genus of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae), containing two species of perennial South American herbs. Both are native to Brazil and have purple flowers.
any of a group of German scholars that arose around 1875; their chief tenet concerning language change was that sound laws have no exceptions. This principle was very controversial because there seemed to be several irregularities in language change not ...
final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans. It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery ...
chemical element, inert gas of Group 0 (noble gases) of the periodic table, used in electric signs and fluorescent lamps. Colourless, odourless, tasteless, and lighter than air, neon gas occurs in minute quantities in the Earth's atmosphere and trapped within ...
influential 20th-century Protestant theological movement in Europe and America, known in Europe as crisis theology and dialectical theology. The phrase crisis theology referred to the intellectual crisis of Christendom that occurred when the carnage of World War I belied the ...
by the one great philosophical and religious genius of the school, Plotinus. The ancient philosophers who are generally classified as Neoplatonists called themselves simple "Platonists," as did the philosophers of the Renaissance and the 17th century whose ideas derive from ...
any of a class of elastomers, or rubberlike synthetic organic compounds of high molecular weight (polymers), made by chemical combination of the simpler compound 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene (chloroprene); it is used in numerous products, such as shoe soles, hoses, and adhesives, that ...
conodont, or small toothlike phosphatic fossil of uncertain affinity, that is characterized by a main terminal cusp, varying numbers of subsidiary cusps or denticles that may be completely fused, and an underside region that is deeply grooved. Several genera are ...
in Greek legend, the son of Achilles, the hero of the Greek army at Troy, and of Deidamia, daughter of King Lycomedes of Scyros; he was sometimes called Pyrrhus, meaning Fair. In the last year of the Trojan War the ...
Italian literary and cinematic movement, flourishing especially after World War II, seeking to deal realistically with the events leading up to the war and with the social problems that were engendered during the period and afterwards.
genus of about 40 species of epiphytes (plants that are supported by other plants and have aerial roots exposed to the humid atmosphere) of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae) native to tropical South America. Several species, including N. carolinae, are grown ...
city, seat (1839) of Newton county, southwest Missouri, U.S. It lies in the Ozark Mountains, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Joplin. Founded in 1839, its name, of Osage derivation, means "clear and abundant water," probably referring to the ...
river rising north of Council Grove in Morris county, Kan., U.S., and flowing generally southeast into Oklahoma, where it is also known as the Grand, to join the Arkansas River, near Fort Gibson, after a course of about 460 miles ...
genus of extinct brachiopods (lamp shells) found as fossils in Late Carboniferous to Permian marine rocks (the period of time from the Late Carboniferous to the end of the Permian was about 245 to 320 million years ago); many species ...
any of a group of poets who sought to break away from the didactic-patriotic tradition of Latin poetry by consciously emulating the forms and content of Alexandrian Greek models. The neoteroi deplored the excesses of alliteration and onomatopoeia and the ...
one of the six major biogeographic areas of the world defined on the basis of its characteristic animal life. It extends south from the Mexican desert into South America as far as the subantarctic zone. It includes such animals as ...
country of Asia, lying along the southern slopes of the Himalayan mountain ranges. It is a landlocked country located between India to the east, south, and west and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north. Its territory, which ...
town, southwestern Nepal. It is situated in the Tarai, a low, fertile plain northeast of Nanpara, India. Nepalganj is a trading centre for rice, wheat, corn (maize), oilseeds, and hides produced in the surrounding area. The largest town in western ...
the body of writings in the Nepali language of Nepal. Before the Gurkha (Gorkha) conquest of Nepal in 1768, Nepalese writings were in Sanskrit and Newari as well as Nepali (the latter being the language of the Gurkha conquerors). These ...
an order of carnivorous plants, belonging to the class Magnoliopsida, also called dicotyledon (characterized by two seed leaves). The order consists of three families: the Droseraceae, containing the sundews and the Venus's-flytrap; the Nepenthaceae, consisting of the Old World pitcher ...
genus of flowering plants commonly called pitcher plants that belong to the family Nepenthaceae, order Nepenthales. About 80 species are known, mostly native to Southeast Asia and Australasia. The common North American plants that are more often designated by the ...
the most common feldspathoid mineral, an aluminosilicate of sodium and potassium (Na3KAl4Si4O16). It is sometimes used as a substitute for feldspars in the manufacture of glass and ceramics. Nepheline is the characteristic mineral of alkaline plutonic rocks, particularly nephelinesyenites and ...
medium- to coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock, a member of the alkali-syenite group (see syenite) that consists largely of feldspar and nepheline. It is always considerably poorer in silica and richer in alkalies than granite. The extraordinarily varied mineralogy of the ...
silica-poor (basic) lava that contains nepheline and pyroxene and is usually completely crystallized. Despite its wide geographic distribution and occasional extensive local development, it is a very rare rock. Known only from Tertiary strata (about 2,500,000 to 65,000,000 years in ...
in analytical chemistry, methods for determining the amount of cloudiness, or turbidity, in a solution based upon measurement of the effect of this turbidity upon the transmission and scattering of light. Turbidity in a liquid is caused by the presence ...
city, seat (1882) of Juab county, north-central Utah, U.S. Located at the southern end of the Wasatch Range, the city was founded as an agricultural colony in 1851 and was originally called Salt Creek; in the late 1850s Mormon leaders ...
unit of the excretory system in many primitive invertebrates and also in the amphioxus; it expels wastes from the body cavity to the (usually aquatic) exterior. The evolution of nephridia encouraged tissue specialization by eliminating the need for all cells ...
a gem-quality silicate mineral in the tremolite-actinolite-ferrotremolite series of amphiboles. It is the less prized but more common of the two types of jade, usually found as translucent to opaque, compact, dense aggregates of finely interfelted tufts of long, thin ...
malignant renal (kidney) tumour of early childhood. In 75 percent of the cases, the tumour grows before the age of five; about two-thirds of the instances are apparent by two years of age. The tumour grows rapidly and can approach ...
branch of medicine concerned with the study of kidney functions and the treatment of kidney diseases. The first scientific observations of the kidney were made by Lorenzo Bellini and Marcello Malpighi in the middle of the 17th century, but true ...
functional unit of the kidney, the structure that actually produces urine in the process of removing waste and excess substances from the blood. There are about 1,000,000 nephrons in each human kidney. The most primitive nephrons are found in the ...
hardening of the walls of the small arteries and arterioles (small arteries that convey blood from arteries to the even smaller capillaries) of the kidney. This condition is caused by hypertension (high blood pressure). Hypertension can be present in a ...
group of signs of kidney malfunction, including a low level of albumin (a protein) and a high level of lipids (fats) in the blood, proteins in the urine, and the accumulation of fluid in the tissues. It may result from ...
he was identified with the Greek Poseidon and thus became a deity of the sea. His female counterpart, Salacia, was perhaps originally a goddess of leaping springwater, subsequently equated with the Greek Amphitrite.
third largest planet of the solar system and normally the eighth planet from the Sun. Because of its great distance from Earth, it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. With a small telescope, it appears as a tiny, faint ...
radioactive chemical element of the actinide series in Group IIIb of the periodic table, first transuranium element to be artificially produced, atomic number 93. Though traces of neptunium have subsequently been found in nature, where it is not primeval but ...
set of artificially produced and unstable heavy nuclei that are genetically related through alpha and beta decay. It is one of four radioactive series (q.v.).
(Hebrew: "eternal light"), lamp that burns perpetually in Jewish synagogues before or near the ark of the Law (aron ha-qodesh). It reminds the congregation of the holiness of the Torah scrolls that are stored within the ark and calls to ...
town, Chita oblast (province), east-central Russia. The town lies along the Nercha River just above the latter's confluence with the Shilka. Nerchinsk was founded as a fort in 1654. Once it served as an important customs post and trading centre ...
(1689), peace settlement between Russia and the Manchu Chinese empire that checked Russia's eastward expansion by removing its outposts from the Amur River basin. By the treaty's terms Russia lost easy access to the Sea of Okhotsk and Far Eastern ...
third largest known moon of Neptune and the second to be discovered. It was detected photographically by the Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper in 1949. It is named after the numerous daughters, called Nereids, of the sea god Nereus ...
in Greek religion, any of the daughters (numbering 50 or 100) of the sea god Nereus (eldest son of Pontus, a personification of the sea) and of Doris, daughter of Oceanus (the god of the water encircling the flat Earth). ...
river flowing in Bosnia and Hercegovina and in Croatia. The Neretva River rises on Lebrsnik Mountain and flows northwest past Konjic to Jablanica (Jablanicko) Lake, then southwest via Mostar to enter the Adriatic Sea. Its total length is 140 miles ...
in Greek religion, sea god called by Homer "Old Man of the Sea," noted for his wisdom, gift of prophecy, and ability to change his shape. He was the son of Pontus, a personification of the sea, and Gaea, the ...
in Mesopotamian religion, secondary god of the Sumero-Akkadian pantheon. He was identified with Irra, the god of scorched earth and war, and with Meslamtaea, He Who Comes Forth from Meslam. Cuthah (modern Tall Ibrahim) was the chief centre of his ...
Italian priest and one of the outstanding mystics during the Counter-Reformation and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory (now the Institute of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, also called Oratorians), a congregation of secular priests and clerics. He ...
South African prima ballerina renowned for her remarkable versatility of roles. After touring South Africa in 1942, she went to England in 1945, where she studied under Dame Marie Rambert.
shallow marine environment extending from mean low water down to 200-metre (660-foot) depths, generally corresponding to the continental shelf. Neritic waters are penetrated by varying amounts of sunlight, which permits photosynthesis by both planktonic and bottom-dwelling organisms. The zone is ...
