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Gray, Elisha

(Encyclopedia)Gray, Elisha, 1835–1901, American inventor, b. Barnesville, Ohio. He patented many electrical devices, most of them having to do with the telegraph. His telautograph (1888) for transmitting handwrit...

inbreeding

(Encyclopedia)inbreeding, mating of closely related organisms. Inbreeding is chiefly used as a means of insuring the preservation of specific desired traits among the offspring of purebred animals (see breeding). C...

hypertrophy

(Encyclopedia)hypertrophy hīpûrˈtrəfē [key], enlargement of a tissue or organ of the body resulting from an increase in the size of its cells. Such growth accompanies an increase in the functioning of the tiss...

iron lung

(Encyclopedia)iron lung, device used to maintain artificial respiration over an extended period of time. Before the successful vaccination program against poliomyelitis, it was used mostly in treatment of that dise...

irritable bowel syndrome

(Encyclopedia)irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), condition characterized by constipation, diarrhea, or alternating constipation and diarrhea in the absence of any disease process. It is usually accompanied by abdomina...

justice of the peace

(Encyclopedia)justice of the peace, official presiding over a type of police court. In some states of the United States the justices, who are usually elected, have jurisdiction over petty civil and criminal cases a...

cyanosis

(Encyclopedia)cyanosis sīˌənōˈsĭs [key], bluish coloration of the skin, mucous membranes, and nailbeds, resulting from a lack of oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood. It is a symptom of many disorders, includin...

excommunication

(Encyclopedia)excommunication, formal expulsion from a religious body, the most grave of all ecclesiastical censures. Where religious and social communities are nearly identical it is attended by social ostracism, ...

Schenck v. United States

(Encyclopedia)Schenck v. United States, case decided in 1919 by the U.S. Supreme Court. During World War I, Charles T. Schenck produced a pamphlet maintaining that the military draft was illegal, and was convicted ...

pen-based computer

(Encyclopedia)pen-based computer, computer that uses software to enable it to accept handwriting or drawing as a form of input. A stylus, which may contain special electronic circuitry, may be used to write on the ...