(F. A. B.)
1Sometimes called “Echinodermata,” a Greek name meaning “sea-urchin-skins,” which was invented by J.T. Klein (1734) to denote the tests of the Echini or sea-urchins; its later use for the animals themselves, or for the whole phylum, was an error in both history and etymology.
1Sometimes called “Echinodermata,” a Greek name meaning “sea-urchin-skins,” which was invented by J.T. Klein (1734) to denote the tests of the Echini or sea-urchins; its later use for the animals themselves, or for the whole phylum, was an error in both history and etymology.
ECHINUS(Gr. for “hedge-hog” or “sea-urchin”), in architecture, the convex moulding which supports the abacus of the Doric column. The term is sometimes given to theovoloof the Ionic capital, especially when curved with the egg-and-tongue enrichment. The origin of this use of the word in architecture, which comes down from ancient times, is uncertain.
ECHIUROIDEA(Gr.ἔχις, adder, andοὐρά, tail), the zoological name for a small group of marine animals which show in their larval life-history a certain degree of segmentation, and are therefore grouped by some authorities as Annelids. Formerly, together with the Sipunculoidea and Priapuloidea, they made up the class Gephyrea, but on the ground that they retain in the adult a large preoral lobe (the proboscis), that they have anal vesicles, that their anus is terminal, that setae are found, and finally that they are segmented in the larval stage, they have been removed from the class, which by the proposed further separation of the Priapuloidea on account of their unique renal and reproductive organs, has practically ceased to exist.
Echiuroids are animals of moderate size, varying roughly from one to six or seven centimetres in length, exclusive of the proboscis. This organ is capable of very considerable extension, and may attain a length inBonellia viridisof about a metre and a half (fig. 1). It is grooved ventrally and ciliated. At its attachment to the body the groove sinks into the mouth. InBonelliathe proboscis is forked at its free end, but in the other genera it is short and unforked. The body is somewhat sausage-shaped, with the anus at the posterior extremity, surrounded inEchiurusby a single or double ring of setae. The skin is usually wrinkled, and inB. viridis,Thalassema lankesteri,Th. baronii,Hamingia arctica, and in the larva of many species, is of a lively green colour. A pair of curved bristles, formed in true setal sacs as in Chaetopoda, project from the body a short distance behind the mouth, and are moved by special muscles; they are of use in helping the animal to move slowly about, and they take a large share in the burrowing movements (C.B. Wilson,Biol. Bull., 1900), for some species tunnel in the mud and sand and form more or less permanent burrows, the walls of which are strengthened by mucus secreted from the skin. The openings of the burrows become silted up, leaving, however, a small aperture through which the proboscis is extruded. This organ carefully searches the neighbourhood for particles of food. When these are found the grooved proboscis folds its walls inwards, and the cilia pass the particles down the tube thus formed to the mouth. Echiuroids also move by extending the proboscis, which takes hold of some fixed object, and, then contracting, draws the body forwards. Recently it has been shown thatEchiurusswims freely at night-time, using for locomotion both the proboscis and the contraction of the muscles of its body-wall. The motion is described as “gyratory,” and the anterior end is always carried foremost. Those species which do not burrow usually conceal themselves in crevices of the rocks or under stones, or at times in empty Mollusc or Echinid shells. They are occasionally used by fishermen for bait.
a, Proboscis cut short.
b, Bristle passing through the mouth into the pharynx.
c, Coiled intestine.
d, Anal tufts or vesicles.
e, Ventral nerve cord.
f, Ovary borne on ventral vessel running parallel with e.
g, Position of anus.
h, Position of external opening of nephridium.
i, Nephridium—the line points towards, but does not reach, the internal opening.
a, Generative pore with spermatozoa coming out.
b, Anterior blind end of intestine attached to the parenchymatous tissue by muscular strands.
c, Green wandering cells containing chlorophyll.
d, Parenchymatous connective tissue.
e, Epidermis.
i, Intestine.
j, Vas deferens.
l, Internal opening of vas deferens.
m, The left anal vesicle.
n, Spermatozoa in the body-cavity.
Anatomy(fig. 2).—A thin cuticle covers the epidermis, which contains mucus-secreting glands. Beneath the epidermis is a layer of circular muscles, then a layer of longitudinal, and finally in some cases a layer of oblique muscle-fibres. The inner face of this muscular skin is lined by a layer of epithelium. The coelomic body-cavity is spacious. It does not extend into the proboscis, which is a solid organ traversed by the nervous and vascular rings, but otherwise largely built up of muscle fibres and connective tissue. Many sense-cells lie in the epidermis. The ciliated ventral groove of the proboscis leads at its base into the simple mouth, which gives access to the thin-walled alimentary canal. This is longer than the body, and to tuck it away it is looped from side to side. The loops are supported by strands of connective tissue, which in some species are united so as to form a dorsal mesentery, whilst traces of a ventral mesentery are met with anteriorly and posteriorly (H.L. Jameson,Zool. Jahrb. Anat., 1899). The alimentary canal is divisible into fore-gut, mid-gut and hind-gut, and the first-named can be further divided into pharynx, oesophagus, gizzard and crop, mainly on histological grounds. The mid-gut is characterized by the presence of a ciliated groove, from which arises the collateral intestine or siphon, a second tube which rejoins the alimentary canal lower down. Similar collateral intestines are familiar in the Echinids and certain Polychaets (Capitellidae). The rectum receives the openings of a pair of very characteristic organs, the anal vesicles. Each consists of a branching tube, the tips of whose twigs terminate in minute ciliated funnels.The anal vesicles are thought to be excretory; whether this be so or not, they undoubtedly have some influence on the amount of fluid found in the coelom. The coelomic fluid contains as a rule both amoeboid and rounded corpuscles, and, when ripe, the products of the gonads. A closed system of vessels, usually called the vascular system, is present. There are, however, no capillaries connected with this, and it is confined to certain portions of the body. It can possess few of the functions usually associated with a vascular system, and its main use is probably to assist in the expansion of the proboscis. The system consists of the following parts:—A dorsal vessel applied to the alimentary canal is continued anteriorly into a median vessel, which traverses the proboscis to its tip. Here the vessel splits, and each half returns along the lateral edge of the proboscis; they reunite around the oesophagus and form a single ventral vessel, which lies above the ventral nerve-cord. The ventral vessel, which ends solidly behind, sends off a branch which forms a ring around the intestine and opens into the posterior extremity of the dorsal vessel. InEchiurusandThalassemathe same vessel forms a ring round a stout muscle, which connects the bases of the two ventral setae before passing to surround the intestine. Amoeboid corpuscles float in the fluid contents. The nephridia vary in number from a single one inBonelliato three pairs in many species ofThalassema. Their external openings are ventral, and on the same level as the ciliated funnel-shaped nephrostomes. The posterior wall of the organ is produced into a long blind sac, which is lined by secretory cells. The nervous system is a single ventral cord, which starts from a circumoesophageal ring. This ring is involved in the growth of the proboscis, and is drawn out with it. Thus there is a lateral nerve near each edge of the proboscis which unites with its fellow dorsally above the oesophagus at the tip of the proboscis, and ventrally beneath the oesophagus, where they fuse to form the ventral nerve-cord. There are no specialized ganglia, but ganglion-cells are scattered uniformly along the nerve-cords. The ventral cord gives off rings, which run into the skin at regular intervals. The reproductive cells are modified coelomic cells, which lie on the ventral vessel. They escape into the coelomic fluid and there develop. When mature they leave the body through the nephridia.BonelliaandHamingiaare very interesting examples of sexual dimorphism. The female has the normal Echiuroid structure, but the male is reduced to a minute, flattened, planarian-like organism, which passes its life usually in the company of two or three others in a special recess of the nephridia of the female. Its structure may be gathered by a reference to fig. 3.Larva.—The larva is a typical trochosphere, which, although of a temporary character, shows a distinct segmentation of the mesoblast, of the nervous system, and of the ciliated and pigmented structures in the skin, resembling that of Chaetopods. The preoral lobe persists as the proboscis. The sexes of the larvae are not determinable in the early stages, but when a certain growth has been reached in Bonellia the males seek the proboscis of the adult females, and passing into the mouth undergo there the transformation into the planarian-like parasite which is the fully-formed male. This now creeps along the body of the female and takes up its home in her nephridia.
Anatomy(fig. 2).—A thin cuticle covers the epidermis, which contains mucus-secreting glands. Beneath the epidermis is a layer of circular muscles, then a layer of longitudinal, and finally in some cases a layer of oblique muscle-fibres. The inner face of this muscular skin is lined by a layer of epithelium. The coelomic body-cavity is spacious. It does not extend into the proboscis, which is a solid organ traversed by the nervous and vascular rings, but otherwise largely built up of muscle fibres and connective tissue. Many sense-cells lie in the epidermis. The ciliated ventral groove of the proboscis leads at its base into the simple mouth, which gives access to the thin-walled alimentary canal. This is longer than the body, and to tuck it away it is looped from side to side. The loops are supported by strands of connective tissue, which in some species are united so as to form a dorsal mesentery, whilst traces of a ventral mesentery are met with anteriorly and posteriorly (H.L. Jameson,Zool. Jahrb. Anat., 1899). The alimentary canal is divisible into fore-gut, mid-gut and hind-gut, and the first-named can be further divided into pharynx, oesophagus, gizzard and crop, mainly on histological grounds. The mid-gut is characterized by the presence of a ciliated groove, from which arises the collateral intestine or siphon, a second tube which rejoins the alimentary canal lower down. Similar collateral intestines are familiar in the Echinids and certain Polychaets (Capitellidae). The rectum receives the openings of a pair of very characteristic organs, the anal vesicles. Each consists of a branching tube, the tips of whose twigs terminate in minute ciliated funnels.The anal vesicles are thought to be excretory; whether this be so or not, they undoubtedly have some influence on the amount of fluid found in the coelom. The coelomic fluid contains as a rule both amoeboid and rounded corpuscles, and, when ripe, the products of the gonads. A closed system of vessels, usually called the vascular system, is present. There are, however, no capillaries connected with this, and it is confined to certain portions of the body. It can possess few of the functions usually associated with a vascular system, and its main use is probably to assist in the expansion of the proboscis. The system consists of the following parts:—A dorsal vessel applied to the alimentary canal is continued anteriorly into a median vessel, which traverses the proboscis to its tip. Here the vessel splits, and each half returns along the lateral edge of the proboscis; they reunite around the oesophagus and form a single ventral vessel, which lies above the ventral nerve-cord. The ventral vessel, which ends solidly behind, sends off a branch which forms a ring around the intestine and opens into the posterior extremity of the dorsal vessel. InEchiurusandThalassemathe same vessel forms a ring round a stout muscle, which connects the bases of the two ventral setae before passing to surround the intestine. Amoeboid corpuscles float in the fluid contents. The nephridia vary in number from a single one inBonelliato three pairs in many species ofThalassema. Their external openings are ventral, and on the same level as the ciliated funnel-shaped nephrostomes. The posterior wall of the organ is produced into a long blind sac, which is lined by secretory cells. The nervous system is a single ventral cord, which starts from a circumoesophageal ring. This ring is involved in the growth of the proboscis, and is drawn out with it. Thus there is a lateral nerve near each edge of the proboscis which unites with its fellow dorsally above the oesophagus at the tip of the proboscis, and ventrally beneath the oesophagus, where they fuse to form the ventral nerve-cord. There are no specialized ganglia, but ganglion-cells are scattered uniformly along the nerve-cords. The ventral cord gives off rings, which run into the skin at regular intervals. The reproductive cells are modified coelomic cells, which lie on the ventral vessel. They escape into the coelomic fluid and there develop. When mature they leave the body through the nephridia.BonelliaandHamingiaare very interesting examples of sexual dimorphism. The female has the normal Echiuroid structure, but the male is reduced to a minute, flattened, planarian-like organism, which passes its life usually in the company of two or three others in a special recess of the nephridia of the female. Its structure may be gathered by a reference to fig. 3.
Larva.—The larva is a typical trochosphere, which, although of a temporary character, shows a distinct segmentation of the mesoblast, of the nervous system, and of the ciliated and pigmented structures in the skin, resembling that of Chaetopods. The preoral lobe persists as the proboscis. The sexes of the larvae are not determinable in the early stages, but when a certain growth has been reached in Bonellia the males seek the proboscis of the adult females, and passing into the mouth undergo there the transformation into the planarian-like parasite which is the fully-formed male. This now creeps along the body of the female and takes up its home in her nephridia.
Classification and Distribution.—The Echiuroidea consists of the following genera:—(1)Bonellia(Rol.), with four species, widely distributed, but inhabiting the temperate and warmer waters of each hemisphere. (2)Echiurus(Guérin-Méneville), with four species. This genus reaches from the Arctic waters of both hemispheres into the cooler temperate regions. (3)Hamingia(Kor. and Dan.), with one species, which has been taken in the Arctic Sea and the Hardanger Fjord. (4)Saccosoma(Kor. and Dan.) was described from a single specimen dredged about half-way between Iceland and Norway. (5)Thalassema(Gaertner, Lamarck), with twenty-one species. This genus is in the main a denizen of the warmer waters of the globe. Sixteen species are found only in tropical or subtropical seas, three species are Mediterranean (Mt. Stat. Neapel, 1899), whilst three species are from the eastern Atlantic, where the temperature is modified by the Gulf Stream (Shipley; see Willey’sZoological Results, part iii. 1899;Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1898, 1899; andCambridge Natural History, ii.). The following are found in the British area:—E. pallasii(Guérin-Méneville),Th. neptuni(Gaertner), andTh. lankesteri(Herdman,Q.J.M.S., 1898).
Affinities.—The occurrence of trochosphere larva and the temporary segmentation of the body have led to the belief that the Echiuroids are more nearly allied to the Annelids than to any other phylum. This view is strengthened by certain anatomical and histological resemblances to the genusSternaspis, which in one species,S. spinosa, is said to carry a bifid proboscis resembling that of the Echiuroids.
(A. E. S.)
ECHMIADZIN,orItsmiadsin, a monastery of Russian Transcaucasia, in the government of Erivan, the seat of the Catholicus or primate of the Armenian church. It is situated close to the village of Vagarshapat, in the plain of the Aras, 2840 ft. above the sea, 12 m. W. of Erivan and 40 N. of Mount Ararat. The monastery comprises a pretty extensive complex of buildings, and is surrounded by brick walls 30 ft. high, which with their loopholes and towers present the appearance of a fortress. Its architectural character has been considerably impaired by additions and alterations in modern Russian style. On the western side of the quadrangle is the residence of the primate, on the south the refectory (1730-1735), on the east the lodgings for the monks, and on the north the cells. The cathedral is a small but fine cruciform building with a Byzantine cupola at the intersection. Its foundation is ascribed to St Gregory the Illuminator in 302. Of special interest is the porch, built of red porphyry, and profusely adorned with sculptured designs somewhat of a Gothic character. The interior is decorated with Persian frescoes of flowers, birds and scroll-work. It is here that the Catholicus confers episcopal consecration by the sacred hand (relic) of St Gregory; and here every seven years he prepares with great solemnity the holy oil which is to be used throughout the churches of the Armenian communion. Outside of the main entrance are the alabaster tombs of the primates Alexander I. (1714), Alexander II. (1755), Daniel (1806) and Narses (1857), and a white marble monument, erected by the English East India Company to mark the resting-place of Sir John Macdonald Kinneir, who died at Tabriz in 1830, while on an embassy to the Persian court. The library of the monastery is a rich storehouse of Armenian literature (see Brosset’sCatalogue de la bibliothèque d’Etchmiadzin, St Petersburg, 1840). Among the more remarkable manuscripts are a copy of the gospels dating from the 10th or 11th century, and three bibles of the 13th century. A type-foundry, a printing-press and a bookbinding establishment are maintained by the monks who supply religious and educational works for their co-religionists.
To the east of the monastery is a modern college and seminary. Half a mile to the east stand the churches of St Ripsime and St Gaiana, two of the early martyrs of Armenian Christianity; the latter is the burial-place of those primates who are notdeemed worthy of interment beside the cathedral. From a distance the three churches form a fairly striking group, and accordingly the Turkish name for Echmiadzin is Uch-Kilissi, or the Three Churches. The town of Vagarshapat dates from the 6th centuryB.C.; it takes its name from King Vagarsh (Vologaeses), who in the 2nd centuryA.D.chose it as his residence and surrounded it with walls. Here the apostle of Armenia, St Gregory the Illuminator, erected a church in 309 and with it the primacy was associated. In 344 Vagarshapat ceased to be the Armenian capital, and in the 5th century the patriarchal seat was removed to Dvin, and then to Ani. The monastery was founded by Narses II., who ruled 524-533; and a restoration was effected in 618. The present name of the monastery was adopted instead of Vagarshapat in the 10th century. At length in 1441 the primate George brought back the see to the original site.
(P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
ECHO(Gr.ἠχώ), in Greek mythology, one of the Oreades or mountain nymphs, the personification of the acoustical phenomenon known by this name. She was beloved by Pan, but rejected his advances. Thereupon the angry god drove the shepherds of the district mad; they tore Echo in pieces, and scattered her limbs broadcast, which still retained the gift of song (Longus iii. 23). According to Ovid (Metam.iii. 356-401), Echo by her incessant talking having prevented Juno from surprising Jupiter with the Nymphs, Juno changed her into an “echo”—a being who could not speak till she was spoken to, and then could only repeat the last words of the speaker. While in this condition she fell in love with Narcissus, and in grief at her unrequited affection wasted away until nothing remained but her voice and bones, which were changed into rocks. The legends of Echo are of late, probably Alexandrian, origin, and she is first personified in Euripides.
In acoustics an “echo” is a return of sound from a reflecting surface (seeSound:Reflection).
See F. Wieseler,Die Nymphe Echo(1854), andNarkissos(1856); P. Decharme in Daremberg and Saglio’sDictionnaire des antiquités.
See F. Wieseler,Die Nymphe Echo(1854), andNarkissos(1856); P. Decharme in Daremberg and Saglio’sDictionnaire des antiquités.
ECHTERNACH,a town in the grand duchy of Luxemburg, on the Sûre, close to the Prussian frontier. Pop. (1905) 3484. It is the oldest town in Luxemburg, and was the centre from which the English Saint Willibrord converted the people to Christianity in the 7th century. There are the Benedictine abbey, the hospital almshouse, which is said to be the oldest hospital in Europe except the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, and the church of St Peter and St Paul. The Benedictine abbey has been greatly shorn of its original dimensions, but the basilica remains a fair monument of Romano-Gothic art. The church of St Peter and St Paul stands on an isolated mound, and for the ascent sixty steps have been built in the side, and these are well worn by the tread of numerous pilgrims who come in each succeeding year. The interior of the church is curious more than imposing, and is specially noteworthy only for its gloom. Under the altar, and below a white marble effigy of himself, lies Saint Willibrord.
Echternach is famous, however, in particular for the dancing procession held on Whit-Tuesday every year. The origin of this festival is uncertain, but it dates at least from the 13th century and was probably instituted duringanoutbreak of cholera. Nowadays it is an occasion of pilgrimage, among Germans and Belgians as well as Luxemburgers, for all sick persons, but especially for the epileptic and those suffering from St Vitus’ dance. The ceremony is interesting, and the Roman Catholic Church lends all its ritual to make it more imposing. The archbishop of Trier attends to represent Germany, and the bishop of Luxemburg figures for the grand duchy. There is a religious ceremony on the Prussian side of the bridge over the Sûre, and when it is over the congregation cross into the duchy to join the procession, partly religious, partly popular, through the streets of the town. The religious procession, carrying cross and banners and attended by three hundred singers, comes first, chanting St Willibrord’s hymn. Next comes a band of miscellaneous instruments playing as a rule the old German air “Adam had seven sons,” and then follow the dancers. Many of these are young and full of life and health and dance for amusement, but many others are old or feeble and dance in the hope of recovery or of escaping from some trouble, but on all alike the conditions of the dance are incumbent. There are three steps forward and two back; five steps are thus taken to make one in advance. This becomes especially trying at the flight of steps mounting to the little church where the procession ends in front of the shrine of the great saint. There are sixty steps, but it takes three hundred to reach the top for the final time. It is said that those who fall from age or weariness have to be dragged out of the way by onlookers or they would be trampled to death by the succeeding waves of dancers. The procession, although it covers a distance of less than a mile, is said to take as much as five hours in its accomplishment. In olden days the abbey was the goal of the procession, and King William I. of the Netherlands—great-grandfather of Queen Wilhelmina—changed the day from Tuesday to Sunday so that a working day should not be lost. This reform did not answer, and the ancient order was restored. Some critics see in the dancing procession of Echternach merely the survival of the spring dance of the heathen races, but at any rate it invests the little town with an interest and importance that would otherwise be lacking.
ECHUCA,a borough of the county of Rodney, Victoria, Australia, 156 m. by rail N. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 4075. It is situated on the river Murray, across which it is connected by bridge with Moama, on the New South Wales side, whence a railway runs to Deniliquin. The town is the terminus of the Murray River railway and the entrepot of the overland intercolonial trade; it has large wool stores, saw-mills, coach factories, breweries and soap-works. The rich agricultural district is noted for its vineyards.
ÉCIJA,a town of southern Spain, in the province of Seville; on the Cadiz-Cordova railway and the left bank of the river Genil. Pop. (1900) 24,372. The river, thus far navigable, is here crossed by a fine old bridge; and the antiquity of the town betrays itself by the irregularity of its arrangement, by its walls and gateways, and by its numerous inscriptions and other relics. Its chief buildings include no fewer than twenty convents, mostly secularized. The principal square is surrounded with pillared porticoes, and has a fountain in the centre; and along the river bank there runs a fine promenade, planted with poplar trees and adorned with statues. From an early period the shoemakers of Écija have been in high repute throughout Spain; woollen cloth, flannel, linen and silks are also manufactured. The vicinity is fertile in corn and wine, and cotton is cultivated. The heat is so great that the spot has acquired the sobriquet ofEl Sarten, or the “Frying-pan” of Andalusia. Écija, calledEstijaby the Arabs, is the ancientAstigis, which was raised to the rank of a Roman colony with the title ofAugusta Firma. According to Pliny and Pomponius Mela, who both wrote in the 1st centuryA.D., it was the rival of Cordova and Seville. If local tradition may be believed, it was visited by the apostle Paul, who converted his hostess Santa Xantippa; and, according to one version of his life, it was the see of the famous St Crispin (q.v.) in the 3rd century.
ECK, JOHANN MAIER(1486-1543), German theologian, the most indefatigable and important opponent of Martin Luther, was born on the 13th of November 1486 at Eck in Swabia, from which place he derived his additional surname, which he himself, after 1505, always modified into Eckius or Eccius,i.e.“of Eck.” His father, Michael Maier, was a peasant and bailiff (Amtmann) of the village. The boy’s education was undertaken by his uncle Martin Maier, parish priest at Rothenburg on the Neckar, who sent him at the age of twelve to the university of Heidelberg, and subsequently to those of Tübingen, Cologne and Freiburg in the Breisgau. His academic career was so rapidly successful that at the age of twenty-four he was already doctor and professor of theology. During this period he was distinguished for his opposition to the scholastic philosophy; and, though he did not go to all lengths with the “modernists” (Moderni) of his day, his first work—Logices exercitamenta(1507)—was distinctly on their side. This attitudebrought him into conflict with the senate of the university, a conflict which Eck’s masterful temper, increased by an extreme self-confidence perhaps natural in one so young and so successful, did not serve to allay. His position in Freiburg becoming intolerable, he accepted in 1510 an invitation from the duke of Bavaria to fill the theological chair at Ingolstadt, where he was destined for thirty years to exercise a profound influence as teacher and vice-chancellor (Prokanzler).
A ducal commission, appointed to find a means for ending the interminable strife between the rival academic parties, entrusted Eck with the preparation of fresh commentaries on Aristotle and Petrus Hispanus. He had a marvellous capacity for work, and between 1516 and 1520, in addition to all his other duties, he published commentaries on theSummulaeof Petrus Hispanus, and on theDialectics,Physicsand lesser scientific works of Aristotle, which became the text-books of the university. During these early years Eck was still reckoned among the “modernists,” and his commentaries are inspired with much of the scientific spirit of the New Learning. His aim, however, had been to find avia mediabetween the old and new; his temper was essentially conservative, his imagination held captive by the splendid traditions of the medieval church, and he had no sympathy with the revolutionary attitude of the Reformers. Personal ambition, too, a desire to be conspicuous in the great world of affairs, may have helped to throw him into public opposition to Luther. He had won laurels in a public disputation at Augsburg in 1514, when he had defended the lawfulness of putting out capital at interest; again at Bologna in 1515, on the same subject and on the question of predestination; and these triumphs had been repeated at Vienna in 1516. By these successes he gained the patronage of the Fuggers, and found himself fairly launched as the recognized apologist of the established order in church and state. Distinguished humanists might sneer at him as “a garrulous sophist”; but from this time his ambition was not only to be the greatest scientific authority in Germany but also the champion of the papacy and of the traditional church order. The first-fruits of this new resolve were a quite gratuitous attack on his old friend, the distinguished humanist and jurist Ulrich Zasius (1461-1536), for a doctrine proclaimed ten years before, and a simultaneous assault on Erasmus’sAnnotationes in Novum Testamentum.
It is, however, by his controversy with Luther and the other reformers that Eck is best remembered. Luther, who had some personal acquaintance with Eck, sent him in 1517 copies of his celebrated 95 theses. Eck made no public reply; but in 1518 he circulated, privately at first, hisObelisci, in which Luther was branded as a Hussite. Luther entrusted his defence to Carlstadt, who, besides answering the insinuations of Eck in 400 distinct theses, declared his readiness to meet him in a public disputation. The challenge was accepted, and the disputation took place at Leipzig in June and July 1519. On June 27 and 28 and on July 1 and 3 Eck disputed with Carlstadt on the subjects of grace, free will and good works, ably defending the Roman Semipelagian standpoint. From July 4 to 14 he engaged with Luther on the absolute supremacy of the papacy, purgatory, penance, &c., showing a brilliant display of patristic and conciliar learning against the reformer’s appeals to Scripture. The arbitrators declined to give a verdict, but the general impression was that victory rested with Eck. He did, indeed, succeed in making Luther admit that there was some truth in the Hussite opinions and declare himself against the pope, but this success only embittered his animosity against his opponents, and from that time his whole efforts were devoted to Luther’s overthrow. He induced the universities of Cologne and Louvain to condemn the reformer’s writings, but failed to enlist the German princes, and in January 1520 went to Rome to obtain strict regulations against those whom he called “Lutherans.” He was created a protonotary apostolic, and in July returned to Germany, as papal nuncio, with the celebrated bullExsurge Dominedirected against Luther’s writings. He now believed himself in a position to crush not only the Lutheran heretics, but also his humanist critics. The effect of the publication of the bull, however, soon undeceived him. Bishops, universities and humanists were at one in denunciation of the outrage; and as for the attitude of the people, Eck was glad to escape from Saxony with a whole skin. In his wrath he appealed to force, and hisEpistola ad Carolum V.(February 18, 1521) called on the emperor to take measures against Luther, a demand soon to be responded to in the edict of Worms. In 1521 and 1522 Eck was again in Rome, reporting on the results of his nunciature. On his return from his second visit he was the prime mover in the promulgation of the Bavarian religious edict of 1522, which practically established the senate of the university of Ingolstadt as a tribunal of the Inquisition, and led to years of persecution. In return for this action of the duke, who had at first been opposed to the policy of repression, Eck obtained for him, during a third visit to Rome in 1523, valuable ecclesiastical concessions. Meanwhile he continued unabated in his zeal against the reformers, publishing eight considerable works between 1522 and 1526.
His controversial ardour was, indeed, somewhat damped by Luther’s refusal to answer his arguments, and with a view to earning fresh laurels he turned his attention to Switzerland and the Zwinglians. At Baden-in-Aargau in May and June 1526 a public disputation on the doctrine of transubstantiation was held, in which Eck and Thomas Murner were pitted against Johann Oecolampadius. Though Eck claimed the victory in argument, the only result was to strengthen the Swiss in their memorial view of the Lord’s Supper, and so to diverge them further from Luther. At the Augsburg diet in 1530 Eck was charged by Charles V. to draw up, in concert with twenty other theologians, the refutation of the Protestant Confession, but was obliged to rewrite it five times before it suited the emperor. He was at the colloquy of Worms in 1540 and at the diet of Regensburg (Ratisbon) in 1541. At Worms he showed some signs of a willingness to compromise, but at Regensburg his old violence reasserted itself in opposing all efforts at reconciliation and persuading the Catholic princes to reject the Interim.
Eck died at Ingolstadt on the 10th of February 1543, fighting to the last and worn out before his time. He was undoubtedly the most conspicuous champion produced by the old religion in the age of the Reformation, but his great gifts were marred by greater faults. His vast learning was the result of a powerful memory and unwearied industry, and he lacked the creative imagination necessary to mould this material into new forms. He was a powerful debater, but his victories were those of a dialectician rather than a convincing reasoner, and in him depth of insight and conviction were ill replaced by the controversial violence characteristic of the age. Moreover, even after discounting the bias of his enemies, there is evidence to prove that his championship of the Church was not the outcome of his zeal for Christianity; for he was notoriously drunken, unchaste, avaricious and almost insanely ambitious. His chief work wasDe primatu Petri(1519); hisEnchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherumran through 46 editions between 1525 and 1576. In 1530-1535 he published a collection of his writings against Luther,Opera contra Ludderum, in 4 vols.
See T. Wiedemann,Dr Johann Eck(Regensburg, 1865).
See T. Wiedemann,Dr Johann Eck(Regensburg, 1865).
ECKERMANN, JOHANN PETER(1792-1854), German poet and author, best known owing to his association with Goethe, was born at Winsen in Hanover on the 21st of September 1792, of humble parentage, and was brought up in penury and privation. After serving as a volunteer in the War of Liberation (1813-1814), he obtained a secretarial appointment under the war department at Hanover. In 1817, although twenty-five years of age, he was enabled to attend the gymnasium of Hanover and afterwards the university of Göttingen, which, however, after one year’s residence as a student of law, he left in 1822. His acquaintance with Goethe began in the following year, when he sent to him the manuscript of hisBeiträge zur Poesie(1823). Soon afterwards he went to Weimar, where he supported himself as a private tutor. For several years he also instructed the son of the grand duke. In 1830 he travelled in Italy with Goethe’s son. In 1838 he was given the title of grand-ducal councillor and appointed librarian to the grand-duchess. Eckermann is chiefly rememberedfor his important contributions to the knowledge of the great poet contained in hisConversations with Goethe(1836-1848). To Eckermann Goethe entrusted the publication of hisNachgelassene Schriften(posthumous works) (1832-1833). He was also joint-editor with Friedrich Wilhelm Riemer (1774-1845) of the complete edition of Goethe’s works in 40 vols. (1839-1840). He died at Weimar on the 3rd of December 1854.
Eckermann’sGespräche mit Goethe(vols. i. and ii. 1836; vol. iii. 1848; 7th ed., Leipzig, 1899; best edition by L. Geiger, Leipzig, 1902) have been translated into almost all the European languages, not excepting Turkish. (English translations by Margaret Fuller, Boston, 1839, and John Oxenford, London, 1850.) Besides this work and theBeiträge zur Poesie, Eckermann published a volume of poems (Gedichte, 1838), which are of little value. SeeJ.P. Eckermanns Nachlass, herausgegeben von F. Tewes, vol. i. (1905), and an article by R.M. Meyer in theGoethe-Jahrbuch, xvii. (1896).
Eckermann’sGespräche mit Goethe(vols. i. and ii. 1836; vol. iii. 1848; 7th ed., Leipzig, 1899; best edition by L. Geiger, Leipzig, 1902) have been translated into almost all the European languages, not excepting Turkish. (English translations by Margaret Fuller, Boston, 1839, and John Oxenford, London, 1850.) Besides this work and theBeiträge zur Poesie, Eckermann published a volume of poems (Gedichte, 1838), which are of little value. SeeJ.P. Eckermanns Nachlass, herausgegeben von F. Tewes, vol. i. (1905), and an article by R.M. Meyer in theGoethe-Jahrbuch, xvii. (1896).
ECKERNFÖRDE,a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, on a fjord of the Baltic, 20 m. by rail N.W. from Kiel. Pop. (1905) 7088. It has a good harbour, fishing, trade in agricultural products, and manufactures of tobacco, salt and iron goods. There are a technical school of building and a Protestant teachers’ seminary. Eckernförde is mentioned as far back as 1197. It was taken by Christian IV. of Denmark in 1628 from the Imperial troops. In 1813 the Danes were defeated here, while in 1849 the harbour was the scene of the blowing up of the Danish line-of-battle ship “Christian VIII.” and of the surrender of the frigate “Gefion” after an engagement with the German shore batteries. The place lost most of its trade after the union with Germany in 1864, and suffered severely from a sea-flood in 1872. In the immediate neighbourhood is the village of Borby, much frequented for sea-bathing.
ECKERSBERG, KRISTOFFER(1783-1853), Danish painter, was born in south Jutland. He became successively the pupil of Nikolaj Abildgaard and of J.L. David. From 1810 to 1813 he lived at Paris under the direction of the latter, and then proceeded, as an independent artist, to Rome, where he worked until 1816 in close fellowship with Thorwaldsen. His paintings from this period—“The Spartan Boy,” “Bacchus and Ariadne” and “Ulysses”—testify to the influence of the great sculptor over the art of Eckersberg. Returning to Copenhagen, he found himself easily able to take the first place among the Danish painters of his time, and his portraits especially were in extreme popularity. It is claimed for Eckersberg by the native critics that “he created a Danish colour,” that is to say, he was the first painter who threw off conventional tones and the pseudo-classical landscape, in exchange for the clear atmosphere and natural outlines of Danish scenery. But Denmark has no heroic landscape, and Eckersberg in losing the golden commonplaces scarcely succeeds in being delightful. His landscapes, however, are pure and true, while in his figure-pieces he is almost invariably conventional and old-fashioned. He was president of the Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Charlottenburg.
ECKHART,1JOHANNES[”Meister Eckhart”] (?1260-?1327), German philosopher, the first of the great speculative mystics. Extremely little is known of his life; the date and place of his birth are equally uncertain. According to some accounts, he was a native of Strassburg, with which he was afterwards closely connected; according to others, he was born in Saxony, or at Hochheim near Gotha. Trithemius, one of the best authorities, speaks of him merely as “Teutonicus.” 1260 has frequently been given as the date of his birth; it was in all probability some years earlier, for we know that he was advanced in age at the time of his death, about 1327. He appears to have entered the Dominican order, and to have acted for some time as professor at one of the colleges in Paris. His reputation for learning was very high, and in 1302 he was summoned to Rome by Boniface VIII., to assist in the controversy then being carried on with Philip of France. From Boniface he received the degree of doctor. In 1304 he became provincial of his order for Saxony, and in 1307 was vicar-general for Bohemia. In both provinces he was distinguished for his practical reforms and for his power in preaching. Towards 1325 we hear of him as preaching with great effect at Cologne, where he gathered round him a numerous band of followers. Before this time, and in all probability at Strassburg, where he appears to have been for some years, he had come in contact with the Beghards (seeBeguines) and Brethren of the Free Spirit, whose fundamental notions he may, indeed, be said to have systematized and expounded in the highest form to which they could attain. In 1327 the opponents of the Beghards laid hold of certain propositions contained in Eckhart’s works, and he was summoned before the Inquisition at Cologne. The history of this accusation is by no means clear. Eckhart appears, however, to have made a conditional recantation—that is, he professed to disavow whatever in his writings could be shown to be erroneous. Further appeal, perhaps at his own request, was made to Pope John XXII., and in 1329 a bill was published condemning certain propositions extracted from Eckhart’s works. But before its publication Eckhart was dead. The exact date of his death is unknown. Of his writings, several of which are enumerated by Trithemius, there remain only the sermons and a few tractates. Till the middle of the 19th century the majority of these were attributed to Johann Tauler, and it is only from Pfeiffer’s careful edition (Deutsche Mystiker d. XIV. Jahrhunderts, vol. ii., 1857) that one has been able to gather a true idea of Eckhart’s activity. From his works it is evident that he was deeply learned in all the philosophy of the time. He was a thorough Aristotelian, but by preference appears to have been drawn towards the mystical writings of the Neoplatonists and the pseudo-Dionysius. His style is unsystematic, brief and abounding in symbolical expression. His manner of thinking is clear, calm and logical, and he has certainly given the most complete exposition of what may be called Christian pantheism.
Eckhart has been called the first of the speculative mystics. In his theories the element of mystical speculation for the first time comes to the front as all-important. By its means the church doctrines are made intelligible to the many, and from it the church dogmas receive their true significance. It was but natural that he should diverge more and more widely from the traditional doctrine, so that at length the relation between his teaching and that of the church appeared to be one of opposition rather than of reconciliation. Eckhart is in truth the first who attempted with perfect freedom and logical consistency to give a speculative basis to religious doctrines. The two most important points in his, as in all mystical theories, are first, his doctrine of the divine nature, and second, his explanation of the relation between God and human thought. (SeeMysticism.)
For the German writings of Eckhart see F. Pfeiffer,Deutsche Mystiker, vol. ii. (Leipzig, 1857), and F. Jostes,Meister Eckhart und seine Jünger(Freiburg, 1895); for the Latin works, H. Denifle inArchiv f. Litt- und Kirchengeschichte d. Mittelalters, ii. (1886), pp. 417-652, and v. (1889), pp. 349-364; German translations by G. Landauer,Meister Eckarts mystische Schriften(Berlin, 1903), and Büttner (Leipzig, 1903 foll.). See also A. Lasson,Meister Eckhart der Mystiker(1868); H.L. Martensen,Meister Eckhart(1842); J. Bach,Meister Eckhart der Vater der deutschen Speculation(1864); C. Ullmann,Reformatoren vor der Reformation(1842); W. Preger,Geschichte d. deutschen Mystik, i. (1874); and “Ein neuer Traktat M. Eckharts und d. Grundzüge der Eckhartischen Theosophie” inZeitschr. f. hist. Phil.(1864), pp. 163 foll.; A. Bullinger,Das Christenthum im Lichte der deutschen Philos.(Dillingen, 1895); H. Delacroix,Le Mysticisme spéculatif en Allemagne au XIVesiècle(Paris, 1900); E. Kramm,Meister Eckhart im Lichte der Denifleschen Funde(Bonn, 1889); R. Langenberg,Über die Verhältnisse Meister Eckharts zur niederdeutschen Mystik(Göttingen, 1896); W. Schopff,Meister Eckhart(Leipzig, 1889); A. Jundt,Hist. du panthéisme populaire au moyen âge(Paris, 1875); art. in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie(S.M. Deutsch); R.M. Jones,Mystical Religion(1909).
For the German writings of Eckhart see F. Pfeiffer,Deutsche Mystiker, vol. ii. (Leipzig, 1857), and F. Jostes,Meister Eckhart und seine Jünger(Freiburg, 1895); for the Latin works, H. Denifle inArchiv f. Litt- und Kirchengeschichte d. Mittelalters, ii. (1886), pp. 417-652, and v. (1889), pp. 349-364; German translations by G. Landauer,Meister Eckarts mystische Schriften(Berlin, 1903), and Büttner (Leipzig, 1903 foll.). See also A. Lasson,Meister Eckhart der Mystiker(1868); H.L. Martensen,Meister Eckhart(1842); J. Bach,Meister Eckhart der Vater der deutschen Speculation(1864); C. Ullmann,Reformatoren vor der Reformation(1842); W. Preger,Geschichte d. deutschen Mystik, i. (1874); and “Ein neuer Traktat M. Eckharts und d. Grundzüge der Eckhartischen Theosophie” inZeitschr. f. hist. Phil.(1864), pp. 163 foll.; A. Bullinger,Das Christenthum im Lichte der deutschen Philos.(Dillingen, 1895); H. Delacroix,Le Mysticisme spéculatif en Allemagne au XIVesiècle(Paris, 1900); E. Kramm,Meister Eckhart im Lichte der Denifleschen Funde(Bonn, 1889); R. Langenberg,Über die Verhältnisse Meister Eckharts zur niederdeutschen Mystik(Göttingen, 1896); W. Schopff,Meister Eckhart(Leipzig, 1889); A. Jundt,Hist. du panthéisme populaire au moyen âge(Paris, 1875); art. in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie(S.M. Deutsch); R.M. Jones,Mystical Religion(1909).
1The name is variously spelled: Eckehart, Eckart, Eckhard.
1The name is variously spelled: Eckehart, Eckart, Eckhard.
ECKHEL, JOSEPH HILARIUS(1737-1798), Austrian numismatist, was born at Enzersfeld in lower Austria, 1737. His father was farm-steward to Count Zinzendorf, and he received his early education at the Jesuits’ College, Vienna, where at the age of fourteen he was admitted into the order. He devoted himself to antiquities and numismatics. After being engaged as professor of poetry and rhetoric, first at Steyer and afterwards at Vienna, he was appointed in 1772 keeper of the cabinet of coins at the Jesuits’ College, and in the same year he went to Italy for the purpose of personal inspection and study of antiquities and coins. At Florence he was employed to arrange the collection ofthe grand duke of Tuscany; and the first-fruits of his study of this and other collections appeared in hisNumi veteres anecdoti, published in 1775. On the dissolution of the order of Jesuits in 1773, Eckhel was appointed by the empress Maria Theresa professor of antiquities and numismatics at the university of Vienna, and this post he held for twenty-four years. He was in the following year made keeper of the imperial cabinet of coins, and in 1779 appeared hisCatalogus Vindobonensis numorum veterum. Eckhel’s great work is theDoctrina numorum veterum, in 8 vols., the first of which was published in 1792, and the last in 1798. The author’s rich learning, comprehensive grasp of his subject, admirable order and precision of statement in this masterpiece drew from Heyne enthusiastic praise, and the acknowledgment that Eckhel, as the Coryphaeus of numismatists, had, out of the mass of previously loose and confused facts, constituted a true science. A volume ofAddenda, prepared by Steinbüchel from Eckhel’s papers after his death, was published in 1826. Among his other works are—Choix de pierres gravées du Cabinet Impérial des Antiques(1788), a useful school-book on coins entitledKurzgefasste Anfangsgrunde zur alten Numismatik(1787), of which a French version enlarged by Jacob appeared in 1825, &c. Eckhel died at Vienna on the 16th of May 1798.
ECKMÜHL,orEggmühl, a village of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, on the Grosse Laaber, 13 m. S.E. of Regensburg by the railway to Munich. It is famous as the scene of a battle fought here on the 22nd of April 1809, between the French, Bavarians and Wurttembergers under Napoleon, and the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, which resulted in the defeat of the latter. Napoleon, in recognition of Marshal Davout’s great share in the victory, conferred on him the title of prince of Eckmuhl. For an account of this action and those of Abensberg and Landshut seeNapoleonic Campaigns.
ECLECTICISM(from Gr.ἐκλέγω, I select), a term used specially in philosophy and theology for a composite system of thought made up of views borrowed from various other systems. Where the characteristic doctrines of a philosophy are not thus merely adopted, but are the modified products of a blending of the systems from which it takes its rise, the philosophy is not properly eclectic. Eclecticism always tends to spring up after a period of vigorous constructive speculation, especially in the later stages of a controversy between thinkers of pre-eminent ability. Their respective followers, and more especially cultured laymen, lacking the capacity for original work, seeking for a solution in some kind of compromise, and possibly failing to grasp the essentials of the controversy, take refuge in a combination of those elements in the opposing systems which seem to afford a sound practical theory. Since these combinations have often been as illogical as facile, “eclecticism” has generally acquired a somewhat contemptuous significance. At the same time, the essence of eclecticism is the refusal to follow blindly one set of formulae and conventions, coupled with a determination to recognize and select from all sources those elements which are good or true in the abstract, or in practical affairs most usefulad hoc. Theoretically, therefore, eclecticism is a perfectly sound method, and the contemptuous significance which the word has acquired is due partly to the fact that many eclectics have been intellectual trimmers, sceptics or dilettanti, and partly to mere partisanship. On the other hand, eclecticism in the sphere of abstract thought is open to this main objection that, in so far as every philosophic system is, at least in theory, an integral whole, the combination of principles from hostile theories must result in an incoherent patchwork. Thus it might be argued that there can be no logical combination of elements from Christian ethics, with its divine sanction, and purely intuitional or evolutionary ethical theories, where the sanction is essentially different in quality. It is in practical affairs that the eclectic or undogmatic spirit is most valuable, and also least dangerous.
In the 2nd centuryB.C.a remarkable tendency toward eclecticism began to manifest itself. The longing to arrive at the one explanation of all things, which had inspired the older philosophers, became less earnest; the belief, indeed, that any such explanation was attainable began to fail. Thus men came to adopt from all systems the doctrines which best pleased them. In Panaetius we find one of the earliest examples of the modification of Stoicism by the eclectic spirit; about the same time the same spirit displayed itself among the Peripatetics. In Rome philosophy never became more than a secondary pursuit; naturally, therefore, the Roman thinkers were for the most part eclectic. Of this tendency Cicero is the most striking illustration—his philosophical works consisting of an aggregation, with little or no blending, of doctrines borrowed from Stoicism, Peripateticism, and the scepticism of the Middle Academy.
In the last stage of Greek philosophy the eclectic spirit produced remarkable results outside the philosophies of those properly called eclectics. Thinkers chose their doctrines from many sources—from the venerated teaching of Aristotle and Plato, from that of the Pythagoreans and of the Stoics, from the old Greek mythology, and from the Jewish and other Oriental systems. Yet it must be observed that Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, and the other systems which are grouped under the name Alexandrian, were not truly eclectic, consisting, as they did, not of a mere syncretism of Greek and Oriental thought, but of a mutual modification of the two. It is true that several of the Neoplatonists professed to accept all the teaching both of Plato and of Aristotle, whereas, in fact, they arbitrarily interpreted Aristotle so as to make him agree with Plato, and Plato so as to make his teachings consistent with the Oriental doctrines which they had adopted, in the same manner as the schoolmen attempted to reconcile Aristotle with the doctrines of the church. Among the early Christians, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Synesius were eclectics in philosophy.
The eclectics of modern philosophy are too numerous to name. Of Italian philosophers the eclectics form a large proportion. Among the German we may mention Wolf and his followers, as well as Mendelssohn, J.A. Eberhard, Ernst Platner, and to some extent Schelling, whom, however, it would be incorrect to describe as merely an eclectic. In the first place, his speculations were largely original; and in the second place, it is not so much that his views of any time were borrowed from a number of philosophers, as that his thinking was influenced first by one philosopher, then by another.
In the 19th century the term “eclectic” came to be applied specially to a number of French philosophers who differed considerably from one another. Of these the earliest were Pierre Paul Royer-Collard, who was mainly a follower of Thomas Reid, and Maine de Biran; but the name is still more appropriately given to the school of which the most distinguished members are Victor Cousin, Théodore Jouffroy, J.P. Damiron, Barthélemy St Hilaire, C.F.M. de Rémusat, Adolphe Garnier and Ravaisson-Mollien. Cousin, whose views varied considerably at different periods of his life, not only adopted freely what pleased him in the doctrines of Pierre Laromiguière, Royer-Collard and Maine de Biran, of Kant, Schelling and Hegel, and of the ancient philosophies, but expressly maintained that the eclectic is the only method now open to the philosopher, whose function thus resolves itself into critical selection and nothing more. “Each system,” he asserted, “is not false, but incomplete, and in reuniting all incomplete systems, we should have a complete philosophy, adequate to the totality of consciousness.” This assumes that every philosophical truth is already contained somewhere in the existing systems. If, however, as it would surely be rash to deny, there still remains philosophical truth undiscovered, but discoverable by human intelligence, it is evident that eclecticism is not the only philosophy. Eclecticism gained great popularity, and, partly owing to Cousin’s position as minister of public instruction, became the authorized system in the chief seats of learning in France, where it has given a most remarkable impulse to the study of the history of philosophy.
ECLIPSE(Gr.ἔκλειψις, falling out of place, failing), the complete or partial obscuration of one heavenly body by the shadow of another, or of the disk of the sun by the interposition of the moon; then called an eclipse of the sun. Eclipses are of three classes: those of the sun, as just defined; those of the moon, produced by its passage through theshadow of the earth, and those of the satellites of other planets, produced by their passage through the shadow of their primary. Jupiter (q.v.) is the only planet of whose satellites the eclipses can be observed, unless under very rare circumstances.