EGG DANCE. 684 EGGLESTON. EGG DANCE. A very old English dance, which was probably derived from the Saxons. Eggs vera plai-ed at certain intervals on the floor, and the dancer took his position and was blindfolded. The music used was the hornpipe, and to it the performer danced back and forth between the eggs, without touching them. The positions of the eggs and the figures danced seem always to have been the same. A similar feat was very popular in Holland in the seven- teenth century, and the Valencians in Spain have much the same sort of a dance at the -present time. EGG-EATING SNAKE. A remarkable little colubrine scr|>i-nt {DiixyjicUis f.cabra) of South Africa, whose dentition and throat are specially adapted to the consumption of birds' eggs, upon which this snake mainly subsists. It is a slender AN EGG-EATISG SNAKE. Appearance of the snake {Dasvpeltis scabra, with an un- broken egg in its gullet, showing the extensibility o( jaws and throat. little creature, prettily variegated, and about two feet in length. Its mouth has no teeth, but has "about thirty of what may be termed throat teeth; these being the lower spines of the vcrtc- br.'e, which project into the oesophagus, and are tipped with enamel." It lives in trees and feeds on the eggs of small birds; but, when pressed by hunger, will descend and rob hens' nests, and the elasticity of its mouth and throat is so great that it can take into them jiigeons' eggs with ease and even large fowls' eggs. When the egg is fairly within the throat the throat teeth cut through the shell, allowing all its fluid con- tents to be swallowed without the loss of a drop, after which the crushed shell and mem- branes are ejected. An illustrated article upon examples living in the Zo'ilogical Gardens of Lon- don may lie found in Tlic Field (London, 1892). EG'GELING, Jui-if.s (1842—). An English Sanskrit scholar. He was born at Heeklingen. Germany, and was educated at Breslau and Berlin "(1862-66). Within a year after his graduation he went to England, where in 1809 he was appointed secretary and librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society. In 1872 he became ])ro- fessor of Sanskrit at University College, and three years afterwards was called in the same capacity to Edinburgh. His pul)lications in- clude: The (,'atapatha - lirahmana, Translated According to the Text of the Mudhijandina School (vols, i.'and ii., 1882-8.5); Catalogue of Bud- dhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Possession of the Boyal Asiatic Society (with Cowell, 1875) : the article "Sanskirt Language and Lit- erature," in the Encyelopwdia Britannica (1887); Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office (2 parts, 1887 and 1889) ; and editions of Vardhamdna's flann- ratnamahodadhi (2 parts, 1879-80) ; the Kiitan- tra (0 books. 1874-78) ; and of the Kanva ^ata- patha Bruhmana {W02). EGGER, ft'gAr', Emii.e (1813-85). A French classical ^cliolar, born in Paris. After holding various professorships of ancient languages, he was professor of Greek literature at the Faculty des Lettres from 1855 to 18S4. Among his best-known works are: La puvtiquc d'Anstote (1850), probably his most interesting work; yotions elvmentaircs de grammairc comparce (1S52) ; Menioircs d'histoirc anciennc el dc phi- lologie (1863); and his masterpiece. I.'hellc- nismc en France (1S69), dealing with the influ- ence of the Greek upon the Erench language. He was a frequent eonta'ibutor to the Menwircs de VAcad^mie rfcs Inscriptions : the Journal de I'Instruction Puhtiquc: Bcrue des Deux Mondes, and to the Journal des Sarants, of which he became editor in 1871. He was a member of the Academy of Inscriptions and an otlicer of the Legion of Honor. Consult Baillv, yotice sur Em He Efjgcr (Paris, 1886). EGGER-MOTH. A boinbyeid moth of either the genus Lasiocampa or Eriogaster. The name is chiefly in use among British lepidopterists, and is often s])elled eggar. EG'GERS, .lAKOB, Baron (1704-73). A Swed- ish soldier and military author, born at Dorpat, Livonia. At an early age he entered the service of .Sweden, and devoted himself to the study of the science of fortification. He subsequently served in Poland, Hesse, and Saxony, and upon his return to Sweden, in 1742, was appointed quartermaster-general and adjutant to the King, in which capacity he served in the campaign against Russia in 1742-43. His description of the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom, Journal du siege de liergopzoonx (1750), which he witnessed as a volunteer in the French army, is a vivid por- trayal of that engagement. In 1751 he pub- lished an improed edition of Desbois's Diction- iiaire tnilitaire, which was followed in 1757 by an independent work, entitled Xcues Kric^s-^ Ingenicur-. Artilleric-, See- und Ritter-Lexi- kon, a long and authoritative work on the subject. EGGFISH (so called from the shape when in- flated i. A globefish. especially Tetrodon turgi- ilun. See (;;u>nKi'isu. EG'GLESTON, Edward (1837-1902). An American novelist and historian. He was born at Vevay, Ind., December 10, 1837. the son of a lawyer. Of delicate health in childhood, and largely self-educated, he began life as a Metho- dist circuit-rider, and was then agent in Min- nesota for the Bil)le Society, doing such pastoral work as his health permitted, and engaging in other pursuits as opportunity oft'ered. In 1866 he went to Evanston, 111., and for a time edited a children's paper. In 1867 he removed to Chicago and edited The Sunday School Teacher, gaining national reputation as manager of .Sunday-school teachers' institutes, and as a speaker at Sunday-school conventions. Mean- while he contributed with increasing frequency to the Xew York Independent, in 1870 became its literary editor, and soon afterwards .super- intending editor, a post that he resigned to be- come editor of Hearth and Home, which again he gave up for a Brooklyn pastorate (1874-79) ; finally retiring to a country place on Lake (ieorue and devoting himself to literature. He had already made southern Indiana peculiarly his own in fiction by his racy Boosier School- master (1871), a great success, appearing first in Hearth and Home. He followed this up with other novels, some of them quite popular: The
