recreational activity of hiking while carrying clothing, food, and camping equipment in a pack on the back. Originally, in the early 20th century, backpacking was practiced in the wilderness as a means of getting to areas inaccessible by car or ...
city, northwestern portion of the island of Negros, Philippines. On a coastal plain washed by Guimaras Strait, it lies opposite Guimaras Island and has been called the Philippine sugar capital because of its central location within the nation's most important ...
a side of a pig that, after removal of the spare ribs, is cured, either dry or in pickle, and smoked. Some varieties, notably Canadian bacon, are cut from the loin portion of the pork, which is more lean.
American writer who developed the theory, still subscribed to by some, that Francis Bacon and others were the true authors of the works attributed to William Shakespeare.
British engineer who developed the first practical hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, which convert air and fuel directly into electricity through electrochemical processes.
lord chancellor of England (1618-21). A lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and master of the English tongue, he is remembered in literary terms for the sharp worldly wisdom of a few dozen essays; by students of constitutional history for his power as ...
Virginia planter and leader of Bacon's Rebellion. His wife's disinheritance (her father opposed her marriage) and his involvement in a plan to defraud a neighbour of his inheritance contributed to Bacon's decision to migrate to North America. Financed by his ...
English Franciscan philosopher and educational reformer who was a major medieval proponent of experimental science. Bacon studied mathematics, astronomy, optics, alchemy, and languages. He was the first European to describe in detail the process of making gunpowder, and he proposed ...
methodical observation of facts as a means of studying and interpreting natural phenomena. This essentially empirical method was formulated early in the 17th century by Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, as a scientific substitute for the prevailing systems of thought, ...
English theologian and philosopher who, although he did not subscribe to the heterodox doctrine of the great Muslim philosopher Averroes, was regarded by the Renaissance Averroists as Princeps Averroistarum ("the prince of the Averroists"), and who strongly influenced the Carmelite ...
megye (county), south-central Hungary. The country's largest megye, it has an area of 3,229 square miles (8,362 square km) and extends eastward from the Danube River to the Tisza. Wheat, corn (maize), and vegetables are grown throughout the county, and ...
the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream, whether associated with active disease or not. The transient bacteremia that follows dental manipulation or surgical procedures may have little significance in the otherwise healthy individual with a functioning immune system. By contrast, ...
any of a group of microscopic organisms that are prokaryotic, i.e., that lack a membrane-bound nucleus and organelles. They are unicellular (one-celled) and may have spherical (coccus), rodlike (bacillus), or curved (vibrio, spirillum, or spirochete) bodies.
any of a group of viruses that infect bacteria. Bacteriophages were discovered independently by Frederick W. Twort in Great Britain (1915) and Felix d'Herelle in France (1917). D'Herelle coined the term bacteriophage, meaning "bacteria eater," to describe the agent's bacteriocidal ...
ancient country lying between the mountains of the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) in what is now part of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Bactria was especially important between about 600 BC and about AD 600, serving ...
genus of extinct cephalopods (animals related to the modern squid, octopus, and nautilus) found as fossils in marine rocks from the Devonian to the Permian periods (between 408 and 245 million years ago). Some authorities have identified specimens dating back ...
genus of extinct cephalopods (animals related to the modern squid, octopus, and nautilus) found as fossils in Late Cretaceous marine rocks (formed from 97.5 to 66.4 million years ago). Baculites, restricted to a narrow time range, is an excellent guide ...
the penis bone of certain mammals. The baculum is one of several heterotropic skeletal elements-i.e., bones dissociated from the rest of the body skeleton. It is found in all insectivores (e.g., shrews, hedgehogs), bats, rodents, and carnivores and in all ...
town, Steiermark Bundesland (federal province of Styria), central Austria, in the Traun Valley, southeast of Bad Ischl. The former centre of the Salzkammergut (salt region), it has the 15th-century Kammerhof (old offices of the salt administration) and two 14th- to ...
city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), west-central Germany. It lies on the eastern slope of the Haardt Mountains at the entrance to the Isenach Valley, 13 miles (21 km) west of Mannheim. Originally a dependency of the Benedictine abbey of Limburg (founded ...
city, Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. It lies in the Leine River valley. Bad Gandersheim is remarkable for an 11th-century convent church containing the tombs of famous abbesses and for the former abbey, which was moved ...
southern district of the city of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies on the west bank of the Rhine River opposite the Siebengebirge (Seven Hills), a scenic natural park. A village grew up around the Godesburg castle, ...
city, Lower Saxony Land (state), northeastern Germany. It is located on the northern slope of the Oberharz (Upper Harz) mountains, at the entrance to the Radau River valley about 25 miles (40 km) south of Braunschweig. It developed around a ...
town, Oberosterreich Bundesland (federal state), central Austria. It lies at the confluence of the Traun and Ischler Ache rivers, about 26 miles (42 km) east-southeast of Salzburg. First mentioned in records of 1262, it received municipal status in 1940. The ...
city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), west-central Germany. It lies along the Nahe River, a tributary of the Rhine, about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Mainz. The site of a Roman fortress and later (819) of a Carolingian palace (Cruciniacum), it ...
city, Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), south-central Germany. It lies on the Tauber River, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Nurnberg. An ancient settlement, it became the property of the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 1219 and ...
city, Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. It lies in the Alpine Saalach River valley, 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Salzburg, Austria. Bad Reichenhall is a noted health and winter resort surrounded by mountains, including the Predigtstuhl ...
any member of the largest tribal group living in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The Badaga have increased very rapidly, from fewer than 20,000 in 1871 to about 140,000 in the late 20th century. Their ...
town and port, northern Kerala state, southwestern India. Located on the Arabian Sea about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of the town of Kozhikode (formerly Calicut), Badagara is a fishing port and trade centre for pepper, copra, timber, and other ...
town and lagoon port in Lagos state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies on the north bank of Porto Novo Creek, an inland waterway that connects the national capitals of Nigeria (Lagos) and Benin (Porto-Novo), and on a road that leads to ...
city, capital of Badajoz province, in the Extremadura comunidad autonoma (autonomous community), southwestern Spain, on the south bank of the Guadiana River, near the Portuguese frontier; it lies on a low range of hills crowned by a ...
province in the Extremadura comunidad autonoma (autonomous community), the largest province in Spain. Badajoz borders on Portugal and has an area of 8,362 square miles (21,657 square km). It represents 4.3 percent of the country's total area ...
historic region of northeastern Afghanistan, roughly encompassing the northern spurs of the Hindu Kush and chiefly drained by the Kowkcheh River. Mountain glaciers and glacial lakes are found in the higher elevations of the region.
town, Barcelona provincia, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It is a northeastern industrial suburb of Barcelona, lying on the Mediterranean coast at the mouth of the Besos River. Badalona's manufactures include chemicals, textiles, leather goods, ...
town, northern Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southwestern India. The town was known as Vatapi in ancient times and was the first capital of the Calukya kings. It is the site of important 6th- and 7th-century Brahmanical and Jaina cave temples. ...
Egyptian predynastic cultural phase, first discovered at al-Badari, its type-site, on the east bank of the Nile River in Asyut muhafazah (governorate), Upper Egypt. British excavations there during the 1920s revealed settlements and cemeteries dating to about 4000 BC.
unincorporated place, seat of Victoria county, northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It lies in the centre of Cape Breton Island, on the north shore of Bras d'Or Lake.
town, Aargau canton, northern Switzerland, on the Limmat River, northwest of Zurich. The hot sulfur springs, mentioned as early as the 1st century AD by the Roman historian Tacitus, still attract large numbers of people. The town, founded by the ...
spa, Niederosterreich Bundesland (federal state), Austria. It lies along the Schwechat River, at the eastern edge of the Wiener Forest, south of Vienna. Settled in prehistoric times, it was a Roman watering place, or aquae, and was recorded in 869 ...
