Kearny, Stephen Watts

After serving in the War of 1812, Kearny spent most of the next 30 years on frontier duty. At the beginning of the Mexican War, he was ordered to lead an expedition from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., to seize New Mexico and California for the United States. Lacking

Zaharias, Babe Didrikson

From 1930 through 1932, Didrikson was a member of the women's All-America basketball team. During the same period she also won eight events and tied in a ninth in national championship competition

Forde, Francis Michael

Active in state politics as a young man, Forde was a member of the Australian House of Representatives (1922 - 46) and deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (1932 - 46). In the cabinet he served as minister for the army (1941 - 46), minister for defense (1946), and deputy prime minister

Bachchan, Amitabh

Bachchan, the son of the renowned Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, attended Sherwood College in Nainital and the University of Delhi. He worked as a business executive in Calcutta (Kolkata) and performed in

Black Rod

In full� Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod� an office of the British House of Lords (the upper house in Parliament), instituted in 1350. Its holder is appointed by royal letters patent, and his title is derived from his staff of office, an ebony stick surmounted with a gold lion. He is a personal attendant of the sovereign in the upper house and there functions as a sergeant at arms; his most prominent duty is the summoning

Bonaparte, Louis

After attending military school at Ch�lons, France, Louis accompanied Napoleon on the Italian campaign of

Art And Architecture, Oceanic, Aesthetics

Pacific languages seem to be deficient in terms to express appreciation of or reactions to art, apart from a few that designate the mastery of individual specialists. Little is understood, moreover, about the islanders' aesthetic concepts. Reactions to works of art seem to range from the pragmatic and rational in the secular realm to the violently emotional in the

Yale, Frankie

Yale graduated from youth gangs to bootlegging and rum-running

Xingshu

Wade-Giles romanization �hsing-shu� a semicursive Chinese script that developed out of the Han dynasty lishu script at the same time that the standard kaishu script was evolving (1st - 3rd century AD). The characters of xingshu are not abbreviated or connected, but strokes within the characters are often run together. The best-known example of early surviving Chinese calligraphy, Lanting Xu (�Essay

Uttar Pradesh

The most populous state of India. Lying in north-central India, it is bordered by Nepal and the Indian state of Uttaranchal to the north, the Indian states of Haryana and Rajasthan and the union territory of Delhi to the west, the state of Madhya Pradesh to the south, the state of Bihar to the east, and the states of Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh to the southeast. Uttar Pradesh extends

Eijkman, Christiaan

Eijkman received a medical degree from the University of Amsterdam (1883) and served as a medical officer in the Dutch East

Bond, William Cranch

Largely self-educated, Bond was a watchmaker

Kuhn, Adalbert

Kuhn first devoted himself to the study of German stories and legends, but he established

Monarch Butterfly

(Danaus plexippus), a familiar member of the milkweed butterfly family Danaidae (order Lepidoptera), distributed throughout the world but concentrated mainly in North, Central, and South America. The monarch's wingspan averages 90 to 100 millimetres (about 4 inches). The distinctive coloration of the reddish-brown wings, marked by black veins and a black

Chand, Dhyan

Chand is most remembered for his goal-scoring feats and for his three Olympic gold medals (1928, 1932, and 1936) in field hockey, while India was dominant in the sport. He joined the Indian army in 1922 and came to prominence when he toured New Zealand with the

Saye And Sele, William Fiennes, 1st Viscount, 8th Lord Saye And Sele

The only son of Richard Fiennes, 7th Lord Saye and Sele, he was educated at New College, Oxford, and succeeded to his father's lordship (barony) in 1613. He opposed

Mysticism, Attempts of mystics to record the nature of their experiences

The theory or interpretation of mysticism is not mysticism. Generally, there are two sides to the theory: philosophical and practical. There may be another: confessional and justificatory. Though some mystics have been content to record what happened, others have worked out manuals of praxis (techniques), or sadhana. As a rule, mystical method, experience, and exegesis

Irish Literature

Either of two literatures, one in the native language (Irish, or Gaelic) of Ireland and the other in the language of the English conquerors; the latter is often called Anglo-Irish literature. For a discussion of the former, see Celtic literature. The history of Anglo-Irish literature is inextricably intertwined with that of English literature (q.v.).

Amphibian, Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis entails an abrupt and thorough change in an animal's physiology and biochemistry, with concomitant structural and behavioral modifications. These changes mark the transformation from hatchling to adult, the most obvious of which are the development of completely new structures and functions. Other changes include modification of larval structures

Haarlem Lake

Dutch �Haarlemmermeer, � polder (area 45,700 acres [18,486 hectares]) coextensive with the gemeente (commune) of Haarlemmermeer in Noord-Holland provincie, western Netherlands. Originally, a number of lakes - with a combined area of about 14,000 acres (5,700 hectares) in 1531 - were formed into one by successive inundations, and by the 1830s the water area had increased to nearly 45,000 acres (18,200 hectares). Floods frequently threatened the cities

Transylvanian Rug

Also called �Siebenb�rger rug� any of the large numbers of floor coverings found in the churches of Transylvania (part of Romania), to which they had been donated by pious families. Some of these rugs are of Turkish manufacture, survivals of a massive importation centuries ago. Turkey is generally assumed to be the source of all Transylvanian carpets, but certain similarities of technique, weight,

Ninigi

Amaterasu delegated Ninigi to assume ownership and rule of the central land of the reed plains (Japan) and gave him three signs

Kwangsi, Resources

The region has sufficient coal and iron deposits to support moderate industrial development. Coal is mined north of Kuei-lin and south of Liu-chou. Iron is mined in the area near the Kwangtung - Hunan border as well as in southeastern Kwangsi. Other exploited mineral resources include tin (of which Kwangsi is a major producer), tungsten, manganese, and antimony. Moderate

Forbes

Town, south central New South Wales, Australia, on the Lachlan River. Named after former New South Wales chief justice Sir Francis Forbes, it was proclaimed a town in 1861 during a gold rush and became a municipality in 1870. The bushranger (outlaw) Ben Hall was shot and killed there in 1865. Now a marketing centre in an irrigated wheat, fruit, vegetable, and livestock region, Forbes processes

Mellitus Of Canterbury, Saint

Mellitus, a Roman and the son of a noble family, may have been the abbot of St. Andrew's monastery in Rome before he was summoned to the missionary field

Dagens Nyheter

Morning daily newspaper published in Stockholm. It is one of the largest and most influential newspapers in Sweden. It was founded in 1864 by Rudolf Wall. Dagens Nyheter has long been noted for its thorough coverage of the arts, foreign news, and domestic political news. The paper has generally followed a liberal policy politically. For a time in the 1960s, its circulation was

Cruz, Sor Juana In�s De La

An intellectual prodigy, at eight she composed a loa (short dramatic poem) in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. At the same time, she begged her parents to disguise her as a boy and send her to the University of Mexico