Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/850

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
738
*

ELDORA. 738 ELECAMPANE. tile, scwer-pipe, luinl>or, and foundry products. Population, in 1890, 1577; in l!)00, 2233. EL DORADO, .Sp. proii. el do-ra'Do (Sp., the gilded i. A tfiiii applied, first to a South Ameri- can king said to cover his body annually with gold-dust and bathe in a sacred lake, then to a fabled golden city, and finally to a faWed country abounding to an almost inconceivable degree' in gold and precious stones. The legend, whose origin has never l)een satisfactorily ac- counted for, took many variant forms, while the mythical king and his equally mythical dominions were shifted with the utmost facil- ity from one part of the continent to an- other. The story fired the imaginations of the gold-lumgry Spaniards, who expended vast sums in sending out exploring ])arties, most of which returned decimated by privations, fatigue, and disease. The most celebrated expeditions were those of Diego de Ordaz (1531). whose lieuten- ant. Martinez, claimed to have visited a golden citv, called Omoa, and to have been entertained by "-El Dorado' himself: and of Orellana (1540- 41). In 1505 Sir Walter Raleigh took up the search and described the city as on an island in 'Parinia' Lake (in Guiana), which for over two centuries was put down on the maps, ililton's lines will be recalled: " Giiiana. whose ^i-eat city fJcr.von's sons Call El Dorado." —Paradise Lost. vi. 410, 411. The name has since been applied to any place abounding in gold or in opportunities for acquir- ing sudden wealth, and. more specifically, to a county in California and a city in Colorado. In literature — and especially in poetry — frequent references have been made' to the legend, the most celebrated of which is probably that in Voltaire's Cdiulidc. chs. xvii., xviii. Consult: Markham, Search for El Dorado (London. lSt>l) ; Van Heu- vel. El Dorado (New York, 1844) : Von Langegg, El Dorado (Leipzig, 1888) : and Bandelier, The Gilded Man (Xew York, 1803). EL DORADO, el do-ra'do. A city and the county-seat of Butler County. Kan., 135 miles southwest of Topeka : on the Walnut River, and on the Jlissouri Pacific and the Atchison. Topeka and Santa Ffi railroads (!Map: Kansas. F 4). It carries on a considerable trade in grain, live stock, and farm and dairy products, and has flour-mills, a foundry and machine-shop, woolen- mill, carriage-works, and limestone-quarries. Kl Dorado was settled in 1S5S and was incorporated in 1870. Population, in 18;)0, 3.339; in 1900, 3466. ELD'S DEER. A rusinc deer {Cerrti.1 Eldi) of the Malayan region and the island of Hainan. It is about four feet in height, and frequents open swampy regions, often gathering into large bands, and resembling the Indian swamp-deer in habits. It has a unique form of antler, the brow-tine curvinsT down over the forehead in a long sweep, and the upper part consisting of many short points. Its native name in Burma is thamyn. Consult Lvdekker, Deer of All Lands (London, 1808). ELE'AN, ERE'TRIAW, or ELEAN-ERE- TRIAN SCHOOL. Due of the Socratic schools. It was founded by Ph.-rdo (q.v.) at F.lis, and transplanted by Menedenius to Eretria. Wc know less of this school than of any of its rivals, the Cyrenaic. the Cynic, and the ilegaric schools (qq.v.), to the last named of which it approxi- mated in its doctrines. ELEANOR (elV-ner) CROSSES. The name gi*cii In i(l'e ci"oss<'s saitl In iiiaii^ the stages in the funeral journey of Eleanor, wife of Edward I. of England, from Hornby to London, where she was burieil in Westminster Abbey. Of these crosses, not all of which are memorial crosses, those at Geddington, Xnrthamplon. and Waltham are preserved. ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE, I'lkwi-tan' (e.1122-1204). A Queen of France, and after- wards nl lui^dand. Siie was tlie t:randd;iugliter of William IX.. Duke of .(|uitaine. and suceeeiled her father in 1137. She was married in the same year to Louis VII. of France. Her lively and somewhat frivolous disposition and her love for pleasure did not fit her for the society of a hus- band who was naturally austere, and who from religious conviction had adopted many ascetic habits. In the Holy Land, whither she accom- panied him in 1147, her conduct was scandalous; finally a divorce was ])rono>uiccd under the pre- text of kinship in 1152. Eleanor soon gave her hand and possessions to Henry Plantagenet, who, in 1154, mounted the throne of England as Henry II. In 1170 Eleanor gave her sou, Richard the Lion-Hearted, her personal dominions and aided him in his rebellion against Henry II. in 1173. Consequently she was placed in conlinement, where she remained till the death of her husband, 1189. As soon as he died slie regained her lib- erty, and reigned as regent until Richard's ar- rival from France. She also held this position during Richard's absence in the Holy Land, for which he left in 1190. After his escape in 1194 from his captivity, which befell him as he was returning home, she retired to the Abbey of Fon- tevrault, where she died, April 1, 1204. E'LEAT'IC SCHOOL. The group of ancient Greek philosophers beginning with Xenophanes of Colophon, born about n.c. 570. and including Parmenides and Zeno, who both belonged to Elea, a Greek city of Lower Italy, and also ilelissus of Sanios. In opposition to the physical philosophy of the Ionic school and to the doctrine of Heraclitus (q.v.), who asserted that everything is fiux, the Eleatic philosophers maintained that the only true reality is changeless being. - change and process and difl'erence are empt.v illusions. The senses, as furnishing us with a changing content of consciousness, are of no value for knowledge. Thought is the organ of knowledge: indeed, thought and being are one. Consult the histories of pliilosopby by Zeller. Windelb:ind. and Gom- perz: also Burnet. Early Greek Philosophy (Lon- don. 1892). Sec Pau.me.xides: XE.xoriiANES; Zeno. EL'ECAMPANE' (Fr. cnulc-camjxine. ^L. i))ula canipaua, from Lat. inula, elecanqiane, campus, field). A genus of plants of the natural order Compositfc, nearly allied to As- ter. The only important species is the conunon elecampane (Inula hclcniuin) . a native of damp meadows in the middle and south of Europe, rather rare in the British Isles. It is naturalized in .meri<-a and has spread extensively. This plant, which is a coarse, stout perennial with large yellow llowers. was formerly nnieli eulli- vatcd for its root, which was used in medicine, and still retains its place in the pbamiacopirias, although comparatively ncRlecled. The root has a faint aromatic odor and a bitter, acrid, and somewhat camphor-like taste. It acts as a