The Anglo-Japanese Treaty was a treaty signed by Great Britain and Japan on January 30th 1902, by which the two powers agreed to safeguard their common interests in China and Korea. In the event of one of them being at war with a foreign power, the other would maintain a strict neutrality, but would assist her ally if a second foreign power joined the first. The treaty also stated that neither party would enter into agreements without the consent of the other and would confide fully in the other if common interests were endangered. The treaty was agreed for five years. Research Anglo-Japanese Treaty
A bell is a hollow, somewhat cup-shaped, sounding instrument of metal. The metal from which bells are usually made (by founding) is an alloy, called bell-metal, commonly composed of eighty parts of copper and twenty of tin. The proportion of tin varies, however, from one-third to one-fifth of the weight of the copper, according to the sound required, the size of the bell, and the impulse to be given. The clearness and richness of the tone depend upon the metal used, the perfection of its casting, and also upon its shape; it having been shown by a number of experiments that the well-known shape with a thick lip is the best adapted to give a perfect sound. The depth of the tone of a bell increases in proportion to its size.
A bell is divided into the body or barrel, the ear or cannon, and the clapper or tongue. The lip or sound-bow is that part where the bell is struck by the clapper. It is uncertain whether the jangling instruments used by the Egyptians and Israelites can be correctly described as bells; but it is certain that bells of a considerable size were in early use in China and Japan, and that the Greeks and Romans used them for various purposes. They are said to have been first introduced into Christian churches about 400 AD by Paulinus, bishop of Nola, in Campania (whence campana and nola as old names of bells); although their adoption on a wide scale does not become apparent until after the year 550, when they were introduced into France.
Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth, seems to have imported bells from Italy to England in 680, but their use in Ireland and Scotland is probably of earlier date. The oldest of those existing in Great Britain and Ireland, such as the 'bell of St. Patrick's will' and St Ninian's bell, are quadrangular and made of thin iron plates hammered and riveted together.
Until the thirteenth century bells were of comparatively small size, but after the casting of the Jacqueline of Paris (6.5 tons) in 1400 their weight rapidly increased. Among the more famous bells are the bell of Cologne, 11. tons, 1448; of Dantzic, 6 tons, 1453; of Halberstadt, 7.5, 1457; of Rouen, 16, 1501; of Breslau, 11, 1507; of Lucerne, 71, 1636; of Oxford,7.5 1680; of Paris, 12.8, 1680; of Bruges, 10.5, 1680; of Vienna, 17.75, 1711; of Moscow (the monarch of all bells), 193, 1736; three other bells at Moscow ranging from 16 to 31 tons, and a fourth of 80 tons cast in 1819; the bell of Lincoln (Great Tom), 5.5, 1834; of YorkMinster (Great Peter), 10.75, 1845; of Montreal, 134, 1847; of Westminster (Big Ben), 15.5, 1856, (St Stephen), 13.5, 1858; the Great Bell of St. Paul's, 17.5, 1882. Others are the bells of Ghent (5 tons), Gorlitz (10.75 tons), St Peter's, Rome (8 tons), Antwerp (7.25 tons), Olmutz (18 tons), Sacred Heart, Paris (27 tons), Novgorod (31 tons), Pekin (53.5 tons).
Besides their use in churches bells are employed for various purposes, formerly the most common use being to summon attendants or domestics in private houses, hotels, etc. Bells for this purpose were of small size and may be held in the hand and rung, but most commonly were rung by means of wires stretched from the various apartments to the place where the bells were hung. Bells rung by electricity became common in hotels and other establishments around 1905.
Berne Union is the informal name for the International Union of Credit and Investment Insurers, an association of credit insurers from the main industrial countries, except Japan. Its main function is to facilitate an exchange of information, especially over credit terms. The Export Credits Guarantee Department of the UK government is a member. Research Berne Union
Buddhism is the religious system founded by Buddha, one of the most prominent doctrines of which is that Nirvana, or an absolute release from existence, is the chief good. According to it pain is inseparable from existence, and consequently pain can cease only through Nirvana; and in order to attain Nirvana our desires and passions must be suppressed, the most extreme self-renunciation practised, and we must, as far as possible, forget our own personality.
In order to attain Nirvana eight conditions must be kept or practised. The first is in Buddhistic language right view; the second is right judgment; the third is right language; the fourth is right purpose; the fifth is right profession; the sixth is right application; the seventh is right memory; the eighth is right meditation. The five fundamental precepts of the Buddhist moral code are: not to kill, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to give way to drunkenness. To these there are added five others of less importance, and binding more particularly on the religious class, such as to abstain from repasts taken out of season, from theatrical representations, etc. There are six fundamental virtues to be practised by all men alike, vizcharity, purity, patience, courage, contemplation, and knowledge. These are the virtues that are said to 'conduct a man to the other shore'. The devotee who strictly practises them has not yet attained Nirvana, but is on the road to it.
The Buddhist virtue of charity is universal in its application, extending to all creatures, and demanding sometimes the greatest self-denial and sacrifice. There is a legend that the Buddha in one of his stages of existence (for he had passed through innumerable transmigrations before becoming 'the enlightened') gave himself up to be devoured by a famishing lioness which was unable to suckle her young ones. There are other virtues, less important, indeed, than the six cardinal ones, but still binding on believers. Thus not only is lying forbidden, but evil-speaking, coarseness of language, and even vain and frivolous talk, must be avoided. Buddhist metaphysics are comprised in three theories - the theory of transmigration (borrowed from Brahmanism), the theory of the mutual connection of causes, and the theory of Nirvana. The first requires no explanation. According to the second, life is the result of twelve conditions, which are by turns causes and effects. Thus there would be no death were it not for birth; it is therefore the effect of which birth is the cause. Again, there would be no birth were there not a continuation of existence. Existence has for its cause our attachment to things, which again has its origin in desire; and so on through sensation, contact, the organs of sensation and the heart, name and form, ideas, etc, up to ignorance. This ignorance, however, is not ordinary ignorance, but the fundamental error which causes us to attribute permanence and reality to things. This, then, is the primary origin of existence and all its attendant evils.
Nirvana or extinction is eternal salvation from the evils of existence, and the end which every Buddhist is supposed to seek. Sakya-muni did not leave his doctrines in writing; he declared them orally, and they were carefully treasured up by his disciples, and written down after his death. The determination of the canon of the Buddhist scriptures as we now possess them was the work of three successive councils, and was finished two centuries at least before Christ. From Buddhism involving a protest against caste distinctions it was eagerly adopted by the Dasyus or non-Aryan inhabitants of Hindustan. It was pure, moral, and humane in its origin, but it came subsequently to be mixed up with idolatrous worship of its founder and other deities. Although now long banished from Hindustan by the persecutions of the Brahmans, Buddhism prevails in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Indonesia, and Japan, and its adherents are said to comprise about a third of the human race. Research Buddhism
The Challenger Expedition was a scientific and exploring expedition carried out at the expense of the British Government by means of the ship Challenger, a frigate-built vessel of about 2000 tons, fully equipped with all the most improved scientific appliances for ascertaining the depth, temperature, currents, etc, of the ocean, and the character of the ocean bottom, and for amassing natural history specimens. The ship set sail on December the 7th, 1872, under the command of Captain (afterwards Sir) George Nares, Professor (afterwards Sir) Wyville Thomson being at the head of the scientific staff attached to the ship. In the course of the expedition the ship called at Madeira, Teneriffe, the Bermudas, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cape Verde Islands, Cape of Good Hope, Kerguelen Islands, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Japan, Valparaiso, etc, returning home by way of the Strait of Magellan, and arriving on May the 24th, 1876. During the three and a half years of the cruise the ship traversed about 70,000 nautical miles, and a vast amount of highly useful information was accumulated, the results being published at government expense in a great many volumes. Several popular works on the expedition were also published. Research Challenger Expedition
The ISO (International Standards Organisation) assigns a two character code to each country name. These codes are used by Internet 'whois' databases (these two character abbreviations are the whois country codes) and also other applications.
Developing countries are countries that often have abundant natural resources but lack the capital and entrepreneurial and technical skills required to develop them. The average income per head and the standard of living in these countries is therefore far below that of the industrial nations. Often known as the third world, these countries are being supported by various United Nations organisations as well as by western and eastern bloc nations, both of whom wish to influence their political development. The developing countries, in which some 70% of the world's population lives, are characterised by poverty, poor diet, the prevalence of disease, high fertility, overpopulation, illiteracy, poor educational facilities, and an agricultural economy. Many depend on a single product for their exports and are therefore vulnerable in world markets. The third world consists of most of Africa (except the Republic of South Africa), most of Asia (except Japan and the USSR), and much of South America. Research Developing Countries
Hara-Kiri is a form of ritualistic suicide in which the participant disembowels them self by cutting across the stomach and then upwards, using a special knife. It was popular among the military class in feudalJapan. Research Hara-Kiri
Ivory carving is the art of carving ivory for ornamental or useful purposes, practised from prehistoric to modern times. The ivory most frequently used is obtained from elephant tusks, but other types of ivory or substitute materials include the tusks, teeth, horns, and bones of the narwhal, walrus, and other animals, as well as vegetableivory and synthetic ivories. The earliest ivory carvings known were made in the Old Stone Age. The inhabitants of Europe in the Perigoridan period more than 20,000 years ago produced great numbers of ivory, bone, and horn carvings, with nude female figures being the most common subject. Representations of animals occur most often in the subsequent Magdalenian period. In Egypt the art of ivory and bone carving was developed in predynastic times, before 3000 BC . Large numbers of carved figures of men and women, as well as carved combs, hairpins, and handles, have been found in Egyptian tombs dating from predynastic and early dynastic periods. Objects found in Egyptian tombs of later date include carved ivory weapon hilts and furniture and caskets inlaid with ivory carvings.
Mesopotamian ivories frequently show strong Egyptian influence. They include a series of tablets carved with figures in low relief, made at the ancient Assyrian capital Nineveh. The Minoans in Crete, and later the ancient Greeks, were noted for their ivory carvings. The Minoans carved small acrobats and snake goddesses.
The Greeks were famous especially in the 5th century BC for their chryselephantine statues, often of heroic size, in which the flesh was represented in carved ivory and the hair and garments in sculptured gold. Among the Romans, in late imperial times, consular diptychs of carved ivory were much in demand. A consular diptych was a two-leafed tablet decorated with portraits and scenes commemorating the inauguration of a consul. It contained a sheet of wax for writing and was given to friends. Ivory carving flourished under the Byzantine Empire, particularly in the 5th and 6th centuries and from the 10th to the 13th century. Christian figures, symbols, and scenes were the subjects most commonly depicted on ivory book covers, icons, boxes, shrines, crosiers, crucifixes, door panels, and thrones. A masterpiece of Byzantine ivory is the Throne of Maximilian. Most Byzantine carvings, however, were in the form of a diptych. In Europe during the reigns of Charlemagne and his successors in the 9th and 10th centuries, elaborately carved ivory book covers, reliquaries, and altarpieces were produced.
Relatively little ivory carving was undertaken in Romanesque Europe, but it reached great heights in the Gothic period. Gothic ivories from the 13th to the 15th century were chiefly religious, as in earlier periods, but were more for private devotions than ecclesiastical use. Popular objects included diptychs with deeply carved figures and elaborate architectural decoration. Especially fine work was produced in Paris. During the 15th and 16th centuries, ivory carving was not popular, but in the baroque and rococo periods in the 17th and 18th centuries it again came into vogue, especially in Germany and the Netherlands. German craftsmen were known for richly ornamented ivories; Flemish craftsmen produced statuettes and other sculpture- inspired ivory carvings. France again became an important ivory- carving centre. The chief centres of the industry were the French cities of Dieppe and Paris, where large numbers of crucifixes and other religious objects were produced.
During the 18th century, however, the demand for ivories diminished. Ivory recovered its popularity in decorative arts in the Art Nouveau style at the end of the 19th century. Old ivory carvings are especially valued by 20th-century collectors of ivory, but very little ivory work is now produced in the western hemisphere. Muslim craftsmen in the Middle East created ivory inlay in intricate arabesque patterns on furniture and other woodwork. In the Far East the best-known ivories are those of India, Japan, and particularly China. Indians carved figures of their gods and ornate caskets, often imitating Italian styles. Japanese netsukes, small carved purse toggles, are often made of ivory. The Chinese have traditionally esteemed ivory and encouraged their artists to work in it. The art still flourishes today; objects created include statuettes, chess pieces, fans, screens, toilet articles, chopsticks, and models of buildings and boats. The Chinese are world famous for their ivory curiosities, particularly the concentric ivory balls carved one inside the other by Cantonese craftsmen. In Inuit, African, and American Indian cultures, carving in ivory, horn, and bone has been practised from the earliest times to the present day. Research Ivory Carving
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Anglo-Japanese Treaty
