Table

Egyptian tables were made of wood, Assyrian of metal, and Grecian usually of bronze. Roman tables took on quite elaborate forms, the legs carved in the shapes of animals, sphinxes, or grotesque

Merano

Merano, first mentioned in 857, is that part of the Tirol transferred from Austria to Italy in 1918. The city is dominated by the Gothic parish church (1367–1495) and the small Principesco

Palencia

Capital of Palencia provincia, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), north-central Spain. It lies on the Campos Plain southwest of Burgos. Called the Pallantia by the ancient Greek geographers Strabo and Ptolemy, it was the chief town of the Vaccaei, an Iberian tribe. Its history during the Gothic and Moorish periods is obscure, but it was the

Alliaceae

Family of flowering plants in the order Liliales, with about 30 genera and more than 670 species, distributed throughout most regions of the world, except for the tropics, Australia, and New Zealand. Members of the family have corms, bulbs, or underground stems; most have long, thin leaves and clusters of varying numbers of flowers. The genus Allium contains the common onion

Yoccoz, Jean-christophe

Yoccoz was awarded the Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Zürich,

Mercury Processing, Metallurgical uses

Mercury amalgamates, or mixes, readily with many metals. Amalgams of mercury, silver, and tin have been the most successful material for repairing dental cavities. Gold and silver

Sacco-vanzetti Case

The trial resulted from the murders in South Braintree, Mass., on April 15, 1920, of F.A. Parmenter, paymaster of a shoe factory, and Alessandro Berardelli, the guard accompanying him, in order to secure the payroll

Earth Sciences, Prospecting for groundwater

Although the origin of the water in the Earth that seeps or springs from the ground was long the subject of much fanciful speculation, the arts of finding and managing groundwater were already highly developed in the 8th century BC. The construction of long, hand-dug underground aqueducts (qanats) in Armenia and Persia represents one of the great hydrologic achievements

Asafetida

Gum resin prized as a condiment in India and Iran, where it is used to flavour curries, meatballs, and pickles. It has been used in Europe and the United States in perfumes and for flavouring. Acrid in taste, it emits a strong onionlike odour because of its organic sulfur compounds. It is obtained chiefly from the plant Ferula foetida of the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).

Hojo Masako

Masako fell in love with Yoritomo when he was exiled from the capital by his family's rivals, the Taira clan, and put under the watch of Masako's father.