ELEPHANT SEAL.

Fish Commission, Washington, 1884), where further references will be found.

ELEPHANT'S-EAR. The popular name of Colocasia esculenta, or, as it is known to the trade, Caladium esculentum, a Hawaiian or Fiji plant with very large, bright-green leaves, used to give sub-tropical effect in bedding. The rootstock is planted in good, moist soil out of doors, or started in a hotbed or greenhouse and transplanted. In autumn it is stored where dampness

and frost cannot reach it.

ELEPHANT SHREW. An African shrew of

the genus Macroscelides, so called on acount of its proboscis-like nose, especially Macroscelides typicus of Cape Colony, and a very similar species (Macroscelides Rozeti) of the Mediterranean border, known in Algeria as 'rat-à-trompe.' See JUMPING SHREW.

which left it two priestly families-the Eumolpidæ and Ceryces-in control of the sanctuary and its rites, though in later times the State controlled the revenues of the temple. Until 1882 excavations on this site had been few and unremunerative; but in that year the Greek Government expropriated the site of the sanctuary, and the Greek Archæological Society began a

series of excavations which have laid bare the

entire sacred precinct. The temple of the two goddesses-Demeter and Kore-has disappeared, and even its site is uncertain; but the two Propylæa Demeter rested, lesser temples, a Bouleuterion, erected in Roman times, the Sacred Well, where stood the Telesterion in which the mysteries were or council hall, and the great terrace on which celebrated, can be plainly traced. Before the

and EXTINCT ANIMALS.

See TORTOISE

ELETZ, ye-lěts'. See YELETZ. ELEUSINE, el'yû-si'nê (Neo-Lat., from Gk. 'Exevols, Eleusis, a city of ancient Greece). A genus of grasses, most of which are annuals. Two of the species-Eleusine corocana and Eleusine stricta, generally called millets-are grown as grain crops in the warmer parts of Asia and in Africa. A sort of bread is made from the seed, but it has a rather bitter taste. A kind of beer is also brewed from it. The grasses are of rapid growth, and are very productive in both grain and forage. Eleusine indica is a well-known species in the United States, especially in the South, where it is known as goose-grass and is considered a pest. Infusions of the seeds and other parts have some reputation as domestic remedies for certain ailments. Popular names for this grass are goose-grass and crab-grass.

EL'EUSIN'IAN MYSTERIES (translation of Gk. 'Elevolna μvorńpia, Eleusinia mysteria); The sacred rites with which the annual festival of Demeter was celebrated at Eleusis. The early Eleusinian tradition of their origin is preserved in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. According to this, the goddess, while wandering in search of Persephone, came to Eleusis in disguise, and was hospitably received by King Celeus. In return she directed the establishment of a temple and mystic rites in her honor, and showed to Triptolemus and other princes the use of grain. Later these rites seem to have been largely influenced by the Orphic movement of the sixth century B.C., to which may be attributed the introduction of Iacchus into the triad of Demeter, Kore, and Triptolemus, who seem to have been the earlier divinities. For the nature and celebration of this worship, see MYSTERIES; for the sanctuary, see ELEUSIS.

ELEU'SIS (Lat., from Gk. 'Elevols, properly place of resort, from Nevois, eleusis, a going, élevσeo bai, eleusesthai, to be about to go). A town in Attica, near the northern shore of the Gulf of Salamis, not far from the confines of Megaris. It was the chief seat of the worship of Demeter, and the scene of the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries. (See MYSTERIES.) The town was very ancient, and in early times a rival of Athens, against whose supremacy in Attica it long held out, and finally submitted on terms

structure was enlarged by cutting back into the rock, and in the time of Pericles still further enlarged by building alongside another hall of about the same size. Probably these two halls had a common upper story, for both contain many large columns which must have been needed to sustain a heavy weight. In the fourth century B.C. the architect Philon of Eleusis added a great portico to the common front of these halls, and in Roman times, probably under Hadrian, the two buildings were thrown into one great hall with forty-two interior columns (seven rows of six columns each), and a series of raised steps around the sides. Probably both lower and upper stories were used in the celebration of the mysteries. The modern name for the little village on this site is Levsina. Consult: Gardner, New Chapters in Greek History (London, 1892); Diehl, Excursions in Greece (London, 1893); Philios, Eleusis (French, Athens, 1896); Frazer, Pausanias (London, 1898). The reports of the excavations are to be found in the ПIpaкTIKά, of the Greek Archæological Society, and the 'Epnuepis 'Apxairo

kh; they are summarized in the excellent guidebook by Philios, who directed the work for many years.

ELEUTHERA, êlū thể rả. One of the Bahamas (q.v.), British West Indies, lying to the east of Nassau, and next to New Providence the most populous island of the whole chain (Map: West It is Indies, K 2). Area, 164 square miles. more fertile than most of its neighbors, surpassing all of them in the growth of fruit, such as the pineapple, the orange, and the lemon. It has a population (1901) of 8733. The chief town is Governor's Harbor, with a fort and a good harbor. ELEUTHERA BARK. See CASCARILLA. EL'EUTHERIA. See GREEK FESTIVALS. ELEUTHERUS. Pope from 177 to 192. He is said to have received a letter from Lucius, King of Britain, asking that missionaries be sent to his country to teach the Christian religion. The letter is found in the Liber Pontificalis, and in Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, iii., 25. It is

generally thought to be a forgery.

ELEVATED RAILWAYS. section Elevated Railways.

See RAILWAYS,

ELEVATION (Lat. elevatio, from elevare, to raise, from e, out + levare, to raise, from levis, light; connected with Lith. lengwus, Gk. éλaxús, clachys, Skt. laghu, raghu, light). In astronomy,

the height above the horizon of an object on the celestial sphere, measured by the arc of a vertical circle passing through the object. Thus, the elevation of the equator is an arc of the meridian intercepted between the equator and the horizon of the place. The elevation of the pole is the meridian arc intercepted between the horizon and the celestial pole. It is the complement of the equator's elevation, and is always equal to the latitude of the place. The elevation of a star or any other point is similarly its height above the horizon, and is a maximum when the star is on the meridian. See ALTITUDE.

The architecture and elevation is the geometrical representation of the exterior, or section of a building, which gives an appearance as if it were viewed from such a distance that no con

vergence of lines would be seen. Technically speaking, the elevation of a building is its vertical right-line projection. The elevation is one of the three drawings which are essential in designing any architectural structure, the others being the plan (q.v.) and the section (q.v.).

In

ELEVATION AND SUBSIDENCE. Terms applied to vertical movements of the earth's crust. The great movements of the earth's crust are ascribed to cumulative stresses induced probably by the shifting of rock material at the surface through the agencies of weathering and erosion. While local areas may be elevated—that is, carried farther from the centre of the earth-due to the efforts of rocks to relieve themselves from great lateral stresses by bulging out, it is held by most geologists that large areas are seldom actually elevated, but that uplift is only apparent because of the subsidence of adjacent areas. other words, it is believed that all parts of the crust are subsiding, some, however, faster than others, thus giving the impression that the adjacent areas are rising. If the sea-bottom should subside, the water would flow away from the continental shores, and the continents would ap. parently rise, although in reality they might remain stationary. The great movements of uplift and subsidence are ordinarily considered in two great classes: (1) Epeirogenic movements, or vertical movements of large areas such as continents, or large parts of continents; (2) orogenic, or mountain-making movements-i.e. the movements which result in the folding and corrugation of the earth's crust into mountainous areas. See MOUNTAIN.

ELEVATION OF THE CROSS. The subject of two famous paintings, one by Rubens (1610), in the Antwerp Cathedral, the other by Van Dyck (1632), in Notre Dame, at Courtrai, Belgium. The former represents the bare cross being raised into position amid a throng; in the latter the Saviour has already been crucified, and the inclined beam is being supported and adjusted by four men, surrounded by the guard.

ELEVATOR (Lat. elevator, raiser, from elevare, to raise) or LIFT. A mechanical contrivance for transporting passengers or freight between points at different levels, such as the several stories of a building. The modern high-speed passenger elevator is usually operated by hy. draulic or electric power, and it consists (1) of a rectangular car which moves up and down be tween guides in a shaft or well, with doors opening into each floor, and (2) of the mechanism necessary to give this car its up and down move

ment. Such elevators are usually designed to run at a maximum speed of from 600 to 800 feet per minute, but may be run at any less speed the operator may desire. Safety from accident is provided for in various ways. Broadly considered, modern elevator safety devices may be divided into two classes: (1) Clutch devices which are thrown into operation when the car exceeds a certain speed, and stop the car by seizing hold of or gripping guides fastened to the walls of the elevator shaft; and (2) air-cushion devices, whose purpose is to break the shock of a falling car so that injury will not result to its passengers. Elevator safety grips are of various forms, and the successful ones are nearly all owned or controlled by firms which build ele

vators.

The general principle upon which these devices operate is nearly the same, whatever their individual forms may be. A governor is placed on the elevator car or on the beam which supports the sheaves, whose speed varies with the speed of the car. When a certain speed is exceeded this governor actuates a mechanism which throws the clutch into operation, as is seen in the fullpage illustration. The older and most commonly used form of air-cushion, invented by F. T. Ellithorpe, consists essentially of making the lower portion of the elevator shaft tight so that the car falling into it acts as a piston in a cylinder and is brought to a slow stop by the compression of the confined air. In one of the largest installations of this form of cushion, the closed shaft begins at the third story, and is 50 feet which makes the ratio of the depth of the airdeep. The total travel of the car is 287 feet, cushion to the distance of travel as 1 to 5.74. In a display test which was made with the cushion, a car weighing 2000 pounds was allowed to drop the total 287 feet, and it came to a complete stop without breaking eggs and electric-light bulbs which were placed on the floor of the car.

A more recent form of air-cushion has the air-cushion at the top of the shaft. In this arrangement the car carries two grips, the jaws of which, in normal operation, encircle but slide loosely over two steel cables provided with buttons at intervals. These cables are attached at their tops to a yoke, which is carried by a piston-rod and piston working in a vertical steel Norcylinder placed on the roof of the shaft. mally the piston is held at the top of the cylinder by a spring latch. When the car falls the governor first operates a clutch which opens this latch, and, secondly, it operates the grips which close on the button-ropes. This throws the weight of the car into the yoke and piston, which, sliding down in the cylinder, compresses the contained air and brings the car to a gradual stop. The safety device is the most important appurtenance of the elevator car; the car itself is of simple construction, consisting usually of a rectangular steel framework covered inside with a grillwork of metal and provided with a solid floor and roof attachments for the hoisting cable.

For high-speed passenger elevators the operating mechanism is usually hydraulic or electric. In hydraulic elevators the hoisting cables run from the top of the car to and over sheaves at the top of the shaft, and thence to the operating machinery in the basement of the building. In the basement the cables pass around alternately fixed and traveling sheaves, the latter being at

ELEVATOR.

tached to the piston-rod of the hydraulic cylinder. To raise the car the pressure is turned into the cylinder and forces out the piston-rod, thus pulling the traveling sheaves away from the fixed sheaves. The hydraulic cylinder is often placed in a vertical position, and the traveling sheaves move up and down in the same shaft as the car. The operation may be illustrated by that of an ordinary hoisting-tackle in which a heavy load is raised a short distance by hauling in a comparatively long length of hoisting-rope with a pulling force much smaller than the weight of the load lifted. By a reverse of this operation a heavy load moving a short distance will hoist a light load through a long distance. This is exactly the operation performed by the arrangement of fixed and traveling sheaves of a hydraulic elevator plant. The operation of the most recent type of electric elevator is much similar to that just described for hydraulic elevators. As applied to the elevators of the thirty-story Park Row Building, in New York City, the electric-elevator mechanism was as shown in the accompanying diagram. Here it will be observed that a nut traveling on a

Traveling Sheaves

Fixed Sheaves

H

Top of Shaft

Counterweight

Tension

Nut

Screw

Motor

Counterbalance Chain

Bottom of Shaft

Car

DIAGRAM OF ELECTRIC

ELEVATOR.

screw operated by an electric motor gives the prop

a

er motion to the travel-
ing sheaves.
In many
forms of electric elevator
the motor operates
drum on which the hoist-
ing-rope is wound and un-
wound to hoist and lower
the car.
If in this con-
struction we substitute
for the electric motor a
steam-engine to operate
the drum, we have the
ordinary steam - elevator
arrangement. The only
other form of hydraulic
elevator than those de-
scribed has a vertical
cylinder sunk in the
ground with the piston-
rod extending upward
and the car supported di-
rectly on the piston-rod.
This form of elevator is
being used in some very
tall buildings, notably
the Trinity Building,
New York, and is also
the elevator best adapted
for short lifts of very
heavy loads.

The following figures

indicate the nature and size of some recent ele

vator installations: Monadnock Block, Chicago, 16 hydraulic elevators, all of 16-stories travel; Saint Paul Building, New York, 6 hydraulic elevators, two 26-stories travel, two 16-stories travel, and two 9-stories travel; Bowling Green Buildings, New York, nine hydraulic elevators, 16-stories travel; Park Row Building, New York, 15 electric elevators, five 25stories travel, five 26-stories travel, one freight elevator 26-stories travel, two tower elevators, and two sidewalk elevators. The Saint Paul Building plant is a good example of express elevator

ELGIN.

service. Two elevators in this building travel to the ninth floor, stopping at every floor; two travel to the sixteenth floor. passing every floor below the ninth without stops, or 'express,' and stopping at every floor from the ninth to the sixteenth, or 'local'; two travel to the twentyfifth floor, running express to the sixteenth floor and local above the sixteenth floor. Among elevators designed to carry heavy loads may be mentioned those at the Weehawken, N. J., terminus of the North Hudson County Railway, which have a lift of 148 feet, with cars holding 140 persons each. The elevator in the Washington Monument, Washington, D. C., has a travel of 500 feet, and those of the Eiffel Tower (q.v.) have a travel of 450 feet. For grain elevators, see that title, and for elevators or hoists for tunneling and mining work, see TUNNELS and MINING.

ELEVEN THOUSAND VIRGINS, THE. See URSULA, SAINT.

EL-FASHER, el-fä'sher. The capital of Darfur (q.v.), Egyptian Sudan, Africa, situated Mountains (Map: Africa, G 3). Owing to its in a well-watered valley east of the Marrah position at the point where some of the most important caravan routes of northeastern Africa meet, the town is of considerable commercial importance. mated at 3000. Its permanent population is esti

EL-FAYUM. See FAYUM.

ELF OWL. The smallest of American owls, and perhaps the smallest of all owls-Micropallas Whitneyi. It is little more than six inches in length, and is reddish gray above and white below barred irregularly with rufous brown. It dwells in and about Arizona, feeds mainly upon beetles and grasshoppers, and keeps itself in thickets or willow copses, nesting almost invariably in deserted woodpeckers' holes made in the giant cactus. Consult: Fisher, Hawks and Owls of the United States (Washington, 1893); and The Auk, vol. iii. (New York, 1886).

An

ELGAR, EDWARD WILLIAM (1857-). English musician, born at Broadheath, near Worcester. He was educated at Littleton House and studied the violin and the organ. In 1882

he became conductor of the Worcester Instru

mental Society, and in 1885 also accepted the position of organist at Saint George's. Both of later began to devote himself entirely to composithese positions he gave up in 1889, and two years tion. His works are universally popular in England and the United States, the most representative being: The Black Knight (cantata, 1892); Lux Christi (cantata, 1896); the oratorio The Light of Life (1896); Choral Suite, from the Bavarian Highlands (1895); Te Deum (1897); Dream of Gerontius (oratorio, 1900); a concert overture, Cockaigne (1901); The Apostles (1903).

EL-GHOR, ĕl-gôr', WADI. The northern part of the great depression known as El-Araba, which extends from the base of Mount Hermon to the Gulf of Akabah. The length of El-Ghor from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is about 65 miles, and its width varies from 6 to 12 miles.

ELGIN, ěl'gin. A royal burgh, capital of Elginshire, or Morayshire, Scotland, on the Lossie, about 5 miles from its seaport Lossiemouth, on the Moray Firth, and 71 miles northwest of Aberdeen (Map: Scotland, E 2). Its once mag