Madison, James

During eight years as Jefferson's secretary of state (1801 - 09), Madison used the words �The President has decided� so regularly that his own role can be discovered only in foreign archives. British diplomats dealing with Madison encountered �asperity of temper and fluency of expression.� Senators John Adair and Nicholas Gilman agreed in 1806 that he �governed the President,� an opinion held also by French minister Louis-Marie Turreau.

General Motors Corporation

(GM)� American corporation that became the world's largest vehicle manufacturer in 1931 and maintained that status into the 21st century. It also ranks among the world's largest industrial corporations. GM was founded in 1908 to consolidate several motorcar companies and today operates manufacturing and assembly plants and distribution centres throughout the United States

Pietism

German �Pietismus � influential religious reform movement that began among German Lutherans in the 17th century. It emphasized personal faith against the main Lutheran church's perceived stress on doctrine and theology over Christian living. Pietism quickly spread and later became concerned with social and educational matters. As a phenomenon of personal religious renewal, its

Wilson, Harriet E.

Almost nothing is known of Wilson's personal history until

France, History Of, Merovingian and Carolingian age

Comprehensive introductions to the period are found in Margaret Deanesly, A History of Early Medieval Europe, from 476 to 911, 2nd ed. (1960, reissued 1974); Jean Favier (ed.), Histoire de France, 6 vol. (1984 - 88), vol. 1; and Karl Ferdinand Werner, Les Origines (avant l'an mil) (1984). The history of invasions, with the archaeological background, is presented in Lucien Musset, The Germanic Invasions: The Making of Europe, AD 400 - 600 (1975; originally published in French, 1965), and Les Invasions: le second assaut contre l'Europe chr�tienne, VIIe - XIe si�cles, 2nd ed. (1971); and Patrick P�rin and Laure-Charlotte Feffer, Les Francs, 2 vol. (1987). On the Merovingians, see Eugen Ewig, Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich (1988); Bernard S. Bachrach, Merovingian Military Organization, 481 - 751 (1972); and J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Long-Haired Kings and Other Studies in Frankish History (1962, reprinted 1982). For the Carolingians, Louis Halphen, Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire (1977; originally published in French, 1947), remains the classic work. Later scholarship is reflected in Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751 - 987 (1983); and F.L. Ganshof, The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy, trans. from French (1971). Special studies of the civilization of the period include J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church (1983); Pierre Rich�, Education and Culture in the Barbarian West, Sixth Through Eighth Centuries (1976; originally published in French, 3rd ed., 1973); Suzanne Fonay Wemple, Women in Frankish Society: Marriage and the Cloister, 500 to 900 (1981); and Ren�e Doehaerd, The Early Middle Ages in the West: Economy and Society (1978; originally published in French, 1971).

T�bessa

Latin �Theveste� town, northeastern Algeria. It is located 146 miles (235 km) by road south of Annaba and 12 miles (19 km) west of the Tunisian frontier. T�bessa was an outpost of Carthage in the 7th century BC and a Roman garrison town in 146 BC. It declined in the 5th and 6th centuries AD and disappeared from history after the Arab invasion of the 7th century. The Turks stationed a small military garrison there, and, after

Breisgau

Historic region between the Rhine and the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, now in the South Baden district of the Land (state) Baden-W�rttemberg. It was part of the frontier region of the Roman Empire known as the Agri Decumates; from c. AD 260 it was occupied by the Germanic Alemanni. The Z�hringen family was invested with the countship of Breisgau in the early Middle

China, The Nien Rebellion

Often in the first half of the 19th century plundering gangs, called nien, ravaged northern Anhwei, southern Shantung, and southern Honan. In mid-century, however, their activities were suddenly intensified, partly by the addition to their numbers of a great many starving people who had lost their livelihood from repeated floods of the Huang Ho in the early 1850s, and partly

Agulhas Current

Surface oceanic current that is part of the westward-flowing South Equatorial Current, which turns southward along the east coast of Africa and then eastward to join the flow from Africa to Australia. A small part of Agulhas water may, however, continue westward around the Cape of Good Hope into the Atlantic. The Mozambique Current, between Madagascar and Africa,

Object Language

In semantics and logic, the ordinary language used to talk about things or objects in the world - as contrasted with metalanguage, an artificial language used by linguists and others to analyze or describe the sentences or elements of object language itself. The concept was developed by such 20th-century logical positivists as Polish-American Alfred Tarski and German-American

Panama, Administrative divisions

The country is divided into nine provincias and four comarcas ind�genas (indigenous sectors) - Kuna Yala (San Blas), Ember� (Ember�-Wounaan), Madungand� (Madugand�), and Ngobe Bugl� (Guaym�). The provincias are divided into distritos municipales (municipal districts), which are subdivided into corregimientos (magistracies). The head of each provincia is the governor, appointed

Environmental Works, Groundwater sources

The value of an aquifer as a source of groundwater is a function of the porosity of the geologic stratum, or layer, of which it is formed. Water is withdrawn from an aquifer by pumping it out of a well or infiltration gallery. An infiltration gallery typically includes several horizontal perforated pipes radiating outward from the bottom of a large-diameter vertical

Ch�diak-higashi Syndrome

Persons with Ch�diak-Higashi syndrome experience persistent or recurrent infections. Other symptoms associated with the disease include enlargement of the liver and spleen, partial albinism, and depressed activity

India, Aurangzeb

The empire under Aurangzeb (ruled 1658 - 1707) experienced further growth but also manifested signs of weakness. For more than a decade, Aurangzeb appeared to be in full control. The Mughals suffered a bit in Assam and Cooch Behar, but they invaded gainfully the Arakanese in southern Myanmar (Burma), captured Chittagong, and added territories in Bikaner, Bundelkhand, Palamau, Assam,

Chelif River

Also spelled �Ch�liff, or Sheliff, � the longest and most important river of Algeria. Its farthest tributary, the Sebgag River, rises in the Amour ranges of the Saharan Atlas Mountains near Aflou. Crossing the Hauts Plateaux for most of the year as a chain of marshes and muddy pools, the river loses most of its water but is replenished by a stream near Chabounia, the Nahr Ouassel River. The Chelif then turns

Rambert, Dame Marie

A student of �mile Jaques-Dalcroze, the originator of eurhythmics, Rambert was invited in 1913 to teach this technique of rhythmic education to members of Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; through her

Porcelain Enamelling

Also called �Vitreous Enamelling, � process of fusing a thin layer of glass to a metal object to prevent corrosion and enhance its beauty. Porcelain-enamelled iron is used extensively for such articles as kitchen pots and pans, bathtubs, refrigerators, chemical and food tanks, and equipment for meat markets. In architecture it serves as facing for buildings. Being a glass, porcelain enamelling has the

Daniell, John Frederic

In 1820 Daniell invented a dew-point hygrometer (a device that indicates atmospheric humidity), which came into widespread use. In his Meteorological Essays and Observations (1823), Daniell

Ellensburg

City, seat (1883) of Kittitas county, central Washington, U.S., on the Yakima River, 28 miles (45 km) north of Yakima. The first white man settled there in 1867, and three years later the valley's first trading post, called Robbers Roost, was opened. The community bore that name until 1875, when John Shoudy platted a town site and named it for his wife, Ellen. The building of the Northern Pacific Railway

Fighter Aircraft

Aircraft designed primarily to secure control of essential airspace by destroying enemy aircraft in combat. The opposition may consist of fighters of equal capability or of bombers carrying protective armament. For such purposes fighters must be capable of the highest possible performance in order to be able to outfly and outmaneuver opposing fighters. Above

Azzone Dei Porci

Also called �Azzone Soldanus�, Latin �Azolinus Porcius, Azzone� also spelled �Azo� or �Azzo� a leader of the Bolognese school of jurists and one of the few to write systematic summaries (summae) rather than textual glosses of Roman law as codified under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (6th century AD). His Summa codicis and Apparatus ad codicem together provided a methodical exposition of Roman law and were very influential

Residencia

In colonial Spanish America, judicial review of an official's acts, conducted at the conclusion of his term of office. Originating in Castile in the early 15th century, it was extended to the government of Spain's colonial empire from the early 16th century. In Spain it was applied mainly to the corregidors (local administrative and judicial officials). In the New World all

Paraguay River

The source and upper course of the Paraguay River are in Brazil, where it demarcates

Lupus Erythematosus

Discoid lupus affects only the skin and does not usually involve internal organs. The term discoid refers to a rash of distinct reddened patches covered with grayish brown scales that may appear on the

Biblical Literature, Jewish sects and parties

From both the New Testament and extrabiblical material the main religious groups or parties in Palestinian Judaism may be discerned. Such descriptions, however, may be somewhat biassed or apologetic. Philo, an Alexandrian Jewish philosopher (died c. AD 40), Josephus, a Jewish apologist to the Romans (died c. 100), and sectarian writings found at Qumran near the Dead Sea in 1947 that date

Szekler

Hungarian �Sz�kely, � member of a people inhabiting the upper valleys of the Mures and Olt rivers in what was eastern Transylvania and is now Romania. They were estimated to number about 860,000 in the 1970s and are officially recognized as a distinct minority group by the Romanian government. Their origin has been much debated. According to their own tradition, repeated in Procopius' De bello

Cornell, Katharine

Cornell was the daughter of American parents who were in Berlin at the time of her birth. Later that year the family returned to Buffalo, New York. Her interest in the theatre came naturally - her father was an amateur actor and an associate

African Literature

The traditional oral and written literatures together with the mainly 20th-century literature written mostly in European languages but also to an increasing extent in the many languages of the sub-Saharan region. Traditional written literature is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature; indeed, it is most characteristic of those sub-Saharan