remarkably durable under water, or if kept quite dry; though it decays rapidly on exposure to the weather, which in ten to eighteen months causes the bark to fall off, and gives to the wood a yellowish colour—a sign of deteriora— tion in quality. To prevent shrinking and warping it may be preserved in water or mud, but it is best worked up soon after felling. Analyses of the ash of the wood have given a percentage of 478 per cent. of lime, 21'9 per cent. of potash, and 137 per cent. of soda. In summer, elm trees often exude an alkaline gummy substance, which by the action of the air becomes the brown insoluble body termed ulmin. Elm wood is used for keels and bilge-planks, the blocks and dead—eyes of rigging, and ships’ pumps, for coffins, wheels, furniture, carved and turned articles, and for general carpenters’ work ; and previous to the common employment of cast-iron was much in request for water- pipes. The inner bark of the elm is made into bast mats and ropes. It contains mucilage, with a little tannic acid, and was formerly much employed for the preparation of an antiscorbutic decoction, the (lecoctum ulmi of pharmacy. The bark of Ulnmsfulva, Michaux, the Slippery or Red Elm of the United States and Canada, serves the North American Indians for the same purpose, and also as a vulnerary. The leaves as well as the young shoots of elms have been found a suitable food for live stock. For orna- mental purposes elm trees are frequently planted, and in avenues, as at the park of Stratfieldsaye, in Hampshire, are highly effective. They were first used in France for the adornment of public walks in the reign of Francis I. In Italy, as in ancient times, it is still customary to train the vine upon the elm—a practice to which frequent allusion has been made by the poets. Among the small—leaved varieties of U. campestrz's are the species U. Benn-(ll and U. fastigiata; besides these there are several slender kinds
with variegated leaves.The lVych Elm, or \Vych Hazel, U. montana, is in- digenous to Britain, where it usually attains a height of about 50 feet, but among tall-growing trees may reach 120 feet. It has drooping branches, and a smoother and thinner bark, larger and more tapering leaves, and a far less deeply notched seed-vessel than U. campestris. The wood, though more porOus than in that species, is a tough and hard material when properly seasoned, and, being very flexible when steamed, is well adapted for boat-building. Eranches of the wych elm were formerly manufactured into bows (see vol. ii. p. 372), and if forked were employed as divining- rods. The Weeping Elm, the most ornamental member of the genus, is regarded as a variety of this species. The Dutch or Sand Elm is a tree very similar to the wych elm, but produces inferior timber. The Cork-Barked Elm, U. subcrosa, is distinguished chiefly by the thick deeply-fissured bark with which its branches are covered. The American or \Vhite Elm, U. americana, is a hardy and very handsome species, of which the old tree of Boston Common was a representative. This tree is supposed to have been in existence before the settlement of Boston, and at the time of its destruction by the storm of the 15th February 1876 measured 22 feet in circumference.
See Arboriculture, vol. ii. p. 317; London, Arboretum Britannicum, vol. iii. 1838.
ELMACIN, Elmacinus, or Elmakyn, George (1223–1273), author of a history of the Saracens, and known in the East by the name of Ibn-Amid, was a Christian of Egypt, where he was born in the year 1223. He occupied the place of ketib or secretary at the court of the sultans of Egypt, an office which was usually filled by Christians. His history consists of annals which extend from the time of Mahomet till the year 1117. It is principally occupied with the affairs of the Saracen empire, but contains some passages relating to the Eastern Christians. In 1238 he succeeded his father, Yaser Al Amid, who had held the office of secretary to the council of war under the sultans of Egypt for forty-five years. Elmacin died at Damascus in 1273. His history was published, in Arabic and Latin, at Leyden in 1625. A reprint of the Latin version was published soon afterwards, and was followed by a French translation. A complete edition containing only the Arabic text is in use among the Christians of the Levant.
ELMES, Harvey Lonsdale (1814-1847), the architect of St George’s Hall, Liverpool, was the son of James Elmes (see next article), and was born at Chichester in 1814. After serving some time in his father’s office, and under a surveyor at Bedford and an architect at Bath, he became partner with his father in 1835, and in the following year he was the successful competitor among 86 for a design for St George’s Hall, Liverpool. The foun- dation stone of this building was laid on the 28th June 1838, but Elmes being successful in a competition for the Assize Courts in the same city, it was finally decided to include the Hall and Courts in a single building. In ac- cordance with this idea, Elmes prepared a fresh design, and the work of erection commenced in 1841. He superin- tended its progress till 1847, when from failing health he was compelled to delegate his duties to C. B. Cockerell, RA, and leave for Jamaica, where he died of consump- tion on the 26th November 1847.
ELMES, James (1782–1862), father of the preceding, an architect, civil engineer, and writer on the arts, was born in London 15th October 1782. He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, and, after studying building under his father, and architecture under Mr George Gibson, became a student at the Royal Academy, where he gained the silver medal in 1804. He designed a large number of buildings in the metropolis, and was surveyor and civil engineer to the port of London, but is best known as a writer on the arts. In 1809 he became vice—president of the Royal Architectural Society, but this office, as well as that of surveyor of the port of London, he was compelled through partial loss of sight to resign in 1828. He died at Greenwich April 2, 1862.
Besides contributing largely to periodical literature, he is author of Sir Christopher lVren and his Times (1823), Lectures on Architecture (1823), The Arts and Artists (1825), General and Biographical Dictionary of the Fine Arts (1826), Treatise on Architectural J urisprudcuee (1827), and Thomas Clarlcson .- a fllmmgraph (1854).
Guinea, West Africa, now a British possession, is situated on a peninsula bounded on the north by the River Benyan or Beynh, about six miles west of Cape Coast Castle, in 5° 4’ 45" N. lat. and 1° 20' 30" W. long. The streets of the native town are narrow and dirty, but there are a con- siderable number of neat and spacious cottages, occupied by the officials and merchants. The inhabitants are chiefly merchants and their servants, fishers, and mechanics. The river could at one time be entered by schooners, but on account of a bar having formed at its mouth it is now ac- cessible only to small boats. Elmina is the earliest European settlement on this coast, and was established by the For- tuguese as early as 1481, under the name of Silo-Jorge da Mina. Soon after landing they commenced to build the castle now known under the name of Fort St George, but it was not completed till eighty years afterwards. Another defensive work is Fort St Ingo, built in 1666, which is behind the town and at some distance from the coast. Elmina was captured by the Dutch in 1637, and ceded to them by treaty in 1640. Along with the Dutch possessions on the Guinea Coast, it was, in return for certain commercial privileges, transferred to Great Britain, April 6, 1872. The king of Ashantee, claiming to be its superior, objected to
its transfer, and the result was the Ashantee war. During