Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) rhizome rīˈzōm [key] or rootstock, fleshy, creeping underground stem by means of which certain plants propagate themselves. Buds that form at the joints produce new shoots. Thus if a rhizome is cut...

(Encyclopedia) Fawcett, Henry fôˈsət [key], 1833–84, English economist and statesman. A follower of John Stuart Mill, he was professor of political economy at Cambridge, and his Manual of Political Economy (186...

(Encyclopedia) Westmacott, Mary: see Christie, Dame Agatha. ...

(Encyclopedia) Fairchild, Cicely: see West, Dame Rebecca. ...

(Encyclopedia) Hesburgh, Theodore Martin, 1917–2015, American educator and civil rights advocate, b. Syracuse, N.Y., grad. Pontifical Gregorian Univ. (1939), Catholic Univ. of America (Ph.D., 1945). A member of th...

(Encyclopedia) Sumter, city (1990 pop. 41,943), seat of Sumter co., central S.C.; founded 1785, inc. 1845. It is the commercial, processing, and shipping center of a timber and agricultural region. Chief crops are t...

(Encyclopedia) Exploits, river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Long Range, SW Newfoundland, N.L., Canada, and flowing NE to Exploits Bay, an arm of Notre Dame Bay. On the river are Grand Falls and Bishop's Fa...

(Encyclopedia) Shickshock Mountains, range of the Appalachian system, E Que., Canada, a continuation of the Notre Dame Mts., extending c.100 mi (160 km) east-west near the north coast of the Gaspé Peninsula. Tablet...

(Encyclopedia) nearsightedness or myopia, defect of vision in which far objects appear blurred but near objects are seen clearly. Because the eyeball is too long or the refractive power of the eye's lens is too stro...

(Encyclopedia) Saint John's University, main campus at Jamaica, New York City; Roman Catholic; coeducational; established 1870 as St. John's College. Its present name was adopted in 1954. It is the largest Catholic ...