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Eastern Question

(Encyclopedia)Eastern Question, term designating the problem of European territory controlled by the decaying Ottoman Empire in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th cent. The Turkish threat to Europe was checked by the H...

petroleum

(Encyclopedia)petroleum, oily, flammable liquid that occurs naturally in deposits, usually beneath the surface of the earth; it is also called crude oil. It consists principally of a mixture of hydrocarbons, with t...

Wagner, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Wagner, Richard vägˈnər [key], 1813–83, German composer, b. Leipzig. Wagner's second wife, Cosima Wagner, 1837–1930, was the daughter of Liszt and the comtesse d'Agoult. From 1857 to 1870 sh...

Paul, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Paul, Saint, d. a.d. 64? or 67?, the apostle to the Gentiles, b. Tarsus, Asia Minor. He was a Jew. His father was a Roman citizen, probably of some means, and Paul was a tentmaker by trade. His Jewish...

small arms

(Encyclopedia)small arms, firearms designed primarily to be carried and fired by one person and, generally, held in the hands, as distinguished from heavy arms, or artillery. Automatic small arms were develope...

carpet

(Encyclopedia)carpet or rug, thick fabric, usually woolen (but often synthetic), commonly used today as a floor covering. In North America the Navajos and other tribes have for generations produced substantial ru...

Russell, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3d Earl

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3d Earl, 1872–1970, British philosopher, mathematician, and social reformer, b. Trelleck, Wales. As with his philosophical stance, Russell's positions on ...

Thomas Aquinas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Thomas Aquinas, Saint əkwīˈnəs [key] [Lat.,=from Aquino], 1225–74, Italian philosopher and theologian, Doctor of the Church, known as the Angelic Doctor, b. Rocca Secca (near Naples). He is the ...

Versailles, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Versailles, Treaty of, any of several treaties signed in the palace of Versailles, France. For the Treaty of Versailles of 1783, which ended the American Revolution, see Paris, Treaty of, 1783. The...

psychoanalysis

(Encyclopedia)psychoanalysis, name given by Sigmund Freud to a system of interpretation and therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders. Psychoanalysis began after Freud studied (1885–86) with the French neu...