Chapter VIII: Part 8
ELTON, Charles Isaac, English jurist and archaeologist, born 1839, died 1900. He was educated at Cheltenham and Oxford, became a barrister and a member of Parliament, and wrote various works on legal and other subjects, the most important being _Origins of English History_. In this work he traces the development of England and its inhabitants, from the earliest times regarding which we have any knowledge, to the acceptance of Christianity by the Anglo-Saxons, the investigation of the evidence furnished by Greek and Roman writers, and the discussion of prehistoric ethnology and archaeology being especially thorough. Other works are: _Commons and Waste Lands_, and _W. Shakespeare: His Family and Friends_.
ELU'TRIATION (Lat. _elutriare_, to wash out), the process of separating the finer particles of a clay, earth, or similar mass, from the coarser, consisting in stirring up the substance in water, letting the coarser particles subside, running off the liquid containing the finer particles, and then waiting till they subside.
ELVAS, a fortified city of Portugal, province of Alemtejo, near the Spanish frontier, 12 miles north-west of Badajoz, on a height flanked by two others, each crowned by a castle. It has a cathedral, partly Moorish and partly Gothic, and a Moorish aqueduct, a magnificent work which brings water from a distance of 15 miles. Pop. 10,645.
ELY ([=e]'li), an episcopal city of England, in the county of Cambridge, on an eminence on the left bank of the Ouse. The ecclesiastical structures comprise the cathedral, one of the largest in England, and the churches of St. Mary, and the Holy Trinity, the last belonging to the time of Edward II, and one of the most perfect buildings of that age. The superb cathedral occupies the site of a monastery founded about the year 673 by Etheldreda, daughter of the King of East Anglia. Its entire length, east to west, is 517 feet, and its west tower is 270 feet high. The whole structure comprises an almost unbroken series of the various styles of architecture which prevailed in England from the Conquest to the Reformation, yet with no loss of impressiveness as a whole. It was begun in 1083, completed in 1534, and since 1847 has undergone extensive additions and restoration. A fine gateway, built in the reign of Richard II, forms the principal entrance to the cathedral precincts. There are a few manufactures, but most of the inhabitants are engaged in agricultural labour. Pop. 7917.
ELY, ISLE OF, a portion of the county of Cambridge, separated by the Ouse from the rest of the county, and forming itself a sort of county. It is about 28 miles long by 25 miles broad; area, 239,259 acres. The name is also given to a smaller tract, about 7 miles long by 4 miles broad. The soil is very fertile. Pop. 69,752.
ELYMUS, a genus of grasses, natives chiefly of the north temperate zone. The British species, _E. arenarius_ (lyme grass) is a good sand-binder.
ELYS'IUM, or ELYSIAN FIELDS, among the Greeks and Romans the regions inhabited by the blessed after death. They are placed by Homer at the extremities of the earth, by Plato at the antipodes, and by others in the Fortunate Islands (the Canaries). They were at last supposed to be in the interior of the earth, where Virgil described them as being. The happiness of the blessed consisted in a life of tranquil enjoyment in a perfect summer land, where the heroes, freed from all care and infirmities, renewed their favourite sports.
ELY'TRA, the horny cases into which the front wings of beetles are modified, and which meet in a straight line down the middle of the back. The membranous hind-wings are here the organs of flight, and when not in use are folded longitudinally and transversely, and tucked away under the elytra.
ELZE (el'tse), Karl, German writer, distinguished for his studies in English literature, born 1821, died 1889. He studied in Leipzig and Berlin, was long a teacher in the gymnasium of his birth-place, Dessau, and in 1875 was appointed to the chair of English language and literature at Halle. Among his writings were valuable biographies of Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron (the latter translated into English), and a biographical and critical work on Shakespeare, also translated into English (1888).
EL'ZEVIR, or ELZEVIER, the name of a family of publishers and printers, residing at Amsterdam and Leyden, celebrated for the beauty of the editions of various works published by them, principally between 1595 and 1680. Louis, the founder of the family (born 1540, died 1617), settled in Leyden, and between 1583 and his death produced about 150 works. Five of his seven sons followed his business:--Matthaeus at Leyden; Louis (II) at the Hague; Gilles at the Hague and afterwards at Leyden; Joost in Utrecht; and Bonaventure, who in 1626 associated himself with Abraham, the son of Matthaeus. From the press of Abraham and Bonaventure issued the exquisite editions of the classics which have made the name of Elzevir famous. Of these the _Livy_ and _Tacitus_ of 1634, the _Pliny_ of 1635, the _Virgil_ of 1636, and the _Cicero_ of 1642 are perhaps the most beautiful. The Elzevir books are distinguished by the types and the choice of the paper rather than by the critical preparation of their texts.
EMANATION, in a specific sense, an idea at the centre of many philosophic systems which seek to explain the universe as an eternal efflux or emanation from the Supreme Being, comparable with the efflux of light from the sun. The idea of emanation came from the East, and traces of the doctrine are found in the system of Zoroaster. It had a powerful influence on the ancient Egyptian philosophy, as also on that of the Greeks, as may be seen in Pythagoras. It was subsequently developed by Plotinus,the Gnostics, Manicheans, Pantheists, and other sects.
EMAN'UEL THE GREAT, King of Portugal, born in 1469, died in 1521. He ascended the throne in 1495, and during his reign were performed the voyages of discovery of Vasco da Gama, of Cabral, of Americus Vespucius, and the heroic exploits of Albuquerque, by whose exertions a passage was found to the East Indies, the Portuguese dominion in Goa was established, and the Brazils and Moluccas were discovered. The commerce of Portugal, under Emanuel, was more prosperous than at any former period. The treasures of America flowed into Lisbon, and the reign of Emanuel was justly called 'the golden age of Portugal'. He died at the age of fifty-two, deeply lamented by his subjects, but hated by the Moors and the Jews, whom he had expelled from the country. He was a patron of learned men, and himself left memoirs on the Indies. He married three times: in 1497 Isabella, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, heiress of Castile; in 1500 her sister Maria; and in 1519 Eleonora of Austria, sister of Charles V.
EMBALMING (em-b[:a]m'ing; Gr. _balsamon_, balm), the process of so treating dead bodies with aromatic and antiseptic substances as to preserve them from corruption and decomposition. The ancient Egyptians employed this art on a great scale, embalming not only human corpses, but also the bodies of cats, ibises, crocodiles, and other animals held sacred. The mummy of King Mer-en-r[=e], who lived about 2500 years before our era, found in 1880, was in an excellent state of preservation. Other peoples, such as the Assyrians and Persians, also followed the practice, though hardly equalling Egyptian methods. The abdomen was emptied through an incision, and the brains drawn through the nostrils by means of a special instrument. The ancient Peruvians appear to have injected and washed the corpses with a fluid that flows from imperfectly burned wood, in which pyroligneous acid, creosote, and other antiseptics are present. Pliny alludes to the use of a similar fluid by the Egyptians. In more recent times bodies have been preserved for centuries by embalming, especially when they have remained at a low and uniform temperature and have been protected from the air. The corpse of Edward I, buried in Westminster Abbey in 1307, was found entire in 1770. Canute died in 1036, and his body was discovered very fresh in Winchester Cathedral in 1776. The bodies of William the Conqueror and of his wife Matilda were found entire at Caen in the sixteenth century. Of the various modern artificial means of preserving bodies, impregnation with corrosive sublimate appears to be one of the most effective, next to immersion in spirits. An injection of sulphate of zinc into the blood-vessels is also stated to be satisfactory; while natron, various spices, and other aromatic compounds are sometimes employed. The original reason for embalming was most probably the preservation of the body to await a resurrection and a future life.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Budge, _The Mummy_; G. Elliot Smith, _A Contribution to the Study of Mummification in Egypt_; Myers, _Textbook of Embalming_.
EMBANK'MENT, a mound of earth, &c., thrown up either for the purpose of forming a roadway at a level different from that of the natural surface of the ground, or for keeping a large body of water within certain limits. When constructed wholly of earth or clay, it is triangular in cross-section, with the apex cut off parallel to the base line, the angle of the sloping sides varying with the nature of the material used. Thus the slope of loose rubble, chalk, stone, loamy sand, or gravel requires about 1-1/2 base to 1 vertical; dry, loose, and ordinary clay, 2 horizontal to 1 vertical, while some clays require a much wider base. To prevent subsidence on marshy or peaty soils, either the weight of the heart of the embankment is diminished, as in Holland, by introducing layers of reeds or fascines, or artificial foundations are prepared. The embankment may be prevented from slipping laterally by forming steps in the earth of the subsoil, or by cutting deep trenches at the feet of the slopes. In cases where embankments are raised for the storage of water, a 'puddle-dike', that is, a water-tight wall, must be inserted through the whole depth of the bank down to the impermeable strata beneath. To resist the action of wind and rain, or of the waters of a slow-flowing stream, the banks should in all possible cases be covered with turf. Among the largest embankments hitherto executed are those on the banks of the Po, the Meuse, the Scheldt; on the shores of the Netherlands; the Oberh[:a]user embankment on the Augsburg and Lindau Railway, the Gadelbach cutting on the Ulm and Augsburg line, and the Tring cutting on the London and North-Western Railway.
EMBAR'GO, in commerce, an arrest on ships or merchandise by public authority; or a prohibition of State, commonly on foreign ships, in time of war, to prevent their going out of or coming into port. A breach of embargo, under knowledge of the insured, discharges the underwriters of all liability.
EM'BASSY, in its strict sense, signifies a mission presided over by an ambassador, as distinguished from a legation or mission entrusted to an envoy. An ambassador, as the representative of the person of his sovereign, can demand a private audience of the sovereign to whom he is accredited, while an envoy must communicate with the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
EMBER-DAYS, in the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, fast-days occurring at the times in the year appointed for ordinations. As now observed they are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, after the feast of Pentecost or Whitsunday, after the festival of the Holy Cross (14th Sept.), and after the festival of St. Lucia (13th Dec.). The weeks in which these days fall are called _Ember-weeks_.
EMBER-GOOSE (_Colymbus septentrionalis_), an aquatic bird, known also as the great northern diver and loon. The latter name, however, is also applied to the great crested grebe.
EMBERIZ[=I]'DAE, a family of small perching birds, typical genus Ember[=i]za. It includes the buntings, the snow-flake, the yellow-hammer, and reed sparrow. The ortolan belongs to this family. By some naturalists it is classified as a sub-family of the finches.
EMBEZ'ZLEMENT is the appropriation, by a clerk or servant, to himself, of money or property put into his hands in trust. In English law it is a felony punishable by penal servitude for not more than fourteen years, or by imprisonment; and in the case of a male under the age of sixteen, by whipping in addition to the imprisonment.
EM'BLEMENTS (Fr. _emblaver_, to sow with grain), in law, the crops actually growing at any time upon land. They are considered in law as personal property, and pass as such to the executor or administrator of the occupier, if the latter die before he has actually cut, or reaped, or gathered the same.
EM'BOLISM is the obstruction of a blood-vessel by an embolus, the name given to a blood-clot or other body carried by the blood-stream, and obstructing the circulation at the point of lodgment. An embolism in a vital organ gives rise to serious symptoms which may cause death in a short time, or more remotely by the production of gangrene or pyaemia.
EMBOS'SING, the art of producing raised figures upon plane surfaces, such as on leather for bookbinding; on paper for envelopes; on wood or bronze, in architecture or sculpture. Embossing in needlework is effected by embroidery over figures padded with wool felt.
EMBRA'CERY, an attempt to corrupt or influence a jury by money, promises, letters, entertainments, persuasions, or the like.
EMBRA'SURE, in fortification, an opening in the breastwork or parapet of a battery or fortress, to admit of a gun being fired through it.
EMBROI'DERY (O. Fr. _embroder_, from _bord_, border), figured work in gold, or silver, or silk thread, wrought by the needle, upon cloths, stuffs, or muslins. In embroidering stuffs a kind of stretching-frame is used, because the more the piece is stretched the easier it is worked. The art was common in the East in very ancient times. The Jews appear to have acquired it from the Egyptians; Homer makes frequent allusion to it; and Phrygia was celebrated for its embroidery, which was in great demand at Rome. The Nineveh mural reliefs in the British Museum show Assyrian robes with floral ornaments, and a relief (now in the Louvre, Paris) from the palace of Darius I shows Persian robes with embroidery. The Anglo-Saxons had a Continental reputation, and from the eleventh to the sixteenth century the art of pictorial needlework was of the highest importance both as a recreation and as an industry. Embroidery is commonly divided into two classes: white embroidery applied to dress and furniture, in which the French and the Swiss excel; and embroidery in silk, gold, and silver, chiefly in demand for ecclesiastical vestments. The Chinese, Hindus, Persians, and Turks excel in such work.--Cf. Christie, _Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving_.
EMBRUN ([.a]n-br[.u]n), a picturesque walled town, France, department Hautes-Alpes, on a rocky eminence on the Durance. It was sacked successively by Vandals, Huns, Saxons, and Moors, by the Protestants in 1573, and by the Duke of Savoy in 1692. It has a fine cathedral. Pop. 3556.
EM'BRY, an immature organism, especially in the earlier stages of development from the fertilized ovum onwards. The embryo of a mammal (except in the egg-laying duck-bill and spiny ant-eater), which develops internally, is known as a _foetus_. The dormant plantlet in a seed is also known as an embryo.
EMBRYOL'OGY, the branch of biology concerned with the fertilization of the ovum and its development into the adult. Aristotle and Galen made some observations on the subject, as regards animals, while Harvey and his successors considerably advanced our knowledge, but as a distinct and important subject embryology only dates from the nineteenth century. In the course of its development an organism repeats the evolution of its group in an abbreviated fashion, thus furnishing a clue to its actual affinities. The subject also throws light on the problems of heredity.
A, Antipodals. P, Polar nuclei. E, Egg-cell. S, Synergidae.]
EMBRYO-SAC, the name given to the megaspore of seed-plants. In Angiosperms the ripe embryo-sac is typically a large ovoid sac enclosed in a thin membrane and lined by cytoplasm; it contains seven or sometimes eight nuclei with associated masses of cytoplasm, distributed in a characteristic manner. At the apical end, next the micropyle, is the egg-apparatus, comprising the egg-cell or ovum flanked by the two synergidae or helping-cells, while the basal or chalazal end is occupied by the three antipodal 'cells'. The cavity of the sac is filled with cell-sap traversed by stout protoplasmic strands, suspended in which, near the centre, are two polar nuclei, or a single fusion-nucleus formed by the union of these. A characteristic feature of Angiosperms is the process of 'double fertilization'. The pollen-tube contains two male gametes, both functional; one fertilizes the egg-cell, the resulting zygote or oospore giving rise by cell-division and growth to the embryo; the other unites with the fusion-nucleus (or the two polar nuclei), and the product is the origin of the special nutritive tissue or endosperm, which is used up by the embryo, either during ripening of the seed (exalbuminous seeds), or at germination (albuminous seeds). See _Gymnosperms_; _Ovule_.
EM'DEN, a town of Prussia, province of Hanover, near the mouth of the Ems, occupying a low flat intersected by numerous canals. It was raised to the rank of a free Imperial city in 1595, was made a free port in 1751, was incorporated with the kingdom of Hanover in 1815, and in 1866 was united to Prussia. The principal building is the great church, built in 1455. The harbours admit large vessels, and several canals run inland. It exports grain, dairy produce, and gin, and has shipbuilding yards, and manufactures hosiery and leather. Pop. 24,000.
EM'ERALD, a variety of beryl, a well-known gem of pure green colour, somewhat harder than quartz; specific gravity, 2.67 to 2.73. It is a silicate of aluminium and the rare element glucinum or beryllium, which was detected in it by Vauquelin after it had been discovered by the same chemist in the beryl. Its colour is due to the presence of chromium, of which there may be 0.2 to 0.3 per cent present. Its natural form is either rounded or that of a short six-sided prism. It is one of the softest of the precious stones, but is not acted on by acids. Emeralds of large size and at the same time free from flaws are rare and more valuable than diamonds or rubies; the largest on record is said to have been possessed by the inhabitants of the valley of Manta in Peru when the Spaniards first arrived there. It was as big as an ostrich egg, and was worshipped as _the mother of emeralds_. The ancients, who valued them, especially for engraving, are said to have procured them from Ethiopia and Egypt. The finest are now obtained from Colombia. The Oriental emerald is a variety of the ruby, of a green colour, and is an extremely rare gem.
EMERALD GREEN, a vivid light-green pigment, an aceto-arsenite of copper, used both in oil and water-colour painting. It is extremely poisonous. Hydrated chromium sesquioxide is another mineral emerald green. There is also an aniline dye of this name.
EMERALD LORE The emerald as a sacred stone was anciently believed to blind a serpent which gazed at it, but to strengthen human eyes, and was, according to Theophrastus, worn as a ring-stone on account of this property. It was confused with 'false emerald', a kind of malachite. This fact explains the reference to ancient kings presenting blocks of emerald 1 or 2 cubits long to temples. The Babylonian name was _barraktu_, the Sanskrit _marakata_, the Hebrew _bareket_ or _barkat_, the Greek _maragdos_ or _smaragdos_.
EMERGENCES, in botany. See _Hairs of Plants_.
EM'ERSON, Ralph Waldo, an American poet and prose writer, born at Boston, 25th May, 1803, died 27th April, 1882. He graduated at Harvard in 1821, for five years taught in a school, and in 1829 became minister of a Unitarian Church in Boston, but in 1832 resigned his charge. He spent the greater part of 1833 in Europe, and on his return began his career as a lecturer on various subjects, in which capacity he acted for a long series of years. In 1835 he took up his permanent residence at Concord, Mass., and in 1836 published a small volume called _Nature_. He was one of the original editors of _The Dial_, a transcendental magazine begun in 1840. Two volumes of his essays were published, in 1841 and 1844, and his poems in 1846. His miscellaneous addresses had been published in England in 1844, and on visiting Great Britain in 1847 he was welcomed by a large circle of admirers. In 1850 he published _Representative Men_; in 1856, _English Traits_; in 1860, _The Conduct of Life_; in 1869, _May Day and Other Poems_, and _Society and Solitude_; in 1871, _Parnassus_, a collection of poems; in 1876, _Letters and Social Aims_. Emerson showed certain similarities with Carlyle, of whom he was a friend and correspondent. Their correspondence appeared in 1883. He was not only one of the most original and influential writers that the United States have produced, but also one of the most helpful and influential ethical teachers of the nineteenth century. His gospel of self-reliance, his insistence on the duty of self-respect, and the obligation to listen to the voice of one's own soul, have exerted a wide influence which has grown steadily.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. E. Cabot, Emerson's Complete Works (11 vols.); G. W. Cooke, _Ralph Waldo Emerson: his Life, Writings and Philosophy_; J. Elliott Cabot, _A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson_; R. Garnett, _Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson_; G. S. Woodberry, _Ralph Waldo Emerson_; J. A. Hill, _Emerson and his Philosophy_.
EM'ERY (formerly _emeril_, from O. Fr. _emeril_; Gr. _smiris_, emery), an impure variety of corundum, of blackish or bluish-grey colour, chiefly found in shapeless masses and mixed with other minerals. It contains about 82 per cent of alumina, and a small portion of iron; is very hard; is practically infusible, and is not attacked by acids. The best emery is brought from the Levant, chiefly from the Island of Naxos. It is employed in cutting and polishing precious stones; in smoothing the surface of the finer kinds of lenses preparatory to their being polished; in the polishing of marble; by cutlers, locksmiths, glaziers, and other artisans. For all these purposes it is pulverized in large iron mortars or in steel mills, and the powder, which is rough and sharp, is carefully washed and sifted into eight or ten different degrees of fineness. Emery-paper and emery-cloth are made by laying a thin coat of glue upon the fabric, and dusting the emery from a sieve of the required size.
EMET'IC is a substance given to produce vomiting, either acting directly on the nerves of the stomach, or indirectly through the bloodstream on the vomiting centre in the brain. In the first group are common salt, mustard, ipecacuanha, and sulphate of zinc; and apomorphine, which is given hypodermically, is an example of the second. Emetics are not now so widely used, as in many cases the stomach can be more effectively emptied and then washed out by the passage of the stomach-tube.
EM'ETINE is an alkaloid present in ipecacuanha. It is a powerful emetic, and whether given by the mouth or hypodermically produces vomiting with nausea and depression. It acts chiefly as a local irritant to the lining of the stomach. In minute doses it stimulates expectoration from the lungs.
EMEU, or EMU, a large flightless running bird (_Dromaeus novae-hollandiae_, and _D. irroratus_), formerly dispersed over the whole Australian continent, but now almost extinct in many districts. It is allied to the cassowary, but is distinguished by the absence of a 'helmet' on the top of the head. It nearly equals the ostrich in bulk, being thicker in the body, though its legs and neck are shorter. Its feet are three-toed (the ostrich has two toes), and its feathers, which are double, are of a dull sooty-brown colour, those about the neck and head being of a hairy texture. The wings are small and useless for flight, but the bird can run with great speed. The flesh of the young emeu is by some considered a delicacy. The emeu is a bird of the plain, the cassowary of the forest. It is easily tamed, and may be kept out of doors in temperate climates. It feeds on vegetable matter, fruits, and roots.
EMEU WREN (_Stipit[=u]rus malach[=u]rus_), a small Australian bird allied to the warblers, somewhat similar to a wren, but having the tail-feathers long, soft, and thinly barbed, similar to emeu feathers.
EMIGRATION, the movement of individuals or groups from one state or country to a colony or another country, to be distinguished from _migration_, which describes the movement of peoples or races from one geographical area to another, and from _colonization_, which implies the foundation of a new state or extension of the sway of the colonists' state of origin. Thus the term does not strictly apply to the migrations of prehistoric times; nor to the movements of the Indo-European races (to which reference occurs in the Old Testament) which took place before the state as a territorial conception had developed; nor does it describe the great barbarian invasions of the early Christian era. There was comparatively little emigration among the Greeks and Romans, movement among the former being usually for the foundation of colonies or new states, and among the latter as a means of consolidating conquests. In Europe up to the seventeenth century, emigration was sporadic, notable instances being the movement from Flanders to England in the fourteenth century, and of Protestants from France to England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the seventeenth century, with the growth of European colonies in America and the East, there was much emigration to those places, notably from Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain to America, and from the Netherlands to the East. In the eighteenth century the movement slackened, but in the nineteenth century, largely as the result of the industrial revolution and the decay of agriculture, the great era of emigration began, especially from the United Kingdom. During the nineteenth century the main stream has flowed westward into America from Europe. Particularly important have been the emigration of Irish to the United States, and of Germans to South America. There has also been considerable movement from Russia into the United Kingdom, in many cases as a half-way house to the United States. In the East, emigration from China and Japan to the United States and Australia, and from India to British tropical colonies, has been important. It is noticeable that the Latin and Yellow races as a rule emigrate with the idea of returning ultimately to their native country; with the Anglo-Saxon, Teutonic, and Slav races the aim of a permanent domicile is predominant.
The most important causes of emigration are love of adventure, political or religious difficulties, and economic pressure. Forced emigration, in the shape of transportation, was formerly of some importance, especially in the case of America and Australia, but is now negligible; and before the European War, emigration from Russia was chiefly for political or religious reasons. To-day economic forces are the most powerful. The direction of the flow of emigration is partly determined by its causes. When these are political or religious, emigrants go where they expect to find freedom, as with the Huguenots in the seventeenth century. When economic forces are at work, emigration takes place towards newer and less developed countries, where pressure on the means of subsistence is less marked than elsewhere. Assistance given to emigrants, such as grants of land, loans of capital, and passages at reduced rates also has an influence, likewise the regulations of the countries concerned regarding emigration and immigration. In Australia and the United States, regulations forbidding the entrance of Yellow races have checked the movement of Chinese and Japanese to those countries; and the Government of India discourages emigration save under adequate safeguard for proper pay and treatment.
The results of emigration vary with the economic and other circumstances of the countries concerned. The country from which the movement takes place loses intellectual and physical labour power which the other country gains; but may benefit by relief given to a congested labour market. This was the case with the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, and the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century. The general tendency is for emigration to benefit the world as a whole by enabling labour to go where it can be most productively employed. This increases world production, opens up new markets, and so indirectly benefits the older countries. Sometimes, however, emigration may cause an industry merely to be transferred from one country to another, as in the case of the fourteenth-century Flemish emigration to England. The importance of these results of emigration in any particular case depends on the class of people who emigrate, and on the volume of emigration. Deportation of criminals obviously benefited only the deporting country. Emigration on political or religious grounds has frequently deprived one country of, and given to another, a vigorous and industrious stock, as in the case of the French Huguenots driven from France to England in the late seventeenth century by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Economic pressure tends to send abroad agricultural and other unskilled labour. The majority of emigrants from Great Britain in the nineteenth century belonged to this class. Youth and adaptability, however, are more important qualities for an emigrant than a high level of skill in any trade; and it is probable, therefore, that on the whole emigration has relieved Europe of labour whose supply was in excess of the demand for it, and has never given newer countries the material they require. The political consequences of emigration may also be important. Some writers claim that it has assisted the spread of democracy. Whether this is an advantage is a matter for individual judgment. But emigration may certainly have much influence in creating and maintaining friendly relations between States; or, as shown by Irish influence in the United States, it may embitter the feeling between them.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mayo-Smith, _Emigration and Immigration_; S. C. Johnson, _History of Emigration from the United Kingdom to North America, 1763-1912_.
['E]MIGR['E]S ([=a]-mi-gr[=a]s), a name given more particularly to those persons who left France during the Revolution of 1789. At the head of these emigrants stood the royal princes of Cond['e], Provence, and Artois, the first of whom collected a part of the fugitives to co-operate with the allied armies in Germany for the restoration of the monarchy. At Coblentz a particular court of justice was established to settle causes relating to the French _['e]migr['e]s_. The corps of Cond['e] was finally taken into the Russian service, and was disbanded in the Russian-Austrian campaign of 1799. When Napoleon became emperor he granted permission to all but a few of the emigrants to return to their country; but many declined to return until after his downfall. By the Charter of 1814 they were shut out from the recovery of their estates and privileges; and though, by a law of 27th April, 1825, some compensation was decreed to them, the grant was withdrawn again after the July revolution.
EMILIAN PROVINCES, a term applied to certain Italian provinces annexed to the kingdom of Sardinia in 1860. They comprised the northern part of the States of the Church (Romagna) and the Duchies of Modena and Parma.
EM'INENCE, an honorary title formerly applied to the Emperor and higher officials of the Empire, but restricted in 1630 by Pope Urban VIII to cardinals. Up to that time they had been called _illustrissimi_ and _reverendissimi_.
EMIR (em'[=e]r), the title given by Mohammedans to independent chiefs or princes, _Amir_ or _Ameer_ being the same word (the _Amir_ of Afghanistan). When associated with other words it may designate various dignitaries. Thus the caliphs styled themselves _Emir-al-Mumenin_, Prince of the Faithful; _Emir-al-Omrah_, Prince of Princes, was the title of governors of certain provinces. The title is also given in Turkey to all the real or supposed descendants of Mohammed, through his daughter Fatimah.
EMMERICH (em'e-ri_h_), a town, Rhenish Prussia, on the right bank of the Rhine, 5 miles N.E. of Cleves. It joined the Hanseatic League in 1407. It carries on an active trade chiefly with Holland. Pop. 13,418.
EM'MET, Robert, an Irish rebel, born at Cork in 1778. He was expelled from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1798, on the ground of exciting disaffection and rebellion, and having become an object of suspicion to the Government, quitted Ireland. He returned there on the repeal of the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and became a member of the Society of United Irishmen for the establishment of the independence of Ireland. In July, 1803, he was the ringleader in the foolish rebellion in which Lord Kilwarden and others perished. He was arrested a few days afterwards, tried, and executed. His fate excited special interest from his attachment to Sarah Curran, daughter of the celebrated barrister. Their sad fates were commemorated by his college friend, Moore, in _Oh, Breathe Not his Name_, and _She is Far from the Land where her Young Hero Sleeps_.
EMOTION, a term variously used by psychologists; sometimes as one of the divisions of feeling, the other being sensation; sometimes as opposed to feeling when the latter is identified with sensation, and sometimes as distinct from both sensation and feeling, when the last term is rigidly confined to the sense of pleasure or pain. In any of these uses, however, emotions are distinguished from sensations in that sensations are primary forms of consciousness arising by external excitation, are comparatively simple and immediately presentative phenomena, and are definite in character and capable of localization; while emotions are secondary or derived forms of consciousness, are complex and representative, and are vague and diffused. Sensations are said to be 'peripherally initiated', while emotions are centrally initiated. When, in addition to its being distinguished from sensation, it is also distinguished from feeling, emotion is applied to the whole physical condition accompanying the sense of pleasure or pain (feeling). The muscles of the body and the organic functions of the system are often considerably influenced by emotion, which naturally seeks an outward expression unless held in check by what Darwin has called serviceable associated habits.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Bain, _The Emotions and the Will_; J. McCosh, _The Emotions_.
EMPED'OCLES (-kl[=e]z), a Greek philosopher of Agrigentum, in Sicily, born about 490 B.C. He is said to have introduced the democratic form of government into his native city, and the Agrigentines regarded him with the highest veneration as public benefactor, poet, orator, physician, prophet, and magician. Aristotle states that he died in obscurity, at the age of sixty years, in the Peloponnesus; but he is also said to have thrown himself into the crater of Mount Etna, in order to make it be believed, by his sudden disappearance, that he was of divine origin, and had been translated to heaven alive (cf. Matthew Arnold's _Empedocles on Etna_). According to Lucian, however, his sandals were thrown out from the volcano, and the manner of his death revealed. Empedocles held earth, water, fire, air, as the four fundamental and indestructible elements from whose union and separation everything that exists is formed. To these material elements are added the two moving or operative principles of love and hatred, or attraction and repulsion. He wrote his philosophy in verse; of his chief work, _On Nature_, about 400 lines out of the original 5000 are preserved.
EM'PEROR (from the Lat. _imper[=a]tor_; in Ger. _Kaiser_, from _Caesar_), the title of the highest rank of sovereigns. The word _imperator_, from _imper[=a]re_, to command, in its most general sense signified the commander of an army. After the overthrow of the Roman republic _imperator_ became the title of the rulers or emperors, and indicated their supreme power. Victorious generals were still, however, sometimes saluted with the title _imperator_, in its original sense. With the fall of Rome the title was lost in the West, but was kept up in the Eastern or Byzantine Empire for nearly ten centuries. In 800 it was renewed in the West when Charlemagne was crowned, by Leo III, as 'Carolus Augustus, the God-sent, pious, and great emperor of Rome'. It was, however, for many centuries considered necessary to be crowned at Rome, in order to be formally invested with the title of _emperor_. The imperial dignity became extinct in the East after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, but the title was adopted by Peter I of Russia in 1721. Napoleon I adopted the old idea of an empire as a general union of states under the protection, or at least political preponderance, of one powerful state; and he was followed in this by his nephew, Napoleon III. In 1806 the first German Empire, 1000 years old, became extinct, and the German Emperor, Francis II, adopted the title of Francis I, Emperor of Austria. In Dec., 1870, the second German Empire was formed, King William of Prussia having accepted the imperial office and title offered him at Versailles. This empire came to an end in Nov. 1918. Britain is considered as an empire, the crown as imperial, and the Parliament is styled the _Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland_. Queen Victoria assumed the title of _Empress of India_ in 1876, but the British sovereign has not the imperial title in reference to the home dominions. The sovereigns of Japan and Morocco are often, though with little propriety, called _emperors_.--Cf. Articles _Imperator_ and _Princeps_ in Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_.
EMPEROR MOTH (_Saturnia pavonia_) a British moth belonging to a family Saturniidae, of which some Indian species produce tussore silk. The colour is greyish-brown, with a faint purple tinge. The wings are about 3 inches in expanse, and in the centre of each is a large eye-like spot. The larva is of a bright-green colour, and studded with large rose-coloured or yellow tubercles.
EMPETRA'CEAE, a small nat. ord. of heath-like Dicotyledons, of which the type is the crow-berry.
EM'PHASIS, in rhetoric, a special stress or force given to some syllable, word, or words in speaking, in order to impress the hearers in some desired manner, thus differing from _accent_, the position of which is fixed.
EMPHYSE'MA is a distention of the tissues with air or other gases. Several forms are recognized: _pulmonary emphysema_, due to dilatation of the minute air-passages with loss of elasticity of the lung tissues; _surgical emphysema_, due to distention of the subcutaneous tissues by air, seen in certain wounds and injuries; _atrophic emphysema_, due to a senile condition of the lung tissues.
EMPIRE DAY, a British imperial celebration which is held annually on the 24th of May, the birthday of Queen Victoria. The celebration was officially held for the first time in 1904, and has since gained wide recognition, mainly owing to the unremitting efforts of the twelfth Earl of Meath.
EMPIR'IC (Gr. _empeiria_, experience) was used in medical history to denote one of a sect of physicians who held that observation and experience were the basis of medicine. The modern use of the term, medically, is restricted to one who practises medicine without any professional education or training.
EMPIRICISM (Gr. _empeiria_, experience), the philosophical theory according to which sense-experience is the source of all knowledge, i.e. that we can investigate the world only through the experience of our senses. It denies the existence of any _a priori_ possibility of knowledge, and maintains that the mind is at first a _tabula rasa_, a clean slate, upon which all the characters are inscribed by experience. The term empiricism is, however, now applied to any philosophical system which finds all its material in experience. The philosophy of empiricism has been particularly developed by English writers of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, such as Locke, Hume, and J. S. Mill. John Locke was the first to express the view in a systematic form. Among more modern empiricists are William James and John Dewey.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Green, _Prolegomena to Ethics_; James, _Essays in Radical Empiricism_.
EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT, a British Act of Parliament passed in 1880, by which, within certain limits, an injured workman or, in event of his death, his relatives or representatives may claim from the employer compensation for injuries received in his service. The law on this subject was improved by the Workmen's Compensation Act (1897) and its amending Act (1900). These applied to those employed on, in, or about railways, factories, mines, quarries, engineering works, buildings, and to agricultural labourers. An Act of 1906 added other classes of workers, including domestic servants. The maximum compensation on death is three years' earnings or L150, whichever is larger, but not more than L300. Contracting-out is carefully safeguarded. The maximum weekly benefit was raised from L1 to L1, 5s. in 1917, and L1, 15s. in 1920, in cases of total incapacity. Recommendations by the Board of Trade Departmental Committee were made public in July, 1920. These suggest greater powers of Government control, compulsory insurance, and greatly increased compensation in cases of death and total incapacity.
EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS were first established on a considerable scale in the United Kingdom by the Labour Exchanges Act, 1909. They were to some extent based upon the German public labour exchanges, which came into being after 1893 in most large towns, and were either municipal or maintained by voluntary associations and supported by the municipality. Their chief object was to put employers and work-people into touch with a view to employment. Before 1909 a few public employment bureaus had been established in Great Britain. An Act of 1905 established distress committees in boroughs and urban districts, which were given power to establish labour exchanges. These powers were in some cases exercised, either by taking over existing bureaus or establishing new ones. Only in London was the system of importance. The 1909 Act gave the Board of Trade power to establish labour exchanges; and, by regulations under the Act, the United Kingdom has been divided into divisions in each of which are a number of exchanges of different grades. The system is industrial and not eleemosynary, aiming solely at providing a recognized market-place for labour. No fees are charged, and use of the exchanges is voluntary. Work-people may register at an exchange between certain hours, and, when a suitable vacancy occurs, the applicant is sent to the employer. Applications for work-people are generally received by telephone, and are recorded if no suitable applicant is available. An important part of the work of the labour exchange is in connection with Unemployed Insurance, under Part II, National Insurance Act, 1911. This provided for payment of unemployed benefit in a limited number of occupations. Subsequent Acts (notably that of 1920) have extended the system to cover the majority of occupations. The scheme is contributory, but the State shares the cost with employers and work-people.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. H. Beveridge, _Unemployment_; F. A. Keller, _Out of Work: a study of unemployment_.
EM'POLI, a town in North Italy, on the left bank of the Arno, 16 miles W.S.W. of Florence; it has an old collegiate church with good paintings, and manufactures of straw-bonnets. Pop. 21,500.
EMPO'RIA, a town of the United States, in Kansas, on the Neosho River, with a normal school, and a good trade in grain and cattle. Pop. 9050.
EMPYREU'MA, the smell arising from organic matter when subjected to the action of fire, but not enough to carbonize it entirely. The products of imperfect combustion, as from wood heated in heaps or distilled in close vessels, are frequently distinguished as empyreumatic.
EMS, or BAD EMS, a beautiful watering-place in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, on the River Lahn, not far from its confluence with the Rhine. Its mineral waters are warm--from 70deg to 118deg F.,--contain large quantities of carbonic acid gas, and are used in chronic catarrhs, pulmonary complaints, diseases of the stomach, gout, and some diseases of the urinary vessels. There are about 8000 visitors each season. Pop. 6850.
EMS, a river of North-West Germany, which flows north-west through Rhenish Prussia and Hanover, and falls into the Dollart Estuary near Emden; length 230 miles.
EMU. See _Emeu_.
EMUL'SINE, or SYNAPTASE, originally the name given to the mixture of enzymes in bitter and sweet almonds. Emulsine has the property of being able to hydrolyse the glucoside amygdalin to glucose, benzaldehyde, and hydrocyanic acid.
E'MYS, a genus of water-tortoises native to Europe and North America, and belonging to the family Testudinidae, which includes most reptiles of the tortoise kind.
ENALIOSAU'RIANS ('sea-lizards'), a group of gigantic Mesozoic reptiles of which the ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus were the chief.
A jewel of blue enamel enclosed in a setting of gold, with the words round it: "Aelfred had me wrought", found at Athelney, Somersetshire, in the seventeenth century.]
ENAM'EL, a vitreous glaze coloured with metallic oxides, and, when first introduced, made to adhere by fusion on metals, &c. The ancient Babylonians enamelled bricks. No finer enamelling on bronze was done than that done in early Britain. The ancient Britons achieved great skill in decorating bronze shields, armlets, chariot pieces, helmets, &c., with red, blue, and white enamels during the Late Celtic (Early Iron Age) period and later. Indeed it is believed that the _champlev['e]_ process of excavating hollows for enamel on metal in various flowing and artistic designs of symbolic character was developed in pre-Roman Britain. Philostratus, a third-century classical writer, referring to the enamelled trappings of horses, remarks that "the barbarians who reside in Ocean pour these colours on heated bronze, so that they adhere and become hard as stone". Beautiful specimens of enamelled bronze found in England, Scotland, and Ireland, preserved in the British Museum, include the Battersea and Witham shields, bridle-bits from Dumfries, and Rise, near Hull, and an enamelled 'terret' from the Fayum, Egypt, whither, archaeologists believed, it was taken by some Roman soldier. Enamelling on bronze and iron was practised in Central Europe and at Koban in the Caucasus at an earlier date than in Italy and Egypt. Byzantine enamels on gold date from the tenth century. M. Salomon Reinach was the first to point out that red enamels were used as substitutes for coral, which, by the way, had a religious value as a 'life giver' and 'protector'. The later blue enamel may have been a substitute for lapis-lazuli, and other enamels, white, violet, green, and yellow, for other sacred stones. The ancient enamels are more or less opaque. Transparent enamels were favoured in the thirteenth century by Italian goldsmiths. A favourite method of applying enamel is known as _cloisonn['e]_, which means inlaid between partitions. The design is outlined in bent-wire fillets, which are fastened to the plate by means of silver solder or the enamel itself. In _champlev['e]_ work the plate itself is scooped out into channels for the enamel. The distinction between _cloisonn['e]_ and _champlev['e]_ work, therefore, is something like the distinction between a breastwork and a trench. Enamelled glass is really deeply coloured glass. Bicycle enamel is made of asphalt or resin dissolved in oil, each coat being hardened by heat. Enamel paint is made by mixing copal varnish, &c., with metallic oxides. A special preparation is applied to leather which is afterwards heated--this is 'patent leather'. Enamel painting dates back to the sixteenth century and is used nowadays chiefly for street signs and advertisements. The term 'enamel' is applied to the hard protective coating of teeth.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Molinier, _Dictionnaire des ['e]mailleurs_; H. Cunynghame, _Art of Enamelling_; A. Fisher, _The Art of Enamelling upon Metal_; H. M. Chapin, _How to Enamel_.
ENA'RA, a lake in the north of Finland, about 50 miles long by 30 miles broad. It is studded by innumerable islets, receives several streams, and is connected by the Patsjoki with the Arctic Ocean. At its south-west extremity is a small fishing-town of the same name, with an annual fair.
ENARE'A, a region belonging to the country of the Gallas, south of Abyssinia. Sakha is the principal town. Coffee and ivory are the chief exports. The inhabitants are the most civilized of the Gallas.
ENCAR'PUS, in architecture, a sculptured ornament in imitation of a garland of fruits, leaves, or flowers, suspended between two points. The garland is widest in the middle, and diminishes gradually to the points of suspension, from which the ends generally hang down. The encarpus is sometimes composed of an imitation of drapery similarly disposed, and sometimes of an assemblage of musical instruments, implements of war or of the chase.
ENCAUSTIC PAINTING, a kind of painting practised by the ancients, for the perfecting of which heating or burning-in was required. Pliny distinguishes three species, in all of which wax was used with colours, and applied either with bronze instruments (cauteria), a sharp-pointed tool (cestrum), or brushes. The art has been revived in modern times, but has not been greatly employed. As the chief aim in encaustic painting was the securing of permanence and durability by the application of heat, the word _encaustic_ has been applied to other and widely different processes. Thus it has been used for painting on earthen vessels, for painting on porcelain and work in enamel; and in the same way it was given to the painting on glass of the Middle Ages.--Cf. A. P. Laurie, _Greek and Roman Methods of Painting_.
ENCAUSTIC TILES, ornamental paving-tiles of baked pottery, much used during the Middle Ages in the pavements of churches and other ecclesiastical buildings. The encaustic tile, strictly so-called, was decorated with patterns formed by different coloured clays inlaid in the tile and fired with it. The art appears to have originated in the latter part of the twelfth century, to have attained its highest perfection during the thirteenth, and to have sunk into disuse in the fifteenth. During the whole of this period it was principally carried on in England and Normandy. After a long lapse the art was revived in England in 1830 by Wright, a Shelton potter. In modern manufacture two methods are employed, the 'plastic' and the 'semi-dry' or 'dust' method. The first is, in all essentials, that used in the Middle Ages, except, perhaps, in the perfection of modern moulding appliances; the second consists in ramming pulverized clay with a minimum of moisture into metal dies, the subsequent firing of tiles thus consolidated being attended with less risk from shrinkage.
ENCE'NIA, festivals anciently commemorative of the founding of a city or the dedication of a church; and in later times periodical ceremonies, as at Oxford, in commemoration of founders and benefactors.
ENCEPHALARTOS, a genus of Cyeads, natives of Africa. Meal (Kaffir-bread) is made from the pith by the natives.
ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE, a name common to plants of the genus Circaea, nat. ord. Onagraceae, of which there are two British species, _C. luteti[=a]na_ and _C. alp[=i]na_. The former is about a foot and a half high, and has delicate ovate leaves, small white flowers tinged with pink, and small roundish fruits covered with hooked bristles. It abounds in shady woods. _C. alp[=i]na_, which is similar, but smaller and more delicate, is found in Scotland and north of England. They have no affinity with the nightshades.
ENCHORIAL (en-k[=o]'ri-al) WRITING, the form of writing used by the old Egyptians for the common purposes of life, as distinct from the hieroglyphic and hieratic (used by the priests). It is also called _Demotic_.
ENCKE (en'ke), Johann Franz, German astronomer, born at Hamburg in 1791, died in 1865. He studied under the astronomer Gauss at G[:o]ttingen. During the War of Liberation (1813-5) he served as artillerist in the German army, and after the peace became assistant in the observatory of Seeberg, near Gotha. Here he calculated the orbit of the comet observed by Mechain, Miss Herschel, and Pons, predicted its return, and detected a gradual acceleration of movement, ascribed by him to the presence of a resisting medium. The comet is now known as Encke's comet. The fame of his works _Die Entfernung der Sonne_ (The Distance of the Sun) and _Der Venusdurchgang von 1769_ (Transit of Venus of 1769) led to his appointment as director of the Berlin Observatory (1825), a position which he held till his death. From 1830 he edited the _Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch_.
ENCKE'S COMET. This object was seen in 1786, and at some subsequent returns, before it was discovered by Encke in 1819 to be a periodic comet. It has since been observed at numerous returns. It revolves round the sun in about three and one-third years, having the shortest period of any comet known. It has exhibited very prominently the feature, shown by many comets, of a contraction of the head or coma on approaching the sun. Encke's comet long manifested the most remarkable feature of a shortening of its period by about two and a half hours in each revolution. The suggestion was made that this was due to resistance by a rare medium generally diffused in the solar system, which had the effect of reducing its aphelion distance and diminishing its orbit. This, however, is improbable, as other comets show no similar effect. The cause remains undiscovered, and a further extraordinary fact is that the shortening of period is found since 1868 to have been only half of its previous amount.
ENCLAVE ([.a]n-kl[=a]v), a term used in German and French to denote a place or country which is entirely surrounded by the territories of another power.
Group of Pear-encrinites, much reduced, on left, and part of a Pear-encrinite, reduced, on right.]
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The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Ebert to EstremaduraChapter VIII: Part 8
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