The present German empire, which came into existence when the king of Prussia accepted the title of emperor (December 31, 1870), is not legally a continuation of the Romano-Germanic empire, though practically it occupies a somewhat similar European position. Technically speaking, it is a new creation, which has not succeeded to the rights of Rome any more than the Russian empire has to those of the Eastern or Byzantine empire, which the czars have sometimes claimed to represent.
EMPOLI, a town of Italy, in the province of Florence and district of San Miniato, is situated in a fertile plain on the river Arno, 6 miles from Florence, with which it is connected by railway. Its principal industries are the manufacture of cotton cloth, tanning, straw-plaiting, and the manufacture of macaroni. It has a collegiate church, founded in 1093, and containing some fine statuary and paintings by Giotto and others. The population in 1871 was 5919.
EMPYEMA (from ἐν, within, and πῦον, pus), a term in medicine applied to an accumulation of purulent fluid within the cavity of the pleura (see Pleurisy).
EMS, a watering place of Prussia, in the district of Wiesbaden, province of Hesse-Nassau, is situated on the Lahn, 7 miles S.E. of Coblentz, in a beautiful valley surrounded by wooded mountains and vine-clad hills. It possesses alkaline hot springs, which are used both for drinking and for bathing, and are considered of great efficacy as a remedy for chronic nervous diseases and affections of the liver and respiratory organs. About 15,000 persons frequent them annually. In Ems, on July 13th, 1870, took place the famous interview between King William of Prussia and the French ambassador Benedetti, which resulted in the French and German war of 1870–71. The population of Ems in 1875 was 6104.
Plan of Ems.
1. Evangelical Church 7. Police Office
2. Synagogue. 8. New Baths.
3. Gas Works. 9. Catholic Church
4. Baths. 10. Catholic Cemetery
5. Curhaus 11 English Church.
6. Cursaal
ENAMEL. An enamel may be best defined as a vitreous glaze fused to a metallic surface. There is indeed no difference between an enamel and a glaze, save in the character of the surface to which it is applied. Both are vitrified substances, either with or without colour, and exhibiting every degree_of translucency,——son1e varieties being perfectly transparent, while others are completely opaque. Chemically they consist of easily—fusible salts, such as the silicates and borates of sodium, potassium,'and lead, to which various metallic oxides are added when it is desired to impart colour to the enamel. These varieties of glass are pulverized, and the powder is used either in a dry or, more commonly, in a moistened state. The powder or paste, having been spread -over the surface to be in- crusted, is exposed to a moderate temperature in a muflle heated in the enamel-furnace, when the vitreous substance soon becomes sufliciently fluid to spread itself over the metallic surface, to which it closely adheres. If the glass is merely cemented to the metal, without any trace of fusion, 'the process is not true enamelling._ Although it is extremely convenient to restrict the term “ enamel,” as in the definition at the head of this article, to those glassy materials which are applied to the surface of metals, it should be remarked that some writers extend it to glazes which are employed on pottery and on other non-metallic materials ; while popularly the term has a yet wider use, being applied in fact to almost any brilliant surface, whether produced by varnishing, by lacquering, or by other processes not involving fusion ; hence we hear of enamelled leather, enamelled paper, enamelled slate, «Szc. Sometimes a coating of true enamel or of glaze is employed solely for utility, as in the case of vessels of enamelled iron or of glazed earthenware ; but more commonly enamels are applied with a view to decorative effect, the decoration thus produced being extremely permanent, since the fused material is but little affected by atmospheric influences. When enamelling is thus artistically employed, it is usual to speak of . the finished works of art themselves as “enamels,” and, as such usage has no practical incon- venience, it will be followed in this article.
According to some authorities, the oldest reference to enamelling is to be found in the beck of Ezekiel (i. 4, ‘27; viii. '2). The original Wor-l Clllt-x'ltlll'll, Fly-rt", was translated by the LXX. file/trim, and appears in the authorized version as amber. Genesius, however, believes that the Hebrew word signified polished metal rather than amber. Pliny tells us that the word elem-um was applied to two distinct substances, namely, to amber and to an alloy of gold and g. silver. It has been held, however, by M. Labarte, a great authority on the history of enamelling, that there are passages in Homer and in Hesiod in which the word electron will not bear either of I’liny’s meanings, but must be taken to signify enamelled gold. Labarte has found a formidable opponent to this interpretation in the Count Ferdinand De Lasteyrie (L’E’lectrum des anciens étail-il de l’émaz'l? Paris, 1857).
assigned, it is certain that glazes having the composition of good enamels were manufactured at a very.early date. Excellent glazes are still preserved on some of the bricks which have been found among the ruins of Babylonia and Assyria, and have been referred to the 8th or 7th century b.c. or should we forget the glazed slipper-shaped coffins which occur in great numbers at Warka, probably the ancient Ur of the Chaldees, and are referred to the Sassanian period. The glazes on the Babylonian bricks
were examined by Dr Percy, who found that the base was