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White, William

(Encyclopedia)White, William, 1748–1836, American Episcopal bishop, b. Philadelphia, grad. College of Philadelphia (now Univ. of Pennsylvania), 1765. He was ordained in England in 1772, returning to become assist...

Walafrid Strabo

(Encyclopedia)Walafrid Strabo (Walafrid the Squinter), c.809–849, German scholar, b. Swabia. Educated at the abbey of Reichenau, he wrote, at 18, a Latin verse account of a journey to the hereafter, Visio Wettini...

Woods, Robert Archey

(Encyclopedia)Woods, Robert Archey, 1865–1925, American social worker, b. Pittsburgh, grad. Amherst, 1886. After six months at Toynbee Hall, London, he helped found (1891) the South End House, Boston, which he he...

Bale, John

(Encyclopedia)Bale, John, 1495–1563, English dramatist and clergyman. An ardent proponent of the Reformation, he used the stage as a vehicle for his views. His most famous play, King John (written c.1535), shows ...

Bertillon system

(Encyclopedia)Bertillon system bərtĭlˈyən [key], first scientific method of criminal identification, developed by the French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914). The system, based on the classificati...

Weems, Mason Locke

(Encyclopedia)Weems, Mason Locke, 1759–1825, American author and preacher, b. Anne Arundel co., Md., studied theology in London. He was ordained in 1784 and served various Episcopal parishes. For 30 years after 1...

Adam and Eve, Life of

(Encyclopedia)Adam and Eve, Life of, early Jewish work included in the collection known as the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. It was probably written in Hebrew between 100 b.c. and a.d. 100. Based on the Old Testame...

Sheppey, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Sheppey, Isle of, c.30 sq mi (80 sq km), Kent, SE England, at the mouth of the Thames, separated from the mainland by The Swale, a narrow strait. It is largely flat, with wave-eroded cliffs to the nor...

Say, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Say, Thomas, 1787–1843, American naturalist, b. Philadelphia. He went on collecting expeditions to Georgia and Florida and, with Stephen H. Long, to the Rocky Mts. and up the Mississippi and Minneso...

Sperry, Roger Wolcott

(Encyclopedia)Sperry, Roger Wolcott, 1913–94, American biologist, b. Hartford, Conn., Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1941. He studied zoology before teaching biology at the Univ. of Chicago (1946–52) and the Californi...