Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Warm Springs, resort, Meriwether co., W Ga. The salutary properties of the water springing from Pine Mt. were known to Native Americans, and white settlers learned of them in the late 18th cent. By th...

(Encyclopedia) talc, mineral ranging in color from white through various shades of gray and green to the red and brown of impure specimens, translucent to opaque, and having a greasy, soapy feel. It is a hydrous sil...

(Encyclopedia) Secret Service, United States, a law enforcement division (since 2003) of the Dept. of Homeland Security. It was established in 1865 in the the Dept. of the Treasury to investigate and prevent counter...

(Encyclopedia) Jonathan, Goodluck Ebele, 1957–, Nigerian politician, president of Nigeria (2010–). An Ijaw from the Niger delta region, he was educated as a zoologist (Ph.D. Univ. of Port Harcourt, 1995) and wor...

(Encyclopedia) Medvedev, Dmitri Anatolyevich mĕdvyĕdˈyĕf [key], 1965–, Russian political leader, president of Russia (2008–12), b. Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He earned a doctorate in law in 1990 and was...

(Encyclopedia) Brown, Elmer Ellsworth, 1861–1934, American educator, b. Chautauqua co., N.Y., grad. Illinois State Normal Univ., 1881, and studied at the Univ. of Michigan and in Germany. He taught education at th...

(Encyclopedia) Colorado State University, at Fort Collins; land-grant with state and federal support; chartered 1870, opened 1879 as an agricultural college, assumed present name in 1957. There is a veterinary teach...

(Encyclopedia) Juan de Fuca Strait wän də fyo͞oˈkə [key], inlet of the Pacific Ocean, 100 mi (161 km) long and 11 to 17 mi (18–27 km) wide, between Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and Washington state, li...

(Encyclopedia) Farley, James Aloysius ălˌəwĭshˈəs [key], 1888–1976, American political leader, U.S. Postmaster General (1933–40), b. Rockland co., N.Y. He rose steadily in Democratic party politics in New ...

(Encyclopedia) initiative, the originating of a law or constitutional amendment by popular petition. It is intended to allow the electorate to initiate legislation independently of the legislature. This direct form ...