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James, Jesse

(Encyclopedia)James, Jesse (Woodson), 1847–82, American outlaw, b. Clay co., Mo. At the age of 15 he joined the Confederate guerrilla band led by William Quantrill and participated in the brutal and bloody civil ...

palladium, chemical element

(Encyclopedia)palladium [Gr. Pallas, goddess of wisdom], metallic chemical element; symbol Pd; at. no. 46; at. wt. 106.42; m.p. 1,554℃; b.p. 2,970℃; sp. gr. 12.02 at 20℃; valence +2, +3, or +4. Palladium is a...

Schweitzer, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Schweitzer, Albert älˈbĕrt shvīˈtsər [key], 1875–1965, Alsatian theologian, musician, and medical missionary. Determined to become a medical missionary, he obtained a doctorate in medicine at ...

Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, sieur d'

(Encyclopedia)Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, sieur d' pyĕr lə mwän syör dēbĕrvēlˈ [key], 1661–1706, French Canadian naval officer, founder of the French territory of Louisiana, b. Ville Marie (in present Mon...

Jericho, city, West Bank

(Encyclopedia)Jericho jĕrˈĭkō [key] [Heb.,=fragrant, or city of the moon god], Arab. Ariha, town (2003 est. pop. 19,000), West Bank, in the Jordan valley N of the Dead Sea; nearby is the site of the ancient cit...

wire

(Encyclopedia)wire, metal filament, strand, or solid rod usually having a round cross section. Metals and alloys used for wiremaking are chosen for high tensile strength and ductility or for their electrical conduc...

mussel

(Encyclopedia)mussel, edible freshwater or marine bivalve mollusk. Mussels are able to move slowly by means of the muscular foot. They feed and breathe by filtering water through extensible tubes called siphons; a ...

marble

(Encyclopedia)marble, metamorphic rock composed wholly or in large part of calcite or dolomite crystals, the crystalline texture being the result of metamorphism of limestone by heat and pressure. The term marble i...

Arapaho

(Encyclopedia)Arapaho ərăpˈəhō [key], Native North Americans of the Plains whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Their own...

Transvaal

(Encyclopedia)Transvaal trănzvälˈ [key], former province, NE South Africa. With the new constitution of 1994, it was divided into Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo), Pretoria-Wi...