Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) scalping, taking the scalp of an enemy. The custom, comparable to head-hunting, was formerly practiced in Europe and Asia (Herodotus describes its practice by the Scythians, for example), but it is ge...

(Encyclopedia) vole, name for a large number of mouselike rodents, related to the lemmings. Most range in length from 31⁄2 to 7 in. (9–18 cm) and have rounded bodies with gray or brown coats, blunt muzzles, smal...

(Encyclopedia) plaid, a long shawl or blanketlike outer wrap of woolen cloth, usually patterned in checks or tartan figures. Now a distinctive feature of the Highland costume, it was formerly worn in all parts of Sc...

(Encyclopedia) King, Charles Bird, 1785–1862, American portrait painter, b. Newport, R.I. He studied under Edward Savage and with Benjamin West in London. His work, executed in Washington, D.C., included Native Am...

(Encyclopedia) Devonian period dĭvōˈnēən [key], fourth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time between 408 and 360 million years ago (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table). It was named (...

(Encyclopedia) American Philosophical Society, first scientific society in America, founded (1743) in Philadelphia. It was an outgrowth of the Junto formed (1727) by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the first secreta...

(Encyclopedia) Sumner, Edwin Vose, 1797–1863, American soldier, Union general in the Civil War, b. Boston. He fought in the Black Hawk War and in the Mexican War. Made colonel of the 1st Cavalry in 1855, he was co...

(Encyclopedia) Kim Il Sung kĭm jông ĭl [key], 1941?–2011, was groomed as his successor. Active in the Korean Workers' party leadership from 1964, Kim Jong Il became secretary of its central committee in 1973. I...

(Encyclopedia) Heyerdahl, Thor hāˈərdälˌ, hīˈ– [key], 1914–2002, Norwegian explorer and anthropologist, b. Larvik. He carried out research in the Marquesas Islands in 1937–38 and studied the indigenous ...

(Encyclopedia) crossbill, bird of the genus Loxia, in the finch family. Its bill, crossed at the tips, is specialized for pulling apart pine cones and picking out the seeds. Crossbills are found in the evergreen for...