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Nodier, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Nodier, Charles shärl nôdyāˈ [key], 1780–1844, French novelist and poet. From 1824 he was librarian of the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris. His salon was the nucleus of the beginning romanti...

Longinus, c.213–273, Greek rhetorician and philosopher

(Encyclopedia)Longinus (Cassius Longinus), c.213–273, Greek rhetorician and philosopher of the Neoplatonic school. He taught rhetoric at Athens. He later became counselor to Queen Zenobia of Palmyra; when the ant...

Merrick, David

(Encyclopedia)Merrick, David, 1912–2000, American theatrical producer, b. St. Louis, Mo., as David Margulois. Merrick began his remarkably successful series of theatrical productions in 1954 with Fanny, his first...

Dean, Bashford

(Encyclopedia)Dean, Bashford, 1867–1928, American zoologist and armor expert, b. New York City, grad. College of the City of New York, 1886, Ph.D. Columbia, 1890. He taught zoology at Columbia (1891–1927), serv...

Paré, Ambroise

(Encyclopedia)Paré, Ambroise äNbrwäzˈ pärāˈ [key], c.1510–1590, French surgeon. Serving in the army, he revived the use of ligature instead of cautery with boiling oil and continued to devise and champion ...

Asenath

(Encyclopedia)Asenath ăsˈənăth [key], in the Bible, Poti-phera's daughter, the Egyptian wife of Joseph, mother of Manasseh and Ephraim. Her betrothal to Joseph and conversion to Judaism are the subject of Josep...

Bardiyah

(Encyclopedia)Bardiyah or Bardia both: bärdēˈä, bärˈdēä [key], town, NE Libya, a port on the Mediterranean Sea, near the Egyptian border. During World War II it was the most strongly defended Italian positi...

henna

(Encyclopedia)henna, name for a reddish or black hair dye obtained from the powdered leaves and young shoots of the mignonette tree, or henna shrub (Lawsonia inermis), an Old World shrub of the loosestrife family. ...

Olcott, Henry Steel

(Encyclopedia)Olcott, Henry Steel, 1832–1907, American religious leader and author, cofounder of Theosophist movement, b. Orange, N.J. After working as an agricultural scientist and a lawyer, he and Helena Blavat...

pessimism

(Encyclopedia)pessimism, philosophical opinion or doctrine that evil predominates over good; the opposite of optimism. Systematic forms of pessimism may be found in philosophy and religion. In religion Buddhism and...