Fosse Way

Major Roman road that traversed Britain from southwest to northeast. It ran from the mouth of the River Axe in Devon by Axminster and Ilchester (Lindinae) to Bath (Aquae Sulis) and Cirencester, thence straight for 60 miles (100 km) to High Cross (Venonae), where it intersected Watling Street, and on to Leicester (Ratae). After crossing the River Trent near Newark, it reached Ermine

Earth Sciences, Glacier motion and the high-latitude ice sheets

Beginning around 1948, principles and techniques in metallurgy and solid-state physics were brought to bear on the mechanics of glacial movements. Laboratory studies showed that glacial ice deforms like other crystalline solids (such as metals) at temperatures near the melting point. Continued stress produces permanent deformation. In addition to plastic deformation

Argentina

The federal republic of Argentina occupies the eastern section of the Southern Cone of South America, along the Atlantic Ocean. Area: 2,780,400 sq km (1,073,518 sq mi). Pop. (1993 est.): 33,507,000. Cap.: Buenos Aires. Monetary unit: peso, with (Oct. 4, 1993) an official rate of 1 peso to U.S. $1 (1.52 pesos = � 1 sterling). President in 1993, Carlos Sa�l Menem.

Ate

Greek mythological figure who induced rash and ruinous actions by both gods and men. She made Zeus take a hasty oath that resulted in the Greek hero Heracles becoming subject to Eurystheus, ruler of Mycenae. Zeus thereupon cast Ate out of Olympus, after which she remained on earth, working evil and mischief. She was followed by the Litai (�Prayers�), the old and crippled

Elizabeth City

City, seat (1799) of Pasquotank county, northeastern North Carolina, U.S. It lies on the Pasquotank River (an embayment of Albemarle Sound) at the southern end of Dismal Swamp Canal on the Intracoastal Waterway. Settlers had established a presence on the river in the 1660s, and the area was the scene of Culpeper's Rebellion (1677 - 79). It was founded and incorporated as Redding in 1793 but was renamed

Welland Canal

Waterway in southern Ontario, Can., that provides navigation for large vessels between Lake Erie to the south and Lake Ontario to the north and forms an important link in the St. Lawrence Seaway. The canal was necessary because the Niagara River, the natural connection between Lakes Erie and Ontario, has impassable falls and rapids. The modern Welland Canal extends

Uganda, Martyrs Of

The first Roman Catholic missions to Bantu-speaking Africa were established

O Dalaigh, Cearbhall

Son of parents active in the struggle for Irish independence, O Dalaigh studied at University College, Dublin, earning a degree in Celtic studies in 1931. He was an Irish-language editor on The Irish Press (1931 - 42), meanwhile becoming a lawyer (1935). In 1945 he became Ireland's

Tunnels And Underground Excavations, Rock bolts

Rock bolts are used to reinforce jointed rock much as reinforcing bars supply tensile resistance in reinforced concrete. After early trials about 1920, they were developed in the 1940s for strengthening laminated roof strata in mines. For public works their use has increased rapidly since 1955, as confidence has developed from two independent pioneering applications, both

Vietnamese Language

Official language of Vietnam, spoken in the late 20th century by more than 66 million people. It belongs to the Viet-Muong subbranch of the Vietic branch of the Mon-Khmer family, which is itself a part of the Austroasiatic stock. Except for a group of divergent rural dialects spoken between Hue and Vinh, most of the dialects of Vietnamese differ from each other to about the

Harbours And Sea Works

The construction of harbours and sea works offers some of the most unusual problems and challenges in civil engineering. The continuous and immediate

Tea And Coffee Service

Set of vessels and implements for making and serving tea and coffee, the items often of matched design. Elaborate 18th-century examples had tea and coffee pots, a milk or cream jug, a pair of tea caddies, a sugar bowl and pair of tongs, teaspoons and a small tray for them, a tea strainer, and cups and saucers. All of these were normally placed on a tray, while an urn or kettle on a separate

La Libertad

City, southwestern El Salvador. Its open roadstead port as well as its location south of San Salvador encouraged La Libertad's development in the 19th century as a shipping outlet for balsam produced in Peru - a variety of balsam yielded from El Salvador's coastal forests. During the early 20th century La Libertad was one of the nation's largest ports, but in 1976 it was closed

United States V. E.c. Knight Company

President Grover Cleveland ordered the government to

Plowright, Joan

Plowright received her dramatic training at the Laban Art of Movement Studio in Manchester and at the Old Vic Theatre School in London. She made her first appearances on stage in 1951, played with an Old Vic touring company in South Africa in 1952, and made her debut in London in The Duenna in 1954. She continued

Dwarfism

Condition of growth retardation resulting in abnormally short adult stature and caused by a variety of hereditary and metabolic disorders. Traditionally, the term �dwarf� was used to describe individuals with disproportions of body and limb, while �midget� referred to those of reduced stature but normal proportions; today neither word is used, and �little

Novara

Latin �Novaria, � capital of Novara provincia, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy. It lies along the Agogna River, west of Milan. It originated as the Roman colony of Novaria, which was founded by Julius Caesar and destroyed in the 5th century; a new commune, established in the 6th century, was burned by the Holy Roman emperor Henry V in 1110. It recovered to become a member of the Lombard

Wright, Mickey

Wright had begun playing golf by age 12. In 1952 she won the U.S. Golfing Association junior girls' championship. She attended Stanford University for one year before deciding to devote full time to golf. She was the 1954 World Amateur champion and also was

Riddah

Despite the traditional resistance of the Bedouins to any restraining central authority, by 631 Muhammad was able to exact from the majority of their tribes at least nominal adherence to Islam, payment of the zakat, a tax levied on Muslims to support

Biblical Literature, Astrology

There were elements in the Greek world that may have come from the East, partly Egyptian and Babylonian, which gave rise to astrology. The basic conviction of astrology was that the heavenly bodies were deities that in a direct way control life and events on earth. An older idea of tyche, or �fate,� originally signified the chance element in the universe, a capriciousness

Aksak

Also called �Bulgarian Rhythm, � variety of musical metre characterized by combinations of unequal units of beats, such as 2 plus 3 or 3 plus 2 and their extensions. Thus 3 3 2, or 2 3 3, produces 8/8 units quite unlike the 4/4 common to Western music. As non-Western music, as well as eastern European folk music, began to exert influence in the West, aksak rhythms found their way into the works of a number of 20th-century composers

Andisol

One of the 12 soil orders in the U.S. Soil Taxonomy. Andisols are defined by the single property of having volcanic-ash parent material. Although these soils exist in all climatic regions, they account for less than 0.75 percent of all the nonpolar continental land area on Earth. Approximately reproducing the geographic distribution of volcanoes, they are found along the

Hope, Anthony

Educated at Marlborough and at Balliol College, Oxford, he became a lawyer in 1887. The immediate success of The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), his fourth work - and its sequel, Rupert of Hentzau (1898) - turned him entirely to writing. These novels describe the perilous adventures

France, History Of, Geographic-historical scope

Gaul, in this context, signifies only what the Romans, from their perspective, termed Transalpine Gaul (Gallia Transalpina), or �Gaul across the Alps.� Broadly, it comprised all lands from the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast of modern France to the English Channel and from the Atlantic to the Rhine and the western Alps. The Romans knew a second Gaul, Cisalpine

Crakow

Also spelled �crackowe� long, pointed, spiked shoe worn by both men and women first in the mid-14th century and then condemned by law. Crakows were named after the city of Krak�w (Cracow), Pol., and they were also known as poulaines (Polish). Crakows were admired on the feet of the courtiers of Anne of Bohemia, who married Richard II of England. The exaggerated toes were imitated even in

Amphora

Ancient Roman unit of capacity for grain and liquid products equal to 48 sextarii and equivalent to about 27.84 litres (7.36 U.S. gallons). The term amphora was borrowed from the Greeks, who used it to designate a measure equal to about 34 litres (9 U.S. gallons).

Alcidae

Bird family, order Charadriiformes, which includes the birds known as auk, auklet, dovekie, guillemot, murre, murrelet, and puffin (qq.v.).

Pieman River

River, northwestern Tasmania, Australia. It is formed near Tullah by the confluence of the Macintosh and Murchison rivers. The 61-mile- (98-kilometre-) long main stream is fed by the Huskisson and Stanley rivers and then flows generally west to its estuary, which also receives the Donaldson, Whyte, and Savage rivers at Hardwicke Bay on the Indian Ocean. The river was named for

Achelous River

Modern Greek �Akhel��s Potam�s, �also called �Asprop�tamos, � one of the longest rivers in Greece, rising in the Pindus Mountains of central Epirus (�piros) and dividing Aetolia from Acarnania. It debouches into the Ionian Sea after a course of 140 mi (220 km), mostly through gorges. Well above Agr�nion two hydroelectric dams were built to harness the waters of the river and its tributaries. One is at Kastraki; the other, at Kremasta, is the

Sun Orchid

A sun orchid derives its name from its habit of remaining closed except in strong sunlight. Some self-pollinating species never open their flowers. The lemon orchid