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Tonton Macoutes
Tonton Macoutes [Haitian Creole,=bogeymen], personal police force of dictator Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) of Haiti. Unpaid volunteers who were directly responsible only to Duvalier, they were given virtual license to torture, kill, and extort. They murdered hundreds of Duvalier's opponents, some...
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Médoc
Médoc , region, SW France, a peninsula extending NW of Bordeaux between the Bay of Biscay and the Gironde River estuary. The region is covered with some of France's most famous vineyards; Château Lafite, Château Latour, and Château Margaux are the most renowned of the many w...
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Melanoma
Melanoma
Definition
Malignant melanoma is a type of cancer arising from the melanocyte cells of the skin. The melanocytes are cells in the skin that produce the pigment melanin. Malignant melanoma develops when the melanocytes no longer respond to normal control mechanisms of cellular growth and...
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langue d'oc and langue d'oïl
langue d'oc and langue d'oïl , names of the two principal groups of medieval French dialects. Langue d'oc (literally, "language of yes" ) was spoken south of a line running, roughly, from Bordeaux to Grenoble, whereas langue d'oïl (literally, "language of yes" ) was prevalent in ...
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langue d'oc and langue d'oïl
langue d'oc and langue d'oïl , names of the two principal groups of medieval French dialects. Langue d'oc (literally, "language of yes" ) was spoken south of a line running, roughly, from Bordeaux to Grenoble, whereas langue d'oïl (literally, "language of yes" ) was prevalent in ...
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Galen
Galen , c.130-c.200, physician and writer, b. Pergamum, of Greek parents. After study in Greece and Asia Minor and at Alexandria, he returned to Pergamum, where he served as physician to the gladiatorial school. He resided chiefly in Rome from c.162. Noted for his lectures and writings, he establish...
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vivisection
vivisection , dissection of living animals for experimental purposes. The use of the term in recent years has been expanded to include all experimentation on living animals, rather than just dissection alone. The practice contributed to the outstanding progress that was made in the 17th cent. by Wil...
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autopsy
autopsy (necropsy, post mortem) (aw-top-si) n. a review of the clinical history of a deceased person followed by external examination and dissection of the body and ancillary investigations (e.g. toxicology) in order to determine the cause of death....
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Viet Minh
Viet Minh , officially Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh [League for the Independence of Vietnam], a coalition of Communist and nationalist groups that opposed the French and the Japanese during World War II. The Viet Minh spearheaded Vietnamese resistance to French rule in the French Indochina War (1946...
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body snatching
body snatching the stealing of corpses from graves and morgues. Before cadavers were legally available for dissection and study by medical students, traffic in stolen bodies was profitable. Those who engaged in the illicit practice were sometimes called resurrectionists; they were active from about...
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