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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 - "Electrostatics" to "Engis"
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 - "Electrostatics" to "Engis"" ***
Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [int] for integral; [alpha],
[beta], etc. for greek letters.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE ELECTROTHERAPEUTICS: "This is the normal reaction of the
nerve to faradism." 'normal' amended from 'mormal'.
ARTICLE ELECTROTHERAPEUTICS: "If the current be suddenly reversed,
so that what was the anode becomes the kathode, a stronger
contraction is obtained than by simply making and breaking the
current." 'stronger' amended from 'stonger'.
ARTICLE ELECTROTHERAPEUTICS: "Thus RD is present in infantile
paralysis, acute neuritis, &c., but absent in progressive muscular
atrophy where the wasting of nerve and muscle takes place extremely
slowly." 'progressive' amended from 'progessive'.
ARTICLE ELECTROTHERAPEUTICS: "In the medical application of these
facts it must be remembered that when an ion is introduced into the
body by electrolysis, it is probably forced into the actual
cellular constituents of the body ..." 'probably' amended from
'propably'.
ARTICLE ELGINSHIRE: "Findhorn has been twice visited by
calamities." 'visited' amended from 'vsited'.
ARTICLE ELIOT, GEORGE: "Romola, which is what is called an
historical novel, owes its vitality not to the portraits of
Savonarola or of the heroine ..." 'its' amended from 'it'.
ARTICLE ELZEVIR: "... a chronological list and detailed description
of all works printed by them, their various typographical marks
..." 'works' amended from 'words'.
ARTICLE EMBALMING : "... it being held by the Egyptians a
detestable thing to commit any violence or inflict a wound on the
body." 'detestable' amended from 'destestable'.
ARTICLE EMBRYOLOGY: "In this manner the germinal disc has become
converted into the blastoderm ..." 'become' amended from' beecome'.
ARTICLE EMBRYOLOGY: "For instance, in Vertebrata this tissue gives
rise to nervous tissue, blood-vessels, renal tubules ..." 'rise'
amended from 'tise'.
ARTICLE EMIN PASHA: "This last step followed upon his receipt of a
letter from Nubar Pasha, informing him that it was impossible for
the Egyptian government to send him help ..." 'from' amended from
'fom'.
ARTICLE EMPIRE: "S. Riezler, Die literarischen Widersacher der
Päpste zur Zeit Ludwigs des Baiers (1874); ..." 'zur' amended from
'sur'.
ARTICLE EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY: "But it expressly applies to seamen."
'expressly' amended from 'expressely'.
ARTICLE EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY: "Compensation becomes payable after
the expiration of sixty days from the date of the accident."
'becomes' amended from 'bcomes'.
ARTICLE ENCAUSTIC PAINTING: "In this ley he boiled the wax, cut
into little bits, for half an hour, after which he removed it from
the fire and allowed it to cool." 'little' amended from 'litle'.
ARTICLE ENERGETICS: "... which throw much light on the phenomena of
actual systems not far removed from these ideal limits." 'from'
amended from 'trom'.
ARTICLE ENERGETICS: "It should be noted, however, that this
argument applies only to fluid phases, for in the case of
deposition of a solid ..." 'phases' amended from 'phrases'.
ARTICLE ENGEL, ERNST: "... and Zeitschrift des Statistischen
Bureaus des Königreichs Sachsen." 'Statistischen' amended from
'Statistichen'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME IX, SLICE III
Electrostatics to Engis
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
ELECTROSTATICS ELTVILLE
ELECTROTHERAPEUTICS ELTZ
ELECTROTYPING ELVAS
ELECTRUM, ELECTRON ELVEY, SIR GEORGE JOB
ELEGIT ELVIRA, SYNOD OF
ELEGY EL WAD
ELEMENT ELWOOD
ELEMI ELY, RICHARD THEODORE
ELEPHANT ELY
ELEPHANTA ISLE ELYOT, SIR THOMAS
ELEPHANTIASIS ELYRIA
ELEPHANT'S-FOOT ELYSIUM
ELETS ELZE, KARL
ELEUSIS ELZEVIR
ELEUTHERIUS EMANATION
ELEUTHEROPOLIS EMANUEL I.
ELEVATORS EMBALMING
ELF EMBANKMENT
ELGAR, SIR EDWARD EMBARGO
ELGIN (Illinois, U.S.A.) EMBASSY
ELGIN (Scotland) EMBER DAYS and EMBER WEEKS
ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, EARLS OF EMBEZZLEMENT
ELGINSHIRE EMBLEM
ELGON EMBLEMENTS
ELI EMBOSSING
ELIAS EMBRACERY
ELIAS, JOHN EMBRASURE
ELIAS LEVITA EMBROIDERY
ELIE EMBRUN
ÉLIE DE BEAUMONT, JEAN BAPTISTE EMBRYOLOGY
ELIJAH EMDEN
ELIJAH WILNA EMERALD
ELIOT, CHARLES WILLIAM ÉMERIC-DAVID, TOUSSAINT-BERNARD
ELIOT, GEORGE EMERITUS
ELIOT, SIR JOHN EMERSON, RALPH WALDO
ELIOT, JOHN EMERSON, WILLIAM
ELIS (district of Greece) EMERY
ELIS (city of Greece) EMETICS
ELIS, PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOOL OF EMEU
ELISAVETGRAD EMIGRATION
ELISAVETPOL (Russian government) EMILIA
ELISAVETPOL (Russian town) EMINENCE
ELISHA EMINENT DOMAIN
ELISHA BEN ABUYAH EMINESCU, MICHAIL
ELIXIR EMIN PASHA
ELIZABETH (queen of England) EMLYN, THOMAS
ELIZABETH [PETROVNA] EMMANUEL
ELIZABETH [AMÉLIE EUGÉNIE] EMMANUEL PHILIBERT
ELIZABETH (Frederick V. consort) EMMAUS
ELIZABETH [PAULINE OTTILIE] EMMENDINGEN
ELIZABETH (Charles I. daughter) EMMERICH
ELIZABETH (Marie Hélène) EMMET, ROBERT
ELIZABETH, SAINT EMMET, THOMAS ADDIS
ELIZABETH (New Jersey, U.S.A.) EMMETT, DANIEL DECATUR
ELIZABETHAN STYLE EMMITSBURG
ELIZABETH CITY EMMIUS, UBBO
ELK EMMONS, EBENEZER
ELKHART EMMONS, NATHANAEL
ELKINGTON, GEORGE RICHARDS EMPEDOCLES
ELLA EMPEROR
ELLAND EMPHYSEMA
ELLENBOROUGH, EDWARD LAW (judge) EMPIRE
ELLENBOROUGH, EDWARD LAW (Earl) EMPIRICISM
ELLERY, WILLIAM EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY & COMPENSATION
ELLESMERE, FRANCIS EGERTON EMPOLI
ELLESMERE (town in England) EMPORIA
ELLICE (LAGOON) ISLANDS EMPORIUM
ELLICHPUR EMPSON, SIR RICHARD
ELLIOTSON, JOHN EMPYEMA
ELLIOTT, EBENEZER EMPYREAN
ELLIPSE EMS (river of Germany)
ELLIPSOID EMS (town of Germany)
ELLIPTICITY EMSER, JEROME
ELLIS, ALEXANDER JOHN ENAMEL
ELLIS, GEORGE ENCAENIA
ELLIS, SIR HENRY ENCAUSTIC PAINTING
ELLIS, ROBINSON ENCEINTE
ELLIS, WILLIAM ENCINA, JUAN DEL
ELLISTON, ROBERT WILLIAM ENCKE, JOHANN FRANZ
ELLORA ENCLAVE
ELLORE ENCOIGNURE
ELLSWORTH, OLIVER ENCYCLICAL
ELLSWORTH ENCYCLOPAEDIA
ELLWANGEN ENDECOTT, JOHN
ELLWOOD, THOMAS ENDIVE
ELM ENDOEUS
ELMACIN, GEORGE ENDOGAMY
ELMALI ENDOR
ELMES, HARVEY LONSDALE ENDOSPORA
ELMES, JAMES ENDYMION
ELMHAM, THOMAS ENERGETICS
ELMINA ENERGICI
ELMIRA ENERGY
ELMSHORN ENFANTIN, BARTHÉLEMY PROSPER
ELMSLEY, PETER ENFIDAVILLE
ELNE ENFIELD (Connecticut, U.S.A.)
EL OBEID ENFIELD (England)
ELOI, SAINT ENFILADE
ELONGATION ENGADINE
EL PASO ENGAGED COLUMN
ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART ENGEL, ERNST
ELPHINSTONE, WILLIAM ENGEL, JOHANN JAKOB
EL RENO ENGELBERG
ELSFLETH ENGELBRECHTSDATTER, DORTHE
ELSINORE ENGELHARDT, JOHANN GEORG VEIT
ELSSLER, FANNY ENGHIEN, LOUIS ANTOINE HENRI
ELSTER (rivers of Germany) ENGHIEN
ELSTER (spa of Germany) ENGINE
ELSWICK ENGINEERING
EL TEB ENGINEERS, MILITARY
ELTON, CHARLES ISAAC ENGIS
ELECTROSTATICS, the name given to that department of electrical science
in which the phenomena of electricity at rest are considered. Besides
their ordinary condition all bodies are capable of being thrown into a
physical state in which they are said to be electrified or charged with
electricity. When in this condition they become sources of electric
force, and the space round them in which this force is manifested is
called an "electric field" (see ELECTRICITY). Electrified bodies exert
mechanical forces on each other, creating or tending to create motion,
and also induce electric charges on neighbouring surfaces.
The reader possessed of no previous knowledge of electrical phenomena
will best appreciate the meaning of the terms employed by the aid of a
few simple experiments. For this purpose the following apparatus should
be provided:--(1) two small metal tea-trays and some clean dry tumblers,
the latter preferably varnished with shellac varnish made with alcohol
free from water; (2) two sheets of ebonite rather larger than the
tea-trays; (3) a rod of sealing-wax or ebonite and a glass tube, also
some pieces of silk and flannel; (4) a few small gilt pith balls
suspended by dry silk threads; (5) a gold-leaf electroscope, and, if
possible, a simple form of quadrant electrometer (see ELECTROSCOPE and
ELECTROMETER); (6) some brass balls mounted on the ends of ebonite
penholders, and a few tin canisters. With the aid of this apparatus, the
principal facts of electrostatics can be experimentally verified, as
follows:--
_Experiment I._--Place one tea-tray bottom side uppermost upon three
warm tumblers as legs. Rub the sheet of ebonite vigorously with warm
flannel and lay it rubbed side downwards on the top of the tray. Touch
the tray with the finger for an instant, and lift up the ebonite without
letting the hand touch the tray a second time. The tray is then found to
be electrified. If a suspended gilt pith ball is held near it, the ball
will first be attracted and then repelled. If small fragments of paper
are scattered on the tray and then the other tray held in the hand over
them, they will fly up and down rapidly. If the knuckle is approached to
the electrified tray, a small spark will be seen, and afterwards the
tray will be found to be discharged or unelectrified. If the electrified
tray is touched with the sealing-wax or ebonite rod, it will not be
discharged, but if touched with a metal wire, the hand, or a damp
thread, it is discharged at once. This shows that some bodies are
_conductors_ and others _non-conductors_ or _insulators_ of electricity,
and that bodies can be electrified by friction and impart their electric
charge to other bodies. A charged conductor supported on a non-conductor
retains its charge. It is then said to be insulated.
_Experiment II._--Arrange two tea-trays, each on dry tumblers as before.
Rub the sheet of ebonite with flannel, lay it face downwards on one
tray, touch that tray with the finger for a moment and lift up the
ebonite sheet, rub it again, and lay it face downwards on the second
tray and leave it there. Then take two suspended gilt pith balls and
touch them (a) both against one tray; they will be found to repel each
other; (b) touch one against one tray and the other against the other
tray, and they will be found to attract each other. This proves the
existence of two kinds of electricity, called _positive_ and _negative_.
The first tea-tray is positively electrified, and the second
negatively. If an insulated brass ball is touched against the first tray
and then against the knob or plate of the electroscope, the gold leaves
will diverge. If the ball is discharged and touched against the other
tray, and then afterwards against the previously charged electroscope,
the leaves will collapse. This shows that the two electricities
neutralize each other's effect when imparted equally to the same
conductor.
_Experiment III._--Let one tray be insulated as before, and the
electrified sheet of ebonite held over it, but not allowed to touch the
tray. If the ebonite is withdrawn without touching the tray, the latter
will be found to be unelectrified. If whilst holding the ebonite sheet
over the tray the latter is also touched with an insulated brass ball,
then this ball when removed and tested with the electroscope will be
found to be negatively electrified. The sign of the electrification
imparted to the electroscope when so charged--that is, whether positive
or negative--can be determined by rubbing the sealing-wax rod with
flannel and the glass rod with silk, and approaching them gently to the
electroscope one at a time. The sealing-wax so treated is electrified
negatively or _resinously_, and the glass with positive or _vitreous_
electricity. Hence if the electrified sealing-wax rod makes the leaves
collapse, the electroscopic charge is positive, but if the glass rod
does the same, the electroscopic charge is negative. Again, if, whilst
holding the electrified ebonite over the tray, we touch the latter for a
moment and then withdraw the ebonite sheet, the tray will be found to be
positively electrified. The electrified ebonite is said to act by
"electrostatic induction" on the tray, and creates on it two induced
charges, one of positive and the other of negative electricity. The last
goes to earth when the tray is touched, and the first remains when the
tray is insulated and the ebonite withdrawn.
_Experiment IV._--Place a tin canister on a warm tumbler and connect it
by a wire with the gold-leaf electroscope. Charge positively a brass
ball held on an ebonite stem, and introduce it, without touching, into
the canister. The leaves of the electroscope will diverge with positive
electricity. Withdraw the ball and the leaves will collapse. Replace the
ball again and touch the outside of the canister; the leaves will
collapse. If then the ball be withdrawn, the leaves will diverge a
second time with negative electrification. If, before withdrawing the
ball, after touching the outside of the canister for a moment the ball
is touched against the inside of the canister, then on withdrawing it
the ball and canister are found to be discharged. This experiment proves
that when a charged body acts by induction on an insulated conductor it
causes an electrical separation to take place; electricity of opposite
sign is drawn to the side nearest the inducing body, and that of like
sign is repelled to the remote side, and these quantities are equal in
amount.
_Seat of the Electric Charge._--So far we have spoken of electric charge
as if it resided on the conductors which are electrified. The work of
Benjamin Franklin, Henry Cavendish, Michael Faraday and J. Clerk Maxwell
demonstrated, however, that all electric charge or electrification of
conductors consists simply in the establishment of a physical state in
the surrounding insulator or dielectric, which state is variously called
_electric strain_, _electric displacement_ or _electric polarization_.
Under the action of the same or identical electric forces the intensity
of this state in various insulators is determined by a quality of them
called their _dielectric constant_, _specific inductive capacity_ or
_inductivity_. In the next place we must notice that electrification is
a measurable magnitude and in electrostatics is estimated in terms of a
unit called the _electrostatic unit_ of electric quantity. In the
absolute C.G.S. system this unit quantity is defined as follows:--If we
consider a very small electrified spherical conductor, experiment shows
that it exerts a repulsive force upon another similar and similarly
electrified body. Cavendish and C.A. Coulomb proved that this mechanical
force varies inversely as the square of the distance between the centres
of the spheres. The unit of mechanical force in the "centimetre, gramme,
second" (C.G.S.) system of units is the _dyne_, which is approximately
equal to 1/981 part of the weight of one gramme. A very small sphere is
said then to possess a charge of one electrostatic unit of quantity,
when it repels another similar and similarly electrified body with a
force of one dyne, the centres being at a distance of one centimetre,
provided that the spheres are _in vacuo_ or immersed in some insulator,
the dielectric constant of which is taken as unity. If the two small
conducting spheres are placed with centres at a distance d centimetres,
and immersed in an insulator of dielectric constant K, and carry charges
of Q and Q' electrostatic units respectively, measured as above
described, then the mechanical force between them is equal to QQ'/Kd²
dynes. For constant charges and distances the mechanical force is
inversely as the dielectric constant.
_Electric Force._--If a small conducting body is charged with Q
electrostatic units of electricity, and placed in any electric field at
a point where the electric force has a value E, it will be subject to a
mechanical force equal to QE dynes, tending to move it in the direction
of the resultant electric force. This provides us with a definition of a
unit of electric force, for it is the strength of an electric field at
that point where a small conductor carrying a unit charge is acted upon
by unit mechanical force, assuming the dielectric constant of the
surrounding medium to be unity. To avoid unnecessary complications we
shall assume this latter condition in all the following discussion,
which is equivalent simply to assuming that all our electrical
measurements are made in air or _in vacuo_.
Owing to the confusion introduced by the employment of the term force,
Maxwell and other writers sometimes use the words _electromotive
intensity_ instead of electric force. The reader should, however, notice
that what is generally called electric force is the analogue in
electricity of the so-called acceleration of gravity in mechanics,
whilst electrification or quantity of electricity is analogous to mass.
If a mass of M grammes be placed in the earth's field at a place where
the acceleration of gravity has a value g centimetres per second, then
the mechanical force acting on it and pulling it downwards is Mg dynes.
In the same manner, if an electrified body carries a positive charge Q
electrostatic units and is placed in an electric field at a place where
the electric force or electromotive intensity has a value E units, it is
urged in the direction of the electric force with a mechanical force
equal to QE dynes. We must, however, assume that the charge Q is so
small that it does not sensibly disturb the original electric field, and
that the dielectric constant of the insulator is unity.
Faraday introduced the important and useful conception of _lines_ and
_tubes_ of electric force. If we consider a very small conductor charged
with a unit of positive electricity to be placed in an electric field,
it will move or tend to move under the action of the electric force in a
certain direction. The path described by it when removed from the action
of gravity and all other physical forces is called a line of electric
force. We may otherwise define it by saying that a line of electric
force is a line so drawn in a field of electric force that its direction
coincides at every point with the resultant electric force at that
point. Let _any_ line drawn in an electric field be divided up into
small elements of length. We can take the sum of all the products of the
length of each element by the resolved part of the electric force in its
direction. This sum, or integral, is called the "line integral of
electric force" or the _electromotive force_ (E.M.F.) along this line.
In some cases the value of this electromotive force between two points
or conductors is independent of the precise path selected, and it is
then called the _potential difference_ (P.D.) of the two points or
conductors. We may define the term potential difference otherwise by
saying that it is the work done in carrying a small conductor charged
with one unit of electricity from one point to the other in a direction
opposite to that in which it would move under the electric forces if
left to itself.
_Electric Potential._--Suppose then that we have a conductor charged
with electricity; we may imagine its surface to be divided up into small
unequal areas, each of which carries a unit charge of electricity. If we
consider lines of electric force to be drawn from the boundaries of
these areas, they will cut up the space round the conductor into tubular
surfaces called tubes of electric force, and each tube will spring from
an area of the conductor carrying a unit electric charge. Hence the
charge on the conductor can be measured by the number of unit electric
tubes springing from it. In the next place we may consider the charged
body to be surrounded by a number of closed surfaces, such that the
potential difference between any point on one surface and the earth is
the same. These surfaces are called "equipotential" or "level surfaces,"
and we may so locate them that the potential difference between two
adjacent surfaces is one unit of potential; that is, it requires one
absolute unit of work (1 erg) to move a small body charged with one unit
of electricity from one surface to the next. These enclosing surfaces,
therefore, cut up the space into shells of potential, and divide up the
tubes of force into electric cells. The surface of a charged conductor
is an equipotential surface, because when the electric charge is in
equilibrium there is no tendency for electricity to move from one part
to the other.
We arbitrarily call the potential of the earth zero, since all potential
difference is relative and there is no absolute potential any more than
absolute level. We call the difference of potential between a charged
conductor and the earth the potential of the conductor. Hence when a
body is charged positively its potential is raised above that of the
earth, and when negatively it is lowered beneath that of the earth.
Potential in a certain sense is to electricity as difference of level is
to liquids or difference of temperature to heat. It must be noted,
however, that potential is a mere mathematical concept, and has no
objective existence like difference of level, nor is it capable per se
of producing physical changes in bodies, such as those which are brought
about by rise of temperature, apart from any question of difference of
temperature. There is, however, this similarity between them.
Electricity tends to flow from places of high to places of low
potential, water to flow down hill, and heat to move from places of high
to places of low temperature. Returning to the case of the charged body
with the space around it cut up into electric cells by the tubes of
force and shells of potential, it is obvious that the number of these
cells is represented by the product QV, where Q is the charge and V the
potential of the body in electrostatic units. An electrified conductor
is a store of energy, and from the definition of potential it is clear
that the work done in increasing the charge q of a conductor whose
potential is v by a small amount dq, is vdq, and since this added charge
increases in turn the potential, it is easy to prove that the work done
in charging a conductor with Q units to a potential V units is ½QV units
of work. Accordingly the number of electric cells into which the space
round is cut up is equal to twice the energy stored up, or each cell
contains half a unit of energy. This harmonizes with the fact that the
real seat of the energy of electrification is the dielectric or
insulator surrounding the charged conductor.[1]
We have next to notice three important facts in electrostatics and some
consequences flowing therefrom.
(i) _Electrical Equilibrium and Potential._--If there be any number of
charged conductors in a field, the electrification on them being in
equilibrium or at rest, the surface of each conductor is an
equipotential surface. For since electricity tends to move between
points or conductors at different potentials, if the electricity is at
rest on them the potential must be everywhere the same. It follows from
this that the electric force at the surface of the conductor has no
component along the surface, in other words, the electric force at the
bounding surface of the conductor and insulator is everywhere at right
angles to it.
By the _surface density_ of electrification on a conductor is meant the
charge per unit of area, or the number of tubes of electric force which
spring from unit area of its surface. Coulomb proved experimentally that
the electric force just outside a conductor at any point is proportional
to the electric density at that point. It can be shown that the
resultant electric force normal to the surface at a point just outside a
conductor is equal to 4[pi][sigma], where [sigma] is the surface
density at that point. This is usually called Coulomb's Law.[2]
(ii) _Seat of Charge._--The charge on an electrified conductor is wholly
on the surface, and there is no electric force in the interior of a
closed electrified conducting surface which does not contain any other
electrified bodies. Faraday proved this experimentally (see
_Experimental Researches_, series xi. § 1173) by constructing a large
chamber or box of paper covered with tinfoil or thin metal. This was
insulated and highly electrified. In the interior no trace of electric
charge could be found when tested by electroscopes or other means.
Cavendish proved it by enclosing a metal sphere in two hemispheres of
thin metal held on insulating supports. If the sphere is charged and
then the jacketing hemispheres fitted on it and removed, the sphere is
found to be perfectly discharged.[3] Numerous other demonstrations of
this fact were given by Faraday. The thinnest possible spherical shell
of metal, such as a sphere of insulator coated with gold-leaf, behaves
as a conductor for static charge just as if it were a sphere of solid
metal. The fact that there is no electric force in the interior of such
a closed electrified shell is one of the most certainly ascertained
facts in the science of electrostatics, and it enables us to demonstrate
at once that particles of electricity attract and repel each other with
a force which is inversely as the square of their distance.
We may give in the first place an elementary proof of the converse
proposition by the aid of a simple lemma:--
_Lemma._--If particles of matter attract one another according to the
law of the inverse square the attraction of all sections of a cone for a
particle at the vertex is the same. _Definition._--The solid angle
subtended by any surface at a point is measured by the quotient of its
apparent surface by the square of its distance from that point. Hence
the total solid angle round any point is 4[pi]. The solid angles
subtended by all normal sections of a cone at the vertex are therefore
equal, and since the attractions of these sections on a particle at the
vertex are proportional to their distances from the vertex, they are
numerically equal to one another and to the solid angle of the cone.
Let us then suppose a spherical shell O to be electrified. Select any
point P in the interior and let a line drawn through it sweep out a
small double cone (see fig. 1). Each cone cuts out an area on the
surface equally inclined to the cone axis. The electric density on the
sphere being uniform, the quantities of electricity on these areas are
proportional to the areas, and if the electric force varies inversely as
the square of the distance, the forces exerted by these two surface
charges at the point in question are proportional to the solid angle of
the little cone. Hence the forces due to the two areas at opposite ends
of the chord are equal and opposed.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
Hence we see that if the whole surface of the sphere is divided into
pairs of elements by cones described through any interior point, the
resultant force at that point must consist of the sum of pairs of equal
and opposite forces, and is therefore zero. For the proof of the
converse proposition we must refer the reader to the _Electrical
Researches of the Hon. Henry Cavendish_, p. 419, or to Maxwell's
_Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism_, 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 76, where
Maxwell gives an elegant proof that if the force in the interior of a
closed conductor is zero, the law of the force must be that of the
inverse square of the distance.[4] From this fact it follows that we can
shield any conductor entirely from external influence by other charged
conductors by enclosing it in a metal case. It is not even necessary
that this envelope should be of solid metal; a cage made of fine metal
wire gauze which permits objects in its interior to be seen will yet be
a perfect electrical screen for them. Electroscopes and electrometers,
therefore, standing in proximity to electrified bodies can be perfectly
shielded from influence by enclosing them in cylinders of metal gauze.
Even if a charged and insulated conductor, such as an open canister or
deep cup, is not perfectly closed, it will be found that a proof-plane
consisting of a small disk of gilt paper carried at the end of a rod of
gum-lac will not bring away any charge if applied to the deep inside
portions. In fact it is curious to note how large an opening may be made
in a vessel which yet remains for all electrical purposes "a closed
conductor." Maxwell (_Elementary Treatise_, &c., p. 15) ingeniously
applied this fact to the insulation of conductors. If we desire to
insulate a metal ball to make it hold a charge of electricity, it is
usual to do so by attaching it to a handle or stem of glass or ebonite.
In this case the electric charge exists at the point where the stem is
attached, and there leakage by creeping takes place. If, however, we
employ a hollow sphere and let the stem pass through a hole in the side
larger than itself, and attach the end to the interior of the sphere,
then leakage cannot take place.
Another corollary of the fact that there is no electric force in the
interior of a charged conductor is that the potential in the interior is
constant and equal to that at the surface. For by the definition of
potential it follows that the electric force in any direction at any
point is measured by the space rate of change of potential in that
direction or E = ±dV/dx. Hence if the force is zero the potential V must
be constant.
(iii.) _Association of Positive and Negative Electricities._--The third
leading fact in electrostatics is that positive and negative electricity
are always created in equal quantities, and that for every charge, say,
of positive electricity on one conductor there must exist on some other
bodies an equal total charge of negative electricity. Faraday expressed
this fact by saying that no absolute electric charge could be given to
matter. If we consider the charge of a conductor to be measured by the
number of tubes of electric force which proceed from it, then, since
each tube must end on some other conductor, the above statement is
equivalent to saying that the charges at each end of a tube of electric
force are equal.
The facts may, however, best be understood and demonstrated by
considering an experiment due to Faraday, commonly called the ice pail
experiment, because he employed for it a pewter ice pail (_Exp. Res._
vol. ii. p. 279, or _Phil. Mag._ 1843, 22). On the plate of a gold-leaf
electroscope place a metal canister having a loose lid. Let a metal ball
be suspended by a silk thread, and the canister lid so fixed to the
thread that when the lid is in place the ball hangs in the centre of the
canister. Let the ball and lid be removed by the silk, and let a charge,
say, of positive electricity (+Q) be given to the ball. Let the canister
be touched with the finger to discharge it perfectly. Then let the ball
be lowered into the canister. It will be found that as it does so the
gold-leaves of the electroscope diverge, but collapse again if the ball
is withdrawn. If the ball is lowered until the lid is in place, the
leaves take a steady deflection. Next let the canister be touched with
the finger, the leaves collapse, but diverge again when the ball is
withdrawn. A test will show that in this last case the canister is left
negatively electrified. If before the ball is withdrawn, after touching
the outside of the canister with the finger, the ball is tilted over to
make it touch the inside of the canister, then on withdrawing it the
canister and ball are found to be perfectly discharged. The explanation
is as follows: the charge (+Q) of positive electricity on the ball
creates by induction an equal charge (-Q) on the inside of the canister
when placed in it, and repels to the exterior surface of the canister an
equal charge (+Q). On touching the canister this last charge goes to
earth. Hence when the ball is touched against the inside of the canister
before withdrawing it a second time, the fact that the system is found
subsequently to be completely discharged proves that the charge -Q
induced on the inside of the canister must be exactly equal to the
charge +Q on the ball, and also that the inducing action of the charge
+Q on the ball created equal quantities of electricity of opposite sign,
one drawn to the inside and the other repelled to the outside of the
canister.
_Electrical Capacity._--We must next consider the quality of a conductor
called its electrical capacity. The potential of a conductor has already
been defined as the mechanical work which must be done to bring up a
very small body charged with a unit of positive electricity from the
earth's surface or other boundary taken as the place of zero potential
to the surface of this conductor in question. The mathematical
expression for this potential can in some cases be calculated or
predetermined.
Potential of a sphere.
Thus, consider a sphere uniformly charged with Q units of positive
electricity. It is a fundamental theorem in attractions that a thin
spherical shell of matter which attracts according to the law of the
inverse square acts on all external points as if it were concentrated
at its centre. Hence a sphere having a charge Q repels a unit charge
placed at a distance x from its centre with a force Q/x² dynes, and
therefore the work W in ergs expended in bringing the unit up to that
point from an infinite distance is given by the integral
_
/x
W = | Qx^-2 dx = Q/x (1).
_/[oo]
Capacity of a sphere.
Hence the potential at the surface of the sphere, and therefore the
potential of the sphere, is Q/R, where R is the radius of the sphere
in centimetres. The quantity of electricity which must be given to the
sphere to raise it to unit potential is therefore R electrostatic
units. The capacity of a conductor is defined to be the charge
required to raise its potential to unity, all other charged conductors
being at an infinite distance. This capacity is then a function of the
geometrical dimensions of the conductor, and can be mathematically
determined in certain cases. Since the potential of a small charge of
electricity dQ at a distance r is equal to dQ/r, and since the
potential of all parts of a conductor is the same in those cases in
which the distribution of surface density of electrification is
uniform or symmetrical with respect to some point or axis in the
conductor, we can calculate the potential by simply summing up terms
like [sigma]dS/r, where dS is an element of surface, [sigma] the
surface density of electricity on it, and r the distance from the
symmetrical centre. The capacity is then obtained as the quotient of
the whole charge by this potential. Thus the distribution of
electricity on a sphere in free space must be uniform, and all parts
of the charge are at an equal distance R from the centre. Accordingly
the potential _at_ the centre is Q/R. But this must be the potential
_of_ the sphere, since all parts are at the same potential V. Since
the capacity C is the ratio of charge to potential, the capacity of
the sphere in free space is Q/V = R, or is numerically the same as its
radius reckoned in centimetres.
Capacity of a thin rod.
We can thus easily calculate the capacity of a long thin wire like a
telegraph wire far removed from the earth, as follows: Let 2r be the
diameter of the wire, l its length, and [sigma] the uniform surface
electric density. Then consider a thin annulus of the wire of width
dx; the charge on it is equal to 2[pi]r[sigma]/dx units, and the
potential V at a point on the axis at a distance x from the annulus
due to this elementary charge is
_l/2
/ 2[pi]r[sigma]
V = 2 | ---------------dx = 4[pi]r[sigma] {log_e (½l + [root][r² + ¼l²]) - log_e^ r}.
_/ [root](r² + x²)
0
If, then, r is small compared with l, we have V = 4[pi]r[sigma]log_e
l/r. But the charge is Q = 2[pi]r[sigma], and therefore the capacity
of the thin wire is given by
C = ½ log_e l/r (2).
Potential of an ellipsoid.
A more difficult case is presented by the ellipsoid[5]. We have first
to determine the mode in which electricity distributes itself on a
conducting ellipsoid in free space. It must be such a distribution
that the potential in the interior will be constant, since the
electric force must be zero. It is a well-known theorem in attractions
that if a shell is made of gravitative matter whose inner and outer
surfaces are similar ellipsoids, it exercises no attraction on a
particle of matter in its interior[6]. Consider then an ellipsoidal
shell the axes of whose bounding surfaces are (a, b, c) and (a + da),
(b + db), (c + dc), where da/a = db/b = dc/c = [mu]. The potential of
such a shell at any internal point is constant, and the equipotential
surfaces for external space are ellipsoids confocal with the
ellipsoidal shell. Hence if we distribute electricity over an
ellipsoid, so that its density is everywhere proportional to the
thickness of a shell formed by describing round the ellipsoid a
similar and slightly larger one, that distribution will be in
equilibrium and will produce a constant potential throughout the
interior. Thus if [sigma] is the surface density, [delta] the
thickness of the shell at any point, and [rho] the assumed volume
density of the matter of the shell, we have [sigma] = A[delta][rho].
Then the quantity of electricity on any element of surface dS is A
times the mass of the corresponding element of the shell; and if Q is
the whole quantity of electricity on the ellipsoid, Q = A times the
whole mass of the shell. This mass is equal to 4[pi]abc[rho][mu];
therefore Q = A4[pi]abc[rho][mu] and [delta] = [mu]p, where p is the
length of the perpendicular let fall from the centre of the ellipsoid
on the tangent plane. Hence
[sigma] = Qp/4[pi]abc (3).
Capacity of an ellipsoid.
Accordingly for a given ellipsoid the surface density of free
distribution of electricity on it is everywhere proportional to the
length of the perpendicular let fall from the centre on the tangent
plane at that point. From this we can determine the capacity of the
ellipsoid as follows: Let p be the length of the perpendicular from
the centre of the ellipsoid, whose equation is x²/a² + y²/b² + z²/c² =
1 to the tangent plane at x, y, z. Then it can be shown that 1/p² =
x²/a^4 + y²/b^4 + z²/c^4 (see Frost's _Solid Geometry_, p. 172). Hence
the density [sigma] is given by
Q 1
[sigma] = -------- --------------------------------,
4[pi]abc [root](x²/a^4 + y²/b^4 + z²/c^4)
and the potential at the centre of the ellipsoid, and therefore its
potential as a whole is given by the expression,
_ _
/ [sigma]dS Q / dS
V = | --------- = -------- | --------------------------------- (4).
_/ r 4[pi]abc _/ r[root](x²/a^4 + y²/b^4 + z²/c^4)
Accordingly the capacity C of the ellipsoid is given by the equation
_
1 1 / dS
-- = -------- | ---------------------------------------------------- (5).
C 4[pi]abc _/ [root](x² + y² + z²)[root](x²/a^4 + y²/b^4 + z²/c^4)
It has been shown by Professor Chrystal that the above integral may
also be presented in the form,[7]
_
1 /[oo] d[lambda]
-- = ½ | ----------------------------------------------------- (6).
C _/0 [root]{(a² + [lambda])(b² + [lambda])(c² + [lambda])}
The above expressions for the capacity of an ellipsoid of three
unequal axes are in general elliptic integrals, but they can be
evaluated for the reduced cases when the ellipsoid is one of
revolution, and hence in the limit either takes the form of a long rod
or of a circular disk.
Thus if the ellipsoid is one of revolution, and ds is an element of
arc which sweeps out the element of surface dS, we have
/dx\ /py\ 2[pi]b²
dS = 2[pi]yds = 2[pi]ydx / ( -- ) = 2[pi]ydx / ( -- ) = ------- dx.
\ds/ \ b/ p
Hence, since [sigma] = Qp/4[pi]ab², [sigma]dS = Qdx/2a.
Accordingly the distribution of electricity is such that equal
parallel slices of the ellipsoid of revolution taken normal to the
axis of revolution carry equal charges on their curved surface.
The capacity C of the ellipsoid of revolution is therefore given by
the expression
_
1 1 / dx
-- = -- | --------------- (7).
C 2a _/ [root](x² + y²)
If the ellipsoid is one of revolution round the major axis a (prolate)
and of eccentricity e, then the above formula reduces to
1 1 /1 + e\
-- = --- log_[epsilon]( ----- ) (8).
C1 2ae \1 - e/
Whereas if it is an ellipsoid of revolution round the minor axis b
(oblate), we have
1 sin^-1 ae
-- = ---------- (9).
C² ae
In each case we have C = a when e = 0, and the ellipsoid thus becomes
a sphere.
In the extreme case when e = 1, the prolate ellipsoid becomes a long
thin rod, and then the capacity is given by
C1 = a/log_[epsilon] 2a/b (10),
which is identical with the formula (2) already obtained. In the other
extreme case the oblate spheroid becomes a circular disk when e = 1,
and then the capacity C2 = 2a/[pi]. This last result shows that the
capacity of a thin disk is 2/[pi] = 1/1.571 of that of a sphere of the
same radius. Cavendish (_Elec. Res._ pp. 137 and 347) determined in
1773 experimentally that the capacity of a sphere was 1.541 times that
of a disk of the same radius, a truly remarkable result for that date.
Three other cases of practical interest present themselves, viz. the
capacity of two concentric spheres, of two coaxial cylinders and of
two parallel planes.
Capacity of two concentric spheres.
Consider the case of two concentric spheres, a solid one enclosed in a
hollow one. Let R1 be the radius of the inner sphere, R2 the inside
radius of the outer sphere, and R2 the outside radius of the outer
spherical shell. Let a charge +Q be given to the inner sphere. Then
this produces a charge -Q on the inside of the enclosing spherical
shell, and a charge +Q on the outside of the shell. Hence the
potential V at the centre of the inner sphere is given by V =
Q/R1 - Q/R2 + Q/R3. If the outer shell is connected to the earth, the
charge +Q on it disappears, and we have the capacity C of the inner
sphere given by
C = 1/R1 - 1/R2 = (R2 - R1)/R1R2 (11).
Such a pair of concentric spheres constitute a condenser (see LEYDEN
JAR), and it is obvious that by making R2 nearly equal to R1, we may
enormously increase the capacity of the inner sphere. Hence the name
_condenser_.
Capacity of two coaxial cylinders.
The other case of importance is that of two coaxial cylinders. Let a
solid circular sectioned cylinder of radius R1 be enclosed in a
coaxial tube of inner radius R2. Then when the inner cylinder is at
potential V1 and the outer one kept at potential V2 the lines of
electric force between the cylinders are radial. Hence the electric
force E in the interspace varies inversely as the distance from the
axis. Accordingly the potential V at any point in the interspace is
given by
_
/
E = -dV/dR = A/R or V = -A | R^-1 dR, (12),
_/
where R is the distance of the point in the interspace from the axis,
and A is a constant. Hence V2 - V1 = -A log R2/R1. If we consider a
length l of the cylinder, the charge Q on the inner cylinder is Q =
2[pi]R1l[sigma], where [sigma] is the surface density, and by
Coulomb's law [sigma] = E1/4[pi], where E1 = A/R1 is the force at the
surface of the inner cylinder.
Accordingly Q = 2[pi]R1lA/4[pi]R1 = Al/2. If then the outer cylinder
be at zero potential the potential V of the inner one is
V = A log (R2/R1), and its capacity C = l/2 log R2/R1.
This formula is important in connexion with the capacity of electric
cables, which consist of a cylindrical conductor (a wire) enclosed in
a conducting sheath. If the dielectric or separating insulator has a
constant K, then the capacity becomes K times as great.
Capacity of two parallel planes.
"Edge effect."
The capacity of two parallel planes can be calculated at once if we
neglect the distribution of the lines of force near the edges of the
plates, and assume that the only field is the uniform field between
the plates. Let V1 and V2 be the potentials of the plates, and let a
charge Q be given to one of them. If S is the surface of each plate,
and d their distance, then the electric force E in the space between
them is E = (V1-V2)/d. But if [sigma] is the surface density, E =
4[pi][sigma], and [sigma] = Q/S. Hence we have
(V1 - V2) d = 4[pi]Q/S or C = Q/(V1 - V2) = S/4[pi]d (13).
In this calculation we neglect altogether the fact that electric force
distributed on curved lines exists outside the interspace between the
plates, and these lines in fact extend from the back of one plate to
that of the other. G.R. Kirchhoff (_Gesammelte Abhandl._ p. 112) has
given a full expression for the capacity C of two circular plates of
thickness t and radius r placed at any distance d apart in air from
which the edge effect can be calculated. Kirchhoff's expression is as
follows:--
[pi]r² r / 16[pi]r(d+t) d + t\
C = ------ + ------ ( d log_[epsilon] ------------ + t log_[epsilon] ----- ) (14).
4[pi]d 4[pi]d \ [epsilon]d² t /
In the above formula [epsilon] is the base of the Napierian
logarithms. The first term on the right-hand side of the equation is
the expression for the capacity, neglecting the curved edge
distribution of electric force, and the other terms take into account,
not only the uniform field between the plates, but also the
non-uniform field round the edges and beyond the plates.
Guard plates.
In practice we can avoid the difficulty due to irregular distribution
of electric force at the edges of the plate by the use of a guard
plate as first suggested by Lord Kelvin.[8] If a large plate has a
circular hole cut in it, and this is nearly filled up by a circular
plate lying in the same plane, and if we place another large plate
parallel to the first, then the electric field between this second
plate and the small circular plate is nearly uniform; and if S is the
area of the small plate and d its distance from the opposed plate, its
capacity may be calculated by the simple formula C = S/4[pi]d. The
outer larger plate in which the hole is cut is called the "guard
plate," and must be kept at the same potential as the smaller inner or
"trap-door plate." The same arrangement can be supplied to a pair of
coaxial cylinders. By placing metal plates on either side of a larger
sheet of dielectric or insulator we can construct a condenser of
relatively large capacity. The instrument known as a Leyden jar (q.v.)
consists of a glass bottle coated within and without for three parts
of the way up with tinfoil.
Systems of condensers.
If we have a number of such condensers we can combine them in
"parallel" or in "series." If all the plates on one side are connected
together and also those on the other, the condensers are joined in
parallel. If C1, C2, C3, &c., are the separate capacities, then
[Sigma](C) = C1 + C2 + C3 + &c., is the total capacity in parallel. If
the condensers are so joined that the inner coating of one is
connected to the outer coating of the next, they are said to be in
series. Since then they are all charged with the same quantity of
electricity, and the total over all potential difference V is the sum
of each of the individual potential differences V1, V2, V3, &c., we
have
Q = C1V1 = C2V2 = C3V3 = &c., and V = V1 + V2 + V3 + &c.
The resultant capacity is C = Q/V, and
C = 1/(1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3 + &c.) = 1/[Sigma](1/C) (15).
These rules provide means for calculating the resultant capacity when
any number of condensers are joined up in any way.
If one condenser is charged, and then joined in parallel with another
uncharged condenser, the charge is divided between them in the ratio
of their capacities. For if C1 and C2 are the capacities and Q1 and Q2
are the charges after contact, then Q1/C1 and Q2/C2 are the potential
differences of the coatings and must be equal. Hence Q1/C1 = Q2/C2 or
Q1/Q2 = C1/C2. It is worth noting that if we have a charged sphere we
can perfectly discharge it by introducing it into the interior of
another hollow insulated conductor and making contact. The small
sphere then becomes part of the interior of the other and loses all
charge.
_Measurement of Capacity._--Numerous methods have been devised for the
measurement of the electrical capacity of conductors in those cases in
which it cannot be determined by calculation. Such a measurement may
be an _absolute_ determination or a _relative_ one. The dimensions of
a capacity in electrostatic measure is a length (see UNITS, PHYSICAL).
Thus the capacity of a sphere in electrostatic units (E.S.U.) is the
same as the number denoting its radius in centimetres. The unit of
electrostatic capacity is therefore that of a sphere of 1 cm.
radius.[9] This unit is too small for practical purposes, and hence a
unit of capacity 900,000 greater, called a microfarad, is generally
employed. Thus for instance the capacity in free space of a sphere 2
metres in diameter would be 100/900,000 = 1/9000 of a microfarad. The
electrical capacity of the whole earth considered as a sphere is about
800 microfarads. An absolute measurement of capacity means, therefore,
a determination in E.S. units made directly without reference to any
other condenser. On the other hand there are numerous methods by which
the capacities of condensers may be compared and a relative
measurement made in terms of some standard.
Relative determinations.
One well-known comparison method is that of C.V. de Sauty. The two
condensers to be compared are connected in the branches of a
Wheatstone's Bridge (q.v.) and the other two arms completed with
variable resistance boxes. These arms are then altered until on
raising or depressing the battery key there is no sudden deflection
either way of the galvanometer. If R1 and R2 are the arms' resistances
and C1 and C2 the condenser capacities, then when the bridge is
balanced we have R1 : R2 = C1 : C2.
Another comparison method much used in submarine cable work is the
method of mixtures, originally due to Lord Kelvin and usually called
Thomson and Gott's method. It depends on the principle that if two
condensers of capacity C1 and C2 are respectively charged to
potentials V1 and V2, and then joined in parallel with terminals of
opposite charge together, the resulting potential difference of the
two condensers will be V, such that
(C1V1 - C2V2)
V = ------------- (16);
(C + C)
and hence if V is zero we have C1 : C2 = V2 : V1.
The method is carried out by charging the two condensers to be
compared at the two sections of a high resistance joining the ends of
a battery which is divided into two parts by a movable contact.[10]
This contact is shifted until such a point is found by trial that the
two condensers charged at the different sections and then joined as
above described and tested on a galvanometer show no charge. Various
special keys have been invented for performing the electrical
operations expeditiously.
A simple method for condenser comparison is to charge the two
condensers to the same voltage by a battery and then discharge them
successively through a ballistic galvanometer (q.v.) and observe the
respective "throws" or deflections of the coil or needle. These are
proportional to the capacities. For the various precautions necessary
in conducting the above tests special treatises on electrical testing
must be consulted.
Absolute determinations.
In the absolute determination of capacity we have to measure the ratio
of the charge of a condenser to its plate potential difference. One of
the best methods for doing this is to charge the condenser by the
known voltage of a battery, and then discharge it through a
galvanometer and repeat this process rapidly and successively. If a
condenser of capacity C is charged to potential V, and discharged n
times per second through a galvanometer, this series of intermittent
discharges is equivalent to a current nCV. Hence if the galvanometer
is calibrated by a potentiometer (q.v.) we can determine the value of
this current in amperes, and knowing the value of n and V thus
determine C. Various forms of commutator have been devised for
effecting this charge and discharge rapidly by J.J. Thomson, R.T.
Glazebrook, J.A. Fleming and W.C. Clinton and others.[11] One form
consists of a tuning-fork electrically maintained in vibration of
known period, which closes an electric contact at every vibration and
sets another electromagnet in operation, which reverses a switch and
moves over one terminal of the condenser from a battery to a
galvanometer contact. In another form, a revolving contact is used
driven by an electric motor, which consists of an insulating disk
having on its surface slips of metal and three wire brushes a, b, c
(see fig. 2) pressing against them. The metal slips are so placed
that, as the disk revolves, the middle brush, connected to one
terminal of the condenser C, is alternately put in conductive
connexion with first one and then the other outside brush, which are
joined respectively to the battery B and galvanometer G terminals.
From the speed of this motor the number of commutations per second can
be determined. The above method is especially useful for the
determinations of very small capacities of the order of 100
electrostatic units or so and upwards.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
_Dielectric constant._--Since all electric charge consists in a state of
strain or polarization of the dielectric, it is evident that the
physical state and chemical composition of the insulator must be of
great importance in determining electrical phenomena. Cavendish and
subsequently Faraday discovered this fact, and the latter gave the name
"specific inductive capacity," or "dielectric constant," to that quality
of an insulator which determines the charge taken by a conductor
embedded in it when charged to a given potential. The simplest method of
determining it numerically is, therefore, that adopted by Faraday.[12]
He constructed two equal condensers, each consisting of a metal ball
enclosed in a hollow metal sphere, and he provided also certain
hemispherical shells of shellac, sulphur, glass, resin, &c., which he
could so place in one condenser between the ball and enclosing sphere
that it formed a condenser with solid dielectric. He then determined the
ratio of the capacities of the two condensers, one with air and the
other with the solid dielectric. This gave the dielectric constant K of
the material. Taking the dielectric constant of air as unity he obtained
the following values, for shellac K = 2.0, glass K = 1.76, and sulphur K
= 2.24.
TABLE I.--_Dielectric Constants (K) of Solids (K for Air = 1)._
+----------------------------------+-------+--------------------+
| Substance. | K. | Authority. |
+----------------------------------+-------+--------------------+
| Glass, double extra dense flint, | | |
| density 4.5 | 9.896 | J. Hopkinson |
| Glass, light flint, density 3.2 | 6.72 | " |
| Glass, hard crown, density 2.485 | 6.61 | " |
| / | 2.24 | M. Faraday |
| | | 2.88 | Coullner |
| Sulphur . . . . . . . . . . .< | 3.84 | L. Boltzmann |
| | | 4.0 | P.J. Curie |
| \ | 2.94 | P.R. Blondlot |
| / | 2.05 | Rosetti |
| | | 3.15 | Boltzmann |
| Ebonite . . . . . . . . . . .< | 2.21 | Schiller |
| \ | 2.86 | Elsas |
| India-rubber, pure brown | 2.12 | Schiller |
| India-rubber, vulcanized, grey | 2.69 | " |
| Gutta-percha | 2.462 | J.E. H. Gordon |
| / | 1.977 | Gibson and Barclay |
| | | 2.32 | Boltzmann |
| Paraffin . . . . . . . . . . .< | 2.29 | J. Hopkinson |
| \ | 1.99 | Gordon |
| / | 2.95 | Wällner |
| Shellac . . . . . . . . . . .< | 2.74 | Gordon |
| \ | 3.04 | A.A. Winkelmann |
| / | 6.64 | I. Klemencic |
| | | 8.00 | P.J. Curie |
| Mica . . . . . . . . . . . . .< | 7.98 | E.M.L. Bouty |
| \ | 5.97 | Elsas |
| Quartz-- | | |
| along optic axis | 4.55 | P.J. Curie |
| perp. to optic axis | 4.49 | P.J. Curie |
| Ice at -23° |78.0 | Bouty |
+----------------------------------+-------+--------------------+
Since Faraday's time, by improved methods, but depending essentially
upon the same principles, an enormous number of determinations of the
dielectric constants of various insulators, solid, liquid and gaseous,
have been made (see tables I., II., III. and IV.). There are very
considerable differences between the values assigned by different
observers, sometimes no doubt due to differences in method, but in most
cases unquestionably depending on variations in the quality of the
specimens examined. The value of the dielectric constant is greatly
affected by the temperature and the frequency of the applied electric
force.
TABLE II.--_Dielectric Constant (K) of Liquids._
+------------------------+--------+--------------+
| Liquid. | K. | Authority. |
+------------------------+--------+--------------+
| Water at 17° C. | 80.88 | F. Heerwagen |
| " " 25° C. | 75.7 | E.B. Rosa |
| " " 25.3° C. | 78.87 | Franke |
| Olive oil | 3.16 | Hopkinson |
| Castor oil | 4.78 | " |
| Turpentine | 2.15 | P.A. Silow |
| " | 2.23 | Hopkinson |
| Petroleum | 2.072 | Silow |
| " | 2.07 | Hopkinson |
| Ethyl alcohol at 25° C.| 25.7 | Rosa |
| Ethyl ether | 4.57 | Doule |
| " " | 4.8 | Bouty |
| Acetic acid | 9.7 | Franke |
+------------------------+--------+--------------+
TABLE III.--_Dielectric Constant of some Bodies at a very low
Temperature (-185° C.) (Fleming and Dewar)._
+----------------+-----------+------------+
| Substance. | K | K |
| | at 15° C. | at -185°C. |
+----------------+-----------+------------+
| Water | 80 | 2.4 to 2.9 |
| Formic acid | 62 | 2.41 |
| Glycerine | 56 | 3.2 |
| Methyl alcohol | 34 | 3.13 |
| Nitrobenzene | 32 | 2.6 |
| Ethyl alcohol | 25 | 3.1 |
| Acetone | 21.85 | 2.62 |
| Ethyl nitrate | 17.7 | 2.73 |
| Amyl alcohol | 16 | 2.14 |
| Aniline | 7.5 | 2.92 |
| Castor oil | 4.78 | 2.19 |
| Ethyl ether | 4.25 | 2.31 |
+----------------+-----------+------------+
The above determinations at low temperature were made with either a
steady or a slowly alternating electric force applied a hundred times a
second. They show that the dielectric constant of a liquid generally
undergoes great reduction in value when the liquid is frozen and reduced
to a low temperature.[13]
The dielectric constants of gases have been determined by L. Boltzmann
and I. Klemencic as follows:--
TABLE IV.--_Dielectric Constants (K) of Gases at 15° C. and 760 mm.
Vacuum = 1._
+---------------------+------------+------------+------------+
| | Dielectric | | Optical |
| Gas. | Constant | [root]K. | Refractive |
| | K. | | Index. |
| | | | [mu]. |
+---------------------+------------+------------+------------+
| Air | 1.000590 | 1.000295 | 1.000293 |
| Hydrogen | 1.000264 | 1.000132 | 1.000139 |
| Carbon dioxide | 1.000946 | 1.000475 | 1.000454 |
| Carbon monoxide | 1.000690 | 1.000345 | 1.000335 |
| Nitrous oxide | 1.000994 | 1.000497 | 1.000516 |
| Ethylene | 1.001312 | 1.000656 | 1.000720 |
| Marsh gas (methane) | 1.000944 | 1.000478 | 1.000442 |
| Carbon bisulphide | 1.002900 | 1.001450 | 1.001478 |
| Sulphur dioxide | 1.00954 | 1.004770 | 1.000703 |
| Ether | 1.00744 | 1.003720 | 1.00154 |
| Ethyl chloride | 1.01552 | 1.007760 | 1.001174 |
| Ethyl bromide | 1.01546 | 1.007730 | 1.00122 |
+---------------------+------------+------------+------------+
In general the dielectric constant is reduced with decrease of
temperature towards a certain limiting value it would attain at the
absolute zero. This variation, however, is not always linear. In some
cases there is a very sudden drop at or below a certain temperature to a
much lower value, and above and below the point the temperature
variation is small. There is also a large difference in most cases
between the value for a steadily applied electric force and a rapidly
reversed or intermittent force--in the last case a decrease with
increase of frequency. Maxwell (_Elec. and Magn._ vol. ii. § 788) showed
that the square root of the dielectric constant should be the same
number as the refractive index for waves of the same frequency (see
ELECTRIC WAVES). There are very few substances, however, for which the
optical refractive index has the same value as K for steady or slowly
varying electric force, on account of the great variation of the value
of K with frequency.
There is a close analogy between the variation of dielectric constant of
an insulator with electric force frequency and that of the rigidity or
stiffness of an elastic body with the frequency of applied mechanical
stress. Thus pitch is a soft and yielding body under steady stress, but
a bar of pitch if struck gives a musical note, which shows that it
vibrates and is therefore stiff or elastic for high frequency stress.
_Residual Charges in Dielectrics._--In close connexion with this lies
the phenomenon of residual charge in dielectrics.[14] If a glass Leyden
jar is charged and then discharged and allowed to stand awhile, a second
discharge can be obtained from it, and in like manner a third, and so
on. The reappearance of the residual charge is promoted by tapping the
glass. It has been shown that this behaviour of dielectrics can be
imitated by a mechanical model consisting of a series of perforated
pistons placed in a tube of oil with spiral springs between each
piston.[15] If the pistons are depressed and then released, and then the
upper piston fixed awhile, a second discharge can be obtained from it,
and the mechanical stress-strain diagram of the model is closely similar
to the discharge curve of a dielectric. R.H.A. Kohlrausch called
attention to the close analogy between residual charge and the elastic
recovery of strained bodies such as twisted wire or glass threads. If a
charged condenser is suddenly discharged and then insulated, the
reappearance of a potential difference between its coatings is analogous
to the reappearance of a torque in the case of a glass fibre which has
been twisted, released suddenly, and then gripped again at the ends.
For further information on the qualities of dielectrics the reader is
referred to the following sources:--J. Hopkinson, "On the Residual
Charge of the Leyden Jar," _Phil. Trans._, 1876, 166 [ii.], p. 489,
where it is shown that tapping the glass of a Leyden jar permits the
reappearance of the residual charge; "On the Residual Charge of the
Leyden Jar," ib. 167 [ii.], p. 599, containing many valuable
observations on the residual charge of Leyden jars; W.E. Ayrton and J.
Perry, "A Preliminary Account of the Reduction of Observations on
Strained Material, Leyden Jars and Voltameters," _Proc. Roy. Soc._,
1880, 30, p. 411, showing experiments on residual charge of condensers
and a comparison between the behaviour of dielectrics and glass fibres
under torsion. In connexion with this paper the reader may also be
referred to one by L. Boltzmann, "Zur Theorie der elastischen
Nachwirkung," _Wien. Acad. Sitz.-Ber._, 1874, 70.
_Distribution of Electricity on Conductors._--We now proceed to
consider in more detail the laws which govern the distribution of
electricity at rest upon conductors. It has been shown above that the
potential due to a charge of q units placed on a very small sphere,
commonly called a point-charge, at any distance x is q/x. The
mathematical importance of this function called the potential is that
it is a scalar quantity, and the potential at any point due to any
number of point charges q1, q2, q3, &c., distributed in any manner, is
the sum of them separately, or
q1/x1 + q2/x2 + q3/x3 + &c. = [Sigma](q/x) = V (17),
where x1, x2, x3, &c., are the distances of the respective point
charges from the point in question at which the total potential is
required. The resultant electric force E at that point is then
obtained by differentiating V, since E = -dV/dx, and E is in the
direction in which V diminishes fastest. In any case, therefore, in
which we can sum up the elementary potentials at any point we can
calculate the resultant electric force at the same point.
We may describe, through all the points in an electric field which
have the same potential, surfaces called equipotential surfaces, and
these will be everywhere perpendicular or orthogonal to the lines of
electric force. Let us assume the field divided up into tubes of
electric force as already explained, and these cut normally by
equipotential surfaces. We can then establish some important
properties of these tubes and surfaces. At each point in the field the
electric force can have but one resultant value. Hence the
equipotential surfaces cannot cut each other. Let us suppose any other
surface described in the electric field so as to cut the closely
compacted tubes. At each point on this surface the resultant force has
a certain value, and a certain direction inclined at an angle [theta]
to the normal to the selected surface at that point. Let dS be an
element of the surface. Then the quantity E cos [theta]dS is the
product of the normal component of the force and an element of the
surface, and if this is summed up all over the surface we have the
total electric flux or induction through the surface, or the surface
integral of the normal force mathematically expressed by [int]E cos
[theta]dS, provided that the dielectric constant of the medium is
unity.
We have then a very important theorem as follows:--If any closed
surface be described in an electric field which wholly encloses or
wholly excludes electrified bodies, then the total flux through this
surface is equal to 4[pi]- times the total quantity of electricity
within it.[16] This is commonly called Stokes's theorem. The proof is
as follows:--Consider any point-charge E of electricity included in
any surface S, S, S (see fig. 3), and describe through it as centre a
cone of small solid angle d[omega] cutting out of the enclosing
surface in two small areas dS and dS' at distances x and x'. Then the
electric force due to the point charge q at distance x is q/x, and the
resolved part normal to the element of surface dS is q cos[theta]/x².
The normal section of the cone at that point is equal to dS
cos[theta], and the solid angle d[omega] is equal to dS cos[theta]/x².
Hence the flux through dS is qd[omega]. Accordingly, since the total
solid angle round a point is 4[pi], it follows that the total flux
through the closed surface due to the single point charge q is 4[pi]q,
and what is true for one point charge is true for any collection
forming a total charge Q of any form. Hence the total electric flux
due to a charge Q through an enclosing surface is 4[pi]Q, and
therefore is zero through one enclosing no electricity.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Stokes's theorem becomes an obvious truism if applied to an
incompressible fluid. Let a _source_ of fluid be a point from which an
incompressible fluid is emitted in all directions. Close to the source
the stream lines will be radial lines. Let a very small sphere be
described round the source, and let the strength of the source be
defined as the total flow per second through the surface of this small
sphere. Then if we have any number of sources enclosed by any surface,
the total flow per second through this surface is equal to the total
strengths of all the sources. If, however, we defined the strength of
the source by the statement that the strength divided by the square
of the distance gives the velocity of the liquid at that point, then
the total flux through any enclosing surface would be 4[pi] times the
strengths of all the sources enclosed. To every proposition in
electrostatics there is thus a corresponding one in the hydrokinetic
theory of incompressible liquids.
Let us apply the above theorem to the case of a small
parallel-epipedon or rectangular prism having sides dx, dy, dz
respectively, its centre having co-ordinates (x, y, z). Its angular
points have then co-ordinates (x ± ½dx, y ± ½dy, z ± ½dz). Let this
rectangular prism be supposed to be wholly filled up with electricity
of density [rho]; then the total quantity in it is [rho] dx dy dz.
Consider the two faces perpendicular to the x-axis. Let V be the
potential at the centre of the prism, then the normal forces on the
two faces of area dy·dx are respectively
/dV 1 d²V \ /dV 1 d²V \
- ( -- + -- --- dx ) and ( -- - -- --- dx ),
\dx 2 dx² / \dx 2 dx² /
and similar expressions for the normal forces to the other pairs of
faces dx·dy, dz·dx. Hence, multiplying these normal forces by the
areas of the corresponding faces, we have the total flux parallel to
the x-axis given by -(d²V/dx²)dx dy dz, and similar expressions for
the other sides. Hence the total flux is
/d²V d²V d²V\
- ( --- + --- + --- ) dx dy dz
\dx² dy² dz²/
and by the previous theorem this must be equal to 4[pi][rho]dx dy dz.
d²V d²V d²V
Hence --- + --- + --- + 4[pi][rho] = 0 (18).
dx² dy² dz²
This celebrated equation was first given by S.D. Poisson, although
previously demonstrated by Laplace for the case when [rho] = 0. It
defines the condition which must be fulfilled by the potential at any
and every point in an electric field, through which [rho] is finite
and the electric force continuous. It may be looked upon as an
equation to determine [rho] when V is given or vice versa. An exactly
similar expression holds good in hydrokinetics, provided that for the
electric potential we substitute velocity potential, and for the
electric force the velocity of the liquid.
The Poisson equation cannot, however, be applied in the above form to
a region which is partly within and partly without an electrified
conductor, because then the electric force undergoes a sudden change
in value from zero to a finite value, in passing outwards through the
bounding surface of the conductor. We can, however, obtain another
equation called the "surface characteristic equation" as
follows:--Suppose a very small area dS described on a conductor having
a surface density of electrification [sigma]. Then let a small, very
short cylinder be described of which dS is a section, and the
generating lines are normal to the surface. Let V1 and V2 be the
potentials at points just outside and inside the surface dS, and let
n1 and n2 be the normals to the surface dS drawn outwards and inwards;
then -dV1/dn1 and -dV2/dn2 are the normal components of the force over
the ends of the imaginary small cylinder. But the force perpendicular
to the curved surface of this cylinder is everywhere zero. Hence the
total flux through the surface considered is -{(dV1/dn1) +
(dV2/dn2)}dS, and this by a previous theorem must be equal to
4[pi][sigma]dS, or the total included electric quantity. Hence we have
the surface characteristic equation,[17]
(dV1/dn1) + (dV2/dn2) + 4[pi][sigma] = 0 (19).
Let us apply these theorems to a portion of a tube of electric force.
Let the part selected not include any charged surface. Then since the
generating lines of the tube are lines of force, the component of the
electric force perpendicular to the curved surface of the tube is
everywhere zero. But the electric force is normal to the ends of the
tube. Hence if dS and dS' are the areas of the ends, and +E and -E'
the oppositely directed electric forces at the ends of the tube, the
surface integral of normal force on the flux over the tube is
EdS - E'dS' (20),
and this by the theorem already given is equal to zero, since the tube
includes no electricity. Hence the characteristic quality of a tube of
electric force is that its section is everywhere inversely as the
electric force at that point. A tube so chosen that EdS for one
section has a value unity, is called a unit tube, since the product of
force and section is then everywhere unity for the same tube.
In the next place apply the surface characteristic equation to any
point on a charged conductor at which the surface density is [sigma].
The electric force outward from that point is -dV/dn, where dn is a
distance measured along the outwardly drawn normal, and the force
within the surface is zero. Hence we have
-dV/dn = 4.0[pi][sigma] or [sigma] = -(¼[pi])dV/dn = E/4[pi].
The above is a statement of Coulomb's law, that _the electric force at
the surface of a conductor is proportional to the surface density of
the charge at that point and equal to 4[pi] times the density_.[18]
If we define the positive direction along a tube of electric force as
the direction in which a small body charged with positive electricity
would tend to move, we can summarize the above facts in a simple form
by saying that, _if we have any closed surface described in any manner
in an electric field, the excess of the number of unit tubes which
leave the surface over those which enter it is equal to 4[pi]-times
the algebraic sum of all the electricity included within the surface_.
Every tube of electric force must therefore begin and end on
electrified surfaces of opposite sign, and the quantities of positive
and negative electricity on its two ends are equal, since the force E
just outside an electrified surface is normal to it and equal to
[sigma]/4[pi], where [sigma] is the surface density; and since we have
just proved that for the ends of a tube of force EdS = E¹dS', it
follows that [sigma]dS = [sigma]'dS', or Q = Q', where Q and Q' are
the quantities of electricity on the ends of the tube of force.
Accordingly, since every tube sent out from a charged conductor must
end somewhere on another charge of opposite sign, it follows that the
two electricities always exist in equal quantity, and that it is
impossible to create any quantity of one kind without creating an
equal quantity of the opposite sign.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
We have next to consider the energy storage which takes place when
electric charge is created, i.e. when the dielectric is strained or
polarized. Since the potential of a conductor is defined to be the
work required to move a unit of positive electricity from the surface
of the earth or from an infinite distance from all electricity to the
surface of the conductor, it follows that the work done in putting a
small charge dq into a conductor at a potential v is v dq. Let us then
suppose that a conductor originally at zero potential has its
potential raised by administering to it small successive doses of
electricity dq. The first raises its potential to v, the second to v'
and so on, and the nth to V. Take any horizontal line and divide it
into small elements of length each representing dq, and draw vertical
lines representing the potentials v, v', &c., and after each dose.
Since the potential rises proportionately to the quantity in the
conductor, the ends of these ordinates will lie on a straight line and
define a triangle whose base line is a length equal to the total
quantity Q and height a length equal to the final potential V. The
element of work done in introducing the quantity of electricity dq at
a potential v is represented by the element of area of this triangle
(see fig. 4), and hence the work done in charging the conductor with
quantity Q to final potential V is ½QV, or since Q = CV, where C is
its capacity, the work done is represented by ½CV² or by ½Q²/C.
If [sigma] is the surface density and dS an element of surface, then
[int][sigma]dS is the whole charge, and hence ½ [int] V[sigma]dS is
the expression for the energy of charge of a conductor.
We can deduce a remarkable expression for the energy stored up in an
electric field containing electrified bodies as follows:[19] Let V
denote the potential at any point in the field. Consider the integral
_ _ _ _ _
1 / / / | /dV\² /dV\² /dV\² |
W = ----- | | | |(----) + (----) + (----) | dx dy dz. (21)
8[pi]_/_/_/ |_\dx/ \dy/ \dz/ _|
where the integration extends throughout the whole space unoccupied by
conductors. We have by partial integration
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
/ / / /dV\² / / dV / / / d²V
| | |(----) dx dy dz = | | V -- dy dz - | | | V --- dx dy dz,
_/_/_/ \dx/ _/_/ dx _/_/_/ dx²
and two similar equations in y and z. Hence
_ _ _ _ _
1 / / / | /dV\² /dV\² /dV\² |
----- | | | | (----) + (----) + (----) | dx dy dz =
8[pi]_/_/_/ |_ \dx/ \dy/ \dz/ _|
_ _ _ _ _
1 / / dV 1 / / /
----- | | V -- dS - ----- | | | V[nabla]V dx dy dz (22)
8[pi]_/_/ dn 8[pi]_/_/_/
where dV/dn means differentiation along the normal, and [nabla] stands
d² d² d²
for the operator --- + --- + ---. Let E be the resultant electric force
dx² dy² dz²
at any point in the field. Then bearing in mind that [sigma] =
(¼[pi])dV/dn, and [rho] = -(¼[pi])[nabla]V, we have finally
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
1 / / / 1 / / 1 / / /
----- | | | E²dv = -- | | V[sigma]dS + -- | | | V[rho]dv.
8[pi] _/_/_/ 2 _/_/ 2 _/_/_/
The first term on the right hand side expresses the energy of the
surface electrification of the conductors in the field, and the second
the energy of volume density (if any). Accordingly the term on the
left hand side gives us the whole energy in the field.
Suppose that the dielectric has a constant K, then we must multiply
both sides by K and the expression for the energy per unit of volume
of the field is equivalent to ½DE where D is the displacement or
polarization in the dielectric.
Furthermore it can be shown by the application of the calculus of
variations that the condition for a minimum value of the function W,
is that [nabla]V = 0. Hence that distribution of potential which is
necessary to satisfy Laplace's equation is also one which makes the
potential energy a minimum and therefore the energy stable. Thus the
actual distribution of electricity on the conductor in the field is
not merely a stable distribution, it is _the only_ possible stable
distribution.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
_Method of Electrical Images._--A very powerful method of attacking
problems in electrical distribution was first made known by Lord
Kelvin in 1845 and is described as the method of electrical
images.[20] By older mathematical methods it had only been possible to
predict in a few simple cases the distribution of electricity at rest
on conductors of various forms. The notion of an electrical image may
be easily grasped by the following illustration: Let there be at A
(see fig. 5) a point-charge of positive electricity +q and an infinite
conducting plate PO, shown in section, connected to earth and
therefore at zero potential. Then the charge at A together with the
induced surface charge on the plate makes a certain field of electric
force on the left of the plate PO, which is a zero equipotential
surface. If we remove the plate, and yet by any means can keep the
identical surface occupied by it a plane of zero potential, the
boundary conditions will remain the same, and therefore the field of
force to the left of PO will remain unaltered. This can be done by
placing at B an equal negative point-charge -q in the place which
would be occupied by the optical image of A if PO were a mirror, that
is, let -q be placed at B, so that the distance BO is equal to the
distance AO, whilst AOB is at right angles to PO. Then the potential
at any point P in this ideal plane PO is equal to q/AP - q/BP = O,
whilst the resultant force at P due to the two point charges is
2qAO/AP³, and is parallel to AB or normal to PO. Hence if we remove
the charge -q at B and distribute electricity over the surface PO with
a surface density [sigma], according to the Coulomb-Poisson law,
[sigma] = qAO/2[pi]AP³, the field of force to the left of PD will
fulfil the required boundary conditions, and hence will be the law of
distribution of the induced electricity in the case of the actual
plate. The point-charge -q at B is called the "electrical image" of
the point-charge +q at A.
We find a precisely analogous effect in optics which justifies the
term "electrical image." Suppose a room lit by a single candle. There
is everywhere a certain illumination due to it. Place across the room
a plane mirror. All the space behind the mirror will become dark, and
all the space in front of the mirror will acquire an exalted
illumination. Whatever this increased illumination may be, it can be
precisely imitated by removing the mirror and placing a second lighted
candle at the place occupied by the optical image of the first candle
in the mirror, that is, as far behind the plane as the first candle
was in front. So the potential distribution in the space due to the
electric point-charge +q as A together with -q at B is the same as
that due to +q at A and the negative induced charge erected on the
infinite plane (earthed) metal sheet placed half-way between A and B.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.]
The same reasoning can be applied to determine the electrical image of
a point-charge of positive electricity in a spherical surface, and
therefore the distribution of induced electricity over a metal sphere
connected to earth produced by a point-charge near it. Let +q be any
positive point-charge placed at a point A outside a sphere (fig. 6) of
radius r, and centre at C, and let P be any point on it. Let CA = d.
Take a point B in CA such that CB·CA = r², or CB = r²/d. It is easy
then to show that PA : PB = d : r. If then we put a negative
point-charge -qr/d at B, it follows that the spherical surface will be
a zero potential surface, for
q/PA - rq/d · 1/PB = 0 (24).
Another equipotential surface is evidently a very small sphere
described round A. The resultant force due to these two point-charges
must then be in the direction CP, and its value E is the vector sum of
the two forces along AP and BP due to the two point-charges. It is not
difficult to show that
E = -(d² - r²)q/rAP³ (25),
in other words, the force at P is inversely as the cube of the
distance from A. Suppose then we remove the negative point-charge, and
let the sphere be supposed to become conductive and be connected to
earth. If we make a distribution of negative electricity over it,
which has a density [sigma] varying according to the law
[sigma] = -(d² - r²)q/4[pi]rAP³ (26),
that distribution, together with the point-charge +q at A, will make a
distribution of electric force at all points outside the sphere
exactly similar to that which would exist if the sphere were removed
and a negative point charge -qr/d were placed at B. Hence this charge
is the electrical image of the charge +q at A in the spherical
surface.
We may generalize these statements in the following theorem, which is
an important deduction from a wider theorem due to G. Green. Suppose
that we have any distribution of electricity at rest over conductors,
and that we know the potential at all points and consequently the
level or equipotential surfaces. Take any equipotential surface
enclosing the whole of the electricity, and suppose this to become an
actual sheet of metal connected to the earth. It is then a zero
potential surface, and every point outside is at zero potential as far
as concerns the electric charge on the conductors inside. Then if U is
the potential outside the surface due to this electric charge inside
alone, and V that due to the opposite charge it induces on the inside
of the metal surface, we must have U + V = 0 or U = -V at all points
outside the earthed metal surface. Therefore, whatever may be the
distribution of electric force produced by the charges inside taken
alone, it can be exactly imitated for all space outside the metal
surface if we suppose the inside charge removed and a distribution of
electricity of the same sign made over the metal surface such that its
density follows the law
[sigma]= -(¼[pi])dU/dn (27),
where dU/dn is the electric force at that point on the closed
equipotential surface considered, due to the original charge alone.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For further developments of the subject we must refer
the reader to the numerous excellent treatises on electrostatics now
available. The student will find it to be a great advantage to read
through Faraday's three volumes entitled _Experimental Researches on
Electricity_, as soon as he has mastered some modern elementary book
giving in compact form a general account of electrical phenomena. For
this purpose he may select from the following books: J. Clerk Maxwell,
_Elementary Treatise on Electricity_ (Oxford, 1881); J.J. Thomson,
_Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism_
(Cambridge, 1895); J.D. Everett, _Electricity_, founded on part iii.
of Deschanel's _Natural Philosophy_ (London, 1901); G.C. Foster and
A.W. Porter, _Elementary Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism_
(London, 1903); S.P. Thompson, _Elementary Lessons on Electricity and
Magnetism_ (London, 1903)·
When these elementary books have been digested, the advanced student
may proceed to study the following: J. Clerk Maxwell, _A Treatise on
Electricity and Magnetism_ (1st ed., Oxford, 1873; 2nd ed. by W.D.
Niven, 1881; 3rd ed. by J.J. Thomson, 1892); Joubert and Mascart,
_Electricity and Magnetism_, English translation by E. Atkinson
(London, 1883); Watson and Burbury, _The Mathematical Theory of
Electricity and Magnetism_ (Oxford, 1885); A. Gray, _A Treatise on
Magnetism and Electricity_ (London, 1898). In the collected
_Scientific Papers_ of Lord Kelvin (3 vols., Cambridge, 1882), of
James Clerk Maxwell (2 vols., Cambridge, 1890), and of Lord Rayleigh
(4 vols., Cambridge, 1903), the advanced student will find the means
for studying the historical development of electrical knowledge as it
has been evolved from the minds of some of the master workers of the
19th century. (J. A. F.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Maxwell, _Elementary Treatise on Electricity_ (Oxford, 1881),
p. 47.
[2] See Maxwell, _Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism_ (3rd ed.,
Oxford, 1892), vol. i. p. 80.
[3] Maxwell, Ibid. vol. i. § 74a; also _Electrical Researches of the
Hon. Henry Cavendish_, edited by J. Clerk Maxwell (Cambridge, 1879),
p. 104.
[4] Laplace (_Mec. Cel._ vol. i. ch. ii.) gave the first direct
demonstration that no function of the distance except the inverse
square can satisfy the condition that a uniform spherical shell
exerts no force on a particle within it.
[5] The solution of the problem of determining the distribution on an
ellipsoid of a fluid the particles of which repel each other with a
force inversely as the nth power of the distance was first given by
George Green (see Ferrer's edition of Green's _Collected Papers_, p.
119, 1871).
[6] See Thomson and Tait, _Treatise on Natural Philosophy_, § 519.
[7] See article "Electricity," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (9th
edition), vol. viii. p. 30. The reader is also referred to an article
by Lord Kelvin (_Reprint of Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism_,
p. 178), entitled "Determination of the Distribution of Electricity
on a Circular Segment of a Plane, or Spherical Conducting Surface
under any given Influence," where another equivalent expression is
given for the capacity of an ellipsoid.
[8] See Maxwell, _Electricity and Magnetism_, vol. i. pp. 284-305
(3rd ed., 1892).
[9] It is an interesting fact that Cavendish measured capacity in
"globular inches," using as his unit the capacity of a metal ball, 1
in. in diameter. Hence multiplication of his values for capacities by
2.54 reduces them to E.S. units in the C.G.S. system. See _Elec.
Res._ p. 347.
[10] For fuller details of these methods of comparison of capacities
see J.A. Fleming, _A Handbook for the Electrical Laboratory and
Testing Room_, vol. ii. ch. ii. (London, 1903).
[11] See Fleming, _Handbook for the Electrical Laboratory_, vol. ii.
p. 130.
[12] Faraday, _Experimental Researches on Electricity_, vol. i. §
1252. For a very complete set of tables of dielectric constants of
solids, liquids and gases see A. Winkelmann, _Handbuch der Physik_,
vol. iv. pp. 98-148 (Breslau, 1905); also see Landolt and Börnstein's
_Tables of Physical Constants_ (Berlin, 1894).
[13] See the following papers by J.A. Fleming and James Dewar on
dielectric constants at low temperatures: "On the Dielectric Constant
of Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Air," _Proc. Roy. Soc._, 1897, 60, p.
360; "Note on the Dielectric Constant of Ice and Alcohol at very low
Temperatures," ib., 1897, 61, p. 2; "On the Dielectric Constants of
Pure Ice, Glycerine, Nitrobenzol and Ethylene Dibromide at and above
the Temperature of Liquid Air," id. ib. p. 316; "On the Dielectric
Constant of Certain Frozen Electrolytes at and above the Temperature
of Liquid Air," id. ib. p. 299--this paper describes the cone
condenser and methods used; "Further Observations on the Dielectric
Constants of Frozen Electrolytes at and above the Temperature of
Liquid Air," id. ib. p. 381; "The Dielectric Constants of Certain
Organic Bodies at and below the Temperature of Liquid Air," id. ib.
p. 358; "On the Dielectric Constants of Metallic Oxides dissolved or
suspended in Ice cooled to the Temperature of Liquid Air," id. ib. p.
368.
[14] See Faraday, _Experimental Researches_, vol. i. § 1245; R.H.A.
Kohlrausch, _Pogg. Ann._, 1854, 91; see also Maxwell, _Electricity
and Magnetism_, vol. i. § 327, who shows that a composite or
stratified dielectric composed of layers of materials of different
dielectric constants and resistivities would exhibit the property of
residual charge.
[15] Fleming and Ashton, "On a Model which imitates the behaviour of
Dielectrics." _Phil. Mag._, 1901 [6], 2, p. 228.
[16] The beginner is often puzzled by the constant appearance of the
factor 4[pi] in electrical theorems. It arises from the manner in
which the unit quantity of electricity is defined. The electric force
due to a point-charge q at a distance r is defined to be q/r², and
the total flux or induction through the sphere of radius r is
therefore 4[pi]q. If, however, the unit point charge were defined to
be that which produces a unit of electric flux through a
circumscribing spherical surface or the electric force at distance r
defined to be ¼[pi]r², many theorems would be enunciated in simpler
forms.
[17] See Maxwell, _Electricity and Magnetism_, vol. i. § 78b (2nd
ed.).
[18] Id. ib. vol. i. § 80. Coulomb proved the proportionality of
electric surface force to density, but the above numerical relation E
= 4[pi][sigma] was first established by Poisson.
[19] See Maxwell, _Electricity and Magnetism_, vol. i. § 99a (3rd
ed., 1892), where the expression in question is deduced as a
corollary of Green's theorem.
[20] See Lord Kelvin's _Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism_, p.
144.
ELECTROTHERAPEUTICS, a general term for the use of electricity in
therapeutics, i.e. in the alleviation and cure of disease. Before the
different forms of medical treatment are dealt with, a few points in
connexion with the machines and currents, of special interest to the
medical reader, must first be given.
_Faradism._--For the battery required either for faradism or galvanism,
cells of the Leclanché type are the most satisfactory. Being dry they
can be carried in any position, are lighter, and there is no trouble
from the erosion of wires and binding screws, such as so often results
from wet cells. The best method of producing a smooth current in the
secondary coil is for the interruptor hammer to vibrate directly against
the iron core of the primary coil. For this it is best that the
interruptor be made of a piece of steel spring, as a high rate of
interruption can then be maintained, with a fairly smooth current in the
secondary coil. This form of interruptor necessitates that the iron core
be fixed, and variation in the primary induced current is arranged for
by slipping a brass tube more or less over the iron core, thus cutting
off the magnetic field from the primary coil. The secondary current
(that obtained from the secondary coil) can be varied by keeping the
secondary coil permanently fixed over the primary and varying the
strength of the primary current. Where, as suggested above, the iron
core is fixed, the primary and secondary induced currents will be at
their strongest when the brass tube is completely withdrawn. As there is
no simple means of measuring the strength of the faradic current, it is
best to start with a very weak current, testing it on the muscles of
one's own hand until these begin to contract and a definite sensory
effect is produced; the current can then be applied to the part, being
strengthened only very gradually.
_Galvanism._--For treatment by galvanism a large battery is needed, the
simplest form being known as a "patient's battery," consisting of a
variable number of dry cells arranged in series. The cells used are
those of Leclanché, with E.M.F. (or voltage) of 1.5 and an internal
resistance of .3 ohm. Thus the exact strength of the current is known;
the number of cells usually employed is 24, and when new give an E.M.F.
of about 36 volts. By using the formula C = E/R, where E is the voltage
of the battery, R the total resistance of battery, electrodes and the
patient's skin and tissues, and C the current in amperes, the number of
cells required for any particular current can be worked out. The
resistance of the patient's skin must be made as low as possible by
thoroughly wetting both skin and electrodes with sodium bicarbonate
solution, and keeping the electrodes in very close apposition to the
skin. A galvanometer is always fitted to the battery, usually of the
d'Arsonval type, with a shunt by means of which, on turning a screw,
nine-tenths of the inducing current can be short-circuited away, and the
solenoid only influenced by one-tenth of the current which is being used
on the patient. In districts where electric power is available the
continuous current can be used by means of a switchboard. A current of
much value for electrotherapeutic purposes is the sinusoidal current, by
which is meant an alternating current whose curve of electromotive
force, in both positive and negative phase, varies constantly and
smoothly in what is known as the sine curve. In those districts supplied
by an alternating current, the sinusoidal current can be obtained from
the mains by passing it through various transformers, but where the main
supply is the direct or constant current, a motor transformer is needed.
_Static Electricity._--For treatment by static electricity the Wimshurst
type of machine is the one most generally used. A number of electrodes
are required; thus for the application of sparks a brass ball and brass
roller electrode, for the "breeze" a single point and a multiple point
electrode, and another multiple point electrode in the form of a metal
cap that can be placed over the patient's head. The polarity of the
machine must always be tested, as either knob may become positive or
negative, though the polarity rarely changes when once the machine is in
action. The oldest method of subjecting a patient to electric influence
is that in which static electricity is employed. The patient is
insulated on a suitable platform and treated by means of charges and
discharges from an electrical machine. The effect is to increase the
regularity and frequency of the pulse, raise the blood pressure and
increase the action of the skin. The nervous system is quieted, sleep
being promoted, the patient often becoming drowsy during the
application. If while the patient is being treated a point electrode is
brought towards him he feels the sensation of a wind blowing from that
point; this is an electric breeze or brush discharge. The breeze is
negative if the patient is positively charged and vice versa. The
"breeze discharge" treatment is especially valuable in subduing pain of
the superficial cutaneous nerves, and also in the treatment of chronic
indolent ulcers. Quite recently this form of treatment has been applied
with much success to various skin lesions--psoriasis, eczema and
pruritus. Static electricity is also utilized for medical purposes by
means of "sparks," which are administered with a ball electrode, the
result being a sudden muscular contraction at the point of application.
The electrode must be rapidly withdrawn before a second spark has time
to leap across, as this is a severe form of treatment and must be
administered slowly. It is mainly employed for muscular stimulation, and
the contractions resulting from spark stimulation can be produced in
cases of nerve injury and degeneration, even when the muscles have lost
their reaction to faradism. The sensory stimulation of this form of
treatment is also strong, and is useful in hysterical anaesthesia and
functional paralysis. Where a milder sensory stimulation is required
friction can be used, the electrode being in the form of a metal roller
which is moved rapidly outside the patient's clothing over the spine or
other part to be treated. The clothing must be dry and of wool, and each
additional woollen layer intensifies the effect.
Another method of employing electricity at high potential is by the
employment of high frequency currents. There are two methods of
application: that in which brush discharges are made use of, with
undoubtedly good effects in many of the diseases affecting the surface
of the body, and that in which the currents of the solenoid are made to
traverse the patient directly. The physiological value of the latter
method is not certain, though one point of interest in connexion with it
is that whereas statical applications raise the blood pressure, high
frequency applications lower it. It has been used in the case of old
people with arterio-sclerosis, and the reduction of blood pressure
produced is said to have shown considerable permanence.
_The Faradic Current._--G.B. Duchenne was the first physician to make
use of the induced current for treatment, and the term "faradization" is
supposed to be due to him. But in his day the differences between the
two currents available, the primary and the secondary, were not worked
out, and they were used somewhat indiscriminately. Nowadays it is
generally accepted that the primary current should be used for the
stimulation of deep-lying organs, as stomach and intestines, &c., while
the secondary current is employed for stimulation of the limb muscles
and the cutaneous sensory nerves. The faradic current is also used as a
means of diagnosis for neuro-muscular conditions. When the interrupted
current is used to stimulate the skin over a motor nerve, all the
muscles supplied by that nerve are thrown into rapid tetanic
contraction, the contraction both beginning and ceasing sharply and
suddenly with the current. This is the normal reaction of the nerve to
faradism. If the muscle be wasted from disuse or some local cause
unconnected with its nerve-supply, the contraction is smaller, and both
arises and relaxes more slowly. But if the lesion lies in the nerve
itself, as in Bell's palsy, the muscles no longer show any response when
the nerve is stimulated, and this is known as the reaction of
degeneration in the nerve. It is usually preceded by a condition of
hyperexcitability. These results are applied to distinguish between
functional paralysis and that due to some organic lesion, as in the
former case the reaction of faradism will be as brisk as usual. Also at
the beginning of most cases of infantile paralysis many more groups of
muscles appear to be affected than ultimately prove to be, and faradism
enables the physician to distinguish between those groups of muscles
that are permanently paralysed owing to the destruction of their trophic
centre, and those muscles which are only temporarily inhibited from
shock, and which with proper treatment will later regain their full
power. In the testing of muscles electrically that point on the skin
which on stimulation gives the maximum contraction for that muscle is
known as the "motor point" for that muscle. It usually corresponds to
the entry of the motor nerve. Faradic treatment may be employed in the
weakness and emaciation depending on any long illness, rickets, anaemia,
&c. For these cases it is best to use the electric bath, the patient
being placed in warm water, and the two electrodes, one at the patient's
back and the other at his feet, being connected with the secondary coil.
The patient's general metabolism is stimulated, he eats and sleeps
better and soon begins to put on weight. This is especially beneficial
in severe cases of rickets. In the weakness and emaciation due to
neurasthenia, especially in those cases being treated by the Weir
Mitchell method (isolation, absolute confinement to bed, massage and
overfeeding), a similar faradic bath is a very helpful adjunct. In tabes
dorsalis faradic treatment will often diminish the anaesthesia and
numbness in the legs, with resulting benefit to the ataxy. Perhaps the
most beneficial use of the faradic current is in the treatment of
chronic constipation--especially that so frequently met with in young
women and due to deficient muscular power of the intestinal walls. In
long-standing cases the large intestine becomes permanently dilated, and
its muscular fibres so attenuated as to have no power over the
intestinal contents. But faradism causes contraction at the point of
stimulation, and the peristaltic wave thus started slowly progresses
along the bowel. All that is needed is a special electrode for
introduction into the bowel and an ordinary roller electrode. The rectal
electrode consists of a 6-inch wire bearing at one end a small metal
knob and fitted at the other into a metal cup which screws into the
handle of the electrode. The only part exposed is the metallic knob; the
rest is coated with some insulating material. The patient reclines on a
couch on his back, the rectal electrode is connected, and having been
vaselined is passed some three inches into the rectum. A current is
started with the secondary coil in such a position as to give only an
extremely weak current. The roller electrode is then wetted with hot
water and applied to the front of the abdomen. At first the patient
should feel nothing, but the current should slowly be increased until a
faint response is perceptible from the abdominal muscles. This gives the
required strength, and the roller electrode, pressed well into the
abdominal wall, should very slowly be moved along the course of the
large intestine beginning at the right iliac fossa. Thus a combination
of massage and faradic current is obtained, and the results are
particularly satisfactory. Treatment should be given on alternate days
immediately after breakfast, and should be persevered with for six or
eight weeks. The patient can be taught to administer it to himself.
_The Galvanic, Continuous or Direct Current._--In using the galvanic or
direct current the electrode must be covered with padded webbing or some
other absorbent material, the metal of the electrode never being allowed
to come in contact with the skin. The padding by retaining moisture
helps to make good contact, and also helps to guard against burning the
skin. But when a continuous current of 3 am. or more is passed for more
than 5 min. the electrodes must be raised periodically and the skin
inspected. If the current be too strong or applied for too long a time,
small blisters are raised which break and are very troublesome to heal.
Nor does the patient always feel much pain when this occurs. Also the
electrodes must be remoistened every five or six minutes, as they soon
become dry, and the skin will then be burnt. It is best to use a
solution of sodium bicarbonate. Again, the danger of burning the skin
depends on the density of the current per sq. in. of electrode, so that
a strong current through a small electrode will burn the skin, whereas
the same current through a larger electrode will produce a beneficial
effect. If the patient be immersed up to his neck in an electric bath,
much stronger currents can be passed without causing either pain or
injury, as in this case the whole area of the skin in contact with the
water acts as an electrode. In passing the current it must be remembered
that the negative electrode or kathode is the more painful of the two,
and its action more stimulating than the positive electrode or anode,
which is sedative. If a muscle be stimulated over its motor point, it
will contract with a sharp twitch and then become quiescent. With normal
muscle the KCC (kathodal closure contraction) is stronger than that
produced by the closure of the current at the anode ACC (anodal closure
contraction). And if the muscle be normal the opening contraction KOC
and AOC are not seen. When a galvanic current is passed along a nerve
its excitability is increased at the kathode and diminished at the
anode. The increased excitability at the kathode is katelectrotonus, and
the lowered excitability at the anode anelectrotonus. But since in a
patient the electrode cannot be applied directly to the nerve, the lines
of force from the electrode pass into the nerve both in an upward and
downward direction, and hence there are two poles produced by each
electrode. If the current be suddenly reversed, so that what was the
anode becomes the kathode, a stronger contraction is obtained than by
simply making and breaking the current. To avoid the four poles on the
nerve to be tested, it is found most satisfactory to have one electrode
placed at some distance, on the back or chest, not on the same limb.
As explained above, when the nerve supplying a muscle is diseased it no
longer responds to the faradic current. On further testing this with the
galvanic or continuous current it responds, but the contraction is not
brisk but begins slowly and relaxes slowly, though the contraction as a
whole may be larger than that of a normal muscle. This excessive
contraction is known as hyperexcitability to galvanism. This form of
contraction is that obtained when the muscle fibre itself is stimulated.
Again, whereas in normal muscle KCC > ACC, when the nerve is degenerated
KCC = ACC or ACC > KCC. Also in the more severe forms of nerve injury
tetanic contractions may be set up in the paralysed muscles, by closure
of the current either at the anode or kathode. These charges are known
as the reaction of degeneration or RD, and are of great value in
diagnosis. They occur only after sudden or acute damage to the nerve
cells of the anterior horn of the spinal cord, or to the motor nerve
fibres proceeding from these cells. Thus RD is present in infantile
paralysis, acute neuritis, &c., but absent in progressive muscular
atrophy where the wasting of nerve and muscle takes place extremely
slowly. The reaction of degeneration in the nerve is shown by
disappearance of reaction to either kind of current, preceded for some
days by hyperexcitability to either current. Where the muscle wasting is
due to a lesion in the muscle alone, as in ischaemic myositis (usually
due to injury from tight bandaging or badly applied splints), no
reaction of degeneration is found; the only change is a loss of power in
the contraction. If the damage to the anterior horn cells be only very
slight, there may only be partial RD, and the prognosis is given
according to the extent of RD. From this account it is clear that the
greatest value of the continuous current lies in its use in diagnosis.
But it is also applied extremely successfully, in combination with
massage, to cases of infantile paralysis. Wrist drop from lead poisoning
and lead neuritis of all kinds, reflex muscular atrophy and the muscular
wasting of hemiplegia, are all benefited by the continuous current; the
severe pain of sciatica, and the inflammation of the nerve sheath in
these cases, can be arrested more quickly by galvanic treatment than in
any other way. Nearly all forms of neuritis, both of the cranial and
other nerves, are best treated by the continuous current. The action in
all cases is to stimulate the natural tendency to repair, very largely
by improving the circulation through the injured parts.
Another effect of an electric current is electrolysis, and the phenomena
of electrolytic conduction involve not merely the ionization of the
compounds, but also the setting in motion of the ions towards their
respective poles. Solutions which conduct electric currents are called
electrolytes, and in the case of the human body the electrolyte is the
whole mass of the saline constituents in solution throughout the body.
When a current is passed through an electrolyte, dissociation into ions
takes place, the ions which are freed round the anode being called
anions and those which are freed round the kathode being called kations.
The anions carry negative charges and are consequently attracted by the
positive electricity of the anode. The kations carry positive charges,
hence they are repelled by the anode and attracted by the kathode. But a
certain number of molecules do not dissociate, and hence in an
electrolytic solution there are neutral molecules, anions and kations.
The chemical actions, and thus the antiseptic, remedial or toxic effects
of electrolytes, are due to the actions of their ions. The phosphides
and phosphates may be taken as examples. Some are extremely toxic, while
others are quite harmless. But it is to the phosphorus ion that the
toxic or therapeutic effect is due. In the phosphates the phosphorus is
part of a complex ion possessing quite different properties to those of
the phosphorus ion of the phosphides. The strikingly different effects
of the sulphates and sulphides are due to similar conditions, as also of
many other compounds. There are certain solvents, as alcohol,
chloroform, glycerin and vaseline which do not dissociate electrolytes,
and consequently the latter become inert when mixed with these solvents.
These solutions do not conduct electricity, and hence ionic effects are
extremely slow. A vaseline ointment containing 5% of phenol makes a good
dressing for an ulcer of the leg, and produces no irritant effect, but a
5% aqueous solution may be both caustic and toxic. Since the toxic or
therapeutic action of a solution is due to its ions, the action must be
proportional to the number of ions in a given volume, that is, the
action of an electrolyte depends on the degree of dissociation. Thus a
strong acid is one that is much dissociated, a weak acid one that has
undergone but little dissociation and so on. In 1896-1897 it was shown
that the bactericidal action of salts varies with their degree of
dissociation and therefore depends on the concentration of the active
ions. In the medical application of these facts it must be remembered
that when an ion is introduced into the body by electrolysis, it is
probably forced into the actual cellular constituents of the body,
whereas the drug administered by one of the usual methods though
circulating in the blood may perhaps never gain access to the cell
itself. Hence the different effects that have been recorded between a
drug administered by the mouth or subcutaneously and the same
administered by electrolysis. Thus a solution of cocaine injected
subcutaneously produces quite different effects to that introduced by
electrolysis. By the latter method it produces anaesthesia but does not
diffuse, and the anaesthesia remains strictly limited to the surface
covered by the electrode. It would appear that the ion is never
introduced into the general circulation but into the cell plasma.
In the technical working of medical electrolysis the most minute
precautions are required. The solution of the drug must be made with as
pure water as possible, recently distilled. The spongy substance forming
the electrode must be free from any trace of electrolytic substances.
Hence all materials used must be washed in distilled water. Absorbent
cotton answers all requirements and is easily procured. The area of
introduction can be exactly circumscribed by cutting a hole in a sheet
of adhesive plaster which is applied to the skin and on which the
electrolytic electrodes are pressed. The great advantage of electrolytic
methods is that it enables general treatment to be replaced by a
strictly local treatment, and the cells can be saturated exactly to the
degree and depth required. Strong antiseptics and materials that
coagulate albumen cannot be introduced locally by ordinary methods, as
the skin is impermeable to them, but by electrolysis they can be
introduced to the exact depth required. The local effects of the ions
depend on the dosage; thus a feeble dose of the ions of zinc stimulates
the growth of hair, but a stronger dose produces the death of the
tissue. Naturally the different ions produce different effects. Thus the
ions of the alkalis and magnesium are caustic, those of the alkaline
earthy metals produce actual mortification of the tissue and so on.
According to the ion chosen the effect may be caustic in various
degrees, antiseptic, coagulating, producing vascular or nervous changes,
&c., &c. And again electrolysis can also be used for extracting from the
body such ions as are injurious, as uric and oxalic acid from a patient
suffering from gout.
One of the latest advances is the treatment of ankylosed joints by the
electrolytic method, the electrolyte used being chloride of sodium, and
the marvellous results being attributed to the introduction of the
chlorine ions. This sclerolytic property of the current is applicable to
all parts of the body accessible to the current. Old cases of rheumatic
scleritis, entirely unaffected by the routine treatment of salicylates
and iodide, have often cleared up entirely under electrolytic treatment.
Cases of chronic iritis with adhesions and old pleural adhesions are
also suited for this method of procedure. Certain menstrual troubles of
women and also endometritis yield rapidly to electrolysis with a zinc
anode. Before this method of introduction, the zinc salts, though
excellent disinfectants, acted only on the surface in consequence of
their coagulating action on the albuminoids, but by the electric
current, under the influence of a difference of potential, the zinc iron
will penetrate to any desired depth. Cases of rodent ulcer unaffected by
all other methods of treatment have been cured by electric kataphoresis
with zinc ions, and the method is now being applied to the treatment of
inoperable malignant tumours. As very strong currents are required for
this latter, the patient has first to be anaesthetized by a general
anaesthetic. Another direction in which electric ions are being used is
that of the induction of local anaesthesia before minor surgical
operations. Cocaine is the drug used, the resulting anaesthesia is
absolute, and the operation can be made almost bloodless by the
admixture of suprarenal extract.
ELECTROTYPING, an application of the art of electroplating (q.v.) to
typography (q.v.). In copying engraved plates for printing purposes,
copper may be deposited upon the original plate, the surface of which is
first rendered slightly dirty, by means of a weak solution of wax in
turpentine or otherwise, to prevent adhesion. The reversed plate thus
produced is then stripped from the first and used as cathode in its
turn, with the result that even the finest lines of the original are
faithfully reproduced. The electrolyte commonly contains about 1½ lb. of
copper sulphate and ½ lb. of strong sulphuric acid per gallon, and is
worked with a current density of about 10 amperes per sq. ft., which
should give a thickness of 0.000563 in. of copper per hour. As time is
an object, the conditions alluded to in the article on COPPER as being
favourable to the use of high current densities should be studied,
bearing in mind that a tough copper deposit of high quality is
essential. Moulds for reproducing plates or art-work are often taken in
plaster, beeswax mixed with Venice turpentine, fusible metal, or
gutta-percha, and the surface being rendered conductive by powdered
black-lead, copper is deposited upon it evenly throughout. For statuary,
and "undercut" work generally, an elastic mould--of glue and treacle
(80:20 parts)--may be used; the mould, when set, is waterproofed by
immersion in a solution of potassium bichromate followed by exposure to
sunlight, or in some other way. The best results, however, are obtained
by taking a wax cast from the elastic mould, and then from this a
plaster mould, which may be waterproofed with wax, black-leaded, and
used as cathode. In art-work of this nature the principal points to be
looked to in depositing are the electrical connexions to the cathode,
the shape of the anode (to secure uniformity of deposition), the
circulation of the electrolyte, and, in some cases, the means for escape
of anode oxygen. Silver electrotyping is occasionally resorted to for
special purposes.
ELECTRUM, ELECTRON (Gr. _[Greek: êlektron]_, amber), an alloy of gold
and silver in use among the ancients, described by Pliny as containing
one part of silver to four of gold. The term is also applied in
mineralogy to native argentiferous gold containing from 20 to 50% of
silver. In both cases the name is derived from the pale yellow colour of
electrum, resembling that of amber.
ELEGIT (Lat. for "he has chosen"), in English law, a judicial writ of
execution, given by the Statute of Westminster II. (1285), and so called
from the words of the writ, that the plaintiff has chosen (_elegit_)
this mode of satisfaction. Previously to the Statute of Westminster II.,
a judgment creditor could only have the profits of lands of a debtor in
satisfaction of his judgment, but not the possession of the lands
themselves. But this statute provided that henceforth it should be _in
the election_ of the party having recovered judgment to have a writ of
_fieri facias_ (q.v.) unto the sheriff on lands and goods or else all
the chattels of the debtor and the one half of his lands until the
judgment be satisfied. Since the Bankruptcy Act 1883 the writ of
_elegit_ has extended to lands and hereditaments only. (See further
EXECUTION.)
ELEGY, a short poem of lamentation or regret, called forth by the
decease of a beloved or revered person, or by a general sense of the
pathos of mortality. The Greek word _[Greek: elegeia]_ is of doubtful
signification; it is usually interpreted as meaning a mournful or
funeral song. But there seems to be no proof that this idea of regret
for death entered into the original meaning of _[Greek: elegeia]_. The
earliest Greek elegies which have come down to us are not funereal,
although it is possible that the primitive _[Greek: elegeia]_ may have
been a set of words liturgically used, with music, at a burial. When the
elegy appears in surviving Greek literature, we find it dedicated, not
to death, but to war and love. Callinus of Ephesus, who flourished in
the 7th century, is the earliest elegist of whom we possess fragments. A
little later Tyrtaeus was composing his famous elegies in Sparta. Both
of these writers were, so far as we know, exclusively warlike and
patriotic. On the other hand, the passion of love inspires Mimnermus,
whose elegies are the prototypes not only of the later Greek pieces, and
of the Latin poems of the school of Tibullus and Propertius, but of a
great deal of the formal erotic poetry of modern Europe. In the 6th
century B.C., the elegies of Solon were admired; they are mainly lost.
But we possess more of the work of Theognis of Megara than of any other
archaic elegist, and in it we can observe the characteristics of Greek
elegy best. Here the Dorian spirit of chivalry reaches its highest
expression, and war is combined with manly love.
The elegy, in its calm movement, seems to have begun to lose currency
when the ecstasy of emotion was more successfully interpreted by the
various rhythmic and dithyrambic inventions of the Aeolic lyrists. The
elegy, however, rose again to the highest level of merit in Alexandrian
times. It was reintroduced by Philetas in the 3rd cent. B.C., and was
carried to extreme perfection by Callimachus. Other later Greek elegists
of high reputation were Asclepiades and Euphorion. But it is curious to
notice that all the elegies of these poets were of an amatory nature,
and that antiquity styled the funeral dirges of Theocritus, Bion and
Moschus--which are to us the types of elegy--not elegies at all, but
idylls. When the poets of Rome began their imitative study of
Alexandrian models, it was natural that the elegies of writers such as
Callimachus should tempt them to immediate imitation. Gallus, whose
works are unhappily lost, is known to have produced a great sensation in
Rome by publishing his translation of the poems of Euphorion; and he
passed on to the composition of erotic elegies of his own, which were
the earliest in the Latin language. If we possessed his once-famous
_Cytheris_, we should be able to decide the question of how much
Propertius, who is now the leading figure among Roman elegists, owed to
the example of Gallus. His brilliantly emotional _Cynthia_, with its
rich and unexampled employment of that alternation of hexameter and
pentameter which had now come to be known as the elegiac measure, seems,
however, to have settled the type of Latin elegy. Tibullus is always
named in conjunction with Propertius, who was his contemporary, although
in their style they were violently contrasted. The sweetness of Tibullus
was the object of admiration and constant imitation by the Latin poets
of the Renaissance, although Propertius has more austerely pleased a
later taste. Finally, Ovid wrote elegies of great variety in subject,
but all in the same form, and his dexterous easy metre closed the
tradition of elegiac poetry among the ancients. What remains in the
decline of Latin literature is all founded on a study of those masters
of the Golden Age.
When the Renaissance found its way to England, the word "elegy" was
introduced by readers of Ovid and Propertius. But from the beginning of
the 16th century, it was used in English, as it has been ever since, to
describe a funeral song or lament. One of the earliest poems in English
which bears the title of elegy is _The Complaint of Philomene_, which
George Gascoigne began in 1562, and printed in 1576. The _Daphnaida_ of
Spenser (1591) is an elegy in the strict modern sense, namely a poem of
regret pronounced at the obsequies of a particular person. In 1579
Puttenham had defined an elegy as being a song "of long lamentation."
With the opening of the 17th century the composition of elegies became
universal on every occasion of public or private grief. Dr Johnson's
definition, "_Elegy_, a short poem without points or turns," is
singularly inept and careless. By that time (1755) English literature
had produced many great elegies, of which the _Lycidas_ of Milton is by
far the most illustrious. But even Cowley's on Crashaw, Tickell's on
Addison, Pope's on an Unfortunate Lady, those of Quarles, and Dryden,
and Donne, should have warned Johnson of his mistake. Since the 18th
century the most illustrious examples of elegy in English literature
have been the _Adonais_ of Shelley (on Keats), the _Thyrsis_ of Matthew
Arnold (on Clough), and the _Ave atque Vale_ of Mr Swinburne (on
Baudelaire). It remains for us to mention what is the most celebrated
elegy in English, that written by Gray in a Country Churchyard. This,
however, belongs to a class apart, as it is not addressed to the memory
of any particular person. A writer of small merit, James Hammond
(1716-1742), enjoyed a certain success with his _Love Elegies_ in which
he endeavoured to introduce the erotic elegy as it was written by Ovid
and Tibullus. This experiment took no hold of English literature, but
was welcomed in France in the amatory works of Parny (1753-1814), in
those of Chênedollé (1769-1833), and of Millevoye (1782-1816). The
melancholy and sentimental elegies of the last named are the typical
examples of this class of poetry in French literature. Lamartine must be
included among the elegists, and his famous "Le Lac" is as eminent an
elegy in French as Gray's "Country Churchyard" is in English. The elegy
has flourished in Portugal, partly because it was cultivated with great
success by Camoens, the most illustrious of the Portuguese poets. In
Italian, Chiabrera and Filicaia are named among the leading national
elegists. In German literature, the notion of elegy as a poem of
lamentation does not exist. The famous Roman Elegies of Goethe imitate
in form and theme those of Ovid; they are not even plaintive in
character.
ELEGIAC VERSE has commonly been adopted by German poets for their
elegies, but by English poets never. Schiller defines this kind of
verse, which consists of a distich of which the first line is a
hexameter and the second a pentameter, in the following pretty
illustration:--
"In the hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column.
In the pentameter aye falling in melody back."
The word "elegy," in English, is one which is frequently used very
incorrectly; it should be remembered that it must be mournful,
meditative and short without being ejaculatory. Thus Tennyson's _In
Memoriam_ is excluded by its length; it may at best be treated as a
collection of elegies. Wordsworth's _Lucy_, on the other hand, is a
dirge; this is too brief a burst of emotion to be styled an elegy.
_Lycidas_ and _Adonais_ remain the two unapproachable types of what a
personal elegy ought to be in English. (E. G.)
ELEMENT (Lat. _elementum_), an ultimate component of anything, hence a
fundamental principle. _Elementum_ was used in Latin to translate the
Greek _[Greek: stoicheion]_ (that which stands in a _[Greek: stoichos]_,
or row), and is a word of obscure origin and etymology. The root of Lat.
_alere_, to nourish, has been suggested, thus making it a doublet of
_alimentum_, that which supports life; another explanation is that the
word represents LMN., the first three letters of the second part of the
alphabet, a parallel use to that of ABC. Apart from its application in
chemistry, which is treated below, the word is used of the rudiments or
_principia_ of any science or subject, as in Euclid's _Elements of
Geometry_, or in the "beggarly elements" (_[Greek: taptocha stoicheia]_,
of St Paul in Gal. iv. 9); in mathematics, of a fundamental concept
involved in an investigation, as the "elements" of a determinant; and in
electricity, of a galvanic (or voltaic) "element" in an electric cell
(see BATTERY: _Electric_). In astronomy, "element" is used of any one of
the numerical or geometrical data by which the course of a varying
phenomenon is computed; it is applied especially to orbital motion and
eclipses. The "elements of an orbit" are the six data by which the
position of a moving body in its orbit at any time may be determined.
The "elements of an eclipse" express and determine the motion of the
centre of the shadow-axis, and are the data necessary to compute the
phenomena of an eclipse during its whole course, as seen at any place.
In architecture the term "element" is applied to the outline of the
design of a Decorated window, on which the centres for the tracery are
found. These centres will all be found to fall on points which, in some
way or other, will be equimultiples of parts of the openings.
_Chemical Elements_.
Ancient ideas.
Like all other scientific concepts, that of an element has changed its
meaning many times in many ways during the development of science. Owing
to their very small amount of real chemical knowledge, the
generalizations of the ancients were necessarily rather superficial, and
could not stand in the face of the increasing development of practical
chemistry. Nevertheless we find the concept of an element as "a
substance from which all bodies are made or derived" held at the very
beginning of occidental philosophy. Thales regarded "water" as the
element of all things; his followers accepted his idea of a primordial
substance as the basis of all bodies, but they endeavoured to determine
some other general element or elements, like "fire" or "spirit," or
"love" and "hatred," or "fire," "water," "air" and "earth." We find in
this development an exact parallelism to the manner in which scientific
ideas generally arise, develop and change. They are created to point out
the common part in a variety of observed phenomena, in order to get some
leading light in the chaos of events. At first almost any idea will do,
if only it promises some comprehensive arrangement of the facts;
afterwards, the inconsistencies of the first trial make themselves felt;
the first idea is then changed to meet better the new requirements. For
a shorter or longer time the facts and ideas may remain in accord, but
the uninterrupted increase of empirical knowledge involves sooner or
later new fundamental alterations of the general idea, and in this way
there is a never-ceasing process of adaptation of the ideas to the
facts. As facts are unchangeable by themselves, the adaptation can be
only one-sided; the ideas are compelled to change according to the
facts. We must therefore educate ourselves to regard the ideas or
theories as the changing part of science, and keep ourselves ready to
accept even the most fundamental revision of current theories.
The first step in the development of the idea of elements was to
recognize that a _single_ principle would not prove sufficient to cover
the manifoldness of facts. Empedocles therefore conceived a double or
binary elementary principle; and Aristotle developed this idea a stage
further, stating two sets of binary antagonistic principles, namely
"dry-wet" and "hot-cold." The Aristotelian or peripatetic elements,
which played such a great rôle in the whole medieval philosophy, are the
representatives of the several binary combinations of these fundamental
properties, "fire" being hot and dry, "air" hot and wet, "water" cold
and wet, "earth" cold and dry. According to the amount of these
properties found in any body, these elements were regarded as having
taken part in forming this body. Concerning the reason why only these
properties were regarded as fundamental, we know nothing. They seem to
be taken at random rather than carefully selected; they relate only to
the sense of touch, and not to vision or any other sense, possibly
because deceptions in the sense of touch were regarded as non-existent,
while the other senses were apparently not so trustworthy. At any rate,
the Aristotelian elements soon proved to be rather inadequate to meet
the requirements of the increasing chemical knowledge; other properties
had therefore to be selected to represent the general behaviour of
chemical substances, and in this case we find them already much more
"chemical" in the modern sense.
Elements of the alchemists.
Among the various substances recognized by the chemists, certain classes
or groups readily distinguished themselves. First the metals, by their
lustre, their heaviness, and a number of other common properties.
According to the general principle of selecting a single substance as a
representative of the group, the metallic properties were represented by
"mercury." The theoreticians of the middle ages were rather careful to
point out that common mercury (the liquid metal of to-day) was not at
all to be identified with "philosophical" mercury, the last being simply
the _principle_ of metallic behaviour. In the same way combustibility
was represented by "sulphur," solubility by "salt," and occasionally the
chemically indifferent or refractory character by "earth." According to
the subsistence and preponderance of these properties in different
bodies, these were regarded as containing the corresponding elements;
conversely, just as experience teaches the chemist every day that by
proper treatment the properties of given bodies may be changed in the
most various ways, the observed changes of properties were ascribed to
the gain or loss of the corresponding elements. According to this
theory, which accounted rather well for a large number of facts, there
was no fundamental objection against trying to endow base metals with
the properties of the precious ones; to make artificial gold was a task
quite similar to the modern problem of, e.g. making artificial quinine.
The realization that there is a certain natural law preventing such
changes is of much later date. It is therefore quite unjust to consider
the work of the alchemists, who tried to make artificial gold, as
consummate nonsense. _A priori_ there was no reason why a change from
lead to gold should be less possible than a change from iron to rust;
indeed there is no _a priori_ reason against it now. But experience has
taught us that lead and gold are chemical elements in the modern sense,
and that there is a general experimental law that elements are not
transformable one into another. So experience taught the alchemists
irresistibly that in spite of the manifoldness of chemical changes it is
not always possible to change any given substance into another; the
possibilities are much more limited, and there is only a certain range
of substances to be obtained from a given one. The impossibility of
transforming lead or copper into noble metals proved to be only one case
out of many, and it was recognized generally that there are certain
chemical families whose members are related to one another by their
mutual transformability, while it is impossible to bridge the boundaries
separating these families.
Work of Robert Boyle.
The man who brought all these experiences and considerations into
scientific form was Robert Boyle. He stated as a general principle, that
only tangible and ponderable substances should be recognized as
elements, an element being a substance from which other substances may
be made, but which cannot be separated into different substances. He
showed that neither the peripatetic nor the alchemistic elements
satisfied this definition. But he was more of a critical than of a
synthetical turn of mind; although he established the correct
principles, he hesitated to point out what substances, among those known
at his time, were to be considered as elements. He only paved the way to
the goal by laying the foundations of analytical chemistry, i.e. by
teaching how to characterize and to distinguish different chemical
individuals. Further, by adopting and developing the corpuscular
hypothesis of the constitution of the ponderable substances, he
foreshadowed, in a way, the law of the conservation of the elements,
viz. that no element can be changed into another element; and he
considered the compound substances to be made up from small particles or
corpuscles of their elements, the latter retaining their essence in all
combinations. This hypothesis accounts for the fact that only a limited
number of other substances can be made from a given one--namely, only
those which contain the elements present in the given substance. But it
is characteristic of Boyle's critical mind that he did not shut his eyes
against a serious objection to his hypothesis. If the compound substance
is made up of parts of the elements, one would expect that the
properties of the compound substance would prove to be the sum of the
properties of the elements. But this is not the case, and chemical
compounds show properties which generally differ very considerably from
those of the compounds. On the one hand, the corpuscular hypothesis of
Boyle was developed into the atomic hypothesis of Dalton, which was
considered at the beginning of the 19th century as the very best
representation of chemical facts, while, on the other hand, the
difficulty as to the properties of the compounds remained the same as
Boyle found it, and has not yet been removed by an appropriate
development of the atomic hypothesis. Thus Boyle considered, e.g. the
metals as elements. However, it is interesting to note that he
considered the mutual transformation of the metals as not altogether
impossible, and he even tells of a case when gold was transformed into
base metal. It is a common psychological fact that a reformer does not
generally succeed in being wholly consistent in his reforming ideas;
there remains invariably some point where he commits exactly the same
fault which he set out to abolish. We shall find the same inconsistency
also among other chemical reformers. Even earlier than Boyle, Joachim
Jung (1587-1657) of Hamburg developed similar ideas. But as he did not
distinguish himself, as Boyle did, by experimental work in science, his
views exerted only a limited influence amongst his pupils.
Phlogiston theory.
In the times following Boyle's work we find no remarkable outside
development of the theory of elements, but a very important inside one.
Analytical chemistry, or the art of distinguishing different chemical
substances, was rapidly developing, and the necessary foundation for
such a theory was thus laid. We find the discussions about the true
elements disappearing from the text-books, or removed to an
insignificant corner, while the description of observed chemical changes
of different ways of preparing the same substance, as identified by the
same properties, and of the methods for recognizing and distinguishing
the various substances, take their place. The similarity of certain
groups of chemical changes, as, for example, combustion, and the inverse
process, reduction, was observed, and thus led to an attempt to shape
these most general facts into a common theory. In this way the theory of
"phlogiston" was developed by G.E. Stahl, phlogiston being (according to
the usual way of regarding general properties as being due to a
principle or element) the "principle of combustibility," similar to the
"sulphur" of the alchemists. This again must be regarded as quite a
legitimate step justified by the knowledge of the time. For experience
taught that combustibility could be _transferred_ by chemical action,
e.g. from charcoal to litharge, the latter being changed thereby into
combustible metallic lead; and according to Boyle's principle, that only
_bodies_ should be recognized as chemical elements, phlogiston was
considered as a body. From the fact that all leading chemists in the
second half of the 18th century used the phlogiston theory and were not
hindered by it in making their great discoveries, it is evident that a
sufficient amount of truth and usefulness was embodied in this theory.
It states indeed quite correctly the mutual relations between oxidation
and reduction, as we now call these very general processes, and was
erroneous only in regard to one question, which at that time had not
aroused much interest, the question of the change of weight during
chemical processes.
Lavoisier's reform.
It was only after Isaac Newton's discovery of universal gravitation that
weight was considered as a property of paramount interest and
importance, and that the question of the changes of weight in chemical
reactions became one worth asking. When in due time this question was
raised, the fact became evident at once, that combustion means not loss
but gain of weight. To be sure of this, it was necessary to know first
the chemical and physical properties of gases, and it was just at the
same time that this knowledge was developed by Priestley, Scheele and
others. Lavoisier was the originator and expounder of the necessary
reform. Oxygen was just discovered at that time, and Lavoisier gathered
evidence from all sides that the theory of phlogiston had to be turned
inside out to fit the new facts.
He realized that the sum total of the weights of all substances
concerned within a chemical change is not altered by the change. This
principle of the "conservation of weight" led at once to a simple and
unmistakable definition of a chemical element. As the weight of a
compound substance is the sum of the weights of its elements, the
compound necessarily weighs more than any of its elements. An element is
therefore a substance which, by being changed into another substance,
invariably increases its weight, and never gives rise to substances of
less weight. By the help of this criterion Lavoisier composed the first
table of chemical elements similar to our modern ones. According to the
knowledge of his time he regarded the alkalis as elements, although he
remarked that they are rather similar to certain oxides, and therefore
may possibly contain oxygen; the truth of this was proved at a later
date by Humphry Davy. But the inconsistency of the reformer, already
referred to, may be observed with Lavoisier. He included "heat and
light" in his list of elements, although he knew that neither of them
had weight, and that neither fitted his definition of an element; this
atavistic survival was subsequently removed from the table of the
elements by Berzelius in the beginning of the 19th century. In this way
the question of what substances are to be regarded as chemical elements
had been settled satisfactorily in a qualitative way, but it is
interesting to realize that the last step in this development, the
theory of Lavoisier, was based on quantitative considerations. Such
considerations became of paramount interest at once, and led to the
concept of the _combining weights of the elements_.
J.B. Richter's work.
The first discoveries in this field were made in the last quarter of the
18th century by J.B. Richter. The point at issue was a rather
commonplace one: it was the fact that when two neutral salt solutions
were mixed to undergo mutual chemical decomposition and recombination,
the resulting liquid was neutral again, i.e. it did not contain any
excess of acid or base. In other words, if two salts, A'B' and A" B",
composed of the acids A' and A" and the bases B' and B", undergo mutual
decomposition, the amount of the base B' left by the first salt, when
its acid A' united with the base B" to form a new salt A'B", was just
enough to make a neutral salt A"B' with the acid A" left by the second
salt. At first sight this looks quite simple and self-evident,--that
neutral salts should form neutral ones again and not acid or basic
ones,--but if this fact is once stated very serious quantitative
inferences may be drawn from it, as Richter showed. For if the symbols
A', A", B', B" denote at the same time such quantities of the acids and
bases as form neutral salts, then if three of these quantities are
determined, the fourth may be calculated from the others. This follows
from the fact that by decomposing A'B' with just the proper amount of
the other salt to form A'B", the remaining quantities B' and A" exist in
exactly the ratio to form a neutral salt A" B'. It is possible,
therefore, to ascribe to each acid and base a certain relative weight or
"combining weight" by which they will combine one with the other to form
neutral salts. The same reasoning may be extended to any number of acids
and bases.
It is true that Richter did not find out by himself this simplest
statement of the law of neutrality which he discovered, but he expressed
the same consequence in a rather clumsy way by a table of the combining
weights of different bases related to the unit amount of a certain acid,
and doing the same thing for the unit weight of every other acid. Then
he observed that the numbers in these different tables are proportionate
one to another. The same holds good if the corresponding series of the
combining weights of acids for unit weights of different bases were
tabulated. It was only a little later that a Berlin physicist, G.E.
Fischer, united the whole system of Richter's numbers simply into a
double table of acids and bases, taking as unit an arbitrarily chosen
substance, namely sulphuric acid. The following table by Fischer is
therefore the first table of combining weights.
_Bases._ _Acids._
Alumina 525 | Fluoric 427
Magnesia 615 | Carbonic 577
Ammoniac 672 | Sebacic 706
Lime 793 | Muriatic (hydrochloric) 712
Soda 859 | Oxalic 755
Strontiane 1329 | Phosphoric 979
Potash 1605 | Formic 988
Baryte 2222 | Sulphuric 1000
| Succinic 1209
| Nitric 1405
| Acetic 1480
| Citric 1683
| Tartaric 1694
It is interesting again to notice how difficult it is for the discoverer
of a new truth to find out the most simple and complete statement of his
discovery. It looks as if the amount of work needed to get to the top of
a new idea is so great that not enough energy remains to clear the very
last few steps. It is noteworthy also to observe how difficult it was
for the chemists of that time to understand the bearing of Richter's
work. Although a summary of his results was published in Berthollet's
_Essai de statique chimique_, one of the most renowned chemical books of
that time, nobody dared for a long time to take up the scientific
treasure laid open for all the world.
John Dalton's atomic theory.
At the beginning of the 19th century the same question was taken up from
quite another standpoint. John Dalton, in his investigations of the
behaviour of gases, and in order to understand more easily what happened
when gases were absorbed by liquids, used the corpuscular hypothesis
already mentioned in connexion with Boyle. While he depicted to himself
how the corpuscles, or, as he preferred to call them, the "atoms" of
the gases, entered the interstices of the atoms of the liquids in which
they dissolved, he asked himself: Are the several atoms of the same
substance exactly alike, or are there differences as between the grains
of sand? Now experience teaches us that it is impossible to separate,
for example, a quantity of pure water into two samples of somewhat
different properties. When a pure substance is fractionated by partial
distillation or partial crystallization or partial change into another
substance by chemical means, we find constantly that the residue is not
changed in its properties, as it would be if the atoms were slightly
different, since in that case e.g. the lighter atoms would distil first
and leave behind the heavier ones, &c. Therefore we must conclude that
all atoms of the same kind are exactly alike in shape and weight. But,
if this be so, then all combinations between different atoms must
proceed in certain invariable ratios of the weights of the elements,
namely by the ratio of the weights of the atoms. Now it is impossible to
weigh the atoms directly; but if we determine the ratio of the weights
in which oxygen and hydrogen combine to form water, we determine in this
way also the relative weight of their atoms. By a proper number of
analyses of simple chemical compounds we may determine the ratios
between the weights of all elementary atoms, and, selecting one of them
as a standard or unit, we may express the weight of all other atoms in
terms of this unit. The following table is Dalton's (_Mem. of the Lit.
and Phil. Soc. of Manchester_ (II.), vol. i. p. 287, 1805).
_Table of the Relative Weights of the Ultimate Particles of Gaseous
and other Bodies._
Hydrogen 1 | Nitrous oxide 13.7
Azot 4.2 | Sulphur 14.4
Carbone 4.3 | Nitric acid 15.2
Ammonia 5.2 | Sulphuretted hydrogen 15.4
Oxygen 5.5 | Carbonic acid 15.3
Water 6.5 | Alcohol 15.1
Phosphorus 7.2 | Sulphureous acid 19.9
Phosphuretted hydrogen 8.2 | Sulphuric acid 25.4
Nitrous gas 9.3 | Carburetted hydrogen from
Ether 9.6 | stagnant water 6.3
Gaseous oxide of carbone 9.8 | Olefiant gas 5.3
Dalton at once drew a peculiar inference from this view. If two elements
combine in different ratios, one must conclude that different numbers of
atoms unite. There must be, therefore, a simple ratio between the
quantities of the one element united to the same quantity of the other.
Dalton showed at once that the analysis of carbon monoxide and of
carbonic acid satisfied this consequence, the quantity of oxygen in the
second compound being double the quantity in the first one. A similar
relation holds good between marsh gas and olefiant gas (ethylene). This
is the "law of multiple proportions" (see ATOM). By these considerations
Dalton extended the law of combining weights, which Richter had
demonstrated only for neutral salts, to all possible chemical compounds.
While the scope of the law was enormously extended, its experimental
foundation was even smaller than with Richter. Dalton did not concern
himself very much with the experimental verification of his ideas, and
the first communication of his theory in a paper on the absorption of
gases by liquids (1803) attracted as little notice as Richter's
discoveries. Even when T. Thomson published Dalton's views in an
appendix to his widely read text-book of chemistry, matters did not
change very much. It was only by the work of J.J. Berzelius that the
enormous importance of Dalton's views was brought to light.
Work of J.J. Berzelius.
Berzelius was at that time busy in developing a trustworthy system of
chemical analysis, and for this purpose he investigated the composition
of the most important salts. He then went over the work of Richter, and
realized that by his law he could check the results of his analyses. He
tried it and found the law to hold good in most cases; when it did not,
according to his analyses, he found that the error was on his own side
and that better analyses fitted Richter's law. Thus he was prepared to
understand the importance of Dalton's views and he proceeded at once to
test its exactness. The result was the best possible. The law of the
combining weights of the atoms, or of the atomic weights, proved to
hold good in every case in which it was tested. All chemical
combinations between the several elements are therefore regulated by
weight according to certain numbers, one for each element, and
combinations between the elements occur only in ratios given by these
weights or by simple multiples thereof. Consequently Berzelius regarded
Dalton's atomic hypothesis as proved by experiment, and became a strong
believer in it.
At the same time W.H. Wollaston had discovered independently the law of
multiple proportions in the case of neutral and acid salts. He gave up
further work when he learned of Dalton's ideas, but afterwards he
pointed out that it was necessary to distinguish the _hypothetical_ part
in Dalton's views from their _empirical_ part. The latter is the law of
combining weights, or the law that chemical combination occurs only
according to certain numbers characteristic for each element. Besides
this purely experimental law there is the hypothetical explanation by
the assumption of the existence of atoms. As it is not proved that this
explanation is the only one possible, the existence of the law is not a
proof of the existence of the atoms. He therefore preferred to call the
characteristic combining numbers of the elements not "atomic weights"
but "chemical equivalents."
Although there were at all times chemists who shared Wollaston's
cautious views, the atomic hypothesis found general acceptance because
of its ready adaptability to the most diverse chemical facts. In our
time it is even rather difficult to separate, as Wollaston did, the
empirical part from the hypothetical one, and the concept of the atom
penetrates the whole system of chemistry, especially organic chemistry.
If we compare the work of Dalton with that of Richter we find a
fundamental difference. Richter's inference as to the existence of
combining weights in salts is based solely on an experimental
observation, namely, the persistence of neutrality after double
decomposition; Dalton's theory, on the contrary, is based on the
hypothetical concept of the atom. Now, however favourably one may think
of the probability of the existence of atoms, this existence is really
not an observed fact, and it is necessary therefore to ask: Does there
exist some general fact which may lead directly to the inference of the
existence of combining weights of the elements, just as the persistence
of neutrality leads to the same consequence as to acids and bases? The
answer is in the affirmative, although it took a whole century before
this question was put and answered. In a series of rather difficult
papers (_Zeits. f. Phys. Chem._ since 1895, and _Annalen der
Naturphilosophie_ since 1902), Franz Wald (of Kladno, Bohemia) developed
his investigations as to the genesis of this general law. Later, W.
Ostwald (Faraday lecture, _Trans. Chem. Soc._, 1904) simplified Wald's
reasoning and made it more evident.
The general fact upon which the necessary existence of combining weights
of the elements may be based is the shifting character of the boundary
between elements and compounds. It has already been pointed out that
Lavoisier considered the alkalis and the alkaline earths as elements,
because in his time they had not been decomposed. As long as the
decomposition had not been effected, these compounds could be considered
and treated like elements without mistake, their combining weight being
the sum of the combining weights of their (subsequently discovered)
elements. This means that compounds enter in reaction with other
substances as a whole, just as elements do. In particular, if a compound
AB combines with another substance (elementary or compound) C to form a
ternary compound ABC, it enters this latter as a whole, leaving behind
no residue of A or B. Inversely, if a ternary compound ABC be changed
into a binary one AB by taking away the element C, there will not be
found any excess of A or B, but both elements will exhibit just the same
ratio in the binary as in the ternary compound.
Experimentally this important fact was proved first by Berzelius, who
showed that by oxidizing lead sulphide, PbS, to lead sulphate, PbSO4, no
excess either of sulphur or lead could be found after oxidation; the
same held good with barium sulphite, BaSO3, when converted into barium
sulphate, BaSO4. On a much larger scale and with very great accuracy
the inverse was proved half a century later by J.S. Stas, who reduced
silver chlorate, AgClO3, silver bromate, AgBrO3, and silver iodate,
AgIO3, to the corresponding binary compounds, AgCl, AgBr and AgI, and
searched in the residue of the reaction for any excess of silver or
halogen. As the tests for these substances are among the most sensitive
in analytical chemistry, the general law underwent a very severe test
indeed. But the result was the same as was found by Berzelius--no excess
of one of the elements could be discovered. We may infer, therefore,
generally that compounds enter ulterior combinations without change of
the ratio of their elements, or that the ratio between different
elements in their compounds is the same in binary and ternary (or still
more complicated) combinations.
This law involves the existence of general combining weights just in the
same way as the law of neutrality with double decomposition of salts
involves the law of the combining weights of acids and bases. For if the
ratio between A and B is determined, this same ratio must obtain in all
ternary and more complicated compounds, containing the same elements.
The same is true for any other elements, C, D, E, F, &c., as related to
A. But by applying the general law to the ternary compound ABC the same
conclusion may be drawn as to the ratio A : C in all compounds
containing A and C, or B : C in the corresponding compounds. By
reasoning further in the same way, we come to the conclusion that only
such compounds are possible which contain elements according to certain
ratio-numbers, i.e. their combining weight. Any other ratio would
violate the law of the integral reaction of compounds.
As to the law of multiple proportions, it may be deduced by a similar
reasoning by considering the possible combinations between a compound,
e.g. AB, and one of its elements, say B. AB and B can combine only
according to their combining weights, and therefore the quantity of B
combining with AB is equal to the quantity of AB which has combined with
A to form AB. The new combination is therefore to be expressed by AB2.
By extending this reasoning in the same way, we get the general
conclusion that any compounds must be composed according to the formula
A_m B_n C_p..., where m, n, p, &c., are integers.
The bearing of these considerations on the atomic hypothesis is not to
disprove it, but rather to show that the existence of the law of
combining weights, which has been considered for so long as a proof of
the truth of this hypothesis, does not necessarily involve such a
consequence. Whether atoms may prove to exist or not, the law of
combining weights is independent thereof.
Atomic weight determinations.
Two problems arose from the discoveries of Dalton and Berzelius. The
first was to determine as exactly as possible the correct numbers of the
combining weights. The other results from the fact that the same
elements may combine in different ratios. Which of these ratios gives
the true ratio of the atomic weights? And which is the multiple one?
Both questions have had most ample experimental investigation, and are
now answered rather satisfactorily. The first question was a purely
technical one; its answer depended upon analytical skill, and Berzelius
in his time easily took the lead, his numbers being readily accepted on
the continent of Europe. In England there was a certain hesitation at
first, owing to Prout's assumption (see below), but when Turner, at the
instigation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science,
tested Berzelius's numbers and found them entirely in accordance with
his own measurements, these numbers were universally accepted. But then
a rather large error in one of Berzelius's numbers (for carbon) was
discovered in 1841 by Dumas and Stas, and a kind of panic ensued. New
determinations of the atomic weights were undertaken from all sides. The
result was most satisfactory for Berzelius, for no other important error
was discovered, and even Dumas remarked that repeating a determination
by Berzelius only meant getting the same result, if one worked properly.
In later times more exact measurements, corresponding to the increasing
art in analysis, were carried out by various workers, amongst whom J.S.
Stas distinguished himself. But even the classical work of Stas proved
not to be entirely without error; for every period has its limit in
accuracy, which extends slowly as science extends. In recent times
American chemists have been especially prominent in work of this kind,
and the determinations of E.W. Morley, T.W. Richards and G.P. Baxter
rank among the first in this line of investigation.
During this work the question arose naturally: How far does the
_exactness_ of the law extend? It is well known that most natural laws
are only approximations, owing to disturbing causes. Are there
disturbing causes also with atomic weights? The answer is that as far as
we know there are none. The law is still an exact one. But we must keep
in mind that an absolute answer is never possible. Our exactness is in
every case limited, and as long as the possible variations lie behind
this limit, we cannot tell anything about them. In recent times H.
Landolt has doubted and experimentally investigated the law of the
conservation of weight.
Landolt's experiments were carried out in vessels of the shape of an
inverted U, each branch holding one of the substances to react one on
the other. Two vessels were prepared as equal as possible and hung on
both sides of a most sensitive balance. Then the difference of weight
was determined in the usual way by exchanging both the vessels on the
balance. After this set of weighings one of the vessels was inverted and
the chemical reaction between the contained substances was performed;
then the double weighing was repeated. Finally also the second vessel
was inverted and a third set of weighings taken. From blank experiments
where the vessels were filled with substances which did not react one on
the other, the maximum error was determined to 0.03 milligramme. The
reactions experimented with were: silver salts with ferrous sulphate;
iron on copper sulphate; gold chloride and ferrous chloride; iodic acid
and hydriodic acid; iodine and sodium sulphite; uranyl nitrate and
potassium hydrate; chloral hydrate and potassium hydrate; electrolysis
of cadmium iodide by an alternating current; solution of ammonium
chloride, potassium bromide and uranyl nitrate in water, and
precipitation of an aqueous solution of copper sulphate by alcohol. In
most of these experiments a slight diminution of weight was observed
which exceeded the limit of error distinctly in two cases, viz. silver
nitrate with ferrous sulphate and iodic acid with hydriodic acid, the
loss of weight amounting from 0.068 to 0.199 mg. with the first and
0.047 to 0.177 mg. with the second reaction on about 50 g. of substance.
As each of these reactions had been tried in nine independent
experiments, Landolt felt certain that there was no error of observation
involved. But when the vessels were covered inside with paraffin wax, no
appreciable diminution of weight was observed.
These experiments apparently suggested a small decrease of weight as a
consequence of chemical processes. On repeating them, however, and
making allowance for the different amounts of water absorbed on the
surface of the vessel at the beginning and end of the experiment,
Landolt found in 1908 (_Zeit. physik. Chem._ 64, p. 581) that the
variations in weight are equally positive and negative, and he concluded
that there was no change in weight, at least to the extent of 1 part in
10,000,000.
The periodic arrangement.
There is still another question regarding the numerical values of the
atomic weights, namely: Are there relations between the numbers
belonging to the several elements? Richter had arranged his combining
weights according to their magnitude, and endeavoured to prove that they
form a certain mathematical series. He also explained the incompleteness
of his series by assuming that certain acids or bases requisite to the
filling up of the gaps in the series, were not yet known. He even had
the satisfaction that in his time a new base was discovered, which
fitted rather well into one of his gaps; but when it turned out
afterwards that this new base was only calcium phosphate, this way of
reasoning fell into discredit and was resumed only at a much later date.
To obtain a correct table of atomic weights the second question already
mentioned, viz. how to select the correct value in the case of multiple
proportions, had to be answered. Berzelius was constantly on the
look-out for means to distinguish the true atomic weights from their
multiples or sub-multiples, but he could not find an unmistakable test.
The whole question fell into a terrible disorder, until in the middle of
the 19th century S. Cannizzaro showed that by taking together all
partial evidences one could get a system of atomic weights consistent in
itself and fitting the exigencies of chemical systematics. Then a
startling discovery was made by the same method which Richter had tried
in vain, by arranging all atomic weights in one series according to
their numerical values.
_The Periodic Law._--The history of this discovery is rather long. As
early as 1817 J.W. Döbereiner of Jena drew attention to the fact that
the combining weight of strontium lies midway between those of calcium
and barium, and some years later he showed that such "triads" occurred
in other cases too. L. Gmelin tried to apply this idea to all elements,
but he realized that in many cases more than three elements had to be
grouped together. While Ernst Lenssen applied the idea of triads to the
whole table of chemical elements, but without any important result, the
other idea of grouping more than three elements into series according to
their combining weights proved more successful. It was the concept of
homologous series just developed in organic chemistry which influenced
such considerations. First Max von Pettenkofer in 1850 and then J.B.A.
Dumas in 1851 undertook to show that such a series of similar elements
could be formed, having nearly constant differences between their
combining weights. It is true that this idea in all its simplicity did
not hold good extensively enough; so J.P. Cooke and Dumas tried more
complicated types of numerical series, but only with a temporary
success.
The idea of arranging all elements in a single series in the order of
the magnitude of their combining weights, the germ of which is to be
found already in J.B. Richter's work, appears first in 1860 in some
tables published by Lothar Meyer for his lectures. Independently, A.E.B.
de Chancourtois in 1862, J.A.R. Newlands in 1863, and D.I. Mendeléeff in
1869, developed the same idea with the same result, namely, that it is
possible to divide this series of all the elements into a certain number
of very similar parts. In their papers, which appeared in the same year,
1869, Lothar Meyer and Mendeléeff gave to all these trials the shape now
generally adopted. They succeeded in proving beyond all doubt that this
series was of a _periodic character_, and could be cut into shorter
pieces of similar construction. Here again gaps were present to be
filled up by elements to be discovered, and Mendeléeff, who did this,
predicted from the general regularity of his table the properties of
such unknown elements. In this case fate was more kind than with
Richter, and science had the satisfaction of seeing these predictions
turn out to be true.
The following table contains this periodic arrangement of the elements
according to their atomic weight. By cutting the whole series into
pieces of eight elements (or more in several cases) and arranging these
one below another in the alternating way shown in the table, one finds
similar elements placed in vertical series whose properties change
gradually and with some regularity according to their place in the
table. Not only the properties of the uncombined elements obey this
rule, but also almost all properties of similar compounds of the
elements.
+--------+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------------------------+
|He 4.0 |Li 7.03 |Be 9.1 |B 11.0 |C 12.00 |N 14.01 |O 16.00 |F 19.0 | .. .. .. |
| Ne 20 | Na 23.00 | Mg 24.32| Al 27.1 | Si 28.4 | P 31.0 | S 32.06 | Cl 35.45| .. .. .. |
|Ar 39.9 |K 39.15 |Ca 40.1 |Sc 44.1 |Ti 48.1 |V 51.2 |Cr 52.0 |Mn 55.0 |Fe 55.9, Ni 58.7, Co 59.0 |
| .. | Cu 63.6 | In 65.4 | Ga 70 | Ge 72.5 | As 75.0 | Se 79.2 | Br 79.96| .. .. .. |
|Kr 83.0 |Rb 85.5 |Sr 87.6 |Y 89.0 |Zr 90.6 |Cb(Nb) 94 |Mo 96.0 | .. |Ru 101.7, Rh 103.0, Pd 106.5|
| .. | Ag 107.93| Cd 112.4| In 115 | Sn 119.0| Sb 120.2| Te 127.6| I 126.97| .. .. .. |
|Xe 130.7|Cs 132.9 |Ba 137.4 |La 138.9 |Ce &c. 140|Ta 181 |W 184 | .. |Os 191, Ir 193.0, Pt 194.8 |
| .. | Au 197.2 | Hg 200.0| Tl 204.1| Pb 206.9| Bi 208.0| .. | .. | .. .. .. |
| .. | .. |Ra 225 | .. |Th 232.5 | .. |U 238.5 | .. | .. .. .. |
+--------+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------------------------+
But upon closer investigation it must be confessed that these
regularities can be called only rules, and not laws. In the first line
one would expect that the steps in the values of the atomic weights
should be regular, but it is not so. There are even cases when it is
necessary to invert the order of the atomic weights to satisfy the
chemical necessities. Thus argon has a larger number than potassium, but
must precede it to fit into its proper place. The same is true of
tellurium and iodine. It looks as if the real elements were scattered
somewhat haphazard on a regular table, or as if some independent factor
were active to disturb an existing regularity. It may be that the new
facts mentioned above will lead also to an explanation of these
irregularities; at present we must recognize them and not try to explain
them away. Such considerations have to be kept in mind especially in
regard to the very numerous attempts to express the series of combining
weights in a mathematical form. In several cases rather surprising
agreements were found, but never without exception. It looks as if some
very important factor regulating the whole matter is still unknown, and
before this has been elucidated no satisfactory treatment of the matter
is possible. It seems therefore premature to enter into the details of
these speculations.
Transmutation of elements.
In recent times not only our belief in the absolute exactness of the law
of the conservation of weight has been shaken, but also our belief in
the law of the conservation of the elements. The wonderful substance
radium, whose existence has made us to revise quite a number of old and
established views, seems to be a fulfilment of the old problem of the
alchemists. It is true that by its help lead is not changed into gold,
but radium not only changes itself into another element, helium
(Ramsay), but seems also to cause other elements to change. Work in this
line is of present day origin only and we do not know what new laws will
be found to regulate these most unexpected reactions (see
RADIOACTIVITY). But we realize once more that no law can be regarded as
free from criticism and limitation; in the whole realm of exact sciences
there is no such thing as the Absolute.
Prout's assumption.
Another question regarding the values of atomic weights was raised very
soon after their first establishment. From the somewhat inexact first
determinations William Prout concluded that all atomic weights are
multiples of the atomic weight of hydrogen, thus suggesting all other
elements to be probably made up from condensed hydrogen. Berzelius found
his determinations not at all in accordance with this assumption, and
strongly opposed the arbitrary rounding off of the numbers practised by
the partisans of Prout's hypothesis. His hypothesis remained alive,
although almost every chemist who did _exact_ atomic weight
determinations, especially Stas, contradicted it severely. Even in our
time it seems to have followers, who hope that in some way the existing
experimental differences may disappear. But one of the most important
and best-known relations, that between _hydrogen_ and _oxygen_, is
certainly different from the simple ratio 1 : 16, for it has been
determined by a large number of different investigators and by different
methods to be undoubtedly lower, namely, 1 : 15.87. Therefore, if
Prout's hypothesis contain an element of truth, by the act of
condensation of some simpler substance into the present chemical
elements a change of weight also must have occurred, such that the
weight of the element did not remain exactly the weight of the simpler
substance which changed into it. We have already remarked that such
phenomena are not yet known with certainty, but they cannot be regarded
as utterly impossible.
International table of atomic weights.
It may here be mentioned that the internationality of science has shown
itself active also in the question of atomic weights. These numbers
undergo incessantly small variations because of new work done for their
determination. To avoid the uncertainty arising from this inevitable
state of affairs, an international committee was formed by the
co-operation of the leading chemical societies all over the world, and
an international table of the most probable values is issued every year.
The following table is that for 1910:--
_International Atomic Weights_, 1910.
Atomic | Atomic
Weights. | Weights.
Name. Symbol. O = 16. | Name. Symbol. O = 16.
|
Aluminium Al 27.1 | Mercury Hg 200.0
Antimony Sb 120.2 | Molybdenum Mo 96.0
Argon Ar 39.9 | Neodymium Nd 144.3
Arsenic As 74.96 | Neon Ne 20.0
Barium Ba 137.37 | Nickel Ni 58.68
Beryllium Be \ 9.1 | Nitrogen N 14.01
(Glucinum) Gl / | Osmium Os 190.9
Bismuth Bi 208.0 | Oxygen O 16.00
Boron B 11.0 | Palladium Pd 106.7
Bromine Br 79.92 | Phosphorus P 31.0
Cadmium Cd 112.40 | Platinum Pt 195.0
Caesium Cs 132.81 | Potassium K 39.10
Calcium Ca 40.09 | Praseodymium Pr 140.6
Carbon C 12.00 | Radium Ra 226.4
Cerium Ce 140.25 | Rhodium Rh 102.9
Chlorine Cl 35.46 | Rubidium Rb 85.45
Chromium Cr 52.0 | Ruthenium Ru 101.7
Cobalt Co 58.97 | Samarium Sm 150.4
Columbium Cb \ 93.5 | Scandium Sc 44.1
(Niobium) (Nb) / | Selenium Se 79.2
Copper Cu 63.57 | Silicon Si 28.3
Dysprosium Dy 162.5 | Silver Ag 107.88
Erbium Er 167.4 | Sodium Na 23.00
Europium Eu 152.0 | Strontium Sr 87.62
Fluorine F 19.0 | Sulphur S 32.07
Gadolinium Gd 157.3 | Tantalum Ta 181.0
Gallium Ga 69.9 | Tellurium Te 127.5
Germanium Ge 72.5 | Terbium Th 159.2
Gold Au 197.2 | Thallium Tl 204.0
Helium He 4.0 | Thorium Th 232.42
Hydrogen H 1.008 | Thulium Tm 168.5
Indium In 114.8 | Tin Sn 119.0
Iodine I 126.92 | Titanium Ti 48.1
Iridium Ir 193.1 | Tungsten W 184.0
Iron Fe 55.85 | Uranium U 238.5
Krypton Kr 83.0 | Vanadium V 51.2
Lanthanum La 139.0 | Xenon Xe 130.7
Lead Pb 207.10 | Ytterbium
Lithium Li 7.00 | (Neoytterbium) Yb 172.0
Lutecium Lu 174.0 | Yttrium Y 89.0
Magnesium Mg 24.32 | Zinc Zn 65.37
Manganese Mn 54.93 | Zirconium Zr 90.6
Concluding remarks.
In the long and manifold development of the concept of the element one
idea has remained prominent from the very beginning down to our times:
it is the idea of a primordial matter. Since the naive statement of
Thales that all things came from water, chemists could never reconcile
themselves to the fact of the conservation of the elements. By an
experimental investigation which extended over five centuries and more,
the impossibility of transmuting one element into another--for example,
lead into gold--was demonstrated in the most extended way, and
nevertheless this law has so little entered the consciousness of the
chemists that it is seldom explicitly stated even in carefully written
text-books. On the other side the attempts to reduce the manifoldness of
the actual chemical elements to one single primordial matter have never
ceased, and the latest development of science seems to endorse such a
view. It is therefore necessary to consider this question from a most
general standpoint.
In physical science, the chemical elements may be compared with such
concepts as _mass_, _momentum_, _quantity of electricity_, _entropy_ and
such like. While mass and entropy are determined univocally by a unit
and a number, quantity of electricity has a unit, a number and a sign,
for it can be positive as well as negative. Momentum has a unit, a
number and a direction in space. Elements do not have a common unit as
the former magnitudes, but every element has its own unit, and there is
no transition from one to another. All these magnitudes underlie a law
of conservation, but to a very different degree. While mass was
considered as absolutely invariable in the classical mechanics, the
newer theories of the electrical constitution of matter make mass
dependent on the velocity of the moving electron. Momentum also is not
entirely conservative because it can be changed by light-pressure.
Entropy is known as constantly increasing, remaining constant only in an
ideal limiting case. With chemical elements we observe the same thing as
with momentum; though till recently considered as conservative, there is
now experimental evidence that they do not always show this character.
Generally the laws of the conservation of mass, weight and elements are
expressed as the "law of the conservation of matter." But this
expression lacks scientific exactness because the term "matter" is
generally not defined exactly, and because only the above-named
properties of ponderable objects do not change, while all other
properties do to a greater or less extent. Considered in the most
general way, we may define matter as a complex of gravitational, kinetic
and chemical energies, which are found to cling together in the same
space. Of these energies the capacity factors, namely, weight, mass and
elements, are conservative as described, while the intensity factors,
potential, velocity and affinity, may change in wide limits. To explain
why we find these energies constantly combined one with another, we only
have to think of a mass without gravity or a ponderable body without
mass. The first could not remain on earth because every movement would
carry it into infinite space, and the second would acquire infinite
velocity by the slightest push and would also disappear at once.
Therefore only such objects which have both mass and weight can be
handled and can be objects of our knowledge. In the same way all other
energies come to our knowledge only by being (at least temporarily)
associated with this combination of mass and weight. This is the true
meaning of the term "matter."
In this line of ideas matter appears not at all as a primary concept,
but as a complex one; there is therefore no reason to consider matter as
the last term of scientific analysis of chemical facts, and the idea of
a primordial matter appears as a survival from the very first beginning
of European natural philosophy. The most general concept science has
developed to express the variety of experience is _energy_, and in terms
of energy (combined with number, magnitudes, time and space) all
observed and observable experiences are to be described. (W. O.)
ELEMI, an oleo-resin (Manilla elemi) obtained in the Philippine Islands,
probably from _Canarium commune_ (nat. ord. Burseraceae), which when
fresh and of good quality is a pale yellow granular substance, of
honey-like consistency, but which gradually hardens with age. It is
soluble in alcohol and ether, and has a spicy taste with a smell like
fennel. In the 17th and 18th centuries the term elemi usually denoted an
oleo-resin (American or Brazilian elemi) obtained from trees of the
genus _Icica_ in Brazil, and still earlier it meant oriental or African
elemi, derived from _Boswellia Frereana_, which flourishes in the
neighbourhood of Cape Gardafui. The word, like the older term _animi_,
appears to have been derived from _enhaemon_ (Gr. [Greek: ênaimon]), the
name of a styptic medicine said by Pliny to contain tears exuded by the
olive tree of Arabia.
ELEPHANT, the designation of the two existing representatives of the
_Proboscidea_, a sub-order of ungulate mammals, and also extended to
include their more immediate extinct relatives. As the distinctive
characteristics of the sub-order, and also of the single existing genus
_Elephas_, are given in the article PROBOSCIDEA, it will suffice to
point out how the two existing species are distinguished from one
another.
The more specialized of the two species is the Indian or Asiatic
elephant, _Elephas maximus_, specially characterized by the extreme
complexity of the structure of its molar teeth, which are composed of a
great number of tall and thin plates of enamel and dentine, with the
intervals filled by cement (see PROBOSCIDEA, fig. 1). The average number
of plates of the six successive molar teeth may be expressed by the
"ridge-formula" 4, 8, 12, 12, 16, 24. The plates are compressed from
before backwards, the anterior and posterior surfaces (as seen in the
worn grinding face of the tooth) being nearly parallel. Ears of
moderate size. Upper margin of the end of the proboscis developed into a
distinct finger-like process, much longer than the lower margins, and
the whole trunk uniformly tapering and smooth. Five nails on the
fore-feet, and four (occasionally five) on the hind-feet.
The Asiatic elephant inhabits the forest-lands of India, Burma, the
Malay Peninsula, Cochin China, Ceylon and Sumatra. Elephants from the
last-named islands present some variations from those of the mainland,
and have been separated under the names of _E. zeylonicus_ and _E.
sumatranus_, but they are not more than local races, and the Ceylon
animal, which is generally tuskless, may be the typical _E. maximus_, in
which case the Indian race will be _E. maximus indicus_. The appearance
of the Asiatic elephant is familiar to all. In the wild state it is
gregarious, associating in herds of ten, twenty or more individuals,
and, though it may under certain circumstances become dangerous, it is
generally inoffensive and even timid, fond of shade and solitude and the
neighbourhood of water. The height of the male at the shoulder when full
grown is usually from 8 to 10 ft., occasionally as much as 11, and
possibly even more. The female is somewhat smaller.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. Asiatic Elephant (_Elephas maximus_).]
The following epitome of the habits of the Asiatic elephants is
extracted from _Great and Small Game of India and Tibet_, by R.
Lydekker:--
"The structure of the teeth is sufficient to indicate that the food
consists chiefly of grass, leaves, succulent shoots and fruits; and this
has been found by observation to be actually the case. In this respect
the Asiatic species differs very widely from its African relative, whose
nutriment is largely composed of boughs and roots. Another difference
between the two animals is to be found in the great intolerance of the
direct rays of the sun displayed by the Asiatic species, which never
voluntarily exposes itself to their influence. Consequently, during the
hot season in Upper India, and at all times except during the rains in
the more southern districts, elephants keep much to the denser parts of
the forests. In Southern India they delight in hill-forest, where the
undergrowth is largely formed of bamboo, the tender shoots of which form
a favourite delicacy; but during the rains they venture out to feed on
the open grass tracts. Water is everywhere essential to their
well-being; and no animals delight more thoroughly in a bath. Nor are
they afraid to venture out of their depth, being excellent swimmers, and
able, by means of their trunks, to breathe without difficulty when the
entire body is submerged. The herds, which are led by females, appear in
general to be family parties; and although commonly restricted to from
thirty to fifty, may occasionally include as many as one hundred head.
The old bulls are very generally solitary for a considerable portion of
the year, but return to the herds during the pairing season. Some
'rogue' elephants--_gunda_ of the natives--remain, however, permanently
separated from the rest of their kind. All such solitary bulls, as their
colloquial name indicates, are of a spiteful disposition; and it appears
that with the majority the inducement to live apart is due to their
partiality for cultivated crops, into which the more timid females are
afraid to venture. 'Must' elephants are males in a condition
of--probably sexual--excitement, when an abundant discharge of dark oily
matter exudes from two pores in the forehead. In addition to various
sounds produced at other times, an elephant when about to charge gives
vent to a shrill loud 'trumpet'; and on such occasions rushes on its
adversary with its trunk safely rolled up out of danger, endeavouring
either to pin him to the ground with its tusks (if a male tusker) or to
trample him to death beneath its ponderous knees or feet."
Exact information in regard to the period of gestation of the female is
still lacking, the length of the period being given from eighteen to
twenty-two months by different authorities. The native idea, which may
be true, is that the shorter period occurs in the case of female and the
longer in that of male calves. In India elephants seldom breed in
captivity, though they do so more frequently in Burma and Siam; the
domesticated stock is therefore replenished by fresh captures.
Occasionally two calves are produced at a birth, although the normal
number is one. Calves suckle with their mouths and not with their
trunks. Unlike the African species, the Indian elephant charges with its
trunk curled up, and consequently in silence.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Immature African Elephant (_Elephas africanus_).]
As regards their present distribution in India, elephants are found
along the foot of the Himalaya as far west as the valley of Dehra-Dun,
where the winter temperature falls to a comparatively low point. A
favourite haunt used to be the swamp of Azufghur, lying among the
sal-forests to the northward of Meerut. In the great tract of forest
between the Ganges and Kistna rivers they occur locally as far west as
Bilaspur and Mandla; they are met with in the Western Ghats as far north
as between latitude 17° and 18°, and are likewise found in the
hill-forests of Mysore, as well as still farther south. In this part of
the peninsula they ascend the hills to a considerable height, as they do
in the Newara Eliya district of Ceylon, where they have been encountered
at an elevation of over 7000 ft. There is evidence that about three
centuries ago elephants wandered in the forests of Malwa and Nimar,
while they survived to a later date in the Chanda district of the
Central Provinces. At the comparatively remote epoch when the Deccan was
a forest tract, they were probably also met with there, but the swamps
of the Bengal Sundarbans appear unsuited to their habits.
Of tusks, the three longest specimens on record respectively measure 8
ft. 9 in., 8 ft. 2 in. and 8 ft.; their respective weights being 81, 80
and 90 lb. These are, however, by no means the heaviest--one, whose
length is 7 ft. 3-3/8 in., weighing 102 lb.; while a second, of which
the length is 7 ft. 3¼ in., scaled 97½ lb. Of the largest pair in the
possession of the British Museum, which belonged to an elephant killed
in 1866 by Colonel G.M. Payne in Madras, one tusk measures 6 ft. 8 in.
in length, and weighs 77¾ lb., the other being somewhat smaller. It
should be added that some of these large tusks came from Ceylon; such
tuskers being believed to be descended from mainland animals imported
into the island. "White" elephants are partial or complete albinos, and
are far from uncommon in Burma and Siam. Young Indian elephants are
hairy, thus showing affinity with the mammoth.
The African elephant is a very different animal from its Asiatic cousin,
both as regards structure and habits; and were it not for the existence
of intermediate extinct species, might well be regarded as the
representative of a distinct genus. Among its characteristics the
following points are noticeable. The molar teeth are of coarse
construction, with fewer and larger plates and thicker enamel; the
ridge-formula being 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10; while the plates are not
flattened, but thicker in the middle than at the edges, so that their
worn grinding-surfaces are lozenge-shaped. Ears very large. The upper
and lower margins of the end of the trunk form two nearly equal
prehensile lips. Only three toes on the hind-foot. A very important
distinction is to be found in the conformation of the trunk, which, as
shown in fig. 2, looks as though composed of a number of segments,
gradually decreasing in size from base to tip like the joints of a
telescope, instead of tapering gradually and evenly from one extremity
to the other. The females have relatively large tusks, which are
essential in obtaining their food. Except where exterminated by human
agency (and this has been accomplished to a deplorable extent), the
African elephant is a native of the wooded districts of the whole of
Africa south of the Sahara. It is hunted chiefly for the sake of the
ivory of its immense tusks, of which it yields the principal source of
supply to the European market, and the desire to obtain which is rapidly
leading to the extermination of the species. In size the male African
elephant often surpasses the Asiatic species, reaching nearly 12 ft. in
some cases. The circumference of the fore-foot is half the height at the
shoulder, a circumstance which enables sportsmen to estimate
approximately the size of their quarry. A tusk in the British Museum
measures 10 ft. 2 in. in length, with a basal girth of 24 in. and a
weight of 226½ lb.; but a still longer, although lighter, tusk was
brought to London in 1905.
Several local races of African elephant have been described, mainly
distinguished from one another by the form and size of the ears, shape
of the head, &c. The most interesting of these is the pigmy Congo race,
_E. africanus pumilio_, named on the evidence of an immature specimen in
the possession of C. Hagenbeck, the well-known animal-dealer of Hamburg,
in 1905. According to Hagenbeck's estimate, this elephant, which came
from the French Congo, was about six years old at the time it came under
scientific notice. Moreover, in the opinion of the same observer, it is
in no wise an abnormally dwarfed or ill-grown representative of the
normal type of African elephant, but a well-developed adolescent animal.
In height it stood about the same as a young individual of the ordinary
African elephant when about a year and a half old, the vertical
measurement at the shoulder being only 4 ft., or merely a foot higher
than a new-born Indian elephant. Hagenbeck's estimate of its age was
based on the presence of well-developed tusks, and the relative
proportion of the fore and hind limbs, which are stated to show
considerable differences in the case of the African elephant according
to age. Nothing was stated as to the probability of an increase in the
stature of the French Congo animal as it grows older; but even if we
allow another foot, its height would be considerably less than half that
of a large Central African bull of the ordinary elephant.
By Dr Paul Matschie several races of the African elephant have been
described, mainly, as already mentioned, on certain differences in the
shape of the ear. From the two West African races (_E. a. cyclotis_ and
_E. a. oxyotis_) the dwarf Congo elephant is stated to be distinguished
by the shape of its ear; comparison in at least one instance having been
made with an immature animal. The relatively small size of the ear is
one of the most distinctive characteristics of the dwarf race. Further,
the skin is stated to be much less rough, with fewer cracks, while a
more important difference occurs in the trunk, which lacks the
transverse ridges so distinctive of the ordinary African elephant, and
thereby approximates to the Asiatic species.
If the differences in stature and form are constant, there can be no
question as to the right of the dwarf Congo elephant to rank as a
well-marked local race; the only point for consideration being whether
it should not be called a species. The great interest in connexion with
a dwarf West African race of elephant is in relation to the fossil pigmy
elephants of the limestone fissures and caves of Malta and Cyprus.
Although some of these elephants are believed not to have been larger
than donkeys, the height of others may be estimated at from 4 to 5 ft.,
or practically the same as that of the dwarf Congo race. By their
describers, the dwarf European elephants were regarded as distinct
species, under the names of _Elephas melitensis_, _E. mnaidriensis_ and
_E. cypriotes_; but since their molar teeth are essentially miniatures
of those of the African elephant, it has been suggested by later
observers that these animals are nothing more than dwarf races of the
latter. This view may receive some support from the occurrence of a
dwarf form of the African elephant in the Congo; and if we regard the
latter as a subspecies of _Elephas africanus_, it seems highly probable
that a similar position will have to be assigned to the pigmy European
fossil elephants. If, on the other hand, the dwarf Congo elephant be
regarded as a species, then the Maltese and Cyprian elephants may have
to be classed as races of _Elephas pumilio_; or, rather, _E. pumilio_
will have to rank as a race of the Maltese species. In this connexion it
is of interest to note that, both in the Mediterranean islands and in
West Africa, dwarf elephants of the African type are accompanied by
pigmy species of hippopotamus, although we have not yet evidence to show
that in Africa the two animals occupy actually the same area. Still, the
close relationship of the existing Liberian pigmy hippopotamus to the
fossil Mediterranean species is significant, in relation to the
foregoing observations on the elephant.
It may be added that fossil remains of the African elephant have been
obtained from Spain, Sicily, Algeria and Egypt, in strata of the
Pleistocene age. Some of the main differences in the habits of the
African as distinct from those of the Asiatic elephant have been
mentioned under the heading of the latter species. The most important of
these are the greater tolerance by the African animal of sunlight, and
the hard nature of its food, which consists chiefly of boughs and roots.
The latter are dug up with the tusks; the left one being generally
employed in this service, and thus becoming much more worn than its
fellow. (R. L.*)
ELEPHANTA ISLE (called by the natives _Gharapuri_), a small island
between Bombay and the mainland of India, situated about 6 m. from
Bombay. It is nearly 5 m. in circumference, and the few inhabitants it
contains are employed in the cultivation of rice, and in rearing sheep
and poultry for the Bombay market. The island, till within recent times,
was almost entirely overgrown with wood; it contains several springs of
good water. There are also important quarries of building stone. But it
owes its chief celebrity to the mythological excavations and sculptures
of Hindu superstition which it contains. Opposite to the landing-place
was a colossal statue of an elephant, cracked and mutilated, from which
the island received from the Portuguese the name it still bears. The
statue was removed in 1864, and may now be seen in the Victoria Gardens,
Bombay. At a short distance from this spot is a cave, the entrance to
which is nearly 60 ft. wide and 18 high, supported by pillars cut out of
the rock; the sides are sculptured into numerous compartments,
containing representations of the Hindu deities, but many of the figures
have been defaced by the zeal of the Mahommedans and Portuguese. In the
centre of the excavations is a remarkable _Trimurti_ or bust, formerly
thought to represent the Hindu Triad, namely, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu
the Preserver, and Siva or Mahadeva the Destroyer, but now held to be a
triform representation of Siva alone. The heads are from 4 to 5 ft. in
length, and are well cut, and the faces, with the exception of the under
lip, are handsome. The head-dresses are curiously ornamented; and one of
the figures holds in it's hand a cobra, while on the cap are, amongst
other symbols, a human skull and an infant. On each side of the Trimurti
is a pilaster, the front of which is filled up by a human figure leaning
on a dwarf, both much defaced. There is a large compartment to the
right, hollowed a little, and covered with a great variety of figures,
the largest of which is 16 ft. high, representing the double figure of
Siva and Parvati, named Viraj, half male and half female. On the right
is Brahma, four-faced, on a lotus--one of the very few representations
of this god which now exist in India; and on the left is Vishnu. On the
other side of the Trimurti is another compartment with various figures
of Siva and Parvati, the most remarkable of which is Siva in his
vindictive character, eight-handed, with a collet of skulls round his
neck. On the right of the entrance to the cave is a square apartment,
supported by eight colossal figures, containing a gigantic symbol of
Mahadeva or Siva cut out of the rock. In a ravine connected with the
great cave are two other caves, also containing sculptures, which,
however, have been much defaced owing to the action of damp and the
falling of the rocks; and in another hill is a fourth cave. This
interesting retreat of Hindu religious art is said to have been
dedicated to Siva, but it contains numerous representations of other
Hindu deities. It has, however, for long been a place not so much of
worship as of archaeological and artistic interest alike to the European
and Hindu traveller. It forms a wonderful monument of antiquity, and
must have been a work of incredible labour. Archaeological authorities
are of opinion that the cave must have been excavated about the 10th
century of the Christian era, if not earlier. The island is much
frequented by the British residents of Bombay; and during his tour in
India in 1875 King Edward VII., then prince of Wales, was entertained
there at a banquet.
ELEPHANTIASIS (_Barbadoes leg_; _Boucnemia_), is a disease dependent on
chronic lymphatic obstruction, and characterized by hypertrophy of the
skin and subcutaneous tissue. Two distinct forms are known, (1)
elephantiasis arabum, due to the development of living parasites,
filaria sanguinis hominis (or filaria Bancrofti), and (2) the
non-filarial form due to lymphatic obstruction from any other cause
whatsoever, as erysipelas, the deposit of tuberculous or cancerous
material in the lymphatic glands, phlegmasia dolens (white leg),
long-continued eczema, &c. The enlargement is limited to a particular
part of the body, generally one, or in rare cases both of the lower
limbs, occasionally the scrotum, one of the labiae or the mammary gland;
far more rarely the face. An attack is usually ushered in by febrile
disturbance (elephantoid fever), the part attacked becoming rapidly
swollen, and the skin tense and red as in erysipelas. The subcutaneous
tissues become firm, infiltrated and hard, pitting only on considerable
pressure. The skin becomes roughened with a network of dilated
lymphatics, and vesicles and bullae may form, discharging a chyle-like
fluid when broken (lymphorrhoea). In a later stage still the skin may be
coarse and wart-like, and there is a great tendency for varicose ulcers
to form. At the end of a variable time enlargement ceases to take place,
and the disease enters a quiescent state: but recrudescences occur at
irregular intervals, always ushered in by elephantoid fever. At the end
of some years the attacks of fever cease, and the affected part remains
permanently swollen. The only difference in the history of the two forms
of the disease lies in the fact that the non-filarial form progresses
steadily, until either the underlying condition is cured, or in the case
of cancer, &c., brings about a fatal issue. The elephantiasis due to
filaria is spread by the agency of mosquitoes, in whose bodies the
intermediate stage is passed. The dead mosquito falls upon the water,
which thus becomes infected, and hence the ova reach the human stomach.
The young worm develops, bores through the gastric mucous membrane and
finally becomes lodged in the lymphatics, usually of one or other of the
extremities. A large number of embryonic filariae are produced. Some
remain in the lymphatic spaces and cause lymphatic obstruction, while
others enter the blood stream by night (filaria nocturna), or by day
(filaria diurna). It is supposed that a mosquito, biting an infected
person, itself becomes infected with the blood it abstracts, and that so
a new generation is developed.
Treatment for this condition is unsatisfactory. Occasionally the dilated
lymph trunks can be found, and an operation performed to implant them in
some vein (lymphangeioplasty). And in some few other cases artificial
lymphatics have been made by introducing sterilized silk thread in the
subcutaneous tissues of the affected part, and prolonging it into the
normal tissues. This operation has been most successful when performed
on elephantoid arms dependent on a late stage of cancerous breast.
Elevation of the limb and elastic pressure should always be tried, but
often amputation has to be resorted to in the end. The disease is
totally different from the so-called elephantiasis graecorum or true
leprosy, for which see LEPROSY.
ELEPHANT'S-FOOT, the popular name for the plant _Testudinaria
elephantipes_, a native of the Cape of Good Hope. It takes its name from
the large tuberous stem, which grows very slowly but often reaches a
considerable size, e.g. more than 3 yds. in circumference with a height
of nearly 3 ft. above ground. It is rich in starch, whence the name
Hottentot bread, and is covered on the outside with thick, hard, corky
plates. It develops slender, leafy, climbing shoots which die down each
season. It is a member of the monocotyledonous order Dioscoreaceae,
climbing plants with slender herbaceous or shrubby shoots, to which
belong the yam and the British black bryony, _Tamus communis_.
ELETS, a town of Russia, in the government of Orel, 122 m. by rail
E.S.E. of Orel, on the railway which connects Riga with Tsaritsyn on the
lower Volga. Pop. (1883) 36,680; (1900) 38,239. Owing to its
advantageous position Elets has grown rapidly. Its merchants buy large
quantities of grain, and numerous flour-mills, many of them driven by
steam, prepare flour, which is forwarded to Moscow and Riga. The trade
in cattle is very important. Elets has the first grain elevator erected
in Russia (1887), a railway school, and important tanneries, foundries
for cast iron and copper, tallow-melting works, limekilns and
brickworks. The cathedral and two monasteries contain venerated historic
relics.
Elets is first mentioned in 1147, when it was a fort of Ryazan. The
Turkish Polovtsi or Kumans attacked it in the 12th century, and the
Mongols destroyed it during their first invasion (1239) and again in
1305. The Tatars plundered it in 1415 and 1450; and it seems to have
been completely abandoned in the latter half of the 15th century. Its
development dates from the second half of the 17th century, when it
became a centre for the trade with south Russia.
ELEUSIS, an ancient Greek city in Attica about 14 m. N.W. of Athens,
occupying the eastern part of a rocky ridge close to the shore opposite
the island of Salamis. Its fame is due chiefly to its Mysteries, for
which see MYSTERY. Tradition carries back the origin of Eleusis to the
highest antiquity. In the earlier period of its history it seems to have
been an independent rival of Athens, and it was afterwards reckoned one
of the twelve Old Attic cities. A considerable portion of its small
territory was occupied by the plains of Thria, noticeable for their
fertility, though the hopes of the husbandmen were not unfrequently
disappointed by the blight of the south wind. To the west was the
[Greek: Pedion Rharion] or Rharian Plain, where Demeter is said to have
sown the first seeds of corn; and on its confines was the field called
Orgas, planted with trees consecrated to Demeter and Persephone. The
sacred buildings were destroyed by Alaric in A.D. 396, and it is not
certain whether they were restored before the extinction of all pagan
rites by Theodosius. The present village on the site is of Albanian
origin; it is called Lefsina or Lepsina, officially [Greek: Elensis].
[Illustration: Map of Eleusis.]
_The Site._--Systematic excavations, begun in 1882 by D. Philios for the
Greek Archaeological Society, have laid bare the whole of the sacred
precinct. It is now possible to trace its boundaries as extended at
various periods, and also many successive stages in the history of the
Telesterion, or Hall of Initiation. These complete excavations have
shown the earlier and partial excavations to have been in some respects
deceptive.
In front of the main entrance of the precinct is a large paved area,
with the foundations of a temple in it, usually identified as that of
Artemis Propylaea; in their present form both area and temple date from
Roman times; and on each side of the Great Propylaea are the foundations
of a Roman triumphal arch. Just below the steps of the Propylaea, on the
left as one enters, there has been discovered, at a lower level than the
Roman pavement, the curb surrounding an early well. This is almost
certainly the [Greek: kallichoron phrear] mentioned by Pausanias. The
Great Propylaea is a structure of Roman imperial date, in close
imitation of the Propylaea on the Athenian Acropolis. It is, however,
set in a wall of 6th-century work, though repaired in later times. This
wall encloses a sort of outer court, of irregular triangular shape. The
Small Propylaea is not set exactly opposite to the Great Propylaea, but
at an angle to it; an inscription on the architrave records that it was
built by Appius Claudius Pulcher, the contemporary of Cicero. It is also
set in a later wall that occupies approximately the same position as two
earlier ones, which date from the 6th and 5th centuries respectively,
and must have indicated the boundary of the inner precinct. From the
Small Propylaea a paved road of Roman date leads to one of the doors of
the Telesterion. Above the Small Propylaea, partly set beneath the
overhanging rock, is the precinct of Pluto; it has a curious natural
cleft approached by rock-cut steps. Several inscriptions and other
antiquities were found here, including the famous head, now in Athens,
usually called Eubouleus, though the evidence for its identification is
far from satisfactory. A little farther on is a rock-cut platform, with
a well, approached by a broad flight of steps, which probably served for
spectators of the sacred procession. Beyond this, close to the side of
the Telesterion, are the foundations of a temple on higher ground; it
has been conjectured that this was the temple of Demeter, but there is
no evidence that such a building existed in historic times, apart from
the Telesterion.
The Telesterion, or Hall of Initiation, was a large covered building,
about 170 ft. square. It was surrounded on all sides by steps, which
must have served as seats for the mystae, while the sacred dramas and
processions took place on the floor of the hall: these seats were partly
built up, partly cut in the solid rock; in later times they appear to
have been cased with marble. There were two doors on each side of the
hall, except the north-west, where it is cut out of the solid rock, and
a rock terrace at a higher level adjoins it; this terrace may have been
the station of those who were not yet admitted to the full initiation.
The roof of the hall was carried by rows of columns, which were more
than once renewed.
The architectural history of the hall has been traced by Professor W.
Dörpfeld with the help of the various foundations that have been brought
to light. The earliest building on the site is a small rectangular
structure, with walls of polygonal masonry, built of the rock quarried
on the spot. This was succeeded by a square hall, almost of the same
plan as the later Telesterion, but about a quarter of the size; its
eastern corner coincides with that of the later building, and it appears
to have had a portico in front like that which, in the later hall, was a
later addition. Its roof was carried by columns, of which the bases can
still be seen. This building has with great probability been assigned to
the time of Peisistratus; it was destroyed by the Persians. Between this
event and the erection of the present hall, which must be substantially
the one designed by Ictinus in the time of Pericles, there must have
been a restoration, of which we may see the remains in a set of round
sinkings to carry columns, which occur only in the north-east part of
the hall; a set of bases arranged on a different system occur in the
south-west part, and it is difficult to see how these two systems could
be reconciled unless there were some sort of partition between the two
parts of the hall. Both sets were removed to make way for the later
columns, of which the bases and some of the drums still remain. These
later columns are shown, by inscriptions and other fragments built into
their bases, to belong to later Roman times. At the eastern and southern
corners of the hall of Ictinus are projecting masses of masonry, which
may be the foundation for a portico that was to be added; but perhaps
they were only buttresses, intended to resist the thrust of the roof of
this huge structure, which rested at its northern and western corners
against the solid rock of the hill. On the south-east side the hall is
faced with a portico, extending its whole width; the marble pavement of
this portico is a most conspicuous feature of Eleusis at the present
day. The portico was added to the hall by the architect Philo, under
Demetrius of Phalerum, about the end of the 4th century B.C. It was
never completed, for the fluting of its columns still remains
unfinished.
The Telesterion took up the greater part of the sacred precinct, which
seems merely to have served to keep the profane away from the temple.
The massive walls and towers of the time of Pericles, which resemble
those of a fortress, are quite close in on the south and east; later,
probably in the 4th century B.C., the precinct was extended farther to
the south, and at its end was erected a building of considerable extent,
including a curious apsidal chamber, for which a similar but larger
curved structure was substituted in Roman times. This was probably the
Bouleuterion. The precinct was full of altars, dedications and
inscriptions; and many fragments of sculptures, pottery and other
antiquities, from the earliest to the latest days of Greece, have been
discovered. It is to be noted that the subterranean passages which some
earlier explorers imagined to be connected with the celebration of the
mysteries, have proved to be nothing but cisterns or watercourses.
The excavations of Eleusis, and the antiquities found in them, have
been published from time to time in the [Greek: Ephêmeris
Archaiologikê] and in the [Greek: Praktika] of the Greek
Archaeological Society, especially for 1887 and 1895. See also D.
Philios, _Éleusis, ses mystères, ses ruines, et son musée_.
Inscriptions have also been published in the _Bulletin de
correspondance hellénique_. (E. Gr.)
ELEUTHERIUS, pope from about 175 to 189. Allusions to him are found in
the letters of the martyrs of Lyons, cited by Eusebius, and in other
documents of the time. The _Liber Pontificalis_, at the beginning of the
6th century, says that he had relations with a British king, Lucius, who
was desirous of being converted to Christianity. This tradition--Roman,
not British--is an enigma to critics, and, apparently, has no historical
foundation. (L. D.*)
ELEUTHEROPOLIS (Gr. [Greek: Eleuthera polis], "free city"), an ancient
city of Palestine, 25 m. from Jerusalem on the road to Gaza, identified
by E. Robinson with the modern Beit Jibrin. This identification is
confirmed by Roman milestones in the neighbourhood. It represents the
Biblical Mareshah, the ruins of which exist at Tell Sandahannah close
by. As Betogabra it is mentioned by Ptolemy; the name Eleutheropolis
dates from the Syrian visit of Septimius Severus (A.D. 202). Eusebius in
his _Onomasticon_ uses it as a central point from which the distances of
other towns are measured. It was destroyed in 796, rebuilt by the
crusaders in 1134 (their fortress and chapel remain, much ruined). It
was finally captured by Bibars, 1244. Beit Jibrin is in the centre of a
district of great archaeological interest. Besides the crusader and
other remains in the village itself, the surrounding country possesses
many _tells_ (mounds) covering the sites of ancient cities. The famous
caves of Beit Jibrin honeycomb the hills all round. These are immense
artificial excavations of unknown date. Roman milestones and aqueducts
also are found, and close by the now famous tomb of Apollophanes, with
wall-paintings of animals and other ornamentation, was discovered in
1902; a description of it will be found in Thiersch and Peters, _The
Marissa Tombs_, published by the Palestine Exploration Fund.
(R. A. S. M.)
ELEVATORS, LIFTS or HOISTS, machines for raising or lowering loads,
whether of people or material, from one level to another. They are
operated by steam, hydraulic or electric power, or, when small and
light, by hand. Their construction varies with the magnitude of the work
to be performed and the character of the motive power. In private
houses, where only small weights, as coal, food, &c., have to be
transferred from one floor to another, they usually consist simply of a
small counter-balanced platform suspended from the roof or an upper
floor by a tackle, the running part of which hangs from top to bottom
and can be reached and operated at any level. In buildings where great
weights and numbers of people have to be lifted, or a high speed of
elevation is demanded, some form of motor is necessary. This is usually,
directly or indirectly, a steam-engine or occasionally a gas-engine;
sometimes a water-pressure engine is adopted, and it is becoming more
and more common to employ an electric motor deriving its energy from
the general distribution of the city. Large establishments, hotels or
business houses, commonly have their own source of energy, an electric
or other power "plant," on the premises.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--The Plunger, or Direct Lift Hydraulic Engine.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--The Otis Standard Hydraulic Passenger Lift, with
Pilot Valve and Lever-operating Device.]
Construction of elevators.
The hydraulic elevator is the simplest in construction of elevators
proper, sometimes consisting merely of a long pipe set deeply in the
ground under the cage and containing a correspondingly long plunger,
which rises and falls as required and carries the elevator-cage on its
upper end (fig. 1). The "stroke" is thus necessarily equal to the height
traversed by the cage, with some surplus to keep the plunger steady
within its guiding-pipe. The pipe or pump chamber has a length exceeding
the maximum rise and fall of the plunger, and must be strong enough to
sustain safely the heavy hydraulic pressures needed to raise plunger and
cage with load. The power is usually supplied by a steam pump
(occasionally by a hydraulic motor), which forces water into the chamber
of the great pipe as the elevator rises, a waste-cock drawing off the
liquid in the process of lowering the cage. A single handle within the
cage generally serves to apply the pressure when raising, and to reduce
it when lowering the load. The most common form of hydraulic elevator,
for important work and under usual conditions of operation, as in
cities, consists of a suspended cage, carried by a tackle, the running
part of which is connected with a set of pulleys at each end of a frame
(fig. 2). The rope is made fast at one end, and its intermediate part is
carried round first one pulley at the farther end of the frame and then
round another at the nearer end, and so on as often as is found
advisable in the particular case. The two pulley shafts carrying these
two sets of pulleys are made to traverse the frame in such a way as, by
their separation, to haul in on the running part, or, by their
approximation, to permit the weight of the cage to haul out the rope. By
this alternate hauling and "rendering" of the rope the cage is raised
and lowered. The use of a number of parallel and independent sets of
pulleys and tackles assures safety in case of the breakage of any one,
each being strong enough alone to hold the load. The movement of the
pair of pulley shafts is effected by a water-pressure engine, actuating
the plunger of a pump which is similar to that used in the preceding
apparatus, but being relatively of short stroke and large diameter, is
more satisfactory in design and construction as well as in operation.
Electricity may be applied to elevators of this type by attaching the
travelling sheaves to a nut in which works a screwed shaft driven by an
electric motor. In other electric lifts the cables which support the
cage are wound on a drum which is turned by a motor, the drum being
connected to the motor-shaft either by a series of pinions or by a
worm-gear. The drum may also be worked by a steam or gas engine. Where
the traffic is not very heavy, a form of elevator that requires no
attendant is convenient. In this any one wishing to use the lift has
merely to press a button placed by the side of the lift-gate on the
floor on which he happens to be standing, when the car will come to him;
and having entered it he can cause it to travel to any floor he desires
by pressing another button inside the car. The motive power in such
cases may be either electric or hydraulic, but the control of the
switches or valves that govern the action of the apparatus is electric.
Essentials of design, &c.
The history of the elevator is chronologically extensive, but only since
1850 has rapid or important progress been effected. In that year George
H. Fox & Co. built an elevator operated by the motion of a vertical
screw, the nut on which carried the cage. This device was used in a
number of instances, especially in hotels in the large cities, during
the succeeding twenty years, and was then generally supplanted by the
hydraulic lift of the kind already described as the plunger-lift. With
the increased demand for power, speed, safety, convenience of
manipulation, and comfort in operation, the inventive ability of the
engineer developed the various systems more and more perfectly, and
experience gradually showed to what service each type was best adapted
and the best construction of each for its peculiar work. Whatever the
class, the following are the essentials of design, construction and
operation: the elevator must be safe, comfortable, speedy and
convenient, must not be too expensive in either first cost or
maintenance, and must be absolutely trustworthy. It must not be liable
to fracture of any element of the hoisting gear that will permit either
the fall of the cage or its projection by an overweighted balance
upwards against the top of its shaft. It must be possible to stop it,
whether in regular working or in emergency, or when accident occurs,
with sufficient promptness, yet without endangering life or property, or
even very seriously inconveniencing the passengers. Acceleration and
retardation in starting and stopping must be smooth and easy, the stop
must be capable of being made precisely where and when intended, and no
danger must be incurred by the passengers from contact with running
parts of the mechanism or with the walls and doors of the elevator
shaft.
These requirements have been fully met in the later forms of elevator
commonly employed for passenger service. Usual sizes range from loads of
1000 to 5000 lb. with speeds of from 80 to 250 ft. a minute unloaded,
and 75 to 200 ft. loaded, and a height of travel of from 50 to 200 ft.
In some very tall buildings, as the Singer and Metropolitan buildings in
New York, elevators have been installed having a maximum speed of 600
ft. a minute, with a rise of over 500 ft. Where electric motors are
employed, their speed ranges from 600 and 700 revolutions per minute in
the larger to 1000 and 1200 in the smaller sizes, corresponding to from
20 down to 4 or 5 h.p. Two or more counter-weights are employed, and
from four to six suspension cables ensure as nearly as possible absolute
safety. The electric elevators of the Central London railway are
guaranteed to raise 17,000 lb. 65 ft. in some of its shafts, in 30 secs.
from start to stop. Over 100,000 ft. of 7/8 in. and 17,000 ft. of ¾ in.
steel rope are required for its 24 shafts, and each rope can carry from
16 to 22 tons without breaking. The steel used in the cables, of which
there are four to six for each car and counter-weight, has a tenacity of
85 to 90 tons per sq. in. of section of wire. The maximum pull on each
set of rope is assumed to be not over 9500 lb., the remainder of the
load being taken by the counterbalance. Oil "dash-pots" or buffers, into
which enter plungers attached to the bottom of the cage, prevent too
sudden a stop in case of accident, and safety-clutches with friction
adjustments of ample power and fully tested before use give ample
insurance against a fall even if all the cables should yield at once--an
almost inconceivable contingency. The efficiency, i.e. the ratio of work
performed to power expended in the same time, was in these elevators
found by test to be between 70 and 75%.
[Illustration: FIG. 3. Safety Air-Cushion.]
Safety devices.
Safety devices constitute perhaps the most important of the later
improvements in elevator construction where passengers are carried. The
simplest and, where practicable, most certain of them is the
"air-cushion", a chamber into which the cage drops if detached or from
any cause allowed to fall too rapidly to the bottom, compression of the
air bringing it to rest without shock (fig. 3). This chamber must be
perfectly air-tight, except in so far as a purposely arranged clearance
around the sides, diminishing downwards and in well-established
proportion, is adjusted to permit a "dash-pot" action and to prevent
rebound. The air-cushion should be about one-tenth the depth of the
elevator shaft; in high buildings it may be a well 20 or 30 ft. deep.
The Empire building, in New York, is twenty storeys in height, the total
travel of the cage is 287 ft., and the air-cushion is 50 ft. deep,
extending from the floor of the third storey to the bottom of the shaft.
Sliding doors of great strength, and automatic in action, at the first
and second floors, are the only openings. The shaft is tapered for some
distance below the third floor, and then carried straight to the bottom.
An inlet valve admits air freely as the cage rises, and an adjusted
safety-valve provides against excess pressure. A "car," falling freely
from the twentieth storey, was checked by this arrangement without
injury to a basket of eggs placed on its floor. Other safety devices
consist of catches under the floor of the cage, so arranged that they
are held out of engagement by the pull on the cables. But if the strain
is suddenly relieved, as by breakage of a cable or accident to the
engine or motor, they instantly fly into place and, engaging strong
side-struts in the shaft, hold the car until it can be once more lifted
by its cables. These operate well when the cables part at or near the
car, but they are apt to fail if the break occurs on the opposite side
of the carrying sheaves at the top of the shaft, since the friction and
inertia of the mass of the cables may in that case be sufficient to hold
the pawls out of gear either entirely or until the headway is so great
as to cause the smashing of all resistances when they do engage.
Another principle employed in safety arrangements is the action of
inertia of parts properly formed and attached. Any dangerous
acceleration of the cage causes the inertia of these parts to produce a
retardation relative to the car which throws into action a brake or a
catch, and thus controls the motion within safe limits or breaks the
fall. The hydraulic brake has been used in this apparatus, as have
mechanical and pneumatic apparatus. This control of the speed of fall is
most commonly secured by the employment of a centrifugal or other
governor or regulator. The governor may be on the top of the cage and
driven by a stationary rope fixed between the top and bottom of the
shafts, or it may be placed at the top of the shaft and driven by a rope
travelling with the car. Its action is usually to trip into service a
set of spring grips or friction clutches, which, as a rule, grasp the
guides of the cage and by their immense pressure and great resultant
friction bring the cage to rest within a safe limit of speed, time and
distance. A coefficient of friction of about 15% is assumed in their
design, and this estimate is confirmed by their operation. Pressures of
10 tons or more are sometimes provided in these grips to ensure the
friction required. There are many different forms of safety device of
these various classes, each maker having his own. The importance of
absolute safety against a fall is so great that the best builders are
not satisfied with any one form or principle, but combine provisions
against every known danger, and often duplicate such precautions against
the most common accidents.
The "travelling staircase," which may be classed among the passenger
elevators, usually consists of a staircase so constructed that while the
passenger is ascending it the whole structure is also ascending at a
predetermined rate, so that the progress made is the sum of the two
rates of motion. The system of "treads and risers" is carried on a long
endless band of chain sustained by guides holding it in its desired
line, and rendering at either end over cylinders or sprockets. The
junctions between the stairway and the upper or lower floors are
ingeniously arranged so as to avoid danger of injury to the passengers.
Freight elevators have the same general forms as the passenger
elevators, but are often vastly larger and more powerful, and are not as
a rule fitted up for such heights of lift, or constructed with such
elaborate provision for safety or with any special finish. Elevators
raising grain, coal, earth and similar materials, such as can be taken
up by scooping into a bucket, or can be run into and out of the bucket
by gravity, constitute a class by themselves, and are described in the
article CONVEYORS.
The term "grain elevator" is often used to include buildings as well as
machinery, and it is not unusual in Europe to hear a flour-mill, with
its system of motor machinery, mills, elevator and storage departments,
spoken of as an "American elevator" (see GRANARIES).
ELF (O. Eng. _aelf_; cf. Ger. _Alp_, nightmare), a diminutive
supernatural being of Teutonic mythology, usually of a more or less
mischievous and malignant character, causing diseases and evil dreams,
stealing children and substituting changelings, and thus somewhat
different from the Romanic fairy, which usually has less sinister
associations. The prehistoric arrow-heads and other flint implements
were in England early known as "elf-bolts" or "elf-arrows," and were
looked on as the weapons of the elves, with which they injured cattle.
So too a tangle in the hair was called an "elf-lock," as being caused by
the mischief of the elves.
ELGAR, SIR EDWARD (1857- ), English musical composer, son of W.H.
Elgar, who was for many years organist in the Roman Catholic church of
St George at Worcester, was born there on the 2nd of June 1857. His
father's connexion with music at Worcester, with the Glee Club and with
the Three Choirs Festivals, supplied him with varied opportunities for a
musical education, and he learnt to play several instruments. In 1879 he
became bandmaster at the county lunatic asylum, and held that post till
1884. He was also a member of an orchestra at Birmingham, and in 1883 an
intermezzo by him was played there at a concert. In 1882 he became
conductor of the Worcester Amateur Instrumental Society; and in 1885 he
succeeded his father as organist at St George's, Worcester. There he
wrote a certain amount of church music. In 1889 he moved to London, but
finding no encouragement retired to Malvern in 1891; in 1904 he went to
live at Hereford, and in 1905 was made professor of music at Birmingham
University. To the public generally he was hardly known till his
oratorio _The Dream of Gerontius_ was performed at Birmingham in 1900,
but this was at once received as a new revelation in English music, both
at home and by Richard Strauss in Germany, and the composer was made a
Mus. Doc. at Cambridge. His experience in writing church music for a
Roman Catholic service cannot be overlooked in regard to this and other
works by Elgar, who came to be regarded as the representative of a
Catholic or neo-Catholic style of religious music, for which an
appreciative public was ready in England at the moment, owing to the
recent developments in the more artistic and sensuous side of the
religious movement. And the same interest attached to his later
oratorios, _The Apostles_ (1903) and _The Kingdom_ (1906). But Elgar's
sudden rise into popularity, confirmed by his being knighted in 1904,
drew attention to his other productions. In 1896 his _Scenes from the
Saga of King Olaf_ was recognized by musicians as a fine work, and in
the same year his _Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands_ and _Lux Christi_
were performed; and apart from other important compositions, his
song-cycle _Sea-Pictures_ was sung at Norwich in 1899 by Clara Butt, and
his orchestral _Variations on an original theme_ were given at a Richter
concert in the same year. In 1901 his popular march "Pomp and
Circumstance" was played at a promenade concert, the stirring melody of
his song "Land of Hope and Glory" being effectually utilized. It is
impossible here to enumerate all Sir Edward Elgar's works, which have
excited a good deal of criticism in musical circles without impairing
his general recognition as one of the few front-rank English composers
of his day; but his most important later production, his first
orchestral symphony, produced in 1908 with immediate success, raised his
reputation as a composer to an even higher place, as a work of marked
power and beauty, developing the symphonic form with the originality of
a real master of his art. In 1908 he resigned his professorship at
Birmingham University.
ELGIN, a city of Kane county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the N. part of the
state, 36 m. N.W. of Chicago. Pop. (1880) 8787; (1890) 17,823; (1900)
22,433, of whom 5419 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 25,976. Elgin is
served by the Chicago & North-Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St
Paul railways, and by interurban electric railways to Chicago, Aurora
and Belvidere. The city is the seat of the Northern Illinois hospital
for the insane, of the Elgin Academy (chartered 1839; opened 1856), and
of St Mary's Academy (Roman Catholic); and has the Gail Borden public
library, with 35,000 volumes in 1908. The city has six public parks,
Lord's Park containing 112, and Wing Park 121 acres. The city is in a
fine dairying region and is an important market for butter. Among
Elgin's manufactures are watches and watch-cases, butter and other dairy
products, cooperage (especially butter tubs), canned corn, shirts,
foundry and machine-shop products, pipe-organs, and caskets and casket
trimmings; in 1905 Elgin's total factory product was valued at
$9,349,274. The Elgin National Watch factory, and the Borden
milk-condensing works, are famous throughout the United States and
beyond. The publishing office of the Dunkers, or German Brethren, is at
Elgin; and several popular weeklies with large circulations are
published here. A permanent settlement was made as early as 1835, and
Elgin was chartered as a city in 1854 and was rechartered in 1880.
ELGIN, a royal, municipal and police burgh, and county town of
Elginshire, Scotland, situated on the Lossie, 5 m. S. of Lossiemouth its
port, on the Moray Firth, and 71¼ m. N.W. of Aberdeen, with stations on
the Great North of Scotland and Highland railways. Pop. (1901) 8460. It
is a place of very considerable antiquity, was created a royal burgh by
Alexander I., and received its charter from Alexander II. in 1234.
Edward I. stayed at the castle in 1296 and 1303, and it was to blot out
the memory of his visit that the building was destroyed immediately
after national independence had been reasserted. The hill on which it
stood was renamed the Ladyhill, and on the scanty ruins of the castle
now stands a monument to the 5th duke of Gordon, consisting of a column
surmounted by a statue.
The burgh has suffered periodically from fire, notably in 1452, when
half of it was burnt by the earl of Huntly. Montrose plundered it twice
in 1645. In 1746 Prince Charles Edward spent a few days in Thunderton
House. His hostess, Mrs Anderson, an ardent Jacobite, kept the sheets in
which he slept, and was buried in them on her death, twenty-five years
afterwards. For fifty years after this date the place retained the
character and traditions of a sleepy cathedral city, but with the
approach of the 19th century it was touched by a more modern spirit. As
the result much that was picturesque disappeared, but the prosperity of
Elgin was increased, so that now, owing to its pleasant situation in
"the Garden of Scotland," its healthy climate, cheap living, and
excellent educational facilities, it has become a flourishing community.
The centre of interest is the cathedral of Moray, which was founded in
1224, when the church of the Holy Trinity was converted to this use. It
was partially burned in 1270 and almost destroyed in 1390 by Alexander
Stewart, the Wolf of Badenoch, natural son of Robert II., who had
incurred the censure of the Church. In 1402 Alexander, lord of the
Isles, set fire to the town, but spared the cathedral for a
consideration, in memory of which mercy the Little Cross (so named to
distinguish it from the Muckle or Market Cross, restored in 1888) was
erected. After these outrages it was practically rebuilt on a scale of
grandeur that made it the most magnificent example of church
architecture in the north. Its design was that of a Jerusalem cross,
with two flanking towers at the east end, two at the west end, and one
in the centre, at the intersection of the roofs of the nave and
transepts. It measured 282 ft. long from east to west by 120 ft. across
the transepts, and consisted of the choir, the gable of which was
pierced by two tiers of five lancet windows and the Omega rose window;
the north transept, in which the Dunbars were buried, and the south
transept, the doorway of which is interesting for its dog's-tooth
ornamentation; and the nave of five aisles. The grand entrance was by
the richly carved west door, above which was the Alpha window. The
central steeple fell in 1506, but was rebuilt, the new tower with its
spire reaching a height of 198 ft. By 1538 the edifice was complete in
every part. Though the Reformation left it unscathed, it suffered wanton
violence from time to time. By order of the privy council the lead was
stripped off the roofs in 1567 and sold to Holland to pay the troops;
but the ship conveying the spoils foundered in the North Sea. In 1637
the roof-tree of the choir perished during a gale, and three years later
the rich timber screen was demolished. The central tower again collapsed
in 1711, after which the edifice was allowed to go to ruin. Its stones
were carted away, and the churchyard, overgrown with weeds, became the
dumping-ground for rubbish. It lay thus scandalously neglected until
1824, when John Shanks, a "drouthy" cobbler, was appointed keeper. By a
species of inspiration this man, hitherto a ne'er-do-well, conceived the
notion of restoring the place to order. Undismayed, he attacked the mass
of litter and with his own hands removed 3000 barrow-loads. When he died
in 1841 he had cleared away all the rubbish, disclosed the original
plan, and collected a quantity of fragments. A tablet, let into the
wall, contains an epitaph by Lord Cockburn, recording Shanks's services
to the venerable pile, which has since been entrusted to the custody of
the commissioners of woods and forests. The chapter-house, to the
north-east of the main structure, suffered least of all the buildings,
and contains a 'Prentice pillar, of which a similar story is told to
that of the ornate column in Roslin chapel. In the lavatory, or
vestibule connecting the chapter-house with the choir, Marjory Anderson,
a poor half-crazy creature, a soldier's widow, took up her quarters in
1748. She cradled her son in the piscina and lived on charity. In the
course of time the lad joined the army and went to India, where he rose
to the rank of major-general and amassed a fortune of £70,000 with which
he endowed the Elgin Institution (commonly known as the Anderson
Institution) at the east end of High Street, for the education of youth
and the support of old age. Within the precincts of the cathedral
grounds stood the bishop's palace (now in ruins), the houses of the dean
and archdeacon (now North and South Colleges), and the manses of the
canons. Other ecclesiastical buildings were the monasteries of
Blackfriars (1230) and Greyfriars (1410) and the preceptory of
Maisondieu (1240). They also were permitted to fall into decay, but the
3rd marquess of Bute undertook the restoration of the Greyfriars'
chapel. The parish church, in the Greek style, was built in 1828. Gray's
hospital, at the west end of High Street, was endowed by Dr Alexander
Gray (1751-1808), and at the east end stands the Institution, already
mentioned, founded by General Andrew Anderson (1746-1822). Other public
buildings include the assembly rooms, the town-hall, the museum (in
which the antiquities and natural history of the shire are abundantly
illustrated), the district asylum, the academy, the county buildings and
the court house, the market buildings, the Victoria school of science
and art, and Lady Gordon-Cumming's children's home. In 1903 Mr G.A.
Cooper presented his native town with a public park of 42 acres,
containing lakes representing on a miniature scale the British Isles.
Grant Lodge, an old mansion of the Grant family, occupying the
south-west corner of the park, was converted into the public library.
From the top of Ladyhill the view commands the links of the Lossie and
the surrounding country, and a recreation ground is laid out on Lossie
Green.
The industries include distilling and brewing, nursery gardening,
tanning, saw and flour mills, iron-foundries and manufactures of
woollens, tweeds and plaiding, and the quarrying of sandstone. Elgin
combines with Banff, Cullen, Inverurie, Kintore and Peterhead to return
one member to parliament, and the town is controlled by a council with
provost and bailies.
Two miles and a half S. by W. of Elgin stands the church of Birnie, with
the exception of the church at Mortlach in Banffshire probably the
oldest place of public worship in Scotland still in use. It is not later
than 1150 and, with its predecessor, was the cathedral of Moray during
the rule of the first four bishops; the fourth bishop, Simon de Toeny,
an Englishman, was buried in its precincts in 1184. In the church is
preserved an old Celtic altar-bell of hammered iron, known as the
"Ronnell bell." Such is the odour of sanctity of this venerable church
that there is an old local saying that "to be thrice prayed for in the
kirk of Birnie will either mend or end ye." Six miles to the S.W. of
Elgin, charmingly situated in a secluded valley encircled by fir-clad
heights, lie the picturesque remains of Pluscarden Priory, a Cistercian
house founded by Alexander II. in 1230. The ruins, consisting of tower,
choir, chapter-house, refectory and other apartments, are nearly hidden
from view by their dense coating of ivy and the fine old trees,
including many beautiful examples of copper beech, by which they are
surrounded. Its last prior, Alexander Dunbar, died in 1560. The _Liber
Pluscardensis_, a valuable authority on early Scots history, was
compiled in the priory by Maurice Buchanan in 1461. The chronicle comes
down to the death of James I. The 3rd marquess of Bute acquired the
ruins in 1897.
ELGIN AND KINCARDINE, EARLS OF. THOMAS BRUCE, 7th earl of Elgin
(1766-1841), British diplomatist and art collector, was born on the 20th
of July 1766, and in 1771 succeeded his brother in the Scottish peerage
as the 7th earl of Elgin (cr. 1633), and 11th of Kincardine (cr. 1647).
He was educated at Harrow and Westminster, and, after studying for some
time at the university of St Andrews, proceeded to the continent, where
he studied international law at Paris, and military science in Germany.
When his education was completed he entered the army, in which he rose
to the rank of general. His chief attention was, however, devoted to
diplomacy. In 1792 he was appointed envoy at Brussels, and in 1795 envoy
extraordinary at Berlin; and from 1799 to 1802 he was envoy
extraordinary at the Porte. It was during his stay at Constantinople
that he formed the purpose of removing from Athens the celebrated
sculptures now known as the Elgin Marbles. His doing so was censured by
some as vandalism, and doubts were also expressed as to the artistic
value of many of the marbles; but he vindicated himself in a pamphlet
published in 1810, and entitled _Memorandum on the Subject of the Earl
of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece_. In 1816 the collection was purchased by
the nation for £36,000, and placed in the British Museum, the outlay
incurred by Lord Elgin having been more than £50,000. Lord Elgin was a
Scottish representative peer for fifty years. He died at Paris on the
14th of November 1841.
JAMES BRUCE, 8th earl of Elgin (1811-1863), British statesman, eldest
son of the 7th earl by his second marriage, was born in 1811, and
succeeded to the peerage as 8th earl of Elgin and 12th of Kincardine in
1841. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he had
as companions and rivals his younger predecessors in the office of
governor-general of India, Dalhousie and Canning. He began his official
career in 1842 at the age of thirty, as governor of Jamaica. During an
administration of four years he succeeded in winning the respect of all
classes. He improved the condition of the negroes and conciliated the
planters by working through them. In 1846 Lord Grey appointed him
governor-general of Canada. Son-in-law of the popular earl of Durham, he
was well received by the colonists, and he set himself deliberately to
carry out the Durham policy. In this his frank and genial manners aided
him powerfully. His assent to the local measure for indemnifying those
who had suffered in the troubles of 1837 led the mob of Montreal to pelt
his carriage for the rewarding of rebels for rebellion, as Mr Gladstone
described it. But long before his eight years' term of service expired
he was the most popular man in Canada. His relations with the United
States, his hearty support of the self-government and defence of the
colony, and his settlement of the free-trade and fishery questions, led
to his being raised in 1849 to the British peerage as Baron Elgin.
Soon after his return to England in 1854, Lord Palmerston offered him a
seat in the cabinet as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, which he
declined. But when, in 1856 the seizure of the "Arrow" by Commissioner
Yeh plunged England into war with China, he at once accepted the
appointment of special envoy with the expedition. On reaching Point de
Galle he was met by a force summoned from Bombay to Calcutta by the news
of the sepoy mutiny at Meerut on the 11th of May. His first idea, that
the somewhat meagre intelligence would justify most energetic action in
China, was at once changed when urgent letters from Lord Canning reached
him at Singapore, the next port, on the 3rd of June. H.M.S. "Shannon"
was at once sent on to Calcutta with the troops destined for China, and
Lord Elgin himself followed it, when gloomier letters from India reached
him. The arrival of the "Shannon" gave new life to the handful of white
men fighting for civilization against fearful odds, and before the
reinforcements from England arrived the back of the mutiny had been
broken. Nor was the position in China seriously affected by the want of
the troops. Lord Elgin sent in his ultimatum to Commissioner Yeh at
Canton on the same day, the 12th of December, that he learned the relief
of Lucknow, and he soon after sent Yeh a prisoner to Calcutta. By July
1858, after months of Chinese deception, he was able to leave the Gulf
of Pechili with the emperor's assent to the Treaty of Tientsin.
Subsequently he visited Japan, and obtained less considerable
concessions from its government in the Treaty of Yeddo. It is true that
the negotiations were confined to the really subordinate Tycoon or
Shogun, but that visit proved the beginning of British influence in the
most progressive country of Asia. Unfortunately, the Chinese difficulty
was not yet at an end. After tedious disputes with the tariff
commissioners as to the opium duty, and a visit to the upper waters of
the Yang-tzse, Lord Elgin had reached England in May 1859. But when his
brother and the allied forces attempted to proceed to Peking with the
ratified treaty, they were fired on from the Taku forts at the mouth of
the Peiho. The Chinese had resolved to try the fortune of war once more,
and Lord Russell again sent out Lord Elgin as ambassador extraordinary
to demand an apology for the attack, the execution of the treaty, and an
indemnity for the military and naval expenditure. Sir Robert Napier
(afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala) and Sir Hope Grant, with the French,
so effectually routed the Tatar troops and sacked the Summer Palace
that by the 24th of October 1860 a convention was concluded which was
"entirely satisfactory to Her Majesty's government." Lord Elgin had not
been a month at home when Lord Palmerston selected him to be viceroy and
governor-general of India. He had now attained the object of his
honourable ambition, after the office had been filled in most critical
times by his juniors and old college companions, the marquis of
Dalhousie and Earl Canning. He succeeded a statesman who had done much
to reorganize the whole administration of India, shattered as it had
been by the mutiny. But, as the first viceroy directly appointed by the
Crown, and as subject to the secretary of state for India, Lord Elgin at
once gave up all Lord Canning had fought for, in the co-ordinate
independence, or rather the stimulating responsibility, of the
governor-general, which had prevailed from the days of Clive and Warren
Hastings. On the other hand, he loyally carried out the wise and
equitable policy of his predecessor towards our feudatories with a
firmness and a dignity that in the case of Holkar and Udaipur had a good
effect. He did his best to check the aggression of the Dutch in Sumatra,
which was contrary to treaty, and he supported Dost Mahommed in Kabul
until that aged warrior entered the then neutral and disputed territory
of Herat. Determined to maintain inviolate the integrity of our own
north-west frontier, Lord Elgin assembled a camp of exercise at Lahore,
and marched a force to the Peshawar border to punish those branches of
the Yusufzai tribe who had violated the engagements of 1858.
It was in the midst of this "little war" that he died. Soon after his
arrival at Calcutta, he had projected the usual tour to Simla, to be
followed by an inspection of the Punjab and its warlike ring-fence of
Pathans. He even contemplated the summoning of the central legislative
council at Lahore. After passing the summer of 1863 in the cool retreat
of Peterhoff, Simla, Lord Elgin began a march across the hills from
Simla to Sialkot by the upper valleys of the Beas, the Ravi and the
Chenab, chiefly to decide the two allied questions of tea cultivation
and trade routes to Kashgar and Tibet. The climbing up to the Rotung
Pass (13,000 ft.) which separates the Beas valley from that of the
Chenab, and the crossing of the frail twig bridge across the Chundra
torrent, prostrated him by the time he had descended into the smiling
English-like Kangra valley. Thence he wrote his last letter to Sir
Charles Wood, still full of hope and not free from anxiety as to the
Sittana expedition. At the lovely hill station of Dharmsala, "the place
of piety," he died of fatty degeneration of heart on the 20th of
November 1863.
For his whole career see _Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of
Elgin_, edited by Walrond, but corrected by his brother-in-law, Dean
Stanley; for the China missions see _Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's
Mission to China and Japan_, by Laurence Oliphant, his private
secretary; for the brief Indian administration see the _Friend of India_
for 1862-1863.
VICTOR ALEXANDER BRUCE, 9th earl of Elgin (1849- ), British statesman,
was born on the 16th of May 1849, the son of the 8th earl, and was
educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1863 he succeeded as
9th earl of Elgin and 13th of Kincardine. A Liberal in politics, he
became first commissioner of works (1886), and subsequently viceroy of
India (1894-1899). His administration in India was chiefly notable for
the frontier risings of 1897-1898. The Afridis broke out into a
fanatical revolt and through hesitation on the part of the government
were allowed to seize the Khyber Pass, necessitating the Tirah
Expedition. After his return to England he was nominated chairman of the
royal commission to investigate the conduct of the South African War;
and on the formation of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's ministry in
December 1905, he became a member of the cabinet as secretary of state
for the colonies. In this capacity, though he showed many statesmanlike
qualities, he was somewhat overshadowed by his brilliant under-secretary
in the Commons, Mr Winston Churchill, whose speeches on colonial affairs
were as aggressive as Lord Elgin's were cautious; and when in April
1908, Mr Asquith became prime minister, Lord Elgin retired from the
cabinet.
ELGINSHIRE, or MORAY (Gaelic "among the seaboard men"), a northern
county of Scotland, bounded N. by the Moray Firth, E. and S.E. by
Banffshire, S. and S.W. by Inverness and W. by Nairnshire. It comprises
only the eastern portion of the ancient province of Moray, which
extended from the Spey to the Beauly and from the Grampians to the sea,
embracing an area of about 3900 sq. m. The area of the county is 305,119
acres, or 477 sq. m.
Elginshire is naturally divided into two sections, the level and fertile
coast and its hinterland--"the Laigh o' Moray," a tract 30 m. long by
from 5 to 12 m. broad--and the hilly country in the south. There are,
however, no high mountains. Carn Ruigh (1784 ft.), Larig Hill (1783) and
Carn Kitty (1711) are the chief eminences in the south-central district
until the ridge of the Cromdale Hills is reached on the Banffshire
border, where the highest point is 2329 ft. above the sea. The two most
important rivers, the Spey (q.v.) and the Findhorn, both have their
sources in Inverness-shire. About 50 m. of the course of the Spey are in
Elginshire, to which it may be roughly said to serve as the boundary
line on the south-east and east. The Findhorn rises in the Monadliadh
Mountains which form the watershed for several miles between it and the
Spey. Of its total course of nearly 70 m. only the last 12 are in the
county, where it separates the woods of Altyre from the Forest of
Darnaway, before entering the Moray Firth in a bay on the north-eastern
shore to which it has given its name. During the first 7 m. of its flow
in Elginshire the stream passes through some of the finest scenery in
Scotland. It is liable to sudden risings, and in the memorable Moray
floods of August 1829 wrought the greatest havoc. Of other rivers the
Lossie rises in the small lakes on the flanks of Carn Kitty and pursues
a very winding course of 34 m. till it reaches the Moray Firth;
Ballintomb Burn, Rothes Burn and Tulchan Burn are left-hand affluents of
the Spey; the Dorbock and Divie, uniting their forces near Dunphail
House, join the Findhorn at Relugas; and Muckle Water, a left-hand
tributary of the Findhorn, comes from Nairnshire. The Spey and Findhorn
are famous for salmon, but some of the smaller streams, too, afford good
sport. The lochs are few and unimportant, among them being Loch Spynie,
2½ m. N., and Loch-na-Bo, 4 m. S.E. of Elgin; Loch of Blairs, 2½ m. S.
of Forres; Loch Romach, 3 m. S. of Rafford; Loch Dallas, about 4 m. S.W.
of Dallas, and Lochindorb in the S.W., 6 m. N.N.W. of Grantown. Loch
Spynie was once a lake extending from the Firth to within 2½ m. of Elgin
and covering an area of over 2000 acres. Its shores were the haunt of a
great variety of birds, and its waters were full of salmon, sea-trout
and pike. But early in the 19th century it was resolved to reclaim the
land, and the drainage works then undertaken reduced the beautiful loch
to a swamp of some 120 acres.
Lochindorb is now the largest lake, being 2 m. in length and fully ½ m.
wide. In the upper end, on an island believed to be artificial, stand
the ruins of Lochindorb Castle, in the 14th century the stronghold of
the Wolf of Badenoch, and afterwards successively the property of the
earl of Moray, the Campbells of Cawdor and the earl of Seafield. Sir
Thomas Dick Lauder saw at Cawdor Castle a massive iron gate which,
according to tradition, Sir Donald Campbell of Cawdor carried on his
back from Lochindorb to Cawdor, a distance of 13 m. In the southern half
of the county, amongst the hills, are several glens, among them the Glen
of Rothes, Glen Lossie, Glen Gheallaidh, Glen Tulchan and Glen Beag.
Strathspey, though more of a valley than a glen, is remarkable for its
extent and beauty.
_Geology._--This county may be divided geologically into two areas,
the hilly region to the south being composed of the crystalline
schists of the Central Highlands and the fertile plain of Moray being
made up of Old Red Sandstone and Triassic strata. In the Cromdale
Hills in the south-east of the county the metamorphic series comprises
schistose quartzite, quartz-schists, micaceous flagstones and
mica-schists, which are granulitic and holocrystalline, the dark
laminae in some cases containing heavy residues such as ilmenite and
zircon. The greater portion of the metamorphic area west of the Spey
consists of granulitic quartz-biotite-granulites and bands of
muscovite-biotite-schist belonging to the Moine series of the
Geological Survey (see SCOTLAND: _Geology_). In certain areas these
are permeated by granitic material in the form of thin strings, knots
and veins. Excellent sections of these rocks are exposed in the
Findhorn, the Divie and the tributaries of the Spey. Near Grantown
there is a group locally developed, comprising crystalline limestone
with tremolite, kyanite gneiss, muscovite-biotite-schist and
quartzite, the age and relations of which are still uncertain. The
general strike of the crystalline schists, save where there are local
deflections, is north-east and south-west, and the general dip is to
the south-east. Between Lochindorb and Grantown there is a mass of
granite belonging to the later intrusions of the Highlands represented
by the Cairngorm granite. Within the county there are representatives
of the middle and upper divisions of the Old Red Sandstone resting
unconformably on the crystalline schists. The strata of the middle or
Orcadian series consist of conglomerates, sandstones, shales and
clays, with limestone nodules containing fish remains. This sequence
is well displayed in the banks of the Spey north of Boat of Bridge and
in the Tynet Burn east of Fochabers, the latter being one of the
well-known localities for ichthyolites in the middle or Orcadian
division. In the Tynet and Gollachie Burn sections, the fish bed is
overlaid by conglomerates and red pebbly sandstones, passing upwards
into a thin zone of andesite lavas, indicating contemporaneous
volcanic action. West of the Tynet Burn and Spey sections there is no
trace of the members of the Orcadian division till we reach the Muckle
Burn and Lethen Bar in Nairnshire, save the coarse conglomerate
filling the ancient hollow of the valley of Rothes which may belong to
the middle series. In that direction they are overlapped by the Upper
Old Red Sandstone, which in the river Lossie, in the Lochty Burn and
the Findhorn rest directly on the metamorphic rocks. Even to the south
of the main boundary of the upper division there are small outliers of
that series resting on the crystalline schists. Hence there must be a
discordance between the Middle and Upper Old Red Sandstone in this
county. The strata of the upper division consist of red, grey and
yellow false-bedded sandstones with conglomeratic bands, which are
well seen in the Findhorn between Sluie and Cothall, where they are
associated with a bed of cornstone, all dipping to the N.N.W. at
gentle angles. South of Elgin they are exposed in the Lossie and at
Scaat Craig, while to the north of that town they extend along the
ridge from Bishopmill to Alves. By means of the fish remains, which
occur at Scaat Craig, in the Bishopmill quarries, at Alves, in the
Findhorn cliffs and in the Whitemyre quarry on the Muckle Burn, the
Upper Old Red Sandstone in this county is arranged in two groups, the
Alves and Rosebrae. In the area lying to the north of the Upper Old
Red Sandstone ridge at Bishopmill and Quarrywood, the strata of
Triassic age occur, where they consist of pale grey and yellow
sandstones and a peculiar cherty and calcareous band, known as the
cherty rock of Stotfield. The sandstones are visible in quarries on
the north slope of Quarry Wood, at Findrassie, at Spynie and along the
ridge and sea-shore between Burghead and Lossiemouth. They are
invested with special interest on account of the remarkable series of
reptilian remains obtained from them, comprising _Stagonolepis_, a
crocodile allied to the modern caiman in form; _Telerpeton_ and
_Hyperodapedon_, species of lizards; _Dicynodonts_ (_Gordonia_ and
_Geikia_) and a horned reptile, _Elginia mirabilis_ (see SCOTLAND:
_Geology_). The palaeontological evidence points to the conclusion
that these reptiliferous sandstones must belong in part to the Trias,
indeed it is possible that the lower portion may be of Permian age. In
the Cutties Hillock quarry west of Elgin these reptiliferous beds rest
directly on the sandstones containing _Holoptychius_ of Upper Old Red
Sandstone age, so that the apparent conformability must be entirely
deceptive. Within the area occupied by the Trias west of Stotfield,
flagstones appear, charged with fish scales of Upper Old Red age,
where they form a low ridge protruding through the younger strata.
Both the Upper Old Red and Triassic sandstones have been largely
quarried for building purposes. On the shore at Lossiemouth there is a
patch of greenish white sandstones yielding fossils characteristic of
the Lower Oolite.
The glacial deposits distributed over the fertile plain of Moray and
in the upland valleys are of interest. The low grounds were crossed by
the ice descending the Moray Firth in an easterly and south-easterly
direction, which carried boulders of granite from Strath Nairn and
augen gneiss from Easter Ross. In the Elgin district, boulders
belonging to the horizons of the Lower and Middle Lias, the Oxford
Clay and the Upper Chalk are found both in the glacial deposits and on
the surface of the ground. The largest transported mass occurs at
Linksfield, where a succession of limestones and shales rests on
boulder clay and is covered by it, which from the fossils may be of
Rhaetic or Lower Lias age.
_Climate and Agriculture._--The climate of the coast is equable and
mild, even exotic fruits ripening readily in the open. The uplands are
colder and damp. The average temperature in January is 38° F. and in
July 58.5°, while for the year the mean is 47° F. The rainfall for the
year averages 26 in. Considering its latitude and the extent of its
arable land the standard of farming in Elginshire is high. The rich soil
of the lowlands is well adapted for wheat, barley and oats. The acreage
confined to the glens and straths under barley approximates that under
oats. In the uplands, oats is the principal cereal. The breeding of
live-stock is profitable, and some of the finest specimens of
shorthorned and polled cattle and of crosses between the two are bred.
On the larger farms in the Laigh Leicester sheep are kept all the year
round, but in the uplands the Blackfaced take their place. Large numbers
of horses and pigs are also raised.
_Other Industries._--Whisky is the chief product, and the numerous
distilleries are usually busy. There are woollen mills at Elgin and
elsewhere and chemical works at Forres and Burghead. Owing to the
absence of coal what little mineral wealth there is (iron and lead)
cannot be remuneratively worked. The sandstone quarries, yielding a
building-stone of superior quality, are practically inexhaustible. The
plantations mainly consist of larch and fir and, to a smaller extent, of
oak. Much timber was once floated down the Spey and other rivers, but,
since the increased facilities of carriage afforded by the railways,
trees have been felled on a wider scale. Boat-building is carried on at
Burghead, Lossiemouth and Kingston--so-called from the fact that a firm
from Kingston-on-Hull laid down a yard there in 1784--while at Garmouth
the fishing fleet lies up during the winter and is also repaired there.
The Firth fisheries are of considerable value. The boats go out from
Findhorn, Burghead, Hopeman and Lossiemouth, which are all furnished
with safe harbours. Findhorn has been twice visited by calamities. The
first village was overwhelmed by the drifting sands of Culbin, and the
second was buried beneath the waves in 1701. Kingston harbour is tidal,
exposed, and liable to interruption from a shifting bar. The deep sea
fisheries comprise haddock, cod, ling and herring, and the Spey,
Findhorn and Lossie yield large quantities of salmon.
The Great North of Scotland railway enters the shire in the S.E. from
Craigellachie, whence a branch runs up the Spey to Boat of Garten in
Inverness-shire, and in the N.E. from Port Gordon, running in both cases
to Elgin, from which a branch line extends to Lossiemouth. The Highland
railway traverses the western limits of the shire running almost due
north to Forres, whence it turns westward to Nairn and eastward to
Elgin. From the county town it runs to Aberdeen via Orbliston and Keith,
with a branch to Fochabers from Orbliston.
_Population and Government._--The population was 43,471 in 1891 and
44,800 in 1901, when 1865 persons spoke both Gaelic and English, and 2
spoke Gaelic only. The chief towns are Elgin (pop. in 1901, 8460),
Forres (4313) and Lossiemouth (3904), to which may be added Rothes
(1621), Grantown (1568) and Burghead (1531). In conjunction with
Nairnshire the county returns one member to parliament. Elgin and Forres
are royal burghs; the municipal and police burghs include Burghead,
Elgin, Forres, Grantown, Lossiemouth, and Rothes. Elginshire is included
in one sheriffdom with Inverness and Nairn, and there is a resident
sheriff-substitute at Elgin. The county is under school-board
jurisdiction, several of the schools earning grants for higher
education. There are academies at Elgin and Fochabers and science and
art and technical schools at Elgin and Grantown. The bulk of the
"residue" grant is spent in subsidizing the agricultural department of
Aberdeen University and the science schools and art and technical
classes in the county.
_History._--Moray, in the wider sense, was first peopled by Picts of the
Gaelic branch of Celts, of whom relics are found in the stone circle at
Viewfield and at many places in Nairnshire. Christianity, introduced
under the auspices of Columba (from whose time the site of Burghead
church has probably been so occupied), flourished for a period until the
Columban church was expelled in 717 by King Nectan. Thereafter the
district was given over to internecine strife between the northern and
southern Picts, which was ended by the crushing victory of Kenneth
MacAlpine in 831, as one result of which the kingdom of Pictavia was
superseded by the principality of Moravia. Still, settled order had not
yet been secured, for the Norsemen raided the country first under
Thorstein and then under two Sigurds. It was in the time of the second
Sigurd that the Firth was fixed as the northern boundary of Moray. In
spite of such interruptions as the battle of Torfness (Burghead) on the
14th of August 1040, in which Thorfinn, earl of Orkney and Shetland,
overthrew a strong force of Scots under King Duncan, the consolidation
of the kingdom was being gradually accomplished. After Macbeth ascended
the throne the Scandinavians held their hands. Though Macbeth and his
_fainéant_ successor, "daft" Lulach, were the only kings whom Moray gave
to Scotland, the province never lacked for able, if headstrong, men, and
it continued to enjoy home rule under its own marmaer, or great steward
(the equivalent of _earl_, the title that replaced it), until the dawn
of the 12th century, when as an entity it ceased to exist. With a view
to breaking up the power of the marmaers David I. and his successors
colonized the seaboard with settlers from other parts of the kingdom.
Nevertheless, from time to time the clansmen and their chiefs descended
from their fastnesses and plundered the Laigh, keeping the people for
generations in a state of panic. Meanwhile, the Church had become a
civilizing force. In 1107 Alexander had founded the see of Moray and the
churches of Birnie, Kinneddar and Spynie were in turn the cathedral of
the early bishops, until in 1224 under the episcopate of Andrew of Moray
(de Moravia), the church of the Holy Trinity in Elgin was chosen for the
cathedral. Another factor that drew men together was the struggle for
independence. In his effort to stamp out Scottish nationality Edward I.
came as far north as Elgin, where he stayed for four days in July 1296,
and whence he issued his writ for the parliament at Berwick. Wallace,
however, had no doughtier supporter than Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell,
and Bruce recognized the assistance he had received from the men of the
north by erecting Moray into an earldom on the morrow of Bannockburn and
bestowing it upon Thomas Randolph (see MORAY, THOMAS RANDOLPH, EARL OF).
Henceforward the history of the county resolved itself in the main into
matters affecting the power of the Church and the ambitions of the Moray
dynasties. The Church accepted the Reformation peacefully if not with
gratitude. But there was strife between Covenanters and the adherents of
Episcopacy until, prelacy itself being abolished in 1689, the bishopric
of Moray came to an end after an existence of 581 years. (For the
subsequent history of the earldom, which was successively held by the
Randolphs, the Dunbars, the Douglases, the royal Stewarts and an
illegitimate branch of the Stewarts, see MURRAY or MORAY, EARLS OF.)
Other celebrated Moray families who played a more or less strenuous part
in local politics were the Gordons, the Grants and the Duffs. Still,
national affairs occasionally evoked interest in Moray. In the civil war
Montrose ravaged the villages which stood for the Covenanters, but most
of the great lairds shifted in their allegiance, and the mass of the
people were quite indifferent to the declining fortunes of the Stewarts.
Charles II. landed at Garmouth on the 3rd of July 1650 on his return
from his first exile in Holland, but hurried southwards to try the yoke
of Presbytery. The fight at Cromdale (May day, 1690) shattered the
Jacobite cause, for the efforts in 1715 and 1745 were too spasmodic and
half-hearted to affect the loyalty of the district to Hanoverian rule. A
few weeks before Culloden Prince Charles Edward stayed in Elgin for some
days, and a month afterwards the duke of Cumberland passed through the
town at the top of his speed and administered the _coup de grâce_ to the
Young Pretender on Drummossie Moor.
Twice Elginshire has been the scene of catastrophes without parallel in
Scotland. In 1694 the barony of Culbin--a fine estate, with a rent roll
in money and kind of £6000 a year, belonging to the Kinnairds,
comprising 3600 acres of land, so fertile that it was called the Granary
of Moray, a handsome mansion, a church and several houses--was buried
under a mass of sand in a storm of extraordinary severity. The sandy
waste measures 3 m. in length and 2 in breadth, and the sand,
exceedingly fine and light, is constantly shifting and, at rare
intervals, exposing traces of the vanished demesne. This wilderness of
dome-shaped dunes divided by a loftier ridge lies to the north-west of
Forres. The other calamity was the Moray floods of the 2nd and 3rd of
August 1829. The Findhorn rose 50 ft. above the ordinary level,
inundating an area of 20 sq. m.; the Divie rose 40 ft., and the Lossie
flooded all the low ground around Elgin. The floods tore down bridges
and buildings, and obliterated farms and homesteads.
AUTHORITIES.--Lachlan Shaw, _History of the Province of Moray_
(Gordon's edition, Glasgow, 1882); _A Survey of the Province of Moray_
(Elgin, 1798); W. Rhind, _Sketches of the Past and Present State of
Moray_ (Edinburgh, 1839); E. Dunbar Dunbar, _Documents relating to the
Province of Moray_ (Edinburgh, 1895); C.A. Gordon, _History of the
House of Gordon_ (Aberdeen, 1890); C. Rampini, _History of Moray and
Nairn_ (Edinburgh, 1897); C. Innes, _Elgin, Past and Present_ (Elgin,
1860); J. Macdonald, "Burghead" (_Proceedings of Glasgow
Archaeological Soc._), (1891); Sir T. Dick Lauder, _The Wolf of
Badenoch_ (Glasgow, 1886); _An Account of the Great Floods of August
1829 in the Province of Moray and Adjoining Districts_ (Elgin, 1873).
ELGON, also known as MASAWA, an extinct volcano in British East Africa,
cut by 1° N. and 34½° E., forming a vast isolated mass over 40 m. in
diameter. The outer slopes are in great measure precipitous on the
north, west and south, but fall more gradually to the east. The southern
cliffs are remarkable for extensive caves, which have the appearance of
water-worn caves on a coast line and have for ages served as habitations
for the natives. The higher parts slope gradually upwards to the rim of
an old crater, lying somewhat north of the centre of the mass, and
measuring some 8 m. in diameter. The highest point of the rim is about
14,100 ft. above the sea. Steep spurs separated by narrow ravines run
out from the mountain, affording the most picturesque scenery. The
ravines are traversed by a great number of streams, which flow
north-west and west to the Nile (through Lake Choga), south and
south-east to Victoria Nyanza, and north-east to Lake Rudolf by the
Turkwell, the head-stream of which rises within the crater, breaking
through a deep cleft in its rim. To the north-west of the mountain a
grassy plain, swampy in the rains, falls towards the chain of lakes
ending in Choga; towards the north-east the country becomes more arid,
while towards the south it is well wooded. The outer slopes are clothed
in their upper regions with dense forest formed in part of bamboos,
especially towards the south and west, in which directions the rainfall
is greater than elsewhere. The lower slopes are exceptionally fertile on
the west, and produce bananas in abundance. On the north-west and north
the region between 6000 and 7000 ft. possesses a delightful climate, and
is well watered by streams of ice-cold water. The district of Save on
the north is a halting-place for Arab and Swahili caravans going north.
On the west the slopes are densely inhabited by small Bantu-Negro
tribes, who style their country Masawa (whence the alternative name for
the mountain); but on the south and north there are tribes which seem
akin to the Gallas. Of these, the best known are the El-gonyi, from whom
the name Elgon has been derived. They formerly lived almost entirely in
the caves, but many of them have descended to villages at the foot of
the mountain. Elgon was first visited in 1883 by Joseph Thomson, who
brought to light the cave-dwellings on the southern face. It was crossed
from north to south, and its crater reached, in 1890 by F.J. Jackson and
Ernest Gedge, while the first journey round it was made by C.W. Hobley
in 1896. (E. He.)
ELI (Hebrew for "high"? 1 Sam. chaps, i.-iv.), a member of the ancient
priesthood founded in Egypt (1 Sam. ii. 27), priest of the temple of
Shiloh, the sanctuary of the ark, and also "judge" over Israel. This was
an unusual combination of offices, when it is considered that in the
history preserved to us he appears in the weakness of extreme old age,
unable to control the petulance and rapacity of his sons, Hophni and
Phinehas, who disgraced the sanctuary and disgusted the people. While
the central authority was thus weakened, the Philistines advanced
against Israel, and gained a complete victory in the great battle of
Ebenezer, where the ark was taken, and Hophni and Phinehas slain. On
hearing the news Eli fell from his seat and died. In a passage not
unlike the account of the birth of Benjamin (Gen. xxxv. 16 sqq.), it is
added that the wife of Phinehas, overwhelmed at the loss of the ark and
of her husband, died in child-birth, naming the babe Ichabod (1 Sam.
iv. 19 sqq.). This name, which popular etymology explained by the words
"the glory is removed (or, stronger, 'banished') from Israel" (cf. Hos.
x. 5), should perhaps be altered from _I-kabod_ (as though "not glory")
to Jochebed (_Yokebed_, a slight change in the original), the name which
tradition also gave to the mother of Moses (q.v.). After these events
the sanctuary of Shiloh appears to have been destroyed (cf. Jer. vii.
12, xxvi. 6, 9), and the descendants of Eli with the whole of their clan
or "father's house" subsequently appear as settled at Nob (1 Sam. xxi.
1, xxii. 11 sqq., cp. xiv. 3), perhaps in the immediate neighbourhood of
Jerusalem (Is. x. 32). In the massacre of the clan by Saul, and the
subsequent substitution of the survivor Abiathar by Zadok (1 Kings ii.
27, 35), later writers saw the fulfilment of the prophecies of judgment
which was said to have been uttered in the days of Eli against his
corrupt house (1 Sam. ii. 27 sqq., iii. 11 sqq.).[1]
See further, SAMUEL, BOOKS OF; and on Eli as a descendant of a Levite
clan (1 Sam. ii 27 sq.), see LEVITES (§ 3). (W. R. S.; S. A. C.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] On the old views relating to the succession of the priests,
according to which the high-priesthood was diverted from the line of
Eleazar and Phinehas into that of Ithamar, see Robertson Smith, _Old
Test. in Jewish Church_, 2nd ed., p. 266.
ELIAS, of Cortona (c. 1180-1253), disciple of St Francis of Assisi, was
born near Assisi, about 1180, of the working class, but became
schoolmaster at Assisi and then notary at Bologna. In 1217 he was the
head of the Franciscan mission to the Holy Land, and in 1219 St Francis
made him first provincial minister of Syria. When St Francis was
recalled from the East in 1220 he brought Elias with him. Elias played a
leading part in the early history of the Franciscan order (see
FRANCISCANS); Francis made him his vicar general in 1221; and he was the
practical acting superior of the order till Francis' death in 1226, and
the real superior till the general chapter of 1227. This chapter did not
elect him minister general, but that of 1232 did; at the chapter of 1239
he was deposed. During these years he erected the basilica and monastery
at Assisi which were entirely his creation--he collected the funds and
carried the work through, being himself the builder and even the
architect. Elias was a man of extraordinary ability, the friend both of
Gregory IX. and of his opponent Frederick II. After his deposition Elias
joined the party of the emperor and so incurred excommunication.
Frederick sent him as ambassador to Constantinople. He dressed and lived
as a Franciscan throughout and a small number of friars adhered to him;
for these he built a church and monastery at Cortona. Unavailing efforts
were made to bring about his reconciliation with the order and the
Church; at last on his death-bed he made his submission to the pope and
died in 1253, having received the Sacraments.
The best account of Elias is that by Ed. Lempp, _Frère Élie de
Cortone_ (1901), who points out the conflict of view, as to the
relations between Elias and Francis, between the _Speculum
perfectionis_ and the _First Life_, by Thomas of Celano; Lempp and
Sabatier accept the hostile picture given by the _Speculum
perfectionis_. But see further FRANCIS OF ASSISI, SAINT, "Note on
Sources," and especially the articles by Goetz, there referred to, in
the _Hist. Vierteljahrsschrift._ There is a good article on Elias, but
written before the new materials had been produced, in Wetzer und
Welte, _Kirchenlexicon_ (ed. 2). (E. C. B.)
ELIAS, JOHN (1774-1841), Welsh Nonconformist preacher and reformer, was
born on the 2nd of May 1774, in the parish of Abererch, Carnarvonshire.
In his youth he came under the influence of the Calvinistic Methodist
revival and became a preacher at nineteen. In 1799 he married and
settled at Llanfechell in Anglesey, giving up his trade as a weaver to
become a small shopkeeper. His fame as a preacher increased, and under
the direction of Thomas Charles of Bala he established numerous Sunday
schools, and gave and secured considerable Welsh support to the founding
of the London Missionary Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society
and the Religious Tract Society. On Charles's death in 1814 he became
the recognized leader of the Calvinistic Methodist Church, and the story
of his life is simply a record of marvellously successful preaching
tours. He died on the 8th of June 1841; ten thousand people attended his
funeral.
His eloquence was so remarkable that he was known as "the Welsh
Demosthenes." His strength lay in his intense conviction of an intimate
connexion between sin and punishment and in his power of dramatic
presentation. As an ecclesiastic he was not so successful; he helped to
compile his church's Confession of Faith in 1823, and laid great stress
on a clause which limited the scope of the atonement to the elect. He
was a stout Tory in politics and had many friends among the Anglican
clergy; he opposed the movement for Roman Catholic emancipation. Several
of his sermons were published in Welsh.
ELIAS LEVITA (1469-1549), Jewish grammarian, was born at Neustadt on the
Aisch, a place in Bavaria lying between Nuremberg and Würzburg. He
preferred to call himself "Ashkenazi," the German, and bore also the
nickname of "Bachur," the youth or student, which latter he gave as
title to his Hebrew grammar. Before the end of the 15th century he went
to Italy, which thenceforth remained his home. He lived first at Padua,
went in 1509, after the capture of this town by the army of the League
of Cambrai, to Venice, and finally in 1513 to Rome, where he found a
patron in the learned general of the Augustinian Order, the future
cardinal Egidio di Viterbo, whom he helped in his study of the Kabbalah,
while he himself was inspired by him to literary work. The storming of
Rome by the army of the Constable de Bourbon in 1527 compelled Elias to
go to Venice, where he was employed as corrector in the printing-house
of Daniel Bomberg. In the years 1541 and 1542 he lived at Isny, in
Southern Württemberg, where he published several of his writings in the
printing-house of the learned pastor Paul Fagius. The last years of his
life he spent at Venice, continuously active in spite of ill-health and
the weakness of old age. His monument in the graveyard of the Jewish
community at Venice boasts of him that "he illuminated the darkness of
grammar and turned it into light." The importance of Levita rests both
in his numerous writings and in his personal activity. In the remarkable
period which saw the rise of the Reformation and gave to the study of
the Hebrew Bible and to its language an importance in the history of the
world, it was Levita who furthered in an extraordinary manner the study
of Hebrew in Christian circles by his activity as a teacher and by his
writings. To his pupils especially belong Sebastian Minoter, who
translated Levita's grammatical works into Latin, also George de Selve,
bishop of Lavaur, the French ambassador in Venice (1536), who was
instrumental in obtaining for Levita an invitation from Francis I. to
come to Paris, which invitation, however, Levita did not accept.
Levita's writings on Hebrew grammar (_Bachur_, a text-book, 1518;
_Harkaba_, an explanation, alphabetically arranged, of irregular
word-forms; a Table of Paradigms; _Pirke Elijahu_, a description--partly
metrical--of phonetics, and other chapters of the grammar, 1520; his
earliest work, a Commentary on Moses Kimhi's Hebrew Grammar, 1508) were
by reason of their methodical exposition, their clear articulation,
their avoidance of prolixity, especially suited as an introduction to
the study of the Hebrew language. Amongst Levita's other writings is the
first dictionary of the Targumim (_Meturgeman_, 1541) and the first
attempt at a lexicon in which much of the treasure of late Hebrew
language was explained (_Tishbi_, explanation of 712 new Hebrew
vocables, as a supplement to the dictionaries of David Kimhi and Nathan
b. Yehiel, 1542). Scientifically most valuable, and of original
importance, are the works of Levita on the _Massora_; his Concordance to
the Massora (_Sefer Zikhronot_ completed in the second revision 1536),
of which hitherto only a small part has been published, and especially
his most celebrated book _Massoreth Hamasoreth_ (1538), published with
English translation by Chr. D. Ginsburg, London, 1867. This was the
first attempt to give a systematic account of the contents and history
of the Massora. By his criticism of the Massora, and especially by
proving that the punctuation of the books of the Hebrew Bible is of late
origin, Levita exercised an epoch-making influence. Of his other
writings may be mentioned his running commentary on David Kimhi's
Grammar and Dictionary (in the Bomberg editions 1545, 1546), his German
translation of the Psalms (1545) and the _Baba-Buch_ (more properly
_Buovobuch_, a German recension of the Italian novel _Historia di Buovo
d' Antona_, 1508).
Of the literature on Levita may be mentioned: Y. Levi, _Elia Levita
und seine Leistungen als Grammatiker_ (Breslau, 1888); W. Bacher, "E.
Levita's wissenschaftliche Leistungen" in _Z. d. D. M. G._ xliii.
(1889), p. 206-272. (W. Ba.)
ELIE, a village and watering-place of Fifeshire, Scotland, on the shore
of the Firth of Forth. Pop. 687. It is 10 m. due S. of St Andrews, but
20 m. distant by the North British railway, which makes a great bend by
following the coast. Though it retains some old houses, and the parish
church dates from 1639, Elie is, as a whole, quite modern and is one of
the most popular resorts in the county on account of its fine golf links
and excellent bathing. The royal burgh of Earlsferry (pop. 317) is
situated in the parish of Elie, which it adjoins on the west. Its
charter, granted by Malcolm Canmore, having been burned, it was renewed
by James VI. The chief structure is the town hall, which is modern but
has an ancient steeple. The place derived its name from its use by the
earls of Fife as a ferry to the opposite shore of Haddington, 8 m.
distant. Macduff's cave near Kincraig Point is believed traditionally to
have been that in which the thane took refuge from Macbeth. Two and a
half miles north is Balcarres House, belonging to the earl of Crawford,
where Lady Anne Barnard (1750-1825) was born.
ÉLIE DE BEAUMONT, JEAN BAPTISTE ARMAND LOUIS LÉONCE (1798-1874), French
geologist, was born at Canon, in Calvados, on the 25th of September
1798. He was educated at the Lycée Henri IV. where he took the first
prize in mathematics and physics; at the École Polytechnique, where he
stood first at the exit examination in 1819; and at the École des Mines
(1819-1822), where he began to show a decided preference for the science
with which his name is associated. In 1823 he was selected along with
Dufrénoy by Brochant de Villiers, the professor of geology in the École
des Mines, to accompany him on a scientific tour to England and
Scotland, in order to inspect the mining and metallurgical
establishments of the country, and to study the principles on which
Greenough's geological map of England (1820) had been prepared, with a
view to the construction of a similar map of France. In 1835 he was
appointed professor of geology at the École des Mines, in succession to
Brochant de Villiers, whose assistant he had been in the duties of the
chair since 1827. He held the office of engineer-in-chief of mines in
France from 1833 until 1847, when he was appointed inspector-general;
and in 1861 he became vice-president of the Conseil-Général des Mines
and a grand officer of the Legion of Honour. His growing scientific
reputation secured his election to the membership of the Academy of
Berlin, of the Academy of Sciences of France and of the Royal Society of
London. By a decree of the president he was made a senator of France in
1852, and on the death of Arago (1853) he was chosen perpetual secretary
of the Academy of Sciences. Élie de Beaumont's name is widely known to
geologists in connexion with his theory of the origin of mountain
ranges, first propounded in a paper read to the Academy of Sciences in
1829, and afterwards elaborated in his _Notice sur le système des
montagnes_ (3 vols., 1852). According to his view, all mountain ranges
parallel to the same great circle of the earth are of strictly
contemporaneous origin, and between the great circles a relation of
symmetry exists in the form of a pentagonal _réseau_. An elaborate
statement and criticism of the theory was given in his anniversary
address to the Geological Society of London in 1853 by William Hopkins
(_Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc_.). The theory has not found general
acceptance, but it proved of great value to geological science, owing to
the extensive additions to the knowledge of the structure of mountain
ranges which its author made in endeavouring to find facts to support
it. Probably, however, the best service Élie de Beaumont rendered to
science was in connexion with the geological map of France, in the
preparation of which he had the leading share. During this period Élie
de Beaumont published many important memoirs on the geology of the
country. After his superannuation at the École des Mines he continued to
superintend the issue of the detailed maps almost until his death,
which occurred at Canon on the 21st of September 1874. His academic
lectures for 1843-1844 were published in 2 vols., 1845-1849, under the
title _Leçons de géologie pratique_.
A list of his works was published in the _Ann. des Mines_, vol. vii.
1875. P. 259.
ELIJAH (a Hebrew name meaning "Yah[weh] is God"), in the Bible, the
greatest and sternest of the Hebrew prophets, makes his appearance in
the narrative of the Old Testament with an abruptness not out of keeping
with his character and work (1 Kings xvii. 1).[1] The first and most
important part of his career lay in the reign of Ahab, i.e. during the
first half of the 9th century B.C. He is introduced as predicting the
drought[2] God was to send upon Israel as a punishment for the apostasy
into which Ahab had been led by his heathen wife Jezebel. During the
first portion of this period Elijah found a refuge by the brook Cherith,
"before the Jordan." This description leaves it uncertain whether the
brook was to the east of Jordan in Elijah's native Gilead, or--less
probably--to the west in Samaria. Here he drank of the brook and was fed
by ravens, who night and morning brought him bread and flesh.[3] When
this had dried up, the prophet betook himself to Zarephath, a Phoenician
town near Sidon. At the gate of the town he met the widow to whom he had
been sent, gathering sticks for the preparation of what she believed was
to be her last meal. She received the prophet with hospitality, sharing
with him her all but exhausted store, in faith of his promise in the
name of the God of Israel that the supply would not fail so long as the
drought lasted. During this period her son died and was miraculously
restored to life in answer to the prayers of the prophet (1 Kings xvii.
8-24).
Elijah emerged from his retirement in the third year, when, the famine
having reached its worst, Ahab and his minister Obadiah had themselves
to search the land for provender for the royal stables. To the latter
Elijah suddenly appeared, and announced his intention of showing himself
to Ahab. The king met Elijah with the reproach that he was "the troubler
of Israel," which the prophet boldly flung back upon him who had
forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baalim.[4] The
retort was accompanied by a challenge--or rather a command--to the king
to assemble on Mount Carmel "all Israel" and the four hundred and fifty
prophets of Baal. (The four hundred prophets of Asherah have been added
later.) From the allusion to an "altar of Jehovah that was broken down"
(1 Kings xviii. 30) it has been inferred that Carmel was an ancient
sacred place. (On Mount Carmel and Elijah's connexion with it in history
and tradition see CARMEL.)
The scene on Carmel is perhaps the grandest in the life of Elijah, or
indeed in the whole of the Old Testament. As a typical embodiment for
all time of the conflict between superstition and true religion, it is
lifted out of the range of mere individual biography into that of
spiritual symbolism, and it has accordingly furnished at once a fruitful
theme for the religious teacher and a lofty inspiration for the artist.
The false prophets were allowed to invoke their god in whatever manner
they pleased. The only interruption came in the mocking encouragement of
Elijah (1 Kings xviii. 27), a rare instance of grim sarcastic humour
occurring in the Bible. Its effect upon the false prophets was to
increase their frenzy. The evening came,[5] and the god had made no
sign. Elijah now stepped forward with the quiet confidence and dignity
that became the prophet and representative of the true God. All Israel
is represented symbolically in the twelve stones with which he built the
altar; and the water which he poured upon the sacrifice and into the
surrounding trench was apparently designed to prevent the suspicion of
fraud! In striking contrast to the "vain repetitions" of the false
prophets are the simple words with which Elijah makes his prayer to
Yahweh. Once only, with the calm assurance of one who knew that his
prayer would be answered, he invokes the God of his fathers. The answer
comes at once: "The fire of the Lord (Gen. xix. 24, Lev. x. 2) fell and
consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust,
and licked up the water that was in the trench." So convincing a sign
was irresistible; all the people fell on their faces and acknowledged
Yahweh as the true God. This was immediately followed by the destruction
of the false prophets, slain by Elijah beside the brook Kishon (xviii.
40). The deed, though not without parallel in the Old Testament history,
stamps the peculiarly vindictive character of Elijah's prophetic
mission.[6]
On the evening of the day that had witnessed the decisive contest,
Elijah proceeded once more to the top of Carmel, and there, with "his
face between his knees" (possibly engaged in the prayer referred to in
James v. 17 sq.), waited for the long-looked-for blessing. His servant,
sent repeatedly to search the sky for signs, returned the seventh time
reporting a little cloud arising out of the sea "like a man's hand." The
sky was speedily full of clouds and a great rain was falling when Ahab,
to escape the storm, set out in his chariot for Jezreel. As a proof of
Elijah's supernatural power, it is stated that the prophet, for some
unknown object, ran before the chariot to the entrance of Jezreel, a
distance of at least 16 m. On being told what had taken place, Jezebel
sent a messenger to Elijah with a vow that ere another day had passed
his life would be even as the lives of the prophets of Baal, and the
threat was enough to cause him to take to instant flight (xix. 1-3; cp.
LXX. in v. 2). The first stage of the journey was to Beersheba, on the
southern limits of Judah. Here he left his servant (according to old
Jewish tradition, the widow's son of Zarephath, afterwards the prophet
Jonah), and proceeded a day's journey into the wilderness. Resting under
a solitary broom bush (a kind of _genista_), he gave vent to his
disappointment in a prayer for death. By another of those many
miraculous interpositions which occur in his history he was twice
supplied with food and drink, in the strength of which he journeyed
forty days and forty nights until he came to Horeb, where he lodged in a
cave.[7] A hole "just large enough for a man's body" (Stanley),
immediately below the summit of Jebel Musa, is still pointed out by
tradition as the cave of Elijah.
If the scene on Carmel is the grandest, that on Horeb is spiritually the
most profound in the story of Elijah (xix. 9 sqq.). Not in the strong
wind that brake the rocks in pieces, not in the earthquake, not in the
fire, but in the still small voice that followed the Lord made himself
known. A threefold commission was laid upon him: he was to return to
Damascus and anoint Hazael king of Syria; he was to anoint Jehu, the son
of Nimshi, as king of Israel in place of Ahab; and as his own successor
in the prophetic office he was to anoint Elisha (xix. 15-18).[8]
Leaving Horeb and proceeding northwards along the desert route to
Damascus, Elijah met Elisha engaged at the plough probably near his
native place, Abel-meholah, in the valley of the Jordan, and by the
symbolical act of casting his mantle upon him, consecrated him to the
prophetic office. This was the only command of the three which he
fulfilled in person; the other two were carried out by his successor.[9]
After the call of Elisha the narrative contains no notice of Elijah for
several years, although the LXX., by placing 1 Kings xxi. before ch.
xx., proceeds at once to the tragic story of Naboth's vineyard (see
JEZEBEL). He is now the champion of freedom and purity of life, like
Nathan when he confronted David for the murder of Uriah. Without any
indication of whence or how he came, he again appeared, as usual with
startling abruptness, in the vineyard when Ahab entered to take
possession of it, and pronounced upon the king and his house that awful
doom (1 Kings xxi. 17-24) which, though deferred for a time, was
ultimately fulfilled to the letter (see JEHU).
With one more denunciation of the house of Ahab, Elijah's function as a
messenger of wrath was fully discharged (2 Kings i.). When Ahaziah, the
son of Ahab, having injured himself by falling through a lattice, sent
to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he should recover,
the prophet was commanded to appear to the messengers and tell them
that, for this resort to a false god, the king should die. The effect of
his appearance was such that they turned back without attempting to
fulfil their errand. Ahaziah despatched a captain with a band of fifty
to arrest him. They came upon Elijah seated on "the mount,"--probably
Carmel. The imperious terms in which he was summoned to come down were
punished by fire from heaven, which descended at the bidding of Elijah
and consumed the whole land. A second captain and fifty were despatched,
behaved in a similar way, and met the same fate. The leader of a third
troop took a humbler tone, sued for mercy, and obtained it. Elijah then
went with them to the king, but only to repeat before his face the doom
he had already made known to his messengers, which was almost
immediately afterwards fulfilled. The spirit, even the style of this
narrative, points unmistakably to its being of late origin. It shocks
the moral sense with its sanguinary character more than, perhaps, any
other Old Testament story.
The only mention of Elijah's name in the book of Chronicles (2
Chronicles xxi. 12-15) is where he is represented as sending a letter of
rebuke and denunciation to Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
The chronological difficulties which are involved suggest that the
floating traditions of this great personality were easily attached to
well-known names whether strictly contemporary or not. It was before the
death of Jehoshaphat that the last grand scene in Elijah's life occurred
(2 Kings ii., see iii. 1). He had taken up his residence with Elisha at
one of the prophetic guilds at Gilgal. His approaching end seems to have
been known to the guilds at Bethel and Jericho, both of which they
visited in their last journey. At the Jordan, Elijah, wrapping his
prophet's mantle together, smote the water with it, and so by a last
miracle passed over on dry ground. When they had crossed the master
desired the disciple to ask some parting blessing. The request for a
double portion (i.e. probably a first-born's portion, Deut. xxi.
17)[10] of the prophet's spirit Elijah characterized as a hard thing;
but he promised to grant it if Elisha should see him when he was taken
away. The end is told in words of simple sublimity: "And it came to
pass, as they still went on and talked, that, behold, there appeared a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder; and
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (2 Kings ii. 11). It is
scarcely necessary to point out, however, that through the figure the
narrative evidently means to convey as fact that Elijah passed from
earth, not by the gates of death, but by miraculous translation. Such a
supernatural close is in perfect harmony with a career into every stage
of which the supernatural enters as an essential feature. For whatever
explanation may be offered of the miraculous element in Elijah's life,
it must obviously be one that accounts not for a few miraculous
incidents only, which might be mere excrescences, but for a series of
miraculous events so closely connected and so continuous as to form the
main thread of the history.
Elijah occupied an altogether peculiar place in later Jewish history
and tradition. For the general belief that he should return for the
restoration of Israel cf. Mal. iv. 5-6; Matt. xi. 14, xvi. 14; Luke
ix. 8; John i. 21, and on the development of the thought see Bousset,
_Antichrist_, s.v., and the _Jewish Encyc_. vol. v. p. 126. In
Mahommedan tradition Elijah is the everlasting youthful el-Khidr or
el-Khadir.
Elijah is canonized both in the Greek and in the Latin Churches, his
festival being kept in both on the 20th July--the date of his
ascension in the nineteenth year of Jehoshaphat, according to
Cornelius a Lapide. The natural and most reliable estimate of the
career of Elijah is that which is based upon a critical examination of
the narratives; see, in addition to Robertson Smith, _Prophets of
Israel_(²), pp. 75 sqq., Cheyne, _Hallowing of Criticism_, the
articles by Addis in _Encyc. Bib_., and J. Strachan, Hastings' _Dict.
Bib_., H. Gunkel, _Elias, Yahve u. Baal_ (Tübingen, 1906), the
literature to KINGS, BOOKS OF, and the histories referred to in JEWS.
There is difference of opinion as to the historical importance of both
Elijah and Elisha; for a useful summary of views, as also for fuller
bibliographical information, see W.R. Harper, _Amos and Hosea_
(_Internat. Crit. Comm._), pp. xxxiv.-xlix., and article HEBREW
RELIGION. (W. R. S.; S. A. C.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The text is uncertain. According to the LXX., he was a native of
Tishbeh in Gilead; a more natural reading. Klostermann's conjecture
that the original name of his home was Jabesh-Gilead is attractive
but unnecessary. His appearance in the narrative, like Melchizedek,
"without father, without mother" (Heb. vii. 3), gave rise to various
rabbinical traditions, such as that he was Phinehas, the grandson of
Aaron, returned to earth, or that he was an angel in human form.
[2] Its duration is vaguely stated; from Luke iv. 25, James v. 17, we
learn that it lasted three years and a half; but according to
Phoenician tradition (Jos. _Ant_. viii. 13. 2) only one year.
[3] The rationalistic view that the word translated "ravens" should
be "Arabians" is improbable. Cheyne's suggestion that the unknown
brook Cherith should be placed to the south of Judah agrees with
Josephus (_Ant_. viii. 13. 2, "he departed into the southern parts")
and with 1 Kings xix. 3, 8; "Jordan" may refer to another river, if
it be not a gloss; see Cheyne, _Ency. Bib_., s.v. "Cherith."
[4] The sudden introduction of Elijah in xvii. 1 may be accounted for
by the supposition that the commencement of the narrative had been
omitted by the editor of xvi. 29 sqq. Hence we are not told the cause
of Ahab's hostility towards Elijah, nor is the allusion to Jezebel's
massacre of the prophets (xviii. 3, 13) explained. It would appear
from Obadiah's words in ver. 9 that he himself was in fear of his
life. Later tradition supposed he was the captain of 2 Kings i. 13,
or that the widow of 2 Kings iv. 1 had been his wife.
[5] The definition of time by the stated oblation (xviii. 29, 36) is
very noteworthy (cp. 2 Kings iii. 20).
[6] It is obvious that a purely rationalistic interpretation of the
great sign whereby Jahweh manifested himself would be out of place.
But there is an interesting parallel in the legend of the kindling of
the sacred fire and the igniting of the "thick water" in the time of
Nehemiah (2 Macc. i. 18-36). Elsewhere, there were sacred fires
kindled by the aid of magical invocations (e.g. Hypaepa, Pausanias v.
27. 3).
[7] Yahweh is here supposed to have his seat on the ancient mountain.
"It was the God of the Exodus to whom he appealed, the ancient King
of Israel in the journeyings through the wilderness." For the cave,
cp. Ex. xxxiii. 22.
[8] The theophany is clearly no rebuke to an impatient prophet, nor a
lesson that the kingdom of heaven was to be built up by the slow and
gentle operation of spiritual forces. It expresses the spirituality
of Yahweh in a way that indicates a marked advance in the conception
of his nature. See Skinner, _Century Bible_, "Kings," _ad loc_.
[9] The geographical indications imply that in one account the
journey to Damascus and the anointing of Hazael and Jehu must have
intervened, and were omitted because another account ascribed these
acts to Elisha (2 Kings viii. ix.). In the latter we possess a more
historical account of the anointing of Jehu, and Robertson Smith
observes: "When the history in 1 Kings represents Elijah as
personally commissioned to inaugurate [the revolution] by anointing
Jehu and Hazael as well as Elisha, we see that the author's design is
to gather up the whole contest between Yahweh and Baal in an ideal
picture of Elijah and his work" (_Ency. Brit_. (9) art. Kings, vol.
xiv. p. 85).
[10] Understood in Eccles. xlviii. 12 (Heb.) to mean that Elisha was
_twice as great_ as Elijah.
ELIJAH WILNA, or ELIJAH BEN SOLOMON, best known as the GAON ELIJAH OF
WILNA (1720-1797), a noted Talmudist who hovered between the new and the
old schools of thought. Orthodox in practice and feeling, his critical
treatment of the rabbinic literature prepared the way for the scientific
investigations of the 19th century. As a teacher he was one of the first
to discriminate between the various strata in rabbinic records; to him
was due the revival of interest in the older Midrash (q.v.) and in the
Palestinian Talmud (q.v.), interest in which had been weak for some
centuries before his time. He was an ascetic, and was a keen opponent of
the emotional mysticism which was known as the new Hassidism.
See S. Schechter's _Studies in Judaism_ (London, 1896). His voluminous
writings are classified in the _Jewish Encyclopedia_, v. 134.
(I. A.)
ELIOT, CHARLES WILLIAM (1834- ), American educationalist, the son of
Samuel Atkins Eliot (1798-1862), mayor of Boston, representative in
Congress, and in 1842-1853 treasurer of Harvard, was born in Boston on
the 20th of March 1834. He graduated in 1853 at Harvard College, where
he was successively tutor (1854-1858) and assistant professor of
chemistry (1858-1863). He studied chemistry and foreign educational
methods in Europe in 1863-1865, was professor of analytical chemistry in
the newly established Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1865-1869),
although absent fourteen months in Europe in 1867-1868; and in 1869 was
elected president of Harvard University, a choice remarkable at once for
his youth and his being a layman and scientist. With Johns Hopkins
University, Harvard, in his presidency, led in the work of efficient
graduate schools. Its elective system, which has spread far, although
not originated by President Eliot, was thoroughly established by him,
and is only one of many radical changes which he championed with great
success. The raising of entrance requirements, which led to a
corresponding raising of the standards of secondary schools, and the
introduction of an element of choice in these entrance requirements,
which allowed a limited election of studies to secondary pupils, became
national tendencies primarily through President Eliot's potent
influence. As chairman of a national Committee of Ten (1890) on
secondary school studies, he urged the abandonment of brief disconnected
"information" courses, the correlation of subjects taught, the equal
rank in college requirements of subjects in which equal time,
consecutiveness and concentration were demanded, and a more thorough
study of English composition; and to a large degree he secured national
sanction for these reforms and their working out by experts into a
practicable and applicable system. He laboured to unify the entire
educational system, minimize prescription, cast out monotony, and
introduce freedom and enthusiasm; and he emphasized the need of special
training for special work. He was first to suggest (1894) co-operation
by colleges in holding common entrance examinations throughout the
country, and it was largely through his efforts that standards were so
approximated that this became possible. He contended that secondary
schools maintained by public funds should shape their courses for the
benefit of students whose education goes no further than such high
schools, and not be mere training schools for the universities. His
success as administrator and man of affairs and as an educational
reformer made him one of the great figures of his time, in whose
opinions on any topic the deepest interest was felt throughout the
country. In November 1908 he resigned the presidency of Harvard, and
retired from the position early in 1909, when he was succeeded by
Professor Abbott Lawrence Lowell. In December 1908 he was elected
president of the National Civil Service Reform League.
His writings include _The Happy Life_ (1896); _Five American
Contributions to Civilization, and Other Essays and Addresses_ (1897);
_Educational Reform, Essays and Addresses 1869-1897_ (1898); _More Money
for the Public Schools_ (1903); _Four American Leaders_ (1906), chapters
on Franklin, Washington, Channing and Emerson; _University
Administration_ (1908); and with F.H. Storer, a _Compendious Manual of
Qualitative Chemical Analysis_ (Boston, 1869; many times reissued and
revised). His annual reports as President of Harvard were notable
contributions to the literature of education in America, and he
delivered numerous public addresses, many of which have been reprinted.
See "President Eliot's Administration," by different hands, a summary
of his work at Harvard in 1869-1894, in _The Harvard Graduates'
Magazine_, vol. 2, pp. 449-504 (Boston, Mass., 1894); and E.
Kuhnemann, _Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard_ (Boston, 1909).
His son, CHARLES ELIOT (1859-1897), graduated at Harvard in 1882,
studied landscape architecture at the Bussey Institution of Harvard and
in Europe, successfully urged the incorporation of the Massachusetts
Trustees of Public Reservations (1891) and of the Metropolitan Park
Commission (1892) of Boston, became landscape architect to the
Metropolitan Park Commission in 1892, and in 1893, with F.L. Olmsted and
J.C. Olmsted, formed the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, which was
employed by the Metropolitan Commission. His life was written by his
father, _Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect_ (Boston, 1902).
ELIOT, GEORGE, the pen-name of the famous English writer, _née_ Mary Ann
(or Marian) Evans (1819-1880), afterwards Mrs J.W. Cross, born at Arbury
Farm, in Warwickshire, on the 22nd of November 1819. Her father, Robert
Evans, was the agent of Mr Francis Newdigate, and the first twenty-one
years of the great novelist's life were spent on the Arbury estate. She
received an ordinary education at respectable schools till the age of
seventeen, when her mother's death, and the marriage of her elder
sister, called her home in the character of housekeeper. This, though it
must have sharpened her sense, already too acute, of responsibility, was
an immense advantage to her mind, and, later, to her career, for,
delivered from the tiresome routine of lessons and class-work, she was
able to work without pedantic interruptions at German, Italian and
music, and to follow her unusually good taste in reading. The life,
inasmuch as she was a girl still in her teens, was no doubt monotonous,
even unhappy. Just as Cardinal Newman felt, with such different results,
the sadness and chain of evangelical influences from his boyhood till
the end of his days, so Marian Evans was subdued all through her youth
by a severe religious training which, while it pinched her mind and
crushed her spirit, attracted her idealism by the very hardness of its
perfect counsels. It is not surprising to find, therefore, that when Mr
Evans moved to Coventry in 1841, and so enlarged the circle of their
acquaintance, she became much interested in some new friends, Mr and Mrs
Charles Bray and Mr Charles Hennell. Mr Bray had literary taste and
wrote works on the _Education of the Feelings_, the _Philosophy of
Necessity_, and the like. Mr Hennell had published in 1838 _An Enquiry
concerning the Origin of Christianity_. Miss Evans, then twenty-two,
absorbed immediately these unexpected, and, at that time, daring habits
of thought. So compelling was the atmosphere that it led to a complete
change in her opinions. Kind in her affection, she was relentless in
argument. She refused to go to church (for some time, at least), wrote
painful letters to a former governess--the pious Miss Lewis--and barely
avoided an irremediable quarrel with her father, a churchman of the old
school. Here was rebellion indeed. But rebels come, for the most part,
from the provinces where petty tyranny, exercised by small souls, show
the scheme of the universe on the meanest possible scale. George Eliot
was never orthodox again; she abandoned, with fierce determination,
every creed, and although she passed, later, through various phases, she
remained incessantly a rationalist in matters of faith and in all other
matters. It is nevertheless true that she wrote admirably about religion
and religious persons. She had learnt the evangelical point of view; she
knew--none better--the strength of religious motives; vulgar doubts of
this fact were as distasteful to her as they were to another eminent
writer, to whom she refers in one of her letters (dated 1853) as "a Mr
Huxley, who was the centre of interest" at some "agreeable evening." Her
books abound in tributes to Christian virtue, and one of her own
favourite characters was Dinah Morris in _Adam Bede_.
She undertook, about the beginning of 1844, the translation of Strauss's
_Leben Jesu_. This work, published in 1846, was considered scholarly,
but it met, in the nature of things, with no popular success. On the
death of Mr Evans in 1849, she went abroad for some time, and we hear of
no more literary ventures till 1851, when she accepted the
assistant-editorship of the _Westminster Review_. For a while she had
lodgings at the offices of that publication in the Strand, London. She
wrote several notable papers, and became acquainted with many
distinguished authors of that period--among them Herbert Spencer,
Carlyle, Harriet Martineau, Francis Newman and George Henry Lewes. Her
friendship with the last-named led to a closer relationship which she
regarded as a marriage. Among the many criticisms passed upon this step
(in view of the fact, among other considerations, that Lewes had a wife
living at the time), no one has denied her courage in defying the law,
or questioned the quality of her tact in a singularly false position.
That she felt the deepest affection for Lewes is evident; that we owe
the development of her genius to his influence and constant sympathy is
all but certain. Yet it is also sure that what she gained from his
intimate companionship was heavily paid for in the unceasing
consciousness that most people thought her guilty of a grave mistake,
and found her written words, with their endorsement of traditional
morality, wholly at variance with the circumstances of her private life.
Doubts of her suffering in this respect will be at once dismissed after
a study of her journal and letters. Stilted and unnatural as these are
to a tragic degree, one can read well enough between the lines, and also
in the elaborate dedication of each manuscript to "my husband" (in terms
of the strongest love), that self-repression, coupled with audacity,
does not make for peace. Her sensitiveness to criticism was extreme; a
flippant paragraph or an illiterate review with regard to her work
actually affected her for days. The whole history of her union with
Lewes is a complete illustration of the force of sheer will--in that
case partly her own and not inconsiderably his--over a nature
essentially unfitted for a bold stand against attacks. At first she and
the man whom she had described "as a sort of miniature Mirabeau in
appearance," went abroad to Weimar and Berlin, but they returned to
England the same year and settled, after several moves, in lodgings at
East Sheen.
In 1854 she published _The Essence of Christianity_, a translation from
Feuerbach, a philosopher to whom she had been introduced by Charles
Bray. During 1855 she translated Spinoza's _Ethics_, wrote articles for
the _Leader_, the _Westminster Review_, and the _Saturday Review_--then
a new thing. It was not until the following year that she attempted the
writing of fiction, and produced _The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos
Barton_--the first of the _Scenes of Clerical Life_. These, published in
_Blackwood's Magazine_, were issued in two volumes in 1858. The press in
general extended a languid welcome to this work, and although the author
received much encouragement from private sources, notably from Charles
Dickens, the critics were mostly non-committal, and it was not until the
publication of _Adam Bede_ in 1859 that enthusiasm was attracted to the
quality of the earlier production. _Adam Bede_, in the judgment of many
George Eliot's masterpiece, met with a success (in her own words)
"triumphantly beyond anything she had dreamed of." In 1860 appeared _The
Mill on the Floss_. After the sensational good fortune of _Adam Bede_,
the criticism applied to the new novel seems to have been disappointing.
We find Miss Evans telling her publisher that "she does not wish to see
any newspaper articles." But the book made its way, and prepared an
ever-growing army of readers for _Silas Marner_ (1861), _Romola_
(1862-1863), and _Felix Holt_ (1866).
_Silas Marner_ shows a reversion to her early manner--the manner of
_Scenes of Clerical Life_. _Romola_, which is what is called an
historical novel, owes its vitality not to the portraits of Savonarola
or of the heroine, or to its vigorous pictures of Florentine life in the
15th century, but to its superb presentment of the treacherous, handsome
Tito Melema, who belongs not to any one period but to every generation.
_Felix Holt_, a novel dealing with political questions, is strained by a
painfulness too severe for any reader's pleasure. Where other eminent
authors have produced mechanical books, or books which were mere
repetitions of their most popular effort, she erred only on the side of
the ponderous and the distressing. _Felix Holt_ is both, and it is the
only one of her novels which lacks an unforgettable human note. _The
Spanish Gypsy_ (1868), a drama in blank verse, received more public
response than most compositions of the kind executed by those connected
with the drama or with poetry only; and she published in 1874 another
volume of verses, _The Legend of Jubal and other Poems_.
Any depression which the author may have felt with regard to the faults
found with some of the last-named books was completely cured by the
praise bestowed on _Middlemarch_ (1872). This profound study of certain
types of English character was supreme at the time of its writing, and
it remains supreme, of its school, in European literature. Thackeray is
brilliant; Tolstoi is vivid to a point where life-likeness overwhelms
any consideration of art; Balzac created a whole world; George Eliot did
not create, but her exposition of the upper and middle class minds of
her day is a masterpiece of scientific psychology. _Daniel Deronda_
(1876), a production on the same lines, was less satisfactory. It
exhibited the same human insight, the passionate earnestness, the
insinuated special pleading for hard cases, the same intellectual
strength, but the subject was unwieldy, almost forbidding, and, as a
result, the novel, in spite of its distinction, has never been
thoroughly liked. The death of Mr Lewes in 1878 was also the death-blow
to her artistic vitality. She corrected the proofs of _Theophrastus
Such_ (a collection of essays), but she wrote no more. About two years
later, however, she married Mr J.W. Cross, a gentleman whose friendship
was especially congenial to a temperament so abnormally dependent on
affectionate understanding as George Eliot's. But she never really
recovered from her shock at the loss of George Lewes, and died at 4
Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, on the 22nd of December 1880.
No right estimate of her, whether as a woman, an artist or a
philosopher, can be formed without a steady recollection of her infinite
capacity for mental suffering, and her need of human support. The
statement that there is no sex in genius, is on the face of it, absurd.
George Sand, certainly the most independent and dazzling of all women
authors, neither felt, nor wrote, nor thought as a man. Saint Teresa,
another great writer on a totally different plane, was pre-eminently
feminine in every word and idea. George Eliot, less reckless, less
romantic than the Frenchwoman, less spiritual than the Spanish saint,
was more masculine in style than either; but her outlook was not, for a
moment, the man's outlook; her sincerity, with its odd reserves, was not
quite the same as a man's sincerity, nor was her humour that genial,
broad, unequivocal humour which is peculiarly virile. Hers approximated,
curiously enough, to the satire of Jane Austen, both for its irony and
its application to little everyday affairs. Men's humour, in its classic
manifestations, is on the heroic rather than on the average scale: it is
for the uncommon situations, not for the daily tea-table.
Her method of attacking a subject shows the influence of Jane Austen,
especially in parts of _Middlemarch_; one can detect also the stronger
influence of Mrs Gaskell, of Charlotte Brontë, and of Miss Edgeworth. It
was, however, but an influence, and no more than a man writer, anxious
to acquire a knowledge of the feminine point of view, might have
absorbed from a study of these women novelists. One often hears that she
is not artistic; that her characterization is less distinct than Jane
Austen's; that she tells more than should be known of her heroes and
heroines. But it should be remembered that Jane Austen dealt with
familiar domestic types, whereas George Eliot excelled in the
presentation of extraordinary souls. One woman drew members of polite
society with correct notions, while the other woman depicted social
rebels with ideas and ideals. In every one of George Eliot's books, the
protagonists, tortured by dreams of perfection, are in revolt against
the prudent compromises of the worldly. All through her stories, one
hears the clash of "the heroic for earth too high," and the desperate
philosophy, disguised it is true, of Omar Khayyam. In her day,
Epicureanism had not reached the life of the people, nor passed into the
education of the mob. Few dared to confess that the pursuit of pleasure,
whether real or imagined, was the aim of mankind. The charm of Jane
Austen is the charm of the untroubled and well-to-do materialist, who
sees in a rich marriage, a comfortable house, carriages and an assured
income the best to strive for; and in a fickle lover of either sex or
the loss of money the severest calamities which can befall the human
spirit. Jane Austen despised the greater number of her characters:
George Eliot suffered with each of hers. Here, perhaps, we find the
reason why she is accused of being inartistic. She could not be
impersonal.
Again, George Eliot was a little scornful to those of both sexes who had
neither special missions nor the consciousness of this deprivation. Men
are seldom in favour of missions in any field. She demanded, too
strenuously from the very beginning, an aim, more or less altruistic,
from every individual; and as she advanced in life this claim became the
more imperative, till at last it overpowered her art, and transformed a
great delineator of humanity into an eloquent observer with far too many
personal prejudices. But she was altogether free from cynicism,
bitterness, or the least tendency to pride of intellect. She suffered
from bodily weakness the greater part of her life, and, but for an
extraordinary mental health--inherited from the fine yeoman stock from
which she sprang--it is impossible that she could have retained, at all
times, so sane a view of human conduct, or been the least sentimental
among women writers of the first rank--the one wholly without morbidity
in any disguise. The accumulation of mere book knowledge, as opposed to
the friction of a life spent among all sorts and conditions of men,
drove George Eliot at last to write as a specialist for specialists: joy
was lost in the consuming desire for strict accuracy: her genius became
more and more speculative, less and less emotional. The highly trained
brain suppressed the impulsive heart,--the heart described with such
candour and pathos as Maggie Tulliver's in _The Mill on the Floss_. For
this reason--chiefly because philosophy is popularly associated with
inactive depression, whereas human nature is held to be eternally
exhilarating--her later works have not received so much praise as her
earlier productions. But one has only to compare _Romola_ or _Daniel
Deronda_ with the compositions of any author except herself to realize
the greatness of her designs, and the astonishing gifts brought to their
final accomplishment.
See also the _Life of George Eliot_, edited by J.W. Cross (3 vols.,
1885-1887); _George Eliot_, by Sir Leslie Stephen, in the "English Men
of Letters" series (1902); by Oscar Browning, "Great Writers" series
(1890), with a bibliography by J.P. Anderson; by Mathilde Blind,
"Eminent Women" series, a new edition of which also contains a
bibliography (Boston, Mass., 1904). (P. M. T. C.)
ELIOT, SIR JOHN (1592-1632), English statesman, son of Richard Eliot, a
member of an old Devonshire family lately settled in Cornwall, was born
at his father's seat at Port Eliot in Cornwall in 1592. He matriculated
at Exeter College, Oxford, on the 4th of December 1607, and leaving the
university after a residence of three years he studied law at one of the
inns of court. He also spent some months travelling in France, Spain and
Italy, in company, for part of the time, with young George Villiers,
afterwards duke of Buckingham. He was only twenty-two when he began his
parliamentary career as member for St Germans in the "addled parliament"
of 1614. In 1618 he was knighted, and next year through the patronage of
Buckingham he obtained the appointment of vice-admiral of Devon, with
large powers for the defence and control of the commerce of the county.
It was not long before the characteristic energy with which he performed
the duties in his office involved him in difficulties. After many
attempts, in 1623 he succeeded by a clever but dangerous manoeuvre in
entrapping the famous pirate John Nutt, who had for years infested the
southern coast, inflicting immense damage upon English commerce. The
issue is noteworthy. The pirate, having a powerful protector at court in
Sir George Calvert, the secretary of state, was pardoned; while the
vice-admiral, upon charges which could not be substantiated, was flung
into the Marshalsea, and detained there nearly four months.
A few weeks after his release Eliot was elected member of parliament for
Newport (February 1624). On the 27th of February he delivered his first
speech, in which he at once revealed his great powers as an orator,
demanding boldly that the liberties and privileges of parliament,
repudiated by James I. in the former parliament, should be secured. In
the first parliament of Charles I., in 1625, he urged the enforcement of
the laws against the Roman Catholics. Meanwhile he had continued the
friend and supporter of Buckingham and greatly approved of the war with
Spain. Buckingham's incompetence, however, and the bad faith with which
both he and the king continued to treat the parliament, alienated Eliot
completely from the administration. Distrust of his former friend
quickly grew in Eliot's excitable mind to a certainty of his criminal
ambition and treason to his country. Returned to the parliament of 1626
as member for St Germans, he found himself, in the absence of other
chiefs of the opposition whom the king had secured by nominating them
sheriffs, the leader of the House. He immediately demanded an inquiry
into the recent disaster at Cadiz. On the 27th of March he made an open
and daring attack upon Buckingham and his evil administration. He was
not intimidated by the king's threatening intervention on the 29th, and
persuaded the House to defer the actual grant of the subsidies and to
present a remonstrance to the king, declaring its right to examine the
conduct of ministers. On the 8th of May he was one of the managers who
carried Buckingham's impeachment to the Lords, and on the 10th he
delivered the charges against him, comparing him in the course of his
speech to Sejanus. Next day Eliot was sent to the Tower. On the Commons
declining to proceed with business as long as Eliot and Sir Dudley
Digges (who had been imprisoned with him) were in confinement, they were
released, and parliament was dissolved on the 15th of June. Eliot was
immediately dismissed from his office of vice-admiral of Devon, and in
1627 he was again imprisoned for refusing to pay a forced loan, but
liberated shortly before the assembling of the parliament of 1628, to
which he was returned as member for Cornwall. He joined in the
resistance now organized to arbitrary taxation, was foremost in the
promotion of the Petition of Right, continued his outspoken censure of
Buckingham, and after the latter's assassination in August, led the
attack in the session of 1629 on the ritualists and Arminians.
In February the great question of the right of the king to levy tonnage
and poundage came up for discussion; and on the king ordering an
adjournment of parliament, the speaker, Sir John Finch, was held down in
the chair while Eliot's resolutions against illegal taxation and
innovations in religion were read to the House by Holles (q.v.). In
consequence, Eliot, with eight other members, was imprisoned on the 4th
of March in the Tower. He refused to answer in his examination, relying
on his privilege of parliament, and on the 29th of October was removed
to the Marshalsea. On the 26th of January he appeared at the bar of the
king's bench, with Holles and Valentine, to answer a charge of
conspiracy to resist the king's order, and refusing to acknowledge the
jurisdiction of the court he was fined £2000 and ordered to be
imprisoned during the king's pleasure and till he had made submission.
This he steadfastly refused. While some of the prisoners appear to have
had certain liberty allowed to them, Eliot's confinement in the Tower
was made exceptionally severe. Charles's anger had been from the first
directed chiefly against him, not only as his own political antagonist
but as the prosecutor and bitter enemy of Buckingham; "an outlawed man,"
he described him, "desperate in mind and fortune."
Eliot languished in prison for some time, during which he wrote several
works, his _Negotium posterorum_, an account of the parliament in 1625;
_The Monarchie of Man_, a political treatise; _De jure majestatis, a
Political Treatise of Government_; and _An Apology for Socrates_, his
own defence. In the spring of 1632 he fell into a decline. In October he
petitioned Charles for permission to go into the country, but leave
could only be obtained at the price of submission, and was finally
refused. He died on the 27th of November 1632. When his son requested
permission to move the body to Port Eliot, Charles, whose resentment
still survived, returned the curt refusal: "Let Sir John Eliot be buried
in the church of that parish where he died." The manner of Eliot's
death, not without suspicion of foul play, and as the result of the
king's implacability and the severe treatment to which he had been
subjected, had more effect, probably, than any other single incident in
embittering and precipitating the dispute between king and parliament;
and the tragic sacrifice of a man so gifted and patriotic, and actuated
originally by no antagonistic feeling against the monarchy or the
church, is the surest condemnation of the king's policy and
administration. Eliot was essentially a great orator, inspired by
enthusiasm and high ideals, which he was able to communicate to his
hearers by his eloquence, but, like Chatham afterwards, he had not only
the gifts but the failings of the orator, was incapable of well-reasoned
and balanced judgment, and, though one of the greatest personalities of
the time, was inferior to Pym both as a party leader and as a statesman.
Eliot married Rhadagund, daughter of Richard Gedie of Trebursye in
Cornwall, by whom he had five sons, from the youngest of whom Nicholas
the present earl of St Germans is descended, and four daughters.
The _Life of Sir J. Eliot_, by J. Forster (1864), is supplemented and
corrected by Gardiner's _History of England_, vols. v.-vii., and the
article in the _Dict. of Nat. Biog._, by the same author. Eliot's
writings, together with his Letter-Book, have been edited by Dr
Grosart.
ELIOT, JOHN (1604-1690), American colonial clergyman, known as the
"Apostle to the Indians," was born probably at Widford, Hertfordshire,
England, where he was baptized on the 5th of August 1604. He was the son
of Bennett Eliot, a middle-class farmer. Little is known of his boyhood
and early manhood except that he took his degree of B.A. at Jesus
College, Cambridge, in 1622. It seems probable that he entered the
ministry of the Established Church, but there is nothing definitely
known of him until 1629-1630, when he became an usher or assistant at
the school of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, at Little Baddow, near Chelmsford.
The influence of Hooker apparently determined him to become a Puritan,
but his connexion with the school ceased in 1630, when Laud's
persecutions drove Hooker into exile. The realization of the
difficulties in the way of a non-conforming clergyman in England
undoubtedly determined Eliot to emigrate to America in the autumn of
1631, where he settled first at Boston, assisting for a time at the
First Church. In November 1632 he became "teacher" to the church at
Roxbury, with which his connexion lasted until his death. There he
married Hannah Mulford, who had been betrothed to him in England, and
who became his constant helper. In the care of the Roxbury church he was
associated with Thomas Welde from 1632 to 1641, with Samuel Danforth
(1626-1674) from 1649 to 1674, and with Nehemiah Walter (1663-1750) from
1688 to 1690.
Inspired with the idea of converting the Indians, his first step was to
perfect himself in their dialects, which he did by the assistance of a
young Indian whom he received into his home. With his aid he translated
the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. He first successfully
preached to the Indians in their own tongue at Nonantum (Newton) in
October 1646. At the third meeting several Indians declared themselves
converted, and were soon followed by many others. Eliot induced the
Massachusetts General Court to set aside land for their residence, the
same body also voting him £10 to prosecute the work, and directing that
two clergymen be annually elected by the clergy as preachers to the
Indians. As soon as the success of Eliot's endeavours became known, the
necessary funds flowed in upon him from private sources in both Old and
New England. In July 1649 parliament incorporated the "Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in New England," which henceforth supported
and directed the work inaugurated by Eliot. The first appeal for aid
brought contributions of £11,000. In 1651 the Christian Indian town
founded by Eliot was removed from Nonantum to Natick, where residences,
a meeting-house, and a school-house were erected, and where Eliot
preached, when able, once in every two weeks as long as he lived. To
this community Eliot applied a plan of government by means of tens,
fifties and hundreds, which he subsequently advocated as suitable for
all England. Eliot's missionary labours encouraged others to follow in
his footsteps. A second town under his direction was established at
Ponkapog (Stoughton) in 1654, in which he had the assistance of Daniel
Gookin (c. 1612-1687). His success was duplicated in Martha's Vineyard
and Nantucket by the Mayhews, and by 1674 the unofficial census of the
"praying Indians" numbered 4000. King Philip's War (1675-76) was a
staggering blow to all missionary enterprise; and although few of the
converted Indians proved disloyal, it was some years before adequate
support could again be enlisted. Yet at Eliot's death, which occurred at
Roxbury on the 21st of May 1690, the missions were at the height of
their prosperity, and that the results of his labours were not permanent
was due only to the racial traits of the New England tribes.
Of wider influence and more lasting value than his personal labours as a
missionary was Eliot's work as a translator of the Bible and various
religious works into the Massachusetts dialect of the Algonquian
language. The first work completed was the _Catechism_, published in
1653 at Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first book to be printed in the
Indian tongue. Several years elapsed before Eliot completed his task of
translating the Bible. The New Testament was at last issued in 1661, and
the Old Testament followed two years later. The New Testament was bound
with it, and thus the whole Bible was completed. To it were added a
Catechism and a metrical version of the Psalms. The title of this Bible,
now a great rarity, is _Mamussee Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God
naneeswe Nukkone Testament kah wonk Wusku Testament-Ne quoshkinnumuk
nashpe Wuttinneumoh Christ noh assoowesit John Eliot_; literally
translated, "The Whole Holy His-Bible God, both Old Testament and also
New Testament. This turned by the-servant-of-Christ, who is called John
Eliot."
This book was printed in 1663 at Cambridge, Mass., by Samuel Green and
Marmaduke Johnson, and was the first Bible printed in America. In 1685
appeared a second edition, in the preparation of which Eliot was
assisted by the Rev. John Cotton (1640-1699), the younger, of
Plymouth, who also had a wide knowledge of the Indian tongue.
Besides his Bible, Eliot published at Cambridge in 1664 a translation of
Baxter's _Call to the Unconverted_, and in 1665 an abridged translation
of Bishop Bayly's _Practice of Piety_. With the assistance of his sons
he completed (1664) his well-known Indian Grammar Begun, printed at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1666. It was reprinted in vol. ix. of the
_Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society_. _The Indian
Primer_, comprising an exposition of the Lord's Prayer and a translation
of the Larger Catechism, was published at Cambridge in 1669, and was
reprinted under the editorial superintendence of Mr John Small of the
university of Edinburgh in 1877. In 1671 Eliot printed in English a
little volume entitled _Indian Dialogues_, followed in 1672 by his
_Logick Primer_, both of which were intended for the instruction of the
Indians in English. His last translation was Thomas Shepard's _Sincere
Convert_, completed and published by Grindal Rawson in 1689. Eliot's
literary activity, however, extended into other fields than that of
Indian instruction. He was, with Richard Mather, one of the editors of
the _Bay Psalm Book_ (1640). Several tracts written wholly or in part by
him in the nature of reports to the society which supported his missions
were published at various times in England. In 1660 he published a
curious treatise on government entitled _The Christian Commonwealth_, in
which he found the ideal of government in the ancient Jewish state, and
proposed the reorganization of the English government on the basis of a
numerical subdivision of the inhabitants. His _Harmony of the Gospels_
(1678) was a life of Jesus Christ.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--An account of Eliot's life and work is contained in
Williston Walker's _Ten New England Leaders_ (New York, 1901). There
is a "Life of John Eliot," by Convers Francis, in _Sparks' American
Biography_, vol. v. (New York, 1853); another by N. Adams (Boston,
1847); and a sketch in Cotton Mather's _Magnalia_ (London, 1702). For
a good account of his publications in the Indian language see the
chapter on "The Indian Tongue and its Literature," by J.H. Trumbull,
in vol. i. of the _Memorial History of Boston_ (1882). (W. Wr.)
ELIS, or ELEIA, an ancient district of southern Greece, bounded on the
N. by Achaea, E. by Arcadia, S. by Messenia, and W. by the Ionian Sea.
The local form of the name was Valis, or Valeia, and its meaning, in all
probability, "the lowland." In its physical constitution Elis is
practically one with Achaea and Arcadia; its mountains are mere
offshoots of the Arcadian highlands, and its principal rivers are fed by
Arcadian springs. From Erymanthus in the north, Skollis (now known as
Mavri and Santameri in different parts of its length) stretches toward
the west, and Pholoe along the eastern frontier; in the south a
prolongation of Mount Lycaeon bore in ancient times the names of Minthe
and Lapithus, which have given place respectively to Alvena and to
Kaiapha and Smerna. These mountains are well clothed with vegetation,
and present a soft and pleasing appearance in contrast to the
picturesque wildness of the parent ranges. They gradually sink towards
the west and die off into what was one of the richest alluvial tracts in
the Peloponnesus. Except where it is broken by the rocky promontories of
Chelonatas (now Chlemutzi) and Ichthys (now Katakolo), the coast lies
low, with stretches of sand in the north and lagoons and marshes towards
the south. During the summer months communication with the sea being
established by means of canals, these lagoons yield a rich harvest of
fish to the inhabitants, who at the same time, however, are almost
driven from the coast by the swarms of gnats. The district for
administrative purposes forms part of the nome of Elis and Achaea (see
GREECE).
Elis was divided into three districts--Hollow or Lowland Elis ([Greek:
hê kohilê Êlis]), Pisatis, or the territory of Pisa, and Triphylia, or
the country of the three tribes. (1) _Hollow Elis_, the largest and most
northern of the three, was watered by the Peneus and its tributary the
Ladon, whose united stream forms the modern Gastouni. It included not
only the champaign country originally designated by its name, but also
the mountainous region of Acrorea, occupied by the offshoots of
Erymanthus. Besides the capital city of Elis, it contained Cyllene, an
Arcadian settlement on the sea-coast, whose inhabitants worshipped
Hermes under the phallic symbol; Pylus, at the junction of the Peneus
and the Ladon, which, like so many other places of the same name,
claimed to be the city of Nestor, and the fortified frontier town of
Lasion, the ruins of which are still visible at Kuti, near the village
of Kumani. The district was famous in antiquity for its cattle and
horses; and its byssus, supposed to have been introduced by the
Phoenicians, was inferior only to that of Palestine. (2) _Pisatis_
extended south from Hollow Elis to the right bank of the Alpheus, and
was divided into eight departments called after as many towns. Of these
Salmone, Heraclea, Cicysion, Dyspontium and Harpina are known--the last
being the reputed burial-place of Marmax, the suitor of Hippodamia. From
the time of the early investigators it has been disputed whether Pisa,
which gave its name to the district, has ever been a city, or was only a
fountain or a hill. By far the most important spot in Pisatis was the
scene of the great Olympic games, on the northern bank of the Alpheus
(see OLYMPIA). (3) _Triphylia_ stretches south from the Alpheus to the
Neda, which forms the boundary towards Messenia. Of the nine towns
mentioned by Polybius, only two attained to any considerable
influence--Lepreum and Macistus, which gave the names of Lepreatis and
Macistia to the southern and northern halves of Triphylia. The former
was the seat of a strongly independent population, and continued to take
every opportunity of resisting the supremacy of the Eleans. In the time
of Pausanias it was in a very decadent condition, and possessed only a
poor brick-built temple of Demeter; but considerable remains of its
outer walls are still in existence near the village of Strovitzi, on a
part of the Minthe range.
The original inhabitants of Elis were called Caucones and Paroreatae.
They are mentioned for the first time in Greek history under the title
of Epeians, as setting out for the Trojan War, and they are described by
Homer as living in a state of constant hostility with their neighbours
the Pylians. At the close of the 11th century B.C. the Dorians invaded
the Peloponnesus, and Elis fell to the share of Oxylus and the
Aetolians. These people, amalgamating with the Epeians, formed a
powerful kingdom in the north of Elis. After this many changes took
place in the political distribution of the country, till at length it
came to acknowledge only three tribes, each independent of the others.
These tribes were the Epeians, Minyae and Eleans. Before the end of the
8th century B.C., however, the Eleans had vanquished both their rivals,
and established their supremacy over the whole country. Among the other
advantages which they thus gained was the right of celebrating the
Olympic games, which had formerly been the prerogative of the Pisatans.
The attempts which this people made to recover their lost privilege,
during a period of nearly two hundred years, ended at length in the
total destruction of their city by the Eleans. From the time of this
event (572 B.C.) till the Peloponnesian War, the peace of Elis remained
undisturbed. In that great contest Elis sided at first with Sparta; but
that power, jealous of the increasing prosperity of its ally, availed
itself of the first pretext to pick a quarrel. At the battle of Mantinea
(418 B.C.) the Eleans fought against the Spartans, who, as soon as the
war came to a close, took vengeance upon them by depriving them of
Triphylia and the towns of the Acrorea. The Eleans made no attempt to
re-establish their authority over these places, till the star of Thebes
rose in the ascendant after the battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.). It is not
unlikely that they would have effected their purpose had not the
Arcadian confederacy come to the assistance of the Triphylians. In 366
B.C. hostilities broke out between them, and though the Eleans were at
first successful, they were soon overpowered, and their capital very
nearly fell into the hands of the enemy. Unable to make head against
their opponents, they applied for assistance to the Spartans, who
invaded Arcadia, and forced the Arcadians to recall their troops from
Elis. The general result of this war was the restoration of their
territory to the Eleans, who were also again invested with the right of
holding the Olympic games. During the Macedonian supremacy in Greece
they sided with the victors, but refused to fight against their
countrymen. After the death of Alexander they renounced the Macedonian
alliance. At a subsequent period they joined the Aetolian League, but
persistently refused to identify themselves with the Achaeans. When the
whole of Greece fell under the Roman yoke, the sanctity of Olympia
secured for the Eleans a certain amount of indulgence. The games still
continued to attract to the country large numbers of strangers, until
they were finally put down by Theodosius in 394, two years previous to
the utter destruction of the country by the Gothic invasion under
Alaric. In later times Elis fell successively into the hands of the
Franks and the Venetians, under whose rule it recovered to some extent
its ancient prosperity. By the latter people the province of Belvedere
on the Peneus was called, in consequence of its fertility, "the milch
cow of the Morea."
ELIS, the chief city of the ancient Greek district of Elis, was situated
on the river Peneus, just where it passes from the mountainous district
of Acrorea into the champaign below. According to native tradition, it
was originally founded by Oxylus, the leader of the Aetolians, whose
statue stood in the market-place. In 471 B.C. it received a great
extension by the incorporation (synoecism) of various small hamlets,
whose inhabitants took up their abode in the city. Up to this date it
only occupied the ridge of the hill now called Kalaskopi, to the south
of the Peneus, but afterwards it spread out in several suburbs, and even
to the other side of the stream. As all the athletes who intended to
take part in the Olympic games were obliged to undergo a month's
training in the city, its gymnasiums were among its principal
institutions. They were three in number--the "Xystos," with its avenues
of plane-trees, its plethrion or wrestling-place, its altars to
Heracles, to Eros and Anteros, to Demeter and Kore (Cora), and its
cenotaph of Achilles; the "Tetragonon," appropriated to boxing
exercises; and the "Maltho," in the interior of which was a hall or
council chamber called Lalichmion after its founder. The market-place
was of the old-fashioned type, with porticoes at intervals and paths
leading between them. It was called the Hippodrome because it was
commonly used for exercising horses. Among the other objects of interest
were the temple of Artemis Philomirax; the Hellanodicaeon, or office of
the Hellanodicae; the Corcyrean Hall, a building in the Dorian style
with two façades, built of spoils from Corcyra; a temple of Apollo
Acesius; a temple of Silenus; an ancient structure supported on oaken
pillars and reputed to be the burial-place of Oxylus; the building where
the sixteen women of Elis were wont to weave a robe for the statue of
Hera at Olympia; the temple of Aphrodite, with a statue of the goddess
by Pheidias as Urania with a tortoise beneath her foot, and by Scopas as
Pandemos, riding on a goat; and the shrine of Dionysus, whose festival,
the Thyia, was yearly celebrated in the neighbourhood. On the acropolis
was a temple of Athena, with a gold and ivory statue by Pheidias. The
history of the town is closely identified with that of the country. In
399 B.C. it was occupied by Agis, king of Sparta. The acropolis was
fortified in 312 by Telesphorus, the admiral of Antigonus, but it was
shortly afterwards dismantled by Philemon, another of his generals. A
view of the site is given by Stanhope. It is now called Palaeopolis. No
traces of any buildings can be identified, the only remains visible
dating from Roman times.
See Pausanias vi. 23-26; J. Spencer Stanhope, _Olympia and Elis_
(1824), folio; W.M. Leake, _Morea_ (1830); E. Curtius, _Peloponnesus_
(1851-1852); Schiller, _Stämme und Staaten Griechenlands_; C. Bursian,
_Geographie von Griechenland_ (1868-1872); P. Gardner, "The Coins of
Elis," in _Num. Chr._ (1879). (E. Gr.)
ELIS, PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOOL OF. This school was founded by Phaedo, a
pupil of Socrates. It existed for a very short time and was then
transferred by Menedemus to Eretria, where it became known as the
Eretrian school. Its chief members, beside Phaedo, were Anchipylus,
Moschus and Pleistanus (see PHAEDO and MENEDEMUS).
ELISAVETGRAD, a fortress and town of Russia, in the government of
Kherson, 296 m. by rail N.E. of Odessa on the Balta-Kremenchug railway,
and on the Ingul river, in 48° 31' N. and 32° 10' E. The population
increased from 23,725 in 1860 to 66,182 in 1900. The town is regularly
built, with wide streets, some of them lined with trees, and is a
wealthy town, which has become an industrial centre for the region
especially on account of its steam flour-mills, in which it is second
only to Odessa, its distilleries, mechanical workshops, tobacco and
tallow factories and brickworks. It is an important centre for trade in
cereals and flour for export, and in sheep, cattle, wool, leather and
timber. Five fairs are held annually. It has a military school, a
first-class meteorological station and a botanical garden. The town was
founded in 1754 and named after the empress Elizabeth. The
fortifications are now decayed.
ELISAVETPOL, a government of Russia, Transcaucasia, having the
governments of Tiflis and Daghestan on the N., Baku on the E., and
Erivan and Tiflis on the W. and Persia on the S. Area, 16,721 sq. m. It
includes: (a) the southern slope of the main Caucasus range in the
north-east, where Bazardyuzi (14,770 ft.) and other peaks rise above the
snow-line; (b) the arid and unproductive steppes beside the Kura,
reaching 1000 ft. of altitude in the west and sinking to 100-200 ft. in
the east, where irrigation is necessary; and (c) the northern slopes of
the Transcaucasian escarpment and portions of the Armenian plateau,
which is intersected towards its western boundary, near Lake Gok-cha, by
chains of mountains consisting of trachytes and various crystalline
rocks, and reaching 12,845 ft. in Mount Kapujikh. Elsewhere the country
has the character of a plateau, 7000 to 8000 ft. high, deeply trenched
by tributaries of the Aras. All varieties of climate are found from that
of the snowclad peaks, Alpine meadows, and stony deserts of the high
levels, to that of the hill slopes, clothed with gardens and vineyards,
and of the arid Caspian steppes. Thus, at Shusha, on the plateau, at an
altitude of 3680 ft., the average temperatures are: year 48°, January
26°, July 66°; annual rainfall, 26.4; while at Elisavetpol, in the
valley of the Kura, they are: year 55°, January 32°.2, July 77° and
rainfall only 10.3 in. Nearly one-fifth of the surface is under forests.
The population which was 885,379 in 1897 (only 392,124 women; 84,130
urban), and was estimated at 953,300 in 1906, consists chiefly of Tatars
(56%) and Armenians (33%). The remainder are Kurds (4.7%), Russians and
a few Germans, Jews, Kurins, Udins and Tates. Peasants form the great
bulk of the population. Some of the Tatars and the Kurds are nomadic.
Wheat, maize, barley, oats and rye are grown, also rice. Cultivation of
cotton has begun, but the rearing of silkworms is of old standing,
especially at Nukha (1650 tons of cocoons on the average are obtained
every year). Nearly 8000 acres are under vines, the yield of wine
averaging 82½ million gallons annually. Gardening reaches a high
standard of perfection. Liquorice root is obtained to the extent of
about 35,000 tons annually. The rearing of live-stock is largely carried
on on the steppes. Copper, magnetic iron ore, cobalt and a small
quantity of naphtha are extracted, and nearly 10,000 persons are
employed in manufacturing industry--copper works and silk-mills.
Carpet-weaving is widely spread. Owing to the Transcaucasian railway,
which crosses the government, trade, both in the interior and with
Persia, is very brisk. The government is divided into eight districts,
Elisavetpol, Aresh, Jebrail, Jevanshir, Kazakh, Nukha, Shusha and
Zangezur. The only towns, besides the capital, are Nukha (24,811
inhabitants in 1897) and Shusha (25,656).
ELISAVETPOL (formerly _Ganja_, alternative names being KENJEH and
KANGA), a town of Russia, capital of the government of the same name,
118 m. by rail S.E. of Tiflis and 3½ m. from the railway, at an altitude
of 1446 ft. Pop. (1873) 15,439; (1897) 33,090. It is a very old town,
which changed hands between Persians, Khazars and Arabs even in the 7th
century, and later fell into the possession of Mongols, Georgians,
Persians and Turks successively, until the Russians took it in 1804,
when the change of name was made. It is a badly built place, with narrow
streets and low-roofed, windowless houses, and is situated in a very
unhealthy locality, but has been much improved, a new European quarter
having been built on the site of the old fortress (erected by the Turks
in 1712-1724). The inhabitants are chiefly Tatars and Armenians, famed
for their excellent gardening, and also for silkworm breeding. It has a
beautiful mosque, built by Shah Abbas of Persia in 1620; and a renowned
"Green Mosque" amidst the ruins of old Ganja, 4 m. distant. The Persian
poet, Shah Nizam (Nizam-ed-Din), was born here in 1141, and is said to
have been buried (1203) close to the town. The Persians were defeated by
the Russians under Paskevich outside this town in 1826.
ELISHA (a Hebrew name meaning "God is deliverance"), in the Bible, the
disciple and successor of Elijah, was the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah
in the valley of the Jordan. He was symbolically elected to the
prophetic office by Elijah some time during the reign of Ahab (1 Kings
xix. 19-21), and he survived until the reign of Joash. His career thus
appears to have extended over a period of nearly sixty years. The
relation between Elijah and Elisha was of a particularly close kind, but
the difference between them is much more striking than the resemblance.
Elijah is the prophet of the wilderness, wandering, rugged and austere;
Elisha is the prophet of civilized life, of the city and the court, with
the dress, manners and appearance of ordinary "grave citizens." Elijah
is the messenger of vengeance--sudden, fierce and overwhelming; Elisha
is the messenger of mercy and restoration. Elijah's miracles, with few
exceptions, are works of wrath and destruction; Elisha's miracles, with
but one notable exception, are works of beneficence and healing. Elijah
is the "prophet as fire" (Ecclus, xlviii. 1), an abnormal agent working
for exceptional ends; Elisha is the "holy man of God which passeth by us
continually" (2 Kings iv. 9), mixing in the common life of the people.
It is impossible to draw up a detailed chronology of his life. In most
of the events narrated no further indication of time is given than by
the words "the king of Israel," the name not being specified. There are
some instances in which the order of time is obviously the reverse of
the order of narrative, and there are other grounds for concluding that
the narrative as we now have it is confused and incomplete. This may
serve not only to explain the chronological difficulties, but also to
throw some light on the altogether exceptional character of the
miraculous element in Elisha's history. On the literary questions, see
further KINGS.
Not only are Elisha's miracles very numerous, even more so than those of
Elijah, but they stand in a peculiar relation to the man and his work.
With all the other prophets the primary function is spiritual teaching;
miracles, even though numerous and many of them symbolical like
Elisha's, are only accessory. With Elisha, on the other hand, miracles
seem the principal function, and the teaching is altogether subsidiary.
An explanation of the superabundance of miracles in Elisha's life is
suggested by the fact that several of them were merely repetitions or
doubles of those of his predecessor. Such were: his first miracle, when,
returning across the Jordan, he made a dry path for himself in the same
manner as Elijah (2 Kings ii. 14); the increase of the widow's pot of
oil (iv. 1-7); and the restoration of the son of the woman of Shunem to
life (iv. 18-37). The theory that stories from the earlier life have
been imported by mistake into the later, even if tenable, applies only
to three of the miracles, and leaves unexplained a much larger number
which are not only not repetitions of those of Elijah, but have an
entirely opposite character. The healing of the water of Jericho by
putting salt in it (ii. 19-22), the provision of water for the army of
Jehoshaphat in the arid desert (iii. 6-20), the neutralizing by meal of
the poison in the pottage of the famine-stricken sons of the prophets at
Jericho (iv. 38-41), the healing of Naaman the Syrian (v. 1-19), and the
recovery of the iron axehead that had sunk in the water (vi. 1-7), are
all instances of the beneficence which was the general characteristic of
Elisha's wonder-working activity in contrast to that of Elijah. Another
miracle of the same class, the feeding of a hundred men with twenty
loaves so that something was left over (iv. 42-44), deserves mention as
the most striking though not the only instance of a resemblance between
the work of Elisha and that of Jesus (Matt. xiv. 13-21). The one
distinct exception to the general beneficence of Elisha's activity--the
destruction of the forty-two children who mocked him as he was going up
to Bethel (2 Kings ii. 23-25)--presents an ethical difficulty which is
scarcely removed by the suggestion that the narrative has lost some
particulars which would have shown the real enormity of the children's
offence. We may prefer to imagine that among the homely stories told of
him was one which had for its main object the inculcation of respect for
one's elders.[1] The leprosy brought upon Gehazi (v. 20-27), though a
miracle of judgment, scarcely belongs to the same class as the other;
and it will be observed that Gehazi's subsequent relations with the
court (viii. 1-6) ignore the disease, a fatal hindrance to intercourse.
Further, the healing of Naaman (alluded to in Luke iv. 27) presupposes
peaceful relations between Israel and the Syrians, with which, however,
contrast ch. vi. The wonder-working power of Elisha is represented as
continuing even after his death. As the feeding of the hundred men and
the cure of leprosy connect his work with that of Jesus, so the story
that a dead man who was cast into his sepulchre was brought to life by
the mere contact with his bones (2 Kings xiii. 21, cf. Ecclus. xlviii.
12-14) is the most striking instance of an analogy between his miracles
and those recorded of medieval saints. Stanley (_Jewish Church_, 4th
ed., ii. 276) in reference to this has remarked that in the life of
Elisha alone "in the sacred history the gulf between biblical and
ecclesiastical miracles almost disappears."
The place which Elisha filled in contemporary history was one of great
influence and importance, and several narratives testify to his great
reputation in Israel. On one occasion, when he delivered the army that
had been brought out against Moab from a threatened dearth of water (2
Kings iii.),[2] he plainly intimates that, but for his regard to
Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who was in alliance with Israel, he
would not have interfered. Whether he was with the army or was supposed
to be living in the desert is left obscure. An interesting touch is the
influence of music upon the prophetic mind (_v._ 15). His next signal
interference was during the incursions of the Syrians, when he disclosed
the plans of the invaders to the "king of Israel" with such effect that
they were again and again baffled. When the "king of Syria" was informed
that "Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel
the words that thou speakest in thy bed-chamber," he at once sent an
army to take him captive in Dothan. At Elisha's prayer his terrified
servant beheld an army of horses and chariots of fire surrounding the
prophet. At a second prayer the invaders were struck blind, and in this
state they were led by Elisha to Samaria, where their sight was
restored. Their lives were spared at the command of the prophet, and
they returned home so impressed that their incursions thenceforward
ceased (vi. 8-23). This is immediately followed by the siege of Samaria
by Benhadad which caused a famine of the severest kind. The calamity was
imputed by the "king of Israel" to the influence of Elisha, and he
ordered the prophet to be immediately put to death. Forewarned of the
danger, Elisha ordered the messenger who had been sent to slay him to be
detained at the door, and, when, immediately afterwards, the king
himself came ("messenger" in vi. 33 should rather be _king_), predicted
a great plenty within twenty-four hours. This was fulfilled by the
flight of the Syrian army under the circumstances stated in ch. vii.
After the episode with regard to the woman of Shunem (viii. 1-6), which
is out of its chronological order, Elisha is represented as at Damascus
(viii. 7-15). The reverence with which the foreign monarch Benhadad
addressed Elisha deserves to be noted as showing the extent of the
prophet's influence. In sending to know the issue of his illness, the
king caused himself to be styled "_thy son_ Benhadad." Equally
remarkable is the very ambiguous nature of Elisha's reply (viii.
10).[3] The most important interference of Elisha in the history of his
country constituted the fulfilment of the third of the commands laid
upon Elijah. The work of anointing Jehu to be king over Israel was
performed by deputy (ix. 1-3). During the forty-five years which the
chronological scheme allows for the reigns of Jehu and Jehoahaz the
narratives contain no notice of Elisha, but from the circumstances of
his death (xiii. 14-21) it is clear that he had continued to enjoy the
esteem of the dynasty which he had helped to found. Joash, the grandson
of Jehu, waited on him on his death-bed, and addressed him in the words
which he himself had used to Elijah: "My father, my father, the chariot
of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (cf. ii. 12). By the result of a
symbolic discharge of arrows he informed the king of his coming success
against Syria, and immediately thereafter he died. The explicit
statement that he was buried completes the contrast between him and his
greater predecessor.
On the narratives, see KINGS. In general those where "the prophet
appears as on friendly terms with the king, and possessed of influence
at court (e.g. 2 Kings iv. 13, vi. 9, vi. 21, compared with xiii. 14),
plainly belong to the time of Jehu's dynasty, though they are related
before the fall of the house of Omri. We can distinguish portions of
an historical narrative which speaks of Elisha in connexion with
events of public interest, without making him the central figure, and
a series of anecdotes of properly biographical character.... In the
latter we may distinguish one circle connected with Gilgal, Jericho
and the Jordan valley to which Abel-Meholah belongs (iv. 1-7? 38-44,
v.? vi. 1-7). Here Elisha appears as the head of the prophetic gilds,
having his fixed residence at Gilgal.[4] Another circle, which
presupposes the accession of the house of Jehu, places him at Dothan
or Carmel, and represents him as a personage of almost superhuman
dignity. Here there is an obvious parallelism with the history of
Elijah, especially with his ascension (cf. 2 Kings vi. 17 with ii. 11;
xiii. 14 with ii. 12); and it is to this group of narratives that the
ascension of Elijah forms the introduction" (Robertson Smith, _Ency.
Brit._, 9th ed., art. KINGS, vol. xiv. p. 186). This twofold
representation finds a parallel in the narratives of Samuel, whose
history and the conditions reflected therein are analogous to the life
and times of Elisha.
Elisha is canonized in the Orthodox Eastern Church, his festival being
on the 14th of June, under which date his life is entered in the _Acta
sanctorum_.
See especially, W.R. Smith, _Prophets of Israel_ (Index, s.v.), and
the literature to ELIJAH; KINGS, BOOKS OF; PROPHET.
(W. R. S.; S. A. C.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Similarly Elijah enforces respect for the prophetic office in i.
9 sqq. Prof. Kennett points out to the present writer that the
epithet "bald-head" may refer to the sign of mourning for Elisha's
lost master (cf. Ez. vii. 18, Deut. xiv. 1); "Go up" is perhaps to be
taken literally (in reference to Elijah's translation).
[2] The method of obtaining water (_v._ 16 sq.) is that which still
gives its name to the Wadi el-Ahsa ("valley of water pits") at the
southern end of the Dead Sea (_Old Test. Jew. Church_, 2nd ed., 147).
On the other hand, see Burney, _Heb. Text of Kings_, p. 270.
[3] R. V. marg. is an alteration to remove from Elisha the suggestion
of an untruth.
[4] The Gilgal of Elisha is near the Jordan--comp. vi. 1 with iv. 38,
[Hebrew: shavim lefanaiv],--and cannot be other than the great
sanctuary 2 m. from Jericho, the local holiness of which is still
attested in the _Onomastica_. It is true that in 2 Kings ii. 1 Bethel
seems to lie between Gilgal and Jericho; but v. 25 shows that Gilgal
was not originally represented as Elisha's residence in this
narrative, which belongs to the Carmel-Dothan series. On the other
hand, for the identification with the Gilgal (Jiljilia) S.W. of
Shiloh, see G.A. Smith, _Ency. Bib._ (s.v. Gilgal); Burney, _op.
cit._, p. 264; Skinner, _Century Bible_: _Kings_, p. 278.
ELISHA BEN ABUYAH (c. A.D. 100), a unique figure among the Palestinian
Jews of the first Christian century. He was born before the destruction
of the Temple (which occurred in A.D. 70) and survived into the 2nd
century. It is not easy to decide as to his exact attitude towards
Judaism. That he refused to accept the current rabbinical views is
certain, though the Talmud cites his legal decisions. Most authorities
believe that he was a Gnostic; but while it is certain that he was not a
Christian, it is possible that he was simply a Sadducee, and thus an
opponent not of Judaism but of Pharisaism. His disciple, the famous
Pharisee Meir, remained his steadfast friend, and his efforts to reclaim
his former master are among the most pathetic incidents in the Talmud.
In later ages Elisha (_aher_ "the other," as he was named) was regarded
as the type of a heretic whose pride of intellect betrayed him into
infidelity to law and morals. Without much appropriateness Elisha has
been sometimes described as the "Faust of the Talmud." (I. A.)
ELIXIR (from the Arabic _al-iksir_, probably an adaptation of the Gr.
[Greek: xêrion], a powder used for drying wounds, from [Greek: xêros],
dry), in alchemy, the medium which would effect the transmutation of base
metals into gold; it probably included all such substances--vapours,
liquids, &c.--and had a wider meaning than "philosopher's stone." The
same term, more fully _elixir_ _vitae_, elixir of life, was given to the
substance which would indefinitely prolong life; it was considered to be
closely related to, or even identical with, the substance for transmuting
metals. In pharmacy the word was formerly given to a strong extract or
tincture, but it is only used now for an aromatic sweet preparation,
containing one or more drugs, and in such expressions as "elixir of
vitriol," a mixture of sulphuric acid, cinnamon, ginger and alcohol.
ELIZABETH (1533-1603), queen of England and Ireland, born on Sunday the
7th of September 1533, and, like all the Tudors except Henry VII., at
Greenwich Palace, was the only surviving child of Henry VIII. by his
second queen, Anne Boleyn. With such a mother and with Cranmer as her
godfather she represented from her birth the principle of revolt from
Rome, but the opponents of that movement attached little importance to
her advent into the world. Charles V.'s ambassador, Chapuys, hardly
deigned to mention the fact that the king's _amie_ had given birth to a
daughter, and both her parents were bitterly disappointed with her sex.
She was, however, given precedence over Mary, her elder sister by
sixteen years, and Mary never forgave the infant's offence. Even this
dubious advantage only lasted three years until her mother was beheaded,
and by a much more serious freak on Henry's part "divorced." Elizabeth
has been censured for having made no effort in later years to clear her
mother's memory; but no vindication of Anne's character could have
rehabilitated Elizabeth's legitimacy. Her mother was not "divorced" for
her alleged adultery, because that crime was no ground for divorce by
Roman or English canon law. The marriage was declared invalid _ab
initio_ either on the ground of Anne's precontract with Lord Percy or
more probably on the ground of the affinity established between Henry
and Anne by Henry's previous relations with Mary Boleyn.
Elizabeth thus lost all hereditary title to the throne, and her early
years of childhood can hardly have been happier than Mary's. Nor was her
legitimacy ever legally established; but after Jane Seymour's death,
when Henry seemed likely to have no further issue, she was by act of
parliament placed next in order of the succession after Edward and Mary
and their issue; and this statutory arrangement was confirmed by the
will which Henry VIII. was empowered by statute to make. Queen Catherine
Parr introduced some humanity into Henry's household, and Edward and
Elizabeth were well and happily educated together, principally at old
Hatfield House, which is now the marquess of Salisbury's stables. They
were there when Henry's death called Edward VI. away to greater
dignities, and Elizabeth was left in the care of Catherine Parr, who
married in indecent haste Thomas, Lord Seymour, brother of the protector
Somerset. This unprincipled adventurer, even before Catherine's death in
September 1548, paid indelicate attentions to Elizabeth. Any attempt to
marry her without the council's leave would have been treason on his
part and would have deprived Elizabeth of her contingent right to the
succession. Accordingly, when Seymour's other misbehaviour led to his
arrest, his relations with Elizabeth were made the subject of a very
trying investigation, which gave Elizabeth her first lessons in the
feminine arts of self-defence. She proved equal to the occasion, partly
because she was in all probability innocent of anything worse than a
qualified acquiescence in Seymour's improprieties and a girlish
admiration for his handsome face. He or his tragic fate may have touched
a deeper chord, but it was carefully concealed; and although in later
years Elizabeth seems to have cherished his memory, and certainly showed
no love for his brother's children, at the time she only showed
resentment at the indignities inflicted on herself.
For the rest of Edward's reign Elizabeth's life was less tempestuous.
She hardly rivalled Lady Jane Grey as the ideal Puritan maiden, but she
swam with the stream, and was regarded as a foil to her stubborn
Catholic sister. She thus avoided the enmity and the still more
dangerous favour of Northumberland; and some unknown history lies behind
the duke's preference of the Lady Jane to Elizabeth as his son's wife
and his own puppet for the throne. She thus escaped shipwreck in his
crazy vessel, and rode by Mary's side in triumph into London on the
failure of the plot. For a time she was safe enough; she would not
renounce her Protestantism until Catholicism had been made the law of
the land, but she followed Gardiner's advice to her father when he said
it was better that he should make the law his will than try to make his
will the law. As a presumptive ruler of England she was, like Cecil, and
for that matter the future archbishop Parker also, too shrewd to commit
herself to passive or active resistance to the law; and they merely
anticipated Hobbes in holding that the individual committed no sin in
subordinating his conscience to the will of the state, for the
responsibility for the law was not his but the state's. Their position
was well enough understood in those days; it was known that they were
heretics at heart, and that when their turn came they would once more
overthrow Catholicism and expect a similar submission from the
Catholics.
It was not so much Elizabeth's religion as her nearness to the throne
and the circumstances of her birth that endangered her life in Mary's
reign. While Mary was popular Elizabeth was safe; but as soon as the
Spanish marriage project had turned away English hearts Elizabeth
inevitably became the centre of plots and the hope of the plotters. Had
not Lady Jane still been alive to take off the edge of Mary's
indignation and suspicion Elizabeth might have paid forfeit for Wyat's
rebellion with her life instead of imprisonment. She may have had
interviews with French agents who helped to foment the insurrection; but
she was strong and wary enough to avoid Henry II.'s, as she had avoided
Northumberland's, toils; for even in case of success she would have been
the French king's puppet, placed on the throne, if at all, merely to
keep it warm for Henry's prospective daughter-in-law, Mary Stuart. This
did not make Mary Tudor any more friendly, and, although the story that
Elizabeth favoured Courtenay and that Mary was jealous is a ridiculous
fiction, the Spaniards cried loud and long for Elizabeth's execution.
She was sent to the Tower in March 1554, but few Englishmen were fanatic
enough to want a Tudor beheaded. The great nobles, the Howards, and
Gardiner would not hear of such a proposal; and all the efforts of the
court throughout Mary's reign failed to induce parliament to listen to
the suggestion that Elizabeth should be deprived of her legal right to
the succession. After two months in the Tower she was transferred to Sir
Henry Bedingfield's charge at Woodstock, and at Christmas, when the
realm had been reconciled to Rome and Mary was expecting issue,
Elizabeth was once more received at court. In the autumn of 1555 she
went down to Hatfield, where she spent most of the rest of Mary's reign,
enjoying the lessons of Ascham and Baldassare Castiglione, and planting
trees which still survive.
She had only to bide her time while Mary made straight her successor's
path by uprooting whatever affection the English people had for the
Catholic faith, Roman jurisdiction and Spanish control. The Protestant
martyrs and Calais between them removed all the alternatives to an
insular national English policy in church and in state; and no sovereign
was better qualified to lead such a cause than the queen who ascended
the throne amid universal, and the Spaniards thought indecent,
rejoicings at Mary's death on the 17th of November 1558. "Mere English"
she boasted of being, and after Englishmen's recent experience there was
no surer title to popular favour. No sovereign since Harold had been so
purely English in blood; her nearest foreign ancestor was Catherine of
France, the widow of Henry V., and no English king or queen was more
superbly insular in character or in policy. She was the unmistakable
child of the age so far as Englishmen shared in its characteristics, for
with her English aims she combined some Italian methods and ideas. "An
Englishman Italianate," ran the current jingle, "is a devil incarnate,"
and Elizabeth was well versed in Italian scholarship and statecraft.
Italians, especially Bernardino Ochino, had given her religious
instruction, and the Italians who rejected Catholicism usually adopted
far more advanced forms of heresy than Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, or
even Calvinism. Elizabeth herself patronized Giacomo Acontio, who
thought dogma a "stratagema Satanae," and her last favourite, Essex was
accused of being the ringleader of "a damnable crew of atheists." A
Spanish ambassador early in the reign thought that Elizabeth's own
religion was equally negative, though she told him she agreed with
nearly everything in the Augsburg Confession. She was probably not at
liberty to say what she really thought, but she made up by saying a
great many things which she did not mean. It is clear enough that,
although, like her father, she was fond of ritual, she was absolutely
devoid of the religious temperament, and that her ecclesiastical
preferences were dictated by political considerations. She was sincere
enough in her dislike of Roman jurisdiction and of Calvinism; a daughter
of Anne Boleyn could have little affection for a system which made her a
bastard, and all monarchs agreed at heart with James I.'s aphorism about
"no bishop, no king." It was convenient, too, to profess Lutheran
sympathies, for Lutheranism was now an established, monarchical and
comparatively respectable religion, very different from the Calvinism
against which monarchs directed the Counter-reformation from political
motives. Lutheran dogma, however, had few adherents in England, though
its political theory coincided with that of Anglicanism in the 16th
century. The compromise that resulted from these conflicting forces
suited Elizabeth very well; she had little dislike of Catholics who
repudiated the papacy, but she was forced to rely mainly on Protestants,
and had little respect for any form of ecclesiastical self-government.
She valued uniformity in religion, not as a safeguard against heresy,
but as a guarantee of the unity of the state. She respected the bishops
only as supporters of her throne; and, although the well-known letter
beginning "Proud Prelate" is an 18th-century forgery, it is hardly a
travesty of Elizabeth's attitude.
The outlines of her foreign policy are sketched elsewhere (see ENGLISH
HISTORY), and her courtships were diplomatic. Contemporary gossip, which
was probably justified, said that she was debarred from matrimony by a
physical defect; and her cry when she heard that Mary queen of Scots had
given birth to a son is the most womanly thing recorded of Elizabeth.
Her features were as handsome as Mary's, but she had little fascination,
and in spite of her many suitors no man lost his head over Elizabeth as
men did over Mary. She was far too masculine in mind and temperament,
and her extravagant addiction to the outward trappings of femininity was
probably due to the absence or atrophy of deeper feminine instincts. In
the same way the impossibility of marriage made her all the freer with
her flirtations, and she carried some of them to lengths that
scandalized a public unconscious of Elizabeth's security. She had every
reason to keep them in the dark, and to convince other courts that she
could and would marry if the provocation were sufficient. She could not
marry Philip II., but she held out hopes to more than one of his
Austrian cousins whenever France or Mary Stuart seemed to threaten; and
later she encouraged two French princes when Philip had lost patience
with Elizabeth and made Mary Stuart his protégée. Her other suitors were
less important, except Leicester, who appealed to the least intellectual
side of Elizabeth and was always a cause of distraction in her policy
and her ministers.
Elizabeth was terribly handicapped by having no heirs of her body and no
obvious English successor. She could not afford to recognize Mary's
claim, for that would have been to alienate the Protestants, double the
number of Catholics, and, in her own phrase, to spread a winding-sheet
before her eyes; for all would have turned to the rising sun. Mary was
dangerous enough as it was, and no one would willingly make his rival
his heir. Elizabeth could hardly be expected to go out of her way and
ask parliament to repeal its own acts for Mary's sake; probably it would
have refused. Nor was it personal enmity on Elizabeth's part that
brought Mary to the block. Parliament had long been ferociously
demanding Mary's execution, not because she was guilty but because she
was dangerous to the public peace. She alone could have given the
Spanish Armada any real chance of success; and as the prospect of
invasion loomed larger on the horizon, fiercer grew the popular
determination to remove the only possible centre of a domestic rising,
without which the external attack was bound to be a failure. Elizabeth
resisted the demand, not from compassion or qualms of conscience, but
because she dreaded the responsibility for Mary's death. She wished
Paulet would manage the business on his own account, and when at last
her signature was extorted she made a scapegoat of her secretary Davison
who had the warrant executed.
The other great difficulty, apart from the succession, with which
Elizabeth had to deal arose from the exuberant aggressiveness of
England, which she could not, and perhaps did not want to, repress.
Religion was not really the cause of her external dangers, for the time
had passed for crusades, and no foreign power seriously contemplated an
armed invasion of England for religion's sake. But no state could long
tolerate the affronts which English seamen offered Spain. The common
view that the British Empire has been won by purely defensive action is
not tenable, and from the beginning of her reign Englishmen had taken
the offensive, partly from religious but also from other motives. They
were determined to break up the Spanish monopoly in the new world, and
in the pursuit of this endeavour they were led to challenge Spain in the
old. For nearly thirty years Philip put up with the capture of his
treasure-ships, the raiding of his colonies and the open assistance
rendered to his rebels. Only when he had reached the conclusion that his
power would never be secure in the Netherlands or the New World until
England was conquered, did he despatch the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth
delayed the breach as long as she could, probably because she knew that
war meant taxation, and that taxation was the most prolific parent of
revolt.
With the defeat of the Spanish Armada Elizabeth's work was done, and
during the last fifteen years of her reign she got more out of touch
with her people. That period was one of gradual transition to the
conditions of Stuart times; during it practically every claim was put
forward that was made under the first two Stuarts either on behalf of
parliament or the prerogative, and Elizabeth's attitude towards the
Puritans was hardly distinguishable from James I.'s. But her past was in
her favour, and so were her sex and her Tudor tact, which checked the
growth of discontent and made Essex's rebellion a ridiculous fiasco. He
was the last and the most wilful but perhaps the best of her favourites,
and his tragic fate deepened the gloom of her closing years. The
loneliness of a queen who had no husband or children and no relatives to
mention must at all times have been oppressive; it grew desolating in
old age after the deaths of Leicester, Walsingham, Burghley and Essex,
and Elizabeth died, the last of her race, on the 24th of March 1603.
Bishop Creighton's _Queen Elizabeth_ (1896) is the best biography;
there are others by E.S. Beesly (_Twelve English Statesmen_, 1892);
Lucy Aikin, _Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth_ (1818); and T.
Wright, _Queen Elizabeth and her Times_ (1838). See also A. Jessopp's
article in the _Dict. Nat. Biog._ (A. F. P.)
ELIZABETH [PETROVNA] (1709-1762), EMPRESS OF RUSSIA, the daughter of
Peter the Great and Martha Skovronskaya, born at Kolomenskoye, near
Moscow, on the 18th of December 1709. Even as a child her parts were
good, if not brilliant, but unfortunately her education was both
imperfect and desultory. Her father had no leisure to devote to her
training, and her mother was too illiterate to superintend her studies.
She had a French governess, however, and at a later day picked up some
Italian, German and Swedish, and could converse in these languages with
more fluency than accuracy. From her earliest years she delighted every
one by her extraordinary beauty and vivacity. It was Peter's intention
to marry his second daughter to the young French king Louis XV., but the
pride of the Bourbons revolted against any such alliance. Other
connubial speculations foundered on the personal dislike of the princess
for the various suitors proposed to her, so that on the death of her
mother (May 1727) and the departure to Holstein of her beloved sister
Anne, her only remaining near relation, the princess found herself at
the age of eighteen practically her own mistress. So long as Menshikov
remained in power, she was treated with liberality and distinction by
the government of Peter II., but the Dolgorukis, who supplanted
Menshikov and hated the memory of Peter the Great, practically banished
Peter's daughter from court. Elizabeth had inherited her father's
sensual temperament and, being free from all control, abandoned herself
to her appetites without reserve. While still in her teens, she made a
lover of Alexius Shubin, a sergeant in the Semenovsky Guards, and after
his banishment to Siberia, minus his tongue, by order of the empress
Anne, consoled herself with a handsome young Cossack, Alexius
Razumovski, who, there is good reason to believe, subsequently became
her husband. During the reign of her cousin Anne (1730-1740), Elizabeth
effaced herself as much as possible; but under the regency of Anne
Leopoldovna the course of events compelled the indolent but by no means
incapable beauty to overthrow the existing government. The idea seems to
have been first suggested to her by the French ambassador, La Chétardie,
who was plotting to destroy the Austrian influence then dominant at the
Russian court. It is a mistake to suppose, however, that La Chétardie
took a leading part in the revolution which placed the daughter of Peter
the Great on the Russian throne. As a matter of fact, beyond lending the
tsesarevna 2000 ducats, instead of the 15,000 she demanded of him, he
took no part whatever in the actual _coup d'état_ which was as great a
surprise to him as to every one else. The merit and glory of that
singular affair belong to Elizabeth alone. The fear of being imprisoned
in a convent for the rest of her life was the determining cause of her
irresistible outburst of energy. At midnight on the 6th of December
1741, with a few personal friends, including her physician, Armand
Lestocq, her chamberlain, Michael Ilarionvich Vorontsov, her future
husband, Alexius Razumovski, and Alexander and Peter Shuvalov, two of
the gentlemen of her household, she drove to the barracks of the
Preobrazhensky Guards, enlisted their sympathies by a stirring speech,
and led them to the Winter Palace, where the regent was reposing in
absolute security. Having on the way thither had all the ministers
arrested, she seized the regent and her children in their beds, and
summoned all the notables, civil and ecclesiastical, to her presence. So
swiftly and noiselessly indeed had the whole revolution proceeded that
as late as eight o'clock the next morning very few people in the city
were aware of it. Thus, at the age of three-and-thirty, this naturally
indolent and self-indulgent woman, with little knowledge and no
experience of affairs, suddenly found herself at the head of a great
empire at one of the most critical periods of its existence. Fortunately
for herself, and for Russia, Elizabeth Petrovna, with all her
shortcomings, had inherited some of her father's genius for government.
Her usually keen judgment and her diplomatic tact again and again recall
Peter the Great. What in her sometimes seemed irresolution and
procrastination, was, most often, a wise suspense of judgment under
exceptionally difficult circumstances; and to this may be added that she
was ever ready to sacrifice the prejudices of the woman to the duty of
the sovereign.
After abolishing the cabinet council system in favour during the rule of
the two Annes, and reconstituting the senate as it had been under Peter
the Great,--with the chiefs of the departments of state, all of them now
Russians again, as _ex-officio_ members under the presidency of the
sovereign,--the first care of the new empress was to compose her quarrel
with Sweden. On the 23rd of January 1743, direct negotiations between
the two powers were opened at Åbo, and on the 7th of August 1743 Sweden
ceded to Russia all the southern part of Finland east of the river
Kymmene, which thus became the boundary between the two states,
including the fortresses of Villmanstrand and Fredrikshamn. This
triumphant issue was mainly due to the diplomatic ability of the new
vice chancellor, Alexius Bestuzhev-Ryumin (q.v.), whom Elizabeth, much
as she disliked him personally, had wisely placed at the head of foreign
affairs immediately after her accession. He represented the
anti-Franco-Prussian portion of her council, and his object was to bring
about an Anglo-Austro-Russian alliance which, at that time, was
undoubtedly Russia's proper system. Hence the reiterated attempts of
Frederick the Great and Louis XV. to get rid of Bestuzhev, which made
the Russian court during the earlier years of Elizabeth's reign the
centre of a tangle of intrigue impossible to unravel by those who do
not possess the clue to it (see BESTUZHEV-RYUMIN, ALEXIUS). Ultimately,
however, the minister, strong in the support of Elizabeth, prevailed,
and his faultless diplomacy, backed by the despatch of an auxiliary
Russian corps of 30,000 men to the Rhine, greatly accelerated the peace
negotiations which led to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (October 18,
1748). By sheer tenacity of purpose, Bestuzhev had extricated his
country from the Swedish imbroglio; reconciled his imperial mistress
with the courts of Vienna and London, her natural allies; enabled Russia
to assert herself effectually in Poland, Turkey and Sweden, and isolated
the restless king of Prussia by environing him with hostile alliances.
But all this would have been impossible but for the steady support of
Elizabeth, who trusted him implicitly, despite the insinuations of the
chancellor's innumerable enemies, most of whom were her personal
friends.
The great event of Elizabeth's later years was the Seven Years' War.
Elizabeth rightly regarded the treaty of Westminster (January 16, 1756,
whereby Great Britain and Prussia agreed to unite their forces to oppose
the entry into, or the passage through, Germany of the troops of every
foreign power) as utterly subversive of the previous conventions between
Great Britain and Russia. A by no means unwarrantable fear of the king
of Prussia, who was "to be reduced within proper limits," so that "he
might be no longer a danger to the empire," induced Elizabeth to accede
to the treaty of Versailles, in other words the Franco-Austrian league
against Prussia, and on the 17th of May 1757 the Russian army, 85,000
strong, advanced against Königsberg. Neither the serious illness of the
empress, which began with a fainting-fit at Tsarskoe Selo (September 19,
1757), nor the fall of Bestuzhev (February 21, 1758), nor the cabals and
intrigues of the various foreign powers at St Petersburg, interfered
with the progress of the war, and the crushing defeat of Kunersdorf
(August 12, 1759) at last brought Frederick to the verge of ruin. From
that day forth he despaired of success, though he was saved for the
moment by the jealousies of the Russian and Austrian commanders, which
ruined the military plans of the allies. On the other hand, it is not
too much to say that, from the end of 1759 to the end of 1761, the
unshakable firmness of the Russian empress was the one constraining
political force which held together the heterogeneous, incessantly
jarring elements of the anti-Prussian combination. From the Russian
point of view, Elizabeth's greatness as a statesman consists in her
steady appreciation of Russian interests, and her determination to
promote them at all hazards. She insisted throughout that the king of
Prussia must be rendered harmless to his neighbours for the future, and
that the only way to bring this about was to reduce him to the rank of
an elector. Frederick himself was quite alive to his danger. "I am at
the end of my resources," he wrote at the beginning of 1760, "the
continuance of this war means for me utter ruin. Things may drag on
perhaps till July, but then a catastrophe _must_ come." On the 21st of
May 1760 a fresh convention was signed between Russia and Austria, a
secret clause of which, never communicated to the court of Versailles,
guaranteed East Prussia to Russia, as an indemnity for war expenses. The
failure of the campaign of 1760, so far as Russia and France were
concerned, induced the court of Versailles, on the evening of the 22nd
of January 1761, to present to the court of St Petersburg a despatch to
the effect that the king of France by reason of the condition of his
dominions absolutely desired peace. On the following day the Austrian
ambassador, Esterhazy, presented a despatch of a similar tenor from his
court. The Russian empress's reply was delivered to the two ambassadors
on the 12th of February. It was inspired by the most uncompromising
hostility towards the king of Prussia. Elizabeth would not consent to
any pacific overtures until the original object of the league had been
accomplished. Simultaneously, Elizabeth caused to be conveyed to Louis
XV. a confidential letter in which she proposed the signature of a new
treaty of alliance of a more comprehensive and explicit nature than the
preceding treaties between the two powers, without the knowledge of
Austria. Elizabeth's object in this mysterious negotiation seems to
have been to reconcile France and Great Britain, in return for which
signal service France was to throw all her forces into the German war.
This project, which lacked neither ability nor audacity, foundered upon
Louis XV.'s invincible jealousy of the growth of Russian influence in
eastern Europe and his fear of offending the Porte. It was finally
arranged by the allies that their envoys at Paris should fix the date
for the assembling of a peace congress, and that, in the meantime, the
war against Prussia should be vigorously prosecuted. The campaign of
1761 was almost as abortive as the campaign of 1760. Frederick acted on
the defensive with consummate skill, and the capture of the Prussian
fortress of Kolberg on Christmas day O.S. 1761, by Rumyantsev, was the
sole Russian success. Frederick, however, was now at the last gasp. On
the 6th of January 1762, he wrote to Finkenstein, "We ought now to think
of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments
of my territory we can save from the avidity of my enemies," which
means, if words mean anything, that he was resolved to seek a soldier's
death on the first opportunity. A fortnight later he wrote to Prince
Ferdinand of Brunswick, "The sky begins to clear. Courage, my dear
fellow. I have received the news of a great event." The great event
which snatched him from destruction was the death of the Russian empress
(January 5, 1762).
See Robert Nisbet Bain, _The Daughter of Peter the Great_ (London,
1899); Sergyei Solovev, _History of Russia_ (Rus.), vols. xx.-xxii.
(St Petersburg, 1857-1877); _Politische Correspondenz Friedrichs des
Grossen_, vols. i.-xxi. (Berlin, 1879, &c.); Colonel Masslowski, _Der
siebenjährige Krieg nach russischer Darstellung_ (Berlin, 1888-1893);
Kazinsierz Waliszewski, _La Dernière des Romanov_ (Paris, 1902).
(R. N. B.)
ELIZABETH [AMÉLIE EUGÉNIE] (1837-1898), consort of Francis Joseph,
emperor of Austria and king of Hungary, was the daughter of Duke
Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria and Louisa Wilhelmina, daughter of
Maximilian I. of Bavaria, and was born on the 24th of December 1837 at
the castle of Possenhofen on Lake Starnberg. She inherited the quick
intelligence and artistic taste displayed in general by members of the
Wittelsbach royal house, and her education was the reverse of
conventional. She accompanied her eccentric father on his hunting
expeditions, becoming an expert rider and climber, visiting the peasants
in their huts and sharing in rustic pleasures. The emperor of Austria,
Francis Joseph, met the Bavarian ducal family at Ischl in August 1853,
and immediately fell in love with Elizabeth, then a girl of sixteen, and
reported to be the most beautiful princess in Europe. The marriage took
place in Vienna on the 24th of April 1854. In the early days of her
married life she frequently came into collision with Viennese prejudice.
Her attempts to modify court etiquette, and her extreme fondness for
horsemanship and frequent visits to the imperial riding school,
scandalized Austrian society, while her predilection for Hungary and for
everything Hungarian offended German sentiment. There is no doubt that
her influence helped the establishment of the _Ausgleich_ with Hungary,
but outside Hungarian affairs the empress took small part in politics.
She first visited Hungary in 1857, and ten years later was crowned
queen. Her popularity with the Hungarians remained unchanged throughout
her life; and the castle of Gödöllö, presented as a coronation gift, was
one of her favourite residences. Elizabeth was one of the most
charitable of royal ladies, and her popularity with her Austrian
subjects was more than restored by her assiduous care for the wounded in
the campaign of 1866. Besides her public benefactions she constantly
exercised personal and private charity. Her eldest daughter died in
infancy; Gisela (b. 1856) married the Prince Leopold of Bavaria; and her
youngest daughter Marie Valerie (b. 1868) married the Archduke Franz
Salvator. The tragic death of her only son, the crown prince Rudolph, in
1889, was a shock from which she never really recovered. She was also
deeply affected by the suicide of her cousin Louis II. of Bavaria, and
again by the fate of her sister Sophia, duchess of Alençon, who perished
in the fire of the Paris charity bazaar in 1897. The empress had shown
signs of lung disease in 1861, when she spent some months in Madeira;
but she was able to resume her outdoor sports, and for some years
before 1882, when she had to give up riding, was a frequent visitor on
English and Irish hunting fields. In her later years her dislike of
publicity increased. Much of her time was spent in travel or at the
Achilleion, the palace she had built in the Greek style in Corfu. She
was walking from her hotel at Geneva to the steamer when she was stabbed
by the anarchist Luigi Luccheni, on the 10th of September 1898, and died
of the wound within a few hours. This aimless and dastardly crime
completed the list of misfortunes of the Austrian house, and aroused
intense indignation throughout Europe.
See A. de Burgh, _Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, a Memoir_ (London,
1898); E. Friedmann and J. Paves, _Kaiserin Elisabeth_ (Berlin, 1898);
and the anonymous _Martyrdom of an Empress_ (1899), containing a
quantity of court gossip.
ELIZABETH (1596-1662), consort of Frederick V., elector palatine and
titular king of Bohemia, was the eldest daughter of James I. of Great
Britain and of Anne of Denmark, and was born at Falkland Castle in
Fifeshire in August 1596. She was entrusted to the care of the earl of
Linlithgow, and after the departure of the royal family to England, to
the countess of Kildare, subsequently residing with Lord and Lady
Harington at Combe Abbey in Warwickshire. In November 1605 the Gunpowder
Plot conspirators formed a plan to seize her person and proclaim her
queen after the explosion, in consequence of which she was removed by
Lord Harington to Coventry. In 1608 she appeared at court, where her
beauty soon attracted admiration and became the theme of the poets, her
suitors including the dauphin, Maurice, prince of Orange, Gustavus
Adolphus, Philip III. of Spain, and Frederick V., the elector palatine.
A union with the last-named was finally arranged, in spite of the
queen's opposition, in order to strengthen the alliance with the
Protestant powers in Germany, and the marriage took place on the 14th of
February 1613 midst great rejoicing and festivities. The prince and
princess entered Heidelberg on the 17th of June, and Elizabeth, by means
of her English annuity, enjoyed five years of pleasure and of
extravagant gaiety to which the small German court was totally
unaccustomed. On the 26th of August 1618, Frederick, as a leading
Protestant prince, was chosen king by the Bohemians, who deposed the
emperor Ferdinand, then archduke of Styria. There is no evidence to show
that his acceptance was instigated by the princess or that she had any
influence in her husband's political career. She accompanied Frederick
to Prague in October 1619, and was crowned on the 7th of November. Here
her unrestrainable high spirits and levity gave great offence to the
citizens. On the approach of misfortune, however, she showed great
courage and fortitude. She left Prague on the 8th of November 1620,
after the fatal battle of the White Hill, for Küstrin, travelling thence
to Berlin and Wolfenbüttel, finally with Frederick taking refuge at the
Hague with Prince Maurice of Orange. The help sought from James came
only in the shape of useless embassies and negotiations; the two
Palatinates were soon occupied by the Spaniards and the duke of Bavaria;
and the romantic attachment and services of Duke Christian of Brunswick,
of the 1st earl of Craven, and of other chivalrous young champions who
were inspired by the beauty and grace of the "Queen of Hearts," as
Elizabeth was now called, availed nothing. Her residence was at Rhenen
near Arnheim, where she received many English visitors and endeavoured
to maintain her spirits and fortitude, with straitened means and in
spite of frequent disappointments. The victories of Gustavus Adolphus
secured no permanent advantage, and his death at Lützen was followed by
that of the elector at Mainz on the 29th of November 1632. Subsequent
attempts of the princess to reinstate her son in his dominions were
unsuccessful, and it was not till the peace of Westphalia in 1648 that
he regained a portion of them, the Rhenish Palatinate. Meanwhile,
Elizabeth's position in Holland grew more and more unsatisfactory. The
payment of her English annuity of £12,000 ceased after the outbreak of
the troubles with the parliament; the death of Charles I. in 1649 put an
end to all hopes from that quarter; and the pension allowed her by the
house of Orange ceased in 1650. Her children, in consequence of
disputes, abandoned her, and her eldest son Charles Louis refused her a
home in his restored electorate. Nor did Charles II. at his restoration
show any desire to receive her in England. Parliament voted her £20,000
in 1660 for the payment of her debts, but Elizabeth did not receive the
money, and on the 19th of May 1661 she left the Hague for England, in
spite of the king's attempts to hinder her journey, receiving no
official welcome on her arrival in London and being lodged at Lord
Craven's house in Drury Lane. Charles, however, subsequently granted her
a pension and treated her with kindness. On the 8th of February 1662 she
removed to Leicester House in Leicester Fields, and died shortly
afterwards on the 13th of the same month, being buried in Westminster
Abbey. Her beauty, grace and vivacity exercised a great charm over her
contemporaries, the enthusiasm for her, however, being probably not
merely personal but one inspired also by her misfortunes and by the fact
that these misfortunes were incurred in defence of the Protestant cause;
later, as the ancestress of the Protestant Hanoverian dynasty, she
obtained a conspicuous place in English history. She had thirteen
children--Frederick Henry, drowned at sea in 1629; Charles Louis,
elector palatine, whose daughter married Philip, duke of Orleans, and
became the ancestress of the elder and Roman Catholic branch of the
royal family of England; Elizabeth, abbess and friend of Descartes;
Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, who died unmarried; Louisa, abbess;
Edward, who married Anne de Gonzaga, "princesse palatine," and had
children; Henrietta Maria, who married Count Sigismund Ragotzki but died
childless; Philip and Charlotte, who died childless; Sophia, who married
Ernest Augustus, elector of Hanover, and was mother of George I. of
England; and two others who died young.
Bibliography.--See the article in _Dict. of Nat. Biography_ and
authorities there collected; _Five Stuart Princesses_, ed. by R.S.
Rait (1902); _Briefe der Elizabeth Stuart ... an ... den Kurfürsten
Carl Ludwig von der Pfalz_, by A. Wendland (Bibliothek des
literarischen Vereins, 228, Stuttgart, 1902); "Elizabeth Stuart," by
J.O. Opel, in Sybel's _Historische Zeitschrift_, xxiii. 289; _Thomason
Tracts_ (Brit. Mus.), E., 138 (14), 122 (12), 118 (40), 119 (18).
Important material regarding the princess exists in the MSS. of the
earl of Craven, at Combe Abbey.
ELIZABETH [PAULINE ELIZABETH OTTILIE LOUISE] (1843- ), consort of King
Charles I. (q.v.) of Rumania, widely known by her literary name of
"Carmen Sylva," was born on the 29th of December 1843. She was the
daughter of Prince Hermann of Neuwied. She first met the future king of
Rumania at Berlin in 1861, and was married to him on the 15th of
November 1869. Her only child, a daughter, died in 1874. In the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 she devoted herself to the care of the
wounded, and founded the Order of Elizabeth (a gold cross on a blue
ribbon) to reward distinguished service in such work. She fostered the
higher education of women in Rumania, and established societies for
various charitable objects. Early distinguished by her excellence as a
pianist, organist and singer, she also showed considerable ability in
painting and illuminating; but a lively poetic imagination led her to
the path of literature, and more especially to poetry, folk-lore and
ballads. In addition to numerous original works she put into literary
form many of the legends current among the Rumanian peasantry.
"Carmen Sylva" wrote with facility in German, Rumanian, French and
English. A few of her voluminous writings, which include poems, plays,
novels, short stories, essays, collections of aphorisms, &c., may be
singled out for special mention. Her earliest publications were _Sappho_
and _Hammerstein_, two poems which appeared at Leipzig in 1880. In 1888
she received the Prix Botta, a prize awarded triennially by the French
Academy, for her volume of prose aphorisms _Les Pensées d'une reine_
(Paris, 1882), a German version of which is entitled _Vom Amboss_ (Bonn,
1890). _Cuvinte Sufletesci_, religious meditations in Rumanian
(Bucharest, 1888), was also translated into German (Bonn, 1890), under
the name of _Seelen-Gespräche_. Several of the works of "Carmen Sylva"
were written in collaboration with Mite Kremnitz, one of her maids of
honour, who was born at Greifswald in 1857, and married Dr Kremnitz of
Bucharest; these were published between 1881 and 1888, in some cases
under the pseudonyms _Dito et Idem_, and includes the novel _Aus zwei
Welten_ (Leipzig, 1884), _Anna Boleyn_ (Bonn, 1886), a tragedy, _In der
Irre_ (Bonn, 1888), a collection of short stories, &c. _Edleen Vaughan,
or Paths of Peril_, a novel (London, 1894), and _Sweet Hours_, poems
(London, 1904), were written in English. Among the translations made by
"Carmen Sylva" are German versions of Pierre Loti's romance _Pêcheur
d'Islande_, and of Paul de St Victor's dramatic criticisms _Les Deux
Masques_ (Paris, 1881-1884); and in particular _The Bard of the
Dimbovitza_, a fine English version by "Carmen Sylva" and Alma Strettell
of Helène Vacarescu's collection of Rumanian folk-songs, &c., entitled
_Lieder aus dem Dimbovitzathal_ (Bonn, 1889). _The Bard of the
Dimbovitza_ was first published in 1891, and was soon reissued and
expanded. Translations from the original works of "Carmen Sylva" have
appeared in all the principal languages of Europe and in Armenian.
See RUMANIA: _History_; also M. Kremnitz, _Carmen Sylva--eine
Biographie_ (Leipzig, 1903); and, for a full bibliography, G.
Bengescu, _Carmen Sylva--bibliographie et extraits de ses oeuvres_
(Paris, 1904).
ELIZABETH (1635-1650), English princess, second daughter of Charles I.,
was born on the 28th of December 1635 at St James's Palace. On the
outbreak of the Civil War and the departure of the king from London,
while the two elder princes accompanied their father, the princess and
the infant duke of Gloucester were left under the care of the
parliament. In October 1642 Elizabeth sent a letter to the House of
Lords begging that her old attendants might not be removed. In July 1644
the royal children were sent to Sir John Danvers at Chelsea, and in 1645
to the earl and countess of Northumberland. After the final defeat of
the king they were joined in 1646 by James, and during 1647 paid several
visits to the king at Caversham, near Reading, and Hampton Court, but
were again separated by Charles's imprisonment at Carisbrooke Castle. On
the 21st of April 1648 James was persuaded to escape by Elizabeth, who
declared that were she a boy she would not long remain in confinement.
The last sad meeting between Charles and his two children, at which the
princess was overcome with grief, and of which she wrote a short and
touching account, took place on the 29th of January 1649, the day before
his execution. In June she was entrusted to the care of the earl and
countess of Leicester at Penshurst, but in 1650, upon the landing of
Charles II. in Scotland, the parliament ordered the royal children to be
taken for security to Carisbrooke Castle. The princess fell ill from a
wetting almost immediately upon her arrival, and died of fever on the
8th of September. She was buried in St Thomas's church at Newport, Isle
of Wight, where the initials "E.S." alone marked her grave till 1856,
when a monument was erected to her memory by Queen Victoria. The
princess's sorrowful career and early death have attracted general
interest and sympathy. She was said to have acquired considerable
proficiency in Greek, Hebrew and Latin, as well as in Italian and
French, and several books were dedicated to her, including the
translation of the _Electra_ of Sophocles by Christopher Wase in 1649.
Her mild nature and gentleness towards her father's enemies gained her
the name of "Temperance."
See _Lives of the Princesses of England_, by M.A.E. Green (1855), vol.
vi.; _Notes and Queries_, 7th ser., ix. 444, x. 15.
ELIZABETH [Élisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène of France] (1764-1794),
commonly called MADAME ELIZABETH, daughter of Louis the Dauphin and
Marie Josephine of Saxony, and sister of Louis XVI., was born at
Versailles on the 3rd of May 1764. Left an orphan at the age of three,
she was brought up by Madame de Mackau, and had a residence at
Montreuil, where she gave many proofs of her benevolent character. She
refused all offers of marriage so that she might remain by the side of
her brother, whom she loved passionately. At the outset of the
Revolution she foresaw the gravity of events, and refused to leave the
king, whom she accompanied in his flight on the 20th of June 1792, and
with whom she was arrested at Varennes. She was present at the
Legislative Assembly when Louis was suspended, and was imprisoned in the
Temple with the royal family. By the execution of the king and the
removal of Marie Antoinette to the Conciergerie, Madame Elizabeth was
deprived of her companions in the Temple prison, and on the 9th of May
1794 she was herself transferred to the Conciergerie, and haled before
the revolutionary tribunal. Accused of assisting the king's flight, of
supplying _émigrés_ with funds, and of encouraging the resistance of the
royal troops on the 10th of August 1792, she was condemned to death, and
executed on the 10th of May 1794. Like her brother, she had all the
domestic virtues, and, as was to be expected of a sister of Louis XVI.,
she was in favour of absolutist principles. Hers was one of the most
touching tragedies of the Revolution; she perished because she was the
sister of the king.
The _Mémoires de Madame Élisabeth_ (Paris, 1858), by F. de Barghon and
Fort-Rion, are of doubtful authenticity; and the collection of letters
and documents published in 1865 by F. Feuillet de Conches must be used
with caution (see the bibliographical note to the article MARIE
ANTOINETTE). See le Comte A.F.C. Ferrand, _Éloge historique de Madame
Élisabeth_ (1814, containing 94 letters; 2nd ed., 1861, containing
additional letters, but correspondence mutilated); Du Fresne de
Beaucourt, _Étude sur Madame Élisabeth_ (Paris, 1864); A. de
Beauchesne, _Vie de Madame Élisabeth_ (1869); La comtesse d'Armaillé,
_Madame Élisabeth_ (Paris, 1886); Madame d'Arvor, _Madame Élisabeth_
(Paris, 1898); and Hon. Mrs Maxwell-Scott, _Madame Elizabeth of
France_ (1908).
ELIZABETH, SAINT (1207-1231), daughter of Andrew II., king of Hungary
(d. 1235), by his first wife, Gertrude of Andechs-Meran (d. 1213), was
born in Pressburg in 1207. At four years of age she was betrothed to
Louis IV., landgrave of Thuringia, and conducted to the Wartburg, near
Eisenach, to be educated under the direction of his parents. In spite of
her decidedly worldly surroundings at the Thuringian court, she evinced
from the first an aversion from even the most innocent pleasures, and
stimulated by the example of her mother's sister, St Hedwig, wife of
Henry VI., duke of Silesia-Breslau, devoted her whole time to religion
and to works of charity. She was married at the age of fourteen, and
acquired such influence over her husband that he adopted her point of
view and zealously assisted her in all her charitable endeavours.
According to the legend, much celebrated in German art, Louis at first
desired to curtail her excessive charities, and forbade her unbounded
gifts to the poor. One day, returning from hunting, he met his wife
descending from the Wartburg with a heavy bundle filled with bread. He
sternly bade her open it; she did so, and he saw nothing but a mass of
red roses. The miracle completed his conversion. On the death of Louis
"the Saint" in 1227, Elizabeth was deprived of the regency by his
brother, Henry Raspe IV. (d. 1247), on the pretext that she was wasting
the estates by her alms; and with her three infant children she was
driven from her home without being allowed to carry with her even the
barest necessaries of life. She lived for some time in great hardship,
but ultimately her maternal uncle, Egbert, bishop of Bamberg, offered
her an asylum in a house adjoining his palace. Through the intercession
of some of the principal barons, the regency was again offered her, and
her son Hermann was declared heir to the landgraviate; but renouncing
all power, and making use of her wealth only for charitable purposes,
she preferred to live in seclusion at Marburg under the direction of her
confessor, the bigoted persecutor Conrad of Marburg. There she spent the
remainder of her days in penances of unusual severity, and in
ministrations to the sick, especially those afflicted with the most
loathsome diseases. She died at Marburg on the 19th of November 1231,
and four years afterwards was canonized by Gregory IX. on account of the
frequent miracles reported to have been performed at her tomb.
The exhibition in the Royal Academy of P.H. Calderon's picture, "St
Elizabeth of Hungary's Great Act of Renunciation," now in the Tate
Gallery in London, roused considerable protest among Catholics. The
saint is represented as kneeling nude before the altar, in the presence
of her confessor and a couple of nuns. The passage this is intended to
illustrate is in Lib. iv. § 1 of Dietrich of Apolda's _Vita_, which
relates how, on a certain Good Friday, she went into a chapel and, in
the presence of some Franciscan brothers, laid her hands on the bare
altar, renounced her own will, her parents, children, relations, and all
pomps of this kind (_hujus modi_) in imitation of Christ; and stripped
herself utterly naked (_omnino se exuit et nudavit_) in order to follow
Him naked, in the steps of poverty. A literal interpretation of this
passage is not impossible; for ecstatic mystics of all ages have
indulged in a like [Greek: kenôsis], and Conrad, who revelled in
inflicting religious tortures, was quite capable of imposing this
crowning humiliation upon his gentle victim. It is far more probable,
however, that the passage is not to be taken literally.
Lives of St Elizabeth were written by Theodoricus (Dietrich) of Apolda
(b. 1228), Caesarius of Heisterbach (d. c. 1240), Conrad of Marburg
and others (see Potthast, _Bibl. Hist. Med. Aev._ p. 1284). A metrical
life in German exists by Johann Rothe (d. c. 1440), chaplain to the
Landgravine Anne of Thuringia (Potthast, p. 985). _L'Histoire de
Sainte Élisabeth de Hongrie_, by Montalembert, was published at Paris
in 1836. Her life has also supplied the materials for a dramatic poem
by Charles Kingsley, entitled the "Saint's Tragedy." The edition of
this in vol. xvi. of the _Life and Works of Charles Kingsley_ (London,
1902) has valuable notes, with many extracts from the original
sources.
ELIZABETH, a city and the county-seat of Union county, New Jersey,
U.S.A., on Elizabeth river, Newark Bay, and Arthur Kill, 10 m. S.W. of
Jersey City. Pop. (1890) 37,764; (1900) 52,130, of whom 14,770 were
foreign-born and 1139 were negroes; (1910 census) 73,409. It is served
by the Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley and the Central of New Jersey
railways. The site is level and the streets are broad and shaded. There
are many residences of New York business men, and several historic
buildings, including Liberty Hall, the mansion of William Livingston,
first governor of the state; Boxwood Hall (now used as a home for aged
women), the former home of Elias Boudinot; the old brick mansion of
Jonathan Belcher (1681-1757), governor of the province from 1747 to
1757; the First Presbyterian Church; and the house occupied at different
times by General Winfield Scott. The city has several parks, the Union
county court house (1905), a public library and several charitable
institutions. Elizabethport, that part of the city on Staten Island
Sound, about 2 m. S.E. of the centre of Elizabeth, has a port open to
vessels of 300 tons; it is an outlet of the Pennsylvania coal fields and
is thus one of the most important coal shipping depots in the United
States. Here, too, are a plant (covering more than 800 acres) of the
Standard Oil Company and a large establishment for the manufacture of
the "Singer" sewing machine--according to the U.S. census the largest
manufactory of sewing machines in the world--employing more than 6000
workmen in 1905; among the other manufactures of Elizabeth are foundry
and machine shop products (value in 1905, $3,887,139), wire, oil (value
in 1905, $2,387,656), refined and smelted copper, the output of railway
repair shops, edge tools and lager beer. The value of the manufactured
products was $10,489,364 in 1890; $22,861,375 (factory product) in 1900;
and $29,300,801 (factory product) in 1905.
Elizabeth was settled in 1665 by a company from Long Island for whom the
land had been purchased from the Indians and a grant had been obtained
from Richard Nicolls as agent for the duke of York. But about the same
time the duke conveyed the entire province to John, Lord Berkeley, and
Sir George Carteret, and these two conflicting grants gave rise to a
long-continued controversy (see NEW JERSEY). The town was named in
honour of Elizabeth, wife of Sir George Carteret, and was first known as
Elizabethtown. From 1665 to 1686 it was the seat of government of the
province, and the legislature sat here occasionally until 1790. In the
home of the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson (1688-1747), its first president,
the first sessions of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton
University) were held in 1747, but immediately afterwards the college
removed to Newark. In December 1776 and twice in June 1780 the British
entered Elizabeth and made it a base of operations, but on each occasion
they were soon driven out. Elizabeth became a "free town and borough" in
1739; the borough charter was confirmed by the legislature in 1789 and
repealed in 1790, and Elizabeth was chartered as a city in 1855.
See E.F. Hatfield, _History of Elizabeth, New Jersey_ (New York,
1868).
ELIZABETHAN STYLE, in architecture, the term given to the early
Renaissance style in England, which flourished chiefly during the reign
of Queen Elizabeth; it followed the Tudor style, and was succeeded in
the beginning of the 16th century by the purer Italian style introduced
by Inigo Jones. It responds to the Cinque-Cento period in Italy, the
François I. style in France, and the Plateresque or Silversmith's style
in Spain. During the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. many Italian
artists came over, who carried out various decorative features at
Hampton Court; Layer Marney, Suffolk (1522-1525); Sutton Place, Surrey
(1529); Nonsuch Palace and elsewhere. Later in the century Flemish
craftsmen succeeded the Italians, and the Royal Exchange in London
(1566-1570) is one of the first important buildings designed by Henri de
Paschen, an architect from Antwerp. Longford Castle, Wollaton, Hatfield,
Blickling, Audley End, and Charterhouse (London) all show the style
introduced by Flemish workmen.
ELIZABETH CITY, a town, port of entry and the county-seat of Pasquotank
county, North Carolina, U.S.A., on the Pasquotank river, at the head of
navigation, 46 m. S. by E. of Norfolk, Virginia. Pop. (1890) 3251;
(1900) 6348 (3164 negroes); (1910) 8412. It is served by the Norfolk &
Southern, and the Suffolk & Carolina railways, and is on the Dismal
Swamp and Albemarle & Chesapeake canals. Elizabeth City is a winter
meeting-place for hunters. It is the seat of a state normal school for
negroes and of the Atlantic Collegiate Institute, is a trucking centre,
has shipyards, and has a large wholesale trade in clothing, groceries
and general merchandise; from it are shipped considerable quantities of
fish, cotton and lumber. The town is the port of entry of the Albemarle
customs district, but its foreign trade is unimportant. Among its
manufactures are cotton goods, iron, lumber, nets and twine, bricks, and
carriages and wagons. The oyster fisheries in the vicinity are of
considerable importance. Elizabeth City was settled in 1793, and was
first incorporated in the same year.
ELK, or MOOSE, the largest of all the deer tribe, distinguished from
other members of the _Cervidae_ by the form of the antlers of the males.
These arise as cylindrical beams projecting on each side at right angles
to the middle line of the skull, which after a short distance divide in
a fork-like manner. The lower prong of this fork may be either simple,
or divided into two or three tines, with some flattening. In the East
Siberian elk (_Alces machlis bedfordiae_) the posterior division of the
main fork divides into three tines, with no distinct flattening. In the
common elk (_A. machlis_ or _A. alces_), on the other hand, this branch
usually expands into a broad palmation, with one large tine at the base,
and a number of smaller snags on the free border; there is, however, a
phase of the Scandinavian elk in which the antlers are simpler, and
recall those of the East Siberian race. The palmation appears to be more
marked in the North American race (_A. m. americanus_) than in the
typical Scandinavian elk. The largest of all is the Alaskan race (_A. m.
gigas_), which is said to stand 8 ft. in height, with a span of 6 ft.
across the antlers. The great length of the legs gives a decidedly
ungainly appearance to the elk. The muzzle is long and fleshy, with only
a very small triangular naked patch below the nostrils; and the males
have a peculiar sac, known as the bell, hanging from the neck. From the
shortness of their necks, elks are unable to graze, and their chief food
consists of young shoots and leaves of willow and birch. In North
America during the winter one male and several females form a
"moose-yard" in the forest, which they keep open by trampling the snow.
Although generally timid, the males become very bold during the breeding
season, when the females utter a loud call; and at such times they fight
both with their antlers and their hoofs. The usual pace is a shambling
trot, but when pressed elks break into a gallop. The female gives birth
to one or two young at a time, which are not spotted. In America the elk
is known as the moose, and the former name is transferred to the wapiti
deer. (R. L.*)
ELKHART, a city of Elkhart county, Indiana, U.S.A., at the confluence of
the Elkhart and St Joseph rivers, about 100 m. E. of Chicago. Pop.
(1890) 11,360; (1900) 15,184, of whom 1353 were foreign-born; (1910
census) 19,282. Elkhart is at the junction of the western division with
the main line of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railway, and is
served by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and the
Northern Indiana railways (the latter electric). It is attractively
situated and has fine business and public buildings, including a
Carnegie library and the Clark hospital, with which a nurses' training
school is connected. It has also several parks, including the beautiful
Island Park and McNaughton Park, the latter the annual meeting-place of
the St Joseph Valley Chautauqua. A valuable water-power is utilized for
manufacturing purposes. There are extensive railway-car shops and iron
and brass foundries, and the manufactures include band instruments,
furniture, telephone supplies, electric transformers, bridges, paper,
flour, starch, rubber goods, acetylene gas machines, printing presses,
drugs and carriages. The total value of the factory product was
$4,345,466 in 1905, an increase of 10.5% since 1900. At Elkhart is the
main publishing house of the Mennonite Church in America, two weekly
periodicals being issued, one in English, _The Herald of Truth_, and one
in German, the _Mennonitische Rundschau_. The first settlement was made
here about 1834; and Elkhart was chartered as a city in 1875.
ELKINGTON, GEORGE RICHARDS (1801-1865), founder of the electroplating
industry in England, was born in Birmingham on the 17th of October 1801,
the son of a spectacle manufacturer. Apprenticed to his uncles, silver
platers in Birmingham, he became, on their death, sole proprietor of the
business, but subsequently took his cousin, Henry Elkington, into
partnership. The science of electrometallurgy was then in its infancy,
but the Elkingtons were quick to recognize its possibilities. They had
already taken out certain patents for the application of electricity to
metals when, in 1840, John Wright, a Birmingham surgeon, discovered the
valuable properties of a solution of cyanide of silver in cyanide of
potassium for electroplating purposes. The Elkingtons purchased and
patented Wright's process, subsequently acquiring the rights of other
processes and improvements. Large new works for electroplating and
electrogilding were opened in Birmingham in 1841, and in the following
year Josiah Mason became a partner in the firm. George Richards
Elkington died on the 22nd of September 1865, and Henry Elkington on the
26th of October 1852.
ELLA, or ÆLLA, the name of three Anglo-Saxon kings.
ELLA (d. c. 514), king of the South Saxons and founder of the kingdom
of Sussex, was a Saxon ealdorman, who landed near Arundel in Sussex with
his three sons in 477. Defeating the Britons, who were driven into the
forest of Andredsweald, Ella and his followers established themselves
along the south coast, although their progress was slow and difficult.
However, in 491, strengthened by the arrival of fresh bands of
immigrants, they captured the Roman city of Anderida and "slew all that
were therein." Ella, who is reckoned as the first Bretwalda, then became
king of the South Saxons, and, when he died about 514, he was succeeded
by his son Cissa.
ELLA (d. 588), king of the Deirans, was the son of an ealdorman named
Iffa, and became the first king of Deira when, in 559, the Deirans
separated themselves from the neighbouring kingdom of Bernicia. The
English slaves, who aroused the interest of Pope Gregory I. at Rome,
were subjects of Ella, and on this occasion the pope, punning the name
of their king, suggested that "Alleluia" should be sung in his land.
When Ella died in 588 Deira was conquered by Bernicia. One of his sons
was Edwin, afterwards king of the Northumbrians.
ELLA (d. 867), king of the Northumbrians, became king about 862 on the
deposition of Osbert, although he was not of royal birth. Afterwards he
became reconciled with Osbert, and together they attacked the Danes, who
had invaded Northumbria, and drove them into York. Rallying, however,
the Danes defeated the Northumbrians, and in the encounter both Ella and
Osbert were slain. In certain legends Ella is represented as having
brought about the Danish invasion of Northumbria by cruel and unjust
actions.
See _The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, edited by C. Plummer (Oxford,
1892-1899); Bede, _Historiae ecclesiasticae_, edited by C. Plummer
(Oxford, 1896); Henry of Huntingdon, _Historia Anglorum_, edited by T.
Arnold, Rolls Series (London, 1879); Asser, _De rebus gestis
Aelfredi_, edited by W.H. Stevenson (Oxford, 1904); J.R. Green, _The
Making of England_ (London, 1897), and the _Dictionary of National
Biography_, vol. i. (London, 1895).
ELLAND, an urban district in the Elland parliamentary division of
Yorkshire, England, on the Calder, 2½ m. S. of Halifax by the Lancashire
& Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1901) 10,412. The church of St Mary is
Decorated and Perpendicular. Cotton-mills, woollen-factories, ironworks,
flagstone quarries at Elland Edge, and fire-clay works employ the
industrial population. Elland Hall, though almost rebuilt, retains the
recollection of a remarkable family feud between the Ellands and the
Beaumonts of Crosland Hall, the site of which may be traced in the
vicinity. A nephew of Sir John Elland, in 1342, met death at the hands
of a relative of the Beaumonts upon whom Sir John took vengeance, as
also upon the heads of the allied houses of Lockwood and Quarmby. The
children of these families were educated in the hope of avenging their
parents, and after many years succeeded in doing so, cutting off Sir
John Elland and his heir.
ELLENBOROUGH, EDWARD LAW, 1ST BARON (1750-1818), English judge, was born
on the 16th of November 1750, at Great Salkeld, in Cumberland, of which
place his father, Edmund Law (1703-1787), afterwards bishop of Carlisle,
was at the time rector. Educated at the Charterhouse and at Peterhouse,
Cambridge, he passed as third wrangler, and was soon afterwards elected
to a fellowship at Trinity. In spite of his father's strong wish that he
should take orders, he chose the legal profession, and on quitting the
university was entered at Lincoln's Inn. After spending five years as a
special pleader under the bar, he was called to the bar in 1780. He
chose the northern circuit, and in a very short time obtained a
lucrative practice and a high reputation. In 1787 he was appointed
principal counsel for Warren Hastings in the celebrated impeachment
trial before the House of Lords, and the ability with which he conducted
the defence was universally recognized. He had begun his political
career as a Whig, but, like many others, he saw in the French Revolution
a reason for changing sides, and became a supporter of Pitt. On the
formation of the Addington ministry in 1801, he was appointed
attorney-general and shortly afterwards was returned to the House of
Commons as member for Newtown in the Isle of Wight. In 1802 he succeeded
Lord Kenyon as chief justice of the king's bench. On being raised to the
bench he was created a peer, taking his title from the village of
Ellenborough in Cumberland, where his maternal ancestors had long held a
small patrimony. In 1806, on the formation of Lord Grenville's ministry
"of all the talents," Lord Ellenborough declined the offer of the great
seal, but accepted a seat in the cabinet. His doing so while he retained
the chief justiceship was much criticized at the time, and, though not
without precedent, was open to such obvious objections on constitutional
grounds that the experiment has not since been repeated. As a judge he
had grave faults, though his decisions displayed profound legal
knowledge, and in mercantile law especially were reckoned of high
authority. He was harsh and overbearing to counsel, and in the political
trials which were so frequent in his time showed an unmistakable bias
against the accused. In the trial of William Hone (q.v.) for blasphemy
in 1817, Ellenborough directed the jury to find a verdict of guilty, and
their acquittal of the prisoner is generally said to have hastened his
death. He resigned his judicial office in November 1818, and died on the
13th of December following.
Ellenborough was succeeded as 2nd baron by his eldest son, Edward,
afterwards earl of Ellenborough; another son was Charles Ewan Law
(1792-1850), recorder of London and member of parliament for Cambridge
University from 1835 until his death in August 1850.
Three of Ellenborough's brothers attained some degree of fame. These
were John Law (1745-1810), bishop of Elphin; Thomas Law (1759-1834), who
settled in the United States in 1793, and married, as his second wife,
Anne, a granddaughter of Martha Washington; and George Henry Law
(1761-1845), bishop of Chester and of Bath and Wells. The connexion of
the Law family with the English Church was kept up by George Henry's
sons, three of whom took orders. Two of these were Henry Law
(1797-1884), dean of Gloucester, and James Thomas Law (1790-1876),
chancellor of the diocese of Lichfield.
ELLENBOROUGH, EDWARD LAW, _Earl of_ (1790-1871), the eldest son of the
1st Lord Ellenborough, was born on the 8th of September 1790. He was
educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge. He represented the
subsequently disfranchised borough of St Michael's, Cornwall, in the
House of Commons, until the death of his father in 1818 gave him a seat
in the House of Lords. He was twice married; his only child died young;
his second wife was divorced by act of parliament in 1830.
In the Wellington administration of 1828 Ellenborough was made lord
privy seal; he took a considerable share in the business of the foreign
office, as an unofficial assistant to Wellington, who was a great
admirer of his talents. He aimed at succeeding Lord Dudley at the
foreign office, but was forced to content himself with the presidency of
the board of control, which he retained until the fall of the ministry
in 1830. Ellenborough was an active administrator, and took a lively
interest in questions of Indian policy. The revision of the company's
charter was approaching, and he held that the government of India should
be transferred directly to the crown. He was impressed with the growing
importance of a knowledge of central Asia, in the event of a Russian
advance towards the Indian frontier, and despatched Burnes on an
exploring mission to that district. Ellenborough subsequently returned
to the board of control in Peel's first and second administrations. He
had only held office for a month on the third occasion when he was
appointed by the court of directors to succeed Lord Auckland as
governor-general of India. His Indian administration of two and a half
years, or half the usual term of service, was from first to last a
subject of hostile criticism. His own letters sent monthly to the queen,
and his correspondence with the duke of Wellington, published in 1874,
afford material for an intelligent and impartial judgment of his
meteoric career. The events chiefly in dispute are his policy towards
Afghanistan and the army and captives there, his conquest of Sind, and
his campaign in Gwalior.
Ellenborough went to India in order "to restore peace to Asia," but the
whole term of his office was occupied in war. On his arrival there the
news that greeted him was that of the massacre of Kabul, and the sieges
of Ghazni and Jalalabad, while the sepoys of Madras were on the verge of
open mutiny. In his proclamation of the 15th of March 1842, as in his
memorandum for the queen dated the 18th, he stated with characteristic
clearness and eloquence the duty of first inflicting some signal and
decisive blow on the Afghans, and then leaving them to govern themselves
under the sovereign of their own choice. Unhappily, when he left his
council for upper India, and learned the trifling failure of General
England, he instructed Pollock and Nott, who were advancing triumphantly
with their avenging columns to rescue the British captives, to fall
back. The army proved true to the governor-general's earlier
proclamation rather than to his later fears; the hostages were rescued,
the scene of Sir Alexander Burnes's murder in the heart of Kabul was
burned down. Dost Mahommed was quietly dismissed from a prison in
Calcutta to the throne in the Bala Hissar, and Ellenborough presided
over the painting of the elephants for an unprecedented military
spectacle at Ferozepur, on the south bank of the Sutlej. But this was
not the only piece of theatrical display which capped with ridicule the
horrors and the follies of these four years in Afghanistan. When Sultan
Mahmud, in 1024, sacked the Hindu temple of Somnath on the north-west
coast of India, he carried off, with the treasures, the richly studded
sandal-wood gates of the fane, and set them up in his capital of
Ghazni. The Mahommedan puppet of the English, Shah Shuja, had been
asked, when ruler of Afghanistan, to restore them to India; and what he
had failed to do the Christian ruler of opposing Mahommedans and Hindus
resolved to effect in the most solemn and public manner. In vain had
Major (afterwards Sir Henry) Rawlinson proved that they were only
reproductions of the original gates, to which the Ghazni moulvies clung
merely as a source of offerings from the faithful who visited the old
conqueror's tomb. In vain did the Hindu sepoys show the most chilling
indifference to the belauded restoration. Ellenborough could not resist
the temptation to copy Napoleon's magniloquent proclamation under the
pyramids. The fraudulent folding doors were conveyed on a triumphal car
to the fort of Agra, where they were found to be made not of sandalwood
but of deal. That Somnath proclamation (immortalized in a speech by
Macaulay) was the first step towards its author's recall.
Hardly had Ellenborough issued his medal with the legend "Pax Asiae
Restituta" when he was at war with the amirs of Sind. The tributary
amirs had on the whole been faithful, for Major (afterwards Sir James)
Outram controlled them. But he had reported the opposition of a few, and
Ellenborough ordered an inquiry. His instructions were admirable, in
equity as well as energy, and if Outram had been left to carry them out
all would have been well. But the duty was entrusted to Sir Charles
Napier, with full political as well as military powers. And to add to
the evil, Mir Ali Morad intrigued with both sides so effectually that he
betrayed the amirs on the one hand, while he deluded Sir Charles Napier
to their destruction on the other. Ellenborough was led on till events
were beyond his control, and his own just and merciful instructions were
forgotten. Sir Charles Napier made more than one confession like this:
"We have no right to seize Sind, yet we shall do so, and a very
advantageous, useful and humane piece of rascality it will be." The
battles of Meeanee and Hyderabad followed; and the Indus became a
British river from Karachi to Multan.
Sind had hardly been disposed of when troubles arose on both sides of
the governor-general, who was then at Agra. On the north the disordered
kingdom of the Sikhs was threatening the frontier. In Gwalior to the
south, the feudatory Mahratta state, there were a large mutinous army, a
Ranee only twelve years of age, an adopted chief of eight, and factions
in the council of ministers. These conditions brought Gwalior to the
verge of civil war. Ellenborough reviewed the danger in the minute of
the 1st of November 1845, and told Sir Hugh Gough to advance. Further
treachery and military licence rendered the battles of Maharajpur and
Punniar, fought on the same day, inevitable though they were, a surprise
to the combatants. The treaty that followed was as merciful as it was
wise. The pacification of Gwalior also had its effect beyond the Sutlej,
where anarchy was restrained for yet another year, and the work of
civilization was left to Ellenborough's two successors. But by this time
the patience of the directors was exhausted. They had no control over
Ellenborough's policy; his despatches to them were haughty and
disrespectful; and in June 1844 they exercised their power of recalling
him.
On his return to England Ellenborough was created an earl and received
the thanks of parliament; but his administration speedily became the
theme of hostile debates, though it was successfully vindicated by Peel
and Wellington. When Peel's cabinet was reconstituted in 1846
Ellenborough became first lord of the admiralty. In 1858 he took office
under Lord Derby as president of the board of control, for the fourth
time. It was then his congenial task to draft the new scheme for the
government of India which the mutiny had rendered necessary. But his old
fault of impetuosity again proved his stumbling-block. He wrote a
caustic despatch censuring Lord Canning for the Oudh proclamation, and
allowed it to be published in _The Times_ without consulting his
colleagues, who disavowed his action in this respect. General
disapprobation was excited; votes of censure were announced in both
Houses; and, to save the cabinet, Ellenborough resigned.
But for this act of rashness he might have enjoyed the task of carrying
into effect the home constitution for the government of India which he
sketched in his evidence before the select committee of the House of
Commons on Indian territories on the 8th of June 1852. Paying off his
old score against the East India Company, he then advocated the
abolition of the court of directors as a governing body, the opening of
the civil service to the army, the transference of the government to the
crown, and the appointment of a council to advise the minister who
should take the place of the president of the board of control. These
suggestions of 1852 were carried out by his successor Lord Stanley,
afterwards earl of Derby, in 1858, so closely even in details, that Lord
Ellenborough must be pronounced the author, for good or evil, of the
present home constitution of the government of India. Though
acknowledged to be one of the foremost orators in the House of Lords,
and taking a frequent part in debate, Ellenborough never held office
again. He died at his seat, Southam House, near Cheltenham, on the 22nd
of December 1871, when the barony reverted to his nephew Charles Edmund
Law (1820-1890), the earldom becoming extinct.
See _History of the Indian Administration_ (Bentley, 1874), edited by
Lord Colchester; _Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select
Committee on Indian Territories_ (June 1852); volume i. of the
_Calcutta Review_; the _Friend of India_, during the years 1842-1845;
and John Hope, _The House of Scindea: A Sketch_ (Longmans, 1863). The
numerous books by and against Sir Charles Napier, on the conquest of
Sind, should be consulted.
ELLERY, WILLIAM (1727-1820), American politician, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on the
22nd of December 1727. He graduated from Harvard in 1747, engaged in
trade, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1770. He was a member
of the Rhode Island committee of safety in 1775-1776, and was a delegate
in Congress in 1776-1781 and again in 1783-1785. Just after his first
election to Congress, he was placed on the important marine committee,
and he was made a member of the board of admiralty when it was
established in 1779. In April 1786 he was elected commissioner of the
continental loan office for the state of Rhode Island and from 1790
until his death at Newport, on the 15th of February 1820, he was
collector of the customs for the district of Newport.
See Edward T. Channing, "Life of William Ellery," in vol. 6 of Jared
Sparks's _American Biography_ (Boston and London, 1836).
ELLESMERE, FRANCIS EGERTON, 1ST EARL OF (1800-1857), born in London on
the 1st of January 1800, was the second son of the 1st duke of
Sutherland. He was known by his patronymic as Lord Francis Leveson Gower
until 1833, when he assumed the surname of Egerton alone, having
succeeded on the death of his father to the estates which the latter
inherited from the duke of Bridgewater. Educated at Eton and at Christ
Church, Oxford, he entered parliament soon after attaining his majority
as member for the pocket borough of Bletchingly in Surrey. He afterwards
sat for Sutherlandshire and for South Lancashire, which he represented
when he was elevated to the peerage as earl of Ellesmere and Viscount
Brackley in 1846. In politics he was a moderate Conservative of
independent views, as was shown by his supporting the proposal for
establishing the university of London, by his making and carrying a
motion for the endowment of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland, and by
his advocating free trade long before Sir Robert Peel yielded on the
question. Appointed a lord of the treasury in 1827, he held the post of
chief secretary for Ireland from 1828 till July 1830, when he became
secretary-at-war for a short time. His claims to remembrance are founded
chiefly on his services to literature and the fine arts. Before he was
twenty he printed for private circulation a volume of poems, which he
followed up after a short interval by the publication of a translation
of Goethe's Faust, one of the earliest that appeared in England, with
some translations of German lyrics and a few original poems. In 1839 he
visited the Mediterranean and the Holy Land. His impressions of travel
were recorded in his very agreeably written _Mediterranean Sketches_
(1843), and in the notes to a poem entitled _The Pilgrimage_. He
published several other works in prose and verse, all displaying a fine
literary taste. His literary reputation secured for him the position of
rector of Aberdeen University in 1841. Lord Ellesmere was a munificent
and yet discriminating patron of artists. To the splendid collection of
pictures which he inherited from his great-uncle, the 3rd duke of
Bridgewater, he made numerous additions, and he built a noble gallery to
which the public were allowed free access. Lord Ellesmere served as
president of the Royal Geographical Society and as president of the
Royal Asiatic Society, and he was a trustee of the National Gallery. He
died on the 18th of February 1857. He was succeeded by his son
(1823-1862) as 2nd earl, and his grandson (b. 1847) as 3rd earl.
ELLESMERE, a market town in the Oswestry parliamentary division of
Shropshire, England, on the main line of the Cambrian railway, 182 m.
N.W. from London. Pop. of urban district (1901) 1945. It is prettily
situated on the west shore of the mere or small lake from which it takes
its name, while in the neighbourhood are other sheets of water, as Blake
Mere, Cole Mere, White Mere, Newton Mere and Crose Mere. The church of
St Mary is of various styles from Norman onward, but was partly rebuilt
in 1848. The site of the castle is occupied by pleasure gardens,
commanding an extensive view from high ground. The town hall contains a
library and a natural history collection. The college is a large boys'
school. The town is an important agricultural centre. Ellesmere canal, a
famous work of Thomas Telford, connects the Severn with the Mersey,
crossing the Vale of Llangollen by an immense aqueduct, 336 yds. long
and 127 ft. high.
The manor of Ellesmere (_Ellesmeles_) belonged before the Conquest to
Earl Edwin of Mercia, and was granted by William the Conqueror to Roger,
earl of Shrewsbury, whose son, Robert de Belesme, forfeited it in 1112
for treason against Henry I. In 1177 Henry II. gave it with his sister
in marriage to David, son of Owen, prince of North Wales, after whose
death it was retained by King John, who in 1206 granted it to his
daughter Joan on her marriage with Llewellyn, prince of North Wales; it
was finally surrendered to Henry III. by David, son of Llewellyn, about
1240. Ellesmere owed its early importance to its position on the Welsh
borders and to its castle, which was in ruins, however, in 1349. While
Ellesmere was in the hands of Joan, lady of Wales, she granted to the
borough all the free customs of Breteuil. The town was governed by a
bailiff appointed by a jury at one of the court leets of the lord of the
manor, until a local board was formed in 1859. In 1221 Henry III.
granted Llewellyn, prince of Wales, a market on Thursdays in Ellesmere.
The inquisition taken in 1383 after the death of Roger le Straunge (Lord
Strange), lord of Ellesmere, shows that he also held two fairs there on
the feasts of St Martin and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. By 1597 the
market had been discontinued on account of the plague by which many of
the inhabitants had died, and the queen granted that Sir Edward
Kynaston, Kt., and thirteen others might hold a market every Thursday
and a fair on the 3rd of November. Since 1792 both have been
discontinued. The commerce of Ellesmere has always been chiefly
agricultural.
ELLICE (LAGOON) ISLANDS, an archipelago of the Pacific Ocean, lying
between 5° and 11° S. and about 178° E., nearly midway between Fiji and
Gilbert. It is under British protection, being annexed in 1892. It
comprises a large number of low coralline islands and atolls, which are
disposed in nine clusters extending over a distance of about 400 m. in
the direction from N.W. to S.E. Their total area is 14 sq. m. and the
population is about 2400. The chief groups, all yielding coco-nuts,
pandanus fruit and yams, are Funafuti or Ellice, Nukulailai or Mitchell,
Nurakita or Sophia, Nukufetau or De Peyster, Nui or Egg, Nanomana or
Hudson, and Niutao or Lynx. Nearly all the natives are Christians,
Protestant missions having been long established in several of the
islands. Those of Nui speak the language of the Gilbert islanders, and
have a tradition that they came some generations ago from that group.
All the others are of Samoan speech, and their tradition that they came
thirty generations back from Samoa is supported by recent research. They
have an ancient spear which they believe was brought from Samoa, and
they actually name the valley from which their ancestors started. A
missionary visiting the Samoan valley found there a tradition of a
party who put to sea never to return, and he also found the wood of
which the staff was made growing plentifully in the district. Borings
and soundings taken at Funafuti in 1897 indicate almost beyond doubt
that the whole of this Polynesian region is an area of comparatively
recent subsidence.
See _Geographical Journal_, passim; and _Atoll of Funafuti: Borings
into a Coral Reef_ (Report of Coral Reef Committee of Royal Society,
London, 1904).
ELLICHPUR, or ILLICHPUR, a town of India in the Amraoti district of
Berar. Pop. (1901) 26,082. It is first mentioned authentically in the
13th century as "one of the famous cities of the Deccan." Though
tributary to the Mahommedans after 1294, it remained under Hindu
administration till 1318, when it came directly under the Mahommedans.
It was afterwards capital of the province of Berar at intervals until
the Mogul occupation, when the seat of the provincial governor was moved
to Balapur. The town retains many relics of the nawabs of Berar. It has
ginning factories and a considerable trade in cotton and forest produce.
It is connected by good roads with Amraoti and Chikalda. It was formerly
the headquarters of the district of Ellichpur, which had an area of 2605
sq. m. and a population in 1901 of 297,403. This district, however, was
merged in that of Amraoti in 1905. The civil station of Paratwada, 2 m.
from the town of Ellichpur, contains the principal public buildings.
ELLIOTSON, JOHN (1791-1868), English physician, was born at Southwark,
London, on the 29th of October 1791. He studied medicine first at
Edinburgh and then at Cambridge, in both which places he took the degree
of M.D., and subsequently in London at St Thomas's and Guy's hospitals.
In 1831 he was elected professor of the principles and practice of
physic in London University, and in 1834 he became physician to
University College hospital. He was a student of phrenology and
mesmerism, and his interest in the latter eventually brought him into
collision with the medical committee of the hospital, a circumstance
which led him, in December 1838, to resign the offices held by him there
and at the university. But he continued the practice of mesmerism,
holding séances in his home and editing a magazine, _The Zoist_, devoted
to the subject, and in 1849 he founded a mesmeric hospital. He died in
London on the 29th of July 1868. Elliotson was one of the first teachers
in London to appreciate the value of clinical lecturing, and one of the
earliest among British physicians to advocate the employment of the
stethoscope. He wrote a translation of Blumenbach's _Institutiones
Physiologicae_ (1817); _Cases of the Hydrocyanic or Prussic Acid_
(1820); _Lectures on Diseases of the Heart_ (1830); _Principles and
Practice of Medicine_ (1839); _Human Physiology_ (1840); and _Surgical
Operations in the Mesmeric State without Pain_ (1843). He was the author
of numerous papers in the _Transactions_ of the Medico-Chirurgical
Society, of which he was at one time president; and he was also a fellow
both of the Royal College of Physicians and Royal Society, and founder
and president of the Phrenological Society. W.M. Thackeray's _Pendennis_
was dedicated to him.
ELLIOTT, EBENEZER (1781-1849), English poet, the "corn-law rhymer," was
born at Masborough, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, on the 17th of March
1781. His father, who was an extreme Calvinist and a strong radical, was
engaged in the iron trade. Young Ebenezer, although one of a large
family, had a solitary and rather morbid childhood. He was sent to
various schools, but was generally regarded as a dunce, and when he was
sixteen years of age he entered his father's foundry, working for seven
years with no wages beyond a little pocket money. In a fragment of
autobiography printed in the _Athenaeum_ (12th of January 1850) he says
that he was entirely self-taught, and attributes his poetic development
to long country walks undertaken in search of wild flowers, and to a
collection of books, including the works of Young, Barrow, Shenstone and
Milton, bequeathed to his father by a poor clergyman. At seventeen he
wrote his _Vernal Walk_ in imitation of Thomson. His earlier volumes of
poems, dealing with romantic themes, received little but unfriendly
comment. The faults of _Night_, the earliest of these, are pointed out
in a long and friendly letter (30th of January 1819) from Robert Southey
to the author.
Elliott's wife brought him some money, which was invested in his
father's share of the iron foundry. But the affairs of the firm were
then in a desperate condition, and money difficulties hastened his
father's death. Elliott lost all his money, and when he was forty years
old began business again in Sheffield on a small borrowed capital. He
attributed his father's pecuniary losses and his own to the operation of
the corn laws. He took an active part in the Chartist agitation, but
withdrew his support when the agitation for the repeal of the corn laws
was removed from the Chartist programme. The fervour of his political
convictions effected a change in the style and tenor of his verse. The
_Corn-Law Rhymes_ (3rd ed., 1831), inspired by a fierce hatred of
injustice, are vigorous, simple and full of vivid description. In
1833-1835 he published _The Splendid Village_; _Corn-Law Rhymes, and
other Poems_ (3 vols.), which included "The Village Patriarch" (1829),
"The Ranter," an unsuccessful drama, "Keronah," and other pieces. He
contributed verses from time to time to _Tait's Magazine_ and to the
_Sheffield and Rotherham Independent_. In the meantime he had been
successful in business, but he remained the sturdy champion of the poor.
In 1837 he again lost a great deal of money. This misfortune was also
ascribed to the corn laws. He retired in 1841 with a small fortune and
settled at Great Houghton, near Barnsley, where he died on the 1st of
December 1849. In 1850 appeared two volumes of _More Prose and Verse by
the Corn-Law Rhymer_. Elliott lives by his determined opposition to the
"bread-tax," as he called it, and his poems on the subject are saved
from the common fate of political poetry by their transparent sincerity
and passionate earnestness.
An article by Thomas Carlyle in the _Edinburgh Review_ (July 1832) is
the best criticism on Elliott. Carlyle was attracted by Elliott's
homely sincerity and genuine power, though he had small opinion of his
political philosophy, and lamented his lack of humour and of the sense
of proportion. He thought his poetry too imitative, detecting not only
the truthful severity of Crabbe, but a "slight bravura dash of the
fair tuneful Hemans." His descriptions of his native county reveal
close observation and a vivid perception of natural beauty.
See an obituary notice in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (Feb. 1850). Two
biographies were published in 1850, one by his son-in-law, John
Watkins, and another by "January Searle" (G.S. Phillips). A new
edition of his works by his son, Edwin Elliott, appeared in 1876.
ELLIPSE (adapted from Gr. [Greek: elleipsis], a deficiency, [Greek:
elleipein], to fall behind), in mathematics, a conic section, having the
form of a closed oval. It admits of several definitions framed according
to the aspect from which the curve is considered. _In solido_, i.e. as a
section of a cone or cylinder, it may be defined, after Menaechmus, as
the perpendicular section of an "acute-angled" cone; or, after
Apollonius of Perga, as the section of any cone by a plane at a less
inclination to the base than a generator; or as an oblique section of a
right cylinder. Definitions _in plano_ are generally more useful; of
these the most important are: (1) the ellipse is the conic section which
has its eccentricity less than unity: this involves the notion of one
directrix and one focus; (2) the ellipse is the locus of a point the sum
of whose distances from two fixed points is constant: this involves the
notion of two foci. Other geometrical definitions are: it is the oblique
projection of a circle; the polar reciprocal of a circle for a point
within it; and the conic which intersects the line at infinity in two
imaginary points. Analytically it is defined by an equation of the
second degree of which the highest terms represent two imaginary lines.
The curve has important mechanical relations, in particular it is the
orbit of a particle moving under the influence of a central force which
varies inversely as the square of the distance of the particle; this is
the gravitational law of force, and the curve consequently represents
the orbits of the planets if only an individual planet and the sun be
considered; the other planets, however, disturb this orbit (see
MECHANICS).
The relation of the ellipse to the other conic sections is treated in
the articles CONIC SECTION and GEOMETRY; in this article a summary of
the properties of the curve will be given.
To investigate the form of the curve use may be made of the
definition: the ellipse is the locus of a point which moves so that
the ratio of its distance from a fixed point (the _focus_) to its
distance from a straight line (the _directrix_) is constant and is
less than unity. This ratio is termed the _eccentricity_, and will be
denoted by e. Let KX (fig. 1) be the directrix, S the focus, and X the
foot of the perpendicular from S to KX. If SX be divided at A so that
SA/AX = e, then A is a point on the curve. SX may be also divided
externally at A', so that SA'/A'X = e, since e is less than unity; the
points A and A' are the _vertices_, and the line AA' the _major axis_
of the curve. It is obvious that the curve is symmetrical about AA'.
If AA' be bisected at C, and the line BCB' be drawn perpendicular to
AA', then it is readily seen that the curve is symmetrical about this
line also; since if we take S' on AA' so that S'A' = SA, and a line
K'X' parallel to KX such that AX = A'X', then the same curve will be
described if we regard K'X' and S' as the given directrix and focus,
the eccentricity remaining the same. If B and B' be points on the
curve, BB' is the _minor axis_ and C the _centre_ of the curve.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
Metrical relations between the axes, eccentricity, distance between
the foci, and between these quantities and the co-ordinates of points
on the curve (referred to the axes and the centre), and focal
distances are readily obtained by the methods of geometrical conics or
analytically. The semi-major axis is generally denoted by a, and the
semi-minor axis by b, and we have the relation b² = a²(1 - e²). Also
a² = CS·CX, i.e. the square on the semi-major axis equals the
rectangle contained by the distances of the focus and directrix from
the centre; and 2a = SP + S'P, where P is any point on the curve, i.e.
the sum of the focal distances of any point on the curve equals the
major axis. The most important relation between the co-ordinates of a
point on an ellipse is: if N be the foot of the perpendicular from a
point P, then the square on PN bears a constant ratio to the product
of the segments AN, NA' of the major axis, this ratio being the square
of the ratio of the minor to the major axis; symbolically PN² =
AN·NA'(CB/CA)². From this or otherwise it is readily deduced that the
ordinates of an ellipse and of the circle described on the major axis
are in the ratio of the minor to the major axis. This circle is termed
the _auxiliary circle_.
Of the properties of a tangent it may be noticed that the tangent at
any point is equally inclined to the focal distances of that point;
that the feet of the perpendiculars from the foci on any tangent
always lie on the auxiliary circle, and the product of these
perpendiculars is constant, and equal to the product of the distances
of a focus from the two vertices. From any point without the curve
two, and only two, tangents can be drawn; if OP, OP' be two tangents
from O, and S, S' the foci, then the angles OSP, OSP' are equal and
also SOP, S'OP'. If the tangents be at right angles, then the locus of
the point is a circle having the same centre as the ellipse; this is
named the _director circle_.
The middle points of a system of parallel chords is a straight line,
and the tangent at the point where this line meets the curve is
parallel to the chords. The straight line and the line through the
centre parallel to the chords are named _conjugate diameters_; each
bisects the chords parallel to the other. An important metrical
property of conjugate diameters is the sum of their squares equals the
sum of the squares of the major and minor axis.
In analytical geometry, the equation ax² + 2hxy + by² + 2gx + 2fy + c
= 0 represents an ellipse when ab > h²; if the centre of the curve
be the origin, the equation is a¹x² + 2h¹xy + b¹y² = C¹, and if in
addition a pair of conjugate diameters are the axes, the equation is
further simplified to Ax² + By² = C. The simplest form is x²/a² +
y²/b² = 1, in which the centre is the origin and the major and minor
axes the axes of co-ordinates. It is obvious that the co-ordinates of
any point on an ellipse may be expressed in terms of a single
parameter, the abscissa being a cos [phi], and the ordinate b sin
[phi], since on eliminating [phi] between x = a cos [phi] and y = b
sin [phi] we obtain the equation to the ellipse. The angle [phi] is
termed the _eccentric angle_, and is geometrically represented as the
angle between the axis of x (the major axis of the ellipse) and the
radius of a point on the auxiliary circle which has the same abscissa
as the point on the ellipse.
The equation to the tangent at [theta] is x cos [theta]/a + y sin
[theta]/b = 1, and to the normal ax/cos [theta] - by/sin [theta] =
a² - b².
The area of the ellipse is [pi]ab, where a, b are the semi-axes; this
result may be deduced by regarding the ellipse as the orthogonal
projection of a circle, or by means of the calculus. The perimeter can
only be expressed as a series, the analytical evaluation leading to an
integral termed _elliptic_ (see FUNCTION, ii. _Complex_). There are
several approximation formulae:--S = [pi](a + b) makes the perimeter
about 1/200th too small; s =[pi][root](a²+b²) about 1/200th too great;
2s = [pi](a + b) + [pi][root](a² + b²) is within 1/30,000 of the
truth.
An ellipse can generally be described to satisfy any five conditions.
If five points be given, Pascal's theorem affords a solution; if five
tangents, Brianchon's theorem is employed. The principle of
involution solves such constructions as: given four tangents and one
point, three tangents and two points, &c. If a tangent and its point
of contact be given, it is only necessary to remember that a double
point on the curve is given. A focus or directrix is equal to two
conditions; hence such problems as: given a focus and three points; a
focus, two points and one tangent; and a focus, one point and two
tangents are soluble (very conveniently by employing the principle of
reciprocation). Of practical importance are the following
constructions:--(1) Given the axes; (2) given the major axis and the
foci; (3) given the focus, eccentricity and directrix; (4) to
construct an ellipse (approximately) by means of circular arcs.
(1) If the axes be given, we may avail ourselves of several
constructions, (a) Let AA', BB' be the axes intersecting at right
angles in a point C. Take a strip of paper or rule and mark off from a
point P, distances Pa and Pb equal respectively to CA and CB. If now
the strip be moved so that the point a is always on the minor axis,
and the point b on the major axis, the point P describes the ellipse.
This is known as the _trammel_ construction.
(b) Let AA', BB' be the axes as before; describe on each as diameter a
circle. Draw any number of radii of the two circles, and from the
points of intersection with the major circle draw lines parallel to
the minor axis, and from the points of intersection with the minor
circle draw lines parallel to the major axis. The intersections of the
lines drawn from corresponding points are points on the ellipse.
(2) If the major axis and foci be given, there is a convenient
mechanical construction based on the property that the sum of the
focal distances of any point is constant and equal to the major axis.
Let AA' be the axis and S, S' the foci. Take a piece of thread of
length AA', and fix it at its extremities by means of pins at the
foci. The thread is now stretched taut by a pencil, and the pencil
moved; the curve traced out is the desired ellipse.
(3) If the directrix, focus and eccentricity be given, we may employ
the general method for constructing a conic. Let S (fig. 2) be the
focus, KX the directrix, X being the foot of the perpendicular from S
to the directrix. Divide SX internally at A and externally at A', so
that the ratios SA/AX and SA'/A'X are each equal to the eccentricity.
Then A, A' are the vertices of the curve. Take any point R on the
directrix, and draw the lines RAM, RSN; draw SL so that the angle LSN
= angle NSA'. Let P be the intersection of the line SL with the line
RAM, then it can be readily shown that P is a point on the ellipse.
For, draw through P a line parallel to AA', intersecting the directrix
in Q and the line RSN in T. Then since XS and QT are parallel and are
intersected by the lines RK, RM, RN, we have SA/AX = TP/PQ = SP/PQ,
since the angle PST = angle PTS. By varying the position of R other
points can be found, and, since the curve is symmetrical about both
the major and minor axes, it is obvious that any point may be
reflected in both the axes, thus giving 3 additional points.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
(4) If the axes be given, the curve can be approximately constructed
by circular arcs in the following manner:--Let AA', BB' be the axes;
determine D the intersection of lines through B and A parallel to the
major and minor axes respectively. Bisect AD at E and join EB. Then
the intersection of EB and DB' determines a point P on the (true)
curve. Bisect the chord PB at G, and draw through G a line
perpendicular to PB, intersecting BB' in O. An arc with centre O and
radius OB forms part of a curve. Let this arc on the reverse side to P
intersect a line through O parallel to the major axis in a point H.
Then HA¹ will cut the circular arc in J. Let JO intersect the major
axis in O1. Then with centre O1 and radius OJ = OA¹, describe an arc.
By reflecting the two arcs thus described over the centre the ellipse
is approximately described.
ELLIPSOID, a quadric surface whose sections are ellipses. Analytically,
it has for its equation x²/a² + y²/b² + z²/c² = 1, a, b, c being its
axes; the name is also given to the solid contained by this surface (see
GEOMETRY: _Analytical_). The solids and surfaces of revolution of the
ellipse are sometimes termed ellipsoids, but it is advisable to use the
name spheroid (q.v.).
The ellipsoid appears in the mathematical investigation of physical
properties of media in which the particular property varies in three
directions within the media; such properties are the elasticity, giving
rise to the strain ellipsoid, thermal expansion, ellipsoid of expansion,
thermal conduction, refractive index (see CRYSTALLOGRAPHY), &c. In
mechanics, the ellipsoid of gyration or inertia is such that the
perpendicular from the centre to a tangent plane is equal to the radius
of gyration of the given body about the perpendicular as axis; the
"momental ellipsoid," also termed the "inverse ellipsoid of inertia" or
Poinsot's ellipsoid, has the perpendicular inversely proportional to
the radius of gyration; the "equimomental ellipsoid" is such that its
moments of inertia about all axes are the same as those of a given body.
(See MECHANICS.)
ELLIPTICITY, in astronomy, deviation from a circular or spherical form;
applied to the elliptic orbits of heavenly bodies, or the spheroidal
form of such bodies. (See also COMPRESSION.)
ELLIS (originally SHARPE), ALEXANDER JOHN (1814-1890), English
philologist, mathematician, musician and writer on phonetics, was born
at Hoxton on the 14th of June 1814. He was educated at Shrewsbury, Eton,
and Trinity College, Cambridge, and took his degree in high mathematical
honours. He was connected with many learned societies as member or
president, and was governor of University College, London. He was the
first in England to reduce the study of phonetics to a science. His most
important work, to which the greater part of his life was devoted, is
_On Early English Pronunciation, with special reference to Shakespeare
and Chaucer_ (1869-1889), in five parts, which he intended to supplement
by a sixth, containing an abstract of the whole, an account of the views
and criticisms of other inquirers in the same field, and a complete
index, but ill-health prevented him from carrying out his intention. He
had long been associated with Isaac Pitman in his attempts to reform
English spelling, and published _A Plea for Phonotypy and Phonography_
(1845) and _A Plea for Phonetic Spelling_ (1848); and contributed the
articles on "Phonetics" and "Speech-sounds" to the 9th edition of the
_Ency. Brit._ He translated (with considerable additions) Helmholtz's
_Sensations of Tone as a physiological Basis for the Theory of Music_
(2nd ed., 1885); and was the author of several smaller works on music,
chiefly in connexion with his favourite subject phonetics. He died in
London on the 28th of October 1890.
ELLIS, GEORGE (1753-1815), English author, was born in London in 1753.
Educated at Westminster school and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he
began his literary career by some satirical verses on Bath society
published in 1777, and _Poetical Tales_, by "Sir Gregory Gander," in
1778. He contributed to the _Rolliad_ and the _Probationary Odes_
political satires directed against Pitt's administration. He was
employed in diplomatic business at the Hague in 1784; and in 1797 he
accompanied Lord Malmesbury to Lille as secretary to the embassy. On his
return he was introduced to Pitt, and the episode of the _Rolliad_,
which had not been forgotten, was explained. He found continued scope
for his powers as a political caricaturist in the columns of the
_Anti-Jacobin_, a weekly paper which he founded in connexion with George
Canning and William Gifford. For some years before the _Anti-Jacobin_
was started Ellis had been working in the congenial field of Early
English literature, in which he was one of the first to arouse interest.
The first edition of his _Specimens of the Early English Poets_ appeared
in 1790; and this was followed by _Specimens of Early English Metrical
Romances_ (1805). He also edited Gregory Lewis Way's translation of
select _Fabliaux_ in 1796. Ellis was an intimate friend of Sir Walter
Scott, who styled him "the first converser I ever saw," and dedicated to
him the fifth canto of _Marmion_. Some of the correspondence between
them is to be found in Lockhart's _Life_. He died on the 10th of April
1815. The monument erected to his memory in the parish church of Gunning
Hill, Berks, bears a fine inscription by Canning.
ELLIS, SIR HENRY (1777-1869), English antiquary, was born in London on
the 29th of November 1777. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' school,
and at St John's College, Oxford, of which he was elected a fellow.
After having held for a few months a sub-librarianship in the Bodleian,
he was in 1800 appointed to a similar post in the British Museum. In
1827 he became chief librarian, and held that post until 1856, when he
resigned on account of advancing age. In 1832 William IV. made him a
knight of Hanover, and in the following year he received an English
knighthood. He died on the 15th of January 1869. Sir Henry Ellis's life
was one of very considerable literary activity. His first work of
importance was the preparation of a new edition of Brand's _Popular
Antiquities_, which appeared in 1813. In 1816 he was selected by the
commissioners of public records to write the introduction to Domesday
Book, a task which he discharged with much learning, though several of
his views have not stood the test of later criticism. His _Original
Letters Illustrative of English History_ (first series, 1824; second
series, 1827; third series, 1846) are compiled chiefly from manuscripts
in the British Museum and the State Paper Office, and have been of
considerable service to historical writers. To the Library of
Entertaining Knowledge he contributed four volumes on the Elgin and
Townley Marbles. Sir Henry was for many years a director and
joint-secretary of the Society of Antiquaries.
ELLIS, ROBINSON (1834- ), English classical scholar, was born at
Barming, near Maidstone, on the 5th of September 1834. He was educated
at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, Rugby, and Balliol College, Oxford. In
1858 he became fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and in 1870 professor
of Latin at University College, London. In 1876 he returned to Oxford,
where from 1883 to 1893 he held the university readership in Latin. In
1893 he succeeded Henry Nettleship as professor. His chief work has been
on Catullus, whom he began to study in 1859. His first _Commentary on
Catullus_ (1876) aroused great interest, and called forth a flood of
criticism. In 1889 appeared a second and enlarged edition, which placed
its author in the first rank of authorities on Catullus. Professor Ellis
quotes largely from the early Italian commentators, maintaining that the
land where the Renaissance originated had done more for scholarship than
is commonly recognized. He has supplemented his critical work by a
translation (1871, dedicated to Tennyson) of the poems in the metres of
the originals. Another author to whom Professor Ellis has devoted many
years' study is Manilius, the astrological poet. In 1891 he published
_Noctes Manilianae_, a series of dissertations on the _Astronomica_,
with emendations. He has also treated Avianus, Velleius Paterculus and
the Christian poet Orientius, whom he edited for the Vienna _Corpus
Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum_. He edited the _Ibis_ of Ovid, the _Aetna_
of the younger Lucilius, and contributed to the _Anecdota Oxoniensia_
various unedited Bodleian and other manuscripts. In 1907 he published
_Appendix Vergiliana_ (an edition of the minor poems); in 1908 _The
Annalist Licinianus_.
ELLIS, WILLIAM (1794-1872), English Nonconformist missionary, was born
in London on the 29th of August 1794. His boyhood and youth were spent
at Wisbeach, where he worked as a market-gardener. In 1814 he offered
himself to the London Missionary Society, and was accepted. During a
year's training he acquired some knowledge of theology and of various
practical arts, such as printing and bookbinding. He sailed for the
South Sea Islands in January 1816, and remained in Polynesia, occupying
various stations in succession, until 1824, when he was compelled to
return home on account of the state of his wife's health. Though the
period of his residence in the islands was thus comparatively short, his
labours were very fruitful, contributing perhaps as much as those of any
other missionary to bring about the extraordinary improvement in the
religious, moral and social condition of the Pacific Archipelago that
took place during the 19th century. Besides promoting the spiritual
object of his mission, he introduced many other aids to the improvement
of the condition of the people. His gardening experience enabled him
successfully to acclimatize many species of tropical fruits and plants,
and he set up and worked the first printing press in the South Seas.
Returning home by way of the United States, where he advocated his work,
Ellis was for some years employed as a travelling agent of the London
Missionary Society, and in 1832 was appointed foreign secretary to the
society, an office which he held for seven years. In 1837 he married his
second wife, Sarah Stickney, a writer and teacher of some note in her
generation. In 1841 he went to live at Hoddesdon, Herts, and ministered
to a small Congregational church there. On behalf of the London
Missionary Society he paid three visits to Madagascar (1853-1857),
inquiring into the prospects for resuming the work that had been
suspended by Queen Ranavolona's hostility. A further visit was paid in
1863. Ellis wrote accounts of all his travels, and Southey's praise (in
the _Quarterly Review_) of his _Polynesian Researches_ (2 vols., 1829)
finds many echoes. He was a fearless, upright and tactful man, and a
keen observer of nature. He died on the 25th of June 1872.
ELLISTON, ROBERT WILLIAM (1774-1831), English actor, was born in London
on the 7th of April 1774, the son of a watchmaker. He was educated at St
Paul's school, but ran away from home and made his first appearance on
the stage as Tressel in _Richard III._ at Bath in 1791. Here he was
later seen as Romeo, and in other leading parts, both comic and tragic,
and he repeated his successes in London from 1796. He acted at Drury
Lane from 1804 to 1809, and again from 1812; and from 1819 he was the
lessee of the house, presenting Kean, Mme Vestris and Macready.
Ill-health and misfortune culminated in his bankruptcy in 1826, when he
made his last appearance at Drury Lane as Falstaff. But as lessee of the
Surrey theatre he acted almost up to his death, which was hastened by
intemperance. Leigh Hunt compared him favourably with Garrick; Byron
thought him inimitable in high comedy; Macready praised his versatility.
Elliston was the author of _The Venetian Outlaw_ (1805), and, with
Francis Godolphin Waldron, of _No Prelude_ (1803), in both of which
plays he appeared.
ELLORA, a village of India in the native state of Hyderabad, near the
city of Daulatabad, famous for its rock temples, which are among the
finest in India. They are first mentioned by Ma'sudi, the Arabic
geographer of the 10th century, but merely as a celebrated place of
pilgrimage. The caves differ from those of Ajanta in consequence of
their being excavated in the sloping sides of a hill and not in a nearly
perpendicular cliff. They extend along the face of the hill for a mile
and a quarter, and are divided into three distinct series, the Buddhist,
the Brahmanical and the Jain, and are arranged almost chronologically.
The most splendid of the whole series is the Kailas, a perfect Dravidian
temple, complete in all its parts, characterized by Fergusson as one of
the most wonderful and interesting monuments of architectural art in
India. It is not a mere interior chamber cut in the rock, but is a model
of a complete temple such as might have been erected on the plain. In
other words, the rock has been cut away externally as well as
internally. First the great sunken court measuring 276 ft. by 154 ft.
was hewn out of the solid trap-rock of the hillside, leaving the rock
mass of the temple wholly detached in a cloistered court like a colossal
boulder, save that a rock bridge once connected the upper storey of the
temple with the upper row of galleried chambers surrounding three sides
of the court. Colossal elephants and obelisks stand on either side of
the open mandapam, or pavilion, containing the sacred bull; and beyond
rises the monolithic Dravidian temple to Siva, 90 ft. in height,
hollowed into vestibule, chamber and image-cells, all lavishly carved.
Time and earthquakes have weathered and broken away bits of the great
monument, and Moslem zealots strove to destroy the carved figures, but
these defects are hardly noticed. The temple was built by Krishna I.,
Rashtrakuta, king of Malkhed in 760-783.
ELLORE, a town of British India, in the Kistna district of Madras, on
the East Coast railway, 303 m. from Madras. Pop. (1901) 33,521. The two
canal systems of the Godavari and the Kistna deltas meet here. There are
manufactures of cotton and saltpetre, and an important Church of England
high school. Ellore was formerly a military station, and the capital of
the Northern Circars. At Pedda Vegi to the north of it are extensive
ruins, which are believed to be remains of the Buddhist kingdom of
Vengi. From these the Mahommedans, after their conquest of the district
in 1470, obtained material for building a fort at Ellore.
ELLSWORTH, OLIVER (1745-1807), American statesman and jurist, was born
at Windsor, Connecticut, on the 29th of April 1745. He studied at Yale
and Princeton, graduating from the latter in 1766, studied theology for
a year, then law, and began to practise at Hartford in 1771. He was
state's attorney for Hartford county from 1777 to 1785, and achieved
extraordinary success at the bar, amassing what was for his day a large
fortune. From 1773 to 1775 he represented the town of Windsor in the
general assembly of Connecticut, and in the latter year became a member
of the important commission known as the "Pay Table," which supervised
the colony's expenditures for military purposes during the War of
Independence. In 1779 he again sat in the assembly, this time
representing Hartford. From 1777 to 1783 he was a member of the
Continental Congress, and in this body he served on three important
committees, the marine committee, the board of treasury, and the
committee of appeals, the predecessors respectively of the navy and
treasury departments and the Supreme Court under the Federal
Constitution. From 1780 to 1785 he was a member of the governor's
council of Connecticut, which, with the lower house before 1784 and
alone from 1784 to 1807, constituted a supreme court of errors; and from
1785 to 1789 he was a judge of the state superior court. In 1787, with
Roger Sherman and William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819), he was one of
Connecticut's delegates to the constitutional convention at
Philadelphia, in which his services were numerous and important. In
particular, when disagreement seemed inevitable on the question of
representation, he, with Roger Sherman, proposed what is known as the
"Connecticut Compromise," by which the Federal legislature was made to
consist of two houses, the upper having equal representation from each
state, the lower being chosen on the basis of population. Ellsworth also
made a determined stand against a national paper currency. Being
compelled to leave the convention before its adjournment, he did not
sign the instrument, but used his influence to secure its ratification
by his native state. From 1789 to 1796 he was one of the first senators
from Connecticut under the new Constitution. In the senate he was looked
upon as President Washington's personal spokesman and as the leader of
the Administration party. His most important service to his country was
without a doubt in connexion with the establishment of the Federal
judiciary. As chairman of the committee having the matter in charge, he
drafted the bill by the enactment of which the system of Federal courts,
almost as it is to-day, was established. He also took a leading part in
the senate in securing the passage of laws for funding the national
debt, assuming the state debts and establishing a United States bank. It
was Ellsworth who suggested to Washington the sending of John Jay to
England to negotiate a new treaty with Great Britain, and he probably
did more than any other man to induce the senate, despite widespread and
violent opposition, to ratify that treaty when negotiated. By President
Washington's appointment he became chief justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States in March 1796, and in 1799 President John Adams sent
him, with William Vans Murray (1762-1803) and William R. Davie
(1756-1820), to negotiate a new treaty with France. It was largely
through the influence of Ellsworth, who took the principal part in the
negotiations, that Napoleon consented to a convention, of the 30th of
September 1800, which secured for citizens of the United States their
ships captured by France but not yet condemned as prizes, provided for
freedom of commerce between the two nations, stipulated that "free ships
shall give a freedom to goods," and contained provisions favourable to
neutral commerce. While he was abroad, failing health compelled him
(1800) to resign the chief-justiceship, and after some months in England
he returned to America in 1801. In 1803 he was again elected to the
governor's council, and in 1807, on the reorganization of the
Connecticut judiciary, was appointed chief justice of the new Supreme
Court. He never took office, however, but died at his home in Windsor on
the 27th of November 1807.
See W.G. Brown's _Oliver Ellsworth_ (New York, 1905), an excellent
biography. There is also an appreciative account of Ellsworth's life
and work in H.C. Lodge's _A Fighting Frigate, and Other Essays and
Addresses_ (New York, 1902), which contains in an appendix an
interesting letter by Senator George F. Hoar concerning Ellsworth's
work in the constitutional convention.
ELLSWORTH, a city, port of entry and the county seat of Hancock county,
Maine, U.S.A., at the head of navigation on the Union river (and about
3¾ m. from its mouth), about 30 m. S.E. of Bangor. Pop. (1890) 4804;
(1900) 4297 (189 foreign-born); (1910) 3549. It is served by the Maine
Central railway. The fall of the river, about 85 ft. in 2 m., furnishes
good water-power, and the city has various manufactures, including
lumber, shoes, woollens, sails, carriages and foundry and machine shop
products, besides a large lumber trade. Shipbuilding was formerly
important. There is a large United States fish hatchery here. The city
is the port of entry for the Frenchman's Bay customs district, but its
foreign trade is unimportant. Ellsworth was first settled in 1763 and
for some time was called New Bowdoin; but when it was incorporated as a
town in 1800 the present name was adopted in honour of Oliver Ellsworth.
A city charter was secured in 1869.
ELLWANGEN, a town of Germany in the kingdom of Württemberg, on the
Jagst, 12 m. S.S.E. from Crailsheim on the railway to Goldshöfe. Pop.
5000. It is romantically situated between two hills, one crowned by the
castle of Hohen-Ellwangen, built in 1354 and now used as an agricultural
college, and the other, the Schönenberg, by the pilgrimage church of Our
Lady of Loreto, in the Jesuit style of architecture. The town possesses
one Evangelical and five Roman Catholic churches, among the latter the
Stiftskirche, the old abbey church, a Romanesque building dating from
1124, and the Gothic St Wolfgangskirche. The classical and modern
schools (Gymnasium and Realschule) occupy the buildings of a suppressed
Jesuit college. The industries include the making of parchment covers,
of envelopes, of wooden hafts and handles for tools, &c., and tanneries.
There are also a wool-market and a horse-market, the latter famous in
Germany.
The Benedictine abbey of Ellwangen is said to have been founded in 764
by Herulf, bishop of Langres; there is, however, no record of it before
814. In 1460 the abbey was converted, with the consent of Pope Pius II.,
into a _Ritterstift_ (college or institution for noble pensioners) under
a secular provost, who, in 1555, was raised to the dignity of a prince
of the Empire. The provostship was secularized in 1803 and its
territories were assigned to Württemberg. The town of Ellwangen, which
grew up round the abbey and received the status of a town about the
middle of the 14th century, was until 1803 the capital of the
provostship.
See Seckler, _Beschreibung der gefürsteten Probstei Ellwangen_
(Stuttgart, 1864); _Beschreibung des Oberamts Ellwangen_, published by
the statistical bureau (Landesamt) at Ellwangen (1888). For a list of
the abbots and provosts see Stokvis, _Manuel d'histoire_ (Leiden,
1890-1893), iii. p. 242.
ELLWOOD, THOMAS (1639-1714), English author, was born at Crowell, in
Oxfordshire, in 1639. He is chiefly celebrated for his connexion with
Milton, and the principal facts of his life are related in a very
interesting autobiography, which contains much information as to his
intercourse with the poet. While he was still young his father removed
to London, where Thomas became acquainted with a Quaker family named
Pennington, and was led to join the Society of Friends, a connexion
which subjected him to much persecution. It was through the Penningtons
that he was introduced in 1662 to Milton in the capacity of Latin
reader. He spent nearly every afternoon in the poet's house in Jewin
Street, until the intercourse was interrupted by an illness which
compelled him to go to the country. After a period of imprisonment in
the old Bridewell prison and in Newgate for Quakerism, Ellwood resumed
his visits to Milton, who was now residing at a house his friend had
taken for him at Chalfont St Giles. In 1665 Ellwood was again arrested
and imprisoned in Aylesbury gaol. When he visited Milton after his
release the poet gave him the manuscript of the _Paradise Lost_ to read.
On returning the manuscript Ellwood said, "Thou hast said much here of
Paradise lost; but what hast thou to say of Paradise found?" and when
Milton long afterwards in London showed him _Paradise Regained_, it was
with the remark, "This is owing to you, for you put it into my head at
Chalfont." Ellwood was the friend of Fox and Penn, and was the author of
several polemical works in defence of the Quaker position, of which
_Forgery no Christianity_ (1674) and _The Foundation of Tithes Shaken_
(1678) deserve mention. His _Sacred Histories of the Old and New
Testaments_ appeared in 1705 and 1709. He also published some volumes of
poems, among them a _Davideis_ in five books. He died on the 1st of
March 1714.
_The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood: written by his own hand_
(1714) has been many times reprinted.
ELM, the popular name for the trees and shrubs constituting the genus
_Ulmus_, of the natural order Ulmaceae. The genus contains fifteen or
sixteen species widely distributed throughout the north temperate zone,
with the exception of western North America, and extending southwards as
far as Mexico in the New and the Sikkim Himalayas in the Old World.
The common elm, _U. campestris_, a doubtful native of England, is found
throughout a great part of Europe, in North Africa and in Asia Minor,
whence it ranges as far east as north Asia and Japan. It grows in woods
and hedge-rows, especially in the southern portion of Britain, and on
almost all soils, but thrives best on a rich loam, in open, low-lying,
moderately moist situations, attaining a height of 60 to 100, and in
some few cases as much as 130 or 150 ft. The branches are numerous and
spreading, and often pendulous at the extremities; the bark is rugged;
the leaves are alternate, ovate, rough, doubly serrate, and, as in other
species of _Ulmus_, unequal at the base. The flowers are small,
hermaphrodite, numerous, in purplish-brown tufts, and each with a
fringed basal bract; the bell-shaped calyx is often four-toothed and
surrounds four free stamens; the pistil bears two spreading hairy
styles. They appear before the leaves in March and April. The
seed-vessels are green, membranous, one-seeded and deeply cleft. Unlike
the wych elm, the common elm rarely perfects its seed in England, where
it is propagated by means of root suckers from old trees, or preferably
by layers from stools. In the first ten years of its growth it
ordinarily reaches a height of 25 to 30 ft. The wood, at first brownish
white, becomes, with growth, of a brown colour having a greenish shade.
It is close-grained, free from knots, without apparent medullary rays,
and is hard and tough, but will not take a polish. All parts of the
trunk, including the sapwood, are available in carpentry. By drying, the
wood loses over 60% of its weight, and has then a specific gravity of
0.588. It has considerable transverse strength, does not crack when once
seasoned, and is remarkably durable under water, or if kept quite dry;
though it decays rapidly on exposure to the weather, which in ten to
eighteen months causes the bark to fall off, and gives to the wood a
yellowish colour--a sign of deterioration in quality. To prevent
shrinking and warping it may be preserved in water or mud, but it is
best worked up soon after felling. Analyses of the ash of the wood have
given a percentage of 47.8% of lime, 21.9% of potash, and 13.7% of soda.
In summer, elm trees often exude an alkaline gummy substance, which by
the action of the air becomes the brown insoluble body termed _ulmin_.
Elm wood is used for keels and bilge-planks, the blocks and dead-eyes of
rigging, and ships' pumps, for coffins, wheels, furniture, carved and
turned articles, and for general carpenters' work; and previous to the
common employment of cast iron was much in request for waterpipes. The
inner bark of the elm is made into bast mats and ropes. It contains
mucilage, with a little tannic acid, and was formerly much employed for
the preparation of an antiscorbutic decoction, now obsolete. The bark of
_Ulmus fulva_, the slippery or red elm of the United States and Canada,
serves the North American Indians for the same purpose, and also as a
vulnerary. The leaves as well as the young shoots of elms have been
found a suitable food for live stock. For ornamental purposes elm trees
are frequently planted, and in avenues, as at the park of
Stratfieldsaye, in Hampshire, are highly effective. They were first used
in France for the adornment of public walks in the reign of Francis I.
In Italy, as in ancient times, it is still customary to train the vine
upon the elm--a practice to which frequent allusion has been made by the
poets. The cork-barked elm, _U. campestris_, var. _suberosa_, is
distinguished chiefly by the thick deeply fissured bark with which its
branches are covered. There are numerous cultivated forms differing in
size and shape of leaf, and manner of growth.
The Scotch or wych elm, _U. montana_, is indigenous to Britain and is
the common elm of the northern portion of the island; it usually attains
a height of about 50 ft., but among tall-growing trees may reach 120 ft.
It has drooping branches and a smoother and thinner bark, larger and
more tapering leaves, and a far less deeply notched seed-vessel than _U.
campestris_. The wood, though more porous than in that species, is a
tough and hard material when properly seasoned, and, being very flexible
when steamed, is well adapted for boat-building. Branches of the wych
elm were formerly manufactured into bows, and if forked were employed as
divining-rods. The weeping elm, the most ornamental member of the genus,
is a variety of this species. The Dutch or sand elm is a tree very
similar to the wych elm, but produces inferior timber. The American or
white elm, _U. americana_, is a hardy and very handsome species, of
which the old tree on Boston (Mass.) Common was a representative. This
tree is supposed to have been in existence before the settlement of
Boston, and at the time of its destruction by the storm of the 15th of
February 1876 measured 22 ft. in circumference.
ELMACIN (ELMAKIN or ELMACINUS), GEORGE (c. 1223-1274), author of a
history of the Saracens, which extends from the time of Mahomet to the
year 1118 of our era. He was a Christian of Egypt, where he was born; is
known in the east as Ibn-Amid; and after holding an official position
under the sultans of Egypt, died at Damascus. His history is principally
occupied with the affairs of the Saracen empire, but it contains
passages which relate to the Eastern Christians. It was published in
Arabic and Latin at Leiden in 1625. The Latin version is a translation
by Erpenius, under the title, _Historia saracenica_, and from this a
French translation was made by Wattier as _L'Histoire mahométane_
(Paris, 1657).
ELMALI ("apple-town"), a small town of Asia Minor in the vilayet of
Konia, the present administrative centre of the ancient Lycia, but not
itself corresponding to any known ancient city. It lies about 25 m.
inland, at the head of a long upland valley (5000 ft.) inhabited by
direct descendants of the ancient Lycians, who have preserved a
distinctive facial type, noticeable at once in the town population.
There are about fifty Greek families, the rest of the population (4000)
being Moslem. The district is agricultural and has no manufactures of
importance.
ELMES, HARVEY LONSDALE (1813-1847), British architect, son of James
Elmes (q.v.), was born at Chichester in 1813. After serving some time in
his father's office, and under a surveyor at Bedford and an architect at
Bath, he became partner with his father in 1835, and in the following
year he was successful among 86 competitors for a design for St George's
Hall, Liverpool. The foundation stone of this building was laid en the
28th of June 1838, but, Elmes being successful in a competition for the
Assize Courts in the same city, it was finally decided to include the
hall and courts in a single building. In accordance with this idea,
Elmes prepared a fresh design, and the work of erection commenced in
1841. He superintended its progress till 1847, when from failing health
he was compelled to delegate his duties to Charles Robert Cockerell, and
leave for Jamaica, where he died of consumption on the 26th of November
1847.
ELMES, JAMES (1782-1862), British architect, civil engineer, and writer
on the arts, was born in London on the 15th of October 1782. He was
educated at Merchant Taylors' school, and, after studying building under
his father, and architecture under George Gibson, became a student at
the Royal Academy, where he gained the silver medal in 1804. He designed
a large number of buildings in the metropolis, and was surveyor and
civil engineer to the port of London, but is best known as a writer on
the arts. In 1809 he became vice-president of the Royal Architectural
Society, but this office, as well as that of surveyor of the port of
London, he was compelled through partial loss of sight to resign in
1828. He died at Greenwich on the 2nd of April 1862. His publications
were:--_Sir Christopher Wren and his Times_ (1823); _Lectures on
Architecture_ (1823); _The Arts and Artists_ (1825); _General and
Biographical Dictionary of the Fine Arts_ (1826); _Treatise on
Architectural Jurisprudence_ (1827), and _Thomas Clarkson: a Monograph_
(1854).
ELMHAM, THOMAS (d. c. 1420), English chronicler, was probably born at
North Elmham in Norfolk. He became a Benedictine monk at Canterbury, and
then joining the Cluniacs, was prior of Lenton Abbey, near Nottingham;
he was chaplain to Henry V., whom he accompanied to France in 1415,
being present at Agincourt. Elmham wrote a history of the monastery of
St Augustine at Canterbury, which has been edited by C. Hardwick for the
Rolls Series (1858); and a _Liber metricus de Henrico V._, edited by
C.A. Cole in the _Memorials of Henry V._ (1858). It is very probable
that Elmham wrote the famous _Gesta Henrici Quinti_, which is the best
authority for the life of Henry V. from his accession to 1416. This
work, often referred to as the "chaplain's life," and thought by some to
have been written by Jean de Bordin, has been published for the English
Historical Society by B. Williams (1850). Elmham, however, did not write
the _Vita et Gesta Henrici V._, which was attributed to him by T. Hearne
and others.
See C.L. Kingsford, _Henry V._ (1901).
ELMINA, a town on the Gold Coast, British West Africa, in 5° 4' N., 1°
20' W. and about 8 m. W. of Cape Coast. Pop. about 4000. Facing the
Atlantic on a rocky peninsula is Fort St George, considered the finest
fort on the Guinea coast. It is built square with high walls, and has
accommodation for 200 soldiers. On the land side were formerly two
moats, cut in the rock on which the castle stands. The castle is the
residence of the commissioner of the district and other officials. The
houses in the native quarter are mostly built of stone, that material
being plentiful in the vicinity.
Elmina is the earliest European settlement on the Gold Coast, and was
visited by the Portuguese in 1481. Christopher Columbus is believed to
have been one of the officers who took part in this voyage. The
Portuguese at once began to build the castle now known as Fort St
George, but it was not completed till eighty years afterwards. Another
defensive work is Fort St Jago, built in 1666, which is behind the town
and at some distance from the coast. (In the latter half of the 19th
century it was converted into a prison.) Elmina was captured by the
Dutch in 1637, and ceded to them by treaty in 1640. They made it the
chief port for the produce of Ashanti. With the other Dutch possessions
on the Guinea coast, it was transferred to Great Britain in April 1872.
The king of Ashanti, claiming to be ground landlord, objected to its
transfer, and the result was the Ashanti war of 1873-1874. For many
years the greatest output of gold from this coast came from Elmina. The
annual export is said to have been nearly £3,000,000 in the early years
of the 18th century, but the figure is probably exaggerated. Since 1900
the bulk of the export trade in gold has been transferred to Sekondi
(q.v.). Prempeh, the ex-king of Ashanti, was detained in the castle
(1896) until his removal to the Seychelles. (See ASHANTI: _History_, and
GOLD COAST: _History_.)
ELMIRA, a city and the county-seat of Chemung county, New York, U.S.A.,
100 m. S.E. of Rochester, on the Chemung river, about 850 ft. above
sea-level. Pop. (1890) 30,893; (1900) 35,672, of whom 5511 were
foreign-born (1988 Irish and 1208 German); (1910 census) 37,176. It is
served by the Erie, the Pennsylvania, the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western, the Lehigh Valley, and the Tioga Division railways, the last of
which connects it with the Pennsylvania coalfields 48 m. away. The city
is attractively situated on both sides of the river, and has a fine
water-supply and park system, among the parks being Eldridge, Rorick's
Glen, Riverside, Brand, Diven, Grove, Maple Avenue and Wisner; in the
last-named is a statue of Thomas K. Beecher by J.S. Hartley. The city
contains a Federal building, a state armoury, the Chemung county court
house and other county buildings, the Elmira orphans' home, the Steele
memorial library, home for the aged, the Arnot-Ogden memorial hospital,
the Elmira free academy, and the Railway Commercial training school.
Here, also, is Elmira College (Presbyterian) for women, founded in 1855.
This institution, chartered in 1852 as Auburn Female University and then
situated in Auburn, was rechartered in 1855 as the Elmira Female
College; it was established largely through the influence and persistent
efforts of the Rev. Samuel Robbins Brown (1810-1880) and his associates,
notably Simeon Benjamin of Elmira, who gave generously to the newly
founded college, and was the first distinctively collegiate institution
for women in the United States, and the first, apparently, to grant
degrees to women. The most widely known institution in the city is the
Elmira reformatory, a state prison for first offenders between the ages
of sixteen and thirty, on a system of general indeterminate sentences.
Authorized by the state legislature in 1866 and opened in 1876 under the
direction of Zebulon Reed Brockway (b. 1827), it was the first
institution of the sort and has served as a model for many similar
institutions both in the United States and in other countries (see
JUVENILE OFFENDERS). Elmira is an important railway centre, with large
repair shops, and has also extensive manufactories (value of production
in 1900, $8,558,786, of which $6,596,603 was produced under the "factory
system"; in 1905, under the "factory system," $6,984,095), including
boot and shoe factories, a large factory for fire-extinguishing
apparatus, iron and steel bridge works, steel rolling mills, large valve
works, steel plate mills, knitting mills, furniture, glass and boiler
factories, breweries and silk mills. Near the site of Elmira occurred on
the 29th of August 1779 the battle of Newtown, in which General John
Sullivan decisively defeated a force of Indians and Tories under Sir
John Johnson and Joseph Brant. There were some settlers here at the
close of the War of Independence, but no permanent settlement was made
until 1788. The village was incorporated as Newtown in 1815, and was
reincorporated as Elmira in 1828. A city charter was secured in 1864. In
1861 a state military camp was established here, and in 1864-1865 there
was a prison camp here for Confederate soldiers.
ELMSHORN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Schleswig-Holstein, on the Krückau, 19 m. by rail N.W. from Altona. Pop.
(1905) 13,640. Its industries include weaving, dyeing, brewing,
iron-founding and the manufacture of leather goods, boots and shoes and
machines. There is a considerable shipping trade.
ELMSLEY, PETER (1773-1825), English classical scholar. He was educated
at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, and having inherited a fortune
from his uncle, a well-known bookseller, devoted himself to the study of
classical authors and manuscripts. In 1798 he was appointed to the
chapelry of Little Horkesley in Essex, which he held till his death. He
travelled extensively in France and Italy, and spent the winter of 1818
in examining the MSS. in the Laurentian library at Florence. In 1819 he
was commissioned, with Sir Humphry Davy, to decipher the papyri found at
Herculaneum, but the results proved insignificant. In 1823 he was
appointed principal of St Alban's Hall, Oxford, and Camden professor of
ancient history. He died in Oxford on the 8th of March 1825. Elmsley was
a man of most extensive learning and European reputation, and was
considered to be the best ecclesiastical scholar in England. But it is
chiefly by his collation of the MSS. of the Greek tragedians and his
critical labours on the restoration of their text that he will be
remembered. He edited the _Acharnians_ of Aristophanes, and several of
the plays and scholia of Sophocles and Euripides. He was the first to
recognize the importance of the Laurentian MS. (see Sandys, _Hist. of
Class. Schol._ iii. (1908).
ELNE, a town of south-western France in the department of
Pyrénées-Orientales, 10 m. S.S.E. of Perpignan by rail. Pop. (1906)
3026. The hill on which it stands, once washed by the sea, which is now
over 3 m. distant, commands a fine view over the plain of Roussillon.
From the 6th century till 1602 the town was the seat of a bishopric,
which was transferred to Perpignan. The cathedral of St Eulalie, a
Romanesque building completed about the beginning of the 12th century,
has a beautiful cloister in the same style, with interesting sculptures
and three early Christian sarcophagi. Remains of the ancient ramparts
flanked by towers are still to be seen. Silk-worm cultivation is carried
on. Elne, the ancient _Illiberis_, was named _Helena_ by the emperor
Constantine in memory of his mother. Hannibal encamped under its walls
on his march to Rome in 218 B.C. The emperor Constans was assassinated
there in A.D. 350. The town several times sustained siege and capture
between its occupation by the Moors in the 8th century and its
capitulation in 1641 to the troops of Louis XIII.
EL OBEID, chief town of the mudiria (province) of Kordofan,
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and 230 m. S.W. by S. of Khartum in a direct
line. Pop. (1905) about 10,000. It is situated about 2000 ft. above the
sea, at the northern foot of Jebel Kordofan, in 13° 11' N. and 30° 14'
E. It is an important trade centre, the chief articles of commerce being
gum, ivory, cattle and ostrich feathers. A considerable part of the
trade of Darfur with Egypt passes through El Obeid.
El Obeid, which appears to be a place of considerable antiquity and the
ancient capital of the country, was garrisoned by the Egyptians on their
conquest of Kordofan in 1821. In September 1882 the town was assaulted
by the troops of the mahdi, who, being repulsed, laid siege to the
place, which capitulated on the 17th of January 1883. During the Mahdia
the city was destroyed and deserted, and when Kordofan passed, in 1899,
into the possession of the Anglo-Egyptian authorities nothing was left
of El Obeid but a part of the old government offices. A new town was
laid out in squares, the mudiria repaired and barracks built. (See
KORDOFAN, and SUDAN: _Anglo-Egyptian_.)
ELOI [ELIGIUS], SAINT (588-659), apostle of the Belgians and Frisians,
was born at Cadillac, near Limoges, in 588. Having at an early age shown
artistic talent he was placed by his parents with the master of the mint
at Limoges, where he made rapid progress in goldsmith's work. He became
coiner to Clotaire II., king of the Franks, and treasurer to his
successor Dagobert. Both kings entrusted him with important works, among
which were the composition of the bas-reliefs which ornament the tomb of
St Germain, bishop of Paris, and the execution (for Clotaire) of two
chairs of gold, adorned with jewels, which at that time were reckoned
_chefs-d'oeuvre_. Though he was amassing great wealth, Eloi acquired a
distaste for a worldly life, and resolved to become a priest. At first
he retired to a monastery, but in 640 was raised to the bishopric of
Noyon. He made frequent missionary excursions to the pagans of the Low
Countries, and also founded a great many monasteries and churches. He
died on the 1st of December 659. A mass of legend has gathered round the
life of St Eloi, who as the patron saint of goldsmiths is still very
popular.
His life was written by his friend and contemporary St Ouen
(Audoenus); French translations of the _Vita S. Eligii auctore
Audoeno_ were published by L. de Montigny (Paris, 1626), by C.
Barthélemy in _Études hist., litt. et art._ (_ib._ 1847), and by
Parenty, with notes (2nd ed., ib. 1870). For bibliography see
Potthast, _Bibliotheca hist. med. aevi_ (Berlin, 1896), s.v. "Vita S.
Eligii Noviomensis," and Ulysse Chevalier, _Rép. des sources hist.,
Bio-bibl._ (Paris, 1894), s. "Eloi."
ELONGATION, strictly "lengthening"; in astronomy, the apparent angular
distance of a heavenly body from its centre of motion, as seen from the
earth; designating especially the angular distance of the planet Mercury
or Venus from the sun, or the apparent angle between a satellite and its
primary. The greatest elongation of Venus is about 45°; that of Mercury
generally ranges between 18° and 27°.
EL PASO, a city, port of entry, and the county-seat of El Paso county,
Texas, U.S.A., on the E. bank of the Rio Grande, in the extreme W. part
of the state, at an altitude of 3710 ft. Pop. (1880) 736; (1890) 10,338;
(1900) 15,906, of whom 6309 were foreign-born and 466 were negroes;
(1910 census) 39,279. Many of the inhabitants are of Mexican descent. El
Paso is an important railway centre and is served by the following
railways: the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, of which it is the S.
terminus; the El Paso & South-Western, which connects with the Chicago,
Rock Island & El Paso (of the Rock Island system); the Galveston,
Harrisburg & San Antonio, of which it is the W. terminus; the Mexican
Central, of which it is the N. terminus; the Texas & Pacific, of which
it is the W. terminus; a branch of the Southern Pacific, of which it is
the E. terminus; and the short Rio Grande, Sierra Madre & Pacific, of
which it is the N. terminus. The city is regularly laid out on level
bottom lands, stretching to the table-lands and slopes to the N.E. and
N.W. of the city. Opposite, on the W. bank of the river, is the Mexican
town of Ciudad Juarez (until 1885 known as Paso del Norte), with which
El Paso is connected by bridges and by electric railway. The climate is
mild, warm and dry, El Paso being well known as a health resort,
particularly for sufferers from pulmonary complaints. Among the city's
public buildings are a handsome Federal building, a county court house,
a city hall, a Y.M.C.A. building, a public library, a sanatorium for
consumptives, and the Hotel Dieu, a hospital maintained by Roman
Catholics. El Paso is the seat of St Joseph's Academy and of the El Paso
Military Institute. Three miles E. of the city limits is Fort Bliss, a
U.S. military post, with a reservation of about 2 sq. m. El Paso's
situation on the Mexican frontier gives it a large trade with Mexico; it
is the port of entry of the Paso del Norte customs district, one of the
larger Mexican border districts, and in 1908 its imports were valued at
$2,677,784 and its exports at $5,661,901. Wheat, boots and shoes, mining
machinery, cement, lime, lumber, beer, and denatured alcohol are among
the varied exports; the principal imports are ore, sugar, cigars,
oranges, drawn work and Mexican curios. El Paso has extensive
manufactories, especially railway car shops, which in 1905 employed
34.5% of the factory wage-earners. Just outside the city limits are
important lead smelting works, to which are brought ores for treatment
from western Texas, northern Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona. Among the
city's manufactures are cement, denatured alcohol, ether, varnish,
clothing and canned goods. The value of the city's total factory product
in 1905 was $2,377,813, 96% greater than that in 1900. El Paso lies in a
fertile agricultural valley, and in 1908 the erection of an immense dam
was begun near Engle, New Mexico (100 m. above El Paso), by the U.S.
government, to store the flood waters of the Rio Grande for irrigating
this area. Before the Mexican War, following which the first United
States settlement was made, the site of El Paso was known as Ponce de
Leon Ranch, the land being owned by the Ponce de Leon family. El Paso
was first chartered as a city in 1873, and in 1907 adopted the
commission form of government.
ELPHINSTONE, MOUNTSTUART (1779-1859), Indian statesman and historian,
fourth son of the 11th Baron Elphinstone in the peerage of Scotland, was
born in 1779. Having received an appointment in the civil service of the
East India Company, of which one of his uncles was a director, he
reached Calcutta in the beginning of 1796. After filling several
subordinate posts, he was appointed in 1801 assistant to the British
resident at Poona, at the court of the peshwa, the most powerful of the
Mahratta princes. Here he obtained his first opportunity of distinction,
being attached in the capacity of diplomatist to the mission of Sir
Arthur Wellesley to the Mahrattas. When, on the failure of negotiations,
war broke out, Elphinstone, though a civilian, acted as virtual
aide-de-camp to General Wellesley. He was present at the battle of
Assaye, and displayed such courage and knowledge of tactics throughout
the whole campaign that Wellesley told him he had mistaken his
profession, and that he ought to have been a soldier. In 1804, when the
war closed, he was appointed British resident at Nagpur. Here, the times
being uneventful and his duties light, he occupied much of his leisure
in reading classical and general literature, and acquired those studious
habits which clung to him throughout life. In 1808 he was appointed the
first British envoy to the court of Kabul, with the object of securing a
friendly alliance with the Afghans; but this proved of little value,
because Shah Shuja was driven from the throne by his brother before it
could be ratified. The most valuable permanent result of the embassy was
the literary fruit it bore several years afterwards in Elphinstone's
great work on Kabul. After spending about a year in Calcutta arranging
the report of his mission, Elphinstone was appointed in 1811 to the
important and difficult post of resident at Poona. The difficulty arose
from the general complication of Mahratta politics, and especially from
the weak and treacherous character of the peshwa, which Elphinstone
rightly read from the first. While the mask of friendship was kept up
Elphinstone carried out the only suitable policy, that of vigilant
quiescence, with admirable tact and patience; when in 1817 the mask was
thrown aside and the peshwa ventured to declare war, the English
resident proved for the second time the truth of Wellesley's assertion
that he was born a soldier. Though his own account of his share in the
campaign is characteristically modest, one can gather from it that the
success of the British troops was chiefly owing to his assuming the
command at an important crisis during the battle of Kirkee.
The peshwa being driven from his throne, his territories were annexed to
the British dominions, and Elphinstone was nominated commissioner to
administer them. He discharged the responsible task with rare judgment
and ability. In 1819 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Bombay and
held this post till 1827, his principal achievement being the
compilation of the "Elphinstone code." He may fairly be regarded as the
founder of the system of state education in India, and he probably did
more than any other Indian administrator to further every likely scheme
for the promotion of native education. His connexion with the Bombay
presidency was appropriately commemorated in the endowment of the
Elphinstone College by the native communities, and in the erection of a
marble statue by the European inhabitants.
Returning to England in 1829, after an interval of two years' travel,
Elphinstone retained in his retirement and enfeebled health an important
influence on public affairs. He twice refused the offer of the
governor-generalship of India. Long before his return he had made his
reputation as an author by his _Account of the Kingdom of Cabul and its
Dependencies in Persia and India_ (1815). Soon after his arrival in
England he commenced the preparation of a work of wider scope, a history
of India, which was published in 1841. It embraces the Hindu and
Mahommedan periods, and is still a work of high authority. He died on
the 20th of November 1859.
See J.S. Cotton, _Mountstuart Elphinstone_ ("Rulers of India" series),
(1892); T.E. Colebrooke, _Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone_ (1884); and
G.W. Forrest, _Official Writings of Mountstuart Elphinstone_ (1884).
ELPHINSTONE, WILLIAM (1431-1514), Scottish statesman and prelate,
founder of the university of Aberdeen, was born in Glasgow, and educated
at the university of his native city, taking the degree of M.A. in 1452.
After practising for a short time as a lawyer in the church courts, he
was ordained priest, becoming rector of St Michael's church, Trongate,
Glasgow, in 1465. Four years later he went to continue his studies at
the university of Paris, where he became reader in canon law, and then,
proceeding to Orleans, became lecturer in the university there. Before
1474 he had returned to Scotland, and was made rector of the university,
and official of the see of Glasgow. Further promotion followed, but soon
more important duties were entrusted to Elphinstone, who was made bishop
of Ross in 1481. He was a member of the Scots parliament, and was sent
by King James III. on diplomatic errands to Louis XI. of France, and to
Edward IV. of England; in 1483 he was appointed bishop of Aberdeen,
although his consecration was delayed for four years; and he was sent on
missions to England, both before and after the death of Richard III. in
1485. Although he attended the meetings of parliament with great
regularity he did not neglect his episcopal duties, and the fabric of
the cathedral of Aberdeen owes much to his care. Early in 1488 the
bishop was made lord high chancellor, but on the king's death in the
following June he vacated this office, and retired to Aberdeen. As a
diplomatist of repute, however, his services were quickly required by
the new king, James IV., in whose interests he visited the kings of
England and France, and the German king, Maximilian I. Having been made
keeper of the privy seal in 1492, and having arranged a dispute between
the Scotch and the Dutch, the bishop's concluding years were mainly
spent in the foundation of the university of Aberdeen. The papal bull
for this purpose was obtained in 1494, and the royal charter which made
old Aberdeen the seat of a university is dated 1498. A small endowment
was provided by the king, and the university, modelled on that of Paris
and intended principally to be a school of law, soon became the most
famous and popular of the Scots seats of learning, a result which was
largely due to the wide experience and ripe wisdom of Elphinstone and of
his friend, Hector Boece, the first rector. The building of the college
of the Holy Virgin in Nativity, now King's College, was completed in
1506, and the bishop also rebuilt the choir of his cathedral, and built
a bridge over the Dee. Continuing to participate in public affairs he
opposed the policy of hostility towards England which led to the
disaster at Flodden in September 1513, and died in Edinburgh on the 25th
of October 1514. Elphinstone was partly responsible for the introduction
of printing into Scotland, and for the production of the _Breviarium
Aberdonense_. He may have written some of the lives in this collection,
and gathered together materials concerning the history of Scotland; but
he did not, as some have thought, continue the _Scotichronicon_, nor did
he write the _Lives of Scottish Saints_.
See Hector Boece, _Murthlacensium et Aberdonensium episcoporum vitae_,
edited and translated by J. Moir (Aberdeen, 1894); _Fasti
Aberdonenses_, edited by C. Innes (Aberdeen, 1854); and A. Gardyne,
_Theatre of Scottish Worthies and Lyf of W. Elphinston_, edited by D.
Laing (Aberdeen, 1878).
EL RENO, a city and the county-seat of Canadian county, Oklahoma,
U.S.A., on the N. fork of the Canadian river, about 26 m. W. of Oklahoma
City. Pop. (1890) 285; (1900) 3383; (1907) 5370 (401 were of negro
descent and 7 were Indians); (1910) 7872. It is served by the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific, the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf (owned by the
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific), and the St Louis, El Reno & Western
railways, the last extending from El Reno to Guthrie. El Reno lies on
the rolling prairie lands, about 1360 ft. above the sea, in an Indian
corn, wheat, oats and cotton-producing and dairying region, and has a
large grain elevator, a cotton compress, and various manufacturing
establishments, among the products being flour, canned goods and
crockery. El Reno has a Carnegie library, and within the city's limits
is Bellamy's Lake (180 acres), a favourite resort. Near the city is a
Government boarding school for the Indians of the Cheyenne and the
Arapahoe Reservation. Fort Reno, a U.S. military post, was established
near El Reno in 1876, and in 1908 became a supply depot of the
quartermaster's department under the name of "Fort Reno Remount Depot."
The first settlement here, apart from the fort, was made in the autumn
of 1889; in 1892 El Reno received a city charter.
ELSFLETH, a maritime town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Oldenburg,
in a fertile district at the confluence of the Hunte with the Weser, on
the railway Hude-Nordenham. Pop. 2000. It has an Evangelical church, a
school of navigation, a harbour and docks. It has considerable trade in
corn and timber and is one of the centres of the North Sea herring
fishery.
ELSINORE (Dan. _Helsingör_), a seaport of Denmark in the _amt_ (county)
of Frederiksborg, on the east coast of the island of Zealand, 28 m. N.
of Copenhagen by rail. Pop. (1901) 13,902. It stands at the narrowest
part of the Sound, opposite the Swedish town of Helsingborg, 3 m.
distant. Communication is maintained by means of a steam ferry. Its
harbour admits vessels of 20 ft. draught, and the roadstead affords
excellent anchorage. There are shipbuilding yards, with foundry,
engineering shops, &c.; the chief export is agricultural produce;
imports, iron, coal, cereals and yarn. Helsingör received
town-privileges in 1425. In 1522 it was taken and burnt by Lübeck, but
in 1535 was retaken by Christian II. It is celebrated as the Elsinore of
Shakespeare's tragedy of _Hamlet_, and was the birthplace of Saxo
Grammaticus, from whose history the story of Hamlet is derived. A pile
of rocks surrounded by trees is shown as the grave of Hamlet, and
Ophelia's brook is also pointed out, but both are, of course,
inventions. On a tongue of land east of the town stands the castle of
Kronberg or Kronenberg, a magnificent, solid and venerable Gothic
structure built by Frederick II. towards the end of the 16th century,
and extensively restored by Christian IV. after a fire in 1637. It was
taken by the Swedes in 1658, but its possession was again given up to
the Danes in 1660. From its turrets, one of which serves as a
lighthouse, there are fine views of the straits and of the neighbouring
countries. The Flag Battery is the "platform before the castle" where
the ghost appears in _Hamlet_. Within it the principal object of
interest is the apartment in which Matilda, queen of Christian VII. and
sister of George III. of England, was imprisoned before she was taken to
Hanover. The chapel contains fine wood-carving of the 17th century.
North-west of the town is Marienlyst, originally a royal château, but
now a seaside resort.
ELSSLER, FANNY (1810-1884), Austrian dancer, was born in Vienna on the
23rd of June 1810. From her earliest years she was trained for the
ballet, and made her appearance at the Kärntner-Thor theatre in Vienna
before she was seven. She almost invariably danced with her sister
Theresa, who was two years her senior; and, after some years' experience
together in Vienna, the two went in 1827 to Naples. Their success
there--to which Fanny contributed more largely than her sister, who used
to efface herself in order to heighten the effect of Fanny's more
brilliant powers--led to an engagement in Berlin in 1830. This was the
beginning of a series of triumphs for Fanny's personal beauty and skill
in dancing. After captivating all hearts in Berlin and Vienna, and
inspiring the aged statesman Friedrich von Gentz (q.v.) with a
remarkable passion, she paid a visit to London, where she received much
kindness at the hands of Mr and Mrs Grote, who practically adopted the
little girl who was born three months after the mother's arrival in
England. In September 1834 Fanny Elssler appeared at the Opera in Paris,
a step to which she looked forward with much misgiving on account of
Taglioni's supremacy on that stage. The result, however, was another
triumph for her, and the temporary eclipse of Taglioni, who, although
the finer artist of the two, could not for the moment compete with the
newcomer's personal fascination. It was conspicuously in her performance
of the Spanish _cachuca_ that Fanny Elssler outshone all rivals. In 1840
she sailed with her sister for New York, and after two years' unmixed
success they returned to Europe, where during the following five years
Fanny appeared in Germany, Austria, France, England and Russia. In 1845,
having amassed a fortune, she retired from the stage and settled near
Hamburg. A few years later her sister Theresa contracted a morganatic
marriage with Prince Adalbert of Prussia, and was ennobled under the
title of Baroness von Barnim. Fanny Elssler died at Vienna on the 27th
of November 1884. Theresa was left a widow in 1873, and died on the 19th
of November 1878.
ELSTER, the name of two rivers of Germany. (1) The Schwarze (Black)
Elster rises in the Lausitz range, on the southern border of Saxony,
flows N. and N.W., and after a course of 112 m. enters the Elbe a little
above Wittenberg. It is a sluggish stream, winding its way through sandy
soil and frequently along a divided channel. (2) The Weisse (White)
Elster rises in the north-western corner of Bohemia, a little north of
Eger, cuts through the Vogtland in a deep and picturesque valley,
passing Plauen, Greiz, Gera and Zeitz on its way north to Leipzig, just
below which city it receives its most important tributary, the Pleisse.
At Leipzig it divides, the main stream turning north-west and entering
the Saale from the right a little above Halle; the other arm, the Luppe,
flowing parallel to the main stream and south of it enters the Saale
below Merseburg. Total length, 121 m.; total descent, 1286 ft.
ELSTER, a spa and inland watering-place of Germany, in the kingdom of
Saxony, on the Weisse Elster, close to the Bohemian frontier on the
railway Plauen-Eger, and 20 m. S. of the former. It has some industries
of lace-making and weaving, and a population of about 2000, in addition
to visitors. The mineral springs, saline-chalybeate, specific in cases
of nervous disorders and feminine ailments, have been lately
supplemented by baths of various kinds, and these, together with the
natural attractions of the place as a climatic health resort, have
combined to make it a fashionable watering-place during the summer
season. The number of visitors amounts annually to about 10,000.
See Flechsig, _Bad Elster_ (Leipzig, 1884).
ELSWICK, a ward of the city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, in the
western part of the borough, bordering the river Tyne. The name is well
known in connexion with the great ordnance and naval works of Sir W.G.
Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Elswick Park, attached to the old mansion of
the same name, is now a public recreation ground.
EL TEB, a halting-place in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan near the coast of
the Red Sea, 9 m. S.W. of the port of Trinkitat on the road to Tokar. At
El Teb, on the 4th of February 1884, a heterogeneous force under General
Valentine Baker, marching to the relief of the Egyptian garrison of
Tokar, was completely routed by the Mahdists (see EGYPT: _Military
Operations_).
ELTON, CHARLES ISAAC (1839-1900), English lawyer and antiquary, was born
at Southampton on the 6th of December 1839. Educated at Cheltenham and
Balliol College, Oxford, he was elected a fellow of Queen's College in
1862. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1865. His remarkable
knowledge of old real property law and custom helped him to an extensive
conveyancing practice and he took silk in 1885. He sat in the House of
Commons for West Somerset in 1884-1885 and from 1886 to 1892. In 1869 he
succeeded to his uncle's property of Whitestaunton, near Chard, in
Somerset. During the later years of his life he retired to a great
extent from legal practice, and devoted much of his time to literary
work. He died at Whitestaunton on the 23rd of April 1900. Elton's
principal works were _The Tenures of Kent_ (1867); _Treatise on Commons
and Waste Lands_ (1868); _Law of Copyholds_ (1874); _Origins of English
History_ (1882); _Custom and Tenant Right_ (1882).
ELTVILLE (ELFELD), a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau, on the right bank of the Rhine, 5 m. S.W. from Wiesbaden,
on the railway Frankfort-on-Main-Cologne, and with a branch to
Schlangenbad. Pop. 3700. It has a Roman Catholic and a Protestant
church, ruins of a feudal castle, a Latin school, and a monument to
Gutenberg. It has a considerable trade in the wines of the district and
two manufactories of sparkling wines. Eltville (originally _Adeldvile_,
Lat. _Altavilla_) is first mentioned in a record of the year 882. It was
given by the emperor Otto I. to the archbishops of Mainz, who often
resided here. It received town rights in 1331 and was a place of
importance during the middle ages. In 1465 Gutenberg set up his press at
Eltville, under the patronage of Archbishop Adolphus of Nassau, shortly
afterwards handing over its use to the brothers Heinrich and Nikolaus
Bechtermünz. Several costly early examples of printed books issued by
this press survive, the earliest being the _Vocabularium
Latino-Teutonicum_, first printed in 1467.
ELTZ, a small river of Germany, a left bank tributary of the Mosel. It
rises in the Eifel range, and, after a course of 5 m., joins the latter
river at Moselkern. Just above its confluence stands the romantic castle
of Eltz, crowning a rocky summit 900 ft. high, and famous as being one
of the best preserved medieval strongholds of Germany. It is the
ancestral seat of the counts of Eltz and contains numerous antiquities.
See Roth, _Geschichte der Herren und Grafen zu Eltz_ (2 vols., Mainz,
1889-1890).
ELVAS, an episcopal city and frontier fortress of Portugal, in the
district of Portalegre and formerly included in the province of
Alemtejo; 170 m. E. of Lisbon, and 10 m. W. of the Spanish fortress of
Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. Pop. (1900) 13,981. Elvas
is finely situated on a hill 5 m. N.W. of the river Guadiana. It is
defended by seven bastions and the two forts of Santa Luzia and Nossa
Senhora da Graça. Its late Gothic cathedral, which has also many traces
of Moorish influence in its architecture, dates from the reign of
Emmanuel I. (1495-1521). A fine aqueduct, 4 m. long, supplies the city
with pure water; it was begun early in the 15th century and completed in
1622. For some distance it includes four tiers of superimposed arches,
with a total height of 120 ft. The surrounding lowlands are very
fertile, and Elvas is celebrated for its excellent olives and plums, the
last-named being exported, either fresh or dried, in large quantities.
Brandy is distilled and pottery manufactured in the city. The fortress
of Campo Maior, 10 m. N.E., is famous for its siege by the French and
relief by the British under Marshal Beresford in 1811--an exploit
commemorated in a ballad by Sir Walter Scott.
Elvas is the Roman _Alpesa_ or _Helvas_, the Moorish _Balesh_, the
Spanish _Yelves_. It was wrested from the Moors by Alphonso VIII. of
Castile in 1166; but was temporarily recaptured before its final
occupation by the Portuguese in 1226. In 1570 it became an episcopal
see. From 1642 until modern times it was the chief frontier fortress S.
of the Tagus; and it twice withstood sieges by the Spanish, in 1658 and
1711. The French under Marshal Junot took it in March 1808, but
evacuated it in August, after the conclusion of the convention of Cintra
(see PENINSULAR WAR).
ELVEY, SIR GEORGE JOB (1816-1893), English organist and composer, was
born at Canterbury on the 27th of March 1816. He was a chorister at
Canterbury cathedral under Highmore Skeats, the organist. Subsequently
he became a pupil of his elder brother, Stephen, and then studied at the
Royal Academy of Music under Cipriani Potter and Dr Crotch. In 1834 he
gained the Gresham prize medal for his anthem, "Bow down thine ear," and
in 1835 was appointed organist of St George's chapel, Windsor, a post he
filled for 47 years, retiring in 1882. He took the degree of Mus. B. at
Oxford in 1838, and in 1840 that of Mus. D. Anthems of his were
commissioned for the Three Choirs Festivals of 1853 and 1857, and in
1871 he received the honour of knighthood. He died at Windlesham in
Surrey on the 9th of December 1893. His works, which are nearly all for
the Church, include two oratorios, a great number of anthems and
services, and some pieces for the organ. A memoir of him, by his widow,
was published in 1894.
ELVIRA, SYNOD OF, an ecclesiastical synod held in Spain, the date of
which cannot be determined with exactness. The solution of the question
hinges upon the interpretation of the canons, that is, upon whether they
are to be taken as reflecting a recent, or as pointing to an imminent,
persecution. Thus some argue for a date between 300 and 303, i.e. before
the Diocletian persecution; others for a date between 303 and 314, after
the persecution, but before the synod of Arles; still others for a date
between the synod of Arles and the council of Nicaea, 325. Mansi,
Hardouin, Hefele and Dale are in substantial agreement upon 305 or 306,
and this is probably the closest approximation possible in the present
state of the evidence. The place of meeting, Elvira, was not far from
the modern Granada, if not, as Dale thinks, actually identical with it.
There the nineteen bishops and twenty-four presbyters, from all parts of
Spain, but chiefly from the south, assembled, probably at the
instigation of Hosius of Cordova, but under the presidency of Felix of
Accis, with a view to restoring order and discipline in the church. The
eighty-one canons which were adopted reflect with considerable fulness
the internal life and external relations of the Spanish Church of the
4th century. The social environment of Christians may be inferred from
the canons prohibiting marriage and other intercourse with Jews, pagans
and heretics, closing the offices of _flamen_ and _duumvir_ to
Christians, forbidding all contact with idolatry and likewise
participation in pagan festivals and public games. The state of morals
is mirrored in the canons denouncing prevalent vices. The canons
respecting the clergy exhibit the clergy as already a special class with
peculiar privileges, a more exacting moral standard, heavier penalties
for delinquency. The bishop has acquired control of the sacraments,
presbyters and deacons acting only under his orders; the episcopate
appears as a unit, bishops being bound to respect one another's
disciplinary decrees. Worthy of special note are canon 33, enjoining
celibacy upon all clerics and all who minister at the altar (the most
ancient canon of celibacy); canon 36, forbidding pictures in churches;
canon 38, permitting lay baptism under certain conditions; and canon 53,
forbidding one bishop to restore a person excommunicated by another.
See Mansi ii. pp. 1-406; Hardouin i. pp. 247-258; Hefele (2nd ed.) i.
pp. 148 sqq. (English translation, i. pp. 131 sqq.); Dale, _The Synod
of Elvira_ (London, 1882); and Hennecke, in Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopädie_ (3rd ed.), s.v. "Elvira," especially bibliography.
(T. F. C.)
EL WAD, a town in the Algerian Sahara, 125 m. in a straight line S.S.E.
of Biskra, and 190 m. W. by S. of Gabes. Pop. (1906) 7586. El Wad is one
of the most interesting places in Algeria. It is surrounded by huge
hollows containing noble palm groves; and beyond these on every side
stretches the limitless desert with its great billows of sand, the
encroachments of which on the oasis are only held at bay by ceaseless
toil. The town itself consists of a mass of one-storeyed stone houses,
each surmounted by a little dome, clustering round the market-place with
its mosque and minaret. By an exception rare in Saharan settlements,
there are no defensive works save the fort containing the government
offices, which the French have built on the south side of the town. The
inhabitants are of two distinct tribes, one, the Aduan, of Berber stock,
the other a branch of the Sha`ambah Arabs. El Wad possesses a curious
currency known as _flous_, consisting of obsolete copper coins of
Algerian and Tunisian dynasties. Seven flous are regarded as equal to
the French five-centime piece.
El Wad oasis is one of a group known collectively as the Suf. Five miles
N.W. is Kuinine (pop. 3541) and 6 m. farther N.W. Guemar (pop. 6885), an
ancient fortified town noted for its manufacture of carpets. Linen
weaving is carried on extensively in the Suf. Administratively El Wad is
the capital of an annexe to the territory of Tuggurt.
ELWOOD, a city of Madison county, Indiana, U.S.A., on Duck Creek, about
38 m. N.E. of Indianapolis. Pop. (1880) 751; (1890) 2284; (1900) 12,950
(1386 foreign-born); (1910) 11,028. Elwood is served by the Lake Erie &
Western and the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis railways, and
by an interurban electric line. Its rapid growth in population and as a
manufacturing centre was due largely to its situation in the natural gas
region; the failure of the gas supply in 1903 caused a decrease in
manufacturing, but the city gradually adjusted itself to new conditions.
It has large tin plate mills, iron and steel foundries, saw and planing
mills, wooden-ware and furniture factories, bottling works and
lamp-chimney factories, flour mills and packing houses. In 1905 the
value of the city's factory product was $6,111,083; in 1900 it was
$9,433,513; the glass product was valued at $223,766 in 1905, and at
$1,011,803 in 1900. There are extensive brick-yards in the vicinity, and
the surrounding agricultural country furnishes large supplies of grain,
live-stock, poultry and produce, for which Elwood is the shipping
centre. The site was first settled under the name of Quincy; the present
name was adopted in 1869; and in 1891 Elwood received a city charter.
ELY, RICHARD THEODORE (1854- ), American economist, was born at Ripley,
New York, on the 13th of April 1854. Educated at Columbia and Heidelberg
universities, he held the professorship of economics at Johns Hopkins
University from 1881 to 1892, and was subsequently professor of
economics at Wisconsin University. Professor Ely took an active part in
the formation of the American Economic Association, was secretary from
1885 to 1892 and president from 1899 to 1901. He published a useful
_Introduction to Political Economy_ (1889); _Outlines of Economics_
(1893); _The Labour Movement in America_ (1883); _Problems of To-day_
(1888); _Social Aspects of Christianity_ (1889); _Socialism and Social
Reform_ (1894); _Monopolies and Trusts_ (1900), and _Studies in the
Evolution of Industrial Society_ (1903).
ELY, a cathedral city and market-town, in the Newmarket parliamentary
division of Cambridgeshire, England, 16 m. N.N.E. of Cambridge by the
Great Eastern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 7713. It stands on
a considerable eminence on the west (left) bank of the Ouse, in the Isle
of Ely, which rises above the surrounding fens. Thus its situation,
before the great drainage operations of the 17th century, was
practically insular. The magnificent cathedral, towering above the town,
is a landmark far over the wide surrounding level. The soil in the
vicinity is fertile and market-gardening is carried on, fruit and
vegetables (especially asparagus) being sent to the London markets. The
town has a considerable manufacture of tobacco pipes and earthenware,
and there are in the neighbourhood mills for the preparation of oil from
flax, hemp and cole-seed. Besides the cathedral Ely has in St Mary's
church, lying almost under the shadow of the greater building, a fine
structure ranging in style from Norman to Perpendicular, but in the main
Early English. The sessions house and corn exchange are the principal
public buildings. The grammar school, founded by Henry VIII. in 1541,
occupies (together with other buildings) the room over the gateway of
the monastery, known as the Porta, and the chapel built by Prior John de
Cranden (1321-1341) is restored to use as a school chapel. A theological
college was founded in 1876 and opened in 1881.
The foundation of the present cathedral was laid by its first Norman
abbot, Simeon, in 1083. But the reputation of Ely had been established
long before Etheldreda (Æthelthryth), daughter of Anna, king of East
Anglia, was married to Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, against her will,
as she had vowed herself wholly to a religious life. Her husband opposed
himself to her vow, but with the help of Wilfrid, archbishop of York,
she took the veil, and found refuge from her husband in the marsh-girt
Isle of Ely. Here she founded a religious house, in all probability a
mixed community, in 673, becoming its first abbess, and giving the whole
Isle of Ely to the foundation. In 870 the monastery was destroyed by the
Danes, as were also the neighbouring foundations at Soham, Thorney,
Crowland and Peterborough, and it remained in ruins till 970, when
Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, founded a new Benedictine monastery
here. King Edgar in 970 endowed the monks with the former possessions of
the convent and also granted them the secular causes of two hundreds
within and of five hundreds without the marshes, all charges belonging
to the king in secular disputes in all their lands and every fourth
penny of public revenue in the province of Grantecestre. The wealth and
importance of Ely rose, and its abbots held the post of chancellors of
the king's court alternately with the abbots of Glastonbury and of St
Augustine's, Canterbury. But Ely again became a scene of contest in the
desperate final struggle against William the Conqueror of which Hereward
"the Wake" was the hero. Finally, in 1071, the monks agreed to surrender
the Isle of Ely to the king on condition of the confirmation of all the
possessions and privileges, held by them in the time of Edward the
Confessor. Abbot Simeon (1081-1094), who now began the reconstruction of
the church, was related to William and brother to Walkelin, first Norman
bishop of Winchester. Under Abbot Richard (1100-1107) the translation
from the Saxon church of the bodies of St Etheldreda and of the two
abbesses who had followed her, and their enshrinement in the new
edifice, took place; and it was due to the honour in which the memory of
the foundresses was held that Ely maintained the position of dignity
which it kept henceforth until the dissolution of the monasteries. The
feast of St Etheldreda, or St Awdrey as she was generally called, was
the occasion every year for a large fair here, at which "trifling
objects" were sold to pilgrims by way of souvenirs; whence the word
"tawdrey," a contraction of St Awdrey. In 1109 the Isle of Ely, most of
Cambridgeshire, and the abbeys of Thorney and Cetricht were separated
from the diocese of Lincoln, and converted into a new diocese, Ely being
the seat of the bishopric, and after the dissolution of the monasteries
Henry VIII. converted the conventual church into a cathedral (1541). The
diocese is extensive. It covers nearly the whole of Cambridgeshire,
Huntingdonshire and Bedfordshire, part of Suffolk, and small portions of
Essex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
The cathedral is a cruciform structure, 537 ft. long and 190 ft. across
the great transepts (exterior measurements). A relic of the Saxon
foundation is preserved in the cross of St Osyth (c. 670), and a
pre-Norman window is kept in the triforium, having been dug up near the
cathedral. Of the work of the first two Norman abbots all that remains
is the early Norman lower storey of the main transept. The foundations
of Abbot Simeon's apse were discovered below the present choir. The
nave, which is Norman throughout, is 208 ft. in length, 72 ft. 9 in. to
the top of the walls, and 77 ft. 3 in. broad, including the aisles. The
upper parts of the western tower and the transept were begun by Bishop
Geoffrey Ridel (d. 1189), and continued by his successor William
Longchamp, chancellor of England. The tower, which is 215 ft. high, is
surmounted by a Decorated octagon with partly detached side turrets, and
underwent alteration and strengthening in the Perpendicular period. The
north-western transept wing is in ruins; it is not known when it fell.
The Galilee, or western porch, by which the cathedral is entered, is the
work of Bishop Eustace (d. 1215), and is a perfect example of Early
English style. In 1322 the Norman central tower, erected by Abbot
Simeon, fell. Alan of Walsingham, sacrist of the church, designed its
restoration in the form of the present octagon, a beautiful and unique
conception. Instead of the ordinary four-arched central crossing, an
octagon is formed at the crossing, the arches of the nave aisles and
choir aisles being set obliquely. Both without and within, the octagon
is the principal feature in the unusual general appearance of the
cathedral, which gives it a peculiar eminence among English churches.
The octagon was completed in 1328, and upon the ribbed vaulting of wood
above it rose the lofty lantern, octagonal also, with its angles set
opposite those of the octagon below. The total height of the structure
is 170 ft. 7 in. Alan of Walsingham was further employed by Bishop John
of Hotham (d. 1337) as architect of the Lady chapel, a beautiful example
of Decorated work, which served from 1566 onward as a parish church. Of
the seven bays of the choir the four easternmost, as well as the two
beyond forming the retrochoir, were built by Bishop Hugh of Northwold
(d. 1254). The three western bays were destroyed by the fall of the
tower in 1321, and were rebuilt by Alan of Walsingham. The earlier
portion is a superb example of Early English work, while the later is
perhaps the best example of pure Decorated in England. The wooden
canopies of the choir stalls are Decorated (1337) and very elaborate.
The Perpendicular style is represented by windows and certain other
details, including supporting arches to the western tower. There are
also some splendid chantry chapels and tombs in this style--the chapels
of Bishop John Alcock (d. 1500) and Bishop Nicolas West (d. 1534), in
the north and south choir aisles respectively, are completely covered
with the most delicate ornamentation; while the tomb of Bishop Richard
Redman (d. 1505) has a remarkably beautiful canopy. Among earlier
monuments the canopied tomb of Bishop William de Luda (1290-1298) and
the finely-carved effigy of Bishop Northwold (1254) are notable. Between
1845 and 1884 the cathedral underwent restoration under the direction of
Sir Gilbert Scott. The work included the erection of the modern reredos
and choir-screen, both designed by Scott, and the painting of the nave
roof by Styleman le Strange (d. 1862), who was succeeded by Gambier
Parry. Parry also richly ornamented the octagon and lantern in the style
of the 14th century.
Remains of the monastic buildings are fragmentary but numerous. Mention
has been made of the Ely "Porta" or gateway (1396), which is occupied by
the grammar school, and of Prior John de Cranden's beautiful little
Decorated chapel. But many of the remains, the bulk of which are
incorporated in the deanery and canons' and other residences to the
south of the cathedral, are of much earlier date. Thus the fine early
Norman undercroft of the prior's hall is probably of the time of Abbot
Simeon. Another notable fragment is the transitional Norman chancel of
the infirmary chapel. The remnants of the cloisters show a
reconstruction in the 15th century, but the prior's and monks' doorways
from the cloisters into the cathedral are highly decorated late Norman.
The bishop's palace to the west of the cathedral has towers erected by
Bishop Alcock at the close of the 15th century. In the muniment room of
the chapter is preserved, among many ancient documents of great
interest, the _liber Eliensis_, a history of the monastery by the monk
known as Thomas of Ely (d. c. 1174), of which the first part, which
extends to the year 960, contains a life of St Etheldreda, while the
second is continued to the year 1107.
Ely, which according to Bede (_Hist. eccl._ iv. 19) derives its name
from the quantity of eels in the waters about it (A.S. _æl_, eel, _-ig_,
island), was a borough by prescription at least as early as the reign of
William the Conqueror. It owed its importance entirely to the monastery,
and for a long time the abbot and afterwards the bishop had almost
absolute power in the town. The bailiff who governed the town was chosen
by the bishop until 1850, when a local board was appointed. Richard I.
granted the bishop of Ely a fair there, and in 1319-1320 John of
Hotham, a later bishop, received licence to hold a fair on the vigil and
day of Ascension and for twenty days following. The markets are claimed
by an undated charter by the bishop, who also continues to hold the
fairs. In 1295 Ely sent two members to parliament, but has never been
represented since.
See C.W. Stubbs, _Ely Cathedral_ (London, 1897); _Victoria County
History, Cambridgeshire._
ELYOT, SIR THOMAS (c. 1490-1546), English diplomatist and scholar. His
father, Sir Richard Elyot (d. 1522), who held considerable estates in
Wiltshire, was made (1503) serjeant-at-law and attorney-general to the
queen consort, and soon afterwards was commissioned to act as justice of
assize on the western circuit, becoming in 1513 judge of common pleas.
Thomas was the son of his first marriage with Alice Fynderne, but
neither the date nor place of his birth is accurately known. Anthony à
Wood claimed him as an _alumnus_ of St Mary Hall, Oxford, while C.H.
Cooper in the _Athenae Cantabrigienses_ put in a claim for Jesus
College, Cambridge. Elyot himself says in the preface to his
_Dictionary_ that he was educated under the paternal roof, and was from
the age of twelve his own tutor. He supplies, in the introduction to his
_Castell of Helth_, a list of the authors he had read in philosophy and
medicine, adding that a "worshipful physician" read to him Galen and
some other authors. In 1511 he accompanied his father on the western
circuit as clerk to the assize, and he held this position until 1528. In
addition to his father's lands in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire he inherited
in 1523 the Cambridge estates of his cousin, Thomas Fynderne. His title
was disputed, but Wolsey decided in his favour, and also made him clerk
of the privy council. Elyot, in a letter addressed to Thomas Cromwell,
says that he never received the emoluments of this office, while the
barren honour of knighthood conferred on him when he was displaced in
1530 merely put him to further expense. In that year he sat on the
commission appointed to inquire into the Cambridgeshire estates of his
former patron, Cardinal Wolsey. He married Margaret Barrow, who is
described (Stapleton, _Vita Thomae Mori_, p. 59, ed. 1558) as a student
in the "school" of Sir Thomas More.
In 1531 he produced the _Boke named the Governour_, dedicated to King
Henry VIII. The work advanced him in the king's favour, and in the close
of the year he received instructions to proceed to the court of the
emperor Charles V. to induce him to take a more favourable view of
Henry's projected divorce from Catherine of Aragon. With this was
combined another commission, on which one of the king's agents, Stephen
Vaughan, was already engaged. He was, if possible, to apprehend William
Tyndale. It is probable that Elyot was suspected, as Vaughan certainly
was, of lukewarmness in carrying out the king's wishes, but this has not
prevented his being much abused by Protestant writers. As ambassador
Elyot had been involved in ruinous expense, and on his return he wrote
to Thomas Cromwell, begging to be excused from serving as sheriff of
Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, on the score of his poverty. The
request was not granted. He was one of the commissioners in the inquiry
instituted by Cromwell prior to the suppression of the monasteries, but
he did not obtain any share of the spoils. There is little doubt that
his known friendship for Thomas More militated against his chances of
success, for in a letter addressed to Cromwell he admitted his
friendship for More, but protested that he rated higher his duty to the
king. William Roper, in his _Life_ of More, says that Elyot was on a
second embassy to Charles V., in the winter of 1535-1536, when he
received at Naples the news of More's execution. He had been kept in the
dark by his own government, but heard the news from the emperor. The
story of an earlier embassy to Rome (1532), mentioned by Burnet, rests
on a late endorsement of instructions dated from that year, which cannot
be regarded as authoritative. In 1542 he represented the borough of
Cambridge in parliament. He had purchased from Cromwell the manor of
Carleton in Cambridgeshire, where he died on the 26th of March 1546.
Sir Thomas Elyot received little reward for his services to the state,
but his scholarship and his books were held in high esteem by his
contemporaries. The _Boke named the Governour_ was printed by Thomas
Berthelet (1531, 1534, 1536, 1544, &c.). It is a treatise on moral
philosophy, intended to direct the education of those destined to fill
high positions, and to inculcate those moral principles which alone
could fit them for the performance of their duties. The subject was a
favourite one in the 16th century, and the book, which contained many
citations from classical authors, was very popular. Elyot expressly
acknowledges his obligations to Erasmus's _Institutio Principis
Christiani_; but he makes no reference to the _De regno et regis
institutione_ of Francesco Patrizzi (d. 1494), bishop of Gaeta, on which
his work was undoubtedly modelled. As a prose writer, Elyot enriched the
English language with many new words. In 1534 he published _The Castell
of Helth_, a popular treatise on medicine, intended to place a
scientific knowledge of the art within the reach of those unacquainted
with Greek. This work, though scoffed at by the faculty, was appreciated
by the general public, and speedily went through many editions. His
Latin _Dictionary_, the earliest comprehensive dictionary of the
language, was completed in 1538. The copy of the first edition in the
British Museum contains an autograph letter from Elyot to Thomas
Cromwell, to whom it originally belonged. It was edited and enlarged in
1548 by Thomas Cooper, bishop of Winchester, who called it _Bibliotheca
Eliotae_, and it formed the basis in 1565 of Cooper's _Thesaurus linguae
Romanae et Britannicae_.
Elyot's translations include:--_The Doctrinal of Princes_ (1534), from
Isocrates; _Cyprianus, A Swete and Devoute Sermon of Holy Saynt
Ciprian of the Mortalitie of Man_ (1534); _Rules of a Christian Life_
(1534), from Pico della Mirandola; _The Education or Bringing up of
Children_ (c. 1535), from Plutarch; and _Howe one may take Profite
of his Enymes_ (1535), from the same author is generally attributed to
him. He also wrote: _The Knowledge which maketh a Wise Man_ and
_Pasquyll the Playne_ (1533); _The Bankette of Sapience_ (1534), a
collection of moral sayings; _Preservative agaynste Deth_ (1545),
which contains many quotations from the Fathers; _Defence of Good
Women_ (1545). His _Image of Governance, compiled of the Actes and
Sentences notable of the most noble Emperor Alexander Severus_ (1540)
professed to be a translation from a Greek MS. of the emperor's
secretary Encolpius (or Eucolpius, as Elyot calls him), which had been
lent him by a gentleman of Naples, called Pudericus, who asked to have
it back before the translation was complete. In these circumstances
Elyot, as he asserts in his preface, supplied the other maxims from
different sources. He was violently assailed by Humphrey Hody and
later by William Wotton for putting forward a pseudo-translation; but
Mr H.H.S. Croft has discovered that there was a Neapolitan gentleman
at that time bearing the name of Poderico, or, Latinized, Pudericus,
with whom Elyot may well have been acquainted. Roger Ascham mentions
his _De rebus memorabilibus Angliae_; and Webbe quotes a few lines of
a lost translation of the _Ars poëtica_ of Horace.
A learned edition of the _Governour_ (2 vols., 1880), by H.H.S. Croft,
contains, besides copious notes, a valuable glossary of 16th century
English words.
ELYRIA, a city and the county-seat of Lorain county, Ohio, U.S.A., on
the Black river, 8 m. from Lake Erie, and about 25 m. W.S.W. of
Cleveland. Pop. (1890) 5611; (1900) 8791, of whom 1397 were
foreign-born; (1910 census) 14,825. It is served by the Baltimore &
Ohio, and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railways. Elyria is about
720 ft. above sea-level, and lies at the junction of the two forks of
the Black river, each of which falls about 50 ft. here, furnishing
water-power. Among the city's manufactures are oxide of tin and other
chemicals, iron and steel, leather goods, automobiles and bicycles,
electrical and telephone supplies, butted tubing, gas engines, screws
and bolts, silk, lace and hosiery. In 1905 the city's factory products
were valued at $2,933,450--140.2% more than their value in 1900.
Flagging, building-stones and grindstones, taken from quarries in the
vicinity (known as the Berea Grit quarries), are shipped from Elyria in
large quantities. Elyria was founded about 1819 by Heman Ely, in whose
honour it was named; it was selected as the site for the county seat in
1823, and was chartered as a city in 1892.
ELYSIUM, in Greek mythology, the Elysian fields, the abode of the
righteous after their removal from earth. In Homer (_Od._ iv. 563) this
region is a plain at the farthest end of the earth on the banks of the
river Oceanus, where the fair-haired Rhadamanthys rules, and where the
people are vexed by neither snow nor storm, heat nor cold, the air being
always tempered by the zephyr wafted from the ocean. It is no dwelling
of the dead nor part of the lower world, but distinguished heroes are
translated thither without dying, to live a life of perfect happiness.
In Hesiod (_W. and D._ 166) the same description is given of the Islands
of the Blessed under the rule of Cronus, which yield three harvests
yearly. Here, according to Pindar, Rhadamanthys sits by the side of his
father Cronus and administers judgment (_Ol._ ii. 61, _Frag. 95_). All
who have successfully gone through a triple probation on earth are
admitted to share these blessings. In later accounts (_Aeneid_, vi. 541)
Elysium was regarded as part of the underworld, the home of the
righteous dead adjudged worthy of it by the tribunal of Minos,
Rhadamanthys and Aeacus. Those who had lived evil lives were thrust down
into Tartarus, where they suffered endless torments.
ELZE, KARL (1821-1889), German scholar and Shakespearian critic, was
born at Dessau on the 22nd of May 1821. Having studied (1839-1843)
classical philology, and modern, but especially English, literature at
the university of Leipzig, he was a master for a time in the Gymnasium
(classical school) at Dessau, and in 1875 was appointed extraordinary,
and in 1876 ordinary, professor of English philology at the university
of Halle, in which city he died on the 21st of January 1889. Elze began
his literary career with the _Englischer Liederschatz_ (1851), an
anthology of English lyrics, edited for a while a critical periodical
_Atlantis_, and in 1857 published an edition of Shakespeare's _Hamlet_
with critical notes. He also edited Chapman's _Alphonsus_ (1867) and
wrote biographies of Walter Scott, Byron and Shakespeare; _Abhandlungen
zu Shakespeare_ (English translation by D. Schmitz, as _Essays on
Shakespeare_, London, 1874), and the excellent treatise, _Notes on
Elizabethan Dramatists with conjectural emendations of the text_ (3
vols., Halle, 1880-1886, new ed. 1889).
ELZEVIR, the name of a celebrated family of Dutch printers belonging to
the 17th century. The original name of the family was Elsevier, or
Elzevier, and their French editions mostly retain this name; but in
their Latin editions, which are the more numerous, the name is spelt
Elzeverius, which was gradually corrupted in English into Elzevir as a
generic term for their books. The family originally came from Louvain,
and there Louis, who first made the name Elzevir famous, was born in
1540. He learned the business of a bookbinder, and having been compelled
in 1580, on account of his Protestantism and his adherence to the cause
of the insurgent provinces, to leave his native country, he established
himself as bookbinder and bookseller in Leiden. His _Eutropius_, which
appeared in 1592, was long regarded as the earliest Elzevir, but the
first is now known to be _Drusii Ebraicarum quaestionum ac responsionum
libri duo_, which was produced in 1583. In all he published about 150
works. He died on the 4th of February 1617. Of his five sons, Matthieu,
Louis, Gilles, Joost and Bonaventure, who all adopted their father's
profession, Bonaventure, who was born in 1583, is the most celebrated.
He began business as a printer in 1608, and in 1626 took into
partnership Abraham, a son of Matthieu, born at Leiden in 1592. Abraham
died on the 14th of August 1652, and Bonaventure about a month
afterwards. The fame of the Elzevir editions rests chiefly on the works
issued by this firm. Their Greek and Hebrew impressions are considered
inferior to those of the Aldi and the Estiennes, but their small
editions in 12mo, 16mo and 24mo, for elegance of design, neatness,
clearness and regularity of type, and beauty of paper, cannot be
surpassed. Especially may be mentioned the two editions of the New
Testament in Greek ([Greek: Hê kainê diathêkê], _Novum Testamentum_,
&c.), published in 1624 and 1633, of which the latter is the more
beautiful and the more sought after; the _Psalterium Davidis_, 1653;
_Virgilii opera_, 1636; _Terentii comediae_, 1635; but the works which
gave their press its chief celebrity are their collection of French
authors on history and politics in 24mo, known under the name of the
_Petites Républiques_, and their series of Latin, French and Italian
classics in small 12mo. Jean, son of Abraham, born in 1622, had since
1647 been in partnership with his father and uncle, and when they died
Daniel, son of Bonaventure, born in 1626, joined him. Their partnership
did not last more than two years, and after its dissolution Jean carried
on the business alone till his death in 1661. In 1654 Daniel joined his
cousin Louis (the third of that name and son of the second Louis), who
was born in 1604, and had established a printing press at Amsterdam in
1638. From 1655 to 1666 they published a series of Latin classics in
8vo, _cum notis variorum_; _Cicero_ in 4to; the _Etymologicon linguae
Latinae_; and a magnificent _Corpus juris civilis_ in folio, 2 vols.,
1663. Louis died in 1670, and Daniel in 1680. Besides Bonaventure,
another son of Matthieu, Isaac, born in 1593, established a printing
press at Leiden, where he carried on business from 1616 to 1625; but
none of his editions attained much fame. The last representatives of the
Elzevir printers were Peter, grandson of Joost, who from 1667 to 1675
was a bookseller at Utrecht, and printed seven or eight volumes of
little consequence; and Abraham, son of the first Abraham, who from 1681
to 1712 was university printer at Leiden.
Some of the Elzevir editions bear no other typographical mark than
simply the words _Apud Elzeverios_, or _Ex officina Elseveriana_, under
the _rubrique_ of the town. But the majority bear one of their special
devices, four of which are recognized as in common use. Louis Elzevir,
the founder of the family, usually adopted the arms of the United
Provinces, an eagle on a cippus holding in its claws a sheaf of seven
arrows, with the motto _Concordia res parvae crescunt_. About 1620 the
Leiden Elzevirs adopted a new device, known as "the solitary," and
consisting of an elm tree, a fruitful vine and a man alone, with a motto
_Non solus_. They also used another device, a palm tree with the motto,
_Assurgo pressa_. The Elzevirs of Amsterdam used for their principal
device a figure of Minerva with owl, shield and olive tree, and the
motto, _Ne extra oleas_. The earliest productions of the Elzevir press
are marked with an angel bearing a book and a scythe, and various other
devices occur at different times. When the Elzevirs did not wish to put
their name to their works they generally marked them with a sphere, but
of course the mere fact that a work printed in the 17th century bears
this mark is no proof that it is theirs. The total number of works of
all kinds which came from the presses of the Elzevirs is given by
Willems as 1608; there were also many forgeries.
See "Notice de la collection d'auteurs latins, français, et italiens,
imprimée de format petit en 12, par les Elsévier," in Brunet's _Manuel
du libraire_ (Paris, 1820); A. de Reume, _Recherches historiques,
généalogiques, et bibliographiques sur les Elsévier_ (Brussels, 1847);
Paul Dupont, _Histoire de l'imprimerie_, in two vols. (Paris, 1854);
Pieters, _Annales de l'imprimerie Elsévirienne_ (2nd ed., Ghent,
1858); Walther, _Les Elséviriennes de la bibliothèque impériale de
St-Pétersbourg_ (St Petersburg, 1864); Alphonse Willems, _Les
Elzévier_ (Brussels, 1880), with a history of the Elzevir family and
their printing establishments, a chronological list and detailed
description of all works printed by them, their various typographical
marks, and a plate illustrating the types used by them; Kelchner,
_Catalogus librorum officinae Elsevirianae_ (Paris, 1880); Frick, _Die
Elzevirschen Republiken_ (Halle, 1892); Berghman, _Études sur la
bibliographie Elzévirienne_ (Stockholm, 1885), and _Nouvelles études,
&c._ (_ib._ 1897).
EMANATION (Lat. _emanatio_, from _e-_, out, _manare_, to flow), in
philosophy and theology, the name of one of the three chief theories of
existence, i.e. of the relation between God and men--the One and the
Many, the Universal and the Particular. This theory has been propounded
in many forms, but the central idea is that the universe of individuals
consists of the involuntary "outpourings" of the ultimate divine
essence. That essence is not only all-inclusive, but absolutely perfect,
while the "emanated" individuals degenerate in proportion to the degree
of their distance from the essence. The existence of evil in opposition
to the perfect goodness of God, as thus explained, need not be
attributed to God's agency, inasmuch as the whole emanation-process is
governed by necessary--as it were mechanical--laws, which may be
compared to those of the physical universe. The doctrine of emanation is
thus to be distinguished from the cosmogonic theory of Judaism and
Christianity, which explains human existence as due to a single creative
act of a moral agent. The God of Judaism and Christianity is
essentially a _person_ in close _personal_ relation to his creatures;
emanation is the denial of personality both for God and for man. The
emanation theory is to be contrasted, on the other hand, with the theory
of evolution. The two theories are alike in so far as both recognize the
existence of individuals as due to a necessary process of
differentiation and a scale of existence. They differ, however,
fundamentally in this respect, that, whereas evolution regards the
process as from the indeterminate lower towards the determinate higher,
emanation regards it as from the highest to the indefinitely lower.
There is considerable superficial similarity between evolution and
emanation, especially in their formal statements. The process of
evolution from the indeterminate to the determinate is often expressed
as a progress from the universal to the particular. Thus the primordial
matter assumed by the early Greek physicists may be said to be the
universal substance out of which particular things arise. The doctrine
of emanation also regards the world as a process of particularization.
Yet the resemblance is more apparent than real. The universal is, as
Herbert Spencer remarked, a subjective idea, and the general forms,
existing _ante res_, which play so prominent a part in Greek and
medieval philosophy, do not in the least correspond to the homogeneous
matter of the physical evolutionists. The one process is a logical
operation, the other a physical. The theory of emanation, which had its
source in certain moral and religious ideas, aims first of all at
explaining the origin of mental or spiritual existence as an effluence
from the divine and absolute spirit. In the next place, it seeks to
account for the general laws of the world, for the universal forms of
existence, as ideas which emanate from the Deity. By some it was
developed into a complete philosophy of the world, in which matter
itself is viewed as the lowest emanation from the absolute. In this form
it stands in sharp antithesis to the doctrine of evolution, both because
the former views the world of particular things and events as
essentially unreal and illusory, and because the latter, so far as it
goes, looks on matter as eternal, and seeks to explain the general forms
of things as we perceive them by help of simpler assumptions. In certain
theories known as doctrines of emanation, only mental existence is
referred to the absolute source, while matter is viewed as eternal and
distinct from the divine nature. In this form the doctrine of emanation
approaches certain forms of the evolution theory (see EVOLUTION).
The doctrine of emanation is correctly described as of oriental origin.
It appears in various forms in Indian philosophy, and is the
characteristically oriental element in syncretic systems like
Neoplatonism and Gnosticism. None the less it is easy to find it in
embryo in the speculations of the essentially European philosophers of
Greece. Plato, whose philosophy was strongly opposed to the evolution
theory, distinctly inclines to the emanation idea in his doctrine that
each particular thing is what it is in virtue of a pre-existent idea,
and that the particulars are the lowest in the scale of existence, at
the head of, or above, which is the idea of the good. The view of
Xenocrates is based on the same ideas. Or again, we may compare the
Stoic doctrine of [Greek: aporroiai] (literally "emanations") from the
divine essence. It is, however, only in the last eclectic period of
Greek philosophy that the emanation doctrine was definitely established
in the doctrines, e.g. Plotinus.
See especially articles EVOLUTION, NEOPLATONISM, GNOSTICISM.
EMANUEL I. [Portuguese _Manoel_] (1469-1521), fourteenth king of
Portugal, surnamed the Happy, knight of the Garter and of the Golden
Fleece, was the son of Duke Ferdinand of Vizeu and of Beatrice of Beja,
grandchildren of John I. of Portugal. He was born at Alcochete on the
3rd of May 1469, or, according to Barbosa Machado, on the 1st of June.
His early education was directed by a Sicilian named Cataldo. In 1495 he
became king in succession to his cousin John II. In 1497 he married
Isabella, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile, who had
previously been married to Alphonso, the heir of John II. She died in
the next year in giving birth to a son named Miguel, who until his death
two years later was considered heir to the entire Iberian Peninsula.
Emanuel's next wife was Maria, another daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella, whom he married in 1500. Two of their children, John and
Henry, later became kings of Portugal. Maria died in 1516, and in 1518
her niece Leonora, a sister of the emperor Charles V., became Emanuel's
third wife. Emanuel's reign is noteworthy for the continuance of the
Portuguese discoveries and the extension of their chain of
trading-posts, Vasco da Gama's opening an all-sea route to India,
Cabral's landing in Brazil, Corte-Real's voyage to Labrador, the
exploration of the Indian seas and the opening of commercial relations
with Persia and China, bringing Portugal international prominence,
colonial pre-eminence and a hitherto unparalleled degree of national
prosperity. His intense religious zeal variously manifested itself in
his persecutions of the Jews, whom at the beginning of his reign he had
been disposed to tolerate, his strenuous endeavours to promote an
international crusade against the Turks, his eager missionary enterprise
throughout his new possessions, and his erection of twenty-six
monasteries and two cathedrals, including the stately monastic church of
the Jeronymos at Belem (see LISBON). His jealously despotic character
was accentuated by the enormous increase the Indies furnished to his
personal wealth, and exemplified in his assumption of new titles and in
a magnificent embassy to Pope Leo X. He died at Lisbon on the 13th of
December 1521.
The best authorities for the history of Emanuel's reign are the
contemporary 16th-century _Chronica d'el Rei D. Manoel_, by Damião de
Goes, and _De rebus Emanuelis_, by J. Osorio. _El Rei D. Manoel_, by
M.B. Branco (Lisbon, 1888), is a valuable but ill-arranged biography.
See also the _Ordenações do S.R.D. Manoel_ (Coimbra University Press,
1797). For further bibliography see Barbosa Machado, _Bibliographica
Lusitana_, vol. iii. pp. 161-166.
EMBALMING (Gr. [Greek: balsamon], balsam; Ger. _Einbalsamiren_; Fr.
_embaumement_), the art of preparing dead bodies, chiefly by the use of
medicaments, in order to preserve them from putrefaction and the attacks
of insects. The ancient Egyptians carried the art to great perfection,
and embalmed not only human beings, but cats, crocodiles, ichneumons,
and other sacred animals. It was at one time suggested that the origin
of embalming in Egypt was to be traced to a want of fuel for the purpose
of cremation, to the inadvisability or at some times impossibility of
burial in a soil annually disturbed by the inundation of the Nile, and
to the necessity, for sanitary reasons, of preventing the decomposition
of the bodies of the dead when placed in open sepulchres. As, however,
the corpses of the embalmed must have constituted but a small proportion
of the aggregate mass of animal matter daily to be disposed of, the
above explanation would in any case be far from satisfactory; and there
is no doubt (see MUMMY) that embalming originated in the idea of
preserving the body for a future life. According to W.H. Prescott, it
was a belief in a resurrection of the body that led the ancient
Peruvians to preserve the air-dried corpses of their dead with so much
solicitude (see _Conquest of Peru_, bk. i. chap. iii.). And J.C.
Prichard (_Egyptian Mythology_, p. 200) properly compared the Egyptian
practice with the views which rendered "the Greeks and Romans so anxious
to perform the usual rites of sepulture to their departed warriors,
namely, ... that these solemnities expedited the journey of the soul to
the appointed region, where it was to receive judgment for its former
deeds, and to have its future doom fixed accordingly." It has been
supposed by some that the discovery of the preservation of bodies
interred in saline soils may have been the immediate origin of embalming
in Egypt. In that country certain classes of the community were
specially appointed for the practice of the art. Joseph, we are told in
Gen. l. 2, "commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father."
Herodotus (ii. 86) gives an account of three of the methods of embalming
followed by the Egyptians. The most expensive of these, which cost a
talent of silver (£243: 15s.), was as follows. The brains were in part
removed through the nostrils by means of a bent iron implement, and in
part by the injection of drugs. The intestines having been drawn out
through an incision in the left side, the abdomen was cleansed with
palm-wine, and filled with myrrh, cassia and other materials, and the
opening was sewed up. This done, the body was steeped seventy days in a
solution of litron or natron.[1] Diodorus (i. 91) relates that the
cutter ([Greek: paraschistês]) appointed to make the incision in the
flank for the removal of the intestines, as soon as he had performed his
office, was pursued with stones and curses by those about him, it being
held by the Egyptians a detestable thing to commit any violence or
inflict a wound on the body. After the steeping, the body was washed,
and handed over to the swathers, a peculiar class of the lowest order of
priests, called by Plutarch _cholchytae_, by whom it was bandaged in
gummed cloth; it was then ready for the coffin. Mummies thus prepared
were considered to represent Osiris. In another method of embalming,
costing twenty-two minae (about £90), the abdomen was injected with
"cedar-tree pitch" ([Greek: kedria]), which, as it would seem from Pliny
(_Nat. Hist._ xvi. 21), was the liquid distillate of the pitch-pine.
This is stated by Herodotus to have had a corrosive and solvent action
on the viscera. After injection the body was steeped a certain number of
days in natron; the contents of the abdomen were allowed to escape; and
the process was then complete. The preparation of the bodies of the
poorest consisted simply in placing them in natron for seventy days,
after a previous rinsing of the abdomen with "syrmaea." The material
principally used in the costlier modes of embalming appears to have been
asphalt; wax was more rarely employed. In some cases embalming seems to
have been effected by immersing the body in a bath of molten bitumen.
Tanning also was resorted to. Occasionally the viscera, after treatment,
were in part or wholly replaced in the body, together with wax figures
of the four genii of Amenti. More commonly they were embalmed in a
mixture of sand and asphalt, and buried in vases, or _canopi_, placed
near the mummy, the abdomen being filled with chips and sawdust of cedar
and a small quantity of natron. In one jar were placed the stomach and
large intestine; in another, the small intestines; in a third, the lungs
and heart; in a fourth, the gall-bladder and liver. Porphyry (_De
abstinentia_, iv. 10) mentions a custom of enclosing the intestines in a
box and consigning them to the Nile, after a prayer uttered by one of
the embalmers, but his statement is regarded by Sir J.G. Wilkinson as
unworthy of belief. The body of Nero's wife Poppaea, contrary to the
usage of the Romans, was not burnt, but as customary among other nations
with the bodies of potentates, was honoured with embalmment (see
Tacitus, _Ann._ xvi. 6). The body of Alexander the Great is said to have
been embalmed with honey (Statius, _Silv._ iii. 2. 117), and the same
material was used to preserve the corpse of Agesipolis I. during its
conveyance to Sparta for burial. Herodotus states (iii. 24) that the
Ethiopians, in embalming, dried the body, rubbed it with gypsum (or
chalk), and, having painted it, placed it in a block of some transparent
substance. The Guanches, the aborigines of the Canaries, employed a mode
of embalming similar to that of the Egyptians, filling the hollow caused
by the removal of the viscera with salt and an absorbent vegetable
powder (see Bory de Saint Vincent, _Essais sur les Îles Fortunées_,
1803, p. 495). Embalming was still in vogue among the Egyptians in the
time of St Augustine, who says that they termed mummies _gabbarae_
(_Serm._ 120, cap. 12).
In modern times numerous methods of embalming have been practised. Dr
Frederick Ruysch of Amsterdam (1665-1717) is said to have utilized
alcohol for this purpose. By William Hunter essential oils, alcohol,
cinnabar, camphor, saltpetre and pitch or rosin were employed, and the
final desiccation of the body was effected by means of roasted gypsum
placed in its coffin. J.P. Boudet (1778-1849) embalmed with tan, salt,
asphalt and Peruvian bark, camphor, cinnamon and other aromatics and
corrosive sublimate. The last-mentioned drug, chloride and sulphate of
zinc, acetate and sulphate of alumina, and creasote and carbolic acid
have all been recommended by various modern embalmers.
See MUMMY; Louis Penicher, _Traité des embaumements_ (Paris, 1669); S.
Blancard, _Anatomia reformata, et de balsamatione nova methodus_
(Lugd. Bat., 1695); Thomas Greenhill, _The Art of Embalming_ (London,
1705); J.N. Marjolin, _Manuel d'anatomie_ (Paris, 1810); Pettigrew,
_History of Mummies_ (London, 1834); Gannal, _Traité d'embaumements_
(Paris, 1838; 2nd ed., 1841); Magnus, _Das Einbalsamiren der Leichen_
(Brunsw., 1839); Sucquet, _Embaumement_ (Paris, 1872); Lessley,
_Embalming_ (Toledo, Ohio, 1884); Myers, _Textbook of Embalming_
(Springfield, Ohio, 1900); Rawlinson, _Herodotus_, vol. ii. p. 141; G.
Elliot Smith, _A Contribution to the Study of Mummification in Egypt_
(Cairo, 1906).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Neutral carbonate of sodium, Na2CO3, found at the natron lakes in
the Libyan desert, and at El Hegs, in Upper Egypt.
EMBANKMENT, in engineering, a mound of earth or stone, usually narrow in
comparison with its length, artificially raised above the prevailing
level of the ground. Embankments serve for two main classes of purpose.
On the one hand, they are used to preserve the level of railways, canals
and roads, in cases where a valley or piece of low-lying ground has to
be crossed. On the other, they are employed to stop or limit the flow of
water, either constituting the retaining wells of reservoirs constructed
in connexion with water-supply schemes, or protecting low-lying tracts
of land from river floods or the encroachments of the sea. The word
embankment has thus come to be used for the mass of material, faced and
supported by a stone wall and protected by a parapet, placed along the
banks of a river where it passes through a city, whether to guard
against floods or to gain additional space. Such is the Thames
Embankment in London, which carries a broad roadway, while under it runs
the Underground railway. In this sense an embankment is distinguished
from a quay, though the mechanical construction may be the same, the
latter word being confined to places where ships are loaded and
unloaded, thus differing from the French _quai_, which is used both of
embankments and quays, e.g. the _Quais_ along the Seine at Paris.
EMBARGO (a Spanish word meaning "stoppage"), in international law, the
detention by a state of vessels within its ports as a measure of public,
as distinguished from private, utility. In practice it serves as a mode
of coercing a weaker state. In the middle ages war, being regarded as a
complete rupture between belligerent states, operated as a suspension of
all respect for the person and property of private citizens; an article
of Magna Carta (1215) provided that "... if there shall be found any
such merchants in our land in the beginning of a war, they shall be
attached, without damage to their bodies or goods, until it may be known
unto us, or our Chief Justiciary, how our merchants are treated who
happen to be in the country which is at war with us; and if ours be safe
there, theirs shall be safe in our lands" (art. 48).
Embargoes in anticipation of war have long since fallen into disuse, and
it is now customary on the outbreak of war for the belligerents even to
grant a respite to the enemy's trading vessels to leave their ports at
the outbreak of war, so that neither ship nor cargo is any longer
exposed to embargo. This has been confirmed in one of the Hague
Conventions of 1907 (convention relative to the status of enemy merchant
ships at the outbreak of hostilities, Oct. 18, 1907), which provides
that "when a merchant ship belonging to one of the belligerent powers is
at the commencement of hostilities in an enemy port, _it is desirable_
that it should be allowed to depart freely, either immediately, or after
a reasonable number of days of grace, and to proceed, after being
furnished with a pass, direct to its port of destination, or any other
port indicated" (art. 1). The next article of the same convention limits
the option apparently granted by the use of the word "desirable,"
providing that "a merchant ship unable, owing to circumstances of _force
majeure_, to leave the enemy port within the period contemplated (in the
previous article), or which was not allowed to leave, _cannot_ be
confiscated. The belligerent may only detain it, without compensation,
but subject to the obligation of restoring it after the war, or
requisition it on payment of compensation" (art. 2). (T. Ba.)
EMBASSY, the office of an ambassador, or, more generally, the mission on
which an ambassador of one power is sent to another, or the body of
official personages attached to such a mission, whether temporary or
permanent. Hence "embassy" is often quite loosely used of any mission,
diplomatic or otherwise. The word is also used of the official residence
of an ambassador. "Embassy" was originally "ambassy," the form used in
the 17th century, but by the time of Johnson considered quite obsolete.
"Ambassy" is from the O. Fr. _ambassée_, derived through such forms as
the Port. _ambassada_, Ital. _ambasciata_ from a lost Med. Lat.
_ambactiata_, _ambactiare_, to go on a mission. (See further AMBASSADOR,
EXTERRITORIALITY and DIPLOMACY.)
EMBER DAYS and EMBER WEEKS, the four seasons set apart by the Western
Church for special prayer and fasting, and the ordination of clergy,
known in the medieval Church as _quatuor tempora_, or _jejunia quatuor
temporum_. The Ember weeks are the complete weeks next following Holy
Cross day (September 14), St Lucy's day (December 13), the first Sunday
in Lent and Whitsun day. The Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays of these
weeks are the Ember days distinctively, the following Sundays being the
days of ordination. These dates are given in the following memorial
distich with a frank indifference to quantity and metre--
"Vult Crux, Lucia, Cinis, Charismata dia
Quod det vota pia quarta sequens feria."
The word has been derived from the A.S. _ymb-ren_, a circuit or
revolution (from _ymb_, around, and _rennen_, to run); or by process of
agglutination and phonetic decay, exemplified by the Ger. _quatember_,
Dutch _quatertemper_ and Dan. _kvatember_, from the Lat. _quatuor
tempora_. The occurrence of the Anglo-Saxon compounds _ymbren-tid_,
_ymbren-wucan_, _ymbren-fæstan_, _ymbren-dagas_ for Ember tide, weeks,
fasts, days, favours the former derivation, which is also confirmed by
the use of the word _imbren_ in the acts of the council of Ænham, A.D.
1009 ("jejunia quatuor tempora quae _imbren_ vocant"). It corresponds
also with Pope Leo the Great's definition, "jejunia ecclesiastica per
totius anni circulum distributa."
The observance of the Ember days is confined to the Western Church, and
had its origin as an ecclesiastical ordinance in Rome. They were
probably at first merely the fasts preparatory to the three great
festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. A fourth was subsequently
added, for the sake of symmetry, to make them correspond with the four
seasons, and they became known as the _jejunium vernum_, _aestivum_,
_autumnale_ and _hiemale_, so that, to quote Pope Leo's words, "the law
of abstinence might apply to every season of the year." An earlier
mention of these fasts, as four in number--the first known--is in the
writings of Philastrius, bishop of Brescia, in the middle of the 4th
century. He also connects them with the great Christian festivals (_De
haeres._ 119). In Leo's time, A.D. 440-461, Wednesday, Friday and
Saturday were already the days of special observance. From Rome the
Ember days gradually spread through the whole of Western Christendom.
Uniformity of practice, however, was of somewhat slow growth. Neither in
Gaul nor Spain do they seem to have been generally recognized much
before the 8th century. Their introduction into Britain appears to have
been earlier, dating from Augustine, A.D. 597, acting under the
authority of Gregory the Great. The general period of the four fasts
being roughly fixed, the precise date appears to have varied
considerably, and in some cases to have lost its connexion with the
festivals altogether. The _Ordo Romanus_ fixes the spring fast in the
first week of March (then the first month); the summer fast in the
second week of June; the autumnal fast in the third week of September;
and the winter fast in the complete week next before Christmas eve.
Other regulations prevailed in different countries, until the
inconveniences arising from the want of uniformity led to the rule now
observed being laid down under Pope Urban II. as the law of the church,
in the councils of Piacenza and Clermont, A.D. 1095.
The present rule which fixes the ordination of clergy in the Ember weeks
cannot be traced farther back than the time of Pope Gelasius, A.D.
492-496. In the early ages of the church ordinations took place at any
season of the year whenever necessity required. Gelasius is stated by
ritual writers to have been the first who limited them to these
particular times, the special solemnity of the season being in all
probability the cause of the selection. The rule once introduced
commended itself to the mind of the church, and its observance spread.
We find it laid down in the pontificate of Archbishop Ecgbert of York,
A.D. 732-766, and referred to as a canonical rule in a capitulary of
Charlemagne, and it was finally established as a law of the church in
the pontificate of Gregory VII., c. 1085.
AUTHORITIES.--Muratori, _Dissert. de jejun. quat. temp._, c. vii.,
anecdot. tom. ii. p. 262; Bingham, _Antiq. of the Christ. Church_, bk.
iv. ch. vi. § 6, bk. xxi. ch. ii. §§ 1-7; Binterin,
_Denkwürdigkeiten_, vol. v. part 2, pp. 133 ff.; Augusti, _Handbuch
der christlich. Archäol._ vol. i. p. 465, iii. p. 486. (E. V.)
EMBEZZLEMENT (A.-Fr. _embesilement_, from _beseler_ or _besillier_, to
destroy), in English law, a peculiar form of theft, which is
distinguished from the ordinary crime in two points:--(1) It is
committed by a person who is in the position of clerk or servant to the
owner of the property stolen; and (2) the property when stolen is in the
possession of such clerk or servant. The definition of embezzlement as a
special form of theft arose out of the difficulties caused by the legal
doctrine that to constitute larceny the property must be taken out of
the possession of the owner. Servants and others were thus able to steal
with impunity goods entrusted to them by their masters. A statute of
Henry VIII. (1529) was passed to meet this case; and it enacted that it
should be felony in servants to convert to their own use caskets,
jewels, money, goods or chattels delivered to them by their masters.
"This act," says Sir J.F. Stephen (_General View of the Criminal Law of
England_), "assisted by certain subtleties according to which the
possession of the servant was taken under particular circumstances to be
the possession of the master, so that the servant by converting the
goods to his own use took them out of his own possession _qua_ servant
(which was his master's possession) and put them into his own possession
_qua_ thief (which was a felony), was considered sufficient for
practical purposes for more than 200 years." In 1799 a clerk who had
converted to his own use a cheque paid across the counter to him by a
customer of his master was held to be not guilty of felony; and in the
same year an act was passed, which, meeting the difficulty in such
cases, enacted that if any clerk or servant, or any person employed as
clerk or servant, should, by virtue of such employment, receive or take
into his possession any money, bonds, bills, &c., for or in the name or
on account of his employers, and should fraudulently embezzle the same,
every such offender should be deemed to have stolen the same. The same
definition is substantially repeated in a Consolidation Act passed in
1827. Numberless difficulties of interpretation arose under these acts,
e.g. as to the meaning of "clerk or servant," as to the difference
between theft and embezzlement, &c.
The law now in force, or the Larceny Act 1861, defines the offence thus
(section 68):--"Whosoever, being a clerk or servant, or being employed
for the purpose or in the capacity of a clerk or servant, shall
fraudulently embezzle any chattel, money or valuable security which
shall be delivered to or received or taken into possession by him for or
in the name or on the account of his master or employer, or any part
thereof, shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same from his
master or employer, although such chattel, money or security was not
received into the possession of such master or employer otherwise than
by the actual possession of his clerk, servant or other person so
employed, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion
of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any time not exceeding
fourteen years, and not less than three years," or imprisonment with or
without hard labour for not more than two years. To constitute the
offence thus described three things must concur:--(1) The offender must
be a clerk or servant; (2) he must receive into his possession some
chattel on behalf of his master; and (3) he must fraudulently embezzle
the same. A clerk or servant has been defined to be a person bound
either by an express contract of service or by conduct implying such a
contract to obey the orders and submit to the control of his master in
the transaction of the business which it is his duty as such clerk or
servant to transact. (Stephen's _Digest of the Criminal Law_, Art. 309.)
The Larceny Act 1901, amending sections 75 and 76 of the Larceny Act
1861, also describes similar offences on the part of persons, not being
clerks or servants, to which the name embezzlement is not uncommonly
applied. The act makes the offence of fraudulently misappropriating
property entrusted to a person by another, or received by him on behalf
of another a misdemeanour punishable by penal servitude for a term not
exceeding seven years, or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour,
for a term not exceeding two years. So also trustees fraudulently
disposing of trust property, and directors of companies fraudulently
appropriating the company's property or keeping fraudulent accounts, or
wilfully destroying books or publishing fraudulent statements, are
misdemeanants punishable in the same way.
In the United States the law of embezzlement is founded mainly on the
English statute passed in 1799, but the statutes of most states are so
framed that larceny includes embezzlement. The latter is sometimes
denominated statutory larceny. The punishment varies in the different
states, otherwise there is little substantive difference in the laws of
the two countries.
Statutes have been passed in some states providing that one indicted for
larceny may be convicted of embezzlement. But it is doubtful whether
such statutes are valid where the constitution of the state provides
that the accused must be informed of the nature and cause of the
accusation against him. (See also LARCENY.)
EMBLEM (Gr. [Greek: emblêma], something put in or inserted, from [Greek:
emballein], to throw in), a word originally applied in Greek and Latin
(_emblema_) to a raised or inlaid ornament on vases and other vessels,
&c., and also to mosaic or tessellated work. It is in English confined
to a symbolical representation of some object, particularly when used as
a badge or heraldic device.
EMBLEMENTS (from O. Fr. _emblavence de bled_, i.e. corn sprung up above
ground), a term applied in English law to the corn and other crops of
the earth which are produced annually, not spontaneously, but by labour
and industry. Emblements belong therefore to the class of _fructus
industriales_, or "industrial growing crops" (Sale of Goods Act 1893, §
62). They include not only corn and grain of all kinds, but everything
of an artificial and annual profit that is produced by labour and
manuring, e.g. hemp, flax, hops, potatoes, artificial grasses like
clover, but not fruit growing on trees, which come under the general
rule _quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit_. Emblements are included
within the definition of goods in s. 62 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893.
Where an estate of uncertain duration terminates unexpectedly by the
death of the tenant, or some other event due to no fault of his own, the
law gives to the personal representative the profits of crops of this
nature as compensation for the tilling, manuring and sowing of the land.
If the estate, although of uncertain duration, is determined by the
tenant's own acts, the right to emblements does not arise. The right to
emblements has become of no importance in England since 1851, when it
was provided by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1851 (s. 1) that any tenant
at rack-rent, whose lease was determined by the death or cesser of the
estate, of a landlord entitled only for his life, or for any other
uncertain interest, shall, instead of emblements, be entitled to hold
the lands until the expiration of the current year of his tenancy. The
right to emblements still exists, however, in favour of (a) a tenant not
within the Landlord and Tenant Act 1851, whose estate determines by an
event which could not be foreseen, (b) the executor, as against the heir
of the owner in fee of land in his own occupation, (c) an execution
creditor under a writ directing seizure of goods and chattels. A person
entitled to emblements may enter upon the lands after the determination
of the tenancy for the purpose of cutting and carrying away the crops.
Emblements are liable to distress by the landlord for arrears of rent,
or rent during the period of holding on under the act of 1851 (the
Distress for Rent Act 1737; see Bullen on _Distress_, 4th ed., 1893).
The term "emblements" is unknown in _Scots law_, but the heir or
representative of a life-rent tenant, a liferenter of lands, has an
analogous right to reap the crop (on paying a proportion of the rent)
and a right to recompense for labour in tilling the ground. The Landlord
and Tenant Act 1851 (s. 1) was in force in _Ireland_ till 1860, when it
was replaced by the Land Act 1860, which gave to the tenant an almost
identical right to emblements (s. 34).
In the _United States_ the English common law of emblements has been
generally preserved. In North Carolina there has been legislation on the
lines of the English Landlord and Tenant Act 1851. In some states the
tenant is entitled to compensation also from the person succeeding to
the possession.
Under the French Code Civil, the outgoing tenant is entitled to
convenient housing for the consumption of his fodder and for the
harvests remaining to be got in (art. 1777). The same rule is in force
in Belgium (Code Civil, art. 1777); and in Holland (Civil Code, art.
1635) and Spain (art. 1578). Similar rights are secured to the tenant
under the German Civil Code (arts. 592 et seq.). French law is in
force in Mauritius. The common law of England and the Landlord and
Tenant Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict., c. 25, s. 1) are in force in many of
the British colonies acquired by settlement. In other colonies they
have been recognized by statute (e.g. Victoria, Landlord and Tenant
Act 1890, No. 1108, ss. 45-48: Tasmania, Landlord and Tenant Act 1874,
38 Vict. No. 12).
AUTHORITIES.--English Law: Fawcett on the _Law of Landlord and Tenant_
(3rd ed., London, 1905); Foà, _Landlord and Tenant_ (4th ed., London,
1907). Scots Law: Bell's _Principles_ (10th ed., Edinburgh, 1899).
Irish Law: Noland and Kanes, _Statutes relating to the Law of Landlord
and Tenant in Ireland_ (10th ed.), by Kelly (Dublin, 1898). American
Law: Stimson, _American Statute Law_ (Boston, 1886); Bouvier, _Law
Dictionary_, ed. by Rawle (Boston and London, 1897); _Ruling Cases_
(London and Boston, 1894-1901), tit. "Emblements" (American Notes).
(A. W. R.)
EMBOSSING, the art of producing raised portions or patterns on the
surface of metal, leather, textile fabrics, cardboard, paper and similar
substances. Strictly speaking, the term is applicable only to raised
impressions produced by means of engraved dies or plates brought
forcibly to bear on the material to be embossed, by various means,
according to the nature of the substance acted on. Thus raised patterns
produced by carving, chiselling, casting and chasing or hammering are
excluded from the range of embossed work. Embossing supplies a
convenient and expeditious medium for producing elegant ornamental
effects in many distinct industries; and especially in its relations to
paper and cardboard its applications are varied and important. Crests,
monograms, addresses, &c., are embossed on paper and envelopes from dies
set in small handscrew presses, a force or counter-die being prepared in
leather faced with a coating of gutta-percha. The dies to be used for
plain embossing are generally cut deeper than those intended to be used
with colours. Colour embossing is done in two ways--the first and
ordinary kind that in which the ink is applied to the raised portion of
the design. The colour in this case is spread on the die with a brush
and the whole surface is carefully cleaned, leaving only ink in the
depressed parts of the engraving. In the second variety--called cameo
embossing--the colour is applied to the flat parts of the design by
means of a small printing roller, and the letters or design in relief is
left uncoloured. In embossing large ornamental designs, engraved plates
or electrotypes therefrom are employed, the force or counterpart being
composed of mill-board faced with gutta-percha. In working these,
powerful screw-presses, in principle like coining or medal-striking
presses, are employed. Embossing is also most extensively practised for
ornamental purposes in the art of bookbinding. The blocked ornaments on
cloth covers for books, and the blocking or imitation tooling on the
cheaper kinds of leather work, are effected by means of powerful
embossing or arming presses. (See BOOK-BINDING.) For impressing embossed
patterns on wall-papers, textiles of various kinds, and felt, cylinders
of copper, engraved with the patterns to be raised, are employed, and
these are mounted in calender frames, in which they press against
rollers having a yielding surface, or so constructed that depressions in
the engraved cylinders fit into corresponding elevations in those
against which they press. The operations of embossing and colour
printing are also sometimes effected together in a modification of the
ordinary cylinder printing machine used in calico-printing, in which it
is only necessary to introduce suitably engraved cylinders. For many
purposes the embossing rollers must be maintained at a high temperature
while in operation; and they are heated either by steam, by gas jets, or
by the introduction of red-hot irons within them. The stamped or
struck ornaments in sheet metal, used especially in connexion with the
brass and Britannia-metal trades, are obtained by a process of
embossing--hard steel dies with forces or counterparts of soft metal
being used in their production. A kind of embossed ornament is formed on
the surface of soft wood by first compressing and consequently sinking
the parts intended to be embossed, then planing the whole surface level,
after which, when the wood is placed in water, the previously depressed
portion swells up and rises to its original level. Thus an embossed
pattern is produced which may be subsequently sharpened and finished by
the ordinary process of carving (see CHASING and REPOUSSÉ).
EMBRACERY (from the O. Fr. _embraseour_, an embracer, i.e. one who
excites or instigates, literally one who sets on fire, from _embraser_,
to kindle a fire; "embrace," i.e. to hold or clasp in the arms, is from
O. Fr. _embracer_, Lat. _in_ and _bracchia_, arms), in law, the
attempting to influence a juryman corruptly to give his verdict in
favour of one side or the other in a trial, by promise, persuasions,
entreaties, money, entertainments and the like. It is an offence both at
common law and by statute, and punishable by fine and imprisonment. As a
statutory offence it dates back to 1360. The offence is complete,
whether any verdict has been given or not, and whether the verdict is in
accordance with the weight of evidence or otherwise. The person making
the attempt, and any juryman who consents, are equally punishable. The
false verdict of a jury, whether occasioned by embracery or otherwise,
was formerly considered criminal, and jurors were severely punished,
being proceeded against by writ of attaint (q.v.). The Juries Act of
1825, in abolishing writs of attaint, made a special exemption as
regards jurors guilty of embracery (§ 61). Prosecution for the offence
has been so extremely rare that when a case occurred in 1891 (_R. v.
Baker_, 113, Cent. Crim. Ct. Sess. Pap. 374) it was stated that no
precedent could be found for the indictment. The defendant was fined
£200, afterwards reduced to £100.
EMBRASURE, in architecture, the opening in a battlement between the two
raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenelle (see
BATTLEMENT, CRENELLE); also the splay of a window.
EMBROIDERY (M.E. _embrouderie_, from O. Fr. _embroder_, Mod. Fr.
_broder_), the ornamentation of textile fabrics and other materials with
needlework. The beginnings of the art of embroidery probably date back
to a very primitive stage in the history of all peoples, since plain
stitching must have been one of the earliest attainments of mankind, and
from that it is but a short step to decorative needlework of some kind.
The discovery of needles among the relics of Swiss lake-dwellings shows
that their primitive inhabitants were at least acquainted with the art
of stitching.
[Illustration: PLATE I.
FIG. 6.--PANEL OF PETIT-POINT EMBROIDERY, WITH A REPRESENTATION OF
COURTLY FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE. English work of the end of the reign
of Queen Elizabeth. Scale: 1/6th.
FIG. 7.--PORTION OF THE "BAYEUX TAPESTRY," A BAND OF EMBROIDERY WITH
THE STORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. In the museum at Bayeux,
11th century work. Scale: ¼th.]
[Illustration: PLATE II.
FIG. 8.--HANGING OF WOOLLEN CLOTH, EMBROIDERED WITH THE FIVE WISE AND
THE FIVE FOOLISH VIRGINS. German work, dated 1598. Scale: 1/10th.
FIG. 9.--PORTION OF THE ORPHREY OF THE "SYON COPE," EMBROIDERED WITH
SHIELDS OF ARMS. The cope, formerly in the monastery of Syon near
Isleworth, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. English work of
the 13th century. Scale: 5/16ths.
FIG. 10.--PORTION OF A BAND OF LOOSE LINEN, EMBROIDERED IN WHITE
THREAD WITH FIGURES AND ANIMALS. German work of the later part of the
14th century. Scale: 2/7ths.]
In concerning ourselves solely with those periods of which examples
survive, we must pass over a wide gap and begin with the
anciently-civilized land of Egypt. The sandy soil and dry climate of
that country have led to the preservation of woven stuffs and
embroideries of unique historic interest. The principal, and by far the
earliest, known pieces which have a bearing on the present subject,
found in 1903 in the tomb of Tethmosis (Thoutmôsis, or Thothmes) IV. at
Thebes, are now in the Cairo Museum. There are three fragments, entirely
of linen, inwrought with patterns in blue, red, green and black (fig.
1). A kind of tapestry method is used, the patterns being wrought upon
the warp threads of the ground, instead of upon the finished web or
woven material. Such a process, generally supplemented, as in this case,
by a few stitches of fine needlework, was still in common use at a far
later time. The largest of the three fragments at Cairo bears, in
addition to rows of lotus flowers and papyrus inflorescences, a
cartouche containing the name of Amenophis (Amenhotep) II. (c. 15th
century B.C.); another is inwrought with the name of Tethmosis III.
(c. 16th century B.C.).[1]
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Fragment of a linen robe, found in the tomb of
Tethmosis (Thothmes) IV. at Thebes, and now in the Cairo Museum. The
cartouche has the name of Amenophis (Amenhotep) II. (c. 15th century
B.C.).]
No other embroidered stuffs which can be assigned to so early a date
have hitherto come to light in the Nile valley (nor indeed elsewhere),
and the student who wishes to gain a fuller knowledge of the textile
patterns of the ancient Egyptians must be referred to the wall-paintings
and sculptured reliefs which have been preserved in considerable
numbers.
From the ancient civilizations of Babylon and Assyria no fragments of
embroidery, nor even of woven stuffs, have come down to us. The fine
series of wall-reliefs from Nineveh in the British Museum give some idea
of the geometrical and floral patterns and diapers which adorned the
robes of the ancient Assyrians. The discovery of the ruins of the palace
of Darius I. (521-485 B.C.) at Susa in 1885 has thrown some light upon
the textile art of the ancient Persians. They evidently owed much to the
nations whom they had supplanted. The famous relief from this palace
(now in the Louvre) represents a procession of archers, wearing long
robes covered with small diaper patterns, perhaps of embroidery.
The exact significance of the words used in the book of Exodus in
describing the robes of Aaron (ch. xxviii.) and the hangings and
ornaments of the Tabernacle (ch. xxvi.) cannot be determined, and the
"broidered work" of the prophecy of Ezekiel (ch. xxvii.) at a later time
is also of uncertain meaning. It seems likely that much of this ancient
work was of the tapestry class, such as we have found in the early
fragments from Thebes.
The methods of the ancient Greek embroiderer, or "variegator" ([Greek:
poikiltês]) to whom woven garments were submitted for enrichment, can
only be conjectured. The _peplos_ or woven cloth made every fifth year
to cover or shade the statue of Athena in the Parthenon at Athens, and
carried at the Panathenaic festival,[2] was ornamented with the battles
of the gods and giants. The late Dr J.H. Middleton thought that very
possibly most of the elaborate work upon these _peploi_ was done by the
needle. That true embroidery, in the modern sense--the decoration by
means of the needle of a finished woven material--was practised among
the ancient Greeks, has been demonstrated by the finding of some textile
fragments in graves in the Crimea; these are now in the Hermitage at St
Petersburg. One of them, of purple woollen material, from a tomb
assigned to the 4th century B.C., is embroidered in wools of different
colours with a man on horseback, honeysuckle ornament and tendrils.
Another woollen piece, attributed to the following century, has a stem
and arrow-head leaves worked in gold thread.[3]
In turning to ancient Rome, it is well first briefly to notice Pliny's
account of the craft (_Nat. Hist._ viii.), as recording the views
current in Rome at his time (1st century A.D.). After relating that
Homer mentions embroidered garments (_pictas vestes_), he states that
the Phrygians first used the needle for embroidered robes, which were
thence called Phrygionian (_Phrygioniae_), and that Attalic garments
were named from Attalus II., king of Pergamum (159-138 B.C.), the
inventor of the art of embroidering in gold. He further relates that
Babylon gave the name to embroideries of divers colours, for the
production of which that city was famous. By the Romans the art was
designated as "painting with the needle" (_acu pingere_), a term used by
Virgil in speaking of the decoration of robes, by Ovid (who describes it
as an art taught by Minerva), and by Roman writers generally when
referring to embroidery.[4] It is to be regretted that no examples have
been discovered in the neighbourhood of the Roman capital. For
embroideries made under Roman influence we must again look to Egypt.
They formed the decoration of garments[5] and mummy-wrappings from the
cemeteries in Upper and Middle Egypt, which have been so extensively
rifled of late years. Those of Roman type date approximately from the
first five centuries of the Christian era. The earliest represent human
figures, animals, birds, geometrical and interlacing ornaments, vases,
fruit, flowers and foliage (especially the vine). They are generally
done in purple wool and undyed linen thread by the tapestry process
employed in Egypt at least fifteen centuries earlier, as we have seen;
most of the patterns have had the lines more clearly marked out by the
ordinary method of needlework. Towards the end of this period a greater
choice of colours is seen, and Christian symbols appear. At this time
examples worked entirely upon the finished web are found (fig. 2). The
transition is easy from such work to the veritable "needle-paintings,"
representing scenes from the gospels, produced in Egypt shortly after
(fig. 3). Such embroideries are evidently akin to those mentioned by
Bishop Asterius (330-410), who describes the garments worn by effeminate
Christians as painted like the walls of their houses.[6]
From the time of Justinian (527-565) onwards for some centuries, the art
of Europe, embroidery with the rest, was dominated by that of the
Byzantine empire. To trace the progress of the highly conventionalized
Byzantine style, becoming more rigid and stereotyped as time passes,
belongs to the general history of art, and such a task cannot be
attempted here. Perhaps the most remarkable example of all which have
survived to illustrate the work of the Byzantine embroiderers is the
blue silk robe known as the dalmatic of Charlemagne or of Leo III., in
the sacristy of St Peter's at Rome (fig. 4). According to the present
consensus of opinion it belongs to a later time than either of those
dignitaries, dating most probably from the 12th century.[7] In front is
represented Christ enthroned as Judge of the world, a youthful but
majestic figure; on the back is the Transfiguration. These, as well as
the minor subjects, are explained by Greek inscriptions. The wide
influence of Byzantine art gradually died out after the Latin sack of
Constantinople in the year 1204, although the style lingered, and
lingers still, in certain localities, notably at Mount Athos.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Embroidered panel from a linen garment, with a
representation of the Annunciation and the Salutation. Found in a
cemetery in Egypt. Coptic work of the 6th or 7th century A.D.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Embroidered panel from a linen garment, with a
jewelled cross and two birds within a wreath. Found in a cemetery at
Akhmim, Upper Egypt. Egypto-Roman work of the 4th or 5th century A.D.]
Palermo in Sicily succeeded Byzantium as the capital of the arts in
Europe, although its ascendancy was of brief duration. Under the Norman
kings of Sicily the style was strongly oriental, consequent upon the
earlier occupation of the island by the Saracens, and upon the
employment of Saracenic craftsmen by the Normans. The magnificent red
silk mantle at Vienna, embroidered in gold thread with a date-palm and
two lions springing upon camels, and enriched with pearls and enamel
plaques, bears round the edge an Arabic inscription, recording that it
was made in the royal factory of the capital of Sicily (Palermo) in the
year 528 (= A.D. 1134). At that time Roger, the first Norman king, was
on the throne. Another of the imperial coronation-robes--a linen alb
with gold embroidery--is also at Vienna.[8] An inscription in Latin and
Arabic states that it was made in the year 1181, under the reign of
William II. (Norman king of Sicily, 1166-1189).
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Embroidered robe known as the "Dalmatic of
Charlemagne," or of Leo III., preserved in the sacristy of St Peter's at
Rome. Byzantine work, probably of the 12th century.]
From about that time distinct national styles began to develop in
different places. In tracing the progress of the embroiderer's art
during the middle ages we must rely mainly upon the many fine examples
of ecclesiastical work which have been preserved. The costumes of men
and women, as well as curtains and hangings and such articles of
domestic use, were often richly adorned with embroidery. These have
mostly perished; while the careful preservation and comparatively
infrequent use of the vestments and other objects devoted to the service
of the church have given us tangible evidence of the attainments of the
medieval embroiderer. Much of this work was produced in convents, but
old documents show that in monasteries also were to be found men known
for their skill in needlework. Other names, both of men and women, are
recorded, showing that the craft was by no means exclusively confined to
monastic foundations. Gilds of embroiderers existed far back in medieval
times.
In England the craft has been a favourite employment for many centuries,
and persons of all ranks have occupied their spare hours at needlework.
Some embroidered fragments, found in 1826-1827 in the tomb of St
Cuthbert at Durham, and now kept in the cathedral library, were worked,
chiefly in gold thread, by order of Ælfflæda, queen of Edward the Elder,
for Fridestan, bishop of Winchester, early in the 10th century. In the
later part of the following century the "Bayeux tapestry" was
produced--a work of unique importance (Plate I. fig. 7). It is a band of
linen, more than 230 ft. long, embroidered in coloured wools with the
story of the Norman conquest of England. (See BAYEUX TAPESTRY.)
Some fragments of metallic embroidery on silk, of the 12th and 13th
centuries, may be seen in the library of Worcester cathedral. They were
removed from the coffins of two bishops, William de Blois (1218-1236)
and Walter de Cantelupe (1236-1266). A fragment of gold embroidery from
the tomb of the latter bishop is preserved in the Victoria and Albert
Museum at South Kensington, and others are in the British Museum. In the
13th century English embroidery was famous throughout western Europe,
and many embroidered objects are described in inventories of that time
as being _de opere anglicano_. During that century, and the early part
of the next, English work was at its best. The most famous example is
the "Syon cope" at South Kensington, belonging to the latter half of the
13th century (see COPE, Plate I. fig. 2). It represents the coronation
of the Virgin, the Crucifixion, the archangel Michael transfixing the
dragon, the death and burial of the Virgin, our Lord meeting Mary
Magdalene in the garden, the Apostles and the hierarchies of angels. The
broad orphrey is embroidered with a series of heraldic shields (Plate
II. fig. 9). Other embroideries of the period are at Steeple Aston,
Chesterfield (Col. Butler-Bowden), Victoria and Albert and British
museums, Rome (St John Lateran), Bologna, Pienza, Anagni, Ascoli, St
Bertrand de Comminges, Lyons museum, Madrid (archaeological museum),
Toledo and Vich.
During the course of the 14th and 15th centuries embroideries produced
in England were not equal to the earlier work. Towards the end of the
latter century, and until the dissolution of the monasteries in the
next, much ecclesiastical embroidery of effective design was done, and
many examples are still to be seen in churches throughout the country.
In the Tudor period the costumes of the wealthy were often richly
adorned with needlework. The portraits of King Henry VIII., Queen
Elizabeth and their courtiers show how magnificent was the embroidery
used for such purposes. Many examples, especially of the latter reign,
worked with very effective and beautiful floral patterns, have come down
to these times. A kind of embroidery known as "black work", done in
black silk on linen, was popular during the same reign. A tunic
embroidered for Queen Elizabeth, with devices copied from contemporary
woodcuts, is an excellent example of this work. It now belongs to the
Viscount Falkland. Another class of work, popular at the same time, was
closely worked in wools and silks on open-mesh material like canvas,
which was entirely covered by the embroidery. Figures in rich costume
were often introduced (Plate I. fig. 6). This method was much practised
in France, and the term applied to it in that country, "_au petit
point_," has become generally used. Throughout the 17th and 18th
centuries embroidery in England, though sometimes lacking in good taste,
maintained generally a high standard, and that done to-day, based on the
study of old examples, need not fear comparison with any modern work.
During these three centuries bold floral patterns for hangings, curtains
and coverlets have been usual (Plate III. fig. 13), but smaller works,
such as samplers, covers of work-boxes, and pictorial and landscape
subjects (fig. 5), have been produced in large numbers. In the 18th
century gentlemen's coats and waistcoats and ladies' dresses were
extensively embroidered.
In France, embroidery, like all the arts practised by that nation, has
been characterized by much grace and beauty, and many good specimens
belonging to different periods are known. The vestments associated with
the name of St Thomas of Canterbury at Sens may be either of French or
English work (12th century). To the later part of the following century
belongs a band of embroidery, representing the coronation of the Virgin,
the Adoration of the Magi, the presentation in the Temple, and other
subjects beneath Gothic arches, preserved in the Hôtel-Dieu at Château
Thierry. The mitre of Jean de Marigny, archbishop of Rouen (1347-1351),
in the museum at Évreux, embroidered with figures of St Peter and St
Eloy, may be regarded as representative of 14th-century work. An
altar-frontal with the Annunciation embroidered in silks and gold and
silver upon a blue silk damask ground, now in the museum at Lille, is a
very beautiful example of Franco-Flemish art in the second half of the
15th century. It was originally in the church at Noyelles-lez-Seclin. An
embroidery more characteristically French, and belonging to the same
century, is in the museum at Chartres. It is a triptych, having in the
middle a _pietà_, on the left wing St John the Evangelist, and on the
right St Catherine of Alexandria. Each leaf has a canopy of architecture
represented in perspective. In the 16th century an effective style of
embroidery was practised in France; the pattern is generally a graceful
combination of floral and scroll forms, cut out of velvet, satin or
silk, and applied to a thick woollen cloth. Later work, chiefly of a
floral character, has served for the decoration of costumes,
ecclesiastical vestments, curtains and hangings, and the seats and backs
of chairs.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Oval picture in silk embroidery: Fame scattering
Flowers over Shakespeare's Tomb. English work of the 18th century.]
Under the rule of the dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century art in the
southern provinces of the Netherlands prospered greatly, and able
artists were found to meet the wishes of those munificent rulers. The
local schools of painting, which flourished under their patronage,
appear to have very considerably influenced the embroiderers' art. Great
care and pains were given to reproduce as accurately as possible the
painted cartoon or picture which served as the model. The heads are
individualized, and the folds of the draperies are laboriously worked
out in detail. The masonry of buildings, the veinings of marble, and the
architectural enrichments are often represented with careful fidelity,
and landscape backgrounds are shown in every detail. As in the case of
the tapestries of the Netherlands--the finest which the world has
seen--there can be no doubt that patrons of art and donors, when
requiring embroideries to be made, secured the services of eminent
painters for the designs. There are many examples of such careful work.
A set of vestments known as the _ornement de la Toison d'Or_, now in the
Hof-museum at Vienna, is embroidered in the most minute manner with
sacred subjects and figures of saints and angels. The stiff disposal of
many of these figures, within flattened hexagons arranged in zones, is
not pleasing, but the needlework is most remarkable for skill and
carefulness. They are of 15th-century work. A cope belonging to the
second half of that century was given to the cathedral of Tournay by
Guillaume Fillatre, abbot of St Bertin at St Omer, and bishop of Tournay
(d. 1473). It is now in the museum there. Upon the orphreys and hood are
represented the seven Works of Mercy. The body of the cope, of plain red
velvet, is powdered with stags' heads and martlets (the heraldic
bearings of the bishop); between the antlers of the stags is worked in
each case the initial letter of the bishop's name, and the morse is
embroidered with his arms. Some panels of embroidery, once decorating an
altar in the abbey of Grimbergen, and now at Brussels, illustrate the
best class of Flemish needlework in the 16th century. The scenes are
taken from the Gospel: the marriage at Cana, Christ in the house of the
Pharisee, Christ in the house of Zacchaeus, the Last Supper, and the
supper at Emmaus. In the museum at Bern there are some embroideries of
great historic and artistic interest, found in the tent of Charles the
Bold, duke of Burgundy, after his defeat at Granson in 1476. They
include some armorial panels and two tabards or heralds' coats. A tabard
of the following century, with the royal arms of Spain in applied work,
and most probably of Flemish origin, is preserved in the archaeological
museum at Ghent.
The later art of Holland was largely influenced by the Dutch conquests
in the East Indies at the end of the 16th century, and the subsequent
founding of the Dutch East India Company. Embroideries were among the
articles produced in the East under Dutch influence for exportation to
Holland.
Much embroidery for ecclesiastical purposes has been executed in Belgium
of late years. It follows medieval models, but is lacking in the
qualities which make those of so much importance in the history of the
art.
There is perhaps little worthy of special notice in Italy before the
beginning of the 14th century, but the embroideries produced at that
time show great skill and are very beautiful. The names of two
Florentine embroiderers of the 14th century--both men--have come down to
us, inscribed upon their handiwork. A fine frontal for an altar, very
delicately worked in gold and silver and silks of many colours, is
preserved in the archaeological museum at Florence. The subject in the
middle is the coronation of the Virgin; on either side is an arcade with
figures of apostles and saints. The embroiderer's name is worked under
the central subject: _Jacobus Cambi de Floretia me fecit MCCCXXXVIII._
The other example is in the basilica at Manresa in Spain. It also is an
altar-frontal, worked in silk and gold upon an embroidered gold ground.
There is a large central panel representing the Crucifixion, with nine
scenes from the Gospel on each side. The embroidered inscription is as
follows: _Geri Lapi rachamatore me fecit in Florentia._ It is of
14th-century work. An embroidered orphrey in the Victoria and Albert
Museum belongs to the early part of the same century. It represents the
Annunciation, the coronation of the Virgin and figures of apostles and
saints beneath arches. In the spandrels are the orders of angels with
their names in Italian. In the best period of Italian art successful
painters did not disdain to design for embroidery. Francesco Squarcione
(1394-1474), the founder of the Paduan school of painting, and master of
Mantegna, is called in a document of the year 1423 a tailor and
embroiderer (_sartor et recamator_). It is recorded that Antonio del
Pollaiuolo painted cartoons which were carried out in embroidery,[9] and
Pierino del Vaga, according to Vasari, did likewise. In the 16th and
17th centuries large numbers of towels and linen covers were embroidered
in red, green or brown silk with borders of floral patterns, sometimes
(especially in the southern provinces) combined with figure subjects and
bird and animal forms (Plate IV. fig. 15). Another type of embroidery
popular at the same time, both in Italy and Spain, is known as appliqué
(or applied) work. The pattern is cut out and applied to a
bright-coloured ground, frequently of velvet, as in the example
illustrated (Plate III. fig. 14). The later embroidery of Sicily follows
that of the mainland. A remarkable coverlet, quilted and padded with
wool so as to throw the design into relief, is shown to be of Sicilian
origin by the inscriptions which it bears (Plate VI. fig. 18). It
represents scenes from the story of Tristan, agreeing in the main part
with the _novella_ entitled "La Tavola Rotonda o l'istoria di Tristano."
The quilt dates from the end of the 14th century. Many pattern-books for
embroidery and lace were published in Italy in the 16th and 17th
centuries.[10]
[Illustration: PLATE III.
FIG. 11.--SILK PANEL, EMBROIDERED WITH A HANGING LANTERN. Chinese work
of the 17th or 18th century. Scale: ¼th.
FIG. 12.--PORTION OF A LARGE HANGING, EMBROIDERED WITH FIGURES WITHIN
MEDALLIONS, AND INSCRIPTIONS. From a church in Iceland, probably 17th
century. Scale: 1/8th.
FIG. 13.--PORTION OF A BED-HANGING, EMBROIDERED WITH FLOWERING TREES
GROWING FROM MOUNDS. English work of the later part of the 17th
century. Scale: 1/12th.
FIG. 14.--APPAREL FOR A DALMATIC OF GREEN VELVET, EMBROIDERED WITH AN
APPLIQUÉ PATTERN. Italian work of the 16th century. Scale: ¼th.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
FIG. 15.--PORTION OF THE BORDER OF A LINEN COVER, EMBROIDERED WITH A
FIGURE OF ST CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA AND KNEELING VOTARIES. Italian
work of the 16th century. Scale: 2/5ths.
FIG. 16.--LINEN BORDER, EMBROIDERED WITH DEBASED FIGURES, BIRDS AND
ANIMALS AMID FLOWERS. Cretan work, dated 1762. Scale: 4/9ths.]
In the greater part of the Spanish peninsula art was for many centuries
dominated by the Arabs, who overran the country in the 8th century, and
were not finally subdued until the end of the 15th. Hispano-Moorish
embroideries of the medieval period usually have interlacing patterns
combined with Arabic inscriptions. In the 15th and 16th centuries
Italian influence becomes evident. Later the effects of the Spanish
conquests in Asia are seen. Eastern influence is, however, stronger in
the case of the Portuguese, who seized Goa, on the west coast of the
Indian peninsula, early in the 16th century, and during the whole of
that century held the monopoly of the eastern trade. Many large
embroideries were produced in the Indies, showing eastern floral
patterns mingled with representations of Europeans, ships and coats of
arms. Embroideries done in Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries
strongly reflect the influence of oriental patterns.
German embroidery of the 12th and 13th centuries adheres closely to the
traditions of Byzantine art. A peculiarity of much medieval German work
is a tendency to treat the draperies of the figures as flat surfaces to
be covered with diaper patterns, showing no folds. A cope from
Hildesheim cathedral, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is a
typical illustration of such work, dating from the end of the 13th
century. It is embroidered in silk upon linen with the martyrdom of
apostles and saints. Other specimens of embroidery in this manner may be
seen at Halberstadt. An altar-frontal from Rupertsburg (Bingen),
belonging to the earlier years of the 13th century, is now in the
Brussels museum. It is of purple silk, embroidered with Christ in
majesty and figures of saints. It was no doubt made in the time of
Siegfried, archbishop of Mainz (1201-1230), who is represented upon it.
A type of medieval German embroidery is done in white linen thread on a
loose linen ground--a sort of darning-work (Plate II. fig. 10). Earlier
specimens of this work are often diversified by using a variety of
stitches tending to form diaper patterns. The use of long scrolling
bands with inscriptions explaining the subjects represented is more
usual in German work than in that of any other country. In the 15th
century much fine embroidery was produced in the neighbourhood of
Cologne. Later German work shows a preference for bold floral patterns,
sometimes mingled with heraldry; the larger examples are often worked in
wool on a woollen cloth ground (Plate II. fig. 8). The embroidery of the
northern nations (Denmark, Scandinavia, Iceland) was later in
development than that of the southern peoples. Figure subjects evidently
belonging to as late a period as the 17th century are still disposed in
formal rows of circles, and accompanied by primitive ornamental forms
(Plate III. fig. 12). A remarkable early embroidered fabric covers the
relics of St Knud (Canute, king of Denmark, 1080-1086) in his shrine in
the church dedicated to him at Odense. It is apparently contemporary
work. The pattern consists of displayed eagles within oval compartments,
in blue on a red ground.
In Greece and the islands of the eastern Mediterranean embroidery has
been much employed for the decoration of costumes, portières and
bed-curtains. Large numbers have been acquired in Crete (Plate IV. fig.
16), and patterns of a distinctive character are also found in Rhodes,
Cos, Patmos and other islands. Some examples show traces of the
influence of the Venetian trading settlements in the archipelago in the
16th and 17th centuries. Among the Turks a great development of the arts
followed upon the conquest of Asia Minor and the Byzantine territory in
Europe. Their embroideries show a preference for floral forms--chiefly
roses, tulips, carnations and hyacinths--which are treated with great
decorative skill.
The use of embroidery in Asia--especially in India, China, Turkestan and
Persia--dates back to very early times. The conservatism of all these
peoples renders the date of surviving examples often difficult to
establish, but the greater number of such embroideries now to be seen in
Europe are certainly of no great age.
India has produced vast quantities of embroideries of varying
excellence. The fine woollen shawls of Kashmir are widely famed; their
first production is supposed to date back to a remote period. The
somewhat gaudy effect of many Indian embroideries is at times
intensified by the addition of beetles' wings, tinsel or fragments of
looking-glass. China is the original home of the silkworm, and the
textile arts there reached an advanced stage at a date long before that
of any equally skilful work in Europe. Embroideries worked there are
generally in silk threads on a ground of the same material. Such work is
largely used for various articles of costume, and for coverlets,
screens, banners, chair-covers and table-hangings. The ornaments upon
the robes especially are prescribed according to the rank of the wearer.
The designs include elaborate landscapes with buildings and figures,
dragons, birds, animals, symbolic devices, and especially flowers (Plate
III. fig. 11). Dr Bushell states that the stuff to be embroidered is
first stretched upon a frame, on pivots, and that pattern-books with
woodcuts have been published for the workers' guidance. A kind of
embroidery exported in large quantities from Canton to Europe rivals
painting in the variety and gradation of its colours, and in the
smoothness and regularity of its surface.
Embroidery in Japan resembles in many ways that of China, the country
which probably supplied its first models. As a general rule, Japanese
work is more pictorial and fanciful than that of China, and the
stitching is looser. It frequently happens that the brush has been used
to add to the variety of the embroidered work, and in other cases the
needle has been an accessory upon a fabric already ornamented with
printing or painting. Japanese work is characterized generally by bold
and broad treatment, and especial skill is shown in the representation
of landscapes--figures, rocks, waterfalls, animals, birds, trees,
flowers and clouds being each rendered by a few lines. More elaborate
are the large temple hangings, the pattern being frequently thrown into
relief, and completely covering the ground material.
Embroidery in Persia has been used to a great extent for the decoration
of carpets, for prayer or for use at the bath (Plate V. fig. 17). Robes,
hangings, curtains, tablecovers and portières are also embroidered. A
preference is shown for floral patterns, but the Mahommedans of Persia
had no scruples about introducing the forms of men and animals--the
former engaged in hawking or hunting, or feasting in gardens. Panels
embroidered with close diagonal bands of flowers were made into loose
trousers for women, now obsolete. The embroidered shawls of Kerman are
widely celebrated. Hangings and covers of cloth patchwork have been
embroidered in many parts of Persia, more particularly at Resht and
Ispahan.
In Turkestan, and especially at Bokhara, excellent embroideries have
been, and are, produced, some patterns being of a bold floral type, and
others conventionalized into hooked and serrated outlines. The work is
most usually in bright-coloured silks, red predominating, on a linen
material.
In North Africa the embroidery of Morocco and Algeria deserves notice;
the former inclines more to geometrical forms and the latter to patterns
of a floral character.
[Illustration: PLATE V.
FIG. 17.--LINEN PRAYER CARPET, QUILTED AND EMBROIDERED IN CHAIN STITCH
WITH COLOURED SILKS, CHIEFLY WHITE, YELLOW, GREEN AND RED.
The border consists of a wide band set between two narrow ones, each
with a waved continuous stem with blossoms in the wavings. Similar
floral scrolling and leafy stem ornament fills the space beyond the
pointed shape at the upper end, which is edged with acanthus leaf
devices. The main ground below the niche or pointed shape is a
blossoming plant, with balanced bunches of flowers between which are
leaves, formally arranged in a pointed oval shape. Persian work, 18th
century, 4 ft. 6 in. × 2 ft. 11 in. (Victoria and Albert Museum.)]
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
FIG. 18.--PART OF A SICILIAN COVERLET, OF THE END OF THE 14TH CENTURY.
It is of white linen, quilted and padded in wool so as to throw the
design into relief. The scenes represented, taken from the Story of
Tristan, with inscriptions in the Sicilian dialect, are as
follows:--(1) COMU: LU AMOROLDU FA BANDIRI: LU OSTI: IN CORNUUALGIA
(How the Morold made the host to go to Cornwall); (2) COMU: LU RRE:
LANGUIS: CUMANDA: CHI UAIA: LO OSTI. CORNUAGLIA (How King Languis
ordered that the host should go to Cornwall); (3) COMU: LU RRE:
LANGUIS: MANDA: PER LU TRABUTU IN CORNUALIA (How King Languis sent to
Cornwall for the tribute); (4) COMU: (LI M) ISSAGIERI: SO UINNTI: AL
RRE: MARCU: PER LU TRIBUTU DI SECTI ANNI (How the ambassadors are come
to King Mark for the tribute of seven years); (5) COMU: LU AMOROLDU
UAI: IN CORNUUALGIA (How the Morold comes to Cornwall); (6) COMU: LU
AMOROLDU: FA SULDARI: LA GENTI (How the Morold made the people pay);
(7) COMU: T(RISTAINU): DAI: LU GUANTU ALLU AMOROLDU DELA BACTAGLIA
(How Tristan gives the glove of battle to the Morold); (8) COMU: LU
AMOROLDU: E UINUTU: IN CORNUUALGIA: CUM XXXX GALEI: (How the Morold is
come to Cornwall with forty galleys); (9) COMU TRISTAINU BUCTA: LA
UARCA: ARRETU: INTU: ALLU MARU (How Tristan struck his boat behind him
into the sea); (10) COMU: TRISTAINU: ASPECTA: LU AMOROLDU: ALLA ISOLA
DI LU MARU: SANSA UINTURA (How Tristan awaits the Morold on the isle
Sanza Ventura in the sea); (11) COMU: TRISTAINU FERIU LU AMOROLLDU IN
TESTA (How Tristan wounded the Morold in the head); (12) COMU: LU INNA
(?) DELU AMOROLDU: ASPECTTAUA LU PATRUNU (How the Morold's page (?)
awaited his master); (13) COMU LU AMORODU FERIU: TRISTAINU A
TRADIMANTU (How the Morold wounded Tristan by treachery); (14) ...
SITA: IN AIRLANDIA ( ... in Ireland).]
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Lady Alford, _Needlework as Art_ (London, 1886); Mrs M.
Barber, _Some Drawings of Ancient Embroidery_ (ib., 1880); P.
Blanchet, _Tissus antiques et du haut moyen-âge_ (Paris, 1897); F.
Bock, _Die Kleinodien des Heiligen Römischen Reiches Deutscher Nation_
(Vienna, 1864); M. Charles, _Les Broderies et les dentelles_ (Paris,
1905); Mrs Christie, _Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving_ (London, 1906);
A.S. Cole, C.B., "Some Aspects of Ancient and Modern Embroidery"
(_Soc. of Arts Journal_, liii., 1905, pp. 956-973); R. Cox, _L'Art de
décorer les tissus_ (Paris, Lyons, 1900); L.F. Day, _Art in
Needlework_ (London, 1900); A. Dolby, _Church Embroidery_ (_ib._,
1867), and _Church Vestments_ (_ib._, 1868); M. Dreger, _Künstlerische
Entwicklung der Weberei und Stickerei_ (Vienna, 1904); Madame I.
Errera, _Collection de broderies anciennes_ (Brussels, 1905); L. de
Farcy, _La Broderie_ (Paris, 1890); R. Forrer, _Die Gräber und
Textilfunde von Achmim-Panopolis_ (Strassburg, 1891); F.R. Fowke, _The
Bayeux Tapestry_ (London, 1898); Rev. C.H. Hartshorne, _On English
Medieval Embroidery_ (_ib._, 1848); M.B. Huish, _Samplers and Tapestry
Embroideries_ (_ib._, 1900); A.F. Kendrick, _English Embroidery_
(_ib._, 1905); _English Embroidery executed prior to the Middle of the
16th Century_ (Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition, 1905,
introduction by A.F. Kendrick); E. Lefebure, _Embroideries and Lace_,
translated by A.S. Cole, C.B. (London, 1888); F. Marshall, _Old
English Embroidery_ (_ib._, 1894); E.M. Rogge, _Moderne
Kunst-Nadelarbeiten_ (Amsterdam, 1905); South Kensington Museum,
_Catalogue of Special Loan Exhibition of Decorative Art Needlework_
(1874); W.G.P. Townshend, _Embroidery_ (London, 1899). For further
examples of ecclesiastical embroidery see the articles CHASUBLE, COPE,
DALMATIC and MITRE. (A. F. K.; A. S. C.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See H. Carter and P.E. Newberry, _Cat. gén. des ant. égypt. du
musée du Caire_ (_1904_), pl. i. and xxviii. A remarkable piece of
Egyptian needlework, the funeral tent of Queen Isi em Kheb (XXIst
Dynasty), was discovered at Deir el Bahri some years ago. It is
described as a mosaic of leatherwork--pieces of gazelle hide of
several colours, stitched together (see Villiers Stuart, _The Funeral
Tent of an Egyptian Queen, 1882_).
[2] The procession at this festival is represented upon the frieze of
the Parthenon.
[3] See _Compte rendu de la Comm. Imp. Arch., 1878-1879_ (St
Petersburg), pl. iii. and v.
[4] For an account of the conditions under which Greek and Roman
embroiderers worked, see Alan S. Cole, "Some Aspects of Ancient and
Modern Embroidery," _Journal of the Society of Arts_, vol. liii.,
1905, pp. 958, 959.
[5] Chiefly tunics with vertical bands (_clavi_) and medallions
(_orbiculae_), and an ample outer robe or cloak.
[6] The Adoration of the Magi is represented upon the lower border of
the long robe worn by the empress Theodora (wife of Justinian) in the
mosaic in the church of S. Vitale at Ravenna.
[7] Writers have assigned different dates to this vestment: Lady
Alford, _Needlework as Art_ (earlier than the 13th century); F. Bock,
_Die Kleinodien_ (12th century); S. Boisserée, _Über die
Kaiser-Dalmatica in der St Peterskirche zu Rom_ (12th or first half
of 13th century); A.S. Cole, _Cantor Lectures at Society of Arts,
1905_ (possibly of 9th century); Lord Lindsay, _Christian Art_ (12th
or early 13th century); A. Venturi, _Storia dell' arte_ (10th or 11th
century); T. Braun, _Liturg. Gewandung_, p. 305 and note (late 14th
or early 15th century).
[8] Both are illustrated in F. Bock, _Die Kleinodien_.
[9] Some embroideries from vestments, designed by Pollaiuolo, are
still preserved in the Museo dell' Opera del Duomo, Florence.
[10] Others, sometimes with the same illustrations, appeared in
France and Germany, and no doubt forwarded the general tendency
towards Italian models at the time. A few pattern-books were also
published in England.
EMBRUN, a town in the department of the Hautes Alpes in S.E. France. It
is built at a height of 2854 ft. on a plateau that rises above the right
bank of the Durance. It is 27½ m. by rail from Briançon and 24 m. from
Gap. Its ramparts were demolished in 1884. In 1906 the communal pop.
(including the garrison) was 3752. Besides the Tour Brune (11th century)
and the old archiepiscopal palace, now occupied by government offices,
barracks, &c., the chief object of interest in Embrun is its splendid
cathedral church, which dates from the second half of the 12th century.
Above its side door, called the _Réal_, there existed till 1585 (when it
was destroyed by the Huguenots) a fresco, probably painted in the 13th
century, representing the Madonna: this was the object of a celebrated
pilgrimage for many centuries. Louis XI. habitually wore on his hat a
leaden image of this Madonna, for which he had a very great veneration,
since between 1440 and 1461, during the lifetime of his father, he had
been the dauphin, and as such ruler of this province.
Embrun was the _Eburodunum_ or _Ebredunum_ of the Romans, and the chief
town of the province of the Maritime Alps. The episcopal see was founded
in the 4th century, and became an archbishopric about 800. In 1147 the
archbishops obtained from the emperor Conrad III. very extensive
temporal rights, and the rank of princes of the Holy Roman Empire. In
1232 the county of the Embrunais passed by marriage to the dauphins of
Viennois. In 1791 the archiepiscopal see was suppressed, the region
being then transferred to the diocese of Gap, so that the once
metropolitan cathedral church is now simply a parish church. The town
was sacked in 1585 by the Huguenots and in 1692 by the duke of Savoy.
Henri Arnaud (1641-1721), the Waldensian pastor and general, was born at
Embrun.
See A. Albert, _Histoire du diocèse d'Embrun_ (2 vols., Embrun, 1783);
M. Fornier, _Histoire générale des Alpes Maritimes ou Cottiennes et
particulière de leur métropolitaine Embrun_ (written 1626-1643),
published by the Abbé Paul Guillaume (3 vols., Paris and Gap,
1890-1891); A. Fabre, _Recherches historiques sur le pèlerinage des
rois de France à N.D. d'Embrun_ (Grenoble, 1859); A. Sauret, _Essai
historique sur la ville d'Embrun_ (Gap, 1860). (W. A. B. C.)
EMBRYOLOGY. The word embryo is derived from the Gr. [Greek: embryon],
which signified the fruit of the womb before birth. In its strict sense,
therefore, embryology is the study of the intrauterine young or embryo,
and can only be pursued in those animals in which the offspring are
retained in the uterus of the mother until they have acquired, or nearly
acquired, the form of the parent. As a matter of fact, however, the word
has a much wider application than would be gathered from its derivation.
All animals above the Protozoa undergo at the beginning of their
existence rapid growth and considerable changes of form and structure.
During these changes, which constitute the development of the animal,
the young organism may be incapable of leading a free life and obtaining
its own food. In such cases it is either contained in the body of the
parent or it is protruded and lies quiescent within the egg membranes;
or it may be capable of leading an independent life, possessing in a
functional condition all the organs necessary for the maintenance of its
existence. In the former case the young organism is called an
_embryo_,[1] in the latter a _larva_. It might thus be concluded that
embryology would exclude the study of larvae, in which the whole or the
greater part of the development takes place outside the parent and
outside the egg. But this is not the case; embryology includes not only
a study of embryos as just defined, but also a study of larvae. In this
way the scope of the subject is still further widened. As long as
embryology confines its attention to embryos, it is easy to fix its
limits, at any rate in the higher animals. The domain of embryology
ceases in the case of viviparous animals at birth, in the case of
oviparous animals at hatching; it ceases as soon as the young form
acquires the power of existing when separated from the parent, or when
removed from the protection of the egg membranes. But as soon as
post-embryonic developmental changes are admitted within the scope of
the subject, it becomes on close consideration difficult to limit its
range. It must include all the developmental processes which take place
as a result of sexual reproduction. A man at birth, when he ceases to be
an embryo, has still many changes besides those of simple growth to pass
through. The same remark applies to a young frog at the metamorphosis. A
chick even, which can run about and feed almost immediately after
hatching, possesses a plumage very different from that of the full-grown
bird; a starfish at the metamorphosis is in many of its features quite
different from the form with which we are familiar. It might be
attempted to meet this difficulty by limiting embryology to a study of
all those changes which occur in the organism before the attainment of
the adult state. But this merely shifts the difficulty to another
quarter, and makes it necessary to define what is meant by the adult
state. At first sight this may seem easy, and no doubt it is not
difficult when man and the higher animals alone are in question, for in
these the adult state may be defined comparatively sharply as the stage
of sexual maturity. After that period, though changes in the organism
still continue, they are retrogressive changes, and as such might fairly
be excluded from any account of development, which clearly implies
progression, not retrogression. But, as so often happens in the study of
organisms, formulae which apply quite satisfactorily to one group
require modifications when others are considered. Does sexual maturity
always mark the attainment of the adult state? Is the Axolotl adult when
it acquires its reproductive organs? Can a larval Ctenophore, which
acquires functional reproductive glands and still possesses the power of
passing into the form ordinarily described as adult in that group, be
considered to have reached the end of its development? Or--to take the
case of those animals, such as _Amphioxus_, _Balanoglossus_, and many
segmented worms in which important developmental processes occur, e.g.
formation of new gill slits, of gonadial sacs, or even of whole segments
of the body, long after the power of reproduction has been acquired--how
is the attainment of the adult state to be defined, for it is clear that
in them the attainment of sexual maturity does not correspond with the
end of growth and development? If, then, embryology is to be regarded as
including not only the study of embryos, but also that of larvae, i.e.
if it includes the study of the whole developmental history of the
individual--and it is impossible to treat the subject rationally unless
it is so regarded--it becomes exceeding difficult to fix any definite
limit to the period of life with which embryology concerns itself. The
beginning of this period can be fixed, but not the end, unless it be the
end of life itself, i.e. death. The science of embryology, then, is the
science of individual development, and includes within its purview all
those changes of form and structure, whether embryonic, larval or
post-larval, which characterize the life of the individual. The
beginning of this period is precise and definite--it is the completion
of the fertilization of the ovum, in which the life of the individual
has its start. The end, on the other hand, is vague and cannot be
precisely defined, unless it be death, in which case the period of life
with which embryology concerns itself is coincident with the life of the
individual. To use the words of Huxley ("Cell Theory," _Collected
Works_, vol. i. p. 267): "Development, therefore, and life are, strictly
speaking, one thing, though we are accustomed to limit the former to the
progressive half of life merely, and to speak of the retrogressive
half as decay, considering an imaginary resting-point between the two as
the adult or perfect state."
Reproduction.
There are two kinds of reproduction, the sexual and the asexual. The
sexual method has for its results an increase of the number of kinds of
individual or organism, whereas the asexual affords an increase in the
number of individuals of the same kind. If the asexual method of
reproduction alone existed, there would, so far as our knowledge at
present extends, be no increase in the number of kinds of organism: no
new individuality could arise. The first establishment of a new kind of
individual by the sexual process is effected in a very similar manner in
all Metazoa. The parent produces by a process of unequal fission, which
takes place at a part of the body called the reproductive gland, a small
living organism called the reproductive cell. There are always two kinds
of reproductive cells, and these are generally produced by different
animals called the male and female respectively (when they are produced
by the same animal it is said to be hermaphrodite). The reproductive
cell produced by the male is called the spermatozoon, and that produced
by the female, the ovum. These two organisms agree in being small
uninucleated masses of protoplasm, but differ considerably in form. They
are without the organs of nutrition, &c., which characterize their
parents, but the ovum nearly always possesses, stored up within its
protoplasm, a greater or less quantity of vitelline matter or food-yolk,
while the spermatozoon possesses in almost all cases the power of
locomotion. The object with which these two minute and simple organisms
are produced is to fuse with one another and give rise to one resultant
uninucleated (for the nuclei fuse) organism or cell, which is called the
_zygote_. This process of fusion between the two kinds of reproductive
cells, which are termed _gametes_, is called conjugation: it is the
process which is sometimes spoken of as the fertilization of the ovum,
and its result is the establishment of a new individual. This new
individual at first is simply a uninucleated mass of living matter,
which always contains a certain amount of food-yolk, and is generally
bounded by a delicate cuticular membrane called the vitelline membrane.
In form the newly established zygote resembles the female gamete or
ovum--so much so, indeed, that it is frequently called the ovum; but it
must be clearly understood that although the bulk of its matter has been
derived from the ovum, it consists of ovum and spermatozoon, and, as
shown by its subsequent behaviour, the spermatozoon has quite as much to
do with determining its vital properties as the ovum.
To the unaided eye the main difference between the newly formed
zygotes of different species of animals is that of bulk, and this is
due to the amount of food-yolk held in suspension in the protoplasm.
The ovum of the fowl is 30 mm. in diameter, that of the frog 1·75 mm.,
while the ova of the rabbit and _Amphioxus_ have a diameter of ·l mm.
The food-yolk is deposited in the ovum as a result of the vital
activity of its protoplasm, while the ovum is still a part of the
ovary of the parent. It is an inert substance which is used as food
later on by the developing embryo, and it acts as a dilutant of the
living matter of the ovum. It has a profound influence on the
subsequent developmental process. The newly formed zygotes of
different species of animals have undoubtedly, as staved above, a
certain family resemblance to one another; but however great this
superficial resemblance may be, the differences must be most profound,
and this fact becomes at once obvious when the properties of these
remarkable masses of matter are closely investigated.
Causes of development.
As in the case of so many other forms of matter, the more important
properties of the zygote do not become apparent until it is submitted to
the action of external forces. These forces constitute the external
conditions of existence, and the properties which are called forth by
their action are called the acquired characters of the organism. The
investigation of these properties, particularly of those which are
called forth in the early stages of the process, constitutes the science
of Embryology. With regard to the manifestation of these properties,
certain points must be clearly understood at the outset:--(1) If the
zygote is withheld from the appropriate external influences, e.g. if a
plant-seed be kept in a box free from moisture or at a low temperature,
no properties are evolved, and the zygote remains apparently unchanged;
(2) the acquisition of the properties which constitutes the growth and
development of the organism proceeds in a perfectly definite sequence,
which, so far as is known, cannot be altered; (3) just as the features
of the growing organism change under the continued action of the
external conditions, so the external conditions themselves must change
as the organism is progressively evolved. With regard to this last
change, it may be said generally that it is usually, if not always,
effected by the organism itself, making use of the properties which it
has acquired at earlier stages of its growth, and acting in response to
the external conditions. There is, to use a phrase of Mr Herbert
Spencer, a continuous adjustment between the external and internal
relations. For every organism a certain succession of conditions is
necessary if the complete and normal evolution of properties is to take
place. Within certain limits, these conditions may vary without
interfering with the normal evolution of the properties, though such
variations are generally responded to by slight but unimportant
variation of the properties (variation of acquired characters). But if
the variation of the conditions is too great, the evolved properties
become abnormal, and are of such a nature as to preclude the normal
evolution of the organism; in other words, the action of the conditions
upon the organism is injurious, causing abortions and, ultimately,
death. For many organisms the conditions of existence are well known for
all stages of life, and can be easily imitated, so that they can be
reared artificially and kept alive and made to breed in
confinement--e.g. the common fowl. But in a large number of cases it is
not possible, through ignorance of the proper conditions, or on account
of the difficulty of imitating them, to make the organism evolve all its
properties. For instance, there are many marine larvae which have never
been reared beyond a certain point, and there are some organisms which,
even when nearly full-grown--a stage of life at which it is generally
most easy to ascertain and imitate the natural conditions--will not
live, or at any rate will not breed, in captivity. Of late years some
naturalists have largely occupied themselves with experimental
observation of the effects on certain organisms of marked and definite
changes of the conditions, and the name of Developmental Mechanics (or
_Physiology of Development_) has been applied to this branch of study
(see below).
Gametogeny.
In normal fertilization, as a rule, only one spermatozoon fuses with
the ovum. It has been observed in some eggs that a membrane, formed
round the ovum immediately after the entrance of the spermatozoon,
prevents the entrance of others. If than one spermatozoon enters, a
corresponding number of male pronuclei are formed, and the subsequent
development, if it takes place at all, is abnormal and soon ceases. An
egg by ill-treatment (influence of chloroform, carbonic acid, &c.) can
be made to take more than one spermatozoon. In some animals it appears
that several spermatozoa may normally enter the ovum (some Arthropoda,
Selachians, Amphibians and Mammals), but of these only one forms a
male pronucleus (see below), the rest being absorbed. Gametogeny is
the name applied to the formation of the gametes, i.e. of the ova and
spermatozoa. The cells of the reproductive glands are the germ cells
(_oögonia_, _spermatogonia_). They undergo division and give rise to
the progametes, which in the case of the female are sometimes called
_oöcytes_, in the case of the male _spermatocytes_. The oöcytes are
more familiarly called the ovarian ova. The nucleus of the oöcyte is
called the germinal vesicle. The oöcyte (progamete) gives rise by
division to the ovum or true gamete, the nucleus of which is called
the _female pronucleus_. As a general rule the oöcyte divides
unequally twice, giving rise to two small cells called polar bodies,
and to the ovum. The first formed polar body frequently divides when
the oöcyte undergoes its second and final division, so that there are
three polar bodies as well as the ovum resulting from the division of
the oöcyte or progamete. Sometimes the ovum arises from the oöcyte by
one division only, and there is only one polar body (e.g. mouse,
Sobotta, _Arch. f. mikr. Anat., 1895_, p. 15). The polar bodies are
oval, but as a rule they are so small as to be incapable of
fertilization. They may therefore be regarded as abortive ova. In one
case, however (see Francotte, _Bull. Acad. Belg._ (3), xxxiii., 1897,
p. 278), the first formed polar body is nearly as large as the ovum,
and is sometimes fertilized and develops. The spermatogonia are the
cells of the testis; these produce by division the spermatocytes
(progametes), which divide and give rise to the spermatids. In most
cases which have been investigated the divisions by which the
spermatids arise from the spermatocytes are two in number, so that
each spermatocyte gives origin to four spermatids. Each spermatid
becomes a functional spermatozoon or male gamete. The gametogeny of
the male therefore closely resembles that of the female, differing
from it only in the fact that all the four products of the progamete
become functional gametes, whereas in the female only one, the ovum,
becomes functional, the other three (polar bodies) being abortive. In
the spermatogenesis of the bee, however, the spermatocyte only divides
once, giving rise to a small polar-body-like structure and one
spermatid (Meves, _Anat. Anzeiger_, 24, 1904, pp. 29-32). The nucleus
of the male gamete is not called the male pronucleus, as would be
expected, that term being reserved for the second nucleus which
appears in the ovum after fertilization. As this is in all probability
derived entirely from the nucleus of the spermatozoon, we should be
almost justified in calling the nucleus of the spermatozoon the male
pronucleus. In most forms in which the formation of the gametes from
the progamete has been accurately followed, and in which the progamete
of both sexes divides twice in forming the gametes, the division of
the nucleus presents certain peculiarities. In the first place,
between the first division and the second it does not enter into the
resting state, but immediately proceeds to the second division. In the
second place, the number of chromosomes which appear in the final
divisions of the progametes and assist in constituting the nuclei of
the gametes is half the number which go to constitute the new nuclei
in the ordinary nuclear divisions of the animal. The number of
chromosomes of the nucleus of the gamete is therefore reduced, and the
divisions by which the gametes arise from the progametes are called
reducing (_maiotic_) divisions. It is not certain, however, that this
phenomenon is of universal occurrence, or has the significance which
is ordinarily attributed to it. In the parthenogenetic ova of certain
insects, e.g. _Rhodites rosae_ (Henking), _Nematus lacteus_
(Doncaster, _Quart. Journal Mic. Science_, 49, 1906, pp. 561-589),
reduction does not occur, though two polar bodies are formed.
Fertilization.
As soon as the spermatozoon has conjugated with the ovum, a second
nucleus appears in the ovum. This is undoubtedly derived from the
spermatozoon, possibly from its nucleus only, and is called the male
pronucleus. It possesses in the adjacent protoplasm a well-marked
centrosome. The general rule appears to be that the female pronucleus
is without a centrosome, and that no centrosome appears in the female
in the divisions by which the gamete arises from the progamete. If
this is true, the centrosome of the zygote nucleus must be entirely
derived from that of the male pronucleus. This accounts for the fact,
which has been often observed, that the female pronucleus is not
surrounded by protoplasmic radiations, whereas such radiations are
present round the male pronucleus in its approach to the female. In
the mouse the subsequent events are as follow:--Both pronuclei assume
the resting form, the chromatin being distributed over the nuclear
network, and the nuclei come to lie side by side in the centre of the
egg. A long loop of chromatin then appears in each nucleus and divides
up into twelve pieces, the chromosomes. The centrosome now divides,
the membranes of both nuclei disappear, and a spindle is formed. The
twenty-four chromosomes arrange themselves at the centre of this
spindle and split longitudinally, so that forty-eight chromosomes are
formed. Twenty-four of these, twelve male and twelve female, as it is
supposed, travel to each pole of the spindle and assist in giving rise
to the two nuclei. At the next nuclear division twenty-four
chromosomes appear in each nucleus, each of which divides
longitudinally; and so in all subsequent divisions. The fusion of the
two pronuclei is sometimes effected in a manner slightly different
from that described for the mouse. In _Echinus_, for instance, the two
pronuclei fuse, and the spindle and chromosomes are formed from the
zygote nucleus, whereas in the mouse the two pronuclei retain their
distinctness during the formation of the chromosomes. There appears,
however, to be some variation in this respect: cases have been
observed in the mouse in which fusion of the pronuclei occurs before
the separation of the chromosomes.
Parthenogenesis.
Parthenogenesis, or development of the female gamete without
fertilization, is known to occur in many groups of the animal kingdom.
Attempts have been made to connect this phenomenon with peculiarities
in the gametogeny. For instance, it has been said that parthenogenetic
ova form only one polar body. But, as we have seen, this is sometimes
the case in eggs which are fertilized, and parthenogenetic ova are
known which form two polar bodies, e.g. ova of the honey-bee which
produce drones (_Morph. Jahrb._ xv., 1889, p. 85). ova of Rotifera
which produce males (_Zool. Anzeiger_, xx., 1897, p. 455), ova of some
saw-flies and gall flies which produce females (L. Doncaster, _Quart.
Journ. Mic. Sc._, 49, 1906, pp. 561-589). Again it has been asserted
that in parthenogenetic eggs the polar bodies are not extruded from
the ovum; in such cases, though the nucleus divides, those of its
products which would in other cases be extruded in polar bodies remain
in the protoplasm of the ovum. But this is not a universal rule, for
in some cases of parthenogenesis polar bodies are extruded in the
usual way (_Aphis_, some Lepidoptera), and in some fertilized eggs the
polar bodies are retained in the ovum.
It is quite probable that parthenogenesis is more common than has been
supposed, and it appears that there is some evidence to show that ova,
which in normal conditions are incapable of developing without
fertilization, may yet develop if subjected to an altered
environment. For instance, it has been asserted that the addition of a
certain quantity of chloride of magnesium and other substances to
sea-water will cause the unfertilized ova of certain marine animals
(_Arbacia_, _Chaetopterus_) to develop (J. Loeb, _American Journal of
Physiology_, ix., 1901, p. 423); and according to M.Y. Delage
(_Comptes rendus_, 135, 1902. Nos. 15 and 16) such development may
occur after the formation of polar bodies, the chromosomes undergoing
reduction and the full number being regained in the segmenting stage.
These experiments, if authenticated, suggest that ova have the power
of development, but are not able to exercise it in their normal
surroundings. There is reason to believe that the same assertion may
be made of spermatozoa. Phenomena of the nature of parthenogenesis
have never been observed in the male gamete, but it has been suggested
by A. Giard (_Cinquantenaire de la Soc. de Biol._, 1900) that the
phenomenon of the so-called fertilization of an enucleated ovum which
has been described by T. Boveri and Delage in various eggs, and which
results in development up to the larval form (_merogony_), is in
reality a case in which the male gamete, unable to undergo development
in ordinary circumstances on account of its small size and
specialization of structure has obtained a nutritive environment which
enables it to display its latent power of development. Moreover, A.M.
Giard suggests that in some cases of apparently normal fertilization
one of the pronuclei may degenerate, the resultant embryo being the
product of one pronucleus only. In this way he explains certain cases
of hybridization in which the paternal (rarely the maternal) type is
exclusively reproduced. For instance, in the batrachiate Amphibia,
Héron Royer succeeded in 1883 in rearing, out of a vast number of
attempts, a few hybrids between a female _Pelobates fuscus_ and a male
_Rana fusca_; the product was a _Rana fusca_. He also crossed a female
_Bufo vulgaris_ with a male _Bufo calamita_; in the few cases which
reached maturity the product was obviously a _Bufo calamita_. Finally,
H.E. Ziegler (_Arch. f. Ent.-Mech._, 1898, p. 249) divided the
just-fertilized ovum of a sea-urchin in such a way that each half had
one pronucleus; the half with the male pronucleus segmented and formed
a blastula, the other degenerated. It is said that in a few species of
animals males do not occur, and that parthenogenesis is the sole means
of reproduction (a species of Ostracoda among Crustacea; species of
Tenthredinidae, Cynipidae and Coccidae among Insecta); this is the
thelytoky of K.T.E. von Siebold. The number of species in which males
are unknown is constantly decreasing, and it is quite possible that
the phenomenon does not exist. Parthenogenesis, however, is
undoubtedly of frequent occurrence, and is of four kinds, namely, (1)
that in which males alone are produced, e.g. honey-bees
(_arrhenotoky_); (2) that in which females only are produced
(_thelytoky_), as in some saw-flies; (3) that in which both sexes are
produced (_deuterotoky_), as in some saw-flies; (4) that in which
there is an alternation of sexual and parthenogenetic generations, as
in Aphidae, many Cynipidae, &c. It would appear that "parthenogenesis
does not favour the production of one sex more than another, but it is
clear that it decidedly favours the production of a brood that is
entirely of one sex, but which sex that is differs according to
circumstances" (D. Sharp, _Cambridge Natural History_, "Insects," pt.
i. p. 498). In some Insecta and Crustacea exceptional parthenogenesis
occurs: a certain proportion of the eggs laid are capable of
undergoing either the whole or a part of development
parthenogenetically, e.g. _Bombyx mori_, &c. (A. Brauer, _Arch. f.
mikr. Anat._, 1893; consult also E. Maupas on parthenogenesis of
Rotifera, _Comp. rend._, 1889-1891, and R. Lauterborn, _Biol.
Centralblatt_, xviii., 1898, p. 173).
Determination of sex.
The question of the determination of sex may be alluded to here. Is
sex determined at the act of conjugation of the two gametes? Is it, in
other words, an unalterable property of the zygote, a genetic
character? Or does it depend upon the conditions to which the zygote
is subjected in its development? In other words, is it an acquired
character? It is impossible in the present state of knowledge to
answer these questions satisfactorily, but the balance of evidence
appears to favour the view that sex is an unalterable, inborn
character. Thus those twins which are believed to come from a split
zygote are always of the same sex, members of the same litter which
have been submitted to exactly similar conditions are of different
sexes, and all attempts to determine the sex of offspring in the
higher animals by treatment have failed. On the other hand, the male
bee is a portion of a female zygote--the queen-bee. The same remark
applies to the male Rotifer, in which the zygote always gives rise to
a female, from which the male arises parthenogenetically, but in these
cases it does not appear that the production of males is in any way
affected by external conditions (see R.C. Punnett, _Proc. Royal Soc._,
78 B, 1906, p. 223). It is said that in human societies the number of
males born increases after wars and famines, but this, if true, is
probably due to an affection of the gametes and not of the young
zygote. For a review of the whole subject see L. Cuénot, _Bull. sci.
France et Belgique_, xxxii., 1899, pp. 462-535.
Cleavage.
The first change the zygote undergoes in all animals is what is
generally called the segmentation or cleavage of the ovum. This consists
essentially of the division of the nucleus into a number of nuclei,
around which the protoplasm sooner or later becomes arranged in the
manner ordinarily spoken of as cellular. This division of the nucleus is
effected by the process called binary fission; that is to say, it first
divides into two, then each of these divides simultaneously again into
two, giving four nuclei; each of these after a pause again
simultaneously divides into two. So the process continues for some time
until the ovum becomes possessed of a large number of nuclei, all of
which have proceeded from the original nucleus by a series of binary
fissions. This division of the nucleus, which constitutes the essential
part of the cleavage of the ovum, continues through the whole of life,
but it is only in the earliest period that it is distinguished by a
distinct name and used to characterize a stage of development. The
nuclear division of cleavage is usually at first a rhythmical process;
all the nuclei divide simultaneously, and periods of nuclear activity
alternate with periods of rest. Nuclear divisions may be said to be of
three kinds, according to the accompanying changes in the surrounding
protoplasm: (1) accompanied by no visible change, e.g. the
multinucleated Protozoon _Actinosphaerium_; (2) accompanied by a
rearrangement of the protoplasm around each nucleus, but not by its
division into two separate masses, e.g. the division which results in
the formation of a colony of Protozoa; (3) accompanied by the division
of the protoplasm into two parts, so that two distinct cells result,
e.g. the divisions by which the free wandering leucocytes are produced,
the reproduction of uninuclear Protozoa, &c. In the cleavage of the ovum
the first two of these methods of division are found, but probably not
the third. At one time it was thought that the nuclear divisions of
cleavage were always of the third kind, and the result of cleavage was
supposed to be a mass of isolated cells, which became reunited in the
subsequent development to give rise to the later connexion between the
tissues which were known to exist. But in 1885 it was noticed that in
the ovum of _Peripatus capensis_ (A. Sedgwick, _Quart. Journ. Mic.
Science_, xxv., 1885, p. 449) the extra-nuclear protoplasm did not
divide in the cleavage of the ovum, but merely became rearranged round
the increasing nuclei; the continuity of the protoplasm was not broken,
but persisted into the later stages of growth, and gave rise to the
tissue-connexions which undoubtedly exist in the adult. This discovery
was of some importance, because it rendered intelligible the unity of
the embryo so far as its developmental processes are concerned, the
maintenance of this unity being somewhat surprising on the previous
view. On further inquiry and examination it was found that the ova of
many other animals presented a cleavage essentially similar to that of
_Peripatus_. Indeed, it was found that the nuclear divisions of cleavage
were of the first two kinds just described. In some eggs, e.g. the
Alcyonaria, the first nuclear divisions are effected on the first plan,
i.e. they take place without at first producing any visible effect upon
the protoplasm of the egg. But in the later stages of cleavage the
protoplasm becomes arranged around each nucleus and related to it as to
a centre. In the majority of eggs, however, the protoplasm, though not
undergoing complete cleavage, becomes rearranged round each nucleus as
these are formed. The best and clearest instance of this is afforded by
many Arthropodan eggs, in which the nucleus of the just-formed zygote
takes up a central position, where it undergoes its first division,
subsequent divisions taking place entirely within the egg and not in any
way affecting its exterior. The result is to give rise to a nucleated
network or foam-work of protoplasm, ramifying through the yolk-particles
and containing these in its meshes.
In other Arthropodan eggs the cleavage is on the so-called
centrolecithal type, in which the dividing nuclei pass to the cortex of
the ovum, and the surface of the ovum becomes indented with grooves
corresponding to each nucleus. In this kind of cleavage all the
so-called segments are continuous with the central undivided yolk-mass.
It sometimes happens that in Arthropods the egg breaks up into masses,
which cannot be said to have the value of cells, as they are frequently
without nuclei. In other eggs, characterized by a considerable amount of
yolk, e.g. the ova of Cephalopoda, and of the Vertebrata with much yolk,
the first nucleus takes up an eccentric position in a small patch of
protoplasm which is comparatively free from yolk-particles. This patch
is the germinal disc, and the nuclear divisions are confined to it and
to the transitional region, where it merges into the denser yolk which
makes up the bulk of the egg. At the close of segmentation the germinal
disc consists of a number of nuclei, each surrounded by its own mass of
protoplasm, which is, however, not separated from the protoplasm round
the neighbouring nuclei, as was formerly supposed, but is continuous at
the points of contact. In this manner the germinal disc has become
converted into the blastoderm, which consists of a small
watch-glass-shaped mass of so-called cells resting on, but continuous
with, the large yolk-mass. It is characteristic of this kind of ovum
that there is always a row of nuclei, called the yolk-nuclei, placed in
the denser yolk immediately adjacent to the blastoderm. These nuclei are
continually undergoing division, one of the products of division,
together with a little of the sparse yolk protoplasm, passing into the
blastoderm to reinforce it (so-called formative cells). The other
product of the dividing yolk-nuclei remains in the yolk, in readiness
for the next division. In this manner nucleated masses of protoplasm are
continually being added to the periphery of the blastoderm and assisting
in its growth. But it must be borne in mind that all the nucleated
masses of which the blastoderm consists are in continuity with each
other and with the sparse protoplasmic reticulum of the subjacent yolk.
In the great majority of eggs, then, the nuclear division of cleavage is
not accompanied by a complete division of the ovum into separate cells,
but only by a rearrangement of the protoplasm, which produces, indeed,
the so-called cellular arrangement, and an appearance only of separate
cells. But there still remain to be mentioned those small eggs in which
the amount of yolk is inconsiderable, and in which division of the
nuclei does appear to be accompanied by a complete division of the
surrounding protoplasm into separate unconnected cells--ova of many
Annelida, Mollusca, Echinoderma, &c., and of Mammalia amongst
Vertebrata. In the case of these also (G.F. Andrews, _Zool. Bulletin_,
ii., 1898) it has been shown that the apparently separate spheres are
connected by a number of fine anastomosing threads of a hyaline
protoplasm, which are not easy to detect and are readily destroyed by
the action of reagents. It is therefore probable that the divisions of
the nuclei in cleavage are in no case accompanied by complete division
of the surrounding protoplasm, and the organism in the cleavage stage is
a continuous whole, as it is in all the other stages of its existence.
Division of embryo.
Of late years a great number of experiments have been made to discover
the effects of dividing the embryo during its cleavage, and of
destroying certain portions of it. These experiments have been made with
the object of testing the view, held by some authorities, that certain
segments are already set apart in cleavage to give rise to certain adult
organs, so that if they were destroyed the organs in question could not
be developed. The results obtained have not borne out this view.
Speaking generally, it may be said that they have been different
according to the stage at which the separation was effected and the
conditions under which the experiment was carried out. If the experiment
be made at a sufficiently early stage, each part, if not too small, will
develop into a normal, though small, embryo. In some cases the embryo
remained imperfect for a certain time after the experiment, but the loss
is eventually made good by regeneration. (For a summary of the work done
on this subject see R.S. Bergh, _Zool. Centralblatt_, vii., 1900, p. 1.)
The layer theory.
The end of cleavage is marked by the commencement of the differentiation
of the organs. The first differentiation is the formation of the layers.
These are three in number, being called respectively the ectoderm,
endoderm and mesoderm, or, in embryos in which at their first appearance
they lie like sheets one above the other, the epiblast, hypoblast and
mesoblast. The layers are sometimes spoken of as the primary organs, and
their importance lies in the fact that they are supposed to be generally
homologous throughout the series of the Metazoa. This view, which is
based partly on their origin and partly on their fate, had great
influence on the science of comparative anatomy during the last thirty
years of the 19th century, for the homology of the layers being admitted,
they afforded a kind of final court of appeal in determining questions of
doubtful homologies between adult organs. Great importance was therefore
attached to them by embryologists, and both their mode of development and
the part which they play in forming the adult organs were examined with
the greatest care. It is very unusual for all the layers to be
established at the same time. As a general rule the ectoderm and
endoderm, which may be called the primary layers, come first, and later
the mesoderm is developed from one or other of them. There are two main
methods in which the first two are differentiated--invagination and
delamination. The former is generally found in small eggs, in which the
embryo at the close of cleavage assumes the form of a sphere, having a
fluid or gelatinous material in its centre, and bounded externally by a
thin layer of protoplasm, in which all the nuclei are contained. Such a
sphere is called a blastosphere, and may be regarded as a spherical mass
of protoplasm, of which the central portion is so much vacuolated that it
seems to consist entirely of fluid. The central part of the blastosphere
is called the segmentation cavity or blastocoel. The blastosphere soon
gives rise, by the invagination of one part of its wall upon the other,
and a consequent obliteration of the segmentation cavity, to a
double-walled cup with a wide opening, which, however, soon becomes
narrowed to a small pore. This cup-stage is called the gastrula stage;
the outer wall of the gastrula is the ectoderm, and its inner the
endoderm; while its cavity is the enteron, and the opening to the
exterior the blastopore. Origin of the primary layers by delamination
occurs universally in eggs with large yolks (Cephalopoda and many
Vertebrata), and occasionally in others. In it cleavage gives rise to a
solid mass, which divides by delamination into two layers, the ectoderm
and endoderm. The main difference between the two methods of development
lies in the fact that in the first of them the endoderm at its first
origin shows the relations which it possesses in the adult, namely, of
forming the epithelial wall of the enteric space, whereas in the second
method the endoderm is at first a solid mass, in which the enteric space
makes its appearance later by excavation. In the delaminate method the
enteric space is at first without a blastopore, and sometimes it never
acquires this opening, but a blastopore is frequently formed, and the
two-layered gastrula stage is reached, though by a very different route
from that taken in the formation of the invaginate gastrula. According to
the layer-theory, these two layers are homologous throughout the series
of Metazoa; their limits can always be accurately defined, they give rise
to the same organs in all cases, and the adult organs (excluding the
mesodermal organs) can be traced back to one or other of them with
absolute precision. Thus the ectoderm gives rise to the epidermis, to the
nervous system, and to the lining of the stomodaeum and proctodaeum, if
such parts of the alimentary canal are present. The endoderm, on the
other hand, gives rise to the lining of the enteron, and of the glands
which open into it.
Mesoderm.
So far as these two layers are concerned, and excluding the mesoderm, it
would appear that the layer-theory does apply in a very remarkable
manner to the whole of the Metazoa. But even here, when the actual facts
are closely scanned, there are found to be difficulties, which appear to
indicate that the theory may not perhaps be such an infallible guide as
it seems at first sight. Leaving out of consideration the case of the
Mammalia, in which the differentiation of the segmented ovum is not into
ectoderm and endoderm, and the case of the sponges, the most important
of these difficulties concern the stomodaeum and proctodaeum. The best
case to examine is that of _Peripatus capensis_, in which the blastopore
is at first a long slit, and gives rise to both the mouth and the anus
of the adult. Here there is always found at the lips of the blastopore,
and extending for a short distance inwards as enteric lining, a certain
amount of tissue, which by its characters must be regarded as ectoderm.
Now, in the closure of the blastopore between the mouth and anus, this
tissue, which at the mouth and anus develops into the lining of the
stomodaeum and proctodaeum, is left inside, and actually gives rise to
the median ventral epithelium of the alimentary canal. Hence the
development of _Peripatus capensis_ suggests the conclusion, if we
strictly apply the layer-theory, that a considerable portion of the true
mesenteron is lined by ectoderm, and is not homologous with the
corresponding portion of the mesenteron of other animals--a conclusion
which will on all hands be admitted to be absurd. The difficulties in
the application of the layer-theory become vastly greater when the
origin and fate of the mesoderm is considered. The mesoderm is, if we
may judge from the number of organs which are derived from it, much the
most important of the three layers. It generally arises later than the
others, and in its very origin presents difficulties to the theory,
which are much increased when we consider its history. It is generally,
though not always, developed from the endoderm, either as hollow
outgrowths containing prolongations of the enteric cavity, which become
the coelom, or as solid proliferations. But in some groups the mesoderm
is actually laid down in cleavage, and is present at the end of that
process. In others it is entirely derived from the ectoderm (_Peripatus
capensis_). In yet others it is partly derived from endoderm and partly
from ectoderm (primitive streak of amniotic Vertebrates). Finally, in
whatever manner the first rudiments are developed, it frequently
receives considerable reinforcements from one of the primary layers. For
instance, the structure known as the nerve crest of the vertebrate
embryo is not, as was formerly supposed, exclusively concerned with the
formation of the spinal nerves and ganglia, but contributes largely to
the mesoderm of the axial region of the body. This is particularly
clearly seen in the case of the anterior part of the head of
Elasmobranch and probably of other vertebrate embryos, where all the
mesoderm present is derived from the anterior part of the neural crest
(_Quart. Journ. Mic. Science_, xxxvii. p. 92).
The layer-theory, then, will not bear critical examination. It is clear,
both from their origin and history, that the layers or masses of cells
called ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm have not the same value in
different animals; indeed, it is misleading to speak of three layers. At
the most we can only speak of two, for the mesoderm is formed after the
others, has a composite origin, and has no more claim to be considered
an embryonic layer than has the rudiment of the central nervous system,
which in some animals, indeed, appears as soon as the mesoderm.
Arguments as to homology, based on derivation or non-derivation from the
same embryonic layer, have therefore in themselves but little value.
It has frequently been asserted that the reproductive cells are marked
off at a very early stage of the development (_Sagitta_, certain
Crustacea, _Scorpio_). Recently it has been asserted that in _Ascaris_
(T. Boveri, _Kuppfer's Festschrift_, 1899, p. 383) the reproductive
cells are set apart after the first cleavage, and that they can be
traced by certain peculiarities of their nuclei into the adult
reproductive glands.
Mesenchyme.
It has been already stated that the mesoderm is a composite tissue.
This fact is frequently conspicuous at its first establishment. In
many Coelomata it is present under two forms from the beginning. One
of these is epithelial in character, while the other has the form of a
network of protoplasm, with nuclei at the nodes. The former is called
simply epithelial mesoderm, the latter mesenchyme. Sometimes the
epithelial mesoderm is the first formed, and what little mesenchyme
there is is developed from it (_Amphioxus, Balanoglossus_, &c.)
Sometimes the mesenchyme is the first to arise, the epithelial
mesoderm developing from it (most, if not all, Vertebrates). Finally,
it sometimes happens that these two kinds of tissue arise separately
from one or other of the primary layers (Echinodermata). As already
hinted, in _Balanoglossus_ and _Amphioxus_ the whole of the mesoderm
of the body is at first in an epithelial condition, being developed as
an outgrowth of the gut-wall. In _Peripatus capensis_ also, and
possibly in other Arthropods, it has at first an intermediate form,
being derived from a primitive streak and not from the gut-wall, but
it rapidly assumes an epithelial structure, from which all the
mesodermal tissues are developed. In Annelids the bulk of the mesoderm
has at first a modified epithelial form similar to that of Arthropods,
but it is formed, not from a primitive streak, but from some peculiar
cells produced in cleavage, called pole-cells. In Annelids with
trochosphere larvae a certain amount of mesenchyme is formed at an
earlier stage and gives rise to the muscular bands of the young
larva. In Echinodermata a certain amount of mesenchyme appears before
the epithelial mesoderm, which is formed later as gut-diverticula. In
these forms the mesenchyme is said to arise as wandering amoeboid
cells, which are budded into the blastocoel by the endoderm just
before and during its invagination, but the writer has reason to
believe that this account of it does not quite describe what happens.
It would seem to be more probable that the mesenchyme arises in these
forms, as it certainly does in the case of the later-formed mesenchyme
of the Vertebrate embryo, as a protoplasmic outflow from its tissue of
origin, passing at first along the line of pre-existent protoplasmic
strands which traverse the blastocoel, and sending out at the same
time processes which branch and anastomose with neighbouring processes
(see E.W. MacBride, _Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc._, 1896, p. 153). In the
Vertebrata the whole of the mesoderm has at first the mesenchyme form.
Afterwards, when the body-cavity split appears, the bulk of it assumes
a kind of modified epithelial condition, which later on yields, by a
process of outflow very similar in its character to what has been
supposed to occur in the Echinoderm blastula, a considerable
mesenchyme of the reticulate character. Mesenchyme is the tissue which
in Vertebrate embryology has frequently been called embryonic
connective tissue. This name is no doubt due to the fact that it was
supposed to consist of isolated stellate cells. It is, however, in no
sense of the word connective tissue, because it gives rise to many
organs having nothing whatever to do with connective tissue. For
instance, in Vertebrata this tissue gives rise to nervous tissue,
blood-vessels, renal tubules, smooth muscular fibres, and other
structures, as well as to connective and skeletal tissues. The
Vertebrata, indeed, are remarkable for the fact that the epithelial
tissues of the so-called mesoderm, e.g. the epithelial lining of the
body-cavity, and of the renal tubules and urogenital tracts, all pass
through the mesenchymatous condition, whereas in _Amphioxus_,
_Balanoglossus_ and presumably _Sagitta_ and the Brachiopoda, all the
mesodermal tissues pass through the epithelial condition, most of the
mesodermal tissues of the adult retaining this condition permanently.
As has been implied in the above account, mesenchyme is usually formed
from epithelial mesoderm or from endoderm, or from tissue destined to
form endoderm. It is also sometimes formed from ectoderm, as in the
Vertebrata at the nerve crest and other places. In some Coelenterata
also it appears certain that the ectoderm does furnish tissue of a
mesenchymatous nature which passes into the jelly, but this phenomenon
takes place comparatively late in life, at any rate after the
embryonic period. In this connexion it may be interesting to point out
that in many Coelenterates all the tissues of the body retain
throughout life the epithelial condition, nothing comparable to
mesenchyme ever being formed.
Continuity of the layers.
Finally, before leaving this branch of the subject, the fact that the
three germinal layers are continuous with one another, and not isolated
masses of tissue, may be emphasized. Indeed, an embryo may be defined as
a multinucleated protoplasmic mass, in which the protoplasm at any
surface--whether internal or external--is in the form of a relatively
dense layer, while that in the interior is much vacuolated and reduced
to a more or less sparse reticulum, the nuclei either being exclusively
found in the surface protoplasm, or if the embryo has any bulk and the
internal reticulum is at all well developed, at the nodes of the
internal reticulum as well.
Mouth and anus.
The origin of some of the more important organs may now be considered.
It is a remarkable fact that the mouth and anus develop in the most
diverse ways in different groups, but as a rule either one or both of
them can be traced into relation with the blastopore, the history of
which must therefore be examined. In most, if not all, the great groups
of the animal kingdom, e.g. in Coelenterata, Annelida, Mollusca,
Vertebrata, and in Arthropoda, the blastopore or its representative is
placed on the neural surface of the body, and, as will be shown later
on, within the limits of the central nerve rudiment. Here it undergoes
the most diverse fate, even in members of the same group. For instance,
in _Peripatus capensis_ it extends as a slit along the ventral surface,
which closes up in the middle, but remains open at the two ends as the
permanent mouth and anus. In other Arthropods, though full details have
not yet in all cases been worked out, the following general statement
may be made:--A blastopore (certain Crustacea) or its representative is
formed on the neural surface of the embryo and always becomes closed,
the mouth and anus arising as independent perforations later. Here no
one would doubt the homology of the mouth and anus throughout the group;
yet within the limits of a single genus--_Peripatus_--they show the most
diverse modes of development. In Annelids the blastopore sometimes
becomes the mouth (most Chaetopoda); sometimes it becomes the anus
(_Serpula_); sometimes it closes up, giving rise to neither, though in
this case it may assume the form of a long slit along the ventral
surface before disappearing. In Mollusca its fate presents the same
variations as in Annelida. Now in these groups no zoologist would deny
the homology of the mouth and anus in the different forms, and yet how
very different is their history even in closely allied animals. How are
these apparently diverse facts to be reconciled? The only satisfactory
explanation which has been offered (Sedgwick, _Quart. J. Mic. Science_,
xxiv., 1884, p. 43) is that the blastopore is homologous in all the
groups mentioned, and is the representative of the original single
opening into the enteric cavity, such as at present characterizes the
Coelenterata. From it the mouth and anus have been derived, as is
indicated by its history in _Peripatus capensis_, and by the variability
in its behaviour in closely allied forms; such variability in its
subsequent history is due to its specialization as a larval organ, as a
result of which it has lost its capacity to give rise to both mouth and
anus, and sometimes to either.
That the blastopore does become specialized as a larval organ is
obvious in those cases in which it becomes transformed into the single
opening with which some larvae are, for a time at least, alone
provided, e.g. _Pilidium_, Echinoderm larvae, &c., and that larval
characters have been the principal causes of the form of embryonic
characters, strong reason to believe will be adduced later on. In the
Vertebrata the behaviour of the blastopore (anus of Rusconi) is also
variable in a very remarkable manner. As a rule it is slit-like in
form and closes completely, but in most cases one portion of it
remains open longer than the rest, as the neurenteric canal. In a few
forms (e.g. Newt, _Lepidosiren_, &c.) the very hindermost portion of
the slit-like blastopore remains permanently open as the anus, and
from such cases it can be shown that the neurenteric aperture (when
present) is derived from a portion of the blastopore just anterior to
its hindermost end. The words "hindermost" and "anterior" are used on
the assumption that the whole blastopore has retained its dorsal
position; as a matter of fact the hindermost part of it--the part
which persists or reopens as the anus--loses this position in the
course of development and becomes shifted on to the ventral surface.
This is clearly seen in _Lepidosiren_ (Kerr, _Phil. Trans._ cxcii.,
1900), in Elasmobranchii, and in Amniota (primitive streak). Moreover,
in _Lepidosiren_, and possibly in some other forms, the anus, i.e. the
hind end of the blastopore, is at first contained within the medullary
plate and bounded behind by the medullary folds. Later the portions of
the medullary plate in the neighbourhood of the anus completely
atrophy, and this relation is lost. This extension of the hind end of
the blastopore on to the ventral surface, and atrophy of the portion
of the medullary plate in relation with it, is a highly important
phenomenon, and one to which attention will be again called when the
relation of the mouth to the blastopore is being considered. The
remarkable fact about the Vertebrata, a feature which that group
shares in common with all other Chordata (_Amphioxus_, Tunicata,
Enteropneusta) and with the Echinodermata, is that the mouth has never
been traced into relation with the blastopore. For this reason, among
others, it has been held by some zoologists that the mouth of the
Vertebrata is not homologous with the mouth of such groups as the
Annelida, Arthropoda and Mollusca. But, as has been explained above,
in face of the extraordinary variability in the history of the mouth
and anus in these groups, this view cannot be regarded as in any way
established. On the contrary, there are distinct reasons for thinking
that the Vertebrate mouth is a derivate of the blastopore. In the
first place, in Elasmobranchii (Sedgwick, _Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._
xxxiii., 1892, p. 559), and in a less conspicuous form in other
vertebrate groups, the mouth has at first a slit-like form, extending
from the anterior end of the central nerve-tube backwards along the
ventral surface of the anterior part of the embryo. This slit-like
rudiment, recalling as it does the form which the blastopore assumes
in so many groups and in many Vertebrata, does suggest the view that
possibly the mouth of the Vertebrata may in reality be derived from a
portion of an originally long slit-like neural blastopore, which has
become extended anteriorly on to the ventral surface and has lost its
original relation to the nerve rudiment, as has undoubtedly happened
with the posterior part, which persists as the anus.
Central nervous system.
Of the other organs which develop from the two primary layers it is only
possible to notice here the central nervous system. This in almost all
animals develops from the ectoderm. In Cephalopods among Mollusca--the
development of which is remarkable from the almost complete absence of
features which are supposed to have an ancestral significance--and in
one or two other forms, it has been said to develop from the mesoderm;
but apart from these exceptional and perhaps doubtful cases, the
central nervous system of all embryos arises as thickenings of the
ectoderm, and in the groups above mentioned, namely, Annelida, Mollusca,
Arthropoda and Vertebrata, and probably others, from the ectoderm of the
blastoporal surface of the body. This surface generally becomes the
ventral surface, but in Vertebrata it becomes the dorsal. These
thickened tracts of ectoderm in _Peripatus_ and a few other forms can be
clearly seen to surround the blastopore. This relation is retained in
the adult in _Peripatus_, some Mollusca and some Nemertines, in which
the main lateral nerve cords are united behind the anus as well as in
front of the mouth; in other forms it cannot always be demonstrated, but
it can, as in the case of the Vertebrata just referred to, always be
inferred; only, in the Invertebrate groups the part of the nerve
rudiment which has to be inferred is the posterior part behind the
blastopore, whereas in Vertebrata it is the anterior part, namely, that
in front of the blastopore, assuming that the mouth is a blastoporal
derivate.
In the Echinodermata, Enteropneusta and one or two other groups, it is
not possible, in the present state of knowledge, to bring the mouth
into relation with the blastopore, nor can the blastopore be shown to
be a perforation of the neural surface. For the Echinoderms, at any
rate, this fact loses some of the importance which might at first
sight be attributed to it when the remarkable organization of the
adult and the sharp contrast which exists between it and the larva is
remembered. In some Annelids the central nervous system remains
throughout life as part of the outer epidermis, but as a general rule
it becomes separated from the epidermis and embedded in the mesodermal
tissues. The mode in which this separation is effected varies
according to the form and structure of the central nervous system. In
the Vertebrata, in which this organ has the form of a tube extending
along the dorsal surface of the body, it arises as a groove of the
medullary plate, which becomes constricted into a canal. The wall of
this canal consists of ectoderm, which at an earlier stage formed part
of the outer surface of the body, but which after invagination
thickens, to give rise to the epithelial lining of the canal and to
the nervous tissue which forms the bulk of the canal wall. The fact
that the blastopore remains open at the hind end of the medullary
plate explains to a certain extent the peculiar relation which always
exists in the embryo between the hind end of the neural and alimentary
canals. This communication between the hind end of the neural tube and
the gut is one of the most remarkable and constant features of the
Vertebrate embryo. As has been pointed out, it is not altogether
unintelligible when we remember the relation of the blastopore to the
medullary plate of the earlier stage, but to give a complete
explanation of it is, and probably always will be, impossible. It is
no doubt the impress of some remarkable larval condition of the
blastopore of a stage of evolution now long past.
In _Ceratodus_ the open part of the blastopore is enclosed by the
medullary folds, as in _Lepidosiren_, and probably persists as the
anus, the portion of the folds around the anus undergoing atrophy
(Semon, _Zool. Forschungsreisen in Australien_, 1893, Bd. i. p. 39).
In Urodeles the blastopore persists as anus, so far as is known, but
the relation to the medullary folds has not been noticed. The same may
be said of _Petromyzon_ (A.E. Shipley, _Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._
xxviii., 1887).
Cranial flexure.
The nerve tube of the Vertebrata at a certain early stage of the
embryo becomes bent ventralwards in its anterior portion, in such a
manner that the anterior end, which is represented in the adult by the
infundibulum, comes to project backwards beneath the mid-brain. This
bend, which is called the cranial flexure, takes place through the
mid-brain, so that the hind-brain is unaffected by it. The cranial
flexure is not, however, confined to the brain: the anterior end of
the notochord, which at first extends almost to the front end of the
nerve tube (this extension, which is quite obvious in the young embryo
of Elasmobranchs, becomes masked in the later stages by the
extraordinary modifications which the parts undergo), is also affected
by it. Moreover, it affects even other parts, as may be seen by the
oblique, almost antero-posterior, direction of the anterior gill slits
as compared with the transverse direction of those behind. No
satisfactory explanation has ever been offered of the cranial flexure.
It is found in all Vertebrates, and is effected at an early stage of
the development. In the later stages and in the adult it ceases to be
noticeable, on account of an alteration of the relative sizes of parts
of the brain. This is due almost entirely to the enormous growth of
the cerebral vesicle, which is an outgrowth of the dorsal wall of the
fore-brain just short of its anterior end. The anterior end of the
fore-brain remains relatively small throughout life as the
infundibulum, and the junction of this part of the fore-brain with the
part which is so largely developed, as the rudiment of the cerebrum,
is marked by the attachment of the optic chiasma. The optic nerve,
indeed, is morphologically the first cranial nerve, the olfactory
being the second; both are attached to what is morphologically the
dorsal side of the nerve tube. The morphological anterior end of the
central nerve tube is the point of the infundibulum which is in
contact with the pituitary body. While on the subject of the cranial
flexure, it may be pointed out that there is a similar downward curve
of the hind end of the nervous axis, which leads into the hind end of
the enteron. If it be supposed that originally there was a
communication between the infundibulum and pituitary body, then the
ventral flexure found at both ends of the nerve axis would originally
have had the same result, namely, of placing the neural and alimentary
canals in communication. Moreover, the mouth would have had much the
same relation to this imaginary anterior neurenteric canal that the
anus has to the actual posterior one.
In _Amphioxus_ and the Tunicata the early development of the central
nervous system is very much like that of the Vertebrata, but the later
stages are simpler, being without the cranial flexure. The Tunicata
are remarkable for the fact that the nervous system, though at first
hollow, becomes quite solid in the adult. In _Balanoglossus_ the
central nervous system is in part tubular, the canal being open at
each end. It arises, however, by delamination from the ectoderm, the
tube being a secondary acquisition. This is probably due to a
shortening of development, for the same feature is found in some
Vertebrata (Teleostei, _Lepidosteus_, &c.), where the central canal is
secondarily hollowed out in the solid keel-like mass which is
separated from the ectoderm. Parts of the central nervous system arise
by invagination in other groups; for instance, the cerebral ganglia of
_Dentalium_ are formed from the walls of two invaginations of
ectoderm, which eventually disappear at the anterior end of the body
(A. Kowalevsky, _Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Marseilles_, "Zoology," vol.
i.). In _Peripatus_ the cerebral ganglia arise in a similar way, but
in this case the cavities of the invagination become separated from
the skin and persist as two hollow appendages on the lower side of the
cerebral ganglia. In other Arthropods the cerebral ganglia arise in a
similar way, but the invaginations disappear in the adult. In
Nemertines the cerebral ganglia contain a cavity which communicates
with the exterior by a narrow canal. Finally, in certain Echinodermata
the ventral part of the central nervous system arises by the
invagination of a linear streak of ectoderm, the cavity of the
invagination persisting as the epineural canal.
Peripheral nervous system.
Although the central nervous system is almost always developed from the
ectoderm of the embryo, the same cannot be said of the peripheral nerve
trunks. These structures arise from the mesoblastic reticulum already
described (Sedgwick, _Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._ xxxvii. 92). Inasmuch as
this reticulum is perfectly continuous with the precisely similar though
denser tissue in the ectoderm and endoderm, it may well be that a
portion of the nerve trunks should be described as being ectodermal and
endodermal in origin, though the bulk of them are undoubtedly formed
from that portion of the reticulum commonly described as mesoblastic.
But, however that may be, the tissue from which the great nerve trunks
are developed is continuous on all sides with a similar tissue which
pervades all the organs of the body, and in which the nuclei of these
organs are contained.
In the early stages of development this tissue is very sparse and not
easily seen. It would appear, indeed, that it is of a very delicate
texture and readily destroyed by reagents. It is for this reason that
the layers of the Vertebrate embryo are commonly represented as being
quite isolated from one another, and that the medullary canal is
nearly always represented as being completely isolated at certain
stages from the surrounding tissues. In reality the layers are all
connected together by this delicate tissue--in a sparse form, it is
true--which not only extends between them, but also in a denser and
more distinct form pervades them. In the germinal layers themselves,
and in the organs developing from them, this tissue is in the young
stages almost entirely obscured by the densely packed nuclei which it
contains. For instance, in the wall of the medullary canal in the
Vertebrate embryo, in the splanchnic and somatic layers of mesoderm of
the same embryo, and in the developing nerve cords of the _Peripatus_
embryo, the nuclei are at first so densely crowded together that it is
almost impossible to see the protoplasmic framework in which they
rest, but as development proceeds this extra-nuclear tissue becomes
more largely developed, and the nuclei are forced apart, so that it
becomes visible and receives various names according to its position.
In the wall of the medullary canal of the Vertebrate embryo, on the
outside of which it becomes especially conspicuous in certain places,
and on the dorsal side of the developing nerve cords of the
_Peripatus_ embryo, it constitutes the white matter of the developing
nerve cord; in the mesoblastic tissue outside, where it at the same
time becomes more conspicuous (Sedgwick, "Monograph of the Development
of _Peripatus capensis_," _Studies from the Morph. Lab. of the
University of Cambridge_, iv., 1889, p. 131), it forms the looser
network of the mesoblastic reticulum; and connecting the two, in place
of the few and delicate strands of this tissue of the former stage,
there are at certain places well-marked cords of a relatively dense
texture, with the meshes of the reticulum elongated in the direction
of the cord. This latter structure is an incipient nerve trunk. It can
be traced outwards into the mesoblastic reticulum, from the strands of
which it is indeed developed, and with which it is continuous not only
at its free end, but also along its whole course. In this way the
nerve trunks are developed--by a gathering up, so to speak, of the
fibres of the reticulum into bundles. These bundles are generally
marked by the possession of nuclei, especially in their cortical
parts, which become no doubt the nuclei of the nerve sheath, and, in
the neighbourhood of the ganglia, of nerve cells. From this account of
the early development of the nerves, it is apparent that they are in
their origin continuous with all the other tissues of the body, with
that of the central nervous system and with that which becomes
transformed into muscular tissue and connective and epithelial
tissues. All these tissues are developed from the general reticulum,
which in the young embryo can be seen to pervade the whole body, not
being confined to the mesoderm, but extending between the nuclei of
the ectoderm and endoderm, and forming the extra-nuclear, so-called
cellular, protoplasm of those layers. Moreover, it must be remarked
that in the stages of the embryo with which we are here concerned the
so-called cellular constitution of the tissues, which is such a marked
feature of the older embryo and adult, has not been arrived at. It is
true, indications of it may be seen in some of the earlier-formed
epithelia, but of nerve cells, muscular cells, and many kinds of gland
cells no distinct signs are yet visible. This remark particularly
applies to nerve cells, which do not make their appearance until a
much later stage--not, indeed, until some time after the principal
nerve trunks and ganglia are indicated as tracts of pale fibrous
substance and aggregations of nuclei respectively.
The embryos of Elasmobranchs--particularly of _Scyllium_--are the best
objects in which to study the development of nerves. In many embryos
it is difficult to make out what happens, because the various parts of
the body remain so close together that the process is obscured, and
the loosening of the mesoblastic nuclei is deferred until after the
nerves have begun to be differentiated. The process may also be traced
in the embryos of _Peripatus_, where the main features are essentially
similar to those above described (op. cit. p. 131). The development of
the motor nerves has been worked out in _Lepidosiren_ by J. Graham
Kerr (_Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh_, 41, 1904. p. 119).
To sum up, the development of nerves is not, as has been recently urged,
an outgrowth of cell processes from certain cells, but is a
differentiation of a substance which was already in position, and from
which all other organs of the body have been and are developed. It
frequently happens that the young nerve tracts can be seen sooner near
the central organ than elsewhere, but it is doubtful if any importance
can be attached to this fact, since it is not constantly observed. For
instance, in the case of the third nerve of _Scyllium_ the
differentiation appears to take place earliest near the ciliary
ganglion, and to proceed from that point to the base of the mid-brain.
Coelom.
There are two main methods in which new organs are developed. In the
one, which indicates the possibility of physiological continuity, the
organ arises by the direct modification of a portion of a pre-existing
organ; the development of the central nervous system of the Vertebrata
from a groove in the embryonic ectoderm may be taken as an example of
this method. In the other method there is no continuity which can be in
any way interpreted as physiological; a centre of growth appears in one
of the parts of the embryo, and gives rise to a mass of tissue which
gradually shapes itself into the required organ. The development of the
central nervous system in Teleosteans and in other similar exceptional
cases may be mentioned as an example of the second plan. Such a centre
of growth is frequently called a blastema, and consists of a mass of
closely packed nuclei which have arisen by the growth-activity of the
nuclei in the neighbourhood. The coelom, an organ which is found in the
so-called coelomate animals, and which in the adult is usually divided
up more or less completely into three parts, namely, body-cavity, renal
organs, generative glands, presents in different animals both these
methods of development. In certain animals it develops by the direct
modification of a part of the primitive enteron, while in others it
arises by the gradual shaping of a mass of tissue which consists of a
compact mass of nuclei derived by nuclear proliferation from one or more
of the pre-existing tissues of the body. Inasmuch as the first rudiment
of the coelom nearly always makes its appearance at an early stage, when
the ectoderm and endoderm are almost the only tissues present, and as it
then bulks relatively very large and frequently contains within itself
the potential centres of growth of other organs, e.g. mesenchymal organs
(see above), it has come to be regarded by embryologists as being the
forerunner of all the so-called mesodermal organs of the body, and has
been dignified with the somewhat mysterious rank which attaches to the
conception of a germinal layer. Its prominence and importance at an
early stage led embryologists, as has already been explained, to
overlook the fact that although some of the centres of growth for the
formation of other non-coelomic mesodermal organs and tissues may be
contained within it, all are not so contained, and that there are
centres of mesodermal growth still left in the ectoderm and endoderm
after its establishment. If these considerations, and others like them,
are correct, it would seem to follow that the conception implied by the
word mesoderm has no objective existence, that the tissue of the embryo
called mesoderm, though sometimes mainly the rudiment of the coelom, is
often much more than this, and contains within itself the rudiment of
many, sometimes of all, of the organs appertaining to the mesenchyme. In
thus containing within itself the potential centres of growth of other
organs and tissues which are commonly ranked as mesodermal, it is not
different from the rudiments of the two other organs already formed,
namely, the ectoderm and endoderm; for these contain within themselves
centres of growth for the production of so-called mesodermal tissues, as
witness the nerve-crest of Vertebrata, the growing-point of the
pronephric duct, and the formation of blood-vessels from the hypoblast
described for some members of the same group.
In Echinodermata, _Amphioxus_, Enteropneusta, and a few other groups,
the coelom develops from a portion or portions of the primitive enteron,
which eventually becomes separated from the rest and forms a variable
number of closed sacs lying between the gut and the ectoderm. The number
of these sacs varies in different animals, but the evidence at present
available seems to show that the maximum number is five--an unpaired one
in front and two pairs behind--and, further, that if a less number of
sacs is actually separated from the enteron, the rule is for these sacs
so to divide up that they give rise to five sacs arranged in the manner
indicated. The Enteropneusta present us with the clearest case of the
separation of five sacs from the primitive enteron (W. Bateson, _Quart.
Journ. Mic. Sci._ xxiv., 1884). In _Amphioxus_, according to the
important researches of E.W. MacBride (_Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._ xl.
589), it appears that a similar process occurs, though it is complicated
by the fact that the sacs of the posterior pair become divided up at an
early stage into many pairs. In _Phoronis_ there are indications of the
same phenomenon (A.T. Masterman, _Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._ xliii. 375).
In the Chaetognatha a single sac only is separated from the enteron, but
soon becomes divided up. In the Brachiopoda one pair of sacs is
separated from the enteron, but our knowledge of their later history is
not sufficient to enable us to say whether they divide up into the
typically arranged five sacs. In Echinodermata the number of sacs
separated from the enteron varies from one to three; but though the
history of these shows considerable differences, there are reasons to
believe that the typical final arrangement is one unpaired and two
paired sacs. But however many sacs may arise from the primitive enteron,
and however these sacs may ultimately divide up and arrange themselves,
the important point of development common to all these animals, about
which there can be no dispute, is that the coelom is a direct
differentiation of a portion of the enteron.
In the majority of the Coelomata the coelomic rudiment does not arise by
the simple differentiation of a pre-existing organ, and there is
considerable variation in its method of formation. Speaking generally,
it may be said to arise by the differentiation of a blastema (see
above), which develops at an early stage as a nuclear proliferation from
one or more growth-centres in one or both of the primary layers. It
appears in this tissue as a sac or as a series of sacs, which become
transformed into the body-cavity (except in the Arthropoda), into the
renal organs (with the possible exception, again, of some Arthropoda),
and into the reproductive glands. In metamerically segmented animals the
appearance of the cavities of these sacs is synchronous with, and
indeed determines, the appearance of metameric segmentation. In all
segmented animals in which the mesoderm (coelomic rudiment) appears as a
continuous sheet or band of tissue on each side of the body, the
coelomic cavity makes its first appearance not as a continuous space on
each side, which later becomes divided up into the structures called
mesoblastic somites, but as a series of paired spaces round which the
coelomic tissue arranges itself in an epithelial manner. In the
Vertebrata, it is true, the ventral portion of the coelom appears at
first as a continuous space, at any rate behind the region of the two
anterior pairs of somites, but in the dorsal portion the coelomic cavity
is developed in the usual way, the coelomic tissue becoming transformed
into the muscle plates and rudimentary renal tubules of the later
stages. With regard to this ventral portion of the coelom in Vertebrata,
it is to be noticed that the cavity in it never becomes divided up, but
always remains continuous, forming the perivisceral portion of the
coelom. The probable explanation of this peculiarity in the development
of the Vertebrate coelom, as compared with that of _Amphioxus_ and other
segmented animals, is that the segmented stage of the ventral portion of
the coelom is omitted. This explanation derives some support from the
fact that even in animals in which the coelom is at its first appearance
wholly segmented, it frequently happens that in the adult the
perivisceral portion of it is unsegmented, i.e. it loses during
development the segmentation which it at first possesses. This happens
in many Annelida and in _Amphioxus_. The lesson, then, which the early
history of the coelom in segmented animals teaches is, that however the
coelomic cavity first makes its appearance, whether by evaginations from
the primitive enteron, or by the hollowing out of a solid blastema-like
tissue which has developed from one or both of the primary layers, it is
in its first origin segmented, and forms the basis on which the segments
of the adult are moulded. In Arthropoda the origin of the coelom is
similar to that of Annelids, but its history is not completely known in
any group, with the exception of _Peripatus_. In this genus it develops
no perivisceral portion, as in other groups, but gives rise solely to
the nephridia and to the reproductive organs. It is probable, though not
certainly proved, that the history of the coelom in other Arthropods is
essentially similar to that of _Peripatus_, allowance being made for the
fact that the nephridial portion does not attain full development in
those forms which are without nephridia in the adult.
With regard to the development of the vascular system, little can be
said here, except that it appears to arise from the spaces of the
mesoblastic reticulum. When this reticulum is sparse or so delicate as
to give way in manipulation, these spaces appear to be represented by a
continuous space which in the earliest stages of development is
frequently spoken of as the blastocoel or segmentation cavity. They
acquire special epithelial walls, and form the main trunks and network
of smaller vessels found in animals with a canalicular vascular system,
or the large sinus-like spaces characteristic of animals with a
haemocoelic body-cavity.
Transient embryonic organs.
The existence of a phase at the beginning of life during which a young
animal acquires its equipment by a process of growth of the germ is of
course intelligible enough; such a phase is seen in the formation of
buds, and in the sexual reproduction of both animals and plants. The
remarkable point is that while in most cases this embryonic growth is a
direct and simple process--e.g. animal and plant buds, embryonic
development of plant seeds--in many cases of sexual reproduction of
animals it is not direct, and the embryonic phase shows stages of
structure which seem to possess a meaning other than that of being
merely phases of growth. The fact that these stages of structure through
which the embryo passes sometimes present for a short time features
which are permanent in other members of the same group, adds very
largely to the interest of the phenomenon and necessitates its careful
examination. This may be divided into two heads: (1) in relation to
embryos, (2) in relation to larvae. So far as embryos are concerned, we
shall limit ourselves mainly to a consideration of the Vertebrata,
because in them are found most instances of that remarkable phenomenon,
the temporary assumption by certain organs of the embryo of stages of
structure which are permanent in other members of the same group. As is
well known, the embryos of the higher Vertebrata possess in the
structure of the pharynx and of the heart and vascular system certain
features--namely, paired pharyngeal apertures, a simple tubular heart,
and a single ventral aorta giving off right and left a number of
branches which pass between the pharyngeal apertures--which permanently
characterize those organs in fishes. The skeleton, largely bony in the
adult, passes through a stage in which it is entirely without bone, and
consists mainly of cartilage--the form which it permanently possesses in
certain fishes. Further, the Vertebrate embryo possesses for a time a
notochord, a segmented muscular system, a continuity between the
pericardium and the posterior part of the perivisceral cavity--all
features which characterize certain groups of Pisces in the adult state.
Instances of this kind might be multiplied, for the work of anatomists
and embryologists has of late years been largely devoted to adding to
them. Examples of embryonic characters which are not found in the adults
of other Vertebrates are the following:--At a certain stage of
development the central nervous system has the form of a groove in the
skin, there is a communication at the hind end of the body between the
neural and alimentary canals, the mouth aperture has at first the form
of an elongated slit, the growing end of the Wolffian duct is in some
groups continuous with the ectoderm, and the retina is at one stage a
portion of the wall of the medullary canal. In the embryos of the lower
Vertebrates many other instances of the same interesting character might
be mentioned; for instance, the presence of a coelomic sac close to the
eye, of another in the jaw, and of a third near the ear (Elasmobranchs),
the opening of the Müllerian duct into the front end of the Wolffian
duct, and the presence of an aperture of communication between the
muscle-plate coelom and the nephridial coelom.
Recapitulation theory.
The interest attaching to these remarkable facts is much increased by
the explanation which has been given of them. That explanation, which is
a deduction from the theory of evolution, is to the effect that the
peculiar embryonic structures and relations just mentioned are due to
the retention by the embryo of features which, once possessed by the
adult ancestor, have been lost in the course of evolution. This
explanation, which at once suggests itself when we are dealing with
structures actually present in adult members of other groups, does not
so obviously apply to those features which are found in no adult animal
whatsoever. Nevertheless it has been extended to them, because they are
of a nature which it is not impossible to suppose might have existed in
a working animal. Now this explanation, which, it will be observed, can
only be entertained on the assumption that the evolution theory is true,
has been still further extended by embryologists in a remarkable and
frequently unjustifiable manner, and has been applied to all embryonic
processes, finally leading to the so-called recapitulation theory, which
asserts that embryonic history is a shortened recapitulation of
ancestral history, or, to use the language of modern zoology, that the
_ontogeny_ or development of the individual contains an abbreviated
record of the _phylogeny_ or development of the race. A theory so
important and far-reaching as this requires very careful examination.
When we come to look for the facts upon which it is based, we find that
they are non-existent, for the ancestors of all living animals are dead,
and we have no means of knowing what they were like. It is true there
are fossil remains of animals which have lived, but these are so
imperfect as to be practically useless for the present requirements.
Moreover, if they were perfectly preserved, there would be no evidence
to show that they were ancestors of the animals now living. They might
have been animals which have become extinct and left no descendants.
Thus the explanation ordinarily given of the embryonic structures
referred to is purely a deduction from the evolution theory. Indeed, it
is even less than this, for all that can be said is something of this
kind: if the evolution theory is true, then it in conceivable that the
reason why the embryo of a bird passes through a stage in which its
pharynx presents some resemblance to that of a fish is that a remote
ancestor of the bird possessed a pharynx with lateral apertures such as
are at present found in fishes.
But the explanation is sometimes pushed even further, and it is said
that these pharyngeal apertures of the ancestral bird had the same
respiratory function as the corresponding structures in modern fishes.
That this is going too far a little reflection will show. For if it be
admitted that all so-called vestigial structures had once the same
function as the homologous structures when fully developed in other
animals, it becomes necessary to admit that male mammals must once have
had fully developed mammary glands and suckled the young, that female
mammals formerly were provided with a functional penis, and that in
species in which the females have a trace of the secondary sexual
characters of the male the latter were once common to both sexes. The
second and more extended form of the explanation plainly introduces a
considerable amount of contentious matter, and it will be advisable, in
the first instance, at any rate, to confine ourselves to a critical
examination of the less ambitious conception. This explanation obviously
implies the view that in the course of evolution the tendency has been
for structures to persist in the embryo after they have been lost in the
adult. Is there any justification for this view? It is clearly
impossible to get any direct evidence, because, as explained above, we
have no knowledge of the ancestors of living animals; but if we assume
the evolution theory to be true, there is a certain amount of indirect
evidence which is distinctly opposed to the view. As is well known,
living birds are without teeth, but it is generally assumed that their
edentulous condition has been comparatively recently acquired, and that
they are descended from animals which, at a time not very remote from
the present, possessed teeth. Considering the resemblance of birds to
other terrestrial vertebrates, and the fact that extinct birds, not
greatly differing from birds now living, are known to have had teeth, it
must be allowed that there is some warrant for the assumption. Yet in no
single case has it been certainly shown that any trace of teeth has been
developed in the embryo. The same remark applies to a large number of
similar cases; for instance, the reduced digits of the bird's hand and
foot and the limbs of snakes. Moreover, organs which are supposed to
have become recently reduced and functionless in the adult are also
reduced in the embryo; for instance, digits 3 and 4 of the horse's foot,
the hind limbs of whales (G.A. Guldberg and F. Nansen, "On the
Development and Structure of Whales," _Bergen Museum_, 1894), the
spiracle of Elasmobranchii. In fact, considerations of this kind
distinctly point to the view that any tendency to the reduction or
enlargement of an organ in the adult is shared approximately to the same
extent by the embryo. But there are undoubtedly some, though not many,
cases in which organs which were presumably present in an ancestral
adult have persisted in the embryo of the modern form. As an instance
may be mentioned the presence in whale-bone whales of imperfectly formed
teeth, which are absorbed comparatively early in foetal life (Julin,
_Arch. biologie_, i., 1880, p. 75).
It therefore becomes necessary to inquire why in some cases an organ is
retained by the embryo after its loss by the adult, whereas in other
cases it dwindles and presumably disappears simultaneously in the embryo
and the adult. The whole question is examined and discussed by the
present writer in the _Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science_,
xxxvi., 1894, p. 35, and the conclusions there reached are as
follows:--A disappearing adult organ is not retained in a relatively
greater development by an organism in the earlier stages of its
individual growth unless it is of functional importance to the young
form. In cases in which the whole development is embryonic this rarely
happens, because the conditions of embryonic life are so different from
free life that functional embryonic organs are usually organs _sui
generis, e.g._ the placenta, amnion, &c., which cannot be traced to a
modification of organs previously present in the adult. It does,
however, appear to have happened sometimes, and as an instance of it
may be mentioned the _ductus arteriosus_ of the Sauropsidan and
Mammalian embryo. On the other hand, when there is a considerable period
of larval life, it does appear that there is a strong case for thinking
that organs which have been lost by the adult may be retained and made
use of by the larva. The best-known example that can be given of this is
the tadpole of the frog. Here we find organs, viz. gills and gill-slits,
which are universally regarded as having been attributes of all
terrestrial Vertebrata in an earlier and aquatic condition, and we also
notice that their retention is due to their being useful on account of
the supposed ancient conditions of life having been retained. Many other
instances, more or less plausible, of a like retention of ancestral
features by larvae might be mentioned, and it must be conceded that
there are strong reasons for supposing that larvae often retain traces,
more or less complete, of ancestral stages of structure. But this
admission does not carry with it any obligation to accept the widely
prevalent view that larval history can in any way be regarded as a
recapitulation of ancestral history. Far from it, for larvae in
retaining some ancestral features are in no way different from adults;
they only differ from adults in the features which they have retained.
Both larvae and adults retain ancestral features, and both have been
modified by an adaptation to their respective conditions of life which
has ever been becoming more perfect.
The conclusion, then, has been reached, that whereas larvae frequently
retain traces of ancestral stages of adult structure, embryos will
rarely do so; and we are confronted again with the question, How are we
to account for the presence in the embryo of numerous functionless
organs which cannot be explained otherwise than as having been inherited
from a previous condition in which they were functional? The answer is
that the only organs of this kind which have been retained are organs
which have been retained by the larvae of the ancestors after they have
been lost by the adult, and have become in this way impressed upon the
development. As an illustration taken from current natural history of
the manner in which larval characters are in actual process of becoming
embryonic may be mentioned the case of the viviparous salamander
(_Salamander atra_), in which the gills, &c., are all developed but
never used, the animal being born without them. In other and closely
allied species of salamander there is a considerable period of larval
life in which the gills and gill-slits are functional, but in this
species the larval stage, for the existence of which there was a
distinct reason, viz. the entirely aquatic habits of life in the young
state, has become at one stroke embryonic by its simple absorption into
the embryonic period. The view, then, that embryonic development is
essentially a recapitulation of ancestral history must be given up; it
contains only a few references to ancestral history, namely, those which
have been preserved probably in a much modified form by previous larvae.
Law of v. Baer.
We must now pass to the consideration of another supposed law of
embryology--the so-called law of v. Baer. This generalization is usually
stated as follows:--Embryos of different species of the same group are
more alike than adults, and the resemblances are greater the younger the
embryo examined. Great importance has been attached to this
generalization by embryologists and naturalists, and it is very widely
accepted. Nevertheless, it is open to serious criticism. If it were
true, we should expect to find that embryos of closely similar species
would be indistinguishable, but this is notoriously not the case. On the
contrary, they often differ more than do the adults, in support of which
statement the embryos of the different species of _Peripatus_ may be
referred to. The generalization undoubtedly had its origin in the fact
that there is what may be called a family resemblance between embryos,
but this resemblance, which is by no means exact, is purely superficial,
and does not extend to anatomical detail. On the contrary, it may be
fairly argued that in some cases embryos of widely dissimilar members of
the same group present anatomical differences of a higher morphological
value than do the adults (see Sedgwick, _loc. cit_.), and, as stated
above the embryos of closely allied animals are distinguishable at all
stages of development, though the distinguishing features are not the
same as those which distinguish the adults. To say that the development
of the organism and of its component parts is a progress from the simple
to the complex is to state a truism, but to state that it is also a
progress from the general to the special is to go altogether beyond the
facts. The bipinnaria larva of an echinoderm, the trochosphere larva of
an annelid, the blastodermic vesicle of a mammal are all as highly
specialized as their respective adults, but the specialization is for a
different purpose, and of a different kind to that which characterizes
the adult.
History of embryology.
In its scientific and systematic form embryology may be considered as
having only taken birth within the last century, although the germ from
which it sprung was already formed nearly half a century earlier. The
ancients, it is true, as we see by the writings of Aristotle and Galen,
pursued the subject with interest, and the indefatigable Greek
naturalist and philosopher had even made continued series of
observations on the progressive stages of development in the incubated
egg, and on the reproduction of various animals; but although, after the
revival of learning, various anatomists and physiologists from time to
time made contributions to the knowledge of the foetal structure in its
larger organs, yet from the minuteness of the observations required for
embryological research, it was not till the microscope came into use for
the investigation of organic structure that any intimate knowledge was
attained of the nature of organogenesis. It is not to be wondered at,
therefore, that during a long period, in this as in other branches of
physical inquiry, vague speculations took the place of direct
observation and more solid information. This is apparent in most of the
works treating of generation during the 16th and part of the 17th
centuries.[2]
Harvey was the first to give, in the middle of the latter century, a new
life and direction to investigation of this subject, by his discovery of
the connexion between the cicatricula of the yolk and the rudiments of
the chick, and by his faithful description of the successive stages of
development as observed in the incubated egg, as well as of the progress
of gestation in some Mammalia. He had also the merit of fixing the
attention of physiologists upon general laws of development as deduced
from actual observation of the phenomena, by the enunciation of two
important propositions, viz.--(1) that all animals are produced out of
ova, and (2) that the organs of the embryo arise by new formation, or
_epigenesis,_ and not by mere enlargement out of a pre-existing
invisible condition (_Exercitationes de generatione animalium_,
Amstelodami, 1651). Harvey's observations, however, were aided only by
the use of magnifying glasses (perspecillae), probably of no great
power, and he saw nothing of the earliest appearances of the embryo in
the first thirty-six hours, and believed the blood and the heart to be
the parts first formed.
The influence of the work of Harvey, and of the successful application
of the microscope to embryological investigation, was soon afterwards
apparent in the admirable researches of Malpighi of Bologna, as evinced
by his communications to the Royal Society of London in 1672, "De ovo
incubato," and "De formatione pulli," and more especially in his
delineations of some of the earlier phenomena of development, in which,
as in many other parts of minute anatomy, he partially or wholly
anticipated discoveries, the full development of which has only been
accomplished in the present century. Malpighi traced the origin of the
embryo almost to its very commencement in the formation of the
cerebro-spinal groove within the cicatricula, which he removed from the
opaque mass of the yolk; and he only erred in supposing the embryonal
rudiments to have pre-existed as such in the egg, in consequence,
apparently, of his having employed for observation, in very warm
weather, eggs which, though he believed them to be unincubated, had in
reality undergone some of the earlier developmental changes.
The works of Walter Needham (1667), Regnier de Graaf (1673), Swammerdam
(1685), Vallisneri (1689)--following upon those of Harvey--all contain
important contributions to the knowledge of our subject, as tending to
show the similarity in the mode of production from ova in a variety of
animals with that previously best known in birds. The observations more
especially of de Graaf, Nicolas Steno and J. van Horne gave much greater
precision to the knowledge of the connexion between the origin of the
ovum of quadrupeds and the vesicles of the ovary now termed Graafian,
which de Graaf showed always burst and discharged their contents on the
occurrence of pregnancy.
These observations bring us to the period of Boerhaave and Albinus in
the earlier part of the 18th century, and in the succeeding years to
that of Haller, whose vast erudition and varied and accurate original
observations threw light upon the entire process of reproduction in
animals, and brought its history into a more systematic and intelligible
form. A considerable part of the seventh and the whole of the eighth
volumes of Haller's great work, the _Elementa physiologiae_, published
at successive times from 1757 to 1766, are occupied with the general
view of the function of generation, while his special contributions to
embryology are contained in his _Deux mémoires sur la formation du coeur
dans le poulet_ and _Deux mémoires sur la formation des os_, both
published at Lausanne in 1758, and republished in an extended and
altered form, together with his "Observations on the early condition of
the Embryo in Quadrupeds," made along with Kühlemann, in the _Opera
minora_ (1762-1768). Though originally educated as a believer in the
doctrine of "preformation" by his teacher Boerhaave, Haller was soon led
to abandon that view in favour of "epigenesis" or new formation, as may
be seen in various parts of his works published before the middle of the
century; see especially a long note explanatory of the grounds of his
change of opinion in his edition of Boerhaave's _Praelectiones
academicae_, vol. v. part 2, p. 497 (1744), and his _Primae lineae
physiologiae_ (1747). But some years later, and after having been
engaged in observing the phenomena of development in the incubated egg,
he again changed his views, and during the remainder of his life was a
keen opponent of the system of epigenesis, and a defender and exponent
of the theory of "evolution," as it was then named--a theory very
different from that now bearing the name, and which implied belief in
the pre-existence of the organs of the embryo in the germ, according to
the theory of encasement (_emboîtement_) or inclusion supported by
Leibnitz and Bonnet. (See the interesting work of Bonnet,
_Considérations sur les corps organisés_, Amsterdam, 1762, for an
account of his own views and those of Haller.)
It was reserved for Caspar Frederick Wolff (1733-1794), a German by
birth, but naturalized afterwards in Russia, to bring forward
observations which, though almost entirely neglected for a long time
after their publication, and in some measure discredited under the
influence of Haller's authority, were sixty years later acknowledged to
have established the theory of epigenesis upon the secure basis of
ascertained facts, and to have laid the first foundation of the
morphological science of embryology. Wolff's work, entitled _Theoria
generationis_, first published as an inaugural Dissertation at Berlin in
1759, was republished with additions in German at Berlin in 1764, and
again in Latin at Halle in 1774. Wolff also wrote a "Memoir on the
Development of the Intestine" in _Nov. comment. acad. Petropol_., 1768
and 1769. But it was not till the latter work was translated into German
by J.F. Meckel, and appeared in his _Archiv_ for 1812, that Wolff's
peculiar merits as the founder of modern embryology came to be known or
fully appreciated.
The special novelty of Wolff's discoveries consisted mainly in this,
that he showed that the germinal part of the bird's egg forms a layer of
united granules or organized particles (cells of the modern
histologist), presenting at first no semblance of the form or structure
of the future embryo, but gradually converted by various morphological
changes in the formative material, which are all capable of being traced
by observation, into the several rudimentary organs and systems of the
embryo. The earlier form of the embryo he delineated with accuracy; the
actual mode of formation he traced in more than one organ, as for
example in the alimentary canal, and he was the discoverer of several
new and important embryological facts, as in the instance of the
primordial kidneys, which have thus been named the Wolffian bodies.
Wolff further showed that the growing parts of plants owe their origin
to organized particles or cells, so that he was led to the great
generalization that the processes of embryonic formation and of adult
growth and nutrition are all of a like nature in both plants and
animals. No advance, however, was made upon the basis of Wolff's
discoveries till the year 1817, when the researches of C.H. Pander on
the development of the chick gave a fuller and more exact view of the
phenomena less clearly indicated by Wolff, and laid down with greater
precision a plan of the formation of parts in the embryo of birds, which
may be regarded as the foundation of the views of all subsequent
embryologists.
But although the minuter investigation of the nature and true theory of
the process of embryonic development was thus held in abeyance for more
than half a century, the interval was not unproductive of observations
having an important bearing on the knowledge of the anatomy of the
foetus and the function of reproduction. The great work of William
Hunter on the human gravid uterus, containing unequalled pictorial
illustrations of its subject from the pencil of Rymsdyk and other
artists, was published in 1775;[3] and during a large part of the same
period numerous communications to the _Memoirs_ of the Royal Society
testified to the activity and genius of his brother, John Hunter, in the
investigation of various parts of comparative embryology. But it is
mainly in his rich museum, and in the manuscripts and drawings which he
left, and which have been in part described and published in the
catalogue of his wonderful collection, that we obtain any adequate idea
of the unexampled industry and wide scope of research of that great
anatomist and physiologist.
As belonging to a somewhat later period, but still before the time when
the more strict investigation of embryological phenomena was resumed by
Pander, there fall to be noticed, as indicative of the rapid progress
that was making, the experiments of L. Spallanzani, 1789; the researches
of J.H. von Autenrieth, 1797, and of Soemmering, 1799, on the human
foetus; the observations of Senff on the formation of the skeleton,
1801; those of L. Oken and D.G. Kieser on the intestine and other
organs, 1806; Oken's remarkable work on the bones of the head, 1807
(with the views promulgated in which Goethe's name is also intimately
connected); J.F. Meckel's numerous and valuable contributions to
embryology and comparative anatomy, extending over a long series of
years; and F. Tiedemann's classical work on the development of the
brain, 1816.
The observations of the Russian naturalist, Christian Heinrich Pander
(1794-1865), were made at the instance and under the immediate
supervision of Prof. Döllinger at Würzburg, and we learn from von Baer's
autobiography that he, being an early friend of Pander's, and knowing his
qualifications for the task, had pointed him out to Döllinger as well
fitted to carry out the investigation of development which that professor
was desirous of having accomplished. Pander's inaugural dissertation was
entitled _Historia metamorphoseos quam ovum incubatum prioribus quinque
diebus subit_ (Virceburgi, 1817); and it was also published in German
under the title of _Beiträge zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des Hühnchens im
Eie_ (Würzburg, 1817). The beautiful plates illustrating the latter work
were executed by the elder E.J. d'Alton, well known for his skill in
scientific observation, delineation and engraving.
Pander observed the germinal membrane or _blastoderm_, as he for the
first time called it, of the fowl's egg to acquire three layers of
organized substance in the earlier period of incubation. These he named
respectively the serous or outer, the vascular or middle, and the mucous
or inner layers; and he traced with great skill and care the origin of
the principal rudimentary organs and systems from each of these layers,
pointing out shortly, but much more distinctly than Wolff had done, the
actual nature of the changes occurring in the process of development.
Karl Ernest von Baer (q.v.), the greatest of modern embryologists,
was, as already remarked, the early friend of Pander, and, at the time
when the latter was engaged in his researches at Würzburg, was
associated with Döllinger as prosector, and engaged with him in the
study of comparative anatomy. He witnessed, therefore, though he did not
actually take part in, Pander's researches; and the latter having
afterwards abandoned the inquiry, von Baer took it up for himself in the
year 1819, when he had obtained an appointment in the university of
Königsberg, where he was the colleague of Burdach and Rathke, both of
whom were able coadjutors in the investigation of the subject of his
choice. (See v. Baer's interesting autobiography, published on his
retirement from St Petersburg to Dorpat in 1864.)
Von Baer's observations were carried on at various times from 1819 to
1826 and 1827, when he published the first results in a description of
the development of the chick in the first edition of Burdach's
_Physiology_.
It was at this time that von Baer made the important discovery of the
ovarian ovum of mammals and of man, totally unknown before his time, and
was thus able to prove as matter of exact observation what had only been
surmised previously, viz. the entire similarity in the mode of origin of
these animals with others lower in the scale. (_Epistola de ovi
mammalium et hominis genesi,_ Lipsiae, 1827. See also the interesting
commentary on or supplement to the _Epistola_ in Heusinger's Journal,
and the translation in Breschet's _Répertoire_, Paris, 1829.)
In 1829 von Baer published the first part of his great work, entitled
_Beobachtungen und Reflexionen über die Entwickelungsgeschichte der
Thiere_, the second part of which, still leaving the work incomplete,
did not appear till 1838. In this work, distinguished by the fulness,
richness and extreme accuracy of the observations and descriptions, as
well as by the breadth and soundness of the general views on embryology
and allied branches of biology which it presents, he gave a detailed
account not only of the whole progress of development of the chick as
observed day by day during the incubation of the egg, but he also
described what was known, and what he himself had investigated by
numerous and varied observations, of the whole course of formation of
the young in other vertebrate animals. His work is in fact a system of
comparative embryology, replete with new discoveries in almost every
part.
Von Baer's account of the layers of the blastoderm differs somewhat from
that of Pander, and appears to be more consistent with the further
researches which have lately been made than was at one time supposed, in
this respect, that he distinguished from a very early period two
primitive or fundamental layers, viz. the animal or upper, and the
vegetative or lower, from each of which, in connexion with two
intermediate layers derived from them, the fundamental organs and
systems of the embryo are derived:--the animal layer, with its
derivative, supplying the dermal, neural, osseous and muscular; the
vegetative layer, with its derivative, the vascular and mucous
(intestinal) systems. He laid down the general morphological principle
that the fundamental organs have essentially the shape of tubular
cavities, as appears in the first form of the central organ of the
nervous system, in the two muscular and osseous tubes which form the
walls of the body, and in the intestinal canal; and he followed out with
admirable clearness the steps by which from these fundamental systems
the other organs arise secondarily, such as the organs of sense, the
glands, lungs, heart, vascular glands, Wolffian bodies, kidneys and
generative organs.
To complete von Baer's system there was mainly wanting a more minute
knowledge of the intimate structure of the elementary tissues, but this
had not yet been acquired by biologists, and it remained for Theodor
Schwann of Liége in 1839, along with whom should be mentioned those who,
like Robert Brown and M.J. Schleiden, prepared the way for his great
discovery, to point out the uniformity in histological structure of the
simpler forms of plants and animals, the nature of the organized animal
and vegetable cell, the cellular constitution of the primitive ovum of
animals, and the derivation of the various tissues, complex as well as
simple, from the transformation or, as it is now called, differentiation
of simple cellular elements,--discoveries which have exercised a
powerful and lasting influence on the whole progress of biological
knowledge in our time, and have contributed in an eminent degree to
promote the advance of embryology itself.
To K.B. Reichert of Berlin more particularly is due the first
application of the newer histological views to the explanation of the
phenomena of development, 1840. To him and to R.A. von Kölliker and R.
Virchow is due the ascertainment of the general principle that there is
no free-cell formation in embryonic development and growth, but that all
organs are derived from the multiplication, combination and
transformation of cells, and that all cells giving rise to organs are
the descendants or progeny of previously existing cells, and that these
may be traced back to the original cell or cell-substance of the ovum.
It may be that modern research has somewhat modified the views taken by
biologists of the statements of Schwann as to the constitution of the
organized cell, especially as regards its simplest or most elementary
form, and has indicated more exactly the nature of the protoplasmic
material which constitutes its living basis; but it has not caused any
very wide departure from the general principles enunciated by that
physiologist. Schwann's treatise, entitled _Microscopical Researches
into the Accordance in the Structure and Growths of Animals and Plants_,
was published in German at Berlin in 1839, and was translated into
English by Henry Smith, and printed for the Sydenham Society in 1847,
along with a translation of Schleiden's memoir, "Contributions to
Phytogenesis," which originally appeared in 1838 in Müller's _Archiv_
for that year, and which had also been published in English in Taylor
and Francis's _Scientific Memoirs_, vol. ii. part vi.
Among the newer observations of the same period which contributed to a
more exact knowledge of the structure of the ovum itself may be
mentioned--first the discovery of the germinal vesicle, or nucleus, in
the germ-disk of birds by J.E. von Purkinje (_Symbolae ad ovi avium
historiam ante incubationem_, Vratislaviae, 1825, and republished at
Leipzig in 1830); second, von Baer's discovery of the mammiferous ovum
in 1827, already referred to; third, the discovery of the germinal
vesicle of mammals by J.V. Coste in 1834, and its independent
observation by Wharton Jones in 1835; and fourth, the observation in the
same year by Rudolph Wagner of the germinal macula or nucleus. Coste's
discovery of the germinal vesicle of Mammalia was first communicated to
the public in the _Comptes rendus_ of the French Academy for 1833, and
was more fully described in the _Recherches sur la génération des
mammifères_, by Delpech and Coste (Paris, 1834). Thomas Wharton Jones's
observations, made in the autumn of 1834, without a knowledge of Coste's
communication, were presented to the Royal Society in 1835. This
discovery was also confirmed and extended by G.G. Valentin and Bernardt,
as recorded by the latter in his work _Symb. ad ovi mammal. hist. ante
praegnationem_. Rudolph Wagner's observations first appeared in his
_Textbook of Comparative Anatomy_, published at Leipzig in 1834-1835,
and in Müller's _Archiv_ for the latter year. His more extended
researches are described in his work _Prodromus hist. generationis
hominis atque animalium_ (Leipzig, 1836), and in a memoir inserted in
the _Trans. of the Roy. Bavarian Acad. of Sciences_ (Munich, 1837).
The two decades of years from 1820 to 1840 were peculiarly fertile in
contributions to the anatomy of the foetus and the progress of
embryological knowledge. The researches of Prévost and Dumas on the ova
and primary stages of development of Batrachia, birds and mammals, made
as early as 1824, deserve especial notice as important steps in advance,
both in the discovery of the process of yolk segmentation in the
batrachian ovum, and in their having shown almost with the force of
demonstration, previous to the discovery of the mammiferous ovarian ovum
by von Baer, that that body must exist as a minute spherule in the
Graafian follicle of the ovary, although they did not actually succeed
in bringing the ova clearly under observation.
The works of Pockels (1825), of Seiler (1831), of G. Breschet (1832), of
A.A.L.M. Velpeau (1833), of T.L.W. Bischoff (1834)--all bearing upon
human embryology; the researches of Coste in comparative embryology in
1834, already referred to, and those published by the same author in
1837; the publication of Johannes Müller's great work on physiology, and
Rudolph Wagner's smaller text-book, in both of which the subject of
embryology received a very full treatment, together with the excellent
_Manual of the Development of the Foetus_, by Valentin, in 1835, the
first separate and systematic work on the whole subject, now secured to
embryology its permanent place among the biological sciences on the
Continent; while in this country attention was drawn to the subject by
the memoirs of Allen Thomson (1831), Th. Wharton Jones (1835-1838) and
Martin Barry (1839-1840).
Among the more remarkable special discoveries which belong to the period
now referred to, a few may be mentioned, as, for example, that of the
chorda dorsalis by von Baer, a most important one, which may be regarded
as the key to the whole of vertebral morphology; the phenomenon of yolk
segmentation, now known to be universal among animals, but which was
only first carefully observed in Batrachia by Prévost and Dumas (though
previously casually noticed by Swammerdam), and was soon afterwards
followed out by Rusconi and von Baer in fishes; the discovery of the
branchial clefts, plates and vascular arches in the embryos of the
higher abranchiate animals by H. Rathke in 1825-1827; the able
investigation of the transformations of these arches by Reichert in
1837; and the researches on the origin and development of the urinary
and generative organs by Johannes Müller in 1829-1830.
On entering the fifth decade of the 19th century, the number of original
contributions and systematic treatises becomes so great as to render the
attempt to enumerate even a selection of the more important of them
quite unsuitable to the limits of the present article. We must be
satisfied, therefore, with a reference to one or two which seem to stand
out with greater prominence than the rest as landmarks in the progress
of embryological discovery. Among these may first be mentioned the
researches of Theodor L.W. von Bischoff, formerly of Giessen and later
of Munich, on the development of the ovum in Mammalia, in which a series
of the most laborious, minute and accurate observations furnished a
greatly novel and very full history of the formative process in several
animals of that class. These researches are contained in four memoirs,
treating separately of the development of the rabbit, the dog, the
guinea-pig and the roe-deer, and appeared in succession in the years
1842, 1845, 1852 and 1854.
Next may be mentioned the great work of Coste, entitled _Histoire gén.
et particul. du développement des animaux_, of which, however, only four
fasciculi appeared between the years 1847 and 1859, leaving the work
incomplete. In this work, in the large folio form, beautiful
representations are given of the author's valuable observations on human
embryology, and on that of various mammals, birds and fishes, and of the
author's discovery in 1847 of the process of partial yolk segmentation
in the germinal disk of the fowl's egg during its descent through the
oviduct, and his observations on the same phenomenon in fishes and
mammals.
The development of reptiles received important elucidation from the
researches of Rathke, in his history of the development of serpents,
published at Königsberg in 1839, and in a similar work on the turtle in
1848, as well as in a later one on the crocodile in 1866, along with
which may be associated the observations of H.J. Clark on the
"Embryology of the Turtle," published in Agassiz's _Contributions to
Natural History, &c._, 1857.
The phenomena of yolk segmentation, to which reference has more than
once been made, and to which later researches give more and more
importance in connexion with the fundamental phenomena of development,
received great elucidation during this period, first from the
observations of C.T.E. von Siebold and those of Bagge on the complete
yolk segmentation of the egg in nematoid worms in 1841, and more fully
by the observations of Kölliker in the same animals in 1843. The nature
of partial segmentation of the yolk was first made known by Kölliker in
his work on the development of the Cephalopoda in 1844, and, as has
already been mentioned, the phenomena were observed by Coste in the eggs
of birds. The latter observations have since been confirmed by those of
Oellacher, Götte and Kölliker. Further researches in a vast number of
animals give every reason to believe that the phenomenon of segmentation
is in some shape or other the invariable precursor of embryonic
formation.
The first considerable work on the development of a division of the
invertebrates was that of Maurice Herold of Marburg on spiders, _De
generatione aranearum ex ovo_, published at Marburg in 1824, in which
the whole phenomena of the formative processes in that animal are
described with remarkable clearness and completeness. A few years later
an important series of contributions to the history of the development
of invertebrate animals appeared in the second volume of Burdach's work
on _Physiology_, of which the first edition was published in 1828, and
in this the history of the development of the Entozoa was the production
of Ch. Theod. von Siebold, and that of most of the other invertebrates
was compiled by H. Rathke from the results of his own observations and
those of others. These memoirs, together with others subsequently
published by Rathke, notably that _Über die Bildung und
Entwickelungsgeschichte d. Flusskrebses_ (Leipzig, 1829), in which an
attempt is made to extend the doctrine of the derivation of the organs
from the germinal layers to the invertebrata, entitle him to be regarded
as the founder of invertebrate embryology.
A large body of facts having by this time been ascertained with respect
to the more obvious processes of development, a further attempt to refer
the phenomena of organogenesis to morphological and histological
principles became desirable. More especially was the need felt to point
out with greater minuteness and accuracy the relation in which the
origin of the fundamental organs of the embryo stands to the layers of
the blastoderm; and this we find accomplished with signal success in the
researches of R. Remak on the development of the chick and frog,
published between the years 1850 and 1855.
Starting from Pander's discovery of the trilaminate blastoderm, Remak
worked out the development of the chick in the light of the cell-theory
of Schleiden and Schwann. He observed the division of the middle layer
into two by a split which subsequently gives rise to the body-cavity
(pleuro-peritoneal space) of the adult; and traced the principal organs
which came from these two layers (_Hautfaserblatt_ and _Darmfaserblatt_)
respectively. In this manner the foundations of the germ-layer theory
were established in their modern form.
A great step forward was made in 1859 by T.H. Huxley, who compared the
serous and mucous layers of Pander with the ectoderm and endoderm of the
Coelenterata. But in spite of this comparison it was generally held that
germinal layers similar to those of the vertebrata were not found in
invertebrate animals, and it was not until the publication in 1871 of
Kowalewsky's researches (see below) that the germinal layer theory was
applied to the embryos of all the Metazoa. But the year 1859 will be for
ever memorable in the history of science as the year of the publication
of the _Origin of Species_. If the enunciation of the cell-theory may be
said to have marked a first from a second period in the history of
embryology, the publication of Darwin's great idea ushered in a third.
Whereas hitherto the facts of anatomy and development were loosely held
together by the theory of types which owed its origin and maintenance to
Cuvier, L. Agassiz, J. Müller and R. Owen, they were now combined into
one organic whole by the theory of descent and by the hypothesis of
recapitulation which was deduced from that theory. First clearly
enunciated by Johann Müller in his well-known work _Für Darwin_
published in 1864 (rendered in England as _Facts for Darwin_, 1869), the
view that a knowledge of embryonic and larval histories would lay bare
the secrets of race history and enable the course of evolution to be
traced and so lead to the discovery of the natural system of
classification, gave a powerful stimulus to embryological research. The
first fruits of this impetus were gathered by Alexander Agassiz, A.
Kowalewsky and E. Metschnikoff. Agassiz, in his memoir on the
_Embryology of the Starfish_ published in 1864, showed that the
body-cavity in Echinodermata arises as a differentiation of the enteron
of the larva and so laid the foundations of our present knowledge of the
coelom. This discovery was confirmed in 1869 by Metschnikoff ("Studien
üb. d. Entwick. d. Echinodermen u. Nemertinen," _Mém. Ac. Pétersbourg_
(7), 41, 1869), and extended by him to Tornaria, the larva of
_Balanoglossus_ in 1870 ("Untersuchungen üb. d. Metamorphose einiger
Seethiere," _Zeit. f. wiss. Zoologie_, 20, 1870). In 1871 Kowalewsky in
his classical memoir, entitled "Embryologische Studien an Würmern und
Arthropoden" (_Mém. Acad. Pétersbourg_ (7), 16, 1871), proved the same
fact for Sagitta and added immensely to our knowledge of the early
stages of development of the Invertebrata. These memoirs formed the
basis on which subsequent workers took their stand. Amongst the most
important of these was F.M. Balfour (1851-1882). Led to the study of
embryology by his teacher, M. Foster, in association with whom he
published in 1874 the Elements of Embryology, Balfour was one of the
first to take advantage of the facilities for research offered by Dr. A.
Dohrn's Zoological Station at Naples which has since become so
celebrated. Here he did the work which was subsequently published in
1878 in his _Monograph of the Development of Elasmobranch Fishes_, and
which constituted the most important addition to vertebrate morphology
since the days of Johannes Müller. This was followed in 1879 and 1881 by
the publication of his _Treatise on Comparative Embryology_, the first
work in which the facts of the rapidly growing science were clearly and
philosophically put together, and the greatest. The influence of
Balfour's work on embryology was immense and is still felt. He was an
active worker in every department of it, and there are few groups of the
animal kingdom on which he has not left the impress of his genius.
In the period under consideration the output of embryological work has
been enormous. No group of the animal kingdom has escaped exhaustive
examination, and no effort has been spared to obtain the embryos of
isolated and out of the way forms, the development of which might have a
bearing upon important questions of phylogeny and classification. Of
this work it is impossible to speak in detail in this summary. It is
only possible to call attention to some of its more important features,
to mention the more important advances, and to refer to some of the more
striking memoirs.
Marine zoological stations have been established, expeditions have been
sent to distant countries, and the methods of investigation have been
greatly improved. Since Anton Dohrn founded the Stazione Zoologica at
Naples in 1872, observatories for the study of marine organisms have
been established in most countries. Of journeys which have been made to
distant countries and which have resulted in important contributions to
embryology, may be mentioned the expedition (1884-1886) of the cousins
Sarasin to Ceylon (development of Gymnophiona), of E. Selenka to Brazil
and the East Indies (development of Marsupials, Primates and other
mammals, 1877, 1889, 1892), of A.A.W. Hubrecht to the East Indies (1890,
development of _Tarsius_), of W.H. Caldwell to Australia (1883-1884,
discovery of the nature of the ovum and oviposition of _Echidna_ and of
_Ceratodus_), of A. Sedgwick to the Cape (1883, development of
_Peripatus_), of J. Graham Kerr to Paraguay (1896, development of
_Lepidosiren_), of R. Semon to Australia and the Malay Archipelago
(1891-1893, development of Monotremata, Marsupialia), and of J.S.
Budgett to Africa (1898, 1900, 1901, 1903, development of _Polypterus_).
In methods, while great improvements have been made in the processes of
hardening and staining embryos, the principal advance has been the
introduction in 1883 by W.H. Caldwell in his work on the development of
_Phoronis_ of the method of making tape-worm like strings of sections as
a result of which the process of mounting in order all the sections
obtained from an embryo was much facilitated, and the use of an
automatic microtome rendered possible. The method of Golgi for the
investigation of the nervous system, introduced in 1875, must also be
mentioned here.
The word "coelom" (q.v.) was introduced into zoology by E. Haeckel in
1872 (_Kalkschwämme_, p. 468) as a convenient term for the body-cavity
(pleuro-peritoneal). The word was generally adopted, and was applied
alike to the blood-containing body-cavity of Arthropods and to the
body-cavity of Vertebrata and segmented worms, in which there is no
blood. In 1875 Huxley (_Quarterly Journ. of Mic. Science_, 15, p. 53),
relying on the researches of Agassiz, Metschnikoff and Kowalewsky above
mentioned, put forward the idea that according to their development
three kinds of body-cavity ought to be distinguished: (1) the
enterocoelic which arises from enteric diverticula, (2) the schizocoelic
which develops as a split in the embryonic mesoblast, and (3) the
epicoelic which was enclosed by folds of the skin and lined by ectoderm
(e.g. atrial cavity of Tunicates, &c.). This suggestion was of great
importance, because it led the embryologists of the day (Balfour, the
brothers Hertwig, Lankester and others) to discuss the question as to
whether there was not more than one kind of body-cavity. The Hertwigs
(_Coelomtheorie_, Jena, 1881) distinguished two kinds, the enterocoel
and the pseudocoel. The former, to which they limited the use of the
word coelom, and which is developed directly or indirectly from the
enteron, is found in Annelida, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Chordata, &c.
The latter they regarded as something quite different from the coelom
and as arising by a split in what they called for the first time
mesenchyme; the mesenchyme being the non-epithelial mesoderm, which they
described as consisting of amoeboid cells, but which we now know to
consist of a continuous reticulum. The next step was made by E. Ray
Lankester, who in 1884 (_Zoologischer Anzeiger_) showed that the
pericardium of Mollusca does not contain blood, and therein differs from
the rest of the body-cavity which does contain blood, but no suggestion
is made that the blood-containing space is not coelomic. In fact it was
generally held by the anatomists of the day that the coelom and the
vascular system were different parts of the same primitive organ, though
separate from it in the adult except in Arthropoda and Mollusca. In the
Mollusca, it is true, the pericardial part of the coelom was held to be
separate from the vascular, and the Hertwigs had reached the correct
conception that the pericardium of these animals was alone true coelom,
the vascular part being pseudocoel. This was the state of morphological
opinion until 1886, when it was shown (_Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc._, 6,
1886, p. 27) (1) that the coelom of _Peripatus_ gives rise to the
nephridia and generative glands only, and to no other part of the
body-cavity of the adult, (2) that the nephridia of the adult do not
open as had been supposed into the body-cavity, (3) that the body-cavity
is entirely formed of the blood-containing space, the coelom having no
perivisceral portion. These results were extended by the same author
(_Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._, 27, 1887, pp. 486-540) to other Arthropods
and to the Mollusca, and the modern theory of the coelom was finally
established. An increased precision was given to the conception of
coelom by the discovery in 1880 (_Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._, 20, p. 164)
that the nephridia of Elasmobranchs are a direct differentiation of a
portion of it. In 1886 this was extended to _Peripatus_ (_Proc. Camb.
Phil. Soc._, 6, p. 27) and doubtless holds universally.
In 1864 it was suggested by V. Hensen (Virchow's _Archiv_, 31) that the
rudiments of nerve-fibres are present from the beginning of development
as persistent remains of connexions between the incompletely separated
cells of the segmented ovum. This suggestion fell to the ground because
it was held by embryologists that the cleavage of the ovum resulted in
the formation of completely separate cells, and that the connexions
between the adult cells were secondary. In 1886 it was shown (_Quarterly
Journ. Mic. Sci._, 26, p. 182) that in _Peripatus Capensis_ the cells of
the segmenting ovum do not separate from one another, but remain
connected by a loose protoplasmic network. This discovery has since been
extended to other ova, even to the small so-called holoblastic ova, and
a basis of fact was found for Hensen's suggestion as to the embryonic
origin of nerves (_Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._, 33, 1892, pp. 581-584). An
extension and further application of the new views as to the cell-theory
and the embryonic origin of nerves thus necessitated was made in 1894
(_Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._, 37, p. 87), and in 1904 J. Graham Kerr
showed that the motor nerves in the dipnoan fish Lepidosiren arise in an
essentially similar manner (_Trans. Roy. Society of Edinburgh_, 41, p.
119).
In 1883 Elie Metschnikoff published his researches on the intracellular
digestion of invertebrates (_Arbeiten a. d. zoologischen Inst. Wien_, 5;
and _Biologisches Centralblatt_, 3, p. 560); these formed the basis of
his theory of inflammation and phagocytosis, which has had such an
important influence on pathology. As he himself has told us, he was led
to make these investigations by his precedent researches on the
development of sponges and other invertebrates. To quote his own words:
"Having long studied the problem of the germinal layers in the animal
series, I sought to give some idea of their origin and significance. The
part played by the ectoderm and endoderm appeared quite clear, and the
former might reasonably be regarded as the cutaneous investment of
primitive multicellular animals, while the latter might be regarded as
their organ of digestion. The discovery of intracellular digestion in
many of the lower animals led me to regard this phenomenon as
characteristic of those ancestral animals from which might be derived
all the known types of the animal kingdom (excepting, of course, the
Protozoa). The origin and part played by the mesoderm appeared the most
obscure. Thus certain embryologists supposed that this layer
corresponded to the reproductive organs of primitive animals: others
regarded it as the prototype of the organs of locomotion. My
embryological and physiological studies on sponges led me to the
conclusion that the mesoderm must function in the hypothetically
primitive animals as a mass of digestive cells, in all points similar to
those of the endoderm. This hypothesis necessarily attracted my
attention to the power of seizing foreign corpuscles possessed by the
mesodermic cells" (_Immunity in Infective Diseases_, English
translation, Cambridge, 1905).
The branch of embryology which concerns itself with the study of the
origin, history and conjugation of the individuals (gametes) which are
concerned in the reproduction of the species has made great advances.
These began in 1875 and following years with a careful examination of
the behaviour of the germinal vesicle in the maturation and
fertilization of the ovum. The history of the polar bodies, the origin
of the female pronucleus, the presence in the ovum of a second nucleus,
the male pronucleus, which gave rise to the first segmentation nucleus
by fusion with the female pronucleus, were discovered (E. van Beneden,
O. Bütschli, O. Hertwig, H. Fol), and in 1876 O. Hertwig
(_Morphologisches Jahrbuch_, 3, 1876) for the first time observed the
entrance of a spermatozoon into the egg and the formation of the male
pronucleus from it. The centrosome was discovered by W. Flemming in 1875
in the egg of the fresh-water mussel, and independently in 1876 by E.
van Beneden in Dicyemids. In 1883 came E. van Beneden's celebrated
discovery (_Arch. Biologie_, 4) of the reduction of the number of
chromosomes in the nucleus of both male and female gametes, and of the
fact that the male and female pronuclei contribute the same number of
chromosomes to the zygote-nucleus. He also showed that the gametogenesis
in the male is a similar process to that in the female, and paved the
way for the acceptation of the view (due to Bütschli) that polar bodies
are aborted female gametes. These discoveries were extended and
completed by subsequent workers, among whom may be mentioned E. van
Beneden, J.B. Carnoy, G. Platner, T. Boveri, O. Hertwig, A. Brauer. The
subject is still being actively pursued, and hopes are entertained that
some relation may be found between the behaviour of the chromosomes and
the facts of heredity.
Since 1874 (W. His, _Unsere Körperform und das physiologische Problem
ihrer Entstehung_) a new branch of embryology, which concerns itself
with the physiology of development, has arisen (experimental
embryology). The principal workers in this field have been W. Roux, who
in 1894 founded the _Archiv für Entwickelungsmechanik der Organismen_,
T. Boveri and Y. Delage who discovered and elucidated the phenomenon of
merogony, J. Loeb who discovered artificial parthenogenesis, O. and R.
Hertwig, H. Driesch, C. Herbst, E. Maupas, A. Weismann, T.H. Morgan,
C.B. Davenport (_Experimental Morphology_, 2 vols., 1899) and many
others.
In the elucidation of remarkable life-histories we may point in the
first place to the work of A. Kowalewsky on the development of the
Tunicata ("Entwickelungsgeschichte d. einfachen Ascidien," _Mém. Acad.
Pétersbourg_ (7), 10, 1866, and _Arch. f. Mic. Anatomie_, 7, 1871), in
which was demonstrated for the first time the vertebrate relationship of
the Tunicata (possession of a notochord, method of development of the
central nervous system) and which led to the establishment of the group
Chordata. We may also mention the work of Y. Delage in the metamorphosis
of _Sacculina_ (_Arch. zool. exp._ (2) 2, 1884), A. Giard (_Comptes
rendus_, 123, 1896, p. 836) and of A. Malaquin on _Monstrilla_ (_Arch.
zool. exp._ (3), 9, p. 81, 1901), of Delage (_Comptes rendus_, 103,
1886, p. 698) and Grassi and Calandruccio (_Rend. Acc. Lincei_ (5), 6,
1897, p. 43), on the development of the eels, and of P. Pergande on the
life-history of the Aphidae (_Bull. U.S. Dep. Agric. Ent._, technical
series, 9, 1901). The work of C. Grobben (_Arbeiten zool. Inst. Wien_,
4, 1882) and of B. Uljanin ("Die Arten der Gattung Doliolum," _Fauna u.
Flora des Golfes von Neapel_, 1884) on the extraordinary life-history
and migration of the buds in _Doliolum_ must also be mentioned. In pure
embryological morphology we have had Heymons' elucidation of the
Arthropod head, the work of Hatschek on Annelid and other larvae, the
works of H. Bury and of E.W. MacBride which have marked a distinct
advance in our knowledge of the development of Echinodermata, of K.
Mitsukuri, who has founded since 1882 an important school of embryology
in Japan, on the early development of Chelonia and Aves, of A. Brauer
and G.C. Price on the development of vertebrate excretory organs, of Th.
W. Bischoff, E. van Beneden, E. Selenka, A.A.W. Hubrecht, R. Bonnet, F.
Keibel and R. Assheton on the development of mammals, of A.A.W. Hubrecht
and E. Selenka on the early development and placentation of the
Primates, of J. Graham Kerr and of J.S. Budgett on the development of
Dipnoan and Ganoid fishes, of A. Kowalewsky, B. Hatschek, A. Willey and
E.W. MacBride on the development of Amphioxus, of B. Dean on the
development of Bdellostoma, of A. Götte on the development of Amphibia,
of H. Strahl and L. Will on the early development of reptiles, of T.H.
Huxley, C. Gegenbaur and W.K. Parker on the development of the
vertebrate skeleton, of van Wijhe on the segmentation of the vertebrate
head, by which the modern theory of head-segmentation, previously
adumbrated by Balfour, was first established, of Leche and Röse on the
development of mammalian dentitions. We may also specially notice W.
Bateson's work on the development of _Balanoglossus_ and his inclusion
of this genus among the Chordata (1884), the discovery by J.P. Hill of a
placenta in the marsupial genus _Perameles_ (1895), the work of P.
Marchal (1904) on the asexual increase by fission of the early embryos
of certain parasitic Hymenoptera (so called germinogony), a phenomenon
which had been long ago shown to occur in _Lumbricus trapezoides_ by N.
Kleinenberg (1879) and by S.F. Harmer in Polyzoa (1893). The work on
cell-lineage which has been so actively pursued in America may be
mentioned here. It has consisted mainly of an extension of the early
work of A. Kowalewsky and B. Hatschek on the formation of the layers,
being a more minute and detailed examination of the origin of the
embryonic tissues.
The most important text-books and summaries which have appeared in
this period have been Korschelt and Heider's _Lehrbuch der
vergleichenden Entwickelungsgeschichte der wirbellosen Tiere_
(1890-1902), C.S. Minot's _Human Embryology_ (1892), and the _Handbuch
der vergleichenden und experimentellen Entwickelungslehre der
Wirbeltiere_, edited by O. Hertwig (1901, et seq.). See also K.E. von
Baer, _Über Entwicklungsgeschichte der Tiere_ (Königsberg, 1828,
1837); F.M. Balfour, _A Monograph on the Development of Elasmobranch
Fishes_ (London, 1878); _A Treatise on Comparative Embryology_, vols.
i. and ii. (London, 1885) (still the most important work on Vertebrate
Embryology); M. Duval, _Atlas d'Embryologie_ (Paris, 1889); M. Foster
and F.M. Balfour, _Elements of Embryology_ (London, 1883); O. Hertwig,
_Lehrbuch der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen u. der Wirbeltiere_
(6th ed., Jena, 1898); A. Kölliker, _Entwicklungsgeschichte des
Menschen u. der höheren Tiere_ (Leipzig, 1879); A.M. Marshall,
_Vertebrate Embryology_ (London, 1893). (A. Se.*)
PHYSIOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT
Physiology of Development [in German, _Entwicklungsmechanik_ (W. Roux),
_Entwicklungsphysiologie_ (H. Driesch), _physiologische Morphologie_ (J.
Loeb)] is, in the broadest meaning of the word, the experimental science
of morphogenesis, i.e. of the laws that govern morphological
differentiation. In this sense it embraces the study of regeneration and
variation, and would, as a whole, best be called rational morphology.
Here we shall treat of the Physiology of Development in a narrower
sense, as the study of the laws that govern the development of the adult
organism from the egg, REGENERATION and VARIATION AND SELECTION forming
the subjects of special articles.
After the work done by W. His, A. Goette and E.F.W. Pflüger, who gave a
sort of general outline and orientation of the subject, the first to
study developmental problems properly in a systematical way, and with
full conviction of their great importance, was Wilhelm Roux. This
observer, having found by a full analysis of the facts of "development"
that the first special problem to be worked out was the question when
and where the first differentiation appeared, got as his main result
that, when one of the two first blastomeres (cleavage cells) of the
frog's egg was killed, the living one developed into a typical
half-embryo, i.e. an embryo that was either the right or the left part
of a whole one. From that Roux concluded that the first cleavage plane
determined already the median plane of the adult; and that the basis of
all differentiation was given by an unequal division of the nuclear
substances during karyokinesis, a result that was also attained on a
purely theoretical basis by A. Weismann. Hans Driesch repeated Roux's
fundamental experiment with a different method on the sea-urchin's egg,
with a result that was absolutely contrary to that of Roux: the isolated
blastomere cleaved like half the egg, but it resulted in a whole
blastula and a whole embryo, which differed from a normal one only in
its small size. Driesch's result was obtained in somewhat the same
manner by E.B. Wilson with the egg of Amphioxus, by Zoja with the egg of
Medusae, &c. It thus became very probable that an inequality of nuclear
division could not be the basis of differentiation. The following
experiments were still more fatal to the theories of Roux and of
Weismann. Driesch found that even when the first eight or sixteen cells
of the cleaving egg of the sea-urchin were brought into quite abnormal
positions with regard to one another, still a quite normal embryo was
developed; Driesch and T.H. Morgan discovered jointly that in the
Ctenophore egg one isolated blastomere developed into a half-embryo, but
that the same was the case if a portion of protoplasm was cut off from
the fertilized egg not yet in cleavage; last, but not of least
importance, in the case of the frog's egg which had been Roux's actual
subject of experiment, conditions were discovered by O. Schultze and O.
Hertwig under which one of the two first blastomeres of this egg
developed into a whole embryo of half size. This result was made still
more decisive by Morgan, who showed that it was quite in the power of
the experimenter to get either a half-embryo or a whole one of half
size, the latter dependent only upon giving to the blastomere the
opportunity for a rearrangement of its matter by turning it over.
Thus we may say that the general result of the introductory series of
experiments in the physiology of development is the following:--In many
forms, e.g. Echinoderms, Amphioxus, Ascidians, Fishes and Medusae, the
potentiality (_prospective Potenz_--Driesch) of all the blastomeres of
the segmented egg is the same, i.e. each of them may play any or every
part in the future development; the prospective value (_prosp.
Bedeutung_--D.) of each blastomere depends upon, or is a function of,
its position in the whole of the segmented egg; we can term the "whole"
of the egg after cleavage an "aequipotential system" (Driesch). But
though aequipotential, the whole of the segmented egg is nevertheless
not devoid of orientation or direction; the general law of causality
compels us to assume a general orientation of the smallest parts of the
egg, even in cases where we are not able to see it. It has been
experimentally proved that external stimuli (light, heat, pressure, &c.)
are not responsible for the first differentiation of organs in the
embryo; thus, should the segmented egg be absolutely equal in itself, it
would be incomprehensible that the first organs should be formed at one
special point of it and not at another. Besides this general argument,
we see a sort of orientation in the typical forms of the polar or
bilateral cleavage stages.
Differentiation, therefore, depends on a primary, i.e. innate,
orientation of the egg's plasma in those forms, the segmented eggs of
which represent aequipotential systems; this orientation is capable of
a sort of regulation or restoration after disturbances of any sort; in
the egg of the Ctenophora such a regulation is not possible, and in
the frog's egg it is facultative, i.e. possible under certain
conditions, but impossible under others. Should this interpretation be
right, the difference between the eggs of different animals would not
be so great as it seemed at first: differences with regard to the
potentialities of the blastomeres would only be differences with
regard to the capability of regulation or restoration of the egg's
protoplasm.
The foundation of physiological embryology being laid, we now can
shortly deal with the whole series of special problems offered to us by
a general analysis of that science, but at present worked out only to a
very small extent.
We may ask the following questions:--What are the general conditions
of development? On what general factors does it depend? How do the
different organs of the partly developed embryo stand with regard to
their future fate? What are the stimuli (_Reize_) effecting
differentiation? What is to be said about the specific character of
the different formative effects? And as the most important question of
all: Are all the problems offered to us in the physiology of
development to be solved with the aid of the laws known hitherto in
science, or do we want specifically new "vitalistic" factors?
Conditions of differentiation.
Energy in different forms is required for development, and is provided
by the surrounding medium. Light, though of no influence on the cleavage
(Driesch), has a great effect on later stages of development, and is
also necessary for the formation of polyps in Eudendrium (J. Loeb). That
a certain temperature is necessary for ontogeny has long been known;
this was carefully studied by O. Hertwig, as was also the influence of
heat on the rate of development. Oxygen is also wanted, either from a
certain stage of development or from the very beginning of it, though
very nearly related forms differ in this respect (Loeb). The great
influence of osmotic pressure on growth was studied by J. Loeb, C.
Herbst and C.H. Davenport. In all these cases energy may be necessary
for development in general, or a specific form of energy may be
necessary for the formation of a specific organ; it is clear that,
especially in the latter case, energy is shown to be a proper factor for
morphogenesis. Besides energy, a certain chemical condition of the
medium, whether offered by the water in which the egg lives or
(especially in later stages) by the food, is of great importance for
normal ontogeny; the only careful study in this respect was carried out
by Herbst for the development of the egg of Echinids. This investigator
has shown that all salts of the sea water are of great importance for
development, and most of them specifically and typically; for instance,
calcium is absolutely necessary for holding together the embryonic
cells, and without calcium all cells will fall apart, though they do not
die, but live to develop further.
What we have dealt with may be called external factors of development;
as to their complement, the internal factors, it is clear that every
elementary factor of general physiology may be regarded as one of them.
Chemical metamorphosis plays, of course, a great part in
differentiation, especially in the form of secretions; but very little
has been carefully studied in this respect. Movement of living matter,
whether of cells or of intracellular substance, is another important
factor (O. Bütschli, F. Dreyer, L. Rhumbler.) Cell-division is another,
its differences in direction, rate and quantity being of great
importance for differentiation. We know very little about it; a
so-called law of O. Hertwig, that a cell would divide at right angles to
its longest diameter, though experimentally stated in some cases, does
not hold for all, and the only thing we can say is, that the unknown
primary organization of the egg is here responsible. (Compare the papers
on "cell-lineage" of E.B. Wilson, F.R. Lillie, H.S. Jennings, O.
Zurstrassen and others.) Of the inner factors of ontogeny there is
another category that may be called physical, that already spoken of
being physiological. The most important of these is the capillarity of
the cell surfaces. Berthold was the first to call attention to its role
in the arrangement of cell composites, and afterwards the matter was
more carefully studied by Dreyer, Driesch, and especially W. Roux, with
the result that the arrangement of cells follows the principle of
surfaces _minimae areae_ (Plateau) as much as is reconcilable with the
conditions of the system.
Potentialities of embryonic cells.
It has already been shown that in many cases the embryo after cleavage,
i.e. the blastula, is an "aequipotential system." It was shown that in
the egg of Echinids there existed such an absolute lack of determination
of the cleavage cells that (a) the cells may be put in quite abnormal
positions with reference to one another without disturbing development;
(b) a quarter blastomere gives a quite normal little pluteus, even a
sixteenth yields a gastrula; (c) two eggs may fuse in the early blastula
stage, giving one single normal embryo of double size. Our next question
concerns the distribution of potentiality, when the embryo is developed
further than the blastula stage. In this case it has been shown that the
potentialities of the different embryonic organs are different: that,
for instance, in Echinoderms or Amphibians the ectoderm, when isolated,
is not able to form endoderm, and so on (Driesch, D. Barfurth); but it
has been shown at the same time that the ectoderm in itself, the
intestine in itself of Echinoderms (Driesch), the medullary plate in
itself of Triton (H. Spemann), is as aequipotential as was the blastula:
that any part whatever of these organs may be taken away without
disturbing the development of the rest into a normal and proportional
embryonic part, except for its smaller size.
Formative stimuli.
If the single phases of differentiation are to be regarded as effects,
we must ask for the causes, or stimuli, of these effects. For a full
account of the subject we refer to Herbst, by whom also the whole
botanical literature, much more important than the zoological, is
critically reviewed. We have already seen that when the blastula
represents an aequipotential system, there must be some sort of primary
organization of the egg, recoverable after disturbances, that directs
and localizes the formation of the first embryonic organs; we do not
know much about this organization. Directive stimuli (_Richtungsreize_)
play a great role in ontogeny; Herbst has analysed many cases where
their existence is probable. They have been experimentally proved in two
cases. The chromatic cells of the yolk sac of Fundulus are attracted by
the oxygen of the arteriae (Loeb); the mesenchyme cells of Echinus are
attracted by some specific parts of the ectoderm, for they move towards
them also when removed from their original positions to any point of the
blastocoel by shaking (Driesch). Many directive stimuli might be
discovered by a careful study of grafting experiments, such as have been
made by Born, Joest, Harrison and others, but at present these
experiments have not been carried out far enough to get exact results.
Formative stimuli in a narrower meaning of the word, i.e. stimuli
affecting the origin of embryonic organs, have long been known in
botany; in zoology we know (especially from Loeb) a good deal about the
influence of light, gravitation, contact, &c., on the formation of
organs in hydroids, but these forms are very plant-like in many
respects; as to free-living animals, Herbst proved that the formation of
the arms of the pluteus larva depends on the existence of the calcareous
tetrahedra, and made in other cases (lens of vertebrate eye, nerves and
muscles, &c.) the existence of formative stimuli very probable. Many of
the facts generally known as functional adaptation (_functionelle
Anpassung_--Roux) in botany and zoology may also belong to this
category, i.e. be the effects of some external stimulus, but they are
far from having been analysed in a satisfactory manner. That the
structure of parts of the vertebrate skeleton is always in relation to
their function, even under abnormal conditions, is well known; what is
the real "cause" of differentiation in this case is difficult to say.
Specific characters.
It is obvious that we cannot answer the question why the different
ontogenetic effects are just what they are. Developmental physiology
takes the specific nature of form for granted, and it may be left for a
really rational theory of the evolution of species in the future to
answer the problem of species, as far as it is answerable at all. What
we intend to do here is only to say in a few words wherein consists the
specific character of embryonic organs. That embryonic parts are
specific or typical in regard to their protoplasm is obvious, and is
well proved by the fact that the different parts of the embryo react
differently to the same chemical or other reagents (Herbst, Loeb). That
they may be typical also in regard to their nuclei was shown by Boveri
for the generative cells of Ascaris; we are not able at present to say
anything definite about the importance of this fact. The specific nature
of an embryonic organ consists to a high degree in the number of cells
composing it; it was shown for many cases that this number, and also the
size of cells, is constant under constant conditions, and that under
inconstant conditions the number is variable, the size constant; for
instance, embryos which have developed from one of the two first
blastomeres show only half the normal number of cells in their organs
(Morgan, Driesch).
Self-differentiation.
We have learnt that the successive steps of embryonic development are to
be regarded as effects, caused by stimuli, which partly exist in the
embryo itself. But it must be noted that not every part of the embryo is
dependent on every other one, but that there exists a great independence
of the parts, to a varying degree in every case. This partial independence
has been called self-differentiation (_Selbstdifferenzierung_) by Roux,
and is certainly a characteristic feature of ontogeny. At the same time it
must not be forgotten that the word is only relative, and that it only
expresses our recognition of a negation.
For instance, we know that the ectoderm of Echinus may develop further
if the endoderm is taken away; in other words, that it develops by
self-differentiation in regard to the endoderm, that its differentiation
is not dependent on the endoderm; but it would be obviously more
important to know the factors on which this differentiation is actually
dependent than to know one factor on which it is not. The same is true
for all other experiments on "self-differentiation," whether analytical
(Loeb, Schaper, Driesch) or not (grafting experiments, Born, Joest,
&c.).
Vitalism.
Can we understand differentiation by means of the laws of natural
phenomena offered to us by physics and chemistry? Most people would say
yes, though not yet. Driesch has tried to show that we are absolutely
not able to understand development, at any rate one part of it, i.e. the
localization of the various successive steps of differentiation. But it
is impossible to give any idea of this argument in a few words, and we
can only say here that it is based on the experiments upon isolated
blastomeres, &c., and on an analysis of the character of aequipotential
systems. In this way physiology of development would lead us straight on
into vitalism.
REFERENCES.--An account of the subject, with full literature, is given
by H. Driesch, _Resultate und Probleme der Entwicklungsphysiologie der
Tiere in Ergebnissen der Anat. u. Entw.-Gesch._ (1899). Other works
are: C.H. Davenport, _Experimental Morphology_ (New York, 1897-1899);
Y. Delage, _La Structure du protoplasma_, &c. (1895); Driesch,
_Mathem. mech. Betrachtung morpholog. Probleme_ (Jena, 1891);
_Entwicklungsmechan. Studien_ (1891-1893); _Analytische Theorie d.
organ. Entw._ (Leipzig, 1894); _Studien über d. Regulationsvermögen_
(1897-1900), &c.; C. Herbst, "Über die Bedeutung d. Reizphysiologie
für die kausale Auffassung von Vorgängen i. d. tier. Ontogenese,"
_Biolog. Centralblatt_, vols. xiv. u. xv. (Leipzig, 1894). Many papers
on influence of salts on development in _Arch. f. Entw.-Mech._; O.
Hertwig, Papers in _Arch. f. mikr. Anat._, "Die Zelle und die Gewebe,"
ii. (Jena, 1897); W. His, _Unsere Körperform_ (Leipzig, 1875); J.
Loeb, _Untersuch. z. physiol. Morph._ (Würzburg, 1891-1892). Papers in
_Arch. f. Entw.-Mech._ and Pflüger's _Archiv_; T.H. Morgan, _The
Development of the Frog's Egg_ (New York, 1897); Papers in _Arch. f.
Entw.-Mech._; Roux, _Gesammelte Abhandlungen_ (Leipzig, 1895); Papers
in _Arch. f. Entw.-Mech._; A. Weismann, _Das Keimplasma_ (Jena, 1892);
E.B. Wilson, papers in _Journ. Morph._, "The Cell in Development and
Inheritance" (New York, 1896). (H. A. E. D.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In the mammalia the word _foetus_ is often employed in the same
signification as embryo; it is especially applied to the embryo in
the later stages of uterine development.
[2] It may be proper to mention, as authors of this period who made
special researches on the development of the embryo--(1) Volcher
Coiter of Groningen, who, along with Aldrovandus of Bologna, made a
series of observations on the formation of the chick, day by day, in
the incubated egg, which were described in a work published in 1573,
and (2) Hieronymus Fabricius (ab Aquapendente), who, in his work _De
formato foetu_, first published at Padua in 1600, gave an interesting
account, illustrated by many fine engravings, of uterogestation and
the foetus of a number of quadrupeds and other animals, and in a
posthumous work entitled _De formatione ovi et pulli_, edited by J.
Prevost and published at Padua in 1621, described and illustrated by
engravings the daily changes of the egg in incubation. It is enough,
however, to say that Fabricius was entirely ignorant of the earlier
phenomena of development which occur in the first two or three days,
and even of the source of the embryonic rudiments, which he conceived
to spring, not from the yolk or true ovum, but from the chalazae or
twisted, deepest part of the white. The cicatricula he looked upon as
merely the vestige of the pedicle by which the yolk had previously
been attached to the ovary.
[3] Along with the work of W. Hunter must be mentioned a large
collection of unpublished observations by Dr James Douglas, which are
preserved in the Hunterian Museum of Glasgow University.
EMDEN, a maritime town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Hanover,
near the mouth of the Ems, 49 m. N.W. from Oldenburg by rail. Pop.
(1885) 14,019; (1905) 20,754. The Ems once flowed beneath its walls, but
is now 2 m. distant, and connected with the town by a broad and deep
canal, divided into the inner (or dock) harbour and the outer (or "free
port") harbour. The latter is ¾ m. in length, has a breadth of nearly
400 ft., and since the construction of the Ems-Jade and Dortmund-Ems
canals, has been deepened to 38 ft., thus allowing the largest sea-going
vessels to approach its wharves. The town is intersected by canals
(crossed by numerous bridges), which bring it into communication with
most of the towns in East Friesland, of which it is the commercial
capital. The waterways which traverse and surround it and the character
of its numerous gabled medieval houses give it the appearance of an old
Dutch, rather than of a German, town. Of its churches the most
noteworthy are the Reformed "Great Church" (Grosse Kirche), a large
Gothic building completed in 1455, containing the tomb of Enno II. (d.
1540), count of East Friesland; the Gasthauskirche, formerly the church
of a Franciscan friary founded in 1317; and the Neue Kirche (1643-1647).
Of its secular buildings, the Rathaus (town-hall), built in 1574-1576,
on the model of that of Antwerp, with a lofty tower, and containing an
interesting collection of arms and armour, is particularly remarkable.
There are numerous educational institutions, including classical and
modern schools, and schools of commerce, navigation and telegraphy. The
town has two interesting museums. Emden is the seat of an active trade
in agricultural produce and live-stock, horses, timber, coal, tea and
wine. The deep-sea fishing industry of the town is important, the
fishing fleet in 1902 numbering 67 vessels. Machinery, cement, cordage,
wire ropes, tobacco, leather, &c. are manufactured. Emden is also of
importance as the station of the submarine cables connecting Germany
with England, North America and Spain. It has a regular steamboat
service with Borkum and Norderney.
Emden (Emuden, Emetha) is first mentioned in the 12th century, when it
was the capital of the Eemsgo (Emsgau, or county of the Ems), one of the
three hereditary countships into which East Friesland had been divided
by the emperor. In 1252 the countship was sold to the bishops of
Münster; but their rule soon became little more than nominal, and in
Emden itself the family of Abdena, the episcopal provosts and
castellans, established their practical independence. Towards the end of
the 14th century the town gained a considerable trade owing to the
permission given by the provost to the pirates known as
"Viktualienbrüder" to make it their market, after they had been driven
out of Gothland by the Teutonic Order. In 1402, after the defeat of the
pirates off Heligoland by the fleet of Hamburg, Emden was besieged, but
it was not reduced by Hamburg, with the aid of Edzard Cirksena of
Greetsyl, until 1431. The town was held jointly by its captors till
1453, when Hamburg sold its rights to Ulrich Cirksena, created count of
East Friesland by the emperor Frederick III. in 1454. In 1544 the
Reformation was introduced, and in the following years numerous
Protestant refugees from the Low Countries found their way to the town.
In 1595 Emden became a free imperial city under the protection of
Holland, and was occupied by a Dutch garrison until 1744 when, with East
Friesland, it was transferred to Prussia. In 1810 Emden became the chief
town of the French department of Ems Oriental; in 1815 it was assigned
to Hanover, and in 1866 was annexed with that kingdom by Prussia.
See Fürbringer, _Die Stadt Emden in Gegenwart und Vergangenheit_
(Emden, 1892).
EMERALD, a bright green variety of beryl, much valued as a gem-stone.
The word comes indirectly from the Gr. [Greek: _smaragdos_] (Arabic
_zumurrud_), but this seems to have been a name vaguely given to a
number of stones having little in common except a green colour. Pliny's
"smaragdus" undoubtedly included several distinct species. Much
confusion has arisen with respect to the "emerald" of the Scriptures.
The Hebrew word _nophek_, rendered emerald in the Authorized Version,
probably meant the carbuncle: it is indeed translated [Greek: _anthrax_]
in the Septuagint, and a marginal reading in the Revised Version gives
carbuncle. On the other hand, the word _bareqath_, rendered [Greek:
_smaragdos_] in the LXX., appears in the A.V. as carbuncle, with the
alternative reading of emerald in the R.V. It may have referred to the
true emerald, but Flinders Petrie suggests that it meant rock-crystal.
The properties of emerald are mostly the same as those described under
BERYL. The crystals often show simply the hexagonal prism and basal
plane. The prisms cleave, though imperfectly, at right angles to the
geometrical axis; and hexagonal slices were formerly worn in the East.
Compared with most gems, the emerald is rather soft, its hardness (7.5)
being but slightly above that of quartz. The specific gravity is low,
varying slightly in stones from different localities, but being for the
Muzo emerald about 2.67. The refractive and dispersive powers are not
high, so that the cut stones display little brilliancy or "fire." The
emerald is dichroic, giving in the dichroscope a bluish-green and a
yellowish-green image. The magnificent colour which gives extraordinary
value to this gem, is probably due to chromium. F. Wöhler found 0.186%
of Cr2O3 in the emerald of Muzo,--a proportion which, though small, is
sufficient to impart an emerald-green colour to glass. The stone loses
colour when strongly heated, and M. Lewy suggested that the colour was
due to an organic pigment. Greville Williams showed that emeralds lost
about 9% of their weight on fusion, the specific gravity being reduced
to about 2.4.
The ancients appear to have obtained the emerald from Upper Egypt, where
it is said to have been worked as early as 1650 B.C. It is known that
Greek miners were at work in the time of Alexander the Great, and in
later times the mines yielded their gems to Cleopatra. Remains of
extensive workings were discovered in the northern Etbai by the French
traveller, F. Cailliaud, in 1817, and the mines were re-opened for a
short time under Mehemet Ali. "Cleopatra's Mines" are situated in Jebel
Sikait and Jebel Zabara near the Red Sea coast east of Assuan. They were
visited in 1891 by E.A. Floyer, and the Sikait workings were explored in
1900 by D.A. MacAlister and others. The Egyptian emeralds occur in
mica-schist and talc-schist.
On the Spanish conquest of South America vast quantities of emeralds
were taken from the Peruvians, but the exact locality which yielded the
stones was never discovered. The only South American emeralds now known
occur near Bogotà, the capital of Colombia. The most famous mine is at
Muzo, but workings are known also at Coscuez and Somondoco. The emerald
occurs in nests of calcite in a black bituminous limestone containing
ammonites of Lower Cretaceous age. The mineral is associated with
quartz, dolomite, pyrites, and the rare mineral called "parisite"--a
fluo-carbonate of the cerium metals, occurring in brownish-yellow
hexagonal crystals, and named after J.J. Paris, who worked the emeralds.
It has been suggested that the Colombian emerald is not in its original
matrix. The fine stones are called _cañutillos_ and the inferior ones
_morallion_.
In 1830 emeralds were accidentally discovered in the Ural Mountains. At
the present time they are worked on the river Takovaya, about 60 m. N.E.
of Ekaterinburg, where they occur in mica-schist, associated with
aquamarine, alexandrite, phenacite, &c. Emerald is found also in
mica-schist in the Habachthal, in the Salzburg Alps, and in granite at
Eidsvold in Norway. Emerald has been worked in a vein of pegmatite,
piercing slaty rocks, near Emmaville, in New South Wales. The crystals
occurred in association with topaz, fluorspar and cassiterite; but they
were mostly of rather pale colour. In the United States, emerald has
occasionally been found, and fine crystals have been obtained from the
workings for hiddenite at Stonypoint, Alexander county, N.C.
Many virtues were formerly ascribed to the emerald. When worn, it was
held to be a preservative against epilepsy, it cured dysentery, it
assisted women in childbirth, it drove away evil spirits, and preserved
the chastity of the wearer. Administered internally it was reputed to
have great medicinal value. In consequence of its refreshing green
colour it was naturally said to be good for the eyesight.
The stone known as "Oriental emerald" is a green corundum. Lithia
emerald is the mineral called hiddenite; Uralian emerald is a name given
to demantoid; Brazilian emerald is merely green tourmaline; evening
emerald is the peridot; pyro-emerald is fluorspar which phosphoresces
with a green glow when heated; and "mother of emerald" is generally a
green quartz or perhaps in some cases a green felspar.
See AQUAMARINE, BERYL. (F. W. R.*)
ÉMERIC-DAVID, TOUSSAINT-BERNARD (1755-1839), French archaeologist and
writer on art, was born at Aix, in Provence, on the 20th of August 1755.
He was destined for the legal profession, and having gone in 1775 to
Paris to complete his legal education, he acquired there a taste for art
which influenced his whole future career, and he went to Italy, where he
continued his art studies. He soon returned, however, to his native
village, and followed for some time the profession of an advocate; but
in 1787 he succeeded his uncle Antoine David as printer to the
parlement. He was elected mayor of Aix in 1791; and although he speedily
resigned his office, he was in 1793 threatened with arrest, and had for
some time to adopt a vagrant life. When danger was past he returned to
Aix, sold his printing business, and engaged in general commercial
pursuits; but he was not long in renouncing these also, in order to
devote himself exclusively to literature and art. From 1809 to 1814,
under the Empire, he represented his department in the Lower House
(_Corps législatif_); in 1814 he voted for the downfall of Napoleon; in
1815 he retired into private life, and in 1816 he was elected a member
of the Institute. He died in Paris on the 2nd of April 1839.
Émeric-David was placed in 1825 on the commission appointed to continue
_L'Histoire littéraire de la France._ His principal works are
_Recherches sur l'art statuaire, considéré chez les anciens et les
modernes_ (Paris, 1805), a work which obtained the prize of the
Institute; _Suite d'études calquées et dessinées d'après cinq tableaux
de Raphaël_ (Paris, 1818-1821), in 6 vols. fol.; _Jupiter, ou recherches
sur ce dieu, sur son culte_, &c. (Paris, 1833), 2 vols. 8vo,
illustrated; and _Vulcain_ (Paris, 1837).
EMERITUS (Lat. from _emereri_, to serve out one's time, to earn
thoroughly), a term used of Roman soldiers and public officials who had
earned their discharge from the service, a veteran, and hence applied,
in modern times, to a university professor (_professor emeritus_) who
has vacated his chair, on account of long service, age or infirmity,
and, in the Presbyterian church, to a minister who has for like reason
given up his charge.
EMERSON, RALPH WALDO (1803-1882), American poet and essayist, was born
in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 25th of May 1803. Seven of his
ancestors were ministers of New England churches. Among them were some
of those men of mark who made the backbone of the American character:
the sturdy Puritan, Peter Bulkeley, sometime rector of Odell in
Bedfordshire, and afterward pastor of the church in the wilderness at
Concord, New Hampshire; the zealous evangelist, Father Samuel Moody of
Agamenticus in Maine, who pursued graceless sinners even into the
alehouse; Joseph Emerson of Malden, "a heroic scholar," who prayed every
night that no descendant of his might ever be rich; and William Emerson
of Concord, Mass., the patriot preacher, who died while serving in the
army of the Revolution. Sprung from such stock, Emerson inherited
qualities of self-reliance, love of liberty, strenuous virtue,
sincerity, sobriety and fearless loyalty to ideals. The form of his
ideals was modified by the metamorphic glow of Transcendentalism which
passed through the region of Boston in the second quarter of the 19th
century. But the spirit in which Emerson conceived the laws of life,
reverenced them and lived them out, was the Puritan spirit, elevated,
enlarged and beautified by the poetic temperament.
His father was the Rev. William Emerson, minister of the First Church
(Unitarian) in Boston. Ralph Waldo was the fourth child in a family of
eight, of whom at least three gave evidence of extraordinary mental
powers. He was brought up in an atmosphere of hard work, of moral
discipline, and (after his father's death in 1811) of that wholesome
self-sacrifice which is a condition of life for those who are poor in
money and rich in spirit. His aunt, Miss Mary Moody Emerson, a brilliant
old maid, an eccentric saint, was a potent factor in his education.
Loving him, believing in his powers, passionately desiring for him a
successful career, but clinging with both hands to the old forms of
faith from which he floated away, this solitary, intense woman did as
much as any one to form, by action and reaction, the mind and character
of the young Emerson. In 1817 he entered Harvard College, and graduated
in 1821. In scholarship he ranked about the middle of his class. In
literature and oratory he was more distinguished, receiving a Boylston
prize for declamation, and two Bowdoin prizes for dissertations, the
first essay being on "The Character of Socrates" and the second on "The
Present State of Ethical Philosophy"--both rather dull, formal, didactic
productions. He was fond of reading and of writing verse, and was chosen
as the poet for class-day. His cheerful serenity of manner, his tranquil
mirthfulness, and the steady charm of his personality made him a
favourite with his fellows, in spite of a certain reserve. His literary
taste was conventional, including the standard British writers, with a
preference for Shakespeare among the poets, Berkeley among the
philosophers, and Montaigne (in Cotton's translation) among the
essayists. His particular admiration among the college professors was
the stately rhetorician, Edward Everett; and this predilection had much
to do with his early ambition to be a professor of rhetoric and
elocution.
Immediately after graduation he became an assistant in his brother
William's school for young ladies in Boston, and continued teaching,
with much inward reluctance and discomfort, for three years. The routine
was distasteful; he despised the superficial details which claimed so
much of his time. The bonds of conventionalism were silently dissolving
in the rising glow of his poetic nature. Independence, sincerity,
reality, grew more and more necessary to him. His aunt urged him to seek
retirement, self-reliance, friendship with nature; to be no longer "the
nursling of surrounding circumstances," but to prepare a celestial abode
for the muse. The passion for spiritual leadership stirred within him.
The ministry seemed to offer the fairest field for its satisfaction. In
1825 he entered the divinity school at Cambridge, to prepare himself for
the Unitarian pulpit. His course was much interrupted by ill-health. His
studies were irregular, and far more philosophical and literary than
theological.
In October 1826 he was "approbated to preach" by the Middlesex
Association of Ministers. The same year a threatened consumption
compelled him to take a long journey in the south. Returning in 1827, he
continued his studies, preached as a candidate in various churches, and
improved in health. In 1829 he married a beautiful but delicate young
woman, Miss Ellen Tucker of Concord, and was installed as associate
minister of the Second Church (Unitarian) in Boston. The retirement of
his senior colleague soon left him the sole pastor. Emerson's early
sermons were simple, direct, unconventional. He dealt freely with the
things of the spirit. There was a homely elevation in his discourses, a
natural freshness in his piety, a quiet enthusiasm in his manner, that
charmed thoughtful hearers. Early in 1832 he lost his wife, a sorrow
that deeply depressed him in health and spirits. Following his passion
for independence and sincerity, he arrived at the conviction that the
Lord's Supper was not intended by Christ to be a permanent sacrament. To
him, at least, it had become an outgrown form. He was willing to
continue the service only if the use of the elements should be dropped
and the rite made simply an act of spiritual remembrance. Setting forth
these views, candidly and calmly, in a sermon, he found his
congregation, not unnaturally, reluctant to agree with him, and
therefore retired, not without some disappointment, from the pastoral
office. He never again took charge of a parish; but he continued to
preach, as opportunity offered, until 1847. In fact, he was always a
preacher, though of a singular order. His supreme task was to befriend
and guide the inner life of man.
The strongest influences in his development about this time were the
liberating philosophy of Coleridge, the mystical visions of Swedenborg,
the intimate poetry of Wordsworth, and the stimulating essays of
Carlyle. On Christmas Day 1832 he took passage in a sailing vessel for
the Mediterranean. He travelled through Italy, visited Paris, spent two
months in Scotland and England, and saw the four men whom he most
desired to see--Landor, Coleridge, Carlyle and Wordsworth. "The comfort
of meeting such men of genius as these," he wrote, "is that they talk
sincerely." But he adds that he found all four of them, in different
degrees, deficient in insight into religious truth. His visit to
Carlyle, in the lonely farm-house at Craigenputtock, was the memorable
beginning of a lifelong friendship. Emerson published Carlyle's first
books in America. Carlyle introduced Emerson's Essays into England. The
two men were bound together by a mutual respect deeper than a sympathy
of tastes, and a community of spirit stronger than a similarity of
opinions. Emerson was a sweet-tempered Carlyle, living in the sunshine.
Carlyle was a militant Emerson, moving amid thunderclouds. The things
that each most admired in the other were self-reliance, directness,
moral courage. A passage in Emerson's Diary, written on his homeward
voyage, strikes the keynote of his remaining life. "A man contains all
that is needful to his government within himself.... All real good or
evil that can befall him must be from himself.... There is a
correspondence between the human soul and everything that exists in the
world; more properly, everything that is known to man. Instead of
studying things without, the principles of them all may be penetrated
into within him.... The purpose of life seems to be to acquaint man with
himself.... The highest revelation is that God is in every man." Here is
the essence of that intuitional philosophy, commonly called
Transcendentalism. Emerson disclaimed allegiance to that philosophy. He
called it "the saturnalia, or excess of faith." His practical common
sense recoiled from the amazing conclusions which were drawn from it by
many of its more eccentric advocates. His independence revolted against
being bound to any scheme or system of doctrine, however nebulous. He
said: "I wish to say what I feel and think to-day, with the proviso that
to-morrow perhaps I shall contradict it all." But this very wish commits
him to the doctrine of the inner light. All through his life he
navigated the Transcendental sea, piloted by a clear moral sense, warned
off the rocks by the saving grace of humour, and kept from capsizing by
a good ballast of New England prudence.
After his return from England in 1833 he went to live with his mother at
the old manse in Concord, Mass., and began his career as a lecturer in
Boston. His first discourses were delivered before the Society of
Natural History and the Mechanics' Institute. They were chiefly on
scientific subjects, approached in a poetic spirit. In the autumn of
1835 he married Miss Lydia Jackson of Plymouth, having previously
purchased a spacious old house and garden at Concord. There he spent the
remainder of his life, a devoted husband, a wise and tender father, a
careful house-holder, a virtuous villager, a friendly neighbour, and,
spite of all his disclaimers, the central and luminous figure among the
Transcendentalists. The doctrine which in others seemed to produce all
sorts of extravagances--communistic experiments at Brook Farm and
Fruitlands, weird schemes of political reform, long hair on men and
short hair on women--in his sane, well-balanced nature served only to
lend an ideal charm to the familiar outline of a plain, orderly New
England life. Some mild departures from established routine he
tranquilly tested and as tranquilly abandoned. He tried vegetarianism
for a while, but gave it up when he found that it did him no particular
good. An attempt to illustrate household equality by having the servants
sit at table with the rest of the family was frustrated by the dislike
of his two sensible domestics for such an inconvenient arrangement. His
theory that manual labour should form part of the scholar's life was
checked by the personal discovery that hard labour in the fields meant
poor work in the study. "The writer shall not dig," was his practical
conclusion. Intellectual independence was what he chiefly desired; and
this, he found, could be attained in a manner of living not outwardly
different from that of the average college professor or country
minister. And yet it was to this property-holding, debt-paying,
law-abiding, well-dressed, courteous-mannered citizen of Concord that
the ardent and enthusiastic turned as the prophet of the new idealism.
The influence of other Transcendental teachers, Dr Hedge, Dr Ripley,
Bronson Alcott, Orestes Brownson, Theodore Parker, Margaret Fuller,
Henry Thoreau, Jones Very, was narrow and parochial compared with that
of Emerson. Something in his imperturbable, kindly presence, his angelic
look, his musical voice, his commanding style of thought and speech,
announced him as the possessor of the great secret which many were
seeking--the secret of a freer, deeper, more harmonious life. More and
more, as his fame spread, those who "would live in the spirit" came to
listen to the voice, and to sit at the feet, of the Sage of Concord.
It was on the lecture-platform that he found his power and won his fame.
The courses of lectures that he delivered at the Masonic Temple in
Boston, during the winters of 1835 and 1836, on "Great Men," "English
Literature," and "The Philosophy of History," were well attended and
admired. They were followed by two discourses which commanded for him
immediate recognition, part friendly and part hostile, as a new and
potent personality. His Phi Beta Kappa oration at Harvard College in
August 1837, on "The American Scholar," was an eloquent appeal for
independence, sincerity, realism, in the intellectual life of America.
His address before the graduating class of the divinity school at
Cambridge, in 1838, was an impassioned protest against what he called
"the defects of historical Christianity" (its undue reliance upon the
personal authority of Jesus, and its failure to explore the moral nature
of man as the fountain of established teaching), and a daring plea for
absolute self-reliance and a new inspiration of religion. "In the soul,"
he said, "let redemption be sought. Wherever a man comes, there comes
revolution. The old is for slaves. Go alone. Refuse the good models,
even those which are sacred in the imagination of men. Cast conformity
behind you, and acquaint men at first hand with Deity." In this address
Emerson laid his hand on the sensitive point of Unitarianism, which
rejected the divinity of Jesus, but held fast to his supreme authority.
A blaze of controversy sprang up at once. Conservatives attacked him;
Radicals defended him. Emerson made no reply. But amid this somewhat
fierce illumination he went forward steadily as a public lecturer. It
was not his negations that made him popular; it was the eloquence with
which he presented the positive side of his doctrine. Whatever the
titles of his discourses, "Literary Ethics," "Man the Reformer," "The
Present Age," "The Method of Nature," "Representative Men," "The Conduct
of Life," their theme was always the same, namely, "the infinitude of
the private man." Those who thought him astray on the subject of
religion listened to him with delight when he poetized the commonplaces
of art, politics, literature or the household. His utterance was
Delphic, inspirational. There was magic in his elocution. The simplicity
and symmetry of his sentences, the modulations of his thrilling voice,
the radiance of his fine face, even his slight hesitations and pauses
over his manuscript, lent a strange charm to his speech. For more than a
generation he went about the country lecturing in cities, towns and
villages, before learned societies, rustic lyceums and colleges; and
there was no man on the platform in America who excelled him in
distinction, in authority, or in stimulating eloquence.
In 1847 Emerson visited Great Britain for the second time, was welcomed
by Carlyle, lectured to appreciative audiences in Manchester, Liverpool,
Edinburgh and London, made many new friends among the best English
people, paid a brief visit to Paris, and returned home in July 1848. "I
leave England," he wrote, "with increased respect for the Englishman.
His stuff or substance seems to be the best in the world. I forgive him
all his pride. My respect is the more generous that I have no sympathy
with him, only an admiration." The impressions of this journey were
embodied in a book called _English Traits_, published in 1856. It might
be called "English Traits and American Confessions," for nowhere does
Emerson's Americanism come out more strongly. But the America that he
loved and admired was the ideal, the potential America. For the actual
conditions of social and political life in his own time he had a fine
scorn. He was an intellectual Brahmin. His principles were democratic,
his tastes aristocratic. He did not like crowds, streets, hotels--"the
people who fill them oppress me with their excessive civility." Humanity
was his hero. He loved man, but be was not fond of men. He had grave
doubts about universal suffrage. He took a sincere interest in social
and political reform, but towards specific "reforms" his attitude was
somewhat remote and visionary. On the subject of temperance he held
aloof from the intemperate methods of the violent prohibitionists. He
was a believer in woman's rights, but he was lukewarm towards
conventions in favour of woman suffrage. Even in regard to slavery he
had serious hesitations about the ways of the abolitionists, and for a
long time refused to be identified with them. But as the irrepressible
conflict drew to a head Emerson's hesitation vanished. He said in 1856,
"I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom."
With the outbreak of the Civil War he became an ardent and powerful
advocate of the cause of the Union. James Russell Lowell said, "To him
more than to all other causes did the young martyrs of our Civil War owe
the sustaining strength of thoughtful heroism that is so touching in
every record of their lives."
Emerson the essayist was a condensation of Emerson the lecturer. His
prose works, with the exception of the slender volume entitled _Nature_
(1836), were collected and arranged from the manuscripts of his
lectures. His method of writing was characteristic. He planted a subject
in his mind, and waited for thoughts and illustrations to come to it, as
birds or insects to a plant or flower. When an idea appeared, he
followed it, "as a boy might hunt a butterfly"; when it was captured he
pinned it in his "Thought-book". The writings of other men he used more
for stimulus than for guidance. He said that books were for the
scholar's idle times. "I value them," he said, "to make my top spin."
His favourite reading was poetry and mystical philosophy: Shakespeare,
Dante, George Herbert, Goethe, Berkeley, Coleridge, Swedenborg, Jakob
Boehme, Plato, the new Platonists, and the religious books of the East
(in translation). Next to these he valued books of biography and
anecdote: Plutarch, Grimm, St Simon, Varnhagen von Ense. He had some odd
dislikes, and could find nothing in Aristophanes, Cervantes, Shelley,
Scott, Miss Austen, Dickens. Novels he seldom read. He was a follower of
none, an original borrower from all. His illustrations were drawn from
near and far. The zodiac of Denderah; the Savoyards who carved their
pine-forests into toys; the naked Derar, horsed on an idea, charging a
troop of Roman cavalry; the long, austere Pythagorean lustrum of
silence; Napoleon on the deck of the "Bellerophon," observing the drill
of the English soldiers; the Egyptian doctrine that every man has two
pairs of eyes; Empedocles and his shoe; the horizontal stratification of
the earth; a soft mushroom pushing its way through the hard
ground,--all these allusions and a thousand more are found in the same
volume. On his pages, close beside the Parthenon, the Sphinx, St Paul's,
Etna and Vesuvius, you will find the White Mountains, Monadnock,
Agiocochook, Katahdin, the pickerel-weed in bloom, the wild geese
honking through the sky, the chick-a-dee braving the snow, Wall Street
and State Street, cotton-mills, railroads and Quincy granite. For an
abstract thinker he was strangely in love with the concrete facts of
life. Idealism in him assumed the form of a vivid illumination of the
real. From the pages of his teeming note-books he took the material for
his lectures, arranging and rearranging it under such titles as Nature,
School, Home, Genius, Beauty and Manners, Self-Possession, Duty, The
Superlative, Truth, The Anglo-Saxon, The Young American. When the
lectures had served their purpose he rearranged the material in essays
and published them. Thus appeared in succession the following volumes:
_Essays_ (First Series) (1841); _Essays_ (Second Series) (1844);
_Representative Men_ (1850); _English Traits_ (1856); _The Conduct of
Life_ (1860); _Society and Solitude_ (1870); _Letters and Social Aims_
(1876). Besides these, many other lectures were printed in separate form
and in various combinations.
Emerson's style is brilliant, epigrammatic, gem-like; clear in
sentences, obscure in paragraphs. He was a sporadic observer. He saw by
flashes. He said, "I do not know what arguments mean in reference to any
expression of a thought." The coherence of his writing lies in his
personality. His work is fused by a steady glow of optimism. Yet he
states this optimism moderately. "The genius which preserves and guides
the human race indicates itself by a small excess of good, a small
balance in brute facts always favourable to the side of reason."
His verse, though in form inferior to his prose, was perhaps a truer
expression of his genius. He said, "I am born a poet"; and again,
writing to Carlyle, he called himself "half a bard." He had "the
vision," but not "the faculty divine" which translates the vision into
music. In his two volumes of verse (_Poems_, 1846; _May Day and other
Pieces_, 1867) there are many passages of beautiful insight and profound
feeling, some lines of surprising splendour, and a few poems, like "The
Rhodora," "The Snowstorm," "Ode to Beauty," "Terminus," "The Concord
Ode," and the marvellous "Threnody" on the death of his first-born boy,
of beauty unmarred and penetrating truth. But the total value of his
poetical work is discounted by the imperfection of metrical form, the
presence of incongruous images, the predominance of the intellectual
over the emotional element, and the lack of flow. It is the material of
poetry not thoroughly worked out. But the genius from which it came--the
swift faculty of perception, the lofty imagination, the idealizing
spirit enamoured of reality--was the secret source of all Emerson's
greatness as a speaker and as a writer. Whatever verdict time may pass
upon the bulk of his poetry, Emerson himself must be recognized as an
original and true poet of a high order.
His latter years were passed in peaceful honour at Concord. In 1866
Harvard College conferred upon him the degree of LL.D., and in 1867 he
was elected an overseer. In 1870 he delivered a course of lectures
before the university on "The Natural History of the Intellect." In 1872
his house was burned down, and was rebuilt by popular subscription. In
the same year he went on his third foreign journey, going as far as
Egypt. About this time began a failure in his powers, especially in his
memory. But his character remained serene and unshaken in dignity.
Steadily, tranquilly, cheerfully, he finished the voyage of life.
"I trim myself to the storm of time,
I man the rudder, reef the sail,
Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime:
'Lowly faithful, banish fear,
Right onward drive unharmed;
The port, well worth the cruise, is near.
And every wave is charmed.'"
Emerson died on the 27th of April 1882, and his body was laid to rest in
the peaceful cemetery of Sleepy Hollow, in a grove on the edge of the
village of Concord.
AUTHORITIES.--_Emerson's Complete Works_, Riverside edition, edited by
J.E. Cabot (11 vols., Boston, 1883-1884); another edition (London, 5
vols., 1906), by G. Sampson, in Bohn's "Libraries"; _The
Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson_, edited by
Charles Eliot Norton (Boston, 1883); George Willis Cooke, _Ralph Waldo
Emerson: His Life, Writings and Philosophy_ (Boston, 1881); Alexander
Ireland, _Ralph Waldo Emerson: His Life, Genius and Writings_ (London,
1882); A. Bronson Alcott, _Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher and Seer_
(Boston, 1882); Moncure Daniel Conway, _Emerson at Home and Abroad_
(Boston, 1882); Joel Benton, _Emerson as a Poet_ (New York, 1883);
F.B. Sanborn (editor), _The Genius and Character of Emerson: Lectures
at the Concord School of Philosophy_ (Boston, 1885); Oliver Wendell
Holmes, _Ralph Waldo Emerson_ ("American Men of Letters" series)
(Boston, 1885); James Elliott Cabot, _A Memoir of Ralph Waldo
Emerson_, 2 vols. (the authorized biography) (Boston, 1887); Edward
Waldo Emerson, _Emerson in Concord_ (Boston, 1889); Richard Garnett,
_Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson_ (London, 1888); G.E. Woodberry, _Ralph
Waldo Emerson_ (1907). Critical estimates are also to be found in
Matthew Arnold's _Discourses in America_, John Morley's _Critical
Miscellanies_, Henry James's _Partial Portraits_, Lowell's _My Study
Windows_, Birrell's _Obiter Dicta_ (2nd series), Stedman's _Poets of
America_, Whipple's _American Literature_, &c. There is a
_Bibliography of Ralph Waldo Emerson_, by G.W. Cooke (Boston, 1908).
(H. van D.)
EMERSON, WILLIAM (1701-1782), English mathematician, was born on the
14th of May 1701 at Hurworth, near Darlington, where his father, Dudley
Emerson, also a mathematician, taught a school. Unsuccessful as a
teacher he devoted himself entirely to studious retirement, and
published many works which are singularly free from errata. In mechanics
he never advanced a proposition which he had not previously tested in
practice, nor published an invention without first proving its effects
by a model. He was skilled in the science of music, the theory of
sounds, and the ancient and modern scales; but he never attained any
excellence as a performer. He died on the 20th of May 1782 at his native
village. Emerson was eccentric and indeed clownish, but he possessed
remarkable independence of character and intellectual energy. The
boldness with which he expressed his opinions on religious subjects led
to his being charged with scepticism, but for this there was no
foundation.
Emerson's works include _The Doctrine of Fluxions_ (1748); _The
Projection of the Sphere, Orthographic, Stereographic and Gnomical_
(1749); _The Elements of Trigonometry_ (1749); _The Principles of
Mechanics_ (1754); _A Treatise of Navigation_ (1755); _A Treatise of
Algebra_, in two books (1765); _The Arithmetic of Infinites, and the
Differential Method, illustrated by Examples_ (1767); _Mechanics, or
the Doctrine of Motion_ (1769); _The Elements of Optics_, in four
books (1768); _A System of Astronomy_ (1769); _The Laws of Centripetal
and Centrifugal Force_ (1769); _The Mathematical Principles of
Geography_ (1770); _Tracts_ (1770); _Cyclomathesis, or an Easy
Introduction to the several branches of the Mathematics_ (1770), in
ten vols.; _A Short Comment on Sir Isaac Newton's Principia_; to which
is added, _A Defence of Sir Isaac against the objections that have
been made to several parts of his works_ (1770); _A Miscellaneous
Treatise containing several Mathematical Subjects_ (1776).
EMERY (Ger. _Smirgel_), an impure variety of corundum, much used as an
abrasive agent. It was known to the Greeks under the name of [Greek:
smyris] or [Greek: smiris], which is defined by Dioscorides as a stone
used in gem-engraving. The Hebrew word _shamir_ (related to the Egyptian
_asmir_), where translated in our versions of the Old Testament
"adamant" and "diamond," probably signified the emery-stone or corundum.
Emery occurs as a granular or massive, dark-coloured, dense substance,
having much the appearance of an iron-ore. Its specific gravity varies
with its composition from 3.7 to 4.3. Under the microscope, it is seen
to be a mechanical aggregate of corundum, usually in grains or minute
crystals of a bluish colour, with magnetite, which also is granular and
crystalline. Other iron oxides, like haematite and limonite, may be
present as alteration-products of the magnetite. Some of the alumina and
iron oxide may occasionally be chemically combined, so as to form an
iron spinel, or hercynite. In addition to these minerals emery sometimes
contains quartz, mica, tourmaline, cassiterite, &c. Indeed emery may be
regarded as a rock rather than a definite mineral species.
The hardness of emery is about 8, whereas that of pure corundum is 9.
The "abrasive power," or "effective hardness," of emery is by no means
proportional to the amount of alumina which it contains, but seems
rather to depend on its physical condition. Thus, taking the effective
hardness of sapphire as 100, Dr J. Lawrence Smith found that the emery
of Samos with 70.10% of alumina had a corresponding hardness of 56; that
of Naxos, with 68.53 of Al2O3, a hardness of 46; and that of Gumach with
77.82 of Al2O3, a hardness of 47.
Emery has been worked from a very remote period in the Isle of Naxos,
one of the Cyclades, whence the stone was called _naxium_ by Pliny and
other Roman writers. The mineral occurs as loose blocks and as
lenticular masses or irregular beds in granular limestone, associated
with crystalline schists. The Naxos emery has been described by
Professor G. Tschermak. From a chemical analysis of a sample it has been
calculated that the emery contained 52.4% of corundum, 32.1 of
magnetite, 11.5 of tourmaline, 2 of muscovite and 2 of margarite.
Important deposits of corundum were discovered in Asia Minor by J.
Lawrence Smith, when investigating Turkish mineral resources about 1847.
The chief sources of emery there are Gumach Dagh, a mountain about 12 m.
E. of Ephesus; Kula, near Ala-shehr; and the mines in the hills between
Thyra and Cosbonnar, south of Smyrna. The occurrence is similar to that
in Naxos. The emery is found as detached blocks in a reddish soil, and
as rounded masses embedded in a crystalline limestone associated with
mica-schist, gneiss and granite. The proportion of corundum in this
emery is said to vary from 37 to 57%. Emery is worked at several
localities in the United States, especially near Chester, in Hampden
county, Mass., where it is associated with peridotites. The corundum and
magnetite are regarded by Dr J.H. Pratt as basic segregations from an
igneous magma. The deposits were discovered by H.S. Lucas in 1864.
The hardness and toughness of emery render it difficult to work, but it
may be extracted from the rock by blasting in holes bored with diamond
drills. In the East fire-setting is employed. The emery after being
broken up is carefully picked by hand, and then ground or stamped, and
separated into grades by wire sieves. The higher grades are prepared by
washing and eleutriation, the finest being known as "flour of emery." A
very fine emery dust is collected in the stamping room, where it is
deposited after floating in the air. The fine powder is used by
lapidaries and plate-glass manufacturers. Emery-wheels are made by
consolidating the powdered mineral with an agglutinating medium like
shellac or silicate of soda or vulcanized india-rubber. Such wheels are
not only used by dentists and lapidaries but are employed on a large
scale in mechanical workshops for grinding, shaping and polishing steel.
Emery-sticks, emery-cloth and emery-paper are made by coating the
several materials with powdered emery mixed with glue, or other adhesive
media. (See CORUNDUM.) (F. W. R.*)
EMETICS (from Gr. [Greek: emetikos], causing vomit), the term given to
substances which are administered for the purpose of producing vomiting.
It is customary to divide emetics into two classes, those which produce
their effect by acting on the vomiting centre in the medulla, and those
which act directly on the stomach itself. There is considerable
confusion in the nomenclature of these two divisions, but all are agreed
in calling the former class central emetics, and the latter gastric. The
gastric emetics in common use are alum, ammonium carbonate, zinc
sulphate, sodium chloride (common salt), mustard and warm water. Copper
sulphate has been purposely omitted from this list, since unless it
produces vomiting very shortly after administration, being itself a
violent gastro-intestinal irritant, some other emetic must promptly be
administered. The central emetics are apomorphine, tartar emetic,
ipecacuanha, senega and squill. Of these tartar emetic and ipecacuanha
come under both heads: when taken by the mouth they act as gastric
emetics before absorption into the blood, and later produce a further
and more vigorous effect by stimulation of the medullary centre. It must
be remembered, however, that, valuable though these drugs are, their
action is accompanied by so much depression, they should never be
administered except under medical advice.
Emetics have two main uses: that of emptying the stomach, especially in
cases of poisoning, and that of expelling the contents of the air
passages, more especially in children before they have learnt or have
the strength to expectorate. Where a physician is in attendance, the
first of these uses is nearly always replaced by lavage of the stomach,
whereby any subsequent depression is avoided. Emetics still have their
place, however, in the treatment of bronchitis, laryngitis and
diphtheria in children, as they aid in the expulsion of the morbid
products. Occasionally also they are administered when a foreign body
has got into the larynx. Their use is contra-indicated in the case of
anyone suffering from aneurism, hernia or arterio-sclerosis, or where
there is any tendency to haemorrhage.
EMEU, evidently from the Port. _Ema_,[1] a name which has in turn been
applied to each of the earlier-known forms of Ratite birds, but has
finally settled upon that which inhabits Australia, though, up to the
close of the 18th century, it was given by most authors to the bird now
commonly called cassowary--this last word being a corrupted form of the
Malayan _Suwari_ (see Crawfurd, _Gramm. and Dict. Malay Language_, ii.
pp. 178 and 25), apparently first printed as _Casoaris_ by Bontius in
1658 (_Hist. nat. et med. Ind. Orient._ p. 71).
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Ceram Cassowary.[2]]
The cassowaries (_Casuariidae_) and emeus (_Dromaeidae_)--as the latter
name is now used--have much structural resemblance, and form the order
_Megistanes_,[3] which is peculiar to the Australian Region. Huxley
showed (_Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1867, pp. 422, 423,) that they agree in
differing from the other _Ratitae_ in many important characters; one of
the most obvious of them is that each contour-feather appears to be
double, its _hyporachis_, or aftershaft, being as long as the main
shaft--a feature noticed in the case of either form so soon as examples
were brought to Europe. The external distinctions of the two families
are, however, equally plain. The cassowaries, when adult, bear a horny
helmet on their head; they have some part of the neck bare, generally
more or less ornamented with caruncles, and the claw of the inner toe is
remarkably elongated. The emeus have no helmet, their head is feathered,
their neck has no caruncles, and their inner toes bear a claw of no
singular character.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Emeu.]
The type of the _Casuariidae_ is the species named by Linnaeus _Struthio
casuarius_ and by John Latham _Casuarius emeu_. Vieillot subsequently
called it _C. galeatus_, and his epithet has been very commonly adopted
by writers, to the exclusion of the older specific appellation. It seems
to be peculiar to the island of Ceram, and was made known to
naturalists, as we learn from Clusius, in 1597, by the first Dutch
expedition to the East Indies, when an example was brought from Banda,
whither it had doubtless been conveyed from its native island. It was
said to have been called by the inhabitants "Emeu," or "Ema," but this
name they must have had from the earlier Portuguese navigators.[4] Since
that time examples have been continually imported into Europe, so that
it has become one of the best-known members of the subclass _Ratitae_.
For a long time its glossy, but coarse and hair-like, black plumage, its
lofty helmet, the gaudily-coloured caruncles of its neck, and the four
or five barbless quills which represent its wing-feathers, made it
appear unique among birds. But in 1857 Dr George Bennett certified the
existence of a second and perfectly distinct species of cassowary, an
inhabitant of New Britain, where it was known to the natives as the
_Mooruk_, and in his honour it was named by John Gould _C. bennetti_.
Several examples were soon after received in England, and these
confirmed the view of it already taken. A considerable number of other
species of the genus have since been described from various localities
in the same subregion. Conspicuous among them from its large size and
lofty helmet is the _C. australis_, from the northern parts of
Australia. Its existence indeed had been ascertained, by T.S. Wall, in
1854, but the specimen obtained by that unfortunate explorer was lost,
and it was not until 1867 that an example was submitted to competent
naturalists.
Not much seems to be known of the habits of any of the cassowaries in a
state of nature. Though the old species occurs rather plentifully over
the whole of the interior of Ceram, A.R. Wallace was unable to obtain or
even to see an example. They all appear to bear captivity well, and the
hens in confinement frequently lay their dark-green and rough-shelled
eggs, which, according to the custom of the _Ratitae_, are incubated by
the cocks. The nestling plumage is mottled (_Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1863,
pl. xlii.), and when about half-grown they are clothed in dishevelled
feathers of a deep tawny colour.
Of the emeus (as the word is now restricted) the best known is the
_Casuarius novae-hollandiae_ of John Latham, made by Vieillot the type
of his genus _Dromaeus_,[5] whence the name of the family (_Dromaeidae_)
is taken. This bird immediately after the colonization of New South
Wales (in 1788) was found to inhabit the south-eastern portion of
Australia, where, according to John Hunter (_Hist. Journ._, &c., pp.
409, 413), the natives call it _Maracry_, _Marryang_ or _Maroang_; but
it has now been so hunted down that not an example remains at large in
the districts that have been fully settled. It is said to have existed
also on the islands of Bass Straits and in Tasmania, but it has been
exterminated in both, without, so far as is known, any ornithologist
having had the opportunity of determining whether the race inhabiting
those localities was specifically identical with that of the mainland or
distinct. Next to the ostrich the largest of existing birds, the common
emeu is an inhabitant of the more open country, feeding on fruits, roots
and herbage, and generally keeping in small companies. The nest is a
shallow pit scraped in the ground, and from nine to thirteen eggs, in
colour varying from a bluish-green to a dark bottle-green, are laid
therein. These are hatched by the cock-bird, the period of incubation
lasting from 70 to 80 days. The young at birth are striped
longitudinally with dark markings on a light ground. A remarkable
structure in _Dromaeus_ is a singular opening in the front of the
windpipe, communicating with a tracheal pouch. This has attracted the
attention of several anatomists, and has been well described by Dr Murie
(_Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1867, pp. 405-415). Various conjectures have been
made as to its function, the most probable of which seems to be that it
is an organ of sound in the breeding-season, at which time the hen-bird
has long been known to utter a remarkably loud booming note. Due
convenience being afforded to it, the emeu thrives well, and readily
propagates its kind in Europe. Like other Ratite birds it will take to
the water, and examples have been seen voluntarily swimming a wide
river. (A. N.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] By Moraes (1796) and Sousa (1830) the word is said to be from the
Arabic _Na'ama_ or _Na'ema_, an ostrich (_Struthio camelus_); but no
additional evidence in support of the assertion is given by Dozy in
1869 (_Glossaire des mots espagnols et portugais dérivés de l'arabe_,
2nd ed., p. 260). According to Gesner in 1555 (lib. iii. p. 709), it
was the Portuguese name of the crane (_Grus communis_), and had been
transferred with the qualifying addition of "_di Gei_" (i.e.
ground-crane) to the ostrich. This statement is confirmed by
Aldrovandus (lib. ix. cap. 2). Subsequently, but in what order can
scarcely now be determined, the name was naturally enough used for
the ostrich-like birds inhabiting the lands discovered by the
Portuguese, both in the Old and in the New World. The last of these
are now known as rheas, and the preceding as cassowaries.
[2] The figures are taken, by permission, from Messrs Mosenthal and
Harting's _Ostriches and Ostrich Farming_ (Trübner & Co., 1877).
[3] _Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist._ ser. 4, xx. p. 500.
[4] It is known that the Portuguese preceded the Dutch in their
voyages to the East, and it is almost certain that the latter were
assisted by pilots of the former nation, whose names for places and
various natural objects would be imparted to their employers (see
DODO).
[5] The obvious misprint of _Dromeicus_ in this author's work
(_Analyse_, &c., p. 54) was foolishly followed by many naturalists,
forgetful that he corrected it a few pages farther on (p. 70) to
_Dromaius_--the properly latinized form of which is _Dromaeus_.
EMIGRATION (from Lat. _emigrare_; e, _ex_, out of, and _migrare_, to
depart), the movement of population out of one country into another (see
MIGRATION).
EMILIA, a territorial division (_compartimento_) of Italy, bounded by
Venetia and Lombardy on the N., Liguria on the W., Tuscany on the S.,
the Marches on the S.E., and the Adriatic Sea on the E. It has an area
of 7967 sq. m., and a population of 2,477,690 (1901), embracing eight
provinces, as follows:--(1) Bologna (pop. 529,612; 61 communes); (2)
Ferrara (270,558; 16 communes); (3) Forlì (283,996; 41 communes); (4)
Modena (323,598; 45 communes); (5) Parma (303,694; 50 communes); (6)
Piacenza (250,491; 47 communes); (7) Ravenna (234,656; 18 communes); (8)
Reggio nell' Emilia (281,085; 43 communes). In these provinces the chief
towns, with communal populations, are as follows:--
(1) Bologna (147,898), Imola (33,144), Budrio (17,077), S. Giovanni in
Persiceto (15,978), Castelfranco (13,484), Castel S. Pietro (13,426),
Medicina (12,575), Molinella (12,081), Crevalcore (11,408).
(2) Ferrara (86,675), Copparo (39,222), Argenta (20,474), Portomaggiore
(20,141), Cento (19,078), Bondeno (15,682), Comacchio (10,745).
(3) Forlì (43,321), Rimini (43,595). Cesena (42,509).
(4) Modena (63,012), Carpi (22,876), Mirandola (13,721), Finale nell'
Emilia (12,896), Pavullo nel Frignano (12,034).
(5) Parma (48,523), Borgo S. Donnino (12,019).
(6) Piacenza (35,647).·
(7) Ravenna (63,364), Faenza (39,757), Lugo (27,244), Bagnacavallo
(15,176), Brisighella (13,815), Alfonsine (10,369).
(8) Reggio nell' Emilia (58,993), Correggio (14,445), Guastalla
(11,091).
The northern portion of Emilia is entirely formed by a great plain
stretching from the Via Aemilia to the Po; its highest point is not more
than 200 ft. above sea-level, while along the E. coast are the lagoons
at the mouth of the Po and those called the Valli di Comacchio to the S.
of them, and to the S. again the plain round Ravenna (10 ft.), which
continues as far as Rimini, where the mountains come down to the coast.
Immediately to the S.E. of the Via Aemilia the mountains begin to rise,
culminating in the central chain of the Ligurian and Tuscan Apennines.
The boundary of Emilia follows the highest summits of the chain in the
provinces of Parma, Reggio and Modena, passing over the Monte Bue (5915
ft.) and the Monte Cimone (7103 ft.), while in the provinces of Bologna
and Forlì it keeps somewhat lower along the N.E. slopes of the chain.
With the exception of the Po, the main rivers of Emilia descend from
this portion of the Apennines, the majority of them being tributaries of
the Po; the Trebbia (which rises in the province of Genoa), Taro,
Secchia and Panaro are the most important. Even the Reno, Ronco and
Montone, which now flow directly into the Adriatic, were, in Roman
times, tributaries of the Po, and the Savio and Rubicone seem to be the
only streams of any importance from these slopes of the Tuscan Apennines
which ran directly into the sea in Roman times (see APENNINES).
Railway communication in the plain of Emilia is unattended by
engineering difficulties (except for the bridging of rivers) and is
mainly afforded by the line from Piacenza to Rimini. This, as far as
Bologna, forms part of the main route from Milan to Florence and Rome,
while beyond Rimini it follows the S.E. coast of Italy past Ancona as
far as Brindisi and Lecce. The description follows this main line in a
S.E. direction. Piacenza, being immediately S. of a bridge over the Po,
is an important centre; a line runs to the W. to Voghera, through which
it communicates with the lines of W. Lombardy and Piedmont, and
immediately N. of the Po a line goes off to Cremona. A new bridge over
the Po carries a direct line from Cremona to Borgo S. Donnino. From
Parma starts a main line, followed by expresses from Milan to Rome,
which crosses the Apennines to Spezia (and Sarzana, for Pisa and Rome),
tunnelling under the pass of La Cisa, while in a N. and N.E. direction
lines run to Brescia and Suzzara. From Reggio branch lines run to
Guastalla, Carpi and Sassuolo, there being also a line from Sassuolo to
Modena. At Modena the main line to Verona through Suzzara and Mantua
diverges to the N.; there is also a branch N.N.E. to Mirandola, and
another S. to Vignola. Bologna is, however, the most important railway
centre; besides the line S. to Pistoia and Florence over the Apennines
and the line S.E. to Rimini, Ancona and Brindisi, there is the main line
N.N.E. to Ferrara, Padua and Venice, and there are branches to Budrio
and Portomaggiore to the N.E., and to S. Felice sul Panaro and Poggio
Rusco to the N., which connect the main lines of the district.
At Castel Bolognese, 5 m. N.W. of Faenza, a branch goes off to Lugo,
whence there are connexions with Budrio, Lavezzola (on the line between
Ravenna and Ferrara) and Ravenna, and at Faenza a line, not traversed by
express trains, goes across the Apennines to Florence. Rimini is
connected by a direct line with Ravenna and Ferrara; and Ferrara,
besides the main line S.S.W. to Bologna and N. by E. to Padua, has a
branch to Poggio Rusco, which goes on to Suzzara, a station on the main
line between Modena and Verona. There are also many steam tramways in
the flatter part of the province, the fertility and agricultural
activity of which are considerable. The main products of the plain are
cereals, wine, and, in the marshy districts near the Po, rice; the
system prevailing is that of the mezzadria--half the produce to the
owner and half to the cultivator. The ancient Roman divisions of the
fields are still preserved in some places. There are also considerable
pastures, and cheese is produced, especially Parmesan. Flax, hemp and
silkworms are also cultivated, and a considerable quantity of poultry
kept. The hill districts produce cereals, vines, olives and fruit; while
on the mountains are considerable chestnut and other forests, and
extensive summer pastures, the flocks going in part to the Maremma in
summer, and in part to the pastures of the plain of the Emilia.
The name Emilia comes from the Via Aemilia (q.v.), the Roman road from
Ariminum to Placentia, which traversed the entire district from S.E. to
N.W., its line being closely followed by the modern railway. The name
was transferred to the district (which formed the eighth Augustan region
of Italy) as early as the time of Martial, in popular usage (_Epigr._
vi. 85. 5), and in the 2nd and 3rd centuries it is frequently named as a
district under imperial judges (_iuridici_), generally in combination
with Flaminia or Liguria and Tuscia. The district of Ravenna was, as a
rule, from the 3rd to the 5th century, not treated as part of Aemilia,
the chief town of the latter being Placentia. In the 4th century Aemilia
and Liguria were joined to form a consular province; after that Aemilia
stood alone, Ravenna being sometimes temporarily added to it. The
boundaries of the ancient district correspond approximately with those
of the modern.
In the Byzantine period Ravenna became the seat of an exarch; and after
the Lombards had for two centuries attempted to subdue the Pentapolis
(Ravenna, Bologna, Forlì, Faenza, Rimini), Pippin took these cities from
Aistulf and gave them, with the March of Ancona, to the papacy in 755,
to which, under the name of Romagna, they continued to belong. At first,
however, the archbishop of Ravenna was in reality supreme. The other
chief cities of Emilia--Ferrara, Modena, Reggio, Parma, Piacenza--were,
on the other hand, independent, and in the period of the communal
independence of the individual towns of Italy each of the chief cities
of Emilia, whether belonging to Romagna or not, had a history of its
own; and, notwithstanding the feuds of Guelphs and Ghibellines,
prospered considerably. The study of Roman law, especially at Bologna,
acquired great importance. The imperial influence kept the papal power
in check. Nicholas III. obtained control of the Romagna in 1278, but the
papal dominion almost fell during the Avignon period, and was only
maintained by the efforts of Cardinal Albornoz, a Spaniard sent to Italy
by Innocent VI. in 1353. Even so, however, the papal supremacy was
little more than a name; and this state of things only ceased when
Caesar Borgia, the natural son of Alexander VI., crushed most of the
petty princes of Romagna, intending to found there a dynasty of his own;
but on the death of Alexander VI. it was his successors in the papacy
who carried on and profited by what Caesar Borgia had begun. The towns
were thenceforth subject to the church and administered by cardinal
legates. Ferrara and Comacchio remained under the house of Este until
the death of Alphonso II. in 1597, when they were claimed by Pope
Clement VIII. as vacant fiefs. Modena and Reggio, which had formed part
of the Ferrara duchy, were thenceforth a separate duchy under a branch
of the house of Este, which was descended from a natural son of Alphonso
I. Carpi and Mirandola were small principalities, the former of which
passed to the house of Este in 1525, in which year Charles V. expelled
the Pio family, while the last of the Pico dynasty of Mirandola,
Francesco Maria, having sided with the French in the war of Spanish
Succession, was deprived of his duchy in 1709 by the emperor Joseph I.,
who sold it to the house of Este in 1710. Parma and Piacenza were at
first under the Farnese, Pope Paul III. having placed his natural son
Pier Luigi therein 1545, and then, after the extinction of the family
in 1731, under a secondary branch of the Bourbons of Spain. In
1796-1814, Emilia was first incorporated in the Italian republic and
then in the Napoleonic Italian kingdom; after 1815 there was a return to
the _status quo ante_, Romagna returning to the papacy and its
ecclesiastical government, the duchy of Parma being given to Marie
Louise, wife of the deposed Napoleon, and Modena to the archduke Francis
of Austria, the heir of the last Este. In Romagna and Modena the
government was oppressive, arbitrary, corrupt and unprogressive, while
in Parma things were better. In 1821 and 1831 there were unsuccessful
attempts at revolt in Emilia, which were sternly and cruelly repressed;
chronic discontent continued and the people joined again in the movement
of 1848-1849, which was crushed by Austrian troops. In 1859 the struggle
for independence was finally successful, Emilia passing to the Italian
kingdom almost without resistance.
EMINENCE (Lat. _eminentia_), a title of honour now confined to the
cardinals of the Church of Rome. It was originally given as a
complimentary title to emperors, kings, and then to less conspicuous
persons. The Roman empire of the 4th century adopted from the "vanity of
the East the forms and ceremonies of ostentatious greatness." Gibbon
includes in the "profusion of epithets" by which "the purity of the
Latin language was debased," and which were lavished on "the principal
officers of the empire," "your Sincerity, your Gravity, your Excellency,
your Eminence, your sublime and wonderful Magnitude, your illustrious
and magnificent Highness." From the _notitia dignitatum_ it passed into
the Latin of the middle ages as a flattering epithet, and was applied in
the church and by the popes to the dignified clergy at large, and
sometimes as a pure form of civility to churchmen of modest rank. On the
10th of June 1630, Urban VIII. confined the use of the titles
_Eminentiae_ and _Eminentissimi_ to the cardinals, to imperial electors,
and to the master of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (order of the
Knights of Malta). Since the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and
the entire change, if not actual destruction, of the order of St John,
the title "eminence" has become strictly confined to the cardinals.
Before 1630 the members of the Sacred College were "Illustrissimi" and
"Reverendissimi." It is, therefore, not correct to speak of a cardinal
who lived before that time as "his Eminence."
See du Cange, _Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis_ (Niort and
London, 1884), s.v. "Eminentia."
EMINENT DOMAIN (Lat. _eminens_, rising high above surrounding objects:
and _dominium_, domain), a term applied in law to the sovereign right of
a state to appropriate private property to public uses, whether the
owner consents or not. It is repeatedly employed by Grotius (e.g. _De
jure belli_, bk. iii. c. 20, s. 7), Bynkershoek (_Quaest. jur. pub._ bk.
2, c. 15), and Puffendorf (_De jure naturae et gentium_, bk. i. c. 1, s.
19),--the two latter, however, preferring the word _imperium_ to
_dominium_; and by other Dutch jurists. But in modern times it is
chiefly in the United States of America that the doctrine of eminent
domain has received its application, and it is chiefly to American law
that the following remarks refer (see also the article COMPENSATION).
Eminent domain is distinguishable alike from the _police power_, by
which restrictions are imposed on private property in the public
interest, e.g. in connexion with the liquor traffic or public health
(see _re Haff_ (1904), 197 U.S. 488); from the _power of taxation_, by
which the owner of private property is compelled to contribute a portion
of it for public purposes; and from the _war-power_, involving the
destruction of private property in the course of military operations.
The police power fetters rights of property; eminent domain takes them
away. The power of taxation is analogous to eminent domain as regards
the purposes to which the contribution of the tax-payer is to be
applied. But, unlike eminent domain, it does not necessarily involve a
taking of specific property for those purposes. The destruction of
property in military operations--or in the discharge by Government of
other duties in cases of necessity, e.g. in order to check the progress
of a fire in a city--clearly cannot be said to be an exercise of the
power of eminent domain. The question whether the element of
compensation is necessarily involved in the idea of eminent domain has
in modern times aroused much controversy. According to one school of
thought (see Lewis, _Eminent Domain_, s. 10), this question must be
answered in the negative. According to a second, whose view has the
support of the civilians (see Randolph, _Eminent Domain_, s. 227; Mills,
_Eminent Domain_, s. 1) compensation is an inherent attribute of the
power. An intermediate view is advocated by Professor Thayer (_Cases on
Constitutional Law_, vol. 1, 953), according to which eminent domain
springs from the necessities of government, while the obligation to
reimburse rests upon the natural right of individuals. The right to
compensation is thus not a component part of the power to take, but
arises at the same time and the latter cannot exist without it. The
relation between the two is that of substance and shadow. The matter is
not, however, of great practical importance, for the Federal
Constitution prohibits the exercise of the power "without just
compensation" (5th Amendment), while in most of the states the State
constitution or other legislation has imposed upon it a similar
limitation: and the tendency of modern judicial decisions is in favour
of the view that the absence of such a limitation will make an enactment
so far unconstitutional and invalid.
In order to justify the exercise of the power of eminent domain, the
purposes to which the property taken is to be applied must be "public,"
i.e. primarily public, and not primarily of private interest and merely
incidentally beneficial to the public (_Madisonville Traction Co. v.
Mining Co._, 1904, 196 U.S. 239). Subject to this definition, the term
"public" receives a wide interpretation. All kinds of property may be
taken; and the procedure indicated by the different legislatures must be
followed. Any contravention of this rule would involve a breach of the
5th Amendment of the Federal Constitution, which provides that "no
person ... shall be ... deprived of ... property, without due process of
law." It may be added that if the performance of a covenant is rendered
impossible by an act of eminent domain the covenantor is excused.
In _English law_, the only exact analogue to the doctrine of eminent
domain is to be found in the prerogative right of the crown to enter
upon the lands of subjects or to interfere with their enjoyment for the
defence of the realm (see _A.G. v. Tomline_; 1879; 12 Ch. D. 214). No
attempt is made to exercise this prerogative, and lands are acquired for
state purposes by statute usually framed on or incorporating the Lands
Clauses Acts (see COMPENSATION). The French _Code Civil_ secures
compensation to the owner of property in cases of _expropriation pour
cause d'utilité publique_ (art. 545), and there is similar provision in
Belgium (Const. Law, art. II.), Holland (Fundamental Law, art. 147),
Spain (Civil Code, art. 349, and Law of 3rd May, 1841), and most other
European states. It has been held in France that the right to
compensation does not arise under art. 545 of the Code Civil where only
a _servitude d'utilité publique_ is created on a private individual's
land.
In addition to the authorities cited in the text, see Lewis, _Eminent
Domain_ (2nd ed., Chicago, 1900); Mills, _Eminent Domain_ (2nd ed., St
Louis, 1888); Randolph, _Eminent Domain in the United States_ (Boston,
1894). (A. W. R.)
EMINESCU, MICHAIL (1849-1889), the greatest Rumanian poet of the 19th
century, was born on the 20th of December in Ipateshti near Botoshani,
in the north of Moldavia. He was of Turco-Tatar origin, and his surname
was originally Emin; this was changed to Eminovich and finally to the
Rumanian form Eminescu. He was educated for a time in Czernowitz, and
then entered the civil service. In 1864 he resumed his studies in
Transylvania, but soon joined a roving theatrical company where he
played in turn the rôles of actor, prompter and stage-manager. After a
few years he went to Vienna, Jena and Berlin, where he attended
lectures, especially on philosophy. In 1874 he was appointed school
inspector and librarian at the university of Jassy, but was soon turned
out through the change of government, and took charge, as editor in
chief, of the Conservative paper _Timpul_ (Times). In 1883 he had the
first attack of the insanity hereditary in his family, and in 1889 he
died in a private institution in Bucharest. In 1870 his great poetical
talent was revealed by two contributions to the _Convorbiri literare_,
the organ of the Junimist party in Jassy; these were the poems "Venera
si Madona" and "Epigonii." Other poems followed and soon established his
claim to be the first among the modern poets of his country. He was
thoroughly acquainted with the chronicles of the past, had a complete
mastery of the Rumanian language, and was a lover and admirer of
Rumanian popular poetry. Influenced by these studies and by the
philosophy of Schopenhauer, he introduced a new spirit into Rumanian
poetry. Mystically inclined and himself of a melancholy disposition, he
lived in the glory of the medieval Rumanian past; stifled by the
artificiality of the world around him, he rebelled against the
conventionality of society and his surroundings. In inimitable language
he denounced the vileness of the present and painted in glowing pictures
the heroism of the past; he also surprised nature in its primitive
beauty, and he gave expression to stirring emotions in lyrics couched in
the language and metre of popular poetry. He further proved himself an
unsurpassed master in satire. Over all his poetry hangs a cloud of
sadness, the sense of coming doom. Simplicity of language, masterly
handling of rhyme and verse, deep thought and plastic expression made
Eminescu the creator of a school of poetry which dominated the thought
of Rumania and the expression of Rumanian writers and poets at the end
of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
Five editions of his collected poems appeared after 1890. Some of them
were translated into German by "Carmen Sylva" and Mite Kremnitz, and
others have also been translated into several other languages.
Eminescu also wrote two short novels, real poems in prose (Jassy,
1890). (M. G.)
EMIN PASHA [EDUARD SCHNITZER] (1840-1892), German traveller,
administrator and naturalist, was the son of Ludwig Schnitzer, a
merchant of Oppeln in Silesia, and was born in Oppeln on the 28th of
March 1840. He was educated at the universities of Breslau, Berlin and
Königsberg, and took the degree of M.D. at Berlin. He displayed an early
predilection for zoology and ornithology, and in later life became a
skilled and enthusiastic collector, particularly of African plants and
birds. When he was four-and-twenty he determined to seek his fortunes
abroad, and made his way to Turkey, where, after practising medicine on
his own account for a short time, he was appointed (in 1865) quarantine
medical officer at Antivari. The duties of the post were not heavy, and
allowed him leisure for a diligent study of Turkish, Arabic and Persian.
From 1870 to 1874 he was in the service of the governor of northern
Albania, had adopted a Turkish name (though not that by which he
afterwards became so widely known), and was practically naturalized as a
Turk.
After a visit home in 1875 he went to Cairo, and then to Khartum, in the
hope of an opportunity for travelling in the interior of Africa. This
came to him in the following year, when General Charles George Gordon,
who had recently succeeded Sir Samuel Baker as governor of the
equatorial provinces of Egypt, invited Schnitzer, who was now known as
"Emin Effendi," to join him at Lado on the upper Nile. Although
nominally Gordon's medical officer, Emin was soon entrusted with
political missions of some importance to Uganda and Unyoro. In these he
acquitted himself so well that when, in 1878, Gordon's successor at Lado
was deprived of his office on account of malpractices (Gordon himself
having been made governor-general of the Sudan), Emin was chosen to fill
the post of governor of the Equatorial Province (i.e. the old equatorial
provinces minus the Bahr-el-Ghazal) and given the title of "bey." He
proved an energetic and enterprising governor; indeed, his enterprise on
more than one occasion brought him into conflict with Gordon, who
eventually decided to remove Emin to Suakin. Before the change could be
effected, however, Gordon resigned his post in the Sudan, and his
successor revoked the order.
The next three or four years were employed by Emin in various journeys
through his province, and in the initiation of schemes for its
development, until in 1882, on his return from a visit to Khartum, he
became aware that the Mahdist rising, which had originated in Kordofan,
was spreading southward. The effect of the rising was, of course, more
markedly felt in Emin's province after the abandonment of the Sudan by
the Egyptian government in 1884. He was obliged to give up several of
his stations in face of the Mahdist advance, and ultimately to retire
from Lado, which had been his capital, to Wadelai. This last step
followed upon his receipt of a letter from Nubar Pasha, informing him
that it was impossible for the Egyptian government to send him help, and
that he must stay in his province or retire towards the coast as best he
could. Emin (who about this time was raised to the rank of pasha) had
some thoughts of a retreat to Zanzibar, but decided to remain where he
was and endeavour to hold his own. To this end he carried on protracted
negotiations with neighbouring native potentates. When, in 1887, (Sir)
H.M. Stanley's expedition was on its way to relieve him, it is clear
from Emin's diary that he had no wish to leave his province, even if
relieved. He had done good work there, and established a position which
he believed himself able to maintain. He hoped, however, that the
presence of Stanley's force, when it came, would strengthen his
position; but the condition of the relieving party, when it arrived in
April 1888, did not seem to Emin to promise this. Stanley's proposal to
Emin, as stated in the latter's diary, was that Emin should either
remain as governor-general on behalf of the king of the Belgians, or
establish himself on Victoria Nyanza on behalf of a group of English
merchants who wished to start an enterprise in Africa on the model of
the East India Company. After much hesitation, and prompted by a growing
disaffection amongst the natives (owing, as he maintained, to his loss
of prestige after the arrival of Stanley's force), Emin decided to
accompany Stanley to the coast, where the expedition arrived in December
1889. Unfortunately, on the evening of a reception dinner given in his
honour, Emin met with an accident which resulted in fracture of the
skull. Careful nursing gradually restored him to health, and on his
convalescence he resolutely maintained his decision to remain in Africa,
and, if possible, to work there in future on behalf of the German
government. The seal was definitely set upon this decision by his formal
engagement on behalf of his native country, early in 1890. Preparations
for a new expedition into the interior were set on foot, and meanwhile
Emin was honoured in various ways by learned societies in Germany and
elsewhere.
The object of the new expedition was (to quote Emin's instructions) "to
secure on behalf of Germany the territories situated south of and along
Victoria Nyanza up to Albert Nyanza," and to "make known to the
population there that they were placed under German supremacy and
protection, and to break or undermine Arab influence as far as
possible." The force, which was well equipped, started at the end of
April 1890. But before it had penetrated far inland the political
reasons for sending the expedition vanished with the signature, on the
1st of July 1890, of the Anglo-German agreement defining the spheres of
influence of the two nations, an agreement which excluded the Albert
Nyanza region from the German sphere. For a time things went well enough
with the expedition; Emin occupied the important town of Tabora on the
route from the coast to Tanganyika and established the post of Bukoba on
Victoria Nyanza, but by degrees ill-fortune clouded its prospects.
Difficulties on the route; dissensions between Emin and the authorities
in German East Africa, and misunderstandings on the part of both;
epidemics of disease in Emin's force, followed by a growing spirit of
mutiny among his native followers; an illness of a painful nature which
attacked him--all these gradually undermined Emin's courage, and his
diaries at the close of 1891 reflect a gloomy and almost hopeless
spirit. In May that year he had crossed into the Congo State by the
south shore of Albert Edward Nyanza, and many months were spent on the
borders of the great Congo Forest and in the Undusuma country south-west
of Albert Nyanza, breaking ground new to Europeans. In December 1891 he
sent off his companion, Dr Stuhlmann, with the bulk of the caravan, on
the way back to the east coast. Emin remained behind with the sick, and
with a very reduced following left the lake district in March 1892 for
the Congo river. On reaching Ipoto on the Ituri he came within the
region of the Arab slave raiders and ivory hunters, in whose company he
at times travelled. These gentry were incensed against Emin for the
energetic way in which he had dealt with their comrades while in German
territory, and against Europeans generally by the campaign for their
suppression begun by the Congo State. At the instigation of one of these
Arabs Emin was murdered on the 23rd or 24th of October 1892 at Kinena, a
place about 80 m. E.S.E. of Stanley Falls.
See _Emin Pasha, his Life and Work_, by Georg Schweitzer, with
introduction by R.W. Felkin (2 vols., London, 1898); _Emin Pasha in
Central Africa_ (London, 1888), a collection of Emin's papers
contributed to scientific journals; and _Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von
Afrika_ (Berlin, 1894), by Dr Franz Stuhlmann. Major G. Casati
(1838-1902), an Italian officer who spent several years with Emin, and
accompanied him and Stanley to the coast, narrated his experiences in
_Dieci anni in Equatoria_ (English edition, _Ten Years in Equatoria
and the Return with Emin Pasha_, London, 1891).
EMLYN, THOMAS (1663-1741), English nonconformist divine, was born at
Stamford, Lincolnshire. He served as chaplain to the presbyterian
Letitia, countess of Donegal, and then to Sir Robert Rich, afterwards
(1691) becoming colleague to Joseph Boyse, presbyterian minister in
Dublin. From this office he was virtually dismissed on his own
confession of unitarianism, and for publishing _An Humble Inquiry into
the Scripture Account of Jesus Christ_ (1702) was sentenced to a year's
imprisonment and a fine of £1000. Thanks to the intervention of Boyse he
was released in 1705 on payment of £90. He is said to have been the
first English preacher definitely to describe himself as "unitarian,"
and writes in his diary, "I thank God that He did not call me to this
lot of suffering till I had arrived at maturity of judgment and firmness
of resolution, and that He did not desert me when my friends did. He
never let me be so cast down as to renounce the truth or to waver in my
faith." Of Christ he writes, "We may regard with fervent gratitude so
great a benefactor, but our esteem and rational love must ascend higher
and not rest till it centre in his God and ours." Emlyn preached a good
deal in Paul's Alley, Barbican, in his later years, and died in London
in 1741.
EMMANUEL, or IMMANUEL, a Hebrew symbolical proper name, meaning "God
(is) with us." When in 734-733 B.C. Ahaz, king of Judah, alarmed at the
preparations made against him by the Syro-Ephraimitish alliance, was
inclined to seek aid from Tiglath-pileser of Assyria, the prophet Isaiah
endeavoured to allay his fear by telling him that the danger would pass
away, and as a sign from Yahweh that this should be so, any young woman
who should within the year bear a son, might call his name Immanuel in
token of the divine protection accorded to Judah. For before the infant
should come to even the immature intelligence of childhood the lands of
the foe would be laid waste (Isaiah vii. 14-16). For other
interpretations, especially as regards the mother, see _Ency. Bib._ col.
2162-3, and the commentaries. In the post-exilic period the historical
meaning of the passage was forgotten, and a new significance was given
to it in accordance with the gradually developing eschatological
doctrine. This new interpretation finds expression in Matt. i. 23, where
the name is applied to Jesus as the Messiah. At the close of Isaiah
viii. 8 for "of thy land, O Immanuel," we should probably read "of the
land, for God is with us." The three passages quoted are the only
instances where this word occurs in Scripture; it is frequent in hymns
and devotional literature as a title of Jesus Christ.
EMMANUEL PHILIBERT (1528-1580), duke of Savoy, son of Charles III. and
Beatrice of Portugal, one of the most renowned princes of the later
Renaissance, was born on the 8th of July 1528. Charles, after trying in
vain to remain neutral in the wars between France and the emperor
Charles V., had been forced to side with the latter, whereupon his duchy
was overrun with foreign soldiery and became the battlefield of the
rival armies. Prince Emmanuel took service with the emperor in 1545 and
distinguished himself in Germany, France and the Low Countries. On the
death of his father in 1553 he succeeded to the title, little more than
an empty one, and continued in the emperor's service. Having been
refused the command of the imperial troops in Piedmont, he tried in vain
to negotiate a separate peace with France; but in 1556 France and Spain
concluded a five years' truce, by which each was to retain what it then
occupied. This would have been the end of Savoy, but within a year the
two powers were again at war. The chief events of the campaign were the
successful resistance of Cuneo, held for the duke by Count Luserna, and
the victory of St Quentin (1557), won by Emmanuel Philibert himself
against the French. At last in 1558 the powers agreed to an armistice,
and in 1559 the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis was made, by which Emmanuel
regained his duchy, but on onerous terms, for France was to occupy
several Piedmontese fortresses, including Turin and Pinerolo, for not
more than three years, and a marriage was arranged between the duke and
Margaret, duchess of Berry, sister of the French king; while Spain was
to garrison Asti and Vercelli (afterwards exchanged for Santhià) until
France evacuated the above-mentioned fortresses. The duke's marriage
took place in Paris a few months later; and after the French evacuation
he re-entered his dominions amidst the rejoicings of the people. The
condition of Piedmont at that time was deplorable; for wars, the
exactions and devastations of the foreign soldiery, and religious
antagonism between Catholics and Protestants had wrought terrible havoc.
"Uncultivated," wrote the Venetian ambassador, quoted by E. Ricotti, "no
citizens in the cities, neither man nor beast in the fields, all the
land forest-clad and wild; one sees no houses, for most of them are
burnt, and of nearly all the castles only the walls are visible; of the
inhabitants, once so numerous, some have died of the plague or of
hunger, some by the sword, and some have fled elsewhere preferring to
beg their bread abroad rather than support misery at home which is worse
than death." There was no army, the administration was chaotic, and the
finances were in a hopeless state. The duke set to work to put his house
in order, and inaugurated a series of useful reforms, ably assisted by
his minister, Niccolò Balbo. But progress was slow, and was accompanied
by measures which abolished the states general, the last survival of
feudal liberties. Savoy, following the tendency of the other states of
Europe at that time, became thenceforth an absolute monarchy, but
without that transformation the achievement of complete independence
from foreign powers would have been impossible.
One of the first questions with which he had to deal was the religious
difficulty. The inhabitants of the Pellice and Chisone valleys had long
professed a primitive form of Christianity which the orthodox regarded
as heretical, and had been subject to numerous persecutions in
consequence (see WALDENSES). At the time of the Reformation they had
gone over to Protestantism, and during the wars of the 16th century the
new religion made great progress in Piedmont. The duke as a devout
Catholic desired to purge the state of heresy, and initiated repressive
measures against the Waldenses, but after some severe and not very
successful fighting he ended by allowing them a measure of religious
liberty in those valleys (1561). At the pope's instigation he
recommenced persecution some years later, but his duchess and some
German princes pleaded successfully in favour of the Protestants. He
next turned his attention to getting rid of the French garrisons; the
negotiations proved long and troublesome, but in December 1562 the
French departed on payment of 100,000 scudi, retaining only Pinerolo and
Savigliano, and Turin became the capital once more. There remained the
Bernese, who had occupied some of the duke's territories in Savoy and
Vaud, and in Geneva, over which he claimed certain rights. With Bern he
made a compromise, regaining Gex, the Chablais, and the Genevois, on
condition that Protestantism should be tolerated there, but he renounced
Vaud and some other districts (1566). Disagreements with the Valais were
settled in a similar way in 1569; but the Genevans refused to recognize
Savoyard suzerainty. Emmanuel reformed the currency, reorganized
justice, prepared the way for the emancipation of the serfs, raised the
standing army to 25,000 men, and fortified the frontiers, ostensibly
against Huguenot raids, but in reality from fear of France. On the death
of Charles IX. of France in 1574 the new king, Henry III., passed
through Piedmont on his way from Poland; Emmanuel gave him a magnificent
reception, and obtained from him a promise that Pinerolo and Savigliano
should be evacuated, which was carried out at the end of the year.
Philip of Spain was likewise induced to evacuate Asti and Santhià in
1575. Thus, after being more or less under foreign occupation for 39
years, the duchy was at last free. The duke rounded off his dominions by
the purchase of Tenda and Oneglia, which increased his seaboard, and the
last years of his life were spent in fruitless negotiations to obtain
Monferrato, held by the Gonzagas under Spanish protection, and Saluzzo,
which was a French fief. He died on the 30th of August 1580, and was
succeeded by his son Charles Emmanuel I. As a statesman Emmanuel
Philibert was able, business-like and energetic; but he has been
criticized for his duplicity, although in this respect he was no worse
than most other European princes, whose ends were far more questionable.
He was autocratic, but just and very patriotic. During his reign the
duchy, which had been more than half French, became predominantly
Italian. By diplomacy, which, although he was a capable and brave
soldier, he preferred to war, he succeeded in freeing his country, and
converting it from a ruined and divided land into a respectable
independent power of the second rank, and, after Venice, the
best-governed state in Italy.
The most accurate biography of Emmanuel Philibert is contained in E.
Ricotti's _Storia della monarchia Piemontese_, vol. ii. (Florence,
1861), which is well done and based on documents; cf. Claretta's _La
Successione di Emanuele Filiberto_ (Turin, 1884).
EMMAUS, the name of two places in Palestine.
1. A village mentioned by Luke (xxiv. 13), without any indication of
direction, as being 60 stadia (almost 7 m.), or according to some
MSS.[1] 160 stadia, from Jerusalem. Its identification is a matter of
mere guesswork: it has been sought at (a) Emmaus-Nicopolis (see 2
below), distant 176 stadia from Jerusalem; (b) Kuryet el-'Enab, distant
66 stadia, on the carriage road to Jaffa; (c) Kulonieh, distant 36
stadia, on the same road; (d) el-Kubeibeh, distant 63 stadia, on the
Roman road to Lydda; (e) 'Urtas, distant 60 stadia; and (f) Khurbet
el-Khamasa, distant 86 stadia, on the Roman road to Eleutheropolis. Of
these, el-Kubeibeh or 'Urtas seems the most probable, though many favour
Kulonieh because of its nearness to Bet Mizza, in which name there is
similarity with Emmaus, and because of a reading (30 stadia) in
Josephus.
2. Emmaus-Nicopolis, now 'Amwas, a town on the maritime plain, and a
place of importance during the Maccabaean and Jewish wars. Near it Judas
Maccabaeus defeated Gorgias in 164 B.C., and Vespasian established a
fortified camp in A.D. 69. It was afterwards rebuilt and named
Nicopolis, and became an episcopal see. It was also noted for a healing
spring.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Including Codex [Hebrew: alef]. But this distance is too great
for the conditions of Luke's narrative and the reading (160) is
evidently an attempt to harmonize with the traditional identification
of Emmaus-Nicopolis held by Eusebius and Jerome. For a curious
reading in three old Latin MSS, which makes Emmaus the name of the
second traveller on the journey, see _Expos. Times_, xiii. 429, 477,
561.
EMMENDINGEN, a town of Germany, in the grand-duchy of Baden, close to
the Black Forest, on the Elz and the main line of railway
Mannheim-Constance. Pop. 6200. It has a Protestant church with a fine
spire, a Roman Catholic church, a handsome town-hall, an old castle (now
a hospital), once the residence of the counts of Hochberg, spinning
mills, tanneries and manufactures of photographic instruments, paper,
machinery and cigars. There is also a considerable trade in timber and
cattle. Here the author Johann Georg Schlosser (1739-1799), the husband
of Goethe's sister Cornelia (who died in 1777 and is interred in the old
graveyard), was _Oberamtmann_ (bailiff) for a few years.
Emmendingen was formerly the seat of the counts of Hochberg, a cadet
branch of the margraves of Baden. In 1418 it received market rights from
the emperor, and in 1590 was raised to the status of a town, and walled,
by Margrave Jacob III.
EMMERICH (the ancient _Embrica_), a town of Germany, in the Prussian
Rhine province, on the right bank of the Rhine and the railway from
Cologne to Amsterdam, 5 m. N.E. of Cleves. Pop. (1905) 12,578. It has a
considerable shipping trade, and manufactories of tobacco and cigars,
chocolate, margarine, oil, chemicals, brushes, vinegar, soap, guano and
perfumery. There are also iron foundries and machine factories. The old
minster church, built in the middle of the 11th century, contains some
fine choir stalls.
Emmerich, formerly called Embrika and Emrik, originally a Roman colony,
is mentioned in records so early as the 7th century. St Willibrord
founded a monastery and church here. In 1233 the place came into the
possession of the dukes of Gelderland and received the status of a town
in 1247. In 1371 it fell to the duchy of Cleves, and passed with it in
1609 to Brandenburg. The town joined the Hanseatic League in 1407. In
1794 it was bombarded by the French under General Vandamme, and in 1806
it was assigned to the grand-duchy of Berg. It passed into the
possession of Prussia in 1815.
See A. Dederich, _Annalen der Stadt Emmerich_ (Emmerich, 1867).
EMMET, ROBERT (1778-1803), Irish rebel, youngest son of Robert Emmet,
physician to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, was born in Dublin in 1778,
and entered Trinity College in October 1793, where he had a
distinguished academic career, showing special aptitude for mathematics
and chemistry, and acquiring a reputation as an orator. Without taking a
degree he removed his name from the college books in April 1798, as a
protest against the inquisitorial examination of the political views of
the students conducted by Lord Clare as chancellor of the university.
Thus cut off from entering a learned profession, he turned towards
political intrigue, being already to some extent in the secrets of the
United Irishmen, of whom his elder brother Thomas Addis Emmet (see
below) was one of the most prominent. In April 1799 a warrant was issued
for his arrest, but was not executed; and in 1800 and the following year
he travelled on the continent of Europe, where he entered into relations
with the leaders of the United Irishmen, exiled since the rebellion of
1798, who were planning a fresh outbreak in Ireland in expectation of
support from France. Emmet went to Paris in October 1802, where he had
an interview with Bonaparte which convinced him that the peace of Amiens
would be of short duration and that a French invasion of England might
be looked for in August 1803. The councils of the conspirators were
weakened by divided opinions as to the ultimate aim of their policy; and
no clearly thought-out scheme of operations appears to have been arrived
at when Emmet left Paris for Ireland in October 1802. Those in his
confidence afterwards denied that Emmet was himself the originator of
the plan on which he acted; and several of the ablest of the United
Irishmen held aloof, believing the project to be impracticable. Among
the latter was Lord Cloncurry, at one time on the executive of the
United Irishmen, with whom Emmet dined the night before he left Paris,
and to whom he spoke of his plans with intense enthusiasm and
excitement. Emmet's lack of discretion was shown by his revealing his
intentions in detail to an Englishman named Lawrence, resident near
Honfleur, with whom he sought shelter when travelling on foot on his way
to Ireland. Arriving in Dublin at the end of October he received
information to the effect that seventeen counties were ready to take up
arms if a successful effort were made in Dublin. For some time he
remained concealed in his father's house near Miltown, making his
preparations. A large number of pikes were collected and stored in
Dublin during the spring of 1803, but fire-arms and ammunition were not
plentiful.
The probability of a French invasion in August was increased by the
renewal of the war in May, Emmet's brother Thomas being then in Paris in
communication with Talleyrand and Bonaparte. But a discovery by the
government of concealed arms, and an explosion at one of Emmet's depôts
in Patrick Street on the 16th of July, necessitated immediate action,
and the 23rd of that month was accordingly fixed for the projected
rising. An elaborate plan of operations, which he described in detail in
a letter to his brother after his arrest, had been prepared by Emmet,
the leading feature of which was a simultaneous attack on the castle,
the Pigeon House and the artillery barracks at Island bridge; while
bodies of insurgents from the neighbouring counties were to march on the
capital. But the whole scheme miscarried. Some of Emmet's bolder
proposals, such as a plan for capturing the commander-in-chief, were
vetoed by the timidity of his associates, none of whom were men of any
ability. On the 23rd of July all was confusion at the depôts, and the
leaders were divided as to the course to be pursued; orders were not
obeyed; a trusted messenger despatched for arms absconded with the money
committed to him to pay for them; treachery, quite unsuspected by Emmet,
honeycombed the conspiracy; the Wicklow contingent failed to appear; the
Kildare men turned back on hearing that the rising had been postponed; a
signal expected by a contingent at the Broadstone was never given. In
this hopeless state of affairs a false report reached Emmet at one of
his depôts at nine o'clock in the evening that the military were
approaching. Without taking any step to verify it, Emmet put on a green
and white uniform and placed himself at the head of some eighty men, who
marched towards the castle, being joined in the streets by a second body
of about equal strength. None of these insurgents had any discipline,
and many of them were drunk. Lord Kilwarden, proceeding to a hastily
summoned meeting of the privy council, was dragged from his carriage by
this rabble and murdered, together with his nephew Richard Wolfe; his
daughter who accompanied him being conveyed to safety by Emmet himself.
Emmet, now seeing that the rising had become a mere street brawl, made
his escape; a detachment of soldiers quickly dispersed his followers.
After hiding for some days in the Wicklow mountains Emmet repaired to
the house of a Mrs Palmer at Harold's Cross, in order to be near the
residence of John Philpot Curran (q.v.), to whose daughter Sarah he had
for some time been secretly attached, and with whom he had carried on a
voluminous correspondence, afterwards seized by the authorities at her
father's house. Attempting without success to persuade this lady to fly
with him to America, Emmet lingered in the neighbourhood till the 25th
of August, when he was apprehended by Major H.C. Sirr, the same officer
who had captured Lord Edward Fitzgerald in 1798. At his trial he was
defended and betrayed by the infamous Leonard MacNally (q.v.), and was
convicted of treason; and after delivering an eloquent speech from the
dock, was hanged on the 20th of September 1803.
By the universal testimony of his friends, Robert Emmet was a youth of
modest character, pure motives and winning personality. But he was
entirely lacking in practical statesmanship. Brought up in a
revolutionary atmosphere, his enthusiasm was uncontrolled by judgment.
Thomas Moore, who warmly eulogizes Emmet, with whom he was a student at
Trinity College, records that one day when he was playing on the piano
the melody "Let Erin remember," Emmet started up exclaiming
passionately, "Oh, that I were at the head of 20,000 men marching to
that air!" He had no knowledge of the world or of men; he trusted every
one with child-like simplicity; except personal courage he had none of
the qualities essential to leadership in such an enterprise as armed
rebellion. The romance of his love affair with Sarah Curran--who
afterwards married Robert Henry Sturgeon, an officer distinguished in
the Peninsular War--has cast a glamour over the memory of Robert Emmet;
and it inspired Thomas Moore's well-known songs, "She is far from the
land where her young hero sleeps," and "Oh, breathe not his name"; it is
also the subject of Washington Irving's "The Broken Heart." Emmet was
short and slight in figure; his face was marked by smallpox, and he was
described in 1803 for the purpose of identification as being "of an
ugly, sour countenance and dirty brown complexion." A few poems by Emmet
of little merit are appended to Madden's biography.
See R.R. Madden, _The United Irishmen, their Lives and Times_ (2nd ed.
4 vols., Dublin, 1858-1860); Charles Phillips, _Recollections of
Curran and Some of his Contemporaries_ (2nd ed., London, 1822); Henry
Grattan, _Memoirs of the Life and Times of the Right Hon. H. Grattan_
(5 vols., London, 1839-1846); W.H. Maxwell, _History of the Irish
Rebellion in 1798; with Memoirs of the Union and Emmet's Insurrection
in 1803_ (London, 1845); W.H. Curran, _Life of J.P. Curran_ (2 vols.,
Edinburgh, 1822); Thomas Moore, _Life and Death of Lord Edward
Fitzgerald_ (2 vols. 3rd ed., London, 1832); and _Memoirs, Journals
and Correspondence of Thomas Moore_, edited by Lord John Russell (8
vols., London, 1853-1856). (R. J. M.)
EMMET, THOMAS ADDIS (1764-1827), Irish lawyer and politician, second son
of Robert Emmet, physician to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and elder
brother of Robert Emmet (q.v.), the rebel, was born at Cork on the 24th
of April 1764, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and at
Edinburgh University, where he studied medicine and was a pupil of
Dugald Stewart in philosophy. After visiting the chief medical schools
on the continent, he returned to Ireland in 1788; but the sudden death
of his elder brother, Christopher Temple Emmet (1761-1788), a barrister
of some distinction, induced him to follow the advice of Sir James
Mackintosh to forsake medicine for the law as a profession. He was
called to the Irish bar in 1790, and quickly obtained a practice,
principally as counsel for prisoners charged with political offences,
and became the legal adviser of the leading United Irishmen. When the
Dublin corporation issued a declaration of Protestant ascendancy in
1792, the counter-manifesto of the United Irishmen was drawn up by
Emmet; and in 1795 he took the oath of the society in open court,
becoming secretary in the same year and a member of the executive in
1797. Although Grattan had a profound contempt for Emmet's political
understanding, describing him as a quack in politics who set up his own
crude notions as settled rules, Emmet was among the more prudent of the
United Irishmen on the eve of the rebellion. It was only when convinced
that parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation were not to be
obtained by constitutional methods, that he reluctantly engaged in
treasonable conspiracy; and in opposition to bolder spirits like Lord
Edward Fitzgerald, he discountenanced the taking up of arms until help
should be obtained from France. Though not among those taken at the
house of Oliver Bond on the 12th of March 1798 (see FITZGERALD, LORD
EDWARD), he was arrested about the same time, and he was one of the
leaders who after the rebellion were imprisoned at Fort George till
1802. Being then released, he went to Brussels, where he was visited by
his brother Robert in October of that year; and he was in the secrets of
those who were preparing for a fresh rising in Ireland in conjunction
with French aid. After the failure of Robert Emmet's rising in July
1803, the news of which reached him in Paris, where he was in
communication with Bonaparte, he emigrated to the United States. Joining
the New York bar he obtained a lucrative practice and in 1812-13 was
attorney-general of New York; his abilities and success being such that
Judge Story declared him to be "by universal consent in the first rank
of American advocates." He died while conducting a case in court on the
14th of November 1827. Thomas Emmet married, in 1791, Jane, daughter of
the Rev. John Patten, of Clonmel.
See authorities under EMMET, ROBERT; also Alfred Webb, _Compendium of
Irish Biography_ (Dublin, 1878); C.S. Haynes, _Memoirs of Thomas Addis
Emmet_ (London, 1829); Theobald Wolfe Tone, _Memoirs_, edited by
W.T.W. Tone (2 vols., London, 1827); W.E.H. Lecky, _Hist. of Ireland
in the Eighteenth Century_, vol. iv. (Cabinet edition, 5 vols.,
London, 1892). (R. J. M.)
EMMETT, DANIEL DECATUR (1815-1904), American songwriter, was born at
Mount Vernon, Ohio. He started the "negro minstrel" performances, which
from 1842 onwards became so popular in America and England, and he
composed a number of songs which had a great temporary vogue. He is
remembered particularly as the writer of the famous Southern war-song
"Dixie," which he composed in 1859.
EMMITSBURG, a town in Frederick county, Maryland, U.S.A., 61 m. by rail
W. by N. of Baltimore, and 1½ m. S. of the northern boundary of the
state. Pop. (1900) 849; (1910) 1054. It is served by the Emmitsburg
railway (7 m. long) to Rocky Ridge on the Western Maryland railway. The
town is in a picturesque region on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. Two miles S.W. is Mount St. Mary's College (Roman Catholic),
founded in 1808 by the Rev. John du Bois (1764-1842)--its president
until 1826, when he became bishop of New York--and chartered by the
state in 1830. The Ecclesiastical Seminary of the college has been a
great training school, and has been called the "Nursery of Bishops";
among its graduates have been Bishop Hughes, Cardinal McCloskey and
Archbishop Corrigan. In 1908 the college had 25 instructors and 350
students, of whom 57 were in the Ecclesiastical Seminary, and 61 in the
Minim Department. Half a mile S. of the town is St Joseph's College and
Academy (incorporated in 1816), for young women, which is conducted by
the Sisters of Charity--this order was introduced into the United States
at Emmitsburg by Mrs Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1809. The first settlement
at Emmitsburg was made about 1773. It was at first called "Silver
Fancy," and then for a time was known as "Poplar Fields"; but in 1786
the present name was adopted in honour of William Emmitt, one of the
original settlers. The town was incorporated in 1824.
EMMIUS, UBBO (1547-1625), Dutch historian and geographer, was born at
Gretha in East Friesland on the 5th of December 1547. After studying at
Rostock, he spent two years in Geneva, where he became intimate with
Theodore Beza; and returning to the Netherlands was appointed the
principal of a college at Norden, a position which he lost in 1587
because, as a Calvinist, he would not subscribe to the confession of
Augsburg. Subsequently he was head of a college at Leer, and in 1594
became rector of the college at Groningen, and when in 1614 this college
became a university he was chosen principal and professor of history and
Greek, and by his wise guidance and his learning speedily raised the new
university to a position of eminence. He was on friendly terms with
Louis, count of Nassau; corresponded with many of the learned men of his
time; and died at Groningen on the 9th of December 1625. He was twice
married, and left a son and a daughter. The chief works of Emmius are:
_Rerum Frisicarum historiae decades_, in six parts, a complete edition
of which was published at Leiden in 1616; _Opus chronologicum_
(Groningen, 1619); _Vetus Graecia illustrata_ (Leiden, 1626); and
_Historia temporis nostri_, which was first published at Groningen in
1732. An account of his life, written by Nicholas Mulerius, was
published, with the lives of other professors of Groningen, at Groningen
in 1638.
See N.G. van Kampen, _Geschiedenis der letteren en wetenschappen in de
Nederlanden_ (The Hague, 1821-1826).
EMMONS, EBENEZER (1800-1863), American geologist, was born at
Middlefield, Massachusetts, on the 16th of May 1800. He studied medicine
at Albany, and after taking his degree practised for some years in
Berkshire county. His interest in geology was kindled in early life, and
in 1824 he had assisted Prof. Chester Dewey (1784-1867) in preparing a
geological map of Berkshire county, in which the first attempt was made
to classify the rocks of the Taconic area. While thus giving much of his
time to natural science, undertaking professional work in natural
history and geology in Williams College, he also accepted the
professorship of chemistry and afterwards of obstetrics in the Albany
Medical College. The chief work of his life was, however, in geology,
and he has been designated by Jules Marcou as "the founder of American
palaeozoic stratigraphy, and the first discoverer of the primordial
fauna in any country." In 1836 he became attached to the Geological
Survey of the State of New York, and after lengthened study he grouped
the local strata (1842) into the Taconic and overlying New York systems.
The latter system was subdivided into several groups that were by no
means well defined. Emmons had previously described the Potsdam
sandstone (1838), and this was placed at the base of the New York
system. It is now regarded as Upper Cambrian. In 1844 Emmons for the
first time obtained fossils in his Taconic system: a notable discovery
because the species obtained were found to differ from all then-known
Palaeozoic fossils, and they were regarded as representing the
primordial group. Marcou was thus led to advocate that the term Taconic
be generally adopted in place of Cambrian. Nevertheless the Taconic
fauna of Emmons has proved to include only the lower part of Sedgwick's
Cambrian. Considerable discussion has taken place on the question of the
Taconic system, and whether the term should be adopted; and the general
opinion has been adverse. Emmons made contributions on agriculture and
geology to a series of volumes on the natural history of New York. He
also issued a work entitled _American Geology; containing a statement of
the principles of the Science, with full illustrations of the
characteristic American Fossils_ (1855-1857). From 1851 to 1860 he was
state geologist of North Carolina. He died at Brunswick, North Carolina,
on the 1st of October 1863.
See the _Biographical Notice of Ebenezer Emmons_, by J. Marcou; _Amer.
Geologist_, vol. vii. (Jan., 1891), p. 1 (with portrait and list of
publications).
EMMONS, NATHANAEL (1745-1840), American theologian, was born at East
Haddam, Connecticut, on the 20th of April 1745. He graduated at Yale in
1767, studied theology under the Rev. John Smalley (1734-1820) at
Berlin, Connecticut, and was licensed to preach in 1769. After preaching
four years in New York and New Hampshire, he became, in April 1773,
pastor of the Second church at Franklin (until 1778 a part of Wrentham,
Massachusetts), of which he remained in charge until May 1827, when
failing health compelled his relinquishment of active ministerial cares.
He lived, however, for many years thereafter, dying of old age at
Franklin on the 23rd of September 1840. It was as a theologian that Dr
Emmons was best known, and for half a century probably no clergyman in
New England exerted so wide an influence. He developed an original
system of divinity, somewhat on the structural plan of that of Samuel
Hopkins, and, in Emmons's own belief, contained in and evolved from
Hopkinsianism. While by no means abandoning the tenets of the old
Calvinistic faith, he came to be looked upon as the chief representative
of what was then known as the "new school" of theologians. His system
declared that holiness and sin are free voluntary exercises; that men
act freely under the divine agency; that the slightest transgression
deserves eternal punishment; that it is through God's mere grace that
the penitent believer is pardoned and justified; that, in spite of total
depravity, sinners ought to repent; and that regeneration is active, not
passive, with the believer. Emmonsism was spread and perpetuated by more
than a hundred clergymen, whom he personally trained. Politically, he
was an ardent patriot during the War of Independence, and a strong
Federalist afterwards, several of his political discourses attracting
wide attention. He was a founder and the first president of the
Massachusetts Missionary Society, and was influential in the
establishment of Andover Theological Seminary. More than two hundred of
his sermons and addresses were published during his lifetime. His
_Works_ were published in 6 vols. (Boston, 1842; new edition, 1861).
See also the _Memoir_, by Dr E.A. Park (Andover, 1861).
EMPEDOCLES (c. 490-430 B.C.), Greek philosopher and statesman, was
Born at Agrigentum (Acragas, Girgenti) in Sicily of a distinguished
family, then at the height of its glory. His grandfather Empedocles was
victorious in the Olympian chariot race in 496; in 470 his father Meto
was largely instrumental in the overthrow of the tyrant Thrasydaeus. We
know almost nothing of his life. The numerous legends which have grown
up round his name yield very little that can fairly be regarded as
authentic. It seems that he carried on the democratic tradition of his
house by helping to overthrow an oligarchic government which succeeded
the tyranny in Agrigentum, and was invited by the citizens to become
their king. That he refused the honour may have been due to a real
enthusiasm for free institutions or to the prudential recognition of the
peril which in those turbulent times surrounded the royal dignity.
Ultimately a change in the balance of parties compelled him to leave the
city, and he died in the Peloponnese of the results of an accident in
430.
Of his poem on nature ([Greek: physis]) there are left about 400 lines
in unequal fragments out of the original 5000; of the hymns of
purification ([Greek: katharmoi]) less than 100 verses remain; of the
other works, improbably assigned to him, nothing is known. His grand
but obscure hexameters, after the example of Parmenides, delighted
Lucretius. Aristotle, it is said, called him the father of rhetoric. But
it was as at once statesman, prophet, physicist, physician and reformer
that he most impressed the popular imagination. To his contemporaries,
as to himself, he seemed more than a mere man. The Sicilians honoured
his august aspect as he moved amongst them with purple robes and golden
girdle, with long hair bound by a Delphic garland, and brazen sandals on
his feet, and with a retinue of slaves behind him. Stories were told of
the ingenuity and generosity by which he had made the marshes round
Selinus salubrious, of the grotesque device by which he laid the winds
that ruined the harvests of Agrigentum, and of the almost miraculous
restoration to life of a woman who had long lain in a death-like trance.
Legends stranger still told of his disappearance from among men.
Empedocles, according to one story, was one midnight, after a feast held
in his honour, called away in a blaze of glory to the gods; according to
another, he had only thrown himself into the crater of Etna, in the hope
that men, finding no traces of his end, would suppose him translated to
heaven. But his hopes were cheated by the volcano, which cast forth his
brazen sandals and betrayed his secret (Diog. Laërt. viii. 67). The
people of Agrigentum have never ceased to honour his name, and even in
modern times he has been celebrated by followers of Mazzini as the
democrat of antiquity _par excellence_.
As his history is uncertain, so his doctrines are hard to put together.
He does not belong to any one definite school. While, on one hand, he
combines much that had been suggested by Parmenides, Pythagoras and the
Ionic schools, he has germs of truth that Plato and Aristotle afterwards
developed; he is at once a firm believer in Orphic mysteries, and a
scientific thinker, precursor of the physical scientists. There are,
according to Empedocles, four ultimate elements, four primal divinities,
of which are made all structures in the world--fire, air, water, earth.
These four elements are eternally brought into union, and eternally
parted from each other, by two divine beings or powers, love and
hatred--an attractive and a repulsive force which the ordinary eye can
see working amongst men, but which really pervade the whole world.
According to the different proportions in which these four
indestructible and unchangeable matters are combined with each other is
the difference of the organic structure produced; e.g. flesh and blood
are made of equal (in weight but not in volume) parts of all four
elements, whereas bones are one-half fire, one-fourth earth, and
one-fourth water. It is in the aggregation and segregation of elements
thus arising that Empedocles, like the atomists, finds the real process
which corresponds to what is popularly termed growth, increase or
decrease. Nothing new comes or can come into being; the only change that
can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of element with element.
Empedocles apparently regarded love ([Greek: philotês]) and discord
([Greek: neikos]) as alternately holding the empire over
things,--neither, however, being ever quite absent. As the best and
original state, he seems to have conceived a period when love was
predominant, and all the elements formed one great sphere or globe.
Since that period discord had gained more sway; and the actual world was
full of contrasts and oppositions, due to the combined action of both
principles. His theory attempted to explain the separation of elements,
the formation of earth and sea, of sun and moon, of atmosphere. But the
most interesting and most matured part of his views dealt with the first
origin of plants and animals, and with the physiology of man. As the
elements (his deities) entered into combinations, there appeared quaint
results--heads without necks, arms without shoulders. Then as these
fragmentary structures met, there were seen horned heads on human
bodies, bodies of oxen with men's heads, and figures of double sex. But
most of these products of natural forces disappeared as suddenly as they
arose; only in those rare cases where the several parts were found
adapted to each other, and casual member fitted into casual member, did
the complex structures thus formed last. Thus from spontaneous
aggregations of casual aggregates, which suited each other as if this
had been intended, did the organic universe originally spring. Soon
various influences reduced the creatures of double sex to a male and a
female, and the world was replenished with organic life. It is
impossible not to see in this theory a crude anticipation of the
"survival of the fittest" theory of modern evolutionists.
As man, animal and plant are composed of the same elements in different
proportions, there is an identity of nature in them all. They all have
sense and understanding; in man, however, and especially in the blood at
his heart, mind has its peculiar seat. But mind is always dependent upon
the body, and varies with its changing constitution. Hence the precepts
of morality are with Empedocles largely dietetic.
Knowledge is explained by the principle that the several elements in the
things outside us are perceived by the corresponding elements in
ourselves. We know only in so far as we have within us a nature cognate
to the object of knowledge. Like is known by like. The whole body is
full of pores, and hence respiration takes place over the whole frame.
But in the organs of sense these pores are specially adapted to receive
the effluxes which are continually rising from bodies around us; and in
this way perception is somewhat obscurely explained. The theory, however
unsatisfactory as an explanation, has one great merit, that it
recognizes between the eye, for instance, and the object seen an
intermediate something. Certain particles go forth from the eye to meet
similar particles given forth from the object, and the resultant contact
constitutes vision. This idea contains within it the germ of the modern
idea of the subjectivity of sense-given data; perception is not merely a
passive reflection of external objects.
It is not easy to harmonize these quasi-scientific theories with the
theory of transmigration of souls which Empedocles seems to expound.
Probably the doctrine that the divinity ([Greek: daimôn]) passes from
element to element, nowhere finding a home, is a mystical way of
teaching the continued identity of the principles which are at the
bottom of every phase of development from inorganic nature to man. At
the top of the scale are the prophet and the physician, those who have
best learned the secret of life; they are next to the divine. One law,
an identity of elements, pervades all nature; existence is one from end
to end; the plant and the animal are links in a chain where man is a
link too; and even the distinction between male and female is
transcended. The beasts are kindred with man; he who eats their flesh is
not much better than a cannibal.
Looking at the opposition between these and the ordinary opinions, we
are not surprised that Empedocles notes the limitation and narrowness of
human perceptions. We see, he says, but a part, and fancy that we have
grasped the whole. But the senses cannot lead to truth; thought and
reflection must look at the thing on every side. It is the business of a
philosopher, while he lays bare the fundamental difference of elements,
to display the identity that subsists between what seem unconnected
parts of the universe.
See Diog. Laërt. viii. 51-77; Sext. Empiric. _Adv. math._ vii. 123;
Simplicius, _Phys._ f. 24, f. 76. For text Simon Karsten, "Empedoclis
Agrigenti carminum reliquiae," in _Reliq. phil. vet._ (Amsterdam,
1838); F.W.A. Mullach, _Fragmenta philosophorum Graecorum_, vol. i.;
H. Stein, _Empedoclis Agrigenti fragmenta_ (Bonn, 1882); H. Ritter and
L. Preller, _Historia philosophiae_ (4th ed., Gotha, 1869), chap. iii.
ad fin.; A. Fairbanks, _The First Philosophers of Greece_ (1898).
Verse translation, W.E. Leonard (1908). For criticism E. Zeller,
_Phil. der Griechen_ (Eng. trans. S.F. Alleyne, 2 vols., London,
1881); A.W. Benn, _Greek Philosophers_ (1882); J.A. Symonds, _Studies
of the Greek Poets_ (3rd ed., 1893), vol. i. chap. 7; C.B. Renouvier,
_Manuel de philosophie ancienne_ (Paris, 1844); T. Gomperz, _Greek
Thinkers_, vol. i. (Eng. trans. L. Magnus, 1901); W. Windelband,
_Hist. of Phil._ (Eng. trans. 1895); many articles in periodicals (see
Baldwin's _Dict. of Philos._ vol. iii. p. 190). (W. W.; X.)
EMPEROR (Fr. _empereur_, from the Lat. _imperator_), a title formerly
borne by the sovereigns of the Roman empire (see EMPIRE), and since
their time, partly by derivation, partly by imitation, used by a variety
of other sovereigns. Under the Republic, the term _imperator_ applied in
theory to any magistrate vested with _imperium_; but in practice it was
only used of a magistrate who was acting abroad (_militiae_) and was
thus in command of troops. The term _imperator_ was the natural and
regular designation employed by his troops in addressing such a
magistrate; but it was more particularly and specially employed by them
to salute him after a victory; and when he had been thus saluted he
could use the title of imperator in public till the day of his triumph
at Rome, after which it would lapse along with his _imperium_. The
senate itself might, in the later Republic, invite a victorious general
to assume the title; and in these two customs--the salutation of the
troops, and the invitation of the senate--we see in the germ the two
methods by which under the Empire the _princeps_ was designated; while
in the military connotation attaching to the name even under the
Republic we can detect in advance the military character by which the
emperor and the Empire were afterwards distinguished. Julius Caesar was
the first who used the title continuously (from 58 B.C. to his death in
44 B.C.), as well _domi_ as _militiae_; and his nephew Augustus took a
further step when he made the term imperator a _praenomen_, a practice
which after the time of Nero becomes regular. But apart from this
amalgamation of the term with his regular name, and the private right to
its use which that bestowed, every emperor had an additional and double
right to the title on public grounds, possessed as he was of an
_imperium infinitum majus_, and commanding as he did all the troops of
the Empire. From the latter point of view--as _generalissimo_ of the
forces of Rome, he had the right to the insignia of the commander (the
laurel wreath and the fasces), and to the protection of a bodyguard, the
_praetoriani_. This public title of imperator was normally conferred by
the senate; and an emperor normally dates his reign from the day of his
salutation by the senate. But the troops were also regarded as still
retaining the right of saluting an _imperator_; and there were emperors
who regarded themselves as created by such salutation and dated their
reigns accordingly. The military associations of the term thus resulted,
only too often, in making the emperor the nominee of a turbulent
soldiery.
Augustus had been designated (not indeed officially, but none the less
regularly) as _princeps_--the first citizen or foremost man of the
state. The designation suited the early years of the Empire, in which a
dyarchy of _princeps_ and senate had been maintained. But by the 2nd
century the dyarchy is passing into a monarchy: the title of princeps
recedes, and the title of imperator comes into prominence to designate
not merely the possessor of a certain _imperium_, or the general of
troops, but the simple monarch in the fulness of his power as head of
the state. From the days of Diocletian one finds occasionally two
emperors, but not, at any rate in theory, two Empires; the two emperors
are the dual sovereigns of a single realm. But from the time of Arcadius
and Honorius (A.D. 395) there are in reality (though not in theory) two
Empires as well as two emperors, one of the East and one of the West.
When Greek became the sole language of the East Roman Empire,
_imperator_ was rendered sometimes by [Greek: basileus] and sometimes by
[Greek: autokratôr], the former word being the usual designation of a
sovereign, the latter specially denoting that despotic power which the
_imperator_ held, and being in fact the official translation of
_imperator_. Justinian uses [Greek: autokratôr] as his formal title, and
[Greek: basileus] as the popular term.
On the revival of the Roman empire in the West by Charlemagne in 800,
the title (at first in the form _imperator_, or _imperator_ _Augustus_,
afterwards _Romanorum imperator Augustus_) was taken by him and by his
Frankish, Italian and German successors, heads of the Holy Roman Empire,
down to the abdication of the emperor Francis II. in 1806. The doctrine
had, however, grown up in the earlier middle ages (about the time of the
emperor Henry II., 1002-1024) that although the emperor was chosen in
Germany (at first by the nation, afterwards by a small body of
electors), and entitled from the moment of his election to be crowned in
Rome by the pope, he could not use the title of emperor until that
coronation had actually taken place. The German sovereign, therefore,
though he exercised, as soon as chosen, full imperial powers both in
Germany and Italy, called himself merely "king of the Romans"
(_Romanorum rex semper Augustus_) until he had received the sacred crown
in the sacred city. In 1508 Maximilian I., being refused a passage to
Rome by the Venetians, obtained from Pope Julius II. a bull permitting
him to style himself emperor elect (_imperator electus_, erwählter
Kaiser). This title was taken by Ferdinand I. (1558) and all succeeding
emperors, immediately upon their coronation in Germany; and it was until
1806 their strict legal designation, and was always employed by them in
proclamations and other official documents. The term "elect" was,
however, omitted even in formal documents when the sovereign was
addressed or was spoken of in the third person.
In medieval times the emperor, conceived as vicegerent of God and
co-regent with the pope in government of the Christian people committed
to his charge, might almost be regarded as an ecclesiastical officer.
Not only was his function regarded as consisting in the defence and
extension of true religion; he was himself arrayed in ecclesiastical
vestments at his coronation; he was ordained a subdeacon; and assisting
the pope in the celebration of the Eucharist, he communicated in both
kinds as a clerk. The same sort of ecclesiastical character came also to
be attached to the tsars[1] of Russia, who--especially in their
relations with the Orthodox Eastern Church--may vindicate for themselves
(though the sultans of Turkey have disputed the claim) the succession to
the East Roman emperors (see Empire). But the title of emperor was also
used in the middle ages, and is still used, in a loose and vague sense,
without any ecclesiastical connotation or hint of connexion with Rome
(the two attributes which should properly distinguish an emperor), and
merely in order to designate a non-European ruler with a large extent of
territory. It was thus applied, and is still applied, to the rulers of
China and Japan; it was attributed to the Mogul sovereigns of India; and
since 1876 it has been used by British monarchs in their capacity of
sovereigns of India (_Kaiser-i-Hind_).[2]
Since the French Revolution and during the course of the 19th century
the term emperor has had an eventful history. In 1804 Napoleon took the
title of "Emperor of the French," and posed as the reviver of the Empire
of Charlemagne. Afraid that Napoleon would next proceed to deprive him
of his title of Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II. first took the step, in
1804, of investing himself with a new title, that of "Hereditary Emperor
of Austria," and then, in 1806, proceeded to the further step of
abdicating his old historical title and dissolving the Holy Roman
Empire. Thus the old and true sense of the term emperor--the sense in
which it was connected with the church in the present and with Rome in
the past--finally perished; and the term became partly an apanage of
Bonapartism (Louis Napoleon resuscitated it as Napoleon III. in 1853),
and partly a personal title of the Habsburgs as rulers of their various
family territories. In 1870, however, a new and most important use of
the title was begun, when the union of Germany was achieved, and the
Prussian king, who became the head of united Germany, received in that
capacity the title of German Emperor. Here the title of emperor
designates the president of a federal state; and here the Holy Roman
emperor of the 17th and 18th centuries, the president of a loose
confederation of German states, may be said to have found his successor.
But the term has been widely and loosely used in the course of the 19th
century. It was the style from 1821 to 1889 of the princes of the house
of Braganza who ruled in Brazil; it has been assumed by usurpers in
Haiti, and in Mexico it was borne by Augustin Iturbide in 1822 and 1823,
and by the ill-fated Archduke Maximilian of Austria from 1864 to 1867.
It can hardly, therefore, be said to have any definite descriptive force
at the present time, such as it had in the middle ages. So far as it has
any such force in Europe, it may be said partly to be connected with
Bonapartism, and to denote a popular but military dictatorship, partly
to be connected with the federal idea, and to denote a precedence over
other kings possessed by a ruler standing at the head of a composite
state which may embrace kings among its members. It is in this latter
sense that it is used of Germany, and of Britain in respect of India; it
is in something approaching this latter sense that it may be said to be
used of Austria.
See J. Selden, _Titles of Honour_ (1672); J. Bryce, _Holy Roman
Empire_ (London, 1904); and Sir E. Colebrooke, "On Imperial and Other
Titles" in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_ (1877). See also
the articles on "Imperator" and "Princeps" in Smith's _Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Antiquities_ (1890). (E. Br.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The word _Tsar_, like the German _Kaiser_, is derived from Caesar
(see TSAR). Peter the Great introduced the use of the style
"Imperator," and the official designation is now "Emperor of all the
Russias, Tsar of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland," though the term
tsar is still popularly used in Russia.
[2] For the titles of [Greek: Basileus], _imperator Augustus_, &c.,
applied in the 10th century to the Anglo-Saxon kings, see EMPIRE
(note). The claim to the style of emperor, as a badge of equal rank,
played a considerable part in the diplomatic relations between the
Sultan and certain European sovereigns. Thus, at a time when this
style (_Padishah_) was refused by the Sultan to the tsars of Russia,
and even to the Holy Roman Emperor himself, it was allowed to the
French kings, who in diplomatic correspondence and treaties with
Turkey called themselves "emperor of France" (_empereur de
France_).--[ED.].
EMPHYSEMA (Gr. [Greek: emphysan] to inflate) is a word vaguely meaning
the abnormal presence of air in certain parts of the body. At the
present day, however, there are two conditions to which it refers,
"pulmonary emphysema" (and the word pulmonary is often omitted) and
"surgical emphysema." Of pulmonary emphysema there are two forms, true
vesicular and interstitial (or interlobular). Vesicular emphysema
signifies that there is an enlargement of air-vesicles, resulting either
from their excessive distension, from destruction of the septa, or from
both causes combined (see RESPIRATORY SYSTEM). In interstitial emphysema
the air is infiltrated into the connective tissue beneath the pleura and
between the pulmonary air-cells.
The former variety is by far the more common, and appears to be capable
of being produced by various causes, the chief of which are the
following:--
1. Where a portion of the lung has become wasted, or its vesicular
structure permanently obliterated by disease, without corresponding
falling in of the chest wall, the neighbouring air-vesicles or some of
them undergo dilatation to fill the vacuum (vicarious emphysema).
2. In some cases of bronchitis, where numbers of the smaller bronchial
tubes become obstructed, the air in the pulmonary vesicles remains
imprisoned, the force of expiration being insufficient to expel it;
while, on the other hand, the stronger force of inspiration being
adequate to overcome the resistance, the air-cells tend to become more
and more distended, and permanent alterations in their structure,
including emphysema, are the result (inspiratory theory).
3. Emphysema also arises from exertion involving violent expiratory
efforts, during which the glottis is constricted, as in paroxysms of
coughing, in straining, and in lifting heavy weights (expiratory
theory). Whooping-cough is well known as the exciting cause of emphysema
in many persons.
4. Another view, known as the nutritive theory, maintains that emphysema
depends essentially on a primary nutritive change in the walls of the
air-vesicles. Thus these are impaired in their resisting power, and are
far more likely to become distended by any force acting on them from
within.
5. Again in certain cases the cartilages of the chest become
hypertrophied and rigid, thus causing a primary chronic enlargement, and
the lungs become emphysematous in order to fill up the increased space
(Freund's theory).
In whatever manner produced, this disease gives rise to important morbid
changes in the affected portions of the lungs, especially the loss of
the natural elasticity of the air-cells, and likewise the destruction of
many of the pulmonary capillary blood-vessels, and the diminution of
aerating surface for the blood. As a consequence an increased strain is
thrown on the right ventricle with a consequent dilatation leading on to
heart failure and all its attendant troubles. The chief symptom in this
complaint is shortness of breath, more or less constant but greatly
aggravated by exertion, and by attacks of bronchitis, to which persons
suffering from emphysema appear to be specially liable. The respiration
is of similar character to that already described in the case of asthma.
In severe forms of the disease the patient comes to acquire a peculiar
puffy or bloated appearance, and the configuration of the chest is
altered, assuming the character known as the _barrel-shaped_ or
_emphysematous_ chest.
The main element in the treatment of emphysema consists in attention to
the general condition of the health, and in the avoidance of all causes
likely to aggravate the disease or induce its complications. Compressed
air baths and expiration into rarefied air may be useful. During attacks
of urgent dyspnoea and lividity, with engorgement of veins, the patient
should be repeatedly bled until relief is obtained. Interstitial
emphysema arising from the rupture of air-cells in the immediate
neighbourhood of the pleura may occur as a complication of the vesicular
form, or separately as the result of some sudden expulsive effort, such
as a fit of coughing, or, as has frequently happened, in parturition.
Gangrene or post-mortem decomposition may lead to the presence of air in
the interstitial tissue of the lung. Occasionally the air infiltrates
the cellular tissue of the posterior mediastinum, and thence comes to
distend the integument of the whole surface of the body (surgical
emphysema). Surgical emphysema signifies the effusion of air into the
general connective tissues of the body. The commonest causes are a wound
of some air-passage, or a penetrating wound of the chest wall without
injury to the lung. It may, however, occur in any situation of the body
and in many other ways. Its severity varies from very slight cases where
only a little crepitation may be felt under the skin, to extreme cases
where the whole body is blown up and death is imminent from impeded
respiration and failure of the action of the heart. In the milder cases
no treatment is necessary as the air gradually becomes absorbed, but in
the more severe cases incisions must be made in the swollen cellular
tissues to allow the air to escape.
EMPIRE, a term now used to denote a state of large size and also (as a
rule) of composite character, often, but not necessarily, ruled by an
emperor--a state which may be a federation, like the German empire, or a
unitary state, like the Russian, or even, like the British empire, a
loose commonwealth of free states united to a number of subordinate
dependencies. For many centuries the writers of the Church, basing
themselves on the Apocalyptic writings, conceived of a cycle of four
empires, generally explained--though there was no absolute unanimity
with regard to the members of the cycle--as the Assyrian, the Persian,
the Macedonian and the Roman. But in reality the conception of Empire,
like the term itself (Lat. _imperium_), is of Roman origin. The empire
of Alexander had indeed in some ways anticipated the empire of Rome. "In
his later years," Professor Bury writes, "Alexander formed the notion of
an empire, both European and Asiatic, in which the Asiatics should not
be dominated by the European invaders, but Europeans and Asiatics alike
should be ruled on an equality by a monarch, indifferent to the
distinction of Greek and barbarian, and looked upon as their own king by
Persians as well as by Macedonians." The contemporary Cynic philosophy
of cosmopolitanism harmonized with this notion, as Stoicism did later
with the practice of the Roman empire; and Alexander, like Diocletian
and Constantine, accustomed a Western people to the forms of an Oriental
court, while, like the earlier Caesars, he claimed and received the
recognition of his own divinity. But when he died in 323, his empire,
which had barely lasted ten years, died with him; and it was divided
among Diadochi who, if in some other respects (for instance, the
Hellenization of the East) they were heirs of their master's policy,
were destitute of the imperial conception. The work of Alexander was
rather that of the forerunner than the founder. He prepared the way for
the world-empire of Rome; he made possible the rise of a universal
religion. And these are the two factors which, throughout the middle
ages, went together to make the thing which men called Empire.
The Roman empire.
At Rome the term _imperium_ signified generally, in its earlier use, the
sovereignty of the state over the individual, a sovereignty which the
Romans had disengaged with singular clearness from all other kinds of
authority. Each of the higher magistrates of the Roman people was
vested, by a _lex curiata_ (for power was distinctly conceived as
resident in, and delegated by, the community), with an _imperium_ both
civil and military, which varied in degree with the magnitude of his
office. In the later days of the Republic such imperium was enjoyed,
partly in Rome by the resident consuls and praetors, partly in the
provinces by the various proconsuls or propraetors. There was thus a
certain _morcellement_ of _imperium_, delegated as it was by the people
to a number of magistrates: the coming of the Empire meant the
reintegration of this _imperium_, and its unification, by a gradual
process, in the hands of the _princeps_, or emperor. The means by which
this process was achieved had already been anticipated under the
Republic. Already in the days of Pompey it had been found convenient to
grant to an extraordinary officer an _imperium aequum_ or _majus_ over a
large area, and that officer thus received powers, within that area,
equal to, or greater than, the powers of the provincial governors. This
precedent was followed by Augustus in the year 27 B.C., when he acquired
for himself sole _imperium_ in a certain number of provinces (the
imperial provinces), and an _infinitum imperium majus_ in the remaining
provinces (which were termed senatorial). As a result, Augustus enjoyed
an _imperium_ coextensive indeed with the whole of the Roman world, but
concurrent, in part of that world, with the _imperium_ of the senatorial
proconsuls; and the early Empire may thus be described as a dyarchy. But
the distinction between imperial and senatorial provinces finally
disappeared; by the time of Constantine the emperor enjoyed sole
_imperium_, and an absolute monarchy had been established. We shall not,
however, fully understand the significance of the Roman empire, unless
we realize the importance of its military aspect. All the soldiers of
Rome had from the first to swear _in verba Caesaris Augusti_; and thus
the whole of the Roman army was his army, regiments of which he might
indeed lend, but of which he was sole _Imperator_ (see under EMPEROR).
Thus regarded as a permanent commander-in-chief, the emperor enjoyed the
privileges, and suffered from the weaknesses, of his position. He had
the power of the sword behind him; but he became more and more liable to
be deposed, and to be replaced by a new commander, at the will of those
who bore the sword in his service.
Development under Diocletian and Constantine.
Division of the Empire.
The period which is marked by the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine
(A.D. 284-337) marks a great transformation in the character of the
Empire. The old dyarchy, under which the emperor might still be regarded
as an official of the respublica Romana, passed into a new monarchy, in
which all political power became, as it were, the private property of
the monarch. There was now no distinction of provinces; and the old
public _aerarium_ became merely a municipal treasury, while the _fiscus_
of the emperor became the exchequer of the Empire. The officers of the
imperial praetorium, or bodyguard, are now the great officers of state;
his private council becomes the public consistory, or supreme court of
appeal; and the _comites_ of his court are the administrators of his
empire. "All is in him, and all comes from him," as our own year-books
say of the medieval king; his household, for instance, is not only a
household, but also an administration. On the other hand, this
unification seems to be accompanied by a new bifurcation. The exigencies
of frontier defence had long been drawing the Empire towards the
troubled East; and this tendency reached its culmination when a new Rome
arose by the Bosporus, and Constantinople became the centre of what
seemed a second Empire in the East (A.D. 324). Particularly after the
division of the Empire between Arcadius and Honorius in 395 does this
bifurcation appear to be marked; and one naturally speaks of the two
Empires of the West and the East. Yet it cannot be too much emphasized
that in reality such language is utterly inexact. The Roman empire was,
and always continued to be, ideally one and indivisible. There were two
emperors, but one Empire--two persons, but one power. The point is of
great importance for the understanding of the whole of the middle ages:
there only is, and can be, one Empire, which may indeed, for
convenience, be ruled conjointly by two emperors, resident, again for
convenience, in two separate capitals. And, as a matter of fact, not
only did the residence of an emperor in the East not spell bifurcation,
it actually fostered the tendency towards unification. It helped forward
the transformation of the Empire into an absolute and quasi-Asiatic
monarchy, under which all its subjects fell into a single level of loyal
submission: it helped to give the emperor a gorgeous court, marked by
all the ceremony and the servility of the East.[1] The deification of
the emperor himself dates from the days of Augustus; by the time of
Constantine it has infected the court and the government. Each emperor,
again, had from the first enjoyed the sacrosanct position which was
attached to the tribunate; but now his palace, his chamber, his
charities, his letters, are all "sacred," and one might almost speak in
advance of a "Holy Roman Empire."
Influence of Christianity.
But there is one factor, the greatest of all, which still remains to be
added, before we have counted the sum of the forces that made the world
think in terms of empire for centuries to come; and that is the
reception of Christianity into the Roman empire by Constantine. That
reception added a new sanction to the existence of the Empire and the
position of the emperor. The Empire, already one and indivisible in its
aspect of a political society, was welded still more firmly together
when it was informed and permeated by a common Christianity, and unified
by the force of a spiritual bond. The Empire was now the Church; it was
now indeed indestructible, for, if it perished as an empire, it would
live as a church. But the Church made it certain that it would not
perish, even as an empire, for many centuries to come. On the one hand
the Church thought in terms of empire and taught the millions of its
disciples (including the barbarians themselves) to think in the same
terms. No other political conception--no conception of a [Greek: polis]
or of a nation--was any longer possible. When the Church gained its hold
of the Roman world, the Empire, as it has been well said, was already
"not only a government, but a fashion of conceiving the world": it had
stood for three centuries, and no man could think of any other form of
political association. Moreover, the gospel of St Paul--that there is
_one_ Church, whereof Christ is the Head, and we are all members--could
not but reinforce for the Christian the conception of a necessary
political unity of all the world under a single head. _Una Chiesa in uno
Stato_--such, then, was the theory of the Church. But not only did the
Church perpetuate the conception of empire by making it a part of its
own theory of the world: it perpetuated that conception equally by
materializing it in its own organization of itself. Growing up under the
shadow of the Empire, the Church too became an empire, as the Empire had
become a church. As it took over something of the old pagan ceremonial,
so it took over much of the old secular organization. The pope borrowed
his title of _pontifex maximus_ from the emperor: what is far more, he
made himself gradually, and in the course of centuries, the Caesar and
Imperator of the Church. The offices and the dioceses of the Church are
parallel to the offices and dioceses of the Diocletian empire: the whole
spirit of orderly hierarchy and regular organization, which breathes in
the Roman Church, is the heritage of ancient Rome. The Donation of
Constantine is a forgery; but it expresses a great truth when it
represents Constantine as giving to the pope the imperial palace and
insignia, and to the clergy the ornaments of the imperial army (see
DONATION OF CONSTANTINE).
Barbarian invasions.
Upon this world, informed by these ideas, there finally descended, in
the 5th century, the avalanche of barbaric invasion. Its impact seemed
to split the Empire into fragmentary kingdoms; yet it left the universal
Church intact, and with it the conception of empire. With that
conception, indeed, the barbarians had already been for centuries
familiar: service in Roman armies, and settlement in Roman territories,
had made the Roman empire for them, as much as for the civilized
provincial, part of the order of the world. One of the barbarian
invaders, Odoacer (Odovakar), might seem, in 476, to have swept away the
Empire from the West, when he commanded the abdication of Romulus
Augustulus; and the date 476 has indeed been generally emphasized as
marking "the fall of the Western empire." Other invaders, again, men
like the Frank Clovis or the great Ostrogoth Theodoric, might seem, in
succeeding years, to have completed the work of Odoacer, and to have
shattered the sorry scheme of the later Empire, by remoulding it into
national kingdoms. _De facto_, there is some truth in such a view: _de
jure_, there is none.[2] All that Odoacer did was to abolish one of the
two joint rulers of the indivisible Empire, and to make the remaining
ruler at Constantinople sole emperor from the Bosporus to the pillars of
Hercules. He abolished the dual sovereignty which had been inaugurated
by Diocletian, and returned to the unity of the Empire in the days of
Marcus Aurelius. He did not abolish the Roman empire in the West: he
only abolished its separate ruler, and, leaving the Empire itself
subsisting, under the sway (nominal, it is true, but none the less
acknowledged) of the emperor resident at Constantinople, he claimed to
act as his vicar, under the name of patrician, in the administration of
the Italian provinces.[3] As Odoacer thus fitted himself into the scheme
of empire, so did both Clovis and Theodoric. They do not claim to be
emperors (that was reserved for Charlemagne): they claim to be the
vicars and lieutenants of the Empire. Theodoric spoke of himself to Zeno
as _imperio vestro famulans_; he left justice and administration in
Roman hands, and maintained two annual consuls in Rome. Clovis received
the title of consul from Anastasius; the Visigothic kings of Spain (like
the kings of the savage Lombards) styled themselves Flavii, and
permitted the cities of their eastern coast to send tribute to
Constantinople. Yet it must be admitted that, as a matter of fact, this
adhesion of the new barbaric kings to the Empire was little more than a
form. The Empire maintained its ideal unity by treating them as its
vicars; but they themselves were forming separate and independent
kingdoms within its borders. The Italy of the Ostrogoths cannot have
belonged, in any real sense, to the Empire; otherwise Justinian would
never have needed to attempt its reconquest. And in the 7th and 8th
centuries the form of adhesion itself decayed: the emperor was retiring
upon the Greek world of the East, and the German conquerors, settled
within their kingdoms, lost the width of outlook of their old migratory
days.
The Church and the Empire.
Growing divergence between East and West.
The popes.
It is here that the action of the Church becomes of supreme importance.
The Church had not ceased to believe in the continuous life of the
Empire. The Fathers had taught that when the cycle of empires was
finally ended by the disappearance of the empire of Rome, the days of
Antichrist would dawn; and, since Antichrist was not yet come, the
Church believed that the Empire still lived, and would continue to live
till his coming. Meanwhile the Eastern emperor, ever since Justinian's
reconquest of Italy, had been able to maintain his hold on the centre of
Italy; and Rome itself, the seat of the head of the Church, still ranked
as one of the cities under his sway. The imperialist theory of the
Church found its satisfaction in this connexion of its head with
Constantinople; and as long as this connexion continued to satisfy the
Church, there was little prospect of any change. For many years after
their invasion of 568, the pressure which the Lombards maintained on
central Italy, from their kingdom in the valley of the Po, kept the
popes steadily faithful to the emperor of the East and his
representative in Italy, the exarch of Ravenna. But it was not in the
nature of things that such fidelity should continue unimpaired. The
development of the East and the West could not but proceed along
constantly diverging lines, until the point was reached when their
connexion must snap. On the one hand, the development of the West set
towards the increase of the powers of the bishop of Rome until he
reached a height at which subjection to the emperor at Constantinople
became impossible. Residence in Rome, the old seat of empire, had in
itself given him a great prestige; and to this prestige St Gregory (pope
from 590 to 604) had added in a number of ways. He was one of the
Fathers of the Church, and turned its theology into the channels in
which it was to flow for centuries; he had acquired for his church the
great spiritual colony of England by the mission of St Augustine; he had
been the protector of Italy against the Lombards. As the popes thus
became more and more spiritual emperors of the West, they found
themselves less and less able to remain the subjects of the lay emperor
of the East. Meanwhile the emperors of the East were led to interfere in
ecclesiastical affairs in a manner which the popes and the Western
Church refused to tolerate. Brought into contact with the pure
monotheism of Mahommedanism, Leo the Isaurian (718-741) was stimulated
into a crusade against image-worship, in order to remove from the
Christian Church the charge of idolatry. The West clung to its images:
the popes revolted against his decrees; and the breach rapidly became
irreparable. As the hold of the Eastern emperor on central Italy began
to be shaken, the popes may have begun to cherish the hope of becoming
their successors and of founding a temporal dominion; and that hope can
only have contributed to the final dissolution of their connexion with
the Eastern empire.
Coronation of Charlemagne as emperor of the West.
Thus, in the course of the 8th century, the Empire, _as represented by
the emperors at Constantinople_, had begun to fade utterly out of the
West. It had been forgotten by lay sovereigns; it was being abandoned by
the pope, who had been its chosen apostle. But it did not follow that,
because the Eastern emperor ceased to be the representative of the
Empire for the West, the conception of Empire itself therefore perished.
The popes only abandoned the representative; they did not abandon the
conception. If they had abandoned the conception, they would have
abandoned the idea that there was an order of the world; they would have
committed themselves to a belief in the coming of Antichrist. The
conception of the world as a single Empire-Church remained: what had to
be discovered was a new representative of one of the two sides of that
conception. For a brief time, it would seem, the pope himself cherished
the idea of becoming, in his own person, the successor of the ancient
Caesars in their own old capital. By the aid of the Frankish kings, he
had been able to stop the Lombards from acquiring the succession to the
derelict territories of the Eastern emperor in Italy (from which their
last exarch had fled overseas in 752), and he had become the temporal
sovereign of those territories. Successor to the Eastern emperor in
central Italy, why should he not also become his successor as
representative of the Empire--all the more, since he was the head of the
Church, which was coextensive with the Empire? Some such hope seems to
inspire the Donation of Constantine, a document forged between 754 and
774, in which Constantine is represented as having conferred on
Silvester I. the imperial palace and insignia, and therewith _omnes
Italiae seu occidentalium regionum provincias loca et civitates_. But
the hope, if it ever was cherished, proved to be futile. The popes had
not the material force at their command which would have made them
adequate to the position. The strong arm of the Frankish kings had alone
delivered them from the Lombards: the same strong arm, they found, was
needed to deliver them from the wild nobility of their own city. So they
turned to the power which was strong enough to undertake the task which
they could not themselves attempt, and they invited the Frankish king to
become the representative of the imperial conception they cherished.[4]
In the year 800 central Italy ceased to date its documents by the regnal
years of the Eastern emperors; for Charlemagne was crowned emperor in
their stead.
The king of the Franks was well fitted for the position which he was
chosen to fill. He was king of a stock which had been from the first
Athanasian, and had never been tainted, like most of the Germanic
tribes, by the adoption of Arian tenets. His grandfather, Charles
Martel, had saved Europe from the danger of a Mahommedan conquest by his
victory at Poitiers (732); his father, Pippin the Short, had helped the
English missionary Boniface to achieve the conversion of Germany. The
popes themselves had turned to the Frankish kings for support again and
again in the course of the 8th century. Gregory III., involved in bitter
hostilities with the iconoclastic reformers of the East, appealed to
Charles Martel for aid, and even offered the king, it is said, the
titles of consul and patrician. Zacharias pronounced the deposition of
the last of the Merovingians, and gave to Pippin the title of king
(751); while his successor, Stephen II., hard pressed by the Lombards,
who were eager to replace the Eastern emperors in the possession of
central Italy, not only asked and received the aid of the new king, but
also acquired, in virtue of Pippin's donation (754), the disputed
exarchate itself. Thus was laid the foundation of the States of the
Church; and the grateful pope rewarded the donation by the gift of the
title of _patricius Romanorum_, which conferred on its recipient the
duty and the privilege of protecting the Roman Church, along with some
undefined measure of authority in Rome itself.[5] Finally, in 773, Pope
Adrian I. had to appeal to Charles, the successor of Pippin, against the
aggressions of the last of the Lombard kings; and in 774 Charles
conquered the Lombard kingdom, and himself assumed its iron crown. Thus
by the end of the 8th century the Frankish king stood on the very steps
of the imperial throne. He ruled a realm which extended from the
Pyrenees to the Harz, and from Hamburg to Rome--a realm which might be
regarded as in itself a _de facto_ empire. He bore the title of
_patricius_, and he had shown that he did not bear it in vain by his
vigorous defence of the papacy in 774. Here there stood, ready to hand,
a natural representative of the conception of Empire; and Leo III.,
finding that he needed the aid of Charlemagne to maintain himself
against his own Romans, finally took the decisive step of crowning him
emperor, as he knelt in prayer at St Peter's, on Christmas Day, 800.
Theory of the Carolingian empire.
The coronation of Charlemagne in 800 marks the coalescence into a single
unity of two facts, or rather, more strictly speaking, of a fact and a
theory. The fact is German and secular: it is the wide _de facto_
empire, which the Frankish sword had conquered, and Frankish policy had
organized as a single whole. The theory is Latin and ecclesiastical: it
is a theory of the necessary political unity of the world, and its
necessary representation in the person of an emperor--a theory half
springing from the unity of the old Roman empire, and half derived from
the unity of the Christian Church as conceived in the New Testament. If
we seek for the force which caused this fact and this theory to coalesce
in the Carolingian empire, we can only answer--the papacy. The idea of
Empire was in the Church; and the head of the Church translated this
idea into fact. If, however, we seek to conceive the event of 800 from a
political or legal point of view, and to determine the residence of the
right of constituting an emperor, we at once drift into the fogs of
centuries of controversy. Three answers are possible from three points
of view; and all have their truth, according to the point of view. From
the ecclesiastical point of view, the right resides with the pope. This
theory was not promulgated (indeed no theory was promulgated) until the
struggles of Papacy and Empire in the course of the middle ages; but by
the time of Innocent III. it is becoming an established doctrine that a
_translatio Imperii_ took place in 800, whereby the pope transferred the
Roman empire from the Greeks to the Germans in the person of the
magnificent Charles.[6] One can only say that, as a matter of fact, the
popes ceased to recognize the Eastern emperors, and recognized Charles
instead, in the year 800; that, again, this recognition alone made
Charles emperor, as nothing else could have done; but that no question
arose, at the time, of any right of the pope to give the Empire to
Charlemagne, for the simple reason that neither of the actors was acting
or thinking in a legal spirit. If we now turn to study the point of view
of the civil lawyer, animated by such a spirit, and basing himself on
the code of Justinian, we shall find that an emperor must derive his
institution and power from a _lex regia_ passed by the _populus
Romanus_; and such a view, strictly interpreted, will lead us to the
conclusion that the citizens of Rome had given the crown to Charlemagne
in 800, and continued to bestow it on successive emperors afterwards.
There is indeed some speech, in the contemporary accounts of
Charlemagne's coronation, of the presence of "ancients among the Romans"
and of "the faithful people"; but they are merely present to witness or
applaud, and the conception of the Roman people as the source of Empire
is one that was only championed, at a far later date, by antiquarian
idealists like Arnold of Brescia and Cola di Rienzi. The _faex Romuli_,
a population of lodging-house keepers, living upon pilgrims to the papal
court, could hardly be conceived, except by an ardent imagination, as
heir to the _Quirites_ of the past. Finally, from the point of view of
the German tribesman, we must admit that the Empire was something which,
once received by his king (no matter how), descended in the royal family
as an heirloom; or to which (when the kingship became elective) a title
was conferred, along with the kingship, by the vote of electors.[7]
Relations of the Carolingian to the Eastern empire.
But apart from these questions of origin, two difficulties have still to
be faced with regard to the nature and position of the Carolingian
empire. Did Charlemagne and his successors enter into a new relation
with their subjects, in virtue of their coronation? And what was the
nature of the relation between the new emperor now established in the
West and the old emperor still reigning in the East? It is true that
Charlemagne exacted a new oath of allegiance from his subjects after his
coronation, and again that he had a revision of all the laws of his
dominions made in 802. But the revision did not amount to much in bulk:
what there was contained little that was Roman; and, on the whole, it
hardly seems probable that Charlemagne entered into any new relation
with his subjects. The relation of his empire to the empire in the East
is a more difficult and important problem. In 797 the empress Irene had
deposed and blinded her son, Constantine VI., and usurped his throne.
Now it would seem that Charlemagne, whose thoughts were already set on
Empire, hoped to depose and succeed Irene, and thus to become sole
representative of the conception of Empire, both for the East and for
the West. Suddenly there came, in 800, his own coronation as emperor, an
act apparently unpremeditated at the moment, taking him by surprise, as
one gathers from Einhard's _Vita Karoli_, and interrupting his plans. It
left him representative of the Empire for the West only, confronting
another representative in the East. Such a position he did not desire:
there had been a single Empire vested in a single person since 476, and
he desired that there should still continue to be a single Empire,
vested only in his own person. He now sought to achieve this unity by a
proposal of marriage to Irene. The proposal failed, and he had to
content himself with a recognition of his imperial title by the two
successors of the empress. This did not, however, mean (at any rate in
the issue) that henceforth there were to be two conjoint rulers,
amicably ruling as colleagues a single Empire, in the manner of Arcadius
and Honorius. The dual government of a single Empire established by
Diocletian had finally vanished in 476; and the unity of the Empire was
now conceived, as it had been conceived before the days of Diocletian,
to demand a single representative. Henceforth there were two rulers, one
at Aix-la-Chapelle and one at Constantinople, each claiming, whatever
temporary concessions he might make, to be the sole ruler and
representative of the Roman empire. On the one hand, the Western
emperors held that, upon the deposition of Constantine VI., Charlemagne
had succeeded him, after a slight interval, in the government of the
whole Empire, both in the East and in the West; on the other hand, the
Eastern emperors, in spite of their grudging recognition of Charlemagne
at the moment, regarded themselves as the only lawful successors of
Constantine VI., and viewed the Carolings and their later successors as
upstarts and usurpers, with no right to their imperial pretensions.
Henceforth two halves confronted one another, each claiming to be the
whole; two finite bodies touched, and each yet claimed to be infinite.
Character of the Carolingian empire.
Break-up of the Carolingian empire.
Attitude of the papacy.
If, as has been suggested, Charlemagne did not enter into any
fundamentally new relations with his subjects after his coronation, it
follows that the results of his coronation, in the sphere of policy and
administration, cannot have been considerable. The Empire added a new
sanction to a policy and administration already developed. Charlemagne
had already showed himself _episcopus episcoporum_, anxious not only to
suppress heresy and supervise the clergy within his borders, but also to
extend true Christianity without them even before the year when his
imperial coronation gave him a new title to supreme governorship in all
cases ecclesiastical. He had already organized his empire on a new
uniform system of counties, and the _missi dominici_ were already at
work to superintend the action of the counts, even before the _renovatio
imperii Romani_ came to suggest such uniformity and centralization.
Charlemagne had a new title; but his subjects still obeyed the king of
the Franks, and lived by Frankish law, in the old fashion. In their
eyes, and in the eyes of Charlemagne's own descendants, the Empire was
something appendant to the kingship of the Franks, which made that
kingship unique among others, but did not radically alter its character.
True, the kingship might be divided among brothers by the old Germanic
custom of partition, while the Empire must inhere in one person; but
that was the one difference, and the one difficulty, which might easily
be solved by attaching the name of emperor to the eldest brother. Such
was the conception of the Carolings: such was not, however, the
conception of the Church. To the popes the Empire was a solemn office,
to which the kings of the Franks might most naturally be called, in view
of their power and the traditions of their house, but which by no means
remained in their hands as a personal property. By thus seeking to
dissociate the Empire from any indissoluble connexion with the
Carolingian house, the popes were able to save it. Civil wars raged
among the descendants of Charlemagne: partitions recurred: the Empire
was finally dissolved, in the sense that the old realm of Charlemagne
fell asunder, in 888. But the Empire, as an office, did not perish.
During the 9th century the popes had insisted, as each emperor died,
that the new emperor needed coronation at their hands; and they had thus
kept alive the conception of the Empire as an office to which they
invited, if they did not appoint, each successive emperor. The quarrels
of the Carolingian house helped them to make good their claim. John
VIII. was able to select Charles the Bald in preference to other
claimants in 875; and before the end of his pontificate he could write
that "he who is to be ordained by us to the Empire must be by us first
and foremost invited and elected." Thus was the unity of the Empire
preserved, and the conception of a united Empire continued, in spite of
the eventual dissolution of the realm of Charlemagne. When the
Carolingian emperors disappeared, Benedict IV. could crown Louis of
Provence (901) and John X. could invite to the vacant throne an Italian
potentate like Berengar of Friuli (915); and even when Berengar died in
924, and the Empire was vacant of an emperor, they could hold, and hold
with truth, that the Empire was not dead, but only suspended, until such
time as they should invite a new ruler to assume the office.
The German kingdom and the empire.
The Holy Roman Empire.
Various causes had contributed to the dissolution of the realm of
Charlemagne. Partitions had split it; feudalism had begun to honeycomb
it; incessant wars had destroyed its core, the fighting Franks of
Austrasia. But, above all, the rise of divisions within the realm,
which, whether animated by the spirit of nationality or no, were
ultimately destined to develop into nations, had silently undermined the
structure of Pippin and Charlemagne. Already in 842 the oath of
Strassburg shows us one Caroling king swearing in French and another in
German: already in 870 the partition of Mersen shows us the kings of
France and Germany dividing the middle kingdom which lay between the two
countries by the linguistic frontier of the Meuse and Moselle. The year
888 is the birth-year of modern Europe. France, Germany, Italy, stood
distinct as three separate units, with Burgundy and Lorraine as
debatable lands, as they were destined to remain for centuries to come.
If the conception of Empire was still to survive, the pope must
ultimately invite the ruler of the strongest of these three units to
assume the imperial crown; and this was what happened when in 962 Pope
John XII. invited Otto I. of Germany to renew once more the Roman
Empire. As the imperial strength of the whole Frankish tribe had given
them the Empire in 800, so did the national strength of the East
Frankish kingdom, now resting indeed on a Saxon rather than a Frankish
basis, bring the Empire to its ruler in 962. The centre of political
gravity had already been shifting to the east of the Rhine in the course
of the 9th century. While the Northmen had carried their arms along the
rivers and into the heart of France, Louis the German had consolidated
his kingdom in a long reign of sixty years (817-876); and at the end of
the 9th century two kings of Germany had already worn the imperial
crown. Early in the 10th century the kingship of Germany had come to the
vigorous Saxon dukes (919); and strong in their Saxon basis Henry I. and
his son Otto had built a realm which, disunited as it was, was far more
compact than that which the Carolings of the West ruled from Laon. Henry
I. had thought in his later years of going to Rome for the imperial
crown: under Otto I. the imperial idea becomes manifest. On the one
hand, he established a semi-imperial position in the West: by 946 Louis
IV. d'Outremer is his protégé, and it is his arms which maintain the
young Conrad of Burgundy on his throne. On the other hand, he showed, by
his policy towards the German Church, that he was the true heir of the
Carolingian traditions. He made churchmen his ministers; he established
missionary bishoprics on the Elbe which should spread Christianity among
the Wends; and his dearest project was a new archbishopric of Magdeburg.
The one thing needful was that he should, like Charlemagne, acquire the
throne of Italy; and the dissolute condition of that country during the
first half of the 10th century made its acquisition not only possible,
but almost imperative. Begun in 952, the acquisition was completed ten
years later; and all the conditions were now present for Otto's
assumption of the imperial throne. He was crowned by John XII. on
Candlemas Day 962, and thus was begun the Holy Roman Empire, which
lasted henceforth with a continuous life until 1806.[8]
The Empire and feudalism.
The same ideas underlay the new empire which had underlain that of
Charlemagne, strengthened and reinforced by the fact that they had
already found a visible expression before in that earlier empire.
Historically, there was the tradition of the old Roman empire, preserved
by the Church as an idea, and preserved in the Church, and its imperial
organization, as an actual fact. Ecclesiastically, there was the Pauline
conception of a single Christian Church, one in subjection to Christ as
its Head, and needing (so men still thought) a secular counterpart of
its indivisible unity.[9] To these two sanctions philosophy later added
a third; and the doctrine of Realism, that the one universal is the true
abiding substance--the doctrine which pervades the _De monarchia_ of
Dante,--reinforced the feeling which demanded that Europe should be
conceived as a single political unity. But if the Holy Roman empire of
the German nation has the old foundations, it is none the less a thing
_sui generis_. Externally, it meant far less than the empire of
Charlemagne; it meant simply a union of Germany and northern Italy (to
which, after 1032, one must also add Burgundy, though the addition is in
reality nominal) under a single rule. Historians of the 19th century,
during the years in which the modern German empire was in travail,
disputed sorely on the advantages of this union; but whatever its
advantages or disadvantages, the fact remains that the union of Teutonic
Germany and Latin Italy was, from an external point of view, the
essential fact in the structure of the medieval Empire. Internally,
again, the Empire of the Ottos and their successors was new and
unprecedented. If Latin imperialism had been combined with Frankish
tribalism in the Empire of Charlemagne, it now met and blended with
feudalism. The Holy Roman emperor of the middle ages, as Frederick I.
proudly told the Roman envoys, found his senate in the diet of the
German baronage, his _equites_ in the ranks of the German knights.
Feudalism, indeed, came in time to invade the very conception of Empire
itself. The emperors began to believe that their position of emperor
made them feudal overlords of other kings and princes; and they came to
be regarded as the topmost summit of the feudal pyramid, from whom kings
held their kingdoms, while they themselves held directly of God. In this
way the old conception of the world as a single political society
entered upon a new phase: but the translation of that conception into
feudal terms, which might have made Diocletian gasp, only gave it the
greater hold on the feudal society of the middle ages. Yet in one way
the feudal conception was a source of weakness to the Empire; for the
popes, from the middle of the 12th century onwards, began to claim for
themselves a feudal overlordship of the world, and to regard the emperor
as the chief of their vassals. The theory of the _Translatio_ buttressed
their claim to be overlords of the Empire; and the emperors found that
their very duty to defend the Papacy turned them into its vassals--for
was not the _advocatus_ who defended the lands of an abbey or church its
tenant by feudal service, and might not analogy extend the feudal
relation to the imperial advocate himself?
The Empire and the Papacy.
The relation of the Empire to the Papacy is indeed the cardinal fact in
its history for the three centuries which followed the coronation of
Otto I. (962-1250). For a century (962-1076) the relation was one of
amity. The pope and the emperor stood as co-ordinate sovereigns, ruling
together the commonwealth of Europe.[10] If either stood before the
other, the emperor stood before the pope. The Romans had sworn to Otto
I. that they would never elect or ordain a pope without his consent; and
the rights over papal elections conceived to belong to the office of
_patricius_, which they generally held, enabled the emperors, upon
occasion, to nominate the pope of their choice. The partnership of Otto
III., son of a Byzantine princess, and his nominee Silvester II.
(already distinguished as Gerbert, _scholasticus_ of the chapter school
of Reims) forms a remarkable page in the annals of Empire and Papacy.
Otto, once the pupil of Silvester in classical studies, and taught by
his mother the traditions of the Byzantine empire, dreamed of renewing
the Empire of Constantine, with Rome itself for its centre; and this
antiquarian idealism (which Arnold of Brescia and Cola di Rienzi were
afterwards, though with some difference of aim, to share) was encouraged
in his pupil by the pope. Tradition afterwards ascribed to the two the
first project of a crusade, and the institution of the seven electors:
in truth their faces were turned to the past rather than to the future,
and they sought not to create, but to renovate. The dream of restoring
the age of Constantine passed with the premature death of Otto; and
after the death of Silvester II. the papacy was degraded into an
appendage of the Tusculan family. From that degradation the Church was
rescued by Henry III. (the second emperor of the new Salian house, which
reigned from 1024 to 1125), when in 1046 he caused the deposition of
three competing popes, and afterwards filled the papal chair with his
own nominees; but it was rescued more effectually by itself, when in
1059 the celebrated bull _In nomine Domini_ of Nicholas II. reserved the
right of electing the popes to the college of cardinals (see CONCLAVE).
A new era of the Papacy begins with the decree, and that era found its
exponent in Hildebrand. If under Henry III. the Empire stands in many
respects at its zenith, and the emperor nominates to the Papacy, it
sinks, under Henry IV., almost to the nadir of its fortunes, and a pope
attempts, with no little success, to fight and defeat an emperor.
The Investiture contest.
The rise of the Papacy, which the action of Henry III. in 1046 had
helped to begin, and the bull of 1059 had greatly promoted, was
ultimately due to an ecclesiastical revival, which goes by the name of
the Cluniac movement. The aim of that movement was to separate the
Church from the world, and thus to make it independent of the laity and
the lay power; and it sought to realize its aim first by the prohibition
of clerical marriage and simony, and ultimately by the prohibition of
lay investiture. A decree of Gregory VII. in 1075 forbade emperor, king
or prince to "presume to give investiture of bishoprics," under pain of
excommunication; and Henry IV., contravening the decree, fell under the
penalty, and the War of Investitures began (1076-1122). Whether or no
Henry humiliated himself at Canossa (and the opinion of German
historians now inclines to regard the traditional account as
exaggerated) the Empire certainly suffered in his reign a great loss of
prestige. The emperor lost his hold over Germany, where the aid of the
pope strengthened the hands of the discontented nobility: he lost his
hold over Italy, where the Lombard towns gradually acquired municipal
independence, and the donation of the Countess Matilda gave the popes
the germ of a new and stronger _dominium temporale_. The First Crusade
came, and the emperor, its natural leader, could not lead it; while the
centre of learning and civilization, in the course of the fifty years'
War of Investitures, gradually shifted to France. The struggle was
finally ended by a compromise--the Concordat of Worms--in 1122; but the
Papacy, which had fought the long War of Investitures and inspired the
First Crusade, was a far greater power than it had been at the beginning
of the struggle, and the emperor, shaken in his hold on Germany and
Italy, had lost both power and prestige (see INVESTITURE). It is
significant that a theory of the feudal subjection of the emperor to the
pope, foreshadowed in the pontificate of Innocent II., and definitely
enounced by the envoys of Adrian IV. at the diet of Besançon in 1157,
now begins to arise. The popes, who had called the emperors to be heads
of the European commonwealth in 800 and again in 962, begin to vindicate
that headship for themselves. Gregory VII. had already claimed that the
pope stood to the emperor, as the sun to the moon; and gradually the old
co-ordination disappeared in a new subordination of the Empire to the
papal _plenitudo potestatis_. The claim of ecclesiastical independence
of the middle of the 11th century was rapidly becoming a claim of
ecclesiastical supremacy in the middle of the 12th: the imperial claim
to nominate popes, which had lasted till 1059, was turning into the
papal claim to nominate emperors. Yet at this very time a new period of
splendour dawned for the Empire; and the rule of the three Hohenstaufen
emperors, Frederick I., Henry VI. and Frederick II. (1152-1250), marks
the period of its history which attracts most sympathy and admiration.
The Hohenstaufen emperors.
Overthrow of the Empire in Italy.
Frederick I. regained a new strength in Germany, partly because he
united in his veins the blood of the two great contending families, the
Welfs and the Waiblingens; partly because he had acquired large
patrimonial possessions in Swabia, which took the place of the last
Saxon demesne; partly because he had a greater control over the German
episcopate than his predecessors had enjoyed for many years past. At the
same time the revival of interest in the study of Roman law gave the
emperor, as source and centre of that law, a new dignity and prestige,
particularly in Italy, the home and hearth of the revival. Confident in
this new strength, he attempted to vindicate his claims on Italy, and
sought, by uniting the two under his sway, to inspire with new life the
old Ottonian Empire. He failed to crush Lombard municipal independence:
defeated at Legnano in 1176, he had to recognize his defeat at the
treaty of Constance in 1183. He failed to acquire control over the
Papacy: a new struggle of Empire and Papacy, begun in the pontificate of
Adrian IV. on the question of control over Rome, and continued in the
pontificate of Alexander III., because Frederick recognized an
anti-pope, ended in the emperor's recognition of his defeat at Venice in
1177. The one success was the acquisition of the Norman kingdom for
Henry VI., who was married to its heiress, Constance. But the one
success of Frederick's Italian policy proved the ruin of his house in
the reign of his grandson Frederick II. On the one hand, the possession
of Sicily induced Frederick II. to neglect Germany; and by two
documents, one of 1220 and one of 1231, he practically abdicated his
sovereign powers to the German princes in order to conciliate their
support for his Italian policy. On the other hand, the possession of
Sicily involved him in the third great struggle of Empire and Papacy.
Strong in his Sicilian kingdom in the south, and seeking, like his
grandfather, to establish his power in Lombardy, Frederick practically
aimed at the unification of Italy, a policy which threatened to engulf
the States of the Church and to reduce the Papacy to impotence. The
popes excommunicated the emperor: they aided the Lombard towns to
maintain their independence; finally, after Frederick's death (1250),
they summoned Charles of Anjou into Sicily to exterminate his house. By
1268 he had done his work, and the medieval Empire was practically at an
end. When Rudolph of Habsburg succeeded in 1273, he was only the head of
a federation of princes in Germany, while in Italy he abandoned all
claims over the centre and south, and only retained titular rights in
the Lombard plain.
Thus ended the first great chapter in the history of the Holy Roman
Empire which Otto had founded in 962. In those three centuries the great
fact had been its relation to the Papacy: in the last two of those three
centuries the relation had been one of enmity. The basis of the enmity
had been the papal claim to supreme headship of Latin Christianity, and
to an independent temporal demesne in Italy as the condition of that
headship. Because they desired supreme headship, the popes had sought to
reduce the emperor's headship to something lower than, and dependent
upon, their own--to a mere fief held of St Peter: because they desired a
temporal demesne, they had sought to expel him from Italy, since any
imperial hold on Italy threatened their independence. They had succeeded
in defeating the Empire, but they had also destroyed the Papacy; for the
French aid which they had invoked against the Hohenstaufen developed,
within fifty years of the fall of that house, into French control, and
the captivity at Avignon (1308-1378) was the logical result of the final
victory of Charles of Anjou at Tagliacozzo. The struggle seemed to have
ended in nothing but the exhaustion of both combatants. Yet in many
respects it had in reality made for progress. It had set men thinking of
the respective limits of church and state, as the many _libelli de lite
imperatorum et pontificum_ show; and from that thought had issued a new
conception of the state, as existing in its own right and supreme in its
own sphere, a conception which is the necessary basis of the modern
nation-state. If it had dislocated Germany into a number of territorial
principalities, it had produced a college of electors to represent the
cause of unity: if it had helped to prevent the unification of Italy,
and had left to Italy the fatal legacy of Guelph and Ghibelline feuds,
it had equally helped to produce Italian municipal independence.
The Empire from the election of Rudolph of Habsburg, 1273.
A new chapter of the history of the Empire fills the three centuries
from 1273 to 1556--from the accession of Rudolph of Habsburg to the
abdication of Charles V. Italy was now lost: the Empire had now no
peculiar connexion with Rome, and far less touch with the Papacy. A new
Germany had risen. The extinction of several royal stocks and the
nomination of anti-kings in the course of civil wars had made the
monarchy elective, and raised to the side of the emperor a college of
electors (see ELECTORS), which appears as definitely established soon
after 1250. With Italy lost, and Germany thus transmuted, why should the
Empire have still continued to exist? In the first place, it continued
to exist because the Germans still found a king necessary and because,
the German king having been called for three centuries emperor, it
seemed necessary that he should still continue to bear the name. In this
sense the Empire existed as the presidency of a Germanic confederation,
and as something analogous to the modern German empire, with the one
great difference that the Hohenzollerns now derive from Prussia a
strength which enables them to make their imperial position a reality,
while no Luxemburg or Habsburg was able to make his imperial position
otherwise than honorary and nominal. In the second place, it continued
to exist because the conception of the unity of western Europe still
lingered, and was still conceived to need an exponent. In this sense the
Empire existed as a presidency, still more honorary and still more
nominal, of the nations of western Europe. In both capacities the
emperor existed to a great extent because he was a legal
necessity--because, in Germany, he was necessary for the investiture of
princes with their principalities, and because, in Europe, he was
necessary, as the source of all rights, to bestow crowns upon would-be
kings, or to act as the head of the great orders of chivalry, or to give
patents to notaries. With the history of the Empire regarded as a German
confederation we are not here concerned. The reigns of the Habsburg,
Luxemburg and Wittelsbach emperors belong to the history of Germany.
Yet two of these emperors, Henry VII. and Louis IV., should not pass
without notice, the one for his own sake, the other for the sake of his
adherents, and both because, by interfering in Italy, and coming into
conflict with the Papacy, they brought once more into prominence the
European aspect of the Empire.
Henry VII., the contemporary and the hero of Dante, descended into Italy
in 1310, partly because he had no power and no occupation in Germany,
partly because he was deeply imbued with the sense of his imperial
dignity. Coming as a peacemaker and mediator, he was driven by Guelph
opposition into a Ghibelline rôle; and he came into conflict with
Clement V., the first of the Avignonese popes, who under the pressure of
France attempted to enforce upon Henry a recognition of his feudal
subjection. Henry asserted his independence: he claimed Rome for his
capital, and the lordship of the world for his right; but, just as a
struggle seemed impending, he died, in 1313. During the reign of his
successor, Louis IV., the struggle came. Louis had been excommunicated
by John XXII. in 1324 for acting as emperor before he had received papal
recognition. None the less, in 1328, he came to Rome for his coronation.
He had gathered round him strange allies; on the one hand, the more
advanced Franciscans, apostles of the cause of clerical disendowment,
and inimical to a wealthy papacy; on the other hand, jurists like
Marsilius of Padua and John of Jandun, who brought to the cause of Louis
the spirit and the doctrines which had already been used in the struggle
between Boniface VIII. and Philip IV. of France. Marsilius in
particular, in a treatise called the _Defensor Pacis_, insisted on the
majesty of the lay state, and even on its superiority to the Church.
Perhaps it was Marsilius, learned as he was in Roman law, and
remembering the _lex regia_ by which the Roman people had of old
conferred its power on the emperor, who suggested to Louis the policy,
which he followed, of receiving the imperial crown by the decree and at
the hands of the Roman people. The policy was remarkable: Louis embraced
an alliance which Frederick Barbarossa had spurned, and recognized the
medieval Romans as the source of imperial power. Not less remarkable was
the new attitude of the German electors, who for the first time
supported an emperor against the pope, because they now felt menaced in
their own electoral rights; and the one permanent result which finally
flowed from the struggle was the enunciation and definition of the
rights and privileges of the electors in the Golden Bull of 1356 (see
GOLDEN BULL).
The Empire and the rise of the idea of national states.
In this struggle with the Papacy the Empire had shown something of its
old universal aspect. It had come into connexion with Italy, and into
close connexion with Rome: it had enlisted in defence of its rights at
once an Italian like Marsilius and an Englishman like Ockham. The same
universal aspect appeared once more in the age of the conciliar
movement, at the beginning of the 15th century. One of the essential
duties of the emperor, as defender of the Church, was to help the
assembling and the deliberations of general councils of the Church. This
was the duty discharged by Sigismund, when he forced John XXIII. to
summon a council at Constance in 1414, and sought, though in vain, to
guide its deliberations. The journey which Sigismund undertook in the
interests of the council (1415-1417) is particularly noteworthy. He
sought to make peace throughout western Europe, acting as international
arbitrator--in virtue of his presidency of western Europe--between
England and France, between Burgundians and Armagnacs; but he failed in
his aim, and when he returned to the council, it was only to witness the
defeat of the party of reform which he championed. National feeling and
national antipathies proved too strong for Sigismund's attempt to revive
the medieval empire for the purposes of international arbitration: the
same feeling, the same antipathies, made inevitable the failure of the
council itself, in which western Europe had sought to meet once more as
a single religious commonwealth. Early in the 15th century, therefore,
the conception of the unity of western Europe, as a single
Empire-Church, was already waning in both its aspects. The unity of the
Church Universal was dissolving, and the conception of the nation-church
arising (as the separate concordats granted by Martin V. to the
different nations prove); while the unity of the Empire was proved a
dream, by the powerlessness of the emperor in the face of the struggle
of England and France.
Influence of the Reformation.
Renaissance and Reformation combined to complete the fall which the
failure of Sigismund to guide the conciliar movement had already
foreshadowed. The Renaissance, revolting against the medievalism of the
_studium_ and not sparing even the _sacerdotium_ of the middle ages, had
little respect for the medieval _imperium_; and, going back to pure
Latin and original Greek, it went back beyond even the classical empire
to find its ideals and inspirations. But it is the coming of the
Reformation, and with it of the nation-church, which finally marks the
epoch at which the last vestige of the old conception of the political
unity of the world disappears before the nation-state. Externally indeed
it seemed, at the time of the Reformation, as if the old Empire had been
revived in the person of Charles V., who owned territories as vast as
those of Charlemagne. But Charles's dominions were a dynastic
agglomeration, knit together by no vivifying conception; and, though
Charles was a champion of the one Catholic Church against the
Reformation, he did not in any way seek to revive the power of the
medieval empire. Meanwhile the reforming monarchs, while they cast off
the Roman Church, cast off with it the Roman empire. Henry VIII.
declared himself free, not only of the pope, but of all other foreign
power; not only so, but as he sought to take the place of the pope with
regard to his own church, so he sought to take the place of the emperor
with regard to his kingdom, and spoke of his "imperial" crown, a style
which recurs in later Tudor reigns.[11] The conception of one Empire
passed out of Europe, or, if it remained, it remained only in an
honorary precedence accorded by other sovereigns to the king of Germany,
who still entitled himself emperor. In Germany itself the honorary
presidency which the emperor enjoyed over the princes came to mean still
less than before, when religious differences divided the country, and
the principle of _cujus regio ejus religio_ accentuated the local
autonomy of the prince. When Charles abdicated in 1556, the change which
the accession of Rudolph of Habsburg had already marked was complete:
there was no empire except in Germany, and in Germany the Empire was
nothing more than a convenient legal conception. The Reformation, by
sweeping away the spiritual unity of western Christendom, had swept away
any real conception of its political unity, and with that conception it
had swept away the Empire; while it had also, by splitting Germany into
two religious camps, and making the emperor at the most the head of a
religious faction, dissipated the last vestiges of a real Empire in the
country which had, since 962, been its peculiar home.
The Empire as a German confederation.
From 1556 to 1806 the Empire means a loose federation of the different
princes of Germany, lay and ecclesiastical, under the presidency,
elective in theory but hereditary in practice, of the house of Habsburg.
It is an empire much in the same sense as the modern German empire, with
a diet somewhat analogous to the modern Bundesrat, and a cumbrous
imperial chamber for purposes of justice, hardly at all analogous to the
highly organized system of federal justice which prevails in Germany
to-day. The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire into this loose
federation had already been anticipated by the concessions made to the
princes by Frederick II. in 1220 and 1231; but the final organization of
Germany on federal lines was only attained in the treaty of Westphalia
of 1648. The attempt of Ferdinand II., in the course of the Thirty
Years' War, to assert a practically monarchical authority over the
princes of Germany, only led to the regular vindication by the princes
of their own monarchical authority. The emperor, who had tried in the
15th century to be the international authority of all Europe, now sank
to the position of less than inter-state arbitrator in Germany. That the
Empire and the emperor were retained at all, when the princes became so
many independent sovereigns, was due partly to a lingering sense of
quasi-national sentiment for a _magni nominis umbra_, partly to the need
of some authority which should combine in one whole principalities of
very different sizes and strengths, and should protect the weak from the
strong, and all from France. But this authority only found its _symbol_
in the emperor. Such real federal authority as there was remained with
the diet, a congress of sovereign princes through their accredited
representatives; and the emperor's sole rights, as emperor, were those
of granting titles and confirming tolls. The Habsburgs, emperors in each
successive generation, never pursued an imperial, but always a dynastic
policy; and they were perfectly ready to sacrifice to the aggrandizement
of their house the honour of the Empire, as when they ceded Lorraine to
France in return for Tuscany (1735).
End of the Holy Roman Empire.
It needed the cataclysm of the French Revolution finally to overthrow
the Empire. Throughout the 18th century it lasted, a thing of
long-winded protocols and never-ending lawsuits, "neither Holy, nor
Roman, nor an Empire." But with Napoleon came its destroyer. As far back
as the end of the 13th century, French kings had been scheming to annex
the title or at any rate absorb the territories of the Empire: at the
beginning of the 19th century the annexation of the title by Napoleon
seemed very imminent. Posing as the New Charlemagne ("because, like
Charlemagne, I unite the crown of France to that of the Lombards, and my
Empire marches with the East"), he resolved in 1806, during the
dissolution and recomposition of Germany which followed the peace of
Lunéville, to oust Francis II. from his title, and to make the Holy
Roman Empire part and parcel of the "Napoleonic idea." He was
anticipated, however, by the prompt action of the proud Habsburg, who
was equally resolved that no other should wear the crown which he
himself was powerless to defend, and accordingly, on the 6th of August
1806, Francis resigned the imperial dignity. So perished the Empire. Out
of its ashes sprang the Austrian Empire, for Francis, in 1804, partly to
counter Napoleon's assumption of the title of Emperor of the French,
partly to prepare for the impending dissolution of the old Empire, had
assumed the title of "Hereditary Emperor of Austria." And in yet more
recent times the German empire may be regarded, in a still more real
sense than Austria, as the descendant and representative of the old
Empire of the German nation.
General influence of the Empire.
What had been the results of the Holy Roman Empire, in the course of its
long history, upon Germany and upon Europe? It has been a _vexata
quaestio_ among German historians, whether or no the Empire ruined
Germany. Some have argued that it diverted the attention of the German
kings from their own country to Italy, and that, by bringing them into
conflict with the popes, and by thus strengthening the hands of their
rebellious baronage with a papal alliance, it prevented the development
of a national German monarchy, such as other sovereigns of western
Europe were able to found. Others again have emphasized the racial
division of Saxon and Frank, of High German and Low German, as the great
cause of the failure of Germany to grow into a united national whole,
and have sought to ascribe to the influence of the Empire such unity as
was achieved; while they have attributed the learning, the trade, the
pre-eminence of medieval Germany to the Italian connexion and the
prestige which the Empire brought. It is difficult to pronounce on
either side; but one feels that the old localism and individualism which
characterized the early German, and had never, on German soil, been
combined with and counteracted by a large measure of Roman population
and Roman civilization, as they were in Gaul and Spain, would in any
case have continued to divide and disturb Germany till late in her
history, even if the Empire had never come to reside within her borders.
Of the larger question of the influence of the Empire on Europe we can
here only say that it worked for good. An Empire which represented, as a
Holy Empire, the unity of all the faithful as one body in their secular,
no less than in their religious life--an Empire which, again, as a Roman
Empire, represented with an unbroken continuity the order of Roman
administration and law--such an empire could not but make for the
betterment of the world. It was not an empire resting on force, a
military empire; it was not, as in modern times empires have sometimes
been, an autocracy warranted and stamped by the plébiscite of the mob.
It was an empire resting neither on the sword nor on the ballot-box, but
on two great ideas, taught by the clergy and received by the laity, that
all believers in Christ form one body politic, and that the one model
and type for the organization of that body is to be found in the past of
Rome. It was indeed the weakness of the Empire that its roots were only
the thoughts of men; for the lack of material force, from which it
always suffered, hindered it from doing work it might well have
done--the work, for instance, of international arbitration. Yet, on the
other hand, it was the strength and glory of the Empire that it lived,
all through the middle ages, an unconquerable idea of the mind of man.
Because it was a being of their thought, it stirred men to reflection:
the Empire, particularly in its clash with the Papacy, produced a
political consciousness and a political speculation reflected for us in
the many _libelli de lite imperatorum et pontificum_, and in the pages
of Dante and Marsilius of Padua. Roman, it perpetuated the greatest
monument of Roman thought--that ordered scheme of law, which either
became, as in England, the model for the building of a native system,
or, as in Germany from the end of the 15th century onwards, was received
in its integrity and administered in the courts. Holy, it fortified and
consolidated Christian thought, by giving a visible expression to the
kingdom of God upon earth; and not only so, but it maintained, however
imperfectly, some idea of international obligation, and some conception
of a commonwealth of Europe.[12]
The Holy Roman Empire of western Europe had in its own day a
contemporary and a rival--that east Roman empire of which we have
already spoken. From Arcadius to John Palaeologus, from A.D. 395 to
1453, the Roman empire was continued at Constantinople--not as a theory
and an idea, but as a simple and daily reality of politics and
administration. In one sense the East Roman Empire was more lineally and
really Roman than the West: it was absolutely continuous from ancient
times. In another sense the Western Empire was the most Roman; for its
capital--in theory at least--was Rome itself, and the Roman Church stood
by its side, while Constantinople was Hellenic and even Oriental.
Between the two Empires there was fixed an impassable gulf; and they
were divided by deep differences of thought and temper, which appeared
most particularly in the sphere of religion, and expressed themselves in
the cleavage between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. Yet, as
when Rome fell, the Catholic Church survived, and ultimately found for
itself a new Empire of the West, so, when Constantinople fell, the
Orthodox Church continued its life, and found for itself a new Empire of
the East--the Empire of Russia. Under Ivan the Great (1462-1505) Moscow
became the metropolis of Orthodoxy; Byzantine law influenced his code;
and he took for his cognizance the double-headed eagle. Ivan the
Terrible, his grandson, finally assumed in 1547 the title of Tsar; and
henceforth the Russian emperor is, in theory and very largely in fact,
the successor of the old East Roman emperor,[13] the head of the
Orthodox Church, with the mission of vengeance on Islam for the fall of
Constantinople.
Modern Empires.
In the 19th century the word "empire" has had a large and important
bearing in politics. In France it has been the apanage of the
Bonapartes, and has meant a centralized system of government by an
efficient Caesar, resting immediately on the people, and annihilating
the powers of the people's representatives. Under Napoleon I. this
conception had a Carolingian colour: under Napoleon III. there is less
of Carolingianism, and more of Caesarism--more of a popular
dictatorship. While in modern France Empire has meant autocracy instead
of representative government, in Germany it has meant a greater national
unity and a federal government in the place of a confederation. The
modern German empire is at once like and unlike the old Holy Roman
Empire. It is unlike the old medieval Empire; for it has no connexion
with the Catholic Church, and no relation to Rome. But it is like the
Holy Roman Empire of the 17th and 18th centuries--for it represents a
federation, but a more real and more unitary federation, of the several
states of Germany. The likeness is perhaps more striking than the
dissimilarity; and in virtue of this likeness, and because the memory of
the old German _Kaiserzeit_ was a driving force in 1870, we may speak of
the modern German empire as the successor of the old Holy Roman Empire,
if we remember that we are speaking of that Empire in its last two
centuries of existence. The modern "Empire of Austria," on the other
hand, does not connote an empire in the sense of a federation, but is a
convenient designation for the sum of the territories ruled by a single
sovereign under various titles (king of Bohemia, archduke of Austria,
&c.) and unified in a single political system.[14] The title of Emperor
was assumed, as we have seen, through an historical accident; and,
though the Habsburgs of to-day are personally the lineal descendants of
the old Holy Roman emperors, they do not in any way possess an empire
that represents the old Holy Empire. In England, of recent years, the
term "Empire" and the conception of imperialism have become prominent
and crucial. To Englishmen to-day, as to Germans before 1870, the term
and the conception stand for the greater unity and definitely federal
government of a number of separate states. For the German, indeed,
Empire has meant, in great measure, the strengthening of a loose federal
institution by the addition of a common personal superior: to us it
means the turning of a loose union of separate states already under a
common personal superior--the King--into a federal commonwealth living
under some common federal institutions. But the aim is much the same; it
is the integration of a people under a single scheme which shall be
consistent with a large measure of political autonomy. We speak of
imperial federation; and indeed our modern imperialism is closely allied
to federalism. Yet we do well to cling to the term empire rather than
federation; for the one term emphasizes the whole and its unity, the
other the part and its independence. This imperialism, which is
federalism viewed as making for a single whole, is very different from
that Bonapartist imperialism, which means autocracy; for its essence is
free co-ordination, and the self-government of each co-ordinated part.
The British Empire (q.v.) is, in a sense, an aspiration rather than a
reality, a thought rather than a fact; but, just for that reason, it is
like the old Empire of which we have spoken; and though it be neither
Roman nor Holy, yet it has, like its prototype, one law, if not the law
of Rome--one faith, if not in matters of religion, at any rate in the
field of political and social ideals.
Authorities.--See, in the first place, J. Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_
(1904 edition); J. von Döllinger, article on "The Empire of Charles
the Great" (in _Essays on Historical and Literary Subjects_,
translated by Margaret Warre, 1894); H. Fisher, _The Medieval Empire_
(1898); E. Gibbon, _The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, edited
by J.B. Bury. It would be impossible to refer to all the books bearing
on the article, but one may select (i.) for the period down to 476,
Stuart Jones, _The Roman Empire_ (1908), an excellent brief sketch; H.
Schiller, _Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit_ (1883-1888); O. Seeck,
_Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Welt_ (Band I., Berlin,
1897-1898, Band II., 1901) (a remarkable and stimulating book); and
the two excellent articles on "Imperium" and "Princeps" in Smith's
_Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_ (1890); (ii.) for the
period from 476 down to 888, T. Hodgkin, _Italy and her Invaders_
(1880-1900); F. Gregorovius, _Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter_
(1886-1894; Eng. trans., London, 1894-1900); E. Lavisse, _Histoire de
France_, II. i. (1901); J.B. Bury, _History of the Later Roman Empire_
(1889); (iii.) for the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, W. von
Giesebrecht, _Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit_ (1881-1890); J.
Zeller, _Histoire d'Allemagne_ (1872-1891); R.L. Poole, _Illustrations
of Medieval Thought_ (1884); S. Riezler, _Die literarischen
Widersacher der Päpste zur Zeit Ludwigs des Baiers_ (1874); J.
Jannsen, _Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des
Mittelalters_ (1885-1894); L. von Ranke, _Deutsche Geschichte im
Zeitalter der Reformation_ (1839-1847), and _Zur deutschen
Geschichte_. _Vom Religionsfrieden bis zum dreissigjährigen Krieg_
(1869); and T. Carlyle, _Frederick the Great_ (1872-1873). On the fall
of the Roman Empire and the transition to the modern German Empire see
Sir J.R. Seeley, _Life and Times of Stein_ (1878); H. von Treitschke,
_Deutsche Geschichte_ (1879-1894); and H. von Sybel, _Die Begründung
des deutschen Reichs_ (1890-1894, Eng. trans., _The Founding of the
Germ. Emp._, New York, 1890-1891). For institutional history, see R.
Schröder, _Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte_ (1894). On the
influence of the Holy Roman Empire upon the history of Germany, see J.
Ficker, _Das deutsche Kaiserreich_ (1861), and _Deutsches Königtum und
Kaisertum_ (1862); and H. von Sybel, _Die deutsche Nation und das
Kaiserreich_ (1861). (E. Br.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Bryce points out, with much subtlety and truth, that the rise of
a second Rome in the East not only helped to perpetuate the Empire by
providing a new centre which would take the place of Rome when Rome
fell, but also tended to make it more universal; "for, having lost
its local centre, it subsisted no longer by historic right only, but,
so to speak, naturally, as a part of an order of things which a
change in external conditions seemed incapable of disturbing" (_Holy
Roman Empire_, p. 8 of the edition of 1904).
[2] The _de facto_ importance of the event of 476 can only be seen in
the light of later events, and it was not therefore noticed by
contemporaries. Marcellinus is the only contemporary who remarks on
its importance, cf. _Marcellini Chronicon_ (_Mon. Germ. Hist.,
Chronica minora._ ii. 91), _Hesperium Romanae gentis imperium ... cum
hoc Augustulo periit ... Gothorum dehinc regibus Romam tenentibus._
[3] A passage in Malchus, a Byzantine historian (quoted by Bryce,
_Holy Roman Empire_, p. 25, note _u_, in the edition of 1904),
expresses this truth exactly. The envoys sent to Zeno by Odoacer urge
[Greek: ôs hidias men autois basileias ou deoi koinos de hapochrêsei
monos ôn autokratôr hep amphoterois tois perasi]. The envoys then
suggest the name of Odoacer, as one able to manage their affairs, and
ask Zeno to give him, _as an officer of the Empire_, the title of
Patricius and the administration of Italy.
[4] According to the view here followed, the Church was the ark in
which the conception of Empire was saved during the dark ages between
600 and 800. Some influence should perhaps also be assigned to Roman
law, which continued to be administered during these centuries,
especially in the towns, and maintained the imperial tradition. But
the influence of the Church is the essential fact.
[5] In the 5th century the title _patricius_ came to attach
particularly to the head of the Roman army (_magister utriusque
militiae_) to men like Aetius and Ricimer, who made and unmade
emperors (cf. Mommsen, _Gesammelte Schriften_, iv. 537, 545 sqq.).
Later it had been borne by the Greek exarchs of Ravenna. The
concession to Pippin of this great title makes him military head of
the Western empire, in the sense in which the title was used in the
5th century; it makes him representative of the Empire for Italy, in
the sense in which it had been used of the exarchs.
[6] See the famous bull _Venerabilem_ (_Corp. Jur. Canon._ Decr.
Greg. i. 6, c. 34).
[7] Even on this view, an imperial coronation at the hands of the
pope was necessary to complete the title; but this was regarded by
the Germans (though not by the pope) as a form which necessarily
followed.
[8] It is a curious fact that imperial titles (_imperator_ and
_basileus_) are used in the Anglo-Saxon diplomata of the 10th
century. Edred, for instance (946-955) is "imperator," "cyning and
casere totius Britanniae," "basileus Anglorum hujusque insulae
barbarorum": Edgar is "totius Albionis imperator Augustus" (cf.
Stubbs, _Const. Hist._ i. c. vii. § 71). These titles partly show the
turgidity of English Latinity in the 10th century, partly indicate
the quasi-imperial position held by the Wessex kings after the
reconquest of the Dane-law. But there seems to be no real ground for
Freeman's view (_Norman Conquest_, i. 548 sqq.), that England was
regarded as a third Empire, side by side with the other Empires of
West and East Europe. That the titles were assumed in order to
repudiate possible claims of the Western Empire to the overlordship
of England is disproved by the fact that they are assumed at a time
when there is no Western emperor. The assumption of an imperial style
by Henry VIII., which is mentioned below, is explained by the
Reformation, and does not mean any recurrence to a forgotten
Anglo-Saxon style.
[9] It is in virtue of this aspect that the Empire is holy. The term
_sacrum imperium_ seems to have been first used about the time of
Frederick I., when the emperors were anxious to magnify the sanctity
of their office in answer to papal opposition. The emperor himself
(see under EMPEROR) was always regarded, and at his coronation
treated, as a _persona ecclesiastica_.
[10] The emperor claimed suzerainty over the greater part of Europe
at various dates. Hungary and Poland, France and Spain, the
Scandinavian peninsula, the British Isles, were all claimed for the
Empire at different times (see Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_, c. xii.).
The "effective" empire, if indeed it may be called effective,
embraced only Germany, Burgundy and the _regnum Italiae_ (the old
Lombard kingdom in the valley of the Po).
[11] Cf. the Act 25 Henry VIII. c. 22, § 1: "the lawful kings and
emperors of this realm."
[12] The Papacy, consistent to the last, formally protested at the
Congress of Vienna in 1815 against the failure of the Powers to
restore the Holy Roman Empire, the "centre of political unity" (Ed.).
[13] The Turks, occupying Constantinople, have also claimed to be the
heirs of the old emperors of Constantinople; and their sultans have
styled themselves _Keisar-i-Rûm_.
[14] This does not, of course, apply to Hungary, which since 1867 has
not formed part of the Austrian empire and is ruled by the head of
the house of Habsburg not as emperor, but as king of Hungary.
EMPIRICISM (from Gr. [Greek: empeiros], skilled in, from [Greek: peira],
experiment), in philosophy, the theory that all knowledge is derived
from sense-given data. It is opposed to all forms of intuitionalism, and
holds that the mind is originally an absolute blank (_tabula rasa_), on
which, as it were, sense-given impressions are mechanically recorded,
without any action on the part of the mind. The process by which the
mind is thus stored consists of an infinity of individual impressions.
The frequent or invariable recurrence of similar series of events gives
birth in the mind to what are wrongly called "laws"; in fact, these
"laws" are merely statements of experience gathered together by
association, and have no other kind of validity. In other words from the
empirical standpoint the statement of such a "law" does not contain the
word "must"; it merely asserts that such and such series have been
invariably observed. In this theory there can strictly be no
"causation"; one thing is observed to succeed another, but observations
cannot assert that it is "caused" by that thing; it is _post hoc_, but
not _propter hoc_. The idea of _necessary_ connexion is a purely mental
idea, an a priori conception, in which observation of empirical data
takes no part; empiricism in ethics likewise does away with the idea of
the absolute authority of the moral law as conceived by the
intuitionalists. The moral law is merely a collection of rules of
conduct based on an infinite number of special cases in which the
convenience of society or its rulers has subordinated the inclination of
individuals. The fundamental objection to empiricism is that it fails to
give an accurate explanation of experience; individual impressions as
such are momentary, and their connexion into a body of coherent
knowledge presupposes mental action distinct from mere receptivity.
Empiricism was characteristic of all early speculation in Greece. During
the middle ages the empiric spirit was in abeyance, but it revived from
the time of Francis Bacon and was systematized especially in the English
philosophers, Locke, Hume, the two Mills, Bentham and the associationist
school generally.
See ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS; METAPHYSICS; PSYCHOLOGY; LOGIC; besides the
biographies of the empirical philosophers.
_In medicine_, the term is applied to a school of physicians who, in the
time of Celsus and Galen, advocated accurate observation of the
phenomena of health and disease in the belief that only by the
collection of a vast mass of instances would a true science of medicine
be attained. This point of view was carried to extremes by those who
discarded all real study, and based their treatment on rules of thumb.
Hence the modern sense of empirical as applied to the guess work of an
untrained quack or charlatan.
EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY, and WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION.[1] The law of England
as to the liability of employers in respect of personal injuries to
their servants is regulated partly by the common law and partly by
statute; but by the Employers' Liability Act 1880, such exceptions have
been grafted upon the common law, and by the Workmen's Compensation Act
1906, principles so alien to the common law have been applied to most
employments that it is impossible now to present any view of this branch
of the law as a logical whole. All that can be done is to state the
nature of the liability at common law. the extension of it effected by
the Employers' Liability Act 1880, and the new liabilities introduced by
later acts.
Common law.
At common law the liability of a master is of a very limited character.
There is, of course, nothing to prevent a master and servant from
providing by special contract in any way they please for their mutual
rights in cases of personal injury to the servant. In such cases the
liability will depend upon the terms of the special contract. But apart
from any special agreement, it may be broadly stated that a master is
liable to his servants only for injuries caused by his own negligence.
Injuries to a servant may arise from accident, from the nature of the
service, or from negligence; and this negligence may be of the master,
of another servant of the master, or of a stranger. If the injury is
purely accidental the loss lies where it falls. If it arises from the
nature of the service, the servant must bear it himself; he has
undertaken a service to which certain risks are necessarily incident; if
he is injured thereby, it is the fortune of war, and no one can be made
responsible. If the injury is caused by the negligence of a stranger,
the servant has his ordinary remedy against the wrong-doer or any one
who is responsible as a principal for the conduct of the wrong-doer. If
it is caused by the negligence of a fellow-servant, he likewise has his
ordinary remedy against the actual wrong-doer; but, by virtue of what is
known as the doctrine of common employment, he cannot at common law make
the master liable as a principal. The only case (independently of modern
legislation: _see below_) in which he can recover damages from the
master is where the injury has been caused by negligence of the master
himself. A master is negligent if he fails to exercise that skill and
care which, in the circumstances of the particular employment, are used
by employers of ordinary skill and carefulness. If he himself takes part
in the work, he must act with such skill and care as may reasonably be
demanded of one who takes upon himself to do work of that kind. If he
entrusts the work to other servants, he must be careful in their
selection, and must not negligently employ persons who are incompetent.
He must take proper care so to arrange the system of work that his
servants are not exposed to unnecessary danger. If tools or machinery
are used, he must take proper care to provide such as are fit and proper
for the work, and must either himself see that they are maintained in a
fit condition or employ competent servants to do so for him. If he is
bound by statute to take precautions for the safety of his servants, he
must himself see that that obligation is discharged. For breach of any
of these duties a master is liable to his servant who is injured
thereby, but his liability extends no further.
Common employment.
That his obligations to a servant are so much less than to a stranger is
chiefly due to the doctrine of common employment. As a rule a master is
responsible for the negligence of his servant acting in the course of
his employment; but, from about the middle of the 19th century, it
became firmly rooted in the law that this principle did not apply where
the person injured was himself a servant of the master and engaged in a
common employment with the servant guilty of the negligence. In effect
this rule protects a master as against his servant from the consequences
of negligence on the part of any other of his servants; to this there is
no qualification except that, for the rule to apply, both the injured
and the negligent servant must be acting in pursuance of a common
employment. They must both be working for a common object though not
necessarily upon the same work.
It is not easy to define precisely what constitutes a common
employment in this sense, and there is peculiarly little judicial
authority as to the limit at which work for the same employer ceases
to be work in a common employment. It does not depend on difference in
grade; all engaged in one business, from the manager to the
apprentice, are within the rule. It does not depend on difference in
work, if the work each is doing is part of one larger operation; all
the servants of a railway company, whether employed on the trains, or
at the stations, or on the line, are in a common employment. It does
not necessarily depend on difference of locality; a servant who packs
goods at the factory and a servant who unpacks them in the shop may
well be in a common employment. On the other hand, it is not enough
that the two servants are working for the same employer, if there is
nothing in common between them except that they are making money for
the same man; apart from special circumstances, the crews of two ships
owned by the same company are probably not in common employment while
navigating their respective ships. The test in each case must be
derived from the view, invented by the courts, upon which the doctrine
was based, namely, that the servant by entering upon the service
consented to run all the risks incidental to it, including the risk of
negligence on the part of fellow-servants; if the relation between the
two servants is such that the safety of the one may, in the ordinary
course of things, be affected by the negligence of the other, that
negligence must be taken to be one of the risks of the employment
assented to by the servant, and both are engaged in a common
employment. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it will be found
that the doctrine is applicable, and the master protected from
liability. It is thus seen that, in general, no action will lie
against a master at the suit of his servant, unless the servant can
prove personal negligence on the part of the master causing injury to
the servant. And in such action the master may avail himself of those
defences which he has against a stranger. He may rely upon
contributory negligence, and show that the servant was himself
negligent, and that, notwithstanding the negligence of the master, the
injury was proximately caused by the negligence of the servant. Or
(except in cases where the injury results from a breach of a statutory
duty) he may prove such facts as establish the defence expressed in
the maxim, _volenti non fit injuria_; that is, he may prove that the
injured servant knew and appreciated the particular risk he was
running, and incurred it voluntarily with full understanding of its
nature. Mere knowledge on the part of the servant, or even his
continuing to work with knowledge, does not necessarily establish this
defence; it must be knowledge of such a kind and in such circumstances
that it can be inferred that the servant contracted to take the risk
upon himself. The action at common law is subject to the general rule
that personal actions die with the person; except so far as the remedy
for money loss caused by death by negligence has been preserved in
favour of a husband or wife and certain near relatives, under Lord
Campbell's Act (Fatal Accidents Act 1846).
The act of 1880.
Such was the law up to 1880. So long as industry was conducted on a
small scale, and the master worked with his men, or was himself the
manager, its hardship was perhaps little felt; his personal negligence
could in many cases be established. But with the development of the
factory system, and the ever-growing expansion of the scale on which all
industries were conducted, it became increasingly difficult to bring
home individual responsibility to the employer. As industry passed
largely into the control of corporations, difficulty became almost
impossibility. The employer was not liable to a servant for the
negligence of a fellow-servant, and therefore, in most cases of injury,
was not liable at all. It is not surprising that the condition of things
thus brought about, partly by the growth of modern industry and partly
by the decisions of the courts, caused grave dissatisfaction. The
justice of the doctrine of common employment was vigorously called in
question. In the result the Employers' Liability Act 1880 was passed.
The effect of this act is to destroy the defence of common employment in
certain specified cases. It does not abolish the doctrine altogether,
nor, on the other hand, does it impose upon the master any new standard
of duty which does not exist as regards strangers. All that it does is
to place the servant, in certain cases, in the position of a stranger,
making the master liable for the negligence of his servants
notwithstanding the fact that they are in common employment with the
servant injured. It is still necessary under the act, as at common law,
to prove negligence, and the master may still rely upon the defences of
contributory negligence and _volenti non fit injuria_. But under the act
he cannot, as against the workmen who come within it and in the cases to
which it applies, set up the defence that the negligence complained of
was the negligence of a servant in a common employment. The act does not
apply to all servants. It does not apply to domestic or menial servants,
or to seamen, or to any except railway servants and "any person who,
being a labourer, servant in husbandry, journeyman, artificer,
handicraftsman, miner, or otherwise engaged in _manual_ labour ... has
entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the
contract be oral or in writing, and be a contract of service or a
contract personally to execute any work or labour." Whether a servant,
not being one of those specially named, is within the act depends on
whether manual labour is the real and substantial employment, or whether
it is merely incidental thereto; thus a carman who handles the goods he
carries may be within the act, but a tramcar driver or an omnibus
conductor is not. The act does not make the master liable for the
negligence of all his servants, but, speaking generally, only for the
negligent discharge of their duties by such as are entrusted with the
supervision of machinery and plant, or with superintendence, or the
power of giving orders, with the addition, in the case of a railway, of
the negligence of those who are given the charge or control of signals,
points, locomotive engines or trains. The cases dealt with by the act
are five in number; in the first and fourth the words are wide enough to
include negligence of the employer himself, for which, as has been seen,
he is liable at common law. In such instances the workman has an
alternative remedy either at common law or under the act, but in all
other respects the rights given by the act are new, being limitations
upon the defence of common employment, and can be enforced only under
the act.
The first case is where the injury is caused by reason of any defect
in the condition of the ways, works, machinery or plant connected with
or used in the business of the employer, provided that such defect
arises from, or has not been discovered or remedied owing to the
negligence of the employer, or of some person in the service of the
employer and entrusted by him with the duty of seeing that the ways,
works, machinery or plant are in proper condition. The second case is
where the injury is caused by reason of the negligence of any person
in the service of the employer who has any superintendence entrusted
to him (that is, a person whose sole or principal duty is that of
superintendence, and who is not ordinarily engaged in manual labour)
whilst in the exercise of such superintendence. The third case is
where the injury is caused by reason of the negligence of any person
in the service of the employer to whose orders or directions the
workman at the time of the injury is bound to conform and does
conform, where such injury results from his so conforming. The fourth
case is where the injury is caused by reason of the act or omission of
any person in the service of the employer done or made in obedience to
the rules or by-laws of the employer, or in obedience to particular
instructions given by any person delegated with the authority of the
employer in that behalf, provided that the injury results from some
impropriety or defect in such rules, by-laws or instructions. The
fifth case is where the injury is caused by reason of the negligence
of any person in the service of the employer who has the charge or
control of any signal, points, locomotive engine or train upon a
railway.
In all these cases it is provided that the employer shall not be liable
if it can be shown that the workman knew of the defect or negligence
which caused his injury, and failed within a reasonable time to give, or
cause to be given, information thereof to the employer or some person
superior to himself in the service of the employer, unless he was aware
that the employer or such superior already knew of the said defect or
negligence. It was inevitable that these provisions should call for
judicial interpretation, and a considerable body of authority has grown
up about the act. Where general words are used, it must always occur
that, between the cases which are obviously within and those which are
obviously without the words, there are many on the border line. Thus,
under the act, the courts have been called upon to determine the precise
meaning of "way," "works," "machinery," "plant," and to say what is
precisely meant by a "defect" in the condition of each of them. They
have had to say what is included in "railway" and in "train," what is
meant by having "charge" or "control," and to what extent one whose
principal duty is superintendence may participate in manual labour
without losing his character of superintendent, and what is the precise
meaning of negligence in superintendence. These are only illustrations
of many points of detail which, having called for judicial
interpretation, will be found fully dealt with in the text-books on the
subject. A workman who, being within the act, is injured by such
negligence of a fellow-servant as is included in one or other of the
five cases mentioned above, has against his employer the remedies which
the act gives him. These are not necessarily the same as those which a
stranger would have in the like circumstances; the amount of
compensation is not left at large for a jury to determine, but is
limited to an amount not exceeding such sum as may be found to be
equivalent to the estimated earnings, during the three years preceding
the injury, of a person in the same grade employed during those years
in the like employment and in the district in which the workman is
employed at the time of the injury. Moreover, the right to recover is
hedged about with technicalities which are unknown at the common law;
proceedings must be taken in the county court, within a strictly limited
time, and are maintainable only if certain elaborate provisions as to
notice of injury have been complied with. Where the injury causes death
the action is maintainable for the benefit of the like persons as are
entitled under Lord Campbell's act in an action at common law.
Acts of 1897 to 1906.
The law continued in this condition up to 1897. In the majority of cases
of injury to a servant, the doctrine of common employment still
protected the master; and where, under the Employers' Liability Act, it
failed to do so, the liability was of a limited character and often,
owing to technicalities of procedure, difficult to enforce. Moreover,
there is nothing in the act to prevent master and servant from entering
into any special contract they please; and in many trades it became a
common practice for contracts to be made wholly excluding the operation
of the act. In 1893 an attempt was made to alter the law by a total
abolition of the defence of common employment, so as to make a master as
liable to a servant as to a stranger for the negligence of any of his
servants acting in the course of their employment, and at the same time
to prohibit any agreements to forego the rights so given to the servant.
The bill did not become law, and no further change was made until, in
1897, parliament took the first step in what has been a complete
revolution in the law of employers' liability. Up to that year, as has
been seen, the foundation of a master's liability was negligence, either
of the master himself, or, in certain cases, of his servants. But by the
Workmen's Compensation Act 1897, a new principle was introduced, whereby
certain servants in certain employments were given a right to
compensation for injuries, wholly irrespective of any consideration of
negligence or contributory negligence. As regards such servants in such
employments the master was in effect made an insurer against accidental
injuries. The act was confessedly tentative and partial; it dealt only
with selected industries, and even within these industries was not of
universal application. But where it did apply, it gave a right to a
limited compensation in every case of injury by accident arising out of
and in the course of the employment, whether that accident had been
brought about by negligence or not, and whether the injured servant had
or had not contributed to it by his own negligence.
The act applied only to employment on, or in, or about certain
localities where, at the same time, the employer was what the act called
an "undertaker," that is, the person whose business was there being
carried on. If we wanted to know whether a workman was within the act,
we had to ask, first, was he employed on, or in, or about a railway, or
a factory, or a mine, or a quarry, or an engineering shop, or a building
of the kind mentioned in the act; secondly, was he employed by one who
was, in relation to that railway, &c., the undertaker as defined by the
act; and thirdly, was he at the time of the accident at work on, or in,
or about that railway, &c. Unless these three conditions were fulfilled
the employment was not within the act.
The employments to which the act applied comprised railways, factories
(which included docks, warehouses and steam laundries), mines,
engineering works and most kinds of buildings. "Workman" included every
person engaged in an employment to which the act applied, whether by
manual labour or otherwise, and whether his agreement was one of service
or apprenticeship or otherwise, expressed or implied, oral or in
writing.
By the Workmen's Compensation Act 1900, the benefits of the act of 1897
were extended to agricultural labourers.
The Workmen's Compensation Act 1906 (which came into force on the 1st of
July 1907) extended the right of compensation for injuries practically
to all persons in service, and also introduced many provisions not
contained in the acts of 1897 and 1900 (repealed). It does not apply to
persons in the naval or military service of the crown (s. 9), or persons
employed otherwise than by way of manual labour whose remuneration
exceeds two hundred and fifty pounds a year, or persons whose
employment is of a casual nature, and who are employed otherwise than
for the purposes of the employer's trade or business, or members of a
police force, or out-workers, or members of the employer's family
dwelling in his house. But it expressly applies to seamen.
Conditions of claim.
To entitle a workman engaged in an employment to which the act applies
to compensation all the following conditions must be fulfilled: (1)
There must be personal injury by accident. This will exclude injury
wilfully inflicted, unless the injury results in death or serious and
permanent disablement, but the act introduces a new provision by making
the suspension or disablement from work or death caused by certain
industrial diseases "accidents" within the meaning of the act. The
industrial diseases specified in the 3rd schedule of the act were
anthrax, ankylostomiasis, and lead, mercury, phosphorus and arsenic
poisoning or their sequelae. But § 8 of the act authorized the secretary
of state to make orders from time to time including other industrial
diseases, and such orders have embraced glass workers' cataract,
telegraphists' cramp, eczematous ulceration of the skin produced by dust
or liquid, ulceration of the mucous membrane of the nose or mouth
produced by dust, &c. To render the employer liable the workman must
either obtain a certificate of disablement or be suspended or die by
reason of the disease. If the disease has been contracted by a gradual
process, all the employers who have employed the workman during the
previous twelve months in the employment to which the disease was due
are liable to contribute a share of the compensation to the employer
primarily liable. (2) The accident must arise out of and in the course
of the employment. In each case it will have to be determined whether
the workman was at the time of the accident in the course of his
employment, and whether the accident arose out of the employment. It
will have to be considered when and where the particular employment
began and ended. Other difficulties have arisen and will frequently
arise when the workman at the time of the accident is doing something
which is no part of the work he is employed to do. So far as the
decisions have gone, they indicate that if what the workman is doing is
no act of service, but merely for his own pleasure, or if he is
improperly meddling with that which is no part of his work, the accident
does not arise out of and in the course of his employment; but if, while
on his master's work, he upon an emergency acts in his master's
interest, though what he does is no part of the work he is employed to
do, the accident does arise out of and in the course of his employment.
(3) The injury must be such as disables the workman for a period of at
least one week from earning full wages at the work at which he was
employed. (4) Notice of the accident must be given as soon as
practicable after the happening thereof, and before the workman has
voluntarily left the employment in which he was injured; and the claim
for compensation (by which is meant notice that he claims compensation
under the act addressed by the workman to the employer) must be made
within six months from the occurrence of the accident or, in case of
death, from the time of death. Want of notice of the accident or defects
in it are not to be a bar to proceedings, if occasioned by mistake or
other reasonable cause, and the employer is not prejudiced thereby. But
want of notice of a claim for compensation is a bar to proceedings,
unless the employer by his conduct has estopped himself from relying
upon it. (5) An injured workman must, if so required by the employer,
submit himself to medical examination.
When these conditions are fulfilled, an employer who is within the act
has no answer unless he can prove that the injury arose from the serious
and wilful misconduct of the workman. The precise effect of these terms
is not clear; but mere negligence is not within them.
Where the injury causes death, the right to compensation belongs to the
workman's "dependents"; that is, such of the members of the workman's
family as were at the time of the death wholly or in part dependent upon
the earnings of the workman for their maintenance. "Members of a family"
means wife or husband, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother,
step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter,
step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister. The
act of 1906 makes also a very remarkable departure in including
illegitimate relations in the direct line among "dependents," for where
a workman, being the parent or grandparent of an illegitimate child,
leaves such a child dependent upon his earnings, or, being an
illegitimate child, leaves a parent or grandparent so dependent upon his
earnings, such child or parent is to be included in the "members of a
family."
Amount.
Under the act compensation is for loss of wages only, and is, as has
been said, based upon the actual previous earnings of the injured
workman in the employment of the employers for whom he is working at the
time of the injury. In case of death, if the workman leaves dependents
who were wholly dependent on his earnings, the amount recovered is a sum
equal to his earnings in the employment of the same employer during the
three years next preceding the injury, or the sum of £150, whichever is
the larger, but not exceeding £300; if the period of his employment by
the same employer has been less than three years, then the amount of his
earnings during the three years is to be deemed to be 156 times his
average weekly earnings during the period of his actual employment under
the said employer. If the workman leaves only dependents who were not
wholly dependent, the amount recovered is such sum as may be reasonable
and proportionate to the injury to them, but not exceeding the amount
payable in the previous case. If the workman leaves no dependents, the
amount recoverable is the reasonable expenses of his medical attendance
and burial, not exceeding £10. In case of total or partial incapacity
for work resulting from the injury, what is recovered is a weekly
payment during the incapacity after the second week not exceeding 50% of
the workman's average weekly earnings during the previous twelve months,
if he has been so long employed, but if not, then for any less period
during which he has been in the continuous employment of the same
employer; such weekly payment is not to exceed £1--and in fixing it
regard is to be had to the difference between the amount of his average
weekly earnings before the accident and the average amount which he is
able to earn after the accident. Any payments, not being wages, made by
the employer in respect of the injury must also be taken into account.
The weekly payment may from time to time be reviewed at the request of
either party, upon evidence of a change in the circumstances since the
award was made, and after six months may be redeemed by the employer by
payment of a lump sum. A workman is within the act although at the time
of the injury he has been in the employment for less than two weeks, and
although there are no actual earnings from the same employer upon which
a weekly average can be computed. But how are the average weekly
earnings which he would have earned from the same employer to be
estimated? The question must be determined as one of fact by reference
to all the circumstances of the particular case. Suppose the workman to
be engaged at six shillings a day and injured on the first day. If it
can be inferred that he would have remained in such employment for a
whole week, his average weekly earnings from the same employer may be
taken at thirty shillings. If it can be inferred that he would have
worked one day and no more, his average weekly earnings from the same
employer may be taken at six shillings.
All questions as to liability or otherwise under the act, if not settled
by agreement, are referred to arbitration in accordance with a scheme
prescribed by the act. Contracting out is not permitted, save in one
event: where a scheme of compensation, benefit or insurance for the
workmen of an employer has been certified by the Registrar of Friendly
Societies to be not less favourable to the workmen and their dependents
than the provisions of the act, and that where the scheme provides for
contributions by the workmen, it confers benefits at least equal to
those contributions, in addition to the benefits to which the workmen
would have been entitled under the act, and that a majority (to be
ascertained by ballot) of the workmen to whom the scheme is applicable
are in favour of it, the employer may contract with any of his workmen
that the provisions of the scheme shall be substituted for the act;
such certificate may not be for more than five years, and may in certain
circumstances be revoked. The act does not touch the workman's rights at
common law or under the Employers' Liability Act, but the workman, if
more than one remedy is open to him, can enforce only one. When the
circumstances create a legal liability in some other person, e.g. where
the injury is caused by the negligence of a sub-contractor or of a
stranger, in such cases the employer, if required to pay compensation
under the act, is entitled to be indemnified by such other person.
Under the Factory Acts, offences, when they result in death or bodily
injury to health, may be punished by fine not exceeding £100, and the
whole or any part of such fine may be applied for the benefit of the
injured person or his family, or otherwise as the secretary of state
determines. Similar provisions occur in the Mines Acts. Any sum so
applied must be taken into account in estimating compensation under
the Employers' Liability and Workmen's Compensation Acts.
Germany.
_Law in Other Countries._--In _Germany_ (q.v.) there is a system of
compulsory state insurance against accidents to workmen. The law dates
from 1884, being amended from time to time (1885, 1886, 1887, 1900,
1903) to embrace different classes of employment. Occupations are
grouped into (1) industry; (2) agriculture; (3) building; (4) marine, to
all of which one general law, with variations necessary to the
particular occupation in question, is applicable. There are also special
provisions for prisoners and government officials. Practically every
kind of working-man is thus included, with the exception of domestic
servants and artisans or labourers working on their own account. All
workmen and officials whose salary does not exceed £150 a year come
within the law. No compensation is payable where an accident is caused
through a person's own gross carelessness, and where an accident has
been contributed to by a criminal act or intentional wrongdoing the
compensation may be refused or only partially allowed. With these
exceptions, compensation for injury is payable in case of injury so long
as the injured is unfit to work; in case of total incapacity an
allowance is made equal to two-thirds of the injured person's annual
earnings, in case of partial incapacity, in proportion to the degree
that his wage-earning capacity has been affected. In case of death the
compensation is either burial money or an allowance to the family
varying in amount from 20 to 60% of the annual earnings according to
circumstances. The provision of compensation for accidents falls
entirely upon employers, and in order to lighten the burden thus falling
upon them, and at the same time to guard against the possible insolvency
of an individual employer, associations or self-administering bodies of
employers have been formed--usually all the employers of each particular
branch of industry in a district. These associations fix the amount of
compensation after each accident, and at the end of the year assess the
amount upon the individual employers. There is an appeal from the
association to an arbitration court, and in particularly complicated
cases there may be a further appeal to the imperial insurance
department. No allowance is paid until after the lapse of thirteen weeks
from the accident, and in the meantime the injured person is supported
from a sick fund to which the employers contribute one-third, the
employee contributing two-thirds. In Germany quite twelve millions of
workpeople are insured; in 1905 a sum of nearly eight millions sterling
was paid for accidents, and a million and a half to the families of
those killed in accidents.
Austria.
In _Austria_ the compulsory insurance of workmen was provided for by a
law of 1887, with subsequent amendments. Briefly, nearly every class of
industrial worker is included under the Austrian law, which is
administered by special territorial insurance institutions, each of them
embracing particular classes of industries or workers. The institutions
are managed by committees, one-third of the members of each committee
being chosen by the minister of the interior, one-third by the employers
and one-third by the workers. Compensation is payable, in case of
accidents, on a scale proportionate to the injured person's wages during
the preceding year. In case of death, a certain sum is paid for funeral
expenses, an annuity to the widow, if one is left, equal to 20% of the
deceased's annual wages--if the widow remarries, she receives a lump sum
equal to three annual payments in liquidation of the annuity--an annuity
to each legitimate child equal to 15%, or, if the child has no mother,
equal to 20% of the father's wages; an annuity to the father or mother,
if dependent on the deceased for support, equal to 20% of the annual
wages. As in the English act of 1906 illegitimate children are
recognized by being granted an annuity in the case of the death of a
father equal to 10% of his wages. In no case can the total amount of the
annuities exceed 50% of the deceased's annual wages. Where the accident
has resulted in total incapacity, the workman receives an annuity equal
to 60% of his wages. No allowance is paid until after the fourth week,
during which time the injured is supported by the sick-insurance
institutions. The provision for the system is raised by contributions to
the extent of nine-tenths by the employers and one-tenth by the workers,
deducted from their wages. Instead of the German method by which an
annual payment equal to the amount disbursed is required from each
employer, he is required to provide the full amount necessary for the
complete payment of the pension, this amount being placed to the credit
of a special insurance fund.
France.
In _France_ a system of compulsory state insurance against accidents was
created by a law of 1898. The principal feature in the French law is the
attempt to meet the possible insolvency of the employer by the
establishment of a special guarantee fund, created by a small addition
to the "business tax" (_contribution des patentes_), and, in the case of
the mining industry, by a small tax on mines.
Norway.
_Norway_, by a law of 1894, amended in 1897 and 1899, adopted a system
of compulsory insurance modelled to a great extent on the German system.
Instead, however, of a trade association as in Germany, or a district
insurance association as in Austria, there is a government insurance
office, in which employers have to insure their workmen.
Denmark.
In _Denmark_ a law was passed in 1897 rendering employers personally
liable for the amount of compensation for accidents, but employers may
relieve themselves of this liability by insuring workmen in an assurance
association approved of by the minister of the interior. This course,
however, is discretionary with employers.
Italy.
In _Italy_, although many attempts were made between 1889 and 1898 to
introduce a system of compulsory insurance, it was not until the latter
year that the principle was adopted. There is a National Bank for the
Insurance of Working men against Accident (_Cassa Nazionale di
Assicurazione per gli infortuni degli operaji sul lavoro_), created
under a law of 1883. It has special privileges, such as exemption from
taxation and the employment of the branch offices of the state
post-office savings bank as local offices. Under the law of 1898 there
is a primary obligation on the employer to insure his workmen with the
National Bank, but he may, if he prefers, insure with other societies
approved by government. Employers employing about five hundred workmen
may, instead of insuring, establish a fund for the payment of not less
than the statutory compensation, subject to giving adequate security for
the sufficiency of the fund. Exemption from compulsory insurance is
granted to employers who have established a mutual insurance
association, which must comply with certain prescribed conditions.
Railway companies, also, are exempt, if they have relief funds which
conform with the provisions of the act.
Spain.
In _Spain_ an act of the 30th of January 1900, adopted the principle of
the personal responsibility of the employer for accidents to workmen
other than those due to vis major. The act also lays down regulations
for preventing accidents in dangerous trades, and releases the employer
from personal liability on effecting adequate insurance of his workmen
with an approved insurance company.
Holland.
_Holland_ has adopted the principle of compulsory insurance by a law of
the 2nd of January 1901. An employer has to pay the necessary premium to
the State Insurance Office, or by depositing adequate security with the
State Office he may undertake the payment of the prescribed
compensation himself. Or he may transfer his liability to an insurance
company, provided the company deposit adequate security with the State
Office. The State Insurance Office is under the management of directors
appointed by the crown, and decides on all questions as to compensation;
there is also a "Supervisory Board" of the State Office with joint
representation of employers and workmen. There is an appeal from the
State Office to Councils of Appeal, and from them to a National Board of
Appeal.
Greece.
_Greece_ has a law of the 21st of February 1901, providing for
compensation for accidents causing incapacity of more than four days'
duration to workmen in mines, quarries and smelting works. The employer
is exclusively liable for such compensation and for medical expenses
during the first three months; after that time he is liable for
one-half, the other half being borne by a miners' provident fund,
supported by certain taxes on the properties affected, fines, &c.
Sweden.
By a law of the 5th of July 1901, _Sweden_ adopted the principle of the
personal liability of the employer for industrial accidents. The
employer can, however, insure himself against liability in the Royal
Insurance Institute. Compensation becomes payable after the expiration
of sixty days from the date of the accident.
Russia.
_Russia_ has a law which came into force on the 1st of January 1904.
Under this law employers in certain specified industries are bound to
indemnify workers for incapacity of more than three days' duration due
to injury arising out of their work. Employers are exempt from liability
by insuring their workmen in insurance companies whose terms are not
less favourable than those laid down by the law.
Belgium.
_Belgium_ passed a law dealing with industrial accidents on the 24th of
December 1903. It adopts the principle of the personal liability of the
employer in certain specified trades or industries. There is a power of
extension to such other undertakings as may be declared dangerous by the
Commission on Labour Accidents. Employers may exempt themselves from
their liability by contracting for the payment of compensation by an
insurance company approved by the government or by the National Savings
and Pension Fund. Where an employer does not so contract, he must (with
certain exemptions) contribute to a special insurance fund. The law of
1903 also established a permanent Commission on Labour Accidents.
Switzerland.
_Switzerland_ in 1899 adopted a law providing for accident insurance,
but it was defeated on referendum in May 1900.
United States.
In the _United States_ the law mainly depends on the doctrine of common
employment, and the extent to which this doctrine is applied varies
considerably in the different states, more particularly as to who are
and who are not to be regarded as fellow-servants. The tendency,
however, has been to increase the liability of the employer for the
negligence of a fellow-servant, and in the case of employment on
railways many states have passed laws either modifying or abrogating the
doctrine. Colorado, by a law of 1901, has entirely abrogated it; and
Alabama, Massachusetts and New York have laws generally similar to the
English act of 1880. But the greatest departure, due to the initiative
of President Roosevelt, has been the passing by the Federal Congress of
the laws of April 22 and May 30, 1908, one giving damages to injured
employees of interstate carriers by railroad, and common carriers by
railroad in Territories, the District of Columbia, the Canal Zone and
other territory governed by Congress, and the other giving regular wages
for not more than one year to injured employees of the U.S. government
in arsenals, navy yards, construction work on rivers, harbours and
fortifications, hazardous work in connexion with the Panama Canal or
Reclamation Service, and in government manufacturing establishments.
These national laws, which were intended to serve as an example to the
states, specifically provided for employers' liability and for the
non-recognition of the doctrine of common employment.
British Colonies.
Most of the British colonial states have adopted the principle of the
English Workmen's Compensation Act of 1897, and the various colonial
acts are closely modelled on the English act, with more or less
important variations in detail. The New Zealand Act was passed in 1900,
and amended in 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1905. The act of 1905 (No. 50) fixes
the minimum compensation for total or partial disablement at £1 a week
when the worker's previous remuneration was not less than 30s. a week.
South Australia passed a Workmen's Compensation Act in 1900 and Western
Australia one in 1902. New South Wales passed one in 1905, and British
Columbia in 1902.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] "Employ" comes through Fr. from Lat. _implicare_, to enfold, Late
Lat. to direct upon something.
EMPOLI, a town of Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Florence, from
which it is 20 m. W. by S. by rail. Pop. (1901) 7005 (town); 20,301
(commune). It is situated 89 ft. above sea-level, to the S. of the Arno.
The principal church, the Collegiata, or Pieve di S. Andrea, founded in
1093, still preserves the lower part of the original arcaded façade in
black, white and coloured marble. The works of art which it once
contained are most of them preserved in a gallery close by. Some of the
other churches contain interesting works of art. The principal square is
surrounded by old houses with arcades. The painter Jacopo Chimenti
(Jacopo da Empoli), 1554-1640, was born here. Empoli is on the main
railway line from Florence to Pisa, and is the point of divergence of a
line to Siena.
EMPORIA, a city and the county-seat of Lyon county, Kansas, U.S.A., on
the Neosho river, about 60 m. S.W. of Topeka. Pop. (1890) 7551; (1900)
8223, of whom 686 were foreign-born and 663 were negroes; (1910 U.S.
census) 9058. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, and the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas railways. The city has a Carnegie library, and
is the seat of the state normal school and of the College of Emporia
(Presbyterian; 1883). Emporia's industrial interests are mainly centred
in commerce with the surrounding farming region; but there are small
flour mills, machine shops, foundries and other manufacturing
establishments,--in 1905 the value of the factory product was $571,601.
The municipality owns and operates the water-works and the
electric-lighting plant. Emporia was settled in 1856 and was chartered
as a city in 1870. The Emporia _Gazette_, established in 1890, was
purchased in 1894 by William Allen White (b. 1868), a native of Emporia,
who took over the editorship and made a great stir in 1896 by his
editorial entitled "What's the matter with Kansas?"; he also wrote
several volumes of excellent short stories, particularly _The Court of
Boyville_ (1889), _Stratagems and Spoils_ (1901) and _In Our Town_
(1906).
EMPORIUM (a Latin adaptation of the Gr. [Greek: emporion], from [Greek:
en], in, and stem of [Greek: poreuesthai], to travel for purpose of
trade) a trade-centre such as a commercial city, to which buyers and
dealers resort for transaction of business from all parts of the world.
The word is often applied to a large shop.
EMPSON, SIR RICHARD (d. 1510), minister of Henry VII., king of England,
was a son of Peter Empson, an influential inhabitant of Towcester.
Educated as a lawyer he soon attained considerable success in his
profession, and in 1491 was one of the members of parliament for
Northamptonshire and speaker of the House of Commons. Early in the reign
of Henry VII. he became associated with Edmund Dudley (q.v.) in carrying
out the king's rigorous and arbitrary system of taxation, and in
consequence he became very unpopular. Retaining the royal favour,
however, he was made a knight in 1504, and was soon high steward of the
university of Cambridge, and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; but
his official career ended with Henry's death in April 1509. Thrown into
prison by order of the new king, Henry VIII., he was charged, like
Dudley, with the crime of constructive treason, and was convicted at
Northampton in October 1509. His attainder by the parliament followed,
and he was beheaded on the 17th or 18th of August 1510. Empson left, so
far as is known, a family of two sons and four daughters, and about 1513
his estates were restored to his elder son, Thomas.
See Francis Bacon, _History of Henry VII_., edited by J.R. Lumby
(Cambridge, 1881); and J.S. Brewer, _The Reign of Henry VIII_., edited
by J. Gairdner (London, 1884).
EMPYEMA (from Gr. [Greek: en], within, and [Greek: pyon], pus), a term
in medicine applied to an accumulation of purulent fluid within the
cavity of the pleura (see LUNG: _Surgery_).
EMPYREAN (from the Med. Lat. _empyreus_, an adaptation of the Gr.
[Greek: erpnros], in or on the fire, [Greek: pyr]), the place in the
highest heaven, which in ancient cosmologies was supposed to be occupied
by the element of fire. It was thus used as a name for the firmament,
and in Christian literature for the dwelling-place of God and the
blessed, and as the source of light. The word is used both as a
substantive and as an adjective. Having the same Greek origin are the
scientific words "empyreuma" and "empyreumatic," applied to the
characteristic smell of burning or charring vegetable or animal matter.
EMS, a river of Germany, rising on the south slope of the Teutoburger
Wald, at an altitude of 358 ft., and flowing generally north-west and
north through Westphalia and Hanover to the east side of the Dollart,
immediately south of Emden. After passing through the Dollart the
navigable stream bifurcates, the eastern Ems going to the east, and the
western Ems to the west, of the island of Borkum to the North Sea.
Length, 200 m.
Between 1892 and 1899 the river was canalized along its right bank for a
distance of 43 m. At the same time, and as part of the same general
plan, a canal, the DORTMUND-EMS CANAL, was dug to connect the river
(from Münster) with Herne in the Westphalian coal-field. At
Henrichenburg a branch from Herne (5 m. long) connects with another
branch from Dortmund (10½ m. long). Another branch, from Olfen (north of
Dortmund), connects with Duisburg, and so with the Rhine. There is,
however, a difference in elevation of 46 ft. between the two branches
first named, and vessels are transferred from the one to the other by
means of a huge lift. The canal, which was constructed to carry small
steamers and boats up to 220 ft. in length and 750 tons burden, measures
169 m. in length, of which 108½ m. were actually dug, and cost
altogether £3,728,750. The surface width throughout is 98½ ft., the
bottom width 59 ft., and the depth 8-1/6 ft.
See Victor Kurs, "Die künstlichen Wasserstrassen des deutschen
Reichs," in _Geog. Zeitschrift_ (1898), pp. 601-617 and 665-694; and
_Deutsche Rundschau f. Geog. und Stat_. (1898), pp. 130-131.
EMS, a town and watering-place of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau, romantically situated on both banks of the Lahn, in a
valley surrounded by wooded mountains and vine-clad hills, 11 m. E. from
Coblenz on the railway to Cassel and Berlin. Pop. 6500. It has two
Evangelical, a Roman Catholic, an English and a Russian church. There is
some mining industry (silver and lead). Ems is one of the most
delightful and fashionable watering-places of Europe. Its waters--hot
alkaline springs about twenty in number--are used both for drinking and
bathing, and are efficacious in chronic nervous disorders, feminine
complaints and affections of the liver and respiratory organs. On the
right bank of the river lies the Kursaal with pretty gardens. A stone
let into the promenade close by marks the spot where, on the 13th of
July 1870, King William of Prussia had the famous interview with the
French ambassador Count Benedetti (q.v.) which resulted in the war of
1870-1871. A funicular railway runs up to the Malberg (1000 ft.), where
is a sanatorium and whence extensive views are obtained over the Rhine
valley. Ems is largely frequented in the summer months by visitors from
all parts of the world--the numbers amounting to about 11,000
annually--and many handsome villas have been erected for their
accommodation. In August 1786 Ems was the scene of the conference of the
delegates of the four German archbishops, known as the congress of Ems,
which issued (August 25) in the famous joint pronouncement, known as the
Punctation of Ems, against the interference of the papacy in the affairs
of the Catholic Church in Germany (see FEBRONIANISM).
See Vogler, Ems, _seine Heilquellen, Kureinrichtungen_, &c. (Ems,
1888); and Hess, _Zur Geschichte der Stadt Ems_ (Ems, 1895).
EMSER, JEROME, or HIERONYMUS (1477-1527), antagonist of Luther, was born
of a good family at Ulm on the 20th of March 1477. He studied Greek at
Tübingen and jurisprudence at Basel, and after acting for three years as
chaplain and secretary to Raymond Peraudi, cardinal of Gurk, he began
lecturing on classics in 1504 at Erfurt, where Luther may have been
among his audience. In the same year he became secretary to Duke George
of Albertine Saxony, who, unlike his cousin Frederick the Wise, the
elector of Ernestine Saxony, remained the stanchest defender of Roman
Catholicism among the princes of northern Germany. Duke George at this
time was bent on securing the canonization of Bishop Benno of Meissen,
and at his instance Emser travelled through Saxony and Bohemia in search
of materials for a life of Benno, which he subsequently published in
German and Latin. In pursuit of the same object he made an unsuccessful
visit to Rome in 1510. Meanwhile he had also been lecturing on classics
at Leipzig, but gradually turned his attention to theology and canon
law. A prebend at Dresden (1509) and another at Meissen, which he
obtained through Duke George's influence, gave him means and leisure to
pursue his studies.
At first Emser was on the side of the reformers, but like his patron he
desired a practical reformation of the clergy without any doctrinal
breach with the past or the church; and his liberal sympathies were
mainly humanistic, like those of Erasmus and others who parted company
with Luther after 1519. As late as that year Luther referred to him as
"Emser noster," but the disputation at Leipzig in that year completed
the breach between them. Emser warned his Bohemian friends against
Luther, and Luther retorted with an attack on Emser which outdid in
scurrility all his polemical writings. Emser, who was further embittered
by an attack of the Leipzig students, imitated Luther's violence, and
asserted that Luther's whole crusade originated in nothing more than
enmity to the Dominicans, Luther's reply was to burn Emser's books along
with Leo X.'s bull of excommunication.
Emser next, in 1521, published an attack on Luther's "Appeal to the
German Nobility," and eight works followed from his pen in the
controversy, in which he defended the Roman doctrine of the Mass and the
primacy of the pope. At Duke George's instance he prepared, in 1523, a
German translation of Henry VIII.'s "Assertio Septem Sacramentorum
contra Lutherum," and criticized Luther's "New Testament." He also
entered into a controversy with Zwingli. He took an active part in
organizing a reformed Roman Catholic Church in Germany, and in 1527
published a German version of the New Testament as a counterblast to
Luther's. He died on the 8th of November in that year and was buried at
Dresden.
Emser was a vigorous controversialist, and next to Eck the most eminent
of the German divines who stood by the old church. But he was hardly a
great scholar; the errors he detected in Luther's New Testament were for
the most part legitimate variations from the Vulgate, and his own
version is merely Luther's adapted to Vulgate requirements.
Bibliography.--Waldau, _Nachricht von Hieronymus Emsers Leben und
Schriften_ (Anspach, 1783); Kawerau, _Hieronymus Emser_ (Halle, 1898);
_Akten und Briefe zur Kirchenpolitik Herzog Georgs von Sachsen_
(Leipzig, 1905); _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, vi. 96-98 (1877).
All histories of the Reformation in Germany contain notices of Emser;
see especially Friedensburg, _Beiträge zum Briefwechsel der
katholischen Gelehrten Deutschlands im Reformationszeitalter_.
(A. F. P.)
ENAMEL (formerly "amel," derived through the Fr. _amail, esmal, esmail_,
from a Latin word _smaltum_, first found in a 9th-century life of Leo
IV.), a term, strictly speaking, given to the hard vitreous compound,
which is "fused" upon the surface of metallic objects either for the
purpose of decoration or utility. This compound is a form of glass made
of silica, minium and potash, which is stained by the chemical
combination of various metallic oxides whilst in a melted condition in
the crucible. This strict application of the term was widened to signify
the metal object coated with enamel, so that to-day the term "an enamel"
generally implies a work of art in enamel upon metal. The composition of
the substance enamel which is used upon metal does not vary to any great
extent from the enamels employed upon pottery and faience. But they
differ in this respect, that the pottery enamel is usually applied to
the "biscuit" surface of the ware in a raw state; that is, the compound
has not been previously "run down" or vitrified in the crucible by heat,
as is the case with enamelling upon metal, although, in most of the
enamelled iron advertisement tablets, the enamel is in the raw state and
is treated in a similar manner to that employed upon pottery.
Examination of the enamels upon brick of the Assyrians shows that they
were applied unvitrified. It was upon pottery and brick that the ancient
Egyptians and Assyrians achieved their greatest work in enamelling. For
as yet no work of such magnificence as the great enamelled walls of the
palace of Rameses III. at Tell el-Yehudia in the Delta of the Nile, or
the palace of Nimrod in Babylon, has been discovered upon metal of any
kind. But there were gold ornaments and jewelry enamelled of noble
design in opaque turquoise, cobalt, emerald green and purple, some of
which can be seen at the British Museum and the Louvre. An example is
shown in Plate I. fig. 3.
In the subsequent Greek and Roman civilizations enamel was also applied
to articles of personal adornment. Many pieces of jewelry, exquisite in
workmanship, have been found. But a greater application was made of it
by the Greek sculptors in the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. For we find, in
many instances, that not only were the eyes made of enamel--which
(artistically speaking) is a somewhat doubtful manner of employing
it,--as in the fine bronze head found at Anticythera (Cerigotto) in
1902, but in the colossal figure of Zeus for the temple at Olympia made
by Pheidias the gold drapery was gorgeously enamelled with figures and
flowers. This wonderful work by the greatest sculptor the world has ever
seen was destroyed, as so many priceless works of art in enamel have
been: doubtless on account of the precious metal upon which they were
made. It was in all probability the crowning triumph of a long series of
essays in this material. The art of ancient Rome lacked the inspiration
of Greece, being mainly confined to copying Greek forms and style, and
in the case of enamelling it did not depart from this attitude. But the
Roman and Etruscan glass has many beautiful qualities of form and colour
that do not seem entirely borrowed, and the enamel work upon them so far
as we can discern is of graceful design and rich colour. No doubt, were
it not, as has been remarked, for the fact that enamelling was generally
done upon gold and silver, there would still be many works to testify to
the art of that period. Such as there are, however, show a rare
appreciation of enamel as a beautiful material. With the decline of this
civilization the art of enamelling probably died out. For it has ever
been one of those exquisite arts which exist only under the sunshine of
an opulent luxurious time or sheltered from the rude winds of a poorer
age by the affluence of patrons. The next time we hear of it is in an
oft-quoted passage (c. A.D. 240) from the writings of the great sophist
Philostratus, who says (_Icones_, i. 28):--"It is said that the
barbarians in the ocean pour these colours into bronze moulds, that the
colours become as hard as stone, preserving the designs,"--a more or
less inaccurate description of the process of _champlevé_. This has been
understood (from an interpretation given to a passage in the commentary
on it by Olearius) to refer to the Celts of the British Islands. It also
goes to prove that enamelling was not practised at this day in Greece.
We have no British enamels to show so early as this, but belonging to a
later period, from the 6th to the 9th century, a number of the finest
gold and bronze ornaments, horse trappings, shields, fibulae and ciboria
have been discovered of Celtic and Saxon make. The Saxon work has
nothing to show so exquisitely wrought as that found in Ireland, where
one or two pieces are to be seen now in the Dublin Museum, notably the
Ardagh chalice and some gold brooches. In the chalice the enamel is of a
minute inlaid character, and appears to have been made first in the form
of a multi-colour bead, which was fused to the surface of its setting,
and then polished down. Many of the pieces seem to have been made after
this fashion, which does not speak very highly of the technical
knowledge of enamelling, but it is none the less true enamelling of an
elementary character. The shield at the British Museum has an inlay of
red enamel which is remarkable in its quality. For centuries such a
fine opaque red has not been discovered. An example of Irish work is
shown in Plate II. fig. 10.
From Ireland the art was transferred to Byzantium, which is to be seen
by the close resemblance of method, style, design and colour. The style
and design changed in course of time, but the craft remained. It was at
Byzantium that it flourished for several centuries.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Byzantine Cloisonné Cross (c. 11th century)
(South Kensington Museum).]
The finest work we know of belonging to this period is the Pala d'Oro at
St Mark's, Venice, believed to have been brought from Constantinople to
Venice about 1105. This magnificent altar-piece is in _cloisonné_
enamel. A typical example is the ciborium and chalice belonging to the
South Kensington loan collection. The design entirely covers the whole
of the surface in one rich mass composed of circular or vesica-shaped
medallions filled with sacred subjects and foliated scrolls. These are
engraved and enamelled, and the metal bands of the scrolls and figures
are engraved and gilt. The characteristic quality of the colour scheme
is that it is composed almost wholly of primaries. Red, blue and yellow
predominate, with a little white and black. Occasionally the
secondaries, green and purple, are used, but through the whole period of
Byzantine enamelling there is a total absence of what to-day is termed
"subtle colouring." The arrangement of the enamels is also distinct, in
that the divisions of the colours are not always made by the cloison,
but are frequently laid in side by side without the adjoining colours
mingling or running together whilst being melted. For instance, in a
leaf pattern or in the drapery, the dress may be cobalt, heightened with
turquoise or green. Thus it is interesting to observe that the artist
employed the metal dividing lines frequently for the sake of aesthetic
result, and was not much hampered by technical difficulties. This was
the rule when opaque enamels were used. It is also worthy of remark that
these opaque enamels differ from those in common use to-day, in that
they are not nearly so opaque. This quality, together with a dull,
instead of a highly polished surface, gives a much softer appearance to
the enamels. Again, the whole tone of the enamels is darker and richer.
Many examples of Byzantine work (see fig. 1.) are to be seen in the
public and private art collections throughout Europe. They are
principally upon ecclesiastical objects, missal covers, croziers,
chalices, ciboria, pyx, candlesticks, crosses and tabernacles. In most
instances the enamels are made in separate little plates rudely fastened
with nails, screws or rivets to a metal or wooden foundation.
Theophilus, a monk of the 13th century, describes the process of
enamelling as it was understood by the Byzantines of his time, which
probably differed but little from earlier methods. The design and
drawing of the figures in Byzantine enamels is similar to the mosaic and
carving. The figures are treated entirely as decorations, with scarcely
ever the least semblance of expression, although here and there an
intention of piety or sorrow is to be descried through the awkward
postures in which they are placed. In spite of this, the sense of
decorative design, the simplicity of conception, the strength of the
general character, and the richness of the colour, places this period as
one of the finest which the art of enamelling has seen, and it leads us
to lay stress upon the principle that the simplest methods in design and
manipulation attain a higher end than those which are elaborate and
intricate. It might be asserted with truth that this style never arrived
at the degree of delicacy and refinement of later styles. But the
refinement was often at the expense of higher qualities.
The next great application of these kinds of enamelling was at Cologne,
for there we find not only the renowned work of Nicolas of Verdun, the
altar front at Klosterneuberg, which consists of fifty plates in
_champlevé_ enamel, but in that Rhenish province there are many shrines
of magnificent conception. From here the secrets of the craft were taken
to Limoges, where the greatest activity was displayed, as numerous
examples are found throughout England, France and Spain, which no doubt
were made there (see Plate I. fig. 6.) But no new method or distinct
advance is to be noticed, during these successive revivals at Byzantium,
Cologne or Limoges, and it is to early 14th-century Italy that we owe
one of the most beautiful developments, that of the process subsequently
called _basse-taille_, which signifies a low-cut relief upon which
transparent enamel is fused.
In this process enamelling passed from a decorative to a fine art. For
it demanded the highest knowledge of an artist with the consummate skill
of both sculptor and enameller. Witness the superb gold cup, called the
King's Cup, now in the British Museum, and the silver cup at King's
Lynn. The first is in an excellent state of preservation, as it is upon
gold, but the latter, like most of the ancient enamelling upon silver,
has lost most of its enamel. This was due--as the present writer
believes after much experiment--to the impurity of the silver employed.
The King's Cup is one of the finest works in enamelling extant. It
consists of a gold cup and cover, hammered out of pure gold; and around
the bowl, base and cover there are bands of figures, illustrating the
scenes from the life of St Agnes. The hands and faces are of pale
jasper, which over the carved gold gives a beautiful flesh tone. The
draperies are in most resplendent ruby, sapphire, emerald, ivory, black
and orange. The stem was subsequently altered by an additional piece
inserted and enamelled with Tudor roses. It is a work of the 13th
century, and belonged to Jean, duc de Berry, who gave it to his nephew,
Charles VI. of France, in 1391. It afterwards came into the possession
of the kings of England, from Henry VI. to James I., who gave it to Don
Juan Velasco, constable of Castile. It was purchased by subscription
with the aid of the treasury for the British Museum.
Other well-known pieces are the silver horn in the possession of the
marquess of Aylesbury, and the crozier of William of Wykeham at New
College, Oxford. The discovery about the same time of the process called
_plique-à-jour_ forms another most interesting and beautiful
development. Owing to the difficulty of its manufacture and its extreme
fragility there are very few examples left. One of the finest specimens
is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. It is in the
form of two bands of emerald green enamel which decorate a silver
beaker. They are in the form of little stained glass windows, the
cloisons forming (as it were) the leads. These fine cloisons and shapes
are most correct in form, and the whole piece shows a perfection of
craftsmanship rarely equalled.
The end of the 15th century saw a development in enamelling which was
not only remarkable, but revolutionary in its method. For until then the
whole theory of enamelling had been that it relied upon the enclosing
edges of the metal or the cloison to hold it to the metal ground and in
part to preserve it in the shape of the pattern, much in the same way as
a setting holds a stone or a jewel. All the enamel before this date had
been sunk into cells or cloisons. Two discoveries were made; first, that
enamels could be made which require no enclosing ribbon of metal, but
that merely the enamel should be fused on both sides of the metal
object; secondly, that after an enamel had been fused to a surface of
metal, another could be superimposed and fused to the first layer
without any danger of separation from each or from the metal ground. It
is true that such processes had been employed upon glass on which enamel
had been applied, as well as upon pottery; and it is probably due to the
influence of a knowledge of both enamelling upon metal and upon glass or
pottery that the discovery was made.
In most of these enamel paintings the subject was laid on with a white
enamel upon a dark ground. The white was modulated; so that possessing a
slight degree of translucency, it was grey in the thin parts and white
in the thick. Thus was obtained a certain amount of light and shade.
This gave the process called _grisaille_. But strange to say, it was not
until a later period that this was practised alone, and then the
modelling of the figures and draperies became very elaborate. At first
it was only done in a slight degree, just sufficiently to give
expression and to add to the richness of the form. For the enamellers
were thinking of a plate upon which to put their wonderful colours, and
not only of form. The painting in white was therefore invariably
coloured with enamels. Probably the earliest painter in enamel was
Nardon Pénicaud, many of whose works (one of them, dated 1503, is in the
Cluny Museum) have been preserved with great care. He had many
followers, the most distinguished of whom was Léonard Limosin (i.e. of
Limoges). He excelled in portraiture. Examples of his work (between 1532
and 1574) are to be found in most of the larger public and private
collections. Léonard Limosin and his Limoges contemporaries were very
largely addicted to the employment of foil, which became too largely
used, thus spoiling their otherwise fine serious work.
The family of Jean Pénicaud, Jean Court de Vigier, Pierre Raymond and
Pierre Courteys were all great names of artists who excelled in the
_grisaille_ process. _Grisaille_ is similar to _pâte-sur-pâte_ in
pottery, and depends for its attractive quality entirely upon form and
composition. No comparison should be made with enamels in colour, for
they occupy a different category--similar to cameo.
The casket shown in Plate II. fig. 9 is by Jean Pénicaud. It is a fine
example of the enamelling in this style, very beautiful in colour. The
hands and faces are in opaque white enamel; the draperies, garlands and
flowers are in transparent green, turquoise blue, purple and cobalt over
foil. The background is in transparent violet over white enamel ground,
which is _semé_ with gold stars. The draperies are also heightened with
gold.
One of the most marvellous pieces of brilliant craft is the missal cover
(Plate I. fig. 5) at the South Kensington Museum, said to have belonged
to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I. The subjects are the "Creation
of Adam and Eve" and the "Fountain of Youth." It is about 4 in. by 7
when opened out. The enamel is encrusted upon the figures, ornament and
flowers which are beaten up in pure gold into high relief. The
extraordinary minuteness and skill of handling, and the extreme
brilliancy of the enamels, which are as brilliant to-day as on the day
they were made, together form one of the unique specimens of art
craftsmanship of the world. To the subdued taste of to-day, however, the
effect is tawdry. The conception and design are also alike unworthy of
the execution.
Since the Assyrian and Egyptian civilizations, there has been a
succession of luxurious developments followed by lapses into the decline
and death of the art of enamelling upon metals. In each revival there
has been something added to that which was known and practised before.
The last revival took place five hundred years ago, accompanying the
rebirth of learning and the arts; but after flourishing for over a
century, the art gradually fell into disuse, and remained so until the
recent revival and further development. The development consists, first,
in the more complete knowledge of the technical processes, following
upon the great advances which science has made; and secondly, in a finer
and more subtly artistic treatment of them. The advance in technical
knowledge comprises greater facility and perfection in the production of
the substance enamel, and its subsequent application to metal
surfaces; more intimate knowledge of metals and their alloys to which it
is applied, and greater ease in obtaining them from the metalliferous
ores and reducing them to suitable dimensions and surfaces. For
instance, it is now a simple matter to obtain perfectly pure copper by
means of electricity. Again, formerly a flat sheet of metal was obtained
by hammering, which involved an infinite amount of hard labour, whereas
it is accomplished to-day with ease by means of flatting and rolling
mills: i.e. after the metal has been obtained from the ore in the form
of an ingot, it is stretched equally to any degree of thinness by steel
rollers. Further, the furnaces have been greatly improved by the
introduction of gas and electricity as the heating power, instead of the
wood or charcoal employed.
[Illustration: Plate I.
Fig. 3.--GRAECO-BACTRIAN GOLD AMULET, SHOWING THE GOLD STRIP FOR
SETTING STONES, WHICH EXEMPLIFIES THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CLOISONS ARE
SOLDERED FOR CLOISONNÉ.
Fig. 4.--CHINESE CLOISONNÉ BOWL.
Fig. 5.--MISSAL COVER, ENCRUSTED ENAMEL. (French, 17th century.
Debased style.)
Fig. 6.--BOX IN COPPER PARTLY ENAMELLED IN OPAQUE ENAMELS CHAMPLEVÉ
WITH COATS OF ARMS. (13th century, English or German. South Kensington
Museum.)
Fig. 7.--PRAYER-BOOK COVER IN ENAMEL AND SILVER GILT, SET WITH RUBIES
AND EMERALDS, BY ALEXANDER FISHER. (Size, closed, 4 × 3 in.)]
[Illustration: Plate II.
Fig. 8.--OVERMANTEL (24 × 18½ in.) IN CHAMPLEVÉ ENAMEL ON SILVER.
SUBJECT: THE GARDEN OF THE SOUL. BY ALEXANDER FISHER.
Fig. 9.--PAINTED ENAMEL CASKET BY JEAN PÉNICAUD. (16th century.)
Fig. 10.--CELTIC CHAMPLEVÉ ENAMELLED CROZIER. (Irish, 9th century.)]
In the manufacture of the substance enamel a much greater advance has
been made, for whereas the colours, and consequently the schemes of
colour, were extremely limited, we now possess an infinite gradation in
the colours, as well as the transparency and opacity, the hardness and
softness of enamels. There are only two colours which cannot yet be
obtained; these are opaque vermilion and lemon yellow in a vitrified
state. Many of the colours we now employ were not known by enamellers
such as Léonard Limosin. Our enamels are also perfect in purity,
brilliancy and durability, qualities which are largely due to the
perfect knowledge of the proportion of parts composing an enamel and
their complete combination. It is this complete combination, together
with the absence of any destructible matter, which gives the enamel its
lasting quality.
The base of enamel is a clear, colourless, transparent vitreous compound
called flux, which is composed of silica, minium and potash. This flux
or base--termed _fondant_ in France--is coloured by the addition of
oxides of metals while in a state of fusion, which stain the flux
throughout its mass. Enamels are either hard or soft, according to the
proportion of the silica to the other parts in its composition. They are
termed hard when the temperature required to fuse them is very high. The
harder the enamel the less liable is it to be affected by atmospheric
agencies, which in soft enamels produce a decomposition of the surface
first and ultimately of the whole enamel. It is therefore advisable to
use hard enamels in all cases. This involves the employment of pure--or
almost pure--metals for the plates, which are in most respects the best
to receive and retain the enamel. For if there is an excess of alloy,
either the metal will possibly melt before the enamel is fused or
afterwards they will part company. To the inferior quality of old silver
may be attributed the fact that in all cases the enamel has flown off
it; if it has not yet wholly disappeared it will scale off in time. It
is therefore essential that metals should be pure and the enamels hard.
It is also noteworthy that enamels composed of a great amount of soda or
potash, as compared with those wherein red lead is in greater
proportion, are more liable to crack and have less cohesion to the
metals. It is better not to use silver as a base, although it is capable
of reflecting a higher and more brilliant white light than any other
metal. Fine gold and pure copper as thin as possible are the best metals
upon which to enamel. If silver is to be used, it should be fine silver,
treated in the methods called _champlevé_ and _cloisonné_.
The brilliancy of the substance enamel depends upon the perfect
combination and proportion of its component parts. The intimacy of the
combination depends upon an equal temperature being maintained
throughout its fusion in the crucible. For this purpose it is better to
obtain a flux which has been already fused and most carefully prepared,
and afterwards to add the colouring oxides, which stain it dark or light
according to the amount of oxide introduced. Many of the enamels are
changed in colour by the difference of the proportion of the parts
composing the flux, rather than by the change of the oxides. For
instance, turquoise blue is obtained from the black oxide of copper by
using a comparatively large proportion of carbonate of soda, and a
yellow green from the same oxide by increasing the proportionate amount
of the red lead. All transparent enamels are made opaque by the addition
of calx, which is a mixture of tin and lead calcined. White enamel is
made by the addition of stannic and arsenious acids to the flux. The
amount of acid regulates the density or opacity of the enamel.
To elucidate the development which has occurred, it will be necessary to
describe some of the processes. After the enamel has been procured in
the lump, the next stage in the process, common to all methods of
enamelling, is to pulverize it. To do this properly the enamel must
first be placed in an agate mortar and covered with water; next, with a
wooden mallet a number of sharp blows must be given to a pestle held
vertically over the enamel, to break it; then holding the mortar firmly
in the left hand, the pestle must be rotated with the right, with as
much pressure as possible on the enamel, grinding it until the particles
are reduced to a fine grain. The powder is then subjected to a series of
washings in distilled water, until all the floury particles are removed.
After this the metal is cleaned by immersion in acid and water. For
copper, nitric acid is used; for silver, sulphuric, and for gold
hydrochloric acid. All trace of acid is then removed, first by
scratching with a brush and water, and finally by drying in warm oak
sawdust. After this the pulverized enamel is carefully and evenly spread
over those parts of the metal designed to receive it, in sufficient
thickness just to cover them and no more. The piece is then dried in
front of the furnace, and when dry is placed gently on a fire-clay or
iron _planche_, and introduced carefully into the muffle of the furnace,
which is heated to a bright pale red. It is now attentively watched
until the enamel shines all over, when it is withdrawn from the furnace.
The firing of enamel, unlike that of glass or pottery, takes only a few
minutes, and in nearly all processes no annealing is required.
The following are the different modes of enamelling: _champlevé,
cloisonné, basse-taille, plique-à-jour, painted enamel, encrusted,_ and
_miniature-painted_. These processes were known at successive periods of
ancient art in the order in which they are named. To-day they are known
in their entirety. Each has been largely developed and improved. No new
method has been discovered, although variations have been introduced
into all. The most important are those connected with painted enamels,
encrusted enamels and _plique-à-jour_.
_Champlevé enamelling_ is done by cutting away troughs or cells in the
plate, leaving a metal line raised between them, which forms the outline
of the design. In these cells the pulverized enamel is laid and then
fused; afterwards it is filed with a corundum file, then smoothed with a
pumice stone and polished by means of crocus powder and rouge. An
example is shown in Plate II. fig. 8.
In _cloisonné enamel_, upon a metal plate or shape, thin metal strips
are bent to the outline of the pattern, then fixed by silver solder or
by the enamel itself. These strips form a raised outline, giving cells
as in the case of _champlevé_. The rest of the process is identical with
that of _champlevé_ enamelling. An example is shown in Plate I. fig. 4.
The _basse-taille_ process is also a combination of metal work in the
form of engraving, carving and enamelling. The metal, either silver or
gold, is engraved with a design, and then carved into a bas-relief
(below the general surface of the metal like an Egyptian bas-relief) so
that when the enamel is fused it is level with the uncarved parts of the
design enamel, and the design shows through the transparent enamel.
_Painted enamels_ are different from any of these processes both in
method and in result. The metal in this case is either copper, silver or
gold, but usually copper. It is cut with shears into a plate of the size
required, and slightly domed with a burnisher or hammer, after which it
is cleaned by acid and water. Then the enamel is laid equally over the
whole surface both back and front, and afterwards "fired." The first
coat of enamel being fixed, the design is carried out, first by laying
it in white enamel or any other which is opaque and most advantageous
for subsequent coloration.
In the case of a _grisaille painted enamel_ the white is mixed with
water or turpentine, or spike oil of lavender, or essential oil of
petroleum (according to the taste of the artist) and the white is
painted thickly in the light parts and thinly in the grey ones, whereby
a slight sense of relief is obtained and a great degree of light and
shade.
In _coloured painted enamels_ the white is coloured by transparent
enamels spread over the _grisaille_ treatment, parts of which when fired
are heightened by touches of gold, usually painted in lines. Other parts
can be made more brilliant by the use of foil, over which the
transparent enamels are placed and then fired. An example is shown in
Plate I. fig. 7.
Enamels by the _plique-à-jour_ method might be best described as
_translucent cloisonné_ enamels; for they are similar to cloisonné,
except that the ground upon which they are fired is removed, thus making
them transparent like stained glass.
Two new processes have been the subject of the present writer's study
and experiment for several years, which he has lately brought to
fruition. The first is an inlay of transparent enamels similar to
_plique-à-jour_ without cloisons to divide the colours. For if enamels
do not run together whilst in a melted state, as is seen in the case of
painted and _basse-taille_ enamels, there should be no necessity for it
in this process. The result is a clear transparent subject in colour.
The other process consists of a coloured enamel relief. It resembles the
della Robbia relief, with this important difference, that the colour of
the enamel by its nature permeates the whole depth of the relief,
whereas in the della Robbia ware it is only on the surface. It also has
a fresco surface, instead of one highly glazed. The quality of the
enamel is as rare and unlike anything else as it is beautiful. It is in
point of fact the only coloured sculpture in which the whole of its
parts are one solid homogeneous mass, and through which the colour is
one with the substance and is not applied. The process consists of the
shapes of the various parts of the relief being selected for the
different enamels, and these enamels melted together, in the mould of
the relief, which is finished with lapidary's tools.
_Miniature enamel painting_ is not true enamelling, for after the white
enamel is fired upon the gold plate, the colours used are not vitreous
compounds--not enamels in fact--as is the case in any other form of
metal enamelling; but they are either raw oxides or other forms of
metal, with a little flux added, not combined. These colours are painted
on the white enamel, and afterwards made to adhere to the surface by
partially fusing the enamel, which when in a state of partial fusion
becomes viscous.
There are many of these so-called enamels to-day, which are much easier
of accomplishment than the true enamel, but they possess none of the
beautiful quality of the latter. It is most apparent when parts of a
work are true enamels and parts are done in the manner described above.
These enamel paintings on enamel are afterwards coated over with a
transparent flux, which gives them a surface of enamel. Many are done in
this way for the market.
All these methods were used formerly, before the present revival; but
they were not so completely understood or carried so far as they are
to-day. Nor were the whole methods practised by any artist as they are
now. The greatest advance has been in painted enamels. This process
requires that both sides of the metal plate shall be covered with
enamel; for this reason the plate is made convex on the top, so that the
concave side does not touch the _planche_ on which it is supported for
firing, but rests on its edges throughout. There are several reasons why
these plates are _bombé_, the principal one being that in the firing
they resist the tendency to warp and curl up at the edges as a flat thin
plate would do. Further, the enamel having been fused to both sides is
not so liable to crack or to splint in subsequent firings. This is most
important, for otherwise the white which is placed on afterwards would
be a network of cracks. The manner of firing has also to do with this,
but not nearly so much as the preliminary care and mechanical perfection
with which a plate is prepared. Nearly all the old enamels are seen to
be cracked in the white if minutely examined. To obviate this the
following points must be observed: The plate must be of an excellent
quality of metal, equal in thickness throughout, and perfectly regular
in shape. It must be arched equally from end to end. The first coat of
enamel must be of a perfectly regular equal thickness on both sides,
entirely covering the plate. Whatever the medium employed in painting
the white on to the enamel, it must be completely evaporated before the
plate is placed in the furnace. The furnace must be heated to a bright
red heat, and the _planche_ must be red-hot before being taken out for
the enamel to be placed upon it, and then quickly returned to the
furnace and the muffle door shut tight so as to allow no draught of cool
air to enter it. Then as soon as it has begun to fuse, which if a small
piece, it would do in a minute or so, the muffle door is slightly opened
to afford a view of it. As soon as it shines all over its surface, it is
withdrawn from the muffle.
The method of laying a white upon the enamel ground is a matter of
individual taste, so far as the medium is concerned. By some, pure
distilled water is preferred to any other liquid for mixing the enamel.
Otherwise, turpentine and the fat oil of turpentine, as well as spike
oil of lavender. The oil mixture takes longer to dry, and thus gives a
greater chance for modelling into fine shades than the water. But it has
several drawbacks. Firstly, there is the difficulty of drying the oil
out--a process which takes some time and increases the risk of cracking
in the drying process; and secondly, the enamel is not so fresh and
clear after it is fired as when pure water has been employed. Besides
there is a great difference in the result; the water involves a quick,
decided, direct touch and method, which carries with it its own charm.
The oil medium, besides giving an effect of laborious rounded stippled
surfaces, is apt partly to reduce the enamel, thus giving it a dull
surface. The coloration of the white is comparatively simple and is done
by transparent enamels finely ground and evenly spread over the white
after the latter has been fused. The only danger to be avoided is that
of over-firing, which is produced by too great heat of a prolonged
duration of firing, which causes the stannic and arsenious acids in the
white to volatilize.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--Modern French plique-à-jour bowl, by Fernand
Thesmar.]
_Plique-à-jour_ enamelling is done in the same way as _cloisonné_
enamelling, except that the wires or strips of metal which enclose the
enamel are not soldered to the metal base, but are soldered to each
other only. Then these are simply placed upon a sheet of platinum,
copper, silver, gold or hard brass, which, after the enamel is fused and
sufficiently annealed and cooled, is easily removed. For small pieces of
_plique-à-jour_ there is no necessity to apply any metallic base, as the
particles of enamel quickly fuse, become viscous, and when drawn out set
quite hard. Neither is there any need for annealing, as would be the
case in larger work. For an example, see fig. 2.
Commercially there has lately been an activity in enamels such as has
never before occurred. This has been the case throughout Europe, Japan
and the United States of America. In London there has been a demand for
a cheap form of gaudy coloured enamel, fused into sunk spaces of metal
obtained by stamping with a steel die; this has been applied to small
objects of cheap jewelry, in the form of brooches, bracelets and the
like. There has also been a great demand for enamel watch-cases and
small pendants, done mainly by hand, of a better class of work. Many of
these have been produced in Birmingham, Berlin, Paris and London. In
Paris copies of pictures in black and white enamel, with a little gold
paint in the draperies and background, have been manufactured in very
large quantities and sometimes of great dimensions. Another curious
demand, followed by as astonishing a production, is that of the
imitations (a harder name for which is "forgeries") of old enamels, made
with much skill, giving all the technical excellence of the originals,
even to the cracks and scratches incidental to age. These are duly
signed, and will deceive the most expert. They are copies of enamels by
Nardon and Jean Pénicaud, Léonard Limosin, Pierre Raymond, Courtois and
others. The same artificers also produce copies of old Chinese
_cloisonné_ and _champlevé_ enamels, as well as old Battersea enamel
snuff-boxes, patch-boxes, and indeed every kind of enamelling formerly
practised. It is advisable for the collector never to purchase any piece
of enamelling as the work of an old master without having a pedigree
extending at least over forty years. From Japan there has been a
continuous flow of _cloisonné_ enamelled vases, boxes and plates, either
entirely covered with enamel or applied in parts. Compared with this
enormous output, only a few small pieces of jewelry have come from
Jaipur and other towns in India. There has also been a great quantity of
_plique-à-jour_ enamelling manufactured in Russia, Norway and Sweden.
And finally, it has been used in an unprecedented manner in large pieces
upon iron and copper for purposes of advertisement.
Amongst the chief workers in the modern revival of this art are Claudius
Popelin, Alfred Meyer, Paul Grandhomme, Fernand Thesmar, Hubert von
Herkomer and Alexander Fisher. The work of Claudius Popelin is
characterized by good technical skill, correctness, and a careful
copying of the work of the old masters. Consequently it suffers from a
lack of invention and individuality. His work was devoted to the
rendering of mythological subjects and fanciful portraits of historical
people. Alfred Meyer and Grandhomme are both accomplished and careful
enamellers; the former is a painter enameller and the author of a book
dealing technically with enamelling. Grandhomme paints mythological
subjects and portraits in a very tender manner, with considerably more
artistic feeling than either Meyer or Popelin. There is a specimen of
his work in the Luxemburg Museum. Fernand Thesmar is the great reviver
of _plique-à-jour_ enamelling in France. Specimens of his work are
possessed by the art museums throughout Europe, and one is to be seen in
the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. They are principally valued on
account of their perfect technical achievement. Lucien Falize was an
employer of artists and craftsmen, and to him we are indebted for the
production of specimens of _basse-taille_ enamel upon silver and gold,
as well as for a book reviewing the revival of the art in France,
bearing particularly on the work of Claudius Popelin. Until within
recent years there was a clear division between the art and the crafts
in the system of producing art objects. The artist was one person and
the workman another. It is now acknowledged that the artist must also be
the craftsman, especially in the higher branches of enamelling. M.
Falize initiated the production of a gold cup which was enamelled in the
_basse-taille_ manner. The band of figures was designed by Olivier
Merson, the painter, and carved by a metal carver and enamelled by an
enameller, both able craftsmen employed by M. Falize. Other pieces of
enamelling in _champlevé_ and _cloisonné_ were also produced under his
supervision and on this system; therefore lacking the one quality which
would make them complete as an expression of artistic emotion by the
artist's own hands. M. René Lalique is among the jewellers who have
applied enamelling to their work in a peculiarly technically perfect
manner. In England, Professor Hubert von Herkomer has produced painted
enamels of considerable dimensions, aiming at the execution of pictures
in enamel, such as have been generally regarded as peculiar to the
province of oil or water-colour painting. Among numerous works is a
large shield, into which plaques of enamel are inserted, as well as
several portraits, one of which, made in several pieces, is 6 ft.
high--a portrait of the emperor William II. of Germany. The present
writer rediscovered the making of many enamels, the secrets of which had
been jealously guarded. He has worked in all these processes, developing
them from the art side, and helping to make enamelling not only a
decorative adjunct to metal-work, but raising it to a fine art. His work
may be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Brussels Museum.
Others who have been enamelling with success in various branches, and
who have shown individuality in their work, are Mr John Eyre, Mrs Nelson
Dawson, Miss Hart.
LITERATURE.--Among older books on enamelling, apart from the works of
Neri and Benvenuto Cellini, are J.-P. Ferrand, _L'Art du feu, ou de
peindre en émail_ (1721); Labarte, _Recherches sur la peinture en
émail_ (Paris, 1856); Marquis de Laborde, _Notice des émaux du Louvre_
(Paris, 1852); Reboulleau, _Nouveau manuel complet de la peinture en
verre, sur porcelaine et sur émail_ (ed. by Magnier, Paris, 1866);
Claudius Popelin, _L'Émail des peintres_ (Paris, 1866); Emil Molinier,
_Dictionnaire des émailleurs_ (1885). Among useful recent books are H.
Cunynghame's _Art of Enamelling on Metals_ (1906); L. Falize,
_Claudius Popelin et la renaissance des émaux peints_; L. Dalpayrat,
_Limoges Enamels_; Alexander Fisher, _The Art of Enamelling upon
Metal_ (1906, "The Studio," London). (A. Fi.*).
ENCAENIA, a festival commemorating a dedication, in Greek [Greek: ta
henkainia] ([Greek: kainos], new), particularly used of the anniversary
of the dedication of a church (see DEDICATION). The term is also used at
the university of Oxford of the annual Commemoration, held in June, of
founders and benefactors (see OXFORD).
ENCAUSTIC PAINTING. The name _encaustic_ (from the Greek for "burnt in")
is applied to paintings executed with vehicles in which wax is the chief
ingredient. The term was appropriately applied to the ancient methods of
painting in wax, because these required heat to effect them. Wax may be
used as a vehicle for painting without heat being requisite;
nevertheless the ancient term _encaustic_ has been retained, and is
indiscriminately applied to all methods of painting in wax. The
durability of wax, and its power of resisting the effects of the
atmosphere, were well known to the Greeks, who used it for the
protection of their sculptures. As a vehicle for painting it was
commonly employed by them and by the Romans and Egyptians; but in recent
times it has met with only a limited application. Of modern encaustic
paintings those by Schnorr in the Residenz at Munich are the most
important. Modern paintings in wax, in their chromatic range and in
their general effect, occupy a middle place between those executed in
oil and in fresco. Wax painting is not so easy as oil, but presents
fewer technical difficulties than fresco.
Ancient authors often make mention of _encaustic_, which, if it had been
described by the word _inurere_, to burn in, one might have supposed to
have been a species of enamel painting. But the expressions "incausto
pingere," "pictura encaustica," "ceris pingere," "pictura inurere," used
by Pliny and other ancient writers, make it clear that some other
species of painting is meant. Pliny distinguishes three species of
encaustic painting. In the first they used a stylus, and painted either
on ivory or on polished wood, previously saturated with some certain
colour; the point of the stylus or stigma served for this operation, and
its broad or blade end cleared off the small filaments which arose from
the outlines made by the stylus in the wax preparation. In the second
method it appears that the wax colours, being prepared beforehand, and
formed into small cylinders for use, were smoothly spread by the spatula
after the outlines were determined, and thus the picture was proceeded
with and finished. By the side of the painter stood a brazier which was
used to heat the spatula and probably the prepared colours. This is the
method which was probably used by the painters who decorated the houses
of Herculaneum and of Pompeii, as artists practising this method of
painting are depicted in the decorations. The third method was by
painting by a brush dipped into wax liquefied by heat; the colours so
applied attained considerable hardness, and could not be damaged either
by the heat of the sun or by the effects of sea-water. It was thus that
ships were decorated; and this kind of encaustic was therefore styled
"ship-painting."
About the year 1749 Count Caylus and J.J. Bachelier, a painter, made
some experiments in encaustic painting, and the count undertook to
explain an obscure passage in Pliny, supposed to be the following (xxxv.
39):--"Ceris pingere ac picturam inurere quis primus excogitaverit non
constat. Quidam Aristidis inventum putant, postea consummatum a
Praxitele; sed aliquanto vetustiores encausticae picturae exstitere, ut
Polygnoti et Nicanoris et Arcesilai Pariorum. Lysippus quoque Aeginae
picturae suae inscripsit [Greek: enekausen], quod profecto non fecisset
nisi encaustica inventa." There are other passages in Pliny bearing upon
this subject, in one of which (xxi. 49) he gives an account of the
preparation of "Punica cera." The nature of this Punic wax, which was
the essential ingredient of the ancient painting in encaustic, has not
been definitely ascertained. The chevalier Lorgna, who investigated the
subject in a small but valuable tract, asserts that the _nitron_ which
Pliny mentions is not the nitre of the moderns, but the _natron_ of the
ancients, viz. the native salt which is found crystallized in Egypt and
other hot countries in sands surrounding lakes of salt water. This
substance the Carthaginians, according to Pliny, used in preparing their
wax, and hence the name Punic seems to be derived. Lorgna made a number
of experiments with this salt, using from three to twenty parts of white
melted wax with one of natron. He held the mixture in an iron vessel
over a slow fire, stirring it gently with a wooden spatula, till the
mass assumed the consistency of butter and the colour of milk. He then
removed it from the fire, and put it in the shade in the open air to
harden. The wax being cooled liquefied in water, and a milky emulsion
resulted from it like that which could be made with the best Venetian
soap.
Experiments, it is said, were made with this wax in painting in
encaustic in the apartments of the Count Giovanni Battista Gasola by the
Italian painter Antonio Paccheri, who dissolved the Punic wax when it
was not so much hardened as to require to be "igni resoluta," as
expressed by Pliny, with pure water slightly infused with gum-arabic,
instead of sarcocolla, mentioned by Pliny. He afterwards mixed the
colours with this wax so liquefied as he would have done with oil, and
proceeded to paint in the same manner; nor were the colours seen to run
or alter in the least; and the mixture was so flexible that the pencil
ran smoother than it would have done with oil. The painting being dry,
he treated it with caustic, and rubbed it with linen cloths, by which
the colours acquired peculiar vivacity and brightness.
About the year 1755 further experiments were made by Count Caylus and
several French artists. One method was to melt wax with oil of
turpentine as a vehicle for the colours. It is well known that wax may
be dissolved in spirit and used as a medium, but it dries too quickly to
allow of perfect blending, and would by the evaporation of the spirit be
prejudicial to the artist's health. Another method suggested about this
time, and one which seems to tally very well with Pliny's description,
is the following. Melt the wax with strong solution of salt of tartar,
and let the colours be ground up in it. Place the picture when finished
before the fire till by degrees the wax melts, swells, and is bloated up
upon the picture; the picture is then gradually removed from the fire,
and the colours, without being injuriously affected by the operation of
the fire, become unalterable, spirits of wine having been burnt upon
them without doing the least harm. Count Caylus's method was different,
and much simpler: (1) the cloth or wood designed for the picture is
waxed over, by rubbing it simply with a piece of beeswax; (2) the
colours are mixed up with pure water; but as these colours will not
adhere to the wax, the whole ground must be rubbed over with chalk or
whiting before the colour is applied; and (3) when the picture is dry it
is put near the fire, whereby the wax is melted and absorbs the colours.
It must be allowed that nothing could well be simpler than this process,
and it was thought that this kind of painting would be capable of
withstanding the weather and of lasting longer than oil painting. This
kind of painting has not the gloss of oil painting, so that the picture
may be seen in any light, a quality of the very first importance in all
methods of mural painting. The colours too, when so secured, are firm,
and will bear washing, and have a property which is perhaps more
important still, viz. that exposure to smoke and foul vapours merely
leaves a deposit on the surface without injuring the work. The "encausto
pingendi" of the ancients could not have been enamelling, as the word
"inurere," taken in its rigorous sense, might at first lead one to
suppose, nor could it have been painting produced in the same manner as
encaustic tiles or encaustic tesserae; but that it must have been
something akin to the count's process would appear from the words of
Pliny already quoted, "Ceris pingere ac picturam inurere."
Werner of Neustadt found the following process very effectual in making
wax soluble in water. For each pound of white wax he took twenty-four
ounces of potash, which he dissolved in two pints of water, warming it
gently. In this ley he boiled the wax, cut into little bits, for half an
hour, after which he removed it from the fire and allowed it to cool.
The wax floated on the surface of the liquor in the form of a white
saponaceous matter; and this being triturated with water produced a sort
of emulsion, which he called wax milk, or encaustic wax. This
preparation may be mixed with all kinds of colours, and consequently can
be applied in a single operation.
Mrs Hooker of Rottingdean, at the end of the 18th century, made many
experiments to establish a method of painting in wax, and received a
gold palette from the Society of Arts for her investigations in this
branch of art. Her account is printed in the tenth volume of the
Society's Transactions (1792), under the name of Miss Emma Jane
Greenland.
See also Lorgna, _Un Discorso sulla cera punica_; Pittore Vicenzo
Requeno, _Saggi sul ristabilimento dell' antica arte de' Greci e
Romani_ (Parma, 1787); _Phil. Trans_. vol. xlix. part 2; Muntz on
_Encaustic Painting_; W. Cave Thomas, _Methods of Mural Decoration_
(London, 1869); Cros and Henry, _L'Encaustique_, &c. (1884); Donner
von Richter, _Über Technisches in der Malerei der Alten_ (1885).
(W. C. T.)
ENCEINTE (Lat. _in_, within, _cinctus_, girdled; to be distinguished
from the word meaning "pregnant," from _in_, not, and _cinctus_, i.e.
with girdle loosened), a French term used technically in fortification
for the inner ring of fortifications surrounding a town. Strictly the
term was applied to the continuous line of bastions and curtains forming
the "body of the place," this last expression being often used as
synonymous with _enceinte_. The outworks, however, close to the enceinte
were not considered as forming part of it. In modern fortification the
enceinte is usually simply the innermost continuous line of
fortifications. In architecture generally an enceinte is the close or
precinct of a cathedral, abbey, castle, &c.
ENCINA, JUAN DEL (1469-c. 1533), often called the founder of the Spanish
drama, was born in 1469 near Salamanca probably at Encinas. On leaving
the university of Salamanca he became a member of the household of the
second duke of Alva. In 1492 the poet entertained his patron with a
dramatic piece, the _Triunfo de la fama_, written to commemorate the
fall of Granada. In 1496 he published his _Cancionero_, a collection of
dramatic and lyrical poems. Some years afterwards he visited Rome,
attracted the attention of Alexander VI. by his skill in music, and was
appointed choirmaster. About 1518 Encina took orders, and made a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he said his first mass. Since 1509 he had
held a lay canonry at Malaga; in 1519 he was appointed prior of Leon and
is said to have died at Salamanca about 1533. His _Cancionero_ is
preceded by a prose treatise (_Arte de trobar_) on the condition of the
poetic art in Spain. His fourteen dramatic pieces mark the transition
from the purely ecclesiastical to the secular stage. The _Aucto del
Repelón_ and the _Égloga de Fileno_ dramatize the adventures of
shepherds; the latter, like _Plácida y Vitoriano_, is strongly
influenced by the _Celestina_. The intrinsic interest of Encina's plays
is slight, but they are important from the historical point of view, for
the lay pieces form a new departure, and the devout eclogues prepare the
way for the _autos_ of the 17th century. Moreover, Encina's _lyrical
poems_ are remarkable for their intense sincerity and devout grace.
Bibliography.--_Teatro completo de Juan del Encina_ (Madrid, 1893),
edited by F. Asenjo Barbieri; _Cancionero musical de los siglos XV y
XVI_ (Madrid, 1894), edited by F. Asenjo Barbieri; R. Mitjana, _Sobre
Juan del Encina, músico y poeta_ (Málaga, 1895); M. Menendez y Pelayo,
_Antologia depoetas liricos castellanos_ (Madrid, 1890-1903), vol.
vii.
ENCKE, JOHANN FRANZ (1791-1865), German astronomer, was born at Hamburg
on the 23rd of September 1791. Matriculating at the university of
Göttingen in 1811, he began by devoting himself to astronomy under Carl
Friedrich Gauss; but he enlisted in the Hanseatic Legion for the
campaign of 1813-14, and became lieutenant of artillery in the Prussian
service in 1815. Having returned to Göttingen in 1816, he was at once
appointed by Benhardt von Lindenau his assistant in the observatory of
Seeberg near Gotha. There he completed his investigation of the comet of
1680, for which the Cotta prize was awarded to him in 1817; he correctly
assigned a period of 71 years to the comet of 1812; and discovered the
swift circulation of the remarkable comet which bears his name (see
Comet). Eight masterly treatises on its movements were published by him
in the Berlin _Abhandlungen_ (1829-1859). From a fresh discussion of the
transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 he deduced (1822-1824) a solar
parallax of 8".57, long accepted as authoritative. In 1822 he became
director of the Seeberg observatory, and in 1825 was promoted to a
corresponding position at Berlin, where a new observatory, built under
his superintendence, was inaugurated in 1835. He directed the
preparation of the star-maps of the Berlin academy 1830-1859, edited
from 1830 and greatly improved the _Astronomisches Jahrbuch_, and issued
four volumes of the _Astronomische Beobachtungen_ of the Berlin
observatory (1840-1857). Much labour was bestowed by him upon
facilitating the computation of the movements of the asteroids. With
this end in view he expounded to the Berlin academy in 1849 a mode of
determining an elliptic orbit from three observations, and communicated
to that body in 1851 a new method of calculating planetary perturbations
by means of rectangular co-ordinates (republished in W. Ostwald's
_Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften_, No. 141, 1903). Encke visited
England in 1840. Incipient brain-disease compelled him to withdraw from
official life in November 1863, and he died at Spandau on the 26th of
August 1865. He contributed extensively to the periodical literature of
astronomy, and was twice, in 1823 and 1830, the recipient of the Royal
Astronomical Society's gold medal.
See _Johann Franz Encke, sein Leben und Wirken_, von Dr C. Bruhns
(Leipzig, 1869), to which a list of his writings is appended. Also,
_Month. Notices Roy. Astr. Society_, xxvi. 129; _V.J.S. Astr.
Gesellschaft_, iv. 227; Berlin. _Abhandlungen_ (1866), i., G. Hagen;
_Sitzungsberichte_, Munich Acad. (1866), i. p. 395, &c. (A. M. C.)
ENCLAVE (a French word from _enclaver_, to enclose), a term signifying a
country or, more commonly, an outlying portion of a country, entirely
surrounded by the territories of a foreign or other power, such as the
detached portions of Prussia, Saxony, &c, enclosed in the Thuringian
States. (From the point of view of the states possessing such detached
portions of territory these become "exclaves.") "Enclave" is, however,
generally used in a looser sense to describe a colony or other territory
of a state, which, while possessing a seaboard, is entirely surrounded
landward by the possession of some other power; or, if inland territory,
nearly though not entirely so enclosed, e.g. the Lado Enclave in
equatorial Africa.
ENCOIGNURE, in furniture, literally the angle, or return, formed by the
junction of two walls. The word is now chiefly used to designate a small
armoire, commode, cabinet or cupboard made to fit a corner; a _chaise
encoignure_ is called in English a three-cornered chair. In its origin
the thing, like the word, is French, and the delightful Louis Quinze or
Louis Seize _encoignure_ in lacquer or in mahogany elaborately mounted
in gilded bronze is not the least alluring piece of the great period of
French furniture. It was made in a vast variety of forms so far as the
front was concerned; in other respects it was strictly limited by its
destination. As a rule these delicate and dainty receptacles were in
pairs and placed in opposite angles; more often than not the top was
formed of a slab of coloured marble.
ENCYCLICAL (from Late Lat. _encyclicus_, for _encyclius_ = Gr. [Greek:
enkyklios], from [Greek: en] and [Greek: kyklos], "a circle"), an
ecclesiastical epistle intended for general circulation, now almost
exclusively used of such letters issued by the pope. The forms
_encyclica_ and _encyclic_ are sometimes, but more rarely, used. The old
adjectival use of the word in the sense of "general" (encircling) is now
obsolete, though it survives in the term "encyclopaedia."
ENCYCLOPAEDIA. The Greeks seem to have understood by encyclopaedia
([Greek: enkyklopaideia], or [Greek: enkyklios paideia]) instruction in
the whole circle ([Greek: en kyklô]) or complete system of
learning--education in arts and sciences. Thus Pliny, in the preface to
his _Natural History_, says that his book treated of all the subjects of
the encyclopaedia of the Greeks, "Jam omnia attingenda quae Graeci
[Greek: tês enkyklopaideias] vocant." Quintilian (_Inst. Orat_. i. 10)
directs that before boys are placed under the rhetorician they should be
instructed in the other arts, "ut efficiatur orbis ille doctrinae quam
Graeci [Greek: enkyklopaideian] vocant." Galen (_De victus ratione in
morbis acutis_, c. 11) speaks of those who are not educated [Greek: en
tê enkyklopaideia]. In these passages of Pliny and Quintilian, however,
from one or both of which the modern use of the word seems to have been
taken, [Greek: enkyklios paideia] is now read, and this seems to have
been the usual expression. Vitruvius (lib. vi. praef.) calls the
encyclios or [Greek: enkyklios paideia] of the Greeks "doctrinarum
omnium disciplina," instruction in all branches of learning. Strabo
(lib. iv. cap. 10) speaks of philosophy [Greek: kai ten allên paideian
enkyklion]. Tzetzes (_Chiliades_, xi. 527), quoting from Porphyry's
_Lives of the Philosophers_, says that [Greek: enkyklia mathêmata] was
the circle of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and the four arts under it,
arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. Zonaras explains it as
grammar, poetry, rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics and simply every art
and science ([Greek: aplôs pasa technê kai epistêmê]), because sophists
go through them as through a circle. The idea seems to be a complete
course of instruction in all parts of knowledge. An epic poem was called
cyclic when it contained the whole mythology; and among physicians
[Greek: kyklô therapeuein], _cyclo curare_ (Vegetius, _De arte
veterinaria_, ii. 5, 6), meant a cure effected by a regular and
prescribed course of diet and medicine (see Wower, _De polymathia_, c.
24, § 14).
The word encyclopaedia was probably first used in English by Sir Thomas
Elyot. "In an oratour is required to be a heape of all maner of lernyng:
whiche of some is called the worlde of science, of other the circle of
doctrine, whiche is in one worde of greke Encyclopedia" (_The
Governour_, bk. i. chap. xiii.). In his Latin dictionary, 1538, he
explains "Encyclios et Encyclia, the cykle or course of all doctrines,"
and "Encyclopedia, that lernynge whiche comprehendeth all lyberall
science and studies." The term does not seem to have been used as the
title of a book by the ancients or in the middle ages. The edition of
the works of Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius, printed at Basel in 1541,
is called on the title-page _Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima_
[Greek: kyklopaideia]. Paulus Scalichius de Lika, an Hungarian count,
wrote _Encyclopaediae seu orbis disciplinarum epistemon_ (Basileae,
1599, 4to). Alsted published in 1608 _Encyclopaedia cursus
philosophici_, and afterwards expanded this into his great work, noticed
below, calling it without any limitation _Encyclopaedia_, because it
treats of everything that can be learned by man in this life. This is
now the most usual sense in which the word encyclopaedia is used--a book
treating of all the various kinds of knowledge. The form "cyclopaedia"
is not merely without any appearance of classical authority, but is
etymologically less definite, complete and correct. For as Cyropaedia
means "the instruction of Cyrus," so cyclopaedia may mean "instruction
of a circle." Vossius says, "Cyclopaedia is sometimes found, but the
best writers say encyclopaedia" (_De vitiis sermonis_, 1645, p. 402).
Gesner says, "[Greek: kyklos] est _circulus_, quae figura est
simplicissima et perfectissima simul: nam incipi potest ubicunque in
illa et ubicunque cohaeret. _Cyclopaedia_ itaque significat omnem
doctrinarum scientiam inter se cohaerere; _Encyclopaedia_ est
institutio in illo circulo." (_Isagoge_, 1774, i. 40).
In a more restricted sense, encyclopaedia means a system or
classification of the various branches of knowledge, a subject on which
many books have been published, especially in Germany, as Schmid's
_Allgemeine Encyklopädie und Methodologie der Wissenschaften_ (Jena,
1810, 4to, 241 pages). In this sense the _Novum Organum_ of Bacon has
often been called an encyclopaedia. But it is "a grammar only of the
sciences: a cyclopaedia is not a grammar, but a dictionary; and to
confuse the meanings of grammar and dictionary is to lose the benefit of
a distinction which it is fortunate that terms have been coined to
convey" (_Quarterly Review_, cxiii. 354). Fortunius Licetus, an Italian
physician, entitled several of his dissertations on Roman altars and
other antiquities encyclopaedias (as, for instance, _Encyclopaedia ad.
Aram mysticam Nonarii,_ Pataviae, 1631, 4to), because in composing them
he borrowed the aid of all the sciences. The _Encyclopaedia moralis_ of
Marcellinus de Pise (Paris, 1646, fol., 4 vols.) is a series of sermons.
Encyclopaedia is often used to mean a book which is, or professes to be,
a complete or very full collection or treatise relating to some
particular subject, as Blaine's work, _The Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports_
(London, 1852); _The Encyclopaedia of Wit_ (London, 1803); _The Vocal
Encyclopaedia_ (London, 1807, 16mo), a collection of songs, catches, &c.
The word is frequently used for an alphabetical dictionary treating fully
of some science or subject, as Murray, _Encyclopaedia of Geography_
(London, 1834); Lefebvre Laboulaye, _Encyclopédie technologique:
Dictionnaire des arts et manufactures_ (Paris, 1845-1847). Whether under
the name of "dictionary" or "encyclopaedia" large numbers of this class
of reference-work have been published. These are essentially
encyclopaedic, being _subject books_ and not _word-books_. The important
books of this character are referred to in the articles dealing with the
respective subjects, but the following may be mentioned here: the _Jewish
Encyclopedia_, in 12 vols. (1901), a descriptive record of the history,
religion, literature and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest
times; the _Encyclopaedia of Sport_, 2 vols. (1897-1898); Holtzendorff's
_Encyklopädie der Rechtswissenschaft_ (1870; an edition in 2 vols.,
1904); the _Dictionary of Political Economy_, edited by R.H. Inglis
Palgrave, 3 vols. (1894; reprinted 1901); the Encyclopaedia Biblica,
edited by T.K. Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black, 4 vols. (1899-1903); the
_Dictionary of the Bible_, edited by James Hastings, 4 vols., with a
supplementary volume (1904); an interesting series is the _Répertoire
général du commerce_, dealing with the foreign trade of France, of which
one part, the _Encyclopaedia of Trade between the United States of
America and France_, with a preface by M. Gabriel Hanotaux, appeared, in
French and English, in 1904.
The great Chinese encyclopaedias are referred to in the article on
CHINESE LITERATURE. It will be sufficient to mention here the _Wên hien
t'ung k'ao_, compiled by Ma Twa-lin in the 14th century, the
encyclopaedia ordered to be compiled by the Emperor Yung-loh in the 15th
century, and the _Ku Kin t'u shu thi ch'êng_ prepared for the Emperor
K'ang-hi (d. 1721), in 5020 volumes. A copy of this enormous work, bound
in some 700 volumes, is in the British Museum.
The most ancient encyclopaedia extant is Pliny's _Natural History_ in 37
books (including the preface) and 2493 chapters, which may be thus
described generally:--book 1, preface; book 2, cosmography, astronomy
and meteorology; books 3 to 6, geography; books 7 to 11, zoology,
including man, and the invention of the arts; books 12 to 19, botany;
books 20 to 32, medicines, vegetable and animal remedies, medical
authors and magic; books 33 to 37, metals, fine arts, mineralogy and
mineral remedies. Pliny, who died A.D. 79, was not a naturalist, a
physician or an artist, and collected his work in his leisure intervals
while engaged in public affairs. He says it contains 20,000 facts (too
small a number by half, says Lemaire), collected from 2000 books by 100
authors. Hardouin has given a list of 464 authors quoted by him. His
work was a very high authority in the middle ages, and 43 editions of it
were printed before 1536.
Martianus Minneus Felix Capella, an African, wrote (early in the 5th
cent.), in verse and prose, a sort of encyclopaedia, which is important
from having been regarded in the middle ages as a model storehouse of
learning, and used in the schools, where the scholars had to learn the
verses by heart, as a text-book of high-class education in the arts. It
is sometimes entitled _Satyra_, or _Satyricon_, but is usually known as
_De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_, though this title is sometimes
confined to the first two books, a rather confused allegory ending with
the apotheosis of Philologia and the celebration of her marriage in the
milky way, where Apollo presents to her the seven liberal arts, who, in
the succeeding seven books, describe their respective branches of
knowledge, namely, grammar, dialectics (divided into metaphysics and
logic), rhetoric, geometry (geography, with some single geometrical
propositions), arithmetic (chiefly the properties of numbers), astronomy
and music (including poetry). The style is that of an African of the 5th
century, full of grandiloquence, metaphors and strange words. He seldom
mentions his authorities, and sometimes quotes authors whom he does not
even seem to have read. His work was frequently copied in the middle
ages by ignorant transcribers, and was eight times printed from 1499 to
1599. The best annotated edition is by Kopp (Frankfort, 1836, 4to), and
the most convenient and the best text is that of Eysserhardt (Lipsiae,
1866, 8vo).
Isidore, bishop of Seville from 600 to 630, wrote _Etymologiarum libri
XX_. (often also entitled his _Origines_) at the request of his friend
Braulio, bishop of Saragossa, who after Isidore's death divided the work
into books, as it was left unfinished, and divided only into titles.
The tenth book is an alphabet of 625 Latin words, not belonging to his
other subjects, with their explanations as known to him, and often
with their etymologies, frequently very absurd. The other books
contain 448 chapters, and are:--1, grammar (Latin); 2, rhetoric and
dialectics; 3, the four mathematical disciplines--arithmetic,
geometry, music and astronomy; 4, medicine; 5, laws and times
(chronology), with a short chronicle ending in 627; 6, ecclesiastical
books and offices; 7, God, angels and the orders of the faithful; 8,
the church and sects; 9, languages, society and relationships; 11, man
and portents; 12, animals, in eight classes, namely, pecora et
jumenta, beasts, small animals (including spiders, crickets and ants),
serpents, worms, fishes, birds and small winged creatures, chiefly
insects; 13, the world and its parts; 14, the earth and its parts,
containing chapters on Asia, Europe and Libya, that is, Africa; 15,
buildings, fields and their measures; 16, stones (of which one is
echo) and metals; 17, de rebus rusticis; 18, war and games; 19, ships,
buildings and garments; 20, provisions, domestic and rustic
instruments.
Isidore appears to have known Hebrew and Greek, and to have been
familiar with the Latin classical poets, but he is a mere collector, and
his derivations given all through the work are not unfrequently absurd,
and, unless when very obvious, will not bear criticism. He seldom
mentions his authorities except when he quotes the poets or historians.
Yet his work was a great one for the time, and for many centuries was a
much valued authority and a rich source of material for other works, and
he had a high reputation for learning both in his own time and in
subsequent ages. His _Etymologies_ were often imitated, quoted and
copied. MSS. are very numerous: Antonio (whose editor, Bayer, saw nearly
40) says, "plures passimque reperiuntur in bibliothecarum angulis." This
work was printed nine times before 1529.
Hrabanus Maurus, whose family name was Magnentius, was educated in the
abbey of Fulda, ordained deacon in 802 ("Annales Francorum" in Bouquet,
_Historiens de la France_, v. 66), sent to the school of St Martin of
Tours, then directed by Alcuin, where he seems to have learned Greek,
and is said by Trithemius to have been taught Hebrew, Syriac and Chaldee
by Theophilus an Ephesian. In his _Commentaries on Joshua_ (lib. ii. c.
5) he speaks of having resided at Sidon. He returned to Fulda and taught
the school there. He became abbot of Fulda in 822, resigned in April
842, was ordained archbishop of Mainz on the 26th of July 847, and died
on the 4th of February 856. He compiled an encyclopaedia _De universo_
(also called in some MSS. _De universali natura, De natura rerum,_ and
_De origine rerum_) in 22 books and 325 chapters. It is chiefly a
rearrangement of Isidore's _Etymologies_, omitting the first four
books, half of the fifth and the tenth (the seven liberal arts, law,
medicine and the alphabet of words), and copying the rest, beginning
with the seventh book, verbally, though with great omissions, and adding
(according to Ritter, _Geschichte der Philosophie_, vii. 193, from
Alcuin, Augustine or some other accessible source) the meanings given in
the Bible to the subject matter of the chapter; while things not
mentioned in Scripture, especially such as belong to classical
antiquity, are omitted, so that his work seems to be formed of two
alternating parts. His arrangement of beginning with God and the angels
long prevailed in methodical encyclopaedias. His last six books follow
very closely the order of the last five of Isidore, from which they are
taken. His omissions are characteristic of the diminished literary
activity and more contracted knowledge of his time. His work was
presented to Louis the German, king of Bavaria, at Hersfeld in October
847, and was printed in 1473, fol., probably at Venice, and again at
Strassburg by Mentelin about 1472-1475, fol., 334 pages.
Michael Constantine Psellus, the younger, wrote [Greek: Didaskalia
pantodapê], dedicated to the emperor Michael Ducas, who reigned
1071-1078. It was printed by Fabricius in his _Bibliotheca Graeca_
(1712), vol. v., in 186 pages 4to and 193 chapters, each containing a
question and answer. Beginning with divinity, it goes on through natural
history and astronomy, and ends with chapters on excessive hunger, and
why flesh hung from a fig-tree becomes tender. As collation with a Turin
MS. showed that 35 chapters were wanting, Harles has omitted the text in
his edition of Fabricius, and gives only the titles of the chapters (x.
84-88).
The author of the most famous encyclopaedia of the middle ages was
Vincent (q.v.) of Beauvais (c. 1190-c. 1264), whose work _Bibliotheca
mundi_ or _Speculum majus_--divided, as we have it, into four parts,
_Speculum naturale_, _Speculum doctrinale_, _Speculum morale_ (this part
should be ascribed to a later hand), and _Speculum historiale_--was the
great compendium of mid-13th century knowledge. Vincent of Beauvais
preserved several works of the middle ages and gives extracts from many
lost classics and valuable readings of others, and did more than any
other medieval writer to awaken a taste for classical literature.
Fabricius (_Bibl. Graeca_, 1728, xiv. pp. 107-125) has given a list of
328 authors, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Latin, quoted in the _Speculum
naturale_. To these should be added about 100 more for the _doctrinale_
and _historiale_. As Vincent did not know Greek or Arabic, he used Latin
translations. This work is dealt with separately in the article on
VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS.
Brunetto Latini of Florence (born 1230, died 1294), the master of Dante
and Guido Cavalcanti, while an exile in France between 1260 and 1267,
wrote in French _Li Livres dou Tresor_, in 3 books and 413 chapters.
Book i. contains the origin of the world, the history of the Bible and
of the foundation of governments, astronomy, geography, and lastly
natural history, taken from Aristotle, Pliny, and the old French
Bestiaries. The first part of Book ii., on morality, is from the
_Ethics_ of Aristotle, which Brunetto had translated into Italian. The
second part is little more than a copy of the well-known collection of
extracts from ancient and modern moralists, called the _Moralities of
the Philosophers_, of which there are many MSS. in prose and verse. Book
iii., on politics, begins with a treatise on rhetoric, chiefly from
Cicero _De inventione_, with many extracts from other writers and
Brunetto's remarks. The last part, the most original and interesting of
all, treats of the government of the Italian republics of the time. Like
many of his contemporaries, Brunetto revised his work, so that there are
two editions, the second made after his return from exile. MSS. are
singularly numerous, and exist in all the dialects then used in France.
Others were written in Italy. It was translated into Italian in the
latter part of the 13th century by Bono Giamboni, and was printed at
Trevigi, 1474, fol., Venice, 1528 and 1533. The _Tesoro_ of Brunetto
must not be confounded with his _Tesoretto_, an Italian poem of 2937
short lines. Napoleon I. had intended to have the French text of the
_Tesoro_ printed with commentaries, and appointed a commission for the
purpose. It was at last published in the _Collection des documents
inédits_ (Paris, 1863, 4to, 772 pages), edited by Chabaille from 42 MSS.
Bartholomew de Glanville, an English Franciscan friar, wrote about 1360
a most popular work, _De proprietatibus rerum_, in 19 books and 1230
chapters.
Book 1 relates to God; 2, angels; 3, the soul; 4, the substance of the
body; 5, anatomy; 6, ages; 7, diseases; 8, the heavens (astronomy and
astrology); 9, time; 10, matter and form; 11, air; 12, birds
(including insects, 38 names, Aquila to Vespertilio); 13, water (with
fishes); 14, the earth (42 mountains, Ararath to Ziph); 15, provinces
(171 countries, Asia to Zeugia); 16, precious stones (including coral,
pearl, salt, 104 names, Arena to Zinguttes); 17, trees and herbs (197,
Arbor to Zucarum); 18, animals (114, Aries to Vipera); 19, colours,
scents, flavours and liquors, with a list of 36 eggs (Aspis to
Vultur). Some editions add book 20, accidents of things, that is,
numbers, measures, weights and sounds. The Paris edition of 1574 has a
book on bees.
There were 15 editions before 1500. An English translation was completed
11th February 1398 by John Trevisa, and printed by Wynkyn de Worde,
Westminster, 1495? fol.; London, 1533, fol.; and with considerable
additions by Stephen Batman, a physician, London, 1582, fol. It was
translated into French by Jehan Corbichon at the command of Charles V.
of France, and printed 14 times from 1482 to 1556. A Dutch translation
was printed in 1479, and again at Haarlem, 1485, fol.; and a Spanish
translation by Padre Vincente de Burgos, Tholosa, 1494, fol.
Pierre Bersuire (Berchorius), a Benedictine, prior of the abbey of St
Eloi in Paris, where he died in 1362, wrote a kind of encyclopaedia,
chiefly relating to divinity, in three parts:--_Reductorium morale super
totam Bibliam_, 428 _moralitates_ in 34 books on the Bible from Genesis
to Apocalypse; _Reductorium morale de proprietatibus rerum_, in 14 books
and 958 chapters, a methodical encyclopaedia or system of nature on the
plan of Bartholomew de Glanville, and chiefly taken from him (Berchorius
places animals next after fishes in books 9 and 10, and adopts as
natural classes _volatilia_, _natatilia_ and _gressibilia_);
_Dictionarius_, an alphabetical dictionary of 3514 words used in the
Bible with moral expositions, occupying in the last edition 1558 folio
pages. The first part was printed 11 times from 1474 to 1515, and the
third 4 times. The three parts were printed together as _Petri Berchorii
opera omnia_ (an incorrect title, for he wrote much besides), Moguntiae,
1609, fol., 3 vols., 2719 pages; Coloniae Agrippinae, 1631, fol., 3
vols.; _ib._ 1730-1731, fol., 6 vols., 2570 pages.
A very popular small encyclopaedia, _Margarita philosophica_, in 12
books, divided into 26 tractates and 573 chapters, was written by Georg
Reisch, a German, prior of the Carthusians of Freiburg, and confessor of
the emperor Maximilian I. Books 1-7 treat of the seven liberal arts; 8,
9, principles and origin of natural things; 10, 11, the soul,
vegetative, sensitive and intellectual; 12, moral philosophy. The first
edition, Heidelberg, 1496, 4to, was followed by 8 others to 1535. An
Italian translation by the astronomer Giovanno Paolo Gallucci was
published at Venice in 1594, 1138 small quarto pages, of which 343
consist of additional tracts appended by the translator.
Raphael Maffei, called Volaterranus, being a native of Volterra, where
he was born in 1451 and died 5th January 1522, wrote _Commentarii
Urbani_ (Rome, 1506, fol., in 38 books), so called because written at
Rome. This encyclopaedia, printed eight times up to 1603, is remarkable
for the great importance given to geography, and also to biography, a
subject not included in previous encyclopaedias. Indeed, the book is
formed of three nearly equal parts,--geographia, 11 books; anthropologia
(biography), 11 books; and philologia, 15 books. The books are not
divided into short chapters in the ancient manner, like those of its
predecessors. The edition of 1603 contains 814 folio pages. The first
book consists of the table of contents and a classed index; books 2-12,
geography; 13-23, lives of illustrious men, the popes occupying book 22,
and the emperors book 23; 24-27, animals and plants; 28, metals, gems,
stones, houses and other inanimate things; 34, de scientiis cyclicis
(grammar and rhetoric); 35, de scientiis mathematicis, arithmetic,
geometry, optica, catoptrica, astronomy and astrology; 36-38,
Aristotelica (on the works of Aristotle).
Giorgio Valla, born about 1430 at Placentia, and therefore called
Placentinus, died at Venice in 1499 while lecturing on the immortality
of the soul. Aldus published his work, edited by his son Giovanni Pietro
Valla, _De expetendis et fugiendis rebus_, Venetiis, 1501, fol. 2 vols.
It contains 49 books and 2119 chapters. Book 1 is introductory, on
knowledge, philosophy and mathematics, considered generally (he
divides everything to be sought or avoided into three kinds--those
which are in the mind, in the body by nature or habit, and thirdly,
external, coming from without); books 2-4, arithmetic; 5-9, music;
10-15, geometry, including Euclid and mechanics--book 15 being in
three long chapters--de spiritualibus, that is, pneumatics and
hydraulics, de catoptricis, and de optice; 16-19, astrology (with the
structure and use of the astrolabe); 20-23, physics (including
metaphysics); 24-30, medicine; 31-34, grammar; 35-37, dialectics; 38,
poetry; 39, 40, rhetoric; 41, moral philosophy; 42-44, economics; 45,
politics; 46-48, de corporis commodis et incommodis, on the good and
evil of the body (and soul); 49, de rebus externis, as glory,
grandeur, &c.
Antonio Zara, born 1574, made bishop of Petina in Istria 1600, finished
on the 17th of January 1614 a work published as _Anatomia ingeniorum et
scientiarum_, Venetiis, 1615, 4to, 664 pages, in four sections and 54
membra. The first section, on the dignity and excellence of man, in 16
membra, considers him in all his bodily and mental aspects. The first
membrum describes his structure and his soul, and in the latter part
contains the author's preface, the deeds of his ancestors, an account of
himself, and the dedication of his book to Ferdinand, archduke of
Austria. Four membra treat of the discovery of character by chiromancy,
physiognomy, dreams and astrology. The second section treats of 16
sciences of the imagination--writing, magic, poetry, oratory,
courtiership (aulicitas), theoretical and mystic arithmetic, geometry,
architecture, optics, cosmography, astrology, practical medicine, war,
government. The third section treats of 8 sciences of intellect--logic,
physics, metaphysics, theoretical medicine, ethics, practical
jurisprudence, judicature, theoretical theology. The fourth section
treats of 12 sciences of memory--grammar, practical arithmetic, human
history, sacred canons, practical theology, sacred history, and lastly
the creation and the final catastrophe. The book, now very rare, is well
arranged, with a copious index, and is full of curious learning.
Johann Heinrich Alsted, born 1588, died 1638, published _Encyclopaedia
septem tomis distincta_, Herbornae Nassoviorum, 1630, fol. 7 vols., 2543
pages of very small type. It is in 35 books, divided into 7 classes,
preceded by 48 synoptical tables of the whole, and followed by an index
of 119 pages.
I. Praecognita disciplinarum, 4 books, hexilogia, technologia,
archelogia, didactica, that is, on intellectual habits and on the
classification, origin and study of the arts. II. Philology, 6 books,
lexica, grammar, rhetoric, logic, oratory and poetry; book 5, lexica,
contains dictionaries explained in Latin of 1076 Hebrew, 842 Syriac,
1934 Arabic, 1923 Greek and 2092 Latin words, and also nomenclator
technologiae, &c., a classified vocabulary of terms used in the arts
and sciences, in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, filling 34 pages; book 6
contains Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin and German grammars; book 10,
poetica, contains a list of 61 Rotwelsch words. III. Theoretic
philosophy, 10 books:--book 11, metaphysics; 12, pneumatics (on
spirits); 13, physics; 14, arithmetic; 15, geometry; 16, cosmography;
17, uranometria (astronomy and astrology); 18, geography (with maps of
the Old World, eastern Mediterranean, and Palestine under the Old and
New Testaments, and a plate of Noah's ark); 19, optics; 20, music. IV.
Practical philosophy, 4 books:--21, ethics; 22, economics (on
relationships); 23, politics, with florilegium politicum, 119 pages of
extracts from historians, philosophers and orators; 24, scholastics
(on education, with a florilegium of 25 pages). V. The three superior
faculties:--25, theology; 26, jurisprudence; 27, medicine (ending with
the rules of the Salernian school). VI. Mechanical arts in
general:--book 28, mathematical mechanical arts; book 29, agriculture,
gardening, care of animals, baking, brewing, preparing medicines,
metallurgy (with mining); book 30, physical mechanical arts--printing,
dialling, &c. Under paedutica (games) is Vida's Latin poem on chess,
and one by Leuschner on the ludus Lorzius. VII. Farragines
disciplinarum, 5 books:--31, mnemonics; 32, history; 33, chronology;
34, architecture; 35, quodlibetica, miscellaneous arts, as magic,
cabbala, alchemy, magnetism, &c., with others apparently distinguished
and named by himself, as, paradoxologia, the art of explaining
paradoxes; dipnosophistica, the art of philosophizing while feasting;
cyclognomica, the art of conversing well de quovis scibili;
tabacologia, the nature, use and abuse of tobacco, &c.--in all 35
articles in this book.
Alsted's encyclopaedia was received with very great applause, and was
highly valued. Lami (_Entretiens_, 1684, p. 188) thought it almost the
only encyclopaedia which did not deserve to be despised. Alsted's
learning was very various, and his reading was very extensive and
diversified. He gives few references, and Thomasius charges him with
plagiarism, as he often copies literally without any acknowledgment. He
wrote not long before the appearance of encyclopaedias in modern
languages superseded his own and other Latin books, and but a short time
before the alphabetical arrangement began to prevail over the
methodical. His book was reprinted, Lugduni, 1649, fol. 4 vols., 2608
pages.
Jean de Magnon, historiographer to the king of France, undertook to
write an encyclopaedia in French heroic verse, which was to fill ten
volumes of 20,000 lines each, and to render libraries merely a useless
ornament. But he did not live to finish it, as he was killed at night by
robbers on the Pont Neuf in Paris, in April 1662. The part he left was
printed as _La Science universelle_, Paris, 1663, fol., 348 pages,--10
books containing about 11,000 lines. They begin with the nature of God,
and end with the history of the fall of man. His verses, say Chaudon and
Delandine, are perhaps the most nerveless, incorrect, obscure and flat
in French poetry; yet the author had been the friend of Molière, and had
acted with him in comedy.
Louis Moréri (born on the 25th of March 1643 at Bargemont, in the
diocese of Fréjus, died on the 10th of July 1680 at Paris) wrote a
dictionary of history, genealogy and biography, _Le Grand Dictionnaire
historique, ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane_,
Lyons, 1674, fol. He began a second edition on a larger scale, published
at Lyons in 1681, in two volumes folio; the sixth edition was edited by
Jean le Clerc, Amsterdam, 1691, fol. 4 vols.; the twentieth and last
edition, Paris, 1759, fol. 10 vols. Moréri's dictionary, still very
useful, was of great value and importance, although not the first of the
kind. It superseded the very inferior compilation of Juigné-Broissinère,
_Dictionnaire théologique_, _historique_, _poétique_, _cosmographique_,
_et chronologique_, Paris, 1644, 4to; Rouen, 1668, &c.,--a translation,
with additions, of the _Dictionarium historicum_, _geographicum_, _et
poëticum_ of Charles Estienne, published in 1553, 4to, and often
afterwards. As such a work was much wanted, Juigné's book went through
twelve editions in less than thirty years, notwithstanding its want of
criticism, errors, anachronisms, defects and inferior style.
Johann Jacob Hofmann (born on the 11th of September 1635, died on the 10th
of March 1706), son of a schoolmaster at Basel, which he is said never to
have left, and where he was professor of Greek and History, wrote _Lexicon
universale historico-geographico-chronologico-poëtico-philologicum_,
Basileae, 1677, fol. 2 vols., 1823 pages, a dictionary of history,
biography, geography, genealogies of princely families, chronology,
mythology and philology. At the end is Nomenclator [Greek: Mixoglôttos],
an index of names of places, people, &c., in many languages, carefully
collected, and explained in Latin, filling 110 pages; with an index of
subjects not forming separate articles, occupying 34 pages. In 1683 he
published a continuation in 2 vols. fol., 2293 pages, containing, besides
additions to the subjects given in his lexicon, the history of animals,
plants, stones, metals, elements, stars, and especially of man and his
affairs, arts, honours, laws, magic, music, rites and a vast number of
other subjects. In 1698 he published a second edition, Lugduni Batavorum,
fol. 4 vols., 3742 pages, incorporating the continuation with additions.
From the great extent of his plan, many articles, especially in history,
are superficial and faulty.
Étienne Chauvin was born at Nismes on the 18th of April 1640. He fled to
Rotterdam on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and in 1688 supplied
Bayle's place in his lectures on philosophy. In 1695 he was invited by
the elector of Brandenburg to go as professor of philosophy to Berlin,
where he became the representative of the Cartesian philosophy, and died
on the 6th of April 1725. He wrote _Lexicon rationale_, _sive thesaurus
philosophicus ordine alphabetico digestus_, Rotterdami, 1692, fol., 746
pages and 30 plates. An improved and enlarged edition was printed as
_Lexicon philosophicum secundis curis_, Leovardiae, 1713, large folio,
725 pages and 30 plates. This great work may be considered as a
dictionary of the Cartesian philosophy, and was very much used by
Brucker and other earlier historians of philosophy. It is written in a
very dry and scholastic style, and seldom names authorities.
The great dictionary of French, begun by the French Academy on the 7th
of February 1639, excluded all words especially belonging to science and
the arts. But the success of the rival dictionary of Furetière, which,
as its title-page, as well as that of the Essais published in 1684,
conspicuously announced, professed to give "les termes de toutes les
Sciences et des Arts," induced Thomas Corneille, a member of the
Academy, to compile _Le Dictionnaire des arts et des sciences_, which
the Academy published with the first edition of their dictionary, Paris,
1694, folio, as a supplement in two volumes containing 1236 pages. It
was reprinted at Amsterdam, 1696, fol. 2 vols., and at Paris in 1720,
and again in 1732, revised by Fontenelle. A long series of dictionaries
of arts and sciences have followed Corneille in placing in their titles
the arts before the sciences, which he probably did merely in order to
differ from Furetière. Corneille professed to quote no author whom he
had not consulted; to take plants from Dioscorides and Matthiolus,
medicine from Ettmüller, chemistry from a MS. of Perrault, and
architecture, painting and sculpture from Félibien; and to give an
abridged history of animals, birds and fishes, and an account of all
religious and military orders and their statutes, heresiarchs and
heresies, and dignities and charges ancient and modern.
Pierre Bayle (born on the 18th of November 1647, died on the 28th of
December 1706) wrote a very important and valuable work, _Dictionnaire
historique et critique_, Rotterdam, 1697, fol. 2 vols. His design was to
make a dictionary of the errors and omissions of Moréri and others, but
he was much embarrassed by the numerous editions and supplements of
Moréri. A second edition with an additional volume appeared at Amsterdam
in 1702, fol. 3 vols. The fourth edition, Rotterdam, 1720, fol. 4 vols.,
was much enlarged from his manuscripts, and was edited by Prosper
Marchand. It contains 3132 pages besides tables, &c. The ninth edition
was published at Basel, 1741, fol. 10 vols. It was translated into
English from the second edition, London, 1709, fol. 4 vols., with some
slight additions and corrections by the author; and again from the fifth
edition of 1730 by Birch and Lockman, London, 1734-1740, fol. 5 vols.
J.G. de Chaufepié published _Nouveau Dictionnaire historique_,
Amsterdam, 1750-1756, fol. 4 vols., as a supplement to Bayle. It chiefly
consists of the articles added by the English translators with many
corrections and additions, and about 500 new articles added by himself,
and contains in all about 1400 articles. Prosper Marchand, editor of the
fourth edition, left at his death on the 14th of January 1756 materials
for a supplementary _Dictionnaire historique_, La Haye, 1758, fol. 2
vols., 891 pages, 136 articles. It had occupied his leisure moments for
forty years. Much of his work was written on small scraps of paper,
sometimes 20 in half a page and no larger than a nail, in such small
characters that not only the editor but the printer had to use powerful
magnifiers. Bayle's dictionary was also translated into German, Leipzig,
1741-1744, fol. 4 vols., with a preface by J.C. Gottsched. It is still a
work of great importance and value.
Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, a Franciscan friar, who was born in Venice
about 1650, made cosmographer to the republic in 1685, became general of
his order in 1702, and was found dead at his study table on the 9th of
December 1718, began in 1701 to publish a general alphabetical
encyclopaedia, written in Italian, at which he had been working for
thirty years, _Biblioteca universale sacro-profana_. It was to explain
more than 300,000 words, to include history and biography as well as all
other subjects, and to extend to 45 volumes folio. Volumes 1-39 were to
contain the dictionary A to Z; 40, 41, the supplement; 42, retractations
and corrections; 43, universal index; 44, index divided into matters;
45, index in various languages. But seven volumes only were published,
Venezia, 1701-1706, fol., 5609 pages, A to Caque. The first six volumes
have each an index of from 28 to 48 pages (in all 224 pages) of
subjects, whether forming articles or incidental. The articles in each
are numbered, and amount to 30,269 in the six volumes, which complete
the letter B. On an average 3 pages contain 22 articles. Each volume is
dedicated to a different patron--the pope, the doge, the king of Spain,
&c. This work is remarkable for the extent and completeness of its plan,
and for being the first great alphabetical encyclopaedia, as well as for
being written in a modern language, but it was hastily written and very
incorrect. Never, perhaps, says Tiraboschi (_Storia della letteratura
italiana_, viii. 546), was there so quick a writer; he composed a folio
volume as easily as others would a page, but he never perfected his
works, and what we have of this book will not induce us to regret the
want of the remainder.
The first alphabetical encyclopaedia written in English was the work of
a London clergyman, John Harris (born about 1667, elected first
secretary of the Royal Society on the 30th of November 1709, died on the
7th of September 1719), _Lexicon technicum_, _or an universal English
Dictionary of Arts and Sciences_, London, 1704, fol., 1220 pages, 4
plates, with many diagrams and figures printed in the text. Like many
subsequent English encyclopaedias the pages are not numbered. It
professes not merely to explain the terms used in the arts and sciences,
but the arts and sciences themselves. The author complains that he found
much less help from previous dictionaries than one would suppose, that
Chauvin is full of obsolete school terms, and Corneille gives only bare
explanations of terms, which often relate only to simple ideas and
common things. He omits theology, antiquity, biography and poetry; gives
only technical history, geography and chronology; and in logic,
metaphysics, ethics, grammar and rhetoric, merely explains the terms
used. In mathematics and anatomy he professes to be very full, but says
that the catalogues and places of the stars are very imperfect, as
Flamsteed refused to assist him. In botany he gave from Ray, Morrison
and Tournefort "a pretty exact botanick lexicon, which was what we
really wanted before," with an account of all the "kinds and
subalternate species of plants, and their specific differences" on Ray's
method. He gave a table of fossils from Dr Woodward, professor of
medicine in Gresham College, and took great pains to describe the parts
of a ship accurately and particularly, going often on board himself for
the purpose. In law he abridged from the best writers what he thought
necessary. He meant to have given at the end an alphabet for each art
and science, and some more plates of anatomy and ships, "but the
undertaker could not afford it at the price." A review of his work,
extending to the unusual length of four pages, appeared in the
_Philosophical Transactions_, 1704, p. 1699. This volume was reprinted
in 1708. A second volume of 1419 pages and 4 plates appeared in 1710,
with a list of about 1300 subscribers. Great part of it consisted of
mathematical and astronomical tables, as he intended his work to serve
as a small mathematical library. He was allowed by Sir Isaac Newton to
print his treatise on acids. He gives a table of logarithms to seven
figures of decimals (44 pages), and one of sines, tangents and secants
(120 pages), a list of books filling two pages, and an index of the
articles in both volumes under 26 heads, filling 50 pages. The longest
lists are law (1700 articles), chyrurgery, anatomy, geometry,
fortification, botany and music. The mathematical and physical part is
considered very able. He often mentions his authorities, and gives lists
of books on particular subjects, as botany and chronology. His
dictionary was long very popular. The fifth edition was published in
1736, fol. 2 vols. A supplement, including no new subjects, appeared in
1744, London, fol., 996 pages, 6 plates. It was intended to rival
Ephraim Chambers's work (see below), but, being considered a
bookseller's speculation, was not well received.
Johann Hübner, rector of the Johanneum in Hamburg, born on the 17th of
March 1668, wrote prefaces to two dictionaries written in German, which
bore his name, and were long popular. The first was _Reales Staats
Zeitungs- und Conversations-Lexicon_, Leipzig, 1704, 8vo; second edition,
1706, 947 pages; at the end a register of arms, and indexes of Latin and
French words; fifth edition, 1711; fifteenth edition 1735, 1119 pages.
The thirty-first edition was edited and enlarged by F.A. Rüder, and
published by Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1824-1828, 8vo, 4 vols., 3088 pages. It
was translated into Hungarian by Fejer, Pesten, 1816, 8vo, 5 vols., 2958
pages. The second, published as a supplement, was _Curieuses und reales
Natur- Kunst- Berg- Gewerb- und Handlungs-Lexicon_, Leipzig, 1712, 8vo,
788 pages, frequently reprinted to 1792. The first relates to the
political state of the world, as religion, orders, states, rivers, towns,
castles, mountains, genealogy, war, ships; the second to nature, science,
art and commerce. They were the work of many authors, of whom Paul Jacob
Marpurger, a celebrated and voluminous writer on trade and commerce, born
at Nuremberg on the 27th of June 1656, was an extensive contributor, and
is the only one named by Hübner.
Johann Theodor Jablonski, who was born at Danzig on the 15th of December
1654, appointed secretary to the newly founded Prussian Academy in 1700,
when he went to Berlin, where he died on the 28th of April 1731,
published _Allgemeines Lexicon der Künste und Wissenschaften_, Leipzig,
1721, 4to, a short but excellent encyclopaedia still valued in Germany.
It does not include theology, history, geography, biography and
genealogy. He not only names his authorities, but gives a list of their
works. A new edition in 1748 was increased one-third to 1508 pages. An
improved edition, Königsberg and Leipzig, 1767, 4to, 2 vols., 1852
pages, was edited by J.J. Schwabe, public teacher of philosophy at
Leipzig.
Ephraim Chambers (q.v.) published his _Cyclopaedia; or an Universal
Dictionary of Art and Sciences_, _containing an Explication of the Terms
and an Account of the Things Signified thereby in the several Arts_,
_Liberal and Mechanical_, _and the several Sciences_, _Human and
Divine_, London, 1728, fol. 2 vols. The dedication to the king is dated
October 15, 1727. Chambers endeavoured to connect the scattered articles
relating to each subject by a system of references, and to consider "the
several matters, not only in themselves, but relatively, or as they
respect each other; both to treat them as so many wholes and as so many
parts of some greater whole." Under each article he refers to the
subject to which it belongs, and also to its subordinate parts; thus
Copyhold has a reference to Tenure, of which it is a particular kind,
and other references to Rolls, Custom, Manor, Fine, Charter-land and
Freehold. In his preface he gives an "analysis of the divisions of
knowledge," 47 in number, with classed lists of the articles belonging
to each, intended to serve as table of contents and also as a rubric or
directory indicating the order in which the articles should be read. But
it does so very imperfectly, as the lists are curtailed by many _et
caeteras_; thus 19 occur in a list of 119 articles under Anatomy, which
has nearly 2200 articles in Rees's index. He omits etymologies unless
"they appeared of some significance"; he gives only one grammatical form
of each word, unless peculiar ideas are arbitrarily attached to
different forms, as _precipitate_, _precipitant_, _precipitation_, when
each has an article; and he omits complex ideas generally known, and
thus "gets free of a vast load of plebeian words." His work, he says, is
a collection, not the produce of one man's wit, for that would go but a
little way, but of the whole commonwealth of learning. "Nobody that fell
in my way has been spared, antient or modern, foreign nor domestic,
Christian or Jew nor heathen." To the subjects given by Harris he adds
theology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, logic, grammar, rhetoric and
poetry, but excludes history, biography, genealogy, geography and
chronology, except their technical parts. A second edition appeared in
1738, fol. 2 vols., 2466 pages, "retouched and amended in a thousand
places." A few articles are added and some others enlarged, but he was
prevented from doing more because "the booksellers were alarmed with a
bill in parliament containing a clause to oblige the publishers of all
improved editions of books to print their improvements separately." The
bill after passing the Commons was unexpectedly thrown out by the
Lords; but fearing that it might be revived, the booksellers thought it
best to retreat though more than twenty sheets had been printed. Five
other editions were published in London, 1739 to 1751-1752, besides one
in Dublin, 1742, all in 2 vols. fol. An Italian translation, Venezia,
1748-1749, 4to, 9 vols., was the first complete Italian encyclopaedia.
When Chambers was in France in 1739 he rejected very favourable
proposals to publish an edition there dedicated to Louis XV. His work
was judiciously, honestly and carefully done, and long maintained its
popularity. But it had many defects and omissions, as he was well aware;
and at his death, on the 15th of May 1740, he had collected and arranged
materials for seven new volumes. John Lewis Scott was employed by the
booksellers to select such articles as were fit for the press and to
supply others. He is said to have done this very efficiently until
appointed sub-preceptor to the prince of Wales and Prince Edward. His
task was entrusted to Dr (afterwards called Sir John) Hill, who
performed it very hastily, and with characteristic carelessness and
self-sufficiency, copying freely from his own writings. The _Supplement_
was published in London, 1753, fol. 2 vols., 3307 pages and 12 plates.
As Hill was a botanist, the botanical part, which had been very
defective in the _Cyclopaedia_, was the best.
Abraham Rees (1743-1825), a famous Nonconformist minister, published a
revised and enlarged edition, "with the supplement and modern
improvements incorporated in one alphabet," London, 1778-1788, fol. 2
vols., 5010 pages (but not paginated), 159 plates. It was published in
418 numbers at 6d. each. Rees says that he has added more than 4400 new
articles. At the end he gives an index of articles, classed under 100
heads, numbering about 57,000 and filling 80 pages. The heads, with 39
cross references, are arranged alphabetically. Subsequently there were
reprints.
One of the largest and most comprehensive encyclopaedias was undertaken
and in a great measure completed by Johann Heinrich Zedler, a bookseller
of Leipzig, who was born at Breslau 7th January 1706, made a Prussian
commerzienrath in 1731, and died at Leipzig in 1760,--_Grosses
vollständiges Universal Lexicon Aller Wissenschaften und Künste welche
bishero durch menschlichen Verstand und Witz erfunden und verbessert
worden_, Halle and Leipzig, 1732-1750, fol. 64 vols., 64,309 pages; and
_Nöthige Supplement_, ib. 1751-1754, vols. i. to iv., A to Caq, 3016
pages. The columns, two in a page, are numbered, varying from 1356 in
vol. li. to 2588 in vol. xlix. Each volume has a dedication, with a
portrait. The first nine are the emperor, the kings of Prussia and
Poland, the empress of Russia, and the kings of England, France, Poland,
Denmark and Sweden. The dedications, of which two are in verse, and all
are signed by Zedler, amount to 459 pages. The supplement has no
dedications or portraits. The preface to the first volume of the work is
by Johann Peter von Ludewig, chancellor of the university of Halle (born
15th August 1690, died 6th September 1743). Nine editors were employed,
whom Ludewig compares to the nine muses; and the whole of each subject
was entrusted to the same person, that all its parts might be uniformly
treated. Carl Günther Ludovici (born at Leipzig 7th August 1707, public
teacher of philosophy there from 1734, died 3rd July 1778) edited the
work from vol. xix., beginning the letter M, and published in 1739, to
the end, and also the supplement. The work was published by
subscription. Johann Heinrich Wolff, an eminent merchant and shopkeeper
in Leipzig, born there on the 29th of April 1690, came to Zedler's
assistance by advancing the funds for expenses and becoming answerable
for the subscriptions, and spared no cost that the work might be
complete. Zedler very truly says, in his preface to vol. xviii., that
his _Universal Lexicon_ was a work such as no time and no nation could
show, and both in its plan and execution it is much more comprehensive
and complete than any previous encyclopaedia. Colleges, says Ludewig,
where all sciences are taught and studied, are on that account called
_universities_, and their teaching is called _studium universale_; but
the _Universal Lexicon_ contains not only what they teach in theology,
jurisprudence, medicine, philosophy, history, mathematics, &c., but
also many other things belonging to courts, chanceries, hunting,
forests, war and peace, and to artists, artizans, housekeepers and
merchants not thought of in colleges. Its plan embraces not only
history, geography and biography, but also genealogy, topography, and
from vol. xviii., published in 1738, lives of illustrious living
persons. Zedler inquires why death alone should make a deserving man
capable of having his services and worthy deeds made known to the world
in print. The lives of the dead, he says, are to be found in books, but
those of the living are not to be met with anywhere, and would often be
more useful if known. In consequence of this preface, many lives and
genealogies were sent to him for publication. Cross references generally
give not only the article referred to, but also the volume and column,
and, when necessary, such brief information as may distinguish the word
referred to from others similar but of different meaning. Lists of
authorities, often long, exact and valuable are frequently appended to
the articles. This work, which is well and carefully compiled, and very
trustworthy, is still a most valuable book of reference on many
subjects, especially topography, genealogy and biography. The
genealogies and family histories are excellent, and many particulars are
given of the lives and works of authors not easily found elsewhere.
A work on a new plan was published by Dennis de Coetlogon, a Frenchman
naturalized in England, who styled himself "Knight of St Lazare, M.D.,
and member of the Royal Academy of Angers"--_An Universal History of
Arts and Sciences_, London, 1745, fol. 2 vols., 2529 pages, 33 plates
and 161 articles arranged alphabetically. He "endeavours to render each
treatise as complete as possible, avoiding above all things needless
repetitions, and never puzzling the reader with the least reference."
Theology is divided into several treatises; Philosophy into Ethicks,
Logick and Metaphysick, each under its letter; and Physick is subdivided
into Anatomy, Botany, Geography, Geometry, &c. Military Art is divided
into Army, Fortification, Gunnery. The royal licence is dated 13th March
1740-1741, the dedication is to the duke of Gisors, the pages are
numbered, there is an appendix of 35 pages of astronomical tables, and
the two indexes, one to each volume, fill 69 pages, and contain about
9000 subjects. The type is large and the style diffuse, but the subject
matter is sometimes curious. The author says that his work is the only
one of the kind, and that he wrote out with his own hand every line,
even the index. But notwithstanding the novelty of his plan, his work
does not seem ever to have been popular.
Gianfrancesco Pivati, born at Padua in 1689, died at Venice in 1764,
secretary of the Academy of Sciences at Venice, who had published in
1744 a 4to volume containing a _Dizionario universale_, wrote _Nuovo
dizionario scientifico e curioso sacro-profano_, Venezia, 1746-1751,
fol. 10 vols., 7791 pages, 597 plates. It is a general encyclopaedia,
including geography, but not history or biography. He gives frequent
references to his authorities and much curious information. His
preliminary discourse (80 pages) contains a history of the several
sciences from mathematics to geography. The book was published by
subscription, and at the end of the last volume is a _Catalogo dei
Signori Associati_, 252 in number, who took 266 copies. It is also
remarkable for the number of its plates, which are engraved on copper.
In each volume they are placed together at the end, and are preceded by
an explanatory index of subjects referring to the plates and to the
articles they illustrate.
One of the greatest and most remarkable literary enterprises of the 18th
century, the famous French _Encyclopédie_, originated in a French
translation of Ephraim Chambers's _Cyclopaedia_, begun in 1743 and
finished in 1745 by John Mills, an Englishman resident in France,
assisted by Gottfried Sellius, a very learned native of Danzig, who,
after being a professor at Halle and Göttingen, and residing in Holland,
had settled in Paris. They applied to Lebreton, the king's printer, to
publish the work, to fulfil the formalities required by French law, with
which, as foreigners, they were not acquainted, and to solicit a royal
privilege. This he obtained, but in his own name alone. Mills
complained so loudly and bitterly of this deception that Lebreton had
to acknowledge formally that the privilege belonged _en toute propriété_
to John Mills. But, as he again took care not to acquaint Mills with the
necessary legal formalities, this title soon became invalid. Mills then
agreed to grant him part of his privilege, and in May 1745 the work was
announced as _Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire universel des arts et des
sciences_, folio, four volumes of 250 to 260 sheets each, with a fifth
of at least 120 plates, and a vocabulary or list of articles in French,
Latin, German, Italian and Spanish, with other lists for each language
explained in French, so that foreigners might easily find any article
wanted. It was to be published by subscription at 135 livres, but for
large paper copies 200 livres, the first volume to be delivered in June
1746, and the two last at the end of 1748. The subscription list, which
was considerable, closed on the 31st of December 1745. Mills demanded an
account, which Lebreton, who had again omitted certain formalities,
insultingly refused. Mills brought an action against him, but before it
was decided Lebreton procured the revocation of the privilege as
informal, and obtained another for himself dated the 21st of January
1746. Thus, for unwittingly contravening regulations with which his
unscrupulous publisher ought to have made him acquainted, Mills was
despoiled of the work he had both planned and executed, and had to
return to England. Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, professor of philosophy
in the college of France (born at Carcassonne in 1713, died on the 15th
of June 1785), was then engaged as editor merely to correct errors and
add new discoveries. But he proposed a thorough revision, and obtained
the assistance of many learned men and artists, among whom Desessarts
names Louis, Condillac, d'Alembert and Diderot. But the publishers did
not think his reputation high enough to ensure success, withheld their
confidence, and often opposed his plans as too expensive. Tired at last
of disputes, and too easily offended, de Gua resigned the editorship.
The publishers, who had already made heavy advances, offered it to
Diderot, who was probably recommended to them by his very well received
_Dictionnaire universel de medicine_, Paris, 1746-1748, fol. 6 vols.,
published by Briasson, David and Durand, with notes and additions by
Julien Busson, doctor regent of the faculty of medicine of Paris. It was
a translation, made with the assistance of Eidous and Toussaint, of the
celebrated work of Dr Robert James, inventor of the fever powders, _A
Medicinal Dictionary_, London, 1743-1745, fol. 3 vols., 3275 pages and
98 plates, comprising a history of drugs, with chemistry, botany and
natural history so far as they relate to medicine, and with an
historical preface of 99 pages (in the translation 136). The proposed
work was to have been similar in character. De Gua's papers were handed
over to Diderot in great confusion. He soon persuaded the publishers to
undertake a far more original and comprehensive work. His friend
d'Alembert undertook to edit the mathematics. Other subjects were
allotted to 21 contributors, each of whom received the articles on this
subject in Mills' translation to serve as a basis for his work. But they
were in most cases so badly composed and translated, so full of errors
and omissions, that they were not used. The contributions were to be
finished in three months, but none was ready in time, except Music by
Rousseau, which he admits was hastily and badly done. Diderot was
imprisoned at Vincennes, on the 29th of July 1749, for his _Lettre sur
les aveugles_. He was closely confined for 28 days, and was then for
three months and ten days a prisoner on parole in the castle. This did
not stop the printing, though it caused delay. The prospectus by Diderot
appeared in November 1750. The work was to form 8 vols. fol., with at
least 600 plates. The first volume was published in July 1751, and
delivered to the subscribers in August. The second appeared in January
1752. An _arrêt_ of the council, 9th of February, suppressed both
volumes as injurious to the king's authority and to religion.
Malesherbes, director-general of the Librairie, stopped the issue of
volume ii., 9th of February, and on the 21st went with a _lettre de
cachet_ to Lebreton's to seize the plates and the MSS., but did not
find, says Barbier, even those of volume iii., as they had been taken to
his own house by Diderot and one of the publishers. The Jesuits tried
to continue the work, but in vain. It was less easy, says Grimm, than to
ruin philosophers. The _Dictionnaire de Trévoux_ pronounced the
completion of the _Encyclopédie_ impossible, and the project ridiculous
(5th edition, 1752, iii, 750). The government had to request the editors
to resume the work as one honourable to the nation. The marquis
d'Argenson writes, 7th of May 1752, that Mme de Pompadour had been
urging them to proceed, and at the end of June he reports them as again
at work. Volume iii., rather improved by the delay, appeared in October
1753; and volume vii., completing G, in November 1757. The clamours
against the work soon recommenced. D' Alembert retired in January 1758,
weary of sermons, satires and intolerant and absurd censors. The
parlement of Paris, by an _arrêt_, 23rd of January 1759, stopped the
sale and distribution of the _Encyclopédie_, Helvetius's _De l'Esprit_,
and six other books; and by an _arrêt_, 6th February, ordered them all
to be burnt, but referred the _Encyclopédie_ for examination to a
commission of nine. An _arrêt du conseil_, 7th of March, revoked the
privilege of 1746, and stopped the printing. Volume viii. was then in
the press. Malesherbes warned Diderot that he would have his papers
seized next day; and when Diderot said he could not make a selection, or
find a place of safety at such short notice, Malesherbes said, "Send
them to me, they will not look for them there." This, according to Mme
de Vandeul, Diderot's daughter, was done with perfect success. In the
article Pardonner Diderot refers to these persecutions, and says, "In
the space of some months we have seen our honour, fortune, liberty and
life imperilled." Malesherbes, Choiseul and Mme de Pompadour protected
the work; Diderot obtained private permission to go on printing, but
with a strict charge not to publish any part until the whole was
finished. The Jesuits were condemned by the parlement of Paris in 1762,
and by the king in November 1764. Volume i. of plates appeared in 1762,
and volumes viii. to xvii., ten volumes of text, 9408 pages, completing
the work, with the 4th volume of plates in 1765, when there were 4250
subscribers. The work circulated freely in the provinces and in foreign
countries, and was secretly distributed in Paris and Versailles. The
general assembly of the clergy, on the 20th of June 1765, approved
articles in which it was condemned, and on the 27th of September adopted
a _mémoire_ to be presented to the king. They were forbidden to publish
their acts which favoured the Jesuits, but Lebreton was required to give
a list of his subscribers, and was put into the Bastille for eight days
in 1766. A royal order was sent to the subscribers to deliver their
copies to the lieutenant of police. Voltaire in 1774 relates that, at a
_petit souper_ of the king at Trianon, there was a debate on the
composition of gunpowder. Mme de Pompadour said she did not know how her
rouge or her silk stockings were made. The duc de la Vallière regretted
that the king had confiscated their encyclopaedias, which could decide
everything. The king said he had been told that the work was most
dangerous, but as he wished to judge for himself, he sent for a copy.
Three servants with difficulty brought in the 21 volumes. The company
found everything they looked for, and the king allowed the confiscated
copies to be returned. Mme de Pompadour died on the 15th of April 1764.
Lebreton had half of the property in the work, and Durand, David and
Briasson had the rest. Lebreton, who had the largest printing office in
Paris, employed 50 workmen in printing the last ten volumes. He had the
articles set in type exactly as the authors sent them in, and when
Diderot had corrected the last proof of each sheet, he and his foreman,
hastily, secretly and by night, unknown to his partners in the work, cut
out whatever seemed to them daring, or likely to give offence, mutilated
most of the best articles without any regard to the consecutiveness of
what was left, and burnt the manuscript as they proceeded. The printing
of the work was nearly finished when Diderot, having to consult one of
his great philosophical articles in the letter S, found it entirely
mutilated. He was confounded, says Grimm, at discovering the atrocity of
the printer; all the best articles were in the same confusion. This
discovery put him into a state of frenzy and despair from rage and
grief. His daughter never heard him speak coolly on the subject, and
after twenty years it still made him angry. He believed that every one
knew as well as he did what was wanting in each article, but in fact the
mutilation was not perceived even by the authors, and for many years was
known to few persons. Diderot at first refused to correct the remaining
proofs, or to do more than write the explanations of the plates. He
required, according to Mme de Vandeul, that a copy, now at St Petersburg
with his library, should be printed with columns in which all was
restored. The mutilations began as far back as the article Intendant.
But how far, says Rosenkranz, this murderous, incredible and infamous
operation was carried cannot now be exactly ascertained. Diderot's
articles, not including those on arts and trades, were reprinted in
Naigeon's edition (Paris, 1821, 8vo, 22 vols.). They fill 4132 pages,
and number 1139, of which 601 were written for the last ten volumes.
They are on very many subjects, but principally on grammar, history,
morality, philosophy, literature and metaphysics. As a contributor, his
special department of the work was philosophy, and arts and trades. He
passed whole days in workshops, and began by examining a machine
carefully, then he had it taken to pieces and put together again, then
he watched it at work, and lastly worked it himself. He thus learned to
use such complicated machines as the stocking and cut velvet looms. He
at first received 1200 livres a year as editor, but afterwards 2500
livres a volume, besides a final sum of 20,000 livres. Although after
his engagement he did not suffer from poverty as he had done before, he
was obliged to sell his library in order to provide for his daughter. De
Jaucourt spared neither time, trouble nor expense in perfecting the
work, for which he received nothing, and he employed several secretaries
at it for ten years. To pay them he had to sell his house in Paris,
which Lebreton bought with the profits derived from De Jaucourt's work.
All the publishers made large fortunes; their expenses amounted to
1,158,000 livres and their profits to 2,162,000. D'Alembert's "Discours
Preliminaire," 45 pages, written in 1750, prefixed to the first volume,
and delivered before the French Academy on his reception on the 19th of
December 1754, consists of a systematic arrangement of the various
branches of knowledge, and an account of their progress since their
revival. His system, chiefly taken from Bacon, divides them into three
classes, under memory, reason and imagination. Arts and trades are
placed under natural history, superstition and magic under science de
Dieu, and orthography and heraldry under logic. The literary world is
divided into three corresponding classes--_érudits_, _philosophes_ and
_beaux esprits_. As in Ephraim Chambers's _Cyclopaedia_, history and
biography were excluded, except incidentally; thus Aristotle's life is
given in the article Aristotelisme. The science to which an article
belongs is generally named at the beginning of it, references are given
to other articles, and the authors' names are marked by initials, of
which lists are given in the earlier volumes, but sometimes their names
are subscribed in full. Articles by Diderot have no mark, and those
inserted by him as editor have an asterisk prefixed. Among the
contributors were Voltaire, Euler, Marmontel, Montesquieu, D'Anville,
D'Holbach and Turgot, the leader of the new school of economists which
made its first appearance in the pages of the _Encyclopédie_. Louis
wrote the surgery, Daubenton natural history, Eidous heraldry and art,
Toussaint jurisprudence, and Condamine articles on South America.
No encyclopaedia perhaps has been of such political importance, or has
occupied so conspicuous a place in the civil and literary history of
its century. It sought not only to give information, but to guide
opinion. It was, as Rosenkranz says (_Diderot_, i. 157), theistic and
heretical. It was opposed to the church, then all-powerful in France,
and it treated dogma historically. It was, as Desnoiresterres says
(_Voltaire_, v. 164), a war machine; as it progressed, its attacks
both on the church and the still more despotic government, as well as
on Christianity itself, became bolder and more undisguised, and it was
met by opposition and persecution unparalleled in the history of
encyclopaedias. Its execution is very unequal, and its articles of
very different value. It was not constructed on a regular plan, or
subjected to sufficient supervision; articles were sent in by the
contributors, and not seen by the editors until they were in type. In
each subject there are some excellent articles, but others are very
inferior or altogether omitted, and references are often given to
articles which do not exist. Thus marine is said to be more than
three-fourths deficient; and in geography errors and omissions
abound--even capitals and sovereign states are overlooked, while
villages are given as towns, and towns are described which never
existed. The style is too generally loose, digressive and inexact;
dates are seldom given; and discursiveness, verbosity and dogmatism
are frequent faults. Voltaire was constantly demanding truth, brevity
and method, and said it was built half of marble and half of wood.
D'Alembert compared it to a harlequin's coat, in which there is some
good stuff but too many rags. Diderot was dissatisfied with it as a
whole; much of it was compiled in haste; and carelessly written
articles and incompetent contributors were admitted for want of money
to pay good writers. Zedler's _Universal Lexicon_ is on the whole much
more useful for reference than its far more brilliant successor. The
permanent value of encyclopaedias depends on the proportion of exact
and precise facts they contain and on their systematic regularity.
The first edition of the _Encyclopédie_, in 17 vols. folio, 16,288
pages, was imitated by a counterfeit edition printed at Geneva as the
volumes appeared in Paris. Eleven folio volumes of plates were
published at Paris (1762 to 1772), containing 2888 plates and 923
pages of explanation, &c. A supplement was printed at Amsterdam and
Paris (1776-1777), fol. 5 vols., 3874 pages, with 224 plates. History
was introduced at the wish of the public, but only "the general
features which mark epochs in the annals of the world." The astronomy
was by Delalande, mathematics by Condorcet, tables by Bernouilli,
natural history by Adanson, anatomy and physiology by Haller.
Daubenton, Condamine, Marmontel and other old contributors wrote many
articles, and several were taken from foreign editions. A very full
and elaborate index of the articles and subjects of the 33 volumes was
printed at Amsterdam in 1780, fol. 2 vols. 1852 pages. It was made by
Pierre Mouchon, who was born at Geneva on the 30th of July 1735,
consecrated minister on the 18th of August 1758, pastor of the French
church at Basel 1766, elected a pastor in Geneva on the 6th of March
1788, principal of the college there 22nd of April 1791, died on the
20th of August 1797. This _Table analytique_, which took him five
years to make, was undertaken for the publishers Cramer and De
Tournes, who gave him 800 louis for it. Though very exact and full, he
designedly omits the attacks on Christianity. This index was rendered
more useful and indispensable by the very diffuse and digressive style
of the work, and by the vast number of its articles. A complete copy
of the first edition of the _Encyclopédie_ consists of 35 vols. fol.,
printed 1751-1780, containing 23,135 pages and 3132 plates. It was
written by about 160 contributors. About 1761 Panckoucke and other
publishers in Paris proposed a new and revised edition, and bought the
plates for 250,000 livres. But, as Diderot indignantly refused to edit
what he considered a fraud on the subscribers to the as yet unfinished
work, they began simply to reprint the work, promising supplementary
volumes. When three volumes were printed the whole was seized in 1770
by the government at the complaint of the clergy, and was lodged in
the Bastille. The plan of a second French edition was laid aside then,
to be revived twenty years later in a very different form. Foreign
editions of the _Encyclopédie_ are numerous, and it is difficult to
enumerate them correctly. One, with notes by Ottavio Diodati, Dr
Sebastiano Paoli and Carlo Giuliani, appeared at Lucca (1758-1771),
fol. 17 vols. of text and 10 of plates. Though it was very much
expurgated, all engaged in it were excommunicated by the pope in 1759.
An attempt made at Siena to publish an Italian translation failed. An
addition by the abbé Serafini and Dr Gonnella (Livourne, 1770), &c.,
fol. 33 vols., returned a profit of 60,000 piastres, and was protected
by Leopold II., who secured the pope's silence. Other editions are
Genève, Cramer (1772-1776), a facsimile reprint. Genève, Pellet
(1777-1779), 4to, 36 vols. of text and 3 of plates, with 6 vols. of
Mouchon's index (Lyon, 1780), 4to; Genève et Neufchâtel, Pellet
(1778-1779), 4to, 36 vols. of text and 3 of plates; Lausanne
(1778-1781), 36 vols. 4to, or 72 octavo, of text and 3 of plates
(1779-1780); Lausanne et Bern, chez les Sociétés Typographiques
(1780-1782), 36 vols. 8vo of text and 3 vols. 4to of plates (1782).
These four editions have the supplement incorporated. Fortuné
Barthelemy de Felice, an Italian monk, born at Rome on the 24th of
August 1723, who had been professor at Rome and Naples, and had become
a Protestant, printed a very incorrect though successful edition
(Yverdun, 1770-1780) 4to, 42 vols. of text, 5 of supplement and 10 of
plates. It professed to be a new work, standing in the same
relationship to the _Encyclopédie_ as that did to Chambers's, which is
far from being the case. Sir Joseph Ayloffe issued proposals, 14th
December 1751, for an English translation of the _Encyclopédie_, to be
finished by Christmas 1756, in 10 vols. 4to, with at least 600 plates.
No. 1 appeared in January 1752, but met with little success. Several
selections of articles and extracts have been published under the
title of _L'Esprit de l'Encyclopédie_. The last was by Hennequin
(Paris, 1822-1823), 8vo, 15 vols. An English selection is _Select
Essays from the Encyclopedy_ (London, 1773), 8vo. The articles of most
of the principal contributors have been reprinted in the editions of
their respective works. Voltaire wrote 8 vols. 8vo of a kind of
fragmentary supplement, _Questions sur l'Encyclopédie_, frequently
printed, and usually included in editions of his works, together with
his contributions to the _Encyclopédie_ and his _Dictionnaire
philosophique_. Several special dictionaries have been formed from the
_Encyclopédie_, as the _Dictionnaire portatif des arts et métiers_
(Paris, 1766), 8vo, 2 vols. about 1300 pages, by Philippe Macquer,
brother of the author of the _Dict. de chimie_. An enlarged edition by
the abbé Jaubert (Paris, 1773), 5 vols. 8vo, 3017 pages, was much
valued and often reprinted. The books attacking and defending the
_Encyclopédie_ are very many. No original work of the 18th century,
says Lanfrey, has been more depreciated, ridiculed and calumniated. It
has been called chaos, nothingness, the Tower of Babel, a work of
disorder and destruction, the gospel of Satan and even the ruins of
Palmyra.
The _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, "by a society of gentlemen in Scotland,
printed in Edinburgh for A. Bell and C. Macfarquhar, and sold by Colin
Macfarquhar at his printing office in Nicolson Street," was completed in
1771 in 3 volumes 4to, containing 2670 pages, and 160 copperplates
engraved by Andrew Bell. It was published in numbers, of which the two
first were issued in December 1768, "price 6d. each, or 8d on a finer
paper," and was to be completed in 100 weekly numbers. It was compiled,
as the title-page says, on a new plan. The different sciences and arts
were "digested into distinct treatises or systems," of which there are
45 with cross headings, that is, titles printed across the page, and
about 30 other articles more than three pages long. The longest are
"Anatomy," 166 pages, and "Surgery," 238 pages. "The various technical
terms, &c., are explained as they occur in the order of the alphabet."
"Instead of dismembering the sciences, by attempting to treat them
intelligibly under a multitude of technical terms, they have digested
the principles of every science in the form of systems or distinct
treatises, and explained the terms as they occur in the order of the
alphabet, with references to the sciences to which they belong." This
plan, as the compilers say, differs from that of all the previous
dictionaries of arts and sciences. Its merit and novelty consist in the
combination of De Coetlogon's plan with that in common use,--on the one
hand keeping important subjects together, and on the other facilitating
reference by numerous separate articles. It is doubtful to whom the
credit of this plan is due. The editor, William Smellie, a printer (born
in 1740, died on the 24th of June 1795), afterwards secretary and
superintendent of natural history to the Society of Scottish
Antiquaries, is said by his biographer to have devised the plan and
written or compiled all the chief articles; and he prints, but without
date, part of a letter written and signed by Andrew Bell by which he was
engaged in the work:--"Sir, As we are engaged in publishing a dictionary
of the arts and sciences, and as you have informed us that there are
fifteen capital sciences which you will undertake for and write up the
subdivisions and detached parts of these conform to your plan, and
likewise to prepare the whole work for the press, &c., &c., we hereby
agree to allow you £200 for your trouble, &c." Prof. Macvey Napier says
that Smellie "was more likely to have suggested that great improvement
than any of his known coadjutors." Archibald Constable, who was
interested in the work from 1788, and was afterwards intimately
acquainted with Bell, says Colin Macfarquhar was the actual projector of
the _Encyclopaedia_, and the editor of the two first editions, while
Smellie was merely "a contributor for hire" (_Memoirs_, ii. 311). Dr
Gleig, in his preface to the third edition, says: "The idea had been
conceived by him (Colin Macfarquhar) and his friend Mr Andrew Bell,
engraver. By whom these gentlemen were assisted in digesting the plan
which attracted to that work so much public attention, or whether they
had any assistance, are questions in which our readers cannot be
interested." Macfarquhar, according to Constable, was a person of
excellent taste and very general knowledge, though at starting he had
little or no capital, and was obliged to associate Bell, then the
principal engraver in Edinburgh, as a partner in his undertaking.
The second edition was begun in 1776, and was published in numbers, of
which the first was issued on the 21st of June 1777, and the last, No.
181, on the 18th of September 1784, forming 10 vols. 4to, dated 1778 to
1783, and containing 8595 pages and 340 plates. The pagination is
continuous, ending with page 9200, but 295 pages are inserted in
various places, and page 7099 is followed by 8000. The number and length
of the articles were much increased, 72 have cross headings, and more
than 150 others may be classed as long articles. At the end is an
appendix ("Abatement" to "Wood") of 200 pages, containing, under the
heading Botanical Table, a list of the 931 genera included in the 58
natural orders of Linnaeus, and followed by a list of 526 books, said to
have been the principal authorities used. All the maps are placed
together under the article "Geography" (195 pages). Most of the long
articles have numbered marginal titles; "Scotland," 84 pages, has 837.
"Medicine," 309 pages, and "Pharmacy" have each an index. The plan of
the work was enlarged by the addition of history and biography, which
encyclopaedias in general had long omitted. "From the time of the second
edition of this work, every cyclopaedia of note, in England and
elsewhere, has been a cyclopaedia, not solely of arts and sciences, but
of the whole wide circle of general learning and miscellaneous
information" (_Quarterly Review_, cxiii. 362). Smellie was applied to by
Bell to edit the second edition, and to take a share of one-third in the
work; but he refused, because the other persons concerned in it, at the
suggestion of "a very distinguished nobleman of very high rank" (said by
Professor Napier to have been the duke of Buccleuch), insisted upon the
introduction of a system of general biography which he considered
inconsistent with the character of a dictionary of arts and sciences.
James Tytler, M.A., seems to have been selected as the next most
eligible compiler. His father, a man of extensive knowledge, was 53
years minister of Fearn in Forfarshire, and died in 1785. Tytler
(outlawed by the High Court of Justiciary, 7th of January 1793, buried
at Salem in Massachusetts on the 11th of January 1804, aged fifty-eight)
"wrote," says Watt, "many of the scientific treatises and histories, and
almost all the minor articles" (_Bibliotheca Brit._).
After about a year's preparation, the third edition was announced in
1787; the first number was published early in 1788, and the first volume
in October 1788. There were to be 300 weekly numbers, price 1s. each,
forming 30 parts at 10s. 6d. each, and 15 volumes, with 360 plates. It
was completed in 1797 in 18 vols. 4to, containing 14,579 pages and 542
plates. Among the multifarious articles represented in the frontispiece,
which was required by the traditional fashion of the period, is a
balloon. The maps are, as in subsequent editions, distributed among the
articles relating to the respective countries. It was edited by Colin
Macfarquhar as far as the article "Mysteries" (by Dr Doig, vol. xii.),
when he died, on the 2nd of April 1793, in his forty-eighth year, "worn
out," says Constable, "by fatigue and anxiety of mind." His children's
trustees and Andrew Bell requested George Gleig of Stirling (consecrated
on the 30th of October 1808 assistant and successor to the bishop of
Brechin), who had written about twelve articles, to edit the rest of the
work; "and for the time, and the limited sum allowed him for the reward
of contributors, his part in the work was considered very well done"
(Constable, ii. 312). Professor Robison was induced by Gleig to become a
contributor. He first revised the article "Optics," and then wrote a
series of articles on natural philosophy, which attracted great
attention and were long highly esteemed by scientific men. The
sub-editors were James Walker (Primus Scotiae Episcopus 27th of May
1837, died on the 5th of March 1841, aged seventy) until 1795, then
James Thomson, succeeded in November 1796 by his brother Thomas,
afterwards professor of chemistry at Glasgow, who remained connected
with the _Encyclopaedia_ until 1800. According to Kerr (_Smellie's
Life_, i. 364-365), 10,000 copies were printed, and the profit to the
proprietors was £42,000, besides the payments for their respective work
in the conduct of the publication as tradesmen,--Bell as engraver of all
the plates, and Macfarquhar as sole printer. According to Constable
(_Memoirs_, ii. 312), the impression was begun at 5000 copies, and
concluded with a sale of 13,000. James Hunter, "an active bookseller of
no character," who had a shop in Middle Row, Holborn, sold the book to
the trade, and on his failure Thomson Bonar, a wine merchant, who had
married Bell's daughter, became the seller of the book. He quarrelled
with his father-in-law, who would not see him for ten years before his
death in 1809. When the edition was completed, the copyright and
remaining books were sold in order to wind up the concern, and "the
whole was purchased by Bell, who gave £13 a copy, sold all the complete
copies to the trade, printed up the odd volumes, and thus kept the work
in the market for several years" (Constable, ii. 312)
The supplement of the third edition, printed for Thomson Bonar, and
edited by Gleig, was published in 1801 in 2 vols. 4to, containing 1624
pages and 50 copperplates engraved by D. Lizars. In the dedication to
the king, dated Stirling, 10th December 1800, Dr Gleig says: "The French
_Encyclopédie_ had been accused, and justly accused, of having
disseminated far and wide the seeds of anarchy and atheism. If the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ shall in any degree counteract the tendency
of that pestiferous work, even these two volumes will not be wholly
unworthy of your Majesty's attention." Professor Robison added 19
articles to the series he had begun when the third edition was so far
advanced. Professor Playfair assisted in "Mathematics." Dr Thomas
Thomson wrote "Chemistry," "Mineralogy" and other articles, in which the
use of symbols was for the first time introduced into chemistry; and
these articles formed the first outline of his _System of Chemistry_,
published at Edinburgh in 1802, 8vo, 4 vols.; the sixth edition, 1821.
The fourth edition, printed for Andrew Bell, was begun in 1800 or 1801,
and finished in 1810 in 20 vols. 4to, containing 16,033 pages, with 581
plates engraved by Bell. The dedication to the king, signed Andrew Bell,
is dated Lauristoun, Edinburgh, 1809. The preface is that of the third
edition with the necessary alterations and additions in the latter part.
No articles were reprinted from the supplement, as Bell had not the
copyright. Professor Wallace's articles on mathematics were much valued,
and raised the scientific character of the work. Dr Thomas Thomson
declined the editorship, and recommended Dr James Millar, afterwards
editor of the _Encyclopaedia Edinensis_ (died on the 13th of July 1827).
He was fond of natural history and a good chemist, but, according to
Constable, slow and dilatory and not well qualified. Andrew Bell died on
the 10th of June 1809, aged eighty-three, "leaving," says Constable,
"two sets of trustees, one literary to make the money, the other legal
to lay it out after it was made." The edition began with 1250 copies and
concluded at 4000, of which two-thirds passed through the hands of
Constable's firm. Early in 1804 Andrew Bell had offered Constable and
his partner Hunter the copyright of the work, printing materials, &c.,
and all that was then printed of the fourth edition, for £20,000. This
offer was in agitation in March 1804, when the two partners were in
London. On the 5th of May 1804, after Lord Jeffrey's arrival in
Edinburgh, as he relates to Francis Horner, they entrusted him with a
design, on which he found that most of his friends had embarked with
great eagerness, "for publishing an entire new encyclopaedia upon an
improved plan. Stewart, I understand, is to lend his name, and to write
the preliminary discourse, besides other articles. Playfair is to
superintend the mathematical department, and Robison the natural
philosophy. Thomas Thomson is extremely zealous in the cause. W. Scott
has embraced it with great affection.... The authors are to be paid at
least as well as reviewers, and are to retain the copyright of their
articles for separate publication if they think proper" (Cockburn, _Life
of Lord Jeffrey_, 1852, ii. 90). It was then, perhaps, that Constable
gave £100 to Bonar for the copyright of the supplement.
The fifth edition was begun immediately after the fourth as a mere
reprint. "The management of the edition, or rather mismanagement, went
on under the _lawyer trustees_ for several years, and at last the
whole property was again brought to the market by public sale. There
were about 1800 copies printed of the five first volumes, which formed
one lot, the copyright formed another lot, and so on. The whole was
purchased by myself and in my name for between £13,000 and £14,000,
and it was said by the wise booksellers of Edinburgh and others that
I had completely ruined myself and all connected with me by a purchase
to such an enormous amount; this was early in 1812" (Constable, ii.
314). Bonar, who lived next door to the printing office, thought he
could conduct the book, and had resolved on the purchase. Having a
good deal of money, he seemed to Constable a formidable rival, whose
alliance was to be secured. After "sundry interviews" it was agreed
that Constable should buy the copyright in his own name, and that
Bonar should have one-third, and also one-third of the copyright of
the supplement, for which he gave £200. Dr James Millar corrected and
revised the last 15 volumes. The preface is dated the 1st of December
1814. The printing was superintended by Bonar, who died on the 26th of
July 1814. His trustees were repaid his advances on the work, about
£6000, and the copyright was valued at £11,000, of which they received
one-third, Constable adding £500, as the book had been so extremely
successful. It was published in 20 vols., 16,017 pages, 582 plates,
price £36, and dated 1817.
Soon after the purchase of the copyright, Constable began to prepare
for the publication of a supplement, to be of four or, at the very
utmost, five volumes. "The first article arranged for was one on
'Chemistry' by Sir Humphry Davy, but he went abroad [in October 1813]
and I released him from his engagement, and employed Mr Brande; the
second article was Mr Stewart's Dissertation, for which I agreed to
pay him £1000, leaving the extent of it to himself, but with this
understanding, that it was not to be under ten sheets, and might
extend to twenty" (Constable, ii. 318). Dugald Stewart, in a letter to
Constable, the 15th of November 1812, though he declines to engage to
execute any of his own suggestions, recommends that four discourses
should "stand in front," forming "a general map of the various
departments of human knowledge," similar to "the excellent discourse
prefixed by D'Alembert to the French _Encyclopédie_," together with
historical sketches of the progress since Bacon's time of modern
discoveries in metaphysical, moral and political philosophy, in
mathematics and physics, in chemistry, and in zoology, botany and
mineralogy. He would only promise to undertake the general map and the
first historical sketch, if his health and other engagements
permitted, after the second volume of his _Philosophy of the Human
Mind_ (published in 1813) had gone to press. For the second he
recommended Playfair, for chemistry Sir Humphry Davy. He received
£1000 for the first part of his dissertation (166 pages), and £700 for
the second (257 pages), the right of publication being limited to the
Supplement and _Encyclopaedia_. Constable next contracted with
Professor Playfair for a dissertation "to be equal in length or not to
Mr Stewart's, for £250; but a short time afterwards I felt that to pay
one eminent individual £1000 because he would not take less would be
quite unfair, and I wrote to the worthy Professor that I had fixed his
payment at £500." Constable gave him £500 for the first part (127
pages), and would have given as much for the second (90 pages) if it
had been as long. His next object was to find out the greatest defects
in the book, and he gave Professor Leslie £200 and Graham Dalyell £100
for looking over it. He then wrote out a prospectus and submitted it
in print to Stewart, "but the cautious philosopher referred" him to
Playfair, who "returned it next day very greatly improved." For this
Constable sent him six dozen of very fine old sherry, only feeling
regret that he had nothing better to offer. He at first intended to
have two editors, "one for the strictly literary and the other for the
scientific department." He applied to Dr Thomas Brown, who "preferred
writing trash of poetry to useful and lucrative employment." At last
he fixed on Mr Macvey Napier (born 1777), whom he had known from 1798,
and who "had been a hard student, and at college laid a good
foundation for his future career, though more perhaps in general
information than in what would be, strictly speaking, called
scholarship; this, however, does not fit him the less for his present
task." Constable, in a letter dated the 11th of June 1813, offered him
£300 before the first part went to press, £150 on the completion at
press of each of the eight half volumes, £500 if the work was
reprinted or extended beyond 7000 copies and £200 for incidental
expenses. "In this way the composition of the four volumes, including
the introductory dissertations, will amount to considerably more than
£9000." In a postscript the certain payment is characteristically
increased to £1575, the contingent to £735, and the allowance for
incidental expenses to £300 (Constable, ii. 326). Napier went to
London, and obtained the co-operation of many literary men. The
supplement was published in half-volume parts from December 1816 to
April 1824. It formed six volumes 4to, containing 4933 pages, 125
plates, 9 maps, three dissertations and 669 articles, of which a list
is given at the end. The first dissertation, on the "progress of
metaphysical, ethical and political philosophy," was by Stewart, who
completed his plan only in respect to metaphysics. He had thought it
would be easy to adapt the intellectual map or general survey of human
knowledge, sketched by Bacon and improved by D'Alembert, to the
advanced state of the sciences, while its unrivalled authority would
have softened criticism. But on closer examination he found the
logical views on which this systematic arrangement was based
essentially erroneous; and, doubting whether the time had come for a
successful repetition of this bold experiment, he forebore to
substitute a new scheme of his own. Sir James Mackintosh characterized
this discourse as "the most splendid of Mr. Stewart's works, a
composition which no other living writer of English prose has
equalled" (_Edinburgh Review_, xxvii. 191, September 1816). The second
dissertation, "On the progress of mathematics and physics," was by
Playfair, who died 19th July 1819, when he had only finished the
period of Newton and Leibnitz. The third, by Professor Brande, "On the
progress of chemistry from the early middle ages to 1800," was the
only one completed. These historical dissertations were admirable and
delightful compositions, and important and interesting additions to
the _Encyclopaedia_; but it is difficult to see why they should form a
separate department distinct from the general alphabet. The preface,
dated March 1824, begins with an account of the more important
previous encyclopaedias, relates the history of this to the sixth
edition, describes the preparation for the supplement and gives an
"outline of the contents," and mentions under each great division of
knowledge the principal articles and their authors' names, often with
remarks on the characters of both. Among the distinguished
contributors were Leslie, Playfair, Ivory, Sir John Barrow, Tredgold,
Jeffrey, John Bird Sumner, Blanco White, Hamilton Smith and Hazlitt.
Sir Walter Scott, to gratify his generous friend Constable, laid aside
_Waverley_, which he was completing for publication, and in April and
May 1814 wrote "Chivalry." He also wrote "Drama" in November 1818, and
"Romance" in the summer of 1823. As it seemed to the editor that
encyclopaedias had previously attended little to political philosophy,
he wrote "Balance of Power," and procured from James Mill "Banks for
Savings," "Education," "Law of Nations," "Liberty of the Press," and
other articles, which, reprinted cheaply, had a wide circulation.
M'Culloch wrote "Corn Laws," "Interest," "Money," "Political Economy,"
&c. Mr Ricardo wrote "Commerce" and "Funding System," and Professor
Malthus, in his article "Population," gave a comprehensive summary of
the facts and reasonings on which his theory rested. In the article
"Egypt" Dr Thomas Young "first gave to the public an extended view of
the results of his successful interpretation of the hieroglyphic
characters on the stone of Rosetta," with a vocabulary of 221 words in
English, Coptic, Hieroglyphic and Enchorial, engraved on four plates.
There were about 160 biographies, chiefly of persons who had died
within the preceding 30 years. Constable "wished short biographical
notices of the first founders of this great work, but they were, in
the opinion of my editor, too insignificant to entitle them to the
rank which such separate notice, it was supposed, would have given
them as literary men, although his own consequence in the world had
its origin in their exertions" (_Memoirs_, ii. 326). It is to be
regretted that this wish was not carried out, as was done in the
latter volumes of Zedler. Arago wrote "Double Refraction" and
"Polarization of Light," a note to which mentions his name as author.
Playfair wrote "Aepinus," and "Physical Astronomy." Biot wrote
"Electricity" and "Pendulum." He "gave his assistance with alacrity,"
though his articles had to be translated. Signatures, on the plan of
the _Encyclopédie_, were annexed to each article, the list forming a
triple alphabet, A to XXX, with the full names of the 72 contributors
arranged apparently in the order of their first occurrence. At the end
of vol. vi. are Addenda and Corrigenda, including "Interpolation," by
Leslie, and "Polarization of Light," by Arago.
The sixth edition, "revised, corrected and improved," appeared in
half-volume parts, price 16s. in boards, vol. xx. part ii. completing
the work in May 1823. Constable, thinking it not wise to reprint so
large a book year after year without correction, in 1820 selected Mr
Charles Maclaren (1782-1866), as editor. "His attention was chiefly
directed to the historical and geographical articles. He was to keep
the press going, and have the whole completed in three years." He
wrote "America," "Greece," "Troy," &c. Many of the large articles as
"Agriculture," "Chemistry," "Conchology," were new or nearly so; and
references were given to the supplement. A new edition in 25 vols. was
contemplated, not to be announced till a certain time after the
supplement was finished; but Constable's house stopped payment on the
19th of January 1826, and his copyrights were sold by auction. Those
of the _Encyclopaedia_ were bought by contract, on the 16th of July
1828, for £6150, by Thomas Allan, proprietor of the _Caledonian
Mercury_, Adam Black, Abram Thomson, bookbinder, and Alexander Wight,
banker, who, with the trustee of Constable's estate, had previously
begun the seventh edition. Not many years later Mr Black purchased all
the shares and became sole proprietor.
The seventh edition, 21 vols. 4to (with an index of 187 pages,
compiled by Robert Cox), containing 17,101 pages and 506 plates,
edited by Macvey Napier, assisted by James Browne, LL.D., was begun in
1827, and published from March 1830 to January 1842. It was reset
throughout and stereotyped. Mathematical diagrams were printed in the
text from woodcuts. The first half of the preface was nearly that of
the supplement. The list of signatures, containing 167 names, consists
of four alphabets with additions, and differs altogether from that in
the supplement: many names are omitted, the order is changed and 103
are added. A list follows of over 300 articles, without signatures, by
87 writers. The dissertations--1st, Stewart's, 289 pages; 2nd,
"Ethics" (136 pages), by Sir James Mackintosh, whose death prevented
the addition of "Political Philosophy"; 3rd, Playfair's, 139 pages;
4th, its continuation by Sir John Leslie, 100 pages--and their index
of 30 pages, fill vol. i. As they did not include Greek philosophy,
"Aristotle," "Plato" and "Socrates" were supplied by Dr Hampden,
afterwards bishop of Hereford. Among the numerous contributors of
eminence, mention may be made of Sir David Brewster, Prof. Phillips,
Prof. Spalding, John Hill Burton, Thomas De Quincey, Patrick Fraser
Tytler, Capt. Basil Hall, Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Antonio Panizzi,
John Scott Russell and Robert Stephenson. Zoology was divided into 11
chief articles, "Mammalia," "Ornithology," "Reptilia," "Ichthyology,"
"Mollusca," "Crustacea," "Arachnides," "Entomology," "Helminthology,"
"Zoophytes," and "Animalcule"--all by James Wilson.
The eighth edition, 1853-1860, 4to, 21 vols. (and index of 239 pages,
1861), containing 17,957 pages and 402 plates, with many woodcuts, was
edited by Dr Thomas Stewart Traill, professor of medical jurisprudence
in Edinburgh University. The dissertations were reprinted, with one on
the "Rise, Progress and Corruptions of Christianity" (97 pages), by
Archbishop Whately, and a continuation of Leslie's to 1850, by
Professor James David Forbes, 198 pages, the work of nearly three
years, called by himself his "magnum opus" (Life, pp. 361, 366). Lord
Macaulay, Charles Kingsley, Isaac Taylor, Hepworth Dixon, Robert
Chambers, Rev. Charles Merivale, Rev. F.W. Farrar, Sir John
Richardson, Dr Scoresby, Dr Hooker, Henry Austin Layard, Edw. B.
Eastwick, John Crawfurd, Augustus Petermann, Baron Bunsen, Sir John
Herschel, Dr Lankester, Professors Owen, Rankine, William Thomson,
Aytoun, Blackie, Daniel Wilson and Jukes, were some of the many
eminent new contributors found among the 344 authors, of whom an
alphabetical list is given, with a key to the signatures. In the
preface a list of 279 articles by 189 writers, classed under 15 heads,
is given. This edition was not wholly reset like the seventh, but many
long articles were retained almost or entirely intact.
The publication of the ninth edition (A. & C. Black) was commenced in
January 1875, under the editorship of Thomas Spencer Baynes until
1880, and subsequently of W. Robertson Smith, and completed in 1889,
24 vols., with index. This great edition retained a certain amount of
the valuable material in the eighth, but was substantially a new work;
and it was universally acknowledged to stand in the forefront of the
scholarship of its time. Its contributors included the most
distinguished men of letters and of science. In 1898 a reprint, sold
at about half the original price, and on the plan of payment by
instalments, was issued by _The Times_ of London; and in 1902, under
the joint editorship of Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, President Arthur
T. Hadley of Yale University, and Hugh Chisholm, eleven supplementary
volumes were published, forming, with the 24 vols. of the ninth
edition, a tenth edition of 35 volumes. These included a volume of
maps, and an elaborate index (vol. 35) to the whole edition,
comprising some 600,000 entries. In May 1903 a start was made with the
preparation of the 11th edition, under the general editorship of Hugh
Chisholm, with W. Alison Phillips as chief assistant-editor, and a
staff of editorial assistants, the whole work of organization being
conducted up to December 1909 from _The Times_ office. Arrangements
were then made by which the copyright and control of the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ passed to Cambridge University, for the
publication at the University Press in 1910-1911 of the 29 volumes
(one being Index) of the 11th edition, a distinctive feature of this
issue being the appearance of the whole series of volumes practically
at the same time.
A new and enlarged edition of the _Encyclopédie_ arranged as a system of
separate dictionaries, and entitled _Encyclopédie méthodique ou par ordre
de matières_, was undertaken by Charles Joseph Panckoucke, a publisher of
Paris (born at Lille on the 26th of November 1736, died on the 19th of
December 1798). His privilege was dated the 20th of June 1780. The
articles belonging to different subjects would readily form distinct
dictionaries, although, having been constructed for an alphabetical plan,
they seemed unsuited for any system wholly methodical. Two copies of the
book and its supplement were cut up into articles, which were sorted into
subjects. The division adopted was: 1, mathematics; 2 physics; 3,
medicine; 4, anatomy and physiology; 5, surgery; 6, chemistry, metallurgy
and pharmacy; 7, agriculture; 8, natural history of animals, in six
parts; 9, botany; 10, minerals; 11, physical geography; 12, ancient and
modern geography; 13, antiquities; 14, history; 15, theology; 16,
philosophy; 17, metaphysics, logic and morality; 18, grammar and
literature; 19, law; 20, finance; 21, political economy; 22, commerce;
23, marine; 24, art militaire; 25, beaux arts; 26, arts et métiers--all
forming distinct dictionaries entrusted to different editors. The first
object of each editor was to exclude all articles belonging to other
subjects, and to take care that those of a doubtful nature should not be
omitted by all. In some words (such as air, which belonged equally to
chemistry, physics and medicine) the methodical arrangement has the
unexpected effect of breaking up the single article into several widely
separated. Each dictionary was to have an introduction and a classified
table of the principal articles. History and its minor parts, as
inscriptions, fables, medals, were to be included. Theology, which was
neither complete, exact nor orthodox, was to be by the abbé Bergier,
confessor to Monsieur. The whole work was to be completed and connected
together by a Vocabulaire Universel, 1 vol. 4to, with references to all
the places where each word occurred, and a very exact history of the
_Encyclopédie_ and its editions by Panckoucke. The prospectus, issued
early in 1782, proposed three editions--84 vols. 8vo, 43 vols. 4to with 3
columns to a page, and 53 vols. 4to of about 100 sheets with 2 columns to
a page, each edition having 7 vols. 4to of 250 to 300 plates each. The
subscription was to be 672 livres from the 15th of March to July 1782,
then 751, and 888 after April 1783. It was to be issued in livraisons of
2 vols. each, the first (jurisprudence, vol. i., literature, vol. i.) to
appear in July 1782, and the whole to be finished in 1787. The number of
subscribers, 4072, was so great that the subscription list of 672 livres
was closed on the 30th of April. Twenty-five printing offices were
employed, and in November 1782 the 1st livraison (jurisprudence, vol. i.,
and half vol. each of arts et métiers and histoire naturelle) was issued.
A Spanish prospectus was sent out, and obtained 330 Spanish subscribers,
with the inquisitor-general at their head. The complaints of the
subscribers and his own heavy advances, over 150,000 livres, induced
Panckoucke, in November 1788, to appeal to the authors to finish the
work. Those _en retard_ made new contracts, giving their word of honour
to put their parts to press in 1788, and to continue them without
interruption, so that Panckoucke hoped to finish the whole, including the
vocabulary (4 or 5 vols.), in 1792. Whole sciences, as architecture,
engineering, hunting, police, games, &c., had been overlooked in the
prospectus; a new division was made in 44 parts, to contain 51
dictionaries and about 124 vols. Permission was obtained on the 27th of
February 1789, to receive subscriptions for the separate dictionaries.
Two thousand subscribers were lost by the Revolution. The 50th livraison
appeared on the 23rd of July 1792, when all the dictionaries eventually
published had been begun except seven--jeux familiers and mathématiques,
physics, art oratoire, physical geography, chasses and pêches; and 18
were finished,--mathematics, games, surgery, ancient and modern
geography, history, theology, logic, grammar, jurisprudence, finance,
political economy, commerce, marine, arts militaires, arts académiques,
arts et métiers, encyclopediana. Supplements were added to military art
in 1797, and to history in 1807, but not to any of the other 16, though
required for most long before 1832. The publication was continued by
Henri Agasse, Panckoucke's son-in-law, from 1794 to 1813, and then by Mme
Agasse, his widow, to 1832, when it was completed in 102 livraisons or
337 parts, forming 166½ vols. of text, and 51 parts containing 6439
plates. The letterpress issued with the plates amounts to 5458 pages,
making with the text 124,210 pages. To save expense the plates belonging
to architecture were not published. Pharmacy (separated from chemistry),
minerals, education, ponts et chaussées had been announced but were not
published, neither was the Vocabulaire Universel, the key and index to
the whole work, so that it is difficult to carry out any research or to
find all the articles on any subject. The original parts have been so
often subdivided, and have been so added to by other dictionaries,
supplements and appendices, that, without going into great detail, an
exact account cannot be given of the work, which contains 88 alphabets,
with 83 indexes, and 166 introductions, discourses, prefaces, &c. Many
dictionaries have a classed index of articles; that of économie politique
is very excellent, giving the contents of each article, so that any
passage can be found easily. The largest dictionaries are medicine, 13
vols., 10,330 pages; zoology, 7 dictionaries, 13,645 pages, 1206 plates;
botany, 12,002 pages, 1000 plates (34 only of cryptogamic plants);
geography, 3 dictionaries and 2 atlases, 9090 pages, 193 maps and plates;
jurisprudence (with police and municipalities), 10 vols., 7607 pages.
Anatomy, 4 vols., 2866 pages, is not a dictionary but a series of
systematic treatises. Assemblée Nationale was to be in three parts,--(1)
the history of the Revolution, (2) debates, and (3) laws and decrees.
Only vol. ii., debates, appeared, 1792, 804 pages, Absens to Aurillac.
Ten volumes of a Spanish translation with a vol. of plates were published
at Madrid to 1806--viz. historia natural, i. ii.; grammatica, i.; arte
militar, i., ii.; geografia, i.-iii.; fabricas, i., ii., plates, vol. i.
A French edition was printed at Padua, with the plates, says Peignot,
very carefully engraved. Probably no more unmanageable body of
dictionaries has ever been published except Migne's _Encyclopédie
théologique_, Paris, 1844-1875, 4to, 168 vols., 101 dictionaries, 119,059
pages.
No work of reference has been more useful and successful, or more
frequently copied, imitated and translated, than that known as the
_Conversations Lexikon_ of Brockhaus. It was begun as _Conversations
Lexikon mit vorzüglicher Rücksicht auf die gegenwärtigen Zeiten_,
Leipzig, 1796 to 1808, 8vo, 6 vols., 2762 pages, by Dr Gotthelf Renatus
Löbel (born on the 1st of April 1767 at Thalwitz near Wurzen in Saxony,
died on the 14th of February 1799), who intended to supersede Hübner,
and included geography, history, and in part biography, besides
mythology, philosophy, natural history, &c. Vols. i.-iv. (A to R)
appeared 1796 to 1800, vol. v. in 1806. Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus
(q.v.) bought the work with its copyright on the 25th of October 1808,
for 1800 thalers from the printer, who seems to have got it in payment
of his bill. The editor, Christian Wilhelm Franke, by contract dated the
16th of November, was to finish vol. vi. by the 5th of December, and the
already projected supplement, 2 vols., by Michaelmas 1809, for 8 thalers
a printed sheet. No penalty was specified, but, says his grandson,
Brockhaus was to learn that such contracts, whether under penalty or
not, are not kept, for the supplement was finished only in 1811.
Brockhaus issued a new impression as _Conversations Lexikon oder
kurzgefasstes Handwörterbuch_, &c, 1809-1811, and on removing to
Altenburg in 1811 began himself to edit the 2nd edition (1812-1819, 10
vols.), and, when vol. iv. was published, the 3rd (1814-1819). He
carried on both editions together until 1817, when he removed to
Leipzig, and began the 4th edition as _Allgemeine deutsche
Realencyclopädie für die gebildeten Stände. Conversations Lexikon_. This
title was, in the 14th edition, changed to that of _Brockhaus'
Konversations Lexicon_. The 5th edition was at once begun, and was
finished in eighteen months. Dr Ludwig Hain assisted in editing the 4th
and 5th editions until he left Leipzig in April 1820, when Professor
F.C. Hasse took his place. The 12,000 copies of the 5th edition being
exhausted while vol. x. was at press, a 2nd unaltered impression of
10,000 was required in 1820 and a 3rd of 10,000 in 1822. The 6th
edition, 10 vols., was begun in September 1822. Brockhaus died in 1823,
and his two eldest sons, Friedrich and Heinrich, who carried on the
business for the heirs and became sole possessors in 1829, finished the
edition with Hasse's assistance in September 1823. The 7th edition
(1827-1829, 12 vols., 10,489 pages, 13,000 copies, 2nd impression
14,000) was edited by Hasse. The 8th edition (1833-1836, 12 vols.,
10,689 pages, 31,000 copies to 1842), begun in the autumn of 1832, ended
May 1837, was edited by Dr Karl August Espe (born February 1804, died in
the Irrenanstalt at Stötteritz near Leipzig on the 24th of November
1850) with the aid of many learned and distinguished writers. A general
index, Universal Register, 242 pages, was added in 1839. The 9th edition
(1843-1847, 15 vols., 11,470 pages, over 30,000 copies) was edited by Dr
Espe. The 10th edition (1851-1855, 12,564 pages) was also in 15 vols.,
for convenience in reference, and was edited by Dr August Kurtzel aided
by Oskar Pilz. Friedrich Brockhaus had retired in 1849; Dr Heinrich
Edward, the elder son of Heinrich, made partner in 1854, assisted in
this edition, and Heinrich Rudolf, the younger son, partner since 1863,
in the 11th (1864-1868, 15 vols. of 60 sheets, 13,366 pages).
Kurtzel died on the 24th of April 1871, and Pilz was sole editor until
March 1872, when Dr Gustav Stockmann joined, who was alone from April
until joined by Dr Karl Wippermann in October. Besides the Universal
Register of 136 pages and about 50,000 articles, each volume has an
index. The supplement, 2 vols, 1764 pages, was begun in February 1871,
and finished in April 1873. The 12th edition, begun in 1875, was
completed in 1879 in 15 vols., the 13th edition (1882-1887), in 16
vols., and the 14th (1901-1903) in 16 vols. with a supplementary
volume in 1904. The _Conversations Lexicon_ is intended, not for
scientific use, but to promote general mental improvement by giving
the results of research and discovery in a simple and popular form
without extended details. The articles, often too brief, are very
excellent and trustworthy, especially on German subjects, give
references to the best books, and include biographies of living men.
One of the best German encyclopaedias is that of Meyer, _Neues
Konversations-Lexicon_. The first edition, in 37 vols., was published in
1839-1852. The later editions, following closely the arrangement of
Brockhaus, are the 4th (1885-1890, 17 vols.), the 5th (1894-1898, 18
vols.), and the 6th (begun in 1902).
The most copious German encyclopaedia is Ersch and Gruber's _Allgemeine
Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste_, Leipzig. It was designed
and begun in 1813 by Professor Johann Samuel Ersch (born at Gross Glogau
on the 23rd of June 1766, chief librarian at Halle, died on the 16th of
January 1828) to satisfy the wants of Germans, only in part supplied by
foreign works. It was stopped by the war until 1816, when Professor
Hufeland (born at Danzig on the 19th of October 1760) joined, but he
died on the 25th of November 1817 while the specimen part was at press.
The editors of the different sections at various times have been some of
the best-known men of learning in Germany, including J.G. Gruber, M.H.E.
Meier, Hermann Brockhaus, W. Müller and A.G. Hoffmann of Jena.
The work is divided into three sections (1) A-G, of which 99 vols. had
appeared by 1905, (2) H-N, 43 vols., (3) O-Z, 25 vols. All articles
bear the authors' names, and those not ready in time were placed at
the end of their letter. The longest in the work is Griechenland,
vols. 80-87, 3668 pages, with a table of contents. It began to appear
after vol. 73 (Götze to Gondouin), and hence does not come in its
proper place, which is in vol. 91. Gross Britannien contains 700
pages, and Indien by Benfey 356.
The _Encyclopaedia Metropolitana_ (London, 1845, 4to, 28 vols., issued
in 59 parts in 1817-1845, 22,426 pages, 565 plates) professed to give
sciences and systematic arts entire and in their natural sequence, as
shown in the introductory treatise on method by S.T. Coleridge. "The
plan was the proposal of the poet Coleridge, and it had at least enough
of a poetical character to be eminently unpractical" (_Quarterly
Review_, cxiii., 379). However defective the plan, the excellence of
many of the treatises by Archbishop Whately, Sir John Herschel,
Professors Barlow, Peacock, de Morgan, &c., is undoubted. It is in four
divisions, the last only being alphabetical:--I. _Pure Sciences_, 2
vols., 1813 pages, 16 plates, 28 treatises, includes grammar, law and
theology; II. _Mixed and Applied Sciences_, 8 vols., 5391 pages, 437
plates, 42 treatises, including fine arts, useful arts, natural history
and its "application," the medical sciences; III. _History and
Biography_, 5 vols., 4458 pages, 7 maps, containing biography (135
essays) chronologically arranged (to Thomas Aquinas in vol. 3), and
interspersed with (210) chapters on history (to 1815), as the most
philosophical, interesting and natural form (but modern lives were so
many that the plan broke down, and a division of biography, to be in 2
vols., was announced but not published); IV. _Miscellaneous_, 12 vols.,
10,338 pages, 105 plates, including geography, a dictionary of English
(the first form of Richardson's) and descriptive natural history. The
index, 364 pages, contains about 9000 articles. A re-issue in 38 vols.
4to, was announced in 1849. Of a second edition 42 vols. 8vo, 14,744
pages, belonging to divisions i. to iii., were published in 1849-1858.
The very excellent and useful _English Cyclopaedia_ (London, 1854-1862,
4to, 23 vols., 12,117 pages; supplements, 1869-1873, 4 vols., 2858
pages), conducted by Charles Knight, based on the _Penny Cyclopaedia_
(London, 1833-1846, 4to, 29 vols., 15,625 pages), of which he had the
copyright, is in four divisions all alphabetical, and evidently very
unequal as classes:--1, geography; 2, natural history; 3, biography
(with 703 lives of living persons); 4, arts and sciences. The synoptical
index, 168 pages, has four columns on a page, one for each division, so
that the order is alphabetical and yet the words are classed.
_Chambers's Encyclopaedia_ (Edinburgh, W. & R. Chambers), 1860-1868,
8vo, 10 vols., 8283 pages, edited in part by the publishers, but under
the charge of Dr Andrew Findlater as "acting editor" throughout, was
founded on the 10th edition of _Brockhaus_. A revised edition appeared
in 1874, 8320 pages. In the list of 126 contributors were J.H. Burton,
Emmanuel Deutsch, Professor Goldstücker, &c. The index of matters not
having special articles contained about 1500 headings. The articles were
generally excellent, more especially on Jewish literature, folk-lore and
practical science; but, as in _Brockhaus_, the scope of the work did not
allow extended treatment. A further revision took place, and in
1888-1892 an entirely new edition was published, in 10 vols., still
further new editions being issued in 1895 and in 1901.
An excellent brief compilation, the _Harmsworth Encyclopaedia_ (1905),
was published in 40 fortnightly parts (sevenpence each) in England, and
as _Nelson's Encyclopaedia_ (revised) in 12 vols. (1906) in America. It
was originally prepared for Messrs Nelson of Edinburgh and for the
Carmelite Press, London.
In the United States various encyclopaedias have been published, but
without rivalling there the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, the 9th edition
of which was extensively pirated. Several American Supplements were also
issued.
The _New American Cyclopaedia_, New York (Appleton & Co.), 1858-1863, 16
vols., 12,752 pages, was the work of the editors, George Ripley and
Charles Anderson Dana, and 364 contributors, chiefly American. A
supplementary work, the _American Annual Cyclopaedia_, a yearly 8vo vol.
of about 800 pages and 250 articles, was started in 1861, but ceased in
1902. In a new edition, the _American Cyclopaedia_, 1873-1876, 8vo, 16
vols., 13,484 pages, by the same editors, 4 associate editors, 31
revisers and a librarian, each article passed through the hands of 6 or
8 revisers.
Other American encyclopaedias are Alvin J. Johnson's _New Universal
Cyclopaedia_, 1875-1877, in 4 vols., a new edition of which (excellently
planned) was published in 8 vols., 1893-1895, under the name of
_Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia_; the _Encyclopaedia Americana_, edited
by Francis Lieber, which appeared in 1839-1847 in 14 vols.; a new work
under the same title, published in 1903-1904 in 16 vols.; the
_International Cyclopaedia_, first published in 1884 (revised in 1891,
1894 and 1898), and superseded in 1902 (revised, 1906) by the _New
International Encyclopaedia_ in 17 vols.
In Europe a great impetus was given to the compilation of
encyclopaedias by the appearance of Brockhaus' _Conversations-Lexicon_
(see above), which, as a begetter of these works, must rank, in the
19th century, with the _Cyclopaedia_ of Ephraim Chambers in the 18th.
The following, although in no sense an exhaustive list, may be here
mentioned. In France, _Le Grand Dictionnaire universel du XIX^e
siècle_, of Pierre Larousse (15 vols., 1866-1876), with supplementary
volumes in 1877, 1887 and 1890; the _Nouveau Larousse illustré,
dictionnaire universel encyclopédique_ (7 vols., 1901-1904), (this is
in no way a re-issue or an abridgment of _Le Grand Dictionnaire_ of
Pierre Larousse); _La Grande Encyclopédie, inventaire raisonné des
sciences, des lettres, et des arts_, in 31 vols. (1886-1903). In
Italy, the _Nuova Enciclopedia Italiana_ (14 vols., 1841-1851, and in
25 vols., 1875-1888). In Spain, the _Diccionario enciclopedico
Hispano-Americano de litteratura, ciencias y artes_, published at
Barcelona (25 vols., 1877-1899). The Russian encyclopaedia, _Russkiy
Entsiklopedicheskiy Slovar_ (41 vols., 1905, 2 supplementary vols.,
1908) was begun in 1890 as a Russian version of Brockhaus'
_Conversations-Lexicon_, but has become a monumental encyclopaedia, to
which all the best Russian men of science and letters have
contributed. Elaborate encyclopaedias have also appeared in the
Polish, Hungarian, Bohemian and Rumanian languages. Of Scandinavian
encyclopaedias there have been re-issues of the _Nordësk
Conversations-Lexicon_, first published in 1858-1863, and of the
_Svenskt Conversations-Lexicon_, first published in 1845-1851.
ENDECOTT, JOHN (c. 1588-1665), English colonial governor in America, was
born probably at Dorchester, Dorsetshire, England, about 1588. Little is
known of him before 1628, when he was one of the six "joint adventurers"
who purchased from the Plymouth Company a strip of land about 60 m. wide
along the Massachusetts coast and extending westward to the Pacific
Ocean. By his associates Endecott was entrusted with the responsibility
of leading the first colonists to the region, and with some sixty
persons proceeded to Naumkeag (later Salem) where Roger Conant, a
seceder from the colony at Plymouth, had begun a settlement two years
earlier. Endecott experienced some trouble with the previous settlers
and with Thomas Morton's settlement at "Merry Mount" (Mount Wollaston,
now Quincy), where, in accordance with his strict Puritanical tenets, he
cut down the maypole and dispersed the merrymakers. He was the local
governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from the 30th of April 1629 to
the 12th of June 1630, when John Winthrop, who had succeeded Matthew
Cradock as governor of the company on the 20th of October 1629, brought
the charter to Salem and became governor of the colony as well as of the
company. In the years immediately following he continued to take a
prominent part in the affairs of the colony, serving as an assistant and
as a military commissioner, and commanding, although with little
success, an expedition against the Pequots in 1636. At Salem he was a
member of the congregation of Roger Williams, whom he resolutely
defended in his trouble with the New England clerical hierarchy, and
excited by Williams's teachings, cut the cross of St George from the
English flag in token of his hatred of all symbols of Romanism. He was
deputy-governor in 1641-1644, and governor in 1644-1645, and served also
as sergeant-major-general (commander-in-chief) of the militia and as one
of the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, of which in
1658 he was president. On the death of John Winthrop in 1649 he became
governor, and by annual re-elections served continuously until his
death, with the exception of two years (1650-1651 and 1654-1655), when
he was deputy-governor. Under his authority the colony of Massachusetts
Bay made rapid progress, and except in the matter of religious
intolerance--he showed great bigotry and harshness, particularly towards
the Quakers--his rule was just and praiseworthy. Of him Edward Eggleston
says: "A strange mixture of rashness, pious zeal, genial manners, hot
temper, and harsh bigotry, his extravagances supply the condiment of
humour to a very serious history--it is perhaps the principal debt
posterity owes him." He died on the 15th of March 1665.
See C.M. Endicott, _Memoirs of John Endecott_ (Salem, 1847), and a
"Memoir of John Endecott" in _Antiquarian Papers_ of the American
Antiquarian Society (Worcester, Mass., 1879).
A lineal descendant, WILLIAM CROWNINSHIELD ENDICOTT (1826-1900),
graduated at Harvard in 1847, was a justice of the Massachusetts supreme
court in 1873-1882, and was secretary of war in President Cleveland's
cabinet from 1885 to 1889. His daughter, Mary Crowninshield Endicott,
was married to the English statesman Mr Joseph Chamberlain in 1888.
ENDIVE, _Cichorium Endivia_, an annual esculent plant of the natural
order Compositae, commonly reputed to have been introduced into Europe
from the East Indies, but, according to some authorities, more probably
indigenous to Egypt. It has been cultivated in England for more than
three hundred years, and is mentioned by John Gerarde in his _Herbal_
(1597). There are numerous varieties of the endive, forming two groups,
namely, the curled or narrow-leaved (var. _crispa_), and the Batavian or
broad-leaved (var. _latifolia_), the leaves of which are not curled. The
former varieties are those most used for salads, the latter being grown
chiefly for culinary purposes. The plant requires a light, rich and dry
soil, in an unshaded situation. In the climate of England sowing for the
main crop should begin about the second or third week in June; but for
plants required to be used young it may be as early as the latter half
of April, and for winter crops up to the middle of August. The seed
should be finely spread in drills 4 in. asunder, and then lightly
covered. After reaching an inch in height the young plants are thinned;
and when about a month old they may be placed out at distances of 12 or
15 in., in drills 3 in. in depth, care being taken in removing them from
the seed-bed to disturb their roots as little as possible. The Batavian
require more room than the curled-leaved varieties. Transplantation,
where early crops are required, has been found inadvisable. Rapidity of
growth is promoted by the application of liquid manures. The bleaching
of endive, in order to prevent the development of the natural bitter
taste of the leaves, and to improve their appearance, is begun about
three months after the sowing, and is best effected either by tying the
outer leaves around the inner, or, as in damp seasons, by the use of the
bleaching-pot. The bleaching may be completed in ten days or so in
summer, but in winter it takes three or four weeks. For late crops,
protection from frost is requisite; and to secure fine winter endive, it
has been recommended to take up the full-grown plants in November, and
to place them under shelter, in a soil of moderately dry sand or of
half-decayed peat earth. Where forcing-houses are employed, endive may
be sown in January, so as to procure by the end of the following month
plants ready for use.
ENDOEUS, an early sculptor, who worked at Athens in the middle of the
6th century B.C. We are told that he made an image of Athena dedicated
by Callias the contemporary of Pisistratus at Athens about 564 B.C. An
inscription bearing his name has been found at Athens, written in Ionian
dialect. The tradition which made him a pupil of Daedalus is apparently
misleading, since Daedalus had no connexion with Ionic art.
ENDOGAMY (Gr. [Greek: endon], within, and [Greek: gamos], marriage),
marriage within the tribe or community, the term adopted to express the
custom compelling those of a tribe to marry among themselves. Endogamy
was probably characteristic of the very early stages of social
organization (see FAMILY), and is to-day found only among races low in
the scale of civilization. As a custom it is believed to have been
preceded in most lands by the far more general rule of Exogamy (q.v.).
Lord Avebury (_Origin of Civilisation_, p. 154) points out that "there
is not the opposition between exogamy and endogamy which Mr McLennan
supposed." Some races which are endogamous as regards the tribe are
exogamous as regards the gens. Thus the Abors, Kochs, Hos and other
peoples of India, are forbidden to marry out of the tribe; but the tribe
itself is divided into "keelis" or clans, and no man is allowed to take
as wife a girl of his own "keeli". Endogamy must have in most cases
arisen from racial pride, and a contempt, either well or ill founded,
for the surrounding peoples.
Among the Ahtena of Alaska, though the tribes are extremely militant and
constantly at war, the captured women are never made wives, but are used
as slaves. Endogamy also prevails among tribes of Central America. With
the Yerkalas of southern India a custom prevails by which the first two
daughters of a family may be claimed by the maternal uncle as wives for
his sons. The value of a wife is fixed at twenty pagodas (a 16th-century
Indian coin equivalent to about five shillings), and should the uncle
forgo his claim he is entitled to share in the price paid for his
nieces. Among some of the Karen tribes marriages between near relatives
are usual. The Douignaks, a branch of the Chukmas, seem to have
practised endogamy; and they "abandoned the parent stem during the
chiefship of Janubrix Khan about 1782. The reason of this split was a
disagreement on the subject of marriages. The chief passed an order that
the Douignaks should intermarry with the tribe in general. This was
contrary to an ancient custom and caused discontent and eventually a
break in the tribe" (Lewin's _Hill Tracts of Chittagong_, p. 65). This
is interesting as being one of the few cases in which evidence of a
change in this respect is available. The Kalangs of Java are endogamous,
and every man must first prove his common descent before he can enter a
family. The Manchu Tatars prohibit those who have the same family names
from marrying. Among the Bedouins "a man has an exclusive right to the
hand of his cousin." Hottentots seldom marry out of their own kraal, and
David Livingstone quotes other examples. Endogamy seems to have existed
in the Sandwich Islands and in New Zealand. A community of Javans near
Surabaya, on the Teugger Hills, numbering about 1200 persons,
distributed in about forty villages, and still following the ancient
Hindu religion, is endogamous. Good examples of what biologists call
"in-and-in breeding" are to be found in various fishing villages in
Great Britain, such as Itchinferry, near Southampton, Portland Island,
Bentham in Yorkshire, Mousehole and Newlyn in Mountsbay, Cornwall,
Boulmer near Alnwick (where almost all the inhabitants are called
Stephenson, Stanton or Stewart), Burnmouth, Ross and (to some extent)
Eyemouth in Berwickshire, Boyndie in Banffshire, Rathen in
Aberdeenshire, Buckhaven in Fifeshire, Portmahomack and Balnabruach in
Eastern Ross. In France may be mentioned the commune of Batz, near Le
Broisic in Loire-Inférieur, many of the central cantons of Brétagne, and
the singular society called Foréatines--supposed to be of Irish
descent--living between St Arnaud and Bourges. Many other European
examples might be mentioned, such as the Marans of Auvergne, a race of
Spanish converted Jews accused of introducing syphilis into France; the
Burins and Sermoyers, chiefly cattle-breeders, scattered over the
department of Ain and especially in the arrondissement of
Bourg-en-Bresse; the Vaquéros, shepherds in the Asturias Mountains; and
the Jewish Chuetas of Majorca.
See Gilbert Malcolm Sproat's _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_;
Westermarck's _History of Human Marriage_ (1894); Lord Avebury's
_Origin of Civilisation_ (1902); J.F. McLennan's _Primitive Marriage_
(1865).
ENDOR, an ancient town of Palestine, chiefly memorable as the abode of
the sorceress whom Saul consulted on the eve of the battle of Gilboa, in
which he perished (1 Sam. xxviii. 5-25). According to a psalmist (Ps.
lxxxiii. 9) it was the scene of the rout of Jabin and Sisera. Although
situated in the territory of the tribe of Issachar, it was assigned to
Manasseh. In the time of Eusebius and Jerome Endor existed as a large
village 5 m. south of Mount Tabor; there is still a poor village of the
same name on the slope of Jebel Dahi, near which are numerous caves.
For a description of the locality see Stanley, _Sinai and Palestine_,
p. 337.
ENDOSPORA, a natural group or class of the Sporozoa, consisting of the
orders Myxosporidia, Actinomyxidia, Sarcosporidia and Haplosporidia,
together with various insufficiently-known forms (Sero- and
Exosporidia), regarded at present as Sporozoa _incertae sedis_. The
distinguishing feature of the group is that the spore-mother-cells
(pansporoblasts) arise in the interior of the body of the
parent-individual; in other words, sporulation is endogenous. Another
very general character--though not so universal--is that the adult
trophozoite possesses more than one nucleus, usually many (i.e. it is
multinucleate). In the majority of forms, though apparently not in all
(e.g. certain Microsporidia), sporulation goes on coincidently with
growth and trophic life. With regard to the origin of the group, the
probability is greatly in favour of a Rhizopod ancestry. The entire
absence, at any known period, of a flagellate or even gregariniform
phase; on the other hand, the amoeboid nature of the trophozoites in
very many cases together with the formation of pseudopodia; and, lastly,
the simple endogenous spore-formation characteristic of the primitive
forms,--are all points which support this view, and exclude any
hypothesis of a Flagellate origin, such as, on the contrary, is probably
the case in the Ectospora (q.v.).
1. Order Myxosporidia. The Myxosporidia, or, more correctly, the dense
masses formed by their spores, were well known to the earlier zoological
observers. The parasites in fishes were called by Müller
"fish-psorosperms," a name which has stuck to them ever since, although,
as is evident from the meaning of the term ("mange-seed"), Müller had
little idea of the true nature of the bodies. Other examples, infesting
silkworms, have also long been known as "Pèbrine-corpuscles," from the
ravaging disease which they produce in those caterpillars in France, in
connexion with which Pasteur did such valuable work. The foundation of
our present morphological and biological knowledge of the order was well
laid by the admirable researches of Thèlohan in 1895. In spite, however,
of the contributions of numerous workers since then (e.g. Doflein, Cohn,
Stempell and others), there are still one or two very important points,
such as the occurrence of sexual conjugation, upon which light is
required.
Occurrence and habitat.
Although pre-eminently parasites of fishes, Myxosporidia also occur, in a
few cases, in other Vertebrates (frogs and reptiles); no instance of their
presence in a warm-blooded Vertebrate has, however, yet been described.
One suborder (the Microsporidia or Cryptocystes) is pretty equally
distributed between fishes on the one hand and Invertebrates--chiefly, but
not exclusively, Arthropods--on the other. The parasites are frequently
the cause of severe and fatal illness in their hosts, and devastating
epidemics of myxosporidiosis have often been reported (e.g. among carp and
barbel in continental rivers, due to a _Myxobolus_, and among crayfish in
France, to _Thelohania_).
The seat of the invasion and the mode of parasitism are extremely
varied. Practically any organ or tissue may be attacked, excepting,
apparently, the testis and cartilage and bone. In one instance at least
(that of _Nosema bombycis_ of the silkworm) the parasites penetrate into
the ova, so that true hereditary infection occurs, the progeny being
born with the disease. The parasites may be either free in some lumen,
such as that of the gall bladder or urinary bladder (not of the
alimentary canal, or the body-cavity itself), when they are known as
_coelozoic_ forms; or in intimate relation with some tissue,
intracellular while young but becoming intercellular in the adult phase
(_histozoic_ forms); or entirely intracellular (_cytozoic_ forms). Among
the histozoic and cytozoic types, moreover, two well-defined conditions,
_concentration_ and _diffuse infiltration_, occur. In the former, the
parasitic zone is strictly limited, and well-marked cysts are formed; in
the latter, the infection spreads throughout the neighbouring tissue,
and the parasitic development becomes inextricably commingled with the
host's cells. Sometimes, as shown by Woodcock (45), there may be an
attempt on the part of the host's tissue to circumscribe and check the
growth of these parasitic areas, which results in the formation of
_pseudocysts_, quite different in character from true cysts.
[Illustration: From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa,
from Wasielewski, after Thélohan.
FIG. 1.--Transverse section of a stickle-back (_Gasterosteus
aculeatus_), showing two cysts of _Glugea anomala_, Moniez (kk), in the
body musculature on the right side.]
[Illustration: From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa.
FIG. 2.--Portion of a section through a muscle fibre of _Cottus
scorpius_ invaded by _Pleistophora typicalis_, Gurley. m, f, Muscle
fibrils, retaining their striation. myx, Cysts of the parasite, lying
between the fibrils.]
Morphology.
The most noticeable feature about the Myxosporidian trophozoite is its
amoeboid and Rhizopod-like character. Pseudopodia of various kinds, from
long slender ones (fig. 3, B) to short blunt lobose ones, are of general
occurrence, being most easily observed, of course, in the free-living
forms. The pseudopodia serve chiefly for movement and attachment, and
never, it should be noted, for the injection of solid food-particles, as
in the case of _Amoebae_. The general protoplasm is divisible into
ectoplasm and endoplasm. The former is a clear, finely-granular layer,
of which the pseudopodia are mainly constituted (fig. 3, A). In one or
two instances (e.g. _Myxidium lieberkühnii_) the ectoplasm shows a
vertical striation, and in the older trophozoites breaks down partially,
appearing like a fur of delicate, non-motile filaments. A somewhat
similar modification is found in _Myxocystis_. The endoplasm is more
fluid, and contains numerous inclusions of a granular nature, as well as
vacuoles of varying size. In the endoplasm are lodged the nuclei, of
which in an adult trophozoite there may be very many; they are all
derived by multiplication from the single nucleus with which the young
individuals begin life, the number increasing as growth proceeds.
[Illustration: From Wasielewski, _Sporozoenkunde_.
FIG. 3.--A. Trophozoite of _Sphaerospora divergens_, Thél. (par.
_Blennius_ and _Crenilabrus_), × 750. ec, Ectoplasm; en, endoplasm; sp,
spores, each with four pole capsules.
From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa.
B. Spore-bearing trophozoite of Leptotheca agilis, Thél. (par. Trygon
and Scorpaena), × 750. _ps_, Pseudopodia localized at the anterior end;
f.gr, fatty granules similarly localized; r.gr, refringent granules; sp,
spores, two in number.]
Spore-formation; multiplicative processes.
Spore-formation goes on entirely in the endoplasm. The number of spores
formed is very variable. It may be as low as two (as in free-living
forms, _e.g._ _Leptotheca_), in which case a large amount of trophic
protoplasm is unconverted into spores; or, on the other hand, the number
of spores may be very great (as in tissue-parasites), practically the
whole of the parent-body being thus used up. The sporont may or may not
encyst at the commencement of sporulation. In the free-living forms
there is no cyst-membrane secreted; but in certain _Glugeidae_, on the
other hand, the ectoplasm becomes altered into a firm, enclosing layer,
the _ectorind_, which forms a thick cyst-wall (fig. 5). The process of
sporulation begins by the segregation of small quantities of endoplasm
around certain of the nuclei, to form little, rounded bodies, the
_pansporoblasts_. There may be either very many or only few
pansporoblasts developed; in some cases, indeed, there is only one, the
sporont either itself becoming a pansporoblast (certain
_Microsporidia_), or giving rise to a solitary one (_Ceratomyxidae_).
The pansporoblast constituted, nuclear multiplication goes on
preparatory to the formation of sporoblasts, which in their turn become
spores (see figs. 4 and 5). Not all the nuclei thus formed, however, are
made use of. In the _Phaenocystes_ there are always two sporoblasts
developed in each pansporoblast; in the _Cryptocystes_ there may be from
one to several. Around each sporoblast a spore-membrane is secreted,
which usually has the form of two valves. It has recently been shown by
Léger and Hesse (29b) that, in many Phaenocystes at any rate, each of
these valves is formed by a definite nucleated portion of the
sporoblast.
The spores themselves vary greatly in size and shape (figs. 7 and 8).
They may be as small as 1.5 µ by 1 µ (as in a species of _Nosema_), or
as large as 100 µ by 12 µ (as in _Ceratomyxa_). A conspicuous feature in
the structure of a fully-developed spore is the polar-capsules, of which
there may be either 1, 2, or 4 to each. In the Phaenocystes the
polar-capsules are visible in the fresh condition, but not in the
Cryptocystes. The polar-capsule is an organella which recalls the
nematocyst of a Hydrozoan, containing a spirally-coiled filament, often
of great length, which is shot out on the application of a suitable
stimulus. Normally, as was ingeniously shown by Thélohan (43), the
digestive juices of the fresh host serve this purpose, but various
artificial means may suffice. The function of the everted filament is
probably to secure the attachment of the spore to the epithelium of the
new host. In the Phaenocystes, in connexion with each polar-capsule, a
small nuclear body can be generally made out; these two little nuclei
are those of the two "capsulogenous" areas of the protoplasm of the
pansporoblast, which formed the capsules. The sporoplasm, representing
the sporozoite, is always single. Nevertheless, in the Phaenocystes it
is invariably binuclear; and, in the Microsporidia, the nucleus, at
first single, gives rise later to four nuclei, two of which are regarded
by Stempell (42) as corresponding to those of two polar-capsules (of
which only one is developed in the spore), the remaining two
representing germ-nuclei. Hence it is possible that the Myxosporidian
sporoplasm really consists of two, incompletely-divided (sister) germs.
Moreover, it is supposed by some that these two nuclei fuse together
later, this act representing a sexual conjugation; since the earliest
known phases of young trophozoites (amoebulae) have been described as
uninuclear.
[Illustration: From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa,
after Thélohan.
FIG. 4.--Stages in spore-formation. All the figures are from _Myxobolus
ellipsoides_, except a and f, which are from _M. pfeifferi_.
a, Differentiation of the pansporoblast (p.sp).
b, Pansporoblast with two nuclei.
c and d, Pansporoblasts with six and ten nuclei respectively; in d,
four of the nuclei are degenerating.
e, Pansporoblast segmented into two definitive sporoblasts, each with
three nuclei. In the next four figures the definitive sporoblast, or
the spore produced from it, is alone figured.
f, Definitive sporoblast segmented into three masses, the
capsulogenous cells (c.g.c) and the sporoplasm (sp.p), within an
envelope, the spore membrane (sp.m).
g, More advanced stage.
h, Spore completely developed, with two polar capsules and sporoplasm
containing an iodinophilous vacuole.
i, Abnormal spore containing six polar capsules.
n, Nuclei.
sp.bl, Definitive sporoblast.
r.n, Residuary nuclei.
vac, Vacuole.
r.p.c, Rudiment of p.c, polar capsule.
n.p.c, Nuclei of polar capsules.
iod.vac, Iodinophilous vacuole.
n.sp, Nuclei of sporoplasm.]
[Illustration: From Woodcock, _Proc. and Trans. of the Liverpool
Biological Society_, 1904.
FIG. 5.--Part of the periphery of a cyst of _Glugea stephani_, in the
intestinal wall of the plaice, showing sporoblast and spore-formation.
ect, Ectorind.
end, Endoplasm.
endoth, Fold of the mucous membrane, normal in character.
p.sp.bl, Various stages in the development of the pansporoblasts.
sp, Ripe spores, filling the greater part of the cyst.
n, Large (vegetative) nuclei.]
[Illustration: From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa.
FIG. 6.--Formation of buds by multiple plasmotomy in _Myxidium
lieberkühnii_, Bütschli (par. _Esox_ and _Lota_) after Cohn.
b, Buds.
end, Endoplasm; the clear outer portion represents the ectoplasm.]
In addition to spore-formation, two or three modes of endogenous
reproduction, serving for auto-infection, have been made known. One,
termed by Doflein _plasmotomy_, consists either in the division of the
(multinucleate) trophozoite into two, by more or less equal fission
(simple plasmotomy), or in the budding-off, from the parent trophozoite,
of several portions (example: _Myxidium lieberkühnii_, fig. 6). A
variety of this method has been described by Stempell (40) in the case
of the young trophozoites (meronts) of _Thelohania mülleri_, which may
divide into two while still uninuclear; and by rapid successive
divisions chains of meronts may be formed, the different individuals
being incompletely separated. Another method, which is probably chiefly
responsible for the rapid spread of tissue-parasites and cell-parasites
(such as _Myxobolidae_ and _Glugeidae_) through their host's tissue in
the condition of diffuse infiltration, consists in multiple nuclear
division, and the liberation of amoebulae while the parasite is yet
quite young and possesses only few nuclei. As Woodcock has pointed out
in considering the case of _Glugea stephani_, it is very probable that
this "multiplicative reproduction," in diffuse infiltration, is to be
looked upon as a separation of the pansporoblast-rudiments as
daughter-individuals; i.e. that the pansporoblasts are, in certain
circumstances, capable of independent existence as little sporonts. A
further stage in this direction of evolution is seen, according to
Stempell, in _Thelohania_, _Pleistophora_ and other types where the
whole individual becomes one reproductive organella; such forms are to
be considered as examples of a phylogenetic individualization of the
pansporoblasts, which now exist as solitary sporonts. An extreme case of
this "reduction of the individual" is found, apparently in the genus
_Nosema_, as lately characterized by Perez (34), where vast numbers of
minute entirely independent sporonts (pansporoblasts) are produced, each
of which gives rise to only a single spore.
The Myxosporidia are divided into two suborders, the Phaenocystes and
the Cryptocystes. Some authors have of late years separated these two
divisions and raised each to the rank of a distinct order, considering
that they are not more closely related to each other than to other
Endosporan orders. We think this is a mistake; and it is very
interesting to find that Léger and Hesse (1908) have described (29a) a
new genus of Phaenocystes, _Coccomyxa_, which represents a type
intermediate between these two suborders, and shows that they are
closely connected.
Classification.
Suborder 1: _Phaenocystes_, Gurley. Spores relatively large, with
generally two or four polar-capsules, visible in the fresh condition.
There are nearly always two spores formed in each pansporoblast.
Section (a): _Disporea_. Only two spores (i.e. one pansporoblast)
produced in each individual trophozoite. The greatest length of the
spore is at right angles to the plane of the suture.
One family, _Ceratomyxidae_, including two genera, _Ceratomyxa_ (fig.
3, B) and _Leptotheca_, typically "free" parasites, mostly from the
gall bladders of fishes. The valves of the spore in the former genus
are prolonged into hollow cones. The type-species of this genus is _C.
sphaerulosa_, from _Mustelus_ and _Galeus_; that of _Leptotheca_ is
_L. agilis_, from _Trygon_.
Section (b): _Polysporea_. More than two spores, generally very many,
are produced typically by each individual trophozoite. The greatest
length of the spore is usually in the sutural plane.
Family, _Myxidiidae_. Spores with two polar-capsules, and without an
iodinophilous vacuole in the sporoplasm. Mostly "free" parasites.
Gen. _Sphaerospora_. Four or five species are known, from the kidneys
or gall bladder of fishes (fig. 3, A). One, _S. elegans_, is
interesting in that it affords a transition between the two sections,
being disporous. Gen. _Myxidium_; spores elongated and fusiform, with
a polar capsule at each extremity. The best-known species is _M.
lieberkühnii_, from the urinary bladder of the pike. One or two
species occur in reptiles. Other genera are _Sphaeromyxa_,
_Cystodiscus_, _Myxosoma_ and _Myxoproteus_.
Family, _Chloromyxidae_. Spores with four polar capsules and no
iodinophilous vacuole. One genus, _Chloromyxum_, of which several
species are known; the type being _C. leydigi_, from the gall bladder
of various Elasmobranchs (fig. 7, B).
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--A. Spore of _Ceratomyxa sphaerulosa_, Thél.
(par. _Mustelus_ and _Galeus_), × 750, after Thélohan. sp.p,
Sporoplasm; p.c, polar capsules; s, suture; x, "irregular, pale
masses, of undetermined origin."
From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa.
B. Spores of _Chloromyxidae_, after Thélohan. a, _Chloromyxum
leydigi_, Ming., seen from the sutural aspect, × 2250; b, _C.
caudatum_, Thél., × 1900. p.c, Polar capsules; s, suture; f,
filaments; p.s, tail-like process of the spore envelope.
From Wasielewski's _Sporozoenkunde_.
C. Spores of _Myxobolus ellipsoides_, Thél. The spores on the left and
right are lying with the sutural plane horizontal, that in the middle
with the sutural plane vertical.]
Family, _Myxobolidae_. Spores with two polar-capsules (exceptionally
one), and with a characteristic iodinophilous vacuole in the
sporoplasm. Typically tissue parasites of Teleosteans, often very
dangerous. Genus _Myxobolus_. Spores oval or rounded, without a
tail-like process. Very many species are known, which are grouped into
three subsections: (a) forms with only one polar-capsule, such as _M.
piriformis_, of the tench; (b) forms with two unequal capsules, e.g.
_M. dispar_ from _Cyprinus_ and _Leuciscus_; and (c) the great
majority of species with two equal polar-capsules, including _M.
mülleri_, the type-species, from different fish, _M. cyprini_ and _M.
pfeifferi_, the cause of deadly disease in carp and barbel
respectively and others. Other genera are _Henneguya_ and
_Hoferellus_, differing from _Myxobolus_ in having, respectively, one
or two tail-like processes to the spore. _Lentospora_, according to
Plehn (37), lacks an iodinophilous vacuole.
Family _Coccomyxidae_. The pansporoblasts produce (probably) only one
spore. Spore oval, large (14 µ by 5.5 µ), with a single very large
polar-capsule. Sporoplasm with no vacuole. Single genus _Coccomyxa_,
with the characters of the family. One species, _C. morovi_, Léger and
Hesse, from the gall bladder of the sardine. The spore greatly
resembles a Cryptocystid spore.
Suborder 2: _Cryptocystes_, Gurley (= _Microsporidia_, Balbiani).
Spores minute, usually pear-shaped, with only one polar-capsule, which
is visible only after treatment with reagents. The number of spores
formed in each pansporoblast varies greatly in different forms.
Section (a): _Polysporogenea_. The trophozoite produces numerous
pansporoblasts, each of which gives rise to many spores. Genus
_Glugea_, with numerous species, of which the best-known is _G.
anomala_, from the stickleback (fig. 1). The genus _Myxocystis_, which
has been shown by Hesse (24) to be a true Microsporidian, is placed by
Perez in this section, but this is a little premature, as Hesse does
not describe the exact character of the sporulation, i.e. with regard
to the number of pansporoblasts and the spores they produce.
Section (b): _Oligosporogenea_. The trophozoite becomes itself the
(single) pansporoblast. In _Pleistophora_, the pansporoblast produces
many spores; _P. typicalis_, from the muscles of various fishes (fig.
2), is the type-species. In _Thelohania_, eight spores are formed;
the different species are parasitic in Crustacea. In _Gurleya_,
parasitic in _Daphnia_, only four are formed; and, lastly, in _Nosema_
(exs. _N. pulvis_, from _Carcinus_, and, most likely, _N. bombycis_,
of the silkworm), each pansporoblast produces only a single spore.
2. Order--Actinomyxidia. This order comprises a peculiar group of
parasites, first described by A. Stolc in 1899, which are restricted to
Oligochaete worms of the family _Tubificidae_. Most forms attack the
intestinal wall, often destroying its epithelium over considerable
areas; but one genus, _Sphaeractinomyxon_, inhabits the body-cavity of
its host. The researches of Caullery and Mesnil (10-12) and of Léger (28
and 29) have shown that the parasites exhibit the typical features of
the Endospora, and the spores possess the characteristic polar-capsules
of the Myxosporidian spore, but differ therefrom by their more
complicated structure.
[Illustration: From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa.
FIG. 8.--Spores of various _Glugeidae_, × 1500 (after Thélohan).
a and b, _Pleistophora typicalis_, Gurley; a in the fresh condition, b
after treatment with iodine water, causing extrusion of the filament.
c and d, _Thelohania octospora_, Henneguy; c fresh, d treated with
ether.
e, _Glugea depressa_, Thél., fresh.
f, _G. acuta_, Thél.]
The growth and development of an Actinomyxidian have been recently
worked out by Caullery and Mesnil in the case of _Sphaeractinomyxon
stolci_. A noteworthy point is the differentiation of an external
(covering) cellular layer, which affords, perhaps, the nearest approach
to distinct tissue-formation known among Protozoa. This envelope is
formed soon after nuclear multiplication of the young trophozoite has
begun, and is constituted by two nuclei and a thin, peripheral layer of
cytoplasm. It remains binuclear throughout the entire period of
development, and serves as a delicate cyst-membrane. The multiplication
of the internal nuclei is accompanied by a corresponding division of the
cytoplasm; so that instead of a multinucleate or plasmodial condition,
distinct uninucleate cellules are formed, up to sixteen in number. These
cellules, as a matter of fact, are sexual elements or gametes; and eight
of them can be distinguished from the other eight by slight differences
in the nuclei. The gametes unite in couples, each couple being most
probably composed of dissimilar members: in other words, conjugation is
slightly anisogamous. Each of these eight copulae gives rise to a spore.
As the name of the order implies, there are always eight spores formed.
These differ from other Endosporan spores in having invariably a ternary
symmetry and constitution (fig. 9). The wall of the spore is composed of
three valves, each formed from an enveloping cell, and three capsular
cells, placed at the upper or anterior pole, and containing each a
polar-capsule, visible in the fresh condition. The valves are usually
prolonged into processes or appendages, whose form and arrangement
characterize the genus; but in _Sphaeractinomyxon_ the spore is
spherical and lacks processes. The sporoplasm may be either a plasmodial
mass, with numerous nuclei, or may form a certain number of uninuclear
sporozoites. A remarkable feature in the development of the spore is
that the germinal tissue (sporoplasm) arises separate from and outside
the cellules which give rise to the spore-wall; later, when the
envelopes are nearly developed, the sporoplasm penetrates into the
spore.
Four genera have been made known. (1) _Hexactinomyxon_, Stolc. Spores
having the form of an anchor with six arms; sporoplasm plasmodial,
situate near the anterior pole of the spore. One sp. _H.
psammoryctis_, from _Psammoryctes_. (2) _Triactinomyxon_, St. Spores
having the form of an anchor with three arms; distinct sporozoites,
disposed near the anterior pole. _T. ignotum_, with eight spores, from
_Tubifex tubifex_, and also from an unspecified Tubificid; another
sp., unnamed, with 32 sporozoites, also from T. t. (3)
_Synactinomyxon_, St. Spores united to one another, each having two
aliform appendages; sporoplasm plasmodial. One sp., _S. tubificis_,
from _T. rivulorum_. (4) _Sphaeractinomyxon_, C. and M. Spores
spherical, without aliform prolongations; sporoplasm gives rise to
very many sporozoites, occupying the whole spore. One sp., _S.
st_olci, from _Clitellio_ and _Hemitubifex_.
[Illustration: From Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol. Protozoa.
FIG. 9.--Spores of Actinomyxidia (after Stolc).
a, _Hexactinomyxon psammoryctis_ (par. _Psammoryctes barbatus_).
b, _Synactinomyxon tubificis_ (par. _Tubifex rivulorum_); the mass
of united spores.
c, _Triactinomyxon ignotum_ (par. _Clitellio_, sp.).
d, Upper portion of _Hexactinomyxon_, showing two of the three polar
capsules, one with filament discharged.]
[Illustration: From Wasielewski's _Sporozoenkunde_.
FIG. 10.--A. Sarcosporidia in the ox; a transverse section of the
oesophagus, natural size, showing the parasites in the outer (a, b, c,
d, e) and inner (f, g, h) muscular coats.
B. Longitudinal section of a muscle-fibre containing a Sarcosporidian
parasite, × 60.]
3. Order--Sarcosporidia. With the exception of one or two forms
occurring in reptiles, these parasites are always found in warm-blooded
Vertebrates, usually Mammals. They are of common occurrence in domestic
animals, such as pigs, sheep, horses and (sometimes) cattle. A
Sarcosporidian has also been described from man. The characteristic
habitat is the striped muscle, generally of the oesophagus (fig. 10, A)
and heart, but in acute cases the parasites overrun the general
musculature. When this occurs, as often happens in mice, the result is
usually fatal. Unless, however, the organisms thus spread throughout the
body, the host does not appear to suffer any serious consequences. In
addition to the effects produced by the general disturbance to the
tissues, the attacked animals have apparently to contend--at any rate in
the case of _Sarcocystis tenella_ in the sheep--with a poison secreted
by the parasite. For Laveran and Mesnil (27) have isolated a toxine from
this form, which they have termed sarcocystin.
In the early stages of growth, a Sarcosporidian appears as an elongated
whitish body lodged in the substance of a muscle-fibre; this phase has
long been known as a "Miescher's tube," or _Miescheria_. The youngest
trophozoites that have been yet observed (by Bertram, 1) were
multinucleate (fig. 11, A), but there is no reason to doubt that they
begin life in a uninuclear condition. The protoplasm is limited by a
delicate cuticle. With growth, organellae corresponding to the
Myxosporidian pansporoblasts are formed by the segregation internally of
little uninuclear spheres of protoplasm. At the same time, a thick
striated envelope is developed around the parasite, which later comes to
look like a fur of fine filaments. The probable explanation of this
feature (given by Vuillemin, 44) is that it is due to the partial
breaking down of a stiff, vertically (or radially) striated external
layer (fig. 12, A), such as is seen in _Myxidium lieberkühnii_.
Immediately internal to this is a thin, homogeneous membrane, which
sends numerous partitions or septa inwards; these divide up the
endoplasm into somewhat angular chambers or alveoli (fig. 12). In each
chamber is a pansporoblast, which divides up to produce many spores;
hence the spores formed from different pansporoblasts are kept more or
less separate. The pansporoblasts originate, in a growing
Sarcosporidian, at the two poles of the body, where the peripheral
endoplasm with its nuclei is chiefly aggregated. More internally,
spore-formation is in progress; and in the centre, pansporoblasts full
of ripe spores are found.
By this time the parasite has greatly distended the muscle-fibre in
which it has hitherto lain, absorbing, with its growth, practically all
the contractile-substance, until it is surrounded only by the sarcolemma
and sarcoplasm. It next passes into the adjacent connective-tissue, and
in this phase has been distinguished from _Miescheria_ as _Balbiania_,
under the impression that the two forms were quite distinct. In the
later stages, the parasite may become more rounded, and a cyst may be
secreted around it by the host's tissue. In these older forms, the most
centrally placed spores degenerate and die, having become over-ripe and
stale.
[Illustration: After Bertram, from Wasielewski's _Sporozoenkunde_.
FIG. 11.--Stages in the growth of _Sarcocystis tenella_ of the sheep. A,
Youngest observed stage in which the radially striated outer coat has
not appeared; the body of the trophozoite is already divided into a
number of cells or pansporoblasts (k). B and C, Older stages with
numerous pansporoblasts and two envelopes, an inner membrane and an
outer radially striated layer.]
With regard to the spores themselves and what becomes of them, our
knowledge is defective. Two kinds of reproductive germ have been
described, termed respectively _gymnospores_ (so-called sporozoites,
"Rainey's corpuscles") and _chlamydospores_, or simply spores. It seems
probable that the former serve for endogenous or auto-infection, and the
latter for infecting fresh hosts. Unfortunately, however, both kinds of
germ are not yet known in the case of any one species. The gymnospores,
which are the more commonly found (e.g. in _S. muris_, _S. miescheriana_
of the pig, and other forms), are small sickle-shaped or reniform
bodies which are more or less amoeboid, and capable of active movement
at certain temperatures. They appear to be naked, and consist of finely
granular protoplasm, containing a single nucleus and one or two
vacuoles. The chlamydospores, or true spores, occur in _S. tenella_ of
sheep (fig. 13), and have been described by Laveran and Mesnil (26).
They also are falciform, but one extremity is rounded, the other
pointed. There is a very thin, delicate membrane, most unlike a typical,
resistant spore-wall; and the spores themselves are extremely fragile
and easily acted upon and deformed by reagents, even by distilled water.
The rounded end of the spore contains a large nucleus, while at the
other end is an oval, clear space, which, in the fresh condition, shows
a distinct spiral striation. The exact significance of this structure
has been much debated. In position and appearance it recalls the
polar-capsule of a Myxosporidian spore. The proof of this interpretation
would be the expulsion of a filament on suitably stimulating the spore;
while, however, some investigators have asserted that such a filament is
extruded, this cannot be regarded as at all certain. Hence it is still
doubtful whether this striated body really corresponds to a
polar-capsule.
[Illustration: From Wasielewski's _Sporozoenkunde_.
_Fig._ 12.--A, _Sarcocystis miescheriana_ (Kühn) from the pig: late
stage in which the body has become divided up into numerous chambers or
alveoli, each containing a number of germs.
B, _Sarcocystis_ of the ox: section of a stage similar to fig. 12. a,
Substance of muscle-fibre; b, envelope of parasite; c, nuclei of the
muscle; d, parasitic germs (gymnospores); e, walls of the alveoli. In
the peripheral alveoli are seen immature germs.]
[Illustration: (After Laveran and Mesnil, from Lankester's _Treatise on
Zoology_, vol. Protozoa.)
FIG. 13.--Spores of _Sarcocystis tenella_, Raill., from the sheep.
a, Spore in the fresh condition, showing a clear nucleus (n) and a
striated body or capsule (c).
b, Stained spore; the nucleus (n) shows a central karyosome; the
striations of the polar capsule (c) are not visible.]
Nothing whatever is known as to the natural means by which infection
with Sarcosporidia is brought about. Smith (39) showed that mice can be
infected with _Sarcocystis muris_ by simply feeding them on the flesh of
infected mice. It is not very likely, however, that this represents the
natural mode, even in the case of mice; and it certainly cannot do so in
the case of Herbivora. The difficulty in the way is the delicacy of the
spores, which seem totally unfitted to withstand external conditions. It
may be that some alternative (intermediate) host is concerned in
dispersal; but this has yet to be ascertained.
All known Sarcosporidia are included in a single genus _Sarcocystis_,
Lank. (= _Miescheria_ + _Balbiania_, Blanchard.) Some of the principal
species are: _S. miescheriana_, from pigs; _S. tenella_, from sheep;
_S. bertrami_, from horses; _S. blanchardi_, from Bovines; _S. muris_,
from mice; _S. platydactyli_, from the gecko; and lastly, _S.
lindemanni_, described from man.
4. Order--Haplosporidia. The Sporozoa included in this order are
characterized by the general simplicity of their development, and by the
undifferentiated character of their spores. The order includes a good
many forms, whose arrangement and classification have been recently
undertaken by Caullery and Mesnil (15), to whom, indeed, most of our
knowledge relating to the Haplosporidia is due. The habitat of the
parasites is sufficiently varied; Rotifers, Crustacea, Annelids and
fishes furnishing most of the hosts. A recent addition to the list of
Protozoa causing injury to man, a Haplosporidian, has been described by
Minchin and Fantham (29d), who have termed the parasite
_Rhinosporidium_, from its habitat in the nasal septum, where it
produces pedunculate tumours.
[Illustration: From Minchin, in Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_, vol.
Protozoa.
FIG. 14.--_Bertramia Asperospora_ (Fritsch) from the body-cavity of
_Brachionus_. × 1040.
a, Young form with opaque, evenly-granulated protoplasm and few
refringent granules; the nuclei (n) are small, and appear to be
surrounded each by a clear space.
b and c, Full-grown specimens with large nuclei and clearer
protoplasm, containing numerous refringent granules (r. gr.).
d and e, Morula stages, derived from b and c by division of the body
into segments centred round the nuclei, each cell so formed being a
spore. Between the spores a certain amount of intercellular substance
or residual protoplasm is left, in which the refringent granules seem
to be embedded. The morula may break up forthwith and scatter the
spores, or may first round itself off and form a spherical cyst with
a tough, fairly thick wall.
f, Empty, slightly shrunken cyst, from which the spores have escaped.
g, Free spore or youngest unicellular trophozoite.
h, i, j, Commencing growth of the trophozoite, with multiplication of
the nuclei, which results ultimately in forms such as a and b.]
_Bertramia_, a well-known parasite of the body-cavity of Rotifers, will
serve very well to give a general idea of the life-cycle so far as it
has yet been made out (fig. 14). The trophozoite begins life as a small,
rounded uninucleate corpuscle, which as it grows, becomes multinucleate.
The multinuclear body generally assumes a definite shape, often that of
a sausage. Later, the protoplasm becomes segregated around each of the
nuclei, giving the parasite a mulberry-like aspect; hence this stage is
frequently known as a morula. The uninuclear cellules thus formed are
the spores, which are ultimately liberated by the break-up of the parent
body. Each is of quite simple, undifferentiated structure, possesses a
large, easily-visible nucleus, and gives rise in due course to another
young trophozoite. In some instances, as described by Minchin, the
sporulating parasite becomes rounded off and forms a protective cyst,
doubtless for the protection of the spores during dissemination.
In some forms (e.g. _Haplosporidium_ and _Rhinosporidium_) the
spore-mother-cells, instead of becoming each a single spore, as in
_Bertramia_, give rise to several, four in the first case, many in the
latter. Sometimes, again, the spore, while preserving the essentially
simple character of the sporoplasm, may be enclosed in a spore-case;
this may have the form of a little box with a lid or operculum, as in
some species of _Haplosporidium_, or may possess a long process or tail,
as in _Urosporidium_ (fig. 15).
[Illustration: From Caullery and Mesnil, _Archives de zoologie
expérimentale_, vol. 4, 1905, by permission of Schleicher Frères et
Cie, Paris.
FIG. 15.--Spores of various Haplosporidia.
1. _Haplosporidium heterocirri_:
a, on liberation;
b, after being in sea-water.
2, _H. scolopli_.
3, _H. vejdovskii_.
4, _Urosporidium fuliginosum_:
a, surface-view;
b, side-view. × 1000.]
The _Haplosporidia_ are divided by Caullery and Mesnil into three
families, _Haplosporidiidae_, _Bertramiidae_ and _Coelosporidiidae_;
one or two genera are also included whose exact position is doubtful.
(a) _Haplosporidiidae_: 3 genera, _Haplosporidium_, type-species _H.
heterocirri_; _Urosporidium_, with one sp., _U. fuliginosum_; all
parasitic in various Annelids; and _Anurosporidium_, with the species
_A. pelseneeri_, from the sporocysts of a Trematode, parasitic on
_Donax_.
(b) _Bertramiidae_: 2 genera, _Bertramia_, with _B. capitellae_ from
an Annelid and _B. asperospora_, the Rotiferan parasite above
described; and _Ichthyosporidium_, with _I. gasterophilum_ and _I.
phymogenes_, parasitic in various fish.
(c) _Coelosporidiiae_: genera _Coelosporidium_, type-species _C.
chydoriclola_; and _Polycaryum_, type-species _P. branchiopodianum_.
These forms are parasitic in small Crustacea. The genus _Blastulidium_
is referred, doubtfully, by Caullery and Mesnil to this family; but
certain phases of this organism seem to indicate rather a vegetable
nature.
The genus _Rhinosporidium_ should probably be placed in a distinct
family. The only species so far described is _R. kinealyi_ from the
nasal septum of man, to which reference has above been made. Another
form, _Neurosporidium cephalodisci_, agreeing in some respects with
_Rhinosporidium_, has been described by Ridewood and Fantham (37a)
from the nervous system of _Cephalodiscus_.
A parasite whose affinities are doubtful, but which is regarded by
Caullery and Mesnil as allied to the Haplosporidia, is the curious
parasite originally described by Schewiakoff as "endoparasitic tubes"
of _Cyclops_; it has been named by Caullery and Mesnil,
_Scheviakovella_. This organism is remarkable in one or two ways: it
possesses a contractile vacuole; the amoeboid trophozoites tend to
form plasmodia; and the spores, of the usual simple type, may
apparently divide by binary fission.
5. There remain, lastly, certain forms, which are conveniently grouped
together as "Sporozoa _incertae sedis_," either for the reason that it
is impossible to place them in any of the well-defined orders, or
because their life-cycle is at present too insufficiently known.
Serosporidia is the name given by Pfeiffer to certain minute parasites
of the body-cavity of Crustacea; they include _Serosporidium_,
_Blanchardina_ and _Botellus_. _Lymphosporidium_, a form with
distributed nucleus, causing virulent epidemics among brook-trout, is
considered by Calkins(3) to be suitably placed here. Another parasite of
lymphatic spaces and channels is the remarkable _Lymphocystis_,
described by Woodcock (46), from plaice and flounders, which in some
respects rather recalls a Gregarine. The group Exosporidia was founded
by Perrier to include a peculiar organism, ectoparasitic on Arthropods,
to which the name of _Amoebidium_ had been given by Cienkowsky. It has
recently been shown, however, that this organism is most probably an
Alga. Another genus, _Exosporidium_, described by Sand (38), is placed
at present in this group. For details of the structure of these forms
and others like _Siedleckia_, _Toxosporidium_, _Chitonicium_
_Joyeuxella_ and _Metschnikovella_, a comprehensive treatise on the
Sporozoa, such as that of Minchin, should be consulted.
To complete this article, it will be sufficient to mention various
enigmatical bodies, associated with different diseases, which are
regarded by their describers as Protozoa. Among such is the
"_Histosporidium carcinomatosum_" of Feinberg, which he finds in
cancerous growths. _Cytoryctes_, the name given to "Guarnieri's bodies"
in small-pox and vaccinia, has been recently investigated by Calkins
(3a), who has described a complex life-cycle for the alleged parasite.
Other workers, however, such as Siegel, give a quite different account
of these bodies, and, moreover, find similar ones in scarlet-fever,
syphilis, &c.; while yet others (e.g. Prowazek) deny that they are
parasitic organisms at all.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--(For general works see under SPOROZOA.) (1) Bertram,
"Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Sarcosporidien," _Zool. Jahrb. Anat._ 5,
1902; (2) L. Brasil, "Joyeuxella toxoides," (n.g., n.sp.), _Arch.
zool. exp._ N. et R. (3) 10, p. 5, 7 figs., 1902; (3) G.N. Calkins,
"Lymphosporidium truttae," (n.g., n.sp.), _Zool. Anz_. 23, p. 513, 6
figs., 1903; (3a) ib. _The Life-History of Cytoryctes Variolae_;
Guarnieri, "Studies path. etiol. variola," _J. Med. Research_ (Boston,
1904), p. 136, 4 pls.; (3b) M. Caullery and A. Chappellier,
"Anurosporidium pelseneeri, (n.g., n.sp.), Haplosporidie," &c., _C. R.
soc. biol._ 60, p. 325, 1906; (4) M. Caullery and F. Mesnil, "Sur un
type nouveau" (_Metchnikovella_, n.g.), _C. R. ac. sci._ 125, p. 787,
10 figs., 1897; (5) ib. "Sur trois Sporozoaires parasites de la
Capitella," _C. R. soc. biol_. 49, p. 1005, 1877; (6) ib. "Sur un
Sporozoaire aberrant" (_Siedleckia_, n.g.), op. cit. 50, p. 1093, 7
figs., 1898; (7) ib. "Sur le genre Aplosporidium" (nov.), op. cit. 51,
p. 789, 1899; (8) ib. "Sur les Aplosporidies," _C. R. ac. sci._ 129,
p. 616, 1899; (9) ib. "Sur les parasites intimes des Annélides"
(_Siedleckia_, _Toxosporidium_), C. R. ass. franç., 1899, p. 491,
1900; (10) ib. "Sur un type nouveau (_Sphaeractinomyxon_, n.g.)
d'Actinomyxidies," _C. R. soc. biol._ 56, p. 408, 1904; (11) ib.
"Phénomènes de sexualité dans le développement des Actinomyxidies,"
op. cit. 58, p. 889, 1905; (12) ib. "Recherches sur les
Actinomyxidies," _Arch. Protistenk._ 6, p. 272, pl. 15, 1905; (13) ib.
"Sur quelques nouvelles Haplosporidies d'Annélides," C. R. soc. biol.
58, p. 580, 6 figs., 1905; (14) ib. "Sur des Haplosporidies parasites
de poissons marins," ib. p. 640, 1905; (15) ib. "Recherches sur les
Haplosporidies," _Arch. zool. exp._ (4) 4, p. 101, pls. 11-13, 1905;
(16) L. Cohn, "Über die Myxosporidien von Esox lucius," _Zool. Jahr.
Anat_. 9, p. 227, 2 pls., 1896; (17) ib. "Zur Kenntniss der
Myxosporidien," Centrbl. Bakt. 1, Orig. 32, p. 628, 3 figs., 1902;
(18) ib. "Protozoen als Parasiten in Rotatorien," Zool. Anz. 25, p.
497, 1902; (19) F. Doflein, "Über Myxosporidien," Zool. Jahr. Anat.
11, p. 281, 6 pls., 1898; (20) ib. "Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der
Myxosporidienkunde," _Zool. Centrbl_. 7, p. 361, 1899; (21) R. Gurley,
"The Myxosporidia," _Bull. U.S. Fish. Comm., 1892_, p. 65, 47 pls.,
1894; (22) E. Hesse, "Sur une nouvelle Microsporidie tétrasporée du
genre Gurleya," _C. R. soc. biol._ 55, p. 495, 1903; (23) ib.
"Thelohania légeri" (n.sp.), op. cit. 57, pp. 570-572, 10 figs., 1904;
(24) ib. "Sur Myxocystis Mrazeki Hesse," &c., op. cit. 58, p. 12, 9
figs., 1905; (25) A. Laveran and F. Mesnil, "Sur la multiplication
endogène des Myxosporidies," op. cit. 54, p. 469, 5 figs., 1902; (26)
ib. "Sur la morphologie des Sarcosporidies," op. cit. 51, p. 245,
1899; (27) ib. "De la Sarcocystin," op. cit. p. 311, 1899; (28) L.
Léger, "Sur la sporulation du Triactinomyxon," op. cit. 56, p. 844, 4
figs., 1904; (29) ib. "Considérations sur ... les Actinomyxidies," op.
cit. p. 846, 1904; (29a) L. Léger and E. Hesse, "Sur une nouvelle
Myxosporidie, Coccomyxa, n.g.," _C. R. ac. sci._, 1st July 1907; (29b)
ib. "Sur la structure de la paroisporale des Myxosporidies," op. cit.
142, p. 720, 1906; (29c) A. Lutz and A. Splendore, "Über 'Pébrine' and
verwandte Mikrosporidien," _Centrbl. Bakt_. 1, 33, Orig. p. 150, 1903,
and 36, Orig. p. 645, 2 pls., 1904; (29d) E.A. Minchin and H.B.
Fantham, "Rhinosporidium kinealyi" (n.g., n.sp.), _Q. J. Micr. Sci._
49, p. 521, 2 pls., 1905; (30) A. Mrazek, "Über eine neue
Sporozoenform" (_Myxocystis_), _S. B. Böhm. Ges._ 8, 5 pp., 9 figs.,
1897; (31) ib. "Glugea lophii," Doflein, op. cit. 10, 8 pp., 1 pl.,
1899; (32) C. Perez, "Sur un organisme nouveau, Blastulidium," _C. R.
soc. biol._ 55, p. 715, 5 figs., 1903; (33) ib. "Sur nouvelles
Glugéidées," op. cit. 58, pp. 146-151, 1905; (34) ib. "Microsporidies
parasites des crabes," _Bull. sta. biol. d'Arcachon_, 8, 22 pp., 14
figs., 1905; (35) W.S. Perrin, "Pleistophora periplanetae," _Q. J.
Micr. Sci._ 49, p. 615, 2 pls., 1906; (36) L. Plate, "Über einen
einzelligen Zellparasiten" (_Chitonicium_), _Fauna Chilensis_, 2, pp.
601, pls., 1901; (37) M. Plehn, "Über die Drehkrankheit der
Salmoniden" (_Lentospora_, n.g.), _Arch. Protistenk_. 5, p. 145, pl.
5, 1904; (37a) W.J. Ridewood and H.B. Fantham, "Neurosporidium
cephalodisci, n.g., n.sp.," _Q. J. Micr. Sci._ 51, p. 81, pl. 7, 1907;
(38) R. Sand, "Exosporidium marinum" (n.g., n.sp.), _Bull. soc. micr.
belge_, 24, p. 116, 1898; (39) T. Smith, "The production of
sarcosporidiosis in the mouse," &c., _J. Exp. Med._ 6, p. 1, 4 pls.,
1901; (40) W. Stempell, "Über Thelohania mülleri," _Zool. Jahr. Anat._
16, p. 235, pl. 25, 1902; (41) ib. "Über Polycaryum branchiopodianum"
(n.g., n.sp.), _Zool. Jahrb. Syst._ 15, p. 591, pl. 31, 1902; (42) ib.
"Über Nosema anomalum," _Arch. Protistenk_, 4, p. 1, pls. 1-3, 1904;
(43) P. Thélohan, "Recherches sur les Myxosporidies," _Bull. sci.
France belg._ 26, p. 100, 3 pls., 1895; (44) P. Vuillemin, "Le
Sarcocystis tenella, parasite de l'homme," _C. R. ac. sci._ 134, p.
1152, 1902; (45) H.M. Woodcock, "On Myxosporidia in flat fish," _Proc.
Liverp. Biol. Soc._ 18, p. 126, pl. 2, 1904; (46) ib. "On a remarkable
parasite" (_Lymphocystis_), op. cit. p. 143, pl. 3, 1904.
(H. M. Wo.)
ENDYMION, in Greek mythology, son of Aëthlius and king of Elis. He was
loved by Selene, goddess of the moon, by whom he had fifty daughters,
supposed to represent the fifty moons of the Olympian festal cycle. In
other versions, Endymion was a beautiful youth, a shepherd or hunter
whom Selene visited every night while he lay asleep in a cave on Mount
Latmus in Caria (Pausanias v. 1; Ovid, _Ars am._ iii. 83). Zeus left him
free to choose anything he might desire, and he chose an everlasting
sleep, in which he might remain youthful for ever (Apollodorus i. 7).
According to others, Endymion's eternal sleep was a punishment inflicted
by Zeus upon him because he ventured to fall in love with Hera, when he
was admitted to the society of the Olympian gods (Schol. Theocritus iii.
49). The usual form of the legend, however, represents Endymion as
having been put to sleep by Selene herself in order that she might enjoy
his society undisturbed (Cicero, _Tusc. disp._ i. 38). Some see in
Endymion the sun, setting opposite to the rising moon, the Latmian cave
being the cave of forgetfulness, into which the sun plunges beneath the
sea; others regard him as the personification of sleep or death (see
Mayor on Juvenal x. 318).
ENERGETICS. The most fundamental result attained by the progress of
physical science in the 19th century was the definite enunciation and
development of the doctrine of energy, which is now paramount both in
mechanics and in thermodynamics. For a discussion of the elementary
ideas underlying this conception see the separate heading ENERGY.
Ever since physical speculation began in the atomic theories of the
Greeks, its main problem has been that of unravelling the nature of the
underlying correlation which binds together the various natural
agencies. But it is only in recent times that scientific investigation
has definitely established that there is a quantitative relation of
simple equivalence between them, whereby each is expressible in terms of
heat or mechanical power; that there is a certain measurable quantity
associated with each type of physical activity which is always
numerically identical with a corresponding quantity belonging to the new
type into which it is transformed, so that the energy, as it is called,
is conserved in unaltered amount. The main obstacle in the way of an
earlier recognition and development of this principle had been the
doctrine of caloric, which was suggested by the principles and practice
of calorimetry, and taught that heat is a substance that can be
transferred from one body to another, but cannot be created or
destroyed, though it may become latent. So long as this idea maintained
itself, there was no possible compensation for the destruction of
mechanical power by friction; it appeared that mechanical effect had
there definitely been lost. The idea that heat is itself convertible
into power, and is in fact energy of motion of the minute invisible
parts of bodies, had been held by Newton and in a vaguer sense by Bacon,
and indeed long before their time; but it dropped out of the ordinary
creed of science in the following century. It held a place, like many
other anticipations of subsequent discovery, in the system of Natural
Philosophy of Thomas Young (1804); and the discrepancies attending
current explanations on the caloric theory were insisted on, about the
same time, by Count Rumford and Sir H. Davy. But it was not till the
actual experiments of Joule verified the same exact equivalence between
heat produced and mechanical energy destroyed, by whatever process that
was accomplished, that the idea of caloric had to be definitely
abandoned. Some time previously R. Mayer, physician, of Heilbronn, had
founded a weighty theoretical argument on the production of mechanical
power in the animal system from the food consumed; he had, moreover,
even calculated the value of a unit of heat, in terms of its equivalent
in power, from the data afforded by Regnault's determinations of the
specific heats of air at constant pressure and at constant volume, the
former being the greater on Mayer's hypothesis (of which his calculation
in fact constituted the verification) solely on account of the power
required for the work of expansion of the gas against the surrounding
constant pressure. About the same time Helmholtz, in his early memoir on
the Conservation of Energy, constructed a cumulative argument by tracing
the ramifications of the principle of conservation of energy throughout
the whole range of physical science.
_Mechanical and Thermal Energy._--The amount of energy, defined in this
sense by convertibility with mechanical work, which is contained in a
material system, must be a function of its physical state and chemical
constitution and of its temperature. The change in this amount, arising
from a given transformation in the system, is usually measured by
degrading the energy that leaves the system into heat; for it is always
possible to do this, while the conversion of heat back again into other
forms of energy is impossible without assistance, taking the form of
compensating degradation elsewhere. We may adopt the provisional view
which is the basis of abstract physics, that all these other forms of
energy are in their essence mechanical, that is, arise from the motion
or strain of material or ethereal media; then their distinction from
heat will lie in the fact that these motions or strains are simply
co-ordinated, so that they can be traced and controlled or manipulated
in detail, while the thermal energy subsists in irregular motions of the
molecules or smallest portions of matter, which we cannot trace on
account of the bluntness of our sensual perceptions, but can only
measure as regards total amount.
_Historical: Abstract Dynamics._--Even in the case of a purely
mechanical system, capable only of a finite number of definite types of
disturbance, the principle of the conservation of energy is very far
from giving a complete account of its motions; it forms only one among
the equations that are required to determine their course. In its
application to the kinetics of invariable systems, after the time of
Newton, the principle was emphasized as fundamental by Leibnitz, was
then improved and generalized by the Bernoullis and by Euler, and was
ultimately expressed in its widest form by Lagrange. It is recorded by
Helmholtz that it was largely his acquaintance in early years with the
works of those mathematical physicists of the previous century, who had
formulated and generalized the principle as a help towards the
theoretical dynamics of complex systems of masses, that started him on
the track of extending the principle throughout the whole range of
natural phenomena. On the other hand, the ascertained validity of this
extension to new types of phenomena, such as those of electrodynamics,
now forms a main foundation of our belief in a mechanical basis for
these sciences.
In the hands of Lagrange the mathematical expression for the manner in
which the energy is connected with the geometrical constitution of the
material system became a sufficient basis for a complete knowledge of
its dynamical phenomena. So far as statics was concerned, this doctrine
took its rise as far back as Galileo, who recognized in the simpler
cases that the work expended in the steady driving of a frictionless
mechanical system is equal to its output. The expression of this fact
was generalized in a brief statement by Newton in the _Principia_, and
more in detail by the Bernoullis, until, in the analytical guise of the
so-called principle of "virtual velocities" or virtual work, it finally
became the basis of Lagrange's general formulation of dynamics. In its
application to kinetics a purely physical principle, also indicated by
Newton, but developed long after with masterly applications by
d'Alembert, that the reactions of the infinitesimal parts of the system
against the accelerations of their motions statically equilibrate the
forces applied to the system as a whole, was required in order to form a
sufficient basis, and one which Lagrange soon afterwards condensed into
the single relation of Least Action. As a matter of history, however,
the complete formulation of the subject of abstract dynamics actually
arose (in 1758) from Lagrange's precise demonstration of the principle
of Least Action for a particle, and its immediate extension, on the
basis of his new Calculus of Variations, to a system of connected
particles such as might be taken as a representation of any material
system; but here too the same physical as distinct from mechanical
considerations come into play as in d'Alembert's principle. (See
DYNAMICS: _Analytical_.)
It is in the cases of systems whose state is changing so slowly that
reactions arising from changing motions can be neglected, that the
conditions are by far the simplest. In such systems, whether stationary
or in a state of steady motion, the energy depends on the configuration
alone, and its mathematical expression can be determined from
measurement of the work required for a sufficient number of simple
transformations; once it is thus found, all the statical relations of
the system are implicitly determined along with it, and the results of
all other transformations can be predicted. The general development of
such relations is conveniently classed as a separate branch of physics
under the name _Energetics_, first invented by W.J.M. Rankine; but the
essential limitations of this method have not always been observed. As
regards statical change, the complete specification of a mechanical
system is involved in its geometrical configuration and the function
expressing its mechanical energy in terms thereof. Systems which have
statical energy-functions of the same analytical form behave in
corresponding ways, and can serve as models or representations of one
another.
_Extension to Thermal and Chemical Systems._--This dominant position of
the principle of energy, in ordinary statical problems, has in recent
times been extended to transformations involving change of physical
state or chemical constitution as well as change of geometrical
configuration. In this wider field we cannot assert that mechanical (or
available) energy is never lost, for it may be degraded into thermal
energy; but we can use the principle that on the other hand it can never
spontaneously increase. If this were not so, cyclic processes might
theoretically be arranged which would continue to supply mechanical
power so long as energy of any kind remained in the system; whereas the
irregular and uncontrollable character of the molecular motions and
strains which constitute thermal energy, in combination with the vast
number of the molecules, must place an effectual bar on their unlimited
co-ordination. To establish a doctrine of _energetics_ that shall form a
sufficient foundation for a theory of the trend of chemical and physical
change, we have, therefore, to impart precision to this motion of
available energy.
_Carnot's Principle: Entropy._--The whole subject is involved in the new
principle contributed to theoretical physics by Sadi Carnot in 1824, in
which the far-reaching modern conception of cyclic processes was first
scientifically developed. It was shown by Carnot, on the basis of certain
axioms, whose theoretical foundations were subsequently corrected and
strengthened by Clausius and Lord Kelvin, that a reversible mechanical
process, working in a cycle by means of thermal transfers, which takes
heat, say H1, into the material system at a given temperature T1, and
delivers the part of it not utilized, say H2, at a lower given
temperature T2, is more efficient, considered as a working engine, than
any other such process, operating between the same two temperatures but
not reversible, could be. This relation of inequality involves a definite
law of equality, that the mechanical efficiencies of all reversible
cyclic processes are the same, whatever be the nature of their operation
or the material substances involved in them; that in fact the efficiency
is a function solely of the two temperatures at which the cyclically
working system takes in and gives out heat. These considerations
constitute a fundamental general principle to which all possible slow
reversible processes, so far as they concern matter in bulk, must conform
in all their stages; its application is almost coextensive with the scope
of general physics, the special kinetic theories in which inertia is
involved, being excepted. (See THERMODYNAMICS.) If the working system is
an ideal gas-engine, in which a perfect gas (known from experience to be
a possible state of matter) is passed through the cycle, and if
temperature is measured from the absolute zero by the expansion of this
gas, then simple direct calculation on the basis of the laws of ideal
gases shows that H1/T1 = H2/T2; and as by the conservation of energy the
work done is H1 - H2, it follows that the efficiency, measured as the
ratio of the work done to the supply of heat, is 1 - T2/T1. If we change
the sign of H1 and thus consider heat as positive when it is restored to
the system as is H2, the fundamental equation becomes H1/T1 + H2/T2 = 0;
and as any complex reversible working system may be considered as
compounded in various ways of chains of elementary systems of this type,
_whose effects are additive_, the general proposition follows, that in
any reversible complete cyclic change which involves the taking in of
heat by the system of which the amount is [delta]H, when its temperature
ranges between T_r and T_r + [delta]T, the equation [Sigma][delta]H_r/T_r
- 0 holds good. Moreover, if the changes are not reversible, the
proportion of the heat supply that is utilized for mechanical work will
be smaller, so that more heat will be restored to the system, and
[Sigma][delta]H_r/T_r or, as it may be expressed, [int]dH/T, must have a
larger value, and must thus be positive. The first statement involves
further, that for all reversible paths of change of the system from one
state C to another state D, the value of [int]dH/T must be the same,
because any one of these paths and any other one reversed would form a
cycle; whereas for any irreversible path of change between the same
states this integral must have a greater value (and so exceed the
difference of entropies at the ends of the path). The definite quantity
represented by this integral for a reversible path was introduced by
Clausius in 1854 (also adumbrated by Kelvin's investigations about the
same time), and was named afterwards by him the increase of the _entropy_
of the system in passing from the state C to the state D. This increase,
being thus the same for the unlimited number of possible reversible paths
involving independent variation of all its finite co-ordinates, along
which the system can pass, can depend only on the terminal states. The
entropy belonging to a given state is therefore a function of that state
alone, irrespective of the manner in which it has been reached; and this
is the justification of the assignment to it of a special name, connoting
a property of the system depending on its actual condition and not on its
previous history. Every reversible change in an isolated system thus
maintains the entropy of that system unaltered; no possible spontaneous
change can involve decrease of the entropy; while any defect of
reversibility, arising from diffusion of matter or motion in the system,
necessarily leads to increase of entropy. For a physical or chemical
system only those changes are spontaneously possible which would lead to
increase of the entropy; if the entropy is already a maximum for the
given total energy, and so incapable of further continuous increase under
the conditions imposed upon the system, there must be stable equilibrium.
This definite quantity belonging to a material system, its entropy
[phi], is thus concomitant with its energy E, which is also a definite
function of its actual state by the law of conservation of energy;
these, along with its temperature T, and the various co-ordinates
expressing its geometrical configuration and its physical and chemical
constitution, are the quantities with which the thermodynamics of the
system deals. That branch of science develops the consequences involved
in just two principles: (i.) that the energy of every isolated system is
constant, and (ii.) that its entropy can never diminish; any
complication that may be involved arises from complexity in the systems
to which these two laws have to be applied.
_The General Thermodynamic Equation._--When any physical or chemical
system undergoes an infinitesimal change of state, we have [delta]E =
[delta]H + [delta]U, where [delta]H is the energy that has been acquired
_as heat_ from sources extraneous to the system during the change, and
[delta]U is the energy that has been imparted by reversible agencies
such as mechanical or electric work. It is, however, not usually
possible to discriminate permanently between heat acquired and work
imparted, for (unless for isothermal transformations) neither [delta]H
nor [delta]U is the exact differential of a function of the constitution
of the system and so independent of its previous history, although their
sum [delta]E is such; but we can utilize the fact that [delta]H is equal
to T[delta][phi] where [delta][phi] is such, as has just been seen. Thus
E and [phi] represent properties of the system which, along with
temperature, pressure and other independent data specifying its
constitution, must form the variables of an analytical exposition. We
have, therefore, to substitute T[delta][phi] for [delta]H; also the
_change_ of internal energy is determined by the change of constitution,
involving a differential relation of type
[delta]U = -p[delta]v + [delta]W + µ1[delta]m1 + µ2[delta]m2 + ... +
µ_n[delta]m_n,
when the system consists of an intimate mixture (solution) of masses m1,
m2, ... m_n of given constituents, which differ physically or chemically
but may be partially transformable into each other by chemical or
physical action during the changes under consideration, the whole being
of volume v and under extraneous pressure p, while W is potential energy
arising from physical forces such as those of gravity, capillarity, &c.
The variables m1, m2, ... m_n may not be all independent; for example,
if the system were chloride of ammonium gas existing along with its
gaseous products of dissociation, hydrochloric acid and ammonia, only
one of the three masses would be independently variable. The sufficient
number of these variables (independent components) together with two
other variables, which may be v and T, or v and [phi], specifies and
determines the state of the system, considered as matter in bulk, at
each instant. It is usual to include [delta]W in µ1[delta]m1 + ...; in
all cases where this is possible the single equation
[delta]E = T[delta][phi] - p[delta]v + µ1[delta]m1 + µ2[delta]m2 + ... +
µ_n[delta]m_n (1)
thus expresses the complete variation of the energy-function E arising
from change of state; and when the part involving the n constitutive
differentials has been expressed in terms of the number of them that are
really independent, this equation by itself becomes the unique
expression of _all_ the thermodynamic relations of the system. These are
in fact the various relations ensuring that the right-hand side is an
exact differential, and are of the type of reciprocal relations such as
dµ_r/d[phi] = dT/dm_r.
The condition that the state of the system be one of stable equilibrium
is that [delta][phi], the variation of entropy, be negative for all
formally imaginable infinitesimal transformations which make [delta]E
vanish; for as [delta][phi] cannot actually be negative for any
spontaneous variation, none of these transformations can then occur.
From the form of the equation, this condition is the same as that
[delta]E - T[delta][phi] must be _positive for all possible_ variations
of state of the system as above defined in terms of co-ordinates
representing its constitution in bulk, without restriction.
We can change one of the independent variables expressing the state of
the system from [phi] to T by subtracting [delta]([phi]T) from both
sides of the equation of variation: then
[delta](E - T[phi]) = - [phi][delta]T - p[delta]v + µ1[delta]m1 + ... +
µ_n[delta]m_n.
It follows that for _isothermal_ changes, i.e. those for which [delta]T
is maintained null by an environment at constant temperature, the
condition of stable equilibrium is that the function E - T[phi] shall be
a minimum. If the system is subject to an external pressure p, which as
well as the temperature is imposed constant from without and thus
incapable of variation through internal changes, the condition of stable
equilibrium is similarly that E - T[phi] + pv shall be a minimum.
A chemical system maintained at constant temperature by communication of
heat from its environment may thus have several states of stable
equilibrium corresponding to different minima of the function here
considered, just as there may be several minima of elevation on a
landscape, one at the bottom of each depression; in fact, this analogy,
when extended to space of n dimensions, exactly fits the case. If the
system is sufficiently disturbed, for example, by electric shock, it may
pass over (explosively) from a higher to a lower minimum, but never
(without compensation from outside) in the opposite direction. The
former passage, moreover, is often effected by introducing a new
substance into the system; sometimes that substance is recovered
unaltered at the end of the process, and then its action is said to be
purely _catalytic_; its presence modifies the form of the function E -
T[phi] so as to obliterate the ridge between the two equilibrium states
in the graphical representation.
There are systems in which the equilibrium states are but very slightly
dependent on temperature and pressure within wide limits, outside which
reaction takes place. Thus while there are cases in which a state of
mobile dissociation exists in the system which changes continuously as a
function of these variables, there are others in which change does not
sensibly occur at all until a certain _temperature of reaction_ is
attained, after which it proceeds very rapidly owing to the heat
developed, and the system soon becomes sensibly permanent in a
transformed phase by completion of the reaction. In some cases of this
latter type the cause of the delay in starting lies possibly in passive
resistance to change, of the nature of viscosity or friction, which is
competent to convert an unstable mechanical equilibrium into a
moderately stable one; but in most such reactions there seems to be no
exact equilibrium at any temperature, short of the ultimate state of
dissipated energy in which the reaction is completed, although the
velocity of reaction is found to diminish exponentially with change of
temperature, and thus becomes insignificant at a small interval from the
temperature of pronounced activity.
_Free Energy._--The quantity E - T[phi] thus plays the same fundamental
part in the thermal statics of general chemical systems at uniform
temperature that the potential energy plays in the statics of mechanical
systems of unchanging constitution. It is a function of the geometrical
co-ordinates, the physical and chemical constitution, and the
temperature of the system, which determines the conditions of stable
equilibrium _at each temperature_; it is, in fact, the potential energy
generalized so as to include temperature, and thus be a single function
relating to each temperature but at the same time affording a basis of
connexion between the properties of the system at different
temperatures. It has been called the _free energy_ of the system by
Helmholtz, for it is the part of the energy whose variation is connected
with changes in the bodily structure of the system represented by the
variables m1, m2, ... m_n, and not with the irregular molecular motions
represented by heat, so that it can take part freely in physical
transformations. Yet this holds good only subject to the condition that
the temperature is not varied; it has been seen above that for the more
general variation neither [delta]H nor [delta]U is an exact
differential, and no line of separation can be drawn between thermal and
mechanical energies.
The study of the evolution of ideas in this, the most abstract branch of
modern mathematical physics, is rendered difficult in the manner of most
purely philosophical subjects by the variety of terminology, much of it
only partially appropriate, that has been employed to express the
fundamental principles by different investigators and at different
stages of the development. Attentive examination will show, what is
indeed hardly surprising, that the principles of the theory of free
energy of Gibbs and Helmholtz had been already grasped and exemplified
by Lord Kelvin in the very early days of the subject (see the paper "On
the Thermoelastic and Thermomagnetic Properties of Matter, Part I."
_Quarterly Journal of Mathematics_, No. 1, April 1855; reprinted in
Phil. Mag., January 1878, and in _Math. and Phys. Papers_, vol. i. pp.
291, seq.). Thus the striking new advance contained in the more modern
work of J. Willard Gibbs (1875-1877) and of Helmholtz (1882) was rather
the sustained general application of these ideas to chemical systems,
such as the galvanic cell and dissociating gaseous systems, and in
general fashion to heterogeneous concomitant phases. The fundamental
paper of Kelvin connecting the electromotive force of the cell with the
energy of chemical transformation is of date 1851, some years before the
distinction between free energy and total energy had definitely
crystallized out; and, possibly satisfied with the approximate exactness
of his imperfect formula when applied to a Daniell's cell (_infra_), and
deterred by absence of experimental data, he did not return to the
subject. In 1852 he briefly announced (_Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin._) the
principle of the dissipation of mechanical (or available) energy,
including the necessity of compensation elsewhere when restoration
occurs, in the form that "any restoration of mechanical energy, without
more than an equivalent of dissipation, is impossible"--probably even in
vital activity; but a sufficient specification of available energy (cf.
_infra_) was not then developed. In the paper above referred to, where
this was done, and illustrated by full application to solid elastic
systems, the total energy is represented by c and is named "the
intrinsic energy," the energy taken in during an isothermal
transformation is represented by e, of which H is taken in as heat,
while the remainder, the change of free (or mechanical or available)
energy of the system is the unnamed quantity denoted by the symbol w,
which is "the work done by the applied forces" at uniform temperature.
It is pointed out that it is w and not e that is the potential
energy-function for isothermal change, of which the form can be
determined directly by dynamical and physical experiment, and from which
alone the criteria of equilibrium and stress are to be derived--simply
for the reason that for all _reversible_ paths at constant temperature
between the same terminal configurations, there must, by Carnot's
principle, be the same gain or loss of heat. And a system of formulae
are given (5) to (11)--_Ex. gr._ e = w - t(dw/dt) + J [int]s dt for
finding the total energy e for any temperature t when w and the thermal
capacity s of the system, in a standard state, have thus been
ascertained, and another for establishing connexion between the form of
w for one temperature and its form for adjacent temperatures--which are
identical with those developed by Helmholtz long afterwards, in 1882,
except that the entropy appears only as an unnamed integral. The
progress of physical science is formally identified with the exploration
of this function w for physical systems, with continually increasing
exactness and range--except where pure kinetic considerations prevail,
in which cases the wider Hamiltonian dynamical formulation is
fundamental. Another aspect of the matter will be developed below.
A somewhat different procedure, in terms of entropy as fundamental, has
been adopted and developed by Planck. In an isolated system the trend of
change must be in the direction which increases the entropy [phi], by
Clausius' form of the principle. But in experiment it is a system at
constant temperature rather than an adiabatic one that usually is
involved; this can be attained formally by including in the isolated
system (cf. _infra_) a source of heat at that temperature and of
unlimited capacity, when the energy of the original system increases by
[delta]E this source must give up heat of amount [delta]E, and its
entropy therefore diminishes [delta]E/T. Thus for the original system
maintained at constant temperature T it is [delta][phi] - [delta]E/T
that must always be positive in spontaneous change, which is the same
criterion as was reached above. Reference may also be made to H.A.
Lorentz's _Collected Scientific Papers_, part i.
A striking anticipation, almost contemporaneous, of Gibbs's
thermodynamic potential theory (_infra_) was made by Clerk Maxwell in
connexion with the discussion of Andrews's experiments on the critical
temperature of mixed gases, in a letter published in Sir G.G. Stokes's
_Scientific Correspondence_ (vol. ii. p. 34).
_Available Energy._--The same quantity [phi], which Clausius named the
entropy, arose in various ways in the early development of the subject,
in the train of ideas of Rankine and Kelvin relating to the expression
of the _available energy_ A of the material system. Suppose there were
accessible an auxiliary system containing an _unlimited_ quantity of
heat at absolute temperature T0, forming a condenser into which heat can
be discharged from the working system, or from which it may be recovered
at that temperature: we proceed to find how much of the heat of our
system is available for transformation into mechanical work, in a
process which reduces the whole system to the temperature of this
condenser. Provided the process of reduction is performed reversibly, it
is immaterial, by Carnot's principle, in what manner it is effected:
thus in following it out in detail we can consider each elementary
quantity of heat [delta]H removed from the system as set aside at its
actual temperature between T and T + [delta]T for the production of
mechanical work [delta]W and the residue of it [delta]H0 as directly
discharged into the condenser at T0. The principle of Carnot gives
[delta]H/T = [delta]H0/T0, so that the portion of the heat [delta]H that
is not available for work is [delta]H0, equal to T0[delta]H/T. In the
whole process the part not available in connexion with the condenser at
T0 is therefore T0[int][delta]H/T. This quantity must be the same
whatever reversible process is employed: thus, for example, we may first
transform the system reversibly from the state C to the state D, and
then from the state D to the final state of uniform temperature T0. It
follows that the value of T0[int]dH/T, representing the heat degraded,
is the same along all reversible paths of transformation from the state
C to the state D; so that the function [int]dH/T is the excess of a
definite quantity [phi] connected with the system in the former state as
compared with the latter.
It is usual to change the law of sign of [delta]H so that gain of heat
by the system is reckoned positive; then, relative to a condenser of
unlimited capacity at T0, the state C contains more mechanically
_available energy_ than the state D by the amount E_C - E_D + T0
[int]dH/T, that is, by E_C - E_D - T0([phi]_C - [phi]_D). In this way
the existence of an entropy function with a definite value for each
state of the system is again seen to be the direct analytical equivalent
of Carnot's axiom that no process can be more efficient than a
reversible process between the same initial and final states. The name
_motivity_ of a system was proposed by Lord Kelvin in 1879 for this
conception of available energy. It is here specified as relative to a
condenser of unlimited capacity at an assigned temperature T0: some such
specification is necessary to the definition; in fact, if T0 were the
absolute zero, all the energy would be mechanically available.
But we can obtain an intrinsically different and self-contained
comparison of the available energies in a system in two different states
at different temperatures, by ascertaining how much energy would be
dissipated in each in a reduction to the _same_ standard state of the
system itself, at a standard temperature T0. We have only to reverse the
operation, and change back this standard state to each of the others in
turn. This will involve abstractions of heat [delta]H0 from the various
portions of the system in the standard state, and returns of [delta]H to
the state at T0; if this return were [delta]H0T/T0 instead of [delta]H,
there would be no loss of availability in the direct process; hence
there is actual dissipation [delta]H - [delta]H0T/T0, that is
T([delta][phi] - [delta][phi]0). On passing from state 1 to state 2
through this standard state 0 the difference of these dissipations will
represent the energy of the system that has become unavailable. Thus in
this sense E - T[phi] + T[phi]0 + const. represents for each state the
amount of energy that is available; but instead of implying an unlimited
source of heat at the standard temperature T0, it implies that there is
no extraneous source. The available energy thus defined differs from E -
T[phi], the _free energy_ of Helmholtz, or the _work function of the
applied forces_ of Kelvin, which involves no reference to any standard
state, by a simple linear function of the temperature alone which is
immaterial as regards its applications.
The determination of the available mechanical energy arising from
differences of temperature between the parts of the same system is a
more complex problem, because it involves a determination of the common
temperature to which reversible processes will ultimately reduce them;
for the simple case in which no changes of state occur the solution was
given by Lord Kelvin in 1853, in connexion with the above train of ideas
(cf. Tait's _Thermodynamics_, §179). In the present exposition the
system is sensibly in equilibrium at each stage, so that its temperature
T is always uniform throughout; isolated portions at different
temperatures would be treated as different systems.
_Thermodynamic Potentials._--We have now to develop the relations
involved in the general equation (1) of thermodynamics. Suppose the
material system includes two coexistent states or phases, with
opportunity for free interchange of constituents--for example, a salt
solution and the aqueous vapour in equilibrium with it. Then in
equilibrium a slight transfer [delta]m of the water-substance of mass
m_r constituting the vapour, into the water-substance of mass m_s,
existing in the solution, should not produce any alteration of the first
order in [delta]E - T[delta][phi]; therefore µ_r must be equal to µ_s.
The quantity µ_r is called by Willard Gibbs the potential of the
corresponding substance of mass m_r; it may be defined as its marginal
available energy per unit mass at the given temperature. If then a
system involves in this way coexistent phases which remain permanently
separate, the potentials of any constituent must be the same in all of
them in which that constituent exists, for otherwise it would tend to
pass from the phases in which its potential is higher to those in which
it is lower. If the constituent is non-existent in any phase, its
potential when in that phase would have to be higher than in the others
in which it is actually present; but as the potential increases
logarithmically when the density of the constituent is indefinitely
diminished, this condition is automatically satisfied--or, more
strictly, the constitutent cannot be entirely absent, but the presence
of the merest trace will suffice to satisfy the condition of equality of
potential. When the action of the force of gravity is taken into
account, the potential of each constituent must include the
gravitational potential _gh_; in the equilibrium state the total
potential of each constituent, including this part, must be the same
throughout all parts of the system into which it is freely mobile. An
example is Dalton's law of the independent distributions of the gases in
the atmosphere, if it were in a state of rest. A similar statement
applies to other forms of mechanical potential energy arising from
actions at a distance.
When a slight constitutive change occurs in a galvanic element at given
temperature, producing available energy of electric current, in a
reversible manner and isothermally, at the expense of chemical energy,
it is the free energy of the system E - T[phi], not its total intrinsic
energy, whose value must be conserved during the process. Thus the
electromotive force is equal to the change of this free energy per
electrochemical equivalent of reaction in the cell. This proposition,
developed by Gibbs and later by Helmholtz, modifies the earlier one of
Kelvin--which tacitly assumed all the energy of reaction to be
available--except in the cases such as that of a Daniell's cell, in
which the magnitude of the electromotive force does not depend sensibly
on the temperature.
The effects produced on electromotive forces by difference of
concentrations in dilute solutions can thus be accounted for and traced
out, from the knowledge of the form of the free energy for such cases;
as also the effects of pressure in the case of gas batteries. The free
energy does not sensibly depend on whether the substance is solid or
fused--for the two states are in equilibrium at the temperature of
fusion--though the total energy differs in these two cases by the heat
of fusion; for this reason, as Gibbs pointed out, voltaic
potential-differences are the same for the fused as for the solid state
of the substances concerned.
_Relations involving Constitution only._--The potential of a component
in a given solution can depend only on the temperature and pressure of
the solution, and the densities of the various components, including
itself; as no distance-actions are usually involved in chemical physics,
it will not depend on the aggregate masses present. The example above
mentioned, of two coexistent phases liquid and vapour, indicates that
there may thus be relations between the constitutions of the phases
present in a chemical system which do not involve their total masses.
These are developed in a very direct manner in Willard Gibbs's original
procedure. In so far as attractions at a distance (a uniform force such
as gravity being excepted) and capillary actions at the interfaces
between the phases are inoperative, the fundamental equation (1) can be
integrated. Increasing the volume k times, and all the masses to the
same extent--in fact, placing alongside each other k identical systems
at the same temperature and pressure--will increase [phi] and E in the
same ratio k; thus E must be a homogeneous function of the first degree
of the independent variables [phi], v, m1, ..., m_n, and therefore by
Euler's theorem relating to such functions
E = T[phi] - pv + µ1m1 + ... + µ_nm_n.
This integral equation merely expresses the additive character of the
energies and entropies of adjacent portions of the system at uniform
temperature, and thus depends only on the absence of sensible physical
action directly across finite distances. If we form from it the
expression for the complete differential [delta]E, and subtract (1),
there remains the relation
0 = [phi][delta]T - v[delta]p + m1[delta]µ1 + ... + m_n[delta]µ_n. (2)
This implies that in each phase the change of pressure depends on and is
determined by the changes in T, µ1, ... µ_n alone; as we know
beforehand that a physical property like pressure is an analytical
function of the state of the system, it is therefore a function of these
n + 1 quantities. When they are all independently variable, the
densities of the various constituents and of the entropy in the phase
are expressed by the partial fluxions of p with respect to them: thus
[phi] dp m_r dp
----- = --, --- = ----.
v dT v dµ_r
But when, as in the case above referred to of chloride of ammonium gas
existing partially dissociated along with its constituents, the masses
are not independent, necessary linear relations, furnished by the laws
of definite combining proportions, subsist between the partial fluxions,
and the form of the function which expresses p is thus restricted, in a
manner which is easily expressible in each special case.
This proposition that the pressure in any phase is a function of the
temperature and of the potentials of the independent constituents, thus
appears as a consequence of Carnot's axiom combined with the energy
principle and the absence of effective actions at a distance. It shows
that at a given temperature and pressure the potentials are not all
independent, that there is a necessary relation connecting them. This is
the _equation of state_ or constitution of the phase, whose existence
forms one mode of expression of Carnot's principle, and in which all the
properties of the phase are involved and can thence be derived by simple
differentiation.
_The Phase Rule._--When the material system contains only a single
phase, the number of independent variations, in addition to change of
temperature and pressure, that can spontaneously occur in its
constitution is thus one less than the number of its independent
constituents. But where several phases coexist in contact in the same
system, the number of possible independent variations may be much
smaller. The present independent variables µ1, ..., µ_n are specially
appropriate in this problem, because each of them has the same value in
all the phases. Now each phase has its own characteristic equation,
giving a relation between [delta]p, [delta]T, and [delta]µ1, ...
[delta]µ_n, or such of the latter as are independent; if r phases
coexist, there are r such relations; hence the number of possible
independent variations, including those of v and T, is reduced to m - r
+ 2, where m is the number of independently variable chemical
constituents which the system contains. This number of degrees of
constitutive freedom cannot be negative; therefore the number of
possible phases that can coexist alongside each other cannot exceed m +
2. If m + 2 phases actually coexist, there is no variable quantity in
the system, thus the temperature and pressure and constitutions of the
phases are all determined; such is the triple point at which ice, water
and vapour exist in presence of each other. If there are m + 1
coexistent phases, the system can vary in one respect only; for example,
at any temperature of water-substance different from the triple point
two phases only, say liquid and vapour, or liquid and solid, coexist,
and the pressure is definite, as also are the densities and potentials
of the components. Finally, when but one phase, say water, is present,
both pressure and temperature can vary independently. The first example
illustrates the case of systems, physical or chemical, in which there is
only one possible state of equilibrium, forming a point of transition
between different constitutions; in the second type each temperature has
its own completely determined state of equilibrium; in other cases the
constitution in the equilibrium state is indeterminate as regards the
corresponding number of degrees of freedom. By aid of this phase rule of
Gibbs the number of different chemical substances actually interacting
in a given complex system can be determined from observation of the
degree of spontaneous variation which it exhibits; the rule thus lies at
the foundation of the modern subject of chemical equilibrium and
continuous chemical change in mixtures or alloys, and in this connexion
it has been widely applied and developed in the experimental
investigations of Roozeboom and van 't Hoff and other physical chemists,
mainly of the Dutch school.
_Extent to which the Theory can be practically developed._--It is only
in systems in which the number of independent variables is small that
the forms of the various potentials,--or the form of the fundamental
characteristic equation expressing the energy of the system in terms of
its entropy and constitution, or the pressure in terms of the
temperature and the potentials, which includes them all,--can be readily
approximated to by experimental determinations. Even in the case of the
simple system water-vapour, which is fundamental for the theory of the
steam-engine, this has not yet been completely accomplished. The general
theory is thus largely confined, as above, to defining the restrictions
on the degree of variability of a complex chemical system which the
principle of Carnot imposes. The tracing out of these general relations
of continuity of state is much facilitated by geometrical diagrams, such
as James Thomson first introduced in order to exhibit and explain
Andrews' results as to the range of coexistent phases in carbonic acid.
Gibbs's earliest thermodynamic surface had for its co-ordinates volume,
entropy and energy; it was constructed to scale by Maxwell for
water-substance, and is fully explained in later editions of the _Theory
of Heat_ (1875); it forms a relief map which, by simple inspection,
reveals the course of the transformations of water, with the
corresponding mechanical and thermal changes, in its three coexistent
states of solid, liquid and gas. In the general case, when the substance
has more than one independently variable constituent, there are more
than three variables to be represented; but Gibbs has shown the utility
of surfaces representing, for instance, the entropy in terms of the
constitutive variables when temperature and pressure are maintained
constant. Such graphical methods are now of fundamental importance in
connexion with the phase rule, for the experimental exploration of the
trend of the changes of constitution of complex mixtures with
interacting components, which arise as the physical conditions are
altered, as, for example in modern metallurgy, in the theory of alloys.
The study of the phenomena of condensation in a mixture of two gases or
vapours, initiated by Andrews and developed in this manner by van der
Waals and his pupils, forms a case in point (see CONDENSATION OF GASES).
_Dilute Components: Perfect Gases and Dilute Solutions._--There are,
however, two simple limiting cases, in which the theory can be completed
by a determination of the functions involved in it, which throw much
light on the phenomena of actual systems not far removed from these
ideal limits. They are the cases of mixtures of perfect gases, and of
very dilute solutions.
If, following Gibbs, we apply his equation (2) expressing the pressure
in terms of the temperature and the potentials, to a very dilute
solution of substances m2, m3, ... m_n in a solvent substance m1, and
vary the co-ordinate m_r alone, p and T remaining unvaried, we have in
the equilibrium state
dµ_r dµ1 dµ_n
m_r---- + m1---- + ... + m_n---- = 0,
dm_r dm_r dm_r
in which every m except m1 is very small, while dµ1/dm_r is presumably
finite. As the second term is thus finite, this requires that the
total potential of each component m_r, which is m_r dµ_r/dm_r, shall be
finite, say k_r, in the limit when m_r is null. Thus for very small
concentrations the potential µ_r of a dilute component must be of the
form k_r log m_r/v, being proportional to the logarithm of the density
of that component; it thus tends logarithmically to an infinite value
at evanescent concentrations, showing that removal of the last traces
of any impurity would demand infinite proportionate expenditure of
available energy, and is therefore practically impossible with finite
intensities of force. It should be noted, however, that this argument
applies only to fluid phases, for in the case of deposition of a solid
m_r is not uniformly distributed throughout the phase; thus it remains
possible for the growth of a crystal at its surface in aqueous
solution to extrude all the water except such as is in some form of
chemical combination.
The precise value of this logarithmic expression for the potential can
be readily determined for the case of a perfect gas from its
characteristic properties, and can be thence extended to other dilute
forms of matter. We have pv = R/m·T for unit mass of the gas, where m
is the molecular weight, being 2 for hydrogen, and R is a constant
equal to 82 × 10^6 in C.G.S. dynamical units, or 2 calories
approximately in thermal energy units, which is the same for all gases
because they have all the same number of molecules per unit volume.
The increment of heat received by the unit mass of the gas is [delta]H
= p[delta]v + [kappa][delta]T, [kappa] being thus the specific heat at
constant volume, which can be a function only of the temperature. Thus
[phi] = [int]dH/T = R/m·log v + [int][kappa]T^(-1)dT;
and the available energy A per unit mass is E - T[phi] + T[phi]0 where
E = [epsilon] + [int][kappa]dT, the integral being for a standard
state, and [epsilon] being intrinsic energy of chemical constitution;
so that
A = [epsilon] + [phi]0T + [int][kappa]dT - T [int][kappa]T^(-1)dT -
R/m·T log v.
If there are [nu] molecules in the unit mass, and N per unit volume,
we have m[nu] = Nmv, each being 2 [nu]', where [nu]' is the number of
molecules per unit mass in hydrogen; thus the free energy per molecule
is a' + R'T log bN, where b = m/2[nu]', R' = R/2[nu]', and a' is a
function of T alone. It is customary to avoid introducing the unknown
molecular constant [nu]' by working with the available energy per
"gramme-molecule," that is, for a number of grammes expressed by the
molecular weight of the substance; this is a constant multiple of the
available energy per molecule, and is a + RT log[rho], [rho] being the
density equal to bN where b = m/2[nu]'. This formula may now be
extended by simple summation to a mixture of gases, on the ground of
Dalton's experimental principle that each of the components behaves in
presence of the others as it would do in a vacuum. The components are,
in fact, actually separable wholly or partially in reversible ways
which may be combined into cycles, for example, either (i.) by
diffusion through a porous partition, taking account of the work of
the pressures, or (ii.) by utilizing the modified constitution towards
the top of a long column of the mixture arising from the action of
gravity, or (iii.) by reversible absorption of a single component.
If we employ in place of available energy the form of characteristic
equation which gives the pressure in terms of the temperature and
potentials, the pressure of the mixture is expressed as the sum of
those belonging to its components: this equation was made by Gibbs the
basis of his analytical theory of gas mixtures, which he tested by its
application to the only data then available, those of the equilibrium
of dissociation of nitrogen peroxide (2NO2 <--> N2O4) vapour.
_Van 't Hoff's Osmotic Principle: Theoretical Explanation._--We proceed
to examine how far the same formulae as hold for gases apply to the
available energy of matter in solution which is so dilute that each
molecule of the dissolved substance, though possibly the centre of a
complex of molecules of the solvent, is for nearly all the time beyond
the sphere of direct influence of the other molecules of the dissolved
substance. The available energy is a function only of the co-ordinates
of the matter in bulk and the temperature; its change on further
dilution, with which alone we are concerned in the transformations of
dilute solutions, can depend only on the further separation of these
molecular complexes in space that is thereby produced, as no one of them
is in itself altered. The change is therefore a function only of the
number N of the dissolved molecules per unit volume, and of the
temperature, and is, per molecule, expressible in a form entirely
independent of their constitution and of that of the medium in which
they are dissolved. This suggests that the expression for the change on
dilution is the same as the known one for a gas, in which the same
molecules would exist free and in the main outside each other's spheres
of influence; which confirms and is verified by the experimental
principle of van 't Hoff, that osmotic pressure obeys the laws of
gaseous pressure with identically the same physical constants as those
of gases. It can be held, in fact, that this suggestion does not fall
short of a demonstration, on the basis of Carnot's principle, and
independent of special molecular theory, that in all cases where the
molecules of a component, whether it be of a gas or of a solution, are
outside each other's spheres of influence, the available energy, so far
as regards dilution, must have a common form, and the physical constants
must therefore be the known gas-constants. The customary exposition
derives this principle, by an argument involving cycles, from Henry's
law of solution of gases; it is sensibly restricted to such solutes as
appear concomitantly in the free gaseous state, but theoretically it
becomes general when it is remembered that no solute can be absolutely
non-volatile.
_Source of the Idea of Temperature._--The single new element that
thermodynamics introduces into the ordinary dynamical specification of a
material system is temperature. This conception is akin to that of
potential, except that it is given to us directly by our sense of heat.
But if that were not so, we could still demonstrate, on the basis of
Carnot's principle, that there is a definite function of the state of a
body which must be the same for all of a series of connected bodies,
when thermal equilibrium has become established so that there is no
tendency for heat to flow from one to another. For we can by mere
geometrical displacement change the order of the bodies so as to bring
different ones into direct contact. If this disturbed the thermal
equilibrium, we could construct cyclic processes to take advantage of
the resulting flow of heat to do mechanical work, and such processes
might be carried on without limit. Thus it is proved that if a body A
is in temperature-equilibrium with B, and B with C, then A must be in
equilibrium with C directly. This argument can be applied, by aid of
adiabatic partitions, even when the bodies are in a field of force so
that mechanical work is required to change their geometrical
arrangement; it was in fact employed by Maxwell to extend from the case
of a gas to that of any other system the proposition that the
temperature is the same all along a vertical column in equilibrium under
gravity.
It had been shown from the kinetic theory by Maxwell that in a
gas-column the mean kinetic energy of the molecules is the same at all
heights. If the only test of equality of temperature consisted in
bringing the bodies into contact, this would be rather a proof that
thermal temperature is of the same physical nature in all parts of the
field of force; but temperature can also be equalized across a distance
by radiation, so that this law for gases is itself already necessitated
by Carnot's general principle, and merely confirmed or verified by the
special gas-theory. But without introducing into the argument the
existence of radiation, the uniformity of temperature throughout all
phases in equilibrium is necessitated by the doctrine of energetics
alone, as otherwise, for example, the raising of a quantity of gas to
the top of the gravitational column in an adiabatic enclosure together
with the lowering of an equal mass to the bottom would be a source of
power, capable of unlimited repetition.
_Laws of Chemical Equilibrium based on Available Energy._--The complete
theory of chemical and physical equilibrium in gaseous mixtures and in
very dilute solutions may readily be developed in terms of available
energy (cf. _Phil. Trans_., 1897, A, pp. 266-280), which forms perhaps
the most vivid and most direct procedure. The available energy per
molecule of any kind, in a mixture of perfect gases in which there are N
molecules of that kind per unit volume, has been found to be a' + R'T
logbN where R' is the universal physical constant connected with R
above. This expression represents the marginal increase of available
energy due to the introduction of one more molecule of that kind into
the system as actually constituted. The same formula also applies, by
what has already been stated, to substances in dilute solution in any
given solvent. In any isolated system in a mobile state of reaction or
of internal dissociation, the condition of chemical equilibrium is that
the available energy at constant temperature is a minimum, therefore
that it is stationary, and slight change arising from fresh reaction
would not sensibly alter it. Suppose that this reaction, per molecule
affected by it, is equivalent to introducing n1 molecules of type N1, n2
of type N2, &c., into the system, n1, n2, ... being the numbers of
molecules of the different types that take part in the reaction, as
shown by its chemical equation, reckoned positive when they appear,
negative when they disappear. Then in the state of equilibrium
n1(a'1 + R'T log b1N1) + n2(a'2 + R'T log b2N2) + ...
must vanish. Therefore N1^(n1) N2^(n2) ... must be equal to K, a
function of the temperature alone. This law, originally based by
Guldberg and Waage on direct statistics of molecular interaction,
expresses for each temperature the relation connecting the densities of
the interacting substances, in dilution comparable as regards density
with the perfect gaseous state, when the reaction has come to the state
of mobile equilibrium.
All properties of any system, including the heat of reaction, are
expressible in terms of its available energy A, equal to E - T[phi] +
[phi]0T. Thus as the constitution of the system changes with the
temperature, we have
dA dE d[phi]
-- = -- - T------ - ([phi] - [phi]0)
dT dT dT
where
[delta]E = [delta]H + [delta]W, [delta]H = T[delta][phi],
[delta]H being heat and [delta]W mechanical and chemical energy imparted
to the system at constant temperature; hence
d(A - W) d(A - W)
-------- = -([phi] - [phi]0), so that A = E + T--------,
dT dT
which is equivalent to
d /A - W\
E - W = -T² -- (-------).
dT \ T /
This general formula, applied differentially, expresses the heat
[delta]E - [delta]W absorbed by a reaction in terms of [delta]A, the
change produced by it in the available energy of the system, and of
[delta]W, the mechanical and electrical work done on the system during
its progress.
In the problem of reaction in gaseous systems or in very dilute
solution, the change of available energy per molecule of reaction has
just been found to be
[delta]A = [delta]A0 + R'T log K', where K' = b1^(n1) b2^(n2) ... K;
thus, when the reaction is spontaneous without requiring external work,
the heat absorbed per molecule of reaction is
d [delta]A0 d
-T² -- ---------, or -R'T² -- log K.
dT T dT
This formula has been utilized by van 't Hoff to determine, in terms of
the heat of reaction, the displacement of equilibrium in various systems
arising from change of temperature; for K, equal to N1^(n1) N2^(n2) ...,
is the reaction-parameter through which alone the temperature affects
the law of chemical equilibrium in dilute systems.
_Interfacial Phenomena: Liquid Films._--The characteristic equation
hitherto developed refers to the state of an element of mass in the
interior of a homogeneous substance: it does not apply to matter in the
neighbourhood of the transition between two adjacent phases. A
remarkable analysis has been developed by J.W. Gibbs in which the
present methods concerning matter in bulk are extended to the phenomena
at such an interface, without the introduction of any molecular theory;
it forms the thermodynamic completion of Gauss's mechanical theory of
capillarity, based on the early form of the principle of total energy.
The validity of the fundamental doctrine of available energy, so far as
regards all mechanical actions in bulk such as surface tensions, is
postulated, even when applied to interfacial layers so thin as to be
beyond our means of measurement; the argument from perpetual motions
being available here also, as soon as we have experimentally ascertained
that the said tensions are definite physical properties of the state of
the interface and not merely accidental phenomena. The procedure will
then consist in assuming a definite excess of energy, of entropy, and of
the masses of the various components, each per unit surface, at the
interface, the potential of each component being of necessity, in
equilibrium, the same as it is in the adjacent masses. The interfacial
transition layer thus provides in a sense a new surface-phase coexistent
with those on each side of it, and having its own characteristic
equation. It is only the extent of the interface and not its curvatures
that need enter into this relation, because any slight influence of the
latter can be eliminated from the equation by slightly displacing the
position of the surface which is taken to represent the interface
geometrically. By an argument similar to one given above, it is shown
that one of the forms of the characteristic equation is a relation
expressing the surface tension as a function of the temperature and the
potentials of the various components present on the two sides of the
interface; and from the differentiation of this the surface densities of
the superficial distributions of these components (as above defined) can
be obtained. The conditions that a specified new phase may become
developed when two other given ones are brought into contact, i.e. that
a chemical reaction may start at the interface, are thence formally
expressed in terms of the surface tensions of the three transition
layers and the pressures in the three phases. In the case of a thin
soap-film, sudden extension of any part reduces the interfacial density
of each component at each surface of the film, and so alters the surface
tension, which requires time to recover by the very slow diffusion of
dissolved material from other parts of the thin film; the system being
stable, this change must be an increase of tension, and constitutes a
species of elasticity in the film. Thus in a vertical film the surface
tension must be greater in the higher parts, as they have to sustain the
weight of the lower parts; the upper parts, in fact, stretch until the
superficial densities of the components there situated are reduced to
the amounts that correspond to the tension required for this purpose.
Such a film could not therefore consist of pure water. But there is a
limit to these processes: if the film becomes so thin that there is no
water in bulk between its surfaces, the tensions cannot adjust
themselves in this slow way by migration of components from one part of
the film to another; if the film can survive at all after it has become
of molecular thickness, it must be as a definite molecular structure all
across its thickness. Of such type are the black spots that break out in
soap-films (suggested by Gibbs and proved by the measures of Reinold and
Rücker): the spots increase in size because their tension is less than
that of the surrounding film, but their indefinite increase is
presumably stopped in practice by some clogging or viscous agency at
their boundary.
_Transition to Molecular Theory._--The subject of energetics, based on
the doctrine of available energy, deals with matter in bulk and is not
concerned with its molecular constitution, which it is expressly
designed to eliminate from the problem. This analysis of the phenomena
of surface tension shows how far the principle of negation of perpetual
motions can carry us, into regions which at first sight might be classed
as molecular. But, as in other cases, it is limited to pointing out the
general scheme of relations within which the phenomena can have their
play. There is now a considerable body of knowledge correlating surface
tension with chemical constitution, especially to a certain extent with
the numerical density of the distribution of molecules; thus R. Eötvös
has shown that a law of proportionality exists for wide classes of
substances between the temperature-gradient of the surface tension and
the density of the molecules over the surface layer, which varies as the
two-thirds power of the number per unit volume (see CHEMISTRY:
_Physical_). This takes us into the sphere of molecular science, where
at present we have only such indications largely derived from
experiment, if we except the mere notion of inter-atomic forces of
unknown character on which the older theories of capillarity, those of
Laplace and Poisson, were constructed.
In other topics the same restrictions on the scope of the simple
statical theory of energy appear. From the ascertained behaviour in
certain respects of gaseous media we are able to construct their
characteristic equation, and correlate their remaining relations by
means of its consequences. Part of the experimental knowledge required
for this purpose is the values of the gas-constants, which prove to be
the same for all nearly perfect gases. The doctrine of energetics by
itself can give no clue as to why this should be so; it can only
construct a scheme for each simple or complex medium on the basis of its
own experimentally determined characteristic equation. The explanation
of uniformities in the intrinsic constitutions of various media belongs
to molecular theory, which is a distinct and in the main more complex
and more speculative department of knowledge. When we proceed further
and find, with van 't Hoff, that these same universal gas-constants
reappear in the relations of very dilute solutions, our demand for an
explanation such as can only be provided by molecular theory (as
_supra_) is intensely stimulated. But except in respects such as these
the doctrine of energetics gives a complete synthesis of the course and
relations of the chemical reactions of matter in bulk, from which we can
eliminate atomism altogether by restating the merely numerical atomic
theory of Dalton as a principle of equivalent combining proportions. Of
recent years there has been a considerable school of chemists who insist
on this procedure as a purification of their science from the
hypothetical ideas as to atoms and molecules, in terms of which its
experimental facts have come to be expressed. A complete system of
doctrine can be developed in this manner, but its scope will be limited.
It makes use of one principle of correlation, the doctrine of available
energy, and discards another such principle, the atomic theory. Nor can
it be said that the one principle is really more certain and definite
than the other. This may be illustrated by what has sometimes by German
writers been called Gibbs's paradox: the energy that is available for
mechanical effect in the inter-diffusion of given volumes of two gases
depends only on these volumes and their pressures, and is independent of
what the gases are; if the gases differed only infinitesimally in
constitution it would still be the same, and the question arises where
we are to stop, for we cannot suppose the inter-diffusion of two
identical gases to be a source of power. This then looks like a real
failure, or rather limitation, of the principle; and there are other
such, that can only be satisfactorily explained by aid of the
complementary doctrine of molecular theory. That theory, in fact, shows
that the more nearly identical the gases are, the slower will be the
process of inter-diffusion, so that the mechanical energy will indeed be
available, but only after a time that becomes indefinitely prolonged. It
is a case in which the simple doctrine of energetics becomes inadequate
before the limit is reached. The phenomena of highly rarefied gases
provide other cases. And in fact the only reason hitherto thought of for
the invariable tendency of available energy to diminish, is that it
represents the general principle that in the kinetic play of a vast
assemblage of independent molecules individually beyond our control, the
normal tendency is for the regularities to diminish and the motions to
become less correlated: short of some such reason, it is an unexplained
empirical principle. In the special departments of dynamical physics on
the other hand, the molecular theory, there dynamical and therefore much
more difficult and less definite, is an indispensable part of the
framework of science; and even experimental chemistry now leans more and
more on new physical methods and instruments. Without molecular theory
the clue which has developed into spectrum analysis, bringing with it
stellar chemistry and a new physical astronomy, would not have been
available; nor would the laws of diffusion and conduction in gases have
attained more than an empirical form; nor would it have been possible to
weave the phenomena of electrodynamics and radiation into an entirely
rational theory.
The doctrine of available energy, as the expression of thermodynamic
theory, is directly implied in Carnot's Essai of 1824, and constitutes,
in fact, its main theme; it took a fresh start, in the light of fuller
experimental knowledge regarding the nature of heat, in the early
memoirs of Rankine and Lord Kelvin, which may be found in their
Collected Scientific Papers; a subsequent exposition occurs in Maxwell's
_Theory of Heat_; its most familiar form of statement is Lord Kelvin's
principle of the dissipation of available energy. Its principles were
very early applied by James Thomson to a physico-chemical problem, that
of the influence of stress on the growth of crystals in their mother
liquor. The "thermodynamic function" introduced by Rankine into its
development is the same as the "entropy" of the material system,
independently defined by Clausius about the same time. Clausius's form
of the principle, that in an adiabatic system the entropy tends
continually to increase, has been placed by Professor Willard Gibbs, of
Yale University, at the foundation of his magnificent but complex and
difficult development of the theory. His monumental memoir "On the
Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances," first published in _Trans.
Connecticut Academy_ (1876-1878), made a clean sweep of the subject; and
workers in the modern experimental science of physical chemistry have
returned to it again and again to find their empirical principles
forecasted in the light of pure theory, and to derive fresh inspiration
for new departures. As specially preparatory to Gibbs's general
discussion may be mentioned Lord Rayleigh's memoir on the thermodynamics
of gaseous diffusion (_Phil. Mag._, 1876), which was expounded by
Maxwell in the 9th edition of the _Ency. Brit_. (art. DIFFUSION). The
fundamental importance of the doctrine of dissipation of energy for the
theory of chemical reaction had already been insisted on in general
terms by Rayleigh; subsequent to, but independently of, Gibbs's work it
had been elaborated by von Helmholtz (_Gesamm. Abhandl_. ii. and iii.)
in connexion with the thermodynamics of voltaic cells, and more
particularly in the calculation of the free or available energy of
solutions from data of vapour-pressure, with a view to the application
to the theory of concentration cells, therein also coming close to the
doctrine of osmotic pressure. This form of the general theory has here
been traced back substantially to Lord Kelvin under date 1855.
Expositions and developments on various lines will be found in papers by
Riecke and by Planck in _Annalen der Physik_ between 1890 and 1900, in
the course of a memoir by Larmor, Phil. Trans., 1897, A, in Voigt's
_Compendium der Physik_ and his more recent _Thermodynamik_, in Planck's
_Vorlesungen über Thermodynamik_, in Duhem's elaborate _Traité de
mécanique chimique_ and _Le Potential thermodynamique_, in Whetham's
_Theory of Solution_ and in Bryan's _Thermodynamics_. Numerous
applications to special problems are expounded in van't Hoff's _Lectures
on Theoretical and Physical Chemistry_.
The theory of energetics, which puts a diminishing limit on the amount
of energy available for mechanical purposes, is closely implicated in
the discovery of natural radioactive substances by H. Becquerel, and
their isolation in the very potent form of radium salts by M. and Mme
Curie. The slow degradation of radium has been found by the latter to be
concomitant with an evolution of heat, in amount enormous compared with
other chemical changes. This heat has been shown by E. Rutherford to be
about what must be due to the stoppage of the [alpha] and ß particles,
which are emitted from the substance with velocities almost of the same
scale as that of light. If they struck an ideal rigid target, their lost
kinetic energy must all be sent away as radiation; but when they become
entangled among the molecules of actual matter, it will, to a large
extent, be shared among them as heat, with availability reduced
accordingly. In any case the particles that escape into the surrounding
space are so few and their velocity so uniform that we can, to some
extent, treat their energy as directly available mechanically, in
contradistinction to the energy of individual molecules of a gas (cf.
Maxwell's "demons"), e.g. for driving a vane, as in Crookes's experiment
with the cathode rays. Indeed, on account of the high velocity of
projection of the particles from a radium salt, the actions concerned
would find their equilibrium at such enormously high temperatures that
any influence of actually available differences of temperature is not
sensibly a feature of the phenomena. Such actions, however, like
explosive actions in general, are beyond our powers of actual _direct_
measurement as regards the degradation of availability of the energy. It
has been pointed out by Rutherford, R.J. Strutt and others, that the
energy of degradation of even a very minute admixture of active radium
would entirely dominate and mask all other cosmical modes of
transformation of energy; for example, it far outweighs that arising
from the exhaustion of gravitational energy, which has been shown by
Helmholtz and Kelvin to be an ample source for all the activities of our
cosmical system, and to be itself far greater than the energy of any
ordinary chemical rearrangements consequent on a fall of temperature: a
circumstance that makes the existence and properties of this substance
under settled cosmic conditions still more anomalous (see
RADIOACTIVITY). Theoretically it is possible to obtain unlimited
concentration of availability of energy at the expense of an equivalent
amount of degradation spread over a wider field; the potency of electric
furnaces, which have recently opened up a new department of chemistry,
and are limited only by the refractoriness of the materials of which
they are constituted, forms a case in point. In radium we have the very
remarkable phenomenon of far higher concentration occurring naturally in
very minute permanent amounts, so that merely chemical sifting is needed
to produce its aggregation. Even in pitchblende only one molecule in
10^9 seems to be of radium, renewable, however, when lost, by internal
transformation.
The energetics of RADIATION is treated under that heading. See also
THERMODYNAMICS. (J. L.*)
ENERGICI, or ENERGUMENS (Gr. "possessed by a spirit"), the name given in
the early Church to those suffering from different forms of insanity,
who were popularly supposed to be under the control of some indwelling
spirit other than their own. Among primitive races everywhere disease is
explained in this way, and its removal supposed to be effected by
priestly prayers and incantations. They were sometimes called [Greek:
Cheimazomenoi], as being "tossed by the waves" of uncontrollable
impulse. Persons afflicted in this way were restricted from entering the
church, but might share the shelter of the porch with lepers and persons
of offensive life (Hefele, _Conciliengeschichte_, vol. i. § 16). After
the prayers, if quiet, they might come in to receive the bishop's
blessing (_Apost. Const_. viii. 6, 7, 32) and listen to the sermon. They
were daily fed and prayed over by the exorcists, and, in case of
recovery, after a fast of from 20 to 40 days, were admitted to the
eucharist, and their names and cures entered in the church records.
A note on the New Testament use of the word [Greek: energein] and its
cognates will be found in J.A. Robinson's edition of _The Epistle to
the Ephesians_, pp. 241-247; an excursus on "The Conflict with Demons"
in A. Harnack, _The Expansion of Christianity_, i. 152-180. Cf.
EXORCISM.
ENERGY (from the Gr. [Greek: energeia]; [Greek: en], in, [Greek: ergon],
work), in physical science, a term which may be defined as accumulated
mechanical work, which, however, may be only partially available for
use. A bent spring possesses energy, for it is capable of doing work in
returning to its natural form; a charge of gunpowder possesses energy,
for it is capable of doing work in exploding; a Leyden jar charged with
electricity possesses energy, for it is capable of doing work in being
discharged. The motions of bodies, or of the ultimate parts of bodies,
also involve energy, for stopping them would be a source of work.
All kinds of energy are ultimately measured in terms of work. If we
raise 1 lb. of matter through a foot we do a certain amount of work
against the earth's attraction; if we raise 2 lb. through the same
height we do twice this amount of work, and so on. Also, the work done
in raising 1 lb. through 2 ft. will be double of that done in raising it
1 ft. Thus we recognize that the work done varies as the resistance
overcome and the distance through which it is overcome conjointly.
Now, we may select any definite quantity of work we please as our unit,
as, for example, the work done in lifting a pound a foot high from the
sea-level in the latitude of London, which is the unit of work generally
adopted by British engineers, and is called the "foot-pound." The most
appropriate unit for scientific purposes is one which depends only on
the fundamental units of length, mass and time, and is hence called an
absolute unit. Such a unit is independent of gravity or of any other
quantity which varies with the locality. Taking the centimetre, gramme
and second as our fundamental units, the most convenient unit of force
is that which, acting on a gramme for a second, produces in it a
velocity of a centimetre per second; this is called a Dyne. The unit of
work is that which is required to overcome a resistance of a dyne over a
centimetre, and is called an Erg. In the latitude of Paris the dyne is
equal to the weight of about 1/981 of a gramme, and the erg is the
amount of work required to raise 1/981 of a gramme vertically through
one centimetre.
Energy is the capacity for doing work. The unit of energy should
therefore be the same as that of work, and the centimetre-gramme-second
(C.G.S.) unit of energy is the erg.
The forms of energy which are most readily recognized are of course
those in which the energy can be most directly employed in doing
mechanical work; and it is manifest that masses of matter which are
large enough to be seen and handled are more readily dealt with
mechanically than are smaller masses. Hence when useful work can be
obtained from a system by simply connecting visible portions of it by a
train of mechanism, such energy is more readily recognized than is that
which would compel us to control the behaviour of molecules before we
could transform it into useful work. This leads up to the fundamental
distinction, introduced by Lord Kelvin, between "available energy,"
which we can turn to mechanical effect, and "diffuse energy," which is
useless for that purpose.
The conception of work and of energy was originally derived from
observation of purely mechanical phenomena, that is to say, phenomena in
which the relative positions and motions of visible portions of matter
were all that were taken into consideration. Hence it is not surprising
that, in those more subtle forms in which energy cannot be readily or
completely converted into work, the universality of the principle of
energy, its conservation, as regards amount, should for a long while
have escaped recognition after it had become familiar in pure dynamics.
If a pound weight be suspended by a string passing over pulley, in
descending through 10 ft. it is capable of raising nearly a pound weight
attached to the other end of the string, through the same height, and
thus can do nearly 10 foot-pounds of work. The smoother we make the
pulley the more nearly does the amount of useful work which the weight
is capable of doing approach 10 foot-pounds, and if we take into account
the work done against the friction of the pulley, we may say that the
work done by the descending weight is 10 foot-pounds, and hence when the
weight is in its elevated position we have at disposal 10 foot-pounds
more energy than when it is in the lower position. It should be noticed,
however, that this energy is possessed by the system consisting of the
earth and pound together, in virtue of their separation, and that
neither could do work without the other to attract it. The system
consisting of the earth and the pound therefore possesses an amount of
energy which depends on the relative positions of its two parts, on
account of the latent physical connexion existing between them. In most
mechanical systems the working stresses acting between the parts can be
determined when the relative positions of all the parts are known; and
the energy which a system possesses in virtue of the relative positions
of its parts, or its _configuration_, is classified as "potential
energy," to distinguish it from energy of motion which we shall
presently consider. The word potential does not imply that this energy
is not real; it exists in potentiality only in the sense that it is
stored away in some latent manner; but it can be drawn upon without
limit for mechanical work.
It is a fundamental result in dynamics that, if a body be projected
vertically upwards _in vacuo_, with a velocity of v centimetres per
second, it will rise to a height of v²/2g centimetres, where g
represents the numerical value of the acceleration produced by gravity
in centimetre-second units. Now, if m represent the mass of the body in
grammes its weight will be mg dynes, for it will require a force of mg
dynes to produce in it the acceleration denoted by g. Hence the work
done in raising the mass will be represented by mg·v²/2g, that is, ½mv²
_ergs_. Now, whatever be the direction in which a body is moving, a
frictionless constraint, like a string attached to the body, can cause
its velocity to be changed into the vertical direction without any
change taking place in the magnitude of the velocity. Thus it is merely
in virtue of the velocity that the mass is capable of rising against the
resistance of gravity, and hence we recognize that on account of its
motion the body possessed ½mv² units of energy. Energy of motion is
usually called "kinetic energy."
A simple example of the transformation of kinetic energy into potential
energy, and vice versa, is afforded by the pendulum. When at the limits
of its swing, the pendulum is for an instant at rest, and all the energy
of the oscillation is static or potential. When passing through its
position of equilibrium, since gravity can do no more work upon it
without changing its fixed point of support, all the energy of
oscillation is kinetic. At intermediate positions the energy is partly
kinetic and partly potential.
Available kinetic energy is possessed by a system of two or more bodies
in virtue of the relative motion of its parts. Since our conception of
velocity is essentially relative, it is plain that any property
possessed by a body in virtue of its motion can be effectively possessed
by it only in relation to those bodies with respect to which it is
moving. If a body whose mass is m grammes be moving with a velocity of v
centimetres per second relative to the earth, the available kinetic
energy possessed by the system is ½mv² ergs if m be small relative to
the earth. But if we consider two bodies each of mass m and one of them
moving with velocity v relative to the other, only ¼mv² units of work is
available from this system alone. Thus the estimation of kinetic energy
is intimately affected by the choice of our base of measurement.
When the stresses acting between the parts of a system depend _only_ on
the relative positions of those parts, the sum of the kinetic energy and
potential energy of the system is always the same, provided the system
be not acted upon by anything outside it. Such a system is called
"conservative," and is well illustrated by the swinging pendulum above
referred to. But there are stresses which depend on the relative
_motion_ of the visible bodies between which they appear to act. When
work is done against these forces no full equivalent of potential
energy may be produced; this applies especially to frictional forces,
for if the motion of the system be reversed the forces will be also
reversed and will still oppose the motion. It was long believed that
work done against such forces was lost, and it was not till the 19th
century that the energy thus transformed was traced; the conservation of
energy has become the master-key to unlock the connexions in inanimate
nature.
It was pointed out by Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and P.G. Tait that Newton
had divined the principle of the conservation of energy, so far as it
belongs purely to mechanics. But what became of the work done against
friction and such non-conservative forces remained obscure, while the
chemical doctrine that heat was an indestructible substance afterwards
led to the idea that it was lost. There was, however, even before
Newton's time, more than a suspicion that heat was a form of energy.
Francis Bacon expressed his conviction that heat consists of a kind of
motion or "brisk agitation" of the particles of matter. In the _Novum
Organum_, after giving a long list of the sources of heat, he says:
"From these examples, taken collectively as well as singly, the nature
whose limit is heat appears to be motion.... It must not be thought that
heat generates motion or motion heat (though in some respects this is
true), but the very essence of heat, or the substantial self of heat, is
motion and nothing else."
After Newton's time the first vigorous effort to restore the
universality of the doctrine of energy was made by Benjamin Thompson,
Count Rumford, and was published in the _Phil. Trans_. for 1798. Rumford
was engaged in superintending the boring of cannon in the military
arsenal at Munich, and was struck by the amount of heat produced by the
action of the boring bar upon the brass castings. In order to see
whether the heat came out of the chips he compared the capacity for heat
of the chips abraded by the boring bar with that of an equal quantity of
the metal cut from the block by a fine saw, and obtained the same result
in the two cases, from which he concluded that "the heat produced could
not possibly have been furnished at the expense of the latent heat of
the metallic chips."
Rumford then turned up a hollow cylinder which was cast in one piece
with a brass six-pounder, and having reduced the connexion between the
cylinder and cannon to a narrow neck of metal, he caused a blunt borer
to press against the hollow of the cylinder with a force equal to the
weight of about 10,000 lb., while the casting was made to rotate in a
lathe. By this means the mean temperature of the brass was raised
through about 70° Fahr., while the amount of metal abraded was only 837
grains.
In order to be sure that the heat was not due to the action of the air
upon the newly exposed metallic surface, the cylinder and the end of the
boring bar were immersed in 18.77 lb. of water contained in an oak box.
The temperature of the water at the commencement of the experiment was
60° Fahr., and after two horses had turned the lathe for 2½ hours the
water boiled. Taking into account the heat absorbed by the box and the
metal, Rumford calculated that the heat developed was sufficient to
raise 26.58 lb. of water from the freezing to the boiling point, and in
this calculation the heat lost by radiation and conduction was
neglected. Since one horse was capable of doing the work required,
Rumford remarked that one horse can generate heat as rapidly as nine wax
candles burning in the ordinary manner.
Finally, Rumford reviewed all the sources from which the heat might have
been supposed to be derived, and concluded that it was simply produced
by the friction, and that the supply was inexhaustible. "It is hardly
necessary to add," he remarks, "that anything which any insulated body
or system of bodies can continue to furnish _without limitation_ cannot
possibly be a _material substance_; and it appears to me to be extremely
difficult, if not quite impossible, to form any distinct idea of
anything capable of being excited and communicated in the manner that
heat was excited and communicated in these experiments, except it be
_motion_."
About the same time Davy showed that two pieces of ice could be melted
by rubbing them together in a vacuum, although everything surrounding
them was at a temperature below the freezing point. He did not, however,
infer that since the heat could not have been supplied by the ice, for
ice absorbs heat in melting, this experiment afforded conclusive proof
against the substantial nature of heat.
Though we may allow that the results obtained by Rumford and Davy
demonstrate satisfactorily that heat is in some way due to motion, yet
they do not tell us to what particular dynamical quantity heat
corresponds. For example, does the heat generated by friction vary as
the friction and the time during which it acts, or is it proportional to
the friction and the distance through which the rubbing bodies are
displaced--that is, to the work done against friction--or does it
involve any other conditions? If it can be shown that, however the
duration and all other conditions of the experiment may be varied, the
same amount of heat can in the end be always produced when the same
amount of _energy_ is expended, then, and only then, can we infer that
heat is a form of energy, and that the energy consumed has been really
transformed into heat. This was left for J.P. Joule to achieve; his
experiments conclusively prove that heat and energy are of the same
nature, and that all other forms of energy can be transformed into an
equivalent amount of heat.
The quantity of energy which, if entirely converted into heat, is
capable of raising the temperature of the unit mass of water from 0° C.
to 1° C. is called the mechanical equivalent of heat. One of the first
who took in hand the determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat
was Marc. Séguin, a nephew of J.M. Montgolfier. He argued that, if heat
be energy, then, when it is employed in doing work, as in a
steam-engine, some of the heat must itself be consumed in the operation.
Hence he inferred that the amount of heat given up to the condenser of
an engine when the engine is doing work must be less than when the same
amount of steam is blown through the engine without doing any work.
Séguin was unable to verify this experimentally, but in 1857 G.A. Hirn
succeeded, not only in showing that such a difference exists, but in
measuring it, and hence determining a tolerably approximate value of the
mechanical equivalent of heat. In 1839 Séguin endeavoured to determine
the mechanical equivalent of heat from the loss of heat suffered by
steam in expanding, _assuming_ that the whole of the heat so lost was
consumed in doing external work against the pressure to which the steam
was exposed. This assumption, however, cannot be justified, because it
neglected to take account of work which might possibly have to be done
_within the steam itself_ during the expansion.
In 1842 R. Mayer, a physician at Heilbronn, published an attempt to
determine the mechanical equivalent of heat from the heat produced when
air is compressed. Mayer made an assumption the converse of that of
Séguin, asserting that the whole of the work done in compressing the air
was converted into heat, and neglecting the possibility of heat being
consumed in doing work within the air itself or being produced by the
transformation of internal potential energy. Joule afterwards proved
(see below) that Mayer's assumption was in accordance with fact, so that
his method was a sound one as far as experiment was concerned; and it
was only on account of the values of the specific heats of air at
constant pressure and at constant volume employed by him being very
inexact that the value of the mechanical equivalent of heat obtained by
Mayer was very far from the truth.
Passing over L.A. Colding, who in 1843 presented to the Royal Society of
Copenhagen a paper entitled "Theses concerning Force," which clearly
stated the "principle of the perpetuity of energy," and who also
performed a series of experiments for the purpose of determining the
heat developed by the compression of various bodies, which entitle him
to be mentioned among the founders of the modern theory of energy, we
come to Dr James Prescott Joule of Manchester, to whom we are indebted
more than to any other for the establishment of the principle of the
conservation of energy on the broad basis on which it has since stood.
The best-known of Joule's experiments was that in which a brass paddle
consisting of eight arms rotated in a cylindrical vessel of water
containing four fixed vanes, which allowed the passage of the arms of
the paddle but prevented the water from rotating as a whole. The paddle
was driven by weights, and the temperature of the water was observed by
thermometers which could indicate 1/200th of a degree Fahrenheit.
Special experiments were made to determine the work done against
resistances outside the vessel of water, which amounted to about .006 of
the whole, and corrections were made for the loss of heat by radiation,
the buoyancy of the air affecting the descending weights, and the energy
dissipated when the weights struck the floor with a finite velocity.
From these experiments Joule obtained 72.692 foot-pounds in the latitude
of Manchester as equivalent to the amount of heat required to raise 1
lb. of water through 1° Fahr, from the freezing point. Adopting the
centigrade scale, this gives 1390.846 foot-pounds.
With an apparatus similar to the above, but smaller, made of iron and
filled with mercury, Joule obtained results varying from 772.814
foot-pounds when driving weights of about 58 lb. were employed to
775.352 foot-pounds when the driving weights were only about 19½ lb. By
causing two conical surfaces of cast-iron immersed in mercury and
contained in an iron vessel to rub against one another when pressed
together by a lever, Joule obtained 776.045 foot-pounds for the
mechanical equivalent of heat when the heavy weights were used, and
774.93 foot-pounds with the small driving weights. In this experiment a
great noise was produced, corresponding to a loss of energy, and Joule
endeavoured to determine the amount of energy necessary to produce an
equal amount of sound from the string of a violoncello and to apply a
corresponding correction.
The close agreement between the results at least indicates that "the
amount of heat produced by friction is proportional to the work done and
independent of the nature of the rubbing surfaces." Joule inferred from
them that the mechanical equivalent of heat is probably about 772
foot-pounds, or, employing the centigrade scale, about 1390 foot-pounds.
Previous to determining the mechanical equivalent of heat by the most
accurate experimental method at his command, Joule established a series
of cases in which the production of one kind of energy was accompanied
by a disappearance of some other form. In 1840 he showed that when an
electric current was produced by means of a dynamo-magneto-electric
machine the heat generated in the conductor, when no external work was
done by the current, was the same as if the energy employed in producing
the current had been converted into heat by friction, thus showing that
electric currents conform to the principle of the conservation of
energy, since energy can neither be created nor destroyed by them. He
also determined a roughly approximate value for the mechanical
equivalent of heat from the results of these experiments. Extending his
investigations to the currents produced by batteries, he found that the
total voltaic heat generated in any circuit was proportional to the
number of electrochemical equivalents electrolysed in each cell
multiplied by the electromotive force of the battery. Now, we know that
the number of electrochemical equivalents electrolysed is proportional
to the whole amount of electricity which passed through the circuit, and
the product of this by the electromotive force of the battery is the
work done by the latter, so that in this case also Joule showed that the
heat generated was proportional to the work done.
In 1844 and 1845 Joule published a series of researches on the
compression and expansion of air. A metal vessel was placed in a
calorimeter and air forced into it, the amount of energy expended in
compressing the air being measured. Assuming that the whole of the
energy was converted into heat, when the air was subjected to a pressure
of 21.5 atmospheres Joule obtained for the mechanical equivalent of heat
about 824.8 foot-pounds, and when a pressure of only 10.5 atmospheres
was employed the result was 796.9 foot-pounds.
In the next experiment the air was compressed as before, and then
allowed to escape through a long lead tube immersed in the water of a
calorimeter, and finally collected in a bell jar. The amount of heat
absorbed by the air could thus be measured, while the work done by it in
expanding could be readily calculated. In allowing the air to expand
from a pressure of 21 atmospheres to that of 1 atmosphere the value of
the mechanical equivalent of heat obtained was 821.89 foot-pounds.
Between 10 atmospheres and 1 it was 815.875 foot-pounds, and between 23
and 14 atmospheres 761.74 foot-pounds.
But, unlike Mayer and Séguin, Joule was not content with assuming that
when air is compressed or allowed to expand the heat generated or
absorbed is the equivalent of the work done and of that only, no change
being made in the internal energy of the air itself when the temperature
is kept constant. To test this two vessels similar to that used in the
last experiment were placed in the same calorimeter and connected by a
tube with a stop-cock. One contained air at a pressure of 22
atmospheres, while the other was exhausted. On opening the stop-cock no
work was done by the expanding air against external forces, since it
expanded into a vacuum, and it was found that no heat was generated or
absorbed. This showed that Mayer's assumption was true. On repeating the
experiment when the two vessels were placed in different calorimeters,
it was found that heat was absorbed by the vessel containing the
compressed air, while an equal quantity of heat was produced in the
calorimeter containing the exhausted vessel. The heat absorbed was
consumed in giving motion to the issuing stream of air, and was
reproduced by the impact of the particles on the sides of the exhausted
vessel. The subsequent researches of Dr Joule and Lord Kelvin (_Phil.
Trans_., 1853, p. 357, 1854, p. 321, and 1862, p. 579) showed that the
statement that no _internal work_ is done when a gas expands or
contracts is not quite true, but the amount is very small in the cases
of those gases which, like oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, can only be
liquefied by intense cold and pressure.
For a long time the final result deduced by Joule by these varied and
careful investigations was accepted as the standard value of the
mechanical equivalent of heat. Recent determinations by H.A. Rowland and
others, necessitated by modern requirements, have shown that it is in
error, but by less than 1%. The writings of Joule, which thus occupy the
place of honour in the practical establishment of the conservation of
energy, have been collected into two volumes published by the Physical
Society of London. On the theoretical side the greatest stimulus came
from the publication in 1847, without knowledge of Mayer or Joule, of
Helmholtz's great memoir, _Über die Erhaltung der Kraft_, followed
immediately (1848-1852) by the establishment of the science of
thermodynamics (q.v.), mainly by R. Clausius and Lord Kelvin on the
basis of "Carnot's principle" (1824), modified in expression so as to be
consistent with the conservation of energy (see ENERGETICS).
Though we can convert the whole of the energy possessed by any
mechanical system into heat, it is not in our power to perform the
inverse operation, and to utilize the whole of the heat in doing
mechanical work. Thus we see that different forms of energy are not
equally valuable for conversion into work. The ratio of the portion of
the energy of a system which can under given conditions be converted
into mechanical work to the whole amount of energy operated upon may be
called the "availability" of the energy. If a system be removed from all
communication with anything outside of itself, the whole amount of
energy possessed by it will remain constant, but will of its own accord
tend to undergo such transformations as will diminish its availability.
This general law, known as the principle of the "dissipation of energy,"
was first adequately pointed out by Lord Kelvin in 1852; and was applied
by him to some of the principal problems of cosmical physics. Though
controlling all phenomena of which we have any experience, the principle
of the dissipation of energy rests on a very different foundation from
that of the conservation of energy; for while we may conceive of no
means of circumventing the latter principle, it seems that the actions
of intelligent beings are subject to the former only in consequence of
the rudeness of the machinery which they have at their disposal for
controlling the behaviour of those ultimate portions of matter, in
virtue of the motions or positions of which the energy with which they
have to deal exists. If we have a weight capable of falling through a
certain distance, we can employ the mutual forces of the system
consisting of the earth and weight to do an amount of useful work which
is less than the full amount of potential energy possessed by the system
only in consequence of the friction of the constraints, so that the
limit of availability in this case is determined only by the friction
which is unavoidable. Here we have to deal with a transformation with
which we can grapple, and which can be controlled for our purposes. If,
on the other hand, we have to deal with a system of molecules of whose
motions in the aggregate we become conscious only by indirect means,
while we know absolutely nothing either of the motions or positions of
any individual molecule, it is obvious that we cannot grasp single
molecules and control their movements so as to derive the full amount of
work from the system. All we can do in such cases is to place the system
under certain conditions of transformation, and be content with the
amount of work which it is, as it were, willing to render up under those
conditions. Thus the principle of Carnot involves the conclusion that a
greater proportion of the heat possessed by a body at a high temperature
can be converted into work than in the case of an equal quantity of heat
possessed by a body at a low temperature, so that the availability of
heat increases with the temperature.
Clerk Maxwell supposed two compartments, A and B, to be filled with gas
at the same temperature, and to be separated by an ideal, infinitely
thin partition containing a number of exceedingly small trap-doors, each
of which could be opened or closed without any expenditure of energy. An
intelligent creature, or "demon," possessed of unlimited powers of
vision, is placed in charge of each door, with instructions to open the
door whenever a particle in A comes towards it with more than a certain
velocity V, and to keep it closed against all particles in A moving with
less than this velocity, but, on the other hand, to open the door
whenever a particle in B approaches it with less than a certain velocity
v, which is not greater than V, and to keep it closed against all
particles in B moving with a greater velocity than this. By continuing
this process every unit of mass which enters B will carry with it more
energy than each unit which leaves B, and hence the temperature of the
gas in B will be raised and that of the gas in A lowered, while no heat
is lost and no energy expended; so that by the application of
intelligence alone a portion of gas of uniform pressure and temperature
may be sifted into two parts, in which both the temperature and the
pressure are different, and from which, therefore, work can be obtained
at the expense of heat. This shows that the principle of the dissipation
of energy has control over the actions of those agents only whose
faculties are too gross to enable them to grapple individually with the
minute portions of matter which are the seat of energy.
In 1875 Lord Rayleigh published an investigation on "the work which may
be gained during the mixing of gases." In the preface he states the
position that "whenever, then, two gases are allowed to mix without the
performance of work, there is dissipation of energy, and an opportunity
of doing work at the expense of low temperature heat has been for ever
lost." He shows that the amount of work obtainable is equal to that
which can be done by the first gas in expanding into the space occupied
by the second (supposed vacuous) together with that done by the second
in expanding into the space occupied by the first. In the experiment
imagined by Lord Rayleigh a porous diaphragm takes the place of the
partition and trap-doors imagined by Clerk Maxwell, and the molecules
sort themselves automatically on account of the difference in their
average velocities for the two gases. When the pressure on one side of
the diaphragm thus becomes greater than that on the other, work may be
done at the expense of heat in pushing the diaphragm, and the operation
carried on with continual gain of work until the gases are uniformly
diffused. There is this difference, however, between this experiment and
the operation imagined by Maxwell, that when the gases have diffused the
experiment cannot be repeated; and it is no more contrary to the
dissipation of energy than is the fact that work may be derived at the
expense of heat when a gas expands into a vacuum, for the working
substance is not finally restored to its original condition; while
Maxwell's "demons" may operate without limit.
In such experiments the molecular energy of a gas is converted into work
only in virtue of the molecules being separated into classes in which
their velocities are different, and these classes then allowed to act
upon one another through the intervention of a suitable heat-engine.
This sorting can occur spontaneously to a limited extent; while if we
could carry it out as far as we pleased we might transform the whole of
the heat of a body into work. The theoretical availability of heat is
limited only by our power of bringing those particles whose motions
constitute heat in bodies to rest relatively to one another; and we have
precisely similar practical limits to the availability of the energy due
to the motion of visible and tangible bodies, though theoretically we
can then trace all the stages.
If a battery of electromotive force E maintain a current C in a
conductor, and no other electromotive force exist in the circuit, the
whole of the work done will be converted into heat, and the amount of
work done per second will be EC. If R denote the resistance of the whole
circuit, E = CR, and the heat generated per second is C²R. If the
current drive an electromagnetic engine, the reaction of the engine will
produce an electromotive force opposing the current. Suppose the current
to be thus reduced to C'. Then the work done by the battery per second
will be EC' or CC'R, while the heat generated per second will be C'²R,
so that we have the difference (C-C')C'R for the energy consumed in
driving the engine. The ratio of this to the whole work done by the
battery is (C-C')/C, so that the efficiency is increased by diminishing
C'. If we could drive the engine so fast as to reduce C' to zero, the
whole of the energy of the battery would be available, no heat being
produced in the wires, but the horse-power of the engine would be
indefinitely small. The reason why the whole of the energy of the
current is not available is that heat must always be generated in a wire
in which a finite current is flowing, so that, in the case of a battery
in which the whole of the energy of chemical affinity is employed in
producing a current, the availability of the energy is limited only on
account of the resistance of the conductors, and may be increased by
diminishing this resistance. The availability of the energy of
electrical separation in a charged Leyden jar is also limited only by
the resistance of conductors, in virtue of which an amount of heat is
necessarily produced, which is greater the less the time occupied in
discharging the jar. The availability of the energy of magnetization is
limited by the coercive force of the magnetized material, in virtue of
which any change in the intensity of magnetization is accompanied by the
production of heat.
In all cases there is a general tendency for other forms of energy to be
transformed into heat on account of the friction of rough surfaces, the
resistance of conductors, or similar causes, and thus to lose
availability. In some cases, as when heat is converted into the kinetic
energy of moving machinery or the potential energy of raised weights,
there is an ascent of energy from the less available form of heat to the
more available form of mechanical energy, but in all cases this is
accompanied by the transfer of other heat from a body at a high
temperature to one at a lower temperature, thus losing availability to
an extent that more than compensates for the rise.
It is practically important to consider the rate at which energy may be
transformed into useful work, or the horse-power of the agent. It
generally happens that to obtain the greatest possible amount of work
from a given supply of energy, and to obtain it at the greatest rate,
are conflicting interests. We have seen that the _efficiency_ of an
electromagnetic engine is greatest when the current is indefinitely
small, and then the rate at which it works is also indefinitely small.
M.H. von Jacobi showed that for a given electromotive force in the
battery the horse-power is greatest when the current is reduced to
one-half of what it would be if the engine were at rest. A similar
condition obtains in the steam-engine, in which a great rate of working
necessitates the dissipation of a large amount of energy.
(W. G.; J. L.*)
ENFANTIN, BARTHÉLEMY PROSPER (1796-1864), French social reformer, one of
the founders of Saint-Simonism, was born at Paris on the 8th of February
1796. He was the son of a banker of Dauphiny, and after receiving his
early education at a lyceum, was sent in 1813 to the École
Polytechnique. In March 1814 he was one of the band of students who, on
the heights of Montmartre and Saint-Chaumont, attempted resistance to
the armies of the allies then engaged in the investment of Paris. In
consequence of this outbreak of patriotic enthusiasm, the school was
soon after closed by Louis XVIII., and the young student was compelled
to seek some other career instead of that of the soldier. He first
engaged himself to a country wine merchant, for whom he travelled in
Germany, Russia and the Netherlands. In 1821 he entered a banking-house
newly established at St Petersburg, but returned two years later to
Paris, where he was appointed cashier to the Caisse Hypothécaire. At the
same time he became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari. In
1825 a new turn was given to his thoughts and his life by the friendship
which he formed with Olinde Rodriguez, who introduced him to
Saint-Simon. He embraced the new doctrines with ardour, and by 1829 had
become one of the acknowledged heads of the sect (see SAINT-SIMON).
After the Revolution of 1830 Enfantin resigned his office of cashier,
and devoted himself wholly to his cause. Besides contributing to the
_Globe_ newspaper, he made appeals to the people by systematic
preaching, and organized centres of action in some of the principal
cities of France. The headquarters in Paris were removed from the modest
rooms in the Rue Taranne, and established in large halls near the
Boulevard Italien. Enfantin and Bazard (q.v.) were proclaimed "Pères
Suprêmes." This union of the supreme fathers, however, was only nominal.
A divergence was already manifest, which rapidly increased to serious
difference and dissension. Bazard had devoted himself to political
reform, Enfantin to social and moral change; Bazard was organizer and
governor, Enfantin was teacher and consoler; the former attracted
reverence, the latter love. A hopeless antagonism arose between them,
which was widened by Enfantin's announcement of his theory of the
relation of man and woman, which would substitute for the "tyranny of
marriage" a system of "free love." Bazard now separated from his
colleague, and in his withdrawal was followed by all those whose chief
aim was philosophical and political. Enfantin thus became sole "father,"
and the few who were chiefly attracted by his religious pretensions and
aims still adhered to him. New converts joined them, and Enfantin
assumed that his followers in France numbered 40,000. He wore on his
breast a badge with his title of "Père," was spoken of by his preachers
as "the living law," declared, and probably believed, himself to be the
chosen of God, and sent out emissaries in a quest of a woman predestined
to be the "female Messiah," and the mother of a new Saviour. The quest
was very costly and altogether fruitless. No such woman was
discoverable. Meanwhile believers in Enfantin and his new religion were
multiplying in all parts of Europe. His extravagances and success at
length brought down upon him the hand of the law. Public morality was in
peril, and in May 1832 the halls of the new sect were closed by the
government, and the father, with some of his followers, appeared before
the tribunals. He now retired to his estate at Menilmontant, near Paris,
where with forty disciples, all of them men, he continued to carry out
his socialistic views. In August of the same year he was again arrested,
and on his appearance in court he desired his defence to be undertaken
by two women who were with him, alleging that the matter was of special
concern to women. This was of course refused. The trial occupied two
days and resulted in a verdict of guilty, and a sentence of imprisonment
for a year with a small fine.
This prosecution finally discredited the new society. Enfantin was
released in a few months, and then, accompanied by some of his
followers, he went to Egypt. He stayed there two years, and might have
entered the service of the viceroy if he would have professed himself,
as a few of his friends did, a Mahommedan. On his return to France, a
sadder and practically a wiser man, he settled down to very prosaic
work. He became first a postmaster near Lyons, and in 1841 was
appointed, through the influence of some of his friends who had risen to
posts of power, member of a scientific commission on Algeria, which led
him to engage in researches concerning North Africa and colonization in
general. in 1845 he was appointed a director of the Paris & Lyons
railway. Three years later he established, in conjunction with
Duveyrier, a daily journal, entitled _Le Crédit_, which was discontinued
in 1850. He was afterwards attached to the administration of the railway
from Lyons to the Mediterranean. Father Enfantin held fast by his ideal
to the end, but he had renounced the hope of giving it a local
habitation and a name in the degenerate obstinate world. His personal
influence over those who associated with him was immense. "He was a man
of a noble presence, with finely formed and expressive features. He was
gentle and insinuating in manner, and possessed a calm, graceful and
winning delivery" (_Gent. Mag_., Jan. 1865). His evident sincerity, his
genuine enthusiasm, gave him his marvellous ascendancy. Not a few of his
disciples ranked afterwards amongst the most distinguished men of
France. He died suddenly at Paris on the 1st of September 1864.
Amongst his works are--Doctrine de Saint-Simon (written in conjunction
with several of his followers), published in 1830, and several times
republished; _Économie politique et politique Saint-Simonienne_
(1831); _Correspondance politique_ (1835-1840); _Corresp. philos. et
religieuse_ (1843-1845); and _La Vie éternelle passée, présente,
future_ (1861). A large number of articles by his hand appeared in _Le
Producteur, L'Organisateur, Le Globe,_ and other periodicals. He also
wrote in 1832 _Le Livre nouveau_, intended as a substitute for the
Christian Scriptures, but it was not published.
See G. Weill, _L'École Saint-Simonienne, son histoire, son influence,
jusqu' à nos jours_ (Paris, 1896).
ENFIDAVILLE [_Dar-el-Bey_], a town of Tunisia, on the railway between
Tunis and Susa, 30 m. N.E. of the last-named place and 5 m. inland from
the Gulf of Hammamet. Enfidaville is the chief settlement on the Enfida
estate, a property of over 300,000 acres in the Sahel district of
Tunisia, forming a rectangle between the towns of Hammamet, Susa,
Kairawan and Zaghwan. On this estate, devoted to the cultivation of
cereals, olives, vines and to pasturage, are colonies of Europeans and
natives. At Enfidaville, where was, as its native name indicates, a
palace of the beys of Tunis, there is a large horse-breeding
establishment and a much-frequented weekly market. About 5 m. N. of
Enfidaville is Henshir Fraga (anc. _Uppenna_), where are ruins of a
large fortress and of a church in which were found mosaics with epitaphs
of various bishops and martyrs.
The Enfida estate was granted by the bey Mahommed-es-Sadok to his chief
minister Khaireddin Pasha (q.v.) in return for the confirmation by the
sultan of Turkey in 1871, through the instrumentality of the pasha, of
the right of succession to the beylik of members of Es-Sadok's family.
When, some years later, Khaireddin left Tunisia for Constantinople he
sold the estate to a Marseilles company, which resold it to the Société
Franco-africaine.
ENFIELD, a township of Hartford county, Connecticut, U.S.A., in the N.
part of the state, on the E. bank of the Connecticut river, 20 m. N. of
Hartford. It has an area of 35 sq. m., with three villages--Thompsonville,
Hazardville and Enfield. Pop. (1890) 7199; (1900) 6699 (1812
foreign-born); (1910) 9719. Its principal manufactures are gunpowder,
carpets, brick, cotton press machinery, and coffin hardware. In Enfield
and its vicinity much tobacco is grown. First settled in 1679, Enfield was
a part of the township of Springfield, Massachusetts, until 1683, when it
was made a separate township; in 1749 it became a part of Connecticut. At
a town meeting on the 11th of July 1774 it was resolved that "a firm and
inviolable union of our colonies is absolutely necessary for the defence
of our civil rights," and that "the most effectual measures to defeat the
machinations of the enemies of His Majesty's government and the liberties
of America is to break off all commercial intercourse with Great Britain
and the West Indies until these oppressive acts for raising a revenue in
America are repealed." A Shaker community was established in the township
in 1781, at what is now called Shaker Station.
See Francis Olcutt Allen, _History of Enfield_ (Lancaster, Pa., 1900).
ENFIELD, a market town in the Enfield parliamentary division of
Middlesex, England, 11 m. N. of London Bridge, on the Great Northern and
Great Eastern railways. Pop. of urban district, (1891) 31,536, (1901)
42,738. It is picturesquely situated on the western slope of the Lea
valley, with a considerable extension towards the river, mainly
consisting of artisans' dwellings (Churchbury, Ponder's End, and Enfield
Highway on the Old North Road). Great numbers of villas occupied by
those whose work lies in London have grown up; and many of the
inhabitants are employed in the Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield
Lock. The church of St Andrew is mainly Perpendicular, but has Early
English portions; it contains several ancient monuments and brasses, and
flanks the market-place, with its modern cross. Enfield Palace fronts
the High Street; it retains portions of the building of Edward VI., but
has been greatly altered. The grammer school, near the church, was
founded in 1557. The New River flows through the parish, and Sir Hugh
Myddleton, its projector, was for some time resident here. Middleton
House, named after him, is one of several fine mansions in the vicinity.
Of these, Forty Hall, in splendidly timbered grounds, is from the
designs of Inigo Jones; and a former mansion occupying the site of White
Webbs House was suspected as the scene of the hatching of Gunpowder
Plot. The parish is of great extent (12,653 acres).
An Anglo-Saxon derivation, signifying "forest clearing," is indicated
for the name. Enfield Chase was a royal preserve, disafforested in 1777.
The principal manor of Enfield, which was held by Asgar, Edward the
Confessor's master of horse, was in the hands of the Norman baron
Geoffrey de Mandeville at the time of Domesday, and belonged to the
Bohun family in the 12th and 13th centuries. It came, by succession and
marriage, into the possession of the crown under Henry IV., and was
included in the duchy of Lancaster. There were, however, seven other
manors, and of these one, Worcesters, came to the crown in the time of
Henry VIII., whose children resided at the manor-house, Elsynge Hall.
Edward VI., settling both manors upon the princess Elizabeth, rebuilt
Enfield Palace for her. She was a frequent resident here not only before
but after her accession to the throne. About 1664 the palace was
occupied as a school by Robert Uvedale (1642-1722), who was also an
eminent horticulturist, planted the magnificent cedar still standing in
the palace grounds, and formed a herbarium now in the Sloane collection
at the British Museum. The town received grants of markets from Edward
I. and James I.
ENFILADE (a French word, from _enfiler_, to thread, and so to pass
through from end to end), a military term used to express the direction
of fire along an enemy's line, or parapet. This species of fire is most
demoralizing and destructive, since, from its direction, very few guns
or rifles can be brought to bear to meet it. If any considerable body of
men changes front, it immediately lays itself open to enfilade from the
enemy whom it originally faced. Against entrenchments, or the parapets
of fortifications, enfilade is still more effective, as the enemy is
deprived of the protection given by his works and is no better covered
than if he were in the open. Banks of earth, built perpendicular to the
line of defence (called _traverses_), are usually employed to protect
parapets or trenches against enfilade.
ENGADINE (Ger. _Engadin_; Ital. _Engadina_; Ladin, _Engiadina_), the
name of the upper or Swiss portion of the valley of the Inn, which forms
part of the Swiss canton of the Grisons. Its length by carriage road
from the Maloja plateau (5935 ft.) at its south-western end to
Martinsbruck (3406 ft.) at its north-eastern extremity is about 59 m. It
is to be noted that up to and including St Moritz (6037 ft., the
highest) all the villages (save Sils-Baseglia) at its south-western end
are higher than the Maloja plateau itself. The uppermost portion of the
valley contains several lakes, which, as one descends, gradually
diminish in size, those of Sils, Silvaplana and St Moritz. But both the
Maloja plateau and the south-western half of the lake of Sils belong to
the commune of Stampa in the Val Bregaglia, and are included in the
Bregaglia administrative district, so that, from a political point of
view, Sils is the first village that is included in the Engadine. The
rest of the Engadine forms the districts of the Upper Engadine with
eleven communes, and of the Inn (i.e. the Lower Engadine), subdivided
into the Ob Tasna, Remüs, and Unter Tasna circles, and containing twelve
communes.
In 1900 the total population of the Engadine was 11,712, of whom 5429
were in the Upper Engadine and 6283 in the Lower Engadine. In point of
religion 8594 were Protestants (4923 in the Lower Engadine and 3671 in
the Upper Engadine), and 3086 Romanists (1728 in the Upper Engadine and
1358 in the Lower Engadine), while there were 12 Jews in the Upper
Engadine and 2 in the Lower Engadine: in the Upper Engadine the majority
in each commune was Protestant (the Romanists strongest in St Moritz),
as also in the case of the Lower Engadine, save Tarasp and Samnaun,
where the Romanists prevail. In point of language 7609 inhabitants (5010
in the Lower Engadine and 2599 in the Upper Engadine) spoke the curious
Ladin dialect (a survival of a primitive Romance tongue), and 2221
German (1265 in the Upper Engadine and 956 in the Lower Engadine). The
capital of the Upper Engadine is Samaden (967 inhabitants), and that of
the Lower Engadine, Schuls (1117 inhabitants). In 1908 there were no
railways in the Engadine, save about 8 m. (from the mouth of the tunnel
past Bevers and Samaden to St Moritz village) of the railway pierced
(1898-1902) beneath (5987 ft.) the Albula Pass (7595 ft.), which now
affords the easiest means of access from Coire to St Moritz (56 m.); but
many railways in and to the Engadine have been planned. The valley is
reached by many passes (over which excellent carriage roads were
constructed 1820-1872). The Maloja (5935 ft.) is the route from
Chiavenna and the Lake of Como to the Upper Engadine, which is also
reached from Coire by the Julier (7504 ft.) and the Albula Passes (7595
ft.) as well as from Tirano in the Valtellina by the Bernina Pass (7645
ft.). On the other hand, the Lower Engadine is accessible from Davos
over the Flüela Pass (7838 ft.) and from Mals at the head of the Adige
valley (or the Vintschgau) by the Ofen Pass (7071 ft.), while from
Martinsbruck, the last Swiss village, a carriage road leads up to
Nauders (5 m.), whence it is 27 m. by road down the Inn valley to
Landeck on the Arlberg railway, or 17½ m. over the Reschen Scheideck
Pass (4902 ft.) to Mals in the Vintschgau.
The Upper Engadine consists of a long, straight, nearly level trough of
26 m., varying from a mile to half a mile in breadth, through which
flows the Inn. On the south-east this trough is limited by the lofty
glacier-clad Bernina group (culminating in the Piz Bernina, 13,304 ft.)
and the range rising between the Inn valley and that of Livigno to the
south-east, while on the north-west the boundary is the extensive Albula
group (culminating in Piz Kesch, 11,228 ft.). The Lower Engadine is far
more picturesque and romantic than the Upper Engadine, the Inn valley
being here much narrower and the fall greater. On its north-west rises
the last bit of the Albula group (culminating in Piz Vadret, 10,584
ft.), and on the north the Silvretta group (culminating in Piz Linard,
11,201 ft.), while to the east and south are the ranges on either side
of the Ofen Pass (culminating in Piz Sesvenna, 10,568 ft.). In the Upper
Engadine the villages are on the floor of the valley, but in the Lower
Engadine many are perched high above the bed of the river on terraces,
and are cut off from each other by deep ravines.
The Upper Engadine is far better known to foreign visitors than the
Lower Engadine, and is consequently much richer and more prosperous. The
mineral waters of St Moritz (q.v.) were known and employed in the 16th
century, and long formed the great attraction of the region. But about
the middle of the 19th century the Upper Engadine came into fashion as a
great "air-cure," and now Maloja, Sils, Silvaplana, Campfer and St
Moritz are all well known; those who desire to explore the glaciers of
the Bernina group mostly resort to Pontresina, on the Flatzbach, the
stream descending from the Bernina Pass. Yet, owing to its great
elevation, the scenery of the Upper Engadine has a bleak, northern
aspect. Pines and larches alone flourish, garden vegetables are grown
only in sunny spots, and there is no tillage. The Alpine flora is very
rich and varied. But snow falls even in August, and the climate is well
described in the proverb, "nine months winter, and three months cold
weather." The villages are built entirely of stone (as also in the Lower
Engadine), chiefly to guard against destructive fires that were formerly
frequent in this narrow, wind-swept valley. The wealth of the
inhabitants consists in their hay meadows and pastures. The lower
pastures support large herds of cows, while the higher are let out (in
both parts of the valley) to Bergamasque shepherds, who come thither
every summer with their flocks. In the Lower Engadine the chief
attraction is formed by the mineral springs at Schuls below Tarasp,
which are much frequented during the summer. The wild gorge of
Finstermünz separates the last Swiss village, Martinsbruck, from the
first Tirolese village, Pfunds, the gorge being passable only on foot,
while the carriage road makes a great detour by way of Nauders, so that
the two villages named are 13 m. by road from each other. The earliest
full description of the country by an English traveller is that by
Archdeacon W. Coxe, in _Travels in Switzerland_ (London, 1789).
The Upper Engadine is not mentioned in authentic documents till 1139,
the bishop of Coire being then the great lord, and, from the 13th
century, having as his bailiffs the family of Planta, the original seat
of which was at Zuz. The valley obtained its freedom from both in 1486
(Planta) and in 1526, when the temporal powers of the bishop were
abolished. In 1367 it (as well as the bishop's vassals in the Lower
Engadine) joined the newly founded League of God's House or
_Gotteshausbund_ (see GRISONS), one of the 3 Raetian Leagues, which
lasted till 1799-1801, when the whole Engadine became part of Canton
Raetia of the Helvetic Republic, which, in 1803, altered its name to
that of Grisons or Graubünden, and then first entered the Swiss
Confederation. In the Upper Engadine the "Referendum" existed as between
the different villages composing a bailiwick (_Hochgericht_). The
history of the Lower Engadine is for long quite different. Though always
comprised in the diocese of Coire, it formed from the early 9th century
onwards (with the Vintschgau) a separate county, which was gradually
absorbed in that which, later, took the name of the county of Tirol. The
limit between the Upper Engadine and the Tirolese Lower Engadine was
definitively fixed in 1282 at the Punt' Ota (the high bridge) just above
Brail, and mentioned in 1139 already. In 1363 Tirol came into the
possession of the Habsburgers, who were troublesome neighbours both to
the Upper Engadine and to the League of God's House. Their power was
stemmed in 1499 at the battle of the Calven gorge (above Mals), though
it was only in 1652 that the Lower Engadine bought up the remaining
rights of the Habsburgers. But the castle of Tarasp (acquired by them in
1464) was excepted: the lordship was given by them in 1687 to the
Dietrichstein family, and held by it till 1801, when Austria ceded it to
France, which, in 1803, handed it over to the Swiss Confederation, by
which it was incorporated in 1809 with the Canton of the Grisons. This
long connexion with Tirol accounts for the fact that Tarasp is still
mainly Romanist, while the lonely Swiss valley of Samnaun (above
Martinsbruck) has given up its Protestantism and its Ladin speech owing
to communications with Tirol being easier than with Switzerland. The
bears in the bear pit at Bern come from the forests in the lower Spöl
valley, above Zernez, in the Lower Engadine, on the way to the Ofen
Pass. The upper Spöl valley (Livigno) is Italian (see VALTELLINA).
AUTHORITIES.--M. Caviezel, _Das Oberengadin_, 7th edition (Coire,
1896); C. Decurtius, _Rätoromanische Chrestomathie_, vols. v.-ix.
(Erlangen, 1899-1908), deals with the two divisions of the Engadine
from the 16th century to modern times; Mrs H. Freshfield, _A Summer
Tour in the Grisons and the Italian Valleys of the Bernina_ (London,
1862); E. Imhof, _Itinerarium des S.A.C. für die Albulagruppe_ (Bern,
1893), and _Itinerarium des S.A.C. für die Silvretta- und
Ofenpassgruppe_ (Mountains of the Lower Engadine) (Bern, 1898); E.
Lechner, _Das Oberengadin in der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart_
(Leipzig, 1900); A. Lorria and E.A. Martel, _Le Massif de la Bernina_
(complete monograph on the Upper Engadine, with full bibliography)
(Zürich, 1894); P.C. von Planta, _Die Currätischen Herrschaften in der
Feudalzeit_ (Bern, 1881); Z. and E. Pallioppi, _Dizionari dels Idioms
Romauntschs d'Engiadina ota e bassa_, &c. (Samaden, 1895); F. de B.
Strickland, _The Engadine_, 2nd edition (London and Samaden, 1891); J.
Ulrich, _Rätoromanische Chrestomathie_, vol. ii. (Halle, 1882).
(W. A. B. C.)
ENGAGED COLUMN, in architecture, a form of column, sometimes defined as
semi or three-quarter detached according to its projection; the term
implies that the column is partly attached to a pier or wall. It is
rarely found in Greek work, and then only in exceptional cases, but it
exists in profusion in Roman architecture. In the temples it is attached
to the cella walls. repeating the columns of the peristyle, and in the
theatres and amphitheatres, where they subdivided the arched openings:
in all these cases engaged columns are utilized as a decorative feature,
and as a rule the same proportions are maintained as if they had been
isolated columns. In Romanesque work the classic proportions are no
longer adhered to; the engaged column, attached to the piers, has always
a special function to perform, either to support subsidiary arches, or,
raised to the vault, to carry its transverse or diagonal ribs. The same
constructional object is followed in the earlier Gothic styles, in which
they become merged into the mouldings. Being virtually always ready
made, so far as their design is concerned, they were much affected by
the Italian revivalists.
ENGEL, ERNST (1821-1896), German political economist and statistician,
was born in Dresden on the 21st of March 1821. He studied at the famous
mining academy of Freiberg, in Saxony, and on completing his curriculum
travelled in Germany and France. Immediately after the revolution of
1848 he was attached to the royal commission in Saxony appointed to
determine the relations between trade and labour. In 1850 he was
directed by the government to assist in the organization of the German
Industrial Exhibition of Leipzig (the first of its kind). The success
which crowned his efforts was so great that in 1854 he was induced to
enter the government service, as chief of the newly instituted
statistical department. He retired, however, from the office in 1858. He
founded at Dresden the first Mortgage Insurance Society
(Hypotheken-Versicherungsgesellschaft), and as a result of the success
of his work was summoned in 1860 to Berlin as director of the
statistical department, in succession to Karl Friedrich Wilhelm
Dieterici (1790-1859). In his new office he made himself a name of
world-wide reputation. Raised to the rank of _Geheimer Regierungsrat_,
he retired in 1882 and lived henceforward in Radebeul near Dresden,
where he died on the 8th of December 1896. Engel was a voluminous writer
on the subjects with which his name is connected, but his statistical
papers are mostly published in the periodicals which he himself
established, viz. _Preuss. Statistik_ (in 1861); _Zeitschrift des
Statistischen Bureaus_, and _Zeitschrift des Statistischen Bureaus des
Königreichs Sachsen_.
ENGEL, JOHANN JAKOB (1741-1802), German author, was born at Parchim, in
Mecklenburg, on the 11th of September 1741. He studied theology at
Rostock and Bützow, and philosophy at Leipzig, where he took his
doctor's degree. In 1776 he was appointed professor of moral philosophy
and belles-lettres in the Joachimstal gymnasium at Berlin, and a few
years later he became tutor to the crown prince of Prussia, afterwards
Frederick William III. The lessons which he gave his royal pupil in
ethics and politics were published in 1798 under the title
_Fürstenspiegel_, and are a favourable specimen of his powers as a
popular philosophical writer. In 1787 he was admitted a member of the
Academy of Sciences of Berlin, and in the same year he became director
of the royal theatre, an office he resigned in 1794. He died on the 28th
of June 1802.
Besides numerous dramas, some of which had a considerable success, Engel
wrote several valuable books on aesthetic subjects. His _Anfangsgründe
einer Theorie der Dichtungsarten_ (1783) showed fine taste and acute
critical faculty if it lacked imagination and poetic insight. The same
excellences and the same defects were apparent in his _Ideen zu einer
Mimik_ (1785), written in the form of letters. His most popular work was
_Der Philosoph für die Welt_ (1775), which consists chiefly of dialogues
on men and morals, written from the utilitarian standpoint of the
philosophy of the day. His last work, a romance entitled _Herr Lorenz
Stark_ (1795), achieved a great success, by virtue of the marked
individuality of its characters and its appeal to middle-class
sentiment.
Engel's _Sämtliche Schriften_ were published in 12 volumes at Berlin
in 1801-1806; a new edition appeared at Frankfort in 1851. See K.
Schröder, _Johann Jakob Engel_ (Vortrag) (1897).
ENGELBERG, an Alpine village and valley in central Switzerland, much
frequented by visitors in summer and to some extent in winter. It is 14
m. by electric railway from Stansstad, on the Lake of Lucerne, past
Stans. The village (3343 ft.) is in a mountain basin, shut in on all
sides by lofty mountains (the highest is the Titlis, 10,627 ft. in the
south-east), so that it is often hot in summer. It communicates by the
Surenen Pass (7563 ft.) with Wassen, on the St Gotthard railway, and by
the Joch Pass (7267 ft.) past the favourite summer resort of the
Engstlen Alp (6034 ft.), with Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland. The
village has clustered round the great Benedictine monastery which gives
its name to the valley, from the legend that its site was fixed by
angels, so that the spot was named "Mons Angelorum." The monastery was
founded about 1120 and still survives, though the buildings date only
from the early 18th century. Its library suffered much at the hands of
the French in 1798. From 1462 onwards it was under the protectorate of
Lucerne, Schwyz, Unterwalden and Uri. In 1798 the abbot lost all his
temporal powers, and his domains were annexed to the Obwalden division
of Unterwalden, but in 1803 were transferred to the Nidwalden division.
However, in 1816, in consequence of the desperate resistance made by the
Nidwalden men to the new Federal Pact of 1815, they were punished by the
fresh transfer of the valley to Obwalden, part of which it still forms.
As the pastures forming the upper portion of the Engelberg valley have
for ages belonged to Uri, the actual valley itself is politically
isolated between Uri and Nidwalden. The monastery is still directly
dependent on the pope. In 1900 the valley had 1973 inhabitants,
practically all German-speaking and Romanists. (W. A. B. C.)
ENGELBRECHTSDATTER, DORTHE (1634-1716), Norwegian poet, was born at
Bergen on the 16th of January 1634; her father, Engelbrecht Jörgensen,
was originally rector of the high school in that city, and afterwards
dean of the cathedral. In 1652 she married Ambrosius Hardenbech, a
theological writer famous for his flowery funeral sermons, who succeeded
her father at the cathedral in 1659. They had five sons and four
daughters. In 1678 her first volume appeared, _Sjaelens aandelige
Sangoffer_ ("The Soul's Spiritual Offering of Song") published at
Copenhagen. This volume of hymns and devotional pieces, very modestly
brought out, had an unparalleled success. The fortunate poetess was
invited to Denmark, and on her arrival at Copenhagen was presented at
Court. She was also introduced to Thomas Kingo, the father of Danish
poetry, and the two greeted one another with improvised couplets, which
have been preserved, and of which the poetess's reply is incomparably
the neater. In 1683 her husband died, and before 1698 she had buried all
her nine children. In the midst of her troubles appeared her second
work, the _Taareoffer_ ("Sacrifice of Tears"), which is a continuous
religious poem in four books. This was combined with the Sangoffer, and
no fewer than three editions of the united works were published before
her death, and many after it. In 1698 she brought out a third volume of
sacred verse, _Et kristeligt Valet fra Verden_ ("A Christian Farewell to
the World"), a very tame production. She died on the 19th of February
1716. The first verses of Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter are the best; her
_Sangoffer_ was dedicated to Jesus, the Taareoffer to Queen Charlotte
Amalia; this is significant of her changed position in the eyes of the
world.
ENGELHARDT, JOHANN GEORG VEIT (1791-1855), German theologian, was born
at Neustadt-on-the-Aisch on the 12th of November 1791, and was educated
at Erlangen, where he afterwards taught in the gymnasium (1817), and
became professor of theology in the university (1821). His two great
works were a _Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte_ in 4 vols. (1833-1834),
and a _Dogmengeschichte_ in 2 vols. (1839). He died at Erlangen on the
13th of September 1855.
ENGHIEN, LOUIS ANTOINE HENRI DE BOURBON CONDÉ, DUC D' (1772-1804), was
the only son of Henri Louis Joseph, prince of Condé, and of Louise Marie
Thérèse Mathilde, sister of the duke of Orleans (Philippe Égalité), and
was born at Chantilly on the 2nd of August 1772. He was educated
privately by the abbé Millot, and received a military training from the
commodore de Virieux. He early showed the warlike spirit of the house of
Condé, and began his military career in 1788. On the outbreak of the
French Revolution he "emigrated" with very many of the nobles a few days
after the fall of the Bastille, and remained in exile, seeking to raise
forces for the invasion of France and the restoration of the old
monarchy. In 1792, on the outbreak of war, he held a command in the
force of _émigrés_ (styled the "French royal army") which shared in the
duke of Brunswick's unsuccessful invasion of France. He continued to
serve under his father and grandfather in what was known as the Condé
army, and on several occasions distinguished himself by his bravery and
ardour in the vanguard. On the dissolution of that force after the peace
of Lunéville (February 1801) he married privately the princess
Charlotte, niece of Cardinal de Rohan, and took up his residence at
Ettenheim in Baden, near the Rhine. Early in the year 1804 Napoleon,
then First Consul of France, heard news which seemed to connect the
young duke with the Cadoudal-Pichegru conspiracy then being tracked by
the French police. The news ran that the duke was in company with
Dumouriez and made secret journeys into France. This was false; the
acquaintance was Thuméry, a harmless old man, and the duke had no
dealings with Cadoudal or Pichegru. Napoleon gave orders for the seizure
of the duke. French mounted gendarmes crossed the Rhine secretly,
surrounded his house and brought him to Strassburg (15th of March 1804),
and thence to the castle of Vincennes, near Paris. There a commission of
French colonels was hastily gathered to try him. Meanwhile Napoleon had
found out the true facts of the case, and the ground of the accusation
was hastily changed. The duke was now charged chiefly with bearing arms
against France in the late war, and with intending to take part in the
new coalition then proposed against France. The colonels hastily and
most informally drew up the act of condemnation, being incited thereto
by orders from Savary (q.v.), who had come charged with instructions.
Savary intervened to prevent all chance of an interview between the
condemned and the First Consul; and the duke was shot in the moat of the
castle, near a grave which had already been prepared. With him ended the
house of Condé. In 1816 the bones were exhumed and placed in the chapel
of the castle. It is now known that Josephine and Mme de Rémusat had
begged Napoleon for mercy towards the duke; but nothing would bend his
will. The blame which the apologists of the emperor have thrown on
Talleyrand or Savary is undeserved. On his way to St Helena and at
Longwood he asserted that, in the same circumstances, he would do the
same again; he inserted a similar declaration in his will.
See H. Welschinger, _Le Due d'Enghien 1772-1804_ (Paris, 1888); A.
Nougaret de Fayet, _Recherches historiques sur le procès et la
condamnation du duc d'Enghien_, 2 vols. (Paris, 1844); Comte A. Boulay
de la Meurthe, _Les Dernières Années du due d'Enghien 1801-1804_
(Paris, 1886). For documents see _La Catastrophe du duc d'Enghien_ in
the edition of _Mémoires_ edited by M.F. Barrière, also the edition of
the duke's letters, &c., by Count Boulay de la Meurthe (tome i.,
Paris, 1904; tome ii., 1908). (J. Hl. R.)
ENGHIEN, a town in the province of Hainaut, Belgium, lying south of
Grammont. Pop. (1904) 4541. It is the centre of considerable lace, linen
and cotton industries. There is a fine park outside the town belonging
to the duke of Arenberg, whose ancestor, Charles de Ligne, bought it
from Henry IV. in 1607, but the château in which the duke of Arenberg of
the 18th century entertained Voltaire no longer exists. Curiously enough
the cottage, a stone building, built by the same duke for Jean Jacques
Rousseau, still stands in the park, while the ducal residence was burnt
down by the _sans-culottes_. A fine pavilion or kiosk, named de
l'Étoile, has also survived. The great Condé was given, for a victory
gained near this place, the right to use the style of Enghien among his
subsidiary titles.
ENGINE (Lat. _ingenium_), a term which in the time of Chaucer had the
meaning of "natural talent" or "ability," corresponding to the Latin
from which it is derived (cf. "A man hath sapiences thre, Memorie,
engin, and intellect also," _Second Nun's Tale_, 339); in this sense it
is now obsolete. It also denoted a mechanical tool or contrivance, and
especially a weapon of war; this use may be compared with that of
_ingenium_ in classical Latin to mean a clever idea or device, and in
later Latin, as in Tertullian, for a warlike instrument or machine. In
the 19th century it came to have, when employed alone, a specific
reference to the steam-engine (q.v.), but it is also used of other prime
movers such as the air-engine, gas-engine and oil-engine (qq.v.).
ENGINEERING, a term for the action of the verb "to engineer," which in
its early uses referred specially to the operations of those who
constructed engines of war and executed works intended to serve military
purposes. Such military engineers were long the only ones to whom the
title was applied. But about the middle of the 18th century there began
to arise a new class of engineers who concerned themselves with works
which, though they might be in some cases, as in the making of roads, of
the same character as those undertaken by military engineers, were
neither exclusively military in purpose nor executed by soldiers, and
those men by way of distinction came to be known as civil engineers. No
better definition of their aims and functions can be given than that
which is contained in the charter (dated 1828) of the Institution of
Civil Engineers (London), where civil engineering is described as the
"art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and
convenience of man, as the means of production and of traffic in states,
both for external and internal trade, as applied in the construction of
roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river navigation and docks for
internal intercourse and exchange, and in the construction of ports,
harbours, moles, breakwaters and lighthouses, and in the art of
navigation by artificial power for the purposes of commerce, and in the
construction and adaptation of machinery, and in the drainage of cities
and towns." Wide as is this enumeration, the practice of a civil
engineer in the earlier part of the 19th century might cover many or
even most of the subjects it contains. But gradually specialization set
in. Perhaps the first branch to be recognized as separate was
_mechanical_ engineering, which is concerned with steam-engines, machine
tools, mill-work and moving machinery in general, and it was soon
followed by _mining_ engineering, which deals with the location and
working of coal, ore and other minerals. Subsequently numerous other
more or less strictly defined groups and subdivisions came into
existence, such as _naval architecture_ dealing with the design of
ships, _marine_ engineering with the engines for propelling steamers,
_sanitary_ engineering with water-supply and disposal of sewage and
other refuse, _gas_ engineering with the manufacture and distribution of
illuminating gas, and chemical engineering with the design and erection
of the plant required for the manufacture of such chemical products as
alkali, acids and dyes, and for the working of a wide range of
industrial processes. The last great new branch is _electrical_
engineering, which touches on the older branches at so many points that
it has been said that all engineers must be electricians.
ENGINEERS, MILITARY. From the earliest times engineers have been
employed both in the field of war and on field defences. In modern
times, however, the application of numerous scientific and engineering
devices to warfare has resulted in the creation of many minor branches
of military engineering, some of them almost rivalling in importance
their primary duty of fortification and siegecraft, such as the field
telegraph, the balloon service, nearly all demolitions, the building of
pontoon and other bridges, and the construction and working of military
roads, railways, piers, &c. All these branches requiring special
knowledge, the modern tendency is to divide a corps of engineers in
accordance with such requirements. The "field companies" and "fortress
companies" of the R.E. represent the traditional tactical application of
their arm to works of offence and defence in field and siege warfare.
The balloon, telegraph, and other branches, also organized on a
permanent footing, represent the modern application of scientific aids
in warfare. (See FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT; TACTICS; INFANTRY, &c.)
_History._--It is difficult to distinguish between military and civil
engineers in the earlier ages of modern history, for all engineers acted
as builders of castles and defensible strongholds, as well as
manufacturers and directors of engines of war with which to attack or
defend them. The annals of fortification show professors, artists, &c.,
as well as soldiers and architects, as designers and builders of
innumerable systems of fortification. By the middle of the 13th century
there was in England an organized body of skilled workmen employed under
a "chief engineer." At the siege of Calais in 1347 this corps consisted
of masons, carpenters, smiths, tentmakers, miners, armourers, gunners
and artillerymen. At the siege of Harfleur in 1415 the chief engineer
was designated Master of the King's Works, Guns and Ordnance, and the
corps under him numbered 500 men, including 21 foot-archers.
Headquarters of engineers existed at the Tower of London before 1350,
and a century later developed into the Office of Ordnance (afterwards
the Board of Ordnance), whose duty was to administer all matters
connected with fortifications, artillery and ordnance stores.
Henry VIII. employed many engineers (of whom Sir Richard Lee is the best
known) in constructing coast defences from Penzance to the Thames and
thence to Berwick-on-Tweed, and in strengthening the fortresses of
Calais and Guînes in France. He also added to the organization a body of
pioneers under trench-masters and a master trenchmaster. Charles II.
increased the peace establishment of engineers and formed a separate one
for Ireland, with a chief engineer who was also surveyor-general of the
King's Works. In both countries only a small permanent establishment was
maintained, a special ordnance train being enrolled in war-time for each
expedition and disbanded on its termination. The commander of an
ordnance train was frequently, but not necessarily, an engineer, but
there was always a chief engineer of each train. At Blenheim (1704)
Marlborough's ordnance train was commanded by Holcroft Blood, a
distinguished engineer. But after the rebellion of 1715 it was decided
to separate the artillery from the engineers, and the royal warrant of
26th May 1716 established two companies of artillery as a separate
regiment, and an engineer corps composed of 1 chief engineer, 3
directors, 6 engineers-in-ordinary, 6 engineers extraordinary, 6
sub-engineers and 6 practitioner engineers.
Until the 14th of May 1757 officers of engineers frequently held, in
addition to their military rank in the corps of engineers, commissions
in foot regiments; but on and after that date all engineer officers were
gazetted to army as well as engineer rank--the chief engineer as colonel
of foot, directors as lieutenant-colonel, and so forth down to
practitioners as ensigns. On the 18th of November 1782 engineer grades,
except that of chief engineer, were abolished, and the establishment was
fixed at 1 chief engineer and colonel, 6 colonels commandant, 6
lieutenant-colonels, 9 captains, 9 captain lieutenants (afterwards
second captains), 22 first lieutenants, and 22 second lieutenants. Ten
years later a small invalid corps was formed. In 1787 the designation
"Royal" was conferred upon the engineers, and its precedence settled to
be on the right of the army, with the royal artillery.
In 1802 the title of chief engineer was changed to inspector-general of
fortifications. From this time to the conclusion of the Crimean War
various augmentations took place, consequent on the increasing and
widely extending duties thrown upon the officers. These, in addition to
ordinary military duties, comprised the construction and maintenance of
fortifications, barrack and ordnance store buildings, and all
engineering services connected with them. The cadastral survey of the
United Kingdom (called the "Ordnance Survey") had been entrusted to the
engineers as far back as 1784, and absorbed many officers in its
execution.
In 1772 the formation at Gibraltar of "The Company of Soldier
Artificers," officered by Royal Engineers, was authorized, and a second
company was added soon afterwards. In 1787 by royal warrant "The Corps
of Royal Military Artificers" was established at home, consisting of six
companies, with which the Gibraltar companies were amalgamated. In 1806
this corps was doubled, and in 1811 increased to 32 companies. In 1813
its title was changed to "The Royal Sappers and Miners." In 1856, at the
close of the Crimean War, it was incorporated with "The Corps of Royal
Engineers," by whom it had always been officered. At that date the corps
numbered about 340 officers and 4000 non-commissioned officers and men,
in 1 troop and 32 companies.
In 1770 the East India Company reorganized the engineer corps of the
three presidencies, composed of officers only. Native corps of sappers
or pioneers were formed later, and officered principally by engineers.
The officers of engineers were employed in peacetime on the public works
of the country, their services when required being placed at the
disposal of the military authorities. The Indian Engineers have not only
distinguished themselves in the operations of war, but have left
monuments of engineering skill in the irrigation works, railways,
surveys, roads, bridges, public buildings and defences of the country.
When Indian administration was transferred to the crown (1862) the
Indian Engineers became "Royal," so that there now exists but one corps,
the Royal Engineers. This is composed of about 1000 officers and 7700
warrant and non-commissioned officers and men. Of the officers some 220
are attached to units, about 400 employed either at home or in the
colonies on engineering duties in military commands, on the staff, or on
special duty, and about 370 on the Indian establishment. The supreme
technical control of the Royal Engineers is exercised from the War
Office. See also UNITED KINGDOM; ARMY.
The history of the French engineers shows a somewhat similar line of
development. Originally selected officers of infantry were given brevets
as engineers, and these men performed military and also civil duties for
the king's service by the aid of companies of workmen enlisted and
discharged from time to time. Vauban (q.v.) was the founder of the
famous _corps de Génie_ (1690). Its members were selected officers and
civilians, employed in all branches of military and naval services, and
it soon achieved its European reputation as the first school of
fortification and siegecraft. It received a special uniform in 1732.
About 1755 it was for a time merged in the artillery. In 1766 the title
of _Génie_ was conferred upon the officers, and the same name (_troupes
de Génie_) was given to the previously existing companies of sappers and
miners in 1801.
In the United States the separate Corps of Engineers (since 1794 there
had been a Corps of Artillerists and Engineers) was organized in 1802,
starting with a small body stationed at West Point, which in 1838 and
1846 was gradually increased, and in 1861 given three additional
companies. In 1866 they were formed into a battalion and stationed at
Willets Point, N.Y. In 1901 they were reorganized in three battalions,
with a total strength of 1282. The U.S. Engineer School, formerly at
Willets Point, was transferred in 1901 to Washington. Until 1866 the
military academy at West Point was under the supervision of the Corps of
Engineers, but from that time its direction was thrown open; but the
highest branch at West Point is still regarded as that of the engineers.
The Corps of Engineers has done a great deal of highly important work in
the United States, notably in building forts, and improving rivers and
harbours for navigation.
See Maj.-Gen. R.W. Porter, _Hist, of the Corps of Royal Engineers_
(Chatham, 1889); C. Lecomte, _Les Ingénieurs militaires de la France_
(Paris, 1903); H. Frobenius, _Geschichte der K. preuss. Ingenieur- und
Pioneer-Korps_ (Berlin, 1906).
ENGIS, a cave on the banks of the Meuse near Liége, Belgium, where in
1832 Dr P.C. Schmerling found human remains in deposits belonging to the
Quaternary period. Bones of the cave-bear, mammoth, rhinoceros and hyena
were discovered in association with parts of a man's skeleton and a
human skull. This, known as "the Engis Skull," gave rise to much
discussion among anthropologists, since it has characteristics of both
high and low development, the forehead, low and narrow, indicating
slight intelligence, while the abnormally large brain cavity contradicts
this conclusion. Of it Huxley wrote: "There is no mark of degradation
about any part of its structure. It is a fair average human skull, which
might have belonged to a philosopher, or might have contained the
thoughtless brains of a savage." Dr Schmerling concluded that the human
remains were those of man who had been contemporary with the extinct
mammals. As, however, fragments of coarse pottery were found in the cave
which bore other evidence of having been used by neolithic man, by whom
the cave-floor and its contents might have been disturbed and mixed, his
arguments have not been regarded as conclusive. There is, however, no
doubt as to the great age of the Engis Skull. Discoveries of a like
nature were made by Dr Schmerling in the neighbourhood in the caves of
Engihoul, Chokier and others.
See P.C. Schmerling, _Recherches sur les ossements découverts dans les
cavernes de la province Liège_ (1833); Huxley, _Man's Place in
Nature_, p. 156; Lord Avebury, _Prehistoric Times_, p. 317 (1900).
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3 - "Electrostatics" to "Engis"" ***
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