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Roscoe, Sir Henry Enfield

(Encyclopedia)Roscoe, Sir Henry Enfield rŏsˈkō [key], 1833–1915, English chemist. He was professor (1857–87) at Owens College, Manchester. He is known for his work, with R. W. Bunsen, in photochemistry and f...

Roget, Peter Mark

(Encyclopedia)Roget, Peter Mark rōzhāˈ [key], 1779–1869, English physician and lexicographer. For 50 years while he practiced medicine and was secretary of the Royal Society (1827–49), Roget prepared his The...

recoilless rifle

(Encyclopedia)recoilless rifle, light artillery piece, without recoil, usually operated by two men. An American invention, it was used as an infantry weapon for attacking fortifications such as pillboxes and bunker...

Tagalog

(Encyclopedia)Tagalog tägälˈ [key], dominant people of Luzon, the Philippines, and the second largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines. They number about 16 million. Most of the population is Christian. ...

Australian aborigines

(Encyclopedia)Australian aborigines, indigenous peoples of Australia. The first modern humans in Australia probably came from somewhere in Asia more than 40,000 years ago, most likely sometime between 55,000 and 10...

Commonwealth Fund

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth Fund, foundation established (1918) by Anna M. Harkness, wife of Stephen V. Harkness, an early Standard Oil investor, “for the welfare of mankind.” Its headquarters are in New York Ci...

luxury tax

(Encyclopedia)luxury tax, levy on articles that are not essential to a normal standard of living. Such taxes may be imposed strictly for revenue purposes or they may be intended to discourage consumption of certain...

De Bary, Heinrich Anton

(Encyclopedia)De Bary, Heinrich Anton hīnˈrĭkh änˈtōn də bärēˈ [key], 1831–88, German botanist. He was professor at the universities of Freiburg in Breisgau (1855–66) and Halle (1867–72) and first r...

Drake, Joseph Rodman

(Encyclopedia)Drake, Joseph Rodman, 1795–1820, American poet and satirist, b. New York City. Under the name “The Croakers,” he and his friend Fitz-Greene Halleck wrote a series of light satirical verses for t...

dog racing

(Encyclopedia)dog racing, trials of speed between dogs. Now contested on oval tracks, the sport developed from the ancient practice of coursing, in which specially trained dogs chase game animals in the open field....
 

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