Holdheim, Samuel

From 1836 to 1840 Holdheim officiated as a rabbi at Frankfurt an der Oder. In 1840 he went as Landesrabbiner (rabbi of a whole province) to Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Three years later

Clough, Arthur Hugh

While at Oxford, Clough had intended to become a clergyman, but his increasing religious skepticism caused him to leave the university. He became head of University

Ahmed Iii

The son of Mehmed IV, he succeeded to the throne in 1703 upon the deposition of his brother Mustafa II. Ahmed III cultivated good relations with England and France and afforded refuge at his court to Charles XII of Sweden after his defeat by Peter I the Great of Russia

Chemoreception, Mammals

Chemoreceptively, mammals are the best studied of vertebrates by far, and man is probably the most studied of all, although experimental techniques that can be used with blowflies (Phormia) and rats are inappropriate for humans. The taste buds of mammals are mostly on the upper surface of the tongue, on so-called vallate, foliate, and fungiform papillae. Some taste buds

Shamanism, Forms of ecstasy

The shaman may fulfill his obligations either by communicating with the spirits at will or through ecstasy. The latter has two forms: possession ecstasy, in which the body of the shaman is possessed by the spirit, and wandering ecstasy, in which his soul departs into the realm of spirits. In passive ecstasy the possessed gets into an intense mental state and shows superhuman

China, Japan and Ryukyu

Three years after the Meiji Restoration of 1868—which inaugurated a period of modernization and political change in Japan—a commercial treaty was signed between China and Japan, and it was ratified in 1873. Understandably it was reciprocal, because both signatories had a similar unequal status vis-à-vis the Western nations. The establishment of the new Sino-Japanese relations

Andreini, Giovambattista

Andreini began his stage career with the Compagnia dei Gelosi founded by his parents, but about 1601 he formed his

Sang-kan River

Wade–Giles romanization  Sang Kan Ho , Pin-yin  Sang Gan He  river in Shansi and Hopeh provinces, China. The Sang-kan River rises just south of Ning-wu, near the Great Wall of China, on the eastern slope of the Kuan-ts'en Shan (mountains), in northern Shansi. After flowing northeast in a trough running parallel to the strike of the Heng Shan, it turns southeast near Hsüan-hua (Hopeh) to emerge into the North China Plain in the Peking area.

Aeolus

In Greek mythology, mythical king of Magnesia in Thessaly, the son of Hellen (the eponymous ancestor of the true Greeks, or Hellenes) and father of Sisyphus (the “most crafty of men”). Aeolus' daughter Canace and son Macareus committed incest and then took their own lives. Their story provided the subject of Euripides' lost Aeolus. Aeolus gave his name to Aeolis, a territory

Sabbath River

In Jewish legend, a river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled. See Sambation.

Dublin, Climate

With its coastal site on the western seaboard of the Irish Sea, Dublin enjoys a mild climate. The average temperature is lowest in January–February, 42° F (6° C), and highest in July–August, 59° F (15° C). Sunshine averages four hours a day. The mean annual rainfall is 30–40 inches (760–1,000 millimetres), although the rate is higher in the mountains. The period of maximum rainfall occurs in winter, and there

North Polar Sequence

Group of 96 stars near the north celestial pole, used from about 1900 to 1950 as standards of magnitude and colour by which other stars are measured. First proposed by the American astronomer Edward Charles Pickering, the system has been largely superseded by the UBV system (q.v.).

Wynyard

Town, northern Tasmania, Australia, at the mouth of the River Inglis on Bass Strait. Founded in 1841, it was made a municipality in 1856 and named Table Cape for a high promontory (380 feet [116 m]) to the south. It was gazetted a town in 1861, when its name was changed to honour Major General Edward Wynyard, commander in chief in 1850 of British forces in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Located on a rail line