oboe d'amore: an oboe pitched a minor third lower than the ordinary oboe; used to perform baroque music
physical entity: an entity that has physical existence
scopes trial: a highly publicized trial in 1925 when John Thomas Scopes violated a Tennessee state law by teaching evolution in high school; Scopes was prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan and defended by Clarence Darrow; Scopes was convicted but the verdict was later reversed