Eel-bucksEel-bucks on the Thames
Eel, the popular name of fishes belonging to the teleostean sub-order Apodes. The common eel (Anguilla vulgaris) is the type of a special family (Anguillidæ) and has a very wide distribution in the fresh waters of the globe. It is snake-shaped, devoid of ventral fins, and the minute scales are embedded in the slimy skin. When five or six years old it migrates to the deep sea for spawning, after which it probably dies. Curious flattened larvæ (Leptocephalus) hatch out from the floating eggs, and undergo a metamorphosis to become young eels or elvers, which when a year old ascend rivers in vast numbers as 'eel fare'. Eels are esteemed as an article of food, and even elvers are compressed into a sort of cake. In England river eels are caught in great numbers by means of eel-bucksor eelpots, traps consisting of a kind of basket with a funnel-shaped entrance composed of willow rods converging towards a point, so that the eels can easily force their way in but cannot return. A stocking or tube of coarse cloth hanging from an aperture of a box down into the interior is also used. In England a kind of trident called aneel-spearis used also for taking them. A fisherman wades to the shallows, and, as he strikes his spear in the mud in every direction around him, the eels reposing on the bottom are caught between the prongs. They are also taken by hooks and lines and in other ways. SeeConger-eel;Muræna. Electric eels belong to another group. SeeElectrical Fishes.
Effen´di, a Turkish title which signifies lord or master. It is particularly applied to the civil, asagais to the military officers of the Sultan. Thus the Sultan's first physician is calledHakim effendi, and the priest in the seraglioImam effendi.
Efferves´cence, the rapid escape of a gas from a liquid, producing a turbulent motion in it, and causing it to boil up. It, is produced by the actual formation of a gas in the liquid, as in fermentation, or by the liberation of a gas which has been forced into it, as in aerated beverages.
Efficiency, in mechanics and engineering, the ratio of the useful energy given out by a machine to the energy supplied to it. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it may assume various forms, and, within limits, can be changed from any one of these forms to any other. A machine or engine is an apparatus for converting energy in some given form into energy in another assigned form. In practice it is found impossible to convert the whole of the given energy into the form wanted, there being always a residue which is not of the right kind, and is, therefore, counted as useless. The smaller the residue, the more efficient is the machine. In the machines of elementary mechanics, such as the lever or the screw, the energy supplied is work done by the power or effort, and the energy wanted is work done on the load. If E is the effort, and W the load, then if there were no friction we would have E = Wr, whereris the velocity ratio, or ratio of the velocities of the points of application of load and effort. The relation found by experiment, however, is usually of the type E = Wr+ C, where C is a constant. The efficiency is the fraction Wr/E or 1 - C/E, so that it increases with the load. Inheat engines, energy in the form of heat is converted into mechanical energy. Heat is taken in at the source, part of it is changed into mechanical energy, and the remainder is rejected to the condenser. According to the second law of thermodynamics, the efficiency of such an engine has a definite upper limit which it cannot exceed, this being the ratio of the difference of the temperatures of the source and the condenser to the temperature of the source, these temperatures being measured on the absolute scale, that is, from -273° C. reckoned as the zero. The efficiency of a steam-engine is usually compared with that of an ideal engine working between the same temperatures, and going through a definite periodic set of operations called the Rankine cycle. If the thermal efficiency of an actual engine is 27 per cent, and that of an ideal engine working on the Rankine cycle is 30 per cent, obviously the important figure is the ratio of 27 to 30, or 90 per cent.
The performance of a steam-engine depends, not only on itsthermal efficiency, but also on itsboiler efficiencyand itsmechanical efficiency. The boiler efficiency is the percentage of the heat obtainable from the fuel consumed which is actually used in the engine; in a good boiler it may be 75 per cent. The mechanical efficiency is the ratio of the work given out at the crank-shaft to the work done on the piston; in other words, it is the ratio of brake horse-power to indicated horse-power. It may perhaps be 80 per cent. To arrive at the over-all efficiency, the various partial or component efficiencies must be multiplied together. In comparing one type of engine with another, what is important is obviously this over-all efficiency, or ratio of energy output to the theoretical energy value of the fuel employed. Thus, to take the case of marine engines, the Diesel oil-engine is inferior to the turbine and to the reciprocator in point both of thermal and of mechanical efficiency.But when the efficiency of the boilers is taken into account, the Diesel comes out very decidedly ahead of the others. Taking coal at 10,000 British thermal units per pound, and Diesel oil at 18,000 British thermal units per pound, Mr. T. R. Wollaston has given the following figures for the number of British thermal units consumed per brake horse-power hour: steam-engine 19,000; steam turbine 21,000; gas-engine 15,000; Diesel engine 9000. Electrical plant in general reaches a high standard of efficiency. Some figures are: transmission lines 85 to 95 per cent; motors and generators at full load 70 to 80 per cent from 1 to 5 h.p., 80 to 90 per cent from 5 to 50 h.p., and 95 per cent for large sizes. Electrical transformers are the most efficient of all machines. Their efficiency ranges from about 90 per cent in small sizes, up to perhaps 98.5 per cent for large machines at full load. SeeEnergy;Internal-combustion Engines;Steam-engines;Thermodynamics.
Efflores´cence, the property which certain hydrated salts have of losing water when exposed to air. Thus washing-soda, Na2CO3, 10H2O, if left in air becomes opaque, loses its crystalline appearance, and finally falls to a powder by loss of water. The term is also applied in botany to the process of flowering.
Effluents, a general term applying to liquids, on being discharged, after undergoing some form of treatment. The term is more particularly applied to the purified liquid discharged into rivers and streams from sewage-works, the crude sewage having been freed of the grosser solids, and rendered clear and innocuous to animal and vegetable life.
Effodien´tia, the name proposed for a new order of mammals to include pangolins and aard-varks. SeeEdentata.
Égalité, Philippe. SeeOrleans, Louis Philippe Joseph.
Egbert, considered the first king of all England, was of the royal family of Wessex. He succeeded Brihtric in 802 as King of Wessex. He reduced the other kingdoms and rendered them dependent on him in 829, thus becoming their overlord. He died in 839.
Egede, Hans (ā´ge-dā), the apostle of Greenland, born in 1686 in Norway, died in 1758. In 1721 Egede set sail for Greenland with the intention of converting the natives to Christianity, and for fifteen years performed the most arduous duties as missionary, winning by his persevering kindness the confidence of the natives. In 1736 he returned to Copenhagen, where he was made a bishop and director of the Greenland Missions.
Eger(ā´gėr), a town of Bohemia, Czecho-Slovakia, on a rocky eminence above the Eger, 91 miles west of Prague; once an important fortress, though now quite dismantled. It has manufactures of woollens, cottons, leather, and soap. Wallenstein was assassinated there (1634). Pop. 26,620.
Ege´ria, a nymph who received divine honours among the Romans. Numa is said to have received from her the laws which he gave to the Romans.
Egersund(ā´gėr-su¨nd), a seaport on the south-west coast of Norway, some distance south of Stavanger, and connected with it by railway, has a large pottery-work, fishing and shipping trade. Pop. 3500.
Egerton, Francis. SeeBridgewater, Duke of.
Section of Hen's EggSection of Hen's EggA, White or albumen.B, Vitelline membrane.C, Chalaza.D, White yolk.E, Germinal disc.F, Shell.G, Air space.H, Shell membrane.K, Yellow yolk.
A, White or albumen.B, Vitelline membrane.C, Chalaza.D, White yolk.E, Germinal disc.F, Shell.G, Air space.H, Shell membrane.K, Yellow yolk.
Egg, (1) in the narrower sense, the female reproductive or germ-cell, which after impregnation or fertilization by a male germ-cell (spermatozoon or sperm) develops into an embryo. (SeeOvum.) (2) The term is applied, more broadly, to a more complicated reproductive body that consists of an ovum together with supplementary parts. The egg of a bird, for example, includes the fertilized and developing ovum (yolk), nutritive white (albumen), and protective double egg membrane covered by a porous calcareous shell. The eggs of animals lower than the birds have usually only three parts, viz. the germinal spot or dot, the germinal vesicle, and the vitellus or yolk; the first being contained in the vesicle, and that again in the yolk. The common domestic fowl, the turkey, the pea-hen, and the common duck produce the eggs which are commonest in the market. The eggs of the green plover (Vanellus cristatus) are esteemed as a delicacy. The hard roes of fishes are the ovaries, containing innumerable eggs (over nine millions in the cod). The salted hard roes of the sturgeon are known as caviare. A hen's egg of good size weighs about 1000 grams, of which the white constitutes 600, the yolk 300, and the shell 100. When the white of an egg is warmed it coagulates to a firm opaquemass. Eggs form an important article in British commerce; the number imported in 1919 amounted to the value of £8,613,000, mainly from Russia, Denmark, Austria, France, and Italy.
Egg, an island of Scotland. SeeEigg.
Egga, a town of N. Nigeria, on the right bank of the Niger, about 70 miles above the junction of the Binue. Pop. 10,000.
Eggar, orEgger, a name given to moths of the family Lasiocampidæ.Lasiocampa trifolii, a well-known British moth, is called the grass-egger, and theL. quercusthe oak-egger, from the food of their caterpillars.
Egg-bird, orSooty Tern(Sterna fuliginosa), a bird of considerable commercial importance in the West Indies, as its eggs, in common with those of two other species of tern, form an object of profitable adventure to the crews of numerous small vessels.
Eggleston, Edward, American novelist and miscellaneous writer, born in 1837, died in 1902. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Church, was engaged in pastoral work for some years, afterwards as pastor of an independent church founded by himself. He wrote and edited much, among his books being:The Hoosier Schoolmaster(1871), which first appeared inHearth and Home;The End of the World:A Love Story;Roxy, a highly popular novel (1878);The Hoosier Schoolboy;The Graysons;Household History of the United States;The Faith Doctor. His novels are marked by abundance of incident, skilful handling of dialect, and realistic portraiture.
Egg-plant, orBrinjal(Solānum melongĕna), nat. ord. Solanaceæ, an herbaceous plant, from 1 foot to 18 inches high, with large white or purplish flowers. The fruit is about the size of a goose's egg, and generally yellow, white, or violet, and when boiled or stewed is used as an article of food. It is cultivated in India, the United States, &c., and in European hothouses. There are several other species of egg-plants, asS. indicumandS. sodomeum.
Egham, an urban district of England, county of Surrey, on the Thames opposite Staines, about 21 miles from London, with the Royal Holloway College for women, and the Holloway Sanatorium. Near it is Runnymede, where King John signed Magna Charta.
Egil Skallagrim, an Icelandic bard or poet of the tenth century, who distinguished himself by his warlike exploits in predatory invasions of Scotland and Northumberland. Having fallen into the hands of a hostile Norwegian prince, he procured his freedom by the composition and recitation of a poem calledEgil's Ransom, which is still extant.
Eginhard, orEinhard, friend and biographer of Charles the Great (Charlemagne), born in Maingau (East Franconia) about 770, died in 840. He was educated in the monastery at Fulda, and his capacity attracted the attention of Charles, who made him superintendent of public buildings, and of whom he became the constant companion. He also enjoyed the favour of his son Louis the Pious. His later years were passed at Mühlheim-on-the-Main, where he founded a monastery. HisVita Caroli Magniis a work of great value, and his letters are also important.
Eg´lantine, one of the names of the sweetbrier (Rosa rubiginosa), a kind of wild rose. The name has sometimes been erroneously used for other species of the rose and for the honeysuckle.
Eg´mont, Lamoral, Count, Prince of Gavre, was born in 1522, of an illustrious family of Holland. He adopted a military career, accompanied Charles V in his African expeditions, and distinguished himself under Philip II in the battles of St. Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558). Philip having gone to Spain, Egmont soon became involved in the political and religious disputes which arose between the Netherlands and their Spanish rulers. He tried to adjust the difficulties between both parties, and in 1565 went to Spain to arrange matters with Philip. He was well received, sent back with honour, but quite deceived as to the king's real intentions. In 1567 the Duke of Alva was sent with an army to the Netherlands to reduce the insurgents. One of his first measures was to seize Count Egmont and Count Horn. After a trial before a tribunal instituted by Alva himself they were executed at Brussels 5th June, 1568. A well-known drama of Goethe's is founded on the story of Egmont.
E´goism, as a philosophical doctrine, the view that the elements of all knowledge and the reality of the things known are dependent on the personal existence of the knower. This theory is also called Subjective Idealism or Solipsism. It maintains that his individual ego is the only being that a man can logically assert to exist. As an ethical theory (practical egoism) it is the opposite of altruism. It maintains that the governing principle of conduct for the individual is his own good on the whole, and that self-interest is the basis of morality. Egoism is to be distinguished from egotism, which denotes the practice of putting forward or dwelling upon oneself, of thinking, talking, or writing about oneself.
Egremont, a town of England, in Cumberland, in the valley of the Ehen, 3 miles from the sea, giving name to a parliamentary division. It has ruins of an ancient (twelfth century) castle associated with a legend that served Wordsworth as the subject of a poem. Iron-ore and limestone are worked. Pop. 6300.
EgretLittle Egret (Ardĕa garzetta)
Eg´ret, a name given to those species of white herons which have the feathers of the lower part of the back elongated and their webs disunited, reaching to the tail or beyond it at certain seasons of the year. Their forms are more graceful than those of common herons. The American egret (Ardĕa egretta) is about 37 inches long to the end of the tail; plumage soft and blended; head not crested; wings moderate; the tail short, of twelve weak feathers. The European egret (A. alba) is about 40 inches long, of a pure white plumage; the bill is black or dark brown, yellow at the base and about the nostrils, and the legs are almost black. The little egret (A. garzetta) is about 22 inches long from bill to end of tail, the plumage is white. The term egret is used in the feather trade for a bunch of the loose plumes, valued as an ornament.
Diagrammatic Section across EgyptDiagrammatic Section across Egypt from Farafra Oasis to Sinai
Egypt(from Gr.Aiguptos) is, as Herodotus has said, "the gift of the Nile". This great river, about 4000 miles in length, rises as the White Nile, three degrees south of the equator, drawing its waters from the Central African lakes. To the south of Khartoum, and 1350 miles from the sea, it is joined by the Blue Nile, which rises in the mountains of Abyssinia, and about 140 miles farther on it is fed by the Atbara, its last tributary. On the tableland of Nubian sandstone between Khartoum and Elephantine the river forms two great loops, and is intercepted by shallows or cataracts, of which there are six in all. The 'first cataract'—the last on the journey northward—is at Assouan, where a ridge of intercepting granite crops up. At Edfu, about 68 miles farther north, the limestone formation is entered, and the Nile then flows uninterrupted between flanking hills that here and there attain the height of 1000 feet. Egypt proper extends from Assouan to the Mediterranean. At a distance of about 100 miles from the sea the Nile divides into the branches forming the Delta. To the south of Cairo it sends out the Bahr Yusuf, a branch about 200 miles long, which flows into the fertile Fayum. The narrow valley, the average breadth of which is 10 miles, is 'the land of Egypt'. Its cultivable area is not so large as Belgium, being under 10,000 sq. miles in extent. Rain falls to the north of Cairo, but in Upper Egypt there are showers only once in every three or four years. The fertility of the country is due to the Nile. Each year the great river rises in flood when the equatorial lakes are suddenly swollen by heavy tropical rains and the snow melts in the Abyssinian mountains. The mean summer heat is 83° F. in the Delta and 122° F. in the valley. It is a dry heat, not so oppressive as that of India, and malaria is practically unknown. The most trying part of the year is during the period of 'Low Nile'. Before the surplus waters were stored in the Assouan Dam, the river shrank so low that its flow seemed uncertain. For about two months the hot and blistering 'hanseen' (or 'sand-wind') keeps blowing. A new season is ushered in by the cool north wind—the Etesian wind of the Greeks—which clears the accumulated dust from vegetation. It is lauded in ancient texts by priestly poets and Pharaohs. About the same time the conspicuous star Sirius makes its appearance. It was anciently regarded as a form of the Mother Goddess. On the 'Night of the Drop', in June, a fertilizing tear was supposed to fall from this star, and thereafter the 'new Nile' was born. For about four days (before the Assouan Dam was constructed) the rising river flowed green, the slimy matter on the marshes of Upper Egypt being pushed forward by the 'new water'. This was the 'Green Nile'. Then the Nile turned blood-red with Abyssinian clay. This was the 'Red Nile'. As soon as the fertilizing 'new water' touched the parched sands, Egypt awoke to new life. Countlessinsects appeared, new grass and flowers sprang up, and trees and shrubs broke into brilliant blossoms that filled the air with sweet perfume. Bursting over its banks, the steadily rising river flooded the valley generously and refreshingly. According to the Coptic Calendar, the inundation season lasted from June till September, the seed-time from October till January, and the harvest began in February.
Hieroglyphic LegendPart of the Hieroglyphic Legend of Heru-Behutet and the Winged Disk, cut on the Walls of the Temple of Edfû in Upper EgyptTranslation: In the three hundred and sixty-third year of Rā-Heru-Khuti, who liveth for ever and for ever, His Majesty was in TA-KENS, and his soldiers were with him; (the enemy) did not conspire (auu) against their lord, and the land (is called) UAUATET unto this day. And Rā set out on an expedition in his boat, and his followers were with him, and he arrived at UTHES-HERU, (which lay to) the west of this nome, and to the east of the canal PAKHENNU, which is called ( ... to this day). And Heru-Behutet was in the boat of Rā, and he said unto his father Rā-Heru-Khuti (i.e. Rā-Harmachis), "I see that the enemies are conspiring against their lord; let thy fiery serpent gain the mastery ... over them."—Reproduced by permission from Vol. XXXII ofBooks on Egypt and Chaldæa, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge.
Translation: In the three hundred and sixty-third year of Rā-Heru-Khuti, who liveth for ever and for ever, His Majesty was in TA-KENS, and his soldiers were with him; (the enemy) did not conspire (auu) against their lord, and the land (is called) UAUATET unto this day. And Rā set out on an expedition in his boat, and his followers were with him, and he arrived at UTHES-HERU, (which lay to) the west of this nome, and to the east of the canal PAKHENNU, which is called ( ... to this day). And Heru-Behutet was in the boat of Rā, and he said unto his father Rā-Heru-Khuti (i.e. Rā-Harmachis), "I see that the enemies are conspiring against their lord; let thy fiery serpent gain the mastery ... over them."—Reproduced by permission from Vol. XXXII ofBooks on Egypt and Chaldæa, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge.
Early Religion and Civilization.—In its earliest phases the religion of ancient Egypt reflected the natural phenomena of the Nile Valley in their relation to the needs, experiences, and achievements of mankind. The flood was an annual 'miracle of mercy', and the early people tried to account for it. They concluded it was a gift of the gods. It ensured the food-supply; it brought health and relief from the oppressive heat endured when the sand-wind prevailed and the river was low. The new water was 'the water of life'; it fertilized the parched soil and caused barley and millet (which grew wild in the Delta) to spring up, trees to yield fruit, and curative herbs to appear on the river banks. In the prehistoric period the Nile was identified with Osiris, who, according to the traditions of the Delta people, once reigned as their king, and introduced the agricultural mode of life which made it possible for large and growing communities to dwell in the narrow valley. In the Pyramid Texts (c.2700B.C.) Osiris is the controller of the Nile, the principle of life in the Nile, and the Nile itself. In one of his phases the god is the 'Green One'—the Green Nile. A Pyramid Text reads: "Horus comes! He beholds his father in thee, Green One, in thy name of Water of Greenness". The soul-substance (literally 'the seed') of Osiris was the vital principle in the green or new water. Osiris was the serpent-soul in the water, and the serpent (leviathan) of the ocean which 'encircled the netherworld'. The god is addressed in a Pyramid Text: "Thou art great, thou art green in thy name of Great Green" (Mediterranean Sea). Osiris was slain by Set, and his life-blood was the Red Nile, which entered the soil and vegetation. Osiris was not regarded as the Green One because vegetation is green; the ancient Egyptians appear to have attributed the greenness of vegetation to the Green Nile, the soul-substance of Osiris. The sap of shrubs and trees was 'Blood'—the blood of the god. Osiris continued to live after death. On earth he was in barley, fruit, &c., and in the fertilized soil. He was in the other world Judge and King of the Dead. In his underworld Paradise the souls of the dead grew corn and cultivated fruit-trees—the 'food of life'. The Osirian cult had origin in the Delta of Lower Egypt. In Upper Egypt a solar cult exalted Horus, the falcon god, as chief deity. Their heaven was beyond the sky 'to the east'. In the Pyramid Texts there is clear evidence that the solar cult believed the souls of the dead went eastward, while the Osirian cult believed they went westward. Osiris was called 'First of the Westerners'. The 'Easterners' of the south (Upper Egypt) conquered the 'Westerners' of the north (Lower Egypt), and Egypt was united into a single kingdom by the traditional King Mena, with whom begins the dynastic history of Egypt. This conquest appears to have been due to the introduction of copper weapons.
The idea that the Horites were invaders from Arabia or Mesopotamia has been abandoned. Copper was anciently found in the wadis of Upper Egypt and on the shores of the Red Sea. After boat-building and navigation were well advanced copper was mined in Sinai. According to Egyptian evidence, Edfu was the centre of the early copper industry and of the Horus cult. As Egyptian copper is naturally hard, it required no amalgam. Egypt, therefore, never had a Bronze Age, nor had it a Neolithic Age. The copper artifacts were imitations of Palæolithic forms of the Solutrian type. After the conquest there occurred fusions of religious cults. Local pantheons reflected local politics. But although the sun-cult of Heliopolis exalted RaPainted inner wooden coffinPainted inner wooden coffin of Pen-Amen-Neb-Nest-Taui, a prophet of the God Amen and of the Goddess Bast at Thebes.Columns from Egyptian TemplesTypes of Columns from Egyptian Temples.(or Re) as King of the Gods, the belief that all that existed originated in water persisted till the end. The water-mother was Hathor, who gave birth to Osiris. As the Nile was supposed to come from heaven, she was the sky-goddess; her animal was the primeval cow of a pre-dynastic cult, and she was the shell-spirit of water as well—the Egyptian Aphrodite. The shell, pearl, cow, sky, sun, moon, and stars were connected with Hathor as Nut. Ra, the sun-god, was, like Osiris, regarded as her son. Her attributes were in time absorbed by Isis. At the dawn of the Dynastic Age the religious beliefs of the Egyptian peoples were already well developed, the agricultural mode of life was established in the Nile Valley and in the Delta area, the calendar had been introduced, while copper weapons and implements were in use. The subsequent history of the official religion has a political aspect. Local cults rose into prominence as a city-state or ruling family achieved political ascendancy. Memphite theology and the Memphite god Ptah (the god of artisans) assumed importance when the city of Memphis became the capital of the united kingdom. Heliopolis ('the city of the sun') was the northern centre of the solar cult, which, during the fourth and fifth dynasties (c.2900-2625B.C.), became influential enough to impose its theology on the court. The popular Osirian faith was absorbed. Pharaohs were 'Sons of Ra', the sun-god, and Ra supplanted the southern sun-god Horus. Before the Pyramid Age the Osirian and Horite cults had been blended, and Horus became the son of Osiris. Although the living Pharaoh, however, was the son of Ra, he was also a Horus; after death he became an Osiris. The culture-blending process introduced many complexities. During the twelfth dynasty (2000-1788B.C.) the name of the Theban god Amon entered into royal names. But the permanent political ascendancy of Amon of Thebes really followed upon the expulsion of the Hyksos military aristocracy about 1580B.C.By this time the northern sun cult's influence had become sufficiently strong to have Ra blended with the Theban deity who was subsequently known as Amon-Ra. Before the close of the eighteenth dynasty (c.1350B.C.) a royal sun cult, promoted by Pharaoh Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV), exalted Aton, the sun-disc, as sole god of Egypt and the rest of the world. The Amon-Ra cult regained its political ascendancy with the rise of the nineteenth dynasty. In later times the chief gods of the reigning families were blended forms of Amon, Ra, Ptah, and Osiris. Not only the gods, but the rival Paradises, were blended. Osiris's under-world Paradise was transferred to the mythical other world beyond the horizon, and the sun-barque of the sun-god, which carried the soul of the Pharaoh, was supposed to touch at 'the port of Paradise'. It went westward and passed through the under-world, and emerged again next morning at dawn in the east. The contradictions in the Egyptian religious texts are believed to be mainly due to the blending of beliefs regarding the fate of man which were originally fundamentally different. Local deities were embraced in the official theology, but at their centres remained prominent and influential. But these, too, were in time so strongly influenced by the solar and Osirian faiths that they suffered in no small degree loss of identity except in name. The religious beliefs of Egypt as a whole were never completely systematized. There were no heresies because there were no orthodox beliefs. Any religious cult wastolerated, so long as it acknowledged the supremacy of the god or pantheon of the ruling family. In the later period the cult of Serapis (Asar Hapi), the bull form of Osiris, was popular.
Egyptian Pottery-makingEgyptian Pottery-makingFrom a wall-painting in the tombs of Beni-Hassan.
From a wall-painting in the tombs of Beni-Hassan.
Arts and Crafts.—Art developed in ancient Egypt under religious patronage. The earliest use made of Nubian gold was in manufacturing imitation luck-shells worn by the pre-dynastic peoples. Gold thus acquired a religious significance; at an early period it was associated with the sun-deity—the mother-goddess in her solar aspect was called 'Golden Hathor'. The hieroglyph for gold (nub) is a collar of beads. Exquisite gold ornaments in symbolic shapes were produced during the early dynasties. No finer gold ornaments have ever been produced anywhere than those of the twelfth dynasty (c.2000B.C.). These include chased gold pectoral ornaments and coronets and crowns inlaid with stones. When copper was first introduced it was used like gold. After implements were made of copper, vases of alabaster, diorite, &c., were worked with increasing skill and taste. The hardest stone was hewn and dressed for building purposes. No people have ever shown greater skill than the Egyptians in their stonework. The sculptors set themselves, when constructing temples, to imitate in stone the lashed palm-sticks, reeds, and papyrus stems used in the earliest shrines to stiffen the mud walls. Massive temple pillars were decorated with lotus petals, rose petals, &c. The early artists, who carved ivory, began to work in stone after copper implements were invented, and produced low reliefs in temples and tomb-chapels. Statuary in limestone, wood, and copper in the early dynastic period was vigorous and realistic. The sculptors were using the hardest material by the time of the Pyramid Age (c.2700B.C.). A great tomb-statue of Pharaoh-Khafra, in diorite, preserved in the Cairo Museum, is one of the triumphs of Egyptian sculpture. The Empire-period sculpture reached a high level of excellence. It was to provide 'soul-bodies' for dead Pharaohs that these great works of art were produced. A great advance in the manufacture of pottery was achieved during the Pyramid Age, when the potter's wheel was invented. To Egypt the ancient world owed this notable contrivance. It was introduced in time into Babylonia, Iran, India, China, Crete, Greece, and Western Europe. Shipbuilding is another Egyptian industry which promoted progress. Cretan and Phœnician vessels were of Egyptian design. In all histories of shipping and navigation the ancient Egyptians are credited with being the pioneers of maritime enterprise. The custom of mummification arose in Egypt, and promoted the study of anatomy. Surgery had its origin in mummification, as astronomy had in astrology, and chemistry had in alchemy. Connected with each temple were architects, artists and sculptors, metal-workers and dyers. Ships were constructed to obtain wood for temples and to import pearls, precious stones, herbs, incense-bearing shrubs and trees, &c., for religious purposes. In the history of early civilization the Egyptian priests play a prominent part as patrons of the arts and crafts.
NefertNefert, a royal princess of the Old Kingdom periodFrom a limestone statue in the Cairo Museum.
From a limestone statue in the Cairo Museum.
History.—In the hot, dry sands of Upper Egypt, which preserve the dead from decay, have been found the bodies of large numbers of pre-dynastic Egyptians. They were of the type known as the 'Mediterranean race'. Thecontents of their stomachs have yielded husks of barley and millet and fragments of mammalian and fish bones. Circumcision was practised, and some men shaved. These people used malachite as an eyelid paint. When they discovered that copper could be extracted from malachite, it was used at first like gold, as has been stated. The production of copper implements and weapons was followed by the conquest of Lower Egypt by the copper-using Upper Egyptians. After the latter moved north, they found that the bodies of their dead decayed, and the practice of mummification was introduced. Before 3000B.C.the broad-headed, long-bearded Armenoid type began to filter into Lower Egypt. The blending of Armenoids and Arabians in Syria produced 'the hybrid race of Semites'. In Egypt the ethnic fusion was most marked at the commercial capital, Memphis, and especially during the time of the pyramid builders (c.2900-2750B.C.). The spread of 'copper culture', and the importation into Egypt of timber from Lebanon, apparently brought the ancient races into close contact. Withal, shipbuilding and the art of navigation had advanced by leaps and bounds. Before the Pyramid Age there were sea-traders on the Mediterranean, and the Egyptians imported copper from Sinai across the Red Sea. The legendary Pharaoh who united Upper and Lower Egypt was Mena or Menes. From his time (c.3400B.C.) till the close of the sixth dynasty (c.2475B.C.) the capital was Memphis. This period is known as that of the 'Old Kingdom'. Among its outstanding monarchs were Khufu, Khafra, and Menkure of the fourth dynasty, the builders of the largest pyramids. Herodotus refers to them asCheops,Chephren, andMykerinos. The 'Middle Kingdom' begins with the rise of Thebes in Upper Egypt as the centre of political power. During this period the nobility became so influential that the Pharaohs had to recognize their rights and privileges. In the period of the famous twelfth dynasty (c.2000-1788B.C.) the Theban monarchs established a uniform control of Egypt. The later kings of this dynasty were unable, however, to withstand the inroads of Asiatics, and the Middle Kingdom came to an end with the Hyksos invasion. Of the Hyksos, the so-called 'Shepherd Kings', little is known. They were civilized Asiatics, and during their overlordship of Egypt, which embraced the thirteenth till the seventeenth dynasties (c.1800-1575B.C.), the horse and chariot were introduced into Egypt. A Theban royal house rose into prominence during the latter part of their sway, and the Hyksos were finally expelled by Pharaoh Aahmes, who founded the eighteenth dynasty. The Empire period was then inaugurated. Egypt's greatest emperor, Thothmes III (1515-1461B.C.), extended his conquests to the borders of Asia Minor, and received tribute from the Hittites, and even from Cyprus and Crete. During the reign of Akhenaton, the Hittites and their allies, the Amorites, seized the Egyptian sphere of influence in Syria and Northern Palestine.
In the nineteenth dynasty (1350-1205B.C.) much of the lost territory was recovered. Rameses II (1325-1258B.C.) fought his Waterloo at Kadesh, but found it necessary about 1300B.C.to conclude a treaty of peace with the Hittites, the Assyrian Power at the time becoming very powerful and aggressive. Rameses III of the twentieth dynasty was the last great Pharaoh of the Empire period. He successfully resisted the threatened invasions of naval and military peoples from Greece and Anatolia in 1200B.C.It is believed that the Trojan War (1194-1184B.C.) was waged by the same confederacy which had attempted to invade the Delta region. No fewer than nine Pharaohs named Rameses ruled in Egypt after Rameses III. Most of these were priest-kings. A Libyan dynasty held sway for about two centuries (950-750B.C.). One of its Pharaoh-Sheshhonkswas the 'Shishak' who was an ally of Solomon; after the death of that monarch he invaded Palestine. The Ethiopians of Nubia (Sudan) subsequently overran Egypt. One of its Pharaohs, Shabaka, was the ally of King Hosea of Israel against Assyria; he was defeated at Raphia by Sargon in 720B.C.The last Ethiopian Pharaoh, Taharka, was in 662B.C.overcome by the invading army of the Assyrian Emperor, Ashur-banipal. The northern royal family of Sais then came into power, and the twenty-sixth dynasty, which lasted for about 130 years (662-525B.C.), was inaugurated by Psamtik I. Pharaoh-Necho, referred to in the Bible, was the second ruler. It was during Necho's reign that his Phœnician mariners circumnavigated Africa. Egyptian culture was at the time spreading far and wide along sea and land routes. Trade was flourishing. The greatest world-power at the time, however, was Persia, and in 525B.C.Egypt was conquered by Cambyses and became a Persian province, with short interruptions of weak native dynasties (the twenty-eighth to thirtieth), until in 332B.C.Alexander the Great seized it and founded Alexandria. The Ptolemaic dynasty afterwards held sway for about three centuries. During this period learning and the arts flourished. Alexandria was not only a commercial town, but a centre of culture and the capital of Egypt. Osiris was worshipped there in the form of Serapis. During the latter part of the dynasty the native Egyptians were using Greek and Græcized names, and the whole country was more or less Hellenized. The fifteenth Ptolemy was the younger brother of the famous Cleopatra, the seventh of her name. He vanished, and was succeeded by Cleopatra's son, Cæsarion—Ptolemy XVI—whose father was Julius Cæsar. Both Cleopatra and her son perished when Egypt became a Roman province in 30B.C.A daughter of Cleopatra and Antony became the wife of Juba, King of Morocco.
Queen AhmesQueen Ahmes (wife of Thothmes I)From a relief on the wall of the temple at Der-el-Bahari. The face is of Mediterranean type. She represents the royal line which soon afterwards fused with a foreign strain, so that the facial type changed.
From a relief on the wall of the temple at Der-el-Bahari. The face is of Mediterranean type. She represents the royal line which soon afterwards fused with a foreign strain, so that the facial type changed.
Head of Rameses IIHead of Rameses IIFrom the mummy
From the mummy
The Romans drew vast quantities of gold from the mines of Nubia (nubmeans 'gold') and made Egypt their 'granary'. Egyptian religious beliefs and customs were perpetuated by the Roman emperors. Tiberius and Vespasian restored ancient Nilotic temples. The worship of Isis spread to Rome. Hadrian had to give a decision in a dispute between Memphis and Heliopolis regarding the sacred bull. But Egyptian native learning was decaying, and the knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was dying out. Christianity was introduced during the Roman period, and the Coptic Church established. InA.D.642 the Romans finally abandoned Egypt, which, till 868, became a province of the successive Mohammedan caliphates of Medina, of Damascus, and Baghdad. The Turkish soldiery dominated Egypt for a period. The Shia heretics afterwards became powerful, and the Christians were well treated. In 1250 the Mamelukes (descendants of slaves) came into power. Their pomp-loving sultans and emirs lived in great splendour. They came under Turkish sway early in the sixteenth century, but when Napoleon conquered Egypt in the eighteenth century they were again semi-independent. The British drove the French out of Egypt. Mehemet Ali, an Albanian officer in a Turko-Albanian force, had himself declared Sultan of Egypt, but whenhe overran Syria and threatened to march to Constantinople, Russia intervened. Britain and France afterwards prevailed on Mehemet Ali to rule Egypt as the viceroy of the Sultan of Turkey. His successor and grandson, Abbas I, built the first railway in Egypt. The next viceroy, Said Pasha, son of Mehemet Ali, granted to a French company the right to construct the Suez Canal. Egypt became bankrupt under his successor, Ismail Pasha, the first Khedive (Prince), during whose reign the Suez Canal was opened. He was deposed when the British and French took over the control of Egyptian finance. During the term of his successor, Tewfik Pasha, the Arabi Pasha rebellion took place. The military occupation of Egypt by British troops was followed by peace and good government. But trouble broke out in the Sudan. Mohammed Ahmed declared himself the Mahdi (Messiah) of the Mohammedans, and conquered a great part of the Sudan. In Nov., 1883, General Hicks ('Hicks Pasha') led an army of 10,000 Egyptians against the false prophet, but while marching across the driest part of the Sudan, misled by spies who acted as guides, his thirst-stricken army was entirely destroyed by the Mahdi's force. This victory gave the false prophet great prestige. In Jan., 1884, General Gordon was sent to Khartoum as Governor-General of the Sudan, but was completely isolated there. Khartoum was captured and the gallant general slain on 26th Jan., 1885, before a relieving force could reach him. The Mahdi died in June, 1885, and was succeeded by Abdullah the Khalifa. After a period of reorganization and preparation in Egypt, the reconquest of the Sudan was begun. Lord (then Sir Herbert) Kitchener was Sirdar, or Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army, and his expeditionary force was strengthened by British regiments. In April, 1898, the Khalifa's army was defeated on the banks of the Atbara, and on 2nd Sept. Kitchener won a great victory near Omdurman. The Khalifa escaped, but was rounded up by Sir Reginald Wingate's force, and slain with his emirs at Umme Dubraykat on 24th Nov., 1899. Thereafter the Sudan came under the control of a British-Egyptiancondominium, which appointed a Governor-General.
The Great PyramidsThe Great Pyramids of Giza and the SphinxBuilt by Cheops (Khufu) and Cephron (Khafra) as their future tombs, in order to secure immortality by the preservation of the mummy.
Built by Cheops (Khufu) and Cephron (Khafra) as their future tombs, in order to secure immortality by the preservation of the mummy.
At the time of the outbreak of the Great War, in the autumn of 1914, the Khedive of Egypt was in Constantinople. He sided with the Central Powers. He was consequently deposed by Britain, and Prince Hussein Kamilwas declared Sultan of Egypt; the suzerainty of Turkey terminated at the same time. The new ruler of Egypt was the uncle of the deposed Khedive, Abbas Pasha Hilmi (second son of the first Khedive, Ismail Pasha, and brother of Tewfik Pasha, the second Khedive). Hussein Kamil died in 1917 and was succeeded by Ahmed Fuad Pasha. Under the Peace Treaty, Egypt is recognized as an independent kingdom protected by Great Britain. The capital of modern Egypt is Cairo, situated near the site of ancient Memphis. Thebes is represented by Luxor and Karnak.—Bibliography: (Religion) Breasted,Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt; Renouf,Book of the Dead; Budge,Gods of the Egyptians; Wiedemann,Religion of the Ancient Egyptians; Sayce,Religion of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia; G. Elliot Smith,The Migrations of Early Culture; (History)—G. Elliot Smith,The Ancient Egyptians; Breasted,A History of Egypt; Flinders Petrie,A History of Egypt; King and Hall,Egypt and Western Asia in the Light of Recent Discoveries; H. R. Hall,The Ancient History of the Near East; Sir A. Colvin,The Making of Modern Egypt; Lord Cromer,Modern Egypt.
Egyptian Blue, a brilliant and very permanent pigment used by the Romans in the early centuries of the Christian era. It has been found in ancient frescoes in the Vatican, and also at Pompeii. The chemist Fouqué proved by analysis that it is a double silicate of calcium and copper.
Egyptian Vulture(Neophron perenoptĕrus), a bird that frequents both shores of the Mediterranean, but rarely passes farther north, though it has been found in the British islands. It is one of the smaller vultures, about the size of a raven. The general colour is white, the quill feathers of the wing being dark brown. It frequents the streets of Eastern towns, where it is protected on account of its services as a scavenger. This vulture is sometimes known as Pharaoh's Hen, on account of its frequent representation in Egyptian hieroglyphics. In Spain it is called thequebranta-huesos(bone-smasher) in reference to its supposed habit of breaking up bones left by other vultures.
Ehrenberg(ā´rėn-berh), Christian Gottfried, a German scientist, born in 1795, died in 1876. After studying theology, medicine, and natural history, he joined in 1820 an expedition to Palestine, Egypt, and Abyssinia, returning to Berlin in 1825. In 1829 he accompanied Humboldt to the Ural and Altai ranges and to Central Siberia. His great work on Infusoria appeared in 1838, and was at once recognized as the highest authority on the subject. It was followed in 1854 by hisMicrogeology.
Ehrenbreitstein(ā´ren-brīt-stīn), a dismantled Prussian fortress formerly of great strength and situated opposite the confluence of the Moselle with the Rhine, on a precipitous rock 387 feet above the river, and inaccessible on three sides. It is connected with Coblentz on the opposite shore by a bridge of boats. The fortifications, which were erected between 1816 and 1820 at a cost of £1,200,000, could accommodate a garrison of 14,000 men, and possessed room for stores to last an army of 60,000 for a year.
Ehrlich, Paul, German physician, born in Silesia in 1854, died in 1915. Educated at Breslau, Strasburg, and Leipzig, he becameprivat-dozentat the University of Berlin in 1889, and in 1896 was appointed director of the Royal Institute for Serum Research at Steglitz, which was transferred to Frankfurt in 1899, and became the Royal Institute for Experimental Therapeutics. His studies in the histology of blood are very important, but his claim to fame is based upon his discovery ofsalvarsan(606) and ofneosalvarsan(614), arsenic compounds which are very efficacious in the treatment of syphilis. He delivered the Croonian lectures in 1900 and the Harben lectures in 1907, received honorary degrees from the universities of Oxford and Chicago, and in 1908 shared the Nobel prize for medicine with Metchnikoff of the Institut Pasteur in Paris. His works include:Beiträge zu Histologie und Klinik des Blutes,Anæmie,Abhandlungen über Salvarsan, &c.
Eibenstock(ī´ben-stok), a town in the south-east of Saxony, with important manufactures of lace. Pop. 9528.
Eichhorn(īh´horn), Johann Gottfried, German Orientalist, historian, &c., born in 1752, died in 1827. He became professor of Oriental languages at Jena, and then at Göttingen. Amongst his works are:The Hebrew Prophets,History of Literature,History of the Last Three Centuries,Introductions to the Old and New Testaments and to the Apocrypha.
Eichstätt(īh´stet), an old town, Bavaria, in a deep valley of the Altmühl, 67 milesN.N.W.of Munich. Its principal edifice is a fine Gothic cathedral, founded in 1259. Pop. 8029.
Eider(ī´dėr), a river of Schleswig-Holstein, rises 8 milesS.of Kiel, and after a winding course falls into the North Sea at Tönning; length, 112 miles. By means of a canal it long gave communication between the North Sea and Baltic, but the new ship canal here has superseded this route.