Jean-Baptiste Drouet was a French revolutionary, chiefly remembered for his part in the arrest of Louis XVI at Varennes. Drouet grew up and lived in the town of Sainte-Menehould in Champagne, where his father had been postmaster. There, the carriages conveying Louis XVI and his family on their

Jean-Baptiste Drouet, count d’Erlon was a French soldier whose long career raised him from the ranks of both Louis XVI’s and Napoleon’s armies to be the first governor-general of Algeria and a marshal of France under Louis-Philippe. A volunteer in the regiment of Beaujolais from 1782, Drouet had

Victor Hugo: Success (1830–51): …a young and beautiful actress, Juliette Drouet, with whom he had begun a liaison in 1833. Juliette had little talent and soon renounced the stage in order to devote herself exclusively to him, becoming the discreet and faithful companion she was to remain until her death in 1883. The first…

drought, lack or insufficiency of rain for an extended period that causes a considerable hydrologic (water) imbalance and, consequently, water shortages, crop damage, streamflow reduction, and depletion of groundwater and soil moisture. It occurs when evaporation and transpiration (the movement of

Brazil: Climate of Brazil: …the Northeast, sometimes called the drought quadrilateral or drought polygon, that extends from northern Bahia to the coast between Natal and São Luís; that zone receives about 15–30 inches (375–750 mm) of precipitation a year. Much of Brazil receives 40–70 inches (1,000–1,800 mm) annually, but precipitation often is much heavier…

Brazil: Climate of Brazil: …the Northeast, sometimes called the drought quadrilateral or drought polygon, that extends from northern Bahia to the coast between Natal and São Luís; that zone receives about 15–30 inches (375–750 mm) of precipitation a year. Much of Brazil receives 40–70 inches (1,000–1,800 mm) annually, but precipitation often is much heavier…

tropical dry forest, biome of any open woodland in tropical areas that have a long dry season followed by a season of heavy rainfall. Tropical dry forests are found between 10° and 25° latitude and are often found north and south of the world’s tropical rainforests. With a dry season that lasts six

boojum tree: … appear after rainfall and are drought-deciduous, meaning they fall off during the dry season to limit water loss. The greenish stems carry out most of the food-producing photosynthesis. The swollen trunk base is often hollow and provides a habitat for bees; the wood is somewhat spongy and retains water. The…

al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib: …by the more radical members Abdelmalek Droukdel (also known as Abū Musʿab al-Wadūd) and Nabīl Saḥrāwī. After Saḥrāwī was killed by Algerian forces in 2004, Droukdel took over leadership, steering the GSPC toward a stronger affiliation with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. As the group sought recognition from al-Qaeda’s leaders,…

drought, lack or insufficiency of rain for an extended period that causes a considerable hydrologic (water) imbalance and, consequently, water shortages, crop damage, streamflow reduction, and depletion of groundwater and soil moisture. It occurs when evaporation and transpiration (the movement of

Edmond Drouyn de Lhuys was a French statesman and foreign minister under Napoleon III. Drouyn de Lhuys was a brilliant student and entered the diplomatic service early. From 1833 to 1836 he distinguished himself as chargé d’affaires at The Hague. He went next to Madrid as first secretary in the

ria, funnel-shaped estuary that occurs at a river mouth and is formed by the submergence of the lower portion of the river valley. Generally occurring along a rugged coast perpendicular to a mountain chain, many rias were formed by the rise in sea level after the melting of the vast continental

John Banville: Benjamin Black books and mystery series: In 2024 Banville published The Drowned, in which Strafford and Quirke investigate the sudden disappearance of a woman in a small coastal town.

drowning, suffocation by immersion in a liquid, usually water. Water closing over the victim’s mouth and nose cuts off the body’s supply of oxygen. Deprived of oxygen the victim stops struggling, loses consciousness, and gives up the remaining tidal air in his lungs. There the heart may continue to

Chinese literature: Literature in Taiwan after 1949: …Ch’un-ming’s Ni-szu i-chih lao-mao (1980; The Drowning of an Old Cat) is representative of this nativist school, which in later years gave way to a more nationalistic literature that reflected Taiwan’s current political situation. Mainland literature occasionally appears in Taiwanese periodicals, while firsthand experiences and observations by mainland émigrés and…

Stuart Rosenberg: Films of the 1970s: Rosenberg reteamed with Newman on The Drowning Pool (1975), a sequel to the hit crime drama Harper (1966). Newman reprised the role of private detective Lew Harper, and Woodward was cast as a former girlfriend.

sleep: Neural theories: …from sensory input, demonstrated chronic somnolence. It has been reasoned that a similar cutting off of sensory input, functional rather than structural, must characterize natural states of sleep. Other supporting observations for the stimulus-deficiency theory of sleep included presleep rituals such as turning out the lights, regulation of stimulus input,…

Sutton Foster: …Janet Van De Graaff in The Drowsy Chaperone (2006), a spoof of early Broadway musicals. Both performances earned her Tony nominations. Foster then appeared in two new musicals that were based on films, portraying the ditzy lab assistant Inga in Young Frankenstein (2007) and the feisty Princess Fiona in Shrek…

Johann Gustav Droysen was a historian and politician whose belief in Prussia’s destiny to lead Germany influenced German unification, which he lived to see. Ironically, his ardent Prussian patriotism did not save him from falling into disfavour after the revolutionary events of 1848, because his

Numa Droz was a prominent Swiss politician and twice federal president, who is best-remembered for his stand against the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the Wohlgemut affair (1889). As director of the department of public instruction and religious affairs in the canton of Neuchâtel

Philaret was a Russian Orthodox biblical theologian and metropolitan, or archbishop, of Moscow whose scholarship, oratory, and administrative ability made him the leading Russian churchman of the 19th century. Upon his graduation from the Trinity Monastery, near Moscow, in 1803, Philaret was

LISA Pathfinder: …Technology Package (LTP) and the Disturbance Reduction System (DRS). In the LTP two gold-platinum cubes, measuring 46 mm (1.8 inches) on a side, were suspended in evacuated chambers 37.6 cm (14.8 inches) apart. The distance between them was designed to be measured to within 1 picometre (10−12 metre) using lasers,…

Herta Müller: …a second book of stories, Drückender Tango (1984; “Oppressive Tango”)—which, like her first collection, depicted frankly the general misery of life in a small Romanian village similar to her own German-speaking hometown—she was forbidden to publish again in Romania, and in 1987 she emigrated with her husband, author Richard Wagner,…

Peter F. Drucker was an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation. He was also a leader in the development of management education, and he invented the concept

Peter F. Drucker was an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation. He was also a leader in the development of management education, and he invented the concept

Matt Drudge: …1995 he launched the online Drudge Report from his home, and a year later he quit his day job and began covering politics.

Matt Drudge is an American journalist who is best known for the Drudge Report, a conservative news and commentary website that he founded in 1995. Drudge grew up in the Washington, D.C., a suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland. In 1989, a few years after he graduated from high school, he moved to Los

Durance, principal river draining the French side of the Alps toward the Mediterranean. From its origin in the Montgenèvre region, Hautes-Alpes département, to its confluence with the Rhône below Avignon, it is 189 mi (304 km) long. The Clairée and Guisane rivers, both of which are longer and more

drug, any chemical substance that affects the functioning of living things and the organisms (such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses) that infect them. Pharmacology, the science of drugs, deals with all aspects of drugs in medicine, including their mechanism of action, physical and chemical

Durg, city, central Chhattisgarh state, east-central India. It is located just east of the Seonath River and is part of a larger urban area that also includes Bhilai, 4 miles (6 km) to the east. The city is an agricultural market and is heavily engaged in milling rice and pigeon peas. Durg gained

pharmaceutical, substance used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease and for restoring, correcting, or modifying organic functions. (See also pharmaceutical industry.) Records of medicinal plants and minerals date to ancient Chinese, Hindu, and Mediterranean civilizations. Ancient

providence: Personal and impersonal forms: … and is the counterpart of Drug, which represents evil and deceit and the disorder connected with them. Asha is connected with the sacred element fire. The Indian concept of rita forms the Indian counterpart of Asha and was the precursor to dharma, a notion that encompasses not only the moral…

drug abuse, the excessive, maladaptive, or addictive use of drugs for nonmedical purposes despite social, psychological, and physical problems that may arise from such use. Abused substances include such agents as anabolic steroids, which are used by some athletes to accelerate muscular development

D.A.R.E., American educational program aimed at preventing drug use among students by helping them to develop decision-making skills. Age-appropriate lessons are taught by certified police officers in K–12 classrooms. The program was well regarded by parents and teachers and often lauded by

pharmaceutical industry: Pharmacokinetic investigation: In addition to the animal toxicity studies outlined above, biopharmaceutical studies are required for all new drugs. The chemical makeup of the drug and the dosage form of the drug to be used in trials must be described. The stability of the drug…

addiction, physical or psychological need for a substance or behavior that is physically, psychologically, or socially harmful. Addiction is accompanied by extreme difficulty in ceasing to use the substance or in ceasing to repeat the behavior, despite detrimental consequences. Substances to which

drug allergy, hypersensitivity reaction to therapeutic agents that occasionally occurs on subsequent exposure to a drug against which an individual has already produced antibodies. Various drugs are linked to allergic reactions; examples include tetracyclines, digitalis, ibuprofen, aspirin,

drug cartel, an illicit consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition and control the production and distribution of illegal drugs. Drug cartels are extremely well-organized, well-financed, efficient, and ruthless. Since the 1980s, they have dominated the international

safe injection site, medically supervised facility where individuals may use pre-obtained illicit injectable drugs in a hygienic environment where trained staff are available to intervene in case of an overdose. Safe injection sites usually provide sterile injection equipment, information about

drug cult, group using drugs to achieve religious or spiritual revelation and for ritualistic purposes. Though the idea may be strange to most modern worshippers, drugs have played an important role in the history of religions. The ceremonial use of wine and incense in contemporary ritual is

nanotechnology: Drug delivery: Nanotechnology promises to impact medical treatment in multiple ways. First, advances in nanoscale particle design and fabrication provide new options for drug delivery and drug therapies. More than half of the new drugs developed each year are not water-soluble, which makes their delivery…

chemical dependency, the body’s physical and/or psychological addiction to a psychoactive (mind-altering) substance, such as narcotics, alcohol, or nicotine. Physical dependency on such chemicals as prescription drugs or alcohol stems from repetitive use followed by the gradual increase in the

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Agency of the U.S. Department of Justice charged with enforcing laws that cover trafficking in controlled substances. Established in 1973, the DEA works with other agencies to control the cultivation, production, smuggling, and distribution of illicit drugs.

fumitory: Common, or drug, fumitory (Fumaria officinalis) is a 90-cm- (3-foot-) tall climbing plant with lacy leaves and spikelike sprays of white or pinkish tubular flowers. The plant is native to Europe and Asia and has naturalized in parts of North America, having escaped cultivation. Once regarded as a medicinal…

pharmaceutical industry: Drug interactions: Drug interactions occur when one drug alters the pharmacological effect of another drug. The pharmacological effect of one or both drugs may be increased or decreased, or a new and unanticipated adverse effect may be produced. Drug interactions may result from pharmacokinetic interactions…

drug overdose, ingestion or administration of a drug or drugs in an amount that exceeds recommended levels or quantities typically used, resulting in toxicity. Drug overdose can occur with prescription, over-the-counter, or recreational drugs and can be intentional or accidental. Symptoms vary

medicinal poisoning, harmful effects on health of certain therapeutic drugs, resulting either from overdose or from the sensitivity of specific body tissues to regular doses (side effects). Until about the 1920s, there were few effective medications at the disposal of the physician. By mid-century,

drug resistance, Property of a disease-causing organism that allows it to withstand drug therapy. In any population of infectious agents, some have a mutation that helps them resist the action of a drug. The drug then kills more of the nonresistant microbes, leaving the mutants without competition

Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls: …2002, ruled (5–4) that suspicionless drug testing of students participating in competitive extracurricular activities did not violate the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.

therapeutics: Drug therapy: Study of the factors that influence the movement of drugs throughout the body is called pharmacokinetics, which includes the

Medellín: …became a centre for the illegal international distribution of Colombian-grown cocaine in the late 20th century. Pop. (2018) 2,382,399.

Medellín: …became a centre for the illegal international distribution of Colombian-grown cocaine in the late 20th century. Pop. (2018) 2,382,399.

drug use, use of drugs for psychotropic rather than medical purposes. Among the most common psychotropic drugs are opiates (opium, morphine, and heroin), hallucinogens (LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin), barbiturates, cocaine, amphetamines, tranquilizers, and cannabis. Alcohol and tobacco are also

Mexico: Beyond single-party rule: …Calderón had responded to the drug cartels by launching widespread security operations that grew to involve tens of thousands of members of the military. As the violence increased and the number of those killed mounted (by September 2011 surpassing a total of 47,000 related deaths since the Calderón administration began…

pharmacy, the science and art concerned with the preparation and standardization of drugs. Its scope includes the cultivation of plants that are used as drugs, the synthesis of chemical compounds of medicinal value, and the analysis of medicinal agents. Pharmacists are responsible for the

Adam Zagajewski: …essayist with such collections as Drugi oddech (1978; “Second Wind”), Solidarność i samtoność (1986; Solidarity and Solitude), Dwa miasta (1991; Two Cities: On Exile, History, and the Imagination), and Obrona żarliwości (2002; A Defense of Ardor). Zagajewski gained notoriety in the United States when a translation of his poem “Try…

Speak, Memory, autobiographical memoir of his early life and European years by Vladimir Nabokov. Fifteen chapters were published individually (1948–50), mainly in The New Yorker. The book was originally published as Conclusive Evidence: A Memoir (1951); it was also published the same year as Speak,

drug, any chemical substance that affects the functioning of living things and the organisms (such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses) that infect them. Pharmacology, the science of drugs, deals with all aspects of drugs in medicine, including their mechanism of action, physical and chemical

Doctors Without Borders: …founding partner in the organization Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), which works to create medicines for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. The group has played an important role in caring for the victims of disease outbreaks.

War on Drugs, the effort in the United States since the 1970s to combat illegal drug use by greatly increasing penalties, enforcement, and incarceration for drug offenders. The War on Drugs began in June 1971 when U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon declared drug abuse to be “public enemy number one” and

Gus Van Sant: …Sant next wrote and directed Drugstore Cowboy (1989), which starred Matt Dillon as the leader of a group of heroin addicts who resort to robbery to finance their habits; the film was a commercial and critical success. In 1991 he released Thanksgiving Prayer, a short film that featured Burroughs enumerating…

Druid, member of the learned class among the ancient Celts. They acted as priests, teachers, and judges. The earliest known records of the Druids come from the 3rd century bce. Their name may have come from a Celtic word meaning “knower of the oak tree.” Very little is known for certain about the

Ireland: Theatre: …theatre companies such as Galway’s Druid Theatre are found throughout the country, however, promoting a wide range of national and international drama. In addition, there is a vigorous amateur dramatic movement active throughout the country.

Jack the Ripper: …most commonly cited suspects are Montague Druitt, a barrister and teacher with an interest in surgery who was said to be insane and who disappeared after the final murders and was later found dead; Michael Ostrog, a Russian criminal and physician who had been placed in an asylum because of…

Bhutan: Constitutional framework: …whose sovereign was styled the druk gyalpo (“dragon king”). During the second half of the 20th century, the monarchs increasingly divested themselves of their power, and in 2008 King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk, the fifth in a royal line that had been established in 1907, completed the transfer of governmental…

Bhutan, landlocked country of south-central Asia, located on the eastern ridges of the Himalayas. Historically a remote kingdom, Bhutan became less isolated in the second half of the 20th century, and consequently the pace of change began to accelerate. With improvements in transportation, by the

Bhutan: Religion: …has many subsects, of which Drukpa Kagyu is the strongest in Bhutan. Since its establishment in the early 17th century, the Drukpa subsect has become increasingly prominent in Bhutan’s political and religious life, and most Bhutanese are now adherents of it. Although the Nyingma and Kagyu groups have maintained their…

drum, in packaging, cylindrical container commonly made of metal or fibreboard. Steel drums with capacities ranging up to 100 U.S. gallons (379 litres) have been produced since about 1903; the sizes less than 12 gallons (45 litres) are called pails. The most common drums are made of 18-gauge

drum, in architecture, any of the cylindrical stone blocks composing a column that is not a monolith. The term also denotes a circular or polygonal wall supporting a dome, cupola, or lantern

drum, musical instrument, the sound of which is produced by the vibration of a stretched membrane (it is thus classified as a membranophone within the larger category of percussion instruments). Basically, a drum is either a tube or a bowl of wood, metal, or pottery (the “shell”) covered at one or

drum, in biology, any of about 275 species of fishes of the family Sciaenidae (order Perciformes); drums are carnivorous, generally bottom-dwelling fishes. Most are marine, found along warm and tropical seashores. A number inhabit temperate or fresh waters. Most are noisemakers and can “vocalize”

Sir Thomas Hopkinson: …Johannesburg, South Africa, to edit Drum (1958–61), which was aimed at the urban black community. He resigned amid growing racial tensions, but he continued to promote the training of black African journalists in his role as regional director (1963–66) of the International Press Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. After his return…

electronic dance music: music, techno, drum and bass, dubstep, and trance among the most-notable examples.

automobile: Brakes: …stopping vehicles were mechanically actuated drum brakes with internally expanding shoes; i.e., foot pressure exerted on the brake pedal was carried directly to semicircular brake shoes by a system of flexible cables. Mechanical brakes, however, were difficult to keep adjusted so that equal braking force was applied at each wheel;…

chime: ), or lithophone; drum chimes, sets of tuned drums found in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand; and gong (q.v.) chimes, the sets of tuned gongs used in the gamelan orchestras of Southeast Asia.

dermatome: Drum dermatomes are cylindrical in shape and have an oscillating blade that is operated manually. A special adhesive material applied to the drum determines the thickness, width, and length of skin to be cut by the blade. Electric and air-powered dermatomes are more commonly used…

dairy product: Drum dryers: The simplest and least expensive is the drum, or roller, dryer. It consists of two large steel cylinders that turn toward each other and are heated from the inside by steam. The concentrated product is applied to the hot drum in a thin…

dam: Gates: Drum gates can control the reservoir level upstream to precise levels automatically and without the assistance of mechanical power. One drum gate design consists of a shaped-steel caisson held in position by hinges mounted on the crest of the dam and supported in a flotation…

percussion instrument: The 20th and 21st centuries: In the former, the drum, or trap, set—bass drum with foot-operated beater, snare drum, set of tom-toms (cylindrical drums graduated in size), and suspended cymbals—is treated as a solo instrument among its peers. The latter has been preoccupied with rhythmic stress and has exploited drum tones for their own…

lighthouse: Rectangular and drum lenses: …principle by producing a cylindrical drum lens, which concentrated the light into an all-around fan beam. Although not as efficient as the rectangular panel, it provided a steady, all-around light. Small drum lenses, robust and compact, are widely used today for buoy and beacon work, eliminating the complication of a…

Devo: …(including pioneering use of a drum machine invented by Bob Mothersbaugh)—to convey the dehumanizing effect of modern technology. Original videos of disturbing images were shown during concerts to underscore their philosophy.

major: Drum major was an ancient title in the British service and was adopted by the U.S. Army early in its history. The drum major was responsible for training the regimental drummers and often had the additional functions of regimental postman and banker.

assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Funeral rites: …some two months earlier (“ Drum Major Instinct ”) in which he (again prophetically) outlined the sort of funeral he wanted for himself, including suggestions for his eulogy:

percussion instrument: The 20th and 21st centuries: In the former, the drum, or trap, set—bass drum with foot-operated beater, snare drum, set of tom-toms (cylindrical drums graduated in size), and suspended cymbals—is treated as a solo instrument among its peers. The latter has been preoccupied with rhythmic stress and has exploited drum tones for their own…

drum table, heavy circular table with a central support, which was introduced in the late 18th century. The deep top, commonly covered with tooled leather, was fitted with bookshelves or drawers, some of which were imitation. The support was sometimes in the form of a pillar resting on four

tea: Withering: In drum withering, rotating, perforated drums are used instead of troughs, and in tunnel withering, leaf is spread on tats carried by mobile trolleys and is subjected to hot-air blasts in a tunnel. Continuous withering machines move the leaf on conveyor belts and subject it to…

magnetic recording: Other magnetic recording devices.: Such magnetic recording mediums as drums and ferrite cores have been used for data storage since the early 1950s. A more recent development is the magnetic bubble memory devised in the late 1970s at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Drum-Taps, collection of poems in free verse, most on the subject of the American Civil War, by Walt Whitman, published in May 1865. The mood of the poetry moves from excitement at the falling-in and arming of the young soldiers at the beginning of the war to the troubled realization of the war’s

Drumian Stage, second of three internationally defined stages of the Series 3 epoch of the Cambrian Period, encompassing all rocks deposited during the Drumian Age (approximately 504.5 million to 500.5 million years ago). The name of this interval is derived from the Drum Mountains of western Utah,

drumlin, oval or elongated hill believed to have been formed by the streamlined movement of glacial ice sheets across rock debris, or till. The name is derived from the Gaelic word druim (“rounded hill,” or “mound”) and first appeared in 1833. Drumlins are generally found in broad lowland regions,

Zoe Saldaña: …role in the higher-profile movie Drumline (2002). Saldaña had a small but memorable part as a female pirate in the surprise hit movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), and she played an immigration agent in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal (2004), which starred Tom Hanks…

Silurian Period: Economic significance of Silurian deposits: …of the Upper Peninsula, on Drummond Island, dolomite from the Wenlock Engadine Group is still quarried on a large scale for this specialized industrial use.

Detroit Pistons: Led by young star center Andre Drummond, the Pistons returned to the postseason in 2015–16, where the team was swept in the opening round. The excitement among Detroit fans that that playoff berth had created was quickly snuffed out the following season as the team struggled to a losing record.

Bulldog Drummond, fictional character, the English hero of a popular series of English mystery novels (from 1920) by Sapper. Drummond, a two-fisted man of action, made his first appearance in a short story published in The Strand Magazine. He next appeared in the novel Bull-dog Drummond: The

ska: …group of leading studio musicians—Don Drummond, Roland Alphonso, Dizzy Johnny Moore, Tommy McCook, Lester Sterling, Jackie Mittoo, Lloyd Brevette, Jah Jerry, and Lloyd Knibbs—and under McCook’s leadership they became known as the Skatalites in 1963, making several seminal recordings for leading producers and backing many prominent singers, as well…

Henry Drummond was a British banker, writer, and member of Parliament who helped found the Catholic Apostolic Church. Drummond studied at the University of Oxford for two years but did not take a degree. He became a partner in Drummond’s Bank, London, and served in Parliament for Plympton Erle,

Bulldog Drummond, fictional character, the English hero of a popular series of English mystery novels (from 1920) by Sapper. Drummond, a two-fisted man of action, made his first appearance in a short story published in The Strand Magazine. He next appeared in the novel Bull-dog Drummond: The

Great Dismal Swamp: …the swamp is the freshwater Lake Drummond (about 3 miles [5 km] in diameter), which is connected with the canal by the 3-mile-long Feeder Ditch; this lake is the basis of the poem The Lake of the Dismal Swamp by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.

League of Nations: Structure of the League of Nations: In organizing the Secretariat, Sir Eric James Drummond, the first secretary-general (1919–33), struck out on a completely new path. He and his French and U.S. deputies built up a strictly international institution in which it was understood from the first that all officials were to act independently from their…

limelight: …calcium oxide light invented by Thomas Drummond in 1816. Drummond’s light, which consisted of a block of calcium oxide heated to incandescence in jets of burning oxygen and hydrogen, provided a soft, very brilliant light that could be directed and focused. It was first employed in a theatre in 1837…