EECLOO, or EcoLOO, a town of Belgium, in the province of East Flanders, 11 m. from Ghent; pop. in 1856, 8,887. It has an active industry and commerce in woollen fabrics, hats, tobacco, and oil, and is the most important grain market in the province.

EEL, a name applied to several malacopterous fishes of the families anguillida, congerida, and muronido, especially to the typical genera anguilla (Cuv.), conger (Cuv.), and murana (Thunb.). From their snake-like appearance, and the absence of ventral fins or posterior limbs, they have been called anguiform apodes; they all have the body more or less elongated and cylindrical, no ribs in the skeleton, a cæcal stomach, and simple not-jointed fin rays. In the genus anguilla, to which the common eel belongs, the scarcely apparent scales are cycloid, narrow, oblong, arranged in groups at right angles to each other, forming a kind of lattice-work under the cuticle; the whole skin is soft and slimy, thickly studded with muciparous glands and ducts; the nostrils are double, each having 2 orifices, the anterior prolonged into a tube, and the posterior opening above the mouth; the teeth are card-like or villiform in both jaws, and a few on the anterior part of the vomer; the gill-opening on each side is very small, and just in front of the pectoral fin, which exists in all the species; the dorsal fin begins at a considerable distance from the head, and behind the pectorals, and forms a continuous fin with the caudal and anal; the lower jaw is longer than the upper. There are about 50 species described. The common eel of the northern and middle states (A. Bostoniensis, Lesueur, and vulgaris, Mitch.) is greenish or olivebrown above, and yellowish or yellowish white beneath, often with a reddish tinge along the anal fin; in a specimen 2 feet long, measured by Dr. Storer, the short pectorals were about 8 inches from the end of the snout. The eel inhabits both salt and fresh water, from the British provinces to the southern states, wherever it can find its favorite muddy bottoms and extensive flats; it prefers shallows near the shore, where it may be caught in great numbers by hook and line, by bobbing, and by spearing; the places frequented by it are called eel grounds, in which during the winter the fishes bed themselves in the soft mud to the depth of about a foot, and are then speared through holes cut in the ice; the best time for catching them is at night, by torch-light. During their passage up and down rivers they are taken in baskets and pots baited by fish or any decaying matter. The eel is very voracious and quite omnivorous; when in good condition it is a well-flavored fish, though, from its snake-like appearance (and it is only in form that it resembles a snake), most persons are prejudiced against it. The length varies from 6 inches to 24 feet; in summer it is sometimes seen weighing several pounds. At the mouths of the rivers emptying into Boston harbor eels are caught in nets, 15 or 20 bushels at a time, and are kept

alive until wanted for market in ditches supplied by the tide. In Feb. 1858, at Harwich and the neighboring towns on Cape Cod, the principal part of the male population were engaged in eeling; the fish were obtained by spearing through the ice; in a single bay, and on one day, 200 men speared 100 bushels, or 1,200 dozen; such as were not consumed in the town were sent, packed in ice, to Boston, New York, and other cities, where they were readily sold. The silvery eel (A. argentea, Les.) is silvery gray, darker above, and satiny white below; the pectorals are nearer the head than in the common species, of which, however, it is considered by some only a variety; it is taken in pots in October, when it leaves the ponds. A large species, caught in the lakes of western New York, is the beaked eel (A. rostrata, Les.); the snout is elongated and pointed; the upper parts are olive-gray, sometimes slaty blue, and the lower parts white; the dorsal and anal fins reddish; length about 2 feet. The common eel of Europe (A. acutirostris, Yarrell) has a sharper snout than ours; it is highly esteemed as an article of food, and the London market is supplied principally from Holland, from which the eels are brought alive in vessels carrying each from 15,000 to 20,000 lbs. Eels are much esteemed in other countries, especially, according to Ellis, in Polynesia, where they are often tamed and fed until they attain an enormous size. The attention of fish breeders might be very profitably directed to this family; they are numerous, prolific, hardy, easily preserved in salt, fresh, and brackish water, and will always find a ready sale. Eels are described as making 2 migrations annually, one in autumn to the sea, the other in spring or summer from the sea to the rivers. They are not found in arctic regions, nor in the rivers of the extreme north of Europe; even in temperate regions, at the approach of winter, they bury themselves in the mud, remaining torpid until spring; they remain without food, breathing hardly at all, at a low animal temperature, and almost motionless; yet the irritability of the muscular fibre is very great, as is shown by the restless motions of eels during thunder storms, and by their wellknown movements after the skin has been removed. Though not possessing the respiratory pouches of the anabas (see ANABAS SCANDENS), the eel is able to survive a long time out of water, simply because the gills remain moist from the small size of the branchial orifices; by this means it traverses considerable distances on

land, moving like a snake through the grass; in this way is explained the appearance of eels in fish ponds from which the utmost care has been taken to exclude them, on account of their destruction of the spawn and young of more valuable fishes; they have been often seen performing such overland journeys at night. Eels are found in fresh water which has no communication with the sea; having a capacious air bladder, they are able to ascend rapidly to the surface, and sometimes swim very high in deep

water; though slow of growth, they attain a large size under favorable circumstances, having been caught in England weighing 27 lbs. The town of Ely is said to have been so named from the rents having been formerly paid in eels, the lords of the manor being annually entitled to more than 100,000; Elmore, on the Severn, was so called from the immense number of these fish there taken.-The conger eels differ from the genus anguilla in having the dorsal fin begin nearer the head, at or even in front of the pectorals, and in having the upper jaw the longer; the anterior nostrils open by short tubes close to the end of the snout, and the posterior in front of the large eyes; the teeth of the palate and vomer are slender, with chisel-shaped crowns, and closely arranged; the skin is naked and scaleless, and the tail elongated and pointed; in other respects they resemble the common eel. The American conger (conger occidentalis, De Kay) is olive-brown above and whitish below; the dorsal and anal fins are transparent with a dark border; the lateral line is distinct, with a series of white dots; it grows to a large size, from 3 to 5 feet in length, and either this or another species is found from the gulf of St. Lawrence southward as far as the coast of New Jersey. The European conger (O. vulgaris, Cuv.) is common on the coast of Cornwall, on the eastern rocky shores, and in banks off the coast of France; it is caught on lines, the best bait being the sand launce (ammodytes) or the pilchard, and the fishing is performed at night; great numbers are taken, and meet with a ready sale at a low price to the poorer classes, but it is not held in much estimation. Congers are very voracious, and acquire a large size; specimens have been caught weighing 130 lbs., more than 10 feet long, and 18 inches in circumference; they are very strong, bite sharply, and have great tenacity of life. As many as 156 vertebræ have been found in the conger, about 40 more than are found in the eel; they spawn in December and January. Sir John Richardson alludes to 9 species.-The eel of the Mediterranean, so famous in the days of ancient Rome, belongs to the genus murana, characterized by the absence of pectorals, smooth and scaleless skin, small lateral branchial orifice on each side, and the united dorsal and anal fins, low and fleshy, hardly distinguishable beyond the margin of the body; the teeth are arranged in a single row around the edge of the nasal bone, with a few on the longitudinal median line. More than 20 species are described, attaining the size of 4 or 5 feet; one (M. moringa, Cuv.) was found by Catesby at the Bahama islands. The classic species of the Mediterranean (M. Helena, Linn.), the Roman murana, grows to the length of 4 or 5 feet; the color is a purplish brown, marked with sub-angular yellow markings, and spotted with beautiful shades of yellow, purple, golden yellow, and white; the anterior nostrils open near the end of the snout, the posterior just above the eyes; the cheeks are rather tumid from muscular development.

It has been caught on the English coast, but it abounds in the Mediterranean; great numbers were consumed by the ancient Romans, who kept them in ponds, and even placed them alive on the table in crystal vessels that the guests might admire their beautiful colors before they were cooked. Cæsar is said to have distributed 6,000 of these fishes among his friends on the celebration of one of his triumphs. They are very voracious and fierce, and are said sometimes to have been fed on the flesh of slaves who had offended their Roman masters. They are fished for with strong lines, and their bite is much dreaded by the fishermen; they are very tenacious of life. The flesh is white, delicate, and much esteemed. There are many species, exclusively marine.-The sand eel (ammodytes Americanus, De Kay) has an elongated, slightly compressed body, large gill-openings, a dorsal fin extending nearly the whole length of the back, and an anal fin of considerable size, both separated from the caudal; the lower jaw the longest; the color is yellowish or bluish brown above, mixed with silvery and light green; the sides and abdomen are silvery; the length is from 6 to 12 inches. This species is found from the coast of Labrador to that of New York; in the provinces it is largely used as bait for cod; it is very common in Long Island sound from May to November, constituting in its season the principal food of the bluefish and bass; it is also eaten by eels, and other fish; the cephalopod cuttle fish preys upon it extensively; like the tropical flying fish, it is pursued by fishes in the water, and by gulls and terns in the air. The names of sand launce and ammodytes are given to it from its habit of darting out of and into the sand, head foremost and instantly, by means of its projecting lower jaw. Its food is principally insects. On the coast of England it is esteemed as food, and is raked out of the sand at low tide in great numbers; it is also caught in seines. Two species are described.-ELECTRICAL EEL (gymnotus electricus, Linn.). Though apodal and eel-like in general appearance, this fish differs from the eels in the completeness of the jaws, the presence of ribs, and the jointed fin rays; it has neither ventral nor dorsal fin; the anal reaches to the point of the tail, and like the pectorals is enveloped in a thick skin which conceals the rays; the skin is soft and scaleless; the head is oval and flat, the mouth furnished with broad lips, and opening not quite as far as under the eyes; the anterior nostrils are small tubes in a slight depression on the side of the lips, the posterior are behind and above them; lateral line distinct; about 50 pointed teeth on the upper jaw, and 60 on the lower, a second row of about 6 behind the middle of the upper ones, and 4 small teeth in 2 rows along the symphysis; the vent opens before the branchial orifices, and behind it is a small opening and a slender papilla. The only species known inhabits the rivers of the northern parts of South America; it attains a length of 5 or 6 feet, and is of a brown and yellowish color. The elec

EFFENDI (Romaic, arevrns, lord), in Turkey, the title given to civil officers, learned men, and all those who fulfil any important function.

EFFERVESCENCE, the action which takes place, resembling boiling, when a gas is copiously evolved in the breaking up of one chemical compound and the formation of another, as when the acid and alkaline powders of effervescing draughts are dissolved or mixed, or when an acid is dropped upon carbonate of lime. In both instances carbonic acid gas escapes, as it is said, with effervescence.

EFFERVESCING POWDERS, preparations of acid and alkaline powders, put up in differently colored papers in order to distinguish them, to be used as a medicine by mixing the contents of two different papers after these have been dissolved, and drinking while the chemical reaction is taking place with effervescence. The common soda and Seidlitz powders form effervescing draughts, the acid in one of the papers combining with the alkali of the carbonate in the other, and expelling the carbonic acid. This gas, continuing to be evolved in the stomach, acts as a refrigerant and diaphoretic, while the alkaline salt is slightly laxative. The drink is especially adapted to febrile complaints from its cooling and refreshing qualities. The common soda powders consist of 25 grains of tartaric acid in one paper, and 30 grains of bicarbonate of soda in the other. An equivalent proportion of bicarbonate of potash is sometimes substituted for the soda. The following are the proportions given in the "American Dispensatory": tartaric acid 1 oz., bicarbonate of soda 1 oz. and 54 grains, or bicarbonate of potassa 1 oz. and 160 grains. The acid and either bicarbonate, being separately reduced to fine powder, are divided each into 16 portions. Citric acid is sometimes employed instead of the tartaric acid, in the proportion of 9 drachms to 11 of the soda salt, or 13 of the potash. Seidlitz powders are a mixture of 2 drachms of Rochelle salts (tartrate of potash and soda) and 2 scruples of bicarbonate of soda in one paper, and 35 grains of tartaric acid in the other. The tartaric acid being in excess renders the medicine more pleasant to take, without interfering with its aperient quality.

EFFIGY, HANGING IN, a mode of execution recognized in the ancient legislation of Franch, in the case of a criminal condemned to death, but who had escaped from custody. In default of the person, a likeness of the convict was conveyed to prison after judgment had been pronounced; whence, at the appointed time, it was taken by the executioner, and conveyed with all the usual solemn and ignominious ceremonies to the public scaffold, and there fastened by the neck to the gallows. Thus, in the reign of Louis the Fat, in the 12th century, Thomas de Marle was hanged in effigy for high treason; and under Louis XIV., in 1662, Alexandre de Noirmoutiers was punished in the same manner for the part which he took in a famous duel. The legislation of the first French republic modified this old custom, suppressing the imitation

of an execution, and reducing the ceremony to merely posting the name of the condemned person, together with the judgment against him, upon a public place. The execution by effigy has existed down to the latest date in many other countries, being exercised both by governments and, without legal sanction, by the people. In England it is a popular method of venting spite against unpopular men. Thus in London it was long a custom to hang Guy Fawkes in effigy annually, and frequently the most prominent men of England incur this penalty for some political or ecclesiastical offence.

EFFINGHĀM. I. An E. co. of Ga., bounded W. by the Ogeechee river, and separated from South Carolina on the E. by the Savannah; area, 480 sq. m.; pop. in 1852, 3,671, of whom 1,675 were slaves. It has a generally level surface, with a sandy unproductive soil, but there are extensive pine and cypress woods, and lumber is an important article of export. In 1850 the productions were 87,794 bushels of Indian corn, 37,252 of sweet potatoes, and 257,901 lbs. of rice. There were 21 churches, and 208 pupils attending public schools. The county was named in honor of Lord Effingham, a British officer who resigned his commission rather than take arms against the American colonies. Capital, Springfield. Value of real estate in 1856, $526,703. II. A central co. of Ill., drained by Little Wabash river, an excellent mill stream; area, about 500 sq. m.; pop. in 1855, 6,226. It has a level surface, occupied by woodlands and fertile prairies in almost equal proportions. Copper, lead, and iron are found here, and the chief agricultural productions are grain and wool. In 1850 the county yielded 227,025 bushels of Indian corn, 5,169 of wheat, 36,028 of oats, 7,105 lbs. of wool, 41,671 of butter, and 341 tons of hay. There were 5 churches, and 526 pupils attending public schools. Capital, Ewington.

EFFLORESCENCE (Lat. effloresco, to flower), the crumbling to powder of some saline bodies as they part with the water that enters into their composition. This is observed in sulphate of soda or Glauber's salts, and in the carbonate also, and is the opposite of deliquescence, in which moisture is abstracted by the salt from the air. The term is also applied to the shooting out of minute spicular crystals, called sometimes a saline vegetation, such as those of saltpetre seen upon the walls of cellars.

EFT, a name given to several species of newts, especially to the common smooth newt (lissotriton punctatus, Daud.). The generic characters of the tritons, or aquatic salamanders, will be given under NEWT, which the eft resembles in the slightly free tongue, double longitudinal series of palatal teeth, and nailless toes, 4

before and 5 behind; the skin, however, is smooth, and the dorsal and caudal crests are continuous; there are 2 patches of glandular pores on the head, and none on the back or sides. The newts belong to the genus molge of Merrem, and triton of Laurenti. Bell separated

the efts in the genus lissotriton. The color in the male is brownish gray above, passing into yellowish beneath, which in the spring becomes bright orange; there are numerous round dark spots of unequal size, and 2 longitudinal streaks on the head; the crest in spring is often tipped with red or violet. The female is light yellow ish brown, or buff with brown dots, plainer below. The total length is about 3 inches, of which the tail is nearly one half. It is very common in the ditches and ponds of Europe, especially where the water is clear; its food consists principally of aquatic insects, larvæ, worms, and mollusks. The reproduction and metamorphosis are almost identical with those of the newts. Though usually spending most of their time in the water, the young in June, and the adults in summer and autumn, become terrestrial; they appear to attain their full size the first year. The experiments of Spallanzani show that the members and the tail may be reproduced several times in succession, with bones, muscles, vessels, and nerves. Like the other amphibia, it is very tenacious of life, and can resist even congelation. Its bite is perfectly harmless. They are eaten by the larger amphibia, by fishes, and by various reptiles, birds, and small carnivora.

ÉGALITÉ, PHILIPPE. See ORLeans. EGBERT, king of Wessex, and 1st king of the united Anglo-Saxons, born about 775, ascended the throne of Wessex in 800, died in 836. The defeated rival of King Brihtric, he took refuge first at the court of Offa, the king of Mercia, and afterward in France, where he was received at the court of Charlemagne, in whose armies he served 3 years. Upon the death of Brihtric in 800 he was recalled to his native country, and acknowledged as king by the West Saxon thanes. In 809 he commenced his career of conquest; and, successively subduing the Britons of Cornwall and the Saxons of Mercia, Kent, Essex, and Northumbria, and assuming at its request the protectorship of East Anglia, by 827 he had become the actual sovereign of the whole heptarchy. In 832 the Danes landed upon the isle of Sheppy, and carried off a rich booty. In 833 they disembarked at Charmouth, and defeated Egbert's forces. They landed again in 835 on the coast of Cornwall, where they formed an alliance with the Britons. Egbert encountered their united forces at Hengstone hill, gained a bloody but decisive victory, punished the rebels, and drove the invaders to their ships. This was his last exploit.

EGEDE, HANS, the apostle of Greenland, born in Norway, Jan. 31, 1686, died in Nov. 1758. After having been several years a pastor in the vicinity of Drontheim, he resigned his functions in 1717, intending to embark for Greenland as a missionary. He was unable to obtain a royal audience before the spring of 1719, owing to the wars with Charles XII. of Sweden, which engrossed the public attention. He then received the patronage of Frederic IV. of Denmark, and set sail in May, 1721, with 2 vessels,

his wife, 2 sons, and 46 other persons, and in July following landed upon the coast of Greenland in lat. 64° N. His mildness and zeal gained the affections of the rude natives, and after several years of effort he was able to preach the gospel in their language. Various calamities, among which were the ravages of the small pox, almost annihilated the result of his labors. Yet before his departure he succeeded in laying a foundation for the further propagation of Christianity upon those icy shores, and in establishing the germs of what was to be an important commerce. The Danish government sent out 3 Moravian brethren to aid him, and after a residence of 15 years in Greenland, Egede, seeing the colony flourishing in the hands of the Moravians, asked and obtained permission to leave it. He continued his labors for the evangelization of Greenland, after his return to Denmark, by publishing several works, and by superintending a seminary designed especially for the education of missionaries for that country.PAUL, son of the preceding, and successor in his apostolical labors, born at Waagen, near Drontheim, in 1708, died June 3, 1789. He was a child when he went with his father to Greenland, and in 1728 returned, bringing to Copenhagen several Esquimaux, with the design of initiating them into European civilization. They all died, however, of the small pox. After pursuing his theological studies in Denmark, he returned to the mission station, and labored there 4 years after the return of his father. He translated the "Imitation of Christ" and portions of the Bible into the language of Greenland, and at his departure left the colony in a highly prosperous condition. He fulfilled various functions in Denmark, was particularly active in expediting the exploring mission of Lövenön to the coasts of Greenland, and at the time of his death occupied a chair of theology.

EGER (Boh. Cheb), a frontier city of Bohemia, on a river of the same name, at the foot of the Fichtelgebirge, 92 m. W. from Prague; pop. 10,500. It has cotton and woollen manufactories, and in its vicinity at Franzensbad are chalybeate springs and baths. Its fortifications, formerly strong, were destroyed in 1808. It has a city hall, in which Wallenstein was assassinated, Feb. 25, 1634, and the ruins of a castle in which the friends of Wallenstein were killed. Eger was taken and retaken by both Swedes and imperialists during the 30 years' war. In the Silesian war it was taken by the French under Marshal Saxe in 1742, and again under the marshal de Belleisle in 1745. Prior to 1850 this city was the capital of a district of the same name, whose inhabitants, 30,000 in number, differed in manners, customs, and costume from the neighboring population. Since then, it gives its name to a circle containing 560,000 inhabitants, in which the former district of Eger is comprised.

EGERIA, one of the Camena or nymphs of Roman mythology, who was believed to have dictated to Numa Pompilius his wise laws, and