Expansion
in physics, is the enlargement or increase in the bulk of bodies, in consequence of a change in their temperature. This is one of the most general effects of heat, being common to all bodies whatever, whether solid or fluid. The expansion of fluids varies considerably, but, in general, the denser the fluid, the less the expansion; and, commonly, the greater the heat, the greater the expansion; but this is not universal, for there are cases in which expansion is produced, not by an increase, but by a diminution of temperature. Water, in cooling, ceases to contract at 42° F.; and at about 39°, just before it reaches the freezing point (32°), it begins to expand again, and more and more rapidly as the freezing point is reached. This expansion is about one-eleventh of its bulk, and accounts for the bursting of pipes, etc., when water is freezing in them.
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Experiment Stations
a system of experimental college farms. The general government of the United States maintains a station for agricultural experiments in every state and territory of the Union. Specialists are furnished land, buildings, tools, stock, and labor to try new crops, new methods, and to make improvements in the old. Fruits, vegetables and field crops, bees, poultry, horses, horned cattle, swine and sheep, dairy products, and household economy, all receive attention. A school of instruction, or agricultural college, is maintained usually in connection with the experiment station. The possibilities of such stations are limited only by the ability and originality of those in charge. By act of Congress, bulletins may be sent out, postage free, which is now done to the extent of over half a million addresses. Some of the states maintain additional stations. Five stations in excellent repute are maintained by the Dominion of Canada at Ottawa, Ontario; Nappan, Nova Scotia ; Brandon, Manitoba; Indian Head, Saskatchewan, and Agassiz, British Columbia . The Ottawa station is the head station through which the four others make report.
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Experiments and Observations of Dr
Robert Hooke, F. R. S." and another, called "The Antiquity of Clock-work."
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Exports
commodities or productions shipped out of a state or country. Commodities shipped in are called imports. The interchange of exports and imports is treated of under the head of COMMERCE.
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Expressed Oils
in chemistry, those oils which are obtainable from bodies only by pressing, to distinguish them from mineral and essential oils, which last are, for the most part, obtained by distillation.
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Extreme Unction
since the 12th century, one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. It is performed in cases of mortal disease by anointing in the form of a cross, the eyes, ears, nose, mouth.
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Exumas
a group of islands of the British West Indies, forming a part of the Bahamas. The chief islands are Great Exuma, Little Exuma, and the Exuma Keys, with a total area of 150 square miles. Little Exuma has an excellent harbor. The inhabitants are employed chiefly in agriculture, and the making of salt. Pop. about 4,000.
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Eyck
MARGARET VAN, a Flemish painter, sister of HUBERT and JAN VAN EYCK. A "Virgin and Child," in the National Gallery, London, formerly assigned to her, is attributed to an unknown painter of the Early Flemish school. She is believed to have executed the miniatures in the missal of the Duke of Bedford. She died before 1431.
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Eyck (HUBERT VAN ik a noted Flemish)
HUBERT VAN (ik), a noted Flemish painter; born in Maaseyck, near Liège, Belgium, in 1366. It has been claimed that he and his brother JAN were the inventors of oil painting. For transparent and brilliant coloring and minute finish their works have never been surpassed. Their masterpieces are for the most part in Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, Berlin, Munich, and Paris. The only painting that can now certainly be assigned to Hubert is the altar-piece with folding doors, "The Adoration of the Lamb," begun by him and finished by Jan, and afterward presented to the Cathedral of St. Bavon, Ghent, where only the two central divisions now remain, the wings being in the Gallery at Berlin, with the exception of those representing Adam and Eve, which are in the Brussels Museum. Hubert died in Ghent, Flanders, Sept. 18, 1426.
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Eyck (JAN VAN a Flemish painter)
JAN VAN, a Flemish painter, brother of HUBERT; born in Maaseyck, about 1386. He was court painter of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and practiced his art chiefly at Bruges. In the National Gallery, London, there are three pictures of Jan van Eyck. These are portraits of Jean Arnolfini and Jeanne de Chenany, his wife signed and dated 1434; the portrait of a man in a cloak and fur collar, with a red handkerchief twisted round the head as a turban-painted Oct. 21, 1433; and the portrait of a man with a dark-red dress and a green head-covering-signed and dated Oct. 10, 1432. In the Louvre is his exquisitely finished little picture of "Chancellor Rollin kneeling before the Virgin." Jan died in Bruges, July 9, 1440, and lies buried in St. Donatus Church.
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Eye Strain
the condition occasioned as a result of using the eyes where the light is bad or the conditions condition unfavorable. The adverse is often produced as a result of imperfect balance of the ocular muscles, and the results are sometimes serious. There is always a waste of nerve force and there is often headache; but where the condition is prolonged, convulsions, chorea, hysteria, and dementia may be among the consequences. The malady may be remedied by the use of proper glasses, and on the other hand it may be aggravated by the use of improper glasses. Where the painful condition is the result of constitutional defects, a normal condition may be brought about by surgical operation.
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