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mental hygiene

(Encyclopedia)mental hygiene, the science of promoting mental health and preventing mental illness through the application of psychiatry and psychology. A more commonly used term today is mental health. In 1908, th...

Tiberius

(Encyclopedia)Tiberius (Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus) tībērˈēəs [key], 42 b.c.–a.d. 37, second Roman emperor (a.d. 14–a.d. 37). He was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla and was origin...

Vargas Llosa, Mario

(Encyclopedia)Vargas Llosa, Mario märˈyō värˈgäs yōˈsä [key], 1936–, Peruvian novelist and politician, b. Arequipa. Although his works contain much external realism, emphasizing the ugly and grotesque, h...

Stephen, Sir Leslie

(Encyclopedia)Stephen, Sir Leslie, 1832–1904, English author and critic. The first serious critic of the novel, he was also editor of the great Dictionary of National Biography from its beginning in 1882 until 18...

Leo I, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Leo I, d. 474, Byzantine or East Roman emperor (457–74). Chosen by the senate to succeed Marcian, he sought to counteract the preponderance of Germans in the Roman army by enlisting Isaurians. A nav...

Lilith

(Encyclopedia)Lilith lĭlˈĭth [key], female demon of Jewish mythology, originally probably the Assyrian storm demon Lilitu. In Talmudic tradition many evil attributes were given to this supposedly nocturnal creat...

Megan's law

(Encyclopedia)Megan's law, in the United States, a state or federal statute that requires the notification of public organizations and private citizens when a convicted sex offender has been released from prison an...

Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie, Baronin von

(Encyclopedia)Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie, Baronin von märēˈ bärōˈnĭn fən ābˈnər-ĕshˈənbäkh [key], 1830–1916, Austrian writer. She began writing lyrics and plays with small success, but in middle age a...

Costa, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Costa, Lorenzo lōrĕnˈtsō kōˈstä [key], 1460–1535, Italian painter of the Ferrarese and Bolognese schools. Trained in the manner of such painters as Tura and Cossa, he modified the strident Fe...

Fair, James Graham

(Encyclopedia)Fair, James Graham, 1831–94, American financier, b. near Belfast, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child, grew up on an Illinois farm, and went west in 1851 in search of gold. In partnership wi...