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Doctrine of Signatures

(Encyclopedia)Doctrine of Signatures, the concept that the key to humanity's use of various plants was indicated by the form of the plant. The red sap of the bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), for instance, was be...

Dover, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Dover, Strait of, separating Great Britain from France and connecting the English Channel with the North Sea. It is 21 mi (34 km) wide between Dover and Cape Gris-Nez, near Calais, and is called Pas-d...

Donation of Constantine

(Encyclopedia)Donation of Constantine: see Constantine, Donation of. ...

Dublin, University of

(Encyclopedia)Dublin, University of, at Dublin, Ireland; founded 1591 by Queen Elizabeth I of England; also called Trinity College, Dublin. It has faculties of arts (humanities); arts (letters); business, economics...

Commons, House of

(Encyclopedia)Commons, House of: see Parliament. ...

Commonwealth of Australia

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth of Australia: see Australia. ...

Commonwealth of Nations

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth of Nations, voluntary association of Great Britain and its dependencies, certain former British dependencies that are now sovereign states and their dependencies, and the associated state...

Commune of Paris

(Encyclopedia)Commune of Paris, insurrectionary governments in Paris formed during (1792) the French Revolution and at the end (1871) of the Franco-Prussian War. In the French Revolution, the Revolutionary commune,...

Community of Christ

(Encyclopedia)Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, religious group that regards itself as the successor of the church founded by Joseph Smith. They organized in...

commutation of sentence

(Encyclopedia)commutation of sentence, in criminal law, reduction of a sentence for a criminal act by action of the executive head of the government. Like pardon, commutation of sentence is a matter of grace, not o...