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trachoma

(Encyclopedia)trachoma trəkōˈmə [key], infection of the mucous membrane of the eyelids caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Trachoma affects at least 86 million people worldwide. An estimated 1.9 mill...

trademark

(Encyclopedia)trademark, distinctive mark placed on or attached to goods by a manufacturer or dealer to identify them as made or sold by that particular firm or person. The use of a trademark indicates that the mak...

Salvation Army

(Encyclopedia)Salvation Army, Protestant denomination and international nonsectarian Christian organization for evangelical and philanthropic work. The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth, with the assist...

United Nations

(Encyclopedia)CE5 CE5 United Nations (UN), international organization established immediately after World War II. It replaced the League of Nations. In 1945, when the UN was founded, there were 51 members; 193...

Kansas-Nebraska Act

(Encyclopedia)Kansas-Nebraska Act, bill that became law on May 30, 1854, by which the U.S. Congress established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. By 1854 the organization of the vast Platte and Kansas river c...

naphtha

(Encyclopedia)naphtha năpˈthə, năfˈ– [key], term usually restricted to a class of colorless, volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixtures. Obtained as one of the more volatile fractions in the fractional ...

prohibition

(Encyclopedia)prohibition, legal prevention of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, the extreme of the regulatory liquor laws. The modern movement for prohibition had its main growth in...

reciprocal trade agreement

(Encyclopedia)reciprocal trade agreement, international commercial treaty in which two or more nations grant equally advantageous trade concessions to each other. It usually refers to treaties dealing with tariffs....

mesta

(Encyclopedia)mesta māˈstä [key], association of Spanish sheep farmers, formed to regulate sheep raising and to prevent cultivation of pastureland. Its date of origin is uncertain, but by 1273 Alfonso X of Casti...

petrolatum

(Encyclopedia)petrolatum pĕtrəlāˈtəm [key], colorless to yellowish-white hydrocarbon mixture obtained by fractional distillation of petroleum. In its jellylike semisolid form (known as petroleum jelly and also...