Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) pyroligneous acid pīˌrəlĭgˈnēəs [key], a dark liquid that is essentially a mixture of acetic acid and methanol (wood alcohol) and is obtained in the destructive distillation of wood. It once se...

(Encyclopedia) Treece, Henry, 1912–66, English poet and novelist. He served as an intelligence officer in the Royal Air Force during World War II, after which he taught school for many years. He is noted chiefly f...

(Encyclopedia) brown recluse spider or violin spider, poisonous nocturnal spider, Loxoceles reclusa, most common in the SE and S central United States. Adults are 3⁄8 in. (10 mm) long and are light brown with a da...

(Encyclopedia) cosmology, area of science that aims at a comprehensive theory of the structure and evolution of the entire physical universe. The earliest pre-Ptolemaic theories assumed that the earth was the cent...

(Encyclopedia) Bonheur, Rosa bənörˈ [key], 1822–99, French painter, mainly of animals. She was a pupil of her father, Raymond Bonheur. Her paintings were regularly exhibited in the Salon from 1841. Bonheur's in...

(Encyclopedia) Bosio, François Joseph, Baron fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ bärôNˈ bôsyōˈ [key], 1769–1845, French sculptor. He was employed by Napoleon I to make the bas-reliefs for the column of the Place Vendôm...

(Encyclopedia) Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich nyĭkəlīˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch pərzhĭvälˈskē [key], 1839–88, Russian geographer and explorer in central and E Asia. He made five major expeditions—one to the...

(Encyclopedia) Aukrust, Olav ōˈläv ouˈkro͝ost [key], 1883–1929, Norwegian lyric poet. Aukrust's work, which contains strong religious and nationalist sentiment, draws much of its inspiration from Norway's pea...

(Encyclopedia) Duncan, Robert, 1919–88, American poet, b. Oakland, Calif. He was a leading poet of the San Francisco renaissance during the late 1940s. His lyric style contains private allusions, gaps in syntax, a...

(Encyclopedia) Coppard, Alfred Edgar kŏpˈärd [key], 1878–1957, English author. Almost entirely self-educated, he worked at several clerical positions. His tales, written in a poetic and fanciful vein, include A...