Scabious

Also called  Scabiosa   (genus Scabiosa), any of about 100 species of annual and perennial herbs of the teasel family, Dipsacaceae, order Dipsacales. They are native to temperate Eurasia, the Mediterranean region, and the mountains of eastern Africa. Some are important garden plants. All species have basal leaf rosettes and leafy stems. The flower heads have many crowded, small,

Roman Republic And Empire

The ancient state that centred on the city of Rome, from the time of the events leading up to the founding of the republic in 509 BC, through the establishment of the empire in 27 BC, to the final eclipse of the Empire of the West in the 5th century AD. (For later events of the Empire of the East, see Byzantine Empire.)

Melissus Of Samos

Greek philosopher who was the last significant member of the Eleatic school of philosophy, which adhered to Parmenides' doctrine of reality as a single, unchanging whole. Although Melissus defended Parmenides, he differed from him in that he held reality to be boundless and of infinite duration (having a past and a present). He is also known as the commander

Beagle

Small hound-dog breed popular as both a pet and a hunter. It looks like a small foxhound and has large brown eyes, hanging ears, and a short coat, usually a combination of black, tan, and white. The beagle is a solidly built dog, heavy for its height. It generally excels as a rabbit hunter and is typically an alert, affectionate dog. There are two sizes recognized in the breed: beagles

Acheulean Industry

Acheulean also spelled  Acheulian,   first standardized tradition of toolmaking of Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens. Named for the type site, Saint-Acheul, in Somme département, in northern France, Acheulean tools were made of stone with good fracture characteristics, including chalcedony, jasper, and flint; in regions lacking these, quartzite might be used. During the Acheulean period, which lasted

Prosody, The Renaissance

Renaissance prosodic theory had to face the fact of an accomplished poetry in the vernacular that was not written in metres determined by “rules” handed down from the practice of Homer and Virgil. Nevertheless, the classicizing theorists of the 16th century made a determined attempt to explain existing poetry by the rules of short and long and to draft “laws” by which

North America, 30 to 2.5 million years ago

About 30 million years ago North America began to override the East Pacific Rise, an oceanic spreading ridge. This activity placed a progressively longer segment of the coast in contact with the plate west of the ridge. The western plate—which contains the Pacific Coast Ranges of California—has been moving to the northwest relative to North America along the San Andreas

Amylase

Alpha-amylase is widespread

N-town Plays

An English cycle of 42 scriptural (or “mystery”) plays dating from the second half of the 15th century and so called because an opening proclamation refers to performance “in N. town.” Since evidence suggests that the cycle was not peculiar to one city or community but traveled from town to town, the abbreviation “N.” would indicate that the appropriate name of the town at which

Constable, John

Painter who, with J.M.W. Turner, dominated English landscape painting in the 19th century. He is famous for his precise and loving paintings of the English countryside (e.g., “The Hay-Wain,” 1821), which he sketched constantly from nature. After about 1828, he experimented with a freer and more colourful manner of painting (e.g., in “Hadleigh

Abbott, Grace

Abbott graduated from Grand Island College in 1898 and for eight years thereafter taught high school in her hometown. During that period she undertook graduate studies at the University of Nebraska

Palamedes

In Greek legend, the son of Nauplius, king of Euboea, and a hero of the Trojan War. Palamedes is a prominent figure in post-Homeric legends about the siege of Troy. Before the war he exposed the trickery of Odysseus, who had feigned madness to avoid military service; by placing the infant Telemachus in the path of Odysseus' plow in the field, he forced that king to admit his

Harare

Formerly  Salisbury,   capital of Zimbabwe, lying in the northeastern part of the country. The city was founded in 1890 at the spot where the British South Africa Company's Pioneer Column halted its march into Mashonaland; it was named for Lord Salisbury, then British prime minister. The name Harare is derived from that of the outcast Chief Neharawe, who, with his people, occupied the kopje (the hill