http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/ excerpts from the 1888 Chambers's Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge - LiveJournal.com Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:00:58 GMT LiveJournal / LiveJournal.com vickipedia 9373464 personal http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/38303.html Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:00:58 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/38303.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/38303.html public 3 Vickipedia has moved to http://vickipedia.multipledigression.com. To continue reading it through LJ there's vickipedia_feed, or for your non-LJ RSS pleasure the feed is available at http://vickipedia.multipledigression.com/feed/. (only posting this because I recently learned that at least one person had missed this) http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37899.html Wed, 24 Jan 2007 19:54:31 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37899.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37899.html public 0 JARGONI’ZING is a phenomenon observed chiefly in acute mania; it consists in the utterance of uncouth and unintelligible sounds, which may resemble articulate words, or be little more than harsh ejaculations and bellowings. Reminder - all new entries are being posted at vickipedia.multipledigression.com and the feed can be viewed on LJ at vickipedia_feed. http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37829.html Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:26:08 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37829.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37829.html vickipedia public 2 I've been mucking about with Wordpress on my personal web site, multipledigression.com, and have created a new home for Vickipedia: vickipedia.multipledigression.com. I still have to go through and tag the old entries and fix a couple of things, but all the old entries are there. All new posts will be there, but will be available through the RSS feed, which is available on lj as vickipedia_feed. http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37584.html Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:45:56 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37584.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37584.html geography language history public 0 ABORIGINES (Lat.), properly the earliest inhabitants of a country. The corresponding term used fey the Greeks was Autoch­thones. The Roman and Greek historians, however, apply the name to a special people, who, according to tradition, had their original seats in the mountains about Reate, now Rieti; but, being driven out by the Sabines, descended into Latium, and in conjunction with a tribe of Pelasgi, subdued or expelled thence the Siculi, and occupied the country. The A. then disappear as a... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37248.html Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:04:04 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37248.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37248.html economics society public 0 ABSENTEE', a term applied, by way of reproach, to capitalists who derive their income from one country, and spend it in another. It has been especially used in discussions on the social condition of Ireland. As long as Ireland had its own parliament, a great portion of the large landed proprietors lived chiefly in the country during summer, and passed their winters in Dublin; thus spending a large portion of their incomes among their dependents, or at least among their countrymen. The Union... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37044.html Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:07:36 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37044.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/37044.html history religion public 0 CHRISTIA'NITY. It is proposed in the present article to give a very brief outline of the system of the Christian religion, and of the evidences by which its truth is established. The principal parts, both of the system and evidences of C., will be found noticed under separate heads. C. comes to us with a claim to be received as of divine origin. It is no product of the human mind, but has for its author the Being whom it sets before us as the object of worship. It is consequently altogether... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36614.html Sun, 24 Dec 2006 20:37:54 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36614.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36614.html society holidays history religion public 2 CHRI'STMAS, the day on which the nativity of the Saviour is observed. The institution of this festival is attributed by the spurious Decretals to Telesphorus, who flourished in the reign of Antoninus Pius (138—161 a.d.), but the first certain traces of it are found about the time of the Emperor Commodus (180—192 A.D.). In the reign of Diocletian (284—305 A.D.), while that Buler was keeping court at Nicomedia, he learned that a multitude of Christians were assembled in the city to celebrate the... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36599.html Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:37:02 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36599.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36599.html public 0 JAPA'N (native name, Nihon or Nippon, i.e., Land of the Rising Sun, or Dai (i.e., Great) Nihon or Nippon), a very ancient island-empire of Eastern Asia, long remarkable for the proud isolating policy of its rulers, and now claiming special consideration, on account both of its recent renewed relations with the civilized world, and of the wonderful changes that, during the last few years have been in progress in the country. The name Japan is a corruption of Marco Polo's Zipangu. Japan Proper... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36255.html Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:30:35 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36255.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/36255.html history biography religion public 0 JANSEN. cornelius, a celebrated divine, born of humble parentage in 1585, at Akkoi, near Leerdam, in Holland, from whom the sect of jansenists derives its name. He was nephew of the well-known biblical commentator, and Bishop of Ghent, of the same name. The studies of J. were divided between Utrecht, Louvain, and Paris. Having obtained a professorship at Bayonne, he devoted himself with all his energy to scriptural and patristic studies, especially of the works of St. Augustine. From Bayonne,... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35975.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:23:48 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35975.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35975.html history religion public 0 A'RTICLES, THE THIRTY-NINE, of the Church of England, are the articles of religion which were agreed upon by the archbishops and bishops of both provinces and the whole clergy in the convocation held at London in the 4th year of Elizabeth, 1562, under Archbishop Parker. To have a clear view of the history of these important articles, we must go back to the promulgation of the original ones, forty-two in number, in the reign of Edward VI. The council appointed by the will of Henry VIII. to... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35719.html Thu, 23 Nov 2006 06:14:33 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35719.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35719.html biology public 0 TURKEY (Meleagris), a genus of gallinaceous birds of the family Pavonidæ, or, according to some ornithologists, of a distinct family, Meleagridæ, both, however, being included by others in Phasianidæ. The head is bare, the neck wattled, and the bill of the male surmounted with a conical fleshy caruncle, sometimes erected, sometimes elongated and pendulous. A curious tuft of long hair springs from the base of the neck of the male, and hangs down on the breast. The bill is rather short,... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35532.html Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:34:28 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35532.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35532.html recreation food medicine public 3 ABSINTHE is a spirit flavored with the pounded leaves and flowering tops of certain species of Artemisia (q. v.), chiefly wormwood (A. Absinthium), together with Angelica-root, sweet-flag root, star-anise, and other aromatics. The aromatics are macerated for about eight days in alcohol, and then distilled, the result being an emerald-colored liquor. Adulteration is largely practised, even blue vitriol being sometimes found in so-called A. The best A. is made in Switzerland, the chief seat of... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35232.html Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:28:15 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35232.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35232.html music public 1 RANZ DES VACHES (in German, Kuhreigen), a name applied 10 certain simple native melodies of the Swiss Alps, which are usually sung by the herdsmen, and played by them when driving their herds to and from the pasture, on an instrument called the Alphorn, consisting of a wooden tube somewhat bent, about three feet long, widened out into a bell, and bound by a pitched cord. The associations of pastoral life recalled by these airs to the Swiss in foreign countries, have been said to produce that... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35002.html Thu, 16 Nov 2006 19:50:54 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35002.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/35002.html geography public 0 TU'RKEY, or the OTTOMAN EMPIRE (q. v.), includes large portions of the continents of Europe. Asia, and Africa, and consists of Turkey Proper, which is under the direct rule of the sultan, and of several dependent and tributary states. The arrangements sanctioned by the Berlin Congress in 1878 have largely changed the size and organization of the empire. Turkish affairs could not soon be expected to settle into equilibrium; and on most subjects reliable statistical results are at best... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34561.html Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:39:28 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34561.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34561.html public 5 My wife and I will be on vacation in Turkey for the next two weeks, so the next update will be on or around October 30th. http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34455.html Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:38:10 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34455.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34455.html occult public 0 CRYSTALLO'MANCY, a mode of divination by means of transparent bodies, at one time very popular. A precious stone, crystal globe, or other transparent object, was employed, but a beryl was deemed most effective. In using it, the operator first muttered over it certain formulas of prayer, and then gave it into the hands of a youth or virgin—none others were pure enough to discern its revelations—who beheld in it the information required. Sometimes the desiderated facts were conveyed by means... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34163.html Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:04:48 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34163.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/34163.html history religion public 0 FIFTH MONARCHY MEN. Among the strange and whimsical forms of opinion which the religious and political fermentation of the 17th c. brought to the surface of society, and embodied in the shape of religious sects, were those of the Fifth Monarchy Men. The date which has been assigned to their first appearance is 1654. Notwithstanding the ridicule with which they have often been overwhelmed, there seems nothing in their tenets more objectionable than we find in those of many of the other sects... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33982.html Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:57:19 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33982.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33982.html geography history public 0 AMERICA, spanish. Spanish A. is now shrunk into Porto Rico and Cuba, and belongs rather to history than to geography. Yet for many years it embraced absolutely the entire continent. Its decay was caused by the colonists becoming mere hunters after the precious metals, instead of agriculturists, and by the exclusion of all but natives of the mother country from public employment. http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33598.html Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:56:37 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33598.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33598.html geography public 0 AMERICA, russian, the name long given to what is now a territory of the United States, called Alaska, and which was purchased from the Russian government in 1867 for 7,200,000 dollars. It forms the north-western extremity of the American continent, and is bounded N. by the Arctic Ocean, E. by British America, W. and S. by the Pacific. It was discovered by a Russian expedition conducted by Behring (q. v.), which sailed from Kamtchatka in 1741. It is little better than a vast hunting-ground, and... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33501.html Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:55:30 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33501.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33501.html geography public 0 AMERICA, british. From the small beginnings specified in the general article above, British A., in the proper sense of the words, is now, in mere extent, at least equal to the American republic, and vastly superior to any other state in the western hemisphere—occupying, as it does, a breadth of about 90° of long, and stretching, with more or less interruption over a length of 120°. Besides touching, actually or virtually, every considerable power on the continent, England, in the new world as... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33171.html Wed, 04 Oct 2006 23:10:16 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33171.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/33171.html medicine law public 0 ABORTION, in Criminal Law. Neither in the Law of England nor of Scotland is it murder to kill a child in the mother's womb (although it would be murder of the mother, if she died in consequence of the treatment). But the offence in question falls under the name A., which may be denned as the crime of administering to a pregnant woman any medicine, poison or noxious drug, or of using any surgical instrument or other means, with the intent of procuring miscarriage. The English law on the subject... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32889.html Wed, 04 Oct 2006 23:09:40 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32889.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32889.html medicine public 1 ABO'RTION is the term used in Medicine to denote the expulsion of the product of conception (the impregnated ovum) from the womb before the sixth month of pregnancy. If the expulsion takes place after that date, and before the proper time, it is termed a premature labor or miscarriage. In law, no such distinction is made. The frequency of abortion as compared with normal pregnancy is very differently estimated by different writers ; but the best evidence leads us to the belief that abortion is... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32534.html Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:15:32 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32534.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32534.html law public 0 FINDER OF GOODS. The finder acquires a special property in goods, which is available to him against all the world except the true owner; but before appropriating them to his own use, he must use every reasonable means to discover the owner. It has been decided that if the property had not been designedly aban­doned, and the finder knew who the owner was, or knew that he could have discovered him, he was guilty of larceny in keeping and appropriating the articles to his own use. R. v. Thurborn,... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32290.html Wed, 27 Sep 2006 20:55:25 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32290.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32290.html history law religion public 0 PRI'VILEGE (Lat. privilegium, from privata lex, a private law), a special ordinance or regulation, in virtue of which an individual or a class enjoys certain immunities or rights from or beyond the common provisions of the general law of the community. It differs from a dispensation inasmuch as the latter merely relaxes the existing law for a particular case or cases, while the privilege is a permanent and general right. Of ancient and medieval legislation, the law of privilege formed an... http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32038.html Mon, 25 Sep 2006 23:06:47 GMT http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32038.html http://vickipedia.livejournal.com/32038.html history public 0 BLA'ZON, BLA'ZONRY (Ger. Blasen, to blow, as with a horn). These heraldic terms originated in the custom of blowing a trumpet to announce the arrival of a knight, or his entrance into the lists at a joust or tournament. The blast was answered by the heralds, who described aloud and explained the arms borne by the knight. B. and B. thus came to signify the art of describing, in technical terms, the objects (or charges, as they are called) borne in arms—their positions, gestures,...