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Alabama, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Alabama ăləbămˈə [key], state in the SE United States. It is bordered by Tennessee (N), Georgia (E), Florida and the Gulf of Mexico (S), and Mississippi (W). In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Co...

Villeda Morales, Ramón

(Encyclopedia)Villeda Morales, Ramón rämōnˈ vēyāˈᵺä mōräˈlās [key], 1909–71, president of Honduras (1957–63). A physician, he was prominent in the Liberal party and served as Honduran ambassador t...

Scientology, Church of

(Encyclopedia)Scientology, Church of, philosophical religion founded by L(afayette) Ron(ald) Hubbard, 1911–86, b. Tilden, Nebr. Hubbard's book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950) first set forth...

balm of Gilead

(Encyclopedia)balm of Gilead gĭlˈēəd [key], name for several plants belonging to different taxonomic families. The historic Old World balm of Gilead, or Mecca balsam, is a small evergreen tree (Commiphora gilea...

Ipswich, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Ipswich, town (2020 pop. 13,785), Essex co., NE Mass., on the Ipswich River and Ipswich Bay; inc. 1634. Ipswich clams are found there. Tourism and the p...

Surgeon General, United States

(Encyclopedia)Surgeon General, United States, former head of the U.S. Public Health Service, which is responsible for protecting the people's health (see public health). Since a 1986 reorganization, the surgeon gen...

Nantes, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Nantes, Edict of, 1598, decree promulgated at Nantes by King Henry IV to restore internal peace in France, which had been torn by the Wars of Religion; the edict defined the rights of the French Prote...

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