These 13 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Angurvadel, Anhalt, Anhinga.
The sword, possessing magical properties, which was inherited by Frithjof, the hero of an Icelandic saga. It had a golden hilt, and shone like the Northern Lights. In times of peace certain characters on its blade were dull and pale; but during a battle they became red, like fire.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
a former duchy of north Germany, almost surrounded by Prussia; area 888 square miles. All sorts of grain, wheat especially, are grown in abundance; also, flax, rape, potatoes, tobacco, hops, and fruit. The inhabitants are principally occupied in agriculture, though there are some iron works and manufactures of woolens, linens, beetsugar, tobacco, etc. The former Dukes of Anhalt trace their origin to Bernard (1170-1212), son of Albert the Bear. In common with the other German states, Anhalt, in November, 1918, was declared a republic. Pop. about 350,000. The chief towns are Dessau (pop. about 60,000), Bernburg (pop. about 35,000), Köthen, and Zerbst.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
an aquatic bird allied to the cormorant. From its long snaky head and neck, it is called the snakebird. It is also called a water-turkey. Length, thirty-four inches. Plumage, glossy black, with silvery markings. It is found in the Gulf States and in the Orinoco region. It flies, perches, and dives, but seldom swims. Its favorite perch is a dried limb overhanging a river or bayou. On the approach of a strolling hunter or boatman, it drops into the water, feet first, head and neck erect. After a time it rises to the surface, exposing only its long, sharp bill and a wary eye. It lives on fish, which it pursues under water with speed. In pursuit the neck is curved backward, but on nearing its prey, the head darts forward with a stroke like that of a dagger. The bird then rises to the surface, tosses the fish into the air, catches it head first, and that is the end of the fish. The anhinga lays two to four eggs in a nest of sticks lined with moss, in a bush over-hanging the water.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
or anhydrous acid, a chemical substance formed by the substitution of an acid radical for the whole of the hydrogen in one or two molecules of water. By the action of water they are converted into acids.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
an anhydrous calcium sulphate, classed by Dana under his celestite group. It is divided by Dana into Var. 1. Ordinary: (a) crystallized; (b) fibrous; (c) fine granular; (d) scaly granular, under which is ranked vulpinite. Var. 2. Pseudomorphous. It occurs in various parts of Europe and in North America.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the name given to the birds belonging to the genus crotophaga, and indeed to those ranked under the sub-family Crotophaginæ, a division of the Cuculidæ, or cuckoos; the typical anis, those of the genus crotophagæ, are found in South America, the West Indies and Florida. They are about the size of our blackbird. ANILINE. See DYEING.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
The soul of the world; a pure ethereal spirit which was said by some ancient philosophers to be diffused throughout all nature. Plato is considered by some to be the originator of this idea; but it is of more ancient origin, and prevailed in the systems of certain eastern philosophers. By the Stoics it was believed to be the only vital force in the universe; it has been entertained by many philosophical sects in a variety of forms, and in more modern times by Paracelsus and others. It is also incorporated in the philosophy of Schelling. Rich says: "The anima mundi, or heaven of this world, in which the Anonymous stars are fixed, is understood to be a receptivity of the empyrean or heaven in which God dwells, so that the forms or seminal conceptions of the one correspond to the divine ideas of the other."
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
the department of organic chemistry which investigates the composition of the fluids and the solids of animals, and the chemical action that takes place in animal bodies.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
one of the three great kingdoms of visible nature, the two other being the vegetable and the mineral kingdoms. Prof. Owen, in his "Palcation: Kingdom I., protozoa. Kingdom eontology," adopts the following classifi- II., animalia. Sub-kingdom I., invertebrata: Province 1, radiata; 2, articulata; 3, mollusca. Sub-kingdom II., vertebrata. Prof. Huxley, the animal kingdom in eight groups arwriting in 1869, divided ranged thus: VERTEBRATA, MOLLUSCA, ANNULOSA, MOLLUSCOIDA, ANNULOIDA, CELENTERATA, INFUSORIA, PROTOZOA.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a science, or art, so called because it was believed that it taught the method of producing on persons of susceptible organization effects somewhat similar to those which a magnet exerts upon iron.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the study of mind as it is found in animals below man. It is sometimes called comparative psychology, although that term more probably belongs in the comparative study including man. The study is carried on in general by the observation of the behavior of animals under various conditions, in the study of their nervous structure, and in the interpretation of the facts derived in these studies as indicators of mind. ANIMAL WORSHIP. See RELIGION.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a general name given to many forms of animal life from their minute size.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
The doctrine of spiritual beings, or the concept that a great part, if not the whole, of inanimate nature, as well as of animate beings, are endowed with reason and volition identical with that of man. It is difficult to distinguish this conception from that of personalisation, but the difference exists. The savage hears the wind whistle past him, and thinks that in it he can distinguish voices. He sees movement in streams, trees, and other objects, which he believes to be inhabited by spirits. The idea of a soul probably arose through dreams, apparitions, or clairvoyance, hallucinations and shadows, and perhaps through the return to life after periods of unconsciousness. Movement, therefore, argued life. The cult of fetishism well instances the belief in animism, for it posits the entrance into an inanimate body of a separate spiritual entity deliberately come to inhabit it. There is no necessity in this place to go into the question whether or not animism is at the basis of religious belief; but it is distinctly at the root of magical belief and practice.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism