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Berlin Decree

(Encyclopedia)Berlin Decree, 1806, decree issued in Berlin by Napoleon I on Nov. 21 in answer to the British blockade. Claiming that the British blockade of purely commercial ports was contrary to international law...

celestial meridian

(Encyclopedia)celestial meridian, vertical circle passing through the north celestial pole and an observer's zenith. It is an axis in the altazimuth coordinate system. ...

right ascension

(Encyclopedia)right ascension, in astronomy, one of the coordinates in the equatorial coordinate system. The right ascension of a celestial body is the angular distance measured eastward from the vernal equinox alo...

Osaka University

(Encyclopedia)Osaka University, at Osaka, Japan; founded 1931 as Osaka Imperial Univ., renamed 1947. It has 11 faculties, 15 graduate schools, 5 research institutes (for microbial diseases, industrial research, pro...

Devils Island

(Encyclopedia)Devils Island, Fr. Île du Diable, the smallest and southernmost of the Îles du Salut, in the Caribbean Sea off French Guiana. A penal colony founded in 1852, it was used largely for political prison...

Duncan, Robert Kennedy

(Encyclopedia)Duncan, Robert Kennedy, 1868–1914, American industrial chemist and educator b. Brantford, Ont., grad. Univ. of Toronto (B.A., 1892). He was professor at the Univ. of Kansas (1906–10) and at the Un...

chloral hydrate

(Encyclopedia)chloral hydrate klōrˈəl hīˈdrāt [key], central nervous system depressant that is widely used as a hypnotic, or sleep-inducing drug. Chloral hydrate is the common ingredient, along with alcohol, ...

Chiayi

(Encyclopedia)Chiayi jyäˈēˈ [key], city, S Taiwan. It is an agricultural market for rice, peanuts, vege...

internal medicine

(Encyclopedia)internal medicine, branch of medicine concerned with nonsurgical remedies for diseases of the internal organs. While the internist is trained to diagnose and treat all pathologies of the various inter...

Hauer, Josef Matthias

(Encyclopedia)Hauer, Josef Matthias yōˈzĕf mätēäs houˈər [key], 1883–1959, Austrian music theorist and composer. Primarily self-taught, Hauer devised a method of atonal composition that used the 12 tones ...