ELM, a genus of trees (Ulmus; nat. ord., Ulmaceae), consisting of eighteen
species, natives of the northern temperate zone and mountains of Tropical
Asia. They have bisexual flowers with a campanulate calyx, as many stamens
as there are divisions in the limb of the calyx, and two styles. Two
species are common in Britain, _Ulmus campestris_ and _Ulmus mont[=a]na_,
with many varieties. The _Ulmus campestris_, or common elm, is a fine tree,
of rapid and erect growth, and yielding a tall stem, remarkable for the
uniformity of its diameter throughout. It is very common as a timber tree
in England; but as it rarely produces seed it is questionable whether it is
indigenous. It is a native of the south and middle of Europe, and the west
of Asia. The average height of a mature tree is 70 or 80 feet, but some
reach a height of 150 feet. The wood is brown, hard, of fine grain, not apt
to crack, and is used for many purposes. The tree generally attains
maturity in seventy or eighty years. _Ulmus mont[=a]na_ (the mountain or
wych elm), a native of Scotland, grows to a less height than the English
elm, is of slower growth, and yields a much shorter bole, but it is far
bolder in its ramification and more hardy. It usually attains to the height
of about 50 feet. It does not produce suckers, like the English elm, but
yields seed freely. The timber is strong and elastic, and the tree often
yields large protuberances of gnarled wood, finely knotted and veined, and
much esteemed for veneering. _Ulmus glabra_, the smooth-leaved elm, is a
variety common in some parts of Britain. It first appeared about the middle
of the eighteenth century. The most ornamental tree of the genus is _Ulmus
mont[=a]na_, variety _pend[)u]la_, the weeping elm. The American or white
elm (_Ulmus americ[=a]na_) is abundant in the Western States, attaining its
loftiest stature between lat. 42deg and 46deg; here it reaches the height
of 100 feet, with a trunk 4 or 5 feet in diameter, rising sometimes 60 or
70 feet before it separates into a few primary limbs. Its wood is not much
esteemed. The red or slippery elm (_Ulmus fulva_) is found throughout a
great extent of country in Canada, Missouri, and as far south as lat.
31deg; it attains the height of 50 or 60 feet, with a trunk 15 or 20 inches
in diameter; the wood is of better quality than that of the white elm. The
leaves and bark yield an abundant mucilage. The wahoo (_Ulmus al[=a]ta_),
inhabiting from lat. 37deg to Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas, is a small
tree, 30 feet high. The branches are furnished on two opposite sides with
wings of cork 2 or 3 lines wide; the wood is fine-grained and heavy.
ELMI'NA, a British town and seaport on the west coast of Africa, 8 miles
west of Cape Coast Castle. It was acquired by Britain in 1872 with the
other Dutch possessions on the Gold Coast, when it was claimed by the King
of Ashanti, the result being the Ashanti Wars of 1873-4. Pop. 12,500.
ELMI'RA, a town of the United States, N. York, on the Chemung River; with a
college for women, founded in 1855, the State reformatory, and a fine
court-house. Its industrial establishments comprise rolling-mill,
blast-furnace, foundries, and machine-works. Pop. 37,176.
ELMO'S FIRE, ST., a meteoric appearance often seen playing about the masts
and rigging of ships. If two flames are visible (Castor and Pollux) the
sailors consider it a good omen; if only one (Helena), they regard it as a
bad one. The name is derived from St. Elmo, or St. Erasmus, who was broken
on the wheel A.D. 304.
ELMSHORN, a town in Schleswig-Holstein, 20 miles north-west of Hamburg, on
the Kr[:u]ckau, a navigable stream. Pop. 14,790.
ELMSLEY, Peter, D.D., English scholar, born in 1773, died in 1825. Educated
at Oxford, he was one of the original contributors to the _Edinburgh
Review_, and wrote occasionally, at a subsequent period, in the
_Quarterly_. He finally settled at Oxford, on obtaining the headship of St.
Alban's Hall and the Camden professorship of ancient history in 1823. He
published editions of the _Oedipus Tyrannus_ (1811), _Heraclidae_ (1815),
_Medea_ (1818), _Bacchae_ (1821), and _Oedipus Coloneus_ (1823).
EL OBEID. See _Obeid_.
ELODEA, a genus of submerged water-plants, nat. ord. Hydrocharitaceae. _E.
canadensis_, the Canadian water-weed, was accidentally introduced into
Britain about 1840, and spread throughout Europe with extraordinary
rapidity, and entirely by vegetative reproduction, as only the [female]
plant exists on this side of the Atlantic. The plant is much used for
physiological experiments, e.g. for showing the movements of protoplasm.
ELO'HIM (plural of _Eloah_), one of the Hebrew names for God, of frequent
occurrence in the Bible. Elohim is used in speaking both of the true God
and of false gods, while Jehovah is confined to the true God. The plural
form of Elohim has caused a good deal of controversy, some considering it
as containing an allusion to the doctrine of the Trinity, others regarding
it as the plural of excellence, others holding it as establishing the fact
of a primitive polytheism. The Elohistic passages in the _Pentateuch_, or,
in other words, the passages in which the Almighty is always spoken of as
Elohim, are supposed to have been written at an earlier period than those
in which he is spoken of as Jehovah. The Elohistic passages are simpler and
more primitive in character than the Jehovistic; thus _Gen._ i, 27 is
Elohistic; _Gen._ ii, 21-4 is Jehovistic.
EL PASO ('the pass' or crossing), a town of the United States, in Texas, at
an important ford or crossing of the Rio Grande del Norte, where there is
now a railway bridge, with extensive railway connections and large trade
with Mexico, the smaller Mexican town of same name being on the opposite
bank of the river. Pop. (including suburbs), 39,280.
ELPHINSTONE. Hon. Mountstuart, Indian administrator, son of the eleventh
Lord Elphinstone, born in Scotland in 1778, died in 1859. He joined the
Bengal Civil Service in 1795, was Ambassador to the Afghan Court in 1808,
Resident at the Court of Poonah from 1810 to 1817, and British commissioner
to that province from 1817 to 1819, when he became Governor of Bombay.
During a government of seven years he established a code of laws, lightened
taxes, and paid great attention to schools and public institutions. He
resigned in 1827. A college established by the natives was called after him
Elphinstone College. He was the author of an _Account of the Kingdom of
Cabul and its Dependencies_ (1815), and a _History of India_ (1841). He was
offered the governor-generalship of India in 1835, and afterwards that of
Canada, both of which he declined.
ELPHINSTONE, William, a Scottish prelate, founder of King's College and
University, Aberdeen, born at Glasgow in 1431, died in 1514. He was
educated at Glasgow College, and served four years as priest of St.
Michael's in that city. He then went to France and became professor of law,
first at Paris and subsequently at Orleans, but before 1474 he returned
home at the request of Muirhead, Bishop of Glasgow, who made him commissary
of the diocese. In 1478 he was made commissary of the Lothians, and in 1479
Archdeacon of Argyle. Soon after he was made Bishop of Ross; and in 1483
was transferred to the see of Aberdeen. In 1484 and 1486 he was
commissioned to negotiate truces with England, and in 1488 was Lord
High-Chancellor of the kingdom for several months. He was next sent on a
mission to Germany, and after his return held the office of Lord Privy Seal
till his death in 1514. In 1494 he obtained a papal bull for the erection
of the university of King's College at Aberdeen.
ELSINORE' (Dan. _Helsing[:o]r_), a seaport of Denmark, in the Island of
Seeland, at the narrowest part of the Sound, here only 3-1/2 miles broad,
24 miles north by east of Copenhagen, opposite Helsingborg in Sweden, and
connected with it by train-ferry. Near Elsinore is the castle of Kronberg,
built by Frederick II of Denmark about 1580, and commanding the Sound. The
castle, now chiefly used as barracks, is associated with Shakespeare's
_Hamlet_. Before the abolition of the Sound dues in 1857 all merchant ships
passing through were bound to pay toll here. Pop. 13,990.
ELSTER two German rivers, the White or Great Elster, a tributary of the
Saale; the Black Elster, a tributary of the Elbe.
ELSWICK (els'ik), a suburb of Newcastle, England, containing the great
ordnance-works of Armstrong, Mitchell, & Co. Pop. 58,352.
ELTON, Charles Isaac, English jurist and archaeologist, born 1839, died
1900. He was educated at Cheltenham and Oxford, became a barrister and a
member of Parliament, and wrote various works on legal and other subjects,
the most important being _Origins of English History_. In this work he
traces the development of England and its inhabitants, from the earliest
times regarding which we have any knowledge, to the acceptance of
Christianity by the Anglo-Saxons, the investigation of the evidence
furnished by Greek and Roman writers, and the discussion of prehistoric
ethnology and archaeology being especially thorough. Other works are:
_Commons and Waste Lands_, and _W. Shakespeare: His Family and Friends_.
ELU'TRIATION (Lat. _elutriare_, to wash out), the process of separating the
finer particles of a clay, earth, or similar mass, from the coarser,
consisting in stirring up the substance in water, letting the coarser
particles subside, running off the liquid containing the finer particles,
and then waiting till they subside.
ELVAS, a fortified city of Portugal, province of Alemtejo, near the Spanish
frontier, 12 miles north-west of Badajoz, on a height flanked by two
others, each crowned by a castle. It has a cathedral, partly Moorish and
partly Gothic, and a Moorish aqueduct, a magnificent work which brings
water from a distance of 15 miles. Pop. 10,645.
ELY ([=e]'li), an episcopal city of England, in the county of Cambridge, on
an eminence on the left bank of the Ouse. The ecclesiastical structures
comprise the cathedral, one of the largest in England, and the churches of
St. Mary, and the Holy Trinity, the last belonging to the time of Edward
II, and one of the most perfect buildings of that age. The superb cathedral
occupies the site of a monastery founded about the year 673 by Etheldreda,
daughter of the King of East Anglia. Its entire length, east to west, is
517 feet, and its west tower is 270 feet high. The whole structure
comprises an almost unbroken series of the various styles of architecture
which prevailed in England from the Conquest to the Reformation, yet with
no loss of impressiveness as a whole. It was begun in 1083, completed in
1534, and since 1847 has undergone extensive additions and restoration. A
fine gateway, built in the reign of Richard II, forms the principal
entrance to the cathedral precincts. There are a few manufactures, but most
of the inhabitants are engaged in agricultural labour. Pop. 7917.
ELY, ISLE OF, a portion of the county of Cambridge, separated by the Ouse
from the rest of the county, and forming itself a sort of county. It is
about 28 miles long by 25 miles broad; area, 239,259 acres. The name is
also given to a smaller tract, about 7 miles long by 4 miles broad. The
soil is very fertile. Pop. 69,752.
ELYMUS, a genus of grasses, natives chiefly of the north temperate zone.
The British species, _E. arenarius_ (lyme grass) is a good sand-binder.
ELYS'IUM, or ELYSIAN FIELDS, among the Greeks and Romans the regions
inhabited by the blessed after death. They are placed by Homer at the
extremities of the earth, by Plato at the antipodes, and by others in the
Fortunate Islands (the Canaries). They were at last supposed to be in the
interior of the earth, where Virgil described them as being. The happiness
of the blessed consisted in a life of tranquil enjoyment in a perfect
summer land, where the heroes, freed from all care and infirmities, renewed
their favourite sports.
ELY'TRA, the horny cases into which the front wings of beetles are
modified, and which meet in a straight line down the middle of the back.
The membranous hind-wings are here the organs of flight, and when not in
use are folded longitudinally and transversely, and tucked away under the
elytra.
ELZE (el'tse), Karl, German writer, distinguished for his studies in
English literature, born 1821, died 1889. He studied in Leipzig and Berlin,
was long a teacher in the gymnasium of his birth-place, Dessau, and in 1875
was appointed to the chair of English language and literature at Halle.
Among his writings were valuable biographies of Sir Walter Scott and Lord
Byron (the latter translated into English), and a biographical and critical
work on Shakespeare, also translated into English (1888).
EL'ZEVIR, or ELZEVIER, the name of a family of publishers and printers,
residing at Amsterdam and Leyden, celebrated for the beauty of the editions
of various works published by them, principally between 1595 and 1680.
Louis, the founder of the family (born 1540, died 1617), settled in Leyden,
and between 1583 and his death produced about 150 works. Five of his seven
sons followed his business:--Matthaeus at Leyden; Louis (II) at the Hague;
Gilles at the Hague and afterwards at Leyden; Joost in Utrecht; and
Bonaventure, who in 1626 associated himself with Abraham, the son of
Matthaeus. From the press of Abraham and Bonaventure issued the exquisite
editions of the classics which have made the name of Elzevir famous. Of
these the _Livy_ and _Tacitus_ of 1634, the _Pliny_ of 1635, the _Virgil_
of 1636, and the _Cicero_ of 1642 are perhaps the most beautiful. The
Elzevir books are distinguished by the types and the choice of the paper
rather than by the critical preparation of their texts.
EMANATION, in a specific sense, an idea at the centre of many philosophic
systems which seek to explain the universe as an eternal efflux or
emanation from the Supreme Being, comparable with the efflux of light from
the sun. The idea of emanation came from the East, and traces of the
doctrine are found in the system of Zoroaster. It had a powerful influence
on the ancient Egyptian philosophy, as also on that of the Greeks, as may
be seen in Pythagoras. It was subsequently developed by Plotinus,the
Gnostics, Manicheans, Pantheists, and other sects.
EMAN'UEL THE GREAT, King of Portugal, born in 1469, died in 1521. He
ascended the throne in 1495, and during his reign were performed the
voyages of discovery of Vasco da Gama, of Cabral, of Americus Vespucius,
and the heroic exploits of Albuquerque, by whose exertions a passage was
found to the East Indies, the Portuguese dominion in Goa was established,
and the Brazils and Moluccas were discovered. The commerce of Portugal,
under Emanuel, was more prosperous than at any former period. The treasures
of America flowed into Lisbon, and the reign of Emanuel was justly called
'the golden age of Portugal'. He died at the age of fifty-two, deeply
lamented by his subjects, but hated by the Moors and the Jews, whom he had
expelled from the country. He was a patron of learned men, and himself left
memoirs on the Indies. He married three times: in 1497 Isabella, daughter
of Ferdinand and Isabella, heiress of Castile; in 1500 her sister Maria;
and in 1519 Eleonora of Austria, sister of Charles V.
EMBALMING (em-b[:a]m'ing; Gr. _balsamon_, balm), the process of so treating
dead bodies with aromatic and antiseptic substances as to preserve them
from corruption and decomposition. The ancient Egyptians employed this art
on a great scale, embalming not only human corpses, but also the bodies of
cats, ibises, crocodiles, and other animals held sacred. The mummy of King
Mer-en-r[=e], who lived about 2500 years before our era, found in 1880, was
in an excellent state of preservation. Other peoples, such as the Assyrians
and Persians, also followed the practice, though hardly equalling Egyptian
methods. The abdomen was emptied through an incision, and the brains drawn
through the nostrils by means of a special instrument. The ancient
Peruvians appear to have injected and washed the corpses with a fluid that
flows from imperfectly burned wood, in which pyroligneous acid, creosote,
and other antiseptics are present. Pliny alludes to the use of a similar
fluid by the Egyptians. In more recent times bodies have been preserved for
centuries by embalming, especially when they have remained at a low and
uniform temperature and have been protected from the air. The corpse of
Edward I, buried in Westminster Abbey in 1307, was found entire in 1770.
Canute died in 1036, and his body was discovered very fresh in Winchester
Cathedral in 1776. The bodies of William the Conqueror and of his wife
Matilda were found entire at Caen in the sixteenth century. Of the various
modern artificial means of preserving bodies, impregnation with corrosive
sublimate appears to be one of the most effective, next to immersion in
spirits. An injection of sulphate of zinc into the blood-vessels is also
stated to be satisfactory; while natron, various spices, and other aromatic
compounds are sometimes employed. The original reason for embalming was
most probably the preservation of the body to await a resurrection and a
future life.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. Budge, _The Mummy_; G. Elliot Smith, _A
Contribution to the Study of Mummification in Egypt_; Myers, _Textbook of
Embalming_.
EMBANK'MENT, a mound of earth, &c., thrown up either for the purpose of
forming a roadway at a level different from that of the natural surface of
the ground, or for keeping a large body of water within certain limits.
When constructed wholly of earth or clay, it is triangular in
cross-section, with the apex cut off parallel to the base line, the angle
of the sloping sides varying with the nature of the material used. Thus the
slope of loose rubble, chalk, stone, loamy sand, or gravel requires about
1-1/2 base to 1 vertical; dry, loose, and ordinary clay, 2 horizontal to 1
vertical, while some clays require a much wider base. To prevent subsidence
on marshy or peaty soils, either the weight of the heart of the embankment
is diminished, as in Holland, by introducing layers of reeds or fascines,
or artificial foundations are prepared. The embankment may be prevented
from slipping laterally by forming steps in the earth of the subsoil, or by
cutting deep trenches at the feet of the slopes. In cases where embankments
are raised for the storage of water, a 'puddle-dike', that is, a
water-tight wall, must be inserted through the whole depth of the bank down
to the impermeable strata beneath. To resist the action of wind and rain,
or of the waters of a slow-flowing stream, the banks should in all possible
cases be covered with turf. Among the largest embankments hitherto executed
are those on the banks of the Po, the Meuse, the Scheldt; on the shores of
the Netherlands; the Oberh[:a]user embankment on the Augsburg and Lindau
Railway, the Gadelbach cutting on the Ulm and Augsburg line, and the Tring
cutting on the London and North-Western Railway.
EMBAR'GO, in commerce, an arrest on ships or merchandise by public
authority; or a prohibition of State, commonly on foreign ships, in time of
war, to prevent their going out of or coming into port. A breach of
embargo, under knowledge of the insured, discharges the underwriters of all
liability.
EM'BASSY, in its strict sense, signifies a mission presided over by an
ambassador, as distinguished from a legation or mission entrusted to an
envoy. An ambassador, as the representative of the person of his sovereign,
can demand a private audience of the sovereign to whom he is accredited,
while an envoy must communicate with the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
EMBER-DAYS, in the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, fast-days
occurring at the times in the year appointed for ordinations. As now
observed they are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first
Sunday in Lent, after the feast of Pentecost or Whitsunday, after the
festival of the Holy Cross (14th Sept.), and after the festival of St.
Lucia (13th Dec.). The weeks in which these days fall are called
_Ember-weeks_.
EMBER-GOOSE (_Colymbus septentrionalis_), an aquatic bird, known also as
the great northern diver and loon. The latter name, however, is also
applied to the great crested grebe.
EMBERIZ[=I]'DAE, a family of small perching birds, typical genus
Ember[=i]za. It includes the buntings, the snow-flake, the yellow-hammer,
and reed sparrow. The ortolan belongs to this family. By some naturalists
it is classified as a sub-family of the finches.
EMBEZ'ZLEMENT is the appropriation, by a clerk or servant, to himself, of
money or property put into his hands in trust. In English law it is a
felony punishable by penal servitude for not more than fourteen years, or
by imprisonment; and in the case of a male under the age of sixteen, by
whipping in addition to the imprisonment.
EM'BLEMENTS (Fr. _emblaver_, to sow with grain), in law, the crops actually
growing at any time upon land. They are considered in law as personal
property, and pass as such to the executor or administrator of the
occupier, if the latter die before he has actually cut, or reaped, or
gathered the same.
EM'BOLISM is the obstruction of a blood-vessel by an embolus, the name
given to a blood-clot or other body carried by the blood-stream, and
obstructing the circulation at the point of lodgment. An embolism in a
vital organ gives rise to serious symptoms which may cause death in a short
time, or more remotely by the production of gangrene or pyaemia.
EMBOS'SING, the art of producing raised figures upon plane surfaces, such
as on leather for bookbinding; on paper for envelopes; on wood or bronze,
in architecture or sculpture. Embossing in needlework is effected by
embroidery over figures padded with wool felt.
EMBRA'CERY, an attempt to corrupt or influence a jury by money, promises,
letters, entertainments, persuasions, or the like.
EMBRA'SURE, in fortification, an opening in the breastwork or parapet of a
battery or fortress, to admit of a gun being fired through it.
EMBROI'DERY (O. Fr. _embroder_, from _bord_, border), figured work in gold,
or silver, or silk thread, wrought by the needle, upon cloths, stuffs, or
muslins. In embroidering stuffs a kind of stretching-frame is used, because
the more the piece is stretched the easier it is worked. The art was common
in the East in very ancient times. The Jews appear to have acquired it from
the Egyptians; Homer makes frequent allusion to it; and Phrygia was
celebrated for its embroidery, which was in great demand at Rome. The
Nineveh mural reliefs in the British Museum show Assyrian robes with floral
ornaments, and a relief (now in the Louvre, Paris) from the palace of
Darius I shows Persian robes with embroidery. The Anglo-Saxons had a
Continental reputation, and from the eleventh to the sixteenth century the
art of pictorial needlework was of the highest importance both as a
recreation and as an industry. Embroidery is commonly divided into two
classes: white embroidery applied to dress and furniture, in which the
French and the Swiss excel; and embroidery in silk, gold, and silver,
chiefly in demand for ecclesiastical vestments. The Chinese, Hindus,
Persians, and Turks excel in such work.--Cf. Christie, _Embroidery and
Tapestry Weaving_.
EMBRUN ([.a]n-br[.u]n), a picturesque walled town, France, department
Hautes-Alpes, on a rocky eminence on the Durance. It was sacked
successively by Vandals, Huns, Saxons, and Moors, by the Protestants in
1573, and by the Duke of Savoy in 1692. It has a fine cathedral. Pop. 3556.
EM'BRY, an immature organism, especially in the earlier stages of
development from the fertilized ovum onwards. The embryo of a mammal
(except in the egg-laying duck-bill and spiny ant-eater), which develops
internally, is known as a _foetus_. The dormant plantlet in a seed is also
known as an embryo.
EMBRYOL'OGY, the branch of biology concerned with the fertilization of the
ovum and its development into the adult. Aristotle and Galen made some
observations on the subject, as regards animals, while Harvey and his
successors considerably advanced our knowledge, but as a distinct and
important subject embryology only dates from the nineteenth century. In the
course of its development an organism repeats the evolution of its group in
an abbreviated fashion, thus furnishing a clue to its actual affinities.
The subject also throws light on the problems of heredity.
[Illustration: Almost Ripe Embryo-sac of Lilium Martagon