OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:1

Volume I
| A — Abraham | Abraham — Actinomorphic Flowers | Actium — Adjutant | Adler — Ætna |
| A Aachen Aardvark Aaron Abacus Abalone Abbey, Edwin Austin Abbott, Hon. John J. J. C. Abbott, Lyman Abbotsford Abattoir Abbreviations Abd-el-Kader Abdul-Hamid II A Becket Abel Abelard, Pierre Abercrombie, James Aberdeen Aberdeen, Earl of Abitibi Abolition of Slavery Aborigines Aboukir Abraham | Abraham, Plains of Abruzzi, Duke of Absalom Absinthe Absorption Abstinence Abt, Franz Abydos Abyssinia Academy, The French Acadia Accordion Acetylene Achæan League Achaia Acheron Achilles Acid Aconcagua Acorn Acoustics Acre Acropolis Actinism Actinomorphic Flowers | Actium Adam Adam, Graeme Mercer Adami, John George Adams, Charles Francis Adams, Charles Kendall Adams, Henry Adams, Herbert Baxter Adams, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Maude Adams, Samuel Adams, Wm. Taylor Adams, Mass. Addams (Miss) Jane Adder Adder's-Tongue Addison, Joseph Address, Forms of Ade, George Adelaide Aden Adirondacks Adjective Adjutant | Adler, Felix Adolescence Adolphustown Adonis Adrian (Michigan) Adrian (Pope) Adrianople Adriatic Sea Adulteration of Foods Adverb Æcidiomycetes Æcidium Ægean Sea Æneas Æolian Harp Æolus Aeration Aeronautics Aerotropism Æschines Æschylus Æsculapius Æsop Æsthetics Ætna, Mount |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:12

| Boiling-Point — Boniface | Boniface, Saint — Boston | Boston University — Bowling Green | Boxer Rising at Pekin — Brainerd |
| Boiling-Point Bois de Boulogne Boise, Idaho Boker, George Henry Bokhara Boldrewood, Rolf Boleyn, Anne Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount Bolivar, Simon Bolivia Bologna Bolton Bombay Bonaparte, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, Jerome Bonaparte, Joseph, King of Spain Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte, Lucien, Prince of Canino Bonaparte, Napoleon Bond Bond, Sir Robert Bone Bonheur, Rosalie Boniface | Boniface, Saint Bonn Bonython, Sir John Langdon Book Book-Keeping Boomerang Boone Boone, Daniel Booth, Edwin Thomas Booth, John Wilkes Booth, Junius Brutus Boothby, Guy Newell Boots and Shoes Borax Bordeaux Bordeaux Mixture Borden, Robert Laird Bore Boreas Borgia, Cæsar Bogia, Lucretia Borneo Bosnia Bosphorus Boston | Boston University Boswell Bosworth Botany Botany Bay Botha, Louis Bothnia, Gulf of Bothwell Botticelli, Alessandro Filipepi Boucicault Boudinot, Elias Bouguereau, Adolphe Wm. Boulanger, George Ernest Jean Marle Boulogne Bourbon Bourbon, Charles Bourget, Paul Bourinot, John George Boutwell, George Sewall Bowdoin College Bowdoin, James Bowell, Hon. Sir MacKenzie Bowen, Francis Bowls and Bowling Bowling Green, Ky. | Boxer Rising at Pekin Boy Scouts Boycotting Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth Boyle's Law Boyne Bozzaris Brabant Brace, Charles Loring Bract Braddock, General Edward Braddock, Pa. Bradford Bradford, Pa. Bradford, William Bradley, Joseph P. Braganza, House of Bragg, Braxton Bragg, Edward Stuyvesant Brahe, Tycho Brahma and Brahamanism Brahmaputra Brahms, Johannes Brain Brainerd, David Brainerd, Minn. |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:16

| Cape Horn — Cardinal-Bird | Carey — Carnival | Carnivorous Plants — Carthage | Carthage, Mo. — Caste |
| Cape Horn Cape May Cape of Good Hope Cape Town Cape-to-Cairo Railway Cape Verd Islands Capernaum Capillarity in Soils Capitoline Hill Capri Caprivi, Count Georg Leo Von Capsule Capua Capuchins Carácas Caracci Caravans Carbohydrates Carbon Carbondale Carbonic Acid Car-Building Cardenas, Cuba Cardiff Cardinal-Bird | Carey, Henry Charles Carey, William Cargados Caribbean Sea Cariboo and Cassair Caribou Carleton, Gen. Sir Guy, Lord Dorchester Carleton, Will Carlisle, John Griffin Carlisle, Pa. Carlisle Institute Carlists Carlos I Carlovingians Carlsbad Carlyle, Thomas Carman, Reverend Albert Carman (William) Bliss Carmel Carmichael, The Right Reverend James Carnation Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie Institute Carnegie Libraries Carnival | Carnivorous Plants Carnot, Marie François Sadi Carnot, Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carob Carol I, King of Rumania Caroline Islands Caroline of Brunswick Carpaccio, Vittore Carpathian Mountains Carpel Carpenter, William Benjamin Carpet Carpet-Baggers Carpet-Beetle Carpet-Sweeper Carpogonium Carrara Carriage Carrier-Pigeon Carroll, Charles of Carrollton Carson, Christopher Carson City, Nev. Cartagena, Spain Carteret, Sir George Carthage | Carthage, Mo. Cartier, Sir George Etiene Cartier, Jacques Cartilage Cartwright, Edmund Cartwright, Peter Cartwright, Rt. Hon. Sir Richard John Caruso, Enrico Cary, Alice and Phœbe Casas, Bartolomé de las Cascade Range Cascade Tunnel Casault, Sir Louis E. N. Cashmere, Vale of Cash-Register Cashmir-Perier, Jean Paul Pierre Caspian Sea Cass, Lewis Cassandra Cassandra Cassava Cassiopeia Cassowary Cast Caste |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:10

| Beetle — Bellini | Beloit — Bergamot | Bergen — Bessemer Process | Bessemer — Bill of Rights |
| Beetle Beet-Sugar Begonia Begums Belfast Belgium Belgrade Belisarius Belize Belknap, George Eugene Bell Bell, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Bell, Henry Haywood Bell, John Bell, Robert Bellaire Bellamy, Edward Bellefontaine, Ohio Belleville, Ill. Belleville Bellevue, Ky. Bellicent Bellingham, Wash. Bellini, Vincenzo | Beloit Belt of Calms Belt of Heat Beluchistan Belvidere, Ill. Benares Bengal Bengali Benghazi Benguela Benjamin Benjamin, Judah Peter Bennett, James Gordon Ben Nevis Bennington Benson, Archbishop Edward White Benson, Maj.-Gen. Frederick William Benton, Thomas Hart Benton Harbor, Mich. Beowulf Beranger, Pierre Jean de Berbers Berea College Beresford, Lord Charles Bergamot, Oil of | Bergen, Norway Bergerac, S. Cyrano de Bergh, Henry Bering Sea Bering Strait Berkeley Berkeley, George Berkeley, Sir William Berlin (Ontario) Berlin Berlin, N. H. Berlin, Treaty of Berlioz, Hector Bermudas, The Bern Bernadotte, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernard, Great Saint Bernardino de Betto Bagio Bernhardt, Rosine Bertillon System, The Beryl Besançon Besant, Sir Walter Bessemer, Ala. Bessemer Process | Bessemer, Sir Henry Bethany Bethesda, Pool of Bethlehem Bethlehem, Pa. Bethsaida Beust, Frederick Ferdinand von, Count Bevan, Theodore F. Beveridge, Albert Jeremiah Berverly, Mass. Beyrout Bhutan Bible Bichat, Marie Fançois Xavier Biddeford, Me. Biennials Bienville, Jean Baptiste, Sieur de Bierstadt, Albert Big Black River Big Horn River Big Sandy River Bigelow, John Billiards Billings, Montana Bill of Rights |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:17

| Castelar — Catiline | Catkin — Cell-Doctrine | Cellini — Cervera | Cetewayo — Champlain |
| Castelar, Emilio Castile Castor-Oil Castor and Pollux Cat Catacombs Catalani, Angelica Catalonia Catalpa Catania Catapult Cataract Catawbas Catbird Caterpillar Catfish Cathay Catherine de Medici Catherine of Aragon Catherine II Catherine Howard Catherine Parr. Cathode Rays Catholic University of America Catiline, Lucius Sergius | Catkin Cato, Marcus Porcius (The Censor) Cato, Marcus Porcius (Cato the Younger) Catskill Mountains Cattle Catullus, Gaius Valerius Caucasian Caucasus Caucus Caulicle Cavalry Cave-Men Cavendish, Henry Cavite Cavour, Camillo Benso, Count di Cawnpore Caxton, William Cayuga Lake Cedar Cedar Mountain Cedar Rapid Cedar Rapids, Ia. Celebes Cell Cell-Doctrine | Cellini, Benvenuto Celluloid Cellulose Celsius, Anders Celts Cement Cemetery Cenci, Beatrice Census Centaurs Centigrade Scale Centiped Central Africa Protectorate, The Central America Central Falls, R. I. Central Park Centralia, Ill. Centrifugal Force Century Plant Ceramics Cerberus Ceres Cerro Gordo Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de Cervera, Pascual | Cetewayo Ceylon Chad, Lake Chadbourne, Paul Ansel Chaffee, Major-General Adna Romanza Chagos Islands Chaillu, Paul du Chalazogamy Chalcedony Chaldæa Chaldeurs, Bay of Chalk Chalmers, Thomas Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. Joseph Chambers, William Chambersburg, Pa Chambord, Henri Charles Comte de Chameleon Chamois Chaouni Champagne and the American Wine Industry Champaign Champ-de-Mars Champlain Champlain, Samuel de |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:18

| Champs-Elysees — Charles Edward | Charles, Law of — Chelsea (London) | Chelsea (Mass.) — Chickamauga | Chickasaw — Chipmunk |
| Champs-Elysees Chancellorsville Chandler, Zachariah Chang-Choo-Fou Channel, The English Channel Islands Channing, William Ellery Chantilly Chapleau, Hon. Joseph Adolphe Chapultepec Characeæ Charcoal Charles of Lindus Charity, Sisters of Charlemagne Charles I Charles II Charles VII Charles IX Charles X Charles V Charles XII Charles XIV Charles the Bold Charles Edward | Charles, Law of Charles Martel Charleston (South Carolina) Charleston (West Virginia) Charlestown, Mass. Charlotte, N. C. Charlottenburg Charlottesville, Va. Charlottetown Charter-House Charter-Oak Chase, Salmon P. Chateaubriand, François René, Vicomte de Chateauguay Chatham, Earl of Chatham (N. B.) Chatham (Ontario) Chattahoochee Chattanooga, Tenn. Chattanooga, Battle of Chaucer, Geoffrey Chaudiere Chautauqua Checkers Chelsea (London) | Chelsea (Mass.) Cheltenham Chemistry Chemotaxis Chemotropism Cheops Cherbourg Cherokees Cherry Cherubini, Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Chesapeake Bay Chesapeake, The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Chess Chester Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Lord Chestnut Cheviot Hills Chevy Chase Cheyenne Cheyennes Chicago Chickadee Chickahominy Chickamauga, Battle of | Chickasaw Bluffs, Battle of Chickasaws Chickasha Chicopee, Mass Chignecto Bay Chi-hoang-ti Chihuahua Child, Lydia Maria Child-Study Child-Labour Laws Childs, George William Chile Chillicothe, O. Chilkoot Pass Chimborazo Chimera Chimney-Swift Chimpanzee China Sea, The China-Ware Chinch-Bug China Chinese Wall, The Chinooks Chipmunk |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:15

| C — Caisson | Calais — Cambodia | Cambon — Canary Bird | Canary Islands — Cape Hatteras |
| C Cabal Cabinet Cable, George Washington Cable-Road Cables, Electric Cables, Ocean Cabot, John Cabot, Sebastian Cabul Cactus Cade, Jack Cadillac, Michigan Cadiz Cadmus Cædmon Cæsar, Augustus Cæsar, Gaius Julius Cæsarea Cæsarea Philippi Cain Caine, Thomas Henry Hall Cairo (Egypt) Cairo (Illinois) Caisson | Calais Calcium Calculating Machine Calculus Calcutta Calderon de la Barca, Pedro Caledonia Calendar, Correction of Calgary Calhoun, John Caldwell Calico California California, Gulf of California, Lower Caligula, Gaius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus Caloric Calvary Calve, Emma de Roquer Calvert, Cecil Calvin, John Calypso Calyptra Calyx Cambium Cambodia | Cambon, Jules Martin Cambridge Cambridge, Ohio Cambridge, Ada Cambridge, University of Cambyses Camden Camel Camelot Cameo Camera Cameron, Simon Cameroon Camoens, Luiz de Camp Fire Girls Campagna di Roma Campania Campbell, Alexander Campbell-Bannerman, Right Hon. Sir Henry Campbell, Thomas Canada Canadian Northern Railway, The Canadian Pacific Railway, The Canal Canary Bird | Canary Islands Canby, Edward Richard Sprigg Candahar Candy-Making Cankerworm Cannæ Canning, George Canning-Industry Cannon Cannon, Joseph G. Canoe Cañon Canossa Canova, Antonio Canrobert, Marshal François Certain Canteen, The Army Canterbury Cathedral Canton (China) Canton (Ohio) Canute Canvasback Cape Breton Cape Cod Cape Colony Cape Hatteras |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:11

| Bimetallism — Black | Black — Blake | Blanc — Blueberry | Bluebird — Boiler |
| Bimetallism Bingen Binghamton Biology Birch Bird Day Birds Birds' Nests Birds-of-Paradise Birds of Passage Birkenhead Birmingham (Alabama) Birmingham (England) Bisbee Biscay, Bay of Bismarck Archipelago Bismarck, N. Dakota bismark, Otto Edouard Leopold von, Prince Bismuth Bison Bittern Bitumen Bituminous Coal Björnson, Björnstjörne Black, Jeremiah Sullivan | Black, William Blackader, Alexander Dougall Blackberry Blackbird Blackburn Blackfeet Black Forest Black Hawk Blackheath Black Hills Blackmore, Richard Doddridge Black Mountains Black Sea Black Snake Blackstone, Sir William Blackwell, Elizabeth Blackwell's Island Blaine, James Gillespie Blair, Hon. Andrew George Blair, Francis Preston Blair, Francis Preston, Jr. Blair, Montgomery Blake, Edward Blake, Robert Blake, William | Blanc, Jean Joseph Louis Blanc, Mont Blarney Stone Blast Furnace Blasting Blavatsky, Madame Helena Petrovna Bleaching Bleak House Blenheim Blennerhassett, Harman Blight Blind Fishes Block System Blockade Bloemfontein Blood Bloodroot Bloomfield, N. J. Bloomington Bloomington, Ind. Blouet, Paul Blowing Machines Blowpipe Blücher, Gebhard von Blueberry | Bluebird Blue Books Bluefish Blue Jay Blue Laws Blue Ridge Blue Warbler Boa Boadicea Boar Board of Health Board of Trade Boardman, George Dana Bobolink Bob White Boccanccio, Giovanni Bodleian Library Bœotia Boerhaave, Hermann Boers Boer War Bogota Bohemia Boileau, Nicholas Boiler |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:13

| Brake — Breton | Brewer — British East Africa | British East Africa Protectorate — Brown, Hon. George | Brown, Henry Billings — Brussels |
| Brake Branching Brandenburg Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen Brandon Brandy Brandywine Brandt, Joseph Brantford Brass Brassey, Lady Anne Brassey, Thomas, Lord Brattleboro, Vt. Brazil, Ind. Brazil, The United States of Brazos Bread Breadfruit Tree Breakwater Breckenridge, John Cabell Bremen Bremer, Frederika Breslau Brest Breton, Jules Adolphe | Brewer, David Josiah Brewing Brewster, Sir David Brewster, William Briareus Brick Bride of Lammermoor, The Bridge Bridge, Cantilever Bridge of Sighs, The Bridgeport Bridges, Robert Bridgeton, N. J. Bridgman, Laura Bright, John Brighton Brinton, Daniel Garrison Brisbane Bristol Channel Bristol Bristol, R. I. Bristol, Tenn. and Va. British America British Columbia British East Africa | British East Africa Protectorate, The British Museum British New Guinea Brittany Brobdingnag Brock, Sir Isaac Brocken, The Brockton Brockville Brok Brontë, Charlotte Bronze Bronze, Age of Brookline, Mass. Brooklyn, N.Y. Brooks, Phillips Broom Broom-Corn Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip Brotherhood of St. Andrew, The Brougham, Henry, Lord Brougham and Vaux Broughton, Rhoda Brown, Charles Brockden Brown, Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Hon. George | Brown, Henry Billings Brown, John (abolitionist) Brown, John (author) Brown, Joseph Emerson Brown University Brown-Sequard, Charles Edward Browne, Charles Farrar Browne, Thomas Alexander Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Brownsville, Texas Bruce, James Bruce, Robert Bruchesi, The Most Reverend Louis Paul Nepoleon Bruges Brumaire Brunelleschi Brunhilde Brunn Bruno, Giordano Brunswick, Duchy of Brunswick, Ga. Brunswick, Germany Brunswick, Me. Brussels |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Vol I:14

| Brutus — Buffalo Bill | Buffalo-Fish — Burdett-Coutts | Burgoyne — Buttercup | Butterfly — Byzantine Empire |
| Brutus, Lucius, Junius Brutus, Marcus Junius Bryan, William Jennings Bryant, William Cullen Bryce, Rev. George Bryce, Rt. Hon. James Bryophytes Buccaneers Buchanan, James Buchanan, Robert Bucharest Buck, Dudley Buckeye Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of Buckland, William Buckweat Budapest Buddha Buell, Don Carlos Buena Vista Buenos Ayres Buffalo Buffalo (New York) Buffalo-Berry Buffalo Bill | Buffalo-Fish Buffalo-Gnat Buffalo-Grass Buffalo-Moth Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, Count de Building-Material Bulb Bulbel Bulblet Bulgaria Bull, Ole Bornemann Bull-Dog Buller, General Sir Redvers Bull-Fight Bulfinch, Thomas Bull Run Bülow, Prince Bernard von Bülow, Hans Guido von Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton, Baron Lytton Bunker Hill Bunsen, Robert Wilhelm Bunting Bunyan, John Burbank, Luther Burdett-Coutts, Lady | Burgoyne, John Burgundy Burke, Edmund Burlesques Burlingame, Anson Burlington Burlington, N. J. Burlington, Vermont Burma Burne-Jones, Sir Edward C. Burnett, Frances Hodgson Burnham, Sherburne Wesley Burns, Robert Burnside, Ambrose Everett Burr, Aaron Burroughs, John Burwash, Rev'd Nathaniel Bussiness College Butcher-Bird Butler, Benjamin Franklin Butler, Nicholas Murray Butler, Pa. Butte City, Mont. Butter Buttercup | Butterfly Butternut Butterworth, Hezekiah Buttons Buzzard Byron, George Noel Gordon, Lord Byzantine Empire |
# The New Student's Reference Work/Nitrogen-Gathering Crops

See also Nitrogen fixation on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
Nitrogen-Gathering Crops all belong to the family of leguminous plants or Leguminoseæ, having irregular, conspicuous flowers or clusters and seeds in pods. The bean and pea are good examples. The clovers do not seem at first sight to answer this description. All have abundant foliage, root deeply, and are remarkable for their ability to take pure nitrogen from the soil and store it up in form available as plant and animal food. This is done by means of germ-like organisms which grow inside of tiny lumps on the roots. These nodules can be seen by washing the earth from the roots of any of these plants, and range in size from that of a pin-head to that of a small pea. These nodules will not appear on clover roots if none of the germs exist in the soil. Such a soil can now be inoculated with the germs by applying a solution containing them. The germs are put up in dry form like yeast-cakes and can be obtained from the Department of Agriculture, and be dissolved to make the solution. The nitrifying action goes on best in well-ventilated soils. In poorly drained soils just the opposite process, denitrification, is apt to occur, reducing plant food to unavailable simple nitrogen. The subject of nitrifying bacteria is very complex, as they possibly also exert a fermenting influence on the minerals of the soil. Experiments have shown that an acre of cowpeas at the Louisiana Experiment Station produced 65 pounds of nitrogen, and an acre of crimson clover at Cornell University produced 156 pounds, 30 of which were in the roots. Other clovers produce a greater proportion in the roots, as the mammoth clover, with 78 pounds in the roots out of a total of 146 pounds. It grows best in wet soils that usually are deficient in nitrogen, and so leaves much in the soil when the tops are cut off. Red clover, the usual variety grown on loams and heavier clays, contained in the experiment, 40 pounds in the roots out of a total of 103 pounds. A low estimate of the market value of nitrogen is between 15 and 20 cents a pound. See Moore’s Soil Inoculation with Legumes and Wood’s Inoculation of Soil with Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria, both bulletins of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Nogi, General Ki-Teu

See also Nogi Maresuke on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
Nogi, General Ki-Teu, a Japanese soldier or samurai, born in Choshu in 1851. He served in the Satsuma Rebellion and, later, was made governor-general of Formosa. He received the rank of general on June 6th, 1904; commanded the third army in Manchuria in the Russo-Japanese war, rendering valuable service in the Battle of Mukden; and led the forces that captured Port Arthur. He bore the reputation of being a model soldier according to the most rigorous and ancient standards. This is considered the more remarkable, as Choshu men generally are credited not so much with courage as sagacity. Following an ancient Japanese custom, General Nogi and his wife committed suicide at their home, Sept. 13, 1912, just as the body of their late emperor, Mutsuhito (q. v.), was being taken from Tokio for burial.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Nippur

See also Nippur on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
Nippur′, a city of Babylonia, situated between the Tigris and the Euphrates, in the neighborhood of 100 miles southeast from Bagdad and about 50 miles from the site of ancient Babylon. The mound which covers the ruins of the ancient city was first made the object of study by Sir Austen Layard in 1851. The expedition sent out by the University of Pennsylvania began work upon this mound in February, 1889. The excavations so carried on revealed the site of a city of great importance, one of the chief commercial and military centers of the ancient east. The University of Pennsylvania possesses a large and important collection of relics brought from this site.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Niter

See also Niter on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
Ni′ter. See Saltpeter.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Nitroglycerin

See also Nitroglycerin on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
Ni′troglyc′erin, a powerful explosive, is formed by dissolving glycerin in equal parts of nitric and sulphuric acids and pouring into water. The process was discovered in 1846 by an Italian chemist named Sobrero, but it was not used for blasting purposes until Nobel, a Swedish engineer, used it in 1861. The danger of explosion was so great in handling it that its mixtures with powdered substances, especially dynamite, are now chiefly used. If lighted in the open air, it will burn usually slowly without an explosion, but if given a hard blow or brought into contact with a red-hot iron it will explode. It begins to decompose at 150° to 180° F., and explodes at 450°, also if allowed to become solid at from 40° to 45° F.; a breaking of the crystals in this form may cause an explosion. It has thirteen times the power of the same bulk of gunpowder and eight times the power of the same weight. It is also used in solution for treating some diseases of the heart and stomach.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Node

See also Plant stem on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
Node, the distinct joint formed by stems from which the leaves and branches arise. The portions of the stem between the nodes are known as internodes.
# The New Student's Reference Work/Nitric Acid

See also Nitric acid on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.
Ni′tric Acid (${\ce {HNO3}}$), is one of the most important acids. It was formerly, and sometimes is still, called aqua fortis. It is prepared by distilling a mixture of saltpeter, usually the cheaper Chile variety (sodium nitrate), with sulphuric acid. The strongest nitric acid is about half again as heavy as water, and is an intensely corrosive liquid, which is colorless when pure, but is usually colored yellow by the presence of lower oxides of nitrogen. It fumes in the air, colors the skin yellow, producing painful burns, and usually dissolves or oxidizes all the commoner metals except gold and platinum, with the violent expulsion of choking, red fumes. Aluminum is dissolved but slowly by it, and in some instances the strong acid must be diluted with water before it will act upon a metal. Dilute nitric acid is generally less active the more water it contains. Strong nitric acid, mixed with sulphuric acid, acts upon cotton and glycerine to form the explosives, guncotton and nitroglycerin. Nitric acid is extensively used in chemical operations, particularly to dissolve metals and to oxidize substances. When the metals or their oxides or carbonates dissolve in this acid, salts called nitrates are produced. Mixed with hydrochloric acid, nitric acid forms aqua regia (royal water), which is capable of dissolving gold and other substances that are not attacked by a single acid. Nitric acid is also used to some extent in medicine.