The New Gresham Encyclopedia Part 2
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ETRePILLY, (1) a small town of France, department of Aisne, is situated near Chateau-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 flouris.h.i.+ng condition before the foundation of Rome, 753 B.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 styled _luc.u.m[=o]nes_, 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 396 B.C. to the battle at the Vadimonian Lake (283 B.C.). The Etruscans had attained a high state of civilization. They carried on a flouris.h.i.+ng 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 inst.i.tutions and ceremonies, which reveal tendencies gloomy and mystical. Their G.o.ds were of two orders, the first nameless, mysterious deities, exercising a controlling influence in the background on the lower order of G.o.ds, who manage the affairs of the world. At the head of these is a deity resembling the Roman Jupiter (in Etruscan _Tinia_). But it is characteristic of the Etruscan religion that there is also a Vejovis or evil Jupiter. The Etruscan name of Venus was _Turan_, of Vulcan _Sethlans_, of Bacchus _Phuphluns_, of Mercury _Turms_. 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 ma.s.sive 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 Staffords.h.i.+re, 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Etruscan Pottery (from Veii)]
ETRUSCAN VASES, a cla.s.s 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 workmans.h.i.+p, 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 cla.s.s 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 cla.s.s belong to a date about 600 B.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 h.e.l.lenic ritual, games, festivities, and domestic life.
ETT'RICK, a pastoral district of Scotland, in Selkirks.h.i.+re, 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. The _Ettrick 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 his _Coral Finders_. In 1828 he was elected an academician. Among his works, which were greatly admired, are a series of three pictures (1827-31) ill.u.s.trating the _Deliverance of Bethulia by Judith_, _Benaiah_ (one of David's mighty men), and _Women 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_; _The_ _Rape of Proserpine_; and _Youth at the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm_. Etty especially excelled at painting undraped figures.
ETYMOL'OGY (Gr. _etymos_, true, and _logos_, 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 cla.s.sed in groups and families, and words were studied by a comparison of their growth and relations.h.i.+p 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 of _philology_.--Cf. W. W. Skeat, _The Science of Etymology_.
EU (_eu_), a town in Northern France, department of Seine-Inferieure, about 17 miles north-east of Dieppe. It is notable for its old twelfth-century church and the celebrated Chateau d'Eu, part of which was destroyed in 1902. Pop. 4900.
EUBOE'A, formerly called Negropont, a Greek island, the second largest island of the aegean 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 Boeotian sh.o.r.e 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 375 B.C. His subjects were chiefly mythological, and he delighted in ridiculing the tragic poets, especially Euripides.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Eucalyptus globulus
1, Section of unopened flower. 2, Anthers. 3, Section of fruit.]
EUCALYP'TUS, a genus of trees, nat. ord. Myrtaceae, 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_, or _jarrah_. The wood of some is excellent for building and many purposes. The _E. glob[)u]lus_, 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 pa.s.sages, being employed in the form of an infusion, a decoction, or an extract, and cigarettes made of the leaves being also smoked. The E. glob[)u]lus 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 quant.i.ties of moisture), partly perhaps by the balsamic odour given out. E. mannif[)e]ra 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 ([=u]'ka-rist; Gr. _eucharistia_, from _eu_, well, and _charis_, 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 Segur, 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), Liege (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 ([=u]'k[.e]r), 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 pa.s.s. In the latter case it is left to the next player to decide if he will play first or pa.s.s, 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 pa.s.sing. 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 is _euchred_, and each independent opponent counts two. The cards rank as at whist, except that the knave of the trump suit, called the _right 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 Gottingen 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 n.o.bel prize for literature, and in 1910 he was made a D.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 (_Eucleid[=e]s_), of Alexandria, a distinguished Greek mathematician, who flourished about 300 B.C. His _Stoicheia_ (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-Ras.h.i.+d 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 surpa.s.sed. Besides the _Elements_, some other works are attributed to Euclid.--Cf. R. S. Heath, _The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements_.
EUCLID (_Eucleid[=e]s_), 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 quant.i.ty of oxygen it contains, but now employed generally in the a.n.a.lysis of gaseous mixtures. It consists of a graduated gla.s.s tube, either straight or bent in the shape of the letter [1], 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 gla.s.s 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 quant.i.ty 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 ([=u]-j[=e]n'), or Francois Eugene, Prince of Savoy, fifth son of Eugene 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. Here he 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 outmanoeuvred 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 Prince _Eugene_), a genus of Myrtaceae, nearly related to the myrtle. It contains numerous species, some of which produce delicious fruits. Cloves are the dried flower-buds of _E.
caryophyllata_.
EUGENICS has 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 journal _Biometrika_, 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's _Natural Inheritance_ (1889) and _Essays in Eugenics_ (1909), and Professor Karl Pearson's _Groundwork of Eugenics_ (1909), _Practical Problems of Eugenics_ (1909), and _State 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 archaeology, law and 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 att.i.tude of the individual. Education is a vastly more important factor--the manner and att.i.tude 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 circ.u.mstances probably play a more important part than heredity in determining the onset of the illness, even when some undoubted hereditary apt.i.tude 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 circ.u.mstances, often the result of some emotional disturbance, even in early childhood, which created the att.i.tude 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 in _The Eugenics Review_ (published by the Eugenics Education Society, Kingsway, London).
EUGeNIE (eu-zh[=a]-n[=e]), 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 n.o.ble 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 Hamps.h.i.+re. 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 Eugenie_; Tschuddi, _Eugene, Empress of the French_; Stoddart, _The Life of Empress Eugenie_; E. Legge, _The Empress Eugenie 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 II held 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, or ALLYLGUAIACOL, is found in cloves, the leaves of cinnamon, and other plants. About 90 per cent of _clove oil_ is 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 centuries B.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-sp[=e]-gl), Till, a name which has become a.s.sociated 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 Murner (under the t.i.tle _Howle-gla.s.s_). The work was early translated into English and almost all European tongues. A modern English translation appeared in 1890.
EULER (oi'l[.e]r or u'l[.e]r), 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 cla.s.s of the academy. Euler's profound and inventive mind gave a new form to the science. He applied the a.n.a.lytic 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: the _Theoria Motuum Planetarum et Cometarum, Introductio in a.n.a.lysin Infinitorum_, and _Opuscula a.n.a.lytica_.
EU'MENES (-n[=e]z), the name of two kings of Pergamus.--1. EUMENES I succeeded his uncle Philetaerus 263 B.C. He reigned for twenty-two years, and then died in a fit of drunkenness.--2. EUMENES II succeeded his father Attalus 197 B.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 159 B.C.
EUMENIDES ([=u]-men'i-d[=e]z). See _Furies_.
EUMYCETES, or HIGHER FUNGI, a common name for those Fungi which possess a septate mycelium. They also have a well-marked type of 'princ.i.p.al'
spore--either the _ascospore_ (Ascomycetes) or the _basidiospore_ (Basidiomycetes)--and rarely produce definite s.e.xual organs. Opposed to Phycomycetes.
EUNOMIANS, the followers of Eunomius, Bishop of Cyzic.u.m, in the fourth century A.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_, from _eun[=e]_, 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 a.s.similates 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 p.r.i.c.kwoods, a genus of shrubs or trees, nat. ord. Celastrineae, containing about fifty species, natives of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The root-bark of _E.
atropurpureus_ is 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. Compositae. 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 are _E. cannab[=i]num_, or hemp-agrimony, a British plant.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia Part 2
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The New Gresham Encyclopedia Part 2 summary
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