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spectral class

(Encyclopedia)CE5 spectral class, in astronomy, a classification of the stars by their spectrum and luminosity. In 1885, E. C. Pickering began the first extensive attempt to classify the stars spectroscopically....

encephalitis

(Encyclopedia)encephalitis ĕnsĕfˌəlīˈtəs [key], general term used to describe a diffuse inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, usually of viral origin, often transmitted by mosquitoes, in contrast to a b...

Child, Francis James

(Encyclopedia)Child, Francis James, 1825–96, American scholar, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1846. At Harvard he was professor of rhetoric (1851–76) and English literature (1876–96). He greatly influenced modern ...

Frauds, Statute of

(Encyclopedia)Frauds, Statute of, basis of most modern laws requiring that certain promises must be in writing in order to be enforceable; it was passed by the English Parliament in 1677. In the United States, alth...

Martineau, James

(Encyclopedia)Martineau, James, 1805–1900, English philosopher and Unitarian clergyman; brother of Harriet Martineau. He strongly upheld the theist position against the negations of physical science. A renowned t...

parallelogram

(Encyclopedia)parallelogram, closed plane figure bounded by four line segments, or sides, with opposite pairs of sides parallel and equal in length. The rhombus, rectangle, and square are special types of parallelo...

snakebite

(Encyclopedia)snakebite, wound inflicted by the teeth of a snake. The bite of a nonvenomous snake is rarely serious. Venomous snakes have fangs, hollow teeth through which poison is injected into a victim. All type...

Gaucher's disease

(Encyclopedia)Gaucher's disease gōshāzˈ [key], rare genetic disease involving a deficiency of an enzyme, glucocerebrosidase, which normally breaks down certain body glycolipids (i.e., lipids (fats) that have a s...

Arbuckle Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Arbuckle Mountains ärˈbŭkəl [key], range of low, rolling hills, rising c.700 ft (210 m) above the prairie, S Okla.; remnant of mountains formed in the Precambrian. Interesting geological formation...

Koster, Laurens Janszoon

(Encyclopedia)Koster or Coster, Laurens Janszoon louˈrəns yänˈsōn kôsˈtər [key], c.1370–c.1440, Dutch sexton of a church in Haarlem, one of the men to whom has been ascribed the invention of printing with...