frog and toad: Annotated classification: …Indies), Hylodinae (South America), and Leptodactylinae (South America and Central America). Family Myobatrachidae and Limnodynastidae Eocene to present; 8 presacral vertebrae; coccyx free, bicondylar; 21 genera, 110 species; adult length to about 10 cm (4 inches); 2 subfamilies: Limnodynastinae (New Guinea and Australia) and Myobatrachinae (New Guinea

Leptodactylidae: The South American bullfrogs are of this genus. These animals resemble true frogs (Rana) but lack webbing on the feet. The edible L. pentadactylus of Panama and South America is a large form with a maximum length of more than 15 cm (6 inches).

cat snake: Often classified separately, cat-eyed snakes (Leptodeira) of the New World tropics are superficially similar to Old World cat snakes. Ten species of cat-eyed snakes occur in dry habitats from Mexico to Argentina. The most common species is the banded cat-eyed snake (L. annulata), which is found over the…

cat snake: …most common species is the banded cat-eyed snake (L. annulata), which is found over the entire range of the genus. These snakes are light brown in colour with dark brown spots or blotches on the back, and they typically grow to 0.5–0.8 metre (1.6–2.6 feet), though specimens of 1.1 metres…

Leptodesma, extinct genus of pelecypods (clams) found as fossils in Silurian to Lower Carboniferous rocks (between about 444 million and 318 million years old). Its distinct shell, roughly oval except for a sharp outgrowth that extends posteriorly, makes Leptodesma easy to identify. A troughlike

water flea: …exception is the predatory giant Leptodora, which grows as long as 18 mm and whose carapace is reduced to a small brood sac. Most species swim by means of powerful strokes of the antennae; in some species the successive strokes produce a characteristic hopping and sinking motion. Apart from a…

Leptodus, extinct genus of articulate brachiopods, or lamp shells, of the Permian Period (299 million to 251 million years ago). Leptodus, a very specialized form characterized by an aberrant morphology, had an oysterlike pedicle valve, which anchored the shell to the substrate and was probably

coreid bug: …phyllopus of North America and L. membranaceus of Australia) have enlarged or flattened extensions on their legs, hence the common name leaf-footed bug. These insects suck plant juices from crops such as peas, beans, potatoes, and tomatoes. Leaf-footed bugs spend the winter in the adult stage. In warm climates there…

coreid bug: , Leptoglossus phyllopus of North America and L. membranaceus of Australia) have enlarged or flattened extensions on their legs, hence the common name leaf-footed bug. These insects suck plant juices from crops such as peas, beans, potatoes, and tomatoes. Leaf-footed bugs spend the winter in the…

bryophyte: Form and function: …layers of living cells (leptoids) that conduct the sugars and other organic substances manufactured by the gametophore. This conducting system is analogous to that of the vascular plants, except that it lacks lignin (a carbohydrate polymer), and it closely resembles that found in the fossils of the earliest land…

kurtosis: Leptokurtic distributions are variable distributions with wide tails and have positive kurtosis. In contrast, platykurtic distributions have narrow tails and thus have negative kurtosis, whereas mesokurtic distributions (such as the normal distribution) have a kurtosis of zero.

Leptolepis, genus of marine fishes very closely related to the first teleosts, the dominant group of fishes in the world today. Leptolepis was abundant in the world’s Mesozoic seas and was herringlike in size and appearance. Fragmentary remains from earlier and later rocks may indicate an earlier

cnidarian: Annotated classification: Suborder Leptomedusae Medusae saucer-shaped, but lacking in many species. Gonads on radial canals. Sensory structures usually statocysts. Hydroids with hydrothecae (condition known as calyptoblastic). All shallow marine waters. Suborder Limnomedusae Small medusae with gonads on stomach walls or radial canals. Polyps solitary or colonial, commonly with…

meninges: …arachnoid together are called the leptomeninges.

fungus: Annotated classification: Order Leptomitales Aquatic, saprotrophic, often found in polluted water; eucarpic; hyphae constricted, with cellulin plugs, arising from a well-defined basal cell; oogonium typically containing a single egg, which may be free or embedded in periplasm (a peripheral layer of protoplasm); example genera include Apodachlyella, Ducellieria, Leptolegniella,…

leishmania: …motile, flagellated organism called a leptomonad, which is found in the alimentary tract of the sand fly. In their leishmanial stage, the organisms are taken in with the meal of the fly, and they develop into leptomonads in the fly’s stomach and multiply there. They eventually migrate to the fly’s…

lepton, any member of a class of subatomic particles that respond only to the electromagnetic force, weak force, and gravitational force and are not affected by the strong force. Leptons are said to be elementary particles; that is, they do not appear to be made up of smaller units of matter.

lepton: Mathematically, total lepton number L (the number of leptons minus the number of antileptons) is constant. In addition, a conservation law for leptons of each type seems to hold; the number of electrons and electron-neutrinos, for example, is conserved separately from the number of muons and muon-neutrinos.…

Weddell seal, (Leptonychotes weddellii), nonmigratory earless seal (family Phocidae) found around the South Pole, on or near the coast of Antarctica. The Weddell seal is a rotund animal that grows to about 3 metres (10 feet) in length and about 400 kg (880 pounds) in weight; the female is larger

frog and toad: Annotated classification: (Africa and Madagascar), Kassininae (Africa), Leptopelinae (Africa), and Tachycneminae (Seychelles). Family Mantellidae No fossil record; 8 presacral vertebrae; vertebral column procoelous; intercalary cartilages present; 3 tarsals; aquatic larvae; 3 genera, 61 species; adult size 2–12 cm (1–5 inches). Madagascar. Family

fern: Annotated classification: …thick-walled cells; 6 genera (Claytosmunda, Leptopteris, Osmunda, Osmundopteris, Plenasium, and Todea) and 20 modern species, distributed nearly worldwide. Order Hymenophyllales Family Hymenophyllaceae (filmy ferns)

marabou, (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), large African bird of the stork family, Ciconiidae (order Ciconiiformes). The marabou is the largest stork, 150 cm (5 feet) tall with a wingspread of 2.6 m (8 12 feet). Mainly gray and white, it has a naked pinkish head and neck, a pendant, reddish, inflatable

stork: The adjutant stork (Leptoptilos dubius), or adjutant bird, of India and southeastern Asia, and the lesser adjutant (L. javanicus) are typical scavengers with naked pink skin on the head and neck.

stork: …and southeastern Asia, and the lesser adjutant (L. javanicus) are typical scavengers with naked pink skin on the head and neck.

perciform: Annotated classification: Family Leptoscopidae Sand-burrowing fishes; no spines in dorsal and anal fins. 5 species; marine; coasts of Australia and New Zealand; size up to 30 cm (12 inches). Family Uranoscopidae (stargazers) Head extremely broad and deep; posterior half of body tapering to a small truncate tail fin;…

Leptosol, one of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Leptosols are soils with a very shallow profile depth (indicating little influence of soil-forming processes), and they often contain large amounts of gravel. They typically remain under

cuckoo roller: …sole member of the family Leptosomatidae (sometimes treated as a subfamily of the Coraciidae [rollers]). It is about 43 cm (17 inches) long. The cuckoo roller is also distinguished by its zygodactyl feet, with each foot having two forward-pointing and two backward-pointing toes. Males are iridescent green above and gray…

Ernst Kretschmer: …constitutional groups: the tall, thin asthenic type, the more muscular athletic type, and the rotund pyknic type. He suggested that the lanky asthenics, and to a lesser degree the athletic types, were more prone to schizophrenia, while the pyknic types were more likely to develop manic-depressive disorders. His work was…

cuckoo roller, (Leptosomus discolor), little-known bird of Madagascar and the neighbouring Comoros, named for its superficial resemblance to cuckoos but usually deemed the sole member of the family Leptosomatidae (sometimes treated as a subfamily of the Coraciidae [rollers]). It is about 43 cm (17

Leptospermum, genus of about 40 species of subtropical evergreen shrubs or small trees, in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), native to Australasia. Several species have been introduced to temperate regions and grown in greenhouses for their showy roselike flowers and almost needlelike foliage. Many

Leptospermum: …are called tea trees: the Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum), growing to a height of 6 m (20 feet), has shredding bark and white flowers. It is used for reclamation planting and erosion control on sandy soils. The woolly tea tree (L. lanigerum) differs in having fuzzy young shoots. The…

Leptospermum: The woolly tea tree (L. lanigerum) differs in having fuzzy young shoots. The shrubby New Zealand tea tree, or manuka (L. scoparium), has several cultivated varieties with white to rose-red flowers and gray-green to brownish leaves.

Leptospermum: The shrubby New Zealand tea tree, or manuka (L. scoparium), has several cultivated varieties with white to rose-red flowers and gray-green to brownish leaves.

leptospirosis: …spiral-shaped bacterium, of the genus Leptospira.

leptospirosis, acute systemic illness of animals, occasionally communicable to humans, that is characterized by extensive inflammation of the blood vessels. It is caused by a spirochete, or spiral-shaped bacterium, of the genus Leptospira. Leptospires infect most mammals, particularly rodents and

plant: Annotated classification: Polypodiopsida (leptosporangiate ferns) Vascular plants; sporophyte differentiated into stem (rhizome), roots, and leaves (fronds); leaves entire or, more often, divided; arrangement of vascular tissue in stem variable, primary growth only; sporangia usually clustered into sori, often located on the under (abaxial) surface of sporophylls; mostly…

fern: The sporangium: …several cells, the latter as leptosporangia and arise from a single cell. Eusporangia occur in the classes Psilotopsida and Marattiopsida, and leptosporangia occur in the majority of the species in the class Polypodiopsida. There are, however, many forms intermediate between the two types of sporangia, and these are known in…

crustacean: Annotated classification: Leptostraca Permian to present; bivalved carapace encloses 8 pairs of leaflike limbs; movable rostrum; telson with caudal rami; marine; about 10 species. Subclass Hoplocarida Carboniferous to present. Order Stomatopoda (mantis shrimps)

heredity: During meiosis: At the leptotene stage the chromosomes appear as long, thin threads. At pachytene they pair, the corresponding portions of the two chromosomes lying side by side. The chromosomes then duplicate and contract into paired chromatids. At this stage the pair of chromosomes is known as a tetrad,…

chigger: …East Asia certain species of Leptotrombidium carry the disease known as scrub typhus.

blind snake: …blind snakes) and leptotyphlopids (threadsnakes and wormsnakes) are slender, and species of both families are seldom more than 30 cm (12 inches) long from snout to vent and grow to a maximum of 40 cm (16 inches) in total length. The anomalepids are made up of 15 species belonging…

blind snake: …blind snakes) and leptotyphlopids (threadsnakes and wormsnakes) are slender, and species of both families are seldom more than 30 cm (12 inches) long from snout to vent and grow to a maximum of 40 cm (16 inches) in total length. The anomalepids are made up of 15 species belonging…

Barbados threadsnake, (Leptotyphlops carlae), tiny burrowing member of the snake family Leptotyphlopidae. Reaching a maximum adult length of only 10.4 cm (4.1 inches) and an average weight of 0.6 g (0.02 ounce), it is thought to be the world’s smallest known snake. Its habitat is most likely

Celastrales: Parnassiaceae: Lepuropetalon spathulatum, the only species of its genus, occurs in the southeastern United States and Mexico. The leaves in the family have no stipules, and the flowers are single or obviously cymose. There are five stamens and five staminodes, or nonfunctional stamens. The latter are…

Lepus, constellation in the southern sky at about 6 hours right ascension and 20° south in declination. Its brightest star is Arneb (from the Arabic for “the hare”), with a magnitude of 2.6. To the ancient Greeks this constellation represented the quarry of the hunter (and neighbouring

hare, (genus Lepus), any of about 30 species of mammals related to rabbits and belonging to the same family (Leporidae). In general, hares have longer ears and longer hind feet than rabbits. While the tail is relatively short, it is longer than that of rabbits. The vernacular names hare and rabbit

snowshoe hare, (Lepus americanus), northern North American species of hare that undergoes an annual colour change from brownish or grayish in summer to pure white in winter. The hind feet are heavily furred, and all four feet are large in proportion to body size, a snowshoe-like adaptation that

hare: A typical species is the European hare (L. europaeus) of central and southern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia westward into Siberia. The mountain hare (L. timidus) of Asia, the Arctic hare (L. arcticus), and the snowshoe hare live in the far north. Several species of jackrabbit (including L. californicus…

lecanemab, human monoclonal antibody used for the treatment of Alzheimer disease. Lecanemab clears away and blocks the formation of a sticky protein in the brain known as amyloid beta. Abnormal deposits of amyloid, called amyloid plaques, are toxic to neurons and eventually cause neuronal death and

Solorese: …religion honoured the high god Lera Wulan and his female counterpart, Tana Ekan, as well as lesser spirits. Local political decisions are made by the head of the original or land-owning clan and four other ritual leaders.

Mexico: La Reforma: The minister of finance, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, sponsored the Ley Lerdo (June 25, 1856), which restricted the right of ecclesiastical and civil corporations to own lands by decreeing that church lands not directly used for religious purposes and lands held in common by indigenous communities (ejidos) must be…

Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada was the president of Mexico from 1872 to 1876. Lerdo, orphaned and impoverished as a child, struggled to obtain an education and became professor of jurisprudence and rector of the College of San Ildefonso in Mexico City. A political liberal, he joined Benito Juárez during

HuffPost: …Huffington, former America Online executive Kenneth Lerer, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab graduate Jonah Peretti. Headquarters are in New York City.

children’s literature: Overview: …the compilers Marguerite Gruny and Mathilde Leriche wrote: “Children’s literature in France is still poor, despite the earnest efforts of the last decade.”

pain: Theories of pain: French surgeon René Leriche, who worked with injured soldiers during World War I, suggested that a nerve injury that damages the myelin sheath surrounding the sympathetic nerves (the nerves involved in the fight-or-flight response) might lead to sensations of pain in response to normal stimuli and internal…

Lleida, city, capital of Lleida provincia (province) in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It lies on the Segre River near its confluence with the Cinca and Ebro rivers. Of Iberian origin, the town then called Ilerda was taken in 49 bc from Pompey

Abbey of Lérins, Cistercian monastery, originally founded about 410 by St. Honoratus of Arles on a Mediterranean island opposite Cannes (now in France). It flourished in the 5th century, when it was a centre of intellectual activity. Many highly educated monks, trained elsewhere, were attracted by

Mlle Clairon was a leading actress of the Comédie-Française who created many parts in the plays of Voltaire, Jean-François Marmontel, Bernard-Joseph Saurin, and others. She began her career as a soubrette but made her debut at the Comédie-Française in 1743 as Phèdre in the tragedy by Racine. She

Lleida, city, capital of Lleida provincia (province) in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It lies on the Segre River near its confluence with the Cinca and Ebro rivers. Of Iberian origin, the town then called Ilerda was taken in 49 bc from Pompey

Lerma River, river in west-central Mexico. It rises on the Mesa Central 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Toluca and flows northwestward through the state of México, forming the short border between the states of Querétaro and Michoacán before meandering generally west-northwestward through Guanajuato.

Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, duke de Lerma was a Spanish statesman who died a cardinal, having been the first of the validos—strong men or favourites—through whom the Habsburg kings were to govern Spain until the end of the 17th century. The son of the 4th marqués de Denia, Lerma was

Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, duke de Lerma was a Spanish statesman who died a cardinal, having been the first of the validos—strong men or favourites—through whom the Habsburg kings were to govern Spain until the end of the 17th century. The son of the 4th marqués de Denia, Lerma was

Mikhail Lermontov was the leading Russian Romantic poet and author of the novel Geroy nashego vremeni (1840; A Hero of Our Time), which was to have a profound influence on later Russian writers. Lermontov was the son of Yury Petrovich Lermontov, a retired army captain, and Mariya Mikhaylovna, née

Mikhail Lermontov was the leading Russian Romantic poet and author of the novel Geroy nashego vremeni (1840; A Hero of Our Time), which was to have a profound influence on later Russian writers. Lermontov was the son of Yury Petrovich Lermontov, a retired army captain, and Mariya Mikhaylovna, née

Aegean civilizations: The Early Bronze Age (c. 3000–2200): Lerna and other settlements on the mainland were eventually surrounded by massive walls with projecting towers, and neighbouring islands like Aigina or Syros in the Cyclades also had towered walls with trap gates. Houses with several rooms were being constructed in most parts of the…

Hydra, in Greek legend, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna (according to the early Greek poet Hesiod’s Theogony), a gigantic water-snake-like monster with nine heads (the number varies), one of which was immortal. The monster’s haunt was the marshes of Lerna, near Árgos, from which he periodically

Lerner index, in economics, a measure of the market power of a firm. Formalized by the Russian-British economist Abba P. Lerner in 1934, the Lerner index is expressed in the following formula: Lerner index = P - MCP where P represents the price of the good set by the firm and MC represents the

Abba P. Lerner was a Russian-born economist whose contributions included theoretical works on inflation, unemployment, and international trade. Lerner’s family immigrated to England when he was three. By age 16 he had begun a succession of jobs (as a machinist, commercial printer, and teacher,

Abba P. Lerner was a Russian-born economist whose contributions included theoretical works on inflation, unemployment, and international trade. Lerner’s family immigrated to England when he was three. By age 16 he had begun a succession of jobs (as a machinist, commercial printer, and teacher,

Cleveland Browns: …until 1998, when local businessman Al Lerner purchased an expansion team that assumed the Browns’ name, uniforms, and history. The revived team began play in 1999.

Alan Jay Lerner was an American librettist and lyricist who collaborated with composer Frederick Loewe on the hit Broadway musicals Brigadoon (1947), Paint Your Wagon (1951), My Fair Lady (1956), and Camelot (1960) and the film Gigi (1958). Lerner, whose parents were prosperous retailers (Lerner

Max Lerner was an American educator, author, and syndicated columnist who was an influential spokesman for liberal political and economic views. Lerner’s article on liberalism appeared in the 14th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (see the Britannica Classic: liberalism). Lerner immigrated to

Max Lerner was an American educator, author, and syndicated columnist who was an influential spokesman for liberal political and economic views. Lerner’s article on liberalism appeared in the 14th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (see the Britannica Classic: liberalism). Lerner immigrated to

Max Lerner was an American educator, author, and syndicated columnist who was an influential spokesman for liberal political and economic views. Lerner’s article on liberalism appeared in the 14th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (see the Britannica Classic: liberalism). Lerner immigrated to

Tillie Olsen: Early life and influences: …of Ida Goldberg and Sam Lerner, who had been members of the Bund, a largely Jewish and socialist self-defense league founded in 1897 that sought to end injustice and the brutal pogroms of tsarist Russia. Both lived in what is today Minsk voblasts (province), Belarus, and each played a part…

Cisco Systems: …Systems were Leonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner, a married couple (later divorced) who had met while students at Stanford University. After graduating in 1981, they worked at the school, directing the computer facilities of two different departments. Bosack found a way to link their respective computer networks using technology that…

Tillie Olsen was an American writer and social activist known for her powerful fiction about the inner lives of the working poor, women, and minorities. Her interest in long-neglected women authors inspired the development of academic programs in women’s studies, especially at the university level

Alexander Lernet-Holenia was a prolific and popular dramatist, poet, and novelist, many of whose works exhibit nostalgia for pre-World War I Austrian aristocracy. In particular, his novel Die Standarte (1934), by depicting military unrest in Serbia in 1918, illustrates the loss of authority in the

Léros, island and dímos (municipality), South Aegean (Modern Greek: Nótio Aigaío) periféreia (region), southeastern Greece. Léros is one of the Dodecanese (Dodekánisa) islands in the Aegean Sea, east of the Cyclades (Kykládes) and off the southwest coast of Turkey. It is surrounded by numerous

South African literature: In Afrikaans: …the Sestigers were the novelists Etienne Leroux and André P. Brink and the poet Breyten Breytenbach. In a series of thematically linked novels published in the 1960s, Leroux explored the dilemma of modern Afrikaners in search of a myth, the inexhaustible fantasy and satire of his work making it unique…

Gaston Leroux was a French novelist, best known for his Le Fantôme de l’opéra (1910; The Phantom of the Opera), which later became famous in various film and stage renditions. After leaving school, Leroux worked as a clerk in a law office and, in his free time, began writing essays and short

Pierre Leroux was a French pantheistic philosopher, economist, pacifist, government official, and champion of socialism through various reviews and newspapers that he helped found. In 1824, with Paul-François Dubois, Leroux established Le Globe, and seven years later he made it the organ of the

François-Joseph Bélanger: …Nollet and studied architecture under J.-D. Leroy. He visited England at least once, and the sketchbook that survives is a rare record of the view by a French architect of late 18th-century England.

art criticism: The avant-garde problem: … (1872), which inspired French critic Louis Leroy to give the Impressionist movement its name. In a sense, Impressionism carried sketchiness to a “sensational” extreme, suggesting that the most daring artists had unconditionally surrendered to the liberal spirit of the 1848 revolutions, in effect legitimating them aesthetically. The spirit of the…

Mervyn LeRoy was an American motion-picture director whose wide variety of films included dramas, romances, epics, comedies, and musicals. He also produced films, including the classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) After the LeRoy family

Alejandro Lerroux was the leader of the Spanish Radical Party who headed four governments during the period of centre-right rule (1933–35) in the Second Republic (1931–39). The son of a sergeant major, Lerroux practiced as a lawyer and worked as a journalist in Barcelona before becoming leader of

partridge: The snow partridge (Lerwa lerwa) of high mountains of south-central Asia resembles a ptarmigan in appearance and habits.

Lerwick, chief town of Scotland’s Shetland Islands, an archipelago lying 130 miles (210 km) north of the Scottish mainland. Lerwick is the most northerly town in Britain. It is situated on a fine natural harbour on Bressay Sound on the eastern coast of the island of Mainland. Lerwick originated as

Les Baux-de-Provence, village, Bouches-du-Rhône département, Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur région, southeastern France, on a spur of the Alpilles Hills rising abruptly from the valley floor, northeast of Arles. On this rocky hill, about 1,000 yards (900 metres) long and 220 yards (200 metres) wide, is

Les Baux-de-Provence, village, Bouches-du-Rhône département, Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur région, southeastern France, on a spur of the Alpilles Hills rising abruptly from the valley floor, northeast of Arles. On this rocky hill, about 1,000 yards (900 metres) long and 220 yards (200 metres) wide, is

Les Cayes, town, southwestern Haiti, on the southern Caribbean shore of the southern peninsula. Founded in 1786, it was plagued by disease and pirates during colonial times. In 1815 the South American liberator Simón Bolívar visited the port to accept Haitian arms and a contingent of troops to aid

Les Combarelles, long, narrow cave near Les Eyzies in Dordogne, France, famous for its prehistoric engravings. The cave’s hundreds of sometimes superimposed engravings, dating to the mid-Magdalenian Period of Paleolithic art (about 14,000 years ago), were discovered in 1901. Most of the images

canals and inland waterways: Boat lifts: …1888 lifts were constructed at Les Fontinettes, France, for 300-ton vessels and at La Louvière, Belgium, for 400-ton vessels. Similar hydraulic lift locks were constructed at Kirkfield and Peterborough in Ontario, Canada; the latter, completed in 1904, has a lift of nearly 20 metres (65 feet). Float lifts were constructed…

Landes, forest region bordering the Bay of Biscay in the Aquitaine Basin of southwestern France, extending northward to the Garonne Estuary and southward to the Adour River. With an area of 5,400 square miles (14,000 square km), Landes occupies three-quarters of the Landes département, half of

Channel Islands: …and the Ecrehous rocks and Les Minquiers are Jersey’s. The last two were the source of long-standing dispute between England and France until 1953, when the International Court of Justice confirmed British sovereignty. In the late 20th century the dispute revived, as sovereignty of these islands determines allocation of rights…

continental philosophy: Foucault: Foucault began The Order of Things by memorably citing an ancient Chinese scheme of classification, which Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) had used in his essay “The Analytical Language of John Wilkins” (1941):

André Gide: Symbolist period: …poem Les Nourritures terrestres (1897; Fruits of the Earth) reflects Gide’s personal liberation from the fear of sin and his acceptance of the need to follow his own impulses. But after he returned to France, Gide’s relief at having shed the shackles of convention evaporated in what he called the…

electric guitar: …on any acoustic amplification, the solid-body electric guitar could make much smoother, more sonically isolated tones. The technology for pickups—the nodes attached to the steel strings that transferred electric currents to amplifiers—also advanced quickly about the same time. Most electric guitars had begun to use smaller magnetic single- or double-coil…

Albert Camus: Camus’s literary career: …nonne; 1956) and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Possessed (Les Possédés; 1959).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: The last decade: …Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (1782; Reveries of the Solitary Walker), one of the most moving of his books, in which the intense passion of his earlier writings gives way to a gentle lyricism and serenity. And indeed, Rousseau does seem to have recovered his peace of mind in his last…