Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

179 results found

Rochelle salt

(Encyclopedia)Rochelle salt, colorless to blue-white orthorhombic crystalline salt with a saline, cooling taste. It is also called Seignette salt after Pierre Seignette, an apothecary of La Rochelle, France, who wa...

chloroform

(Encyclopedia)chloroform trīˌklôrōmĕthˈān [key], CHCl3, volatile, colorless, nonflammable liquid that has a sweetish taste and a somewhat pungent odor; it boils at 61.7℃. It dissolves freely in ethanol and...

Directoire style

(Encyclopedia)Directoire style dērĕktwärˈ [key], in French interior decoration and costume, the manner prevailing about the time of the Directory (1795–99), from which the name is derived. A style transitiona...

Jarves, James Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Jarves, James Jackson järˈvĭs [key], 1818–88, American art critic and art collector, b. Boston. He spent some years in Honolulu, where he founded and edited a weekly newspaper, the Polynesia; it ...

Meyerbeer, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Meyerbeer, Giacomo jäˈkōmō mīˈyərbĕr [key], 1791–1864, German operatic composer. He traveled in Italy and experimented in various styles of composition, but his real success came only with h...

rosin

(Encyclopedia)rosin or colophony, hard, brittle, translucent resin, obtained as a solid residue from crude turpentine. Usually pale yellow or amber, its color may vary from brownish-black to transparent depending o...

Schröder, Friedrich Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Schröder, Friedrich Ludwig frēˈdrĭkh lo͞otˈvĭkh shröˈdər [key], 1744–1816, German actor, manager, and dramatist. He introduced Shakespeare in Germany. The son of actors, Schröder had a di...

Chambers, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Chambers, Sir William, 1723–96, English architect, b. Gothenburg, Sweden. He traveled extensively in the East Indies and in China making drawings of gardens and buildings, many of which were later p...

turpentine

(Encyclopedia)turpentine, yellow to brown semifluid oleoresin exuded from the sapwood of pines, firs, and other conifers. It is made up of two principal components, an essential oil and a type of resin that is call...

Freer, Charles Lang

(Encyclopedia)Freer, Charles Lang frēr [key], 1856–1919, American art collector, b. Kingston, N.Y. He gave to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., his entire collection and the building (designed acc...