Chapter III: Part 3

In recent times the advances made in the theoretical and practical studies of the sciences of anthropology, physiology, and psychology have exercised an enormous influence on educational theories and practices. Careful observations of young children by scientific observers like Darwin, Dearborn, and Preyer have added greatly to our knowledge of child-nature; and helped to suggest new methods of studying it and developing it. The result has been the promulgation within the present century of a number of educational methods, some of which, in contrast to the older practices, must seem almost revolutionary. Among these must be remembered the 'Heuristic Method' of teaching science put forward by Professor H. E. Armstrong. The object of the method is to put the student as completely as may be in the position of an original investigator; and it has been classed by writers on education as being, like so many other modern methods, a 'play method'. Froebel in his kindergarten was one of the first to introduce successfully the play method in education, and the 'gifts' by which the plan was carried through were of his own devising; but such cannot be said of Dr. Montessori, whose method of education engrosses so much attention at the present time. The Montessori apparatus was originally devised by Dr. Seguin for the instruction of mental defectives. Dr. Montessori used the apparatus first for the training of young children; but the cardinal feature of the Montessori system is the determined effort to make the child entirely responsible for his own education, and to interfere as little as possible with his development. The apparatus is so contrived that it can only be used in one way if the problem is to be solved; so the child is forced to attend to the differences in size and shape and carefully to compare the different pieces. In addition, the Montessori system attempts to cultivate the social virtues; teaches the children to live and to work and play with others, and so to learn to be well-mannered. The teacher in this system retires into the background, and the children are left to go their own way, to choose their own tasks, and to be their own critics. Great attention is also given to the physical development of the children.

Experimental education has been attempted both in Germany, where the need for it was first put forward by Kant, and in England; but it is in the United States of America that the chief advances in this direction have been made. There the Binet attempt to measure the intelligence of the child, to fix in fact a metric scale of intelligence, has been elaborated, and the Binet-Simon system of tests devised, and later modified by L. M. Terman. There, too, schools have been established which have tried the working out of what may be described as the non-interference with the pupil principle. Among these may be mentioned the 'George Junior Republic' and the Gary Schools. The latter, we are told by their founder, were "not instituted to turn out good workers for the steel company, but for the educational value of the work they involved". To this must be added the 'Dalton Laboratory Plan', tried lately as an experiment by Miss Helen Parkhurst in a public secondary day school in Dalton. By this plan, the time-table is abolished, the child undertakes to get up a certain amount of work each month in each particular subject, and is left free to distribute his time as he chooses, so that he can devote more time to those subjects in which he is backward. The school is divided into departments (laboratories) each under a specialist who gives the help needed, but leaves the pupil to himself as much as possible.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bartley, _The Schools for the People_; Norwood and Hope, _Higher Education of Boys in England_; Quick, _Essays on Educational Reformers_; Browning, _An Introduction to the History of Education Theories_; Sleight, _Educational Values and Methods_; Nunn, _Education: Its Data and First Principles_; Wilton, _What do we mean by Education?_ _The New Teaching_, edited by Adams; Kerr, _Scottish Education_; Morrison, _Education Authorities' Handbook_; Dewey, _Schools of To-morrow_; Rusk, _Introduction to Experimental Education_; Montessori, _The Montessori Method_ and _The Advanced Montessori Method_.

EDUCATION ACT, the name given to several Acts dealing with education in Great Britain. Among the principal Education Acts are: (1) that of 1870, which introduced compulsory education; (2) that of 1891, which reduced, or in some cases abolished, school fees; (3) that of 1902, which authorized the levying of an education rate; and (4) that of 1918, which raised the age for leaving school, and made education compulsory up to the age of eighteen by means of continuation schools. Pupils must attend these schools for 320 hours each year.

EDWARD, known as _the Elder_, King of England, son of Alfred the Great, born about 870, died in 925. He succeeded his father in 901, and his reign was distinguished by successes over the Danes. He fortified many inland towns, acquired dominion over Northumbria and East Anglia, and subdued several of the Welsh tribes.

EDWARD, surnamed _the Martyr_, King of England, succeeded his father, Edgar, at the age of fifteen, in 975. His reign of four years was chiefly distinguished by ecclesiastical disputes. He was treacherously slain in 979 by a servant of his stepmother, at her residence, Corfe Castle. The pity caused by his innocence and misfortune induced the people to regard him as a martyr.

EDWARD, King of England, surnamed _the Confessor_, was the son of Ethelred II, and was born at Islip, in Oxfordshire, about 1004. On the death of his maternal brother, Hardicanute the Dane, in 1041, he was called to the throne, and thus renewed the Saxon line. Edward was a weak and superstitious, but well-intentioned prince, who acquired the love of his subjects by his monkish sanctity and care in the administration of justice. His queen was the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Kent. He died in 1066, and was succeeded by Harold, the son of Godwin. Edward caused a body of laws to be compiled from those of Ethelbert, Ina, and Alfred, to which the nation was long fondly attached. He was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1161.

EDWARD, Prince of Wales, surnamed _the Black Prince_, born 15th June, 1330, the eldest son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. In 1346 he commanded part of the forces at the battle of Cr['e]cy, and earned the praise of his warlike father. It was on this occasion that he adopted the motto _Ich dien_ (I serve), used by all succeeding Princes of Wales. In 1355 he commanded the army which invaded France from Gascony, and distinguished himself the following year at the great battle of Poitiers. By the Peace of Br['e]tigny the provinces of Poictou, Saintonge, P['e]rigord, and Limousin were annexed to Guienne and formed into a sovereignty for the prince under the title of the Principality of Aquitaine. A campaign in Castile, on behalf of Pedro the Cruel, and the heavy taxes laid on Aquitaine to meet the expenses, caused a rebellion, and ultimately involved him in a war with the French king. His own health did not allow him to take the field, and having seen his generals defeated he withdrew into England, and after lingering some time died (1376), leaving an only son, afterwards Richard II.

EDWARD I (of the Norman line), King of England, son of Henry III, was born at Winchester in 1239, died 7th July, 1307. The contests between his father and the barons called him early into active life, and he finally quelled all resistance to the royal authority by the decisive defeat of Leicester at the battle of Evesham, in 1265. He then proceeded to Palestine, where he showed signal proofs of valour, although no conquest of any importance was achieved. His father's death in 1272 gave him the crown. On his return home he showed great vigour as well as a degree of severity in his administration. He commenced a war with Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, which ended in the annexation of that Principality to the English Crown in 1283. Edward's ambition was to gain possession of Scotland, but the death of Margaret, the Maid of Norway, who was to have been married to Edward's son, for a time frustrated the king's designs. But on 26th Dec., 1292, John Baliol was induced to do homage for his crown to Edward at Newcastle. Baliol was forced by the indignation of the Scottish people into war with England. Edward entered Scotland in 1296, devastated it with fire and sword, and placed the administration of the country in the hands of officers of his own. Next summer a new rising took place under William Wallace. Wallace's successes recalled Edward to Scotland with an army of 100,000 men. Wallace was at length betrayed into his hands and executed as a traitor. All Edward's efforts, however, to reduce the country to obedience were unavailing, and with the flight of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, to Scotland, the banner of Scottish independence was again unfurled. Edward assembled another army and marched against Bruce, but only lived to reach Burgh-on-Sands, a village near Carlisle, where he died. Edward I was wise in council and vigorous in action. During his reign great progress was made in the establishment of law and order throughout the land.

EDWARD II, King of England, born at Carnarvon Castle in 1284, and the first English Prince of Wales, succeeded his father, Edward I, in 1307. He was of an agreeable figure and mild disposition, but indolent and fond of pleasure. After marching as far as Cumnock, in Ayrshire, with the army collected by his father, he returned, dismissed his troops, and abandoned himself entirely to amusements. His weakness for a clever but dissolute young Gascon, Piers Gaveston, on whom he heaped honours without limit, roused the nobles to rebellion. Gaveston was captured in Scarborough Castle, and executed as a public enemy on 19th June, 1312. Two years after this, Edward assembled an immense army to check the progress of Robert Bruce, but was completely defeated at Bannockburn. In 1322 he made another expedition against Scotland, but without achieving anything important. The king's fondness for another favourite, Hugh le Despenser, had made a number of malcontents, and Queen Isabella, making a visit to France, entered into a correspondence with the exiles there, and formed an association of all hostile to the king. Aided by a force from the Count of Hainault, she landed in Suffolk in 1326. Her army was completely successful. The Despensers, father and son, were captured and executed, and the king was taken prisoner and confined in Kenilworth, and ultimately in Berkeley Castle, where he was murdered 21st Sept., 1327.

EDWARD III, King of England, son of Edward II by Isabella of France, was born in 1312, died 21st June, 1377. On his father's deposition in 1327 he was proclaimed king under a council of regency, while his mother's lover, Mortimer, really possessed the principal power in the State. The pride and oppression of Mortimer led to a general confederacy against him, and to his seizure and execution (10th Oct., 1330). Edward now turned his attention to Scotland, and, having levied a well-appointed army, defeated the regent, Douglas, at Halidon Hill, in July, 1333. This victory produced the restoration of Edward Baliol, who was, however, again expelled, and again restored, until the ambition of the English king was diverted by the prospect of succeeding to the throne of France. Collecting an army and accompanied by the Black Prince, he crossed over to France. The memorable battle of Cr['e]cy followed, 25th Aug., 1346, which was succeeded by the siege of Calais. In the meantime David II, having recovered the throne of Scotland, invaded England with a large army, but was defeated and taken prisoner by a much inferior force under Lord Percy. In 1348 a truce was concluded with France; but on the death of King Philip, in 1350, Edward again invaded France, plundering and devastating. Recalled home by a Scottish inroad, he retaliated by carrying fire and sword from Berwick to Edinburgh. In the meantime the Black Prince had penetrated from Guienne to the heart of France, fought the famous battle of Poitiers, and taken King John prisoner. A truce was then made, at the expiration of which (1359) Edward again crossed over to France and laid waste the provinces of Picardy and Champagne, but at length consented to a peace. This confirmed him in the possession of several provinces and districts of France which were entrusted to the Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), but gradually all the English possessions in France, with the exception of Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Calais, were lost.

EDWARD IV, King of England, was born in 1442, died in April, 1483. His father, Richard, Duke of York, was grandson of Edmund, Earl of Cambridge and Duke of York, fourth son of Edward III, while the rival line of Lancaster descended from John of Gaunt, the third son. The York line had intermarried with the female descendants of Lionel, the second son, which gave it the preferable right to the Crown. Edward, on the defeat and death of his father at the battle of Wakefield, assumed his title, and, having entered London after his splendid victory over the troops of Henry VI and Queen Margaret at Mortimer's Cross, in Feb. 1461, was declared king by acclamation. The victory of Towton, soon after his accession, confirmed his title, and three years after this, on 4th May, 1464, the battle of Hexham completely overthrew the party of Henry VI. The king now made an imprudent marriage with Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Grey, at the very time when he had dispatched the Earl of Warwick to negotiate a marriage for him with the sister of the French king. He thus alienated powerful friends, and Warwick, passing over to the Lancastrian cause, gathered a large army, and compelled Edward to fly (in Sept. 1470). Henry's title was once more recognized by Parliament. But in 1471 Edward, at the head of a small force given him by the Duke of Burgundy, landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, and his army, being quickly increased by partisans, marched swiftly on London and took the unfortunate Henry prisoner. Warwick now advanced with an army to Barnet, where a battle was fought, 4th April, 1471, which ended in the death of Warwick and a decisive victory for Edward. Shortly afterwards Edward also met and defeated a Lancastrian army, headed by Queen Margaret and her son Edward, at Tewkesbury. The prince was murdered, and the queen was thrown into the Tower, where Henry VI soon after died. Edward was preparing for an expedition against France when he died.

EDWARD V, King of England, the eldest son of Edward IV, was in his thirteenth year when he succeeded his father in 1483. His uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, soon made himself king as Richard III, and caused the young king and his brother to be sent to the Tower, where he had them smothered by ruffians.

EDWARD VI, King of England, son of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour, was born in 1537, died in July, 1553. At his father's death he was only nine years of age. His education was entrusted to men of the first character for learning, under whose training he made great progress, and grew up with a rooted zeal for the doctrines of the Reformation. His reign was, on the whole, tumultuous and unsettled. In Oct., 1551, the Protector Somerset, who had hitherto governed the kingdom with energy and ability, was deposed by the intrigues of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, who became all-powerful. He induced the dying Edward to set aside the succession of his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and settle the crown upon Lady Jane Grey, to whom he had married his son Lord Guildford Dudley. Edward VI restored many of the grammar schools suppressed by Henry VIII, and these schools are still known as King Edward's schools.

EDWARD VII, King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, eldest son of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, was born at Buckingham Palace on 9th Nov., 1841, died 6th May, 1910. In Dec., 1841, he was created Prince of Wales. He was educated under private tutors and at Edinburgh, Oxford, and Cambridge; visited Canada and the United States in 1860; and underwent military training at the Curragh camp in 1861. Promoted to the rank of general in 1862, he visited Palestine and the East, and next year took his seat in the House of Lords. On 10th March, 1863, he was married in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, to Princess Alexandra, eldest daughter of Christian IX of Denmark, and from this time onwards he discharged many public ceremonial functions. Attacked by typhoid fever in the winter of 1871, his life was for a time despaired of, but he recovered early in 1872, his recovery being made the occasion of a thanksgiving service in St. Paul's Cathedral. During 1875 and 1876 he visited India. He was a member of the Poor Law Commission of 1893. He promoted the establishment of the Imperial Institute as a memorial of Queen Victoria's jubilee (1887), and he commemorated her diamond jubilee (1897) by founding the Prince of Wales's (now King's) Hospital Fund for the better financial support of the London hospitals. On the death of Queen Victoria on 22nd Jan., 1901, he succeeded to the throne, and was crowned on 9th Aug., 1902. King Edward did much to promote friendly relations with foreign powers, especially with France and the United States. It was through his personal influence that the Entente Cordiale with France was brought about. To him and Queen Alexandra were born: Albert Victor Christian Edward, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, born 1864, died 1892; George Frederick Ernest Albert, who succeeded his father as George V, born 1865, married 1893, to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck; Princess Louise, now Princess Royal, born 1867, married 1889, to the Duke of Fife, who died 29th Jan., 1912; Princess Victoria, born 1868; and Princess Maud, born 1869, married 1896, to Prince Charles of Denmark, now King of Norway as Haakon VII.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: _Life of the King_, by 'One of His Majesty's Servants'; Holt-White, _The People's King_; E. Legge, _King Edward in his true Colours_; J. P. Brodhurst, _The Life and Times of Edward VII_; W. H. Wilkins, _Edward the Peacemaker_.

EDWARD, Thomas, a Scottish naturalist, born 1814, died 1886. The son of poor parents, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker and worked at his trade till nearly the end of his life, but succeeded in acquiring much knowledge of natural history and some fame as a naturalist. An interesting biography of Edward (_Life of a Scottish Naturalist_), written by Samuel Smiles, appeared in 1876, and a pension of L50 a year was shortly afterwards conferred on him by Queen Victoria.

EDWARDS, Amelia Blandford, English novelist and Egyptologist, born in London in 1831, died in 1892. She gave early evidence of great literary ability by her contributions to periodicals, and attracted attention by her novel _My Brother's Wife_ (1855). Among her best-known novels are: _Hand and Glove_ (1859), _Barbara's History_ (1864), _Half a Million of Money_ (1865), _Debenham's Vow_ (1870), and _Lord Brackenbury_ (1880). Miss Edwards wrote also ballads and books of travel, and in 1882 founded the Egypt Exploration Fund and devoted herself to Egyptology, leaving funds to found a chair of Egyptology in University College, London.

EDWARDS, Bryan, English writer, born in Wiltshire in 1743, died in 1800. He inherited a large fortune from an uncle in Jamaica, where he long resided. His _History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies_ appeared in 1793.

EDWARDS, John Passmore, British philanthropist and journalist, born at Blackwater, Cornwall, in March, 1823, died on 22nd April, 1911. Trained as a journalist, he became representative of the paper _The Sentinel_, and was opposed to the Corn Laws. In 1862 he bought _The Building News_, and in 1876 the London _Echo_, of which he was director for twenty years. Although somewhat unpopular on account of his opposition to the Boer War, he is remembered as a public benefactor, having founded numerous Passmore Edwards institutions, public libraries, and settlements, and contributed largely to hospitals. He was a delegate to the peace congresses at Brussels, Paris, and Frankfort (1848-50), and twice refused a knighthood.

EDWARDS, Jonathan, American theologian and metaphysician, born 5th Oct., 1703, died 22nd March, 1758. He entered Yale College in 1716, and studied till 1722, when he received a licence as preacher. In 1723 he was elected a tutor in Yale College, but resigned in 1726 to be ordained as minister at Northampton (Mass.). After more than twenty-three years of zealous service here, he was dismissed by the congregation owing to the severity with which he sought to exercise church discipline. He then went as a missionary among the Indians at Stockbridge, in Massachusetts. Here he composed his famous work on the _Freedom of the Will_, which appeared in 1754. In 1757 he was chosen president of the college at Princeton, New Jersey, but died shortly afterwards.

EDWY, King of England, son of Edmund I, succeeded his uncle Edred in 955. Taking part with the secular clergy against the monks, he incurred the confirmed enmity of the latter. The Papal party, headed by Dunstan, was strong enough to excite a rebellion, by which Edwy was driven from the throne to make way for his brother Edgar. He died in 959, being probably not more than eighteen or nineteen years old.

EECLOO ([=a]k-l[=o]'), a town, Belgium, province of East Flanders, 11 miles north-west of Ghent, the seat of textile manufactures. Pop. 13,536.

EEL, the popular name of fishes belonging to the teleostean sub-order Apodes. The common eel (_Anguilla vulgaris_) is the type of a special family (Anguillidae) and has a very wide distribution in the fresh waters of the globe. It is snake-shaped, devoid of ventral fins, and the minute scales are embedded in the slimy skin. When five or six years old it migrates to the deep sea for spawning, after which it probably dies. Curious flattened larvae (Leptocephalus) hatch out from the floating eggs, and undergo a metamorphosis to become young eels or elvers, which when a year old ascend rivers in vast numbers as 'eel fare'. Eels are esteemed as an article of food, and even elvers are compressed into a sort of cake. In England river eels are caught in great numbers by means of eel-bucks or eelpots, traps consisting of a kind of basket with a funnel-shaped entrance composed of willow rods converging towards a point, so that the eels can easily force their way in but cannot return. A stocking or tube of coarse cloth hanging from an aperture of a box down into the interior is also used. In England a kind of trident called an _eel-spear_ is used also for taking them. A fisherman wades to the shallows, and, as he strikes his spear in the mud in every direction around him, the eels reposing on the bottom are caught between the prongs. They are also taken by hooks and lines and in other ways. See _Conger-eel_; _Muraena_. Electric eels belong to another group. See _Electrical Fishes_.

EFFEN'DI, a Turkish title which signifies lord or master. It is particularly applied to the civil, as _aga_ is to the military officers of the Sultan. Thus the Sultan's first physician is called _Hakim effendi_, and the priest in the seraglio _Imam effendi_.

EFFERVES'CENCE, the rapid escape of a gas from a liquid, producing a turbulent motion in it, and causing it to boil up. It, is produced by the actual formation of a gas in the liquid, as in fermentation, or by the liberation of a gas which has been forced into it, as in aerated beverages.

EFFICIENCY, in mechanics and engineering, the ratio of the useful energy given out by a machine to the energy supplied to it. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it may assume various forms, and, within limits, can be changed from any one of these forms to any other. A machine or engine is an apparatus for converting energy in some given form into energy in another assigned form. In practice it is found impossible to convert the whole of the given energy into the form wanted, there being always a residue which is not of the right kind, and is, therefore, counted as useless. The smaller the residue, the more efficient is the machine. In the machines of elementary mechanics, such as the lever or the screw, the energy supplied is work done by the power or effort, and the energy wanted is work done on the load. If E is the effort, and W the load, then if there were no friction we would have E = Wr, where r is the velocity ratio, or ratio of the velocities of the points of application of load and effort. The relation found by experiment, however, is usually of the type E = Wr + C, where C is a constant. The efficiency is the fraction Wr/E or 1 - C/E, so that it increases with the load. In _heat engines_, energy in the form of heat is converted into mechanical energy. Heat is taken in at the source, part of it is changed into mechanical energy, and the remainder is rejected to the condenser. According to the second law of thermodynamics, the efficiency of such an engine has a definite upper limit which it cannot exceed, this being the ratio of the difference of the temperatures of the source and the condenser to the temperature of the source, these temperatures being measured on the absolute scale, that is, from -273deg C. reckoned as the zero. The efficiency of a steam-engine is usually compared with that of an ideal engine working between the same temperatures, and going through a definite periodic set of operations called the Rankine cycle. If the thermal efficiency of an actual engine is 27 per cent, and that of an ideal engine working on the Rankine cycle is 30 per cent, obviously the important figure is the ratio of 27 to 30, or 90 per cent.

The performance of a steam-engine depends, not only on its _thermal efficiency_, but also on its _boiler efficiency_ and its _mechanical efficiency_. The boiler efficiency is the percentage of the heat obtainable from the fuel consumed which is actually used in the engine; in a good boiler it may be 75 per cent. The mechanical efficiency is the ratio of the work given out at the crank-shaft to the work done on the piston; in other words, it is the ratio of brake horse-power to indicated horse-power. It may perhaps be 80 per cent. To arrive at the over-all efficiency, the various partial or component efficiencies must be multiplied together. In comparing one type of engine with another, what is important is obviously this over-all efficiency, or ratio of energy output to the theoretical energy value of the fuel employed. Thus, to take the case of marine engines, the Diesel oil-engine is inferior to the turbine and to the reciprocator in point both of thermal and of mechanical efficiency. But when the efficiency of the boilers is taken into account, the Diesel comes out very decidedly ahead of the others. Taking coal at 10,000 British thermal units per pound, and Diesel oil at 18,000 British thermal units per pound, Mr. T. R. Wollaston has given the following figures for the number of British thermal units consumed per brake horse-power hour: steam-engine 19,000; steam turbine 21,000; gas-engine 15,000; Diesel engine 9000. Electrical plant in general reaches a high standard of efficiency. Some figures are: transmission lines 85 to 95 per cent; motors and generators at full load 70 to 80 per cent from 1 to 5 h.p., 80 to 90 per cent from 5 to 50 h.p., and 95 per cent for large sizes. Electrical transformers are the most efficient of all machines. Their efficiency ranges from about 90 per cent in small sizes, up to perhaps 98.5 per cent for large machines at full load. See _Energy_; _Internal-combustion Engines_; _Steam-engines_; _Thermodynamics_.

EFFLORES'CENCE, the property which certain hydrated salts have of losing water when exposed to air. Thus washing-soda, Na_2CO_3, 10H_2O, if left in air becomes opaque, loses its crystalline appearance, and finally falls to a powder by loss of water. The term is also applied in botany to the process of flowering.

EFFLUENTS, a general term applying to liquids, on being discharged, after undergoing some form of treatment. The term is more particularly applied to the purified liquid discharged into rivers and streams from sewage-works, the crude sewage having been freed of the grosser solids, and rendered clear and innocuous to animal and vegetable life.

EFFODIEN'TIA, the name proposed for a new order of mammals to include pangolins and aard-varks. See _Edentata_.

['E]GALIT['E], Philippe. See _Orleans, Louis Philippe Joseph_.

EGBERT, considered the first king of all England, was of the royal family of Wessex. He succeeded Brihtric in 802 as King of Wessex. He reduced the other kingdoms and rendered them dependent on him in 829, thus becoming their overlord. He died in 839.

EGEDE, Hans ([=a]'ge-d[=a]), the apostle of Greenland, born in 1686 in Norway, died in 1758. In 1721 Egede set sail for Greenland with the intention of converting the natives to Christianity, and for fifteen years performed the most arduous duties as missionary, winning by his persevering kindness the confidence of the natives. In 1736 he returned to Copenhagen, where he was made a bishop and director of the Greenland Missions.

EGER ([=a]'g[.e]r), a town of Bohemia, Czecho-Slovakia, on a rocky eminence above the Eger, 91 miles west of Prague; once an important fortress, though now quite dismantled. It has manufactures of woollens, cottons, leather, and soap. Wallenstein was assassinated there (1634). Pop. 26,620.

EGE'RIA, a nymph who received divine honours among the Romans. Numa is said to have received from her the laws which he gave to the Romans.

EGERSUND ([=a]'g[.e]r-s[u:]nd), a seaport on the south-west coast of Norway, some distance south of Stavanger, and connected with it by railway, has a large pottery-work, fishing and shipping trade. Pop. 3500.

EGERTON, Francis. See _Bridgewater, Duke of_.

A, White or albumen. B, Vitelline membrane. C, Chalaza. D, White yolk. E, Germinal disc. F, Shell. G, Air space. H, Shell membrane. K, Yellow yolk.]

EGG, (1) in the narrower sense, the female reproductive or germ-cell, which after impregnation or fertilization by a male germ-cell (spermatozoon or sperm) develops into an embryo. (See _Ovum_.) (2) The term is applied, more broadly, to a more complicated reproductive body that consists of an ovum together with supplementary parts. The egg of a bird, for example, includes the fertilized and developing ovum (yolk), nutritive white (albumen), and protective double egg membrane covered by a porous calcareous shell. The eggs of animals lower than the birds have usually only three parts, viz. the germinal spot or dot, the germinal vesicle, and the vitellus or yolk; the first being contained in the vesicle, and that again in the yolk. The common domestic fowl, the turkey, the pea-hen, and the common duck produce the eggs which are commonest in the market. The eggs of the green plover (_Vanellus cristatus_) are esteemed as a delicacy. The hard roes of fishes are the ovaries, containing innumerable eggs (over nine millions in the cod). The salted hard roes of the sturgeon are known as caviare. A hen's egg of good size weighs about 1000 grams, of which the white constitutes 600, the yolk 300, and the shell 100. When the white of an egg is warmed it coagulates to a firm opaque mass. Eggs form an important article in British commerce; the number imported in 1919 amounted to the value of L8,613,000, mainly from Russia, Denmark, Austria, France, and Italy.

EGG, an island of Scotland. See _Eigg_.

EGGA, a town of N. Nigeria, on the right bank of the Niger, about 70 miles above the junction of the Binue. Pop. 10,000.

EGGAR, or EGGER, a name given to moths of the family Lasiocampidae. _Lasiocampa trifolii_, a well-known British moth, is called the grass-egger, and the _L. quercus_ the oak-egger, from the food of their caterpillars.

EGG-BIRD, or SOOTY TERN (_Sterna fuliginosa_), a bird of considerable commercial importance in the West Indies, as its eggs, in common with those of two other species of tern, form an object of profitable adventure to the crews of numerous small vessels.

EGGLESTON, Edward, American novelist and miscellaneous writer, born in 1837, died in 1902. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Church, was engaged in pastoral work for some years, afterwards as pastor of an independent church founded by himself. He wrote and edited much, among his books being: _The Hoosier Schoolmaster_ (1871), which first appeared in _Hearth and Home_; _The End of the World_: _A Love Story_; _Roxy_, a highly popular novel (1878); _The Hoosier Schoolboy_; _The Graysons_; _Household History of the United States_; _The Faith Doctor_. His novels are marked by abundance of incident, skilful handling of dialect, and realistic portraiture.

EGG-PLANT, or BRINJAL (_Sol[=a]num melong[)e]na_), nat. ord. Solanaceae, an herbaceous plant, from 1 foot to 18 inches high, with large white or purplish flowers. The fruit is about the size of a goose's egg, and generally yellow, white, or violet, and when boiled or stewed is used as an article of food. It is cultivated in India, the United States, &c., and in European hothouses. There are several other species of egg-plants, as _S. indicum_ and _S. sodomeum_.

EGHAM, an urban district of England, county of Surrey, on the Thames opposite Staines, about 21 miles from London, with the Royal Holloway College for women, and the Holloway Sanatorium. Near it is Runnymede, where King John signed Magna Charta.

EGIL SKALLAGRIM, an Icelandic bard or poet of the tenth century, who distinguished himself by his warlike exploits in predatory invasions of Scotland and Northumberland. Having fallen into the hands of a hostile Norwegian prince, he procured his freedom by the composition and recitation of a poem called _Egil's Ransom_, which is still extant.

EGINHARD, or EINHARD, friend and biographer of Charles the Great (Charlemagne), born in Maingau (East Franconia) about 770, died in 840. He was educated in the monastery at Fulda, and his capacity attracted the attention of Charles, who made him superintendent of public buildings, and of whom he became the constant companion. He also enjoyed the favour of his son Louis the Pious. His later years were passed at M[:u]hlheim-on-the-Main, where he founded a monastery. His _Vita Caroli Magni_ is a work of great value, and his letters are also important.

EG'LANTINE, one of the names of the sweetbrier (_Rosa rubiginosa_), a kind of wild rose. The name has sometimes been erroneously used for other species of the rose and for the honeysuckle.

EG'MONT, Lamoral, Count, Prince of Gavre, was born in 1522, of an illustrious family of Holland. He adopted a military career, accompanied Charles V in his African expeditions, and distinguished himself under Philip II in the battles of St. Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558). Philip having gone to Spain, Egmont soon became involved in the political and religious disputes which arose between the Netherlands and their Spanish rulers. He tried to adjust the difficulties between both parties, and in 1565 went to Spain to arrange matters with Philip. He was well received, sent back with honour, but quite deceived as to the king's real intentions. In 1567 the Duke of Alva was sent with an army to the Netherlands to reduce the insurgents. One of his first measures was to seize Count Egmont and Count Horn. After a trial before a tribunal instituted by Alva himself they were executed at Brussels 5th June, 1568. A well-known drama of Goethe's is founded on the story of Egmont.

E'GOISM, as a philosophical doctrine, the view that the elements of all knowledge and the reality of the things known are dependent on the personal existence of the knower. This theory is also called Subjective Idealism or Solipsism. It maintains that his individual ego is the only being that a man can logically assert to exist. As an ethical theory (practical egoism) it is the opposite of altruism. It maintains that the governing principle of conduct for the individual is his own good on the whole, and that self-interest is the basis of morality. Egoism is to be distinguished from egotism, which denotes the practice of putting forward or dwelling upon oneself, of thinking, talking, or writing about oneself.

EGREMONT, a town of England, in Cumberland, in the valley of the Ehen, 3 miles from the sea, giving name to a parliamentary division. It has ruins of an ancient (twelfth century) castle associated with a legend that served Wordsworth as the subject of a poem. Iron-ore and limestone are worked. Pop. 6300.

a garzetta_)]

EG'RET, a name given to those species of white herons which have the feathers of the lower part of the back elongated and their webs disunited, reaching to the tail or beyond it at certain seasons of the year. Their forms are more graceful than those of common herons. The American egret (_Ard[)e]a egretta_) is about 37 inches long to the end of the tail; plumage soft and blended; head not crested; wings moderate; the tail short, of twelve weak feathers. The European egret (_A. alba_) is about 40 inches long, of a pure white plumage; the bill is black or dark brown, yellow at the base and about the nostrils, and the legs are almost black. The little egret (_A. garzetta_) is about 22 inches long from bill to end of tail, the plumage is white. The term egret is used in the feather trade for a bunch of the loose plumes, valued as an ornament.

EGYPT (from Gr. _Aiguptos_) is, as Herodotus has said, "the gift of the Nile". This great river, about 4000 miles in length, rises as the White Nile, three degrees south of the equator, drawing its waters from the Central African lakes. To the south of Khartoum, and 1350 miles from the sea, it is joined by the Blue Nile, which rises in the mountains of Abyssinia, and about 140 miles farther on it is fed by the Atbara, its last tributary. On the tableland of Nubian sandstone between Khartoum and Elephantine the river forms two great loops, and is intercepted by shallows or cataracts, of which there are six in all. The 'first cataract'--the last on the journey northward--is at Assouan, where a ridge of intercepting granite crops up. At Edfu, about 68 miles farther north, the limestone formation is entered, and the Nile then flows uninterrupted between flanking hills that here and there attain the height of 1000 feet. Egypt proper extends from Assouan to the Mediterranean. At a distance of about 100 miles from the sea the Nile divides into the branches forming the Delta. To the south of Cairo it sends out the Bahr Yusuf, a branch about 200 miles long, which flows into the fertile Fayum. The narrow valley, the average breadth of which is 10 miles, is 'the land of Egypt'. Its cultivable area is not so large as Belgium, being under 10,000 sq. miles in extent. Rain falls to the north of Cairo, but in Upper Egypt there are showers only once in every three or four years. The fertility of the country is due to the Nile. Each year the great river rises in flood when the equatorial lakes are suddenly swollen by heavy tropical rains and the snow melts in the Abyssinian mountains. The mean summer heat is 83deg F. in the Delta and 122deg F. in the valley. It is a dry heat, not so oppressive as that of India, and malaria is practically unknown. The most trying part of the year is during the period of 'Low Nile'. Before the surplus waters were stored in the Assouan Dam, the river shrank so low that its flow seemed uncertain. For about two months the hot and blistering 'hanseen' (or 'sand-wind') keeps blowing. A new season is ushered in by the cool north wind--the Etesian wind of the Greeks--which clears the accumulated dust from vegetation. It is lauded in ancient texts by priestly poets and Pharaohs. About the same time the conspicuous star Sirius makes its appearance. It was anciently regarded as a form of the Mother Goddess. On the 'Night of the Drop', in June, a fertilizing tear was supposed to fall from this star, and thereafter the 'new Nile' was born. For about four days (before the Assouan Dam was constructed) the rising river flowed green, the slimy matter on the marshes of Upper Egypt being pushed forward by the 'new water'. This was the 'Green Nile'. Then the Nile turned blood-red with Abyssinian clay. This was the 'Red Nile'. As soon as the fertilizing 'new water' touched the parched sands, Egypt awoke to new life. Countless insects appeared, new grass and flowers sprang up, and trees and shrubs broke into brilliant blossoms that filled the air with sweet perfume. Bursting over its banks, the steadily rising river flooded the valley generously and refreshingly. According to the Coptic Calendar, the inundation season lasted from June till September, the seed-time from October till January, and the harvest began in February.

in Upper Egypt

Translation: In the three hundred and sixty-third year of R[=a]-Heru-Khuti, who liveth for ever and for ever, His Majesty was in TA-KENS, and his soldiers were with him; (the enemy) did not conspire (auu) against their lord, and the land (is called) UAUATET unto this day. And R[=a] set out on an expedition in his boat, and his followers were with him, and he arrived at UTHES-HERU, (which lay to) the west of this nome, and to the east of the canal PAKHENNU, which is called ( ... to this day). And Heru-Behutet was in the boat of R[=a], and he said unto his father R[=a]-Heru-Khuti (i.e. R[=a]-Harmachis), "I see that the enemies are conspiring against their lord; let thy fiery serpent gain the mastery ... over them."--Reproduced by permission from Vol. XXXII of _Books on Egypt and Chaldaea_, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge.]

_Early Religion and Civilization._--In its earliest phases the religion of ancient Egypt reflected the natural phenomena of the Nile Valley in their relation to the needs, experiences, and achievements of mankind. The flood was an annual 'miracle of mercy', and the early people tried to account for it. They concluded it was a gift of the gods. It ensured the food-supply; it brought health and relief from the oppressive heat endured when the sand-wind prevailed and the river was low. The new water was 'the water of life'; it fertilized the parched soil and caused barley and millet (which grew wild in the Delta) to spring up, trees to yield fruit, and curative herbs to appear on the river banks. In the prehistoric period the Nile was identified with Osiris, who, according to the traditions of the Delta people, once reigned as their king, and introduced the agricultural mode of life which made it possible for large and growing communities to dwell in the narrow valley. In the Pyramid Texts (_c._ 2700 B.C.) Osiris is the controller of the Nile, the principle of life in the Nile, and the Nile itself. In one of his phases the god is the 'Green One'--the Green Nile. A Pyramid Text reads: "Horus comes! He beholds his father in thee, Green One, in thy name of Water of Greenness". The soul-substance (literally 'the seed') of Osiris was the vital principle in the green or new water. Osiris was the serpent-soul in the water, and the serpent (leviathan) of the ocean which 'encircled the netherworld'. The god is addressed in a Pyramid Text: "Thou art great, thou art green in thy name of Great Green" (Mediterranean Sea). Osiris was slain by Set, and his life-blood was the Red Nile, which entered the soil and vegetation. Osiris was not regarded as the Green One because vegetation is green; the ancient Egyptians appear to have attributed the greenness of vegetation to the Green Nile, the soul-substance of Osiris. The sap of shrubs and trees was 'Blood'--the blood of the god. Osiris continued to live after death. On earth he was in barley, fruit, &c., and in the fertilized soil. He was in the other world Judge and King of the Dead. In his underworld Paradise the souls of the dead grew corn and cultivated fruit-trees--the 'food of life'. The Osirian cult had origin in the Delta of Lower Egypt. In Upper Egypt a solar cult exalted Horus, the falcon god, as chief deity. Their heaven was beyond the sky 'to the east'. In the Pyramid Texts there is clear evidence that the solar cult believed the souls of the dead went eastward, while the Osirian cult believed they went westward. Osiris was called 'First of the Westerners'. The 'Easterners' of the south (Upper Egypt) conquered the 'Westerners' of the north (Lower Egypt), and Egypt was united into a single kingdom by the traditional King Mena, with whom begins the dynastic history of Egypt. This conquest appears to have been due to the introduction of copper weapons.

The idea that the Horites were invaders from Arabia or Mesopotamia has been abandoned. Copper was anciently found in the wadis of Upper Egypt and on the shores of the Red Sea. After boat-building and navigation were well advanced copper was mined in Sinai. According to Egyptian evidence, Edfu was the centre of the early copper industry and of the Horus cult. As Egyptian copper is naturally hard, it required no amalgam. Egypt, therefore, never had a Bronze Age, nor had it a Neolithic Age. The copper artifacts were imitations of Palaeolithic forms of the Solutrian type. After the conquest there occurred fusions of religious cults. Local pantheons reflected local politics. But although the sun-cult of Heliopolis exalted Ra (or Re) as King of the Gods, the belief that all that existed originated in water persisted till the end. The water-mother was Hathor, who gave birth to Osiris. As the Nile was supposed to come from heaven, she was the sky-goddess; her animal was the primeval cow of a pre-dynastic cult, and she was the shell-spirit of water as well--the Egyptian Aphrodite. The shell, pearl, cow, sky, sun, moon, and stars were connected with Hathor as Nut. Ra, the sun-god, was, like Osiris, regarded as her son. Her attributes were in time absorbed by Isis. At the dawn of the Dynastic Age the religious beliefs of the Egyptian peoples were already well developed, the agricultural mode of life was established in the Nile Valley and in the Delta area, the calendar had been introduced, while copper weapons and implements were in use. The subsequent history of the official religion has a political aspect. Local cults rose into prominence as a city-state or ruling family achieved political ascendancy. Memphite theology and the Memphite god Ptah (the god of artisans) assumed importance when the city of Memphis became the capital of the united kingdom. Heliopolis ('the city of the sun') was the northern centre of the solar cult, which, during the fourth and fifth dynasties (_c._ 2900-2625 B.C.), became influential enough to impose its theology on the court. The popular Osirian faith was absorbed. Pharaohs were 'Sons of Ra', the sun-god, and Ra supplanted the southern sun-god Horus. Before the Pyramid Age the Osirian and Horite cults had been blended, and Horus became the son of Osiris. Although the living Pharaoh, however, was the son of Ra, he was also a Horus; after death he became an Osiris. The culture-blending process introduced many complexities. During the twelfth dynasty (2000-1788 B.C.) the name of the Theban god Amon entered into royal names. But the permanent political ascendancy of Amon of Thebes really followed upon the expulsion of the Hyksos military aristocracy about 1580 B.C. By this time the northern sun cult's influence had become sufficiently strong to have Ra blended with the Theban deity who was subsequently known as Amon-Ra. Before the close of the eighteenth dynasty (_c._ 1350 B.C.) a royal sun cult, promoted by Pharaoh Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV), exalted Aton, the sun-disc, as sole god of Egypt and the rest of the world. The Amon-Ra cult regained its political ascendancy with the rise of the nineteenth dynasty. In later times the chief gods of the reigning families were blended forms of Amon, Ra, Ptah, and Osiris. Not only the gods, but the rival Paradises, were blended. Osiris's under-world Paradise was transferred to the mythical other world beyond the horizon, and the sun-barque of the sun-god, which carried the soul of the Pharaoh, was supposed to touch at 'the port of Paradise'. It went westward and passed through the under-world, and emerged again next morning at dawn in the east. The contradictions in the Egyptian religious texts are believed to be mainly due to the blending of beliefs regarding the fate of man which were originally fundamentally different. Local deities were embraced in the official theology, but at their centres remained prominent and influential. But these, too, were in time so strongly influenced by the solar and Osirian faiths that they suffered in no small degree loss of identity except in name. The religious beliefs of Egypt as a whole were never completely systematized. There were no heresies because there were no orthodox beliefs. Any religious cult was tolerated, so long as it acknowledged the supremacy of the god or pantheon of the ruling family. In the later period the cult of Serapis (Asar Hapi), the bull form of Osiris, was popular.

From a wall-painting in the tombs of Beni-Hassan.]

_Arts and Crafts._--Art developed in ancient Egypt under religious patronage. The earliest use made of Nubian gold was in manufacturing imitation luck-shells worn by the pre-dynastic peoples. Gold thus acquired a religious significance; at an early period it was associated with the sun-deity--the mother-goddess in her solar aspect was called 'Golden Hathor'. The hieroglyph for gold (_nub_) is a collar of beads. Exquisite gold ornaments in symbolic shapes were produced during the early dynasties. No finer gold ornaments have ever been produced anywhere than those of the twelfth dynasty (_c._ 2000 B.C.). These include chased gold pectoral ornaments and coronets and crowns inlaid with stones. When copper was first introduced it was used like gold. After implements were made of copper, vases of alabaster, diorite, &c., were worked with increasing skill and taste. The hardest stone was hewn and dressed for building purposes. No people have ever shown greater skill than the Egyptians in their stonework. The sculptors set themselves, when constructing temples, to imitate in stone the lashed palm-sticks, reeds, and papyrus stems used in the earliest shrines to stiffen the mud walls. Massive temple pillars were decorated with lotus petals, rose petals, &c. The early artists, who carved ivory, began to work in stone after copper implements were invented, and produced low reliefs in temples and tomb-chapels. Statuary in limestone, wood, and copper in the early dynastic period was vigorous and realistic. The sculptors were using the hardest material by the time of the Pyramid Age (_c._ 2700 B.C.). A great tomb-statue of Pharaoh-Khafra, in diorite, preserved in the Cairo Museum, is one of the triumphs of Egyptian sculpture. The Empire-period sculpture reached a high level of excellence. It was to provide 'soul-bodies' for dead Pharaohs that these great works of art were produced. A great advance in the manufacture of pottery was achieved during the Pyramid Age, when the potter's wheel was invented. To Egypt the ancient world owed this notable contrivance. It was introduced in time into Babylonia, Iran, India, China, Crete, Greece, and Western Europe. Shipbuilding is another Egyptian industry which promoted progress. Cretan and Phoenician vessels were of Egyptian design. In all histories of shipping and navigation the ancient Egyptians are credited with being the pioneers of maritime enterprise. The custom of mummification arose in Egypt, and promoted the study of anatomy. Surgery had its origin in mummification, as astronomy had in astrology, and chemistry had in alchemy. Connected with each temple were architects, artists and sculptors, metal-workers and dyers. Ships were constructed to obtain wood for temples and to import pearls, precious stones, herbs, incense-bearing shrubs and trees, &c., for religious purposes. In the history of early civilization the Egyptian priests play a prominent part as patrons of the arts and crafts.

From a limestone statue in the Cairo Museum.]