunt)

Henley Royal Regatta

Annual four-day series of rowing races held the first week in July on the River Thames, at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, Eng. The regatta was established in 1839; and in 1851 Prince Albert became its patron and gave the event its �royal� prefix. The regulation distance for the races is 1 mile 550 yards (2,100 m). Probably the most significant of the traditional Henley races are the Grand Challenge

Tibet, Health and welfare

Under the health program of the Tibetan government, medical advice and medicine were provided free to expectant mothers. In addition to free vaccinations, sacred pendants known as rims-srungs were distributed annually to prevent epidemics. The construction and maintenance of proper drainage systems, wells, and canals - and security facilities to guard against

Water Lily

Any of the freshwater plants of the family Nymphaeaceae, comprising eight genera native to the temperate and tropical parts of the world. All members of the family are perennial except for the genus Euryale, an annual or short-lived perennial found only in Asia. Most species of water lilies have rounded, floating, waxy-coated leaves on long stalks that contain

Kolbe, Hermann

After studying chemistry with Friedrich W�hler, Kolbe became an assistant to Robert Bunsen at the University of Marburg in 1842. Subsequently he assisted Lyon Playfair at the

Apraxia

Ideational

Norfolk

Administrative and historic county of eastern England, bounded by Suffolk (south), Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire (west), and the North Sea (north and east). The administrative county comprises seven districts: Breckland, Broadland, North Norfolk, and South Norfolk; the boroughs of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn and West Norfolk; and the city of Norwich. The historic