Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809–49, American poet, short-story writer, and critic, b. Boston. He is acknowledged today as one of the most brilliant and original writers in American literature. His skillfully...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Typical X-ray composite spectrum (intensity as a function of frequency) X ray, invisible, highly penetrating electromagnetic radiation of much shorter wavelength (higher frequency) than visibl...

(Encyclopedia) school, term commonly referring to institutions of pre-college formal education. It also properly includes colleges, universities, and many types of special training establishments (see adult educatio...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Hand telephone telephone, device for communicating sound, especially speech, usually by means of wires in an electric circuit. The telephones now in general use evolved from the device invente...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 New Brunswick, province (2001 pop. 729,498), 28,345 sq mi (73,433 sq km), including 519 sq mi (1,345 sq km) of water surface, E Canada. The Mi'kmaq, an indigenous people whose settlements s...

(Encyclopedia) colloid kŏlˈoid [key] [Gr.,=gluelike], a mixture in which one substance is divided into minute particles (called colloidal particles) and dispersed throughout a second substance. The mixture is also...

(Encyclopedia) deafness, partial or total lack of hearing. It may be present at birth (congenital) or may be acquired at any age thereafter. A person who cannot detect sound at an amplitude of 20 decibels in a frequ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Nova Scotia nōˈvə skōˈshə [key] [Lat.,=new Scotland], province (2001 pop. 908,007), 21,425 sq mi (55,491 sq km), E Canada. Two Algonquian peoples, the Abnaki and the Mi'kmaq, inhabited...

(Encyclopedia) Canadian literature, English, literary works produced in Canada and written in the English language. The essayist Northrop Frye is noted for his systematic classification of literature, presented in...

(Encyclopedia) mystery or mystery story, literary genre in which the cause (or causes) of a mysterious happening, often a crime, is gradually revealed by the hero or heroine; this is accomplished through a mixture o...