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there are only two elements in the niverse: and this opinion we find adopted by :ount De Tressan, in his essay on the Electric Fluid.' According to this doctrine, two primitive material substances seem to exist in nature; one that incessantly acts, and to which it is essential to be in motion; the other absolutely passive, and whose. nature it is to be inert, and move entirely as directed by the former. According to the doctrines which long prevailed among chemists, there are three things that seem to be unchangeable, viz. earth; carbon, or charcoal; and that invisible, though terrestrial and gravitating principle, the basis of chlorine. In our experiments (say the French chemists) on earth, we find that, though vitrified by the most intense fire, it may be recovered in its proper form; and some very pure earths cannot be changed even in the foeus of the most powerful mirror. In like manner we may dissipate charcoal in vacuo by the solar rays, and the compound is hydrogenous gas; we may decompose this compound by a metallic calx, and we have our charcoal again unchanged, for all metals contain charcoal in substan:2. Let us try to destroy it by common fire, and we have it then in the fixed air produced, from which it may be recovered unchanged by the electric spark. With the supposed basis of chlorine, the case is still more difficult, for we cannot by any means procure a sight of it by itself. Modern chemistry reckons fifty-two elements, but as these are only bodies, which the present state of instruments, &c., prevent us from decomposing, their number is continually changing, and we therefore refer the reader to our articles CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, &c.

ELEMI, n. s.

This drug is improperly called gum elemi, being a resin. The genuine elemi is brought from Ethiopia in flattish masses, or in cylinders, of a yellowish colour. It is very rare in Europe, and supposed to be produced by a tree of the olive kind. The spurious, or American elemi, almost the only kind kuown, is of a whitish colour, with a greater or less greenish or yellowish tinge. It proceeds from a tall tree, which the Brasilians wound, and collect the resin.

Hill's Mat. Med. ELEMI, a resin, which exudes from incisions made, in dry weather, through the bark of the amyris elemifera, a tree which grows in America. It is wrapped in flag leaves, in long roundish cakes, semitransparent, and of a yellow color. It has a faint fragrance.

ELEMI, in the materia medica. See AMYRIS. ELENCH, n, s. Old Fr. elenche; Lat. ELENCHIZE, v. n. Selenchus; Greek, ελeyxos, an argument or sophism. To elenchise used only (as far as we have found), by Ben Jonson, is to argue; construct sophisms.

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ELENCHUS, in antiquity rings set with large pearls.

a kind of ear

ELENCHUS, in logic, by the Latins called argumentum and inquisitio, is a vicious or fallacious argument, which deceives under the appearance of a truth; the same with what is otherwise called sophism.

ELE'OTS, n. s. Some name the apples in request in the cyder countries so; not known by that name in several parts of England. Mortimer's Husbandry.

EL'EPHANT, n. s. Į Fr. elephante, Span. ELEPHAN TINE, adj. and Port. elefante; Lat. elephas; Gr. eλepaç, as Hyde suggests, from Arab. phil, a mountain; and Vossius has a similar conjecture. A genus of the mammalia class of animals, more particularly described in the ensuing article.

The elephant hath joints, but not for courtesy;
His legs are for necessity, not flexure. Shakspeare
High o'er the gate, in elephant and gold,
The crowd shall Cæsar's Indian war behold.
Dryden's Virgil.

The fan shall flutter in all female hands,

And various fashions learn from various lands;
For this shall elephants their ivory shed,
And polished sticks the waving engines spread.
Gay

Dear architect of fine chateaux in air,
Worthier to stand for ever if they could,
Than any built of stone, or yet of wood,
For back of royal elephant to bear! Cowper
ELEPHANT, in zoology. See 'ELEphas.
ELEPHANT, AMERICAN. See MAMMUTH.
ELEPHANT BEETLE. See SCARABEUS.
ELEPHANT HOG. See TAPIR.

ELEPHANT, KNIGHTS OF THE, an order of knighthood in Denmark, conferred upon none but also called the order of St. Mary. Its institupersons of the first quality and merit. It is tion is said to have been owing to a gentleman among the Danish croises having killed an elephant in an expedition against the Saracens in 1184; in memory of which, king Canute instituted this order; the badge of which is a towered elephant, hung on a watered sky-colored riband, like the George in England.

ELEPHANTA, a small but very remarkable island on the west coast of Hindostan, five miles and a half from Bombay, in an easterly direction; its circumference cannot be more than five miles; a neat village near the landing place contains all its inhabitants, who, inclusive of women and children, number about 100. To deduce the era of the fabrication of its celebrated cave or temple is not so easy a task; but it was, no doubt, posterior to the great schism in the Hindu religion, which, according to the Puranas, happened at a period coeval with our date of the birth of Christ. It is under the protection of the India Company, and pays about £56 anfurnishes their simple clothing. An elephant of nually to the government; the surplus revenue black stone, large as the life, is seen near the landing place, from which the island probably took its name. The cave formed in a hill of stone, is about three-quarters of a mile from the beach; its massy roof is supported by rows of columns regularly disposed, but of an order dif

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ferent from any in use with us; gigantic figures in relief are observed on the walls; these, as well as the columns, are shaped in the solid rock, and by artists, it would appear, possessed of some ability, and unquestionably of astonishing perseverance. They are very massive, short in proportion to their thickness, and their capital bears some resemblance to a round cushion pressed by the superincumbent mountain, with which they are also of one piece. The floor of the apartment is generally full of water, its pavement or ground-work not permitting it to be drawn off, or to be soaked up. For it is to be observed, that even the cavern itself is not visitable after the rains, until the ground of it has had time to dry into a competent hardness. Several of the columns have been levelled, and the figures mutilated, as Mr. Goldingham was informed by the Portuguese, who were at the trouble (and no small one) of dragging cannon up the hill for the better execution of this exploit. The cave at Elephanta is not now in use as a temple, nor is it a place of pilgrimage, or possessed of a sacerdotal establishment; although neighbouring individuals make occasional offerings of prayers and oblations. Considering the pains bestowed on it, it must, at some period of time, have been held in greater estimation; but the brahmins in general disregard imperfect or mutilated images.

Various have been, and are to this day, the conjectures respecting the Elephanta Cave. Those who attempt to deduce its origin from the Egyptians, from the Jews, or from Alexander the Great, appear to give themselves much unnecessary trouble. The striking resemblance in several particulars of the figures in the cave to the present Hindoo race, would induce those who, from history as well as from observation, have reason to believe they have preserved the same customs from time immemorial, to imagine that the ancestors of these people were its fabricators; but those who are in a small degree acquainted with their mythology, will be persuaded of it; nor is a much greater extent of knowledge requisite to enable us to discover it to be a temple dedicated principally to Siva, the destroyer or changer.

ELÉPHANTIÑA, called also Ghezirat-el-Sag, or the flowery island,' an island of the Nile, in Upper Egypt, described by captain Light as a perfect paradise. It must be confessed that we find beauty by comparison; and this must excuse all travellers in their particular praise of spots, which elsewhere would not, perhaps, call forth their eulogy. Though the season of the year was approaching to the greatest heat, shade was every where to be found amongst the thick plantations of palm trees, which surrounded and traversed the island. Amongst these the modern habitations showed themselves, whilst the eye often rested on the ancient temples still existing. Every spot was cultivated, and every person employed; none asked for money; and I walked about, greeted by all I met with courteous and friendly salams. The intercourse I had with the natives of Assuan was of a very different nature; and in spite of French civilisation and French progeny, which the countenances and complexion of many of the younger part of the inhabitants

betrayed, I never received marks of attention without a demand on my generosity.'—Travels, pp. 52, 53.

ELEPHANTIASIS, so named from the legs of people affected with this disorder growing rough and wonderfully large, like the legs of an elephant, is a disease that mostly attacks the feet. It is known by the skin being thick, rough, wrinkly, unctuous and void of hair, and mostly without the sense of feeling. It is said to be contagious. Cullen ranks it in the class cachexia, and order impetigines. At first very severe pain is felt in one of the inguinal glands, which, after a short time, becomes hard, swelled, and inflamed. No suppuration, however, ensues; but a red streak may be observed running down the thigh from the swelled gland to the leg. As the inflammation increases in all the parts, the fever gradually abates, and perhaps, after two or three days' continuance, goes off. It, however, returns again at uncertain periods, leaving the leg greatly swelled with varicose turgid veins, the skin rough and rugged, and a thickened membrana cellulosa. Scales appear also on the surface, which do not fall off, but are enlarged by the increasing thickness of the membranes; uneven lumps, with deep fissures, are formed, and the leg and foot become at last of an enormous size.

A person may labor under this disease many years; and perhaps the chief inconvenience he will experience is the enormous bulky leg which he drags about with him. The incumbrance has, indeed, induced many to submit to an amputation; but the other leg then frequently becomes affected. See MEDicine.

ELEPHANTINE, in Roman antiquity, an appellation given to the books wherein were registered the transactions of the senate and magistrates of Rome, of the emperors or generals of armies, and even of the provincial magistrates; the births and classes of the people, and other things relating to the census. They are supposed to have been so called, from the leaves being made of ivory.

ELEPHANTOPUS, in botany, a genus of the polygamia segregata order, and syngenesia class of plants: natural order forty-ninth, compositæ: CAL. quadriflorous, with hermaphrodite florets ligufated or plain; receptacle naked; the pappus bristly. Species six, one an oriental herb, the rest West India plants.

ELEPHAS, the elephant, in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order bruta. The characters, as defined by Linnæus and Gmelin,are these: He has no fore teeth in either jaw, and no tusks in the lower jaw; the tusks of the upper jaw are very long, and stretch far out of the mouth: has a long, extensible, and flexible, cartilaginous trunk, or proboscis, on the nose, which is capable of laying hold even of very minute objects. The body is almost naked.' There is only one known species, called by way of distinction from the American elephant, which is quite a different genus, E. maximus, or the great elephant. He is the largest of all land animals. From the front to the origin of the tail he is generally about sixteen feet long, from the end of the trunk twenty-five feet, and about fourteen feet high. The circumference of the legs is about six feet. These are the largest dimensions But

the animal differs in size in different countries; in some not exceeding seven feet in height. The eyes are small in proportion to the size of the head. The muzzle is very different from that of any other quadruped: it is nothing but the origin of a long trunk which hangs between the two large tusks; the mouth appears behind the trunk, which serves in place of an upper lip, and the under lip terminates in a point. The feet are short, round, clumsy, and only distinguishable by the toes. The trunk is, properly speaking, the nose extended, and terminated by a couple of nostrils. But, besides serving as an organ of smell, the trunk performs all the functions of a strong and dexterous arm. The trunk of an elephant is about eight feet long, five feet and a half in circumference near the mouth, and one foot and a half near the extremity: it is a pipe of an irregular conical figure, and widened at the end: the superior side of the trunk is convex, and furrowed transversely; and the inferior side is flat, and has two longitudinal rows of small protuberances resembling the tentacula of the silkworm and most other caterpillars. The upper part of the trunk corresponds with the extremity of the nose in other quadrupeds, and answers the same intent on; the inferior part serves as an upper lip, including the nostrils at the same time. For the trunk is a continued canal, divided into two cavities by a longitudinal partition: these cavities ascend along the fore part of the upper jaw, where they make a turn inward, and descend into the palate, terminating in two separate orifices; they have likewise each a separate orifice at the end of the trunk. At the place where these cavities make a turn, and before they enter into the bones of the head, there is a moveable cartilaginous plate situate in such a manner as enables the animal to shut the canal, and to prevent the water with which it occasionally fills the trunk from entering into the passage of the nose, where the organs serving for the sensation of smell are placed. The elephant can move the trunk in all directions; he can extend or shorten it at pleasure, without altering the diameters of the two canals within. By this means respiration is not interrupted, whatever be the situation of the trunk; and the water is allowed to remain till the animal chooses to throw it out by an expiration. Each canal is lined with a smooth strong membrane, and the surface of the trunk is covered with another strong membrane or skin. The substance contained between the exterior and interior membranes, is a composition of longitudinal and transverse muscles, which serve to extend and contract the length of the trunk. At the extremity of the trunk there is a concave protuberance, in the bottom of which are the two passages of the nostrils. The inferior part of the protuberance is thicker than the sides, and the superior part is stretched out like a finger about five inches long; which, together with the edges of the whole extremity of the trunk, takes on different figures according to the necessities of the animal. It is by this organ that the animal lays hold of food or other substances; and he manages it with as much dexterity as a man does his hand, taking up grains of corn, or the smallest piles of grass,

and conveying them to his mouth. When he drinks, he thrusts his trunk into the water, and fills it by drawing in his breath and exhausting the air: when the trunk is thus filled with water, he can either throw it out to a great distance, or drink it by putting the end of the trunk in his mouth. The two large tusks, which some call the horns, of the elephant, are of a yellowish color, and extremely hard. The bony substance of which they are composed is known by the name of ivory, and much used in different branches of manufacture. The ears are very large, and resemble those of an ape. The skin of the elephant has but few hairs on it, placed at great distances from each other. It is full of wrinkles, like those on the palm of a man's hand, besides many chapped and greasy ridges. The female has two dugs, one on each side of the breast.

The female elephant has not, like other quadrupeds, the orifice of the vagina adjacent to the anus; for it is situated nearly in the middle of the belly, about two and a half or three feet distant from the anus. Naturalists, as well as travellers, agree in affirming that the male organ of the elephant exceeds not either in length or diameter that of a horse. Although, for this reason, Buffon, Linnæus, and other eminent writers, have made their coition a subject of considerable controversy, yet, as they have since been observed to cover like the horse, the subject is not worth pursuing. As to the time of gestation, which Buffon limits to nine months, the best modern authorities consider it to be about twenty months. They bring forth but one at a time; which, on coming into the world, is as large as a wild boar, and is furnished with teeth: however, the large tusks do not make their appearance till some time after, and at the age of six months they are several inches long. Elephants of this age are as large as an ox in a natural state.

Elephants, even in a savage state, are peaceable and gentle creatures. They never use their weapons but in defence of themselves or their companions. Their social dispositions are so strong, that they are seldom found alone, but march always in large troops: the oldest and most experienced lead the van; the young and the lame keep in the middle; and those of the middle age walk in the rear. The females carry their young on their tusks, embracing them at the same time with their trunk. They seldom march in this regular order but when they reckon the journey dangerous, such as an expedition to cultivated lands, where they expect to meet with resistance. On other occasions they are less cautious; some of them falling behind or separating from the rest, but seldom so far as to be beyond the reach of assistance from their companions. It is dangerous to offer them the least injury; for they run straight upon the offender; and, though the weight of their body be great, their steps are so large, that they easily outrun the swiftest man, whom they either pierce with their tusks, or seize with their trunk, dart him in the air, and then trample him under their feet. Travellers who frequent these countries kindle large fires, and beat drums during the night, to prevent their proach. After being once attacked by men, falling into any ambush, they never forget the in

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