Lower Vascular Plant

Formerly  pteridophyte,  also called  vascular cryptogam,   any of the spore-bearing vascular plants, including the ferns, club mosses, spike mosses, quillworts, horsetails, and whisk ferns. Once considered of the same evolutionary line, these plants were formerly placed in the single group Pteridophyta and were known as the ferns and fern allies. Although modern studies have shown that the plants are not in fact related, these

Alba

Town, Cuneo provincia, Piedmont regione, northwestern Italy. It lies along the Tanaro River southwest of Turin. It occupies the site of the Roman Alba Pompeia, which was probably founded by Pompeius Strabo (consul, 89 BC) when he constructed the road from Aquae Statiellae (Acqui Terme) to Augusta Taurinorum (Turin). The town became an episcopal see dependent on Milan in the 4th

Fletcher, Alice Cunningham

Fletcher taught school for a number of years, lectured occasionally on various topics,

Scorsese, Martin

Scorsese was a frail, asthmatic child who grew up in New York City in an Italian-American neighbourhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His early interest in film returned after he tried unsuccessfully to enter the Roman Catholic

Radio-frequency Heating

Process of heating materials through the application of radio waves of high frequency—i.e., above 70,000 hertz (cycles per second). Two methods of radio-frequency heating have been developed. One of these, induction heating, has proved highly effective for heating metals and other materials that are relatively good electric conductors. The other method, called dielectric

Bréguet, Abraham-louis

Bréguet was apprenticed in 1762 to a watchmaker at Versailles. He took refuge in London during the French Revolution and, upon his return to France, became a principal watchmaker of the Empire. Among Bréguet's many inventions

Kirkcaldy

First developed by Dunfermline Abbey nearby, Kirkcaldy was a flourishing port during the later Middle Ages. It was designated a royal burgh in 1450, and the royal charter was confirmed by King Charles II in 1662. In the course of the 16th century it became an important