Blindness, partial or complete loss of sight. Blindness may be caused by injury, by lesions of the brain or optic nerve, by disease of the cornea or retina, by pathological changes originating...

Boyoma Falls, formerly Stanley Falls, seven cataracts on the Lualaba River, extending c.60 mi (100 km) between Kisangani and Ubundu, N central Congo (Kinshasa), central Africa. The falls have ...

Gersoppa, Falls of, cataract of the Sharavati River, Karnataka state, SW India. It is one of the most spectacular natural beauties of India. The river cuts through the Western Ghats to fall in...

Elephantine, island, SE Egypt, in the Nile below the First Cataract, near Aswan. In ancient times it was a military post guarding the southern frontier of Egypt. The Elephantine papyruses, whi...

Napata, ancient city of Nubia, just below the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. From about the 8th cent. B.C., Napata was the capital of the kingdom of Cush. Many great temples like those of Thebes...

Reichenbach Falls, waterfalls, total drop 656 ft (200 m), S central Switzerland, where the Reichenbach River joins the Aare River. Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts (c.30...

Tatum, Art, 1910–56, American jazz pianist, b. Toledo, Ohio. Born with cataracts in both eyes, Tatum remained virtually blind for life. He read music in Braille, but his sensitive ear for musi...

Mayo, Charles Horace, 1865–1939, American surgeon, b. Rochester, Minn., M.D. Northwestern Univ., 1888. He specialized in goiter and cataract operations. His brother, William James Mayo, 1861–1...

Thutmose I or Thothmes I, d. 1495 B.C., king of ancient Egypt, third ruler of the XVIII dynasty; successor of Amenhotep I. He became king c.1525. In a great campaign he subjugated the valley o...

Nubia, ancient state of NE Africa. At the height of its political power Nubia extended, from north to south, from the First Cataract of the Nile (near Aswan, Egypt) to Khartoum, in Sudan. It e...