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Valéry, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Valéry, Paul pōl välārēˈ [key], 1871–1945, French poet and critic. A follower of the symbolists, Valéry was one of the greatest French poets of the 20th cent. He was encouraged by Pierry Loü...

Sinclair, Upton

(Encyclopedia)Sinclair, Upton (Upton Beall Sinclair), 1878–1968, American novelist and socialist activist, b. Baltimore, grad. College of the City of New York, 1897. He was one of the muckrakers, and a dedication...

Prévost d'Exiles, Antoine François

(Encyclopedia)Prévost d'Exiles, Antoine François äbāˈ prāvōˈ [key], 1697–1763, French novelist, journalist, and cleric. After a dissolute youth he entered (1720) the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Maur. He la...

Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Samuel, two books of the Bible, originally a single work, called First and Second Samuel in modern Bibles, and First and Second Kingdoms in the Septuagint. They are considered part of “Deuteronomist...

denaturation

(Encyclopedia)denaturation, term used to describe the loss of native, higher-order structure of protein molecules in solution. Most globular proteins exhibit complicated three-dimensional folding described as secon...

chiropractic

(Encyclopedia)chiropractic kīrəprăkˈtĭk [key] [Gr.,=doing by hand], medical practice based on the theory that all disease results from a disruption of the functions of the nerves. The principal source of inter...

hydrazine

(Encyclopedia)hydrazine hīˈdrəzēnˌ [key], chemical compound, formula NH2NH2, m.p. 1.4℃, b.p. 113.5℃, specific gravity 1.011 at 15℃. It is very soluble in water and soluble in alcohol. At ordinary tempera...

Kipling, Rudyard

(Encyclopedia)Kipling, Rudyard, 1865–1936, English author, b. Bombay (now Mumbai), India. Educated in England, Kipling returned to India in 1882 and worked as an editor on a Lahore paper. His early poems were col...

xerography

(Encyclopedia)xerography zərŏgˈrəfēˌ [key], also called electrophotography, method of dry photocopying in which the image is transferred by using the attractive forces of electric charges. A beam of light, us...

tar and pitch

(Encyclopedia)tar and pitch, viscous, dark-brown to black substances obtained by the destructive distillation of coal, wood, petroleum, peat, and certain other organic materials. The heating or partial burning of w...