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purslane

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Purslane, Portulaca oleraceae purslane, common name for some plants of the Portulaceae, a family of herbs and a few small shrubs, chiefly of the Americas. The portulacas or purslanes (genus Po...

Wallace, Lew

(Encyclopedia)Wallace, Lew (Lewis Wallace), 1827–1905, American novelist and diplomat, b. Brookville, Ind. He served in both the Mexican and Civil wars. After returning to his law practice in Indiana, he became g...

Erskine, John, American educator, author, and musician

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, John, 1879–1951, American educator, author, and musician, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1900; Ph.D., 1903). He taught first at Amherst (1903–9) and then at Columbia, becoming pr...

American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters

(Encyclopedia)American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, honorary academy of notable American artists, writers, and composers. The National Institute of Arts and Letters, founded in 1898, served as the par...

Tripolitan War

(Encyclopedia)Tripolitan War trĭpŏlˈĭtən [key], 1800–1815, conflict between the United States and the Barbary States. Piracy had become a normal source of income in the N African Barbary States long before t...

Bradford, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Bradford, Andrew, 1686–1742, colonial printer of Pennsylvania, b. Philadelphia; son of William Bradford (1663–1752). Andrew learned the trade in his father's shop in New York City and in 1712 went...

post-traumatic stress disorder

(Encyclopedia)post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme psychological stress, such as that encountered in war or resulting from violence, childhood abuse, sexual a...

Gass, Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Gass, Patrick, 1771–1870, American explorer, member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, b. Perry co., Pa. His journal of the trip across the continent first appeared in 1807 and was widely read. Gass...

Russell, Charles Marion

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Charles Marion, 1864–1926, American painter, b. Oak Hill, Mo. He was one of the two greatest and most popular painters of the American West (the other was Frederic Remington). A stalwart in...

Coues, Elliott

(Encyclopedia)Coues, Elliott kouz [key], 1842–99, American ornithologist, b. Portsmouth, N.H., grad. Columbian College, later Columbian Univ. and now George Washington Univ. (B.A., 1861; M.D., 1863; Ph.D., 1869)....