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El Dorado, legendary country of South America

(Encyclopedia)El Dorado ĕlˈdəräˈdō, –rāˈ– [key] [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the C...

mummy

(Encyclopedia)mummy, dead human or animal body preserved by embalming or by unusual natural conditions. As a rule mummies are from ancient times. The word is of Arabic derivation and refers primarily to the burials...

Drummond, Henry, 1851–97, Scottish clergyman and author

(Encyclopedia)Drummond, Henry, 1851–97, Scottish clergyman and author, educated at the Univ. of Edinburgh. He was a minister of the Free Church and from 1877 a lecturer on science in Free Church College, Glasgow....

Dryopithecus

(Encyclopedia)Dryopithecus drīˌōpəthēˈkəs, –pĭthˈəkəs [key], an extinct group of apes. Fossils about 20 million years old have been found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Dryopithecus had a semierect postu...

Crothers, Rachel

(Encyclopedia)Crothers, Rachel krŭᵺˈərz [key], 1878–1958, American playwright and director, b. Bloomington, Ill., grad. Illinois State Normal Univ., 1892. Her plays, many of which were social comedies treati...

Davis, Andrew Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Andrew Jackson, 1826–1910, American spiritualist, b. Blooming Grove, N.Y. He became a professional clairvoyant, known as the “Poughkeepsie Seer,” after being mesmerized in 1843. He was po...

Evans, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Maurice, 1901–89, Welsh-American actor. Evans came into prominence in 1928 and in 1934 was a leading man with the Old Vic. He first appeared on Broadway in 1936 in Romeo and Juliet with Katha...

Erichthonius

(Encyclopedia)Erichthonius ĕrĕkthōˈnēəs [key], in Greek mythology, son of Hephaestus and Athena, half man and half serpent. After his birth Athena concealed him in a chest that she gave to the daughters of Ce...

anti-hero

(Encyclopedia)anti-hero, principal character of a modern literary or dramatic work who lacks the attributes of the traditional protagonist or hero. The anti-hero's lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses...

Grimm, Friedrich Melchior, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Grimm, Friedrich Melchior, Baron frēˈdrĭkh mĕlˈkhēôr bärōnˈ grĭm [key], 1723–1807, German man of letters in France. He contributed to the Encyclopédie articles on music that were bellige...