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Jedidiah

(Encyclopedia)Jedidiah jĕdĭdīˈə [key] [Heb.,=beloved of God], in the Bible, auspicious name that Nathan bestowed on the baby Solomon. ...

Straus

(Encyclopedia)Straus strous [key], family of American merchants, public officials, and philanthropists. Isidor Straus, 1845–1912, b. Rhenish Bavaria, emigrated (1854) with his brothers to the United States in ord...

Montefiore, Sir Moses Haim

(Encyclopedia)Montefiore, Sir Moses Haim mŏnˌtĭfēôˈrē [key], 1784–1885, British-Jewish philanthropist, b. Italy. He married a Rothschild and became affiliated with the family's banking business. He accumul...

Mendeleev, Dmitri Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Mendeleev, Dmitri Ivanovich mĕndəlāˈəf, Rus. dəmēˈtrē ēväˈnəvĭch myĭndyĭlyāˈəf [key], 1834–1907, Russian chemist. He is famous for his formulation (1869) of the periodic law and t...

Parker, Dorothy

(Encyclopedia)Parker, Dorothy (Dorothy Rothschild Parker), 1893–1967, American short-story and verse writer, b. West End, N.J. While serving as drama critic for Vanity Fair (1916–17) and book critic for the New...

Meyrink, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Meyrink, Gustav go͝osˈtäf mīˈrĭngk [key], 1868–1932, German author, b. Vienna. His original name was Gustav Meyer. A staff member of Simplicissimus from 1902, he became famous for his sketches...

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth

(Encyclopedia)Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 1823–1911, American author, b. Cambridge, Mass. A Unitarian minister, he was a leader in the abolitionist movement and was a member of a group that backed John Brown's a...

Fitch, Clyde

(Encyclopedia)Fitch, Clyde (William Clyde Fitch), 1865–1909, American dramatist, b. Elmira, N.Y. An extremely prolific and versatile playwright, he wrote over 36 original plays, including melodramas, farces, soci...

Toomer, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Toomer, Jean, 1894–1967, American writer, b. Washington, D.C., as Nathan Eugene Toomer. A major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, he is known mainly for Cane (1923, rev. ed. 1988, 2011), a collectio...

mental hygiene

(Encyclopedia)mental hygiene, the science of promoting mental health and preventing mental illness through the application of psychiatry and psychology. A more commonly used term today is mental health. In 1908, th...