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gamboge
gamboge [Fr.,=Cambodia], an intensely yellow pigment obtained from the sap of Garcinia morella, a tree of SE Asia and Sri Lanka.
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Zoar
Zoar , village, Tuscarawas co., E central Ohio, on the Tuscarawas River; founded 1817, inc. 1884. It was founded by a group of Separatists from S Germany who fled religious persecution and, under the leadership of Joseph Michael Bimeler, emigrated to America. The Quakers received them in Philadelphi...
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bdellium
bdellium , aromatic gum resin obtained from trees of the genus Commiphora ( Balsamodendron of the incense-tree family). It is similar to myrrh. Bdellium is used in medicines and perfumes.
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mescaline
mescaline Psychedelic drug obtained from the dried tops of the peyote cactus, Lophophora williamsii. In North America, mescaline is used in some Native American religious rites....
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balsam
balsam , fragrant resin obtained from various trees. The true balsams are semisolid and insoluble in water, but they are soluble in alcohol and partly so in hydrocarbons. They contain benzoic or cinnamic acid; these include Peru balsam and tolu balsam (both obtained from varieties of the South Ame...
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carnauba
carnauba , wax obtained from the wax palm, or carnauba ( Copernicia cerifera ), of Brazil. It is secreted by the leaves, apparently in defense against the hot winds and droughts of its native habitat, and the resultant coating is removed by drying and flailing. The hardest, highest-melting natural...
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isinglass
isinglass , gelatinous semitransparent substance obtained by cleaning and drying the air bladders of the sturgeon, cod, hake, and other fishes. Isinglass is manufactured in Russia, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, the West Indies, and the Philippines. It is used in the clarification of ...
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Sejanus
Sejanus (Lucius Aelius Sejanus) , d. AD 31, Roman statesman; son of Sejus Strabo, Praetorian prefect. When his father went to Egypt as governor, he succeeded to the command of the Praetorian Guards and obtained great ascendancy over Emperor Tiberius . He was suspected of conspiring (AD 23) with L...
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Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project the wartime effort to design and build the first nuclear weapons ( atomic bombs ). With the discovery of fission in 1939, it became clear to scientists that certain radioactive materials could be used to make a bomb of unprecented power. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt re...
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dragon's blood
dragon's blood name for a red resin obtained from a number of different plants. It was held by early Greeks, Romans, and Arabs to have medicinal properties; Dioscorides and other early writers described it. A chief source was Dracaena cinnabari, a tree of the agave family. Voyagers to the Canar...
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