Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Gluckman, Max ... goat

Gluckman, Max: South African social anthropologist esteemed for his contributions to political anthropology, particularly his analyses of political systems among African tribes. Examining feud and conflict, he considered their relation to cultural change in Custom and Conflict in Africa (1955).
Gluckstadt: city, Schleswig-Holstein Land (state), northern Germany. It lies on the Elbe River Estuary, northwest of Hamburg. It was founded in 1616 by Christian IV of Denmark to rival Hamburg as a trading port. The fortress was demolished ...
gluconeogenesis: formation in living cells of glucose and other carbohydrates from other classes of compounds. These compounds include lactate and pyruvate; the compounds of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the terminal stage in the oxidation of foodstuffs; and several amino acids.
glucose: one of a group of carbohydrates known as simple sugars (monosaccharides). Glucose (from Greek glykys; "sweet") has the molecular formula C₆H₁₂O₆. It is found in fruits and honey and is the major free sugar circulating in the blood of higher ...
glucose tolerance test: procedure to assess the ability of the body to metabolize glucose, the principal blood sugar. In persons with normal, or slightly elevated, blood-sugar levels, the body tolerance to sugar is measured in a stressful situation induced by administering a large ...
glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency: hereditary metabolic defect characterized by an increased tendency of the red blood cells to break and release their hemoglobin (hemolysis), especially after the intake of certain drugs. The condition is caused, as the name indicates, by the markedly reduced activity ...
glue: gelatin-like adhesive substance extracted from animal tissue, particularly hides and bones, or from fish, casein (milk solids), or vegetables. Glue was used as early as 3000 BC in wooden furniture construction in Egypt.
Glueck, Sheldon; and Glueck, Eleanor: American criminologists and researchers at Harvard Law School, a husband-and-wife team whose numerous studies of criminal behaviour and of the results of correctional treatment profoundly influenced criminal justice, both legislatively and administratively.
gluon: the so-called messenger particle of the strong nuclear force, which binds subatomic particles known as quarks within the protons and neutrons of stable matter as well as within heavier, short-lived particles created at high energies. Quarks interact by emitting and ...
Glushko, Valentin Petrovich: Soviet rocket scientist, a pioneer in rocket propulsion systems, and a major contributor to Soviet space and defense technology.
glutamic acid: an amino acid occurring in substantial amounts as a product of the hydrolysis of proteins. Certain plant proteins (e.g., gliadin) yield as much as 45 percent of their weight as glutamic acid; other proteins yield 10 to 20 percent. Much ...
glutamine: an amino acid, the monoamide of glutamic acid, and an abundant constituent of proteins. First isolated from gliadin, a protein present in wheat (1932), glutamine is widely distributed in plants; e.g., beets, carrots, and radishes. Important in cellular metabolism in ...
glutathione: a tripeptide (i.e., compound composed of three amino acids), the chemical name of which is gamma-l-glutamyl-l-cysteinylglycine. Widely distributed in nature, it has been isolated from yeast, muscle, and liver. Glutathione has a role in the respiration of both ...
gluten: a yellowish gray powdery mixture of water-insoluble proteins occurring in wheat and other cereal grains and composed chiefly of the proteins gliadin and glutenin. Its presence in flour helps make the production of leavened, or raised, baked goods possible because ...
gluteus muscle: any of the large, fleshy muscles of the buttocks, stretching from the back portion of the pelvic girdle (hipbone) down to the greater trochanter, the bony protuberance at the top of the femur (thighbone). These include the gluteus maximus, gluteus ...
Glycas, Michael: Byzantine historian, theologian, and poet, author of a world chronicle and learned theological works.
Glycerius: Western Roman emperor from 473 to 474.
glycerol: a clear, colourless, viscous, sweet-tasting liquid belonging to the alcohol family of organic compounds; molecular formula HOCH₂CHOHCH₂OH. Until 1948 all glycerol was obtained as a by-product in making soaps from animal and vegetable fats and oils, but industrial syntheses based ...
glycine: the simplest amino acid, obtainable by hydrolysis of proteins. Sweet-tasting, it was among the earliest amino acids to be isolated from gelatin (1820). Especially rich sources include gelatin and silk fibroin. Glycine is one of several so-called nonessential amino acids ...
glycogen: white, amorphous, tasteless polysaccharide (C₆H₁₀0₅)_n. It is the principal form in which carbohydrate is stored in higher animals, occurring primarily in the liver and muscles. It also is found in various species of microorganisms-e.g., bacteria and fungi, including yeasts. Glycogen ...
glycogen storage disease: any of a group of enzymatic deficiencies resulting in altered glycogen metabolism. They are subdivided on the basis of the specific deficiency into 13 types designated O and by successive roman numerals. The clinical manifestations fall into two groups, those ...
glycol: any of a class of organic compounds belonging to the alcohol family; in the molecule of a glycol, two hydroxyl (OH) groups are attached to different carbon atoms. The term is often applied to the simplest member of the class, ...
glycolipid: any member of a group of fat-soluble substances particularly abundant in tissues of the nervous system of animals. They are members of the class of sphingolipids (q.v.), but differ from the simpler members of that class in that their molecules ...
glycoside: any of a wide variety of naturally occurring substances in which a carbohydrate portion, consisting of one or more sugars or a uronic acid (i.e., a sugar acid), is combined with a hydroxy compound. The hydroxy compound, usually a non-sugar ...
Glyn, Elinor: nee Sutherland English novelist and short-story writer known for her highly romantic tales with luxurious settings and improbable plots.
Glyndebourne: English manor and estate and site of annual summer performances by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Located in East Sussex, Eng., just northeast of Brighton, the Elizabethan house was added to during the 19th and 20th centuries, and an opera house ...
Glyptodon: genus of extinct giant armadillo-like mammals found as fossils in deposits in South and North America from the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). Glyptodon and its relatives were encased from head to tail in thick, protective bony armour. ...
Glyptothek: museum in Munich that houses a collection of Greek and Roman sculpture owned by the Bavarian state. The building, commissioned by King Louis I of Bavaria and designed in the Neoclassical style by Leo von Klenze, was erected 1816-30.
gmelinite: hydrated sodium and calcium aluminosilicate mineral in the zeolite family. Its crystal structure and chemical composition are similar to those of chabazite (q.v.), with which it is commonly found.
Gmunden: town, Oberosterreich Bundesland ("federal state"), north-central Austria, where the Traun River flows out of the Traunsee, a mountain lake. The site of Celtic and Roman settlements, Gmunden was fortified in the 12th century and chartered in the 13th. Its Baroque ...
Gnadenhutten Massacre: (March 8, 1782), murder of 96 Ohio Indians, mostly Delawares, by an American Revolutionary War officer, Captain David Williamson, and his militia at Gnadenhutten Village south of what is now New Philadelphia, Ohio. The Indians, who had been converted by ...
gnat: any member of several species of small flies that bite and annoy humans. Several nonbiting insects, such as the midges, which resemble mosquitoes, are also sometimes known as gnats. In North America the name is often applied to the black ...
gnatcatcher: family name Polioptilidae, any of about 11 species of small birds of the genus Polioptila, treated by many authorities as a subfamily of the Old World warbler family Sylviidae. The blue-gray gnatcatcher (P. caerulea), 11 cm (4.5 inches) long, ...
gnateater: any of certain bird species (genus Conopophaga) usually classified with the antbirds. See antbird; antpipit.
Gneisenau, August, Count Neidhardt von: Prussian field marshal and reformer, one of the key figures in rebuilding and reorganizing the Prussian army shattered by Napoleon in 1806 and the architect of its victory during the wars of liberation (1813-15).
gneiss: metamorphic rock that has a distinct banding, which is apparent in hand specimen or on a microscopic scale. Gneiss usually is distinguished from schist (q.v.) by its foliation and schistosity; gneiss displays a well-developed foliation and a poorly developed schistosity ...
Gneist, Rudolf von: liberal German jurist, legal reformer, legislator, and political theoretician whose teachings and publications, based on studies of the English system of government, exercised a profound influence on the development of German administrative law.
Gnetaceae: a family of tropical gymnosperms in the order Gnetales, composed of one genus, Gnetum, with 30 or more species. Trees predominate among the African species; most of the Asian varieties are woody vines, but among the exceptions is G. gnemon, ...
Gnetales: only order of plants in the subdivision Gnetopsida, a group with characteristics of both angiosperms and gymnosperms. The order contains three families: Ephedraceae, Gnetaceae, and Welwitschiaceae, each with a single genus. See also Ephedra; Gnetaceae; Welwitschiaceae.
gnetophyte: any member of the division Gnetophyta, a small group of vascular gymnospermous plants that are represented by three genera: Ephedra, Gnetum, and Welwitschia. There are about 35 species in the genus Ephedra, 30 or ...
Gniezno: city, Wielkopolskie wojewodztwo (province), west-central Poland. Located on the Poznan-Torun rail line, it is a trade and food-processing centre.
gnome: in European folklore, dwarfish, subterranean goblin or earth spirit who guards mines of precious treasures hidden in the earth. He is represented in medieval mythologies as a small, physically deformed (usually hunchbacked) creature resembling a dry, gnarled old man. Gob, ...
gnomic poetry: aphoristic verse containing short, memorable statements of traditional wisdom and morality. The Greek word gnome means "moral aphorism" or "proverb." Its form may be either imperative, as in the famous command "know thyself," or indicative, as in the English adage ...
Gnosticism: philosophical and religious movement prominent in the Greco-Roman world in the 2nd century AD. While Gnosticism drew from and influenced in turn many traditional religions, its effect was most clearly felt on nascent Christianity, in which it led to the ...
gnotobiosis: (from the Greek meaning "known life"), condition of life in which only known kinds of organisms are present. Gnotobiotic organisms are of two major types: germfree, that is, free of all known contaminants; and gnotophoric, bearing a single known contaminant, ...
gnu: either of two African antelopes of the genus Connochaetes, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla).
go: board game for two players. Of East Asian origin, it is popular in China, Korea, and especially Japan, the country with which it is most closely identified. Go, probably the world's oldest board game, is thought to have originated in ...
Goa: state of India. Comprising a mainland district on the country's western coast and an offshore island, it is located 250 miles (400 kilometres) south of Bombay. It is bounded by the states of Maharashtra on the north and Karnataka on ...
Goajiro: Indian people of the Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia and adjacent Venezuela. Numbering about 127,000 in the late 20th century, they speak an Arawakan language and are linguistically and culturally distinct from their neighbours to the south, the Arhuaco. The ...
Goalundo Ghat: town, central Bangladesh. It is situated near the confluence of the Padma and Jamuna rivers. Goalundo Ghat is linked by road with Faridpur and Kushtia and is an important river-steamer and rail-spur terminus. Its principal transshipment commodities are rice, jute, ...
goat: any ruminant and hollow-horned mammal belonging to the genus Capra. Related to the sheep, the goat is lighter of build, has horns that arch backward, a short tail, and straighter hair. Male goats, called rams or billys, usually have a ...