Search the scanned history of knowledge.

TRAVELLER'S TREE, a remarkable tree, native of Madagascar and Reunion, with a straight stem reaching 30 ft. in height and bearing at the top a number of large long-stalked leaves which spread vertically like a fan. The leaf has a large sheath at the base in wh ...

TREE, SIR HERBERT BEERBOHM (1853- ), English actor and manager, was born in London, on the I7th of December 1853, the son of Julius Beerbohm, a London merchant of German parentage; his half-brother, Max Beerbohm (b. 1872), became well known as a dramatic criti ...

TREE FROG. Many different groups of tailless Batrachians (see FROG) are adapted to arboreal life, which is indicated by expansions of the tips of the fingers and toes, adhesive disks which assist the animal in climbing on vertical smooth surfaces. These disks ...

TREE KANGAROO, any individual of the diprotodont marsupial genus Dendrolagus (see MARSUPIALIA) . Three species are inhabitants of New Guinea and the fourth is found in North Queensland. They differ greatly from all other members of the family (Macropodidae), b ...

TREE-SHREW, any of the arboreal insectivorous mammals of the genus Tupaia. There are about a dozen species, widely distributed over the east. There is a general resemblance to squirrels. The species differ chiefly in the size and in colour and length of the fu ...

ANIMAL WORSHIP, an ill-defined term, covering facts ranging from the worship of the real divine animal, commonly conceived as a " god-body," at one end of the scale, to respect for the bones of a slain animal or even the use of a respectful name for the living ...

ARU ISLANDS (Dutch Aroe), a group in the residency of Amboyna, Dutch East Indies; between 5° 18' and 7° 5' S., and 134° and 135° E.; the member nearest to the south-west coast of New Guinea lying about 70 m. from it. The larger islands (Wokan, Kobrur, Maikor a ...

ASPHALT, or ASPHALTUM. The solid or semi-solid kinds of bitumen (q.v.) were termed &ff<t>a\TO$ by the Greeks; and by some ancient classical writers the name of pissasphaltum (iri<r<ra, pitch) was also sometimes employed. The asphalt of the Dead Sea (known as L ...

ASTROLOGY, the ancient art or science of divining the fate and future of human beings from indications given by the positions of the stars (sun, moon and planets). The belief in a connexion between the heavenly bodies and the life of man has played an importan ...

ATLAS MOUNTAINS, the general name for the mountain chains running more or less parallel to the coast of North-west Africa. They extend from Cape Nun on the west to the Gulf of Gabes on the east, a distance of some 1500 m., traversing Morocco, Algeria and Tunis ...

ENERGY (from the Gr. tvlpytia; kv, in, tpyov, work), in physical science, a term which may be defined as accumulated mechanical work, which, however, may be only partially available for use. A bent spring possesses energy, for it is capable of doing work in re ...

ERZERUM, or ARZRUM (Arm. Garin), the chief town of an important vilayet of the same name in Asiatic Turkey. It is a military station and a fortress of considerable strategical value, closing the roads from Kars, Olti and other parts of the frontier. Several im ...

THEATRE (dearpov, " a place for seeing," from BeaffOai), a building specially devised for dramatic representations. The drama arose from the choric dances in honour of Dionysus, which were held in a circular dancing-place (opx^orpo, Lat. orchestra) in his prec ...

TRUNK (Fr. tronc, Lat. truncus, cut off, maimed), properly the main stem of a tree from which the branches spring, especially the stem when stripped of the branches; hence, in a transferred sense, the main part of a human or animal body without the head, arms ...

UNITED STATES, THE, the short title usually given to the great federal republic which had its origin in the revolt of the British colonies in North America, when, in the Declaration of Independence, they described themselves as " The Thirteen United States of ...

VAYGACH (variously Waigats, Waigatch, &c.), an island off the Arctic coast of Russia, between it and Novaya Zemlya, bounded S. by the narrow Yugor Strait, and N. by that of Kara. It is roughly oblong in form; its length from S.E. to N.W. is 70 m., and its grea ...

SYMOND'S YAT, one of the most famous view points on the river Wye, England. At a point 9 m. above Monmouth and 1 2 m. below Ross by water, the Wye makes a sweep of nearly 5 m. round a peninsula whose neck is only some 600 yds. across. The peninsula is occupied ...

VENUS'S FLY-TRAP (Dionaea muscipula), a remarkable insectivorous plant, a native of North and South Carolina, first described in 1768 by the American botanist Ellis, in a letter to Linnaeus, in which he gave a substantially correct account of the structure and ...

ANGOLA, the general name of the Portuguese possessions on the west coast of Africa south of the equator. With the exception of the enclave of Kabinda (q.v.) the province lies wholly south of the river Congo. Bounded on the W. by the Atlantic Ocean, it extends ...

ANGOULEME. a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Charente, 83 m. N.N.E. of Bordeaux on the railway between Bordeaux and Poitiers. Pop. (1006) 30,040. The town proper occupies an elevated promontory, washed on the north by the Charente an ...

ANGUILLA, or SNAKE, a small island in the British Indies, part of the presidency of St Kitts-Nevis, in the colony of the Leeward Islands. Pop. (1901) 3890, mostly negroes. It is situated in 18° 12' N. and 63° 5' W., about 60 m. N.W. of St Kitts, is 1 6 m. long ...

ANIMISM (from animus, ur anima, mind or toul), acn.r.ln^ to thetleiuiiiiimni 1'r K.H.Tylor, the <1<H I rine of spiritual beings, including human souls; in practice, however, the term is often extended to include panlhclism or animalism, the doctrine that a gre ...

ANIM&, an oleo-resin (said to be so called because in its natural state it is infested with insects) which is exuded from the locust tree, Hymenaea coumaril, and other species of Hymenaea growing in tropical South America. It is of a pale brown colour, transpa ...

ANTANANARIVO, i.e. "town of a thousand" (Fr. spelling Tananarive), the capital of Madagascar, situated centrally as regards the length of the island, but only about 90 m. distant from the eastern coast, in 18° 55' S., 47° 30' E. It is 135 m. W.S.W. of Tamatave ...

ANTI-SEMITISM. In the political struggles of the concluding quarter of the igth century an important part was played by a religious, political and social agitation against the Jews, known as " Anti-Semitism." The origins of this remarkable movement already thr ...

ANTWERP, the most northern of the nine provinces of Belgium. It is conterminous with the Dutch frontier on the north. Malines, Lierre and Turnhout are among the towns of the province. Its importance, however, is derived from the fact that it contains the comme ...

ANURADHAPURA, a ruined city of Ceylon, famous for its ancient monuments. It is situated in the North-central province. Anuradhapura became the capital of Ceylon in the 5th century B.C., and attained its highest magnificence about the commencement of the Christ ...

ANVILLE, JEAN BAPTISTS BOURGUIGNON D' (16971782), perhaps the greatest geographical author of the i8th century, was born at Paris on the 1 1 th of July 1697. His passion for geographical research displayed itself from early years: at the age of twelve he was a ...

APOPLEXY (Gr. drorXjjJia. from <hrorXq<r0-cu>, to strike down, to stun), the terni employed by Galen to designate the " sudden loss of feeling and movement of the whole body, with the exception of respiration," to which, after the time of Harvey, was added " a ...

APOSTOLICI, APOSTOLIC BRETHREN, or APOSTLES, the names given to various Christian heretics, whose common doctrinal feature was an ascetic rigidity of morals, which made them reject property and marriage. The earliest Apostolici appeared in Phrygia, Cilicia, Pi ...

... an ancient town of Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 6 m. from the sea, on the river Natiso (mod. Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. It was founded by the Romans in 181 B.C. as a frontier ...

ARANJUEZ (perhaps the ancient Ara Jems), a town of central Spain, in the province of Madrid, 30 m. S. of Madrid, on the left bank of the river Tagus, at the junction of the main southern railways to Madrid, and at the western terminus of the AranjuezCuenca rai ...

ARBOR DAY, the name applied in the United States of America to a day appointed for the public planting of trees (see ARBOUR). Originating, or at least being first successfully put into operation, in Nebraska in 1872 through the instrumentality of J. Sterling M ...

ARBOR VITAE (Tree of Life), a name given by Clusius to species of Thuja. The name Thuja, which was adopted by Linnaeus from the Thuya of Tournefort, seems to be derived from the Greek word 0iios, signifying sacrifice, probably because the resin procured from t ...

ARBORETUM, the name given to that part of a garden or park which is reserved for the growth and display of trees. The term, in this restricted sense, was seemingly first so employed in 1838 by J. C. Loudon, in his book upon arboreta and fruit trees. Professor ...

ARBORICULTURE (Lat. arbor, a tree), the science and art of tree-cultivation. The culture of those plants which supply the food of man or nourish the domestic animals must have exclusively occupied his attention for many ages; whilst the timber employed in hous ...

... " hcrber " or " crbcr," O. Fr. kertorr. from Lai herbarium, a collection of herbs, herba, grass; the word came to be spelt " arber " through its pronunciation, as in the case of Derby, and by the i6th century was written " arbour," helped by a confusion of der ...

ARBROATH, or ABERBROTROCK, a royal, municipal and police burgh, and seaport of Forfarshirc, Scotland. It is situated at the mouth of Brothock water, 17 m. N.E. of Dundee by the North British railway, which has a branch to Forfar, via Guthrie, on the Caledonian ...

ARBUTHNOT, ALEXANDER (1538-1583), Scottish ecclesiastic and poet, educated at St Andrews and Bourges, was in 1569 elected principal of King's College, Aberdeen, which office he retained until his death. He played an active part in the stirring church politics ...

ARCADE, in architecture, a range of arches, supported either by columns or piers; isolated in the case of those separating the nave of a church from the aisles, or forming the front of a covered ambulatory, as in the cloisters in Italy and Sicily, round the Du ...