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Conté, Lansana

(Encyclopedia)Conté, Lansana länsäˈnä cōNtāˈ [key], 1934–2008, Guinean political leader and military officer. Conté enlisted in the French army in 1955 and served in Algeria. Returning to Guinea in 1958 ...

closet drama

(Encyclopedia)closet drama, a play that is meant to be read rather than performed. Precursors of the form existed in classical times. Plato's Apology is often regarded as tragic drama rather than philosophic dialog...

fire clay

(Encyclopedia)fire clay, clay that has a high degree of resistance to heat. By the best standards it should have a fusion point higher than 1,600℃. The term “fire clay” is commonly held to exclude kaolin and ...

Selfridge, Harry Gordon

(Encyclopedia)Selfridge, Harry Gordon, 1858–1947, American-British retail merchant, b. Ripon, Wis. He moved to Chicago in 1876, where he started a successful 25-year career at Marshall Field & Co., developing...

post-mortem examination

(Encyclopedia)post-mortem examination or autopsy, systematic examination of a cadaver for study or for determining the cause of death. Post-mortems use many methodical procedures to determine the etiology and patho...

Rotary International

(Encyclopedia)Rotary International, organization of business and professional people, founded (1905) by Paul Percy Harris, a Chicago lawyer. Beginning with one club in Chicago, it spread to other cities, and in 191...

Troyes

(Encyclopedia)Troyes trwä [key], city (1990 pop. 60,755), capital of Aube dept., NE France, on the Seine River. It is an industrial town. Hosiery is the main product. Troyes became an episcopal see in the 4th cent...

norm

(Encyclopedia)norm, authoritative rule or standard by which something is judged and on that basis approved or disapproved. Examples of norms include standards of right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, and truth and ...

open enrollment

(Encyclopedia)open enrollment, a policy of admitting to college all high-school graduates in an effort to provide a higher education for all who desire it. To critics it means an inevitable lowering of standards as...

Oratory, Congregation of the

(Encyclopedia)Oratory, Congregation of the [Lat. abbr., Cong. Orat.], in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1575, an association of secular priests organized into independent communities according to the rule wr...