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sun dance

(Encyclopedia)sun dance, ceremony typical of the Plains Indians of North America. The ceremony was performed in the summer and lasted from two to eight days. Some of the ceremony was secret. Smoking, fasting, and o...

Mithra

(Encyclopedia)Mithra mĭthˈrə [key], ancient god of Persia and India (where he was called Mitra). Until the 6th cent. b.c., Mithra was apparently a minor figure in the Zoroastrian system. Under the Achaemenids, M...

Babeuf, François Noël

(Encyclopedia)Babeuf, François Noël fräNswäˈ nôĕlˈ bäböfˈ [key], 1760–97, French revolutionary, organizer of a communist uprising against the Directory. Of petty bourgeois origin, he was an enthusiasti...

Matsukata, Masayoshi

(Encyclopedia)Matsukata, Masayoshi mäsīˈōshē mätso͞oˈkäˌtä [key], 1835–1924, Japanese statesman. A Satsuma clansman and a genro, he was a leading figure in the modernization of Japan. As finance minist...

Maudling, Reginald

(Encyclopedia)Maudling, Reginald, 1917–79, British politician. A lawyer, he entered Parliament in 1950 as a Conservative and rapidly rose to prominence, serving as minister of supply (1955–57), paymaster-genera...

Katayama, Tetsu

(Encyclopedia)Katayama, Tetsu tĕtˈso͝o kätäyäˈmä [key], 1887–1978, Japanese statesman. He was a founder (1926) of the Social Democratic party. When the party was suppressed by the police, Katayama helped ...

Eaton, Dorman Bridgman

(Encyclopedia)Eaton, Dorman Bridgman, 1823–99, American reformer, b. Hardwick, Vt. He was a law partner of William Kent in New York City. His major interests were reform in municipal administration and abolition ...

Cook, David J.

(Encyclopedia)Cook, David J., 1840–1907, American law enforcement officer, b. near La Porte, Ind. He moved (1855) with his family to Kansas, went (1859) to the Colorado gold fields, and returned to enlist (1861) ...

Schober, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Schober, Johann yōˈhän shōˈbər [key], 1874–1932, Austrian chancellor (1921–22, 1929–30). A respected career civil servant, he held the key post of head of the Vienna police after July, 191...

Prince Albert

(Encyclopedia)Prince Albert, city (1991 pop. 34,181), central Sask., Canada, on the North Saskatchewan River. Prince Albert is a commercial and distribution center for a lumbering, gold- and uranium-mining, and mix...