Columbia Encyclopedia
Search results
500 results found
health-care proxy
(Encyclopedia)health-care proxy, legal document in which a person assigns to another person, usually called an agent or proxy, the authority to make medical decisions in case of incapacitation. It is, in essence, a...herbarium
(Encyclopedia)herbarium, collection of dried and mounted plant specimens used in systematic botany. To preserve their form and color, plants collected in the field are spread flat in sheets of newsprint and dried, ...Scroggs, Sir William
(Encyclopedia)Scroggs, Sir William, 1623?–1683, English jurist. Educated at Oxford and trained in law at Gray's Inn, he became (1669) a king's sergeant, was made (1676) justice in common pleas through the influen...Parker, Alton Brooks
(Encyclopedia)Parker, Alton Brooks, 1852–1926, American jurist, U.S. presidential candidate (1904), b. Cortland, N.Y. He practiced law in Kingston, N.Y., and was (1877–85) surrogate of Ulster co., N.Y. He becam...community chest
(Encyclopedia)community chest, cooperative organization of citizens and social welfare agencies in a city. Also known as a united fund, it has two purposes: to raise funds through an annual campaign for its member ...Beaumont, William
(Encyclopedia)Beaumont, William, 1785–1853, American physician, b. Lebanon, Conn. He was privately educated and was licensed (1812) to practice in Vermont. His Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice an...Book of the Dead
(Encyclopedia)Book of the Dead, term used to describe Egyptian funerary literature. The texts consist of charms, spells, and formulas for use by the deceased in the afterworld and contain many of the basic ideas of...Boston Strangler
(Encyclopedia)Boston Strangler, American serial killer who terrorized the Boston, Mass., area during a killing spree (Jun., 1962–Jan, 1964) that claimed the lives of at least 11 women. The first six victims were ...ceilometer
(Encyclopedia)ceilometer sēlŏmˈĭtər [key], in aviation and meteorology, automatic instrument used to record ceiling, i.e., the altitude of the lowest cloud layer covering more than half of the sky. The ceilome...Oppenheimer, J. Robert
(Encyclopedia)Oppenheimer, J. Robert ŏpˈənhīˌmər [key], 1904–67, American physicist, b. New York City, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1925), Ph.D. Univ. of Göttingen, 1927. He taught at the Univ. of California and t...Browse by Subject
- Earth and the Environment +-
- History +-
- Literature and the Arts +-
- Medicine +-
- People +-
- Philosophy and Religion +-
-
Places
+-
- Africa
- Asia
- Australia and Oceania
- Britain, Ireland, France, and the Low Countries
- Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic Nations
- Germany, Scandinavia, and Central Europe
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Oceans, Continents, and Polar Regions
- Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and the Balkans
- United States, Canada, and Greenland
- Plants and Animals +-
- Science and Technology +-
- Social Sciences and the Law +-
- Sports and Everyday Life +-
