Part 184 (2/2)

ENCELADUS, one of the chief giants that revolted against Zeus, and who, as he fled and took refuge in Sicily, was transfixed by a thunderbolt, and buried under Etna. The fiery eruptions of the mountain are his breath, and the shaking of it ascribed to his s.h.i.+fting from one side to another. In the latter regard he serves in literature as the symbol of a blind, often impotent, struggle to throw off some oppressive incubus.

ENCELADUS, MANUEL BLANCO, a distinguished Chilian statesman and soldier, born in Buenos Ayres; trained for the navy in Spain, but joined the Chilian revolutionaries; served with distinction under Lord Cochrane, and rose to high rank both in the army and navy; was commander of the Chilian forces in 1825, and for two months in the following year President of the Republic; was subsequently Governor of Valparaiso, and minister to France (1790-1876).

ENCHIRIDION OF EPICTETUS. See EPICTETUS.

ENCINA or ENZINA, JUAN DE LA, a Spanish dramatist, whose works mark the rise of the Spanish drama, born at Salamanca; was at one time secretary to the Duke of Alva, and afterwards conductor of music in the chapel of Leo X. at Rome (1469-1534).

ENCKE, JOHANN FRANZ, a celebrated German astronomer, born at Hamburg; determined the sun's distance, and the orbit of the comet of 1680; calculated the time of the revolution of the comet which now bears his name, and which appeared in 1818; determined also the distance of the sun by the two transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 (1791-1865).

ENCYCLICAL LETTER, a letter addressed by the Pope to the bishops of the Church, condemnatory of prevailing errors or counselling them how to act in connection with public questions of the day.

ENCYCLOPaeDIA, a name of Greek derivation, given to works which embrace within their pages a more or less complete account, in alphabetical order, of the whole round of human knowledge, or of some particular section of it. Attempts in this direction were made as far back as Aristotle's day, and various others have since been made from time to time, according as the circle of knowledge widened. Amongst famous encyclopaedias which have appeared, mention may be made of the French ”ENCYCLOPeDIE” (q. v.); the ”Encyclopaedia Britannica,”

Edinburgh (1708-1771), now in its ninth edition (1889); the German ”Encyclopedie,” begun in 1818 by Ersch and Gruber, and not yet completed, although 170 volumes have appeared; while the largest of all is the Chinese encyclopaedia, in 5020 vols., printed in Pekin in 1726.

ENCYCLOPeDIE, a French encyclopaedia consisting of 28 vols., to which a supplement of 5 vols. was added; edited by D'Alembert and Diderot; contributed to by a number of the eminent savants of France, and issued in 1751-1777, and which contributed to feed, but did nothing to allay, or even moderate, the fire of the Revolution.

ENCYCLOPEDIST, generally a man of encyclopedic knowledge, or who conducts or contributes to an encyclopaedia; specially one who has, as the French encyclopedists, an overweening, false, and illusory estimate of the moral worth and civilising power of such knowledge. See CARLYLE'S ”SARTOR,” BK. I. CHAP. 10, ON THE ”ENCYCLOPEDIC HEAD.”

ENDEMIC, a term applied to diseases which affect the inhabitants of certain countries and localities, and which arise from strictly local causes, _e. g_. neighbouring swamps, bad sanitation, impure water, climate, &c.

ENDOGENS, those plants in which the new fibrous matter is developed in the centre of the stem, and which is pushed outward by the formation of new tissue within, thus developing the stem outwards from the inside.

See EXOGENS.

ENDOR, a place on the S. of Mount Tabor, in Palestine, where the sorceress lived who was consulted by Saul before the battle of Gilboa, and who professed communication with the ghost of Samuel (1 Sam, xxviii.

7).

ENDOSMOSE, a word used in physics to describe the intermingling of two liquids of different densities, in close juxtaposition, but separated by a thin membranous tissue. The liquid of lesser density pa.s.ses more rapidly through the dividing tissue, and raises the level of the liquid in the other vessel, this action is named endosmose; while the flowing of the liquid of greater density into the vessel whose level is falling, is called exosmose.

ENDYMION, a beautiful shepherd, son of Zeus, whom SELENE (q. v.) carried off to Mount Lemnos, in Caria, where, as she kissed him, he sank into eternal sleep. This is one version of the story.

ENEID, an epic poem of Virgil, the hero of which is aeneas of Troy.

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