Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) herbal, early botanical book containing descriptions and illustrations of herbs and plants with their properties, chiefly those qualities that made them useful as medicines or condiments. Most of the ...

(Encyclopedia) smut, name for an order of parasitic fungi (Ustilaginales) and the various diseases of plants caused by them. Smuts produce sootlike masses of spores on the host. The spore masses may break up into a ...

(Encyclopedia) trichinosis trĭkˌĭnīˈəsĭs [key], parasitic disease caused by the roundworm Trichinella spiralis. It follows the eating of raw or inadequately cooked meat, especially pork. The larvae are releas...

(Encyclopedia) rheumatic fever ro͞omătˈĭk [key], systemic inflammatory disease, extremely variable in its manifestation, severity, duration, and aftereffects. It is frequently followed by serious heart disease, ...

(Encyclopedia) elm, common name for the Ulmaceae, a family of trees and shrubs chiefly of the Northern Hemisphere. Elm trees (genus Ulmus) have a limited use as hardwoods for timber, especially the rock or cork elm ...

(Encyclopedia) tuberculosis (TB), contagious, wasting disease caused by any of several mycobacteria. The most common form of the disease is tuberculosis of the lungs (pulmonary consumption, or phthisis), but the int...

(Encyclopedia) Löffler, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh löfˈlər [key], 1852–1915, German bacteriologist. From 1888 he taught hygiene at the Univ. of Greifswald. Among his many contributions to bacteriology are his demo...

(Encyclopedia) Bretonneau, Pierre pyĕr brətônōˈ [key], 1778–1862, French physician. He performed (1825) the first successful tracheotomy for laryngeal diphtheria, wrote a treatise (1826) distinguishing betwee...

(Encyclopedia) Finsen, Niels Ryberg nēls rüˈbĕr fĭnˈsən [key], 1860–1904, Danish physician. He established in Copenhagen an institute of light therapy and wrote several books on his work. He received the 19...

(Encyclopedia) Ames, city (2020 pop. 66,427), Story co., central Iowa, on the Skunk River; inc. 1870. Its chief manufactures are electronic, water-analysis, and water-treatment equipment; motor vehicles;...