Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

0-9

Inca ... Indian literature

Inca: South American Indians who, at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. The ...
incandescent lamp: any of various devices that produce light by heating a suitable material to a high temperature. When any solid or gas is heated, commonly by combustion or resistance to an electric current, it gives off light of a colour (spectral ...
Incarnation: central Christian doctrine that God became flesh, that God assumed a human nature and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the second Person of the Trinity. Christ was then truly God and ...
Ince, Thomas H: pioneer American motion-picture director, who was the first to organize production methods into a disciplined system of filmmaking.
incense: grains of resins (sometimes mixed with spices) that burn with a fragrant odour, widely used as an oblation. It is commonly sprinkled on lighted charcoal contained in a censer, or thurible.
incense burner: container generally of bronze or pottery, fitted with a perforated lid, in which incense is burnt. Although incense burners were used in Europe, they were far more widespread in the East. In China during the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), ...
incense cedar: (species Calocedrus decurrens), ornamental and timber evergreen conifer of the cypress family (Cupressaceae). It is native primarily to the western slopes of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges of North America, at altitudes of 900 to 2,500 m (2,950 ...
Inceptisol: one of the 12 soil orders in the U.S. Soil Taxonomy. Inceptisols are soils of relatively new origin and are characterized by having only the weakest appearance of horizons, or layers, produced by soil-forming factors. They are the most abundant ...
incest: sexual relations between persons who, because of the nature of their kin relationships, are prohibited by law or custom from intermarrying. Because, cross-culturally, incest is more an emotional than a legal issue, the term taboo is generally preferred over prohibition. ...
inch: unit of British Imperial and United States Customary measure equal to 136 of a yard. The unit derives from the Old English ince, or ynce, which in turn came from the Latin unit uncia, which was "one-twelfth" ...
Inch'on: port city, Kyonggi do (province), northwestern South Korea. It lies near the mouth of the Han River, 25 miles (40 km) west-southwest of Seoul, with which it is connected by highway and railroad. It serves as the capital's chief seaport. ...
Inchbald, Elizabeth: nee Simpson English novelist, playwright, and actress whose successful prose romances, A Simple Story (1791) and Nature and Art (1796), are early examples of the novel of passion.
incidental music: music written to accompany or point up the action or mood of a dramatic performance on stage, film, radio, television, or recording; to serve as a transition between parts of the action; or to introduce or close the performance. Because ...
incinerator: container for burning refuse, or plant designed for large-scale refuse combustion. In the second sense, an incinerator consists of a furnace into which the refuse is charged and ignited (usually by a gas burner), a secondary chamber in which burning ...
incipit: the opening word or words of a medieval Western manuscript or early printed book. In the absence of a title page, the text may be recognized, referred to, and recorded by its incipit. As in the title pages or main ...
inclined plane: simple machine consisting of a sloping surface, used for raising heavy bodies. The force required to move an object up the incline is less than the weight being raised, discounting friction. The steeper the slope, or incline, the more nearly ...
income and employment theory: a body of economic analysis concerned with the relative levels of output, employment, and prices in an economy. By defining the interrelation of these macroeconomic factors, governments try to create policies that contribute to economic stability.
income tax: levy imposed on individuals (or family units) and corporations. Individual income tax is computed on the basis of income received. It is usually classified as a direct tax because the burden is presumably on the individuals who pay it. Corporate ...
incomes policy: collective governmental effort to control the incomes of labour and capital, usually by limiting increases in wages and prices. The term often refers to policies directed at the control of inflation, but it may also indicate efforts to alter the ...
incongruent melting: liquefaction of a solid accompanied by decomposition or by reaction with the melt to produce another solid and a liquid that differs in composition from the original solid. For example, enstatite, a magnesium silicate (MgSiO₃), melts incongruently at low pressures ...
incremental repetition: a device used in poetry of the oral tradition, especially English and Scottish ballads, in which a line is repeated in a changed context or with minor changes in the repeated part. The device is illustrated in the following stanzas ...
incubation: the maintenance of uniform conditions of temperature and humidity to ensure the development of eggs or, under laboratory conditions, of certain experimental organisms, especially bacteria. The phrase incubation period designates the time from the commencement of incubation to hatching. It ...
incubator: an insulated enclosure in which temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions can be regulated at levels optimal for growth, hatching, or reproduction. There are three principal kinds of incubators: poultry incubators, infant incubators, and bacteriological incubators.
incubus: demon in male form that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in the birth of ...
incunabula: books printed during the earliest period of typography, i.e., from the invention of the art of typographic printing in the 1450s to the end of the 15th century (i.e., January 1501). Such works were completed at a time when books-some ...
Independence: city, seat (1870) of Montgomery county, southeastern Kansas, U.S. Independence lies on the Verdigris River, near Elk City Lake (dammed for flood control and irrigation). It was founded in 1869 by a company that purchased a portion of an Osage ...
Independence: city, seat of Jackson county, western Missouri, U.S., immediately east of Kansas City. It is the hometown of President Harry S. Truman (who was born at Lamar, 100 miles [160 km] south). Settled in 1827, the county was named for ...
Independence Day: in the United States, the annual celebration of nationhood. It commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
Independence National Historical Park: area of downtown Philadelphia, partially owned by the city but operated by the U.S. National Park Service. It covers 45 acres (18 hectares) and contains a number of historic structures associated with the American Revolution and the founding of the ...
Independent Fundamental Churches of America: fellowship of conservative, independent Christian churches stressing biblical truth. It was organized in Cicero, Illinois, U.S., in June 1930 as the successor to the American Conference of Undenominational Churches.
Independent Television: in the United Kingdom, television network consisting of a consortium of private companies in competition with the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, which was originally the Independent Television Authority. The ITV network was authorized ...
Indes Orientales, Compagnie Francaise des: (French: "French Company of the East Indies"), one of the companies known as the French East India Company (q.v.).
Indes, Compagnie Francaise des: (French: "French Company of the Indies"), one of the companies known as the French East India Company (q.v.).
indeterminacy: in literature, the multiplicity of possible interpretations of given textual elements. The term was given its literary meaning by deconstruction theorists. Indeterminacy is similar to ambiguity as described by the New Critics, but it is applied by its practitioners not ...
indeterminate sentence: in law, term of imprisonment with no definite duration within a prescribed maximum. Eligibility for parole is determined by the parole authority. In this respect, an indeterminate sentence differs from a definite one in that statutes prescribing the latter usually ...
index fossil: any animal or plant preserved in the rock record of the Earth that is characteristic of a particular span of geologic time or environment. A useful index fossil must be distinctive or easily recognizable, abundant, and have a wide geographic ...
Index Librorum Prohibitorum: (Latin: "Index of Forbidden Books"), list of books once forbidden by Roman Catholic church authority as dangerous to the faith or morals of Roman Catholics. Publication of the list ceased in 1966, and it was relegated to the status of ...
indexation: in fiscal policy, a means of offsetting the effect of inflation or deflation on social security payments and taxes by measuring the "real value" of money from a fixed point of reference, usually a price index. Without indexing, recipients of ...
India: country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. It is a constitutional republic consisting of 28 states, each with a substantial degree of control over its own affairs; 6 less fully empowered union territories; and the Delhi national capital ...
India ink: black pigment in the form of sticks that are moistened before use in drawing and lettering, or the fluid ink consisting of this pigment finely suspended in a liquid medium, such as water, and a glutinous binder. The sticks or ...
India rubber plant: (species Ficus elastica), large tree in its native Southeast Asia and in other warm areas but a common indoor pot plant elsewhere. It has large, thick, oblong leaves, up to 30 cm (12 inches) long and figlike fruits in pairs ...
India, House of: 15th-century Portuguese establishment that managed the trade in products from overseas colonies. It was called House of Guinea because it began by processing products from Guinea. Originally housed in a warehouse at Lagos in southern Portugal, it was reestablished in ...
Indian Airlines: the domestic and regional airline of India, founded in 1953. Whereas the airline Air-India provides a broader international service, Indian Airlines serves the Indian subcontinent-India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), and Sri Lanka. Headquarters are in New Dehli.
Indian Association: nationalist political group in India that favoured local self-government and served as a preparatory agent for the more truly national Indian National Congress. The association was founded in Bengal in 1876 by Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose; it soon ...
Indian Botanic Garden: botanical garden in Calcutta, famous for its enormous collections of orchids, bamboos, palms, and plants of the screw pine genus (Pandanus). The garden covers more than 109 hectares (270 acres), on which about 1,700 plant species are cultivated. It was ...
Indian Evidence Act: act passed by the British Parliament in 1872 that set forth the rules of evidence admissible in Indian courts and that had far-reaching consequences for the traditional systems of caste government in India. Since ancient times, the way of resolving ...
Indian grass: (species Sorghastrum nutans), tall perennial forage grass of the family Poaceae and one of the important constituents of the North American tall grass prairie. It bears narrow, greatly branched flower clusters. Each yellow spikelet is fringed with white hairs, giving ...
Indian hemp: (species Apocynum cannabinum), North American plant of the dogbane family Apocynaceae (order Gentianales). It is a branched perennial that grows up to 1.5 m (5 feet) tall and has smooth opposite leaves and small greenish white flowers. Indians used the ...
Indian languages: languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The languages of the region are generally classified as belonging to the following families: Indo-European (the Indo-Iranian branch in particular), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic (Munda in particular), and Sino-Tibetan. Fourteen languages are mentioned in the constitution ...
Indian law: the legal practices and institutions of India. The general history of law in India is a well-documented case of reception as well as of grafting. Foreign laws have been "received" into the Indian subcontinent-for example, in the demand by the ...
Indian literature: writings of the Indian subcontinent, produced there in a variety of languages, including Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Bengali, Bihari, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and Sindhi.