ed, whose discourses are related; to this branch | with his principal action, that his work may abound likewise belong the moving of the passions, the de- with a greater diversity of events: though, in a scriptions, discourses, sentiments, thoughts, style, more limited sense, all the particular incidents of and versification; and besides these, the similes, which the action or narration is compounded, are tropes, figures, and, in short, all the ornaments and called episodes. Episodes serve to promote the decorations of the poem. The end is to improve action, to illustrate, embellish, and adorn it, and our morals and increase our virtue. carry it to its proper period. Episodes are either absolutely necessary, or very requisite. All episodes are incidents, though all incidents are not episodes; because some incidents are not adventitious to the action, but make up the very form and series of it. Examples will explain this distinction. The storm in the first Æneid of Virgil, driving the fleet on the coast of Carthage, is an incident, not an episode; because the hero himself, and the whole body of his forces, are concerned in it; and so it is a direct, and not a collateral, part of the main action. The adventures of Nisus and Euryalus, in the ninth Æneid, are episodes, not incidents; i. e. not direct parts of the main action.

EPICUREAN. A believer in the philosophy of Epicurus, who taught that the world was formed by the accidental concourse of atoms, in an infinite period of time; but who rendered his system ridiculous by giving its details: and, as he taught that happiness consisted in pleasure, so all sensual gratifications are, by an abuse of language, called Epicurean, and a lover of delicacies in eating, an Epicure. The best display of his system is by Lucretius, a Latin poet.

EPIDEMIC DISEASES. Such as prevail at particular seasons, and spread among the inhabitants of a country.

EPILEPSY. From a Greek word signifying to seize upon: so called, from the suddenness of its attack. It is also called falling sickness, from the patient suddenly falling to the ground on an attack of this disease. By the ancients it was termed, from its affecting the mind, the most noble part of the rational creature, the sacred disease. It consists of convulsions with sleep, and usually froth issuing from the mouth.

EPILOGUE. In Dramatic Poetry a speech addressed to the audience after the play is over, by one of the principal actors therein, usually containing some reflections on certain incidents in the play, especially those in the part of the person that speaks it.

EPIPHANY. A Christian festival, otherwise called the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, observed on the sixth of January, in honor of the appearance of our Saviour to the three magi, or wise men, who came to adore him, and bring him presents. The feast of epiphany was not originally à distinct festival, but made a part of that of the nativity of Christ, which being celebrated twelve days, the first and last of which were high or chief days of solemnity, either of these might properly be called epiphany, as that word signifies the appearance of Christ in the world.

The kings of England and Spain offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh, on epiphany, or twelfth day, in memory of the offerings of the wise men to the infant Jesus.

The festival of epiphany is called by the Greeks the feast of lights, because our Saviour is said to have been baptized on this day; and baptism is by them called illumination.

EPISCOPACY. Government of the church by bishops; that form of ecclesiastical government, in which diocesan bishops are established, as distinct from and superior to priests or presbyters.

EPISODE. In Poetry, a separate incident, story, or action, which a poet invents, and connects

EPITAPH. A monumental inscription, in honor or memory of a person deceased; or an inscription engraven or cut on a tomb, to mark the time of his death, his name, and family; and, usually, some eulogium of his virtues, or good qualities. The elegance of an epitaph, as well as an elegy, chiefly consists in an expressive brevity.

EPOCH, or EPOCHA. A term or fixed point of time, whence years are numbered, such as the Creation, 4004 B. C.; the Taking of Troy, 1184 B. C.; the Building of Rome, 753 B. C.; the Birth of our Saviour, the commencement of the Christian era, and the Hegira, or the flight of Mahomet from Mecca, A. D. 622.

EPODE. In Lyric Poetry, the third or last part of the ode; the ancient ode being divided into strophe, antistrophe, and epode. The epode is now a general name for all kinds of little verses, that follow one or more great ones, of what kind soever they be; and in this sense, a pentameter is an epode after an hexameter.

EPSOM-SALTS. Sulphate of magnesia, formerly procured by boiling down the mineral water from the spring at Epsom, but now prepared from seawater. They are used as an aperient.

EQUABLE. An appellation given to such motions as always continue the same in degree of velocity, without being either accelerated or retarded. When two or more bodies are uniformly accelerated or retarded, with the same increase or diminution of velocity in each, they are said to be equably accelerated or retarded.

EQUALITY. An agreement of things in dimensions, quantity or quality; likeness; similarity in regard to two things compared. We speak of the equality of two or more tracts of land, of two bodies in length, breadth or thickness, of virtues or vices. The same degree of dignity, or claims; as the equality of men in the scale of being; the equality of nobles of the same rank; an equality of rights. Evenness; uniformity; sameness in state or continued course; as an equality of temper or

constitution. Evenness; plainness; uniformity; as June, and from the 31st of August to the 24th of an equality of surface.

December, the sundial is faster than the clock. On the 15th of April, the 16th of June, the 31st of August, and the 24th of December, the clock and sundial perfectly coincide, and the true solar day is exactly twenty-four hours.

EQUATION OF TIME. The natural or solar day is the time which the sun takes in passing from the meridian of any place till it comes round to the same meridian again; or it is the time from noon to noon. A sidereal day is the time in which the earth revolves once about its axis, as determined by the fixed stars. The rotation of the earth is the most equable and uniform motion in nature, and is completed in twenty-three hours, fifty-six minutes, and four seconds; for any meridian on the earth will revolve from a fixed star to that star again in this time. Sidereal days, therefore, are all of the same length; but solar or natural days are not. The mean length of a solar day is twenty-four hours, but is sometimes a little more, and some-plate of metal fixed for that purpose. Then obtimes a little less.

The reason of the difference between the solar and sidereal day is, that as the earth advances almost a degree eastward in its orbit, in the saine time that it turns eastward round its axis, it must make more than a complete rotation before it can come into the same position with the sun that it had the day before; in the same way, as when both the hands of a watch or clock set off together, as at twelve o'clock, for instance, the minute hand must travel more than a whole circle before it will overtake the hour hand, that is, before they will be in the same relative position again. It is on this account that the sidereal days are found to be on an average, shorter than the solar ones by three minutes and fifty-six seconds.

As a clock is intended to measure exactly twenty-four hours, it is evident that, when a solar day consists of more than twenty-four hours, it will not be noon by the sun till it is past noon by the clock; in which case the sun is said to be slow of the clock. But when a solar day consists of less than twenty-four hours, it will be noon by the sun before it is noon by the clock; and the sun is then said to be fast of the clock.

The time measured by a clock is called equal or mean time, and that measured by the apparent motion of the sun in the heavens, or by a sundial, is called apparent time. The adjustment of the difference of time, as shown by a well regulated clock and a true sundial, is called the equation of

time.

There are two reasons for the difference between the sun and a well regulated clock. One of these reasons is the inclination of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit. The other is the inequality of the earth's motion in its orbit. This orbit is an ellipse, and the motion of the earth is quicker in its perihelion than in its aphelion. This inequality in the earth's motion causes our summer half year to be about eight days longer than the winter half year.

Since the stars are found to gain three minutes and fifty-six seconds upon the sun every day, amounting in a year to one diurnal revolution, it follows that, in three hundred and sixty-five days, as measured by the sun, there are three hundred and sixty-six days as measured by the stars. This regular return of the fixed stars to the meridian affords an easy method of determining whether our clocks and watches keep true time. Make the trial in the following manner. Let a small hole be made through the window shutter; or in a thin

serve at what time in the night a particular star disappears behind a chimney or some other object at a small distance. Do the same on the next night; and if it disappears, on the second night three minutes and fifty-six seconds sooner by the clock or watch than it did the night previous; do the same night after night, and if you continue to observe the same variation in the star's disappearing, it is certain that the timepiece goes right. But, if this result does not take place, it is certain that the timepiece is not accurate.

EQUATOR. An imaginary line round the earth, 90° from each pole, sometimes called the equinoctial, because the nights there are equal.

EQUILIBRIUM. In Mechanics, is when the two ends of a lever or balance hang so exactly even and level, as neither to ascend nor descend, but keep in a position parallel to the horizon; which is occasioned by their being both charged with an equal weight.

EQUINOCTIAL, or ÆQUINOCTIAL. In Astronomy, is a great and immoveable circle of the sphere, under which the equator moves in its di urnal motion. It is ordinarily confounded with the equator; but there is a difference; the equator being moveable, and the equinoctial immoveable; and the equator being drawn about the convex surface of the sphere, but the equinoctial on the concave surface of a Great Globe. The shadows of those who live under this circle are cast to the southward of them for one half of the year, and to the northward during the other half; and twice in a year, viz. at the equinoxes, the sun at noon casts no shadow, being in their zenith.

EQUINOCTIAL POINTS. Are the two points in which the equator and ecliptic intersect each other: the one, being in the first point of Aries, is called the vernal point or equinox; and the other, in the first point of Libra, the autumnal point or equinox. The equinoctial points, and all the other points of the ecliptic, are continually moving backward, or in antecedentia, i. e. westward. This retrograde motion is called the precession of the equinoxes.

There are in the course of the year, as many mean solar days as there are true ones, the clock being as much faster than the sundial on some days of the year, as the sundial is faster than the clock on others. Thus the clock is faster than the sundial from the 24th of December to the 15th of April, and from the 16th of June, to the 31st of August; but, from the 15th of April to the 16th of EQUINOXES. The times when the sun enters

the first points of Aries and Libra, that is, about the twenty-first of March and the twenty-first of September, when the days and nights are equal all over the world.

EQUIP. Properly, to dress; to habit. Hence, to furnish with arms, or a complete suit of arms, for military service. Thus we say, to equip men or troops for war; to equip a body of infantry or cavalry. But the word seems to include not only arms, but clothing, baggage, utensils, tents, and all the apparatus of an army, particularly when applied to a body of troops. Hence, to furnish with arms and warlike apparatus; as to equip a regiment.

EQUIPOLLENCE. Equality of force and power; as equipollent propositions, such as have the same meaning, though differently expressed. EQUITY. Equal justice, to attain which a court of chancery is established in the United States and in England, to modify the application of laws inapplicable to all cases; but the public voice decides that it is so much governed by precedents and forms, of which litigants take advantage, that its salutary intention is frustrated, and the court of chancery has for many years been proverbial for its delays, which are equal to a denial of justice.

EQUIVOCATION. The use of equivocal terms, which may be understood by the hearer in a different sense from that in which they are taken by the speaker.

creatures upon the white skins; which alteration was introduced into heraldry. The sable spots in ermine are not of any determinate number, but may be more or less at the pleasure of the painter or farrier.

ERMINE. An order of knights, instituted in 1450 by Francis I., duke of Bretagne, and formerly subsisting in France. The collar was of gold, composed of ears of corn in saltier; at the end of which hung the ermine, with this inscription, ‘a ma vie.' But the order expired when the dukedom of Bretagne was annexed to the crown of France.

ERRHINES. In Pharmacy, medicines which, when snuffed up the nose, promote a discharge of mucus. These are more friendly to the constitution and nerves than sternutatories, by their subtile, acrid, and volatile salt gently stimulating the pituitary membrane, and drawing the mucid humor from it. They are also much safer. Those prepared of cephalic herbs are of singular service in oppressive pains of the head, hemicrania, lethargic disorders, stuffings of the head, and coryza, mucous defluxions of the eyes, drowsiness, vertigoes, and in cases where the malignant humors generated by the lues venerea are lodged in the membranes of the nostrils.

ESCALADE, or SCALADE. In the Military art, is a furious attack of a wall or rampart; carried on with ladders, to pass the ditch or mount the rampart; without proceeding in form, breaking ground, or carrying on regular works for the seERA. An account of time, reckoned from any curity of the men. When every thing is ready for particular period, term, or epoch. The Jews had the troops to pass the ditch, either by means of several eras, as from the creation of the world, boards, hurdles, and fascines, if it is muddy; or by from the universal deluge, from the confusion of small boats of tin, or baskets covered with skins or languages, from Abraham's journey to the land of oil clot., if it is deep or filled with water; a party Canaan, from the departure of their forefathers out should be placed on the counterscarp, opposite to of Egypt, from the building of Solomon's temple, the landing place, ready to fire at the garrison, if and from the Babylonish captivity. The ancient they are alarmed, and oppose the mounting on the Greeks reckoned time by Olympiads, which were rampart. When the ditch is dry, the ladders are public games celebrated every fifth year; the first fixed in some place farthest distant from the sentiOlympiad they placed in the year of the world nel; and, when the troops have got upon the ram3187. The ancient Romans reckoned from the part, they put themselves in order for receiving the building of their city, which was in the year of the enemy: should the sentinel be surprised, and world 3113. The Christians take their era from silently overcome, the detachment endeavors to the birth of our Saviour; this method of comput-break open the gate and admit the rest of the party. ing time commencing among them, about the be- When the ditch is wet, the rampart high, and proginning of the seventh century. The Mahometans vided with a revetment, it is very difficult to surcompute their time from the Hegira or flight of prise a town in this way; but where there is no their prophet, in the year of our Lord, 617: sub-revetment, the troops may hide themselves along tracting this number (617) from the Christian year, the outside of the rampart till all are over. the remainder will be the Mahometan year.

ERMINE, or ERMIN. In Heraldry, denotes a white field or fur, powdered or interspersed with black spots, called powdering. It represents the skin of an animal so named. There is however no animal whose skin naturally corresponds to the herald's ermine. The animal is milk white; and, so far from having spots, that tradition reports, it will rather die or be taken than sully its whiteness; hence its symbolical use. But white skins having for ages been used for the linings of the robes of magistrates and great men, the farriers, to add to their beauty, sewed bits of the black tails of those

ESCUTCHEON, or SHIELD. The representation of the ancient shields used in war, on which armorial bearings are painted.

ESPALIER. A tree planted and cut so as to join others. Espaliers are planted about a garden, or in hedges, so as to enclose quarters or separate parts of a garden; and are trained up regularly to a lattice of wood-work in a close hedge. They are of great use in a kitchen garden, to shelter the tender plants, and to screen them from the sight of persons in the walks. The trees chiefly planted for espaliers, are apple, pear, and plum trees. Some

There are a variety of essences drawn from flowers, fruits, &c. which are used on account of their agreeable flavor, by apothecaries, perfumers, and others. The principal of these are the essence of rosemary, of turpentine, of anise, of cloves, of cinnamon, and of lemons.

plant apples grafted upon paradise stocks; but it is ESSENCE, or ESSENTIAL OIL. As it is varibetter to plant those grafted upon crabstocks, orously termed, in Medicine, denotes the purest, most Dutch stocks; which will both cause them to bear subtile, and balsamic part of a body, extracted by sooner, and prevent their growing too luxuriant. distillation. The best kind of apples for this purpose are the golden pippin, nonpareil, rennet or nonsuch, &c.; and the best sort of pears, are the jargonelle, blanquette, &c. These last, if designed for a strong inoist soil, should be grafted upon quince stocks; but if for a dry soil, upon free stocks. While the trees are young, it is sufficient to drive a few stakes into the ground on each side of them; fastening the branches to these in a horizontal position, as they are produced. This method will do for the first three years; after which an espalier should be made of ash poles, whereof there must be two sorts, larger and smaller; the former to be driven upright into the ground, a foot asunder, and the latter, or slender poles, to be nailed across these, at about nine inches. When the espalier is thus framed, the branches are to be fastened to it with other twigs; horizontally and at equal distances. Fruit trees thus managed are preferable to any others; not only as bearing better tasted fruit, but as taking up very little room.

ESPOUSE, ESPOUSAL. To contract or promise of marriage; to marry: hence to adopt, maintain, or defend; espousal is more frequently used in the plural, as the marriage contract consists of mutual promises.

The essences sold by perfumers, chiefly consist of the oil of bitter almonds, to which they impart the odor of jessamine, roses, cinnamon, and other flowers and spices. When essential oils have been distilled, they should be suffered to subside for some days, in vessels loosely covered with paper, till they have lost their disagreeable, ardent odor, and have become limpid. They should be put into small bottles, which ought to be completely filled, closely stopped, and kept in a cool place. By observing these precautions, they will retain their virtue for several years. But, if essential oils be carelessly managed, they gradually lose their flavor, and become thick. In this case, they should be put into a still, with fresh ingredients for distilling the same oil; by which means, they will saturate themselves with the odoriferous particles, and regain their former strength and purity.

Essential oils, medicinally considered, agree in the general qualities of pungency and heat. With respect to their particular virtues, they vary as much as the vegetables from which they are extracted. Thus, the carminative properties of aromatic seeds, the diuretic effects of juniper-berries, the stomachie virtues of mint, and the antiscorbutic powers of scurvy-grass, are, in a great measure, concentrated in their oils.

ESPOUSALS. Among the Jews, were either by writing, or by a piece of silver given and received, or by cohabitation. Among the Greeks, after the parents and friends of the young couple had finished their negotiation, the couple themselves pledged their faith to each other, the man swearing that he would be constant and true, the woman These oils are never given in a pure state, on that she would marry him, and make him master account of their extreme pungency, which in some of all she had. Then they ratified their agreement is so great, that if a single drop be deposited on the by a kiss and joining right hands. Among the tongue, it will occasion a gangrenous eschar or Romans the espousals consisted in an engagement scab. They are readily imbibed by pure, dry sugof friends on both sides, whether absent or present, ar, being the most convenient form in which they in public or without witnesses. But the common can be administered. The more mild and grateful way was by writings drawn up by common con-oils are frequently used as ingredients with other sent, and sealed by both parties; the man also sent medicines, to render them less nauseous. The a ring to the woman, consisting of iron and with-more pungent ones are externally employed in paralytic complaints, numbness, colds, aches, and in other cases, where particular parts require to be

out a stone.

ESQUIRE. Properly, a shield-bearer or armor-heated or stimulated. bearer, scutifer; an attendant on a knight. Hence in modern times, a title of dignity next in degree below a knight. In England, this title is given to the younger sons of noblemen, to officers of the king's courts and of the household, to counsellors at law, justices of the peace, while in commission, sheriffs, and other gentlemen. In the United States, the title is given to public officers of all degrees, from governors down to justices and attorneys. Indeed the title, in addressing letters, is bestowed on any person at pleasure, and contains no definite description. It is merely an expression of respect.

ESSENES, or ESSENIANS. In Jewish antiquity, one of the three ancient sects among that people. Some suppose they took their rise from that dispersion of their nation which took place after the Babylonish captivity. They allowed a future state, but denied the resurrection of the dead; and they maintained that rewards and punishments extended to the soul only, considering the body as a mass of malignant matter, and the prison of the immortal spirit. The greatest part of them considered the law of Moses as an allegorical system of spiritual and mysterious truth, and ESSAYIST. A writer of Essays, of which renounced all regard to the outward letter in its there have been many in England, as Addison, explanation. They paid the highest regard to the Steele, Swift, Pope, Johnson, Hawkesworth, Gold- moral precepts of the law, but neglected the ceresmith, Mackenzie, &c., whose works have been monial, excepting what regarded personal cleanlicollected under the name of the British Essayists.ness, the observation of the sabbath, and making

around the edges of it, and aquafortis poured on it. When the acid has remained long enough to produce on the copper the finest lines, it is poured off, the plate washed and dried, and those lines which are to be made no deeper are to be stopped with turpentine varnish mixed with lampblack, and laid on with a camel's hair pencil; when this is thoroughly dry the acid is poured on again to produce the lines that are required to be deeper; thus the engraving is completed.

In almost all engravings on copper, executed in the stroke manner, etching and engraving are combined, the plate being generally begun by etching and finished with the graver.

an annual present to the temple at Jerusalem. | plate being thus prepared, a rim of wax is raised Their way of life was very singular: they did not marry; but adopted the children of others, whom they bred up in the institutions of their sect; they despised riches, and had all things in common, and never changed their clothes till they were entirely worn out. When initiated, they were strictly bound not to communicate the mysteries of their sect to others; and, if any of their members were found guilty of flagrant crimes, they were expelled. Pliny tells us, that they dwelt on the west side of Asphaltites; and that they were a solitary kind of men, living without women or money, and feeding upon the fruit of the palm tree: he adds, that they were constantly recruited by new comers, whom the surges of ill fortune had made weary of the world; in which manner the sect was kept up for ETHER. A very volatile fluid produced by several thousands of years, without any being born the distillation of alcohol with an acid. Ether is among them. Philo mentions two classes of Esse- of various kinds, according to the acid used in its nes, one of which followed a practical institution, production; but that which has been longest the other a professed theoretical institution. The known, and is most in demand, is the sulphuric latter, who were called Therapeutæ, placed their ether. whole felicity in the contemplation of the divine nature. Detaching themselves entirely from secular affairs, they transferred their property to their relations and friends, and retired to solitary places, where they devoted themselves to a holy life. The principal society of this kind was formed near Alexandria, where they lived not far from each other in separate cottages, each of which had its own sacred apartments, to which the inhabitants retired for the purpose of devotion.

The method of procuring this substance is as follows. Put into a retort a convenient quantity of alcohol, and add an equal weight of strong sulphuric acid; the whole must be mingled as intimately as possible by a gentle agitation.

The retort must now be placed in a sand bath, and connected with a large receiver, kept cool by being surrounded with ice, if it can be obtained, or placed in water. The first product is a fragrant spirit of wine; and as soon as the fluid in the retort begins to boil, the ether comes over. At this ESSENTIAL OILS. Acrid, volatile oils, hav-period of the process the upper part of the reing a strong aromatic smell, which are drawn from ceiver is covered with large distinct streams of the plants by distillation, in distinction from native oils fluid which run down its sides. There should be procured by coction. a bent glass tube luted to the tubulure of the receiver, and having its extremity immersed in water or mercury, to allow the gases to escape, and the more effectually to confine the condensable vapor.

ESTIMATE. A calculation of the expenses of any undertaking, made according to the regular charges of trade, as the estimate of builders, engineers, printers, publishers, &c.

of alcohol with concentrated acids; and the suffocating effect of the elastic fluid, which, if disengaged, might fill the apartment, serious accidents sometimes happen. Sulphuric ether acts upon most of the resinous substances; it dissolves the essential oils and camphor; and burns with a more luminous flame than alcohol, producing more smoke. It boils at the temperature of 98° Fahr.; and in evaporating produces extreme cold. In medicine it is extensively useful.

After the ether a light yellow oil, called oil of wine, comes over: and this is followed by black and foul sulphuric acid. Great care is necessary, ETCHING. Was invented about the same on the part of the operator, in extracting ether, as time as engraving on copper, properly so called, by from its extreme inflammability, the danger of exAlbert Durer and Lucas. It has several advanta-plosion attending the sudden mixture and agitation ges over that process, as it is done with more ease and expedition, requires fewer instruments, and represents some subjects better than any other process: such as landscapes, architecture, and machinery. Etching is performed by heating the plate, well polished, over the fire, and when hot, covering it with a peculiar ground or varnish. When cold, the ground is blackened with the smoke of a candle; on this ground the back of the design is laid; it is then to be chalked or transferred upon the plate: the back of the design having been previously rubbed over with red chalk, nothing remains but to trace over all the lines and strokes of the draught with a needle or point, which pressing the paper close to the ground, causes the wax to lay hold of the chalk and thus gives a copy of the whole design; when thus chalked, the artist proceeds to draw the several lines with a point through the ground upon the copper. In finishing the work he uses points of different sizes, pressing upon them lightly or strongly according to the shades required. The

ETHICS, or MORALITY. The science of manners or duty, which it traces from man's nature and condition, and shows to terminate in his happiness; or, in other words, it is the knowledge of our duty and felicity, or the art of being virtuous and happy.

ETHIOPIANS. An indefinite term in ancient times, was used to signify all people of a dark or black skin, as well in Asia as Africa. Homer, who calls them the blameless, therefore places the