Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Endosperm

Tissue that surrounds and nourishes the embryo in the angiosperm seed. The initiation of endosperm is a definitive characteristic of angiosperms and requires the fusion of at least one nucleus in the embryo sac with a sperm nucleus from the pollen grain. (In gymnosperms the nutritive material of the seed is present before fertilization.) In some seeds the endosperm

Pozzo Di Borgo, Charles-andré, Count

A native of Corsica, Pozzo favoured its political incorporation into France and, after Corsica was declared a département

Monday, April 04, 2005

Chiastolite

A variety of the mineral andalusite (q.v.).

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Dye

Coloured substance synthesized from certain chemical compounds called benzenoid hydrocarbons, obtained from either coal tar or petroleum. Its most important use is in dyeing textiles. Wool or cotton fabrics may have dyes applied at any stage of manufacture from fibre to finished garment, depending on the nature of the textile, its subsequent processing, and

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Progressive Party

(1924), in the United States, a short-lived independent political party assembled for the 1924 presidential election by forces dissatisfied with the conservative attitudes and programs of the Democrats and Republicans. The Progressive Party included liberals, agrarians, Republican progressives, socialists, and labour representatives. It chose as its presidential candidate Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, who in 1911 had organized what became an independent party formally called the Progressive but generally known as the Bull Moose Party (q.v.). The 1924 Progressives pledged a “housecleaning” of executive departments, public control of natural resources, public ownership of railways, and tax reduction. The party polled only some 17 percent of the popular vote and did not influence the election, in which President Calvin Coolidge and the Republicans won a majority. The Progressive Party dissolved when La Follette died the following year.

Mahdiyah, Al-

Also spelled  Mahdia, or Mahedia,   town and fishing port on as-Sahil (coastal strip), eastern Tunisia. It lies on the narrow rocky peninsula of Cape Ifriqiya. The town owes its name to the mahdi (Arabic: mahdi, “the rightly guided one”) 'Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi, founder of the Fatimid dynasty, who established the town in 912 and in 921 made it his capital. Abandoned about 973, al-Mahdiyah was reestablished as a refuge capital of the Zirid

Friday, April 01, 2005

Education, History Of, Other German theorists

In the history of pedagogy there is no period of such fruitfulness as the 19th century in Germany. In addition to Herbart, Froebel, Pestalozzi (in German Switzerland), and their followers, there were scores of the most important writers, philosophers, and theologians contributing their ideas on education—including Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, G.W.F.

Tallapoosa River

River rising in the Piedmont area of western Georgia, U.S., west of Atlanta, and flowing southwest in an irregular, steplike course for about 268 mi (431 km), joining the larger Coosa River just north of Montgomery, Ala., to form the Alabama River. Its only large tributary is the Little Tallapoosa, which joins it about midway in its course. All but the lower part of the drainage basin

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Ben Nevis

Highest mountain of the British Isles, in the Highland council area, Scotland. Its summit, reaching an elevation of 4,406 feet (1,343 metres), is a plateau of about 100 acres (40 hectares), with a slight slope to the south and a sheer face to the northeast. Snow lies in some parts all year, and permafrost conditions are almost reached. The mountain consists of a superstructure of volcanic rocks

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Animal, Pseudocoelomates, or aschelminths

The pseudocoelomates include the nematodes, rotifers, gastrotrichs, and introverts. Some members of some other phyla are also, strictly speaking, pseudocoelomate. These four phyla of tiny body size (many species no larger than the bigger protozoans) are placed together in part because they lack mesoderm on the inner side of the body cavity. Consequently, no tissue,

Thomas, W(illiam) I(saac)

Thomas taught sociology at the University of Chicago (1895–1918), the New School for Social Research, New York City (1923–28), and Harvard University (1936–37). His Sex and