Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) sewerage, system for the removal and disposal of chiefly liquid wastes and of rainwater, which are collectively called sewage. The average person in the industrialized world produces between 60 and 14...

(Encyclopedia) merger, in corporate business, fusion of two or more corporations by the transfer of all property to a single corporation. The remaining corporation continues in existence, having absorbed the other(s...

(Encyclopedia) Machu Picchu mäˈcho͞o pēkˈcho͞o [key], Inca site in Peru, about 50 mi (80 km) NW of Cuzco. It is perched high upon a rock in a narrow saddle between two sharp mountain peaks and overlooks the Ur...

(Encyclopedia) antenna ăntĕnˈə [key], in electronics, system of wires or other conductors used to transmit or receive radio or other electromagnetic waves (see radio); sometimes called an aerial. The idea of usi...

(Encyclopedia) autism ôˈtĭzəm [key], developmental disability resulting from a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain. It is characterized by the abnormal development of communica...

(Encyclopedia) representation, in government, the term used to designate the means by which a whole population may participate in governing through the device of having a much smaller number of people act on their b...

(Encyclopedia) Butler, Benjamin Franklin, 1818–93, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Deerfield, N.H. He moved to Lowell, Mass., as a youth and later practiced law there and in Boston. He w...

(Encyclopedia) cold, common, acute viral infection of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat, often involving the sinuses. The typical sore throat, sneezing, and fatigue may be accompanied by body aches, headac...

(Encyclopedia) foraminiferan fərămˌənĭfˈərən [key], common name for members of the class Foraminifera, large, shelled ameboid protozoans belonging to the phylum Sarcodina. Most foraminiferan shells are calca...

(Encyclopedia) animism, belief in personalized, supernatural beings (or souls) that often inhabit ordinary animals and objects, governing their existence. British anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor argued in Pr...