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calycanthus

(Encyclopedia)calycanthus kălˌĭkănˈthəs [key], any plant of the genus Calycanthus, aromatic shrubs of N North America, Asia, and Australia. An American type, the Carolina allspice, is cultivated for the aroma...

Brown, Henry Kirke

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Henry Kirke, 1814–86, American sculptor, b. Leyden, Mass. He studied portrait painting with Chester Harding and later turned to sculpture, which he studied in Italy. Returning to America in 1...

Carnarvon, Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Carnarvon, Henry Howard Molyneux Herbert, 4th earl of, 1831–90, British statesman. As colonial secretary (1866–67) under the earl of Derby he introduced the British North America Act, which made C...

Winsor, Justin

(Encyclopedia)Winsor, Justin, 1831–97, American librarian and historian. He was superintendent (1868–77) of the Boston Public Library and afterward librarian (1877–97) of Harvard. In addition to important bib...

Webster, Pelatiah

(Encyclopedia)Webster, Pelatiah, 1726–95, American writer, b. Lebanon, Conn., grad. Yale, 1746. A Philadelphia businessman, he is remembered for his advocacy in his Dissertation of the Political Union and Constit...

toby jug

(Encyclopedia)toby jug tōˈbē [key], small pottery pitcher or mug modeled in the form of a jolly, stout man wearing a cocked hat, a corner of which serves as pourer. The jug is also called fillpot, both names tak...

Toscanelli, Paolo dal Pozzo

(Encyclopedia)Toscanelli, Paolo dal Pozzo päˈōlō däl pôtˈtsō tōskänĕlˈlē [key], 1397–1482, Italian cosmographer and mathematician. A physician by training, he was also known as Paul the Physician. He...

blowgun

(Encyclopedia)blowgun, hollow tube from which a dart or an arrow is blown by a person's breath. The arrow was usually tipped with a poison, such as curare, which would stun or kill the struck prey. Blowguns were wi...

Blythe, David Gilmour

(Encyclopedia)Blythe, David Gilmour blīᵺ [key], 1815–65, American artist, b. East Liverpool, Ohio. Working in Pennsylvania, Blythe produced genre scenes that depict the rough existence of the early frontier. M...

Barnes, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, Albert, 1798–1870, American Presbyterian clergyman, b. Rome, N.Y. From 1830 he was pastor of the First Church in Philadelphia, mother church of the Presbyterian denomination in America. In t...