Medusa
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Medusa. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
in Greek mythology, one of the Gorgons. According to Hesiod there were three of these monsters. Medusa alone was subject to death, the others being immortal. The legend runs that Medusa was a beautiful maiden whose glorious hair was praised until she grew vain, and at last dared to compare her beauty with that of Minerva. The jealous goddess punished her by changing her lovely curls into hissing serpents. Her disposition changed also and she became cruel. All who looked at her terrible face surrounded by the writhing snakes were immediately turned into stone. About the cavern where she lived were many figures of men and animals who had been petrified by looking in her face. At last the hero Perseus slew Medusa. He was careful not to look at her directly, but, watching her reflection in his bright shield, cut off her head, which he carried to Minerva. Minerva placed the head in the middle of her aegis. Medusa has been represented frequently in art. The most famous painting of her is by Leonardo da Vinci .
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
One of the three Gorgons, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. She was the only one of the Gorgons subject to mortality. She was celebrated for her personal charms and the beauty of her hair, which Minerva changed into serpents. According to Apollodorus and others, the Gorgons were born with snakes on their heads instead of hair, and with yellow wings and brazen hands. Perseus rendered himself famous by his conquest of Medusa. He cut off her head and placed it on the aegis of Minerva. The head had the power of changing those who looked at it into stone. Medusa, as we are informed by Lord Lytton, was an expression applied to Mary Queen of Scots in her own day, and in his brilliant poem, The Last Days of Queen Elizabeth, he speaks of the unfortunate queen as 'Thou soft Medusa of the fated line." Mela or Mella, M. Annaeus. Youngest son of M. Annaeus Seneca, the rhetorician, brother of L. Seneca, the philosopher, and father of the poet Lucan.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in classical mythology, one of the Gorgons who, giving offense to Minerva, had the fine hair which she prided herself, turned to ser- , on pents; her eyes were also endowed with power of converting every one who looked at her into stone. There are some unimportant variations in the myth. Meduse (the plural): Jelly-fishes, or of the family Medusidæ. It consists of an umbrella-like disk surrounded by numerous short filiform tentacles. sea-nettles, a sub-class or order of Hy- Meduse (the plural): Jelly-fishes, or drozoa. It is called Discophora. Head of Medusa: In astronomy, a por tion of the constellation Perseus, who is supposed to carry the head of Medusa in his left hand. It contains the variable or periodic star Algol.