Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) alabaster, fine-grained, massive, translucent variety of gypsum, a hydrous calcium sulfate. It is pure white or streaked with reddish brown. Alabaster, like all other forms of gypsum, forms by the eva...

(Encyclopedia) Hubballi-Dharwad, formerly Hubli-Dharwad ho͝oˈblē-därˈvär [key], city, Karnataka (forme...

(Encyclopedia) fertility rites, magico-religious ceremonies to insure an abundance of food and the birth of children. The rites, expressed through dances, prayers, incantations, and sacred dramas, seek to control th...

(Encyclopedia) jaundice jônˈdĭs, jänˈ– [key], abnormal condition in which the body fluids and tissues, particularly the skin and eyes, take on a yellowish color as a result of an excess of bilirubin. During t...

(Encyclopedia) Wood, Grant, 1891–1942, American painter, b. Anamosa, Iowa, studied Art Institute of Chicago and in Paris. He experimented with an impressionist style in Paris, but in Munich in 1928 he was decisive...

(Encyclopedia) Young, Thomas, 1773–1829, English physicist, physician, and Egyptologist. He established (1799) a medical practice in London and was elected (1811) to the staff of St. George's Hospital there. His l...

(Encyclopedia) Zanzibar zănˈzĭbär, zănzĭbärˈ [key] or Stone Town, city (2012 pop. 223,033), capital of the semiautonomous archipelago of Zanzibar and of Zanzibar West region, Tanzania, on the west coast of Z...

(Encyclopedia) Bezos, Jeffrey Preston bāˈzōs [key], 1964– American business executive and on-line retailing pioneer, b. Albuquerque, N.M., grad. Princeton (B.S.E., 1986). He worked in computer technology for se...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Examples of runes runes, ancient characters used in Teutonic, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian inscriptions. They were probably first used by the East Goths (c.300), who are thought to have deriv...

(Encyclopedia) spear, primitive weapon consisting of a wooden shaft tipped with a sharp point, usually 8 to 9 ft (2.4–2.7 m) in length. The point may be carved from the shaft and hardened in a fire, or made from a...