Sea Robin

Also called �gurnard� any of the slim, bottom-dwelling fish of the family Triglidae, found in warm and temperate seas of the world. Sea robins are elongated fish with armoured, bony heads and two dorsal fins. Their pectoral fins are fan-shaped, with the bottom few rays each forming separate feelers. These feelers are used by the fishes in �walking� on the bottom and in sensing mollusks, crustaceans,

Manaus

City and river port, capital of Amazonas estado (�state�), northwestern Brazil. It lies along the north bank of the Negro River, 11 miles (18 km) above that river's influx into the Amazon River. Manaus is situated in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, 900 miles (1,450 km) inland from the Atlantic coast. The city, on a terrace overlooking the river, is traversed by several side channels called

Caucasian Languages, Vocabulary

The original vocabulary of the North Caucasian languages has been fairly well preserved in the modern languages, although many words have been borrowed from Arabic (through Islam), the Turkic languages, and Persian. There are also loanwords that have been taken from the neighbouring languages (Georgian, Ossetic). Russian, which was a major influence from the late 19th

Charadriiform, Annotated classification

Palate schizognathous; upper jaw schizorhinal (except Burhinidae and Pluvianus); lachrymal bone fused to ectethmoid; cervical vertebrae 15 or 16; dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous or heterocoelous;

Hellenistic Romance

Adventure tale, usually with a quasi-historical setting, in which a virtuous heroine and her valiant lover are separated by innumerable obstacles of human wickedness and natural catastrophe but are finally reunited. A precursor of the modern novel, the Hellenistic romance is the source for classic love stories, such as those of Hero and Leander, Pyramus and Thisbe,

Rabbit Hair

The fibre of the Angora rabbit (so named for the resemblance of its pelt to that of the Angora goat) is produced mainly in France and England. A silky, delicate white fibre, it is prized

Eye, Human, The transparent media

Within the cavities enclosed by the three layers of the globe described above there are the aqueous humour in the anterior and posterior chambers; the crystalline lens behind the iris; and the vitreous body, which fills the large cavity behind the lens and iris (Figure 1).

Switzerland, Folk arts

Folk art in Switzerland is expressed in music, poetry (usually song), dance, wood carving, and embroidery. In the cattle-breeding northern areas, there are many primitive forms of song and music, involving, for instance, yodeling, a way of singing marked by rapid switching of the voice to falsetto. There are also trumpetlike instruments made of wood and bark, the perfect

Free Jazz

The main characteristic of free jazz is that there are no rules. Musicians do not adhere to a fixed harmonic structure (predetermined chord progressions) as they improvise; instead, they modulate (i.e., change keys) at will. Free

Christianity, Care for widows and orphans

From the beginning the Christian congregation cared for the poor, the sick, widows, and orphans. The Letter of James says: �Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.� Widows formed a special group in the congregations and were asked to help with nursing care and other diaconic (from diakonia, or faith active

Argentina, Discovery and settlement

The main Atlantic outline of Argentina was revealed to European explorers in the early 16th century. The R�o de la Plata estuary was discovered years before Ferdinand Magellan traversed the Strait of Magellan in 1520, although historians dispute whether the estuary was first reached by Amerigo Vespucci in 1501 - 02 or by Juan D�az de Sol�s in his ill-fated voyage of 1516. Sol�s and a

Argentina, Discovery and settlement

The main Atlantic outline of Argentina was revealed to European explorers in the early 16th century. The R�o de la Plata estuary was discovered years before Ferdinand Magellan traversed the Strait of Magellan in 1520, although historians dispute whether the estuary was first reached by Amerigo Vespucci in 1501 - 02 or by Juan D�az de Sol�s in his ill-fated voyage of 1516. Sol�s and a

Hansen, Peter Andreas

Hansen became director of the Seeberg Observatory, near Gotha, in 1825, and in 1857 a new observatory was built for him. He worked on theoretical geodesy, optics, and the theory of probability. His most important

Mahar

A caste-cluster, or group of many endogamous castes, living chiefly in Maharashtra state, India, and in adjoining states. They mostly speak Marathi, the official language of Maharashtra. In the early 1980s the Mahar community was believed to constitute about 9 percent of the total population of Maharashtra - by far the largest, most widespread, and most important of all the officially

Great Belt

In the late 1980s construction began on the Great Belt Fixed Link, a bridge and tunnel system connecting Zealand and Funen via the small island

Great Belt

In the late 1980s construction began on the Great Belt Fixed Link, a bridge and tunnel system connecting Zealand and Funen via the small island

Balakirev, Mily

Balakirev received his early musical education from his mother. He also studied with Alexander Dubuque and with Karl Eisrich, music director to A.D. Ulibishev,

Sports

Recreational or competitive activities that involve a degree of physical strength or skill. At one time, sports were commonly considered to include only the outdoor recreational pastimes, such as fishing, shooting, and hunting, as opposed to games, which were regarded as organized athletic contests played by teams or individuals according to prescribed rules.

Alba, Fernando �lvarez De Toledo Y Pimentel, 3er Duque De

Alba was born into a rich family

Automobile Racing

Two Canadians, Jacques Villeneuve (see BIOGRAPHIES) and Scott Goodyear, figured in another astonishing finish at the 1995 Indianapolis 500. Goodyear, in a Reynard-Honda, was in the lead when he passed the Chevrolet Corvette pace car illegally just after the 190th lap of the 200-lap race; officials stopped scoring his laps on the 196th, and Goodyear finished 14th. Ironically, Villeneuve earlier

Regeneration

Organisms differ markedly in their ability to regenerate parts. Some grow a new structure on the stump of the old one. By such regeneration whole organisms may dramatically replace substantial portions of themselves when they have been cut in two, or may grow organs or

Karate

Unarmed martial-arts discipline employing kicking, striking, and defensive blocking with arms and legs. Emphasis is on concentrating as much of the body's power as possible at the point and instant of impact. Striking surfaces include the hands (particularly the knuckles and the outer edge), ball of the foot, heel, forearm, knee, and elbow. All are toughened by practice

Dorgon

Franz Michael, The Origin of Manchu Rule in China (1942, reprinted 1965), a concise, basic survey of the historical development of the beginning Manchu empire, includes information about Dorgon; Fang Chao-ying, �Dorgon,� in Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644 - 1912, vol. 1, pp. 215 - 219 (1943), is a short biography.

Pribicevic, Svetozar

Initially Pribicevic favoured a centralized Yugoslav nation rather than a federation of the South Slav peoples; as minister of the interior, he jailed Stjepan Radic, head of the Croatian Peasant

Free Verse

Poetry organized to the cadences of speech and image patterns rather than according to a regular metrical scheme. It is �free� only in a relative sense. It does not have the steady, abstract rhythm of traditional poetry; its rhythms are based on patterned elements such as sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, rather than on the traditional prosodic units

Vienna Circle

German �Wiener Kreis, � a group of philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians formed in the 1920s that met regularly in Vienna to investigate scientific language and scientific methodology. The philosophical movement associated with the Circle has been called variously logical positivism, logical empiricism, scientific empiricism, neopositivism, and the unity of science movement.

N�stved

City, Storstr�m amtskommune (county commune), southern Sj�lland (Zealand), Denmark, on the Sus� River. N�stved originated around a Benedictine monastery, founded in 1135. The monks moved at the end of the 12th century, and the town developed as a market centre for southern Sj�lland (chartered 1426). Chief among its medieval landmarks are Sankt Peder Church, the only survival of the

Stradella, Alessandro

Stradella apparently lived for periods in Modena, Venice, Rome, and Florence. In Turin in 1677 an attempt was made to murder him, for reasons that are not known, though it was believed to be at the instigation of a Venetian senator with whose fianc�e Stradella had eloped. A document in Modena confirms

Belarus

While

Jawf, Al-

Town and oasis, northern Saudi Arabia. It lies at the northern edge of an-Nafud desert near the source of the Wadi as-Sirhan. Formerly considered a part of the Jabal Shammar region, the oasis now lies within the northern reaches of the Hejaz. The town is strategically located on an ancient caravan route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and it has long been