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nitrous oxide

(Encyclopedia)nitrous oxide or nitrogen (I) oxide, chemical compound, N2O, a colorless gas with a sweetish taste and odor. Its density is 1.977 grams per liter at STP. It is soluble in water, alcohol, ether, and ot...

Rowell, Newton Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Rowell, Newton Wesley rouˈəl [key], 1867–1941, Canadian jurist and statesman, b. Ontario. He was elected (1911) to the Ontario legislature and then served in the Canadian House of Commons (1917–...

thermoelectricity

(Encyclopedia)thermoelectricity, direct conversion of heat into electric energy, or vice versa. The term is generally restricted to the irreversible conversion of electricity into heat described by the English phys...

Kirkaldy of Grange, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Kirkaldy of Grange, Sir William kərkôlˈdē [key], d. 1573, Scottish soldier and politician. Associated with his father in the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546, he was captured by the French in 154...

Stanley, Sir Henry Morton

(Encyclopedia)Stanley, Sir Henry Morton, 1841–1904, Anglo-American journalist, explorer, and empire builder, b. Denbigh, Wales. He grew up in poverty and came to America as a worker on a ship, which he jumped (18...

Cavalier poets

(Encyclopedia)Cavalier poets, a group of English poets associated with Charles I and his exiled son. Most of their work was done between c.1637 and 1660. Their poetry embodied the life and culture of upper-class, p...

Vane, Sir Henry, 1613–62, English statesman

(Encyclopedia)Vane, Sir Henry, 1613–62, English statesman; son of Sir Henry Vane (1589–1655). Early converted to Puritanism, he went to New England in 1635 and became governor of Massachusetts in 1636. His reli...

Coffin, Charles Albert

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, Charles Albert, 1844–1926, American businessman, b. Fairfield, Maine. After working in his uncle's shoe business in Lynn, Mass., he established his own shoe factory, Coffin and Clough. In 18...

English art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)English art and architecture, the distinctive national art and architecture that art may be said to have evolved in the 12th cent. with the Norman style. Building before that time was in what is commo...

Sambourne, Edward Linley

(Encyclopedia)Sambourne, Edward Linley, 1844–1910, English caricaturist and illustrator. He was associated with Punch from 1867, when he began contributing, until the end of his life, and he followed Sir John Ten...