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latitude

(Encyclopedia)latitude, angular distance of any point on the surface of the earth north or south of the equator. The equator is latitude 0°, and the North Pole and South Pole are latitudes 90°N and 90°S, respect...

tent caterpillar

(Encyclopedia)tent caterpillar, common name for the larvae of the members of a family of moths (Lasiocampidae), easily recognized by the large silk tents, or webs, that the larvae construct during the spring in the...

Cato the Younger

(Encyclopedia)Cato the Younger or Cato of Utica, 95 b.c.–46 b.c., Roman statesman, whose full name was Marcus Porcius Cato; great-grandson of Cato the Elder. Reared by his uncle Marcus Livius Drusus, he showed an...

Bacon, Francis, English philosopher and statesman

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Qu...

Duquesnoy, François

(Encyclopedia)Duquesnoy, François fräNswäˈ dükĕnwäˈ [key], 1594–1643, Flemish sculptor. In 1618 he went to Rome, where he remained most of his life, eventually becoming one of the most sought after sculpt...

Clark, Lewis Gaylord

(Encyclopedia)Clark, Lewis Gaylord, 1808?–1873, American editor and writer, b. near Syracuse, N.Y. He was the editor (1834–60) of the Knickerbocker Magazine and made it a leading literary publication of its day...

Clark, William Smith

(Encyclopedia)Clark, William Smith, 1826–86, American educator, b. Ashfield, Mass., grad. Amherst, 1848, and studied chemistry and botany at Göttingen (Ph.D., 1852). He taught at Amherst until the Civil War, fou...

epithalamium

(Encyclopedia)epithalamium ĕpˌĭthəlāˈmēəm [key], song or poem written to celebrate a marriage. An elaborate form of pastoral, the epithalamium usually tells of the happenings of the wedding day. Nymphs, she...

Hoar, George Frisbie

(Encyclopedia)Hoar, George Frisbie, 1826–1904, American legislator, b. Concord, Mass. He practiced law, became a Republican in politics, and was U.S. Representative (1869–77) and U.S. Senator (1877–1904). Hoa...

Fools, Feast of

(Encyclopedia)Fools, Feast of, burlesque religious festival of the Middle Ages. It occurred during the Christmas and New Year's revels, on or near New Year's Day. In many places a Lord of Misrule ruled over the rev...