Ebony
a name given to various woods. They may be described as heavy, dark, hard woods suitable for carving, ornamental cabinet work, canes, and musical instruments. The ebony family, which, it may be noted, does not contain all the woods known in commerce as ebony, comprises several genera and about 250 species of shrubs or trees. The most valuable of the ebony trees belong to the genus Diospyros, and are confined to the warmer regions of the world, particularly to Asia, Mauritius and Africa. One species of this genus is the Virginian, or common persimmon. The most noted ebony, that having the blackest and finest grain, is obtained from the forests of Mauritius and Ceylon. Logs two feet in diameter are not unusual. A Japanese persimmon, cultivated for its fruit, also yields wood much prized by the Japanese artists for carving. A Jamaican tree, belonging to the legume family, furnishes a green "ebony," which takes a beautiful polish and is much used for inlaying. A dark brown "ebony," having the qualities of genuine ebony in all but color, is obtained from the forests of British Guiana. Genuine ebony takes a polish like ivory, and is almost as hard. See Persimmon
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Ebro
a river in Spain, which has its source in the province of Santander, about 25 miles S. of the Bay of Biscay, and after a S. E. course of about 500 miles enters the Mediterranean. Its navigation is much interrupted by rapids and shoals, to avoid which a canal about 100 miles long has been constructed nearly parallel to its course.
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Ebullition
When water is heated bubbles of vapor form at the bottom, rise to the cooler water above, and are condensed. As the heat continues, however, these bubbles reach the surface and escape into the air, causing the agitation called boiling or ebullition. The boiling-point of a liquid is determined by the temperature at which ebullition takes place. Water boils at 212 deg., sulphuric ether at 96 deg., alcohol at 176 deg., oil of turpentine at 316 deg., sulphuric acic at 620 deg., mercury at 662 deg.
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Ecbatana
the chief city or ancient metropolis of Media, the summer residence of the Median and Persian and afterward of the Parthian kings. It was a place of great splendor at an early period. Its site can no longer be fixed with certainty, though many explorers agree in identifying it with the modern Hamadan.
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Eccentric-clamp
An arrangement for lifting finished stonework, which might be made useful in the foundry for lifting cores of some descriptions, and thus obviate the necessity for hooks and staples. The weight of the object turns eccentrics, which bind rubber-faced plates firmly against the sides. The width is adjusted by turn-buckles at the sides.
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Ecclesiastes
the title by which the Septuagint translators rendered the Hebrew Coheleth (the gatherer of the people), a symbolic name explained by the design of the book and the dramatic position occupied by Solomon in it, one of the canonical books of the Old Testament. According to Jewish tradition it was written by Solomon; but the best modern criticism has dede' cided that its style and language, no less than its thought, belong to a much later date.
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Ecclesiasticus
the title of a book placed by Protestants and Jews among the apocryphal writings. The author calls himself Jesus the son of Sirach. Originally composed in Aramaic, the book was translated into Greek by the grandson of the original author about the 3d century B. C.
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Ech-Uisque
A Gaelic word meaning water-horse. The Ech-uisque was a goblin of Highland folk-lore, understood Egbo, The: or Esik, is a secret society of Calabar, near the to be a favourite form assumed by the Kelpie, in order to lure souls to his master the Devil . In the disguise of a fine steed, beautifully accoutred, the Kelpie grazed innocently by the wayside. The weary traveller, passing by, and believing this splendid animal to have strayed from his master, was tempted to make use of him to help him on his way; and the deceitful Kelpie, remaining quiet as a lamb until the traveller was fairly mounted, would then with a fiendish yell of triumph plunge headlong into an adjacent pool. It was believed that the soul of the unfortunate man, who had had no time to prepare for death, would thus be safely secured to the Evil One; while the Kelpie received the body in payment for his trouble.
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Echo D'Outre Tombe (Journal)
(See France .) Eckartshausen, K. Von : Author of The Cloud on the Sanctuary (1800). Eckartshausen, by birth and education an intensely religious man, at first wrote several little books of devotion that had great vogue in France and Germany . He later turned his attention to larger works of a more profound character, such as that mentioned above. According to Eckartshausen the requisite faculty of true communion with the church is the inward conception of things spiritual and with this sense present, is possible the beginning of Regeneration understood as the process of gradually eliminating original sin. His work on the Interior Church is in two parts: first, elucidation of his doctrine; second, a series of dogmas or assertions derived therefrom.
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Ecliptic
the apparent annual path of the sun through the heavens. There are as many stars in the sky in the daytime as at night, only we cannot see them. The sun is in company with stars all the time, only we cannot see them. By a careful study of the heavens we shall see that the stars that apparently travel, rise, and set with the sun in December were not his companions in November and will not be his attendants in January, but will be with him in December again. The stars in a belt running entirely around the heavens in a great circle take turns in accompanying the sun; or, put in another way, the sun seems to go around this belt once a year. As a matter of fact the earth goes around the sun, but, by watching the stars, it seems to us that the sun is passing around the heavens. When one rides in a train, a telegraph pole, a distant tree, or a hill seems to pass along the landscape, when in reality the tree and the landscape are at rest, and the observer is moving. So in our case, the sun and heavens are at rest,--we are moving. The line which the sun seems to follow round and round each year is called the ecliptic. A belt of stars lying along both sides of the ecliptic is called the zodiac. See Zodiac ; Constellation ; Stars
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