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Zug

(Encyclopedia)Zug tso͞ok [key], canton (1993 pop. 87,100), 93 sq mi (241 sq km), N central Switzerland. The smallest canton in Switzerland, it is a forested and mountainous region with orchards, meadows, and pastu...

Continental Congress

(Encyclopedia)Continental Congress, 1774–89, federal legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States in the American Revolution and under the Articles of Confederation (see Confederation, Arti...

McCormick, Robert Rutherford

(Encyclopedia)McCormick, Robert Rutherford, 1880–1955, American journalist, b. Chicago. He held local public offices, was admitted (1907) to the bar, and practiced law in Chicago. He worked with his brother, Jose...

Choate, Rufus

(Encyclopedia)Choate, Rufus chōt [key], 1799–1859, American lawyer and Congressman, b. Essex co., Mass.; uncle of Joseph Hodges Choate. Admitted to the bar in 1823, Rufus Choate gained national reputation as a l...

Bernard, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Bernard, Sir Francis bûrˈnərd [key], 1712–79, British colonial governor. He was educated at Oxford and was called to the bar in 1737. As colonial governor of New Jersey (1758–60), he did much t...

Gottheil, Richard James Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Gottheil, Richard James Horatio, 1862–1936, American Orientalist and Semitic scholar, b. Manchester, England; son of Gustav Gottheil. He taught Semitic languages at Columbia from 1886 and was head o...

plagues of Egypt

(Encyclopedia)plagues of Egypt, in the Bible, the plagues and other troubles brought on Egypt by God through the hands of Moses, because Pharaoh would not let the people of Israel go out of Egypt. The account, in t...

center of mass

(Encyclopedia)center of mass, the point at which all the mass of a body may be considered to be concentrated in analyzing its motion. The center of mass of a sphere of uniform density coincides with the center of t...

York, house of

(Encyclopedia)York, house of, royal house of England, deriving its name from the creation of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III, as duke of York in 1385. The claims to the throne of Edmund's grandson, Richa...

conflict of laws

(Encyclopedia)conflict of laws, that part of the law in each state, country, or other jurisdiction that determines whether, in dealing with a particular legal situation, its law or the law of some other jurisdictio...