Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Willis, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Willis, Thomas, 1621–75, English physician and anatomist. He became professor at Oxford in 1660 and in 1666 established a practice in London. An authority on the brain and the nervous system, he dis...

Aiea

(Encyclopedia)Aiea äˌēāˈä [key], city (2020 pop. 9,638), Honolulu co., Oahu, Hawaii, a residential suburb of Honolulu, on the eastern shore of Pearl Harbor. Once a quiet sugarcane...

Cavell, Edith

(Encyclopedia)Cavell, Edith kăvˈəl [key], 1865–1915, English nurse. When World War I broke out, she was head of the nursing staff of the Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels. In 1915 she was arrested by th...

obstetrics

(Encyclopedia)obstetrics ŏbstĕˈtrĭks [key], branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of women during pregnancy, labor, childbirth (see birth), and the time after childbirth. Obstetricians work to ensure ...

hypnotism

(Encyclopedia)hypnotism hĭpˈnətĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=putting to sleep], to induce an altered state of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility. The term was originally coined by ...

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan

(Encyclopedia)Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan kōˈnən, kŏnˈən [key], 1859–1930, British author and creator of Sherlock Holmes, b. Edinburgh. Educated at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, he received a medical degree...

gynecology

(Encyclopedia)gynecology gīnˌəkŏlˈəjē [key], branch of medicine specializing in the disorders of the female reproductive system. Modern gynecology deals with menstrual disorders, menopause, infectious diseas...

child abuse

(Encyclopedia)child abuse, physical, sexual, or emotional maltreatment or neglect of children by parents, guardians, or others responsible for a child's welfare. Physical abuse is characterized by physical injury, ...

New Brunswick, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)New Brunswick, city (1990 pop. 41,711), seat of Middlesex co., central N.J., on the Raritan River; settled 1681, inc. as a city 1784. Originally developed as a commercial center (especially for collec...

Browse by Subject