An umbrella is a light, portable screen usually circular and supported on a central stick. They are used as protection against the rain and also sun - in which case they are usually refered to as a sunshade or parasol. Umbrellas are made of fabric, silk, paper, cotton or other materials stretched on a steel or wooden, radiating, folding frame supported on a central stick.
Umbrellas were known in England in the 17th century, but their use does not appear to have been general until the later part of the 18th century, Jonas Hanway being one of the first to make a habit of acrrying an umbrella.
By the invention of the 'Paragon' ribs, Samuel Fox, in 1852, improved upon the old umbrellas with wooden ribs, and did much tostimulate the trade of umbrella, making, among the chief centres of which were London, Manchester, Paris, Lyons, and Angers.
In the East, umbrellas were used as symbols of royalty and power from early times. In ancient Egypt and Nineveh sculptured remains show them carried in procession, and they are found pictured on Greek vases. Anglo-Saxon manuscripts show them carried by attendants over persons of rank. The Maratha princes of India were known as Lords of the Umbrella, and in Burma white umbrellas were reserved for the use of the king and the sacred white elephant; coloured ones, graduated according to their tint, belonged to corresponding grades in rank. The baldachin , the canopy of a throne or a pulpit, has the same original symbolical meaning as the umbrella. Research Umbrella
Beet (Beta) is a genus of plants of the family Chenopodiaceae distinguished by its fruit being inclosed in a tough woody or spongy five-lobed enlarged calyx. Two species only are known in general cultivation, namely, the sea-beet Beta maritima) and the garden beet (Beta vulgaris). The former is a tough-rooted perennial, common on many parts of the British coast and sometimes formerly cultivated for its leaves, which are an excellent substitute for spinach.
Of the garden beet, which differs from the last in being of only biennial duration and in forming a tender fleshy root, two principal forms are known to cultivators, the chard beet and the common beet. In the chard beet the roots are small, white, and rather tough, and the leaves are furnished with a broad, fleshy midrib (chard), employed as a vegetable by the French, who dress the ribs like sea-kale under the name of poiree. Some writers regard this as a peculiar species, and call it Beta cicia or hortensis.
The common beet includes all the fleshy-rooted varieties, such as red beet (with a fleshy large carrot-shaped root), yellow beet, sugar-beet, mangel-wurzel, etc. For garden purposes the best is the red beet of Castelnaudary, so called from a town in the south-west of France. The beet requires a rich light soil, and being a native of the Mediterranean region is impatient of severe cold, requiring to be taken up in the beginning of winter and packed in dry sand, or in pits like potatoes, the succulent leaves having been first removed.
Red beet is principally used at table, but if eaten in great quantity is said to be injurious. The beet may be taken out of the ground for use about the end of August, but it does not attain its full size and perfection until the month of October. A good beer was formerly brewed from the beet, which yielded a spirit of good quality.
From the white beet the French, during the wars with Napoleon I, succeeded in preparing sugar, that article, as British colonial produce, having been prohibited in France. Since that time, with the increase of chemical and technical knowledge, the making of beet-sugar has become an important industry in France, Germany, Austria, Russia, Belgium, and Holland and in England, though the early failure of attempts to produce beet-sugar on a large scale seem to have been mainly due to artificial conditions of trade competition. Research Beet
The Bison is a large, powerful, genus of ox-like mammals of the family Bovidae. They differ from typical cattle in being larger, with a convex forehead, large legs and a pronounced hump at the shoulders. They also have 14 pairs of ribs, where cattle have 13. The fur is coarse, and long on the head, neck and shoulders. The large head is carried low, the animal being unable to lift its head above shoulder level. Both the male and female are furnished with heavy, curved horns, those of the female being smaller than those of the male. Research Bison
Burnet saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga) is a perennialherb of the family Umbelliferae, native to Britain and Europe, with a spindle-shaped tap root and an erect, finely ribbed and usually downy stem which is branched above. The basal leaves are odd pinnate. The stem leaves have sheath-like stalks and more divided, linear leaflets. The flowers are small, white in colour and arranged in terminal umbels. The fruit is an ovoid, compressed, double achene with five slender ribs. Research Burnet Saxifrage
The Cockle (Cardium) is a genus of Lamellibranchia bivalve mollusc found on British shores. The general characteristics are: shells nearly equilateral and equi-valvular; hinge with two small teeth, one on each side near the beak, and two larger remote lateral teeth, one on each side; prominentribs running from the hinge fo the edge of the valve. Research Cockle
Frog is the common English name of a number of animals belonging to the class Amphibia, having four legs with four toes on the fore feet and five on the hind, more or less webbed, a naked body, no ribs, and no tail. Owing to the last peculiarity frogs belong to the order of amphibians known as Anura or tailless Amphibia. The tongue is fleshy, and is attached in front to the jaw, but is free behind, so that the hinder extremity of the tongue can be protruded.
Frogs are remarkable for the transformations they undergo before arriving at maturity. In the spring the spawn is deposited in ponds and other stagnant waters in large masses of gelatinous matter. These masses, with black globules scattered through them, soon manifest change, and after a time the young escapes as a tadpole, as an animal with short body, circular suctorial mouth, and long tail, compressed from side to side. Gillsproject on either side of the head from a cleft which answers in position to the gill opening of fishes. The hind limbs first appear as buds, later the fore limbs project, the gills disappear, the lungs becoming more fully developed; the tail gradually shrinks and disappears, and the animal, which was at first fish-like, then closely resembled a newt (or tailed Amphibian), finally assumes the adult or tailless form.
The mature frog breathes by lungs, and cannot exist in water without coming to the surface for air. The only British species is the common frog (Rana temporaria), but the tribe is very numerous, other varieties being the edible frog (Rana esculenta) of the south of Europe, eaten in France and South Germany, the hind quarters being the part chiefly used; the bull-frog of America (Rana pipiens), 8 to 12 inches long, so named from its voice resembling the lowing of a bull; the blacksmith frog of Janeiro; the Argus frog of America, etc. Of the tree-frogs most belong to the genus Hyla. Frogs swim with rapidity, and move by long bounds, being able from the power of the muscles of their hind-legs to leap many times their own length. Research Frog
The gorilla (Troglodytes Gorilla) is the largest anthropoid ape attaining a height of about 5.5 feet and is found in west Africa. Although a gentle and vegetarian animal, myths prevailed from the mid- 19th century until the mid-20th century of it attacking and eating the natives.
The erect position is more readily assumed by the gorilla than by most of the other anthropoid apes, owing to the shape of the sole of the foot, which is not inverted, and is shorter and broader;
but the ordinary gait is on all-fours. It has a ferocious-looking cast of features, due to the prognathism of the jaws, the extremely prominent supra-orbital ridges, and retreating forehead. Gorillas make a sleeping-place somewhat like a hammock, connecting the branches of a tree by means of the long, tough, slender stems of climbing plants, and lining it with dried fronds of palms or long grass. This abode is constructed at different heights from the ground, but there is never more than one such nest in a tree. The gorilla, like the chimpanzee, has thirteen ribs, whereas man and the orang have twelve. The gorilla and chimpanzee also have eight bones in the carpus or wrist, while the others have nine. The bones of the arm are much longer than in man, and the upper arm is longer than the forearm; the leg bones are shorter than in man. In the proportion of its molar teeth to the incisors and in the form of its pelvis it approaches somewhat closely the human form. The Phoenician navigator Hanno found the name in use in the 5th century BC in West Africa. Research Gorilla
The Greyhound is a variety of dog distinguished by a greater length of muzzle than any other; very low forehead, short lips, thin and long legs, small muscles, contracted belly and semi pendant ears.
There are several varieties, as the Irish greyhound, the Scottish, the Russian, the Italian, and the Turkish. The common greyhound is of an elegant make of body, and is universally known as the fleetest of dogs. A good hound has a fine, soft, flexible skin, with thin, silky hair, a great length of nose, contracting gradually from the eye to the nostril, a full, clear, and penetrating eye, small ears, erect head, long neck, chest capacious, deep, but not wide, shoulders deep and placed obliquely, ribs well arched, contracted belly and flank, a great depth from the hips to the hocks of the hind-legs, fore-legs straight, and shorter than the hinder. The name appears to have no reference to the colour, but is derived from the Icelandic grey, a dog.
Greyhounds were originally used for coursing, for which their peculiar shape, strength, keenness of sight and speed make them exceedingly well fitted, but are now bred for racing, being the fastest running dogs. As a pet Greyhounds are very gentle and affectionate - but should be kept away from small mammals such as pet rabbits - but require wide open spaces to run about in. Research Greyhound
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Umbrella
