Equity
in law, the system of supplemental law administered in certain courts, founded on defined rules, recorded precedents, and established principles, the judges, however, liberally expounding and developing them to meet new exigencies. While it aims to assist the defects of the common law, by extending relief to those rights of property which the strict law does not recognize, and by giving more ample and distributive redress than the ordinary tribunals afford, miti equity by no means either controls, mi gates or supersedes the common law, but rather guides itself by its analogies, and does not assume any power to subvert its doctrines. Courts of equity grant redress to all parties where they have rights, ex æquo et bono, and modify and fashion that redress according to circumstances. They bring before them all the parties interested in the subject-matter of the suit, and adjust the rights of all. ERA. See EPOCH.
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Erased
in heraldry, signifies violently plucked or torn off, and showing a ragged edge; as opposed to couped or cut, which shows a smooth edge. The term is chiefly applied to the heads and limbs of animals. (-raz' DESIDERIUS ERASMUS, mus), a Dutch scholar; born in Rotterdam in 1467. His original name was Gerard. At the age of 17 he assumed the monastic habit; the Bishop of Cambray delivered him from this constraint. In 1492 he traveled to Paris to perfect himself in theology and polite literature. A rich Englishman there, Lord Mountjoy, pensioned him for life. In 1497 he went to England. He returned soon after to the Continent, took his doctor's degree, was relieved from his monastic vows by dispensation ion from the Pope, and published several of his works. He returned to England in 1510, resided with Sir Thomas More, and was appointed Margaret Professor of Divinity and Greek Lecturer at Cambridge. In 1514 he returned to the Continent. He rendered great and lasting service to the cause of reviving scholarship. Though he took no direct part in the Reformation, he attacked the disorders of monasticism and superstition. He edited various classics, the first edition of the Greek Testament from MSS. (with Latin translation), etc., but his best known books are the "Praise of Folly," and his "Colloquies." He died in Basel, in 1536.
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Erceldoune
THOMAS OF (called the Rhymer, and Learmont), a Scotch poet and seer, who flourished probably between 1220 and 1297, and wrote a poem called "Sir Tristrem." He occupies a very conspicuous position in the annals of Anglo-Saxon literature.
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Erckmann
ÉMILE (erk'män), a French novelist; born in Pfalzburg, in 1822; studied law, but early developed a taste for literature. In 1847 he formed a literary partnership with Alexandre n Dec. 18, 1826; died Sept. Chatrian (born 5, 1890), and later with him published successfully the dramas "The Polish Jew" and "Friend Fritz." But at the height of their financial success the partnership was dissolved through a quarrel. After the separation Erckmann conrite indefatigably, but his tinued to write writings were no longer in demand, owing to the lack of advertisment which Chatrian had furnished. He died in Lunéville, March 14, 1899.
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Eretria
an Ionic trading and colonizing town on the S. W. coast of Eubea, which was destroyed by the Persians in 490 B. c., and rebuilt by the Athenians. an important
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Erfurt
town in the Prussian province of Saxony, on the river Gera, formerly a fortress with two citadels, now given up as such. It has a fine cathedral dating from the 13th century and several handsome Gothic churches. The university, founded in 1378 and suppressed in 1816, was long an important institution. There are still a Royal Academy of Science and a Royal Library with 60,000 volumes The monastery (now (now an an orphanage) was monastery the residence of Luther from 1501 to 1508. Prior to the World War the industries were varied, including clothing, machinery, leather, shoes, ironmongery, chemicals, etc. The horticulture of the environs enjoyed a high reputation, plants and seed being produced in great quantities. Pop. in 1919, 129,646.
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Ergot
er'got, a kind of fungus that devours and finally replaces the seeds of rye and other plants. Like other fungi, ergot is propagated by means of spores carried by the winds or by insects. It is thought that the sap of a plant may carry spores upward from the earth to the young seed where they lodge and multiply. A head of rye affected with ergot turns brown, then black as the growth matures. Grasses related to rye are particularly subject to attack. Ergot is allied to corn smut and other fungi that grow in starchy grains. Cattle eating ergotty rye are likely to be poisoned. The natives of Russia, where rye is the chief food, are sometimes poisoned by rye ergot. The fungus produces a strong oil, not well understood, except that it has a powerful medicinal effect. Taken as a remedy it causes the heart and other involuntary muscles to contract with sudden spasms. The ordinary ergot of the drugstore consists of grain-like purple masses, from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length, not unlike large grains of rye in shape. It is obtained chiefly from Russia and Spain. See Fungus
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Eric
the name of several Danish and Swedish kings. ERIC VII., King of Denmark; born in 1382, the son of Duke Wratislaw of Pomerania, was selected as her successor by Queen Margaret of Denmark, and in 1412 mounted the throne of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, united by the treaty of Calmar. Cruel and cowardly in character, he lost Sweden in 1437 through a revolt of the peasants of Dalecarlia, and in 1439 was deposed also in Denmark. He died in Rügenwald in 1459. ERIC IX., the Saint, became King of Sweden in 1155, did much to extend Christianity in his dominions, and to improve the laws, and fell in battle with the Danes in 1160. ERIC XIV., the last of the name who reigned in Sweden, succeeded in 1560 to the throne of his father, the great Gustavus Vasa, and at once began to exhibit the folly that disgraced his reign. His flighty matrimonial schemes reached even Elizabeth of England, till at length (1567) his roving fancy found rest in the love of a Swedish peasant-girl, who acquired an influence over him which was ascribed by the superstitious to witchcraft. His capricious cruelties and the disastrous wars alienated his subjects, who threw off their allegiance in 1568, and elected his brother John to the throne. In 1577 he ended his miserable life by a cup of poison. His story has been worked into dramatic form by Swedish poets; in German by Kruse in his tragedy, "King Erich" (1871).
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