OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Thuringian Forest

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​THURINGIAN FOREST (Thüringerwald), a range of hills in Germany, extending in an irregular line from the neighbourhood of Eisenach in the N.W. to the Lobensteiner Kulm on the Bavarian frontier on the S.E. On the S.E. it is continued directly by the Frankenwald Mountains to the Fichtelgebirge, while on the N.E. it approaches the Harz Mountains, and thus takes its place in the great Sudetic chain of central Germany. The length of the Thuringian chain is 70 m., and its breadth varies from 6 to 22 m. It nowhere rises into peaks, and only a few of its rounded summits reach 3000 ft.; the successive hills form a continuous comb; the north-west slopes are precipitous and seamed with winding gorges. This range encloses many charming valleys and glens; the most prominent feature of its scenery is formed by the forests, chiefly of pines and firs. The north-west part of the system is the loftier and the more densely wooded as well as the more beautiful; the highest summits here are the Grosser Beerberg (3225 ft.), Schneekopf (3203) and the Finsterberg (3104), all in the duchy of Gotha. The south-east part of the Thuringian Forest is the more populous and industrial; the chief summits are the Kieferle (2848 ft.), the Blessberg (2834 ft.), the Wurzelberg (2841 ft.) and the Wetzstein (2575 ft.). The crest of the Thuringian Forest, from the Werra to the Saale, is traversed by the Rennsteig or Rainsteig, a broad path of unknown antiquity, perhaps referred to in a letter of Pope Gregory III. dated 738. The name means probably "frontier-path"; and the path marks in fact the boundary between Thuringia and Franconia. It may be also regarded as part of the boundary line between north and south Germany, for dialect, customs, local names and costume are different on the two sides. The rocks are largely volcanic, the stratification being complex. The mineral resources have been nearly exhausted, but the district is an important centre of small industries (glassware, earthenware, meerschaum-ware, iron castings and toys being among its principal products) and a favourite resort for tourists.
See Regel, Thüringen, ein landeskundlicher Grundriss (Jena, 1897); Trinius, Thüringer Wanderbuch (8 vols., Minden, 1896–1902); Proscholdt, "Der Thüringer Wald und seine nächste Umgebung," in Forschungen zur deutschen Landes- und Volkskunde, vol. v. (Stuttgart, 1891); Walther, Geologische Heimatskunde von Thüringen (Jena, 1906); and Meyer's Reisebuch, "Thüringen" (18th ed., Leipzig, 1906).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Thursday Island

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​THURSDAY ISLAND, one of the smallest of the Prince of Wales group, N. of Cape York, in the Torres Strait, attached to Somerset county, Queensland, Australia. Pop. (1901), 1534. It has an excellent harbour, Port Kennedy, and is a port of call for mail steamers and the centre of the bêche-de-mer and pearl fisheries of the Torres Strait. It is a fortified coaling station for the British navy. The neighbouring Friday Island is the quarantine and leper station for Queensland.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Thurso

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​THURSO, a municipal and police burgh, and seaport of Caithness, Scotland. Pop. (1901), 3723. It is situated at the mouth of the Thurso, on Thurso Bay, 21 m. N.W. of Wick, and 319 m. N. of Edinburgh by the North British and Highland railways, the most northerly town in Scotland. Coaches run daily to Mey and Wick and every day a mail-car goes to Tongue, in Sutherlandshire, about 40 m. west.
In Macdonald Square, laid out with ornamental walks, there is a statue of Sir John Sinclair. A promenade along the sands was opened in 1882. The town-hall contains a public library and museum, which possesses the geological and botanical specimens of Robert Dick (1811-1866), the “Thurso baker,” as well as a large collection of northern birds. In the neighbourhood are quarries for Caithness flags, which are cut and dressed in the town. They constitute the leading export, but the trade of the port is hindered by the inconvenience of the harbour. There is, however, communication daily from Scrabster pier, 2 m. north-west, with Scapa and Stromness in Pomona (Orkneys), calling at Hoxa; once a week with Wick, Aberdeen and Leith; and occasionally in summer with Liverpool. To the east is Thurso Castle, the residence of the Ulbster branch of the Sinclairs, and near it is Harold's Tower, built over the grave of Earl Harold, once owner of half of Caithness, and half of the Orkneys and Shetlands, who fell in battle with Earl Harold the Wicked in 1190. About three-quarters of a mile west stand the ruins of the bishop's palace, which was destroyed by fire in 1222. Thurso was the centre of the Norse power on the mainland when at its height under Thorfinn (1014), and afterwards till the battle of Largs (1263). Count Modach, nephew of King Duncan, quartered his army for a time at Thurso and despoiled it till he was surprised and slain by Thorfinn in 1040. In the time of Malcolm II. Earl Erlend resided in the town. In 1633 it was created a burgh of barony, and was the seat of the sheriff courts of the county till they were removed to Wick in 1828.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Volta, Alessandro

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​VOLTA, ALESSANDRO (1745-1827), Italian physicist, was born at Como on the 18th of February 1745. He is celebrated as a pioneer of electrical science, after whom the "volt" is named. In 1774 he was appointed professor of physics in the gymnasium of Como, and in 1777 he travelled through Switzerland, where he formed an intimate friendship with H. B. de Saussure. In 1779 a chair of physics was founded in Pavia, and Volta was chosen to occupy it. In 1782 he journeyed through France, Germany, Holland and England, and became acquainted with many scientific celebrities. In 1791 he received the Copley medal of the Royal Society. In 1801 Napoleon called him to Paris, to show his experiments on contact electricity, and a medal was struck in his honour. He was made a senator of the kingdom of Lombardy. In 1815 the emperor of Austria made him director of the philosophical faculty of Padua. In 1819 he retired and settled in his native town, where he died on the 5th of March 1827. For Volta's electrical work, and his place in the history of discovery (see Electricity; also Voltmeter).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Voluinsky, Artemy Petrovich

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​VOLUINSKY, ARTEMY PETROVICH (1689–1740), Russian general and statesman, son of Peter Voluinsky, one of the dignitaries at the court of Theodore III., came of an ancient family. He entered a dragoon regiment in 1704 and rose to the rank of captain; then, exchanging the military service for diplomacy, he was attached to the suite of Vice-Chancellor Shafirov. He was present during the campaign of the Pruth, shared Shafirov's captivity in the Seven Towers and in 1715 was sent by Peter the Great to Persia to promote Russian influence there, and if possible to find an outlet to India. In 1718 Peter made him one of his six adjutant-generals, and governor of Astrakhan. In this post Voluinsky displayed distinguished administrative and financial talents. In 1723 he married Alexandra Naruishkina, Peter's cousin. The same ​year he was accused of peculation and other offences to the emperor, who caned him severely and deprived him of his plenipotentiary powers, despite his undeniable services in Persia, but for which Peter could never have emerged so triumphantly from the difficult Persian war of 1722–23. Catherine I. made Voluinsky governor of Kazan for a short time, and he held the same post for two years (1728–30) under Peter II. But his incurable corruption and unbridled temper so discredited the government that he was deprived of the post shortly after the accession of Anne. From 1730 to 1736 Voluinsky served in the army under Münnich. In 1737 he was appointed the second Russian plenipotentiary at the abortive congress of Nemirov held for the conclusion of peace with the Porte. In 1738 he was introduced into the Russian cabinet by Biren as a counterpoise against Andrei Osterman. Voluinsky, however, now thought himself strong enough to attempt to supersede Biren himself, and openly opposed the favourite in the Council of State in the debates as to the indemnity due to Poland for the violations of her territory during the war of the Polish Succession, Biren advising that a liberal indemnity should be given, whereas Voluinsky objected to any indemnity at all. Biren thereupon forced Anne to order an inquiry into Voluinsky's past career, with the result that he was tried before a tribunal of Biren's creatures and condemned to be broken on the wheel and then beheaded. On the scaffold, “by the clemency of the empress,” his punishment was mitigated to the severing of his right hand followed by decapitation. The whole business seems to have been purely a piece of vindictiveness on the part of Biren.
See R. N. Bain, The Pupils of Peter the Great (London, 1897); D. A. Korsakov, From the Lives of Russian Statesmen of the XVIIIth Century (Rus.) (Kazan, 1891).  (R. N. B.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Volume 29/Title Page

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THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XXIX
INDEX
New York Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 342 Madison Avenue
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Volta

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VOLTA, the largest river of the coast of Upper Guinea, between the Gambia and the Niger, with a length of about 900 m. Its mouth and the greater part of its course are in British territory. Its lower course had been known since the discoveries of the Portuguese, from whom it received (15th century) its name on account of the winding nature of its stream. It was not, however, until the last fifteen years of the 19th century that the extent of its basin — extending far north within the bend of the Niger — was made known.
There are two main upper branches, the Black and the White Volta. Their sources lie on the grassy plateaus north of the forest belt of the Guinea coast, the Black Volta rising (as the Baule) in about 11° N. 4° 50' W. Its course is at first E. and N.E., to 12° 25' N., at which point, after receiving a tributary from nearly 14° N. — the most northerly point of the basin, — it turns sharply south. From the eleventh to the ninth parallel the river forms the boundary between the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (British) and the French Ivory Coast colony. The southerly course of the stream ceases at 8° 15' N. where it is deflected E., and even N., by a mountain range composed of sandstone and granite, which it finally breaks through by a narrow pass, in which its width is only some 60 yds. Elsewhere it has a general width of 150 to 200 yds. In 0° 50' W. it receives the White Volta, which flows generally south from about 13° N. and likewise breaks through a narrow gap in the plateau escarpment. Both rivers shrink greatly in the dry season, reaching their lowest level at the end of January. Below the junction the Volta flows S.E. and S., turning, however, E. for 40 m. just north of 6°. In 7° 37' N. it receives on the left bank a large tributary, the Oti, coming from 12° N. In its lower course, through the forest the river has often a width of over half a mile, with a depth in places of 40 to 50 ft. in the rains, but in 6° 18' N. it traverses a pass in which its width is narrowed to 30 yds. Its use as a waterway is limited by a number of rapids, the lowest of which occur in 6° 7' N., above the trading port of Akuse. Its mouth is obstructed during the greater part of the year by a bar. The river is usually navigable by small vessels from its mouth for about 60 m.
The lower Volta was explored by M. J. Bonnat in 1875, but the upper basin was first traversed by the German traveller G. A. Krause (1886-87) and the French captain L. G. Binger (1888). It has since been explored by a number of colonial officials — German, French and British. Between 6° 41' and 8° 8' N. the Volta forms the boundary between the Gold Coast and Togoland.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Volturno

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​VOLTURNO (anc. Volturnus, from volvere, to roll), a river of central Italy, which rises in the neighbourhood of Alfedena in the central Apennines of Samnium, runs S. as far as Venafro, and then S.E. After a course of some 75 m. it receives, about 5 m. E. of Caiazzo, the Calore, only 3 m. less in length, which runs first N. and then W., and after 37 m. reaches Benevento, near which it receives several tributaries; then curves round the mountain mass to the N. of the Caudine Forks, and so beyond Telese joins the Volturno. The united stream now flows W.S.W. past Capua (anc. Casilinum), where the Via Appia and Latina joined just to the N. of the bridge over it, and so through the Campanian plain, with many windings, into the sea. The direct length of the lower course is about 31 m., so that the whole is slightly longer than that of the Liri, and its basin far larger. The river has always had considerable military importance, and the colony of Volturnum (no doubt preceded by an older port of Capua) was founded in 194 B.C. at its mouth on the S. bank by the Romans; it is now about one mile inland. A fort had already been placed there during the Roman siege of Capua, in order, with Puteoli, to serve for the provisioning of the army. Augustus placed a colony of veterans here. The Via Domitiana from Sinuessa to Puteoli crossed the river at this point, and some remains of the bridge are visible. The river was navigable as far as Capua.
On the 1st of October 1860 the Neapolitan forces were defeated on the S. bank of the Volturno, near S. Maria di Capua Vetere, by the Piedmontese and Garibaldi's troops, a defeat which led to the fall of Capua. (T. As.)
# A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Chao T'ing-ch'ên

​186 Chao T'ing-ch'ên 趙廷臣 (T. 君鄰). Died A.D. 1669. A Chinese Bannerman, who was sent in 1645 to Shan-yang in Kiangsu as Magistrate, and afterwards distinguished himself as Prefect of Nanking. Dismissed for dilatoriness in the collection of taxes, in 1653 he was made Taot'ai in Hunan, where he set his face against the giving and receiving of presents. In 1658 he became Governor of the newly-settled province of Kueichou, and Viceroy of Yün-Kuei in 1659, where he introduced education of the native chieftains and reclamation of waste lands. Transferred in 1662 to Chehkiang, he simplified taxation and reformed the military and naval administrations, and stamped out the last efforts of the adherents of the Mings. He also issued a much needed cash coinage. Many stories are told of his acumen as a judge. Canonised as 清獻.
# 20 Hrs. 40 Min./Foreword

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FOREWORD
IN re-reading the manuscript of this book I find I didn’t allow myself to be born. May I apologize for this unconventional oversight as well as for other more serious ones—and some not so serious?
I myself am disappointed not to have been able to write a “work”—(you know, Dickens’ Works, Thackeray’s Works), but my dignity wouldn’t stand the strain. I can only hope, therefore, that some of the fun of flying the Atlantic has sifted into my pages and that some of the charm and romance of old ships may be seen to cling similarly to the ships of the air.
A. E.
# 20 Hrs. 40 Min./Wilmer Stultz

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​WILMER STULTZ—Pilot
Born April 11, 1900.
He enlisted in 1917 for duration of the war. Joined the 634th Aero Squadron at San Antonio, Texas, and later served at Middletown, Pa. Discharged March, 1919.
On August 4, 1919, married Mildred Potts, of Middletown.
December 2, 1919, Stultz joined the Navy, being stationed at Hampton Roads, Virginia, until July, 1920. Then he went to Pensacola, Florida, to the flight school, where he received training with seaplanes, in the ground school, and in navigation, aerology, meteorology, radio, etc. Thereafter he returned to Hampton Roads until December 2, 1922, securing his discharge.
In February, 1923, Stultz took a position with Curtiss Export Company, being sent to Rio de Janeiro to oversee the setting up of forty F5L and other types ​of planes. He also instructed Brazilians in flying. That autumn he returned to New York, working with the Curtiss Company at Curtiss Field. Later for the Fokker Company he tested the "Josephine Ford" used by Commander Byrd.
Among those for whom he flew subsequently were Al Pack, President of the Hubbard Steel Foundries, for the Gates Flying Circus, and the Reynolds Airways.
In August Stultz joined Mrs. Grayson, testing her plane "The Dawn." From Old Orchard, Maine, in October he made three take-off attempts with Mrs. Grayson. A flight of about 500 miles was terminated by engine trouble. Lacking confidence in the "Dawn's" equipment, he severed his connection with Mrs. Grayson.
In November, 1927, Stultz took a position with Arrow Airways, Paterson, N. J., which he left to make flights with Charles Levine to Havana, etc.
Thereafter he became associated with the Friendship flight.
# 20 Hrs. 40 Min./Louis Edward Gordon

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​LOUIS EDWARD GORDON—Flight Mechanic
Born March 4, 1901, San Antonio, Texas.
Gordon enlisted in the Army Air Service at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, July 15, 1919.
Later he was transferred to the 20th Bombing Squadron and went to Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, where he had six months in the aircraft motor school. Rejoining his organization in New York, he was assigned as mechanic to two tri-motored Caproni and one Handley Page plane. In May, 1921, he was with the Handley Page bombers during operations against obsolete battleships off the Virginia Capes.
Subsequently Gordon became Chief Mechanic at the proving grounds, Aberdeen, Maryland. Then until 1926 he served with bombers at Mitchel Field, where he was throughout the International Air Races. In May, 1926, after seven years and nine days in the service, he received his honorable discharge as Staff Sergeant.
​Gordon next was with the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Air Service, operating Fokker tri-motors between Philadelphia, Washington, and Norfolk.
In June, 1927, R. J. Reynolds bought the ships. Gordon was working on a tri-motor at Monroe, Louisiana, when Stultz, telephoning from New York, asked him if he would like to join up on the Friendship project. The next day he met Stultz in Detroit and joined the Friendship.
On July 20, 1928, married Ann Bruce of Brookline, Mass.
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Burgmüller, Norbert

From volume 1 of the work.
[ A. M. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Burton, Avery

From volume 1 of the work.
[ W. H. H. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Butler, Tomas

From volume 1 of the work.
[ W. H. H. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Burletta

From volume 1 of the work.
[ W. H. C. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Busby, Thomas

From volume 1 of the work.
[ E. F. R. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Burton, John

From volume 1 of the work.
[ W. H. H. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Burrowes, John

From volume 1 of the work.
[ W. H. H. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Burla

From volume 1 of the work.
[ W. H. C. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Busnois

From volume 1 of the work.
​BUSNOIS, a Belgian musician in the latter part of the 15th century, who with Ockenheim and a few others represent the Netherland school immediately preceding Josquin des Prés. The date and place of his birth are unknown, but he was without doubt educated and passed the greater part of his life in Belgium. In 1476 he was appointed one of the chapel singers of ​Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and continued in that position till the death of that prince (Jan. 5, 1477), when he retired to a country life till his death about 1480.
[ J. R. S. B. ]
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Walpole of Wolterton, Horatio, 1st Baron

See also Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole on Wikipedia; and our 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica disclaimer.
​WALPOLE OF WOLTERTON, HORATIO, 1st Baron (1678–1757), English diplomatist, was a son of Robert Walpole of Houghton, Norfolk, and a younger brother of the great Sir Robert Walpole. The Walpoles owned land in Norfolk in the 12th century and took their name from Walpole, a village in the county An early member of the family was Ralph de Walpole, bishop of Norwich from 1288 to 1299, and bishop of Ely from 1 299 until his death on the 20th of March 1302. Among its later members were three brothers, Edward (1560–1637), Richard (1564–1607) and Michael (1570–c. 1634), all members of the Society of Jesus. Another Jesuit in the family was Henry Walpole (1558–1595), who wrote An Epitaph of the life and death of the most famous clerk and virtuous priest Edmund Campion. After an adventurous and courageous career in the service of the order, he was arrested on landing in England, was tortured and then put to death on the 17th of April 1595.
Born at Houghton on the 8th of December 1678 and educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, Horatio Walpole became a fellow of King’s and entered parliament in 1702, remaining a member for fifty-four years. In 1715, when his brother. Sir Robert, became first lord of the treasury, he was made secretary to the treasury, and in 1716, having already had some experience of the kind, he went on a diplomatic mission to The Hague. He left office with his brother in 1717, but he was soon in harness again, becoming secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1720 and secretary to the treasury a second time in 1721. In 1722 he was again at The Hague, and in 1723 he went to Paris, where in the following year he was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. He got on intimate terms with Fleury and seconded his brother in his efforts to maintain friendly relations with France; he represented Great Britain at the congress of Soissons and helped to conclude the treaty of Seville (November 1729). He left Paris in 1730 and in 1734 went to represent his country at The Hague, where he remained until 1740, using all his influence in the cause of European peace. After the fall of Sir Robert Walpole in 1742 Horatio defended his conduct in the House of Commons and also in a pamphlet, The Interest of Great Britain steadily pursued. Later he wrote an Apology, dealing with his own conduct from 1715 to 1739, and an Answer to the latter part of Lord Bolingbroke’s letters on the study of history (printed 1763). In 1756 he was created Baron Walpole of Wolterton, this being his Norfolk seat, and he died on the 5th of February 1757. His eldest son, Hgratio, the 2nd baron (1723–1809), was created earl of Orford in 1806, and one of his sons was Major-General George Walpole (1758–1835), under-secretary for foreign affairs in 1806.
See W. Coxe, Memoirs of Horatio, Lord Walpole (2nd ed., 1808); the same writer, Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole (1816); and Charles, comte de Baillon, Lord Walpole à la cour de France (1867).