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Emigrant Aid Company

(Encyclopedia)Emigrant Aid Company, organization formed in 1854 to promote organized antislavery immigration to the Kansas territory from the Northeast. Eli Thayer conceived the plan as early as Feb., 1854, even be...

Theresa, Saint (Theresa of Ávila)

(Encyclopedia)Theresa or Teresa, Saint (Theresa of Ávila) both: tĭrēˈsə, –zə [key], 1515–82, Spanish Carmelite nun, Doctor of the Church, one of the principal saints of the Roman Catholic Church, one of t...

Forillon National Park

(Encyclopedia)Forillon National Park fôˌrēyōNˈ [key], 92 sq mi (238 sq km), at the tip of Forillon Peninsula, SE Que., Canada, near Gaspé; est. 1970. On the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the park has a scenic coastal...

Bonaventure Island

(Encyclopedia)Bonaventure Island, 21⁄2 mi (4 km) long and 3⁄4 mi (1.2 km) wide, off E Que., Canada, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, c.3 mi (5 km) N of Perce Rock. It has the largest bird sanctuary on the N Atlanti...

Hamilton, Sir William Rowan

(Encyclopedia)Hamilton, Sir William Rowan, 1805–65, Irish mathematician and astronomer, b. Dublin. A child prodigy, he had mastered 13 languages by the age of 13 and was still an undergraduate when he became prof...

Offenbach, Jacques Levy

(Encyclopedia)Offenbach, Jacques Levy ôˈfənbäk, Fr. zhäk lāvēˈ ôfĕnbäkˈ [key], 1819–80, French composer, b. Cologne. The son of a cantor, he went to Paris to study at the conservatory and in 1849 beca...

assembly line

(Encyclopedia)assembly line, manufacturing technique in which a product is carried by some form of mechanized conveyor among stations at which the various operations necessary to its assembly are performed. It is u...

Kyosai

(Encyclopedia)Kyosai (Kawanabe Kyosai), 1831–89, Japanese painter and caricaturist. He studied with Kano Tohaku and was influenced by Hokusai. He is considered Japan's first political caricaturist, and the politi...

land tax

(Encyclopedia)land tax, impost levied upon real property. It is sometimes called a real estate tax, especially when assessed against both improved and unimproved land. Probably the earliest direct tax and formerly ...

Bergh, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bergh, Henry bûrg [key], 1811–88, American philanthropist, b. New York City. He founded (1866) the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This organization, the first of its kin...