Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

phrenology

(Encyclopedia)phrenology, study of the shape of the human skull in order to draw conclusions about particular character traits and mental faculties. The theory was developed about 1800 by the German physiologist Fr...

proconsul, in ancient Rome

(Encyclopedia)proconsul, in ancient Rome, governor of a province. He was in sole charge of the army, of justice, and of administration in his province and could not be prosecuted for maladministration until his off...

Sisimiut

(Encyclopedia)Sisimiut hôlˈstānsbôrˌ [key], town (1996 pop. 5,117), Sisimiut dist., W Greenland. The second largest town in Greenland, it is a fishing center with a modern canning factory and several shipyards...

Swindon

(Encyclopedia)Swindon, borough and unitary authority (1991 pop. 127,348), S central England. Swindon was a small village until 1841, when the Great Western RR opened its locomotive and car works there. It became th...

Caledonia

(Encyclopedia)Caledonia kăˌlĭdōˈnēə [key], Roman name for that part of the island of Great Britain that lies N of the firths of Clyde and Forth. The name first occurs in the works of Lucan (1st cent. a.d.) a...

Cave, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Cave, Edward, 1691–1754, English publisher. He founded (1731) the Gentleman's Magazine, the first modern magazine in English. Cave gave Samuel Johnson his first regular literary employment when he p...

Celaenae

(Encyclopedia)Celaenae sĭlēˈnē [key], ancient city of Asia Minor, in Phrygia, near the source of the Maeander River, in present-day W central Turkey. In the days of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great had a pal...

Beth-horon

(Encyclopedia)Beth-horon bĕth-hōˈrən [key], in the Bible, name of two neighboring towns on the northerly road from Lod to Jerusalem. They are the modern Beit Ur at Tahta and Beit Ur al Fawga in the West Bank. I...

Maritain, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Maritain, Jacques zhäk märētăNˈ [key], 1882–1973, French Neo-Thomist philosopher. He was educated at the Sorbonne and the Univ. of Heidelberg and was much influenced by the philosophy of Henri ...

cotton gin

(Encyclopedia)cotton gin, machine for separating cotton fibers from the seeds. The charkha, used in India from antiquity, consists of two revolving wooden rollers through which the fibers are drawn, leaving the see...