The Piltdown SkullThe Piltdown Skull.As restored by Dr. Smith Woodward and Mr. Frank O'Barlow. The dark portions are those actually recovered.
As restored by Dr. Smith Woodward and Mr. Frank O'Barlow. The dark portions are those actually recovered.
During the last eighty years the discovery of a series of fossilized remains of extinct genera and species of the human family and of apes has given us a glimpse of the origin and early history of mankind. Man's ancestors probably parted company with those of the anthropoid apes somewhere in the neighbourhood of Northern India early in the Miocene period; and before the close of the Pliocene period their descendants had gradually acquired the highly developed brain and the intelligence which imply the emergence of the distinctively human characteristics. The most significant token of the attainment of the status of men was the acquisition of the power of speech, which enabled its possessors to hand on the accumulated knowledge and the fruits of experience, and so enormously to increase their powers. The earliest-known representative of the human family was the Ape-man,Pithecanthropus, who at the end of the Pliocene period wandered east as far as Java, where the fossilized remains of a skull were found thirty years ago by Professor Eugen Dubois. At a later date a much more highly developed type, one, moreover, that was much closer to the ancestry of modern men than the aberrant Ape-man of Java, wandered as far west as England, where a representative of this extinct genus was discovered by the late Mr. Charles Dawson in 1912 at Piltdown, in Sussex. This very primitive member of the human family has been called the 'Dawn-man' orEoanthropusby Dr. Smith Woodward. He has a brain which, though poorly developed, is definitely human, but his face (and especially the jaws) retains considerable resemblance to that of an ape. Of the other fossilized remains of extinct varieties of the human family, the most important are those known respectively as Heidelberg man and Neanderthal man. The former is almost as old as the Piltdown man, and its former existence was revealed by the discovery in the Mauer Sands, near Heidelberg, in 1908, of a very massive and chinless jaw. At a much later date Europe was inhabited by a brutal species of mankind, Neanderthal man, which became extinct when in the Neoanthropic Age men of our own species made their way into Europe and completely superseded the less efficient Neanderthal species. The latter were men of vast strength, with short, clumsy, thick-set limbs, a stooping gait, thick neck, and a great flattened head with a coarse face. These people inhabited Europe in the days when the elephant and the woolly rhinoceros lived there; they made the rough stone implements known as Mousterian. But, in spite of their enormous strength, these people were not able to hold their own in competition with the nimbler wits and the more skilled hands ofHomo sapiens, who introduced into Europe a more finished technique in making implements, and revealed his genius and manual dexterity in the remarkable pictures which he painted on the walls of caves, especially in Southern France and Northern Spain. We have no information concerning the place of origin or the course of the wanderings of these earliest members of our own species.
But an extremely primitive race has survived until the present time to demonstrate the original type ofHomo sapiens. The aboriginal Australian, like all existing races of men, belongs to the same species as ourselves, but it represents with singularly little modification the original type and colouring ofHomo sapiens. Fossilized remains of the proto-Australian race have been found in Queensland (at Talgai) and in Java (at Wadjak); but the wandering of the race from its original Asiatic centre of characterizationis indicated by the survival of remnants of this people in the pre-Dravidian jungle tribes of India (mainly in the Deccan), the Vedda of Ceylon, the Sakai of the Malay Peninsula, the Toala of Celebes, and other peoples of the Malay Archipelago, whose existence blazes the track from India to Australia.
The Australian race is on the average about 5 feet 2 inches in height; their skin is dark-brown or black; hair black and wavy or curly; skull typically long (dolichocephalic), with a relatively small brain-case; the nose is flat and broad, and the jaws large and prominent. What lowly culture these people now possess has been mainly acquired within relatively recent times by contact with more civilized peoples.
Australian AborigineAustralian Aborigine, from east side of Lake Eyre.
Long after the proto-Australians separated from the rest of mankind and wandered east, another group wandered west, and, probably in tropical Africa, became specialized in structure to become the Negro race. The negro, like the Australian, retains many primitive characters, such as the black skin, and the small brain, but in other respects, such, for example, as the extremely flattened and curved hair ('pepper-corns'), he has become highly specialized and sharply differentiated from all other varieties of mankind. At an early period in the history of the race the negro divided into two groups—a pygmy variety or Negrillo, and the ordinary tall negro. One of the branches of the pygmy stock became further specialized in structure (in the course of which the black colour of the skin was lost), and became the Bushman race which has gradually been pushed into the deserts of South Africa (seeHottentot).
After the differentiation of the Negro race into pygmy and tall varieties, representatives of both divisions spread along the southern coast of Asia, the former, known in the East as Negritos, reaching the Andaman Islands, the Malay Peninsula (Semangs), the Philippines (Aetas), and New Guinea (Pygmies), and the taller Negroids to Melanesia, New Guinea, and the neighbouring islands of the Malay Archipelago. Many authorities regard the extinct Tasmanian people as a branch of this race.
But the vast majority of the Negro race is found in Africa south of the Sahara Desert and the populations sprung from them in the American continent and the West Indies.
The African negro is subdivided into two main groups known respectively as Nilotic and Bantu; but in addition there are the pygmies of the equatorial and Congo regions, and the Bushmen and Hottentots of the Kalahari Desert, Namaqualand, Lake Ngami, and the Orange River. The Nilotic negro ranges across the continent from Somaliland to Nigeria, and is differentiated from the Bantu chiefly from the fact that along this belt there has been a constant passing to and fro of Hamitic and Semitic peoples for many centuries, leading not only to very considerable recent racial admixture, but also to cultural and especially linguistic influences, which have brought about the breaking up of the population into a series of nations of varied speech and customs. Among the Bantus, on the other hand, although their culture is lower than that of the Nilotic negroes, there is more uniformity both of race and customs. In race they are negro mixed in early times with the proto-Hamitic peoples of East Africa, whence the mongrel population moved south, driving the Bushmen and Hottentots before them.
Ethnology
Ethnological Map of the World
After the ancestors of the Australian and Negro races had separated from the rest of mankind, which had spread throughout a great part of Asia, North-Eastern Africa, and Europe, the coming of the Glacial epoch created barriers of ice which shut up the various groups each within its own domain. Somewhere in Eastern Asia, possibly in the basin of the Yellow River, the proto-Mongolian race gradually assumed its characteristic traits. In East Africa and the neighbouring tract of Asia the ancestors of the Brown or so-called Mediterranean race were free to roam east and west from India to the African and European coasts of the Atlantic. Farther north, probably in Europe, the Nordic or Blond race (in the map labelled Northern or Teutonic race) assumed its distinctive features; and somewhere in the region between its area of characterization and that of the Yellow race—probably in the region to the north-east of the Caspian—the so-called Alpine (Armenoid)or proto-Slav race developed. It is distinguished from the Brown and Blond races by the broad skull and heavy jaw, no less than by the robustness of build and the great tendency to hairiness; from the Mongolian people the Armenoids are distinguished by the prominence of the nose, the character of the hair, and the colour of the skin. The term Alpine, which is usually applied to this race, is singularly inappropriate; for, although in Europe and Asia Minor the members of this race show a partiality for high mountains, the vast majority of the members of the race dwell in the plains of Russia, which also may have been the original home of the race. In view of the topographical relationship of the area of characterization of this race to the homes of the other races, Nordic, Brown, Negro, Australian, and Mongol, arranged in a great arc around it, it might not be inappropriate to call the so-called Alpine (Armenoid or proto-Slav) race by the non-committal title 'Central'. At the close of the Glacial epoch, when the melting of the ice unlocked the domains of these races, members of the Central race poured into Asia Minor and Syria, and down to the head of the Persian Gulf; they also made their way north of the Caspian and Black Sea into Europe, mingling there with the Nordic people. But they also moved east in Siberia and mingled with the proto-Mongolian race. It was soon after this event that members of the proto-Mongolian stock, possibly with some admixture of people of the Central race, wandered to North-Eastern Asia and crossed the Behring Strait to colonize America for the first time. From the north-west coast of America these immigrants in course of time made their way south and east, until eventually the whole of the New World from Hudson Bay to Cape Horn was inhabited. Many centuries afterward (especially between 300B.C.andA.D.1000) there was a great influx of a variety of other peoples from Polynesia and the Old World on to the Pacific coast of the Americas, which profoundly altered the physical type of the population of Central America and the Andean coast.
The members of the proto-Mongolian race who remained in Asia spread over a large area from the Arctic Ocean south to Tibet, China, Indo-China and the Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Formosa, Nicobar Islands, and Madagascar. Their domain became divided geographically into three minor areas of characterization, of the Northern, Southern, and Oceanic Mongols respectively. In the Northern Mongols are included the Koreans, the Japanese and the people of Liu-Kiu, the Tungus (including the Manchu, Gold, &c.), the Kalmuks, Buriats, Koryaks, Chuckchis, Kamchadales, Gilyaks.
The Central race became differentiated into a considerable number of varieties. Apart from the Slavs, there were several groups which became isolated the one from the other in Asia Minor and Syria. One of these developed in an extreme degree the characteristic features of the race—the brachycephaly, the prominence of the nose and the high-ramus of the jaw. These are the Armenian and kindred people. Another branch gave origin to the Northern Semites, who made their way into Palestine and Mesopotamia. (The Southern Semites belong to another race—the Brown.) Another branch of the Central race preceded these two in making their way to the sea-coasts of the Levant and the Persian Gulf—this may be called the Maritime branch of the Central race.
The Slav branch of the Central race was making its way into Europe long before the Neolithic phase of culture there. It passed north of the Black Sea via Poland. But at the end of the Neolithic phase there were two streams of other branches of the race—the true Alpine subdivision passing from Anatolia into the Carpathians and the Alps, to Switzerland, Bavaria, Savoy, and Brittany, and the Maritime division passing round the coasts to the Iberian Peninsula, the British Isles, and Western Europe.
The Brown race spread in East Africa from Somaliland to the Mediterranean and all its coasts, to Western Europe, and the British Isles; in the other direction to Arabia, the shores of the Persian Gulf, and eastward along the coast to India, where it mingled with the pre-Dravidian (proto-Australian) population to give rise to the mongrel Dravidian people. The spread of these Brown people farther east into the Malay Archipelago explains the origin of the Indonesians, who occupied the islands before the coming south of the Mongols, but after the proto-Australians and the proto-Negroes had passed through towards Australia and Melanesia respectively.
From very early times there has been an intermingling of the different races. In East Africa every degree of intermingling of the Hamitic branch of the Brown race has been taking place for more than sixty centuries with negroes, both of the Sudanese and the Bantu stocks. At a later time Arabs poured into Africa and added their quota to the mixture. In India the original pre-Dravidian (proto-Australian) aborigines became diluted with a large influx of the Brown race to form the Dravidian people, who acquired a high civilization from the west. At a later date people of the Central race speaking an Aryan language swarmed through the north-western frontier and introduced their language and culture into India.
Before this happened the Brown race hadextended farther east and provided the basis for the population of Indonesia, supplanting to a great extent the earlier proto-Australian and Negroid peoples there. Then the Malays came down from the north and added to the Indonesian mixture a strong Mongolian element. Colonists from the Malay Archipelago settled in Madagascar and added to its mixture of Brown (Semites and Hamites) and Black (Bantu) elements representatives of the Mongolian (Malay) race. In the course of their maritime expeditions the Malay Archipelago gave to Japan a not inconsiderable contribution both of people and culture.
But the area of the most complex admixture of races in ancient times was Siberia. With the melting of the ice barriers at the close of the Glacial epoch the proto-Mongolian and proto-Central peoples came into intimate contact; and to this mixture was added a proto-Nordic element, as well as a not inconsiderable influx of members of the Brown race, who came from the south through Turkestan to exploit the gold and copper of the Yenesei region. The presence of their dolichocephalic skulls in a region where brachycephaly is the rule has been a perpetual puzzle to anthropologists, who at the present time attempt to solve the problem by assuming the presence of an aboriginal race of long-headed people, who were exterminated by the Mongols and the Turks. The greed for the riches of the head-waters of the Yenesei has made Siberia the home of strife for fifty centuries. This has led not only to a puzzling admixture of races in the affected area, but has started raids of Mongols and Turks, which at various times extended as far as Europe (Huns and Avars), India, and China. So mixed are the races in Siberia that it is not easy to determine whether some of them should be classed as mainly Turki or mainly Mongol; and this applies also to the colonies (Bulgars, Magyars, Finns, Lapps, &c.) which at various times the Asiatic invaders left behind them in Europe, each of which has been profoundly altered by admixture since then.
In the great Mongolian domain that occupies so great a part of Northern and Eastern Asia there are certain definitely alien elements. The Yakuts (of the region near the Lena River) are definitely Turki in race, and the curious hairy Ainus (of Yezo, Sakhalin, and some of the Kurile Islands) are certainly members of the Central race.
A peculiar branch of the northern Mongols is clearly differentiated from the rest to form the Eskimo people who occupy Greenland and Arctic America. They present a marked contrast to the American Indians. The American Indian may be regarded essentially as a branch of the proto-Mongolian race mixed to some extent with a proto-Central element. But on the Pacific littoral there has been considerable admixture with a variety of peoples from Eastern Asia and Oceania for several centuries (c.300B.C.toA.D.1000). Although the peoples conform on the whole to a definite type as regards the characters of their hair and features, there is a considerable range of variation as regards height, skull-form, and other racial features. The people of the states where a high civilization prevailed ten centuries ago—Mexico, Central America, Peru, and Chile—are clearly differentiated from the rest of the American population by the more obtrusive evidence of admixture with Polynesian and Asiatic peoples. In addition to the peoples of the north-west coast (Haidas and Salish) and of the ancient civilizations (Mayas and Aztecs) of Central America and Mexico, the population of North America can be divided (see map) into the following tribes: (1) Athabascan, (2) Algonquin, (3) Iroquoian, (4) Siouan, (5) Shoshonean (in the map called 'Kiowan'), (6) Muskhogean, and (7) Pueblo (not indicated in the map, but in Arizona, north of Mexico).
In South America the centre of the ancient civilization was in the region of the Quichua (Inca) and Aymara peoples. The semi-civilized Chibcha people occupied the table-land of Bogota. To the south of Peru the coastal people (Araucanians) were to some extent influenced by the more highly civilized Incas to their north. The presence of gold in the Matto Grosso region of Brazil attracted men from Peru, and set in motion migrations of people towards the Rio de la Plata in the south and towards Venezuela in the north. Among the linguistically distinct peoples found in the latter area are the Tupi, Arawaks, and Caribs. A very primitive people, the Botocudo, occupy the eastern coast of Brazil south of the River San Francisco.
From the beginning man was a maker of implements of stone and bone: but for a vast number of centuries he was merely a hunter who did not attempt anything more in the way of industry. Civilization probably originated in the Nile Valley when men found barley growing there naturally, and discovered that it provided them with a supply of food which could maintain them throughout the year. When the population in the valley increased, so that the natural supply of barley became inadequate, men learned to imitate the inundation, and by scraping channels in the sand to render the desert fertile. Thus was agriculture and irrigation invented, and thus were men led to organize the labour of the community under the direction of a leader who was primarily an irrigation engineer, but eventually became a kingand the god Osiris, the dead king, whose reputation as the bestower of life-giving water became apotheosized as the giver of life and immortality.
Pottery was probably invented as an outcome of the mode of life and the needs of these early agriculturists, and the domestication of cattle and the use of their milk for food helped to neutralize the ill-effects of a too exclusively cereal diet. Other events followed in the train of this first adoption of a settled mode of life. The disposal of the dead in the sands that fringed the area of cultivation, and the natural preservation of the corpse that often resulted, shaped the beliefs of the people with reference to the fate of the dead. Incidentally it led to the invention of the arts of the carpenter, the stone-mason, and the embalmer; and as an outcome of these practices architecture, as well as the ritual of the temple, had its origin.
Long before these events primitive man had begun to ponder over the meaning of death. At first he associated it with such injuries as he had learned by experience killed animals that he hunted; and as the escape of blood caused unconsciousness and death, he framed the belief that blood was the substance of consciousness and of life. To exchange blood was to share knowledge; to give blood was to confer fresh vital substance, i.e. to minimize the risk of extinction or prolong the existence of living or dead. This is the fundamental idea underlying all religious belief and ritual—the giving of life and immortality.
But the act of birth is also a process of life-giving. The cowrie-shell (and subsequently other shells and the pearls contained in them) came to be regarded as a symbol of this life-giving power, and an amulet which could protect both the living and the dead from the risk of extinction. The demand for these precious elixirs of life became so intense that they acquired a fictitious value as currency, and models of them were made to serve as amulets in their stead. The beauty and the lightness of the models of such shells made of the soft useless plastic metal found in the Egyptian and Nubian deserts was probably the means by which gold first acquired any value, and afterwards by confusion came to be credited with the same life-giving attributes as were at first bestowed merely upon the form of the amulets made from it. Thus gold came to be regarded as an elixir of life, and men began to search for the precious substance far and wide, incidentally spreading abroad the germs of the arts and crafts, the beliefs and practices of our common civilization. The use of malachite as a cosmetic provided the circumstances that eventually led men to discover how a gold-like substance, copper, could be obtained from the green ore; and in course of time it came to be realized that the metal was useful for other purposes than the mere making of amulets and jewellery. When the full value of copper as a material for making tools and weapons was fully appreciated, the ore became of tremendous economic importance, and men sought for it far and wide, as they had previously prospected for flint and gold.
The people who introduced the Neolithic culture into Europe brought with them from Egypt a knowledge of agriculture, of pottery-making, of domestication of animals, of linen, and of the characteristic burial customs and religious beliefs. But these rudiments of civilization were also diffused to Crete and Cyprus, to Syria and Asia Minor, to Elam and Sumer by prospectors searching for the things which the growth of civilization was making valuable, the incense and the timber, the gold and precious stones, the copper and other metals. It is probable that the germs of Egyptian civilization were first planted in Elam by men prospecting for copper, and that Sumerian and Babylonian civilization received their initial inspiration in this way. Crete was inoculated with the germs of civilization by Egypt directly, as well as indirectly, from Asia Minor, which was subjected to the double influence of Egyptian and Sumerian culture. In the Age of Copper, Elamite culture was diffused abroad by miners to Turkestan and Baluchistan, thence respectively to Siberia and China (Shensi province), and to India. In the neighbourhood of the south-eastern corner of the Caspian the alloy bronze was probably invented soon after 3000B.C.by mixing tin and copper; and the influence of this epoch-making event rapidly spread to Babylonia, to Crete, and to Europe, where it inaugurated the Age of Bronze. It also spread to China, to India, and many centuries later across the Pacific to Central America.
The needs of the early Egyptians compelled them to devise sea-going ships, which in turn became the models of the Cretans, the people of East Africa, the Babylonians, the Phœnicians, and the Greeks. These ships trafficked in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, then farther west and east, to the Atlantic seaboard of Western Europe and the shores of the Indian Ocean. The search for gold and pearls led early mariners to Southern India and Ceylon, to Burmah and Indonesia, to the whole coast-line of Eastern Asia, New Guinea, and Melanesia, and in course of time to Polynesia and the coasts of Central America and Peru. Wherever these adventurers found gold or copper, pearls or precious stones, they settled to exploit these sources of wealth, and incidentally planted thegerms of their methods of cultivation, their stonework, their burial customs and beliefs. Such expeditions were probably responsible for introducing into Polynesia its first colonists, a mixture of people of Brown and Maritime Central races, mingled with other elements in the course of their easterly wanderings. The earliest movement into Polynesia apparently took with it a considerable element of Melanesian blood, which eventually was carried to New Zealand and the Moriori Islands in the south, and to Easter Island and the American coast in the east. The germs of the ancient civilizations of Central America and Peru were carried across the Pacific from Cambodia and Indonesia between the years 300B.C.andA.D.1000, the periods of greatest activity being probably the third and fourth centuriesA.D.
The elements of this imported culture were planted in Honduras and Guatemala and the Isthmus region (Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia), and from there spread in the fifth centuryA.D.to Yucatan and then to Mexico. It also spread from the isthmus down the Pacific littoral of South America, the earliest centre of civilization being the region around Lake Titicaca. From Mexico the culture spread in a degraded form up the Mississippi to the Great Lakes, as well as north-west into Arizona.—Bibliography: A. H. Keane,Man, Past and Present, revised edition by A. Hingston Quiggin and A. C. Haddon, is a useful guide to the literature of anthropology and ethnology; see also Robert Munro,Prehistoric Britain; W. J. Sollas,Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives; M. Boule,Les Hommes fossiles; G. Elliot Smith,The Migrations of Early Culture; such periodicals as theJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,Man, and especiallyL'Anthropologie, give the current literature.
Eth´yl, the name given to the radicle C2H5, contained in ether, (C2H5)2O, alcohol, C2H5OH, &c.Ethylhas not been isolated, as it immediately combines with anotherethylgroup forming diethyl or butane, C2H5—C2H5.Ethyl chloride, C2H5Cl, formed by the action of hydrochloric acid on alcohol, is much used for the production of low temperature—as a local anæsthetic.Ethyl nitrite, C2H5NO2, constitutessweet spirits of nitrewhen dissolved in alcohol.
Eth´ylamine, C2H5NH2, an organic base formed by the substitution of 1 atom of hydrogen in ammonia by ethyl group. Thusammoniaammoniaarrowethylamineethylamine. It has the odour and many of the characteristic reactions of ammonia, but unlike ammonia it is inflammable and liquid at ordinary temperature.
Eth´ylene, orOlefiant Gas, C2H4, an unsaturated hydrocarbon, the first member of the olefine series. It is a colourless gas with a faint odour, and burns with a bright luminous flame. It is a constituent of ordinary coal-gas, and may be obtained from alcohol by heating it with twice its volume of concentrated sulphuric acid.
Étienne(ā-ti-ān),St., a town of Southern France, department of Loire, on the Furens, 32 milesS.W.of Lyons. It has spacious streets with substantial houses, but, owing to the number of public works, presents a dingy appearance. The principal buildings and institutions are the cathedral, an ancient Romanesque structure; the town house, court-house, exchange, communal college, mining school, gallery of arts, library, and museum. The town stands in the centre of one of the most valuable mineral fields of France; and in addition to the extensive collieries, blast-furnaces, and other ironworks in the vicinity, has manufactures of ribbons, silks, cutlery, and fire-arms. Pop. 148,656.
EtiolationTwo Seedlings ofSinapis albaof Equal AgeA, Grown in the dark, etiolated.B, Grown in ordinary daylight, normal. The roots bear root-hairs.
A, Grown in the dark, etiolated.
B, Grown in ordinary daylight, normal. The roots bear root-hairs.
Etiolation(Fr.étioler, to blanch), orBlanching, of plants, is a state produced by the absence of light, by which the green colour is prevented from appearing. It is effected artificially, as in the case of celery, by raising up the earth about the stalks of the plants; by tying the leaves together to keep the inner ones from the light; by covering with pots, boxes, or the like, or by setting in a dark place. The green colour of etiolated plants may be restored by exposure to light. Etiolated plants are also abnormal in other respects; the stems, or in some cases the leaves, become extraordinarily elongated, and the internal structure undergoes modification in various ways.
Etiology(Gr.aitia, cause, andlogos, discourse, account), a biological term introduced by Huxley, and denoting that branch of biology which deals with the origin and mode of development of organic beings. In medicine the wordetiology, signifies the study of the causes and origin of disease. The term is also applied in philosophy to the science of Cause and Effect.
Etive(et´iv),Loch, an inlet of the sea on the west coast of Scotland, Argyleshire, nearly 20 miles long, of very unequal breadth, but at the broadest part about 1½ miles. The scenery of its shores is very beautiful. About 3 miles from the sea, at Connel Ferry, a ridge of sunken rocks crossing it causes a turbulent rapid, which at half-tide forms a sort of waterfall.
Etna, orÆtna, Mount, the greatest volcano in Europe, a mountain in the province of Catania in Sicily; height, 10,758 feet. It rises immediately from the sea, has a circumference of more than 100 miles, and dominates the whole north-east part of Sicily, having a number of towns and villages on its lower slopes. The top is covered with perpetual snow; midway down is the woody or forest region; at the foot is a region of orchards, vineyards, olive groves, &c. Etna thus presents the variety of climates common to high mountains in lower latitudes, oranges and lemons and other fruits growing at the foot, the vine rather higher up, then oaks, chestnuts, beeches, and pines, while on the loftiest or desert region vegetation is of quite a stunted character. A more or less distinct margin of cliff separates the mountain proper from the surrounding plain; and the whole mass seems formed of a series of superimposed mountains, the terminal volcano being surrounded by a number of cones, all of volcanic origin, and nearly 100 of which are of considerable size. The different aspects of the mountain present an astonishing variety of features—woods, forests, pastures, cultivated fields, bare rocky precipices, streams of lava, masses of ashes and scoriæ, as also picturesque towns and villages. From the summit the view presents a splendid panorama, embracing the whole of Sicily, the Lipari Islands, Malta, and Calabria. The eruptions of Etna have been numerous, and many of them destructive. That of 1169 overwhelmed Catania and buried 15,000 persons in the ruins. In 1669 the lava spread over the country for forty days, and 10,000 persons are estimated to have perished. In 1693 there was an earthquake during the eruption, when over 60,000 lives were lost. One eruption was in 1755, the year of the Lisbon earthquake. There were also eruptions in 1832, 1865, 1874, 1879, and 1886. Among more recent eruptions are those of 1892, 1899, 1911, and 1914. An eruption is ordinarily preceded by premonitory symptoms of longer or shorter duration. The population of the district of Etna is about 300,000.
E´ton, a town of England, in Buckinghamshire, on the left bank of the Thames, 22 miles west of London. An iron bridge connects it with Windsor, on the opposite side of the river. Eton derives its celebrity wholly from its college, called the King's College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, one of the great public schools of England, founded by Henry VI in 1440. The building, which was commenced in 1441 and finished in 1523, has received important additions in recent times in the shape of mathematical and science schools, and a museum. The college foundation now consists of provost, headmaster, lower master, seventy scholars, and two conducts (or chaplains). The oppidans, or boys not on the foundation, number about 1100. They are mostly lodged and boarded in the masters' houses. Pop. 3366.
Etrépilly, (1) a small town of France, department of Aisne, is situated near Château-Thierry. Millstones are obtained from quarries in the neighbourhood. (2) A small town of France, department of Seine-et-Marne, stands on the left bank of an affluent of the Marne. Agricultural implements are manufactured.
Etru´ria(Gr.Tyrrhenia), the name anciently given to that part of Italy which corresponded partly with the modern Tuscany, and was bounded by the Mediterranean, the Apennines, the River Magra, and the Tiber. The name of Tusci or Etrusci was used by the Romans to designate the race of people anciently inhabiting this country, but the name by which they called themselves was Rasena (or perhaps more correctly Ta-rasena). These Rasena entered Italy at a very early period from the north, and, besides occupying Etruria proper, extended their influence to Campania, Elba, and Corsica. Etruria proper was in a flourishing condition before the foundation of Rome, 753B.C.It was known very early as a confederation of twelve great cities, each of which formed a republic by itself. Amongst the chief were Veii, Clusium, Volsinii, Arretium, Cortona, Falerii, and Faesulae; but the list may have varied at different epochs. The chiefs of these republics were styledlucumōnes, and united the office of priest and general. They were elected for life. After a long struggle with Rome, the Etruscan power was completely broken by the Romans in a series of victories, from the fall of Veii in 396B.C.to the battle at the Vadimonian Lake (283B.C.). The Etruscans had attained a high state of civilization. They carried on a flourishing commerce, and at one time were powerful at sea. They were less warlike than most of the nations around them, and had the custom of hiring mercenaries for their armies. Of the Etruscan language little is known,although about 6000 inscriptions have been preserved. It was written in characters essentially the same as the ancient Greek. The Etruscans were specially distinguished by their religious institutions and ceremonies, which reveal tendencies gloomy and mystical. Their gods were of two orders, the first nameless, mysterious deities, exercising a controlling influence in the background on the lower order of gods, who manage the affairs of the world. At the head of these is a deity resembling the Roman Jupiter (in EtruscanTinia). But it is characteristic of the Etruscan religion that there is also a Vejovis or evil Jupiter. The Etruscan name of Venus wasTuran, of VulcanSethlans, of BacchusPhuphluns, of MercuryTurms. Etruscan art was in the main borrowed from Greece. For articles in terra-cotta, a material which they used mainly for ornamental tiles, sarcophagi, and statues, Etruscans were especially celebrated. In the manufacture of pottery they had made great advances; but most of the painted vases popularly known as Etruscan are undoubtedly productions of Greek workmen. The skill of the Etruscans in works of metal is attested by ancient writers, and also by numerous extant specimens, such as necklaces, ear-rings, and bracelets. The bronze candelabra, of which many examples have been preserved, were eagerly sought after both in Greece and Rome. A peculiar manufacture was that of engraved bronze mirrors. These were polished on one side, and have on the other an engraved design, taken in most cases from Greek legend or mythology. The Etruscans showed great constructive and engineering skill. They were acquainted with the principle of the arch, and the massive ruins of the walls of their ancient cities still testify to the solidity of their constructions. Various arts and inventions were derived by the Romans from the Etruscans.—Bibliography: G. Dennis,Cities and Cemeteries in Etruria; Seymour,Up Hill and Down Dale in Ancient Etruria.
Etruria, a village of England, in Staffordshire, between Hanley and Burslem, famous as the place where Josiah Wedgwood established his pottery works in 1769. Pop. 8056.
Etruria, Kingdom of, in Italy, founded by Napoleon I in 1801. Its capital was Florence. In 1807 Napoleon incorporated it with the French Empire.
Etruscan PotteryEtruscan Pottery (from Veii)
Etruscan Vases, a class of beautiful ancient painted vases made in Etruria, but not strictly speaking a product of Etruscan art, since they were really the productions of a ripe age of Greek art, the workmanship, subjects, style, and inscriptions being all Greek. They are elegant in form and enriched with bands of beautiful foliage and other ornaments, figures and similar subjects of a highly artistic character. One class has black figures and ornaments on a red ground—the natural colour of the clay; another has the figures left of the natural colour and the ground painted black. The former class belong to a date about 600B.C., the latter date about a century later, and extend over a period of about 300 or 350 years, when the manufacture seems to have ceased. During this period there was much variety in the form and ornamentation, gold and other colours besides the primitive ones of black and red being frequently made use of. The subjects represented upon these vases frequently relate to heroic personages of the Greek mythology, but many scenes of an ordinary and even of a domestic character are depicted. The figures are usually in profile: temples are occasionally introduced; and many curious particulars may be learned from these vase pictures regarding the Hellenic ritual, games, festivities, and domestic life.
Ett´rick, a pastoral district of Scotland, in Selkirkshire, watered by the Ettrick, and anciently part of Ettrick Forest, which included Selkirk with parts of Peebles and Edinburgh. The Ettrick receives the Yarrow 2 miles above Selkirk, and enters the Tweed 3 miles below. TheEttrick Shepherd, the Scottish poet James Hogg, was a native of this district.
Etty, William, an English painter, born in 1787, died in 1849. He studied at the Royal Academy, worked long without much recognition, but at length in 1820 he won public notice by hisCoral Finders. In 1828 he was elected an academician. Among his works, which were greatly admired, are a series of three pictures (1827-31) illustrating theDeliverance of Bethulia by Judith,Benaiah(one of David's mighty men), andWomen Interceding for the Vanquished. All these are very large pictures, and are now in the National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh). Others of note are:The Judgment of Paris;TheRape of Proserpine; andYouth at the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm. Etty especially excelled at painting undraped figures.
Etymol´ogy(Gr.etymos, true, andlogos, account), a term applied (1) to that part of grammar which treats of the various inflections and modifications of words and shows how they are formed from simple roots; (2) to that branch of philology which traces the history of words from their origin to their latest form and meaning. Etymology in this latter sense, or the investigation of the origin and growth of words, is amongst the oldest of studies. Plato and other Greek philosophers, the Alexandrian grammarians, the scholiasts, the Roman Varro, and others wrote much on this subject. Their work, however, is made up of conjectures at best ingenious rather than sound, and very often wild and fantastic. It was not till recent times, and particularly since the study of Sanskrit, that etymology has been scientifically studied. Languages then began to be properly classed in groups and families, and words were studied by a comparison of their growth and relationship in different languages. It was recognized that the development of language is not an arbitrary or accidental matter, but proceeds according to general laws. The result was a great advance in etymological knowledge and the formation of a new science ofphilology.—Cf. W. W. Skeat,The Science of Etymology.
Eu(eu), a town in Northern France, department of Seine-Inférieure, about 17 miles north-east of Dieppe. It is notable for its old twelfth-century church and the celebrated Château d'Eu, part of which was destroyed in 1902. Pop. 4900.
Eubœ´a, formerly called Negropont, a Greek island, the second largest island of the Ægean Sea. It is 90 miles in length; 30 in greatest breadth, reduced at one point to 4 miles. It is separated from the mainland of Greece by the narrow channels of Egripo and Talanta. It is connected with the Bœotian shore by a bridge. There are several mountain peaks over 2000 feet in height, and one over 7000 feet. The island is well-wooded and remarkably fertile. Wine is a staple product, and cotton, wool, pitch, and turpentine are exported. The chief towns are Chalcis and Karysto. The island was anciently divided among seven independent cities, the most important of which were Chalcis and Eretria, and its history is for the most part identical with that of those two cities. With some small islands it forms a modern nomarchy, with a pop. of 116,900.
Eubu´lus, a Greek comic poet, who flourished at Athens about 375B.C.His subjects were chiefly mythological, and he delighted in ridiculing the tragic poets, especially Euripides.
EucalyptusEucalyptus globulus1, Section of unopened flower. 2, Anthers. 3, Section of fruit.
1, Section of unopened flower. 2, Anthers. 3, Section of fruit.
Eucalyp´tus, a genus of trees, nat. ord. Myrtaceæ, mostly natives of Australia, and remarkable for their gigantic size, some of them attaining the height of 480 or 500 feet. In the Australian colonies they are known by the name of gum trees, from the gum which exudes from their trunks; individual species are known as 'stringy bark', 'iron bark',karri, orjarrah. The wood of some is excellent for building and many purposes. TheE. globŭlus, or blue gum, yields an essential oil which is valuable as a febrifuge, antasthmatic, and antispasmodic. The medicinal properties of this tree also make it useful as a disinfectant, and as an astringent in affections of the respiratory passages, being employed in the form of an infusion, a decoction, or an extract, and cigarettes made of the leaves being also smoked. The E. globŭlus and the E. amygdalina are found to have an excellent sanitary effect when planted in malarious districts such as the Roman Campagna, parts of which have already been reclaimed by their use. This result is partly brought about by the drainage of the soil (the trees absorbing great quantities of moisture), partly perhaps by the balsamic odour given out. E. mannifĕra and others yield a sweet secretion resembling manna. Some, especially E. rostrata, yield a kind of gum kino. The Eucalyptus has been introduced with success into India, Palestine, Algiers, and Southern France.
Eucharist(ū´ka-rist; Gr.eucharistia, fromeu, well, andcharis, grace), a name for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, in reference to the blessing and thanksgiving which accompany it.
Eucharistic Congresses, gatherings of the Roman Catholic clergy and laity, held with the object of glorifying the Sacrament of the Eucharist, were inaugurated by Bishop de Sègur, of Lille. The first congress, held in that city (1881) excited little but local interest; but the movement rapidly developed, succeeding congresses being held at Avignon (1882), Liège (1883), Paris (1888), Jerusalem (1893), Lourdes (1899), Rome (1905), and elsewhere. In 1908 the congress held in London was attended by Cardinal Vannutelli, the first Papal legate to visit England for three centuries, by six other cardinals, fourteen archbishops, and seventy bishops. A proposal to carry the Sacrament through London in procession aroused much opposition, and the project was abandoned on the personal intervention of Mr. Asquith, then Premier.
Euchre(ū´kėr), a card-game very popular in America, is usually played by two or four persons. After the cut for deal five cards are dealt (either by twos and threes or by threes and twos) to each player, and the uppermost card of those undealt is turned up for trump. The first player has the option either to 'order up' (namely to make this card trump) or to pass. In the latter case it is left to the next player to decide if he will play first or pass, and so on till the turn of the dealer comes. He must either play on this trump or turn it down, when all the players have again in turn their choice of making a new trump or passing. If a trump is 'ordered up' or taken in the first round, the dealer may take it into his cards, discarding in its place his poorest card. If the player who elects to play wins five tricks, he counts two; if he wins three tricks, he counts one; if he wins fewer than three tricks, he iseuchred, and each independent opponent counts two. The cards rank as at whist, except that the knave of the trump suit, called theright bower(from the Ger.bauer, a peasant), is the highest card, the knave of the other suit of the same colour being the second highest.
Eucken, Rudolf Christoph, German philosopher and theologian, born in East Friesland in 1846. Educated at the Universities of Göttingen and Berlin, he was professor of philosophy at Basel from 1871 to 1874, when he obtained a similar appointment at Jena. Opposed both to utilitarianism and positivism. Eucken is one of the leaders of those German philosophers who maintain that the spiritual interests of man should be taken into consideration, and oppose the philosophic systems which treat life only from the physical and biological points of view. His spiritualistic philosophy has found many adherents, and his works are very popular. In 1908 he won the Nobel prize for literature, and in 1910 he was made aD.D.of the University of Glasgow. His works include:The Life of the Spirit(1909),The Problem of Human Life as viewed by the Great Thinkers(1909), The Meaning and Value of Life (1909),Main Currents of Modern Thought(1911),Life's Basis and Life's Ideal(1911),Can we still be Christians?(1913).
Euclid(Eucleidēs), of Alexandria, a distinguished Greek mathematician, who flourished about 300B.C.HisStoicheia(Elements of Geometry), in thirteen books, are still extant, and form the most usual introduction to the study of geometry. The work was known to the Arabs, translations of it having appeared in the time of Harun-al-Rashid and of Al-Mamun. It was translated from the Arabic into Latin by Adelard of Bath, and an English translation from the Latin appeared in 1570. The severity and accuracy of Euclid's methods of demonstration have as a whole never been surpassed. Besides theElements, some other works are attributed to Euclid.—Cf. R. S. Heath,The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements.
Euclid(Eucleidēs), of Megara, an ancient Greek philosopher, the founder of the Megaric school of philosophy, and a pupil of Socrates.
Eudiom´eter(Gr.eudios, serene), an instrument originally designed for ascertaining the purity of the air or the quantity of oxygen it contains, but now employed generally in the analysis of gaseous mixtures. It consists of a graduated glass tube, either straight or bent in the shape of the letterU, hermetically sealed at one end and open at the other. Two platinum wires, intended for the conveyance of electric sparks through any mixture of gases, are inserted through the glass near the closed end of the tube, and approach but do not touch each other. To determine the proportion of oxygen in a given specimen of air, hydrogen is introduced into the tube with a measured volume of the air, and the mixture is fired by an electric spark. Water is formed, and the quantity of oxygen can be estimated from the diminution of volume. In a mixture of gases, chemical absorbents may be used to remove the gases one by one, the amounts present being determined by the successive changes of volume.
Eugene(ū-jēn´), or François Eugène, Prince of Savoy, fifth son of Eugène Maurice, Duke of Savoy-Carignan, and Olympia Mancini, a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. He was born at Paris 18th Oct., 1663, and died in Vienna 21st April, 1736. Offended with Louis XIV, he entered the Austrian service in 1683, serving his first campaign as a volunteer against the Turks. Herehe distinguished himself so much that he received a regiment of dragoons. Later, at the sieges of Belgrade and Mayence, he increased his reputation, and on the outbreak of war between France and Austria he received the command of the Imperial forces sent to Piedmont to act in conjunction with the troops of the Duke of Savoy. At the end of the war he was sent as commander-in-chief to Hungary, where he defeated the Turks at the battle of Zenta (11th Sept., 1697). The War of the Spanish Succession brought Eugene again into the field. In Northern Italy he outmanœuvred Catinat and Villeroi, defeating the latter at Cremona (1702). In 1703 he commanded the Imperial army in Germany, and in co-operation with Marlborough frustrated the plans of France and her allies. In the battle of Blenheim, Eugene and Marlborough defeated the French and Bavarians under Marshal Tallard, 13th Aug., 1704. Next year Eugene, returning to Italy, forced the French to raise the siege of Turin, and in one month drove them out of Italy. During the following years he fought on the Rhine, took Lille, and, in conjunction with Marlborough, defeated the French at Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709), where he himself was dangerously wounded. After the recall of Marlborough, which Eugene opposed in person at London, without success, and the defection of England from the alliance against France, his further progress was in a great measure checked. In the war with Turkey, in 1716, Eugene defeated two superior armies at Peterswardein and Temesvar, and, in 1717, took Belgrade, after having gained a decisive victory over a third army that came to its relief. During fifteen years of peace which followed, Eugene served Austria as faithfully in the Cabinet as he had done in the field. He was one of the great generals of modern times.—Cf. G. B. Malleson,Prince Eugene of Savoy.
Euge´nia(so named in honour of PrinceEugene), a genus of Myrtaceæ, nearly related to the myrtle. It contains numerous species, some of which produce delicious fruits. Cloves are the dried flower-buds ofE. caryophyllata.
Eugenicshas been defined as "the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations, either physically or mentally". It is concerned with the investigation of the physical, mental, and moral traits of mankind, and especially with the factors of inheritance of desirable and undesirable qualities. The interest in the subject is largely due to the untiring zeal of the late Sir Francis Galton, who devoted most of his life to the study of the manifold problems that came within the scope of 'eugenics', and, in accordance with the terms of his will (1908), founded the Galton Chair of Eugenics in the University of London. The library and laboratory of the Galton benefaction form part of the Department of Applied Statistics, under the direction of Professor Karl Pearson,F.R.S., at University College, London, who is also the editor of the journalBiometrika, which is devoted to the statistical side of the problems of anthropology and heredity. The aim of the Galton laboratory is to collect material relating to human heredity, and to investigate its significance; and also to extend the knowledge of eugenics by professional instruction, lectures, publications, and experimental work. The scope of its activities will best be appreciated by the study of such works as the late Sir Francis Galton'sNatural Inheritance(1889) andEssays in Eugenics(1909), and Professor Karl Pearson'sGroundwork of Eugenics(1909),Practical Problems of Eugenics(1909), andState of National Eugenics(1909).The Treasury of Human Inheritance, issued in parts from the Galton laboratory, is a monumental record of facts relating to the hereditary transmission of human qualities. The Eugenics Education Society, under the presidency of Major Leonard Darwin, has for its aim the stimulation of public interest in the subject, and the discussion of the problems of heredity. It issues a journal,The Eugenics Review, now in its twelfth year.
It has long been known that by means of careful selection of parents it was possible to breed horses, cattle, dogs, &c., and a great variety of food- and flowering-plants, with desirable qualities highly developed. But it is obvious that such direct methods cannot be applied to human beings for the purpose of breeding men and women with special traits. What the eugenic societies aim at doing is to educate the people to realize the far-reaching effects of the inheritance of good or bad qualities, in the hope that such knowledge may exert some influence in the choice of partners in matrimony. But their efforts are especially directed to the exposure of the disastrous results that may ensue from the contamination of a family by the intermarriage of one of its members with an individual subject to some hereditary defect of a physical, mental, or moral nature.
The study of eugenics is intimately related to a wide range of subjects: to genetics, which explains the laws that govern the heredity of specific traits in man, and suggests certain practical applications of the rules of breeding to race improvement by cutting off undesirable strains and by selecting mates desirable from the eugenic standpoint; to the study of biographies of individuals and the genealogies of families, for the purpose of obtaining data for the investigation of the working of inheritance; to anthropology, history, and archæology, lawand politics, economics and sociology, medicine and psychology, and statistical science.
The tremendous stimulus which the rapid development of eugenics has given to the wider recognition of the significance of heredity in human affairs has tended to obscure the importance of social environment and individual experience, especially in children of tender age, in shaping the attitude of the individual. Education is a vastly more important factor—the manner and attitude of the teacher, rather than the subject-matter of his or her lessons—than the eugenic enthusiasts, with their over-emphasis on the dominance of hereditary influences, are willing to admit. In the causation of many diseases, commonly reputed to be hereditary, such as tuberculosis and certain forms of insanity, the social and physical circumstances probably play a more important part than heredity in determining the onset of the illness, even when some undoubted hereditary aptitude to fall a victim to one or other of these affections is admitted. In no branch of medicine or sociology is this fallacy more fruitful of error than in the domain of mental disease. Apart from certain physical defects of the nervous system and specific infections, such as syphilis, the causes of mental alienation are to be sought rather in some maladjustment to the individual's social circumstances, often the result of some emotional disturbance, even in early childhood, which created the attitude of mind that eventually determined the mental conflict expressed by the insanity. The study of the effects of the strain of war has shown that anxiety, if sufficiently intense and prolonged, can produce mental disturbance in anyone, whatever his heredity and antecedents. By over-emphasizing the importance of inheritance in the causation of such conditions as insanity and epilepsy, and ignoring the effects of the profound social disturbance an insane parent may inflict upon any home, and especially upon the impressionable minds of young children in it, the eugenic societies have been responsible for raising up a growing body of opposition to their views. Not only in the domains of medicine and psychology, but also in those of ethnology and sociology, there is a feeling that the eugenic claims have been pushed too far. But when the subject of eugenics has been pruned of these extravagances, it will exert a far-reaching influence upon social and political organization and events by compelling respect for the vast importance of heredity as a factor that plays some part in determining the physical, mental, and moral qualities of mankind. References to the voluminous literature will be found inThe Eugenics Review(published by the Eugenics Education Society, Kingsway, London).
Eugénie(eu-zhā-nē), Marie de Guzman, ex-Empress of the French, born at Granada, in Spain, 5th May, 1826, died at Seville 11th July, 1920. Her father, the Count de Montijo, was of a noble Spanish family; her mother was of Scotch extraction, maiden name Kirkpatrick. On 29th Jan., 1853, she became the wife of Napoleon III and Empress of the French. On 16th March, 1856, a son was born of the marriage. When the war broke out with Germany, she was appointed regent (15th July, 1870) during the absence of the emperor, but on the 4th Sept. the Revolution forced her to flee from France. She went to England, where she was joined by the Prince Imperial and afterwards by the emperor. Camden House, Chislehurst, became the residence of the imperial exiles. On 9th Jan., 1873, the emperor died, and six years later the Prince Imperial was slain while with the British army in the Zulu War. In 1881 the empress transferred her residence to Farnborough, in Hampshire. During the European War she established a hospital at Farnborough. In 1918 she handed over to Clemenceau the letters which she had received from William I in 1870. The letters shed a striking light upon the ambitions of Prussia. She was buried in the mausoleum at Farnborough.—Bibliography: De Lano,The Empress Eugénie; Tschuddi,Eugéne, Empress of the French; Stoddart,The Life of Empress Eugénie; E. Legge,The Empress Eugénie and her Son.
Euge´nius, the name of four Popes.—1.Eugenius I, elected 8th Sept., 654, while his predecessor, Martin I, was still living; died in 657 without having exerted any material influence on his times.—2.Eugenius IIheld the see from 824-827.—3.Eugenius III, born at Pisa, was a disciple of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He was raised to the popedom in 1145; was obliged to quit Rome in 1146 in consequence of the commotions caused by Arnold of Brescia; returned with the help of King Roger of Sicily in 1150, and died in 1153.—4.Eugenius IV, from Venice, originally called Gabriel Condolmero, was raised to the popedom in 1431. In consequence of his opposition to the Council of Basel he was deposed. He died in 1447.
Eugenol, orAllylguaiacol, is found in cloves, the leaves of cinnamon, and other plants. About 90 per cent ofclove oilis composed of eugenol.
Eu´gubine Tables, the name given to seven bronze tablets or tables found in 1444 at the town of Gubbio, the ancient Iguvium or Eugubium, now in the Italian province of Perugia, bearing inscriptions in the language of the ancient Umbrians, which seems to have somewhat resembled the ancient Latin as well as the Oscan. They seem to have been inscribed three or four centuriesB.C., and refer to sacrificial usages and ritual.
Euhem´erism, a method or system (so named from its founder Euhemerus, a Greek philosopher) of interpreting myths and mythological deities, by which they are regarded as deifications of dead heroes and poetical exaggerations of real histories.
Eulenspiegel(oi´len-spē-gl), Till, a name which has become associated in Germany with all sorts of wild, whimsical frolics, and with many amusing stories. Some such popular hero of tradition and folk-lore seems to have really existed in Germany, probably in the first half of the fourteenth century, and a collection of popular tales of a frolicsome character, originally written in Low German, purports to contain his adventures. The earliest edition of such is a Strasbourg one of the year 1515 in the British Museum. Better known, however, is that of 1519, published also at Strasbourg by Thomas Mürner (under the titleHowle-glass). The work was early translated into English and almost all European tongues. A modern English translation appeared in 1890.
Euler(oi´lėr or ü´lėr), Leonard, a distinguished mathematician, born at Basel in 1707, died at St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in 1783. He was educated at the University of Basel under the Bernouillis, through whose influence he procured a place in the Academy of St. Petersburg. In 1741 he accepted an invitation from Frederick the Great to become professor of mathematics in the Berlin Academy, but in 1766 returned to St. Petersburg, where he became director of the mathematical class of the academy. Euler's profound and inventive mind gave a new form to the science. He applied the analytic method to mechanics, and greatly improved the integral and differential calculus. He also wrote on physics, and employed himself in metaphysical and philosophical speculations. Amongst his numerous writings are: theTheoria Motuum Planetarum et Cometarum, Introductio in Analysin Infinitorum, andOpuscula Analytica.
Eu´menes(-nēz), the name of two kings of Pergamus.—1.Eumenes Isucceeded his uncle Philetærus 263B.C.He reigned for twenty-two years, and then died in a fit of drunkenness.—2.Eumenes IIsucceeded his father Attalus 197B.C., and, like him, attached himself to the Romans, who, as a reward for his services in the war against Antiochus of Syria, bestowed upon him the Thracian Chersonesus and almost all Asia on this side of the Taurus. He died in 159B.C.
Eumenides(ū-men´i-dēz). SeeFuries.
Eumycetes, orHigher Fungi, a common name for those Fungi which possess a septate mycelium. They also have a well-marked type of 'principal' spore—either theascospore(Ascomycetes) or thebasidiospore(Basidiomycetes)—and rarely produce definite sexual organs. Opposed to Phycomycetes.
Eunomians, the followers of Eunomius, Bishop of Cyzicum, in the fourth centuryA.D., who held that Christ was a created being of a nature unlike that of the Father.
Eu´nuch, an emasculated male. The term is of Greek origin (eunouchos, fromeunē, a couch or bed,echein, to hold or guard); but eunuchs became known to the Greeks no doubt from the practice among Eastern nations of having them as guardians of their women's apartments. Eunuchs were employed in somewhat similar duties among the Romans in the luxurious times of the empire, and under the Byzantine monarchs they were common. The Mohammedans still have them about their harems. Emasculation, when effected in early life, produces singular changes in males and assimilates them in some respects to women, causing them in particular to have the voice of a female. Hence it was not uncommon in Italy to castrate boys in order to fit them for soprano singers when adults.
Euon´ymus, the spindle trees or prickwoods, a genus of shrubs or trees, nat. ord. Celastrineæ, containing about fifty species, natives of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The root-bark ofE. atropurpureusis the source of euonymin, a bitter principle with a powerful stimulating effect on the liver.
Eupato´ria, formerly Koslov, a seaport on the western coast of the Crimea, government of Taurida. It was here that the allied forces landed at the commencement of the Crimean War (14th to 18th Sept., 1854). Pop. 30,432.
Eupato´rium, a genus of plants, chiefly natives of America, belonging to the nat. ord. Compositæ. Their roots are perennial, possessing a rough, bitter, or aromatic taste; the flowers are small, white, reddish, or bluish, in corymbs. Amongst the many species areE. cannabīnum, or hemp-agrimony, a British plant.
Eupen(oi´pen), a town and district of Belgium, formerly part of Rhenish Prussia, 7 milesS.S.W.of Aix-la-Chapelle. It has manufactures of woollen and linen cloth, hats, soap, leather, and chemicals; paper, flax, and worsted mills; and an important trade. The town was ceded to Prussia at the Peace of Paris in 1814. On 26th May, 1919, Eupen was occupied by Belgian troops, and by the Treaty of Versailles Eupen and Malmédy were handed over to Belgium. Pop. 13,540.
Eupho´nium, a brass bass instrument, generally introduced into military bands, and frequently met with in the orchestra as a substitute for the superseded ophicleide. It is one of the saxhorn family of instruments. It is tuned in C or in B flat, and is furnished with three or four valves or pistons.
Euphorbia.SeeSpurge.
Euphorbia´ceæ, the spurgeworts, a nat. ord. of herbaceous plants, shrubs, or very large trees, which occur in all regions of the globe. Most of them have an acrid milky juice, and diclinous or monœcious flowers. The fruit is dry or slightly fleshy, and three-lobed. Among the genera are: Euphorbia, which yields an oil used as a powerful cathartic; Croton, affording croton-oil; theRicĭnus commŭnis, or castor-oil plant; theBuxus sempervirens, or box-wood plant; theManihot utilissima, which yields the food known as tapioca or cassava. In most members of the genera the milky juice contains caoutchouc.
Euphor´bium, a yellowish-white body, which is the solidified juice of certain plants of the genus Euphorbia, either exuding naturally or from incisions made in the bark. It is a powerfully acrid substance, virulently purgative and emetic.
Euphra´tes, orEl Frat, a celebrated river of Western Asia, Mesopotamia, having a double source in two streams rising in the Anti-Taurus range. Its total length is about 1750 miles, and the area of its basin 260,000 sq. miles. It flows mainly in a south-easterly course through the great alluvial plains of Babylonia and Chaldæa till it falls into the Persian Gulf by several mouths, of which only one in Persian territory is navigable. About 100 miles from its mouth it is joined by the Tigris, when the united streams take the name of Shatt-el-Arab. It is navigable for about 1200 miles, but navigation is somewhat impeded by rapids and shallows. The melting of snow in the Taurus and Anti-Taurus causes a flooding in spring. The water is highest in May and June, when the current, which rarely exceeds 3 miles an hour, rises to 5. In the Bible (Gen.XV, 18) the Euphrates isThe River, orThe Great River.
Eu´phuism(Gr.euphues, well endowed by nature), an affected style of speech which distinguished the conversation and writings of many of the wits of the court of Queen Elizabeth. The name and the style were derived fromEuphues, the Anatomy of Wit(about 1580), andEuphues and his England(about 1582), both written by John Lyly (1554-1606). A well-known euphuist in fiction is Sir Piercie Shafton in Scott'sMonastery. Scott, however, had not studied Lyly sufficiently, and Sir Piercie raves bombastically rather than talks euphuistically. The chief characteristics of genuine euphuism were extreme artificiality and numerous allusions to natural history embellished by imagination.
Eu´polis, an Athenian comic poet, who flourished about 429B.C.Neither the date of his birth nor that of his death is known with certainty. He belongs, like Aristophanes and Cratinus, to the Old Comedy. His works are all lost except small fragments. According to Suidas, he produced seventeen plays, seven of which won the first prize. His best-known plays are theKolakes(Flatterers), in which he attacked the prodigal Callias, and theBaptæ(Dippers), in which he attacked Alcibiades and the exotic ritual practised at his clubs.
Eura´sians(syncopated from European-Asians), a name euphemistically given to the 'half-castes' of India, the offspring of European fathers and Indian mothers. They are particularly common in the three presidential capitals—Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. Belonging strictly to neither race, Eurasians are not infrequently ostracized by both; and their anomalous position often exerts a baneful influence upon their character. They generally receive a European education, and the young men are often engaged in Government or mercantile offices. The girls, in spite of their dark tint, are generally very pretty and often marry Europeans.
Eure(eur), a river of North-West France, which rises in the department of the Orne, and falls into the Seine after a course of 124 miles, being navigable for about half the distance. It gives its name to a department in the north-west of France, forming part of Normandy; area, 2330 sq. miles. The surface consists of an extensive plain, intersected by rivers, chief of which is the Seine. It is extensively cultivated; apples, pears, plums, and cherries form important crops, and a little wine is produced. The mining and manufacturing industries are extensive, and the department has a considerable trade in woollen cloth, linen and cotton fabrics, carpets, leather, paper, glass. Evreux is the capital. Pop. 303,092.
Eure-et-Loir(eur-ė-lwär), a department in the north-west of France, forming part of the old provinces of Orléannais and Île-de-France; area, 2293 sq. miles. A ridge of no great height divides the department into a north and a south basin, traversed respectively by the Eure and the Loire. The soil is extremely fertile, and there is scarcely any waste land. A considerable portion is occupied by orchards and vineyards, but the greater part is devoted to cereal crops. The department is essentially agricultural, and has few manufactures. The capital is Chartres. Pop. 251,259.
Eure´ka(Gr.heurēka, I have found it), the exclamation of Archimedes when, after long study, he discovered a method of detecting the amount of alloy in King Hiero's crown. Hence the word is used as an expression of triumph at a discovery or supposed discovery.
Eurhythmics, a general term, but usually used to denote a system of education evolved by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze of Geneva. This form of training bears on all art, but especially on the art of music. Eurhythmics is essentiallyan original contribution to education. It aims at training musical sense on the broadest lines, using the body as an instrument of expression. Breaking away from preconceived ideas of music as a phenomenon of sound only, M. Dalcroze claims that music is innate. From this standpoint it follows that musicality as such is capable of cultivation apart from instrumental performance. Rhythm, not being a quality confined to music, but found common to all art, and fundamental to life, can, therefore, be developed from within the human being. This the Dalcroze system claims to do. Rhythm of sound plays a leading part in that it is allied to movement. Exercises at the piano are played to which the pupil listens, and to which he responds in movement—movement so closely allied to the music that it is a form of musical imagery. The technique is developed on simple lines to serve this end only. The system is progressive, starting from elementary rhythmic structure, and ending with complete musical form. It is far-reaching in educative purpose. It claims to free innate rhythm, to develop it for individual self-expression; to bring mind and body into closer unity, and in their interaction to give poise to both; to train accurate musical listening, ready assimilation of musical language and its spontaneous translation into terms of movement; to give musical experiences which shall be heard and felt; to cultivate musical expression and creation (in movement); to blend self-discipline with emotion.