Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/12

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ELE—ELE

in which these elements are mixed in their composition.

Even the dead body feels cold and darkness.

Zeno, born in the beginning of the 5th century b.c., the fellow-townsman, disciple, and adopted son of Parmenides, is famous for his attempts to prove that the notions of time, space, motion, multiplicity, sight, sound, &c., are self- contradictory and unthinkable. His paradoxes were stated with a subtlety which has forced thinkers even of distinc- tion, who were opposed to his main position, for instance, Sir William Hamilton, to admit some of them to be un- answerable. Against motion Zeno directed several argu- ments, the most celebrated being that of Achilles and the tortoise, which are founded upon the confusion of that which is infinitely divisible with that which is infinite. Against space Zeno argued that any Space, however large, must be in a larger space, this larger space again in a still larger, and so on ad infinitum. Against the manifold he argued (1) that the manifold, being divisible into the infinitely small, i.e., into that which has no magnitude, can itself have none, as divisions that have no magnitude must make up a whole without magnitude ; and (2) that, being divisible into an infinite number of parts, it must be infinitely large. Against sound he argued—and he applied similar reasoning to sight—that, as you cannot hear a single grain of corn fall, you cannot hear the sound of a number of grains falling, the sound of the falling of the number of grains being made up of the sounds of the falling of each grain. Thus Zeno sought to prove that thought and sense are opposed, and that the latter, contradicting itself, proves itself unworthy of the consideration of the philosopher.

The last of the Eleatic teachers was Melissus of Samos, the friend of Heraclitus, who was probably born somewhat later than Zeno. \Ve only possess fragments of his works, preserved by Simplicius and collected by Brandis. His modifications of the doctrines of his master, Parmenides, are not important, with the exception of his assertion of the infinity, the unlimitedness, of “ the One and All,” and his distinct insistance upon the doctrine that the “ One and All” is immaterial, unextended, without parts.

See the separate articles Xenophanes, Parmenides, and Zeno.

ELECAMPANE (M. Lat., Enula Campana), a perennial composite plant, the Inula Helenium of Linnæus, which is common in many parts of Britain, and ranges throughout central and southern Europe, and in Asia as far eastwards as the Himalayas. Its stem attains a height of from 3 to 5 feet ; the leaves are serrate-dentate, the lower ones stalked, the rest embracing the stem ; the flowers are yellow, and 2 inches broad, and have many rays, each three-notched at the extremity. The root, the radix imth of pharmacy, is thick, branching, and mucilaginous, and has a warm bitter taste and a camphoraceous odour. For medicinal purposes it should be procured from plants not more than two or three years old. Besides imdin, Cl2H2oOlo, a body isomeric with starch, the root contains, according to Kallen, two crystallizable substances—helem'n, C6H80, and alantcam- phor, ClOHlfiO. By the ancients the root was employed both as a medicine and as a condiment, and in England it was formerly in great repute as an aromatic tonic and stimulant of the secretory organs. “ The fresh roots of elecampane preserved with sugar, or made into a syrup or conserve,” are recommended by Parkinson in his leeatrum Botanicum as “ very effectual to warm a cold and windy stomack, and the pricking and stitches therein or in the sides caused by the Spleene, and to helpe the cough, shortnesse of breath, and wheesing in the Lungs.” As a drug, however, the root is now seldom resorted to except in veterinary practice. In France and Switzerland it is used in the manufacture of absinthe.

ELECTIONS. The law of parliamentary and municipal elections in England is now governed as to procedure by the 35 and 36 Vict. c. 33 (the Ballot Act, 1872), and as to disputed returns by the 31 and 32 Vict. c. 125 (Par- liamentary Elections Act, 1868) and 35 and 36 Vict. c. 60. See Ballot and Bribery.

The inquiry into a disputed parliamentary election was formerly conducted before a committee of the House of Commons, chosen as nearly as possible from both sides of the House for that particular business. The decisions of these tribunals laboured under the suspicion of being prompted by party feeling, and by the above-named Act of 1868 the jurisdiction was finally transferred to Her Majesty’s judges, notwithstanding the general unwillingness of the bench to accept a class of business which they feared might bring their integrity into dispute. In future no election shall be questioned except in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Section 11 of the Act orders, inter alia, that the trial of every election petition shall be conducted before a puz'sne judge of one of the common law courts at \Vest- minster and Dublin; that the said courts shall each select a judge to be placed on the rota for the trial of election petitions; that the said judges shall try petitions standing for trial according to seniority or otherwise, as they may agree; that the trial shall take place in the county or borough to which the petition refers, unless the court should think it desirable to hold it elsewhere. The judge shall determine “ whether the member whose return is complained of, or any and what other person, was duly returned and elected, or whether the election was void,” and shall certify his determination to the Speaker. When corrupt practices have been charged the judge shall also report (1) whether any such practice has been committed by or with the knowledge or consent of any candidate, and the nature thereof ; (2) the names of persons proved to have been guilty of any corrupt practice; and (3) whether corrupt practices have extensively prevailed at the election.

Questions of law may be referred to the decision of the Court of Common Pleas. The report of the judge is equivalent to the report of an election committee under the old system. Petitions may be presented by the following persons :—(1) some person who has voted or had the right to vote at the election; (2) some person claiming to have a right to be returned or elected,- (3) some person alleging himself to have been a candidate. The trial of a petition shall be proceeded with notwithstanding the acceptance by the respondent of an office of profit under the Crown, and notwithstanding the prorogation of Parlia- ment ; though it would appear that the dissolution of Parliament abates a petition. The judge appointed to try a petition shall be received with the same state as a judge of assize in an assize town. The costs and expenses of the petition shall be paid by the parties in such manner and such proportions as the court or judge may determine, regard being had to the discouragement of needless expense by throwing the burden thereof on the parties by whom it has been caused, whether they are on the whole successful or not. “Yhen a returning officer has wilfully neglected to return a person found on petition to have been entitled to be returned, such person may sue the officer (within one year of the act complained of, or six months of the trial of the petition), and shall recover double the damage he has actually sustained, together with full costs of suit.

To meet the additional work imposed on the English courts of common law by this Act, power was given to appoint an additional judge to each of them. Section 58 applies the provisions of the Act, with certain modifica- tions, to Scotland.

This, like the Ballot Act, is a continuing Act.

Petitions against municipal elections are dealt with in 35