OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Müller, George

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​MÜLLER, GEORGE (1805–1898), English preacher and philanthropist, was born near Halberstadt, Germany, on the 27th of September 1805, the son of an exciseman. He subsequently became a naturalized British subject. Educated in Germany, he resolved in 1826 to devote himself to missionary work, and in 1828 went to London to prepare for an appointment offered him by the Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews. In 1830 however he gave up the idea of missionary work, and became minister of a small congregation at Teignmouth, Devonshire. He contended that the temporal as well as the spiritual needs of life could be supplied by prayer, and on this principle abolished pew rents and refused to take a fixed salary. After two years at Teignmouth, Müller removed to Bristol, where he spent the rest of his life. He devoted himself particularly to the care of orphan children. He began by taking a few under his charge, but in course of time their number increased to 2000, settled in five large houses erected for the ​purpose at Ashley Down, near Bristol. The money required for the carrying on of this work was voluntarily contributed, mainly as a result of the wide circulation of Müller’s narrative The Lord’s Dealings with George Müller. When he was over seventy he started on a preaching mission, which lasted nearly seventeen years and included Europe, America, India, Australia and China. He died at Bristol on the 10th of March 1898.
See A. T. Pierson, George Müller of Bristol (1899).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Müller, Ferdinand von, Baron

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​MÜLLER, FERDINAND VON, Baron (1825–1896), German botanist and explorer, was born at Rostock on the 30th of June 1825, and was educated, after the early death of his parents, in Schleswig. He studied the flora of Schleswig and Holstein from 1840 to 1847, when he emigrated to South Australia and travelled through the colony from 1848 to 1852, discovering and describing a large number of plants previously unknown. In 1852 he was appointed government botanist for Victoria, and examined its flora, and especially the Alpine vegetation of Australia, which was previously unknown. Then, as phytographic naturalist, he joined the expedition sent out under Augustus Gregory by the duke of Newcastle, secretary of state for the colonies. He explored the river Victoria and other portions of North Australia, was one of the four who reached Termination Lake in 1856, and accompanied Gregory’s expedition overland to Moreton Bay. From 1857 to 1873 he was director of the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, and not only introduced many plants into Victoria, but made the excellent qualities of the blue gum tree (Eucalyptus globulus) known all over the world, and succeeded in introducing it into the south of Europe, North and South Africa, California, and the extra-tropical portions of South America. For these services he was decorated by many foreign countries, including France, Spain, Denmark and Portugal; was created K.C.M.G. in 1879, baron of the kingdom of Württemberg in 1871, and F.R.S. in 1861. He published eleven volumes of Fragmenta phytographica Australiae (1862–1881), two volumes of the Plants of Victoria (1860–1865), and other books on the Eucalyptus, Myoporaceae, Acacias, and Salsolaceae, all profusely illustrated. He also co-operated in the production of G. Bentham’s Flora Australiensis. He took a leading part in promoting Australian exploration, especially the Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first to cross the continent, and in the various attempts to unravel the mystery which attended the fate of his fellow-countryman Ludwig Leichhardt (1813–1848). He died at Melbourne on the 9th of October 1896.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Müller, Johannes Peter

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​MÜLLER, JOHANNES PETER (1801–1858), German physiologist and comparative anatomist, was born at Coblenz on the 14th of July 1801. In 1819 he entered Bonn University, where he became privatdocent in 1824, extraordinary professor of physiology in 1826, and ordinary professor in 1830. In 1883 he removed to the university of Berlin, where he filled the chair of anatomy and physiology with great distinction until his death on the 28th of April 1858. Müller made numerous researches in various departments of physiology, and in particular he extended knowledge as to the mechanism of voice, speech and hearing, and as to the chemical and physical properties of lymph, chyle and blood. The appearance of his Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen between 1833 and 1840 (translated into English by Dr William Baly, and published in London in 1842) marked the beginning of a new period in the study of physiology. In it, for the first time, the results of human and comparative anatomy, as well as of chemistry and other departments of physical science, were brought to bear on the investigation of physiological problems. The most important portion of the work was that dealing with nervous action and the mechanism of the senses. Here he stated the principle, not before recognized, that the kind of sensation following stimulation of a sensory nerve does not depend on the mode of stimulation but upon the nature of the sense-organ. Thus light, pressure, or mechanical stimulation acting on the retina and optic nerve invariably produces luminous impressions. This he termed the law of the specific energy of sense substances. In the later part of his life he chiefly devoted himself to comparative anatomy. Fishes and marine invertebrata were his favourite subjects. Müller numbered such distinguished physiologists as H. von Helmholtz, E. Du Bois Reymond and K. F. W. Ludwig among his pupils.
In addition to his Handbuch der Physiologie, his publications include Zur vergleichenden Physiologie des Gesichtssinns (1826); Über die phantastischen Gesichtserscheinungen (1826); Bildungsgeschichte der Genitalien (1830), in which he traced the development of the Müllerian duct; De glandularum secernentium structura (1830); Vergleichende Anatomie der Myxinoiden (1834–1843); Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen (1841) with F. G. J. Henle; System der Asteriden (1842) with F. H. Troschel; and Horae ichthyologicae (1845–1849) with the same. After the death of J. F. Meckel (1781–1833) he edited the Archiv für Anatomie und Physiologie.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/San-shui

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​SAN-SHUI, a treaty port in the province of Kwang-tung, China, on the left bank of the West river, 99 m. from Canton, opened to foreign trade in 1897. Pop. about 5000. Its position is at the junction of the North and West rivers, and it is favourably situated as a distributing centre for foreign goods. Two lines of steamers converge at San-shui, from Canton and Hong-Kong respectively. The town is surrounded by a handsome wall built in the 16th century, but within this rampart the houses are mean. The foreign trade shows little signs of expansion. In 1902 the net foreign imports amounted in value to £474,175, and in 1904 to only £380,000, while the exports during the same two years amounted to £225,000 and £317,000 respectively. The direct foreign trade in 1908 was £507,827. There is a large junk traffic, and the local likin station is one of the richest in the province.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Samuel of Nehardea

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​SAMUEL OF NEHARDEA, usually called Mar Samuel or Yarḥinai (c. 165–c. 257), Babylonian Rabbi, was born in Nahardea in Babylonia and died there c. 257. He is associated ​with the fame of his great contemporary Rab (Abba Araka q.v.). Besides his mastery in the traditional Law, which added much to the growing reputation of the Rabbinic Academy of his native town, Samuel was famed for his scientific attainments. In particular his knowledge of astronomy was profound, and he was one of the first to compile a Calendar of the Jewish year, thus preparing the way for the fixation of the festivals by means of scientific calculations. But Samuel’s fame rests on the service which he rendered in adapting the life of the Jews of the diaspora to the law of the land. “The law of the State is binding law,” was the principle which Samuel enunciated, here carrying to its logical outcome the admonition of Jeremiah. When the king of Persia, Shapur, captured Mazaca-Caesarea, the Cappadocian capital, Samuel refused to mourn for the 12,000 Jews who lost their lives in its defence. As Graetz says: “To Jeremiah and Mar Samuel Judaism owes the possibility of existence in a foreign country.”
See Graetz, History of the Jews (English translation), vol. ii. ch. xix. (I. A.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sampson, William Thomas

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​SAMPSON, WILLIAM THOMAS (1840–1902), American naval commander, was born at Palmyra, New York, on the 9th of February 1840, and graduated at the head of his class from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1861. In this year he was promoted to master, and in the following year was made lieutenant. He was executive officer in the “Patapsco” when she was blown up in Charleston Harbor in January 1865. He served on distant stations and (1868–1871 and 1876–1878) at the Naval Academy, and became lieutenant-commander in 1866 and commander in 1874. He was a member of the International Prime Meridian and Time Conference in 1884, and of the Board of Fortifications in 1885–1886; was superintendent of the Naval Academy from 1886 to 1890; and was promoted to captain and served as delegate at the International Maritime Conference at Washington in 1889. He was chief of the Bureau of Ordnance in 1893–1897. About 95% of the guns employed in the Spanish-American War were made under his superintendence. His influence was felt decisively in the distribution of guns and armour, and in the training of the personnel of the navy. He superintended the gunnery training and prepared a new drill-book for the fleet. In February 1898 Sampson, then a captain, was president of Board of Inquiry as to the cause of destruction of the “Maine.” At the outbreak of the war with Spain he was placed in charge of the N. Atlantic squadron, and conducted the blockade of Cuba. When it was known that Admiral Cervera, with a Spanish fleet, had left the Cape Verde Islands, Sampson withdrew a force from the blockade to cruise in the Windward Passage, and made an attack upon the forts at San Juan, Porto Rico. After his return to the coast of Cuba he conducted the blockade of Santiago, and the ships under his command destroyed the Spanish vessels when they issued from the harbor of Santiago and attempted to escape (see Spanish-American War). Sampson himself was not actually present at the battle, having started for Siboney just before it began to confer with General Shafter, commanding the land forces. He reached the scene of battle as the last Spanish vessel surrendered, and the engagement was fought in accordance with his instructions. He was promoted to commodore in 1898, to rear-admiral on the 3rd of March 1899, and was made commandant of the Boston (Charlestown) Navy Yard in October of the same year. He died on the 6th of May 1902.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Samsun

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​SAMSUN (anc. Amisus), the chief town of the ]anik sanjak of the Trebizond vilayet of Asiatic Turkey, situated on the S. Coast of the Black Sea between the deltas of the Kizil and Yeshil Irmaks. Pop. about 15,000, two-thirds Christian. It is connected by metalled roads with Sivas and Kaisarieh, and by sea with Constantinople' It is a thriving town, and the outlet for the trade of the Sivas vilayet. Steamers lie about 1 m. from the shore in an open road stead, and in winter landing is sometimes impossible. Its district is one of the principal sources of Turkish tobacco, a whole variety of which is known as “Samsun.” Samsun exports cereals, tobacco and wool. Both exports and imports are about stationary, the Angora-railway having neutralized any tendency to rise. Amisus, which stood on a promontory about 11/2 m. N.W. of Samsun, was, next to Sinope, the most flourishing of the Greek settlements on the Euxine, and under the kings of Pontus it was a rich trading town. By the 1st century A.D. it had displaced Sinope as the N. port of the great trade route from Central Asia, and later it was one of the chief towns of the Comneni of Trebizond. There are still a few remains of the Greek settlement. (D. G. H.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Samson, Joseph Isidore

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​SAMSON, JOSEPH ISIDORE (1793–1871), French actor and playwright, was born at St Denis on the 2nd of July 1793, the son of a restaurant keeper. He took the first prize for comedy at the Conservatoire in 1812, married an actress with whom he toured France, and came to the Comédie Française in 1826. Here he remained until 1863, creating more than 250 parts. He became a professor at the Conservatoire in 1829, and under him Rachel, Rose Chéri (1824–1861), the Brohans and others were trained. He wrote several comedies, among them La Belle-Mere et le gendre (1826), and La Famille poisson (1846). Samson died in Paris on the 28th of March 1871.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Samson (abbot)

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​SAMSON (1135–1211), abbot of St Edmund’s, was educated in Paris and became a teacher in Norfolk, the county of his birth. In 1166 he entered the great Benedictine abbey of St Edmund’s as a monk and was chosen abbot in February 1182. He was a careful and vigilant guardian of the property of the abbey, but he found time to attend royal councils and to take part in public business; also he was frequently entrusted with commissions from the pope. During the absence of Richard I. from England he acted with vigour against John and visited the king in his prison in Germany. He did some building at the abbey, where he died on the 3oth of December 1211. Samson is famous for the encouragement which he gave to the town of Bury St Edmunds, the liberties of which he extended in spite of his own monks. His name is most familiar owing to the references to him in Carlyle’s Past and Present.
See the chronicle of Jocelyn of Brakeloud in vol. i. of the Memorials of St Edmund’s Abbey, edited by T. Arnold (1890); and J. R. Green, Stray Studies (1892).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Palo Alto

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​PALO ALTO, a city of Santa Clara county, California, U.S.A., between two of the coast ranges, about 28 m. S. of San Francisco, ​and about 18 m. from the sea. Pop. (1910) 4486. It is served by the coast division of the Southern Pacific railway, and is the railway station for Leland Stanford Jr. University (q.v.), which is about 1 m. south-west of the city. At Menlo Park is St Patrick’s Theological Seminary (Roman Catholic). By all real estate deeds the sale of intoxicating liquors is for ever prohibited in the city; and an act of the state legislature in 1909 prohibited the sale of intoxicating liquor within 11/2 m. of the grounds of the university. The name (Sp. “tall tree”) was derived from a solitary redwood-tree standing in the outskirts of the city. Palo Alto was laid out in 1891, but had no real existence before 1893. It was incorporated as a town in 1894, having previously been a part of Mayfield township; in 1909 it was chartered as a city. Palo Alto suffered severely in the earthquake of 1906.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Palni Hills

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​PALNI HILLS, a range of hills in south India, in the Madura district of Madras. They are an offshoot from the Western Ghats, and, while distinct from the adjacent Anamalai Hills, form part of the same system. They contain the hill station of Kodaikanal (7200 ft.), which has a milder and more equable climate than Ootacamund in the Nilgiri Hills. There is some coffee cultivation on the lower slopes.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Palomino de Castro y Velasco, Acisclo Antonio

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​PALOMINO DE CASTRO Y VELASCO, ACISCLO ANTONIO (1653–1726), Spanish painter and writer on art, was born of good family at Bujalance, near Cordoba, in 1653, and studied philosophy, theology and law at that capital, receiving also lessons in painting from Valdes Leal, who visited Cordoba in 1672, and afterwards from Alfaro (1675). After taking minor orders he removed to Madrid in 1678, where he associated with Alfaro, Coello and Careño, and executed some indifferent frescoes. He soon afterwards married a lady of rank, and, having been appointed alcalde of the mesta, was himself ennobled; and in 1688 he was appointed painter to the king. He visited Valencia in 1697, and remained there three or four years, again devoting himself with but poor success to fresco painting. Between 1705 and 1715 he resided for considerable periods at Salamanca, Granada and Cordoba; in the latter year the first volume of his work on art appeared in Madrid. After the death of his wife in 1725 Palomino took priest’s orders. He died on the 13th of August 1726.
His work, in 3 vols. folio (1715–1724), entitled El Museo pictorico y escala optica, consists of three parts, of which the first two, on the theory and practice of the art of painting, are without interest or value; the third, with the subtitle El Parnaso español pintoresco laureado, is a mine of important biographical material relating to Spanish artists, which, notwithstanding its faulty style, has procured for the author the not altogether undeserved honour of being called the "Spanish Vasari." It was partially translated into English in 1739; an abridgment of the original (Las Vidas de los pintores y estatuarios españoles) was published in London in 1742, and afterwards appeared in a French translation in 1749. A German version was published at Dresden in 1781, and a reprint of the entire work at Madrid in 1797.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paltock, Robert

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​PALTOCK, ROBERT (1697–1767), English writer, the only son of Thomas Paltock of St James’s, Westminster, was born in 1697. He became an attorney and lived for some time in Clement’s Inn, whence he removed, before 1759, to Back Lane, Lambeth. He married Anna Skinner, through whom his son, also named Robert, inherited a small property at Ryme Intrinseca, Dorset. There Robert Paltock, who died in London on the 20th of March 1767, was buried. Paltock owes his fame to his romantic Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins (1751), which excited the admiration of men like Coleridge, Southey, Charles Lamb, Sir Walter Scott and Leigh Hunt. It has been several times reprinted, notably with an introduction by Mr A. H. Bullen in 1884. It was translated into French (1763) and into German (1767).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paludan-Müller, Frederik

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​PALUDAN-MÜLLER, FREDERIK (1809–1876), Danish poet, was the third son of Jens Paludan-Müller, from 1830 to 1845 bishop of Aarhus, and born at Kjerteminde in Fünen, on the 7th of February 1809. In 1819 his father was transferred to Odense, and Frederik began to attend the Latin school there. In 1828 he passed to the university of Copenhagen. In 1832 he opened his poetical career with Four Romances, and a romantic comedy entitled Kjærlighed ved hoffet (“Love at Court”). This enjoyed a considerable success, and was succeeded in 1833 by Dandserinden (“The Dancing Girl”). Paludan-Müller was accepted by criticism without a struggle, and few writers have excited less hostility than he. He was not, however, well inspired in his lyrical drama of Amor and Psyche in 1834 nor in his Oriental tale of Zuleimas flugt (“Zuleima’s Flight”) in 1835, in each of which he was too vividly influenced by Byron. But he regained all that he had lost by his two volumes of poems in 1836 and 1838. From 1838 to 1840 Paludan-Müller was making the grand tour in Europe and his genius greatly expanded; in Italy he wrote Venus, a lyrical poem of extreme beauty. In the same year, 1841, he began to publish a great work on which he had long been engaged, and which he did not conclude until 1848; this was Adam Homo, a narrative epic, satirical, modern and descriptive, into which Paludan-Müller wove all his variegated impressions of Denmark and of love. This remains the typical classic of Danish poetical literature. In 1844 he composed three enchanting idylls, Dryadens bryllup (“The Dryad’s Wedding”) Tithon (“Tithonus”) and Abels död (“The Death of Abel”). From 1850 a certain decline in the poet’s physical energy became manifest and he wrote less. His majestic drama of Kalanus belongs to 1854. Then for seven years he kept silence. Paradiset (“Paradise”) 1861; and Benedikt fra Nurcia (“Benedict of Nurcia”) 1861; bear evidence of malady, both physical and mental. Paludan-Müller wrote considerably after this, but never recovered his early raptures, except in the very latest of all his poems, the enchanting welcome to death, entitled Adonis. The poet lived a very retired life, first in Copenhagen, then for many years in a cottage on the outskirts of the royal park of Fredensborg, and finally in a house in Ny Adelgade, Copenhagen, where he died on the 27th of December 1876.  (E. G.)
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Palwal

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​PALWAL, a town of British India, in Gurgaon district, Punjab. Pop. (1901), 12,830. It is a place of great antiquity, supposed to figure in the earliest Aryan traditions under the name of Apelava, part of the Pandava kingdom of Indraprastha. Its importance is mainly historical, but it is a centre for the cotton trade of the neighbourhood, having a station on the Delhi-Agra branch of the Great Indian Peninsula railway.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Palmitic Acid

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​PALMITIC ACID, n-Hexadecylic Acid, CH$_3$(CH$_2$)$_{14}$CO$_2$H, an organic acid found as a glyceride, palmitin, in all animal fats, and partly as glyceride and partly uncombined in palm oil. The cetyl ester is spermaceti, and the myricyl ester is largely present in beeswax. It is most conveniently obtained from olive oil, after removal of the oleic acid (q.v.), or from Japanese beeswax, which is its glyceride. Artificially it may be prepared by heating cetyl alcohol with soda lime to 270° or by fusing oleic acid with potassium hydrate.