OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blacksnake

Edition of 1920. See also Coluber constrictor on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKSNAKE, or BLACK RACER, a common colubrine serpent (Zamenis constrictor) found in eastern North America from southern Canada to Florida and west to the prairie regions of the United States. The typical eastern blacksnake is uniform lustrous black above and slate-color beneath, the lower jaw, chin and sometimes upper edges of the lip-plates white, the tongue black. West of the Mississippi the typical form is replaced by a distinct variety, the “blue racer,” slenderer and smaller. The young of the blacksnake, under 18 inches in length, are pale gray above, with brownish blotches on the back, and numerous black spots on the side. The female is larger than the male, but rarely if ever exceeds six feet in length; length of tail 17½ inches. This is one of the most numerous and vigorous of American snakes, making its home in hollow stumps and underground dens. At the approach of winter, many are likely to gather together in similar retreats and remain there in a torpid condition until spring, entangled into a ball, for the sake of mutual warmth. Its motions are of the swiftest, it being capable of moving with great rapidity and of scaling trees, sometimes to a height of 100 feet above the ground, where it searches from branch to branch for birds' eggs, young squirrels, etc. It seeks much of its food in swamps and along streams, mainly frogs, toads, eggs and young of birds, insects and other snakes, and is a fine swimmer. The blacksnake is harmless, and its bite is no worse than that of a mouse. It is readily tamed, thrives well in captivity and shows some intelligence. It is unaggressive, alert in getting away from danger and will not fight unless cornered. The stories recorded of its scenting out copperheads and rattlesnakes and slowly crushing them to death are fables, as it has no power of constriction, and will only attack snakes much smaller than itself. The blacksnake breeds during the summer, the female laying 15 or 20 eggs at a time in the hollow of a
sunny bank, or in the midst of a decayed stump, around which she stays, guarding her young until they reach a considerable age.
Several other species of the genus belong to the southwestern United States, Mexico and the West Indies, and the Texan whipsnake is a near relative. The “chainsnake” is sometimes called “mountain blacksnake.” Other blackish serpents known as blacksnakes include a colubrine of Jamaica (Ocyophis ater); the death adders of Australia and Tasmania, and some others notable for dark hues. One of the most widespread of the native names of the East Indian Cobra de Capello has the meaning “blacksnake.”
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackwell, Alice Stone

Edition of 1920. See also Alice Stone Blackwell on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKWELL, Alice Stone, American reformer, editor and author: b. East Orange, N. J., 14 Sept. 1857. A graduate and later a trustee of Boston University, she was early associated with her father and mother in editing The Woman's Journal and from 1885 to 1905 also edited The Women's Column. As chairman of the literature committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and a forceful contributor to the Political Equality series and to periodical literature she became prominent in the cause of woman suffrage, and also worked on behalf of the oppressed Armenians and others. Her published works include ‘Armenian Poems’ (1896); ‘Songs of Russia’ (1906); ‘Songs of Grief and Joy’ translated from the Yiddish of Ezekiel Leavitt (1908). Her father was a brother and she is the niece of the well-known physicians Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell (q.q.v.); also edited ‘The Little Grandmother of the Russian Revolution; Reminiscences and Letters of Madam Breshkovskaya’ (1917).
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackwell, George Lincoln

Edition of 1920. See also George Lincoln Blackwell on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKWELL, George Lincoln, American author and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: b. Henderson, N. C., 2 July 1861. His parents were slaves. He was graduated from Livingstone College, Salisbury, N. C., in 1888, and from Boston University School of Theology 1892. He became dean of Livingstone College Theological School of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church 1893-96, general agent of the denominational publishing house and editor 1896-1900; general secretary 1900-04, combined with missionary
secretary (1904-08) and bishop 1908. He was the delegate of his Church to the Ecumenical Councils at London (1907) and at Toronto (1911). He is the author of ‘The Model Homestead’ (1893); ‘Cloaks for Sin’ (1904); ‘A Man Wanted’ (1907).
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackwell, Emily

Edition of 1920. See also Emily Blackwell on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
BLACKWELL, Emily, American physician: b. Bristol, England, 1826; d. London, 8 Sept. 1910. Following the example of her sister Elizabeth, after being refused admission to medical study at 11 different schools, including Geneva Medical School which had admitted her sister, she entered the Bellevue free hospital in New York city and later was received by the Western Reserve University where she completed her course. She studied in Edinburgh and in Paris with her sister, and was associated with her through all her professional career.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Blackwell, Lucy Stone

Edition of 1920. See also the disclaimer.
BLACKWELL, Lucy Stone. See Stone, Lucy B.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ab′adir

Edition of 1920. See also the disclaimer.
AB′ADIR, according to Augustine, the chief god of the Carthaginians; according to Priscian, a stone which Saturn swallowed by contrivance of his wife Ops, believing it to be his new-born son Jupiter, and hence worshipped with divine honors.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ab′arim

Edition of 1920. See also Abarim on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
AB′ARIM (“the beyonds,” sc. Jordan), the edge of the Moabite plateau overlooking the entire Jordan valley: a range of highlands forming its whole horizon, broken only by the valley mouths of the Yarmuk, the Zerka, and the Jabbok. Its highest elevation is Mount Nebo, whence Moses had his “Pisgah view” of Palestine (see Pisgah), and whence Jericho is plainly visible. Ancient altars, perhaps Amorite, were discovered here in 1881.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ab′atis

Edition of 1920. See also Abatis on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
AB′ATIS, or ABATTIS, in military affairs, a defense made of felled trees. In sudden emergencies, the trees are merely laid length-wise beside each other, with the branches pointed outward to prevent the approach of the enemy. When employed for the defense of a pass or entrance, the boughs of the trees are stripped of their leaves and pointed, the trunks are planted in the ground, and the branches interwoven with each other; and the abatis is laid in a depression in front of a trench, for protection from artillery fire.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Acacia

Edition of 1920. See also Acacia on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
ACACIA, ȧ-kā′sha, (Gr. akē, spine, from their spiny stalks), a genus of plants, family Mimosaceæ. They are trees or shrubs with compound pinnate leaves and small leaflets,– in some species wholly or partially undeveloped, with the petiole or leaf-stalk expands into a blade resembling a leaf, hence called phyllodium. Certain species yield gum arabic, gum senegal and other gums; some have astririgent barks and pods, used in tanning. Some of the Australian species contain considerable tannin, and hence are exposed to a large extent. An Indian species yields an astringent called catechu. Some of the species of tropical America, known as hull-horn Acacias, are interesting because of their large hollow spines which are penetrated and inhabited by ants.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Acacius

Edition of 1920. See also Acacius of Caesarea on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
ACACIUS, a-kā′shius, bishop of Cæsarea 340–365 a.d. He founded a curious Christian sect called the Acacians, and that may be termed homoiothelites, as they held that the Son was like the Father in will, but not of the same or similar substance; thus differing from the Arians. He induced a synod at Constantinople in 359 to accept the doctrine, whereon St. Jerome said that “the world groaned and wondered to fin itself Arian.” It was finally condemned, however, and he was banished.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ab′alo′ne

Edition of 1920. See also Abalone on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
AB′ALO′NE (Sp., origin unknown). Any one of several species of Haliotis (ear-shells or sea-ears) found along the California coast. The shell is a spiral so broadly flattened as to make an oval saucer, around the edge of which is a row of holes through which the tentacles pass when extended. The animal lives on rocks near the shore, feeding on seaweed; when frightened it withdraws entirely beneath its shell and clings with surprising force to the rock. The shell is lined with a bright mother-of-pearl much used in arts and crafts. The animal itself is used as food by the Chinese and Japanese; quantities of them are dried and exported from California to the Orient. The name “abalone” is local, but marine gastropods of the same family are abundant in all seas not too cold, outside the western Atlantic. In the Channel Islands off the coast of France, a species known as ormers, Fr. ‘oreilles de mer,’ is used as food. See Ear-shell.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Acacius, Saint

Edition of 1920. See also Acacius of Amida on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
ACACIUS, Saint, bishop of Amida in Mesopotamia, early in the 5th century. He sold the church plate to redeem 7,000 starving Persian slaves. Vararanes (Bahram), the king, is said to have been so affected by this noble action that he sought an interview with the bishop, which resulted in a peace between that prince and Theodosius II, a.d. 422, and a hundred years' peace was sworn between Rome and Persia.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ab′aris

Edition of 1920. See also Abaris the Hyperborean on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
AB′ARIS, the Hyperborean (fabled as from the Caucasus or thereabout), a legendary sage first mentioned by Pindar and Herodotusm 5th century b.c., but quite uncertain of date or existence. He had the prophetic gift, and a magic arrow of Apollo on which he rode through the air; cured by incantations, rid the world of a great plague, etc. The Neo-Platonists made him Pythagoras' companion.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ab′atos

Edition of 1920. See also Abatos on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
AB′ATOS, Egypt, an island in Lake Mœris, famous as the sepulchre of Osiris, and for producing the papyrus of which the ancients made their paper.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Academic Costume

Edition of 1920. See also Academic dress on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
ACADEMIC COSTUME. See Costume, Academic.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Memphremagog

Edition of 1920. See also Lake Memphremagog on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MEMPHREMAGOG, mĕm-frĕ-mā'gŏg, a lake in the southern part of the province of Quebec, Canada, extending into Orleans County, in Vermont. It is about 30 miles long, north and south, and from three-quarters of a mile to three miles wide. It is irregular in shape, and along its shores are several striking indentations, in some places low and in some other parts high and rocky. The land on the west shore is mountainous, the altitude of the highest points being about 2,800 feet. The outlet is the Magog River, which flows into the Saint Francis River. Along the shore are a number of villages, and in summer a steamer plies daily on the lake, connecting the chief towns and villages.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Memory in Animals

Edition of 1920. See also Episodic-like memory on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MEMORY IN ANIMALS is to be studied in the light of comparative psychology, as between the human and the animal mind. To one class of thinkers this difference seems only one of degree; the mind of the animal to them is of the same nature as that of man, but is less developed by reason of limited experience, lack of stimulus because of comparatively small means of intercommunication of ideas, and general inferiority in complexity of brain structure. To another class of thinkers there is an essential difference — a permanent gulf between the menial processes and powers of brute and human beings. Memory is one of the most important attributes of mind and must vary with varying mental abilities. Thus it is hardly, if at all, perceivable in animals of low organization, but is more and more recognizable as we ascend the scale of animal organization, until at the top its operation is clearly visible. In studying it as regards animals we are met, however, with this initial and constant difficulty, that while we are able not only to question ourselves and report what we find for comparison with and discussion of the self-examination by other men, we cannot see into an animal's mind and must judge of its processes by their outward signs. Thus we may assure each other that we possess imagination, which is a high function of memory; but how are we to discover whether an animal indulges itself in such a mental exercise? When a horse goes slowly and with hanging head on an outward journey but becomes instantly animated and brisk in his gait when he is turned toward home, is that because he pictures in his mind the comfortable stable and good food awaiting him? If so, is that not an example of imagination? It has been customary to attribute all such acts as nest-building and the like to “instinct,” but innumerable examples of both faulty and beneficial work of this kind discourage faith in so simple a solution; and when a bee ingeniously stays a falling comb by a new brace or guy of wax, or a beaver overcomes a change in his pond by altering the direction of his dam or by building another in a new place, must these creatures not exercise imagination in order to plan and carry out the new way of meeting an unexpected difficulty? Each is applying his experience, recalled by memory, in the way he pictures (must picture) to himself the result of what he purposes to do, or he could not carry out his intention. That the animals we know best, horses, dogs, cats and so forth, have a very retentive memory, at least in certain directions, every one knows. The theory of many students of the matter is that this is purely “associative,” that something they see or smell or hear recalls a group of facts connected with it; and that it is impossible for them to recall this group without such a concrete suggestion. Much evidence may be produced throwing doubt on this limitation of their power.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Memphis, Capture of

Edition of 1920. See also First Battle of Memphis on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MEMPHIS (Tenn.), Capture of. At dusk 5 June 1862 the Union flotilla under command of Com. C. H. Davis appeared near Memphis and anchored two miles above the city. The Confederate flotilla, Com. J. E. Montgomery, commanding, was lying at the Memphis levee. At daylight the Union neet began to drop down toward the city, and the Confederates advanced to meet it. There were no troops protecting the city. The flotillas were composed of the following vessels:
| Union | Guns | Confederate | Guns |
| Benton | 16 | Little Rebel | 2 |
| Louisville | 13 | Bragg | 3 |
| Carondelet | 13 | Beauregard | 4 |
| Cairo | 13 | Price | 4 |
| Saint Louis | 13 | Sumter | 3 |
| Queen of the West | ram | Lovell | 4 |
| Switzerland | ram | Thompson | 4 |
| Monarch | ram | Van Dorn | 4 |
| Lancaster | ram | | |
| | | | 28 |
| | 68 | | |
Besides having more than twice the number of guns, the Union ordnance was much superior to that of the Confederates. The latter, however, made a desperate fight, which finally ended 10 miles below the city, with the result that the Lovell, Beauregard and Thompson were destroyed; and the Little Rebel, Price, Sumter and Bragg captured. The Van Dorn escaped. On the Union side only the Queen of the West was disabled.
Immediately after the fight the mayor, in reply to a summons to surrender, informed Commodore Davis that there were no troops with which to oppose him. The next morning detachments from troops under Col. C. N. Fitch, which accompanied the fleet, landed and took possession of the city.
General Grant arrived at Memphis 23 June and established the headquarters of the
District of West Tennessee. He was recalled to Corinth 15 July and General Sherman was ordered to Memphis, reaching the city 21 July. He restored the mayor and the city government, and made them responsible for civil order. He continued in command at Memphis until his forces left to join General Grant in the final campaign for Vicksburg, having previously participated in the first move against that city.
The raid of Gen. N. B. Forrest, of Confederate cavalry fame, into Memphis occurred 21 Aug. 1864. The Union forces and commanding officers were completely surprised and barely escaped capture. Gen. C. C. Washburn, in command of the District of West Tennessee; Gen. R. P. Buckland of the District of Memphis, and Gen. S. A. Hurlbut were asleep in the city. General Forrest left the vicinity of Oxford 18 August, with three brigades, making a forced march of nearly 100 miles. A strong detachment rode into the city at 4 o'clock in the morning, running over a regiment of 100-days men on picket, and capturing about 250 of them. This force divided into three and at once surrounded the quarters of the three officers named. Each, however, escaped. General Buckland succeeded in reaching his troops and promptly directing offensive operations. With the exception of inconsiderable skirmishes in its vicinity, Memphis, thereafter remained in undisturbed Union control.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Mena

Edition of 1920. See also Mena, Arkansas on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MENA, Ark., city and county-seat of Polk County, 85 miles south of Fort Smith, on the Kansas City Southern Railroad. It is the seat of Saint Joseph's Academy, contains a public library, a splendid park and is also of good repute as a summer resort. The lumber industry is the city's largest interest, although there is a good trade in cotton and fruit. The
water-works are the property of the municipality. Pop. 3,953.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Memphis (Egypt)

Edition of 1920. See also Memphis, Egypt on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MEMPHIS, mĕm'fĭs, Egypt, an ancient city near the apex of the Nile Delta, 12 miles south of Cairo, according to Herodotus, founded by Menes, the first king of Egypt. It was a large, rich and splendid city, and the second capital of Egypt. After the fall of Thebes it became the sole capital. Among its buildings the temples of Ptah, Osiris, Serapis, etc., and its palaces were described as remarkable. At the time of the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses (524 B.C.) it was the chief commercial centre of the country and was connected by canals with the Lakes of Mœris and Mareotis. With the rise of Alexandria the importance of Memphis declined, and it was finally destroyed by the Arabs in the 7th century. In Strabo's time (20 A.D.) it was, in population and size, next to Alexandria; in biblical history it is mentioned as Moph and Noph. The name Memphis is a corruption of Men-nofer, “good abode.” Edrisi, in the 12th century, describes its remains as extant in his time. Among the works specified by him are a monolithic temple of granite 13½ feet high, 12 long and 7 broad, entirely covered within and without with inscriptions, and statues of great beauty and dimensions, one of which was 45 feet high, of a single block of red granite. These ruins then extended about nine miles in every direction, but the destruction has since been so great, chiefly for the construction of Fostat, an Arabic city on the opposite bank of the Nile, that although Pococke and Bruce fixed upon the village of Mitrahineh as the site (where prone on a mound are two colossal statues of Rameses II), this was not accurately ascertained until the French expedition to Egypt, when the discoveries of numerous heaps of rubbish, of blocks of granite covered with hieroglyphics and sculpture, and of colossal fragments scattered over a space of three leagues in circumference, decided the matter. The views of the great temple of Ptah, the palace of Apis, the sepulchre of the Apis bulls, portions of the White Wall and of pyramids have been identified. Consult Petrie and Walker (in ‘Publications,’ Egyptian Research Account, London 1908).
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Memphis (Mo.)

Edition of 1920. See also Memphis, Missouri on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MEMPHIS, Mo., city, county-seat of Scotland County, on the Keokuk and Western Railroad, about 160 miles north by west of Saint Louis. It is in an agricultural region, and is the trade centre for a large part of Scotland and adjacent counties. The principal outgoing shipments are farm products and livestock. There are bituminous coal fields in the vicinity. Pop. 2,400.
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Mena, Juan de

Edition of 1920. See also Juan de Mena on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MENA, Juan de, Spanish poet: b. Cordova, Spain, about 1411; d. 1456. He was educated at Salamanca and at Rome and afterward was appointed secretary and court historian to John II, king of Castile. His allegorical poems, ‘Coplas de los Siete Pecados Mortales,’ ‘Le Coronacion,’ and ‘El Laberinto’ (The Labyrinth), a poem founded on the ‘Divina Commedia’ and published in the year 1496, all show the influence of Dante, for whom he held great respect and admiration. They were very popular, but possessed little literary merit. His collected works were published in 1528, entitled ‘Copilación de todas las obras de Juan de Mena.’
# The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Menander

Edition of 1920. See also Menander (disambiguation) on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
MENANDER. The name of two Greek writers, (1) the comic dramatist: b. Athens 342 B.C.; d. there, 290 B.C. He was the pupil of Theophrastus, himself the pupil and successor of Aristotle as head of the Peripatetics, and author of 'Characteres,' a somewhat more literary and popular enlargement of some ruling ideas of the Nicomachæan Ethics; he was by such a teacher well trained for his dramatic vocation. He was moreover, a friend of Epicurus from early life, and may thus have been imbued with that bonhommie which rendered him so genial an interpreter of manners. He wrote a hundred comedies which are distinguished from those of Aristophanes by their refinement, their freedom from personal and political virulence, and their graceful, sometimes beautiful, delineation of feminine character. He was, however, outrivaled in popular favor by his contemporary Philemon, whose ribaldry was irresistible to the Athenian playgoers. Only some fragments of his works survive in the original, the most important of these relics having come to light in Egypt (1898). He was, however, closely imitated by Plautus and Terence, and in the 'Bacchides,' 'Stichus' 'and 'Poenulus' of the former, and the 'Andria,' 'Eunuchus,' 'Heautontimorumenos' and 'Adelphi' of the latter we have very good representatives of the Greek dramatist's method and spirit. A fine antique statue of Menander is to be seen in the Vatican. (2) A Greek rhetorician who flourished in the latter half of the 3d century B.C. He has left the rhetorical treatise 'De Encomiis,' and from his analyses of the orations of Demosthenes, most of the scholia on that orator have been compiled. Consult (on Menander the dramatist), Guizot, 'Ménandre' (1855); Horkel, 'Lebensweisheit des Komikers Menander' (1857); (on Menander the rhetorician), Ritchl,
'Der Rhetor Menander und die Scholien zu Demosthenes' (1883).