Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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inheritance ... inorganic compound

inheritance: the devolution of property on an heir or heirs upon the death of the owner. The term inheritance also designates the property itself. In modern society the process is regulated in minute detail by law. In the civil law of ...
inheritance tax: levy on the property accruing to each beneficiary of the estate of a deceased person. It is usually calculated by reference to the amount received and the relationship (if any) of the beneficiary to the deceased. In some systems the ...
inhibition: in enzymology, a phenomenon in which a compound, called an inhibitor, in most cases similar in structure to the substance (substrate) upon which an enzyme acts to form a product, interacts with the enzyme so that the resulting complex either ...
inhibition: in psychology, conscious or unconscious constraint or curtailment of a process or behaviour, especially of impulses or desires. Inhibition serves necessary social functions, abating or preventing certain impulses from being acted on (e.g., the desire to hit someone in the ...
Inisa: town, Oyo state, southwestern Nigeria, near a station on the railroad from Lagos, some 135 miles (215 km) to the southwest. Situated on the road from Ikirun to Offa and Ilorin, Inisa is a local market centre (yams, cassava, corn ...
Initial Teaching Alphabet: alphabet of 44 characters designed by Sir James Pitman to help children learn to read English more effectively. The Initial Teaching Alphabet is based on the phonemic (sound) system of English and uses the Roman alphabet, augmented by 14 additional ...
initiator: a source of any chemical species that reacts with a monomer (single molecule that can form chemical bonds) to form an intermediate compound capable of linking successively with a large number of other monomers into a polymeric compound.
injunction: in civil proceedings, order of a court requiring a party to do or not to do a specified act or acts.
ink: fluid or paste of various colours, but usually black or dark blue, used for writing and printing. It is composed of a pigment or dye dissolved or dispersed in a liquid called the vehicle.
Ink Spots, the: American vocal group prominent in the late 1930s and '40s. One of the first African-American groups, along with the Mills Brothers, to reach both black and white audiences, the Ink Spots exerted great influence on the development of the doo-wop ...
Inkatha Freedom Party: black political movement in South Africa that derives its main support from the Zulu people. Inkatha was founded in 1975 in the black homeland of KwaZulu by Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, chief of the Zulu people and the chief minister of ...
inkblot test: any of a number of psychological tests in which a person is asked to interpret ambiguous patterns made by inkblots; the best-known of these is the Rorschach test.
inkstand: receptacle for a pen, ink, and other writing accessories. In England such a utensil was called a standish from the 15th to the 18th century. Inkstands were made of silver, pewter, lead, earthenware, or porcelain. Silver was the most fashionable ...
inky cap: (genus Coprinus), any member of a group of about 100 cosmopolitan mushroom species belonging to the order Agaricales. They are so called because, after spore discharge, the cap disintegrates into an inklike liquid that has been used for writing. They ...
Inland Sea: the body of water lying between the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It is composed of five distinct basins linked together by channels. Its east-west length is about 270 miles (440 km), and its waters are easily navigable. ...
inland water ecosystem: complex of living organisms in free water on continental landmasses.
inlay: in the visual arts, any decorative technique used to create an ornamental design, pattern, or scene by inserting or setting into a shallow or depressed ground or surface a material of a different colour or type. Inlay techniques are used ...
Inman, Henry: the leading American portraitist of his time.
inn: building that affords public lodging, and sometimes meals and entertainment, to travelers. The inn has been largely superseded by hotels and motels, though the term is often still used to suggest traditional hospitality.
Inn River: a major right- (south-) bank tributary of the Danube River. The Inn River is 317 miles (510 km) long. It rises in Lake Lughino in Switzerland and flows northeast across western Austria and southern Germany. The river's Swiss section is ...
innate idea: in philosophy, an idea allegedly inborn in the human mind, as contrasted with those received or compiled from experience. The doctrine that at least certain ideas (e.g., those of God, infinity, substance) must be innate, because no satisfactory empirical origin ...
inner ear: part of the ear that contains organs of the senses of hearing and equilibrium. The bony labyrinth, a cavity in the temporal bone, is divided into three sections: the vestibule, the semicircular canals, and the cochlea. Within the bony labyrinth ...
Inner Hebrides: islands off the Atlantic (western) coast of Scotland. As their name suggests, the Inner Hebrides lie close to the west coast of Scotland. They stretch 150 miles (240 km) from Skye in the north to Islay in the south and ...
Inner Light: the distinctive theme of the Society of Friends (Quakers), the direct awareness of God that allows a person to know God's will for him. It was expressed in the 17th century in the teachings of George Fox, founder of the ...
Inner Mongolia: autonomous region of China. It is a vast territory, with an area of 454,600 square miles (1,177,500 square kilometres), that stretches in a great crescent for some 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometres) across northern China. It is bordered to the north ...
Inness, George: American painter known especially for the luminous, atmospheric quality of his late landscapes.
Innisfail: town, northeastern Queensland, Australia, at the confluence of the North and South Johnstone rivers, between the coast and Mt. Bartle Frere. It is located in a region of heavy rainfall (144 in. [3,658 mm] annually), mainly supporting sugarcane, dairy products, ...
Innitzer, Theodor: cardinal and primate of Austria who withdrew his original support of the Nazi regime and became devoted to the reconstruction of the Austrian Church.
Innocent: last of four antipopes (1179-80) during the pontificate of Alexander III. A member of a family of German origin, he was a cardinal when elected on Sept. 29, 1179, by a faction opposing Alexander, who, in January 1180, relegated Innocent ...
Innocent I, Saint: pope from 401 to 417, who condemned Pelagianism, a heresy concerning the role of grace and free will.
Innocent II: pope from 1130 to 1143.
Innocent III: the most significant pope of the Middle Ages. Elected pope on January 8, 1198, Innocent III reformed the Roman Curia, reestablished and expanded the pope's authority over the Papal States, worked tirelessly to launch Crusades to recover the Holy Land, ...
Innocent IV: one of the great pontiffs of the Middle Ages (reigned 1243-54), whose clash with Holy Roman emperor Frederick II formed an important chapter in the conflict between papacy and empire. His belief in universal responsibility of the papacy led him ...
Innocent IX: pope from Oct. 29 to Dec. 30, 1591.
Innocent V, Blessed: pope during 1276, the first Dominican pontiff. He collaborated with SS. Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas in drafting a rule of studies for the Dominican order.
Innocent Veniaminov, Saint: the most famous Russian Orthodox missionary priest of the 19th century, who later became Metropolitan Innocent of Moscow. He was canonized in the Russian Church.
Innocent VI: pope from 1352 to 1362.
Innocent VII: pope from 1404 to 1406.
Innocent VIII: pope from 1484 to 1492.
Innocent X: pope from 1644 to 1655.
Innocent XI, Blessed: pope from 1676 to 1689.
Innocent XII: original name Antonio Pignatelli pope from 1691 to 1700.
Innocent XIII: original name Michelangiolo, or Michelangelo, Dei Conti pope from 1721 to 1724.
Innoko River: river, west-central Alaska, U.S. It is the westernmost major tributary of the Yukon River. The Innoko rises in the Kuskokwim Mountains west of the town of McGrath and flows north and then southwest for about 500 miles (800 km) before ...
Innoshima: city, eastern Hiroshima ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. Innoshima is coextensive with a small offshore island in the Inland Sea, originally settled by pirates. After the decline of piracy in the 17th century, the island was left ...
Inns of Court: in London, group of four institutions of considerable antiquity that have historically been responsible for legal education. Their respective governing bodies, the benches, exercise the exclusive right of admitting persons to practice by a formal call to the bar. They ...
Innsbruck: city, Tirol region, western Austria, on the Inn at the mouth of the Sill River in the Eastern Alps. First mentioned in 1180 as a small market town belonging to the Bavarian counts of Andech, it developed rapidly because of ...
Inoceramus: genus of extinct pelecypods (clams) found as fossils in Jurassic to Cretaceous rocks (laid down between 208 and 66.4 million years ago). Especially important and widespread in Cretaceous rocks, Inoceramus had a distinctive shell; it is large, thick, and wrinkled ...
inoculation: process of producing immunity and method of vaccination that consists of introduction of the infectious agent onto an abraded or absorptive skin surface instead of inserting the substance in the tissues by means of a hollow needle, as in injection. ...
Inonu, Ismet: Turkish army officer, statesman, and collaborator with and successor to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as president of the Turkish Republic. Identified with one-party rule between 1939 and 1946, he later emerged as a champion of democracy.
inorganic compound: any substance in which two or more chemical elements other than carbon are combined, nearly always in definite proportions. Compounds of carbon are classified as organic except for carbides, carbonates, cyanides, and a few others. See chemical compound.