Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gestalt gəshtältˈ [key] [Ger.,=form], school of psychology that interprets phenomena as organized wholes rather than as aggregates of distinct parts, maintaining that the whole is greater than the ...

(Encyclopedia) State, United States Department of, executive department of the federal government responsible, under the President's direction, for the making and execution of American foreign policy. Before and ...

(Encyclopedia) Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919, 26th President of the United States (1901–9), b. New York City. Alice, his daughter by his first wife, married Nicholas Longworth in the White House; “Princ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Alkanes alkane ălˈkān [key], any of a group of aliphatic hydrocarbons whose molecules contain only single bonds (see chemical bond). Alkanes have the general chemical formula CnH2n+2. An al...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Rose mallow, Hibiscus moscheutos mallow, common name for members of the Malvaceae, a family of herbs and shrubs distributed over most of the world and especially abundant in the American tropi...

(Encyclopedia) Finno-Ugric languages fĭnˈō-o͞oˈgrĭk [key], also called Finno-Ugrian languages, group of languages forming a subdivision of the Uralic subfamily of the Ural-Altaic family of languages (see Urali...

(Encyclopedia) hedgehog, Old World insectivorous mammal of the family Erinaceidae. The spiny hedgehogs are found in Africa and Eurasia, except SE Asia. They have rounded bodies up to 13 in. (33 cm) long, very short ...

(Encyclopedia) skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. The scent gl...

(Encyclopedia) tungsten tŭngˈstən [key] [Swed.,=heavy stone], metallic chemical element; symbol W; at. no. 74; at. wt. 183.84; m.p. about 3,410℃; b.p. 5,660℃; sp. gr. 19.3 at 20℃; valence +2, +3, +4, +5, or...

(Encyclopedia) polo, indoor or outdoor ball and goal game played on horseback. Some historians claim that polo originated in Persia in the 6th cent.; it spread to Turkey, India, and Tibet and, with some modificati...