Moscicki, Ignacy

Moscicki was educated as a chemist. He joined the nationalistic Polish Socialist Party in the early 1890s and was involved in an attempt on the life of the governor-general

Popish Plot

(1678), in English history, a totally fictitious but widely believed plot in which it was alleged that Jesuits were planning the assassination of King Charles II in order to bring his Roman Catholic brother, the Duke of York (afterward King James II), to the throne. The allegations were fabricated by Titus Oates (q.v.), a renegade Anglican clergyman who had feigned conversion

Literary Criticism, The late 19th century

The Romantic movement had been spurred not only by German philosophy but also by the universalistic and utopian hopes that accompanied the French Revolution. Some of those hopes were thwarted by political reaction, while others were blunted by industrial capitalism and the accession to power of the class that had demanded general liberty. Advocates of the literary

Brum, Baltasar

Statesman noted for his reform of the educational and welfare systems in Uruguay and for his proposal of an American league of nations. His dedication to democracy was so firm that he committed suicide to protest the suspension of the Uruguayan constitution and assumption of dictatorial powers by President Gabriel

Cumberland Wrestling

Form of wrestling developed in northern England and southern Scotland, also called the North Country style. The wrestlers stand chest to chest, each grasping the other with locked hands around the body, each opponent's chin on the other's right shoulder. The right arm is placed below and the left above the adversary's. When the hold has been firmly taken, an umpire gives

Adamawa

Traditional emirate centred in what is now Adamawa state, eastern Nigeria. The emirate was founded by Modibbo Adama, who was one of Sheikh Usman dan Fodio's commanders and who began a Fulani jihad (holy war) in 1809 against the non-Muslim peoples of the region. Adama moved the capital of his kingdom, which was then known as Fumbina, several times before settling it finally in

C�rdoba

Departamento, northwestern Colombia. It occupies the Caribbean lowlands north of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Occidental. During most of the colonial period the area was sparsely settled, the original densely settled Indian population having disappeared by the time of the first major Spanish penetration in 1534. Created in 1951, the territory, 9,660 square miles (25,020 square

Hatteras Abyssal Plain

Submarine plain forming the floor of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. It lies east of the North American continental shelf between the southern United States and Bermuda, extending about 900 mi (1,450 km) from north to south, with an average width of 300 mi. The plain comprises the western part of the North American Basin and is separated from the Nares Abyssal Plain to the southwest

Agricola, Johann

Original name �Johann Schneider, Schneider �also spelled �Schnitter, �Latin �Sartor� Lutheran Reformer, friend of Martin Luther, and advocate of antinomianism, a view asserting that Christians are freed by grace from the need to obey the Ten Commandments. At Wittenberg, Agricola was persuaded by Luther to change his course of study from medicine to theology. Increasingly under Luther's influence, Agricola accompanied

Western Africa, Geology

The crystalline rocks, collectively referred to as the West African shield or craton, comprise three main types of rock assemblage. The basement

Scandinavian Literature, Icelandic

Modern Icelandic prose writing did not really develop until the late 1870s, when a group of young men, influenced by the theories of the Danish critic Georg Brandes, began their literary careers. Unfortunately, they had absorbed Brandes' ideas uncritically, which resulted in introspective, self-pitying works believed by their authors to be realistically written. The

Duck Mountain

Plateau in southwestern Manitoba, Canada, forming the highest part of the Manitoba Escarpment. It extends southeastward from the Saskatchewan border for 50 miles (80 km), culminating in Baldy Mountain (2,730 feet [832 m]), 36 miles northwest of Dauphin. A large part of the plateau is embraced by Duck Mountain Provincial Park, established in 1962 to preserve the region's dense forests, numerous

Biblical Literature, The Acts of the Apostles

As indicated by both its introduction and its theological plan (see The Gospel According to Luke), Acts is the second of a two-volume work compiled by the author of Luke. Both volumes are dedicated to Theophilus (presumably an imperial official), and its contents are divided into periods. In the Gospel, Luke describes first the end of the old dispensation and then the earthly

Avon

Region and former administrative county, southwestern England, bordering the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel. The region comprises parts of the historic counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset to the north and south, respectively. It is divided administratively into the following unitary authorities: Bath and North East Somerset, the city of Bristol

Dietrich Von Bern

Dietrich's exploits are related in a number of south German songs preserved in Das Heldenbuch (�The Heroes Book�) - including Dietrichs Flucht (�Dietrich's Flight�), Die Rabenschlacht (�The Battle of Ravenna�), Alpharts Tod (�Alphart's Death�), and a number

Mycosis

Plural �Mycoses,� in humans and domestic animals, a disease caused by any fungus that invades the tissues, causing superficial, subcutaneous, or systemic disease. Superficial fungal infections, also called dermatophytosis, are confined to the skin and are caused by Microsporum, Trichophyton, or Epidermophyton; athlete's foot, for example, is caused by Trichophyton or Epidermophyton

D�

City, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies along the Ruhr River, on the northeastern slopes of the Eifel Hills. A Frankish settlement first mentioned in 748, it grew from the Villa Duria of Pippin III the Short, the king of the Franks. It was subsequently the seat of diets and synods under Charlemagne and the base for several of his Saxon campaigns. After

Arnold, Thomas

Thomas Arnold was educated at Winchester and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was elected a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1815. After ordination and

Mitchell, W.o.

Mitchell received favourable notice for his first novel, Who Has Seen the Wind? (1947), a sensitive picture of a grim prairie town seen from the point of view of a small boy. Mitchell's Jake and the Kid (1961) was later developed

Gartok

Chinese �(Wade-Giles) Ka-erh-tu, Ka-ta-k'o, �or (Pinyin)� Garyarsa, � town in the Tibetan autonomous ch'� (region), western China. It is located at an elevation of 14,630 feet (4,460 m) at the foot of the Kailas Range on the Gar (Ka-erh) River, which is one of the headwaters of the Yin-tu (Indus) River. Gartok is an important route centre on the main road through the southern Tibetan region from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, to Jammu and Kashmir. Historically Gartok

Gartok

Chinese �(Wade-Giles) Ka-erh-tu, Ka-ta-k'o, �or (Pinyin)� Garyarsa, � town in the Tibetan autonomous ch'� (region), western China. It is located at an elevation of 14,630 feet (4,460 m) at the foot of the Kailas Range on the Gar (Ka-erh) River, which is one of the headwaters of the Yin-tu (Indus) River. Gartok is an important route centre on the main road through the southern Tibetan region from Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, to Jammu and Kashmir. Historically Gartok

Valabhi

City of ancient India that was the capital of the Maitraka dynasty in the 5th - 8th century AD. It was situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Cambay (Khambhat), northwest of the port of Bhavnagar, in Saurastra (later Gujarat), western India. The city is thought to have been established about AD 470 by the founder of the dynasty, Senapati Bhatarka, during the period when the Gupta empire was breaking

Bektashi

Originally one of many Sufi orders within orthodox Sunnite Islam, the Bektashi order in the 16th century adopted tenets of the Shi'ite sect,

Ezion-geber

Modern �Tall al-Khalifah� seaport of Solomon and the later kings of Judah, located at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba in what is now Ma'an muhafazah (governorate), Jordan. The site was found independently by archaeologists Fritz Frank and Nelson Glueck. Glueck's excavations (1938 - 40) proved that the site had been a fortified settlement surrounded by strong walls from the 10th to the 4th century BC. It was almost

Tirpitz, Alfred Von

Original name �Alfred Tirpitz � German admiral, the chief builder of the German Navy in the 17 years preceding World War I and a dominant personality of the emperor William II's reign. He was ennobled in 1900 and attained the rank of admiral in 1903 and that of grand admiral in 1911; he retired in 1916.

Cartoon

Originally, and still, a full-size sketch or drawing used as a pattern for a tapestry, painting, mosaic, or other graphic art form, but also, since the early 1840s, a pictorial parody utilizing caricature, satire, and usually humour. Cartoons are used today primarily for conveying political commentary and editorial opinion in newspapers and for social comedy and visual wit

Xiong Foxi

Xiong Foxi began writing, directing, and acting in plays as a youth and, while at Yen-ching University, helped to establish the Min-chung Hsi-ch� She (People's Dramatic Society). After graduate work at Columbia University,

Ancient Rome, The beginning of Germanic hegemony in the West

During the first half of the 5th century the barbarians gradually installed themselves, in spite of the efforts of the Roman general Aetius at the head of a small army of mercenaries and of Huns. Aetius took back Arles and Narbonne from the Visigoths in 436, either pushed back the Salian and Ripuarian Franks beyond the Rhine or incorporated them as federates, settled the

Ba�f, Jean-antoine De

Ba�f received a classical education and in 1547 went with Pierre de Ronsard to study under Jean Dorat at the Coll�ge de Coqueret, Paris, where they planned, with Joachim du Bellay, to transform French poetry by imitating the ancients and the Italians.

Bridie, James

Trained at the University of Glasgow's medical school, Bridie maintained a successful general practice (until 1938) and served as a physician in World War I and World War II. His first play, The Sunlight Sonata (1928), written under the pseudonym