Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/676

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ELM—ELM

650 E U and bluish-green in hue, and are directed downwards. The flowers are single or in clusters, and nearly sessile. This species is one of the largest trees in the world, and may attain a height of 375 feet. Since 1854 it has been suc cessfully introduced into the south of Europe, Algeria, Egyp*, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Natal, and India, and has been extensively planted in California, and, with the object of lessening liability to droughts, along the line of the Central Pacific Railway. It would probably thrive in any situation having a mean annual temperature not below 60 F., but it will not endure a temperature of less than 27 F. At Cannes the tree was raised from seed in March 1862, and in 1872 had reached a height of 60 feet (see Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb., xii. 153). Its property of destroying the miasma of marshy districts is probably attributable to the drainage effected by its roots, rather than to the antiseptic exhalations of its leaves. To the same cause, also, is ascribed the gradual disappearance of mosquitoes in the neighbourhood of plantations of this tree, as at Lake Fezzara, in Algeria. Since about 1870, when the tree was planted in its cloisters, the monastery at St Paolo a la tre Fontana has become habitable through out the year, although situated in one of the most fever- stricken districts of the Roman Campagua (see R. D. Glover, Pharm. Journ. and Trans., Feb. 5, 1876). An essential oil is obtained by aqueous distillation of the leaves of this and other species of Eucalyptus, which, according to Faust and Homeyer (Her deutsch. Chem. Ges., 1874, 1429), con sists of cymol, an oxidized compound allied to cymol, and two terpenes. The oil has a camphoraceous odour, and is employed in perfumery, and for the making of varnishes. Except as regards its action on light, the oil of E. oleosa is similar in smell and other properties to cajeput oil. E. globulus, E. resinifera, and other species yield what is known as Botany Bay kino, an astringent dark-reddish amorphous resin, which may be obtained in a semi-fluid state by making incisions in the trunks of the trees. The kino of E. giyantea contains a notable proportion of gum. From the leaves and young bark of E. mannifcra and E. viminalis is procured Australian manna, a hard, opaque, sweet substance, containing melitose. On destructive dis tillation the leaves yield much gas, 10,000 cubic feet being obtained from one ton. The wood is extensively used in Australia as fuel, and the timber is of remarkable size, strength, and durability. The bark of different species of Eucalyptus has been used in paper-making and tanning, and in medicine as a febrifuge. The tincture of Eucalyp tus, for the preparation of which the narrow leaves are reputed to be the best, has a warm, aromatic, and bitter taste, somewhat like that of cubebs. It excites the fljw of saliva when in the mouth, and is a powerful diaphoretic. Its administration augments the alvine evacuations, lowers arterial tension, and increases the action of the heart, and has been found efficacious in hysteria, asthma, chorea, cerebral anaemia, and more especially in bronchorrhoea and chronic catarrh of the bladder. According to Bartholow, it is far inferior to quinine in intermittent fever. Eucalyptus leaves are smoked for the relief of asthma, bronchitis, and whooping-cough, and have been employed instead of lint for dressing wounds. From the blossoms of the Red Gum-tree, E. rosfrata, the natives of West Australia pre pare a favourite beverage by steeping them in water. For further details see Bentley, On the Characters, Properties, and Uses of Eucalyptus Globulus and ofJier species of Eucalyp .us, 1874; The Year Book of Pharmacy, 1874, pp. 29-31, and E. Cosson, " Note sur 1 acclimatation de I 1 Eucalyptus Globulus," in Bullet, de In Soc. de Geogr., vi. ser., t. 9, p. 641, where numerous references to works on the subject will be found ; R. Bartholow, Practical Treatise on Materia Mcdica, 1877; Planchon, " L Eucalyptus Globulus au point de vue botanique, &e.," in Rev. dcs Deux Mondes, Jan. 1875. For a figure, see Bentley and Trimen, Medical Plants, tab. 109. EUCHARIST, the sacramental ordinance instituted by Christ and enjoined on His church as of perpetual obligation, in which bread broken and wine poured out, after solemn benediction by the appointed minister, are partaken of by the faithful in commemoration of His atoning sufferings and death, and the benefits thereby purchased for mankind, and as a means by which those benefits are conveyed to the worthy recipient. This ordinance has been constantly observed, without essential variation, by all sections of the Christian church, from the time of its appointment to the present day. The only exception is that of the Quakers (or " Society of Friends "), who, from an exalted idea of the spiritual nature of Christianity, have discarded the Eucharist, together with all other religious symbolical acts. All other Christians have at all times agreed in regarding the Eucharist as their highest act of worship, and the most solemn ordinance of religion. To understand the Eucharist aright we must go back to the history of its institution. This is given by the three first evangelists in their gospels, and by St Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians (Mat. xxvi. 26-27 ; Mark xiv. 22-24; Luke xxii. 19-20; 1 Cor. xi. 23-25). These narratives inform us that the Eucharist was ordained by Christ at the close of the paschal supper which He had eaten with His disciples the night preceding the day of His crucifixion ; that "As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and having given thanks, blessed and brake it, and give it to His disciples, and said Take, eat ; this is My Body which is being given for you. Do this for a memorial of Me. In the same manner also He took the cup after they had supped, and having given thanks, gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this : for this is My Blood of the new covenant or the new covenant in My Blood which is being shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins. Do this as often as you drink, for a memorial of Me. " The first subject for remark is the connexion of the Eucharist with the Paschal celebration. In the Paschal Supper the flesh of a lamb was solemnly eaten in remem brance of the preservation of the Israelites, by means of the blood of a lamb, from the destruction brought upon tho Egyptians, and of the consequent emancipation of the nation from slavery to Pharaoh. In the Eucharist the same act, that of eating, assumes a similar commemorative force. The broken bread, declared by Christ to be a symbol of His crucified Body, taken and eaten, together with the drinking of the wine, declared to be a symbol of His shed Blood, be comes, in virtue of His institution, a memorial of His sacrifice as the Lamb of God who, by His death, has taken away the sin of the world, delivering man from the wrath of God, and setting him free from the slavery of evil. In this, however, the Eucharist transcends the passover which was its type, that the one was a bare commemoration, the other unites with it an actual participation in the spiritual blessings thus commemorated. However much various sections of the church have differed as to the mode and the degree in which these blessings are conveyed, and the exact relation borne by the bread and wine to the Body and Blood of our Lord, thore has been a substantial agreement as to the fact that the fruits of the sacrifice of Christ are in the Eucharist in a special manner imparted to the souls of worthy reci pients. So much we may learn as to the nature of the rite from the occasion of its first institution. An examination of the mode of its institution by Christ will show what ceremonial actions may be regarded as essential to the truth of its symbolical character. These are (1) the benediction and consecration, i.e., the setting apart from profane uses, by solemn prayer and thanksgiving, of bread and wine; (2) the fraction or breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the wine into the cup ; (3) the delivery and dis

tribution of the " elements " as the bread and wine are