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mumps

(Encyclopedia)mumps (epidemic parotitis), acute contagious viral disease, manifesting itself chiefly in pain and swelling of the salivary glands, especially those at the angle of the jaw. Other symptoms are fever, ...

notochord

(Encyclopedia)notochord nōˈtəkôrdˌ [key], in biology, supporting rod running most of the length of animals of the phylum Chordata and present at varying times in the life cycle. Composed of large cells packed ...

atlantes

(Encyclopedia)atlantes ătlănˈtēz [key] [Latin plural of Atlas], sculptured male figures serving as supports of entablatures, in place of a column or pier. The earliest (c.480–460 b.c.) and most important exam...

Marquis, Don

(Encyclopedia)Marquis, Don (Donald Robert Perry Marquis) märˈkwĭs [key], 1878–1937, American author, b. Walnut, Ill. In 1912 he began the humorous column “The Sun Dial” in the New York Sun and later conduc...

Apollodorus of Damascus

(Encyclopedia)Apollodorus of Damascus, Roman architect and engineer, fl. late 1st to early 2d cent. a.d., b. Syria. Apollodorus was responsible for nearly all buildings designed under the emperor Trajan, for whom h...

sapwood

(Encyclopedia)sapwood, relatively thin, youngest, outer part of the woody stem of a tree, the part that conducts water and dissolved materials. In the cross section of a tree, the sapwood is recognizable by its tex...

geyser

(Encyclopedia)geyser gīˈzər [key] [Icel.], hot spring from which water and steam are ejected periodically to heights ranging from a few to several hundred feet. Notable geysers are found in Iceland, New Zealand,...

Galen

(Encyclopedia)Galen gāˈlən [key], c.130–c.200, physician and writer, b. Pergamum, of Greek parents. After study in Greece and Asia Minor and at Alexandria, he returned to Pergamum, where he served as physician...

CAT scan

(Encyclopedia)CAT scan kăt [key] [computerized axial tomography], X-ray technique that allows relatively safe, painless, and rapid diagnosis in previously inaccessible areas of the body; also called CT scan. An X-...

Hittorff, Jacques Ignace

(Encyclopedia)Hittorff, Jacques Ignace zhäk ēnyäsˈ ētôrfˈ [key], 1792–1867, French architect. He became a leading exponent of the classical revival in France, and his chief work is the Neo-Greek Church of ...