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immunity

(Encyclopedia)immunity, ability of an organism to resist disease by identifying and destroying foreign substances or organisms. Although all animals have some immune capabilities, little is known about nonmammalian...

descent

(Encyclopedia)descent, in anthropology, method of classifying individuals in terms of their various kinship connections. Matrilineal and patrilineal descent refer to the mother's or father's sib (or other group), r...

clan

(Encyclopedia)clan, social group based on actual or alleged unilineal descent from a common ancestor. Such groups have been known in all parts of the world and include some that claim the parentage or special prote...

ether, in chemistry

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Ethers ether, any of a number of organic compounds whose molecules contain two hydrocarbon groups joined by single bonds to an oxygen atom. The most common of these compounds is ethyl ether, C...

nomad

(Encyclopedia)nomad nōˈmădˌ [key], one of a group of people without fixed habitation, especially pastoralists. (Some authorities prefer the terms “nonsedentary” or “migratory” rather than “nomadic” ...

Jerez de la Frontera

(Encyclopedia)Jerez de la Frontera hārāth dā lä frōntāˈrä [key], city (1990 pop. 186,812), Cádiz prov., SW Spain, in Andalusia. Jerez is an important commercial center noted for its sherry and brandy. Its ...

MacBeth, George

(Encyclopedia)MacBeth, George, 1932–92, Scottish poet, grad. Oxford, 1955. He was until 1976 a producer for the BBC. His best poetry, such as The Broken Places (1963), often treats violent subjects in a combinati...

Heymans, Corneille

(Encyclopedia)Heymans, Corneille kôrnāˈyə hīˈmäns [key], 1892–1968, Belgian physiologist. His contributions to the physiology of circulation include a study of the sensory mechanism through which arterial ...

Hyacinth, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Hyacinth hīəsĭnˈthəs [key], in Greek mythology, beautiful youth loved by Apollo. He was killed accidentally by a discus thrown by the god. According to another legend, the wind god Zephyr, out of...

Prout, William

(Encyclopedia)Prout, William, 1785–1850, English chemist and physician. Prout's hypothesis, advanced in 1815–16, suggested that atomic weights of elements are multiples of that of hydrogen and that elements are...