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blood transfusion

(Encyclopedia)blood transfusion, transfer of blood from one person to another, or from one animal to another of the same species. Transfusions are performed to replace a substantial loss of blood and as supportive ...

anthrax

(Encyclopedia)anthrax ănˈthrăks [key], acute infectious disease of animals that can be secondarily transmitted to humans. It is caused by a bacterium (Bacillus anthracis) that primarily affects sheep, horses, ho...

clam

(Encyclopedia)clam, common name for certain bivalve mollusks, especially for marine species that live buried in mud or sand and have valves (the two pieces of the shell) of equal size. The oval valves, which cover ...

fairy

(Encyclopedia)fairy, in folklore, one of a variety of supernatural beings endowed with the powers of magic and enchantment. Belief in fairies has existed from earliest times, and literatures all over the world have...

tiger

(Encyclopedia)tiger, large carnivore of the cat family, Panthera tigris, found in the forests of Asia. There are six subspecies of P. tigris: Amur or Siberian, Sumatran, Malayan, North Indochinese, Bengal, and Sout...

vineyard

(Encyclopedia)vineyard, land on which cultivation of the grape—known as viticulture—takes place. As many as 40 varieties of grape, Vitis vinifera, are known. The few that grow wild are generally not used; all d...

Pompey

(Encyclopedia)Pompey (Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus) pŏmˈpē [key], 106 b.c.–48 b.c., Roman general, the rival of Julius Caesar. Sometimes called Pompey the Great, he was the son of Cnaeus Pompeius Strabo (consul in 8...

prion

(Encyclopedia)prion prēˈŏn [key], abnormal form of a protein found in mammals, now generally believed to cause a group of diseases known as prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which are ...

radium

(Encyclopedia)radium rāˈdēəm [key] [Lat. radius=ray], radioactive metallic chemical element; symbol Ra; at. no. 88; mass number of most stable isotope 226; m.p. 700℃; b.p. 1,140℃; sp. gr. about 6.0; valence...

occupational disease

(Encyclopedia)occupational disease, illness incurred because of the conditions or environment of employment. Unlike with accidents, some time usually elapses between exposure to the cause and development of symptom...