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Shirley, James

(Encyclopedia)Shirley, James, 1596–1666, English dramatist. Ordained in the Church of England, he later was converted to Roman Catholicism and became a schoolmaster. He resigned that position, however, soon after...

Sagan, Françoise

(Encyclopedia)Sagan, Françoise kwärĕzˈ [key], 1935–2004, French novelist, b. Françoise Quoirez. She became famous with her precocious first book, Bonjour tristesse (1954, tr. 1955), a bittersweetly amoral po...

Salmon, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Salmon, river, c.425 mi (680 km) long, rising in many branches in the Sawtooth and the Salmon River mts., central Idaho. It flows northeast and is joined, at Salmon, by the Lemhi River, after which it...

Prus, Bolesław

(Encyclopedia)Prus, Bolesław bôlĕsläfˈ pro͞os [key], 1845?–1912, Polish writer, whose original name was Alexander Głowacki. Prus is considered a founder of the modern Polish novel. His articles and short s...

Reymont, Władysław Stanisław

(Encyclopedia)Reymont, Władysław Stanisław vlädĭsˈläf stänēsˈläf rāˈmônt [key], 1867?–1925, Polish short-story writer and novelist. Reymont's poverty-stricken farm childhood and his early manhood as...

division of labor

(Encyclopedia)division of labor, in economics, the specialization of the functions and roles involved in production. Division of labor is closely tied with the standardization of production, the introduction and pe...

Francis Xavier, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Francis Xavier, Saint, 1506–52, Basque Jesuit missionary, called the Apostle to the Indies, b. Spanish Navarre, of noble parents. He studied in Paris (1525–34), where he became an associate of St....

spiritism

(Encyclopedia)spiritism or spiritualism, belief that the human personality continues to exist after death and can communicate with the living through the agency of a medium or psychic. The advocates of spiritism ar...

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley

(Encyclopedia)Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751–1816, English dramatist and politician, b. Dublin. His father, Thomas Sheridan, was an actor and teacher of elocution and his mother, Frances Sheridan, published two...

descent

(Encyclopedia)descent, in anthropology, method of classifying individuals in terms of their various kinship connections. Matrilineal and patrilineal descent refer to the mother's or father's sib (or other group), r...